History of Stark County, with an outline sketch of Ohio, Part 67

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892? ed
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Baskin & Battey
Number of Pages: 1060

USA > Ohio > Stark County > History of Stark County, with an outline sketch of Ohio > Part 67

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The organization of the township as a polit- ical and social organization fell into the hands of men who studied the public weal and carried out practically views and plans that met the entire approbation of the community. " Schools and the means of instruction," as recommended in that grand instrument. the old Constitution of Ohio, were encouraged. a refined social in- tercourse all over the township was established. that is affectionately remembered by the now old men who survive. In the language of the great British essayist :

" Then none was for a party : Then all were for the State : Then the great man helped the poor. And the poor man loved the great. Then lands were fairly portioned. Then spoils were fairly sold; The Romans were like brothers In the brave days of okt."

When Mr. Duncan left Portsmouth. his ob- jective point was the State of Virginia, that portion now included in West Virginia, and os- pecially Brooke and Ohio Counties. At Wheel- ing. he had friends, Messrs. Jacob Atkinson and Peabody Atkinson, brothers, and a Mr.

Peterson. He remained in those counties for a year or two. and married Miss Eliza T. Vilette, and with the two brothers Atkinson con- cluded as a sort of horseback adventure to visit the " Rotch Settlement." Accordingly the three gentlemen started on horseback in the spring and came to Kendal, and stopped at a hotel kept by John Bowman. a Pennsylvania Dutelman, which was the only one in the vil- lage, and was the first hotel opened in the town- ship. It soon became known that there were strangers from Portsmouth, N. IL .. in town. and as there were several New England families already in the village and vicinity. a Quaker woman. who with her husband, had a year or two before visited Portsmouth. strangers, and received genuine New England hospitality, said to her husband. " Thee had better go and call on the strangers : they may be connected with the families who were so polite to us, and if so, we should at least invite them to dine."

The Quaker head of the family said to his wife, " I should be glad to invite them at any rate, and if thee thinks thee can make out a dinner for them. I will call on them and invite them for to-morrow." The preliminaries being thus settled. he called on the strangers, had a long talk with them in regard to the county and State of Ohio. its prospects, and invited them to dine ; the invitation was promptly ae- cepted. and after dinner they all rode over a considerable portion of the township. exam- ined the water-power of the Sippo Creek, rode over the ground plat of the now city of Mas- sillon, and the strangers were favorably im- pressed ; they went no further west, returned to Wheeling. and Wellsburg. Va., and Mr. Duncan returned shortly afterward and pur- chased the Estremadura farm, now owned by the Kegler heirs, and purchased the quarter- section on which the city is, in part, laid out. The purchase was made for the water-power of Sippo Creek, and near where now stands the Masonic Lodge, and the merchant flouring-mill of Isaac N. Dexter. Mr. Duncan erected a flour- ing-mill and saw-mill, having first erected a dam across the creck, near where East street, Massillon, now crosses the creek. The place was known as Duncan's Mill, as it had no other way of distinguishing it from any other point in the Tuscarawas Valley.

There was one member of Mr. Earle's family when he came into the township, who yet lives

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HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY.

in the township just outside the city limits at the age of ninety-six years, Mrs. Rebecca Staf- ford, her maiden name being Cook, a sister of Mrs. Earle ; she married Abel Stafford, one of the colony who settled in Tuscarawas from Essex County, N. Y., by whom she was left a widow many years since. She is in the enjoy- ment of excellent health and bids fair to see the one hundredth anniversary of her birthday. The name of Aunt Rebecca Cook sixty years ago, was as "familiar as household words." She has life-long been a remarkable woman, and her bright intellect makes her home a pleasant place to visit ; her recollection of the events of early times is clear.

The stagnation of business, scarcity of money and almost cessation of immigration, commenc- ing soon after the close of the war, seemed to paralyze the energies of every body ; a surplus of agricultural products was always on hand. and no outlet to market ; a general feeling of discouragment pervaded the community ; when land would sell at all, it sold for merely nomi- nal prices, compared with its real value. To get rid of the increasing produce on his hands after the building of his mill, Mr. Duncan erected a distillery. a log building which stood near the corner of Charles and Mill streets, Massillon, the first distiller being Seth Chase, a native of Vermont, who had settled in Tus- carawas Township. As time wore on, Mr. Duncan accumulated a large quantity of whisky, and, in 1822. he determined to load a flat-boat with flour, whisky and potatoes for the New Orleans market. The idea had hardly entered his mind, until he went with all possible haste to Charles Coffin. and contracted for the build- ing of a boat to be launched in the Tuscarawas, and loaded with flour, whisky, potatoes. bacon. and, in short, anything that would sell in Southern market. The boat was built and launched exactly where now is the eastern end of the arched stone bridge in Massillon ; the amount of her tonnage is not recollected, nor can it be ascertained. She was built bottom up and turned over into the water with entire success ; her upper works were immediately set up and finished ; a fortunate rise in the river was taken advantage of, teams were em- ployed which worked night and day. and with the rise. the boat was loaded, and in the early spring of the year, the " Walk in the Water," as Mrs. Duncan had named the boat, started on

her voyage. Much apprehension was felt lest the dam across the river at Zoar, and Baker's dam at New Philadelphia, should be in the way, but the flood kept np and the dams were crossed in safety.

The Muskingum was reached and being at flood-tide, having the waters of the Tuscarawas and Walhouding to keep it up, Capt. Duncan had company to the Ohio, Coshoeton and Zanesville and other towns on the river being engaged in shipping to New Orleans. No time was lost in reaching Cincinnati. On arriving there, Capt. Duncan found the market buoyant for his entire cargo, and sold out boat and cargo at a fine advance, and walked from Cincinnati to Kendal, where he then resided. His success was followed with other and similar efforts, none of which. however, were near so successful.

Mr. Duncan's success was only an additional stimulus to greater improvements in the valley, in which all his fortunes were staked, his am- bition for improvement was only restrained by his means. On his return from Cincinnati, he and Mr. Skinner immediately formed the part- nership of C. K. Skinner & Co., and first put up a carding-machine, picker and the other ap- pliances, simply for carding wool and reducing it to rolls for the spinning-wheel, Mr. Skinner having been bred to the business while in the service of Thomas Rotch, and such was their success that the flouring-mill was soon turned into a woolen mannfactory, and was known as the " Free Bridge Woolen Factory Fifty rods east of the Tuscarawas Free Bridge," and was continued as a woolen factory; an addition was made in which the works for manufacturing flax-seed oil were erected, and the business of manufacturing oil was carried on for many years.

Under the untiring energy of Mr. Duncan, in which he was ably seconded by Mr. Skinner, the improvements of this portion of the Tuscara- was Valley were rapidly accelerated. Among the old-time landmarks of a pre-historie period, so far as the city of Massillon is concerned, is the building now owned by James Bayliss, Esq., and occupied by T. Clarke Miller, M. D., and which was erected in 1823, the east end being first used by Mr. Duncan for a dry goods store, the west end being occupied by Mr. Duncan as a residence for his family. The year 1824, however, was the turning-point for business in the entire length of the Tuscarawas Valley, and

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especially in so much of it as lies in the county of Stark. In that year, 1824. the Legislature of Ohio, which had had for several years the subject of internal improvement in one form or another before it, resolved to proceed ; and an act was passed February 24, directing the Com- missioners, who had been already appointed, to continue their labors and employ an able engi- neer and assistants. The reports of the Com- missioners were so favorable, that, in 1825, an aet was passed " to provide for the internal im- provement of the State of Ohio by navigable canals," and agreeably to the provisions of which act the Ohio Canal, from Cleveland to Portsmouth, was built.

Immediately upon the passage of the last- mentioned act, Mr. Duncan commenced and never ceased his labors until the canal was lo- cated in the Tuscarawas Valley, and on the east side of the Tusearawas River. On the 18th day of January, 1826. forty-four sections, com- mencing at the south side of the Summit Lake in Portage, now Summit County, on the Portage Summit, and extending south to the second lock south of the city of Massillon, near the resi- dence of Mrs. Jarvis, a distance of twenty-seven miles, south of the now city of Akron, were let to contractors. the letting taking place in Kendal at Mr. Duncan's residence, which was the only brick house in the village, and which will be remembered by the reader as the one erected by Alexander Skinner. Esq.

As soon as it was settled beyond peradven- ture where the canal was to be located. Mr. Duncan commenced to purchase land in the valley north and south of the tracts already owned by him and also commenced to lay out a town, which extended from North street, on the north. adjoining the residence of Dr. Joseph Watson. to South street, adjoining the " Excel- sior Works," west to the Tuscarawas River (beyond that boundary the land was owned by Judge William Henry), and cast to High street, which bordered on lands owned by the estate of Thomas Roteh. deceased. Excepting on the south. Mr. Duncan took in all the territory he owned. The fractional section on the east side of the river, not owned by Mr. Duncan, lying between his land and the river, was owned by IIon. P. A. Karthans, of Baltimore. having been entered by him at an early day, and on which a large portion of the village. between the canal and river. was laid out. The new

town was called Massillon, taking its name from Jean Baptiste Massillon, a celebrated Roman Catholic French Bishop, of the days of Louis XIV, of France. The name was suggested by Mrs. Duncan, who was a fine French scholar, and of whom, it may be said in passing, she was a niece of the Hon. Charles Hammond. one of the early editors of the Cincinnati Gazette, and a woman of rare edu- ration and social qualities.

The first school in the township was taught by William Mott, a young Quaker of limited education, but earnest in his efforts to do good, faithful and upright ; he realized his incapacity, and soon quit teaching, and worked in Thomas Rotch's woolen factory, and finally returned to the East. Next to him as a teacher was tyrus Spink, a man of education and excellent habits. As a teacher for those days he was a success. But one of his pupils yet remains within the bounds of his territory as a teacher, now draw- ing rapidly to the seventh decennial period of life, and another now residing at Mantua Station in Portage County. Ohio, just entered upon his seventy-eighth year. Mr. Spink, on leaving Kendal, went to Wooster and remained there until his death on the 31st of May, 1859. At the time of his death he was a member of Con- gress elect from that district, and was sixty- seven years of age lle was Major General of the Military Division in which Wooster is situ- ated, and life-long sustained the reputation of an upright man. Among the teachers of that day was Ruth Logue, a Quaker, afterward the wife of Nathan Galbraith, of New Garden. Col- umbiana County. She was a model woman as teacher and in every other respect. The writer can well say of her. as was written by Gokdl- smith of the village master of Sweet Auburn. she was a woman.

"Severe and stern to view.

I knew her well as every truant knew ;

Full well had boding trouble's learned to trace

The day's disasters in her morning face :

Yet she was kind, or if severe in aught.

The love she bore to learning was in fault."

The children she taught loved her, and the few who yet remain to visit the old play-ground on the "Green " in Kendal, cherish for her af- fectionate memories.

The way schools were organized and con- ducted. the mode of teaching. indeed every- thing connected with education in those days. was, perhaps, the best that could be under the

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HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY.

- circumstances ; but while that is conceded, it is a wonder that children learned anything nseful, or received just impressions of anything calcu- lated to serve them in the future. The founda- tions for usefulness, however, wore laid, and many of the men and women educated, in part, in those schools, poor as they were, have writ- ten their names high up on the historic page, the women as teachers, and the men have taken their places in all the learned professions, and as legislators in the General Assembly of the State and in Congress.

On one occasion. a teacher came to Kendal and called on Capt. Mayhew Folger, who was always among the first to interest himself in the cause of education, and made known his desire to have a school, and represented himself as well qualified. Capt. Folger gave him pen and ink and said if he would draw a subscrip- tion paper, he, Capt. Folger, would subscribe a certain number of scholars ; the teacher drew up his paper misspelling about half the words ; his attention was called to that defeet in his own education, when he replied with the utmost coolness. " Spelling is not very essential."

Until 1825 there was no uniform school sys- tem in Ohio. "In that year, the friends of schools and canals," says the late Chief Justice Chase, in his admirable historical sketch of Ohio, preliminary to his great work. " Chase's Statutes," " united in the Legislature, and the following systems of internal improvement and general instruction were simultaneously brought into being. The act, from that year. imposed a general tax of one-half of one mill on the dollar for the support of schools, and provided for theirestablishment in every township." The schools were championed by the Hon. James W. Lathrop, a member of the House from Stark County. On Mr. Lathrop's return to his con- stituency at the adjournment of the Legislature, a hue and cry was raised against him, which threatened his defeat as a candidate for re-elee- tion ; he was, however, re-elected by a reduced majority, the objection to him was the increased taxation to support common schools. " Peo- ple do not want so much learning," said a prom. inent farmer, whose grandson, in 1840, gradu- ated from Jefferson College. Pennsylvania, at the head of his elass. Mr. Lathrop returned to the Legislature and remodeled the " act entitled the act organizing the common schools of Ohio," increasing the taxation and improving the law

generally. The clamoragainst him was increased tenfold, but he was re-elected in 1827; and true to his convictions, he started again to im- prove, by amendments to the former acts, " The Common-School System of Ohio." While en- gaged on his work, he was stricken down by disease and died ; his wife, a resident of Canton, rode to Columbus on horseback, arriving in time to witness his death : his remains were laid away in one of the cemeteries of the Cap- ital City, and remained there until 1873, when Hon. Samuel C. Bowman, then member of the House of Representatives from this county, of- fered a resolution providing for their removal to Canton. The resolution was at once adopted, and the Stark County members of the House and Senate were appointed a Joint Committee to attend to the removal. Hon. Ellis N. John- son, Ir., being the colleague of Mr. Bowman and Hon. Arvine C. Wales from the Twenty-first District, Stark and Carroll, being the Senator, the Committee and remains being attended by Frederick Blankner, Esq .. Third Assistant Ser- geant-at-Arms of the House.

Mr. Lathrop having been an honored mem- ber of Canton Lodge, No. 60, of A., F. & A. M., the brethren of both lodges in that city met the remains at the railway station at Canton. and. under their care, the remains were deposited in the beautiful cemetery of that city. A large number of the prominent citizens of Canton and Massillon paid their respects to the remains of the founder of the common-school system of Ohio by their presence at the interment ; re- marks, suited to the oceasion. were made by gentlemen from both cities, but no eulogy ean ever do justice to the memory of James W. Lathrop. A monument to his memory " more durable than brass," should be at once erected, upon which should be inscribed, simply, " The Founder of Common Schools," with the name I of the distinguished citizen ; and, as Daniel Webster said of Bunker Hill Monument. " there let it stand and meet the sun in his coming ; let the earliest light of the morning gild it, and parting day linger and play upon its summit."

Still the imperfections of the common schools were such that select schools were everywhere springing up, until repeated legislation has given the township, as well as the entire State, the best school system in the West.

Perry Township was never behind other por- tions of the county in its attention to education.

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PERRY TOWNSHIP.

The excellent school taught by Barak Michener, in Kendal, before he studied medicine, brought pupils from Canton who were taught the rudi- ments of a common English education. The year 1817 brought many " new-comers " from New England, among whom were Thomas Reed and Richard Breed, and their families, from Lynn ; and Sylvanus Hathaway and his family, originally from New Bedford, Mass. The first. two went into the then lately organized town- ship of Jackson, and Hathaway stopped at Kendal, where he died in a few years. Miss Eliza Reed, one of the three children of Thomas Reed, was married to Mr. C. K. Skinner in 1822. They lived in Kendal and in Massillon forty. four years, she dying in 1866 at the age of six- ty-nine : her life was one of great usefulness. Before her marriage, she, too, was a teacher of a select school at Kendal.

The first orchard planted in the township is on the south side of the road between Massillon and Canton, on what is now the farm of Mr. Daum, and it is believed to have been planted by Jonathan Chapman, better known as JJohnny Appleseed, who was well known through this part of Ohio during the earliest settlement of which any account can be had. as a planter of orchards. He is well remembered as going from house to house and calling for apple seeds. The fruit then had was brought from the East in wagons, and sold at fabulous prices. A full sketch of Johnny Appleseed will be found in " Howe's Historical Collections of Ohio," in the history of Richland County. The next orchard was planted in the south end of the township by John Reamer, on a tract of land sold by him to Mayhew Folger, and subsequently owned by Mr. Coder. After Mayhew Folger purchased the land, a portion of the trees were trans- planted to the orchard formerly within the now city limits of Massillon, where stands the resi- dence of Henry Beatty, Esq. On the west side of the river and now in the Second Ward of the city, was another early orchard, planted by Al- exander Johnson. Esq., already mentioned in these pages. He had served in the army of the I'nited States with Gen. Wayne in his campaign in 1794. He came from Western Pennsylvania. and was of as hardy a race of men as ever peo- pled any country, and was a man of as high a sense of honor and integrity of character as ever aided in the formation of society. Earnest in his convictions and true to himself; he never

was false to anybody else. lle was killed in 1811 by falling from his hay mow on the sharp paling of his hay ladder in his barn on the farm where now resides his son, Jonathan John- son, just outside the city limits of Massillon, at about the age of seventy.

This township claims the distinction of hay- ing first introduced Spanish Merino sheep into this portion of Ohio. Thomas Roteh intro- duced them ; they were driven from Hartford. Conn .. and were the product of importations from Spain made in 1803. by Col. David Hum- phreys. The next importations of merino sheep into the Tusearawas Valley were by Bezaleel Wells and William R. Dickenson, of Stenben- ville. Mr. Dickenson being the owner of the celebrated merino ram " Bolivar," which took the premium. a silver eup. in Baltimore. Boli- var was sent from Mr. Dickenson's farm, " Es- tremadura," in this township, in a covered cart in charge of a faithful shepherd. and at an ex- hibition of fine-wooled sheep from all parts of the United States, Perry Township bore away the prize.

Among the institutions of Perry Township of which everybody should be proud, is the Charity School, of Kendal, sometimes called the Roteh School, founded on the following be- (fuest in the will of Charity Rotch :

Having for many years past been very desirous of promoting the establishment of a benevolent insti lution for the education of destitute orphans and indigent children, more particularly those whose parents are of depraved morals, that they may be trained in habits of industry and economy : it is my will that my executor- convert the remainder of my property, both real and personal, into money as soon as practicable, and place the same in per manent funds, the interest of which to be solely ap plied to said institution. Should the same be sulli cient to attach a farm thereto, so that a portion of the boys' time may be devoted to the laudable pur suit of agriculture, and a part of the girls' time to be devoted to the duties of housewifery, whereby they may support themselves and become useful members of society, and also that a sufficient time may be devoted to the acquiring of a common English education. It would more fully comply with my desires, should the amount not be sufficient fully to accomplish said object, and no other fund could be added to second my efforts, it is my will that the interest of said fund be solely applied to the instrue tion of such children in a common English educa tion.

It will be observed that, according to the terms of the foregoing bequest, the school was made a residuary legatce. The testatrix had

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HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY.

no idea what the amount would be, but greater or smaller it was to be carefully husbanded by her executors, who were Arvine Wales and Matthew Macy, who after settling the estate and paying the last farthing in the way of spe- cific legacies, and reducing the rest and residue to money, or its equivalent, found that $20,000 would remain for the purpose of establishing a school, such as was contemplated by the Quak- er woman whose det was for the ruce, the poor and needy whom she never forgot. The fund was carefully managed by the executors. Arvine Wales, especially, and within twenty years after the death of the testatrix, Mr. Wales had pur- chased 185 acres of choice farming land just outside the city limits on the north, and on which the school buildings are erected.

The following very complete history of the school, its objects and the success that has at- tended it, is furnished by Ira M. Allen, Esq., Superintendent :

The main building was commenced in 1842. and in 1844 a school was opened with ten scholars. Philander Dawley, from Newark, N. Y., Superin- tendent, the Trustees and Superintendent having adopted the following plans:

The school, when full, to consist of twenty boys and twenty girls were indentured to the Board of Trustees for four years, ten to be admitted and ten to graduate at the end of four years. No child to he admitted under twelve. nor over fifteen years of age. As the children were to be taught, the boys farming, and the girls to do all kinds of housework and plain sewing, which was one of the require- ments of the will, and the school has been managed substantially upon that plan since its organization. except that when the prices of clothing and supplies for the school advanced during the war, it was found that the income was not sufficient to maintain so many, when the number of pupils was reduced to thirty.

The school has been conducted on the plan of a family. as far as possible. All eat at the same table and mingle together as brothers and sisters, and there is very little more restraint than would be found necessary in a well-regulated family, they are, in fact, a family of brothers and sisters. The cultivating of the idea that we are a family. works well. All that is required for an applicant, when there is a vacancy in the school, is that he or she shall be of sound mind and body, of fair moral character, and so poor as to be unable to procure decent educational advantages. Mr. Dawley re- signed his position as Superintendent, April 1, 1854. and was succeeded by Ira M. Allen, who resigned in 1864, and was succeeded by Adam W. Heldenbrand. a former pupil, who was elected Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas in 1865, and is now Probate Judge of Stark County, holding the latter place for three terms. Judge Heldenbrand's successor was Abraham

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History of Stark County, with an outline sketch of Ohio, Part 67

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892? ed Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago, Baskin & Battey Number of Pages: 1060

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892? ed
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Baskin & Battey
Number of Pages: 1060