History of Licking County, Ohio: Its Past and Present, Part 74

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

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It was in this year that the vanguard of Welsh Hills settlers made its appearance. Deacon The- ophilus Rees had made a purchase of land in this township during the previous year, and had sent Chaplain Jones and others out to view it. A care- fully written history of this settlement appears in another chapter.

David Thomas and David Lewis were the first of the Welsh Hills settlers to enter the township as permanent settlers; but they were soon followed by Theophilus Rees and "Jimmy" Johnson.

Mr. Munson says that these Welsh settlers, the first of them, came in the fall, bought the crops the young men above mentioned had raised, mov- ed into the cabins they vacated, and remained during the winter, beginning their settlement on the Welsh Hills in the spring of 1803.

The coming of Deacon Rees and his colony marks a most important era in the history of the township. He was a man of more than ordinary cultivation, a devoted member of the church, and his decendants are among the most respected of this community at the present time.

On the first of October, 1802, Mrs. Jones gave birth to the first white child born in the township, and on the twenty-second day of the same month, Mrs. Jones died of puerperal fever, aged twenty- eight years. This was the first death of a white person in this township. She was buried in New- ark, on a little hill or hillock (probably an ancient mound,) just west of the market-house, and where the Beckwith family resided. Jones, after the death of his wife, sold his house and improve- ments to one Nash, and removed to the mouth of Fishing creek, below Wheeling, where he married a second time.

John Jones was born in New Jersey, but lived sometime in Pennsylvania, and, subsequently, on the banks of the Ohio river, in the western part of Virginia. The Fords and Benjamin also lived there in 1793. Mr. Jones died in October, 1851, after raising a family at the mouth of Fishing creek.

Nash was in possession and occupying the house at the coming of the Granville company in 1805. . There seems to be a desire to immortalize the first cabin erected in any particular subdivision of territory, and, as far as possible, every other first thing that entered into the germ of the new settle- ments. At a pioneer meeting on New Years day, 1868, several canes made from the logs of this first cabin were presented to the officers of the Pioneer society, and the following is an extract from the address of Captain Munson, made at the time:

"The trees from which these sticks were made were cut and builded into a house before either of you were born. The wood was rolled up into the first white man's house reared in this township. In this house was born the first white child in the township, and here was witnessed the first death struggle. The first sermon preached in the township resounded from its walls; its manifold incidents would alone make a volume. * * These mountings are made from ancient coins plowed up around the old house, and could they but reveal their history. we should be amazed and charmed at its witchery and interest.

The canes were presented to Hon. Isaac Smucker, secretary, and Dr. J. N. Wilson, vice- president of the society.

In 1803, John Duke, James Evans, James James, and Mr. Chadwick settled in this town- ship; Messrs. Evans and James being Welshmen, settled on the Welsh hills. John Duke located near the Raccoon creek, and was elected the first justice of the peace in 1807. Esquire Duke came in 1803, from the vicinity of Wellsburgh, Brooke county, Virginia. His son, S. A. Duke, is now an influential citizen of Arkansas.

The settlers, in 1804, of this township were Thomas Cramer, Simon James, and Peter Cramer, who settled on the Welsh hills. They were from western Virginia.

The third, and a great epoch in the history of this township is marked by the coming of the Granville colony, in the fall of 1805. About the beginning of the present century, many organiza- tions were effected in the east for the purpose of purchasing land and making settlements in the great Northwest Territory and the State of Ohio.

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Among these organizations was the "Licking Land company." The origin of this company, like many other great enterprises in the world's history, it is said, had a love matter at the bottom of it. It is related that a young man offering himself to a young woman, in a neighboring and somewhat rival township, was rejected, and on his way home made a resolve to emigrate from a land where women were so fickle and false, to the new coun- try beyond the Ohio. However this may be, on the twenty-third day of April, 1804, in East Gran- ville, Massachusetts, a meeting was held, at which articles of association were drawn up and signed by thirty-five persons, mostly residents of the towns of Granville, Massachusetts, and Granby, Connect- icut. In the preamble, the objects of the associa- tion were stated to be the purchase of lands in the State of Ohio; the sending of agents to Ohio to explore, to obtain correct information as to quality and situation of lands, price, mode of payment, title, etc. The body of the article makes them a body corporate, with as large powers as could be attained without special legislation, with two arti- cles of reservation: The first forbids a levying of taxes by a vote of the company, unless one-half of the subscribers or corporators should be present ; the second provides that the agreement shall not be binding unless thirty persons shall subscribe to the same. Of the thirty-five persons subscribing to these articles, none survive. Captain Levi Rose, who lived and died at his old home on North street, was the last survivor. By a subse- quent vote of the corporation, the price of mem- bership, which had been eight dollars, was raised to ten dollars. May 10, 1804, the company met and appointed Levi Butler, Timothy Rose and Job Case agents, to go to Ohio to view and pur- chase such lands as would justify a settlement of the company.

On the first day of August, 1804, another meet- ing of the company was held, when forty-four more persons signed the articles of association. Of these none survive. Amos Carpenter dying in Columbus, was, probably, the last.

The agents appointed to view the land came to Ohio in May, 1804, and returned the following September. Their notes of observation taken dur- ing these explorations, and reported to the associ-

ation, show them to have been men of clear heads and sound judgment.

September 24, 1804, a meeting was held, at which a new paper was presented in the nature and character of an article of agreement, in which the subscribers bind themselves, their heirs, executors and administrators to the performance of the sev- eral stipulations set forth in the paper. This is the most concise and explicit, in fact, the most lawyer- like instrument of writing that appears among the various papers of the company. Indeed it should have been such, as everything pertaining to the success of the company depended upon its accu- racy and binding effect. By this article of agree- ment the subscribers bind themselves to become the purchasers of the number of acres of lands set opposite their names. The greatest number of acres taken by one person was one thousand five hundred and the next greatest one thousand. These subscriptions were made by Jesse Munson and James Smith. The average of subscriptions was about two hundred acres each. Levi Butler, Timothy Rose, Job Case, Russel Atwater, Seth Hayes, Noahdiah Holcomb, Solomon Noble, Timothy Spellman, Levi Hayes, Samuel Thrall, Zadoc Cooley, and Cornelius Slocum, by this instrument, were made a committee, or rather a board of trustees, to receive deeds in trust, and to perform certain specific duties recited in the article.

This was an important commission and the trust committed to them was executed with fidelity. Deacon Levi Hayes, who lived on Centerville street, and died in October, 1847, was the last sur- vivor.

Many of the men composing this company were men of mark, who for solidity of judgment and probity of character, would adorn any age. Their history reaches back to the days of the Revolution, when they stood shoulder to shoulder in defence of their country. In the closing scene of that conflict at Yorktown, three of them stood in the ranks of their countrymen, and witnessed that proudest of events, for Americans, the surrender of the British army. Timothy Rose as lieutenant, commanding the left of his company, assisted in the storming of a British redoubt.

Of the one hundred and eight subscribers to

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these articles of agreement on September 21, 1804, in Granville, Massachusetts, none now sur- vive. General Augustine Munson, it is believed, was the last survivor. He was a man of more than ordinary ability and importance in the Gran- ville colony. He was among the first purchasers of land in the township, and lived upon his farm until his death. A period of more than sixty years. He built the first saw-mill in Granville township, and displayed much energy and enter- prise as an iron founder, canal contractor, and con- structor of public works. He rendered efficient military services in the War of 1812; was county commissioner a number of years, and a member of the State legislature from 1822 to 1824, filling all positions of trust with marked fidelity and ability. His son, Captain M. M. Munson, writes as follows regarding his father and other matters of historical interest :

"General Augustine Munson was born in Granville, Massa- chusetts, September 30, 1783. He was the youngest child of Jesse and Mariam Munson. At the age of ten years he car- ried on horseback the first through mail from Schenectady to Fort Erie, the site of the present city of Buffalo. This jour- ney he made through the then wilderness country with no other guide than a pocket compass. At the age of fourteen he was sent to school at the academy in Lenox, where he remained some time, when he was placed under the instruction of the late Dr. Cooley, who kept a select school for young men in Granville, Massachusetts. In 1804, a company was formed in Granville, Massachusetts, called the Licking Land company, for the pur- pose of buying land and effecting a settlement in Ohio. Mun- son was the youngest member who signed the articles of asso- ciation and emigrated with the colony in the fall of 1805, to Granville, Ohio. He was at the sale of the company held in December of that year, and became the purchaser of several lots of land as surveyed and sold by the company. In the year 1806 he built the first saw-mill in the township. It had a ca- pacity of four thousand feet per day. This mill was of vast importance to the new colony, as it furnished the only lumber for building to be had for miles aronnd, and no mill since con- structed has ever done so much to meet the wants of this com- munity. The winter following the coming of the colony sup- plies of flour, salt, etc., had to be brought from Chillicothe and other distant points, and Mr. Munson was generally em- ployed in managing all expeditions in that line. In the years 1806 and 1807 he went to New York and New England to ad- just the unfinished business of the colony in that quarter.

In the years 1808 and 1809 expeditions to the lake for fish and other supplies were undertaken by him, and in the same years a flouring-mill was projected and completed much to the con- venience and independence of the new settlement. During these years he, together with the more gay and festive part of the colony, organized a band of music, and instituted balls and festal assemblies. At the commencement of the war of 1812, this band was mustered in as a regimental band, joining the

regiment of Colonel Cass, and was at the surrender of Hull at Detroit. Captain Levi Rose's company of infantry was surren- dered at the same time, and all came home on parole together.

"Munson was employed in forwarding supplies to General Harrison's army, and continued active in some branch of the service till the treaty of peace was signed in 1815. Coming home from the war he, in company with his brother, Major Jeremiah R. Munson, constructed and put in successful operation the 'Granville furnace.' This enterprise had more to do in bringing trade and traffic to Granville than any one project be- fore or since put on foot. After the furnace began to make blooms he started the 'large works' for the purpose of making wrought iron. This work supplied a want heretofore much felt in this part of the State. The iron in its various forms be- came a metallic currency-a medium of exchange of great value to the settlers.

"The war of 1812 engendered a high military spirit all over the country, and General Munson, and the Granville people were not exempt. Military drills had been in vogue from the first settlement of the township. It now grew in force, and instead of a single company, a regiment was organized, and Munson was elected and commissioned as major at the election in 1815: he was promoted to colonel, and remained in command of the regiment till the fall of 1818, when, in one of the most spirited and exciting contests ever known in this part of Ohio, he was elected brigadier general over Colonel Simons, of Mt. Vernon. So excited were the partizans in the contest, that one side demanded that the rival candidates should decide the contest by a "passage at arms," and it is recorded that General Mun- son did not decline the combat. They were both good swords- men, but both had too good sense to make such fools of them- selves for such an occasion. In 1821-22-23 General Munson was returned to the lower house of the legislature where he took part in the discussion of, and voted for the "Internal Im- provement Measures," then being inaugurated in Ohio.

"In 1825 he became a contractor on the Ohio canal, building the Licking summit, Licking dam, deep cut, eight locks, etc. -all difficult and heavy jobs. These works bore ample testi- mony of his thoroughness and good faith as a contractor on the public works.

"In the session of 1830-31, by his personal effort aud influ- ence, he secured the vote of the members from Licking county for Mr. Ewing for United States senator, thereby putting the right man in the right place, securing to Ohio one of the ablest members the State has ever had in either branch of con- gress. Mr. Ewing, it will be remembered, was elected by one majority. General Munson was a great admirer of Mr. Clay, and when that gentleman came home with his cattle from Eng- land, he visited Kentucky, and purchased some of that and previous importations. He afterwards gave considerable at- tention to the introduction of improved short-horned cattle into Licking county.

"In 1842 he projected and put in operation a lard oil factory which, though he made superior oils, was not a financial suc- cess. The fact of it being too far from the great markets where greases accumulate and can be purchased at an advantage, was the cause of its failure as a remunerative enterprise. From this time on the general spent most of his time on his farm, never, however, losing his interest in all measures and projects that would redound to the advancement and happiness of the whole country. He always kept an open house and a free table : His motto was 'Never breach the laws of hospitality.' Munson,

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on reaching his majority in the fall of 1804, cast his first vote for Jefferson. He was a firm supporter of Mr. Madison's measures in the war of 1812, and stood by the administration of that pure patriot and statesman all through the difficulties and embarrassments that environed it. He voted for Mr. Mon- roe, and also for Mr. Clay, but gave a cordial support to the administration of Mr. Adams who was made President by the action of Congress. At the reorganization of parties or rather the formation of new parties which took place at this time, General Munson took sides with the Whigs, and supported the measures and policy -"the American Policy,"-as he was wont to call it, of that party, so long as it remained a political or- ganization.

"General Munson was never hemmed in by the narrow limits of his own State, or circumscribed by any lines drawn inside of the boundaries of the whole country. He had no sympathy with those who would sectionalize one part of the country against the other, and held in execration him whoever or wheresoever he might be who would raise his parracidal hand against the fair fabric of American constitutional liberty. It was the good for- tune of Clay, Webster and other patriots of their day and generation, who had stood by the country, to die when the sunshine of peace was over the land. Not so with General Munson. After he had grown old and feeble, he saw the dark cloud of rebellion rise and burst in all its fury upon the country; but Heaven generously lengthened his days to see the carnage of blood cease, and behold the dawn that betokened a day of peace and reconciliation. Full of hope, and while the ship of State was still rocking on the troubled waters, he was permitted to close his eyes in death. He died April 12, 1868, in the eighty-fifth year of his age."

The Licking Land company held various meet- ings in Granville, Massachusetts, during the fall and winter of 1804-05.

At a meeting held on the seventh of February, 1805, it was moved "to adjourn to meet the first Monday in December next at nine o'clock A. M., on the Hardy section, purchased by the said com- pany in the State of Ohio." The motion was car- ried by a unanimous vote.

To carry into effect such a resolution, contem- plated a work of no little magnitude. It was the work of moving an entire community by the slow process of team and wagon from the Connecticut valley to the then far western wilderness of Ohio. Those accustomed to steamboat and railroad-car as a means of transit, can form but a feeble conception of the time, labor and fatigue incident to such an undertaking. In the spring of this year a small company was sent forward to survey the land pur- chased, build a saw-mill, clear ground and raise crops to feed the coming emigrants. Regarding the arrangements and derangements, packings and unpackings, partings and departings, the tears of anguish, the hardships and privations of a journey

of so many hundred miles in the then crude con- dition of the roads and means of transit, the reader must draw upon his imagination; but on November 2, 1805, the advance corps of emi- grants, consisting of five families, arrived within the limits of this township. These were followed by daily accessions, so that before the setting in of winter forty-five families, consisting of two hun- dred and thirty-four persons, had arrived.

November 16th (Sabbath), the first divine wor- ship was held. Dr. Little, who for nearly forty years was pastor of the Granville Congregational church, speaking of this meeting, says that although only about one dozen trees had been cut, they held services both forenoon and afternoon.

The novelty of worshipping in the woods, the forest extending hundreds of miles in every direc- tion, the hardships of the journey, the winter set- ting in, the fresh thoughts of home, with all the friends and privileges left behind, and the impres- sions made by their present accommodations com- pared with those they had relinquished, all bore with considerable weight upon their minds, and made the day one long remembered. When they began to sing, the echo of their voices among the trees was so different from what it was in the beau- tiful church they had left forever, that they could not restrain their tears. The voices of part of the choir were for a season suppressed with emotion.

An incident in this connection is related of Deacon Theophilus Rees, who two or three years previously had settled on the Welsh Hills. As this incident appears on page 107 of this work, it need not be repeated here.

The committee for the company had purchased seven sections of land, comprising about twenty- eight thousand acres. Three of these sections- the second, called the Wells, the third, called the Hardy, and the fourth, called the Stanberry sec- tion-had been re-surveyed by James Coe, the company surveyor, into one hundred acre lots, in the spring and summer before the colony arrived. These sections comprised the southeast, southwest, and northwest quarters of what is now Granville township. Mr. Coe had, agreeably to the instruc- tions of the committee, laid out the town as near to the spot where these three sections cornered as the face of the country would admit. This state-

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ment reveals the why and the wherefore of the lo- cation of the town of Granville.

According to the terms of the article of associa- tion, a sale by public auction, to the highest bid- der, of farm lots in the first division, was held on the eleventh day of December. A consideration of this sale may be interesting as an index of the far-seeing judgment and moneyed abilities of the bidders. Their homes in New England had passed into the hands of strangers, and themselves strangers in a strange land, with but the surveyor's plats and maps before them, while the lands repre- sented were in a dense wilderness with nothing but the axe-man's blaze to guide them to their future homes.

The auctioneer commenced: "How much is bid for the first choice." Every one in his own mind had made his selections; but the quandary was, how many were of the same mind? For once in their lives it was not desirable that all should be of the same way of thinking. After several cries by the auctioneer the bidding commenced, and the first choice of the whole, twelve thousand acres in this division, was struck off to Timothy Spellman for one hundred and thirty-eight dollars. He took lot thirteen, range three. This lot is generally known as the Major Case farm. It includes all the village north of Broadway and east of the Granger house, includ- ing the Female college, the Union school-house grounds and Mr. Price's farm down to and includ- ing Odell's flouring-mill. Mr. Spellman, with his courage now up, bid in four more, making the five first choices of an aggregate of seven hundred and thirty-six dollars and then went home, and it is said, slept none that night, not from overjoy at his good fortune, but from thinking he had paid too deer. The amounts paid for the next forty choices ranged higher than the first. The highest sum paid was for the forty-fourth choice, taken by Job Case for three hundred and forty-four dollars. He took lot twenty, range three. It lies one mile west of town and is known as the William Sherman farm. A few lots were taken without any premium paid for choice. Lot twenty-five, range three, was awarded to Ebenezer Cheney for nothing, there being no competition and no bidding. He was awarded the lot for the asking. It is the east lot

of Mr. Henry Reed's farm; the little stream called Cheney run, meandering through it.

The first division of lots having been disposed of, the proprietors proceeded to sell the four other sections, which were located in St. Albans, Har :- ford and Bennington townships.

The town plat, as surveyed, containing an aggre gate of one hundred and seventeen acres, was sub- divided into blocks and then into lots.

Almost every colonist was the owner of a lot. and most of the houses built and improvements made during the first winter were confined to the town plat, so that by the spring of 1806, Granville had assumed the metropolitan appearance of a small Indian village.

A house for the double purpose of school and church, was one of the first built. A school was taught during the winter, and worship was regu- larly held both forenoon and afternoon of each Sabbath. The colony had organized a church previous to leaving New England. The meeting at which this organization was effected, was held in East Granville, Massachusetts, May 1, 1805. The official record is in rather quaint English, and is as follows:

"We, the subscribers, ministers of the church of Christ, he- ing at East Granville, a number of individuals, serious persons. belonging to Granville, Massachusetts, and Granby, in Connec. ticut, and being about to remove to Granville. in the State of Ohio, requested to be formed into a regular church state pre- vious to their departure. We attended to their request and formed them accordingly, and recommend them tothe care and favor of the Great Head of the church. Likewise, at their re- quest, we attended while they chose Timothy Rose and Lev Hayes for their deacons, and Samuel Everett, jr., their clerk. [Signed]

AARON CHURCH, NATHANIEL GAYLOR. OZIUS ELLS, TIMOTHY M. COOLEY, JOEL BIRKER, ROGER HARRINGTON."

The confession of faith, the covenant and articles of discipline adopted by the church, are about the same as were in general acceptation and use in the Calvinistic churches of New England, of that day. The male members present and signing the articles of agreement were Samuel Everett. Israel Wells, Joseph Simmel, Timothy Rose, Ros- well Graves, Job Case, Samuel Thrall, Levi Hughes, Huron Rose, Samuel Everett, jr., Silas Winchel, and James Thrall.

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History of Licking County, Ohio: Its Past and Present, Part 74

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