USA > Ohio > Logan County > History of Logan County and Ohio > Part 38
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242
HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.
being guaranteed to her. The State of Vir- ginia then appropriated this body of land to satisfy the claims of her State troops employed in the continental line during the revolution- ary war. This district was not surveyed in any regular form, but individuals holding military warrants against these lands located them when and in what shape they pleased within this district. The line between these lands passes in a northwesterly direction through the central part of the county, and below the Greenville treaty line is known as the "Indlow line," or more recently a road having been laid out on this line, the "Land- low road." Above the "treaty line," and starting out some distance west of where the " Ludlow line " touches the Indian boundary, the division is marked by the " Roberts line." The discrepancy between these lines occurred as follows: As the Little Miami extended but a short distance into the county from its june- tion with the Ohio, and the Seioto extends a good deal further, both in a northward and easterly direction, it was necessary to define this reservation, that a line be run from the head of the Miami to the head waters of the Scioto. This line was run by Israel Ludlow, and took his name as a designation. This line from the head of the Miami bears north 20 west, and was afterward discovered to have struck the Scioto several miles cast of its most westerly point. To rectify this discrep- ancy, a new line was run from the boundary line to the proper point on the Seioto, and is known as the Roberts line. The strip below the boundary line which properly belonged to the Virginia Military reservation, however, had been Surveyed and sold by Congross, and this discovery threatened to eject all those who had bought property within this disputed territory. A shrewd speculator at once en- tered the land in this strip of territory and threat ned to enforce his rights by the eject- ment of those who held these lands by a par-
chase from the General Government. Ilis title was bought by the General Government at an expense of about $100,000, and the ori- ginal purchasers given a valid title.
On January 10, 1820, Union County was erected, and a strip three miles wide was taken from Logan County and attached to Union. On February 12 of the same year Hardin county was erected, and for many years prior to 1855 there had been a dispute between the officers of Logan and Hardin Counties as to the location of the true line between them.
Section S of the act erecting Union County provides " that so much of the terri- tory lying north of the county of Logan as is contained within the following boundaries, to-wit: beginning at the northeast corner of Logan County, thence running north five miles, thence west to a point from which a south line will strike the southwest corner of said county, thence south to said corner, thence east with the line to the beginning. shall be, and it is hereby attached to the county of Logan, and shall hereafter form a part of said county." The sources of dispute under this section were two. and are set forth in a written opinion delivered by Judge Wil- liam Lawrence, of Bellefontaine, as follows: " First. The statute requires the north line of Logan to run 'arest * from its northeast corner. The officers of Hardin County claimed this must be due west- a line at right angles with a true meridian-while the officers of Logan insisted it should be at right angles with a magnetic meridian, as it was when the act of January 10, 1820, took effect, which would make a line, after leaving the beginning point, farther north than if run at right angles to a true meridian. Second. The Greenville Treaty line runs north 80º east. The act of January 10, 1820, added new territory on the north end of what had been Logan County to run five miles north, beginning at the northeast
245
HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.
corner of Logan County. The farther east this original corner could be located on the Greenville Treaty line, the farther north would the five miles extend.
The statute of April 9, 1852, provided a mode of settling these and other disputes of a similar character. The Commissioners of Hardin County accordingly filed their bill in chancery in the Court of Common Pleas of Logan County, and such proceedings were had that at the December Term, 1854, of the Supreme Court of Ohio, a decree was made: "That the true construction of the eighth sec- tion of the act entitled ' An act to erect the county of Union' passed on the 10th day of January, A. D. 1820, is that the line therein mentioned shall commence at the former northeast corner of Logan County, on the Greenville Treaty line and run thence north five miles with the magnetic meridian, as it was at the taking effect of said law. And thence west at right angles to said lines so run, and that a line so run at right angles as aforesaid is the true north line of Logan County."
This question was brought before the court again in 1877 by Messrs. Riddle and Rutan, owning land upon this disputed territory, and which was listed and put upon the grand duplicates of both counties. The question is now (September, 1880) before the Supreme Court awaiting the action of that body. Al- though the opinion above quoted makes out a very strong case for the claim of Logan County, it also sets forth the difficulties which this claim will probably encounter. These are two: "First. That the decree of the court was intended to give to Logan County only five miles north of the Greenville Treaty line where it crosses the cast line of the county, and, Second. The long acquiescence by Logan in the exercise of jurisdiction by Hardin County over this strip of 204 rods."*
* This strip of territory is 201 rots wide, extending clear
The first commissioners of the newly formed county held their first meeting at the house of Samuel Rewell, April 14, 1818. They found the territory of Logan County divided into six townships, and named as follows : Zane, Jefferson, Lake, Miami, Harrison and Wanes- field. In an address of Judge William Pat- rick, of Urbana, the approximate date of their erection, derived from the election returns in the Clerk of the Court's office, are given as follows : "The subdivisions of Champaign County, in the first year of its organization, were Springfield, Salem and Mad River Town- ships; but in the run of years up to 1812, the civil divisions were extended in the formation of townships in about this order: Bethel, 1806; Zune, 1806; Harmony, 180 ;; Union, 1810; Moorheld, ISI1; Concord, 1811; War- ner, 1811; Urbana, 1811; Lake, 1811; Pleas- ant, 1812: Boston, 1812; German, 1812; J.f- forson, 1813; Miami, 1814; Goshen, 1815; Jackson, 1815; Harrison, 1816; Pike. 1816." In the italicized names will be recognized those of the original townships noted in the earliest records of the Logan County Commis- sioners, but what were their limits it is impos- sible now to determine, as the records of the Commissioners' Court of Champaign County, previous to 1819, are, unfortunately, misplaced or lost. The names of Union, Harrison and Pleasant are still found in the other parts that made up old Champaign, but so situated as to afford no clue as to the original township of these names. There is a tradition that what is now Logan County was at one time known as Zane Township; but nothing definite in re- gard to the matter is known. The history of Waynesfield Township is equally obscure. It is not found in Judge Patrick's list, and yet is found recognized as one of the original six
across the northern end of Logan County, and has been under the undisputed jurisdiction of Ilardin County since 1×31-a period of forty-three years at the time of the begin- ning of this action.
246
HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.
townships in the earliest record of the Com- missioners of Logan County. Its disappear- ance from the geography of the county is equally unexplained. On September 25, 1818, the Commissioners ordered " that all that tract of the state north (of the county) and west of the Miami of the Lake (Maumee) and within the County of Logan, be attached to Waynes- fickl Township." On November 22, 1819, the tax duplicate of this township is recorded at $104.65; but after this it is lost in the records, and no trace of it is to be found on the maps save the village of that name in the eastern part of Anglaize County. The inference is that, as was generally the case with frontier counties, the unlimited jurisdiction of Logan County over the unorganized territory north of it was expressed by the organization or ex- tension of this Township of Waynesfield. When Hardin County was organized, it passed out of sight in the various territorial changes that then took place.
On the 14th of August, 1818, the Commis- sioners found several fractional townships formed by the erection of a new county, and adjusted matters by reorganizing the whole county. It was ordered "that that part of Lo- gan County bounded by the Indian boundary line, its eastern, western and southern bound- aries, be divided into four townships, as follows, viz .: That the Township of Miami be bounded on the west by the west boundary of said county; thener from the northwest corner of section 3, township 3, range 13, east to the northeast corner of section 33, township -1, range 13; thence north to the county line and west with it to the beginning. The Township
of Lake to commence at the southeast corner of the said Township of Miami; thence east- wardly with the county line to the southeast corner of section 22, township 5. range 13; thence north to the county line; thence west with county line to northeast corner of Miami Township; thenee south to the place of be- ginning. The Township of Jefferson running with the cast boundary of Lake, and six miles wide. The Township of Zane to con- sist of the balance of the said County of Logan.
" That the place for holding elections in the said townships shall be, for the Township of Zane, at their former place of holding elec- tions for said township; for the Township of Jefferson, at the house of James M. Workman; for the Township of Lake, in the Town of Belleville; and for the Township of Miami, at the house of John Turner, Esq., until other- wise ordered."
From these original townships have been formed the seventeen townships that make up the County of Logan. From the original territory of Miami come the present Town- ships of Pleasant, Bloomfield, Stokes and Washington; from Lake, the present Town- ships of I'nion, MeArthur, Harrison, Liberty and Richland; from JJefferson, the present Townships of Monroe and Rush Creek; and from Zane, the present Townships of Perry and Bokes Creek. From the following table, among other information, may be gathered the fact that the growth of the county came from the southern portion of the county, the townships on the lower tier being first formed, and the others successively as the population increased northward :
WHEN 1. SID OFT.
POST DIFICES
WHEN ESTABLISHED.
Bloom Center
No. l'Int ...
Blonm Center.
Inne 21, 1852.
West Mansfield
1850
1414
West Lingway
1471
larr'#1
Greina.
Jan. 3, 1878
1
247
HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.
TOWNSHIP.
WHEN ORGANIZED.
VILLAGES.
WHEN LAID OUT.
POST OFFICES.
WHEN ESTABLISHED.
Jefferson
1818.
Zanesfiehl
1819
Zanesfield
March 25, 1825.
Lake.
1818
Bellefontaine
1820
Bellefontaine
Oct.
11, 1820.
Liberty.
1836
West Liberty
1828
West Liberty.
April,
1826
McArthur
1823
Cherokee.
1832
Cherokee ?
May
7, 1832
Miami.
1818
DeGraff
1850
DeGraff.
Feh.
15, 1853
Monroe
1822
Pickereltown
No. Plat ....
Pickereltowu
July
22, 1851
Perry
1830
North Greenfield
1847
North Greenfield.
June
29, 1869.
Pleasant ...
1841
Logansville.
1832
Logansville 3
Sept.
19, 1835
Richland.
1832
New Richland
Feh.
7, 1846
West Geneva.
1832
Northwood
Nov.
24, 1868
Belle C'enter
1846
Bell C'enter.
Jan.
20, 1848
Rushsylvania ..
1834
Rushsylvania
sept.
9, 1836.
Harper ..
1851
Harper ..
Feb.
4, 1856.
Rush Creek .....
182,
Big Springs
1852 ..*
Big Spring.
April
26, 1864
Stokes
1838
Mark
Dec.
8, 1859.
Union.
1820
839
Lewistown ..
1833
Lewistown.
July
19, 1839.
Zane
818.
West Middleburg.
1832
West Middleburg
July
11, 1840.
At the first meeting of the Commissioners, | the territorial limits of the newly formed county had been fixed, but the whole ma- chinery which was to enable it to become a Treasurer for this year was : Receipts- vital part of the State was to be constructed and put in motion. The permanent seat of justice had not yet been fixed upon, and all that could be done was to make such tempo- rary arrangements as would meet the present necessities, and await further developments. On the 23d of April, 1819, they appointed Martin Marmon Treasurer, and two days later appointed Thomas Thompson Recorder. On November 22, of the same year, the Com- missioners arranged with " Thomas Wilson at $2.50 per each day, for the accommodation of
* No. Plat.
1 Established originally at Garwood Mills, March 27, 1826. " Established originally at Cherokee, and changed to Hunts- ville.
3 Called originally Douglass, and established April 24, 1826. + Est: bl sh al at Kendall, Nov. 10, ISIS, and changed to New Richland on the above date. It will be proper to add that two offices were established ; Muchinippi July 8, 1840, dis- continued March 12, 1872; and Downingsville, July 13, 1839; discontinued May 19, 1817.
1830
Quincy
March 12, 1534
East Liberty
1834.
East Liberty I
Sept.
5, 1836.
Richland
1844
Huntsville.
1846
Huntsville.
.July
29, 1849.
Quincy
New Jerusalem.
Jan.
10, 1876.
Washington.
Walnut Grove
1854 ..*
the court, and Thomas Wilson agreed to fur- nish three rooms for the same, and the south room if wanted." The statement of the licenses, $134.282; other receipts, $404.553; total, $538.844. Expenditures-by orders, $519.83 ; by commission at 4 per cent, $19.83; leaving a balance of $1.97 against the county. In the following year, however, the statement of the Treasurer closes with the " neat bal- ance of $426.1; " in favor of the county. On September 15, 1819, the Commissioners spread the following upon their record: "Ordered, that James M. Workman be appointed to ap- propriate and lay out $30.00 on the Sandusky road, as follows: Commencing at the south- ern boundary of Logan County, from thence on as far and ending at the northern bound- ary." . This was the first of the public road building that has continued, until the pres- ent time; Logan County has paid for and pro- jected pikes to the amount of $850,000, and
248
HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.
possesses a system of improved highways in- ferior to no county in the State.
In the meanwhile, the Special Commission- ers appointed to locate the seat of justice had examined a site on the Mad River, some two miles below Zanesfield, but, some doubts as to the validity of the titles of the lands arising, the choice of the Commissioners was fixed on Bellefontaine. Accordingly, in Feb- ruary, 1820, the County Commissioners held their first session in the new county seat. Heretofore, the criminals of the county were confined in the Champaign County jail in Urbana, at considerable expense, and one of the first acts of the Commissioners at this session was to provide a jail. On the 19th of February, 1820, the contract for building the ulifico was given to Vachel Blaylock, at $315. It was located on the northeast corner of the public square, " fifteen feet back from the front, and the same number of feet back from the end." The walls were of logs, hewn about fifteen inches square, neatly dovetailed at the corners. Outside of this was another wall all around, of the same ma- terial, and put up in the same manner, leav- ing a space between the two walls of about ten or twelve inches, which was filled up with loose stones. The floors above and below were of logs of the same size, but of only one thickness. Some fow prisoners, it is said, were confined in this jail, even before it had a roof, save some loose planks laid upon poles. On January 15, 1822, a contract was entered into by the Commissioners with Blaylock & llontz, to " raise a house, in front of the jail of this county, of hewn oak logs of equal length with said jail, fifteen feet wide; to put in sleepers and joists of white oak, out one door in front of said house, and hang a door thereon with wooden hinges; to take the rafters off the jail, and roof it and the house now built under one, and with a good cabin roof, and put a good wooden chimney to one
end, lined with stone, and lay the hearths with stone. In consideration whereof, the Commissioners agree to pay them by order on the County Treasurer sixty dollars, for the true performance whereof the parties bind themselves to each other in the penalty of two hundred dollars." To these specifica- tions were added the condition that the con- tractors should put in "one window of 12 lights," and should "chink and daub the aforesaid house." This building was finished and accepted March 4, 1822. On August 30 of the following year, the Commissioners proposed to make an addition to the jail, but, for some reason, the proposition was not car- ried into effect. On June 8, 1824, the pro- ject was revived, and a contract entered into with John Workman for $240.50, to put up a building, in front of the jail, "twenty-two feet in width, and the same length of the jail." It was to be two stories high, " the upper one to extend over the jail;" "one stack of brick chimneys . on stone founda- tions ; " "four twelve-light windows in upper story, three fifteen-light windows below, " and " three bolting doors." This addition was to be completed 'by the first of the following December. It was not accepted, however, until the following May, and in the following October the Commissioners allowed the con- tractor $559.50 additional, on the testimony of experts that the work was taken too low, and could not be done for less than $1,300. This buikling supplied the demand of the county in this direction until about 1845, when the first brick jail was built on its site at a cost of several thousand dollars. In 1870 this structure was taken down, and the present one built east of the Public Square, on lot No. 159, at a total cost of $31,050. The principal contract was awarded to Rouser & Rouser, of Dayton, for $21,895.
The demand for a Court House was felt from the first, but, until the county seat was
0
Y
249
HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.
fixed, nothing could be done toward building, but in June, 1820, a plan was formed to build the temple of justice in connection with the jail, and the contract let to John Casebolt for 8860. In the following August, however, this plan was abandoned and the contract an- nulled, and, a month later, a new plan was projected, contracted to John Tillis for $1,300, and on January 13, 1821, was abandoned, and the contract annulled for the second time. Finally, on June 4, 1821, it was decided to erect a temporary building for the use of the Court of Common Pleas, and the contract let to William Laften for $1,294. The specifi- cations required that the building should be 24x36 feet, two stories high, framed, and placed upon a stone foundation at least eighteen inches thick. The first story was to have one panel door, four twelve-light win- dows, one twenty-four-light window, a flight of stairs, and to be ten feet high. The sec- ond story was to be eight feet high, and " to be divided into four convenient rooms, and an entry with one door into each room; one twelve-light window in each room, and one in the entry, all well glazed and with shutters." One stack of chimneys in the end of the building, brick or stone foundation; the whole to be completed by the first Monday in March, 1822. Laften does not seem to have made a success of his contract, and Vachel Blaylock, one of his securities for the per- formance of the contract, assumed the under- taking and completed the building in the latter part of 1822. In December of that year, he contracted to furnish the Court room with a good, substantial bar for $60, and to make " three sets of jury boxes, a table five feet square, and two smaller tables," by the first of the March following. On March 29, 1825, this buikling was sold to " Solomon Mc- Colloch " for $810, and afterwards became known as the old Union Hotel. It stood on lot No. 112, as the Commissioners did not
care to encumber the Public Square with temporary buildings. On September 9, 1831, the contracts for the first permanent Court House were awarded-the stone and brick work to William Bull, for $900, to which was added $150 for a few courses of curbstone above ground, not put in the contract, and the wood work to John Wheeler and George Shuffleton, for $1,000. These contractors were all citizens of Bellefontaine at the time, and accomplished their work so that the Courts were held in the building in the latter part of 1833. In this year, two brick oflices north and south of the Court House were built on contract by William Watson for 8650. In 1820, these buildings, having out- lived their usefulness, were torn down to give place to the present imposing structure. Considerable good humored criticism has been passed upon the architectural style of the present building, but it proves a commodious and comfortable place for the offices and Courts of the county. The contracts awarded for its construction were as follows: 1. The entire mason work to Rouser, Boren & Co., of Dayton, for the sum of $28,168.80. 2. The cut stone work to Webber & Lehman, of Dayton, for $20,000. 3. The entire carpenter work (including tiling, elock and bell) to Har- wood & Thomas, of Cincinnati, for $13,600. 4. The galvanized iron and tin work to W. F. Geb- hart, of Dayton, for $7,644.60. 5. The entire wrought and cast iron work to D. S. Rankin & Co., of Cincinnati, for $23,000. 6. Paint- ing and glazing to Wiseman & Hayes, of Cleveland, for $5,132.69. 7. Heating and ventilation to Peter Martin, of Cincinnati, for $6,507.80. 8. Plumbing and gas-fitting to Thomas A. Cosby, of Cleveland, for $1,419.09. Making the total cost $105,598.08.
The Commissioners did not take charge of the interests of the poor until 1849. On June 9th, of that year, it was "ordered that it is necessary, proper and advantageous, and will
250
HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.
be so, to erect and establish a poor-house and to purchase a farm on which to erect the same for Logan County." There seems to have been little opposition on the part of the peo- ple to the proposition thus spread upon the record, and 164 35-100 acres were bought of Joseph Lawrence, in Harrison Township. On December 6, of this year, Joseph Lawrence, Jonathan Thomas and Arthur Linville were appointed by the Commissioners as Directors of the County Infirmary. An old house was the only building on the place, which had
neither well nor cistern suitable for the pur- poses of the county. January 6, 1851, the contract for the erection of a suitable build- ing was let; the stone and brick-work to William Watson for $1,142; the wood-work to David Niven for $1,200; and the plastering for $339, making a total on contracts of $2,681, which was swelled to $3,000 by other ex-
penses. August 13, 1855, a contract for an Insane Hospital, 31×40 feet, was let to Matthew Anderson and George MeElree, but at what price the records failed to stato. There is being added to this building during the present season an addition, which adds twenty feet to the length of the building. Since the first purchase of land seventeen acres of woodland have been added, making one of the finest farms in Logan County. The main building is a good-sized two-story brick farm-house, and was a comfortable building for the time it was built, but does not compare favorably with the other county buildings of this county. This will doubtless be remedied as soon as the burden of building the free turnpikes is discharged. Joseph M. Porter is the present Superintendent, a posi- tion he has occupied for the past fifteen years.
السيـ
-
IHISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.
251
CHAPTER IV. THE MEDICAL PROFESSION *- THE LEGAL PROFESSION.+
T WIE practice of medicine in Logan County in the times of its early settlement was attended with many hardships and difficul- ties, now happily unknown. The inhabitants were, for the most part, poor, and lived in primitive log-cabins, usually at considerable distances apart. The "openings " were con- nected by bad roads, and not infrequently by mere paths or trails. Through these the doctor could pass only on horseback, encount- ering huge logs and deep swails and the trans- verse branches of overhanging trees, which last, especially in the night time, were no trifling element of danger. The physician who was ready to engage in his professional duties under such circumstances was neces- sarily a man of pluck and energy, and such men, especially in the earliest and most ardu- ous times of trial, were by no means over- abundant.
There was much of sickness and suffering amongst the people, and the doctor, who was ready and willing to attend promptly and cheerfully to the calls of the sick, was, with good reason, a very popular personage. There was nothing in the way of sickness which, in the opinion of many of the early pioneers, it was impossible for the man of medicine to conquer. It is true that men and women and children died, but then the doctor was called " too late," or some sinister accident, some- thing foul and uncommon on the part of the malady, had deprived the doctor of fair play and shorn him of his victory. The fabulous conflict between St. George of Cappadocia and the dragon, was mere child's play compared
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