History of Licking County, Ohio: Its Past and Present, Part 72

Author: N. N. Hill, Jr.
Publication date: 1881
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 826

USA > Ohio > Licking County > History of Licking County, Ohio: Its Past and Present > Part 72

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Doctor Gilbert was probably the first postmaster here, and was followed by a Mr. Balcom, who in turn was succeeded by Mr. T. Fisk. J. W. Tilton was the next and Mr. Hickumbottom held the office prior to the appointment of the present post- master, L. H. Robison.

Probably the first of the many mills erected on the Wakatomika in this township was by Hezekiah Blount, in what is now known as "Egypt". This mill has changed owners frequently and been re- built, but is yet in operation and owned by Mr.

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Garrison Frampton, and is known far and near as "Frampton's Mill." A saw-mill has been connected with it since it was first erected, which was fifty-five or sixty years ago.

The second mill on this stream, known as "Gregg's mill," and owned by William Gregg, was built about 1840, by Henry Crabbs and William Garner. Only a saw-mill was erected here at first, but a few years later the grist-mill was added. These two with the Holmes' mill at Fallsbury, are probably the only mills in the township now in operation.

A very early school-house, and probably the first in the township, was erected in the Van Winkle settlement, not far from the village of Fallsbury.

One of the first religious organizations in this township was, probably, the Old School Baptist. Miner McQueen was a member of this denomina- tion, and soon gathered around him a few settlers who were of his way of thinking, and they held religious meetings in his house, himself preform- ing the duties of pastor. Mr. Christopher Coff- man also preached occasionally for these people.

The organization of the society was effected about 1832, and Miner McQueen, Christopher Coffman, John Fry and wife, Mrs. Buck, Mrs. Varner, Mrs. John Porter and a few others were the original members of this organization. In the old graveyard near Fallsbury yet stands an old, squatty, hewed-log building, the first, and, indeed, the only church erected by this society. It was, probably, built about 1835. Services are yet reg- ularly held in this building. The society is a weak one, probably, not numbering over a dozen mem- bers at present.

During the war a great many new church or- ganizations sprang up all over the country, in con- sequence of a difference of political opinion, and the strife and feeling engendered by the great Re- bellion. These organizations called themselves "Christian Union," and the members were gener- ally members of, that portion of the Democratic party, who did not believe in the prosecution of the war for the Union. They were generally members of other churches, who left those churches, because the prayers for the President of the United States and the success of the Union army grated harshly upon their ears.

Such a church sprang up in Fallsbury. . A Mr.

George Higgins was the leader and principal or- ganizer. This society was organized at the school- house, and the principal members, George Higgins, Gideon McQueen and wife, William Booth and wife, Obediah Baufman, Thomas Gorley, Alice Gilbreath, John Reed, Henry Wilson, Lewis Baughman, Catharine Mossholder, Susan Scott, Ann Scott, Levi Priest and wife, Alexander Smith and Leonard Billman.

This organization purchased a dwelling house, and fitted it up for a church building, and George Higgins and Rev. Atherton were the principal ministers. Soon after the war ended, the church ended, and has not, for some years, been known among the churches of Fallsbury.

The third church organized in Fallsbury, was the Disciple. This congregation was organized the third Sunday in March, 1869, and during the same and the following year, erected a church building in the village. David D. Mitchel, Mr. White and J. A. Walters were their first preachers; John Howell, elder; Samuel Hupp, clerk, and William Scott, John Howell and Jacob Booth, trustees. The organization consisted of twenty- five members or more; it now has a membership of forty-four.

The Sabbath-school was organized in 1875, the average attendance being now about twenty.

Outside the village of Fallsbury, there are two churches within the limits of the township-both Methodist Episcopal.

One, the Pleasant Valley church, is located on the Zanesville and Mount Vernon road, about one mile southeast of Fallsbury. This church was organized at the house of Noah Reed, about 1836. Messrs. Noah Reed and George Gardner were the principal movers in the organization; and the original members were Noah Reed and wife, George Gardner and wife, Silas Bland and wife, John Tilton and wife, Aaron Decker, and William Beckham and wife.

Their first church building, a log, was erected about one mile south of the present building, in 1837; the second and present building, a frame, was erected about 1857, and cost about one thou- sand dollars. Their first regular minister was Rev. Bell, of the Northern Ohio conference.

At present this is a large active congregation,

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which has a membership of about one hundred.

The Sunday-school was organized the year after the church edifice was erected (1838), and has been well sustained, six months in the year, to the present time, and now numbers forty or fifty members.

The other church in this township, also a Meth- odist Episcopal, was organized about the same time as the Pleasant Valley. It is known as the "Gos- hen" church, and is located in what is known as Egypt, in the valley of the Wapitomika.

John Painter was one of the prominent members of this organization, and the society was probably first organized at his house. Garrison Frampton was also a prominent mover in this organization and a class leader. John Rogers, John Frost and

Edward Bishop were also among the original members. Silas Bland who lived at that time in the neighborhood of Gregg's mill, was also much interested in this church, and gave the ground upon which their first church building was erected. This first building was a frame, and was built about 1855. Some years afterwards, this same building was moved several miles to its présent location in the eastern edge of the township, where it was re- paired and built over into the present church, in 1880, costing as it stands about nine hundred dollars.

The present membership is probably fifty or more. The organization of the Sunday-school was coeval with that of the church, and is yet main- tained.

CHAPTER XLIX.

FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP.

MOUND BUILDERS' WORKS-SURVEY-TOPOGRAPHY-SETTLERS AND SETTLEMENTS-CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PEOPLE- PUBLIC OFFICIALS-MINERAL DEPOSITS-SCHOOLS-CHURCHES AND RELIGIOUS MATTERS-A PIONEER CAMP MEETING.

"Is this the land our fathers loved, The freedom which they toiled to win?

Is this the soil whereon they moved? Are these the graves they slumber in? Are we the sons by whom are borne The mantles which the dead have worn?" -Whittier.

THIS township abounded in works erected by the Mound Builders. Few sections of the extensive territory in which these works are located are more prolific than this township. It seems to have been a Mound Builders' paradise. If these silent monuments of a lost race could but talk, what treasures would they reveal. How insignifi- cant man appears standing mute and dumb beside these works; what a lesson they teach of man's ignorance, and how all his boasted knowledge and power vanish, as in their presence he is dumb and helpless as a child. They are here, his prac- tical sense tells him that, but little else does he know of them.

Among the most elaborate and extensive of these works were those on the high hill, the most elevated ground in the vicinity, a short distance north of Amsterdam, near to, and in a northeast- erly direction from Fairmount church in Licking township. These consisted of a circular wall or embankment, now only a few feet high, enclosing an area of about eight acres. On the outside of this wall is a ditch eight or ten feet feet in width. which was made by throwing the earth out to make the embankment. These works have been plowed over many times, and are gradually disappearing. Within this enclosure there stood, near its center, and within one hundred feet of each other, three mounds, two being of stone. One of the stone mounds had a diameter at the base of forty-five feet, and the other two mounds of thirty feet; all were about twenty-five feet in height. The two stone mounds were removed many years ago by

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Mr. John Cover, who found in the large one some skeletons within three feet of the surface of the ground, which must have belonged to persons of very large size. The stone in these mounds were not of large size, and the earth, after their removal, was very black, and gave indications of the pres- ence of fire before and soon after the commence- ment of the mounds; perhaps upon the first layer of stone, or more likely, upon altars which had been erected, and upon which sacrifices had been offered as an act of worship, as was the practice of some ancient nations.

By no means the most insignificant of the works of the Mound Builders in Franklin town- ship, is the large stone mound half a mile south of the center of the township. Its diameter at the base was originally about forty feet, but it is much more now, as an attempt made many years ago to open it and get down into the middle, re- sulted in greatly reducing its height (probably about twenty feet), and adding to its diameter by throwing the stone down upon all sides of it. The earth was not reached in the middle, but the height of the mound was reduced about ten feet. The late Judge Elnathan Schofield, of Lancaster, who was government surveyor during one of the earlier years of the present century, and as such run the section lines here, one of which crossed this mound, made an entry upon his field notes, after designating its locality, pronouncing it "a singular pile of stone."

He probably understood little at that early day about the works of the Mound-Builders, particu- larly their stone works.

Probably the "Tippett" mound has attracted as much attention as any other in Franklin town- ship. It is situated a few hundred yards east of the road leading from Newark to Linnville, in full view of it, near the former residence of Mr. James Tippett. This mound was seventy-five feet in diameter, and twenty-one feet high. It was opened several years since, and a stone whistle and quite a number of human skeletons exhumed. Two remarkably well preserved crania were taken out, in connection with skeletons, at twenty feet from the top, and just above the level of the land around the base of the mound. The mound was composed of layers of earth, charcoal, ashes and

human skeletons. This mound was opened with great care by the Messrs: Tippett, and was one of the most symmetrical and interesting of its class.

There is a fort of low banks near the center of the township, in part on the farm of P. F. Coulter, nearly a mile east of the Tippett mound, and about the same distance northeasterly from the celebrated stone mound.

There is also a stone mound near the Madison township line, half a mile or more from Clay Lick ; and also one on the farm of A. Inlow, neither of which is of large size. There are also earth mounds of greater or less magnitude on the farms of H. Trout, D. Moore, J. Smith, J. Brownfield, Mr. Handly's "spring farm," and also one near Hopewell township line east of lands of Mr. A. Ballou, besides a few others not mentioned.

There is very little, if any, reliable Indian history in any way identified with the territory embraced within Franklin township.

This township was composed entirely of United States military lands, sometimes called "Army lands," and was part of the extensive tract dedi- cated by the Government to the payment of the officers and soldiers of the Revolution. Congress, by an act passed June 1, 1796, authorized the sur- vey into ranges and townships, of this tract, and Franklin township appears on the plat of the orig- inal survey as in the first tier of townships in the eleventh range.

The surveys into ranges and townships took place soon after authority was granted by Con- gress, and it was to these surveying parties that Elias Hughes, John Stadden, and perhaps others of the earliest pioneers of this county, were at- tached. The surveys into smaller tracts than townships were made at subsequent, but not re- mote periods.

The township is watered by Hog run and Swamp run, the latter heading here, and emptying into Hog run in Licking township; also by Little Clay lick, which heads in Hopewell township and flows through the corner of Franklin; and by Big Clay lick, which has its source near the line of Hopewell, running about five miles through Frank- lin. The bottom lands along these streams are very fertile, and the lands generally, though some- what hilly, are productive, there being little if any

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waste land in the township. Corn, the cereals, and grasses, all grow well.

The townships around Franklin were all settled before it, except Hopewell-Madison in 1798, Licking in 1801, Bowling Green in 1802, and Newark, which corners with it, in 1800. The first settlers within the territory which now consti- tutes Franklin township were George Ernst, John and Jacob Switzer, who came in the spring of 1805, the first-named from the Shenandoah valley, and the two latter from the "Glades," in Pennsyl- vania. Mr. John Feasel came in the autumn of the same year, also from the Shenandoah valley. John Siglar came to Licking township in 1805, from Maryland, and on the first day of March, 1807, moved into this township. His son, William, then a mere lad, accompanied him. In 1808 Mr. John Hull joined these pioneers, who were further reinforced in 1809 by Mr. Hugh Scott, Rev. J. W. Patterson, Isaiah Hoskinson, and a Mr. Dustheimer. A Mr. Fulton came, meanwhile, who taught the first school in the township, in a building within the circle of this first settlement.

Mrs. Motherspaw, daughter of the pioneer, John Feasel, had the longest residence in this township, having been brought here in 1805; and Mr. Will- iam Siglar, the next longest, or since 1807.

Mr. John Wilkin, Michael Fry, as well as Uriah Hull and a few others, settled in this township in and before the year 1812, when the township was organized and named, in honor of the great American philosopher, Benjamin Franklin.

Isaiah Hoskinson, sr., and Moses Sutton, sr., were elected the first justices of the peace.

Franklin township has not now, and never had, a village in it, except the minature town of Amster- dam. It has no stores, no post offices, no grog- shops, no manufactories. The people are almost wholly given to agriculture, and to the quiet, hon- est, successful pursuit of their avocation, and have attained to a good degree of equality in pecuniary circumstances. The people are sober, industrious, frugal, hospitable, and give no countenance or en- couragement to vagabonds, demagogues, busy-bod- ies in other people's matters, to the idle, or lazy, to loafers, vagrants, horse-jockies or speculators, pro- fessional office-seekers, note-shavers, whiskey-drink-

ers, nor, indeed, any who are engaged in vicious and demoralizing pursuits. It is literally and pre- eminently a rural township, in which the rural vir- tues prevail. During the seventy-five years that have elapsed since the first settlement of the town- ship, they have had only four county officers The late Henry Burner was county commissioner, Mr. Anthony Pitzer county surveyor, Stephen Hos kinson commissioner, and Benjamin Brownfield a member of the legislature. The township has probably furnished as few representatives for the State prison as for the State legislature. The Na- tional road runs along the southern boundary of Franklin, being mainly in Bowling Green, but in several places running a little into Franklin, as at Amsterdam, and for some distance east of it. The Flint ridge slopes off nearly a mile from Hopewell into Franklin, striking it near the middle of its eastern boundary, making that portion of the township, to the extent of a mile in width, un- usually hilly, or somewhat mountainous in its aspects and scenery. Little has ever been done in the way of attempts to turn to practical account the mineral deposits of this township. One such effort was made about fifty years ago by Mr. Hugh Scott, one of the early and enterprising pioneers of the township, who discovered, upon his land, a deposit of iron ore, which he mined, and mar- keted by hauling it to the Granville furnace. It was understood generally, to have been attend- ed with rather ill success, but whether the enterprise terminated because of the distance between the ore and the furnace, and consequent expense of getting it to market, or whether the deposit was worked out and the supply ceased, or for other reasons is not remembered. If, therefore, the township has any mineral wealth, it is, as yet, un- developed.

Schools were early organized, and educational matters in the township have kept pace with those of other townships in the county. It is divided into six school districts in which good houses are erected. There is also one fractional district in the southern part.

The first religious society started in the town- ship was the Methodist society, which now wor- ships in Ellis chapel. It was organized at the house of John Siglar, in 1809, or a year later,

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possibly. The first church edifice they erected was a hewed log building in 1818, on the site of the present building, which superseded it in 1851.

Among the early time ministers of the society were Ralph Lotspeitch, James Quinn, Jesse Stone- man, Levi Shinn, brother to Asa, Isaac Quinn, David Young, Michael Ellis, Charles Waddle, Mr. McElroy, Noah Fidlar, Martin Fate, John McMahon, C. Springer, Alexander McCracken, Le- roy Swormsted, and Jacob Young.

The Lutherans organized the second church in Franklin township. This is the pioneer Lutheran church in Licking county, and the Rev. Andrew Henkle, Rev. Peter Schmucker, Rev. Charles Henkle, and Rev. Amos Bartholomew, were the pioneer Lutheran preachers. The first named organized the Lutheran church in this township, in the autumn of 1817, having previously visited and preached to the people in that neighborhood a few times. The settlers were, for the most part, from the Shenandoah valley, Virginia, and had been trained in the Lutheran faith aud doctrines.

George Ernst, Daniel Motherspaw, John Feasel, Henry Burner, Jacob Wilkins, Jacob Row, the family of John Wilkin deceased, and a few others, with the families of the foregoing, patron- ized the enterprise of Mr. Henkle, and soon after the organization of the society they erected a hewed-log structure of small dimensions, which answered the double purpose of church and school-house. Rev. Andrew Henkle's father, Rev. Paul Henkle, a well known Lutheran minister in the Shenandoah valley, and the successor of the distinguished Rev. General Peter Muhlenberg, of revolutionary fame and memory, had been the re- ligious instructor of some of these families, and of their fathers and mothers. They, therefore, read- ily and joyfully embraced the opportunity pre- sented of having the Gospel preached to them statedly, by a minister of their own faith, and that, too, by the son of the pastor of their parents. Sometime previous Rev. Andrew Henkle had taken charge of the Lutheran church in Somerset, Perry county, and while living there, he, in 1817, organized this church in Franklin, and immediately thereafter was elected pastor, and remained such until 1824, when he resigned.

After his resignation the church remained with-

out a settled minister about two years, but its pul- pit was supplied with considerable regularity by Rev. Peter Schmucker, of Newark, then engaged in secular pursuits, but who answered the calls for ministerial services on the Sabbath; and by Rev. Charles Henkle, of Somerset, a brother of An- drew, who had, at that time, charge of some churches in Perry county.

The Shenandoah valley was very prolific in Lu- therans and Lutheran ministers. Rev. Peter Muh- lenberg was, until 1776, the principal Lutheran minister in that valley, and was, moreover, the son of the founder of the Lutheran church in the United States. In 1776, soon after Lord Dun- more's treachery to the colony of Virginia became manifest, being then in charge of the Lutheran church at Woodstock, he abandoned his pulpit and took the field as a regimental officer of the Virginia line.

Rev. Paul Henkle, father of Andrew and Charles, entered the Shenandoah valley before the close of the last century, and preached there many years. He reached a great age, and continued his ministrations in the pulpit to near the close of his life. He had a large family of sons, all of whom, probably, entered the Lutheran ministry in the Shenandoah valley, except one. Those now re- membered were David, Paul, Andrew, Charles and Ambrose, making, with the father, six in all.

The father of Rev. Peter Schmucker emigrated to this country, and settled in the Shenandoah valley near the commencement of the present century. Three of his sons, George, Nicholas and Peter, there entered the Lutheran ministry.

Nicholas ministered to the same congregation, and from the same pulpit, for a generation at least, which Rev. Peter Muhlenberg had left when he entered the army. The two brothers of Nicholas also preached in the different Lutheran churches of the valley. Rev. S. S. Schmucker and his son, Rev. S. M. Schmucker, who were son and grand- son of George; and Rev. George Schmucker, son of Nicholas, also making six in all, had each charge of Lutheran churches in the valley, which, in the aggregate, ran through a period of many years.

Ministrations from these Shenandoah valley preachers to these Shenandoah valley Christian emigrants of Franklin township, often brought

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vivid impressions of old-time religious services to their minds, and could not well have been other- wise than mutually interesting. Their voices and the voices of those bearing their names, had been heard by these people long before, and here they felt that they were not strangers.

In the fall of 1826, Rev. Amos Bartholomew was called to the church as its pastor, and remained about eleven years. After remaining vacant about a year, Rev. J. Manning became regular pastor, in which capacity he served the church nearly eight years; meanwhile the church edifice, commenced during the pastorate of Mr. Bartholomew, was completed, and has since been occupied. It is neat and commodious. After remaining vacant two years, Rev. Mr. Richart became pastor, and remained two years. He was succeeded in a short time by Rev. G. W. Shafer, who continued the settled minister several years. After the res- ignation of Mr. Shafer, the pulpit was supplied about one year by Rev. D. F. Phillips, and then by Rev. William M: Gilbreath for two years. The latter was succeeded by his brother, Rev. J. L. Gilbreath, in 1854.

The church enjoys a moderate degree of pros- perity. It sustains a prayer meeting, and has con- nected with it a flourishing Sabbath-school.

The first elders of this church were Daniel Motherspaw and George Ernst.

The third, last formed, and only other religious society in this township, is the Christian Union church, organized during the progress of the late Rebellion. It was composed, principally, of those Methodists who held their membership at Ellis chapel, in Franklin, and at Spencer chapel, in Hopewell townships, who did not approve of the attitude of the Methodist Episcopal church on slavery, the war, and collateral questions, or who disapproved of the introduction of those secular matters into the pulpit.

Some of those who actively participated in the establishment of this church, were William Henslee, William Rutledge, John Cochran, Daniel Loughman, Zachariah Rutledge, David Wolf, John Wolf, John Snelling, Samuel Lampton, and Will- iam D. Rutledge.

They erected a neat, substantial church near the township line between Franklin and Hopewell. A Sabbath school is connected with the church. Revs. Benjamin Green and W. Henslee for some years after the organization of the church occupied its pulpit.

In this connection it will be interesting to re- ligious people in the township to know what Mr. Isaac Smucker says in his "Recollections of 1825," regarding the first camp meeting he ever at- tended, and which was in this township:

"A few days after my arrival here, in 1825, I attended a camp meeting held in Franklin township, not far from the large stone mound, some eight miles from Newark. The meeting was held in a pleasant and somewhat romantic locality, near the western termination of the Flint ridge. The weather was de- lightful, the preaching good, and the surrounding and incidents of the meeting had a flavor of freshness and novelty about them that rendered the occasion one decidedly enjoyable.

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History of Licking County, Ohio: Its Past and Present, Part 72

Author: N. N. Hill, Jr. Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Number of Pages: 826

Author: N. N. Hill, Jr.
Publication date: 1881
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 826