History of Stark County, with an outline sketch of Ohio, Part 83

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

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The jurisdiction of the Justice of the Peace of the township of Sandy then extended over what is now Rose and Harrison Townships, of Carroll County. Early after Capt. Downing and his friends came Peter Mottice. Beatty, Hibbits, Reeves, Will- iam Knotts, Van Meters, Handion, Brown. Creigh- tons, ete. In August, 1812, when Gen, Hull had surrendered all our armies in the West and North to the British, and there was no organized force to

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keep the Indians in check, there came to the "Sandy" settlers a report that the Garver settlement, south- west of Canton, was all killed, and that 400 Indians were in the North Bend of Sandy Creek. The consternation among the pioneers was terrible; war in its most civilized form was terrible to think of. but war and possible capture, by so relentless and barbarous an enemy, struck terror to the souls of even the sturdy woodsmen of the valley. All looked to Capt. Downing as a leader, and he was not found wanting. He gave orders for a gathering of the clans, with all the arms and munitions of war available, and directed the women to hide with the children in the corn fields. Downing, with his three sons and two sons-in law and sixty stalwart pioneers, armed in all sorts of ways, marched in single file to meet the enemy, passing on their way through where Sparta is now situated. to the summit between that place and the Bethlehem settlement, now called Nevarre. Here they heard shooting, and Capt. Downing called his men together and ordered. " Now boys, double quick, and strike them with a dash!' and they charged valiantly across the ridge, ouly to find another party of whites who, like them selves, were hunting for the 400 warlike red skins, and not finding them, were shooting at a mark. One of Downing's party, William Knotts, used to tell that he had had many a fight, " tisty-cuff." as he called it, and thought it nothing but fun, but this Indian fighting with guns was a different matter : that when the ofil Captain gave the orders to " strike 'em with a dash," and all felt sure the Indians were just over the hilltop, he thought of Hannah and the children. and moved forward with the rest, but " had never felt such a 'wolloping' of his heart in all his life." During that same fall, James Downing, Jr .. organ ized a company of troops, and was elected its C'ap tain, and marched to the front. The regiment io which the company was assigned encamped at Wooster on Christmas Day, and named the bivouac "Camp Christmas," thence they marched to Fort Meigs, at which place and Fort Stevens, they win tered. Returning home with his men at the end of the war, he entered the land adjoining his father, now owned by Jacob Painter. Esq. He married Miss Nancy Hewitt, of Virginia, and cleared up a fine farm, on which he inclosed the family burying ground in a tine stone wall, where the remains of himself and wife, his father and mother and other relatives are interred.

The first white army that ever passed through Sandy Township traveled by the way of the Tus- carawas trail and was the command of Gen. Bou- quet, who marched from old Fort Duquesne, now Pittsburgh, Penn., and came by way of the Little Beaver River, and carried his boats across the sum- mit at Hanoverton, brought them down the Sandy Creck into the Tuscarawas, up which they traveled to the Akron summit, and thence across into the Cuyahoga and thence by the lake to Sandusky. This was as carly as 1762. In 1778. Gen. Melntosh came by the same route, without boats, to Port Lan- rens, where Bolivar now stands, left a small force and returned to Fort MeIntosh, at Beaver. The force at Fort Laurens was left under command of Maj Gibson.

So ends Mr. Croxton's story of the early set llement.

William Hewitt and John Hewitt, now living in Waynesburgh, are sons of James Hewitt, who came into the territory, afterward Sandy Town- ship, hut now part of Brown Township. Carroll County, and entered land in 1807. Hewitt's first cabin was built near the line of the t'. a P. R. R., as before stated, and in this rough. but as we shall see, hospitable home, on the 31st of January, 1809, William Jewitt was born, and still lives to claim the honor of being the first white chill born in the township. Here also John Hewitt was born. An incident of pioneer life, which occurred at Hewitt's, is so fully illustrative of the social life of the advance guard of our present civilization. that we record it as we gathered it from Mr. William Hewitt, whose well-told tales of those elder days are the delight of all who are so fortunate as to hear him.

In March. 1821, the neighbors were invited to attend what was then called a " grubbing frolic," and. of course, they attended en masse. The mode of invitation to all frolies, and they were many, was simply to give out the fact that such a gathering was to take place, and it was understood that all who were not on absolutely unfriendly terms with the family were invited, and all were expected to attend, and failme to do so required explanation and a good excuse. Among those who were present were Capt. JJames Downing, Robert Thompson, John Reed, J. Harvey Ross, John Ross. James Brothers. Levy Brothers, Isaac Brothers, Simon Shook. Solomon Shook. Jonas Baum, Conrad Stull, Adam Keefer, John McCall. The work in the grub patch being completed and supper about ready. and everybody merry and mellow with good humor and good whisky, an event took place which was destined to have a strong influence on the future of the neighborhood. It was no less an affair than the arrival of Denny Robertson, James Robertson. John Robertson and families. whose numerous descendants are to-day among our most respected citizens. Denny Robertson and family, and perhaps JJames also. accepted an invitation to stay all night at Hewitt's, while John Robertson passed on to his cabin in Rose Township.

The wagons which were to stay were soon surrounded, and the weary travelers made wel- come. The amusements of jumping and shoot-

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ing at a mark was abandoned. Levy Brothers, mounted on Hewitt's old mare " Tibb," was dispatched up the creek after Tom Tidball, the fiddler. The boys struck out in every direction after the fair daughters of Sandy, and the frolic and the new arrival were jointly celebrated by a rousing dance, until the breaking day gave warning that the more serious concerns of life demanded attention. Then breakfast dispatched, the new-comers were escorted to their new home on the farm now owned by David Robertson ; nor did these stalwart volunteers quit the place until by aid of ax and arm a cabin grew up in the wilderness, and the emigrant of yesterday was as inuch a settler as any of his sturdy new- i found friends. Among the girls found to honor this occasion were the Misses Sallie and Ollie Kellogg. Rachel Keofer. Susan. Kate and Bar bary Shook. Katie. Eva, Betsey and Julie Schultze. The dance, among these Insty revel- ers, could hardly be described as the " poetry of motion," although it was by far too energetic and boisterous to be called prosey. Dressed in suits of home-spun tow linen, shod in cow-hide boots, the honest but unpolished swain led forth a partner blooming in stout brogans and frock of linsey-woolsey, all innocent of frills and plaits, but whose radiant. ruddy smile, born of good humor and good health, made ample amends for the lack of what, too often in these later days. is little less than siekening affectation, both as to dress and manners. The musie (?) of " Monnaie Musk," " Chase the Squirrel," " Peel the Wil- low " and other lively tunes, inspired an energy of action and a business-like execution that would command attention, if not admiration, in a fashionable ball-room of 1881.

Along with James Hewitt eame John Reed. Sr., and his son, James Reed, and John Creigh- ton, a nephew of Hewitt. John Reed's pos- terity are yet residents of Malvern. The near- est neighbor was Isaac Van Meter whose cabin stood just at the top of the hill where Market street, of Waynesburg. descends toward the C. & P'. Railroad. Moses Porter lived at what is now Malvern Hewitt and his company cleared out a field, planted and harvested corn. seeded the ground in wheat, and returned to McKeys- port, Penn., to winter, and while there Hewitt married Elizabeth Thompson, and. in March, 1808. with his brother, John Hewitt, and Will- iam Thompson, returned to stay.

The Wyandot Indians, who were encamped

beside a small stream just west of where James A. Hewitt's brick house now stands in Brown Township, left in the fall of 1811, warning the people to leave before they returned, for they would then be on the war-path. Mr. William Hewitt remembers the coming of two squaws to his father's house just before they left, to sell baskets made of split ash-wood, and that each alternate strip of wood was colored red. The price asked for the baskets was that the basket chosen be filled with corn meal. Upon another occasion, two Indians came into the front yard at Hewitt's house and gave the people a bad scare ; they were named Capt. Beaver Hat and Capt. Pipe, the former drew his tomahawk and flourished it over young William's head, then laughing at his fright, took the boy up in his arms and said, " Beaver Hat. good Injun ; me no hurt white man's papoose. Beaver Hat claimed to have been at Braddock's defeat, and that he had fired six times at Washington, who rode a white horse, and, though he was a good shot. could not hit him ; then said. .. Man ou white horse, mighty big medicine-man."

In 1812, Fredrick Baum and his son, Jonas Baum. the father of William Baum. a well- known citizen of Sandy Township, came and entered land ; Solomon and Simon Shook and Adam Keifer, also Phillip Schultze, Conrad Boyer, Conrad Stull, Samuel Kimmell and Henry Bonbrak. The father of the present numerous Sicafoose family was also a very early settler on the land now owned by Benjamin Sicatoose. Henry Elson, Sr .. father of the good-natured shoemaker of the same name, whom two gene- rations of children of the village of Waynes- burg have known as a universal friend, came to Stark County in 1812, and settled first at Bethlehem, and a little later moved to what is now known as the Kintig farm. Henry Elson tells the writer that he remembers coming to Pool's store, in the then village of Hamburg. after tobacco for his father as early as 1815. His father paid $1.25 per bushel for corn in 1812 ; the eorn had been brought in a keel-boat from Marrietta by Edward Nelson, of Kendal, near what is now Massillon. Mr. Robert Nel- son, so well known as a contractor and generally successful business man, was a son of Edward Nelson, and son-in-law of Henry Elson.

Sandy Township was, in the early days of its history, infested with snakes to an extent that made it very dangerous to go about at certain

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seasons of the year : there were numerous dens ! 'The smoke of their camp fire had betrayed of rattlesnakes, and instances are related of ' their whereabouts to a party of about twenty hundreds of these reptiles having been killed from a single den in a season : one of the most notable of these was situated near Capt. Down- ing's Spring. Wyandot Indians, who proceeded. after careful recognizance. to attack their unsuspecting foos. To make sure work. the Indians divided their foree into two parties - one squad going south of Clear Fork to a concealed position on what is now the farm of Dr. J. C. Hostetter, while the other party went further south into the timber toward Still Fork.

One of the most thrilling incidents in the early history of Stark Co., which occurred near the present village of Minerva, deserves a fee- ord here : because at least three of the partici- pants, several years later, became residents of Sandy Township, and two lie buried beneath its green sward. We have the story from Hon. John G. Croxton, who gleaned its particulars from Isaac Miller, one of the chief actors in the affair.

It was in the latter part of March or early in April, 1793. that Gen. Anthony Wayne's army broke camp at Legion Fields (now Economy). Penn .. and proceeded down the Ohio River.

As a precautionary measure, spies or scouts were employed to range at will through the ter- ritory north and west of the river, whose duty it was to traverse the country and report promptly any unfavorable condition of affairs at certain stated rendezvous.

One of these parties was composed of five trusty men. named Capt. JJames Downing. Isaac Miller. John Cuppy. George Foulke and John Dillow. Their station was opposite the mouth of Yellow Creek. on Tumbleson's Run, at the farm of Jacob Neesly. They were men pe- culiarly adapted to the task in hand. by rea- son of known skill in woodcraft, and the fact that the two last named had been captured in boyhood by the Wyandot Indians, and grow to manhood among them. They escaped to their white friends but a short while before the time wo write of, and had taken service under okl " Mad Anthony.

I'mon a certain morning, these scouts were preparing a breakfast of wild turkey which had been shot the day before, as had been also a deer, the skin of which Capt. Downing pro- ceeded to dress while the fowl was cooking, improvising a " graining knife " by driving the point of his hunting-knife into a stick, and thus securing a double-handled affair which. in the absence of a better tool. did good serv- ice. Miller and Foulke were acting as cooks, Dillow was gathering dry wood, and Cuppy was, as he afterward told it. "sitting at the root of a tree standing guard."

Downing had just made a remark expressing surprise that during the last day they had dis- covered no " signs" of Indians, when Cuppy sprang to his feet, declaring, with an oath, that there were Indians. He had discovered them dodging about in the Hostetter plains Miller and Foulke picked up their guns and made for the enemy. Miller in the advance, when the In- dians fell back toward the timber. Foulke un- derstood their tacties, and called to Miller to retreat at once, for as soon as the Indians would reach timber they would cach take to a tree and shoot down their foes at leisure.

Returning to the camp they found it desert ed. the second party of redskins having at tacked the other three scouts in their absence. When attacked. Downing favored sticking to- gether, but Dillow sang out every man for him self. and ran off down the bluff toward the forks of the ereck. Downing and Cuppy fol lowed, keeping the Indians at bay by loading and firing as they ran.

Downing soon discovered that whenever they stopped the leader of the Indians would jump and howl and throw his arms about and make a great display of himself to attract attention, while the others would drop into the tall grass and ron forward on their hands and knees to gain on them. Finally Downing, by a lneky shot. sent this leader or chief to howl and dance m " ferrin parts." as the old Cap- tain was wont to express it years afterward. Cuppy kept near Downing until they came up with Dillow, who had gotten into an awkward serape by pulling the knot of a handkerchief, which he had about his neck. in the wrong direction, and. being unable to loose it, was almost suffocated. Downing tore away the handkerchief, and the three ran on to a large thorn-tree, where Downing, who, being a very large man and almost exhausted by the rare. stopped, and declared that he would go no fur ther. but stay there and kill as many as he

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could before they got his sealp. At this june- ture, Miller and Foulke got back to the deserted camp as related above, and heard the firing of their friends down the bluff. Miller had the most unbounded confidence in his own ability to outrun the whole party of red men, and de- termined to save the party by his fleetness if he could : so he gave a series of bantering yells which met quick answer. and his powers were at once put to the test, for the whole gang, as if by preconcerted signal, turned and followed him. Coming to the creek, he gave a desperate leap. clearing the stream, he said he believed, at one bound. He gave a glance back, and, seeing an Indian coming down the one bank as he went up the other, he exclaimed : . Now legs fer it." and bounded off. He ran perhaps two miles without venturing to look back. when he discovered that he was alone. and no pursuer in sight. He at once struck out for the river rendezvous.

The Indians. in relating the story of this chase afterward, said: "White man run like hell." On his way to the river, Miller slept all night in the woods under a fallen chestnut tree, the site of which was known for many years, but is now too much in dispute to be located.

Foulke hid himself in the woods near where Pekin now stands. and saw the Indians bury their dead the next day. He said there were at least two killed. one being buried near the present site of Mr. Thomas JJackson's residence in Minerva.

The scouts all met the second day after the fight at headquarters. and lived for years to tell the tale of their narrow escape.

In October. 1793, this same five scouts. Dillon, Miller. Downing. Cuppy and Faulk, made an excursion. passing through this township to a point within about six miles of the villages of the Huron Indians, on the Huron River, in the present county of Huron. this State; they here attacked an Indian camp ; the time chosen was at daybreak as soon as they could see the sights on their ritles. One of the Indians. be- coming uneasy from some canse, took up his gun and came out and stood between the Ran- gers and the camp fire. Faulk said he would shoot him, and did so, when they rushed upon the camp and killed two more Indians. The Indian whom Faulk had first shot was not yet dead. but that gentleman declared that " he

had begun and he'd finish him," so he drew his tomahawk, buried it the Indian's brain, scalped him, and the scouts returned to their rendez- vous on the Ohio River.

Thus it was, that savage Indians were pur- sued to the death by scareely less savage white men, in order to plant the present civilization, which is shaken to its center by a deed of blood that, in those days of yore, would have hardly been deemed worthy of a passing no- tice.

Among our most respected and best known pioneer citizens now living is Mr. Jacob Gless- ner. Mr. Glessner was born about 1794 or 1795, and his twin brother, Jonathan Gless- ner, is yet living in Indiana. Mr. Glessner's mind is quite clear, and he relates many inter- esting incidents of early times. He came to Ohio in 1818, and worked at his trade, that of a cabinet-maker, near New Lisbon ; here he took a job of laying a large floor, and was to receive in payment a lot of produce, which, when counted up at the prices prevailing at the time, came to $9. This, considering that by dint of lively work he did the job all in one day, was deemed a remarkable day's wages. He, however, had to hire a man to take it to town, and when he got there and paid his team- ster, he had not money enough left to buy a hat, which he much needed, and had to go into debt for the balance. All this was bad enough, but when the hatter became alarmed about his pay and sued for the amount due him, Mr. (Hlessner began to conclude that he had better work for less wages and take better pay.

About the year 1838, there lived near what was known as the Baker or McIntosh Mill, on Little Sandy, a cooper by the name of Jesse Evans. He was, in the main, a peaceful man, and remarkable for qualities of intelligence above his neighbors. He had a son William, who, at a law-suit between his father and one of the Creighton family, was compelled to give evidence unfavorable to his father. This led to a fierce quarrel, and the next morning Will- iam was missing. Suspicion was aroused, and search was at once instituted, but the young man had disappeared utterly. Parties were or- ganized and the mill-dam dragged, the woods scoured in every direction. A place was said to have been found where a struggle had evi- dently taken place ; hair and blood were found

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on the bushes and leaves, and everything pointed to a " murder, foul and most unnatural. Jesse Evans was therefore arrested, charged with the murder of his son, and at the prelimi- nary examination before Esquire John Ross, a most convincing chain of circumstantial evi- dence was adduced, and, protesting his inno- cence, the old man was securely locked up in jail to await a trial at the next term of court. By the time all this had been done, the story. no smaller grown by travel, had reached Cleve- land and found a record in the weekly papers. Young Evans saw the tale of woc. and hast- ened back to relieve his father from a dilemma which was likely to find a terrible solution. This incident we have heard related by some of our most reliable citizens, and is recorded as one of the remarkable circumstances in our early history. It seems to us a keen com- mentary upon all cases of conviction on cir- cumstantial evidence only.

In these times, Sandy and adjoining town- ships supported what is now an unknown oecu- pation. William Mays, father of the venerable Andrew Mays, for many years a citizen of Waynesburg, and grandfather of Madison W. Mays, Esq., was a traveling shoemaker. lle went from house to house as he was wanted. making up shoes for the family. Mr. John Hewit has still in his possession a shoemaker's hammer, which onee belonged to this " knight of the last.'

Travel from one part of the township to anoth- er, now a matter of so much ease, was, in the young days of the settlement, a question of seri- ous moment, as will be realized upon reading the following incident : Mrs. Miles, a resident of the northeastern portion of the township, had occasion to visit a neighbor who lived in the south part of Pike Township. At some point on the journey. which, carrying a young babe, she began after dinner, expecting to accomplish it easily and return before dark, the woman lost her way, and wandered about in hopeless bewilderment until the darkness came on and night closed in to complete her misery. With the gloaming came the dismal howlings of the wolves, which were numerous, and ever and anon the flashing of fiery eyes amongst the underbrush increased her alarm. until, terror- stricken, she hurriedly climbed into the branches of a friendly chestnut tree. This was the signal for an outbreak of howling rage amongst the

cowardly wolves. and as if by magie the woods swarmed with them, snarling and fighting with- in a few feet of her beneath the tree. She feared she might in some way drop her babe, and so she tied it up securely in her apron. and swing it to a limb of the tree near her. Then she made herself' as comfortable as possible and awaited patiently for daylight. It was a weary wait, but the dawn finally came. and with it the tor- mentors left, and she climbed down to find that she had lodged in a tree within a hundred yards of the very cabin she was seeking. and whose occupants came out in the morning to see what the wolves were making such a dreadful noise about the night before. Mrs. Miles was escorted safely home, and lived to tell to her grand- children in lowa how their mother had slept snugly hammocked in a chestuut tree.

It may truthfully be said of the residents of Sandy Township, that

"Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife, Their sober wishes never learned to stray Along the coot, sequestered vale of life,

They kept the noiseless tenor of their way."

and the result is, that its historian has no great or startling event to record beyond such as had an equal effect upon the country at large. Her people have been ever prompt in their response to calls of patriotism or humanity. In the hour of his need, there were always those to be found ready to minister to the needs of the fugitive from bondage, and when the hour came and America's great apostle of Liberty com- manded " Loose him and let him go !" there was but a corporal's guard to be found in " Lit- tle Sandy" who failed to respond with a hearty approval. Incident to the war of the rebellion, much might be written of the experiences of its citizens who participated in that struggle. A complete roll of her volunteers has not been kept. and hence, after sixteen years, it would be impossible to give the names of all who went from the township. As an entire chapter in this work is devoted to the military history of the county, we will make no further allusion to it here.

Peter Mottice kept the earliest regular tavern in the township on his farm. now the property of J. Creighton Rogers. Esq., two miles north of Waynesburgh. Mr. Mottice kept this tav- ern as early as 1813, and perhaps a year before. but Capt. John Beatty, now of Carrollton, was sent to Mottice's tavern in 1813. with a sack of

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oats to sell, and he says the house was crowded with travelers. Mr. Mottice kept this place until 1829, when he sold it and a quarter see- tion of land to Robert Hamilton, who moved from New York City in 1830, and kept the tavern for several years, and then moved to Waynesburgh, where he contigned in the busi- ness. and was one of the most popular land- lords in Ohio. as well as one of the most wide- ly known. He died in 1876, highly respected and deeply regretted. The Hamilton House is still the property of Mr. Hamilton's children.

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History of Stark County, with an outline sketch of Ohio, Part 83

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