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 88

Author: Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Mansfield, O. : A. A. Graham & co.
Number of Pages: 968

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 88

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Three villages have been laid out in Worth- ington, two only being in existence at present.

The first of these, Newville, was laid out by Frederick Herring in December, 1823, on the northeast and southeast quarters of Section 3, on the Clear Fork near the mill which he had previously erected. His cabin, erected some years before the town was laid out, was the first dwelling on the town site. Abraham Nye was among the first residents, and was instru- mental in inducing Herring to lay out a town.

He purchased a few lots and erected the first hotel, one of the first buildings in the place. The first people who settled in the place were the Hogans, Daniel Carpenter, George and Jacob Armentrout and Luther Richard. The latter ereeted the second hotel. Daniel Stoner erected the first blacksmith-shop. The first Herring mill has not been in operation for twenty years or more, but another mill erected later by the Herrings is in operation, and is owned by the Garretts, of Mansfield.

The first schoolhouse-a log one-was erected about 1826. Samuel J. Kirkwood, late Govern- or of Iowa, was one of the first teachers here. In 1830, a frame schoolhouse was erected, which was used until 1870, when the present neat, two-story frame was erected. It contains two rooms, two teachers, and accommodates sixty or seventy pupils. The population at present is about three hundred. There is one store, one hotel, and the usual number of mechanics and working people. Most of the inhabitants live by farming and various trades. The town is beautifully situated on the Clear Fork, being inclosed by high, rocky bluffs. It is a rather sleepy little place, being undisturbed by railroads, or the rush and roar of the busi- ness world. It passes a dreamy existence, inclosed by a country rugged, picturesque and charming. One of its honored citizens is Dr. J. P. Henderson, now in his seventy-eighth year, a graduate of Washington College, Penn- sylvania, who, curiously enough, elected to pass his life in this quiet village, in the practice of his profession, among these simple, honest people, surrounded by his books and his cabi- net of relics and curious things, in which he has always taken great delight.

In March, 1845, a town named Winchester was laid out on Section 9, on the Clear Fork, by Noble Calhoun. A few houses were erected, but the land upon which it was platted, being heavily mortgaged, was sold at Sheriff's sale, and the place never amounted to anything.

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HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

Independence was laid out on the northwest quarter of Section 20, January 12, 1848, by Daniel Spohn. In the early days of its existence it was nicknamed "Spohntown " and "Squeelgut," but was named Independence by Thomas B. Andrews, rather in a spirit of defiance at the attitude of Bellville, which was not a friendly one to the aspiring village. Andrews was its first Postmaster, and, before the town was laid out, kept the office in his house near the site. After the town was laid out and a warehouse erected, he moved the office into the warehouse. The land upon which the town stands was entered on the 13th of May, 1820, by William Simmons. The town plat was surveyed by Joseph Hast- ings. Mr. Andrews was instrumental in getting the town established and laying it out, taking a lot for pay.

The first store was started by William Lam- ley, who kept groceries and whisky. It may be remarked here that Independence is a tem- perance town, and will not allow (since the Bowersox affair mentioned in another chapter) any saloon to exist in the place. Lamley's store was a small frame building, near the rail- road, in the north end of the town. He after- ward erected a building, which is now occupied by Downing as a store, and started a hotel. Joseph Geary kept this hotel, the first in the place. David Teeter erected a second hotel. John Diltz, a carpenter and present Postmaster, ereeted the next dwelling, and shortly after, Daniel Garber erceted a shoe-shop on Main street. William Clapper erected the next building and kept boarders.

Gen. G. A. Jones came up from Mount Vernon, erected a warehouse, started a store and dealt in produce. In 1856, I. W. Pearee purchased the warehouse of Jones, condneted the business, and was also railroad agent. This gentleman at present keeps the principal store in the place, and does what banking business is necessary.

When the town was laid out, the schoolhouse -a frame-was a short distance south of town.

In 1868, the present building was erected. It is a two-story frame, and occupied by two teachers and about one hundred pupils.

In 1877, the village was incorporated, the first Mayor being J. M. Mclaughlin; the sec- ond and present Mayor, George W. MeBee.

There are four dry-goods and grocery stores, one hardware, one stove and tin, and several smaller establishments ; two churches, one ho- tel, and a proper proportion of mechanics and professional men. The population is about four hundred. The place stands in a great bend in the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.

One of the noted places in this township, whose history dates back to early Indian days, was known by the seemingly profane name of " Helltown." It is thus described by Dr. J. P. Henderson :

" Ilelltown was situated on the right bank of the Clear Fork of the Mohican, one and a half miles below Newville. It occupied a high bank, where the stream is low and easily forded. A few hundred yards above, on the margin of the ereek, issues a fountain of water, and near the same place, on the opposite side, Switzer's Run empties into the Clear Fork. The ground on which the village stood is a rich, alluvial and loamy bottom, extending some distance to the east, and, when first seen by the writer, was overgrown with wild plum-trees, three apple- trees, evidently volunteers ; and all around and east of the town stood a luxuriant growth of wild cherry-trees of the size of a man's thigh, and interspersed were a few very large sugar maples. This bottom had evidently been cleared, and at an early day small conical ele- vations were to be seen, presumed to have been hills where corn had been cultivated. Baek almost immediately from the village, and where the ground gradually ascended from the creek, was the graveyard, where about sixteen graves were originally counted.

" This village was occupied by a tribe of Del- aware Indians, who emigrated from Eastern

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HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

Pennsylvania about the year 1745, and settled on the Muskingum and its tributaries, on lands granted them by their 'ancient allies and un- cles, the Wyandots.' Having in Pennsylvania commingled with the German and English pop- nlation, and acquired a smattering of the lan- guage of both, they gave the name of the vil- lage partly to each. Hell, which in the German means clear, united with town, in the English, the words designating simply, but not profanely, the town on the Clear Fork. As to how many huts and wigwams stood originally in this ' Old Plum Orchard,' as it was sometimes called, tradition is silent. When first seen by the writer. there were but three cabins standing, old and dilap- idated. without chimney, floor, door, window, or roof, and one of the corners broken down. Depressions in the neighboring grounds, how- ever, were supposed to have been the sites of other buildings.

" In the spring of 1781, Col. Williamson and his party from Western Pennsylvania massa- cred the Moravian Delaware Indians at Gnau- denhutten, in Tusearawas County, treacherously and in cold blood. When the inhabitants of Helltown heard of the massacre, they were panic-stricken and fled to Upper Sandusky, the home of the Wyandots, for protection. The panic having subsided, they returned to Hell- town, and, after some time, removed, founded and located at Greentown, in Ashland County, near the Black Fork, about two miles above Perrysville. Helltown was not wholly aban- doned, but was used until 1812 as a hunting encampment, and, being but five miles distant, the trail between the two places was deep and well marked. A trail also existed, on the first settlement of the whites, from Helltown to Mansfield, and crossed the one from Greentown to Upper Sandusky. A trail, too, from Hell- town to Jeromeville doubtless originally ex- isted, but, being disused, was necessarily oblit- erated in the lapse of years from 1782 to 1812.

" The route of Col. Crawford and his army in their march to Upper Sandusky in 1782 has not been definitely located. It is believed they marched from Odell's Lake to Mans- field, but the course they took between these two places is not yet determined. In a con- versation the writer had, many years ago, with the late Col. Solomon Gladden, of this county, he stated that Col. Crawford and his party passed through Helltown on their way to Upper Sandusky, and that such was the statement to him of Capt. Munn, his uncle, who was an officer in the expedition. Of this conversation the writer took a minute shortly after, and as to the fact he cannot be mistaken.

" In and about Helltown many Indian relics, ancient and more modern, have been found, such as arrow and spear heads, pipes of stone, pottery and copper, a stone drinking cup, cop- per lancets, leaden bullets, a scalping-knife, fragments of gun-barrels and brass mountings of gun-stocks, etc. Many of the graves have been opened, as they were superficial and easily dug into, but, so far as informed, nothing but bones more or less decayed were found and ex- humed.

. It may be added, that the site of Helltown. with its graves, has for years been part and parcel of a cultivated field, and when last seen. early last summer, the ripening wheat was waving over the former habitations of the de- parted and the dead."

Dr. Henderson also notes the history of an old Indian, known as Lyons, who once inhab- ited this part of the country. The Doctor says :

" Old Lyons was the last of the Indians who had 'a local habitation and a name' in Worth- ington Township. His dwelling was on the farm of David Rummel. near where it connects with that of John Ramsey, and contiguous to the Clear Fork. It resembled a double barn, and consisted of two cabins constructed of buck- eye logs, with a small ground spot intermediate. and the whole covered with basswood bark.

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HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

He was aged, dark, large for an Indian, of coarse features, high cheek-bones and large pro- truding lips, so much so, indeed. that, when or- namented with a miniature silver clevis and double-tree in each ear, and one in his nose, and smoking from the bowl and through the handle of his iron tomahawk, he presented rather a grotesque appearance. He was, in a word, re- garded by the whites as extremely homely and repulsive.

" Where he originated, or from what tribe he sprang, is unknown. He claimed land in Wy- oming Valley, said . the whites had no right to it, never bought it; that it was his.' He re- quested Judge Kinney to procure lawyers, in- stitute suit and onst the intruders, promising the Judge one-half if successful. Such action. it is needless to say, was never undertaken.

"That he was superstitious, would appear from one of his dreams, its supposed baneful import, and its antidote. He dreamed that he was bit- ten by a mad hog, which he interpreted to mean that he would, while hunting the next day, be bitten by venomous snake, unless he plunged into the water the next morning, and thus broke in upon and nullified the vision of the night Hence his voluntary immersion in the Clear Fork the next morning before sunrise, though the water was cold, and he emerged from it shivering and perfectly chilled.

" That he was sarcastic, is also apparent from another incident. Mrs. Cunning, a young woman living near Hemlock Falls, and but recently married, discovered him looking between the logs of the cabin before he entered the house. At this she became frightened, as her husband was from home. On seeing her trepidation, he laughed outright, and exclaimed, 'Very old woman, very much scared,' and left the house repeating the exclamation time and again at the top of his voice, and in a chanting tone, till he disappeared in the forest.

" He called on Mrs. White, said he wanted a loaf of bread then on the fire baking. On be-

ing promised it so soon as baked, he exhibited to her a string of what he called the tongues of white persons, stating he had ninety-nine, and was determined to have another, a woman's, and then he would have 100. On her exhibiting some alarm, being alone, and her husband absent. he said it was not her tongue, but that of a woman who had mistreated or insulted him.

" He was very communicative to Mr. Johns- ton, and talked to him often and long. He stated that, during the Indian troubles and hos- tilities on the frontier, he was accustomed to approach the cabins of the settlers at the dead hour of night, when the inmates were asleep. and, silently as possible, punch a hole through the clay daubing of the chimney into the fire- place, and then attaching a charge of powder to his ramrod, thrust it into the embers, when the powder would flare up, and illumine the inside of the dwelling, and enable him to count and discriminate the imnates, and if he discovered two men within he withdrew, but if but one, he entered the house and killed him, and then dis- patched the women and children. He said. also, that at Crawford's and St. Clair's defeats. he had tomahawked white men till his arm was 'sick.' and denounced Gen. Wayne as ' bad man, swear that he could be heard three miles.' The only scalp exhibited by him, however, was that of a fairhaired person, and said by him to have been taken from the head of a British officer.

"Notwithstanding this bloody record, he had the credit of saving the life of Mr. Flack. taken prisoner in Ligonier Valley, afterward taken to Detroit, redeemed by the French, and by them restored to his home and his family. While a prisoner in the hands of the Indians, and apprehending death at the stake, or other- wise, Lyons came to him and told him the only way to save himself was to strip off his clothes immediately, go to bed, cover himself up, and pretend to be asleep. He did so, and soon the savages dashed into the apartment

HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

637

where he was, whooping, yelling, and careering through the room, in high and full feather, as though pandemonium itself was unchained. What all this had to do in saving the life of Mr. F., is a mystery we cannot solve. Suffice it to say, such was his lifelong conviction.

"On removing from Worthington Township, Lyons had his hut at Jeromeville, but frequently revisited Greentown and his former neighbor- hood. N. Flaharty, Esq., saw him with a hunting party camped on Pine Run, below his house, as late as 1818 or 1819, when too old to hunt, and he said he was one hundred and sixty. He sold wooden ladles, made by him- self, to Mrs. F., had a new snit at the time, and

a new gun, procured from a gunsmith who lived near Cadiz, on the Brush Fork of Still- water.

"It is said to have transpired that, on leaving a tavern in Lexington, Lyon was followed and killed by a party of roughs, probably stimu- lated by whisky. He had boasted of having ninety-nine tongues of the whites, and wanted one more, which, if obtained, he would die con- tent, or be willing and ready to die. This was construed as a design on his part to murder some one, and it was determined to anticipate him by putting him to death. Soon after, he was found dead, and lying beside a log, near Hanewalt's mill, on the Clear Fork."

CHAPTER LXIII.

AUBURN TOWNSHIP .*

SURVEY-ORGANIZATION - PHYSICAL FEATURES-JEDEDIAH MOREHEAD-TWO HERMITS-FIRST SETTLERS-FIRST ROAD-GEORGE MYERS-CHURCHES -- VILLAGES.

TI THE territory comprising Auburn Township was surveyed by Maxfield Ludlow in 1807. Until April 3, 1820, it was part of Plymouth Township. which was twelve miles long from east to west, and six miles wide. At that date, this territory was divided by a line through the center north and south, and the west half called Auburn, making it six miles square. Thus it remained until the county of Crawford was organized, in February, 1845, when it was again divided by a line north and south, the four tiers of sections on the west being given to Crawford, leaving the remainder (two tiers) attached to Plymouth. December 6, 1849, Cass being erected out of the east part of Plymouth, these two tiers of sections were attached to the latter, and the whole of Auburn (four by six miles in extent) remained in the northeast corner of Crawford County. It is

said to be one of the finest townships of land in the State for agricultural purposes. the soil being deep. dark, rich, and the general surface comparatively level. It slopes gently to the north, and, in an early day, before the white man began its cultivation, the northern tier of sections were mostly under water for the greater part of the year, as they bordered on the great cranberry marsh lying to the east and north. It has always been considered "swamp land" throughout its northern part, but since it has been cleared of timber and underdrained. it appears as the finest of farming land, there seeming to be no end to the strength and pro- ductiveness of its soil. It is watered on its eastern side by Cuykendall's Run, which rises in the southern part, and, passing directly north through its eastern sections. enters Huron County about the center of the northwest quar- ter of Section 3. On the west side is Honey

* Now in Crawford County, formerly in Richland.

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HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

Creek, which also rises in the southern part, and, passing north the entire length of the township, enters Huron County through Sec- tion 6. The Mansfield, Coldwater & Lake Michigan Railroad passes across the southwest corner, and Tiro, on this road, is the only rail- road station and post office within its limits.

One of the earliest settlers in this territory was Jedediah Morehead, a hunter and trapper. He might not, in those very early days, have been called a settler at all, as he roamed about a good deal, squatting here and there wherever he found the best hunting, though later, he moved his family-a large one- to Vernon Township, where he purchased land and settled, on Section 1. He hunted the swampy region about the cranberry marsh (the old settlers called it "the mash"), where he found bear and all other four-footed wild animals plenty, as well as wild geese and ducks. Even to this day it is is a good ducking-ground. In the northern part of the township, and extend- ing into Huron County, is a narrow, irregular strip of dry land jutting into the swamp; and, upon the extreme point of this strip, Morehead built a small brush cabin, which is well remem- hered by the later settlers, in which he spent much of his time. This is yet known as " Morehead's Point." There is little doubt that he was the first settler and built the first cabin in the township.

Two very singular characters, bachelors and hermits, named Varnica and Wadsworth, were among the earliest residents of the township. They could hardly be termed settlers, as they lived here in caves, and did not associate with their fellows. They were solitary in their habits, and sufficiently eccentric to be called " crazy " by those who knew them.

Varnica was a German, a fine scholar, and in his youth, it was said, was a military com- mander in Europe, but for some unknown rea- son, fled to the wilds of America, and his entry of land in Auburn Township was among the

first. IIe had money, which he kept hid in the most singular places, and lived a hermit until quite old, when he took a fancy to a young man. by the name of Robert Wilson, with whom he resided until his death.

After his death, very little money could be found until they came across a will, written in German and properly witnessed, giving his fine quarter of land and some money to his friend, Wilson, who was also made executor and en- joined to give the residue of his money, several thousand dollars, to poor, aged and friendless females, and to make the distribution in small sums. This provision of his will was surpris- ing, as during his life here, he was never known to notice the opposite sex, and appeared to detest them. The will also revealed the place where the money was secreted: $2,200 in gold was discovered in a gate post, in the top of which a large hole had been bored, and the coin dropped in, after which the hole was plugged with a pin of the same wood as that of the post. Other smaller sums of money were found in singular places. This strange man died about forty years ago. From the clause in the will regarding women, and other evidence, it is con- jectured some one of them had something to do with shaping the man's life. Young Wilson, who has also been dead about thirty years, exe- cuted the will with commendable fidelity, and relieved the wants of many poor women.

The other man, Wadsworth, was also a fine scholar, a graduate of Yale College, and stud- ied theology. He also made one of the first entries of land in Auburn, and lived in a cave on his land. He was singular in appearance as well as action, being very round shouldered, so much so that it amounted almost to deformity ; but was one of the most muscular men in the township. He was an expert hunter and trap- per, and a miser. He raised chickens, melons and vegetables, and peddled his own produce later, when settlers came in and villages began to spring up. He would take a bag of melons

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HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

on his shoulder, a basket of eggs on his arm, and walk several miles to Plymouth or other places, and peddle from house to house. He was strictly honest and conscientious in. his dealings, careful in making change even to a cent or the fraction of a cent. He was never known to laugh, or even smile, and never owned or would use a horse, always carrying his grist to mill upon his back, and returning with the meal or flour the same way. He died about 1840, without a will, leaving considerable money and a fine quarter-section of land, which was taken possession of by his rich and aristocratic Boston relatives, who had frequently visited him, and tried to induce him to return to Boston. His was, also, a severe case of " woman."

The early settlers were John Pettijohn and William Greene, who came as early as 1815 ; Charles Morrow, 1817 ; Adam Aumend, Ru- dolphus Morse and Resolved White, who came from New York in 1819 ; John Blair, 1821 ; A. T. Ross, 1825 ; John Webber, 1817, Section 13 ; Jacob Cuykendall, John Blair, Van Osdoll, Van Fleet, Ruckman, Capt. Joseph Gardner, John Bodley, Jesse Ladow and Samuel and Robert Hanna. These were all here before 1820, except Ross. These early settlers are all dead. They and those who immediately followed them were generally New Englanders, New York Hollanders and Pennsylvania Scotch-Irish.

Probably the first road opened through the township was one cut by a portion of the army of Gen. Harrison, in 1813-14, from Mansfield to Fort Ball, near the present site of Tiffin, which passed diagonally across it from southeast to northwest. This route was frequented by Har- rison's couriers with despatches to the East. One of these couriers, well known to the set- tlers, was George Myers, a German, who after- ward laid out New Washington, in Crawford County, and called it after the "Father of his Country." A fact may be here noted, that nearly all the early settlers in Plymouth and Auburn Townships were soldiers of the war of

1812. They must have been attracted to this beautiful country, and returned to it after the war.

Auburn is well supplied with churches, there being seven, at present, within its limits. One of the oldest religious organizations is that of the Presbyterians, at Waynesburg. Rev. M. Wolf, a missionary, organized this society in a very early day. Their meetings were held in private houses and schoolhouses ; no church building was erected.

The Baptists organized a society about 1830, Deacon Howe was the founder and leading spirit. About 1840, they erected a small frame church on Section 16, which they occupied until January 1, 1880, when they dedicated a new one which had been erected at a cost of $2,500.

The Methodists have a church called " Pleas- ant Grove," in the southern part of the town- ship. The United Brethren also have a church near Tiro in the southern part of the township, erected in 1878, at a 'cost of about $1,500. In the same neighborhood, on the Plymouth and Bucyrus road, is the Lutheran Church, organ- ized about 1855. One of the earliest Methodist churches was located on Section 8 ; it was used for many years, and sold to the Winebrenarians, or Church of God, who organized about 1874, and have since occupied it. The "Good Will" Methodist Church, is located on Section 20, and was organized about 1850. The church was not erected until 1870; Thomas Milliard, who came from Pennsylvania and settled near here in an early day, was the founder. During 1879. the Catholics erected a church at a cost (in- cluding parsonage) of $4,000, on Section 7. But two towns have been started in this town- ship-Waynesburg, on the west side, which be- came a village with two or three business places, but was killed by the passage of the rail- road through Plymouth, and Tiro on the Mans- field, Coldwater & Lake Michigan Railroad. This latter is generally called DeKalb station, Tiro being the name of the post office.

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Author: Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848- Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Mansfield, O. : A. A. Graham & co. Number of Pages: 968

Author: Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Mansfield, O. : A. A. Graham & co.
Number of Pages: 968