USA > Ohio > Richland County > History of Richland County, Ohio, from 1808 to 1908, Vol. I > Part 36
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Henry and Peter Pittenger settled on section 21 before 1820. Samuel Harvey, Samuel Gossage, Mr. Arbuckle, and the Armstrongs settled on school land at an early day. Section "16" of every township the state had reserved as school land, the proceeds of which, when sold, were to go to the school funds. The fund thus created was a material factor in establishing the free school system of Ohio.
Among the early settlers were a Mr. Grosscross, on section 29; Samuel Linn, section 28. Jacob Keiser, John and Jacob Stover, Robert Hall, Samuel Donnan were early settlers. Calvin Morehead, Jacob Cline and a Mr. Ink settled on section 17, and Jacob Flora on section 16. Among the later settlers were John Kendall, the Boyces, the Taylors, the Crums, Powells, and others became Franklin township settlers.
Franklin township was heavily timbered and in its forests game abounded, making it a favorite hunting ground for the Indians, and later for the pioneers. The Blackfork of the Mohican cuts across the northeast part of the township, and Friends' and Brubaker's creeks flow through the central part, entering from the west, each leaving on the east line near the center of the township from north to south.
It has been related that an Ohio pioneer who had witnessed all the stages of our material development-our gradual redemption from the wilderness condition to a state of civilization-and having by years of industry and economy accumulated property and had surrounded himself with the com- forts and modern conveniences of life, had an irrepressible longing for the ways and customs of pioneer days. He sighed particularly for that hospi -; tality which dissolves "as wealth accumulates and men decay." He wished to realize again such conditions as prevailed in Franklin township pioneer days. He went to a western state, where he found a wilderness, but not the pioneer conditions he had once enjoyed in Ohio. Instead of "women" wear- ing home-made linsey-wolsey, he found "ladies" gowned in silks and satins,
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and their arts were those of vanity and pretensions. Instead of large-hearted hospitality, he found selfishness and venality. Beyond the "border" he found the locomotive and its "train" of vice and snobbery. He returned to Ohio, convinced that the times and conditions for which he had sighed were things of the past, and would never return.
Franklin township residents have always been a church-going people. Before churches were built, religious meetings were held in the log school- houses and the cabin homes of the early settlers. In time churches were built, one of the first being Zeiters' on the old State road, four miles north of Mansfield. The land upon which this church was built was donated by John Zeiters, and the deed is dated December 30, 1834, and the building was locally known as "Zeiters' church." It was used by the Lutherans and the Reformed congregations. There is a cemetery on the church ground and the first inter- ment was that of Henry Wainbranner, who died in 1833. Upon the headstone to this grave, below the name and dates, the following stanza was inscribed :
"Remember, friends, as you pass by, As you are now, so once was I; As I am now, so you must be ; Prepare for death and follow me."
Years later beneath this a wag irreverently wrote:
"To follow you I can't consent Unless I know which way you went."
The following are the names of some of the first members of this church : Jacob Kunkleman, Abraham Harnaker, John Zeiters, Jr., J. Henry, Samuel Saltzgaber, John Stouzenberg, Jacob Zeiters, Jacob Clein, J. W. Sturgeon, Elias Keller, Jacob Heck, George Thorne, Jacob Fisher, John Kendall, Wil- liam Wolf, Daniel Wolf, Peter Goldman, John Blecker, George Wolford, John Zeiters, Sr., Joel Keller, William Cloud, George Cassell, Thomas Russell, and Jacob Bringman.
The first church was a log building, which was afterwards supplanted by a brick structure. And a few years ago this latter was taken down, and Zeiters' church is no more. About 1840 a division occurred in the Zeiters congregation, a number of the members, under the leadership of Jacob Clay, withdrew and erected a church a mile and a quarter west of Zeiters'; it is called "Clay church," and still exists.
Years ago there were ghost stories galore in connection with the Zeiters' cemetery locality. The ghost usually appeared in the form, color and sem- blance of a black dog. One of these stories was recently given, among other reminiscences, by the Rev. Charles Ashton, a former resident of Richland county, now residing at Guthrie Center, Iowa. The story is as follows:
"About sixty years ago there was a chopping in the neighborhood of the Zeiters' church. Dan Wolf, a young Dutchman, attended that chopping. He carried a maul and a couple of iron wedges to use in the industry of the day. Returning home that night a company of the young men and women had to pass that church and then turn north on the "big road" to reach their
SHERMAN PARK, MANSFIELD
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homes. Nearing the Flora place the story of that ghost and that black dog came up. Wolf averred boldly what he would do to that black dog with his maul if he came about him. At the proper juncture for testing his courage one of the party exclaimed: 'There is that black dog.' Wolf slung the maul from his shoulder, but didn't wait to extricate the two iron wedges from his pocket, but got away from that place at as nearly a two-forty gait as his good, active legs could take him."
A Universalist church was erected in the northern part of the township at an early day and may have ante-dated the Zeiters' church. Among its members were: James Ayers, William Truck, Adam, John and Lewis Keith, and a Mr. Crum. A Baptist church was erected in 1852, a short distance north of Five Corners. Among the early members were the Boyce, the Jackson, the Copeland, the Jump, the Bohler, and the Moses families. A Tunker society was organized in the '30s. In 1858 they built a house of worship on section 20, a mile and a half west of Five Corners. The early members were: James Tracy, Elias Dickey, H. Showalter, Henry and Jacob Worst, Jacob Whisler, Christian and Joseph Rittenhouse, and Samuel and Jacob Landes.
The parents of the late Isaiah Boyce came from England to America and settled in Franklin township, seven miles north of Mansfield, in about 1816 -Isaiah being then six years old. This Boyce place is on the old State road, where it crosses Brubaker's run, at Five Corners, and in situation and appear- ance ranks with the best of the many attractive farms for which Richland county is noted. At the Boyce home Bishop Chase conducted services and confirmed a class-the first confirmation service ever held in Richland county. The bishop held two services upon that occasion, one in the log courthouse in Mansfield, the other at Boyce's. Different dates may have been given as to the year of the bishop's visitation. The late Isaiah Boyce stated that "it was just prior to the bishop's trip to England to get funds to start a college." That trip to England was made in 1823. The Rev. Philander Chase, an uncle of the late Hon. Salmon P. Chase, was consecrated to the episcopate in 1819. The first Episcopal See of the diocese of Ohio was at Worthington. The Rev. Mr. Chase had settled there in 1817 as principal of an academy and rector of that parish, and two years later was made the first bishop of Ohio. Feeling the necessity for better educational facilities, he visited Eng- land to seek financial aid toward founding a college and theological seminary. He raised a fund of over $30,000. Upon his return he bought a large tract of land on the Kokosing, in Knox county, east of Mt. Vernon, where he founded Kenyon college and Gambier village, the latter being named for Lord Gambier, who was the largest contributor to the fund. Isaiah Boyce died February 10, 1900, aged nearly ninety years. Mr. Boyce was a pros- perous farmer and a prominent citizen-a man of influence in his day and generation. Although Mr. Boyce was in Bishop Chase's class, he afterwards united with the Baptist denomination. About a year before his death he was visited by the Rev. A. B. Putnam, and during the interview the visit of Bishop Chase, seventy-five years previous, was vividly and lovingly recalled. The Rev. Mr. Putnam said prayers and Mr. Boyce joined in the responses.
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At the conclusion of the service Mr. Boyce expressed the pleasure and comfort he felt in again hearing the prayers with which he had been familiar in his childhood, and were still dear to him.
Back in the stage-coach days there were two taverns of note in Franklin township. Of these, Long's tavern-kept by Israel Long-was situated on the old State road, near to the Zeiters' church. The other was Gates', on section 17, a little north of the center of the township, in the vicinity of the Franklin township house. The Gates tavern was first called "Ink's." Ink died and a Mr. Gates married the widow-hence the change in name. These taverns were quite popular in their time, and public gatherings and militia musters were held in the vicinity of each.
Jacob Cline and William Hollister were the first justices of the peace in Franklin township. A short time after his election, 'Squire Cline resigned the office and Jacob Osbun was elected to succeed him.
While water was not wanting, there was not sufficient fall to give water power to operate grist and saw mills generally. There was a sawmill or two on the Brubaker run, and a grist mill on the Blackfork, where the road from Five Corners to Shenandoah crosses this stream.
The first schoolhouse in the township stood on the Flora farm, near Long's tavern, and the first teacher was Thomas Taylor. This was about the vear 1821. Franklin township could boast of stalwart men, like Samuel Bell and others-men who helped to found and maintain a country and institu- tions, not only for themselves, but for posterity. Of men like these, Sir W. Jones, in his Ode in Imitation of Alcoeus, wrote-
"What constitutes a State ? Not high-raised battlements, or labor'd mound, Thick wall or moated gate; Not cities proud, with spires and turrets crown'd : No; men, high-minded men; Men, who their duties know; But know their rights, and, knowing, dare maintain,- These constitute a State."
The Rev. Charles Ashton, formerly a resident of Richland county, con- tributes the following old-time sketch from his far-off home in Iowa:
That the world is not all made up of one sort of people was proven in the early settlement of the locality of Franklin church in Weller township, this county, as shown in every new settlement. Among the early settlers three brothers located in the neighborhood, Isaac, Jacob and Nathaniel Osborn. Those brothers, especially Isaac and Jacob, were highly respected and influ- ential citizens. When my parents settled in the locality in 1832, Nathaniel was a cripple, unable for active labor. How long he had suffered from that cause we are uninformed. We think he was the oldest of the three brothers In 1832 he had sons married and rearing families. He settled upon the present infirmary farm, which he sold to the county in 1844 or 1845. His wife, "Aunt Annie," was a woman of strange mental ideas. Naturally active in tongue and limb, in her way she would make some stir among kindred
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elements in society. She had been reared on the frontier and was truly back- woods in her habits, ideas and manners. Yet a kinder neighbor need not be desired. Of this matter we know whereof we speak, for it was our lot to live on an adjoining farm to the one on which she spent the later years of her life, the family being our nearest neighbor.
The family of Nathaniel Osborn consisted of four sons, Isaac, Samuel, Nathaniel, and Jacob, and two daughters. The youngest daughter, "Polly," being an imbecile.
In the early settlement of the locality one William Holston settled on the quarter section of land that my father purchased for the family home in the fall of 1832. When my father purchased that farm, William Holston, Sr., having lost his first wife and married a much younger woman, had moved to the neighborhood of Savannah, and his son William occupied the farm. I do not know much of the history of the Holston family; only this I know, that the sons wanted to make a living without spending much muscular effort. "Aunt Annie" Osborn certainly, in my acquaintance with the families, had a destitution of personal regard for the Holstons.
But "Aunt Annie" had implicit faith in witchcraft. Until her death she implicitly believed that the first Mrs. Holston was a witch and the source of all the mental misfortune of her daughter Polly and her serious troubles resulting from Polly's strange antics. "Aunt Annie" could tell marvelous incidents of the work of witches and the appearance of ghosts. She was san- guinely certain that she knew the cause of the first Mrs. Holston's death. In her mental deliberations she had conceived that the death of that woman (witch) was essential to the welfare of the daughter, Polly. So arranging with Abe Pittenger, a man well qualified to act the part desired of him, she formed an image of dough, representing Mrs. Holston, who at the time was lying on a sick bed, and sat it against a fence and arranged with Pittenger to run a silver bullet for his rifle and with it shoot the doughy image through the breast. Pittenger went through the motions, shot the image, and, as Aunt Annie told the story, Mrs. Holston at once gave up the ghost, and when she was laid out the attendants discovered a bullet wound in her breast, located exactly as the perforation in the image of dough was made by Pittenger's silver bullet, which Aunt Annie implicitly believed at once ended her life and her power for evil.
THE FLORA GHOST.
Quite early in the settlement of the locality a family of the name of Flora settled on the big road, south of where the Myers nursery was afterward estab- lished. Flora was a man gifted with a remarkable power of imagination, which he indulged without restriction or regard for truth. One Trucks, the founder of Trucksville, and Flora appear to have been hail fellows when -. ever they met where the cheap whisky of the time was served with generous hand. Having met at one time, they were indulging in rehearsing incredible tales about happenings and strange occurrences within the limits of their won- derful individual observation. Flora went on to tell of a wonderful storm that he had witnessed and of its strange doings, telling how it swept the limbs
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and bark off the trees and left the bare poles standing in the woods in strange ghastliness. Trucks at once, as Flora reached this part of his invented story, came to the confirmation of Flora's statements, remarking that he knew that his account of that storm was true, because the bark and brush were blown clear over the mountains in Pennsylvania to where he lived and stuck on the dead trees standing in the fields, so that the dead oak trees again lived and bore acorns.
But Flora was suspicioned of evil deeds. A story ran about a peddler that had stopped for the night at Flora's cabin and was never afterward seen. But a ghost was often seen in the road and other places about or near the Flora home.
About 1838 an honest, industrious family by the name of Wolf moved into the neighborhood from eastern Pennsylvania and bought and settled on a thirty-five-acre farm that was afterward merged by Alanson Martin into his fine farm home. In the family there were a number of boys that the indus- trious father, a weaver by trade, trained to habits of honest industry. With one of the younger sons, Dan, our story has to do.
When the family moved into the neighborhood Dan was a boy of about sixteen. He was full of ghostly ideas and a firm believer in spook notions. Some of the older brothers had learned the cooper trade, and weaving and coopering was followed by the boys through the winter to the exclusion of educational opportunities. As Dan verged into manhood his associations were with the German-speaking families around and west of the old Zeiter church. There was a chopping and quilting at some house west of that old log church, and it was followed by a dance which kept the company together well toward morning.
A group of young people, among them our friend Dan with his girl, on their way home had to pass the Flora home. The old man years before had passed to that country where there are no peddlers. But as the company neared the Flora place the matter of the ghost and the probabilities of a visit from the spook were mentioned. Dan made profuse protestations of what he would do with that ghost if it appeared to trouble them. Nearing the house, some wag of the party exclaimed: "There is the ghost!" Dan at once threw his ax from his shoulder and broke from that company and place with as near a two-ten gait as he could get up. It was the last appearance of that ghost of which we hear, but it was some time before our friend Dan heard the last of his marvelous run, made at the mention of its appearance.
SANDUSKY TOWNSHIP.
Sandusky township was organized February 12, 1818, and at that time was twelve miles long from north to south and six miles wide. It remained that size for a number of years, and until Vernon township was created, which took the north half of Sandusky's former territory. Later, Crawford county was formed February 3, 1845, and took part of Richland's territory, and reduced the size of Sandusky to its present limits-seven miles long and two miles wide.
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HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY
So far as is known, the first white men to traverse this region were Colonel Crawford's troop in 1782, their route leading across the northern part of the township, as they marched from Spring Mills to Leesville. The first settlers in the township were Christian Snyder and Jacob Fisher, who came in 1817. By 1820 the following had located there: John Reed, Daniel Miller, Joseph Russell, John Doyle, Louis Lybarger and Henry Hershner. The first settle- ment was made near the center of the township. The first settlers in the southern part of the township were the Hardings and the Snyders. The Riblets came in 1831, settled on section 25, and was one of the leading families there for half a century. Christian Riblet had been a soldier in the war of the revolution. He enlisted in 1779, at the age of eighteen years, and served till the close of the war. He died April 6, 1844, and is buried in the cemetery near Riblet's Corners.
Daniel Riblet, a son of this Continental soldier, was a justice of the peace in his township for eighteen years, and served two terms in the Ohio legis- lature-from 1840 to 1844. He kept the Riblet house, at Riblet's Corners, on the Mansfield-Bucyrus road, about midway between Ontario and Galion. The Riblet house was a stopping place for the stages that ran between Mansfield and Bucyrus. Riblet's postoffice was maintained there for a number of years. The farms in this neighborhood are valuable and under a high state of culti- vation. The residences will compare favorably with the very best in the county. The homes of the Kuhns, the Overlys, the Flowers and others deserve special mention.
The inhabitants of Richland county may be called a religious people, and each township has about an average per capita of church membership. The Methodists, Lutherans and Baptists seem to largely occupy the field in San- dusky township. The Free-Will Baptists erected a church in 1850 on section 36, near Bailey's Corners. Mr. Reese, Harvey Day and Samuel Nestlerode were among its organizers and influential members. This society finally dis- banded and the Albrights got possession of the building in 1877. This building has ceased to be a place of worship. It was sometimes called the "Red Squirrel church." Services were held there before the building was completed. Upon one occasion a red squirrel appeared upon a joist and took a position over the minister's head. He did not see it, but the audience did. It seemed to mimic the preacher in gestures and grimaces. It was but human nature for the audience to laugh, but their levity shocked the preacher and disconcerted him. But the good pastor forgave them when the situation was explained at the close of the service. The squirrel departed as quietly as it came, without waiting for the benediction.
Riblet's chapel, at the Corners, was erected by the Lutherans, but finally passed into the possession of the Methodists.
While some townships boast of their wolf stories and their fox hunts, Sandusky does not deign to indulge in reminiscences of anything smaller than bears. One of these is the Hibner story. One day while Mr. Hibner was absent and his wife was busy with her household duties, she heard a noise near the chimney, and on looking in that direction was horrified to see the great black paw of a bear reaching through an opening beside the chimney.
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The opening was caused by one of the chimney stones having. become loosened and rolled to one side. She had placed her babe upon the floor, on a blanket near the fire, and the bear was endeavoring to reach it. Fortunately it was beyond its reach, and the mother quickly removed it further away to a safer place and the bear went away. Many other bear stories were told by the pioneers of this locality.
As there are only small streams in the township, the grist mills were operated by horse power. There were two of these, one owned by Mr. Mc- Quade, in the southern part, and one by Mr. Snyder further north.
But twelve votes were cast at the first election. John Williams was the first justice of the peace. The first school in the township was a subscription school, with about a dozen scholars. The Russell schoolhouse, south of Crest- line, was one of the earliest. Many of the pioneers were of remarkable longev- ity. Christian Snyder liver to be ninety-eight years old and his wife died at the age of one hundred and seven. In 1820, the third year of Snyder's residence in the township, a terrific wind storm blew down his house and barn and destroyed his growing crops.
A few years after the township was first settled squirrels were so numerous that they would come sometimes by hundreds and make havoc with the farmers' corn crops.
Three railroads and one trolley line run through this township-the Erie, the Pittsburg, Ft. Wayne & Chicago, and the "Big Four," and the Mansfield- Crestline-Galion-Bucyrus, the latter being the new trolley line recently opened, and whose large comfortable cars glide along our streets like moving pictures. East Crestline is in Sandusky, and is its only town. But the township needs no towns of its own, for it is within convenient reach of several of the best little cities in Ohio, and Harvey Woods daily delivers mail to its people. The pioneers cleared the wilderness and now orchards and fields of grain in season occupy the ground where a heavy forest once stood, and these farms convince the observer that the township was intended by nature for a people engaged in agricultural pursuits-one of the noblest of vocations, for no one has greater reasons to be thankful and contented than the men whose faces are to the earth and whose backs are to the sun, for what they produce feeds the people. Therefore, farming is the grandest calling. Further, there are no promises to any other pursuit or calling like those to the farmers. The farmer has a special promise, that, while the earth stands, seed-time and harvest shall not fail. Farmers scatter precious seeds, showing the sublimest act of faith in burying in the earth the last grain of wheat from his granary, believing that in due time it would doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing sheaves with it.
The history of Rome is shrouded in myth and fable, but the history of this country is an open book. Our fathers planted a republic, which in less than a hundred years spanned the continent. Our people have advanced as the people of no other country ever did, and our wonderful achievements are due to the sturdy and resolute pioneers who laid the foundation of our greatness.
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A MARRIAGE INCIDENT.
The marriage, several years ago, of a Sandusky township couple, and the incidents connected therewith, afforded entertainment at the time for those who witnessed the nuptials, and is even yet amusingly recalled.
One day as S. G. Cummings, of the law firm of Cummings, McBride & Wolfe, was seated at his desk, engaged upon a legal paper, a Sandusky town- ship farmer, whom we will call John Smith, entered the office. Mr. Cummings had taught school in that township in the years agone, and Mr. Smith had been one of his pupils. After pleasant greetings, Smith took a seat and a short conversation followed. Mr. Cummings, being busy, hoped the interview would be brief, but, the perfect gentleman that he is, he did not betray this in his looks or conversation. Finally, Mr. Smith moved his chair closer to Mr. Cummings and said :
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