USA > Ohio > Richland County > History of Richland County, Ohio : (including the original boundaries) ; its past and present, containing a condensed comprehensive history of Ohio, including an outline history of the Northwest, a complete history of Richland county miscellaneous matter, map of the county, biographies and histories of the most prominent families, &c., &c. > Part 41
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The centennial year, however, brought the matter again before the people of Richland, as well as other counties, and a large meeting was held on the Fourth of July. At this meeting General Brinkerhoff delivered an address of great value, the larger part of which has been incorporated in this history in various places. This centennial year gave a great impetus to the collection and preservation of pioneer history.
The concluding part of Gen. Brinkerhoff's address is the final verdict of all thoughtful students of pioneer times, and was as follows :
" The settlement of Ohio was a mighty work. and those who did it were men of iron nerve, of undaunted conrage, and persistent force.
"God Almighty has so arranged and consti- tuted the nature of things that nothing great or good, or strong in matter or in mind, comes to the earth except it comes through struggle and through storm. It is this law, and the struggle under it. which has made Ohio. of all the States
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of the Union. foremost in war, and foremost in the conneils of the nation.
" The original settlers of Richland County, for the most part. have passed away, but their children, nurtured in the wilderness, are largely with us yet, and to them we of the second gen- eration owe a debt of gratitude which we can only repay by imitating their virtues. and by perpetuating in our children. and through them in the generations of the future, the free insti- tutions and the Christian civilization which they have bestowed upon us. I say Christian. because our institutions are the outgrowth of Christian- ity, as much as the oak is of the acorn.
" The pioneers of Ohio. for the most part, were God-fearing, Christ-loving, serious-minded men ; their courage was a Christian courage, rooted and grounded in the hope of a life that i lies beyond. Wherever they went. churches went with them ; and, wherever log cabins were gathered, there also was the meeting-house and the schoolhouse.
" Men and brethren. fellow-citizens, young men and maidens, each and all, old or young, who have gathered here to-day, as we stand this hour at the threshold of a new century, let us not mistake the cause of all our greatness. or the secret of its continuance. It is not in money ; it is not in railroads, or telegraphs. or architect- ure, or art ; it is not in the pride and pomp and circumstance of tramping armies ; or in a vast array of iron-clad vessels, or cannon-mounted forts. These are all well enough in their place, provided they are the battlements and bulwarks and ornamentation of that faith in God and humanity, that heritage of liberty and law and righteousness. which our fathers have hequeathed to us from their struggle in the wilderness. So long as the Republic shall re- member and cherish the faith of its founders it will live, but whenever it forgets it and shall recognize no God but the blind evolving forces of nature. and shall have no belief of life, or reward, or retribution beyond. it will die.
" Long before another centennial day shall be celebrated in this place, you and I, who are gathered here to-day, will have passed away ; and our children also will have passed away ; even our tombstones will be moss-grown and crumbling, but we may, if we will, keep our memory green by transmitting to that genera- tion unimpaired the faith and liberty we received from our fathers.
" For myself. I desire to put on record now. in the full maturity of every mental and vital power. the convictions I have given as to the perpetuity of the Republic.
" In their lifetime but few men are judged rightly. and, therefore, when we die the wisest epitaph, perhaps, that can be written is. . he was born and he died.' Still if a hundred years hence there are any living who care to remem- ber me. and, in looking back through the per- spective of a century gone, they can come to an honest conclusion that the facts will warrant it, there is nothing I can think of that I would desire more than that they would add to the inscription given. and grave it deeply in the granite. 'He loved his country ; he endeavored in his day and generation to be helpful to his fellow-men ; he lived and died in the faith of the Divine Nazarene.""
The next meeting of the Society was held in September, 1878, at the fair grounds in Mans- field, and was largely attended and very enthu- siastic. At this meeting J. H. Cook, James R. Gass, Thomas B. Andrews, Samuel McCluer. Calvin Stewart, E. W. Smith and Gen. R. Brin- kerhoff were appointed an Executive Commit- tee for the purposes of keeping up the organiza- tion and arranging for future meetings. Com- mittees were also appointed for each township.
The next spring the Executive Committee met at the savings bank. and arranged for a meeting of the Society to he held July 4. 1879. This meeting was held accordingly. was largely attended and very interesting. Addresses were delivered by some of the aged pioneers present.
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These meetings from year to year are very interesting. The gray-haired veterans are dropping into the grave one by one, and the time cannot be far distant when all those who first set foot on the soil of Richland County will have passed away forever. So it has ever been-so it will ever be.
"Time rolls his ceaseless course. The race of yore Who danced our infancy upon their knee, And told our marveling boyhood legend's store, Of their strange ventures happed by land and sea, How are they blotted from the things that be ! How few, all weak and withered, of their force, Wait, on the verge of dark eternity,
Like stranded wrecks, the tide returning hoarse, To sweep them from our sight ! Time rolls his cease- less course."
At the pioneer meeting in 1878, Gen. R. Brinkerhoff delivered an address which seems so pertinent to the objects of this chapter that it is inserted in full :
" We of this generation are most happy to meet so many of the generation which preceded us. We rejoice to know that so many of the pioneers of Richland County yet remain. and we extend to one and all a cordial welcome.
". It is now seventy years since the first white man made his home in Richland County, and the dozen years which succeeded his coming are those which we regard as . the pioneer times.' During those years. the forests were subdued. roads were opened. houses were built, farms were inclosed. and the wilderness ceased to be the abode of wild animals and wilder men, and Richland County became the seat of an organized and permanent civilization. After 1820, the special trials and hardships of a pioneer life were ended. and society was orderly and comfortable. It is this heroic age, from 1808 to 1820, inelusive, that we celebrate to- day. It is an age of scanty records. and yet the deeds of those who lived in it were more influential in shaping the civilization which fol- lowed than all the other years combined. Pioneer times are fountains in the wilderness
from which rivers are formed, and whose waters through all the coming ages will flow in the channels first selected.
" Richland County to-day, with slight varia- tions, is what the pioneers made it, and it will thus continue through the generations to come. until by some catastrophe. chaos and the wilder- ness shall return again.
"That I do not exaggerate in this estimate of pioneer times, let us look at the facts of the case in the State of Ohio.
"1. Our constitution and laws, with all their peculiar differences from other States, are sub- stantially what the pioneers made them, and. labor as we will, it is impossible to secure any large . modifications. Take, for example. the restrictions upon our Governors, and the form of our courts-our best thinkers believe they ought to be changed, and a change has been attempted by constitutional amendments, but the people promptly vote them down every time.
" 2. Our political divisions into counties and townships, with all their distinctive names and local combinations which so powerfully affect the daily associations and life of our people, were all substantially the work of the pioneers. The boundaries of Richland County, it is true, were altered in 1845 and 1848 by the creation of Ashland and Morrow Counties. but it was a temporary aberration which the people them- selves of the districts cut off would to-day gladly rectify if they could.
"3. The location of cities, county seats, vil- lages and roads, in which and through which the public and private life of our people must continue for the most part to manifest itself. remains almost entirely as the pioneers decreed. Suppose. for example, that Mansfield had been located at Campbell's Mill. where James Hedges and Jacob Newman first designed and staked it out, who can tell what its population and local life would have been to-day ? Supposing those two men had been New England Yankees.
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instead of Virginia and Pennsylvania Germans, Mansfield, instead of being platted with a market square in the center, with narrow streets radiating out in every direction, would have been laid out like a checker-board, with broad avenues toward the points of the compass, and who can tell what a difference it would have made in the whole internal life of our city.
" The religious institutions and tendencies are mainly as the pioneers made them. The most powerful element in the whole structure of society is its religion. Men in communities, or as individuals, develop according to their faith. Unlike an animal, a man's life is the outgrowth of what he believes, and what he believes is for the most part what he is taught in his youth. So a community develops ac- cording to its faith, and its faith in its fountain head is the faith of the men who founded it. In accordance with this law, the faith of Rich- land County, not only in religion, but also in politics, is stamped with the image and super- scription of our hardy pioneers. Coming. as they did, in the main from Pennsylvania, it was but natural that orthodox Christianity should dominate the county, and that it should manifest itself most largely through the Meth- odist, Presbyterian and Baptist Churches, and so it did, and so it will continue to do for gen- erations to come. The pioneers of Richland County were steady, honest and industrious farmers. who feared God and hated shams, and so to-day, we are unvexed with heresies in re- ligion or politics, and John Wesley, John Calvin and Thomas Jefferson continue the guiding stars of action in church and State with a large majority of our people.
"5. The equality of our social life, with none very rich and but few very poor, we owe largely to the pioneers. They were mostly men of moderate means, and fulfilled the prayer of the Psalmist, who desired neither poverty nor riches. There were no large landed
proprietors to absorb the public domain, and crowd our population into tenant houses, and the result is that to-day the average size of farms in Richland County is less than one hun- dred acres, and the great body of our farmers own the land they till, and non-resident farm- ers are few and far between. The advantages of this are immense, and will continue a sub- ject of thankfulness for generations to come. So in every direction we look we have reason to rejoice in the legacies we have received from the pioneers of Richland County ; they were wise and prudent in their generation, and it is just and fitting that we should render honor to those who remain among us.
" Our photographic friends are doing a good work in preserving their portraits, but a more important work should still be done in preserv- ing a record of their deeds.
" The pioneers of Ohio were a different type of men from those who, for the most part, have settled the prairie States to the West of us. They were hardier and more adventurous ; and for the simple reason that the dangers to be encountered, and the difficulties to be over- come, were greater. Ohio was a gigantic forest, which to subdue was a work in itself so enor- mous as absolutely to appal the average civil- ized man. It was only the strongest, the bold- est, the most courageous, who dared to encoun- ter it. The men in war who volunteer to lead a storming column in battle are honored for life when they survive. So it seems to me we should honor those who volunteered to charge upon the howling wilderness of Ohio during the early years of the present century. No wonder Ohio stands to-day the foremost State of the Union. Her people are the descendants of the mighty men of valor who conquered the wilderness.
" The time will come when the pioneers will be more appreciated than they have been hereto- fore, and our grandchildren will wonder why we of this generation have been so negligent
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in preserving a record of their names and deeds. Every effort in this direction is praiseworthy, and even at this late day mneh can be aecom- plished.
" We welcome, therefore, the pioneers of Rich- land County. We give them greeting in the name of 40,000 citizens who inherit their labors, and bask in the sunshine of that civilization which they founded sixty years ago. We invite you to all the honors of this convention, and hope to hear from you of the days and doings of the years we celebrate to-day."
So far as the record of the Society shows, the following names comprise a list of the pioneers who settled in Richland County, prior to the year 1820. This list is very meager and incom- plete, but in addition to this the reader is re- ferred to the history of each township, in the gathering of which the compiler has been able to add a number of names to the pioneer list.
Butler Township-Maria Wood, 1818; Su- sannah Claberg, 1819; Jacob Claberg, 1816.
Franklin Township-Adam Linn. 1819; Mrs. E. Pettenger, 1816; Jacob Bradley. 1819; Samuel Stevenson, 1816; N. Pettenger, 1815 ; William Hagerman, 1817 ; Mrs. William Brad- ley, 1818.
Jackson Township-Henry Taylor, 1817.
Monroe Township-Jane Douglas, 1819; Mrs. C. Welty, 1819; H. Ritchey, 1815; Joseph Williams, 1815; Mrs. John Douglas, 1818; Daniel Cromer, 1815 ; William Stewart, 1815 ; Solomon Gladden. 1817 ; John Conlter, 1810; Mrs. John Coulter, 1810; I. Patterson, 1817 ; John Wolfe, 1815 ; Melzer Coulter, 1811.
Madison Township-Mrs. H. MeLaughlin, 1816; William Niman, 1815 ; Stephen Welden, 1819; John Cline, 1815; Mrs. Jane Broill, 1815; Sarah Fleming, 1818; J. H. Cook, 1816 ; Mrs. A. Anderson, 1818; Robert Cairns, 1815 ; David Johns, 1812; John Weldon. 1810; Robert Larimer, 1815; E. Wilkison, 1817 ; Mrs. John C. Gilkison, 1810; Robert Maloney, 1818 ; James Weldon. 1810 ; Eliza Grant, 1815 ;
Mrs. Jane Newman, 1819; William Garrison. 1815; Mansfield H. Gilkison, 1811 ; John Neil. 1815: Harriet Newman, 1817 ; Henry New- man, 1810; Michael Keith, 1817; Mary Crall. 1814; Mrs. William Garrison, 1819; Mrs. Sarah Finney. 1816: Margaret Niman, 1819; William Darling, 1814; Henry Cook, 1815 : Nathaniel Mitchell, 1815; Calvin Stewart. 1816.
Mifflin Township-John Vantilburg, 1815 ; Nancy Tagart, 1814; D. M. Snyder, 1815 ; James Raitt, 1814; John Yeamon, 1818; Elias Kissling, 1817 ; Charles Young, 1815 ; Thomas Starritt, 1816; Mrs. Rebecca Mann. 1814 ; David Miller. 1817: James Church. 1817; James Starr. 1816.
Jefferson Township-Mrs. Nancy Sargeant. 1816; Mrs. Mary Hardesty, 1817; Lewis K. Leedy, 1811 ; Samuel Shaffer. 1817 ; J. F. Lewis. 1815; George Coon, 1811; Richard Oldfield, 1810; William Robinson, 1815; J. Flaherty. 1817; Reuben Evarts, 1816; William Weaver, 1815; Mrs. Catharine Garber, 1811.
Perry Township-John Steel, 1818.
Plymouth Township - Solomon Loffland. 1810; Silas Morris, 1818; Alexander Ralston. 1815 ; James Ralston. 1814 ; James Doty, 1815.
Sharon Township-Mrs. Jane Kingsborough. 1816; Dr. John Mack, 1818; Harrison Mickey. 1819 ; Hiram Wilson, 1818; S. Tucker. 1818.
Springfield Township-Mrs. Mary Ann Bar- rett, 1815 ; Jeremiah Post, 1816; Mrs. Jane Marshall. 1813; James Marshall, 1817 ; Joseph Welch, 1815 ; Alexander C. Welch, 1815; John Finney, 1819; Julia Dougal, 1816; Mrs. Ellen Douglas, 1817 ; Jeremiah Post, 1815 ; Mrs. Jane Williams, 1813; Thomas Ferguson, 1817 ; 1. Mitchell, 1816; Charles Ensell. 1819 ; J. C. Dongal, 1817 ; Mrs. Mirinda Casebar, 1812 ; J. Dougal, 1817 ; E. Mitchell. 1816; J. Proctor. 1819 ; Mrs. Sallie Welch, 1816 ; Mrs. M. Dougal. 1815: Mrs. Jennette Welch, 1816; Mrs. J. C. Barr, 1815; Mrs. Eliza Finney. 1818; Mrs. Martha Day. 1816; Mrs. Ann Condon. 1814;
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HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.
R. 11. Mitchell, 1816: James Finney. 1819 ; Mrs. Rosanna Welch, 1818.
Troy Township-Mrs. Sarah Johnson. 1815 : Mrs. Jane Craveraft. 1815; Isaae Gass, 1819 ; Mrs. Rachel Diekey, 1814; Amos Day, 1815 ; William Gass. 1812; V. C. Day, 1815 : James Craycraft, 1815 ; Charles Craycraft, 1815 : Will- iam Post. 1818; Benjamin Gass. 1812: John Meredith, 1818 : Samuel MeChner. 1809 ; James R. Gass. 1811.
Washington Township-Mrs. Hamilton Bell. 1815; James Sirpless, 1815; E. Clark. 1815 ; Thomas Smith. 1816: John S. Smith, 1816; Thomas Pollock. 1817 ; William Stewart. 1815 ; Martha C. Riper. 1818; Hannali Pulver, 1819 ;; Mrs. Mary Flint. 1819; Mrs. Ellen Stevens, 1817 ; Mrs. Margaret Stewart, 1815; Mrs. Mar- tha A. Craig, 1816; Mrs. Ellen Smith, 1817 ; J. Ford, 1819.
Weller Township-Miss Sarah Dickson, 1814 : John Ward. 1819 ; John E. Palmer. 1819 ; Mrs. Jane Newman. 1819: Mrs. John E. Palmer.
1819 : Samuel Pettenger. 1815 ; J. S. Houston. 1814: John Taylor, 1818; J. O. Hagerman. 1815 ; Mrs. Abigail Taylor, 1817.
Worthington Township-John Bishop, 1817 ; Mrs. Thomas B. Andrews, 1815.
The following names appear in the Society report, unconnected with any township : Mar- garet Cunningham, 1809: George Dean, 1812; Hiram E. Gibson. 1818; Mrs. D. Dean. 1812; Henry Amsbaugh. 1815 ; Mrs. Elizabeth Smith, 1816 ; George Amsbaugh. 1814; George Mull, 1814 : Mrs. Mary Bradley, 1818 ; Mrs. Elizabeth Banghman. 1819; Mrs. Mary Shirley. 1812; Mrs. E. Zent, 1809; Mrs. C. Coates, 1819 ; Mrs. Harriet Hedges, 1815: M. Day, 1815 ; A. A. Richey, 1815 ; George Mitchell, 1817; Samuel Harmon, 1819: Alexander Robinson. 1814; Jonathan Peters. 1816; John Crawford. 1811; C. C. Coulter, 1818; Andrew Mason, 1814; William Bradley, 1819 ; John Doty. 1815 ; John Wiler. 1819; Priscilla Burns. 1817; Gavier Blair, 1815.
JOHNNY APPLESEED.
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HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.
CHAPTER XXVII.
"JOHNNY APPLESEED."
A HISTORY of Ohio, and especially of Richland County, would be incomplete without some account of this very eccentric individual, known as Johnny Appleseed from the fact that he was the pioneer nurseryman of Ohio.
Johnny Appleseed deserves a place in history among the heroes and martyrs, for he was both in his peculiar calling. His whole life was devoted to what he considered the public good, without regard to personal feeling, or hope of pecuniary reward. Not once in a century is such a life of self-sacrifice for the good of others known. There has been but one Johnny Apple- seed ; it is hardly possible there will ever be another.
He was born, according to one or two authori- ties, in Massachusetts, about the year 1775 ; was first heard of in Ohio about the year 1801, and was known to have traversed Richland County for the first time about 1811. The date of his birth is shrouded in uncertainty. Mr. C. S. Coffinberry writes the following regarding this matter : " He was born in the State of Massa- chusetts, but at what period the writer never knew. As early as 1780. he was seen in the autumn, for two or three successive years, along the banks of the Potomac River, in Eastern Vir- ginia." If this be true, he must have been born some years before 1775. Why he left his native State and devoted his life to the planting of apple-seeds in the West, is known only to him- self. He may have been insane, he was generally so considered to a certain degree. He was cer- tainly eccentric, as many people are who are not considered insane ; it is hard to trace eccen-
tricity to the point where insanity begins. He was certainly smart enough to keep his own counsel. Without doubt his was a very affection- ate nature ; every act of his life reveals this most prominent characteristic. From this fact alone writers have reasoned, and with good ground, that he was crossed in love in his native State, and thus they account for his eccentricity. This is only supposition. however. as he was very reticent on the subject of his early life. He was conscientious in every act and thought, and a man of deep religious convictions. He was a rigid Swedenborgian, and maintained the doc- trine that spiritual intercourse could be held with departed spirits ; indeed, was in frequent intercourse himself with two of these spirits of the female gender, who consoled him with the news that they were to be his wives in the future state should he keep himself from all entangling alliances in this. So kind and simple was his heart that he was equally welcome with the Indians or pioneers. and even the wild animals of the woods seemed to have an understanding with Johnny and never molested him. He has been variously described, but all agree that he was rather below the medium height, wiry, quick in action and conversation, nervous and restless in his motions ; eyes dark and sparkling ; hair and beard generally long. but occasionally cut short ; dress seanty, and generally ragged and patched ; generally barefooted and bareheaded. occasionally, however, wearing some old shoes, sandals or moccasins in very cold weather, and an old hat some one had cast off. It is said he was seen sometimes with a tin pan on his head, that served the double purpose of hat and
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mush-pot, at other times with a cap made by him- self of pasteboard, with a very broad visor to protect his eyes from the sun.
His diet was very simple, consisting of milk, when he could get it, of which he was very fond ; potatoes and other vegetables, fruits, and meats ; but no veal, as he said this should be a land flowing with milk and honey, and the calves should be spared. He would not touch tea, coffee or tobacco, as he felt that these were luxuries in which it was wieked and injurious to indulge. He was averse to taking life of any animal or insect, and never indulged in hunting with a gun.
He thought himself " a messenger, sent into the wilderness to prepare the way for the peo- ple, as John the Baptist was sent to prepare the way for the coming of the Savior." He gathered his apple-seeds, little by little, from the cider presses of Western Pennsylvania, and putting them carefully in leather bags, he transported them, sometimes on his back, and sometimes on the back of a broken-down horse or mule, to the Ohio River, where he usually secured a boat and brought them to the mouth of the Muskingum, and up that river, planting them in wild, secluded spots all along its numerous tributaries. Later in life, he continued his oper- ations further West. When his trees were ready for sale, he left them in charge of some one to sell for him. The price was low-a " fip- penny-bit " apiece, rarely paid in money, and, if people were too poor to purchase, the trees were given them. One of his nurseries was located on the flats, within the present limits of Mans- field, near where once stood the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway Depot. His residence in Mansfield covered the period of the war of 1812, and several years following it. From this, as headquarters, he would occasion- ally make trips further West, and return again after an absence of two or three months. On these excursions, he probably visited his sister, Persis Broom, who lived in Indiana.
Mr. C. S. Coffinberry, who was personally acquainted with him, writes thus : " Although I was but a mere child, I can remember as if it were but yesterday, the warning cry of Johnny Appleseed, as he stood before my father's log cabin door on that night-the cabin stood where now stands the old North American in the city of Mansfield. I remember the precise language, the clear loud voice, the deliberate exclamations, and the fearful thrill it awoke in my bosom. ' Fly ! fly ! for your lives ! the Indians are mur- dering and scalping the Seymours and Copuses.' These were his words. My father sprang to the door, but the messenger was gone, and midnight silence reigned without. * * John Chapman * was a regularly constituted minister of the church of the New Jerusalem, according to the revela- tions of Emanuel Swedenborg. He was also a constituted missionary of that faith under the authority of the regular association in the city of Boston. The writer has seen and examined his credentials as to the latter of these." He always carried in his pockets books and tracts relating to his religion, and took great delight in reading them to others and scattering them about. When he did not have enough with him to go around, he would take the books apart and ‹listribute them in pieces.
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