USA > Ohio > Morgan County > History of Morgan County, Ohio, with portraits and biographical sketches of some of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 43
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Ile came to Zanesville and engaged in the shipping house of Allen, Cadawalla- der & Co. He devoted his leisure time to perfecting his business education, and in a short time he was doing business on the Muskingum. His devotion to the interests of his employers, and his strict attention to all his duties, soon gave him prominence and promotion, and in a little time he acquired a working interest in two or three boats that plied between Zanesville and Dresden. At the latter place he was married in 1850 to Miss Charlotte A. Kellogg. The union was blessed with two children, Nettie (Mell) and Diodate, the present captain of the steamer "Mink." Captain Morgan re- sided in Dresden until the upper trade of the river was abandoned, when he moved to McConnelsville, and to the time of his decease, March 9, 1884, he was the commander of the "Mink." No man on the river was more exten-
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sively or favorably known than Captain Morgan. He was a steadfast friend, a kind father and an indulgent husband. As a brother he fulfilled faithfully a trust committed to him by his mother, and to his sisters he was a father, always ready to minister to their wants or to counsel them when required. One of the leading dailies of Zanesville, in a biography published at the time of his death, said: "Captain Morgan was a public benefactor. His manner of life was plain and unostentatious as were his liberal charities. He was noted for his general intelligence and genial dis- position, and was a true type of the American gentleman."
G. C. DEVOL.
Grosvenor C. Devol, son of Cook Devol, one of the early settlers of
Marietta, Ohio, was born in Waterford Township, Washington County, Ohio, January 28, 1814. In 1835 he came to Morgan County, as manager of the Fulton Salt Works, and the following year to McConnelsville, where he en- gaged in merchandising. He did a successful business for about ten years, when he became the agent of all the salt works on the river, excepting two or three. Upon the formation of the First National Bank of McConnels- ville he became its cashier, which posi- tion he resigned on account of ill health.
Dalphon Devol, brother of G. C. Devol, came to McConnelsville in 1836, and for a time was engaged with his brother in the mercantile business. For many years he has been doing business at Eagleport, Bloom Township, where he now resides.
CHAPTER XVIII.
MORGAN.
ORGANIZATION-EARLY ELECTIONS-THE FIRST MAGISTRATE-ROSTER OF PIONEERS-DEACON MILES-THE JUNTOS AND BRIMSTONES-OLD JOE-ELECTION CUSTOMS-MEMORABLE CONTEST BETWEEN THE JUNTOS AND THE BRIMSTONES-EARLY COURTS-COURT ATTENDANCE OF PIO- NEER DAYS-TAVERN GATHERINGS-REMINISCENCES-PERSONAL INCIDENTS.
THE history of Morgan Township is contemporaneous with that of McConnelsville, and so closely inter- woven are the two that it is ahnost im- possible to write of one withont nar- rating facts concerning the other.
By ordinance of Congress, May, 1785, the territory northwest of the Ohio
was surveyed into ranges, townships and sections. The ranges were num- bered from east to west and the town- ships from south to north, each town- ship having thirty-six sections. In this survey an error occurred by which the twelfth range, instead of being six, was only five miles in width. Morgan and
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HISTORY OF MORGAN COUNTY, OHIO.
the other townships of this range are consequently only of that width.
Prior to the organization of the county in 1819 Morgan Township was included in Deerfield, being that part taken from Washington County in which James Young officiated as mag- istrate. The only record of the trans- action is the following order :
"Ordered by the trustees that Jacob R. Price be and is hereby authorized to adjust and settle with the trustees of Deerfield Township all accounts be- tween said Deerfield and Morgan Town- ships.
"JOHN SEAMAN. " April 20, 1820."
The accounts were adjusted and the following report, dated September 2, 1820 submitted :
"Wc, the undersigned, being, ap- pointed to adjust the accounts between Deerfield and Morgan Townships, after a thorough investigation, do find sev- enty-nine dollars and twenty-one cents due to both townships at the time Morgan was set off, which was on the 10th of August, 1818, of which Morgan Township's share is twenty-five dollars and forty cents, as witness our hands. " JACOB R. PRICE. " JOSIAH WRIGHT. " MARTIN PRICE."
When the " set off " was made, Mor- gan comprised the original surveyed Township 11 of Range 12. In 1819, when Penn Township was organized, the commissioners struck off a row of sections from the south side of Morgan and attached a like number to Morgan from the south side of Bloom, thus equalizing the territorial limits of the three townships.
On the formation of Malta Township. in 1839, the river was made the line
with the addition to Morgan of half of Sections 6 and 19. and all that part of Section 30 east of the river to Mcigs- ville, and a little nook in Section 27, ad- joining the scetions previously detached from Bloom.
In shape Morgan Township might now be called an irregular triangle, the longer line or southwest border being on the river. It has a smaller area than any other in the county-113 sections, 7.520 acres. Two miles north of Mc- Connelsville, coal, of what is called the Cumberland seam, of the average thick- ness of three fect, has been mined and used for over fifty years ; it is in two stratas, divided by about an inch of carbonaceous slate. The lower stratum of this coal is equal to any other in the county. One mile east of town coal is found, and was formerly the elief de- pendence for the people in the vicinity. In this same vicinity iron ore of the kid- ney variety is said to be in abundance.
Judge Gaylord, in his reminiscences, says : "In the early part of 1819 we find only a partial organization existing. James Young was the only acting justice of the peace in the township. He was commissioned November 17, 1818, and resigned February 11, 1820. He had his office in an old, dilapidated shed at- tached to his dwelling on Lot 64, corner of Mainc and Union streets, McCon nelsville, where he dispensed justice and attended to the legal wants of his neigli- bors with dignity and dispateh unsur- passed by any of his numerous succes- sors. 'Squire Young was a brickmolder and mason, and built the first brick dwelling in the county, the Adamis House. He also made the brick and put up the first courthouse in the county. Young being almost constantly occupied | in his mechanical pursuits, besides at-
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tending strictly to his duties as tavern- keeper, was obliged to make Saturdays his court-days, from necessity, on which occasion much legal business was dis- posed of in a way peculiar to the times. " Legal business accumulating in the township, it was deemed necessary to have another justice's court opened ; thereupon the trustees of the township. in the absence of any action of the common pleas court, ordered an elec- tion to be held on July 31, 1819, to elect an additional justice of the peace. This election was the first political demonstration we have any account of among the early settlers of the town- ship, and was held in McConnelsville at the time ordered, Alexander McConnel, Daniel .Chandler and John Pettit judges ; Jesse L. Paschal and Suneon Pool, Jr., clerks of election. By reference to the pollbook of that election a pretty complete list of the pioneers is obtained as follows: Lewis Ramey, Gilbert Olney, Nathaniel Sprague, W. M. Dawes, Amasa Piper, Simeon Pool, John Bell, Alexander Mc- Conel, Simeon Pool, Jr., Jacob Ad- ams, Joseph Wyatt, William Lewis, Sylvanus Piper, Jacob R. Price, John Pettit, Robert Aikens, Jr., John Smith, William Hughes, John Williams, Philip Kahler, John Seaman, Abraham Hughes, Benjamin T. Johnson, Isaac Walbridge, Timothy M. Gates, W. C. Johnson, Israel Rechman, Jonathan McMullen, William Murphy, James Larrison, Nathaniel Shepard, James Young, Samuel A Barker, Jonas Fox, Charley Brian, Henry Awmiller. Dan- iel Chandler, a judge, and Jesse L. Pas- chal, a clerk, did not vote, making the minuber thirty-eight. Eleven of this list resided within the present corporate limits of MeConnellsville ; all others re-
sided in the township, and most of them on the Malta side. Timothy M. Gates was elected, receiving fifteen of the thirty-six votes."
In October, 1820, a general election was held, and from the records are obtained the following election certifi- cates :
" We do hereby certify that Andrew Wharton had 46 votes, David Fulton had 33 votes for commissioner; Jere- miah Morrow had 69 votes, Ethan A. Brown had 7 votes, Williain M. Dawes had 2 votes for governor: Timothy Buel had 44 votes, Alexander McCon- nel had 53 votes, Ephraim Cutler had 15 votes, William M. Dawes had 28 votes, Joseph Barker had 5 votes, Amzi Stanley had 4 votes for State represent- ative.
" JONATHAN PORTER, "JOHN SEAMAN. " WILLIAM PALMER, "Judges."
This is followed by another certifi- cate "that Levi Barber had 13 votes, Henry Brush had 62 votes, and Thomas Scott had one vote for representative in congress."
The following bears the same date :
" We do hereby certify that Joseph Barker had 20 votes for State repre- sentative and Timothy Buell had 17 votes for State representative.
" WILLIAM SUMMERS,
" JONATHAN PORTER, " JAMES YOUNG, "Judges. " JACOB R. PRICE. " FRANCIS A. BARKER, · Clerks. " December 19, 1820."
At that time Morgan County elected, with Washington County, two repre- sentatives ; and that there was some dis-
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HISTORY OF MORGAN COUNTY, OHIO.
satisfaction in one or the other of the elections is indicated by the following "official notice" for holding the first political convention in the county, which is copied verbatim from pages 17 and 18 of the record :
" Notice to the electors of Morgan Township to meet at the schoolhouse in McConnelsville on Saturday, the 1st of September next, to elect two dele- gates to meet in general delegation in McConnelsville on the 4th of Septem- ber next, for the purpose of forming an annual ticket to be supported at the next annual election for Morgan County. Also to choose a committee to correspond with a committee of Washington County.
" By order of the trustees, "JACOB R. PRICE, T. C. " August 24, 1821."
"Ordered by the trustees that an election be held at the schoolhouse in McConnelsville to elect two delegates for the township of Morgan to meet with delegates from the other different townships of Morgan County to form a ticket to be supported at the ensuing election. Also to choose a corresponding comunittec to correspond with Wash- ington County and the different town- ships of Morgan County.
"WM. C. JOHNSON,
" JONATHAN PORTER, " Trustees.
" August 24, 1821.
"Attest: Jacob R. Price.
" The above is misplaced ; it ought to be before the advertisement."
At the annual election, October 9, 1821, subsequent to the call for the "general delegation" there were 95 votes cast ; and it is apparent that the effect of the "general delegation " was the formation of two regular tickets,
with probably the first " Brimstone and Junto" battle at the poles.
The candidates for the State senate were Sardina Stone and Ephraim Cut- ler.
For representatives : Timothy Buell, Alexander McConnel, Wm. M. Dawes and James Whitney.
In those days it was the fashion everywhere at elections for candidates to treat their friends, and to their ene- mies to extend merely a "smell." Lib- erally and frequently the voters in- dulged the generosity of the candidates during the day. It was common at the election to find the "big-bellied bottle " exhibited and set out with the name of the candidate inscribed thereon.
It was the order of the day to first vote and then drink the success of the favorite candidate from his bottle. If any candidate should have conscien- tious scruples about furnishing his demijohn well filled, his chances for success were very slim.
On the 22d of January, 1820, an election was held for a justice of the peace, at which Timothy M. Gates, Gilbert Olney and Alexander McCon- nel acted as judges; John Seaman and Jacob R. Price, as clerks. The follow- ing pioneers appear for the first time upon the record :
William B. Young,
Moses Lawrence,
John Davis, Joseph Smith,
William Brown, David Smith,
Theophilus Caton,
Isaae Miles,
Samuel H. Gates, Henry Snider,
John Jaek, Jonathan Porter,
Simeon Morgueridge,
William Palmer.
Jacob P. Springer,
Isaac Walbridge was elected, receiv- ing twenty-four out of thirty-one votes cast. The larger portion of these pio- neers were residents of the village and
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MORGAN.
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township in 1819. In this list of pio- neers will be found the name of Isaac Miles. He was peculiar in his ways, blunt and determined. Among his nu- merous friends he was known as Dea- con Miles, not that he possessed any of the particular Christian virtues apper- taining to that kind of a church officer, or had he connection with any of the theological organizations extant among the people at that time, but from his peculiarities displayed on all occasions. For some years he was one of the con- tables, and the law during his admin- istration made it his duty to visit every newcomer settling in the township, and notify him or her to depart the same, so that he or she should not in any event become a public charge upon the township. This was called "warning out," and the notice in the hands of Constable Miles was given to everyone ; no matter what might be their circum- stances in life, the rich and the poor were sure to receive a call from Con- stable Miles. On one occasion Consta- ble (or Deacon) Miles, in his rounds of " warning out," came to the domicile of a lone widow, and without notice of his approach, he . bolted across the threshold of her cabin, and in no smooth or pleasant vein blurted out, " Madam, I warn you out of this township and off the face of God's earth!" The woman, surprised at the sudden intru- sion of the officer of the law and his peremptory commands, raising her hands toward heaven, cried out, "My God, Mr. Miles, off the face of God's earth! Where shall I go to?" "Go to ?" said the deacon ; " go to the Kan- awaha saltworks." The Kenawaha saltworks, at that time, was a sort of asylum for the lame, halt, blind and unfortunate, and also a refuge for those
22
who were compelled to leave the coun- try for the country's good.
In continuation of the pioneer list, we again quote from Judge Gaylord's reminiscences : "June 3, 1820, an election was held in which the follow- ing additional pioneers first make their appearance upon the records :
Thomas Byers,
Robert Morgan,
John Berry,
Leonard St. Clair,
Timothy Gaylord,
William Van Horn,
Charles Kinsel, Sr .. Joab Kennison,
Isaac Sprague, Jonathan Williams,
Isaac Hedges,
David Miller,
George Miller,
William Fouts,
William Sprague,
Simon Vance,
Edwin Corner,
John Scott,
Robert Robinson,
Joseph MeConnel."
David Irwin,
Five or six of the above-named were residents of the township in the early part of 1819. On the 29th of August, 1820, an election was held for a justice of the peace. At this election there were forty-six votes cast, and the addi- tional pioneers participating in the local political strife were :
Alex. Brown, John Lawson,
Jonathan Whitney, John Lucas,
Francis Lucas, Obadiah Scott,
Barney Scott, Robert Henery.
William Spurgeon,
Robert Winter.
At this election Timothy Gaylord re- ceived twenty-seven votes and Alex. McConnel nineteen. Thomas Byers contested the election before Simion Merwin, Thomas Devin and John White, freeholders of the county. The election was declared legal, and Gaylord was duly commissioned. At that day the local party distinctions of Brim- stones and Juntos prevailed, and all the local political contests were marked by much strife and bitter feeling. Gay- lord was a Brimstone and MeConel a Junto. (Some account of these parties will be found in Chapter XIND An
.
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HISTORY OF MORGAN COUNTY, OHIO.
election for a justice of the peace was held on the 6th day of August, 1821. at which election sixty-one votes were cast. Francis A. Barker received twen- ty-six votes, and Timothy Gates thirty. The election of Gates, who was the head center of the Brimstone faction, was chronicled as a great victory for the Brimstones. The following pioneers for the first time appeared, and had their names registered, viz .:
Jesse Spurgeon, Loyd Piatt,
Martin Froby,
Levi Ellis,
C'aleb Wells,
Nathan Wilder,
Daniel Chandler,
John Clemans,
Thomas Barr, Alexander R. Pinkerton,
Jacob Kahler, Stephen Gates, Sr.,
John B. Stone, Frederick Pope,
John Patterson,
Orange Walker.
Of the above several were residents before 1820. Why their names do not appear on the records earlier is at this tine unexplainable. On the first day of April, 1822, an election was held, at which seventy votes were cast. The result was claimed as a Junto victory. The following pioneers put in an ap- pearance for the first time, viz .:
William Hawkins, Eclo Stubbs,
George Newcomb,
William Stephens,
Zenas Cox.
John Paton,
Allen Robinet, Jeremiah Conaway,
Jeremiah Stevens, John Stutes,
Micah Adams, Rufus P. Stone,
William Dawes, Isaac James.
ing on in the next year, 1824, the "Brimstone and JJunto" partisans were to some extent lost in that memorable contest. Breaking loose from former political associations, " Brimstones " and "Juntos" were found working harmo- nionsly together for some one of the presidential candidates. Politics then, as now, made "strange bedfellows." McConnel and Gaylord, who twelve months before were engaged in a bitter strife over the insignificant office of a justice of the peace npon the "Junto" and " Brimstone " platforms, were found working harmonionsly together for the election of Clay, and four years later both were prominent Jacksonians; while others, formerly equally as hostile and bitter toward each other in the local political strifes of the day, would embrace each other in a friendly hug in 1824, and then throw up their hats and strive for the election of Jackson or Adams. Then it was that the Brim- stone and Junto factions commenced to die ont, and most of their bitter parti- sans were lost in the national contest of 1824 and that immediately succeed- ing it. In 1828 the following pioneers were enrolled upon the record :
W. C. Shugert,
Amon Wells,
Jolın P. Ferrell,
Samuel Morrison,
Holmes Morrison, James Hughes,
William Wells,
George Dawes,
Some of them were residents of the Charles Dawes, township in 1818. The last exciting Augustus Iloskin, Ebenezer Hammond, Robert P. Oliver, contest between the Juntos and the Benjamin Beckwith, Jacob Singer, Brinstones was held on the 14th day of Matthew Lutton, James Baker, Michael Wiseman, Samuel Baker, George Newman, October, 1823. The election was for a justice of the peace. Alexander Mc- Silas Leroy, Joel Olney, Thomas Dugan, Connel and Timothy Gaylord were the Enoch Loper, James Gillespie, William Brooks, Samuel Pollard. aspirants for magisterial honors. Alex- ander McConnel received forty-eight votes, and Timothy Gaylord forty. This was a decisive triumph for the Juntos. The presidential contest com- | bering 144, Several of these pioneers
The list of pioneers of Morgan Town- ship on the 14th day of October, 1823, and prior thereto, is here given, num- -
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MORGAN.
became residents of the township long before they made their appearance at the elections in which their names are chronicled, and no doubt some few names are omitted from the list who should have a place in the same for the reason that they did not attend these several elections and have themselves registered. To a great extent we have depended upon the poll-books consulted for a full list, but we find the names of Rev. George Russel, Joseph Barrow, John Collison, James Clemens and some others, unnaturalized foreigners, whose names are ommitted from the records. Of this list of 144 names only nine could answer to the rollcall in 1873. Many of their descendents still reside in the township and county.
In the pioneer days there was a class of men who could not be placed under any common description of mankind : their like will never perhaps be known again. They frequented the courts and were about on public days, and they practiced, more or less, at the bars of the village taverns. At that day, besides the judges, lawyers, suitors, jurors and witnesses, a goodly number of spectators were in attendance to wit- ness the proceedings of the courts. Not only were they present to witness the doings of the court, but in those days, when the newspapers were not so prodigal of their circulation as now, a class of persons would come out on such occasions to learn the current news of the period and indulge them- selves in the discussion and investiga- tion of the events going on in the out- side world, and have their friendly chats with one another upon various local subjects and questions then and there suggested. Sixty-seven years ago but few newspapers found their way
within the bounds of Morgan county ; perhaps the Zanesville papers and one or two weeklies from east of the moun- tains would be the extent of the circu- lation through two or three postoffices in the whole county, and they delivered by a weekly horseback mail.
All inquiring and wide-awake men residing away from the county seat, contentedly living in their rude log cabins, upon new farms. generally depended for the news of the day on the now-and-then traveler passing through the country, who, for his sup- posed fund of news and gossip, was always a welcome guest and hospitably entertained and kept out of bed until a late hour in the night, answering the many questions of his inquisitive host, and also upon those neighbors who now and then emerged from the woods into the outside world, who on their return would impart much information of what was going on. For these and other purposes might be found congre- gated at the county seat at court-days all kinds of characters. Among this motley and somewhat promiscuous throng of visitors might be seen Joseph D-, residing close upon the borders of Bristol Township.
Old Joe was one of those men pos- sessing a rough and unseemly ex- terior, but a good heart within. Hle was a great hunter, of unquestioned skill and bravery, who had in many contests vanquished the beasts of the forest. He was admirably well skilled in all the expedients and customs of the pioneers, and was truly a hardy, active and expert backwoodsman. His native abilities were superior, and without the advantages of school and book educa- tion he was looked upon as a prodigy. Ile could therefore accommodate him-
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HISTORY OF MORGAN COUNTY, OHIO.
·
self without inconvenience or perplexity to all kinds of company he might meet with. When in a promiscuous gather- ing, Old Joe shone out in all his native dignity and equanimity of mind. It is remembered that on one occasion Old Joe was hard-up for lodgings. All the taverns in the village were crowded and no accommodations could be found for Old Joe. He had no place to rest his weary and befuddled head. At that day McConnelsville presented rather an unsightly appearance. Brush and log- heaps were numerous. Old Joe settled himself for a night's lodging at a large log-heap, fired up the pile and after the custom of the hunter made his bed and sweetly reposed all night.
At early dawn Old Joe made his appearance at the bar of one of the village taverns, extremely thirsty but somewhat refreshed in body. He called for his gill of " Moxahala." At that day liquor was dealt out indis- criminately to all callers in measures of gallons, quarts, pints, gills and half- gills. On this occassion it seems that a gill was sufficient to quench Old Joe's thirst. With expedition he turned it off and took his place among the vil- lage throng who had been indulging in their early morning drams. One of these present seemed to know some- thing about Old Joe's whereabouts the previous night, and thinking to have some fun at his expense began. "Well, Mr. D-, if it's not impertinent on my part, I should like to know where you lodged last night." "Well, sir," replied Old Joe, "I do not take it as impertinent for one neighbor to interrogate another as to his where- abouts in this neck of the woods, particularly if his absence should be in the night season, for you know,
Captain McQuaide, I am not much concerned about where I shall sleep, what I shall eat, or how much I shall drink. I sojourned last night, sir, at the tavern with the sign of 'God help us.' This inn has neither roof, sideboard. bed nor bar." Well, Mr. D-, whereabouts in McConnelsville is that tavern located ?" Old Joe, stretching himself up to his full length, over six feet, and with a sonorous and deliberate pronunciation, said, " Sir, that place of accommodation for the wayfarer is to be found on the corner of Poplar, Beech, Hickory and Walnut streets.
" With much hickory bark to light your way, But nothing to landlord or hostler pay."
"Well, Mr. D-, if your tavern occupies all of those four corners it must be an extensive structure. Land- lord, set out the drinks." On another occasion, when in a sober circle of neighbors some one was boasting of his recent religious conversion and under whose ministry the event had taken place, Old Joe patiently listened to the tale of the new convert, and being somewhat skeptical in such seri- ous matters bluntly broke out, " Yes, my young friend, we read in the good book that in old times one Balaam was converted by the braying of an ass. I see nothing to prevent such a miracle taking place at this time and right here on Meigs Creek."
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