History of Licking County, Ohio: Its Past and Present, Part 81

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

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David Weaver, William Taylor, William Hays, and others, have ministered to the church at different times. At present it is not strong in numbers, having twenty-five or thirty members. They have never had a church building, and no regular ser- vices are held. The children attend the union Sunday-school, which has a membership of more than one hundred.

Three terriffic tornados have passed through the township from west to east, in parallel lines, all within the space of less than two miles, and each occupying a uniform space of half a mile or less. The time the first occurred will probably never be ascertained, nor can its appearance or the full ex- tent of its destruction be known. It passed through the center of the township, over the site of the present village of Hartford. Sixty years ago the belt of timber growing here was small, and had every appearance of a second growth. J. Johnson, one of the Welsh pioneers in Gran- ville township, was acquainted with this belt, or storm-track, many years before this, and when it was a perfect thicket of undergrowth. No marks of that storm are now perceptible. The second tornado occurred May 18, 1825, and was known as the "Burlington storm," because of the greater damage to the people of that township. It is fully described in the chapter on Burlington town- ship. It passed through Hartford township, nearly two miles south of the track of the former storm, its belt of devastation being about the same. The third tornado occurred in June, 1835. This storm passed between the two former. It was terriffic, but not so severe as the others.

The following gentlemen have served as justices of the peace in this township: Elijah Durfey, Anson R. Thrall, Revel Everett, James Jordon, William Eddlebute, Abial G. Graves, E. D. An- drews, A. B. Clark, A. C. Foote, T. G. Moore, I .. P. Rose, D. M. Heath, B. Anderson, Simeon Avery, Israel Foster, Joel Mackerell, Adam Frank, J. C. Conklin, John Lemon, Enos Peters, James Conard, H. S. Overturf, Alvah Hatch.

Many of the citizens of this township were well educated, coming, as they did, from the land of schools and noted institutions of learning, and they felt that they should have something better than common schools, in which their children ¢

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could be educated. This feeling culminated in the establishment of

HALCYON ACADEMY which was incorporated about 1850, under the general laws of Ohio for such institutions.

Among the stockholders were J. W. Seymour, William Spencer, Charles Spencer, Elisha Wood- ruff, William Winslow, J. H. Buel, E. C. Buel, P. C. Allen, C. L. Graves, L. J. Wiley, F. Scovill, Adam Franks and many others. The shares were ten dollars each, and nearly one hundred were taken. The materials for the building were fur- nished by the individual stockholders. E. C. Buel furnished the shingles; H. Carpenter and W. Winslow, the walnut lumber, and others, different materials. Nimrod Payne was the builder.

George L. Mills was the first regular teacher em- ployed, and a graduate of Yale college; a man of rare attainments, perfectly familiar with the duties and requirements of the school-room, loving his work, and loved by his working students. Mr. Mills remained in the school some three years, when he removed to Newark, and was engaged there in the city schools, and was also for some time one of the county examiners.

In the summer of 1855, Mr. Mark Sperry, a teacher of more than ordinary ability, and living in Hartford, was solicited to go into the academy and open school for a fall term. He did so; and his success was such that he remained there until the close of the fall term in 1861. During Mr. Sperry's teaching more than eight hundred pupils were enrolled in the various terms. Especial instruction was given to those preparing to teach, and it was said by Mr. Mills that the candidates coming from Halycon academy were better pre- pared for examination than from any other school in the county.

Mr. Sperry was born in New Hampshire in 1818, and was educated in the common schools of that section until arriving at majority, when he spent several terms in the academy at Claremont, and one or two terms in the academy at Chester, Ver- mont. He emigrated to Ohio in the fall of 1842, and in 1843, married Lucy A., oldest daughter of J. W. Durant, then of Hartford, but formerly of Springfield, Vermont. At the close of the fall term in 1861, Mr. Sperry made active preparations

for the winter term, but on visiting the camp of the Seventy-sixth regiment at Newark, and seeing how slowly the regiment was being filled, and anxious to do his part in putting down the Rebellion, gave his name as the first private in the formation of company K. Mr. Sperry was chosen a lieutenant in company K, and went into the field with the regiment, never leaving it until the spring of 1863, when his health failing, he resigned and came home. In the spring of 1864, Mr. Sperry removed to Cumberland county, Illinois, where he has since remained, spending each winter in the school- room.

At the close of Mr. Sperry's teaching in Halcyon, he disposed of his interests in the property to J. W. Seymour. The school was continued with in- different success for several years, under various instructors, and finally passed into the hands of district number one, and is now the home of the town schools.

Mr. A. B. Clarke, now an honored citizen of Newark, formerly a resident of Hartford, and in this year (1880) a candidate for Congress on the Republican ticket, writes the following regarding matters of historical interest in this township:

"The year 1837 is memorable as the time when, in many portions of the west, the attempt was made to prevent any discussion of the question of slavery, and to repress all associations having the character of abolition societies. Hartford town- ship secured for itself an unenviable notoriety for the foolish part it played in that drama. Two peo- ples with widely different ideas of life, its respon- sibilities and duties, had already made their homes there. The one traced its history to Plymouth rock; the other to Jamestown. One believed in the equality of all men before the law; the other in class legislation. One regarded character as the highest test of manhood; the other looked upon slavery as a divine institution, and the white man's right to "wollop a nigger" as an inalienable one. Between the two there was an 'irrepressible conflict.'

"The first settlers of this township-those who came in 1812-14-were mainly of New England origin. Others from the same source came in from year to year, until, in 1818, their numbers had so increased that a Congregational church was

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formed; and five years later, a hewed-log building was erected, which served the double purpose of a school-house and a place for worship. About the year 1835, there was another and considerable accession to their numbers, and these also were of New England origin, and brought with them the Puritan idea of the worth of the church and the school; and no sooner were they fairly established in their new homes than, in conjunction with those who had preceded them, they set about the work of strengthening the church and organizing an in- dependent or select school, -- one with better facili- ties and offering better advantages than the com- mon school of that day. They had no building suitable for the purpose, but the church had al- ready erected a comfortable frame building as a place of worship, and this was at once opened for the school. They had already called a man from Oberlin college to fill their pulpit, and teachers were also obtained from the same place for their school. This was maintained for a number of years by voluntary contributions on the part of those interested in the work of education, and the liberality manifested was highly complimentary to the intelligence and character of all concerned. Many a boy and girl went out from that old build- ing not ill-equipped for the work of life; and some of them, to-day, although the snows that never melt are on their locks, remember with infinite de- light the lessons conned there, and the companions whom they loved and with whom they labored. They were a goodly company, and although widely separated now (some have gone to the "other shore"), many of them are still bearing an honor- able part in the world's work. With this brief mention of the character of this people and the work in which they were engaged, it is no matter for surprise that the sentiments promulgated by the early abolitionists found here some warm sup- porters. But not far away were unlearned and uncompromising opponents.

"The western portion of the township had been mainly settled-beginning as early as 1818- 19 -- by immigrants from Maryland and Virginia. They were men of limited means and more limited culture (many of them were unable to read), and these had brought with them, as already indicated, the southern prejudice against the negro, and any .

thought of lifting him up and making him the equal of one of their own number, was extremely obnoxious; and they even regarded the advocacy of such doctrines as a crime not to be tolerated. Free thought and free speech, for others formed no part of their political or religious creed. When, therefore, it was made known that the Rev. Mr. R. Robinson, a well-known abolitionist, had accepted an invitation to deliver an anti-slavery lecture in the Congregational church, these men resolved that no such lecture should be delivered, and, on the day fixed upon for that purpose, assembled in large numbers, took him from the pulpit by force, dragged him through the streets of the village, and treated him in a most brutal manner. Here, also, in March, -1837, the Hon. Samuel White, at that time a resident of the county and subsequently a gentleman of great political prominence, was rode on a rail because of his anti-slavery sentiments.

"The announcement having been made that Mr. White would lecture on a day named, these men and their sympathizers in the adjoining townships, assembled by hundreds to prevent it. Mr. White, aware of their coming and their intentions, re- mained out of town. The mob, however, were soon informed of his whereabouts, and at once proceeded to the country, where he was stopping, marched him to the village, where they required him to get astride a wooden horse, prepared for that purpose, and then several men lifted the horse thus laden on their shoulders and marched forth and back along the principal street of the village. A proposition was then made to black him, and a dish of lampblack and oil was. procured for that purpose. Up to this point in the proceedings White had shown little temper, as any resistance on his part seemed useless. There are conflicts, perhaps, in which one may chase a thousand, but it is doubtful if this was one of that nature. He could hardly hope, therefore, to overcome a mob of four or five hundred men by physical resistance. When, however, the blacking was brought forward, White promptly notified those who had him in charge that they could not put it on him while he was alive, and that somebody would be hurt if they attempted it. Thereupon some of the more dis- creet of the rioters concluded that the matter had been carried far enough, and White was permitted

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to depart; but not without the assurance that he must not at any time in the future attempt to spread his abolition sentiments in that locality.

"On the same day William Spencer, a citizen of the township, was set upon and brutally beaten; and Knowles Linnel and Charles Gunn, the latter now a resident of Granville township, were shame- fully maltreated. A half dozen or more men were striking Spencer at one time, or as nearly so as pos- sible, and the only resistance he made or could well make was an effort to escape from their clutches and blows. And yet while he was being beaten in this brutal manner, and the blood was streaming from the gashes cut in his head by the blows struck by these chivalrous defenders of slav- ery, he fearlessly asserted over and over again,- "I am an abolitionist, I am an abolitionist;" and he was the type of man that had the grit to say it, and say it to the end.

"There were others who only escaped similar treatment by remaining at their own homes. Prominent among these were John W. Seymour, Strong Clark, Anson Clark, and Elisha Woodruff. Threats were freely indulged in as against these men, but it was deemed rather hazardous to attack them in their homes.

"This mob seemed more like a clan of unloosed demons, fresh from the realms of Pluto, than like men. The devil of ignorance was loose, and brutality ruled the hour. Oaths and imprecations fell from all lips, and curses were hurled at all men suspected of a taint of abolitionism. And for months thereafter bands of these men, from six to a dozen or more in number, would visit the vil- lage from time to time, and on their return home in the night hours, when passing the house of an abolitionist, would discharge their fire-arms, fre- quently shooting through the gate, and meanwhile hooting and yelling like so many savages. This probably was designed as a sort of terrorizing pro- cess, such as has been practiced of late years in some portions of the south. Anonymous letters of a threatening character were frequently sent to the abolitionists, or were dropped where they

would be likely to find them. Some of these are still retained by a younger generation as interest- ing relics of a barbarous time and people.

"The abolitionists at that time were few in num- ber, but they were men who had the courage of their convictions. Prudently but persistently they continued their work. They believed that truth was mightier than error, and never doubted that brain was more than a match for brawn in a pro- longed contest. And they were right. Scarcely more than a score of years had passed away be- fore Hartford became as noted for its literary cul- ture and its advocacy of all rights for all men as it had formerly been for its ignorance and bru- tality. Time has had its revenges.

"In this brief sketch of events enacted more than two score years ago, we have forborne the mention of the name of any man who took part in that foolish raid against the rights of humanity and the freedom of speech. It is only fair to say that many of them soon saw their mistake, and were heartily ashamed of the fact that they had been participants in so scandalous an affray. Indeed, they ultimately became earnest workers for the cause which at one time they had contemptuously derided. Let us not judge any of them too harshly, for there is no one of them who now feels any pride in the part he played in that riot. There were other men than those who were responsible; men who had enjoyed far larger opportunities and occupied conspicuous and influential positions in society ; men who, if they did not do as brutal a work, were in no less degree the obsequious and cowardly servants of the slave power. They stood in our pulpits and wrote the leaders for our news- papers. Of course, there were some honorable exceptions. But these last two score years have witnessed an immense gain to manhood."

"Humanity sweeps onward, where to-day the martyr stands, On the morrow crouches Judas with the silver in his hands; Far in front the cross stands ready and the crackling faggots burn,

While the hooting mob of yesterday in silent awe return To glean up the scattered ashes into history's golden urn."

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CHAPTER LV.

HARRISON TOWNSHIP.

TOPOGRAPHY-INDIANS AND MOUND BUILDERS-ORGANIZATION-FIRST SETTLERS AND SETTLEMENTS-" HOG WARD "- THE GREAT WOLF HUNT-SQUIRREL HUNTS-KIRKERSVILLE-KIRKERSVILLE STATION-CHURCHES.

"Our father rode again his ride, On Licking river's wooded side; Sat down again to moose and samp In trappers hut and. Indian camp; . *

* * Again he heard the violin play Which led the village dance away, And mingled in its merry whirl The grandam and the laughing girl."

THIS is a township of very fine farming land, T its entire surface being capable of cultivation, and a large portion of it now under a high state of cultivation. It was primarily covered with a dense growth of hard wood timber-oak, beech, sugar, ash, hickory, etc. There was some swamp lands in places, but no prairie, and the pioneers were compelled to cut away the trees to get to their lands, and clear away the timber before they were able to erect their cabins. It is watered principally by South fork and its tributaries. This creek passes across the southern part of the township, its course being generally southeast, from Pataskala to Kirkersville, passing on its way through a small portion of Etna township. Its principal tributary in the township is Grass lick, which rises in the higher lands of the northern part and runs south near the center of the township, entering the main stream near Kirkersville. Grass lick sends out its tributaries at short intervals on its way. Several other small streams and brooks rise in the town- ship and flow southward into South fork. These streams are divided from the tributaries of the Raccoon by an irregular ridge or body of high lands in the northern part of the township. The main tributary of South fork on the south is Bloody run, which comes in from Fairfield county, running a little west of north and joining South fork at Kirkersville. The National road crosses the

small part of the township in which Kirkersville is situated. The Central Ohio railroad passes across the township, near its center, from east to west, nearly in a bee-line, with but one station, Kirkers- ville, within the township limits.

The Mound Builders were the first inhabitants in the shape and form of human beings to occupy this territory, so far as known. A few evidences of their works yet remain, though disappearing through the operations of time and the plow. Some years after the first settlement of the town- ship two small mounds were plainly visible on what is known as "Refugee road," about half a mile north of Kirkersville. They were probably twenty or thirty feet in diameter at the base and four or five feet in height. One of these has en- tirely disappeared, being plowed down in building the road, but the other is yet visible. There is lit- tle doubt that many others existed in this direction, but from one cause or another they have mostly or entirely disappeared.

Indians occupied the territory in limited num- bers for hunting, fishing, and trapping, at the date of the first white occupation, but no permanent camp of these sons of the forest was known to have an existence within the township limits. It was an excellent hunting ground for both whites and Indians, the forest being thick with under- brush, forming excellent hiding places for wild ani- mals of every description. The Indians who hunted here were, probably, those who had a per- manent camp at Raccoon town, at the head- waters of the Raccoon creek. An Indian trail, not much traveled, passed across the township in a northwesterly direction, along South fork, probably used by the Raccoontown Indians in their journeys to "Little" and "Big" lake (now the

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Reservoir), which no doubt they visited for the purpose of fishing.

This township was taken from the territory in- cluded in Union township, and organized in 1816. In addition to the five miles square, a strip of land two and a half miles long from north to south, and one and a half miles wide was taken from the Refugee tract and added to its southeast corner, giving the township an outlet into Fairfield county. This addition contains the village of Kirkersville on the National road.

The origin of the settlements of Lima and Har- rison townships are so nearly contemporary that the history of one is the history of the other. The first settlements made were on the head- waters of the South fork of Licking, near where the village of Pataskala now stands. Mr. Hat- field, in the winter of 1805-6, "slashed" a small piece of ground near W. H. Mead's sheep shed, for browse for his cattle. That spot was never cleared for cultivation, and is now covered with a beautiful grove of timber of second growth. After building his cabin near the line of the rail- road where it passes this grove, and remaining a few years, he disappeared from the settlement and · nothing further was heard of him.

The next settler was Mr. Henry Drake, who came in 1805, from western Pennsylvania to Lan- caster, Ohio, and to Harrison with his young fam- ily in 1806, building his cabin on land since owned by the heirs of the late Joseph Baird. Mr. Drake raised quite a large family here.

The next settlers were John Evans, Thomas Geary, John Piatte, and William Craige. Evans built a cabin on the land since owned by Joseph Atkinson; Geary, on land since owned by Abra- ham Baird; Piatte on land since owned by Abra- ham Miller, and Craige, on land since owned by Jesse Horn; his cabin being on the southwest field of Mr. Horn's farm.

The children of these settlers attended their first school within the present boundary of Lima township. This first school was taught by Miss Cubberly, in a double log cabin that stood on the ground now occupied by the steam grist-mill, near the village of Pataskala.

A little further down the creek Levin Randall and his brother Caleb, settled on land since owned

by the heirs of William Stone, so early that they were considered neighbors of those above men tioned. Esquire Randall performed the first mar- riage ceremony in the settlement between Mr Richmond and Miss Cubberly.

In 1814, Philip Wagy moved from Fairfield county and bought out John Piatte on the Milk: farm. Mr. Wagy raised a large family, most c: whom were daughters

Joseph Wilcox, from Herkimer county, New York, settled on "Black's" road in 1814, an: raised a family of four sons and two daughter- His nearest neighbor must have been William D. Gibbons, who settled one and a half miles north- west of him, some years earlier, but at what date : not known. Mr. Gibbons had been employed by a large land holder (a Mr. Backus, from Blenner- hasset's Island, and an accomplice of Aaron Bur ?: as early as 1806-7, to deaden, or girdle, the trees on eighteen hundred acres of land. To comper .- sate him for his labor he was to receive, and dic receive, one hundred acres of land in fee simpk. The whole of this deadening was in this township.

In 1815 or 1816, according to Colonel J. C. Alward's recollection, his father, Samuel Alward. came from New Jersey and settled on the farm where the colonel still resides. Their nearest neighbors at that time were, on the west, Captain John Herron, two and a half miles; east, William Gibbons, the same distance, and northeast, Jesse Munson, about three miles. Mr. Alward was at that time about fifty years of age. Being very industrious and economical, he succeeded in se- curing for each of his six sons a landed home. He died December 3, 1842, at the age of seventy- five. His wife survived him, and died in 186°, aged eighty-six.

In 1816, Mr. Joseph Wells and John Dennison came and settled in the southern part of the town- ship, on lands purchased of Hon. William Stan berry, of Newark. Mr. Dennison remained or. his farm until 1839, when he sold and removed West. Mr. Wells remained on his farm until hi- death in 1863, and raised a large family. In ISID or 1817, Joseph Pond settled on a farm in the southeast corner of the township.

Some advance was made in settling this town. ship between 1820 and 1830, but between 1830

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and 1840 it rapidly filled up. The building of the National road was no doubt the cause of this. It was in this decade that many came and settled on the road running north and south through the township. It was called "York street," as the set- tlers were mostly from New York State. Isaiah Nichols, Henry and Charles Butler and Thomas Munsell, in the northern part of the township, and Jacob Artz in the southern part, erected cabins and settled between the years 1820 and 1830.

In early days a large portion of this township was owned by Rathburn, Backus, Hogg, and other non-residents, and their lands remaining uncleared, made an excellent range for wild game, as well as hogs that would stray away from settlements in different parts of the county. One season the hogs of 'Samuel Thrall, Roswell Graves and oth- ers wandered away in the wilderness of Harrison township, as they were wont to do, also into Union and Licking townships. John Ward, who owned and lived on a farm five and one-half miles west of Granville, on the Columbus road, feeling in need of pork, concluded to supply his larder from these woods. Selecting hogs that were in excellend condition, he shot down several. The word soont reached Granville, and those having swine in the woods visited Mr. Ward and found him dressing the game he had secured. Unfortunately for Ward, people in those times were in the habit of putting ear-marks and other marks on their stock before turning them into the commons. Samuel Thrall found, on the ears of two or three of the hogs killed, his mark. Ward was arrested, tried and found guilty of stealing hogs. There was strong talk of a public whipping, but better coun- sels prevailed ; nevertheless, a mark was made on the man as indelible as lash could make, by the community, in naming him "Hog Ward."

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History of Licking County, Ohio: Its Past and Present, Part 81

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