History of Logan County and Ohio, Part 50

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Battle, J. H; O.L. Baskin & Co
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, O.L. Baskin
Number of Pages: 798

USA > Ohio > Logan County > History of Logan County and Ohio > Part 50

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HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.

date of January 21, 1818, provision was made for the appointment of a Commission to locate a site for the seat of justice for Logan Coun- ty. After considerable hesitation, the ques- tion was decided as above. The names of the Commission were Richard Hooker, John Ilopkins and Solomon Smith. Their report was confirmed by the Court of Common Pleas sitting in the town of Belleville, on the 20th of December, 1819. The date of the 25th, which has been assigned to this proceeding, is erroneous. The land of the original town płat amounted to 100 acres. The claim of Leonard Houtz to proprietorship seems to cover his ownership of the thirty-foot street, bounding the town on the west. Powell's land reached only to the west line of the lots in his division, and to get an outlet to these lots on the extreme west it was necessary to purchase of Hloutz as much land as would furnish that street. It is said that Mr. Hontz received in payment two lots in the limits of the town. *

Running north and south, the streets were named as follows: 1st-through the center of the town-Cincinnati street, SO feet wide: 2nd-Mad River street, cast of Cincinnati, 60 feet wide; 3rd-Detroit street, west of Cin- cinnati, 60 feet wide; 4th-Beyond the two last-named streets, bounding the town both on the east and west, were streets upon the corporation line, 30 feet wide." Running east

* Surh is the commonly received opinion, and such is the account given by a descendant of one of the proprietors of the original town of Bellefontaine, respecting the part borne by Leonard Houts in its foundation. Investigation, however, discloses a somewhat different state of facts. When the original plat ot the town was pro- jected, that part of it usually credited to Powell, namely the northern hall, encroached Westwardly upon the lands of Hontz, for about lon feet-by tape measure Jof fort. This placed upon Houtz the northern half of the western 30 tout Corporation street. as well as a portion of the northern 30 foot Corporation street. It also, embracing the northwestern angle of this plat, contained a considerable portion of the graveyard donated to the town. Houtz, theretore, had remaining for his available portion of the town a strip of land about seventy feet broad, and extending from the south line of the graveyard to Columbus street. a distance of three luts only. lengthwise. Hence we find that the three lots extending from Columbus street northwardly to the graveyard were ow ned by Hontz. As these lots are only li ty-five feet wide, there would still be a mar- gin « ming to him. This will account for the two lots deeded by Powell to Houtz, as mentioned above.

and west, the streets were the following: 1st -through the center of the town-Columbus street, 80 feet wide ; 2nd-Chillicothe street, south of Columbus. 60 feet wide: 3rd-San- dusky street, north of Columbus, 60 feet wide; 4th-The same arrangement of the 30 foot streets upon the northern and southern corporation line as there was upon the east- ern and western. The proprietors of the town devoted two squares, or one-fourth blocks, namely, the Public Square, for public build- ings, and a square at the extreme northwest- ern corner of the town plot for a church and a graveyard.

The town of Bellefontaine is situated upon grounds generally sinking in a southwesterly direction, being the lower portion of an ex- tensive tract of land thus trending, for one or two miles, north and cast. The land upon which it rests is underlaid by an immense bed of gravel, and as the village approaches the foot of the gentle declivity, upon its southeru, southwestern and western borders, it is greet- ed, as it were, with a surprising number of copious and clear springs of pure water, which burst from the base of the elevation. From these, undoubtedly, the town took its name. On the 19th and 20th of March, 1820, accord- ing to the best information attainable, the day after the acknowledgment of the instrument of contract between the director appointed by the court in behalf of the county and the proprietors of the town, there was a public sale of lots. This sale was for the benefit of the county, and was confined to the lots that were donated to it. Powell and Tullis dis- posed of their lots at private sale. A number of the lots were disposed of at this time, although it was many years before either the director on behalf of the county, or the other proprietors had disposed of all their lost.

HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.

CHAPTER VIII .*

BELLEFONTAINE-BEGINNINGS OF THE VILLAGE-ADVANCE OF CIVLIZATION-BUSINESS PROS- PERITY-GROWTH OF INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS-SCHOOLS-CHURCHES -BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES.

T HIERE were two or three houses standing upon the site of Bellefontaine before it was laid out. A singular genius named Daniel Tucker lived near the spring, back of the Episcopal Church. He had cleared away two or three acres of Tullis' land and farmed it. Upon one occasion, Tucker rose in the morn- ing and found his corn frost-bitten. Ilis basis of consolation was very much the same as that which solaces many griefs throughout the world of sorrow. But Tucker had no more gumption than to speak out. "Thank the Lord," said he, "if my corn is killed, every- body else's corn is killed, too; if I don't get any coru, nobody will get any." Tucker had a horse. On one occasion, a neighbor called and requested the loan of the animal. " Sam- my," said Tucker, raising his right hand, "if my grandfather was to get out of his grave and ask for that horse, he shouldn't ride it from here to the gate." This man Tucker seems to be the "original Jacob Thompson," whose exploits on the Darby Ram are so graphically set forth in the truthful ballad, "Old Dan Tucker." Thomas Haines built a log house near the saw-mill before the town was lo- rated. Nathaniel Dodge lived in it after Ilaines.

It is proper to mention that there was a schoolhouse built on the back end of the lot on which the Presbyterian Church now stands, at a period also previous to the founding of the town. It was simply a log structure, similar to the one described elsewhere, situ- ated in the vicinity of Belleville. The school-

house now under notice was, without doubt, anterior to the town of Belleville and its school building. One of the first teachers in it was George F. Dunn, who died in West Liberty a few years ago. Some of the carlier schoolmasters were more renowned for zeal than knowledge. It was related that one of those had occasion to put out to a spelling class the word " pigeon." This does not appear to be a word possessed of any astonish- ing proportions, but it was a serious obstacle to the teacher in hand. After a careful con- sideration of the case in all its difficulties and diversities, the evident conclusion was that as p-i-g, with a hard g, spelled pig, it must be that piggon presented a fair average of the various claims that could be made respecting the proper pronounciation of that word as it appeared to the natural eye. And it must be confessed that the untutored mind, after a few disastrous and ignominious defeats in its attempt at fathoming the mysteries of the spelling and pronounciation of the English language, would look with justifiable appre- hension upon any new or strange form the enemy might take. A conclusion once formed, however, the laws of the Medes and Persians were as the yielding willow when compared with the adamantine stability of the stand taken by the ancient schoolmaster in the defence of his opinions on points of science. Intrenching himself in the stubborn- ness of his conchision, if not in its righteous- ness, our hero boldly holds up his head and says to the spelling class, " Piggon." The word went around, but the right spelling was

* Contribute I by Dr. T. L. Wright.

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HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.

never once thought of until young Peter Powell, who had mentally solved the difficulty, after carefully spelling pigeon, also carefully and correctly pronounced it pigeon. The light was too sudden and too great for the equanimity of the teacher. He made a grab at Pete of a hostile nature. Peter, however, was on the alert, and, springing backwards out of the door, yelled, "Come out here, you old Beesicks, and I'll- piggon you."

One of the earliest, if not the very earliest, buiklings put up in Bellefontaine, was erected by Joseph Gordon. This was a round log cabin on the rear of the lot upon which Boyd's grocery is placed. A two-story brick build- ing now stands upon the spot. Gordon occu- pied this house a little while, and then built the hewed log house on the corner of Cincin- nati and Chillicothe streets, which remains to this day, in part, covered within and without with dressed boards, and used as a general grocery store. While occupying this build- ing as a residence, Mr. Gordon made use of his first cabin as a stable. He soon parted with the second house, for we find Anthony Bal- lard occupying it as a place of public enter- tainment and resort as early as 1822. Gordon then built another log house on the premises now occupied by the residence of Mrs. Daw- son. This he sold in a few years to Reuben Arnold. It might not be inappropriate to say here, respecting Joseph Gordon, that he was an important local character during the war of 1812. He was a mail-carrier. He was faith- ful, daring and energetic. He sought no shelter, but rode and slept in the forest swarming with hostile Indians, and carried news and information from post to post, and from army to army, his life always fluttering in his hand from the beginning to the end of the war. Such was Joe Gordon, a small, slim, active man, whom pioneers knew well and trusted.

William Gutheridge was also an early set-

tler in the new town. He built upon the lot now occupied by James Cowman as a resi- dence. There was, and is, a good spring near the back end of that lot. William Scott built a two-story log house on the place where the Watson building now stands. He there kept the first tavern in town. This he soon sold to John Rhodes, of Urbana, who kept the first stock of merchandise in Bellefon- taine. Nathaniel Dodge kept a public house a little north of the Presbyterian Church. It is remembered that his sign bore the date 1822. Dodge was the first shoemaker in the new town. The first saddler was said to be Justice Edwards, Martin Shields coming later. A man named Chevalier, opened a saddler-shop at a very early date. Abner Riddle worked as a journeyman in that shop as early as 1826. The first carpenter was William Powell, and he made all the coffins in the earlier years of the settlement. Ile procured his walnut lumber from Marmon's Mill, on Mad River. George Blaylock left the banks of the lake, and he, with Tom Parkinson, were the first blacksmiths in town. Their shop was across the street from the Episcopal Church. The first brick-masons came from Urbana. A man named Bayles built Leonard Houtz's brick house near the town. Bayles studied law, and died in Bellefontaine, a member of the bar. William Bull's tay- ern, also a brick, was built some time before 1824, by Martin Marmon, a bricklayer from Mad River. John Powell was the first tailor in Bellefontaine. Tailoring for a time was not very profitable. Buckskin suits were not cast off at once, and the manufacture of these from deer skins, as well as the making-up of the butternut-colored homespun, was to some extent, the work of the women. Jacob Powell carried on the important calling of gunsmith. For a time he was compelled to go to King's Creek to have his gun barrels bored. Water power was established at that place,

HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.

adapted to his purpose. After a time he fixed up a mill for himself, a short distance southwest of Bellefontaine, and got his power from a mall tributary of Blue Jacket Crock; the necforward be bored out his own gun bar- rels at home. Traces of the race can still be seen. llis business was good until the In- dians were removed to the West, when it declined, and Mr. Powell went to Arkansas. The writer has used a rifle manufactured by Powell, and it was a good gun. The first tan-yard in the new town, was established upon the verge of the town plat upon a piece of ground that is now bounded by the rail- roads approaching from the west and south. It is about 150 to 200 yards southwest of the Iwint of junction of these roads. This was adjoining the southwestern corner of the original plat of Bellefontaine. Jacob Staley and Leonard Houtz were the proprietors.

Jacob Powell, as well as his brother Peter, played the " fiddle " very well, and this was no trifling accomplishment in pioneer times. Prophe must have seasons and places for amusement. The mingling of the young ladies and gentleman in the dince, and song, and play, was a most agreeable foa- ture of the early days of life in Bellefontaine.

The progress of the new town was for at considerable time slow. For many years there was very little market for agricultural pro luets. Money was scarce, and trading was mostly by barter. Farms were small and poorly cultivated. The most important ex- portations were a few hogs and cattle, which were purchased and driven to Detroit. The little wheat that was raised, was sown broad- cas and covered by great branches of trees, diage A over the ground in place of harrows. The short that could be spared was conveyed in wiggens through the woods, 100 miles to the lakes and siden nally for about 50 cents per bushel. Salt. Father and a few necessi- 11 were brought back. Wagoners would oc-

casionally, as a great treat, bring back a bolt of calico or muslin for their wives.

Under such circumstances the inducements for the advent of new settlers were not very great. But every county seat presents a chance for political and legal preferment. There are also good opportunities for sporu- lative investments, and even under the most unfavorable circumstances there must always be in such towns enough inducement for new settlers to affect the destiny of the place.

The old pioneer aspect of society began slowly to change. The process at first was al- most imperceptible. The giving up of okl habits was very gradually effected, and the introduction of more modern styles of thought and life went quietly on. To analyze all the elements engaged in a radical change in the manners of a people, is a most int rest - ing and important proceeding. It is regret- ted that more space cannot be given to that subjeet here. We will only be permitted to notice the causes which at length entirely abrogated the old and fully established the new, in the maners and customs of the in- habitants of Bellefontaine.

These causes may be referred to under three heads: Ist. The removal of the primi- tive and savage surroundings which created and kept in activity certain manners aml ens- toms that naturally grew out of these environ- ments, and which depended upon them forex- istence. 2d. The next element in effeting these changes in the condition of society was the intlow of new citizens from various points of the compass. These brought into view and into activity other and often more advanced habits of social life. 3d. Another clement in effecting the change in society was the ap- pearance of a rising generation of youths of both sexes, which were unacquainted with the old, and were eager to sock, under the guid- . nep of suitable instructors, the advantages of a better education and a higher refinement

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HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.

than was compatible with the circumstances surrounding the earlier pioneers.

These influences were working, and grad- ually erystallizing society into a permanent and stable structure far in advance of its crude state in ancient times, when, between 1846 and 1853, the last railroad was finished, and not only society, but the material welfare of the town and county also, assumed posi- tions at one bound abreast of the high civili- zation of modern times.

Concerning the first of the elements above alluded to, little needs to be said. The war was over. The Indian, as a disturbing ele- ment, ceased to exist. The dreadful war- whoop was forever stilled. The cabin door was no longer barred at night with ponderous beams of hewn timber to protect its inmates from the sudden rush of the wild and blood- bloodthirsty foe. Game became scarce; farms were enlarged and a little better cultivated; the necessities and exigencies of pioneer life no longer existed. Its dangers were past, and it fell into disuse and decay as the wel- come mantle of peace, security and law cov- ered all.

Now the second element in promoting the advance in civil society and in refinement be- gan to appear. Persons came upon the scene who were unacquainted with the life of the pioneer and the reasons for it. They intro- duced other manners and customs and speech. In 1822, Henry Snyder came into the town to live. Dr. Lord appeared upon the scene in 1823. He was from Urbana. Robert Patter- son came from Licking County with a family in 1824. He sold plows, castings and hard- ware. In 1825, Benjamin MeClure, an Irish- man, came into the village. He taught school. The same year, also, came the Rev. Joseph Stevenson, from Washington Co., Penn. He was a man of learning, a good or- ganizer, and of excellent executive ability. Ilis work had great influence in placing the

Presbyterian Church upon a firm basis, as well as in other directions of value to the commu- nity.

It was in the year 1825 that Logan County was visited by a severe tornado. It is well enough to fix dates, when possible, with ae- curaey. The date of this storm has been placed on June 24, 1825, by the author of a printed work on the history of Logan County. In attempting to verify this date, we have met with some difficulties. One old pioneer-a child when the catastrophe occurred-wishing to be very exaet, says it was " just about the time the bark began to peel." Another says that it occurred when " Mariar was three weeks old," ete. John Houtz, who was a well-grown youth at the time, and was beside his father's house when it was destroyed by the storm, is positive that it took place on the 18th of May, 1825. This date is also given by a daughter of William Powell, who still sur- vives, and whose memory is excellent. These two witnesses, coming independent of each other, are of undoubted authority, and the date given by them is certainly correct. Fortunately, the settlements were few and the damage done was small compared with the violence of the storm. It approached Bellefontaine from the direction of Silver Lake, demolished the brick house of Leonard Houtz, situated outside the northwestern limits of the corporation, and, continuing in its cast-north-cast course, it erossed Rush Creek Lake, and for thirty miles beyond de- stroyed all the timber in its path. It struck Bellefontaine at 12 o'clock M.

Anthony Casad, a lawyer, came from Green County in the year 1826. About the year 1827 or 1828, came William and Jackson McClure, good mechanics and intelligent men. In 1826, also, came George Shuffleton with his family, from Virginia. N. Z. Mc- Colloch, who had been here some time pre- viously, married one of the Shuffleton girls.

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HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.

Thomas Corn, a carpenter, also came at an carly day. Hiram MeCartney and Samuel Walker, lawyers, were carly settlers from abroad. Tommy Good, a blacksmith, worked where John Canby's store now is. Then came Capt, William Watson, a brick-mason, and Thomas Armstrong, a merchant. Dr. B. S. Brown came in 1828. Ruben B. Arnold came from Harrison County in 1829. Gen. 1. S. Gardner came from Virginia in 1830. Gen. Gardner established a store for the sale of merchandise. He at once took a promi- nent position as a merchant, which he retained until he retired. John W. Marquis came in 1832; he retained a position as a prominent business man up to the period of his death. Also, in the year 1832, came .John B. Miller, Abednego Davidson, R. T. and David Cook. John Miller, the silversmith, came in 1834; and also came, in the same year, Benjamin Stanton and Walter Slicer. The llubbards came about the same time. Judge Lawrence came here in 1841. This is only a partial list of citizens who adopted Belle- fontaine as their home in its infancy. Some of these gentlemen were mechanics, some merchants and some professional men, but all of them were substantial and useful men, guided in their lives by principles of hon- esty and industry.

The merchants usually carried on a general merchandise business; that is, they kept nearly all classes of goods-groceries, hard- ware, dry goods, Jeather, shoes and provisions. Much of the merchandise sold by them was purchased in Baltimore and brought over the mountains in wagons.

3d. We now come to the consideration of the third element, active in producing the change in social and domestic life that was going on for a series of years, from the time of the early pioneer until that generation of people consel to exist. That element was the new generation that came upon the stage

as the old times passed away. The people we have mentioned had families more or less ad- vanced in years. They early applied them- selves to procuring good teachers for their children. Some of the first of the new class of teachers, if we may designate them thus distinctively, were Mary Pierce, a relative of the future President of the United States, Mrs. Mason and John Wheeler. This gentle- man seemed to have taken a strong hold upon the affections and imaginations of his pupils. He had the faculty of making the road to knowledge smooth, and of inspiring the students with a love of knowledge for its own sake. Subsequently, Miss Mary Ladd taught a select school. Daniel Hopkins was another select school-teacher. The distin- guished poet, Coats Kinney, taught a high school in Bellefontaine at one time.

It is hardly necessary to say that the churches having become organized and per- manently established, began to exert upon society, both in its older and younger mem- bers, a benificent influence. The families of the new comers, with their various accom- plishments and peculiarities, together with the growing children of the older citizens, be- ing educated in an entirely new school, bo- came in their habits of life and modes of thought, to say nothing of their subjects of reflection, very different from the pioneers composing a generation then passing away.

It will be remembered that the original pioneers have all gone to their last repose, from thirty to fifty years ago. These were the men of the "Golden Fleece"-the " Ar- gronauts," whose lives were full of romance and adventure. Time has mellowed the as- perities of their character, and of their deeds, and enveloped them in a haze of purple and golden light. The generation of men who settled in the limits of Bellefontaine in the first fifteen years of its existence, have gone only recently, or linger yet for a moment to

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HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.

look their last upon the green fields of time. Their children are the business men and women of to-day. Many of the citizens of Bellefontaine of the present time, up in mid- dle life, some of them, and some past it, be- long to the new generation of children and youths just under consideration. Of them we have the Marquises, the Pattersons, the Ste- vensons, the Lords, the McCollochs, the Gardners, the Davidsons, the Kennedys, the Newells, the Cooks, the Arnolds, the Powells, the Millers, the Adamses, the Lawrences, the Hubbards, the Mclaughlins, the Kerrs, and many other leading, substantial, and en- lightened men and women.

Between the years 1849 and 1851, Messrs. James Walker, James Kernan, and Win. H. West, settled in Bellefontaine. These gen- tlemen, with the assistance of William Law- rence and Benjamin Stanton succeeded in wresting entirely the legal practice from the hands of lawyers from Urbana and Spring- field, who had done a considerable business in Bellefontaine from the formation of the county.

From the social and intellectual develop- ment of Bellefontaine, it is but a step to the consideration of its material advancement. Although the progress in intelligence and the accomplishments was creditable and steady under the influences we have named, the town presented up to 1846 rather a poor appear- ance. Although it had increased somewhat in area as time progressed, the character of the improvements were still of an inferior quality. The town seemed to have swelled rather than to have grown. The buildings were very plain; the streets were muddy, and the sidewalks unimproved, except in a very limited degree. Very much of that improve- ment consisted merely in laying down flat slabs of limestone, without much attempt at symmetry or neat fitting joints.

As early as 1840 the projected Mad River and

Lake Erie railroad was a subject of considera- tion. Liberal subscriptions were raised in the town of Bellefontaine to aid in that enter- prise, but the documents are not at hand which will disclose specified sums. This road was not completed until 1842, but in anticipation of its completion, the affairs of the town began to assume a more promising aspect. In 1846 William Rutan came to Bellefontaine, and purchased certain desirable lots, amongst others the corner lot upon which is located the Peoples' National Bank. Mr. Rutan was the partner of Abner Riddle, who moved his family here in 1848. These men at once began improving their property. They moved the old buildings from the corner to localities farther west, and erected a three story brick house, with a front- age of fifty-five feet. This they occupied partly as a hotel for a time, but finally con- verted it entirely into business rooms.

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History of Logan County and Ohio, Part 50

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Battle, J. H; O.L. Baskin & Co Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago, O.L. Baskin Number of Pages: 798

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Battle, J. H; O.L. Baskin & Co
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, O.L. Baskin
Number of Pages: 798