History of Logan County and Ohio, Part 75

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 75

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Whole number of scholars 908

Amount paid teachers. $1,674

Number of schoo houses

Value, with grounds .. 42.500

Early in the settlement of the township religious services were held in the cabins of the pioneers and later in the schoolborises. Thus was an interest in the cause of Christ awakened, and the formation of a church soon followed. James B. Mckinnon, Esq., fur- nishes the following data : The first church formed in what is now Washington Township was of the Methodist Protestant faith; the period, during the latter part of the year 1836; the place, a little log-cabin standing on the

534

HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.

farm then belonging to Gabriel H. Banes; Rx. John B. Lucas in charge of what was then Springfield Circuit, conducted the meet- ings here. assisted by Rev. David Moore and L wis Hicklen. Among the first members were : (. Il. Banes and wife, Josiah Me- Kinnon and wife, Mrs. Mary Harrison. Mrs. Catherine Smith and daughter, Mrs. Jonathan Plumb and Mrs. Shade. In March, 1837. J. B. Mckinnon and wife located near and be- came members, and in JJune of the same year William Black and wife, late of Pennsyl- vania, united with the Church. Services were held in the log house about referred to. for perhaps one year, when by reason of the sale of the property, the place of worship was changed to the dwelling house of G. H. Banes, and after a time to the schoolhouse on James B. Mckinnon's farm; next at the house of Jonathan Plumb and afterward at the schoolhouse in Lewistown. During the sum- mer of 1853 the society created the meeting- house at this village they still occupy. This isa wood structure and cost some $200; Jona- than Phuub, James B. and Daniel W. Me- Kinnon were the building committee. Of the constituent members of this church, but one now remains. Mrs. Catherine Smith, who now lives in Lewistown. Since the completion of the church edifice a Sunday School has been in continmons operation, and has now a total enrollment of eighty scholars. The member- ship of the church now numbers eighty (June, Isso). Rev. B. F. Tucker is the present Pas- tor. For many years subsequent to the for- mation of this society, no fort was made by any other desmination to form a church in the township.

During the winter of 182-3, a series of methey were held in the Kayfor school- hotpr. on section 35, by Rev. William S. Parl. of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and early in Der be mentioned year a small class war to ad. This consisted of : Mar-

ton C. Wood and wife, Harvey Sutherland and wife, John Nichols and wife. William Rairden and wife. Andrew Coulter and wife, John Denny, and Francis Bridgeman. Ser- vices continued to be hell at the schoolhouse for two or three years, when the membership having become too numerous for the limited accommodations, the neat church edifice. situated on section thirty, was constructed; this is appropriately named " Pleasant Grove." The membership of this society is now (1880) 100. Contemporaneous with the formation of the Church was the Sabbath School, which is still in active and effective operation. Fol- lowing are the ministers of Pleasant Grove Church from its organization : Revs., William S. Paul, R. D. Oldfield, M. Longfellow, P. A. Drown, A. J. Stubbs, W. S. Ray, A. B.rry. ... A. Wright. Charles Farnsworth, and S. Il. Alderman, who at present presides.

The Evangelical Church was organized by Rev. Rhinehold about the year 1853, at the schoolhouse in Section 11. The constituent members were as follows: George Fuson and wife, Moses Sager and wife, Harvey Ray and wife. James Wicks and wife, and Thomas Conner and wife. The schoolhouse was occupied as a place of worship until the year 1865. when the present Church edifice of this society was erected. It is a commodious Trame building, and cost $1.400. The present membership of this society is seventy -two. Roy. William Bates is the present Pastor. In connection with the Church is a flourishing Sabbath School. Ministers of other denomi- nations have held occasional service in the township at intervals, but no church organiza- tions have ever existed, except those spoken of. Some years since the society known as the Patrons of Husbandry effected an organization at Lewistown, but it did not attain much pro- minence, and has now passed into obscurity.

During the war of the Rebellion Wash- ington Township was patriotic, brave and

IHISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.

535

earnest. The people faltered not as the long years passed wearily by, but the gaps in the ranks, made by disease, or torn open by shot and shell, were filled and refilled until the bloody and dreadful struggle was over, and Jet this be placed to her credit: Every male citizen of the township, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years, either became a

soldier himself or furnished a substitute; of these many never returned, their lives went out for the flag, and beneath the skies of the Sunny South, where the orange and mag- nolia shed a ceaseless perfume, the spot perhaps unknown, they " sleep the sleep that knows no waking."

CHAPTER XXII.

PERRY TOWNSHIP-TOPOGRAPHY AND DESCRIPTION-SETTLEMENT-EARLY IMPROVEMENTS- RELIGIOUS-EDUCATIONAL-TOWNS, ETC.

TN the beginning of the century that is now reeling off the last quarter of its course, this beautiful stretch of country was an unbroken wilderness-the home of the Red Man and his kindred. Beside the purling streams and around the flowing springs he built his wigwam, and through the dense for- ests he tracked his game and pursued his fly- ing prey. Behold the change! Less than four-score years have passed, and the wild whoop of the savage has died away in the distant West. Churches and schoolhouses have taken the place of his wigwam, and where his camp-fires blazed now stand the palatial homes of his pale- faced successors. And the dense woods-the giant trees of the forest-they have disappeared before the eu- terprise of the white man. He has trans- formed the forest into smiling fields, and his domestic animals are found where once roamed the bear, the panther, the wolf and deer. Wonderful, indeed, has been the change!

This division of Logan County lies in the eastern range of townships, and was formerly a part of Zane Township, as really was the whole of Logan County. When set off from Zane, it embraced Bokes Creek Township within its limits, and so remained until 183;,

when Bokes Creek was set off, bringing Perry Township (so named in honor of Commodore Perry) down to its present dimensions and boundaries, which are as follows: In shape an oblong square, being six miles from north to south and four miles from east to west; bounded on the north by Bokes Creek Town- ship, on the east by Union County, on the south by Zane Township, and on the west by Jefferson Township. It was Virginia military land, and the original surveys were made without regard to the cardinal points of the compass, but according to the convenience and the pleasure of the early settlers.

Geographically, Perry Township is located mostly in the valley of the Nile, otherwise of Otter and Mill Creeks. No more beautiful or fertile lands, we venture to say, border the Nile than are to be found in this section. About two-thirds of the township is a fine valley, and as rich land, to use the expression of one of its owners, "as ever a crow flew over." The central and eastern parts lie in this valley, and the land is a generally level surface, and of a rich deep soil. A portion of it was rather flat and marshy until arti- ficial drainage reduced it to a state of fertil- ity unsurpassed in any section of the county. The western portion of the township is rolling,

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HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.

and in places a little hilly. On the clay The authentic history of Perry Township hills the land is somewhat poor in quality, but , begins with the coming of John Garwood. Sr., makes fine grazing and pasturage. The roll- who is acknowledged the first white settlor in this portion of the Otter Creek Valley. Tradition places his settlement in the year 1802, a tradition that is scarcely borne out by - historical facts. Without entering into a discussion of the point, we will say that it is probable, from the most authentic informa- tion to be had, that he settled in the town- ship of Perry not before 1803-1. John Garwood, the progenitor of all the Garwoods of this section of the county. came originally from the Old Dominion, and settled on the present site of the village of east Liberty. His pioneer cabin stood about 300 yards west of MeCally's mill. He had several sons who came a few years after him; they were Daniel, Levi, Thomas, John, Isaiah and Lot. He also had several daughters. Hope, the oldest, married George Harris: Susanna married Joseph Ray; Margaret married Joshua Inskeep ; Hester married John Inskeop. a brother to Joshua; and Deborah married Joseph Stokes. All of these are dead and gone. So far as is known there is not one of this family, even to the third generation, from the old pioncer, John Gir- wood. Sr :. now living. Thomas and John Garwood, Jr., went to Ilinois many years ago, and died there. Levi Garwood was one of the first associate judges of the county, and another of the boys was one of the first justices of the peace after the formation of the county. ing lands to the west and northwest, in which the limestone exists, produces wheat, oats and grass in abundance. Along the western range of hills are found some fine ledges of limestone, which have been utilized by the opening of quarries, several of which are ex- tensively used, and furnish an excellent build- ing stone. Further west, as well as in the vast part gravel beds are found of a good quality for building roads. The timber con- sists of the usual varieties common in this part of the country, viz: oak, hickory, beech, chn, ash, maple, walnut and poplar. The last two named were originally very plenty, and were used extensively in carly times for rails. We were informed by a prominent citizen that there had been enough walnut and poplar timber made into rails, and otherwise wasted, to buy half the land in the township at the price at which poplar and walnut lumber now sells. There are but few streams coursing through Perry Township, and these are rather small and insignificant. The most important of them, however, are Otter and Mill Creeks. The latter has its source in Rush Greek Town- ship enters Perry near the northwest corner, flows in a southwesterly direction and unites with Otter Creek near the cast hne. Otter Crock comes in at the southwest corner, ils northeast and forms a junction with Mill Creek, and passes from the township year the center of the east lin . Darbey, or Darley, Creok. is a small stream forming a laili cite le tha ige the Oxtrom . southern part of the town lip. Long Run has its source in the vestern prirt nul flows near ca : to ite j metion with Obr Cook. No Branth : an, her Mail an hi ih se am in the canh in partes the ton hip. A Hoyen lab & of fine pino and whati . v . s Nicht we shall again

About the year 1805-6, three brothers, Joshua, Jobs and John Inskeep, came to the present township of Perry. They, too, were from Virginia. John Tuskeep was the first r' presentative in the legislature of Champaign Con y (then embrasin . Las), when Chilli- cothe wa. the capital of the State. They are all dend: but a number of de. cendant. perpet- uato their namo in the conniy. Thomas

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537

James came to the township in 1810 and settled on what is now known as the Robert Green place. lle was of Welsh descent; was born in Virginia, but not liking the in- stitution of slavery, when arriving at the years of maturity he went to Pennsylvania. lle remained there until his removal to Ohio. He first settled in Columbiana County, where he remained but a short time and then removed to Cincinnati. He resided in Cincinnati two years and then came to Perry township, as stated above, in 1810. He died in May, 1836. Ilis children were Isaac, Hannah, Thomas, Sarah, Phoebe and Levi. All are dead except Phoebe (Mrs. Smith) and Hannah, who live together about a mile north of East Liberty. Hannah, a maiden lady over eighty years of age, possesses an excellent memory, and remembers with great accuracy many facts pertaining to the pioneer times. Four sons of Thomas James, Jr., are still living, three in the neighborhood, viz : Dr. S. N., N. N. and Frank E., and W. L. James, in Union County. Three sisters of these are also living.

Another pioneer family of this township was the Skidmore family. Wm. Skidmore came also from the Old Dominion, and settled in Columbiana Co., where he remained for a time, and came here about 1825-6. Joseph Skidmore, his eldest son, is still living and is eighty-two years of age. Daniel, Joshua, Isaac and William (the last two were twins) were also his sons. Of these Daniel and Isaac are living. Ile had five daughters- Saida and Ruth married David Ray (but not both at once); Parmelia married Jacob Humphreys, and Mary married Levi Lane. The last two are living. The Skidmores were an excellent family of people. They are spoken of as "good farmers, honest, good men, and good Baptists." In 1808, Samuel Ballinger came from New Jersey, and settled about two miles south of the village of East

Liberty, in the southern part of the township. Of a large family all are now gone, and no nearer descendants than grandchildren are living here. John Bishop was a Virginian, and was an early settler, but has been so long dead that little is remembered of him.

An interesting character, whose history is intimately connected with the pioneers of Perry Township, was Anthony Banks, a colored man. He is believed to have como from Virginia, but whether he had ever been a slave or not is not known. lle was very energetie and industrious, and event- ually grew rich. He eut cord-wood in the vicinity of Sandusky, and bought his wife, who was originally a slave, and by her he raised a large family of stalwart sons and daughters, whose general appearance betok- ened a long life, but all of whom (except one) died early, and many of them with consump- tion. One daughter went to Canada and married a white man-a Canadian French- man-and died soon after, leaving one childl. The husband, who is said to have been at- tracted to her personal charms by the prop- erty she was to inherit, came on here with the child after her death, and remained some time with her family. Only one son, Wash- ington Banks, of all this family, survives. Ile lives in the east part of the township on a farm left him by his father. Old Anthony, it is said, owned the first silver-mounted har- ness, and the first buggy with silver-tipped hubs, ever seen in Perry Township, and his daughters wore the first silk dresses that were worn in the settlement. Many fabulous stories are told of Old Anthony's wealth. When he bought his fine buggy and harness, he was said to have had a half bushel measure full of silver and gokl coin left, all of which he offered to a man named Bill Carter if he would marry one of his daughters. Bill de- clined the honor. There is no doubt but Banks was very wealthy, but as is usually the

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HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.

case, the earth had scarcely closed over the old man before his children commenced the distribution of it with reckless hands, and it disappeared more rapidly than it had been accumulated. In the last sickness of Mrs. Banks, Dr. James attended her. When he saw that her hours were numbered, he told her in the evening. as he felt it his duty to do, that she could not live until the next morning. " Bless de Lord." said she, "I'll soon be free. I has never been free. Mr. Banks bought me. and ! has been his slave just as I was do slave of de white people. Bless de Lord, lis almost free now," and thus she died.

Further contributions to the township set- tlement, from Old Virginia, were Christopher Smith, Isaac Hatcher, Herbert Baird, and Lewis Sullivan. Mr. Smith came about 1806-2, and has been dead many years. Hatcher came soon after Smith, and settled in the northwest part of the township. He went to Champaign County, where he after- wards died. A grandson still perpetuates his name in this township. Mr. Baird was a local preacher of the Methodist Church, and settled one mile west of the village of East Liberty. llo died about 1830-1; his widow survived him a number of years. Sullivan came about 1:22 and settled a mile west of Baird's. He had settled previously in Jefferson Township, but soll ont there and moved over into Perry. He removed to Ilinois abont 1858, and none of his descendants are here now.

The Old Keystone State furnished the fol- lowing families, most of whom located near each other, thus forming a kind of Pennsyl- vania settlement: Richard Humphreys, Wil- Han Fisher, Simpkin Harriman, Stephen and Nehemiah Green, and Samuel Supler. Humphreys was a Welshman by birth, but had been living for some thue in Pennsyl- vania before emigrating to Ohio, which he did at a very carly day. He died about 1830.

Fisher came between 1820 and 1825, and set- tled on Mill Creek, about four miles north of East Liberty. Both he and his wife died in this township, but descendants are still living here. Harriman came about the same time Fisher did, and settled on an adjoining farm. A daughter married Wm. Fisher and is still living. Stephen Harriman, a son, still per- petuates the name. Stephen Green settled on an adjoining farm to Harriman. He moved to one of the Western States about 1835, where he died. Nehemiah Green came very early, and settled on a farm half a mile west of Liberty. IIe died more than forty years ago. Samuel Supler settled on an adjoin- ing farm to Harriman and Green. He died on the place of his original settlement, since the beginning of the present year, (1880) at the advanced age of eighty-four years-the oldest man, at the time of his death, in the township. He has two daughters still living; two sons went into the army during the late war, but never returned.

The following carly settlers came fromn New Jersey : Edward Harding, Josiah Aus- tin, Henry Reymer and Thomas Freer. Hard- ing came about 1825, is still living and is about 82 years of age. He settled two miles southwest of the village of Liberty, where he still lives. Hle has a son, Geo. W. Harding, and two daughters living in the township. Mr. Austin settled one mile south of Liberty. Ile was an old man when he came to the township, and is long since gathered to his fathers. Ile had four sons and four daugh- ters, all of whom are dead, except two daugh- ters, Mrs. Garwood and Mrs. Shepherd, both widows. Reymer came about 1818; he set- tled in the southwest part of the township, where he died many years ago. A son still lives on the old homestead. Freer settled an adjoining farm to Reymer, and came about the same time. He is long since dead, and has descendants living here nearer than

HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY. 539

grandchildren. Joseph Randall came in the fall of 1832, and was from Virginia. He is still living, and a resident of East Liberty.

John McCally is a Pennsylvania dutchman, of Scottish origin and descent, and settled in the township in the spring of 1833; he is here vet, and says he wants to stay just as long as possible, as he don't know what kind of a place he may get into when he leaves. He is a good man, and a regular walking eneyelo- pedia. He and Dr. James are responsible for much of the information on which the history of this township is based, and if anything is found to be incorrect, we tumble it off on them. We never make any mistakes, not even'in -- polities. Settlers were flocking in now with such rapidity, that it was not easy to keep track of them, much less to give their settlement in chronological order. The rich lands lying in the valley of Otter and Mill . Creeks attracted emigrants hither, and when the flow once set in, the country was rapidly settled up.

The great want of a mill was felt in an early period of the settlement in the valley. This want John Garwood. Sr., determined to supply, and but a few years after he had set- tled in the township, he set about building a mill on Otter Creek. This first mill was located some 300 or 400 yards from the pres- ent one, and is supposed to have been built at least seventy years ago, or about the year 1810. It was, some years afterward, removed to the present site, under the management of Thomas James, Dr. James' father, who was a millright by trade. This mill was patronized by the people for many miles around. "Gar- wood's Mill " was a noted place, and was well known at a great distance. It was a kind of center of a considerable extent of country, and from it all the early roads and trails di- verged. It is now owned by John MeCally, and has been improved and remodeled, until it is a little like the fellow's gun -- not even

the old lock, stock or barrel is left. It is still known, however, as the "old Garwood Mill." It is now a large two-story frame building, with two run of burrs, and a capacity for grinding 150 bushels of grain in twenty-four hours. Its power is from Otter Creek, and nu- merons flowing wells along the " race," which contribute greatly to the volume of water.

William B. Moore had a mill at one time near the junction of Otter and Mill Creeks. but it finally went down-the creek. During a time of high water it was washed away, and was never rebuilt. It was an enterprise of a rather brief career. A distillery was es- tablished at Garwood's Mill, and operated during the years of 1832 and 1833 by Thomas James and William Smith. They sold it to a man named Brooks, who operated it for a year or two and then ceased the business. It has never since been resumed in the town- ship, a fact which redounds to the credit of its citizens.

When the whites first came to Perry Town- ship there were plenty of Indians in the sur- rounding country. Although there were no villages in the township, or in the territory now embraced in the township, they frequent- ly came from their towns and villages and eneamped at the numerous springs in this sec- tion, sometimes for a month or two, while hunting. Miss Hannah James remembers numerous visits of this kind, and their com- ing to her father's house when in the neigh- borhood. They were on friendly terms with the white people and never committed any depredations. They were of the Delaware and Shawnee tribes, and came mostly from the Lewistown Reservation. After the elose of the war they were removed to reservations farther west, and

" Lo! the poor Indian, whose untutored mind Sees God in the clouds, and hears his whispers in the wind,"

HISTORY OF LOGAN COUNTY.

Leone a thing of the past. The red man is can : his funding grounds are smiling fields. and few now living in the township romem- her ever to have soon an Indian.

As the war-whoop of the savage died away the voice of the preacher was heard as " one erving in the wilderness." The first ministers belonged to the society of Friends, who used merely to "speak in meeting." John Gar- wood, Sr. was one of these, and was in the Inbit of preaching, or "speaking." Rey. Herbert Baird, already mentioned among the early settlers, was perhaps the first Methodist preacher. llo was a local preacher, but some time before his death he attached him- s If to Conference and was placed in charge of a Cirenit, and thus became a regular itin- erant. Elders Samuel Bradford and David Dudley were among the first Baptist preach- ers. The first church organized and the first. house of worship built was by the Methodists at East Liberty. The present site of the town of North freenfield was a camp-meet- ing ground long before there was a town laid out on it. A Methodist Church was finally built on this old camp ground. and is still used as such, it being now in the village of Green- fi ld. B fore the era of churches the pro- ple's cabins were used as substitues, and when a preacher come into the neighborhood the people were notified, and collected at some one of the larger cabins and listened to the Word, proclaimed in the simple language of the time. The " Quiker Church," as it is .alled, is situated a und. or two west of North Greenfield. The first church was built about 150, ail a few years afterwards burned down. The present edifice was built about to ob unone ment of the late war. It is a for building of modern architecture, and Mary Elliott is the principal minister, and has been since the hr t cremoization of a church in this neigh- burbon. Acentury has been laid out ad-

| jacent to the church, and forms a pretty little burying-ground. There is also a cemetery at the Supler schoolhouse, but a short distance from the church.

The Union Baptist Church, located in the Skidmore neighborhood, was built about 1858- 60. Among the first preachers was Eller Dudley, already mentioned as a pioneer Bap- tist preacher. He dedicated it when it was completed. It has a large membership and an interesting Sabbath School. Rev. Mr. Lash is at present the Pastor.

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History of Logan County and Ohio, Part 75

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