History of Licking County, Ohio: Its Past and Present, Part 83

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

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"That the Mound Builders once occupied the Flint ridge admits of no doubt; their still existing works of which there ant some eight or ten in number, albeit some of them have been il- most obliterated by the plow, furnish ample proof. They are all composed of earth except one, which was constructed of flint stones; and they are all either sepulchral or signal mounds. varying in height from five feet to fifteen feet, and in diameter from ten feet to a hundred feet. Some of them have beer. opened and found to contain the usual deposits of ashes, cha !- coal, bones, skeletons, pottery (in fragments), and some mound builders' implements. In two of them were found shell beads. stone axes, and arrow-heads. One of the signal mounds, or mounds of observation, says Mr. William Anderson, an intel- ligent and enthusiastic archæologist, formerly a resident of the ridge, commands a view of another some five miles distant to the southwest, and he states that from said mound (which is also one of observation), he followed the line of signal mounds to the Ohio river, at a point in Meigs county. The flint mound was, on exploration, ascertained to be of the sepulchral ciass, two skeletons being found within it, together with some beaudis and mica in sheets, eight by ten inches in size. The beads were made of marine shells, such as are found in the Gulf of Mexico. with few of river mussel, pierced for the cord or string.

"Of lines of circumvallation, there are several circular en- closures, and one four-sided figure (parallelogram). Their wal's vary in height from two feet to five feet, and in diameter from thirty feet to one hundred feet. The banks of one of them was ascertained to be composed, in part, of stone. Wl.en. openings occur in the enclosures, they are on the east side.

"It has been long known (says Colonel Charles Whittleser. in Historical Tract. No. 5. page 36), that a flint bed existed co Flint ridge, that had been extensively quarried in ancien: times, the hundreds of old pits, some of them twenty fett deep, and covering more than a hundred acres, bear testimony to the extent of the labors of the Mound Builders here. These pits or "wells," as they are provincially called, are partially filled with water, and are surrounded by broken fragments of flint stones that had undoubtedly been rejected by those who attempted, but failed to shape them into implements, for only clear and homogeneous pieces could be wrought into knives and arrow or spear-points. . With what tools and appliances the ancients wrought such extensive quarries, has not yet been settled. This flint, continues Colonel Whittlesey, is of a gravish white color, with cavities of brilliant quartz crystals. It appears the stones were sorted and partially chipped into shape, on the ground, after which they were carried great distances over the country as an article of traffic. Many acres of ground are now covered with flint chips, the result of this trimming process The business of manufacturing arrow-points, scrapers, knives, spears, axes, wedges and other implements, was doubtless a trade among the Mound Builders, as the making of some of them, at least, is known to have been among the Indians. In- deed, that branch of manulactures' (the making of flint knives,

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spears and arrow-points), is now flourishing among the Digger Indians of California, who in their mental and moral develop- ment fairly represent the diluvial cave-dwellers. There is a strong probability that all the pointed and sharp-edged articles made of flint were, after being wrought into their general form, brought to completion and given their sharp point or edge, by violent pressure, that is, by the use of the thumb stones. Col. Whittlesey, than whom there is no higher authority on this point, thinks that flint knives, spears, and arrow-points were made and used more extensively by the Red men than by the Mound Builders, for the reason that the latter, being agricul- turists and probably a pastoral people, had less frequent occa- sion to use them than the former, who were more given to the chase and to war. Both, however, undoubtedly used them more or less as hunters and in their amusements.

The late Colonel J. W. Foster, an eminent scientist, and dis- tinguished as the learned author of "Pre-Historic Races of the United States," says that the deposit on the Flint ridge is in the form of a chert, often approaching to chalcedony and jas- per in external characters, and that it afforded an admirable material for arrow heads. From the abundance of flint chip- pings he thought this locality was evidently [much resorted to and its deposits extensively wrought into various implements, and largely utilized by both the Mound Builders and Indians. These were his conclusions after tolerably thorough explorations of the ridge more than forty years ago, while a member of the first geological corps of Ohio.

' Here the ancient arrow-maker Made his arrow-heads of quartz rock- Arrow-heads of chalcedony, Arrow-heads of chert and jasper -- Smoothed and sharpened at the edges, Hard and polished, keen and costly.'

'Dr. Hildreth, in his report submitted to the legislature of Ohio, in 1838, says, 'that from a remote period the Glint ridge, which he had just had under examination, had furnished a valu- able material to the aboriginal inhabitants for the manufacture of knives, spears and arrow-heads. How extensively it had been worked for these purposes may be imagined from the al- most countless numbers of excavations and pits yet remaining from whence they dug the quartz; experience having taught them that the rock recently dug from the earth could be split with much greater facility than that which had been exposed to the weather.'

" The American Antiquarian society of Worcester, Massachu- setts, in 1818, accepted for publication, an elaborate paper from Caleb Atwater, esq., of Ohio, descriptive of western antiqui- ties, in which a page was devoted to the Flint ridge. He made mention of its hundreds of pits, or 'wells,' some of which be- ing then (sixty-two years ago), more than twenty feet deep, giv- ing the opinion that they were manifestly not dug, whether by the Mound Builders or Indians, or both, to procure water, either fresh or salt, nor in pursuit of the precious metals, but to secure a softer and more workable quartz, or flint, than was present on the surface, for manufacture into spear-heads, tnives, and arrow-points. And on that point there is now but ittle difference of opinion. It may be observed that the exca- ations above mentioned date back to a period anterior to the ime of the first settlement of the country by the white race.

"Professor Read, on page 354, of the third volume of the Geology of Ohio,' observes that 'any one traversing the lint ridge for the first time, would be surprised to find such a

deposit on such a geological horizon. It simulates very accu- rately the broken-up debris of a vertical dike, the fragments often covered with perfect crystals of quartz, the rock itself be- ing highly crystalline and often translucent. It is something of a puzzle,' he continues, 'to understand how such a deposit is found in a series of undisturbed and unmodified sedimentary rocks. The adjacent surfaces of two blocks of the chert are often found covered with quartz crystals of considerable size, as thoroughly interlocking with each other as if one were the cast and the other the mould.' The learned professor seems to be at a loss to imagine conditions which would spread such a de- posit over the floor of a sea or any other body of water, but inclines to the opinion that a substitution of silicious matter deposited from solution, in the place of a soluble limestone previously deposited, is the most plausible view of the case.

"Heaps or piles of flint chippings, composed of unworkable or broken pieces, and of imperfect, half-finished and spoiled 'implements, found in various localities remote from Flint ridge, and not in the vicinity of any known deposit of that material, but exactly corresponding in quality with that on the ridge, raises the presumption that considerable of the flint quarried there was carried away and manufactured elsewhere. Much of it, however, as the quantity of chips around the quarries indi- cate, was doubtless put into' shape there.

"Mr. Anderson, of whom I have already made mention, several years ago, explored and further excavated quite a num- ber of the pits or "wells" on the ridge, and reported finding some stone axes, flint disks, and some balls, apparently well- worn, made of greenstone. More careful, thorough and exten- sive exploration of the pits or "wells" of the Fiint ridge would undoubtedly result in giving us much more information than we now possess, as to the character of implements used, and the modes of mining practiced there, by the earlier races, who- ever they were, and whenever they made these excavations on the ridge.

"Some modern excavations have been made on Flint ridge, by individuals and associations, to find out what the ancient diggers were after, and some of them also prospected for lead, silver and gold, but without valuable results.

"It is the province of ethnology to tell us about the races of mankind that have occupied the Flint ridge, particularly of the pre-historic race or races. In pre-historic times the Mound Build- ers, perhaps for many ages, occupied the ridge, but they have left us no history. Their works are their history. They proba- bly had no written language, or at least no language brought to such a state of perfection as to have been employed in writing their history. They were probably Mongolians and reached the American continent by crossing Behring's Straits, or by way of the Aleutian Islands, on our northwest coast; or they may have reached our continent by way of the Atlantic ocean as the Northmen did at the close of the tenth century; or as Madoc, the Welsh navigator did, in 1170, A. D .; and as Columbus did in 1492, A. D .; or as some later navigators did. And there is another theory, and it is not an unreasonable one, that is, that the Mound Builders were an indigenous race, or were descended from the Toltecs of Mexico, and therefore a continuation of one, and hence, in either case, were 'natives and to the manor born.

"But there were no insurmountable difficulties in reaching this continent from any of the other quarters of the globe. Our northwest coast can now be reached in summer, in small sailing vessels, and in winter on the ice, the distance across be- ing only thirty-six miles. Moreover there is reason to think

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that Behring's Strait was once an isthmus, and if so, the jour- . ney from Asia to America was altogether practicable.

. "We know that the Mound Builders once held Flint ridge, and we know of no earlier occupants there. . They there built mounds and enclosures for varions purposes heretofore desig- nated. They probably cultivated the soil; were more agricul- turists than hunters or warriors; perchance had flocks and herds; made flint arrow-points and spear-heads on the ridge, as well as other implements, also ornaments, and probably pot- tery, too. All that we know of them is gathered from their works which still remain. They once occupied the ridge, built some works there, and have disappeared. We do not know, with certainty, where they came from (if they were not natives), when and how they came, when and how they happened to drop out of sight, whether by war, pestilence or famine, or by a gradual, slow, southwestern emigration movement, ultimately reaching Mexico and suffering absorption there by an existing and dominant race; or meeting with the possible destiny of ul- timately coming within the domain of history as Toltecs or Aztecs, or some other ancient people, once of pre-historic times in Mexico or Central America; or whether they degenerated into barbarians, and had for their successors and lineal de- scendants the North American Indians that have roamed in savagery over our woods and prairies during the last three cen- turies, and perhaps much longer.

"Considered physically, intellectually and morally, the Mound Builders probably held an intermediate position between the Caucasians and the most civilized portion of Mongolians above them, and the uncivilized inhabitants of the interior of the Malay peninsula below them.

"The Mound Builders were undoubtedly a numerous people, and if numerous of necessity an agricultural people; a people of some mechanical skill, a people who had probably estab. lished a strong government by which they were readily held in subjection; a people of some mathematical and engineering knowledge, a superstitious people given to sun worship, and to the offering of animal and sometimes of human sacrifices. Reasons can be given for each of the above expressed opin" ions, but I will not occupy space for that purpose; moreover, those reasons will naturally suggest themselves to every one who has carefully examined the subject. For a more elaborate presentation of matters pertaining to this ancient race, see . Ohio Statistics for 1877,' pages 15-27.

"The Indians were doubtless later occupants of the Flint ridge than the Mound Builders. They strolled in idleness and worthlessness, perchance sometimes stealthily, and again in fierce savagery over the ridge, probably for centuries, engaged alternately in war, hunting, and in making flint spears and ar_ row-heads, and finally gave up the contest for supremacy in the interest of barbarism, and sullenly, reluctantly yielded to the irresistible influences and onward march of the civilization of the nineteenth century, conscious that they could maintain the contest no longer."

In the chapters on Geology and Archaeology, further reference is made to Flint ridge.

The chestnut and other growths peculiar to mountain regions abound on Flint ridge, and the oak, in different varieties, prevails in other por- tions of Hopewell. The land is of the class re-

garded as hilly, but it is for the most part prod: tive

No large water courses are found in Hopewe. yet springs are not rare, and rivulets are course, their way through all parts of the township.

On the plat of the original survey, this town is in the first tier of townships, and tenth range.

It was first settled about 1805 or 1806. WE liam Hull, Isaac Farmer, Samuel Pollock, Edwar Hersey, John Bartholomew, Jacob Humm. Thomas Hummell, Timothy Gard, James Gia gow, Isaac Davis, John, Charles, George and Sam uel B. Hull, Thomas Demoss, George Kreg". Daniel Bowman, Abraham Bennett, Samuel Far- mer, William Willis, Andrew Livingston, Bhe Wright, Alexander, Charles, and Zachariah Shiv. Archibald Kelso, and the Gibbons, were early se lers.

The township was organized in 1814. Isca Farmer and Samuel Pollock were the first justice- of the peace, and were elected early in 1815. T: former soon resigned, and Edward Hersey 5: ceeded him, and served until 1830, when he Rt signed. The latter served until 1818, when t. was succeeded by William Hull, who served abc twenty years. He was, meanwhile, in 1827, electe: to the legislature, in which body he served om year.

Gratiot is situated on the National pike, imme diately on the county line between Muskingum and Licking. It was laid out by Adam Smith about fifty years ago, very soon after the permanda location of the National road, and named in honor of General Gratiot, then in active service in the ret ular army. It came to be a post town of about three hundred inhabitants. It contains two churche --- Episcopal Methodists and Protestant Methodists- each having a good building, and enjoying a good degree of prosperity. The former is much the older, having been organized in 1830, soon after the town was laid out. The latter has a gos church edifice, a large society, and Sabbath-schod but the building is in Muskingum county.

There is, in the immediate vicinity of Gration, Baptist church which can properly be classed wit the pioneer churches of Licking county, it havi been in existence since 1821-a period of fif nine years.

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The first Methodist society in Hopewell town- ship, as well as the first of any denomination, was organized at the residence of widow Dickinson, one mile, or more, north of Brownsville, in 1816, by that veteran preacher of the wilderness, Rev. James Quinn. The society erected a log church in 1818; and as both stoves and money to pay for them were scarce in those days, on the Fiint ridge, they warmed up in winter by burning char- coal in a square wooden box, lined with stone and mortar, placed in the church. Revs. J. McMahon, Martin Fate, Michael Ellis, Joseph Carper, Abner Goff, James Quinn, and others, were the pioneer preachers of this society. Mr. Landon Warfield was the class-leader. The socie- ty was transfered to Brownsville in 1829, where they erected a brick church, of which mention is made in the history of Bowling Green township.

The second society organized in this township was the above mentioned Baptist church in 1821, located half a mile northwest of Gratiot. Rev. Thomas Snelson and Rev. Mr. Caves were among its earliest ministers; and William Baker, Jesse Stith, John Parker and Daniel Schofield succeeded them.

Among its first members were Adam Smith, Daniel Drumm, Samuel Winegarner, James Red- man, Thomas White, Isaac Smith, Margaret Wine- garner and Henry Claybaugh. The society erect- ed a church in 1823, which was superseded by the neat, substantial building now occupied.

The original deacons were Adam Smith and James Redman.

In 1830, Rev. Robert McCracken, and others, organized an Episcopal Methodist church in Gra- tiot, which held its meetings in a school-house until 1836, when they erected a good church edifice.

Lewis Ijams and William Tucker were mainly influential in the first establishment of this society. Rev. Joseph Carper and Rev. Abner Goff were

pioneer preachers in this church. The first Sabbath- school in this township was organized in this church in 1830, Mr. Lewis Ijams being superin- tendent. It is yet a large and active school.

In 1832, Rev. Joseph Carper and Rev. Jacob Young organized a Methodist Episcopal society in the western portion of the township, with Mr. Samuel B. Hull as class-leader. The society erected a church some time after, and now wor- . ships in what is known as Spencer chapel. A flourishing Sabbath-school is connected with the church.

Revs. Samuel Hamilton, Robert McCracken, Martin Fate, Leroy Swormsted, James B. Finley, C. Springer and others were among the pioneer preachers of this township.

Hopewell is divided into school districts as other townships, and provided with good school- houses. The pioneer teachers were Charles How- ard, Joseph Evans and George Hursey.

Politically, the township is Democratic.

The only post office is at Gratiot. The first postmaster was Moses Meek. He was succeeded by Samuel Winegarner, Nathan Henslee, William Sims, S. R. Tucker, F. F. Dutton, L. A. Stevens, William Redman and Stephen R. Tucker.

Two agricultural societies have been organized in Hopewell, both holding some of their meetings in Gratiot. The "Gratiot Farmer's club" was or- ganized in 1865. Its meetings were generally held at the residences of the members.

The "Farmers' and Mechanics' association" was organized in 1869, and held their meetings monthly in Gratiot.

William Hull and Samuel Winegarner can be ranked among the most successful politicians of the township, the former being elected a member of the lower branch of the legislature in 1827, and the latter to the State senate in 1845. They were early settlers and men of influence.

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CHAPTER LVII.

JERSEY TOWNSHIP.

LOCATION AND TOPOGRAPHY-MOUND BUILDERS-INDIANS-SETTLERS AND SETTLEMENTS SKETCHES OF THE PIONEERS- A NUMBER OF FIRST THINGS-ORIGIN OF NAME OF THE TOWNSHIP-ORGANIZATION-FIRST OFFICERS-FIRST SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS-JERSEY VILLAGE-CHURCHES.

"Be evn as clover with its crown of blossoms, Even as blossoms ere the bloom is shed, Kissed by the kine and the brown sweet bee- For these have the sun and moon and air, And never a bit of the burthen of care And with all our caring what more have we?" -Joaquin Miller.

THIS township is in the western part of the T'

county, and is bounded on the north by Mon- roe township; south by Lima; east by St. Albans, and west by Franklin county. It slopes gradually to the south. Black Lick, which flows into the Big Walnut; and the South fork of Licking, which has its source in this township, are its principal streams. The latter waters the southern part, while numerous tributaries of the Raccoon flow from the eastern and northeastern part. The east- ern half is what is called rolling land, and the western half is level or slightly undulating. The early settlers considered portions of it too wet for cultivation; but as the forest was cleared away, letting in the sun and air, it became apparent that the pioneers were mistaken, as beneath the dense beech shade lay a soil well worth the labor of clearing. It is generally productive. The town- ship was covered with a good variety of timber, but beech was the prevailing timber, and it was considered as belonging to the "beech woods" in early times.

The Mound Builders left traces of their exist- ence here, though their works do not appear to have been as extensive as in some other portions of the county-but four mounds being visible within its limits, and these are not of large size, Perhaps its clayey soil was not adapted to their purposes.

Some Wyandot Indians had more or less perma-

nent encampments in this territory, but all had disappeared about 1812, when the war with Great Britain began. Three years after this date, the first settlers found a few of their huts and wig- wams standing, though greatly dilapidated, on a small stream called Indian run, half a mile north- west of the village of Jersey. Evidently its beech woods and pretty brooks made a paradise in which the Indian hunter delighted to roam.

In the month of February, 1815, Joseph Head- ley, Peter Headley and a colored man, left their homes at the falls of Licking in Muskingum coun- ty, and camped on the South fork near the present village of Jersey. They split puncheons and built a sort of structure in which they lived, and made sugar. Peter Headley soon went to the land office at Chillicothe and entered or purchased the south- east quarter of section twenty-four for himself; the southwest quarter for Mr. Lewis Martin, and the northwest quarter for Richard Osborn.

Peter Headley, during the spring of 1815, built a cabin on his land, and moved into it in March, 1816, with his wife and two children, David and Elizabeth; he was, therefore, the pioneer of Jersey township.

He erected the first cabin, but its first occupants were Lewis Martin and others,

In May, 1816, Joseph Headley and wife, with their daughter, Polly, and Sarah Parritt joined Peter Headley and lived with him in his cabin. In November, 1816, William, son of Peter Headley, was born, being the first child born in the town- ship.

The Headleys were from New Jersey, from whence they emigrated to Muskingum county in 1809. They were first-class pioneers and good -

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hunters. Peter, on one occasion, killed seven deer on his own place in one day; at another time he killed two deer at one shot, and on another oc- casion killed a bear weighing over four hundred pounds.

Mr. Lewis Martin, also from New Jersey, pros- pected in Jersey township in 1815, and with his father-in-law, Richard Osborn, and a brother-in- law, Mr. Vandegriff, with their families, also Mrs. Martin's brother, moved there, June 15, 1815, and occupied a cabin erected by Peter Headley. In a month Mr. Martin had erected a cabin on his own land-the land having been entered by Peter Head- ley for him. These were the first settlers of Jersey township. They were compelled to cut a wagon road several miles before reaching the land they had determined to settle upon.

Mr. Martin sowed some wheat in 1815, the first in the township, but it all run into straw and made nothing but horse feed. Martin was a prominent citizen, serving the township often in the different capacities of trustee and justice of the peace. He died February 2, 1872, and just two weeks after, February 16, the remains of his venerable wife were also deposited by his side. They were eighty- three and eighty-one years respectively.

One of their sons, Lewis, now deceased, com- manded an Illinois regiment in the late war.

In March, 1816, Michael Beem, also a Jersey- man, and a Revolutionary soldier, who served in the body-guard of General Washington, and knew him well, came to Jersey and erected a cabin. He brought with him eight sons and one daughter, and lived in the township thirty-four years, dying December 12, 1850, at the age of nearly ninety-six years.

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History of Licking County, Ohio: Its Past and Present, Part 83

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