History of Knox County, Ohio, its past and present, Part 40

Author: Hill, N. N. (Norman Newell), comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A.A. & Co., Mt. Vernon, Ohio
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Mt. Vernon, Ohio : A. A. Graham & Co.
Number of Pages: 1096

USA > Ohio > Knox County > History of Knox County, Ohio, its past and present > Part 40

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Owing to the equal distribution of real property divided by the land laws, and the sterling integrity of the forefathers in their observance of them there were few, if any, districts of "sold land" as it was called, that is large tracts of land in the hands of individuals or companies, who neither sold nor im- proved them, as was the case in Lower Canada and some parts of Pennsylvania. True, large tracts of land were purchased by companies, but this was done almost always for the purpose of establishing a settlement.

The earliest settlers had become so accustomed to "getting land for taking it up," that for a long time it was believed that the lands on the west side of the Ohio would ultimately be disposed of in this way; hence almost the whole tract of country between the Ohio and Muskingum rivers was parcelled out in what was familiarly known as "tomahawk rights;" that is, the pioneer upon finding a suitable location would cut his name with his hatchet or knife upon the trunk of a large tree, and thus lay claim to four hundred acres of land about that spot. Some of them were not sat- isfied with a single four hundred-acre tract, but laid claim in this way to a number of tracts of the best . land, and thus, in imagination, were as "wealthy as a South Sea dream." Some of these land jobbers did not content themselves with marking trees at the usual height, but climbed the large beech trees and cut their names in the bark from twenty to forty feet from the ground, To enable them to identify those trees at a future period they made marks on other trees around for references.

Nor was it an easy matter to dispossess these squatters; their claim was generally respected by the settlers, and these rights were often bought and sold, those who subsequently desired these lands for permanent settlement preferred to purchase the

"tomahawk right" rather than enter into quarrels with those who made them.

Hunting occupied a large portion of the time of the pioneers. Nearly all were good hunters, and not a few lived almost entirely for many years on the results of the chase. The woods supplied them with the greater amount of their subsistence, and often the whole of it; it was no uncommon thing for families to live several months without a mouthful of bread of any kind. It frequently bap- pened that the family went without breakfast until it could be obtained from the woods.

The fall and early part of winter was the season for hunting deer, and the whole of the winter, in- cluding part of the spring, for bears and fur-bearing animals. It was a customary saying that fur was good during every month, in the name of which the letter r occurred.

As soon as the leaves were pretty well down, and the weather became rainy, accompanied with light snow, the pioneer hunter, who had probably worked pretty faithfully on his clearing during the summer, began to feel uneasy about his cabin home; he longed to be off hunting in the great woods. His cabin was too warm; his feather-bed too soft; his mind was wholly occupied with the camp and the chase. Hunting was not a mere ramble in pursuit of game, in which there was nothing of skill and calculation; on the contrary, the hunter, before setting out in the morning, was informed by the state of the weather in what situation he might rea- sonably expect to find his game; whether on the bottoms, on the hillsides, or hilltops. In stormy weather the deer always seek the most sheltered places, and the leeward sides of the hills; in rainy weather, when there was not much wind, they kept in the open woods, on high ground. In the early morning, if pleasant, they were abroad, feeding in edges of the prairie or swamp; at noon they were hiding in the thickets. In every situation, it was requisite for the hunter to ascertain the course of the wind, so as to get to leeward of the game; this he often ascertained by placing his finger in his mouth, holding it there until it became warm, then holding it above his head, and the side that first cooled indicated the direction of the wind.

These hunters needed no compass; the trees, the sun and stars took its place. The bark of an

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aged tree is much thicker and rougher on the north side than on the south; and the same may be said of the moss; it is much thicker and stronger on the north than the south side of the tree; hence he could walk freely and carelessly through the woods and always strike the exact point intended, while any but a woodsman would become bewildered and lost.

The whole business of the hunter consisted of a succession of intrigues. From morning till night he was on the alert to gain the wind of his game and make his approach without being discovered. If he succeeded in killing a deer he skinned it, hung it up out of reach of wolves, and immedi- ately resumed the chase until evening, when he bent his course toward the camp, where he cooked and ate his supper with a keen relish with his fellow hunters, after which came the pipe and the rehearsal of the adventures of the day. The spike buck, the two and three pronged buck, the doe and bar- ren doe, figured through their anecdotes with great advantage.

A wedding among the pioneers was a most wonderful event, not only to the parties imme- diately interested but to the whole neighborhood. people generally married young, in those days. There was no distinction of rank and very little of fortune. A family establishment cost little labor and nothing else. A wedding was about the only gathering at which the guest was not required to assist in reaping, log rolling, building a cabin or some other manual labor.

On the morning of the wedding day the groom and his attendants assembled at the house of his father, for the purpose of reaching the house of his bride by noon, the usual time for celebrating the nuptials, and which for certain reasons must take place before dinner. The people assembled from great distances, on foot and on horseback, and all dressed in the somewhat fantastic toggery of the backwoods. The dinner was generally a substantial one of beef, pork, fowls, venison and bear meat, roasted and boiled, with plenty of pota- toes, cabbage and other vegetables.

After dinner the dancing commenced and gener- ally lasted until the next morning. The figures of the dances were three or four handed reels, or square sets and jigs. The commencement was

always a square four, followed by what was called "jigging it off;" that is, two of the four would be- gin a jig, followed by the other couple. The jig was often accompanied by what was called "cut- ting out;" that is, when either of the parties became tired of the dance, on intimation the place was supplied by some one of the company without any interruption to the dance; in this way the dance was often continued until the musician was heartily tired of his situation. Toward the latter part of the night if any of the company through weariness, attempted to conceal themselves for the purpose of sleeping, they were brought out, para- ded on the floor, and the fiddler ordered to play "We'll all hang out till morning."

About nine o'clock a deputation of young ladies stole off the bride, and put her to bed, after which a deputation of young men in like manner stole off the groom and placed him snugly beside his bride. If the couple were not subsequently dis- turbed during the night it was a miracle. Gener- ally in the small hours of the night "Black Betty" (the bottle) was sent up to them, or carried up by an interested delegation, together with as much bread, beef, pork, cabbage, etc., as would suffice for a dozen hungry men. and they were compelled to eat and drink until they could hold no more.

In later years if there was an older unmarried brother of the bride present, he was certain to be compelled "to dance in the hog-trough." This somewhat humiliating operation was inflicted upon him as a lesson to bachelors. Sometimes he would submit quietly, cheerfully, and gracefully, marching to the pig-pen and dancing his jig in the trough from which the swine devoured the off-fallings of the cabin table; at other times he would escape from his assailants and seek safety in flight, and if fleet on foot sometimes escaped; but if overtaken he would not unfrequently fight with great desper- ation, and it often required considerable force to accomplish the desired object.

The feasting and dancing often lasted several days, during which there was much drinking, ca- rousing, and not unfrequently, fighting.

After the wedding the next duty of the neigh- bors was to erect a cabin for the young couple, and dedicate it by a "house warming" before they were allowed to move into it. This house warming

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consisted of a twenty-four hours' dance and carous- al in the new cabin. This ended the ceremony, except that not half of it has been told, and thereafter the couple were considered married, ac- cording to the laws and usages of society.

At a little later time, say from 1820 to 1840, the pioneers were living a little easier. Their farms were partially cleared, many of them were living in hewed log houses and many in frame, and even brick houses. Most of them had barns and in- numerable out-houses. They generally had cattle, horses, sheep, hogs, and poultry, and were living in comparative comfort. Their neighbors were near, and always dear. Their schools and churches had improved somewhat, yet even at this late day there were hundreds of log school-houses and churches. About three months in a year was all the school- ing a farmer's boy could get. He was sadly needed at home from the age of five years, to do all sorts of chores and work on the farm. He was wanted to drive the cows to water and to pasture; to feed the pigs and chickens and gather the eggs. His duties in the summer were multifarious; the men were at work in the field harvesting, and generally worked from early morning until late at night, and the boys were depended on to "do the chores;" hence it was impossible to spare them to attend school in summer. There was no school in spring and fall. In winter they were given three months' schooling-a very poor article of schooling, too, generally. Their books were generally anything they happened to have about the house, and even as late as 1850, there was no system in the pur- chase of school books. Mr. Smucker, of Newark, Ohio, says his first reading books at school were Patrick Gass' Journal of the Lewis and Clark expe- dition to the mouth of the Columbia river in 1804- 5-6; and Weem's Life of Washington. Parents of children bought whatever book pleased their fancy, or whatever the children desired them to purchase. A geography was a geography, and a grammar a grammar, regardless of who was the author. This great confusion in school books made trouble for the teacher, but that was of small moment. He was hired and paid to teach whatever branches, out of whatever books the parents thought were best. The branches generally taught in the early schools, however, were reading, writing, spelling, and arith-

metic, and, later, geography and grammar. Boys attending school but three months in a year made but little progress. They began at the beginning of their books every winter, and went as far as they could in three months; then forgot it all dur- ing the nine months out of school, commencing again the next winter just where they commenced the previous one. In this way they went over and over the same lessons every year under different teachers (for many of the teachers only taught one term in a place), often getting no further in arith- metic than "vulgar fractions" or the "rule of three," and in their old Webster's spelling books the first class probably got as far as "antiscorbu- tic" and may be through; while the second class would get as far as "cessation," and the third class probably not through "baker," certainly not be- yond "amity." There were always three or four classes in spelling, and this exercise was the last before school was dismissed in the evening. Their old books were conned over year after year until they were worn out and the children grew up to manhood and womanhood, and never knew, and perhaps do not know to this day, what was in the back part of them. That was the kind of a start many a great man had. These schools cannot be despised when it is remembered that the greatest and best of the nation, including such men as Abraham Lincoln, Edwin M. Stanton, and Stephen A. Douglas, were among the boys who attended them.

There was always much competition in the spell- ing classes as to who should get the "head mark." In the later schools it was the custom that the best speller might stand at the head until he missed, when the one who spelled the word correctly should take his place, and he then stood next to the head; but they did things differently in the earlier schools; the head of the class once gained and held until the last spelling at night, the head mark was re- ceived and the lucky scholar then took his place at the foot of the class, to again work his way gradu- ally to the head. These classes sometimes con- tained thirty or forty scholars, and it was some- thing of an undertaking to get from the foot to the head. Spelling-schools were the beauty and glory of school-days. The scholars were always coaxing the teacher to appoint a night for a spelling-school,

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and were usually gratified one or two nights in a month or oftener. A night was chosen when the moon shone, and the sleighing was good, and then the entire neighborhood and perhaps the adjoining neighborhood would turn out to the spelling-school; whole families came on the great two-horse sled, including the old lady and gentleman, all the chil- dren, little and big; even the baby and the dogs came. Schools in adjoining districts sent their best spellers to try and carry off the honors. The old log school-house was crowded, and the great box stove, cast at the Mary Ann furnace, in Mary Ann township, Licking county, and which stood in the centre of the room on a box of bricks, was red hot, and kept so during the entire evening. Two good spellers were designated by the teacher to choose sides, and everybody was chosen in one class or the other; then the spelling began, the words being given out by the teacher, first to one class then to the other, beginning at the head. A tally sheet was carefully kept to see who missed the most words. After recess the "spelling down" was in- dulged in; the two classes stood up, and whenever a word was missed the speller sat down, and the one who stood up after all had been spelled down, was the hero or heroine of the hour, and always chosen first in future contests.

A year means a hundred-fold more now than formerly. History is made rapidly in these days. The red men's trail across the valley, and over the hills, and along the river's bank, could be traced by the fewest number in this day; their favorite haunts and play grounds are shorn of their primal charms in the sweeping aside of the grand old woodland. The cattle upon a thousand hills roam over the land that they loved, and quench their thirst in the brooks and pools, that long time ago mirrored their dusky features. The plowmen with stolid face upturn in the brown furrow the relic that their fingers deftly fashioned, and the mattock and scraper bring forth to the glare of day and the gaze of the curious, the crumbling brown bones of the chieftain and his squaw; and the contents of the Indian's grave, the moldering clay, will live anew in a pavement to be trodden under the foot of men.

Ah, these old Indian graves on breezy knolls and reedy river banks-who knows but the site was

selected by the sleepers therein ? Who knows but they dreamed in their moody moments that the tide of civilization was slowly coming nearer and nearer, to crowd aside their people and intrude upon, and finally possess their vast and beautiful hunting grounds?

It is hard to be reconciled to this natural order of things; to see the pioneers passing away; to see them stand leaning on their staves, dim-eyed, and with white locks tossed in the winds, dazed at the change that has stamped its seal upon the wilder- ness whose winding paths they once knew so well. They beheld it slowly laying off its primeval wild- ness and beauty, and its grandeur of woods and waters, until now it blooms like unto the garden of the gods. How beautiful the labors of their hands! How much we owe them! But the olden time is passing away and bearing on its bosom the dear old men and women whose "like we ne'er shall see again." The glory of one age is not dimmed in the golden glory of the age succeeding it; and none more than the pioneers of Knox county can com- prehend its growth and its change, or more fully. appreciate the sad words of the poet when he sang in mournful strain-

And city lots are staked for sale, Above old Indian graves.

CHAPTER XXIII.

JOHN CHAPMAN.

Give fools their gold, and knaves their power; Let fortune's bubbles rise and fall; Who sows a field, or trains a flower, Or plants a tree, is more than all.

-WHITTIER. A HISTORY of Ohio, and especially of Knox county, would be incomplete without some ac- count of this very eccentric individual, well-known among the pioneers of Ohio as Johnny Appleseed, from the fact that he was the pioneer nurseryman.

He seems to deserve a place in history among the heroes and martyrs, for he was both in his pe- culiar calling. His whole life was devoted to what he believed the public good, without regard

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to personal feeling or hope of pecuniary reward. Not once in a century is such a life of self-sacrifice for the good of others known. There has been but one Johnny Appleseed, and he lived a life so pecu- iar, so isolated, and withal so worthy, that his name should be perpetuated.

He was a native of Massachusetts. His father, Nathaniel Chapman, emigrated from the vicinity of Springfield, Massachusetts, to Marietta, Ohio, in very early times, probably about the beginning of the present century. He had a large family, and they all came with him except John. His children were John, Nathaniel, Perley, Abner, Jonathan, Davis, Lucy, Patty, Persis, Mary, and Sally. The family once published a book, containing their genealogy, which, although rare, may yet be found among the descendants of the family, who are scattered over Ohio and Indiana.

The date of John Chapman's birth is not cer- tainly known at present. Mr. C. S. Coffinberry writes that "as early as 1780, he was seen in the autumn, for two or three successive years, along the banks of the Potomac, in eastern Virginia." He must have been quite a young man at that time, and was no doubt following the same calling that so distinguished him in after life. He did not accompany his father when he came west, but had without doubt, preceded him, and was then plant- ing appleseeds in western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio.

Why he left his native State, and devoted his life to the planting of appleseeds in the west, is known only to himself. People have been inclined to consider him insane, and he may have been so to a certain degree. He was certainly eccentric, as many people are who are not considered insane; it is hard to trace eccentricity to the point where insanity begins. He was certainly smart enough to keep his own counsel. Without doubt his was a very affectionate nature; every act of his life re- veals this prominent characteristic. From this fact alone writers have reasoned, and with good ground, that he was crossed in love in his native State, and thus they account for his eccentricity. This is only supposition, however, as he was very reticent on the subject of his early life.

He was conscientious in every act and thought, and a man of deep religious convictions; being a

rigid Swedenborgian, and maintaining the doctrine that spiritual intercourse could be held with de- parted spirits ; indeed, was in frequent intercourse himself with two of these spirits of the female gender, who consoled him with the news that they were to be his wives in the future state, should he keep himself from all entangling alliances in this.

So kind and simple was his heart that he was equally welcome with the Indians or pioneers, and even the wild animals of the woods seemed to have an understanding with Johnny, and never molested him. He has been variously described, but all agree that he was rather below the medium height, wiry, quick in action and conversation, nervous and restless in his motions; eyes dark and spark- ling; hair and beard generally long, but occasion- ally cut short; dress scanty, and generally ragged and patched; generally barefooted and bareheaded, occasionally, however, wearing some old shoes, sandals, or moccasins in very cold weather, and an old hat some one had cast off. It is said he was occasionally seen with a tin pan or pot on his head, that served the double purpose of hat and mush- pot; at other times with a cap, made by himself, of pasteboard, with a very broad visor to protect his eyes from the sun.

His diet was very simple, consisting of milk when he could get it, of which he was very fond; potatoes and other vegetables, fruits and meats ; but no veal, as he said this should be a land flow- ing with milk and honey, and the calves should be spared. He would not touch tea, coffee, or to- bacco, as he felt that these were luxuries in which it was wicked and injurious to indulge. He was averse to taking the life of any animal or insect, and never indulged in hunting with a gun.

He thought himself a messenger sent into the wilderness to prepare the way for the people, as John the Baptist was sent to prepare the way for the coming of the Saviour, hence he made it a part of his duty to keep in advance of civilization. He gathered his apple seeds little by little from the cider-presses of western Pennsylvania, and putting them carefully in leathern bags, he transported them, sometimes on his back, and sometimes on the back of a broken-down horse or mule, to the Ohio river, where he usually secured a boat, and brought them to the mouth of the Muskingum,

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and up that river, planting them in wild, secluded spots all along its numerous tributaries. Later in life he continued his operations further west. When his trees were ready for sale he usually left them in charge of some pioneer to sell for him. The price was low-a "fippeny-bit" apiece, rarely paid in money, and if people were too poor to pur- chase, the trees were given them.

One or two of his nurseries were located in the Owl creek valley, and many of his orchards were scattered over Knox, Richland, Ashland, and other counties further east. One of his nurseries was located in what was known as "Indian Field," on the north bank of Owl creek, directly west of Cen- tre run, and another on the ground where James W. Forest established his pottery. Some of his trees are yet standing and bearing fruit. One or more of them may be found on the old Hill farm in Milford township, and several along the valley of the Kokosing. His residence in this vicinity covered the period of the War of 1812, and sev- eral years following it. He would occasionally make trips further west, and return after an absence of two or three months. On these occasions he probably visited his sister Persis, who married a man named Broom, or Brown, and lived in Indi- ana. Persis lived in Richland county before she moved to Indiana, and Johnny must have made his home with her, as he was considered a resident of that county by the pioneers of Mount Vernon, so far as they looked upon him as a resident of any particular spot.

During the war of 1812 Johnny was very active in warning the settlers of danger, and considered himself a kind of scout and general guardian of the frontier. He never shrank from danger or hardship when he thought the lives of the settlers were in danger. He happened to be in Mansfield when Jones was killed, and immediately volun- teered to go to Fredericktown and Mount Vernon for help, as it was supposed a large body of Indians were lurking around the block-house, and about to make an attack upon it; and that they had proba- bly committed other murders in the neighborhood. An early settler says, regarding this trip of John Chapman's, which was made in the night:

Although I was but a child, I can remember as if it were but yesterday, the warning cry of Johnny Appleseed, as he stood

before my father's log-cabin door on that night. I remember the precise language, the clear, loud voice, the deliberate excla- mations, and the fearful thrill it awoke in my bosom. "Fly! fly! for your lives! the Indians are murdering and scalping at Mansfield!" These were his words. My father sprang to the door, but the messenger was gone, and midnight silence reigned without.

Johnny Appleseed created some consternation among the settlers on this trip, by his peculiar man- ner of announcing his business. He was bare- footed and bareheaded, and ran all the way, stop- ping at every cabin as he passed, giving a warning cry similar to the above. It must be remembered that after Hull's surrender the pioneers were fear- ful of an Indian raid, and went to bed every night with the thought that they might lose their scalps before morning; thus their imaginations were al- ready highly excited, and Johnny's hurried rap at the cabin door and his fearful midnight cry merely confirmed their expectations and created a panic. Many ludicrous things happened in consequence. Families left their cabins and flew to the block- houses for safety. It is said that one man in Ber- lin township, through which Johnny passed on this midnight journey, sprang from his bed and hastily putting on his overcoat, grasped his pantaloons and ran in that condition all the way to the block-house at Fredericktown.

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History of Knox County, Ohio, its past and present, Part 40

Author: Hill, N. N. (Norman Newell), comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A.A. & Co., Mt. Vernon, Ohio Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Mt. Vernon, Ohio : A. A. Graham & Co. Number of Pages: 1096

Author: Hill, N. N. (Norman Newell), comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A.A. & Co., Mt. Vernon, Ohio
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Mt. Vernon, Ohio : A. A. Graham & Co.
Number of Pages: 1096