USA > Ohio > Richland County > History of Richland County, Ohio, from 1808 to 1908, Vol. I > Part 5
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Passing the Powell place on Friday afternoon, the election having been held on Tuesday, we received our first news of how the election had gone in the election of Tom Corwin. "Uncle Jimmy" Powell had just returned from Mansfield and brought out the news. He was an ardent Whig, and, of course, was full of gladness over the success of his party. We stopped for a chat with Jane and Mary, and "Uncle Jimmy" generously loaded us with Rambo apples.
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We went to Mansfield and drove into the Teegarden house yard for the night. While we were unharnessing our teams the fireballs began to fly on the square. Soon as we could we went up to enjoy the jollification. There were barrels of cider and gourds provided around the square and leading Democrats standing looking on aghast at the defeat of their party. But only think of waiting from Tuesday until Friday for news of the result of an election in Ohio. How changed the facilities for the transmission of news in the reach of a short lifetime.
OLD-TIME SPORTS.
It may be interesting to the younger, as well as the older class of people, to recall some of the sports and pastimes of the early settlers of Richland county.
A commendable feature of pioneer sports was that utility was blended with amusement, social gatherings being cabin and barn raisings, log roll- ings, corn huskings, wood choppings and quilting parties. Rich and poor then met upon lines of social equality, and the old and young mingled alike in these old-time sports.
The people of those early days were helpful to each other not only in "raisings" and "rollings," requiring a force of men, but also in many other ways. If a man was incapacitated by sickness or other causes, his neighbors set a day and went in force and plowed his corn, harvested his grain or cut his wood for the winter, as the season required. And when a pig, or a calf, or a sheep was killed in the summer, a piece of the meat was sent to each family in the neighborhood, who reciprocated in kind, and in this way all had fresh meat the greater part of the season.
Corn huskings were gala occasions. Frequently the ears were stripped from the stalks and hauled to a favorable place, where the unshucked ears were put in parallel or semi-circular windrows. Moonlight nights were usu- ally chosen for husking occasions, and when the company gathered in the evening, captains were selected and the men chosen into two platoons, which competed in the husking work, each platoon trying to finish its pile or row first. At the finish the captain of the winning squad would be carried around on the shoulders of his men, amid their triumphal cheers, after which the bottle would be passed.
Women attended such gatherings, also, and sometimes assisted at the huskings, but were more frequently engaged during the early evening in quilting or sewing or knitting, and in helping to prepare the great supper feast which was served after the work was done.
There was a rule that a young man could kiss a girl for each red ear of corn found at a husking. It goes without saying that the girls all got kissed, some of them many times, for it was surprising how many red ears were found-so many that the number was prima facie evidence that some of the boys went to the gathering with their pockets full of red corn cars.
Nearly all of the pioneer gatherings wound up, after supper, with a dance, in which the old joined, as well as the young. When a fiddler could
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not be obtained, music was furnished by some one blowing on a leaf, or by whistling "dancing tunes." This dancing was more vigorous than artistic. perhaps, for there were vigorous people in those days, effeminacy not becourt- ing fashionable until later years.
The pioneers were industrious people. The situation required the men to chop and grub and clear the land ere they could plow and sow and reap. And the women had to spin and knit and weave and sew in addition to their household work. Upon one occasion a minister's wife was telling about her days work, that in addition to making a pair of pantaloons and a bed tick, "I've washed and baked and iron six pies today."
Wool had to be carded into rolls by hand, and after it was spun into yarn and the yarn woven into cloth, the flannel had to be thickened or fulled to make it heavier for men's wear. This necessitated "fulling" or "kicking" parties, an enjoyable line of amusement. Upon such occasions the web of flannel was stretched out on the puncheon floor and held loosely at each end, while men with bared feet and rolled up trousers sat in rows at each side. Then the women poured strong, hot soap suds on the web, while the men kicked it vigorously, making the white foam of the suds fly over both kickers and attendants. This pouring and kicking lasted an hour or two, after which supper was served after the fashion of the times.
Carding and fulling mills and spinning and weaving factories came later, served their purpose and their time, and now they, too, are gone, and now people can go to stores and get "hand-me-down" suits, without asking or caring where or how they were made.
While there were many social amusements in the early times, religious devotions were not neglected. As there were but few church buildings, camp meetings were frequently held during the summer months. While the Methodists and "Brethren" took the lead in these outdoor gatherings, the Christians (Disciples) held similar convocations, one of which was at the Bently spring, south of Mansfield. At that meeting Captain James Cun- ningham was baptized by immersion by Elder McVay. This was the first baptism by that denomination in Richland county.
Camp meeting trips were enjoyable to both old and young. The roads to these "camps" often ran by sequestered farms and through shady wood- lands, where the rays of the sun shimmered through the leafy tree tops, and the fragrance of the June flowers sweetly perfumed the morning air.
At last glimpses of white tents could be seen, forming a semi-circle and surrounding an amphitheater of rude seats in front of a pulpit canopied by the boughs of trees. At the camp, visitors were received with cordial greet- ings, for the "campers" had the warmth of friendship in their hearts and of Christian zeal in their souls, and their frank, unstudied manners and winsome ways were favorable preludes to the services that were to follow.
At these camp exercises some of the worshipers became quite demon- strative, for the personal manifestations of joy or devotion differ as much as our natures differ. No two persons give expression in precisely the same terms to any human experience; the law of temperament forbids it. Relig-
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ion can come to you only in accordance with your nature, and you can respond to it only in the same way.
Singing was a prominent feature of the religious services. It was the old-fashioned singing, such as our dear old mothers sang, and although faulty, perhaps, in note, came from the heart and went to the heart. The singing of today may be more artistically rendered, but it is the old-time tunes that comfort us in our sorrow and sustain us in our trials, as they come back to us in sweet remembrance from the years that are past.
WHIPPING POSTS.
Judge William Wilson was the president judge of the court of common pleas for this circuit in the early history of Richland county, and presided at the first term of said court held in Mansfield. He was appointed to office by the legislaure at one of its sessions held in Chillicothe, and took his seat upon the bench in 1808. He held the office for three terms-twenty- one years.
Wilson was the judge who instituted whipping posts in our sister counties of Knox and Licking. To understand the instituting of whipping posts in Ohio, a brief sketch of the early judiciary must be given. On the 13th day of July, 1787, the Congress of the United States passed an ordi- nance for "The Government of the territory of the United States, northwest of the Ohio river." Relative to the judiciary, the ordinance provided that there should be a court to consist of three judges, who, with the governor, should adopt and publish such laws of the original states, criminal and civil, as might be necessary, and report them to Congress from time to time, which laws should be in force until the organization of the General Assembly, unless disapproved by Congress. The ordinance conferred no authority on the governor and judges to make laws, but only to adopt those in force in the original states, that might be deemed necessary and suitable to the condition of the territory and the circumstances of the same. Among other acts which were adopted was the whipping post law, under which Judge Wilson had John Courson and William Hedrick inhumanly flogged, the former at New- ark and the latter at Mt. Vernon. The first session of the court of common pleas held at Mt. Vernon convened on the 2d day of May, 1808, with Judge Wilson as president judge. At this term of court, William Hedrick was found guilty of petit larceny, and was sentenced to be whipped with forty lashes on his bare back. There was a small leaning hickory tree at the east side of the public square, and to this the prisoner was taken and his hands were stretched up over his head and the lash was applied by the sheriff to his naked back. He was struck forty times with a heavy rawhide whip. The first few strokes were across the kidneys, whereupon, one of the by- standers called out to the sheriff to strike him on a less vital place, and the rest of the lashes were applied across the shoulders. The prisoner sobbed and cried piteously and when released went off groaning and weeping. In many places the skin was cut and the blood oozed out, making a pitiable spectacle of the poor culprit.
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At a session of court in Newark in 1812, John Courson was convicted of stealing, and Judge Wilson sentenced him to receive fifty stripes "well- laid on," five the next morning, fifteen at noon and thirty the following day at noon. The prisoner was brought out from the jail and was tied with his hands upraised, somewhat as Hedrick's had been at Mt. Vernon. The whip- ping was done by the deputy sheriff, under the direction of the high sheriff. The first blow of the rawhide simply left a welt. "Harder," cried the sher- iff, and the deputy marked the four succeeding blows in distinct red lines on the poor fellow's naked back. The prisoner received this punishment without an audible groan ; but when he returned for the succeeding infliction, his cries and screeches from the first stroke were heart rending. When returned to the jail he prayed that death might come to his relief before the next day. At noon, the day following, he was again taken out and thirty hard lashes were applied to his naked person. When he was returned to the prison, his back was in a lacerated condition and was bleeding fron his shoulders to his hips.
Whipping, as a punishment for offenses, was generally in vogue in the more barbarous age of the world, but, as civilization spread and advanced, the whipping post was succeeded by more humane methods of punishment, and today "whipping laws" disgrace the statute books of but one state (Delaware) of the American Union. Not only in America, but across the seas Christian civilization has caused inhuman whipping post laws to be abolished in all the countries of Europe, except in England and Russia. In Russia the terrible punishment of the knout is inflicted on both penal criminals and political offenders.
To the credit of the state of Ohio it can be stated that the whipping post law was long, long ago repealed. And to the credit of Richland county, no such cruel punishment was ever decreed by its courts-not even by the infamous Wilson-and that its soil was never required to absorb blood drawn by the lash from mortal man.
AMONG OLD RECORDS.
Richland county's official records are invaluable to the people ; how they are preserved and protected is of vital import to the taxpayers, and how they are kept and by whom, may be of inter -. o the general reader.
Aside from their monetary value, relative to the rights and titles to prop- erty, and other interests, the county records are valuable to the historian, who gleans from their pages dates and data to weave as woof in the web of history.
The annalist can search the numerous volumes from 1813 to 1899, obtain dates and arrange county historical events chronologically for those eighty-six intervening years, simply giving facts, without attemping to fathom motives, show causes or to state sequences or give results.
Here, too, the essayist can find topies for papers and compositions and articles, and the moralist can "draw lessons" from the events and happenings of other years. And the novelist can gather material, not only to found
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romance upon facts, but to show that truth is sometimes stranger than fiction.
And the lawyer, looking for local decisions and rulings, scans the court journals page by page, to learn how certain points of law had been construed by the judges of the past. But, if the case is in chancery, 'tis folly to search for precedents, for equity is said to be "a roguish thing; for law we have a measure, know what to trust, while equity is according to the con- science of him that is chancellor, and as that is larger or narrower, so is equity."
As the years that span the interim between the organization of Richland county and the city of Mansfield multiply in number, the interest in the doings of that period increases and the early records become more valuable.
When the books and papers were removed from the old courthouse into the present one, in January, 1873, loads of old books and papers were placed in a room in the basement of the new building; but, like most base- ment rooms, this was damp, and the books and papers soon became moldy. They were recently taken out and, being quite voluminous, were assorted, the more important part being given room in the auditor's office and the remainder placed in a room that had been made when the gallery was put in the common pleas courtroom to improve its acoustics.
As a matter of fact, the public records of Richland county have been well kept and are in good state of preservation. In the auditor's office the journal of the first board of county commissioners (1813) is as legible a: of yore, and the leaves are in good condition, but yellowed by time. The same can be stated of the book in the clerk's office, containing the first rec- ord, dated Saturday, August 28, 1813. And, in the recorder's office, the book containing the original record of the first deed in the county, is in fair condition.
It is true the courthouse has already cost in round figures a quarter of a million of dollars, but that should not bar the expenditure of a few hundred more needed for protection from fire.
The several items of the original cost of the courthouse are as follows: Building, $177,000; extra work, $10,000; lot, $16,500; architect, $5,000; furniture, $1,000; paving, $2,500; clock, $2,700; fence, $1,500; bell, $1,300; improvement of lot, $1,000. Total. $226,700. The costs of alterations and improvements since made, the grand total foot up over $250,000.
The fifteen hundred dollar fence was pronounced a "bygone" after a few years, and was taken down and sold, perhaps. for old metal.
The oldest record in Richland county is the journal of the first board of county commissioners, and the first entry shows that "A board of com- missioners met at Mansfield on Monday, June 9, 1813. Present: Samuel McCluer and Samuel Watson." At this meeting Andrew Coffinberry was appointed clerk.
The journal is in the auditor's office, has been re-bound and although the book is eighty-six years old, it is in a good state of preservation and the writ- ing is quite legible.
The oldest record in the clerk's office bears the date of Saturday, August
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28, 1813, and the first record of business transacted was the issuing of letters of administration in the estate of Lewis Jones to Jonathan Coulter and Rebecca Boyce, and the appraisers appointed were Win Winship and George Coffinberry. Settlement of estates was then within the province of the court of common pleas.
The first deed recorded in the county was on July 30, 1814, and was from James Madison, then president of the United States, to James Hedges, made October 2d, 1812, and conveyed the southwest quarter section 22, of township 21, and of range 18, of the lands directed to be sold at Canton by the act of congress, entitled, "An act providing for the sale of lands of the United States in the territory northwest of the Ohio."
Edward Tiffin, afterwards governor of Ohio, was then commissioner of the general land office at Washington.
The oldest city record in City Clerk Remy's office bears date of April 9, 1834, and is in the original entry made by the late Judge Charles T. Sher- man, who was then village recorder. Judge Sherman was the brother of the Hon. John Sherman and the father-in-law of General Miles. John H. Hoffman was then mayor of the village. Hoffman died years ago, but his son is in the jewelry business in Plymouth.
The general assembly of the state of Ohio on the 24th day of February, A. D., 1828, passed an act for the incorporation of the village of Mansfield, but there is no record showing an organized village government until April 9, 1834, six years after the passage of the legislative act authorizing its organ- ization.
The first ordinance passed was entitled "An ordinance to prevent obstructions in the streets and alleys and other public grounds, and for the removal of nuisances."
Since 1857 the city records have been well preserved, but prior to that they are meagre and incomplete. Clerk Remy has gathered up the frag- ments and filed them away.
Coming from the old to the curious, there is a will on file in the probate court, wherein the old-style form of "Benevolent Father" is changed to "Benevolent Mother," making it read: "In the name of the Benevolent Mother of us all," etc. The will was drawn by the late Squire John G. Stanton, then a justice of the peace for Worthington township, and was executed March 24, 1887. It was the will of Lucetta Sowers in favor of her son, Augustus Sowers, giving him a tract of land containing forty acres, situate in Worthington township, and being a part of section 21, range 17. The will was probated April 26, 1890.
But the oddest of all things is the snake deed at the recorder's office.
On February 10, 1858, the late Allen B. Beaverstock, of Lexington, bought of George B. Wright, as receiver of the S. M. & N. R. R., a tract of one hundred and twenty acres of land, situate in Troy township, being a part of section 13, range 19. The tract was principally swamp land. There was a snake story connected with the land, that the swamp was the habitat of a mammoth rattlesnake, of such enormous size and strength that it could
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push down fences and break the rails thereof with its great weight. Fabu- lous stories were told of its length and size.
In buying the land Beverstock wanted the snake included, as an appurtenance, and had not only a clause inserted to that effect, but a pen sketch of the reptile drawn upon the face of the deed, the picture upon the record being over ten inches in length. Rattlesnakes have been arranged into three genera, and the Troy township monster was of the class called "Crotalidae horridus." This species sometimes attain to six feet in length, with a girt measurement of from fifteen to twenty-five inches, but the snake mentioned in this transfer is said to have been much larger. The color of the back is gray mixed with yellow, with a longitudinal row of black spots bordered with white. The rattlesnake owes its name to a remarkable pecul- iarity in its structure; the extremity of the tail is furnished with small horny cells, articulated one into the other, and number fifteen or over.
When the snake advances these little capsules resound slightly, like the dry husks of beans, which still retain their seeds, thus giving notice of the approach of this terrible enemy. The sibilant rattle of these appendages is not very loud, but it may be heard about thirty paces off and announces the approach of the reptile while it is still at a distance.
It is generally agreed that rattlesnakes seldom attack men, except in self-defense, but they are very venomous and have been known to spurt their venom to the distance of three feet.
What became of the snake is not upon record, but a story is told of a young man, who, having heard that snakes can be charmed by music, took his fiddle and watched for an opportunity to try the experiment, but when he saw the snake appear, the man took a precipitate flight from fright.
Chateaubriand, the author, narrates an instance of a Canadian who charmed a rattlesnake by playing on the flute. The reptile first made a movement expressive of surprise, gradually drew its head backwards, closed its mouth, its eyes lost their sharpness, and took in wilder concentric circles, and, turning its head slowly toward the musician, assumed pleased attention. The Canadian then walked slowly away, drawing low and monotonous tones from the flute, and the snake crawled slowly after the musician, stopping when he stopped, and following him when he moved away.
This snake deed is recorded on page twenty-nine, of volume 45, of public records, in the recorder's office.
From the year 1855 to 1867, Allen Beverstock bought twenty-nine farms or tracts of land in Troy township, and his descendants are people of means at Lexington today.
ABOUT OLD PHOTOGRAPHS.
N. J. Beck, 107 Wood street, this city, has collections of photographs taken prior to and just after the Civil war, that are historically valuable. Mr. Beck was in the photograph business during the periods mentioned, and the pictures-six hundred and ninety in number-were taken at his gallery. A few of these will be briefly noticed.
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In one of the groups are photographs of Governor Mordecai Bartley, Judge James A. Stewart, John M. May, Colonel Barnabas Burns, James Hervey Cook, John A. Lee, James Purdy, Salathiel Coffinberry, John Wiler, and many others who have "gone hence." There is a photograph of Schuy- ler Colfax, taken in Mansfield, when he was a candidate for vice president on the ticket with General Grant, in 1868. Colfax was an able, brilliant man, but his political star went down on account of his alleged connection with the "Credit Mobilier" affair.
In a group is a picture of the late Bishop Bedell, with his patriarchal appearance. The Bishop is held in sacred memory by church people every- where, especially in the diocese of Ohio. His works on the "Divinity of Christ," and "The Sacredness of the Grave," cannot be too highly com- mended.
The Rev. J. R. Burgett, an Olivesburg man, was the pastor of the Pres- byterian church in this city in 1857-8. He removed to Mobile, Ala., was an alleged sympathizer with the South in the war of the Rebellion, and was a passenger on the ocean steamer with Mason and Slidell, rebel commission- ers, who were captured while on their way to Europe, by a United States man-of-war.
An attractive picture in a group is that of Mrs. Mary Sherman Miles, wife of General Miles, taken when she was eighteen years old. She was a very popular young lady and very handsome. Her father, Judge Charles T. Sherman, then lived on the northeast corner of Park avenue and Mul- berry streets. A sister of Mrs. Miles married Senator Don Cameron, of Pennsylvania. Her brother, Henry Sherman, was adjutant of the 120th O. V. I. He is now dead.
Here, too, can be seen the likeness of Mrs. Altgeld, widow of the late Governor J. P. Altgeld, of Illinois. Her maiden name was Ford. Gov- ernor and Mrs. Altgeld were both reared in Richland county, were school- mates for a number of years and were lovers from their youth.
John S. B. Matson, a son of Uriah Matson, one of the pioneers of Jack- son township, Richland county, was a member of the 120th O. V. I. He now resides in Shelby with his daughter, Mrs. Skiles, widow of the late Congressman W. W. Skiles. Mr. Matson has a large collection of curios and relics.
The handsome portrait of Williard S. Hickox recalls the time when he was very prominent in social, political and financial circles. He filled a number of positions, was county auditor and later was president of a bank and also president of the Coldwater railroad, but in 1873 financial conditions became strained and Hickox went down, as did his bank, also. Later he removed to the Pacific Slope, where he died several years ago.
Perhaps but few remember George Duffner, the old tailor, who had his shop in the Dickson building for many years. The easy-going expression of the picture shows that Mr. Duffner's life was a pleasant one, although humble.
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