USA > Ohio > Richland County > History of Richland County, Ohio, from 1808 to 1908, Vol. I > Part 39
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Going to the lake in the old time meant a trip to Portland (Sandusky) or to Huron, the market marts on the lake. Teams came in long processions from the interior of the state to the market ports of Lake Erie. That markets are now at our doors is almost a literal fact.
One of the bear stories is the following: Michael Trux, Charles Bodley, Jacob Wolf, Jedadiah Moorhead, Michael Gipson, Robert Yearian and other early settlers were great hunters. Yearian made his own powder and guns, was a remarkable shot, as was also his son Frederick, who used a light rifle his father made for him. It is related of this boy, when he was about twelve years old, he was one day separated from his father while hunting, and came suddenly upon a mother bear and hertwo cubs, upon whom he at once made war. The ball from his rifle was, however, too small to do much execution, and the bear turned upon him, pressing him so closely that he had neither time to reload or climb a tree, and so ran in the direction of his father. The latter, seeing him coming and the bear at his heels, called to him to run past him, which Fred did, and as the bear passed Yearian planted one of his ounce balls in some vital part of the animal with such certainty and precisien as to bring her down. They then carried the cubs home for pets.
Blackman's Grove, in the southwestern part of the township, where farmers' pienies were held for a number of years, was superseded by Holtz'. in Blooming Grove township.
Monteith's, two miles south of Plymouth, has become a picnic place, . where a lake has been formed on the headwaters of the Huron river. The place is now called "Huron Valley Park."
A gentleman returning to Plymouth after an absence of a number of years, inquired after Andrew and Eli Clark, G. W. Loveland, James Ralston, Benjamin Reynolds, Joseph Ruckman, M. K. Seiler, S. H. Trauger. H. Westfall and others, who were prominent people in Plymouth township a
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decade or two ago, and the answer to each was "dead." How each decennial period removes from the living many of those who were influential in molding the affairs of the county and in shaping its destiny a generation ago.
JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP.
The second settlement within the present borders of Richland county was made on the Clearfork, where Bellville now stands, and was called the McCluer settlement.
James McCluer came to that locality in 1808, and was so favorably impressed with the Clearfork country that he entered land, after which he returned to Pickaway county, where he had temporarily settled, and gave such glowing accounts of the Clearfork part of the "New Purchase" that he induced his kinsmen, Samuel and Thomas McCluer, and Jonathan Oldfield to join him upon his return, and a cabin was put up, the first in that part of the county. James McCluer then returned to his family for the winter, leaving his three comrades to keep "bachelors' hall" in the cabin. They had laid in breadstuff, and they could supply themselves with meat by killing game which abounded in the forest. James McCluer brought his family to the cabin in the spring of 1809, which date is usually given as the time the first settlement was made.
The founding of Bellville, its growth and history, with mentions of its people-past and present-will be given in another chapter. This sketch deals with the township and its people.
The first election district, named Jefferson, was organized August 9, 1814, and was eighteen miles long and twelve miles wide, embracing six congressional townships, namely, Jefferson, Perry, Congress, North Bloom- ing Grove, Troy and Washington. On September 3, 1816, Jefferson township as it is today, was organized with an area of six miles square and containing thirty-six sections.
Jefferson township has a diversified topography. The water courses are generally from the northwest to the southeast, making a succession of ridges and valleys. The principal stream of water is the Clearfork of the Mohican, which enters the township near its northwest corner and leaves it about the center along the east line. While the land of Jefferson township as a whole is fertile and productive, the soil along the clearfork is acknowledged to be as good as there is in the country, and the ridges that border the valley form a landscape picture exceeding in beauty any creation of an artist's fancy.
Honey creek gathers its waters from the west-central part of the town- ship and empties them into the Clearfork, a short distance above the old Greenwood mills at Wintergreen hill. This stream also courses through a rich valley-a country of historic associations and of restful beauty.
Another stream, a branch of the Owl creek, waters the southern part of the township. Its source is up in the Bangorville region, flows to the southeast and leaves the township where the railroad enters Knox county.
Deadman's run comes down from the hills of the northern part of the township and empties into the Clearfork at Bellville. Along this stream is
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the gold region, where gold was discovered in 1853 by Dr. James C. Lee, who had been a miner in California. Considerable gold has been taken out there, but has never been found in paying quantities.
A furious tornado swept over Jefferson in 1808, entering the township near its southwest corner and sweeping diagonally to the southeast, cutting a swath through the forest and felling every tree on Chestnut ridge. This ridge has an elevation of 1,059 feet above the lake. Young chestnut trees grew up in time and made the ridge a beautiful background for a landscape picture.
Just south of this ridge is where Bushong killed his wife on the morning of October 4, 1840-one of the worst murders in the criminal history of the county. Physicians testified that Bushong was a monomaniac and he went clear on the plea of insanity.
John Fox was shot and killed on the evening of March 8, 1883, two miles south of Bellville, on the road leading east from the Honey creek school house and within a half mile of his own home. This crime is one of the several murder mysteries of the county.
Bangorville, although now but a small country settlement, possesses an interesting history, and back in the "forties" had bright prospects and a promising outlook of future greatness. The reason of its rise and decline will be given in another chapter.
The Red House, one mile south of Bellville, was one of the most popular taverns on the state road in the old stage days, and of all the places of public entertainment on the route between Columbus and the lake, none surpassed in general favor this Red House tavern. The wood fire in the big fireplace in the winter not only warmed the spacious room, but also illuminated it. The words of an Irish comic song seem to be applicable to the spirit that pervaded the place :
"Now's the time for mirth and glee. Sing and laugh and dance with me."
For, in addition to its patronage by the traveling public, it was a favorite place for balls and other public functions. A rival was started across the way-"Morrow's Inn"-but there was patronage enough for both until the railroad was built through Bellville, in 1850, and the stage and stage taverns were relegated to the past.
Thackery wrote that one of the delights of stage traveling in England was the opportunity it afforded to laugh with the jolly hostess at the bar and to chuck the pretty waiter girls under the chin. Squire James E. Howard, sitting upon the porch of his suburban home, can look down the old race track near the Red House tavern of the long ago and recall sporting seenes of other years. It was over that track that the young man who assumed to be an unsophisticated Yankee lad won the stakes, thanked the crowd for the fun he had with them, then rode away.
Of the popular stage drivers Thomas, James and Alex Huston-three brothers-whose home was in Honey creek valley, deserves special mention. They held the ribbons, blew the horn and cracked the whip for a number
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of years, and had the Hon. Lewis Cass and other distinguished statesmen as passengers.
The Rev. John Moody was a pioneer preacher of the Disciple Church. He built a grist mill at Bellville in 1831. The story of his good deeds during the period of the threatened famine has been told and retold, and should be repeated in the years to come as a memorial to him. Providence rewarded his generosity, for giving to the poor did not impoverish him, for the crops upon his farm yielded more plentiful than before. He was blessed in the giving as the poor were receiving his assistance. Captain Miller Moody, son of the benefactor, gave his life for his country upon the bloody field of Antietam.
On account of their kinship the Leedy and Garber families are often mentioned as one people. John Leedy came to Richland county from Pennsylvania in 1811, and Samuel Garber came from the same state in 1821, and married a daughter of John Leedy. The Leedys and Garbers are both numerous and prosperous. They are helpful to one another, and the maxim "live and let live" has been a rule of their lives. Their annual reunions are attended by hundreds of their friends.
The Gatton brothers, at Gattons' Rocks, have one of the largest and best fruit orchards in Ohio. Their hospitable homes are always open to their friends, and for an after-dinner talk "Cy" can entertain his guests with coon and fish stories that would read like tales of fiction. The Gattons came to Richland county in 1819 and are people of property. "As rich as Gatton" is a familiar phrase and shows their financial standing as a people.
John Robinson was born in Ireland, came to America, settled in Penn- sylvania, then came to Ohio and settled in Jefferson township in 1815, on section 11, east of Bellville. His descendants are well-to-do farmers. The Robinsons are industrious people, whose endeavors are directed more in the line of good citizenship and home comforts than in the pursuit of fame.
A half mile below Bellville there was a saw mill and a carding mill owned by John LeFevre, one of the pioneers of the township. These mills were successfully operated for many years. Mrs. LeFevre, whose maiden name was Huston, came to Bellville with her parents in 1813, when there were but four buildings in the town and one of those a block house. She was then six years old. Mr. and Mrs. LeFevre were the parents of Mrs. M. M. Sheidley, of Chicago, Ohio, and of J. M. LeFevre, of Garrett, Indiana, and of Samuel LeFevre, who lives on the old homestead. These have other brothers and sisters living, of whom mention would be made did space permit.
A Mr. Cornell built a saw mill on Honey creek, a half mile east of the Old State road, in 1821, and a pottery was operated in the same vicinity for some time, but both have long since been numbered with the things of the past.
These old mill seats are interesting from an historical point of view, although the generation of today know them not. The race of the old Samuel Heron mill is still discernible on the south side of Honey creek, where it crosses the New State road between John Robinson's and John Baughman's. Mr. Heron afterward owned the Marshall saw mill further up the stream.
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Of the early romances of Jefferson township that of Katy Ebersole was the most pathetic. Katy's parents were honest, honorable people of high respectability and owned a large tract of land in the Owl creek valley between Fredericktown and Palmyra, and also owned a half-section in Richland just north of the Knox-Richland line, on the New State road. This Richland tract was Miss Katy's inheritance, and after the death of her parents she made her home upon her own farm-a portion of her land having been cleared and a cabin built close to and upon the west side of the road, along which the stages then passed. Prior to this, however, occurred the events that constitute the first chapter of her heart history-the first act in the sad drama of her life. Varied stories of Katy's love affair and blighted hopes have been told, but the following true version is from facts furnished by Frank Caywood, who was born and reared in the Ebersole neighborhood. Katy Ebersole was engaged to be married to Taylor Willits, an estimable young man of the same vicinity. The Willits were Quakers, and they said it would never do for a member of the Society of Friends to marry a "worldly" person, as they called those who were not of their faith. Jacob Ebersole, Katy's father, also forbade the bans, saying that the Dutch and Quakers had never got along well together and never would. Katy was a girl of high character and nobility of womanhood, and one of the strong points of her nature was reverence for her father and obedience to his word. Taylor and Katy each accepted and obeyed the parental injunctions and thus their ways parted- Taylor's leading to a premature grave and Katy's to the life of recluse. Taylor Willits had not the strength and courage to sustain him in the disappointment he felt in having his cherished plans for the future thwarted and blighted, and being predisposed to consumption, went into a decline and died, pleading to the last to see his "Katy." He was buried in the Friends' cemetery, southwest of Palmyra. Katy lived on for, as we are told. "Life may long be borne, ere sorrow breaks its chain." She did not attempt to enter upon a "career," but was content to live unostentatiously and in seclusion, bearing her sorrow in silence. Her semi-hermit life extended over a period of perhaps thirty-five years-from 1840 until a short time before her death, when she was taken to the residence of a relative and was tenderly cared for until the death angel came and took her home.
The student of history takes interest in studying race lines and clanish groupings, and how the peculiarities and idiosyneracies of the carly settlers leave their influence and impressions upon future generations.
Some of the prominent early settlers of Jefferson township were from Maine, which gave a Yankee impress to many things, especially in educa- tional lines, upon which the people of that township have always been well advanced.
The Moore, the Drew, the Howard, the Walker, the Cross, the Greeley. the Gurney, the Ordway, the Alexander, the Bean, the Whitten, the French, and the Cutting families came from Maine; Evarts and Sweet from Vermont. The Gatton, the Strong, the Armstrong, the Bell, the Mahagan, the Thrilkill, the Gibson and other families came from Maryland. The Laffertys, the
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Robinsons, the Lashes, the Leedys, the Garbers, the Swanks and others from Pennsylvania.
In this sketch a number of names are omitted-omitted so that the pleasure of writing about Jefferson township can be again enjoyed to mention those not given in this chapter.
The early settlers of Jefferson, as well as those of other townships in the county, were men of brain and brawn. There may have been no decadence, but where are the men of this generation who could be considered favorably with such pioneers as were Major Samuel Poppleton, Major Morrow, Captain Joseph Johnson, 'Squire John Young, 'Squire Reuben Everts and others who might be named?
SHARON TOWNSHIP.
Sharon township was created out of Blooming Grove and was organized February 9, 1819, and in size was six miles square. In the creation of new counties there was also rearrangement of townships in the northern part of the county, and on March 2, 1847, Jackson township was organized, taking a strip six miles long and two wide off the east side of Sharon, reducing the latter to four by six miles.
The land of Sharon is well adapted to agricultural purposes and the farms are well improved and the dwellings and barns give evidence of the prosperity of the farmers and of their civic taste. Sharon is watered by the Blackfork and its tributaries. It has three railroads and one trolley line, placing the township in communication with the "whole world and the rest of mankind."
History tells of a school in Cleveland when but three families resided there. This shows the interest taken in educational matters in the very early settlements of Ohio. The schools and churches of Sharon township and of Shelby town will be given the credit and mention they deserved-and they deserve much-in a future chapter.
A small band of Indians under Johnnycake had a camp for some time about two miles southwest of Shelby. But the Indian "episodes" in this part of the county consisted of nothing fiercer than war-whoops and dances. It has well been said that the great wave of the sea of civilization has long since blotted out all external evidences of Indian occupation, except here and there the plow yet turns up some curiously shaped implement which speaks of years gone by.
During the early settlement of Sharon wolves and other wild beasts, as well as game, abounded in the forests, and travel by night was unsafe on account of them. A pioneer story is told of a fiddler who was on his way after dark to play for a dance in the neighborhood, and was "treed" upon a high fence by a pack of wolves. So fierce were they that they would try to jump upon the fence to get hold of the fiddler, who had to sit tailor-like upon the top rail to keep out of their reach. The familiar couplet of the poet Congreve at last came to the fiddler's mind, that
"Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast,
To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak."
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SHELBY
Library
PUBLIC LIBRARY, SHELBY
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And acting upon the thought, he played, as he afterward expressed it, "for dear life," and the music not only quieted the wolves, but actually seemed to charm them. The party for which the fiddler was going to play finally got tired of waiting and sent a committee after him, and the blazing torches of the searching party frightened the wolves away, and the fiddler was escorted in safety to the cabin where the dance was to be held, and in a short time there was "a sound of revelry by night," and the fair ladies and the brave young men of Sharon danced to the familiar strains of old-time airs.
Judge Hugh Gamble was a prominent citizen of Sharon township in the pioneer period. He was born in New York state, came to Ohio in 1823 and located in Sharon township, Richland county. His father, James Gamble, and his brother, John Gamble, came a few years later. John Gamble built the first grist mill in that part of the county, and it was run by horsepower. At the cross roads, now the crossing of Main and Gamble streets, where the mills stood, a number of houses were built, and in 1828 a postoffice was estab- lished called "Gamble's Mills," with John Gamble as postmaster. In about 1840 the name was changed from Gamble's Mills to Shelby in honor of Governor Shelby, of Kentucky. Hugh Gamble was elected a justice of the peace in 1834, and a member of the legislature in 1835 and served until 1839. He was an associate judge of the common pleas court for nine years. He was the third president of the old Richland County Agricultural Society, and was a member of the board of directors of the Mansfield & Sandusky railroad. In whatever position Judge Gamble was placed he filled the same faithfully and well.
The first settlement in the township was made where Shelby now stands. in 1818, by Henry Whitney, Eli Wilson and Stephen Marvin.
In addition to Gamble's, other mills were later erected. General Wilson put up a saw mill on the Blackfork. John Kerr came to Sharon in 1826 and settled on section 29, in the southeast part of the township, and a few years later erected a grist mill and a saw mill. These were destroyed by fire in 1875. Joseph Coltman erected two grist mills, which were operated for a number of years. In 1839 John Duncan erected a grist mill on the Black- fork at Shelby. It was run ten or twelve years. The Heath mills were erected in 1844 and, keeping up with the improvements of the times, is still in business. The Shelby mills, at the crossing of Main street and the Big Four tracks, has a capacity of a thousand barrels of flour per day-quite a contrast with the pioneer mills of seventy years ago.
Levi Bargahiser was an historical character. He was born in Pennsyl- vania, December 5, 1791. He came to Ohio when he was twelve years old and became a boy pioneer of Richland county. He lived with Martin Ruffner, near Mifflin, and was taken prisoner by the Indians, after Ruffner and the Zelmer family had been killed, September, 1812. 'Mr. Bargahiser entered the southeast quarter of section 6, Sharon township, in 1815, where he lived until his death, December 26, 1868.
Samuel M. Rockwell, who was born in Norwalk, Connecticut, December 2, 1811, and came to Sharon township in 1815, took a commendable interest
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in history and published a number of historical sketches, and to these he had intended to add others with the intention of having the same published in book form, but death cut short his labors. Each year it becomes more difficult to gather data of the past history of the county.
John F. Rice was the last survivor of Commodore Perry's battle on Lake Eric, September 10, 1813, known in history as Perry's Victory. Mr. Rice died March 8, 1880, aged ninety years, five months and seventeen days. Mr. Rice owned a farm of fifty acres, being a part of the southwest quarter of section 28 of Jackson township, but the last few years of his life were passed in Shelby at the home of his foster daughter, where he died. His funeral was an historical one. The flag on the dome of the state house at Columbus was at half-mast, as were the flags from the custom houses at Cleveland and Sandusky. These honors were accorded him on account of the distinction of having been the last survivor of the valiant band who fought under the gallant Perry.
The soldier is the unit of the army, but when numbers are massed together people generally look more to the aggregate than to the individual soldier. But these individuals make companies, companies make regiments, regiments make brigades, brigades make divisions, divisions make corps and corps make the army. But no matter how large an army may be, the individual soldier is the unit, and to him as such we are under obligations for the services rendered and the battles won. Then, too, people may be inclined to estimate the importance of a battle by the number of troops engaged in the same. History shows that a battle may be far-reaching in its results, though but a small number be engaged. The combined Continental army at the siege of Yorktown numbered only sixteen thousand men, yet this force compelled the surrender of Lord Cornwallis and secured the inde- pendence of the American colonies. General Jackson won his victory over the British at New Orleans with eight thousand men, and this victory ended the War of 1812. General Scott entered the City of Mexico with an army of less than eleven thousand and triumphantly terminated the Mexican war. But in later years wars have been conducted upon more gigantic scales, and the larger the army the more people are liable to lose sight of the unit-the individual soldier.
TROY TOWNSHIP.
Troy township was organized September 5, 1814. Prior to this date this territory was included in Jefferson township. At its organization Troy was eighteen miles in length from east to west and six miles from north to south. This area included all of Washington and North Bloomfield townships. In March, 1816, Washington township was created, leaving Troy six by twelve miles in extent. March 4, 1823, the size of Troy was again reduced by the creation of North Bloomfield on the west, leaving Troy six miles square.
Morrow county was created in 1848, which took thirteen sections from Troy, leaving the township irregular in form, there being a pan-handle at the northwest corner and a jog at the southwest corner.
The first permanent settlement in Troy was made in the winter of
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1811-12. The first land entered in the township was the west half of section 12, by William Gass, in 1811. The next was the southwest quarter of section 11, by Francis Mitchell. Government land then sold at $2 an acre. In the spring of 1812 Amariah Watson located there with his family, having previously entered the north half of section 24. Elisha Robins and family also came in 1812. Others soon joined the little colony, among the number being Calvin Culver, Wesley Spratt, William and Daniel Cook, Samuel McCluer, Ezekial Boggs, Alexander Abernathy, Noah Cook, A. J. and Henry Winterstein, Thomas Scott and others.
The first election in Troy township was held October 4, 1814, and resulted in the election of Amariah Watson, clerk; C. Culver, constable ; John Young, Jacob Mitchell and Solomon Culver, trustees. The second election was held April 3, 1815, at which Daniel Mitchell was elected clerk; Solomon Culver, John Young and Jacob Mitchell, trustees; John Vandorn, constable; Ichabod Clark and Andrew Perkins, fence viewers; Samuel Watson, appraiser; Jacob Cook, lister; Amariah Watson and Samuel McCluer, over- seers of the poor; Aaron Young, William Gass, Alexander Mann and Amariah Watson, supervisors. The treasurer gave a bond of $400, with Amariah Watson as security: From this humble beginning Troy has advanced with her sister townships. And while no cities have grown up within her borders, the people have prospered. The greater number of Troy township farms are fertile and productive in soil, and in appearance from landscape views both pleasing and beautiful.
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