History of Marietta and Washington County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part 46

Author: Andrews, Martin Register, 1842-; Hathaway, Seymour J
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1490

USA > Ohio > Washington County > Marietta > History of Marietta and Washington County, Ohio, and representative citizens > Part 46

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Newport was first settled before 1798 by William Tison, Neal Cortner, John Cotton, Joseph Luckey and David Stokely at the "Up- per Settlement"-near the present village of Newport. These forerunners of civilization gave way before the so-called "real pioneers." among whom the Danas and Greenes share the honor of making the first permanent set- tlement, soon followed by the Holdens. Tem- pletons, MeKibbens, Nichols and others. In the northwestern portion of the township Will- iam Hill. Sr., began a settlement on the Little Muskingum which has since horne his name. \ "Lower Settlement" was begun early, known as Lower Newport.

Newport was laid out by Captain Battelle, son of Col. Ebenezer Battelle, a graduate of Harvard College, early in the first decade of the century. The first school in the township was opened at this spot by Caleb Greene. A school in the Hills neighborhood was started about the same time by Annie Plumer and a third was soon in existence on the east bank of the Little Muskingum near Beech Grove Church. In 1816 a log school house was built in Lower Newport with George Greenwood as fiist teacher.

Itinerant Methodist clergymen were in Newport before 1800 and within 15 years a log church was built at Lower Newport on the Lank of the Ohio. The first Methodist Church in Newport was organized in 1825 and in four years a church was completed. In May 1870 a new brick church was dedicated. A Presby- terian Church was organized June 9, 1838. For many years they were supplied by Presi- dent Smith of Marietta College, who "was ac- customed to remark that his visits to the little flock at Newport were the green spots in his life." In 1869 the society was dissolved. The Beech Grove Presbyterian Church was built in

1848. In 1861 when the Presbyterian Church at Marietta died, this church was named the Becch Hill First Presbyterian Church, which name it retains. The nucleus of the Newport Baptist Church was formed previous to 1822, when meetings were held in various houses in the "Upper Settlement." The interest grew through the years and the church was organ- ized in January, 1838. The first structure, a brick, was erected and dedicated January 1; 1842. There had been paid on the church $951.24, leaving a debt of $336.44. William Dana paid this and took the note of the trus- tees for the amount. At the death of William Dana search for the note was made, but it could not be found. In this quiet way did Mr. Dana pay the debt, having destroyed the note as soon as received. In 1878 the church was thoroughly remodeled at a cost of $2,000 and dedicated March 21, 1880. About 1855 a United Brethren Church was organized and a building erected on land given by Williani See- vers. It is known as the Kinderhook Church. The Beech Grove Church was organized in a school house in Newell's Run in 1863. In 1870 a little church was built on the site of the alandoned Methodist Church near the mouth of Newell's Run.

Soon after the formation of the "Upper Settlement," Luther Barker was appointed postmaster. In 1825, when Ebenezer Battelle was appointed postmaster, the office was re- moved to his residence in Newport. The post- office at Lower Newport was established in 1841, Jacob Middleswart being the first pro- prietor. That at Newell's Run, on the Ohio, was established in 1865 with Thomas J. Con- ner as postmaster and Amos Crum first offi- ciated as postmaster at Hills P. O., which was established in 1869.

On the pages of the records of Washing- ton County is found "a plat of the villages of Newport, comprising forty lots in section twenty-seven, in the original surveyed town- ship, numbered one, in range numbered six of the old seven ranges ; surveyed January 30 and 31. 1839, for Ebenezer Battelle, the proprie- tor, the streets to be ninety-one links and the alleys sixteen links in width." This is wit-

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nessed by the county surveyor, Benjamin F. Stone, and by the proprietors of the village, Ebenezer and Mary Battelle. The ground was surveyed anew May 27, 1839.

The following is the record of the vacation of the town plat by the original proprietor : "In the Court of Common Pleas, Septem- ber term, 1839, on application of Ebenezer Bat- telle, he having produced to the court satisfac- tory evidence that notice of his intention to vacate the town plat of Newport had been given according to law, and a statement in writing filed from the persons, to whom by ver- bal contract said Battelle had given an equit- able claim on lots in said town, of their con- sent to said vacation. It is ordered by the court that said proprietor be permitted to va- cate said town plat of Newport."

Newport township as at first established covered territory not included in the Ohio Com- pany's purchase. It was very natural that shrewd farmers among the pioneers were at- tracted by the beautiful and fertile plain in the southern part of this tract and the name New- port. as well as the family names of some of the settlers, reminds us of Rhode Island.

In the hilly part of old Newport, now in- cluded in Independence, Lawrence, Liberty. Ludlow and Grandview, the hunter and the squatter, usually the same person. had almost exclusive control for many years after pros- perous settlements had been begun on the river bottoms. There are many traditions of this class of "pioneers," who often made it as un- comfortable for the man who had bought the land, as they had for the former claimants, the Indians. Some of these squatters became civ- ilized but others preferred to move on to a newer and wilder country.

As early as 1820, Joseph Barker erected a mill in Newport township for the extraction of flaxseed and castor oil. It was worked for a while but the cultivation of flax and the cas- tor-oil bean seems not to have proved a very profitable business. In recent years Newport town and township have been greatly enriched by the petroleum industry, a fuller account of which is to be found in another chapter.

PALMER TOWNSHIP.

The first pioneer into what has been a part of Waterford, Watertown ( then Wooster ), Roxbury, Wesley and is now in Palmer town- ship, was Christopher Malster who settled here in 1796. Other carly settlers were the Palm- :ers, Rices, Dauleys, Gards, etc.

Prior to the formation of Noble County in 1851, a man standing on the northeast corner of section six, now in Palmer, could have placed himself by a single step, either north- east, in Watertown, southeast in Barlow, southwest in Wesley, or northwest in Roxbury. From this point the dividing lines ran toward the four points of the compass in two straight lines through the present township. But, by the formation of Noble, Morgan County lost large areas, and was partially recompensed by the addition of the larger part of Rox- bury, taken from Washington County. At a special session of the commissioners, May 19, 1851. the remaining portions of Roxbury, with parts of other townships just mentioned, were consolidated into a new township, named after the family so much concerned in the set- tlement and growth of its territory and inter- est.s. The entry on the journal reads as fol- lows :

A petition was received from citizens of Rox- bury and parts of Wesley, Watertown and Barlow for the erection of a new township composed of territory embraced within the following boundaries, viz : Com- mencire a' the northwest corner of one hundred and sixty acre lot No. 1.079, range eleven, town eight ; therce south to the southwest corner of said lot : thence to the northwest corner of one hundred and sixty avre lot No. LOSO: thence south to the southwest corner of · ection thirteen, range eleven, town eight : thence south to the southwest corner of section No. 17. range eleven, town seven : thence to the southeast corner of section No. 5. range eleven, town seven; thence cast to the southeast corner of section No. 35, range ten, town three: thence north to the southwest corner of one hundred and sixty acre lot No. 780; thence east to the southerst corner of one hundred and sixty agre lot No. #80: thence north to the northeast corner of section No. 30. range ten. town three; thence north to the northeast corner of fractional lot No. 838, range ten. town four : thence north to the southeast corner of one hundred acre lot No 17. range ten, town four, south branch allottment : thence to the northeast corner of one hundred acre lot No. 47 afore-and: thence west to the northwest corner of one hundred acre No. 14, range

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HISTORY OF MARIETTA AND WASHINGTON COUNTY,

ten, town four, west branch allottment : thence south to the southwest corner of one hundred acre lot No. 15, range ten. town for. west branch allottment ; thence westwardly to follow the line which divides the late township of Roxbury, setting off the said township to Morgan county, to the place of beginning.

Schools were started in Palmer township at the very first ; as early as 1806 Russell Dar- row was engaged as teacher. James Ashcroft, Jabesh Palmer, John T. Dumont and William Brown were early teachers.

Free Will Baptist and Methodist meetings were customarily held in private houses throughout the early years. In 1837 a Meth- odist Church was built. The first store was opened about 1825 by Hiram Gard.

SALEM TOWNSHIP.

Salem was originally a part of Adams. But the following petition was handed in to the Court of Quarter Sessions, part of whose busi- ness it was to establish townships :

To the Honorable Court of General Sessions of the Peace for the County of Washington:

Gentlemen: Your petitioners, the inhabitants of Duck Creek, beg your honors to take into considera- tion the local situation they are in from other settle- ments, and whereas your honors at your last session in March did at that time form the different settle- ments into towns, ind at the same time put us, the in- habitants of Duck Creek, into an association with the inhabitants of Virgin Bottom, Rainbow, Cattle Creek, and Bear Creek (into one town called by the name of Adams), whose situation is inconvenient for us to as- sociate with as respect; a town by reason of the incon- venience of passing the hills and ridges where it is not practicable to make roads to pass from Duck Creek to Muskingum at the same time, our numbers are almost if not quite equal to some of the other towns already laid out by your Honors being in number on Duck Creek thirty-four families and upwards of sixty men capable of bearing arms.

For this and other good motives, your petitioners request your Honors would take the matter into con- sideration, and make a division in the town of Adams west by a division line between the waters of Duck Creck and Muskingum, and as far south as Shepard's old mills so called. as far as your Honors in their wisdom shall judge best.

W's also would inform that the people on Duck Creek did on the second day of May last, make choice

of us, the subscribers, to prefer a petition to your Hon- ors for the above mentioned purposes.

Duck Creek, June 3. 1797.

( Signed )

Levi Chapman. James Amlin,

John Amlin, Jonathan Anılın,

Jolın .Amlin, Sr .. Conrad Rightner.

Joel Tuttle, Joseph Chapman,

John Campbell, Daniel Bradstreet,

Jonathan DeLong. Patrick Campbell,

Samuc! Fulton, Robert Campbell,

Samuel Nash, Daniel Campbell,

Robert Colewell. Ebenezer Tolman,

Seth Tolman, U'riah Wheeler.

Benjamin Tolman, Amos Porter,

Samuel Amlin, Amos Porter, Jr.

The first settler in Salem was probably Amos Porter, who was followed by the Nashes, DeLongs, Tolmans, McCunes, Fultons, Da- vises, Dains, Perkines and many others, for what is now Salem was comparatively thickly settled in early years. John True kept school in Salem as early as 1807.

Elisha Allen erected a sawmill on Duck Creek before 1820 and in that year he built a grist mill at the same spot. These were on the "Lower Ox-Bow." On the "Upper Ox- Bow," S. N. Merriam built steam, saw and grist mills 10 years later. He also kept one of the first stores open in the township, as did Elisha Allen in his earlier mill. Salem is credited for having one of the earliest temper- ance societies in the West, if not the earliest. It was organized about 1822 by Ephraim Gould and his brother Dennis, a student at Lane Seminary ; a pledge was made and called "teetotal." The first postmaster in Salem was Daniel G. Stanley who held office about 1827.

The old Presbyterian Church society was holding meetings by April, 1812. The first session meeting in Salem was in October of that year. Churches were erected in Harriets- ville and Bonn. A series of Freewill Baptist services were held as early as 1810. Before 1815 a Methodist Church was organized and a church was built in 1836. A Protestant Methodist Church was erected in 1878. The Mount Ephraim Methodist Church was organ- ized early and buildings erected in 1846 and 1873. The Good Hope Baptist Church was organized in 1835 and two houses of worship

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have been built-one in 1836 and one in 1851. The Bonn German Methodist Church was or- ganized in 1840. In 1842 a church was erect- ed and replaced in 1871 by a new edifice. Two parsonages have been built, one in 1852 and another in 1874. The Disciple Church at Bonn was organized about 1852; another in Warner was started in 1872. The Universal- ist Church in Salem was organized in Decem- ber, 1859, and a church building was dedicated in 1861. A German Lutheran Church was or- ganized about the same time and a building erected. The Corinth Church was organized in 1863 and in 1876 a building was procured. The Baptist Church of Lower Salem was or- ganized in 1877. A building was erected in 1880-81.

Salem village was laid out in 1850 at the end of a plank road from Marietta and the toll house at the end of the road was the first building in the village.

Warner, a station on the C. & M. R. R. was laid out by P. and E. Boye in 1873 and named in honor of Gen. AV. J. Warner of Mar- ietta. Bonn, named by the Germans who early came here from the city of the Rhine, was laid out about 1835. The first store was opened here by Rufus Payne about the same year.

WARREN TOWNSILIP.

Warren township was incorporated by the Board of County Commissioners in 1810, but the original lines have frequently been altered. The first permanent settlers in Warren were the Baileys, Newtons and Coles who came about 1805. Within a year or so came the Humphreys, Finches and Cutlers. The first. roads were the Marietta-Belpre road ( 1793). the Marietta-Lancaster road ( 1797) and the Marietta-Athens road ( 1800).

One of the most singular documents in ex- istence in the county is a contract for teaching an early school in Warren township which is preserved in the memoranda of Judge Eph- raim Cutler. It reads as follows :

Memoranda of an agreement entered into this third day of February, 1807, by and between Isaac Hum-

phreys. John Henry and Ephraim Cutler and John D. W. Kip, on the other part witnesseth; That for the consideration of the sian of twenty-five dollars for every three months, to be pant him at the expiration of siad term by Humphreys, Henry and Cutler, he, the said Kip, doth engage to keep a school at such place as they shall direct and to teach reading, writing and arith- metic. an I to govern himself and school by the follow- ing rules and regulations, to-wit: He shall keep school from nine o'clock in the morning till twelve at noon, and from one in the afternoon until four, provided that during the months of June, July. August and Sep- tember school may commence at hall past one and close at half past four. He shall be excused from keeping school on Saturdays in the afternoon, on the Fourth of July, when he shall be called to attend trainings, and on election days.

The whole school shall be arranged into two or more classes at the direction of the master, the senior class to be admitted to the exercise of writing and arith- metic ; the lower classes shall be employed in reading and spelling, and that no time may be lost they shall have portions assigned them for study, from which at proper hours the master shall ask them to spell, and in order to promote emulation, the priority in standing shall be determined by their accuracy in spelling.

Particular attention shall be paid in the upper class in teaching them punctation ; and that in reading they be taught to observe the stop- and points, notes of affec- tion and interrogation, also accenting and emphasizing.

The master shall consider himself as in the place of parent to the children under his care, and endeavor to convince them by mild treatment that he feels a parental affection for them. He shall be sparing as to promises or threatenings, but punctual in the perform- ince of one and execution of the other, and that he in- culcate upon the scholars the propriety of good be- havior during their absence from school.

Hc will endeavor on all suitable occasions to im- press upon the minds of his scholars a sense of the be- ing and providence of God, and the obligations they are under to love and serve Him; of their duty to their parents ; the beauty and excellency of truth, the duty which they owe to their country, and the necessity of a strict observance of its laws.

He shall caution, and, as far as he can, restrain them from the prevailing vices, such as lying, pro- faneness, gaming and idleness.

From these general rules he may form particular rules, and if they are broken he must be particular to punish the offender, but mildness in punishment is recommended.

Despite the exhaustiveness of the contract, Mr. Kip taught the school only one week. 1 successful school was taught in Judge Cutler's stone house in 1809-10 by Gen. John Brown, afterward treasurer of Ohio University at Athens. In 18to the first school house was built. As early as 1814 a summer school espe- cially for girls was taught by Miss Sallie Rice. The Presbyterian Church of Warren was

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formed in 1828 and joined AAthens Presbytery the same year. In 1837 the church on the river road was built, largely by the funds fur- nished by Oren Newton, Ephraim Cutler, Will- iam P. Cutler and Seth Bailey.

The late Bishop Morris, of sainted mem- ory, was probably the pioneer missionary in Warren township. At an early date the two Methodist churches known as the "Zoar" and the "Bethel" churches were erected. The Mount Moriah United Brethren Church was organized and a log meeting house built about 1850.

WATERFORD TOWNSHIP.

On December 20, 1790, the Court of Quar- ter Sessions established three townships: Mar- ietta, Belpre and Waterford. The following resolution fixed the bounds of Waterford :

Resolved, That the seventh and eighth townships in the eleventh range, the fourth and fifth townships in tenth range. and mile square, No. 33, in the fourth township of the ninth range, he, and they hereby are incorporated and included in one township, by the name of Waterford

The first town officers were: Capt. Eben- ezer Gray, town clerk; Noah Fearing, over- seer of the poor; Dean Tyler, constable.

To these three townships-Marietta, Bel- pre and Waterford-Rev. Daniel Story was employed by the Ohio Company to minister.

The early history of Waterford township is given very fully in other chapters. The fol- lowing article on Beverly, prepared by Miss Virginia V. Dodge, leaves little more to be desired as to the history of that town, and also gives us many items of general interest relat- ing to the surrounding country. The sketch of the Dodge family, likewise prepared by Miss Dodge, also fills out the history of Water- ford township and the town of Beverly.

BEVERLY.

The colony from which Beverly on the Muskingum had its origin has a most highly creditable and romanic history. Rising out of the wilderness only a few months following

the advent of the Ohio Company at Marietta, its sons and daughters were of that heroic mold that has not failed to leave its impress on the character of the present life.

Within a few miles of here were born some of the most noble men and women that our country has known. So enchanting is this heart of the valley, that it is small wonder that Silver Heels, the last chief of the Lenni-Lenape Indians, was loath to abandon the realm that had been his hunters' paradise, time without memory to the white man, and that out of the rebellious spirit of this chief the last arrow should have gone to its mark in the heart of the settler, Abel Sherman.

The immortal Garfield said in the House of Representatives something that has so direct a bearing upon the birth of the town of Bever- ly proper that it is but justice to the man whose conception it was to here give the extract :

"There is a force greater than that of State and government. It is the force of private voluntary enterprise, that has built up towns and schools and colleges in these United States, with enthusiasm and wonderful energy."

This especial quality was perfectly exem- plified in the character of one of the first of Ohio's colonists, John Dodge, Esq., who founded the town of Beverly.

In laying out part of his estate for public sale, and in making donations of a number of valuable properties to improve the advantages naturally at hand, it was the dream of Mr. Dodge to make this point a convenient center of civiliation where its productions and oppor- tunities would afford benefit to the surround- ing population. The town was not laid out in a spirit of personal aggrandizement, as its founder gave away to its schools, park, church- es, ministers and business enterprises more than he kept for himself and his heirs.

A clause from a will by Mr. Dodge, relat- ing to the name of Beverly, which, not being embodied in the historical part of this work containing the Dodge biography, is included here, as follows :

I. John Dodge, now intending to establish on a spot (before selected by my father, Captain Dodge, "as

DR. ISRAEL STONE DODGE.

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an exceptional site") a town for the further con venience and advancement of this region we chose as cur pioneer home, am of the firm intention to name the town Beverly, for three reasons-In that I have a reverence for the name as that of my birthplace in the mother State of Massachusetts. Also that many who came to the Northwest Territory with our com- pany were from that pilgrim coast where that Bey- erly stands and would thus feel an affection for the name. Again, that I trust in the Providence of God it will be an augur for the protection of the new village: as Beverly in Old England escaped the de- stroving army of the Norman because of the sanctity of her great prelate, John of Beverly, so I trust those here may be spared all future disaster through our integrity in the keeping of God's faw's.

Mr. Dodge made a plan for Beverly in 1831, but on account of national conditions he deferred the actual laying out of the place, al- though operating a ferry at this period across the river and being interested in other public enterprises.

From 1837 to 1843 the uncertain state of the public credit hardly seemed to touch the most prosperous population in the Muskingum Valley. There were improvements being made by the State upon the river dams and locks were being built, and a navigation was thus acquired that for many decades made the products of these fertile lands available to the world. There came a real need for an incor- porated town, in the protection it would lend to the community.

The following letter from Hon. Thomas Ewing, just made Secretary of the Treasury, to Mr. Dodge, whose wife was a relative of Mr. Ewing's, is of prophetic value :

Washington, March 25, 1841.

To John Do lge, Esq ..

1 am much interested in your proposition to lay out a town near the home of my family ; it would draw new strength there and help to build up our State on a foundation of high character.

Posterity Owes you a debt of gratitude for your untiring effort- for the advancement of the community life around you, and likewise for so beautiful a choice of a town site for I have looked upon that bend of the river in my journeys by stage and hor-chark as the færrest view on the face of earth. Though endeared to me In association, even the most impartial observer wonlet rot fail to be impressed with its great beauties.

a loan to our agents, and many conditions un- propitious, did not deter the long-cherished plan of Mr. Dodge in the establishment of an incorporated town. There was levied a tax of two mills on the dollar and an officer of the law appointed, with a Town Council. There was a population of several hundred people, and new-comers arriving on account of the im- proved river traffic, the works having been completed at this place a year before. There were two general stores, also several buyers and shippers of agricultural products. There were three churches, a college and two schools then conducted here.

Newspapers .- The first newspaper was started about eight years after this by Mr. Baker, who more recently was appointed Unit- ed States Minister to Guatemala. Following this, the Beverly Gazette having expired with the Know Nothing party, Beverly College con- ducted a weekly paper. Then the Beverly Ad- vertiser was inaugurated by Mr. Preston in 1862 and was well conducted. He was suc- ceeded in the press work for the town by W. T. & Howard Atherton, who edited the Times. In the same year the Beverly Citizen and W'ash- ington Advertiser were started. In 1879 C. E. T. Miller and William Walter started the Dispatch. They sold the same to C. N. Mc- Cormack. In July, 1888, Professor Smith, formerly president of the College, took up edi- torial work on this paper. At his death he was followed in this by Miss Roberta Smith, and later by his son, Robert, who sold the Dis- putch recently to Mr. Goodrich. The present editor has used every effort to call the atten- tion of the world at large to the great but un- developed resources of the vicinity, and de- serves success.

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History of Marietta and Washington County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part 46

Author: Andrews, Martin Register, 1842-; Hathaway, Seymour J Publication date: 1902 Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1490

Author: Andrews, Martin Register, 1842-; Hathaway, Seymour J
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1490