History of Stark County, with an outline sketch of Ohio, Part 91

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 91

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* Since the sketch of the Pre family was prepared. it has been a-certained that baac Por, natued in the .1 U $ i nons, in which Tu-caraway is included, was a brother of Andrew For, and why preceded bim Andrew in getting into Tuscarywas Township. but did not remain. Isaar went to Mis uri a al died there.

516

HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY.

Fair Oaks, Va., May 31, 1862 ; second battle of Bull Run, Va., August 29-30, 1862 ; battle of Fredericksburg, Md., December 13, 1862; battle of Blue Springs, E. Tenn., October 10, 1862 ; siege of Knoxville. E. Tenn., November 18, to December 4, 1862; siege of Dalton, Ga., May 7, to May 14, 1864 ; battle of Resaca. Ga., May 15, 1864; Adairsville, Ga., May 17, 1864; Kingston, Ga., May 19, 1864; battle of New Hope Church, Ga., May 20, 1864; battles of Dallas, Ga., May 25-28, 1864 ; battles of Ken- esaw Mountain, Ga., June 20, to July 2, 1864; battle of Ruff's Station, Ga., July 4, 1864; battle of Atlanta, Ga., July 22, 1864 ; siege of Atlanta Ga., July 22, to August 25, 1864; battle of Jonesboro, Ga., August 31, 1864 ; Sandersville, Ga., November 26, 1864 ; siege of Savannah, Ga., December 9-21, 1864 ; battle of Averysboro, N. C., March 16, 1865 ; battle of Bentonsville, N. C., March 20-21, 1865 : capture of Raleigh, N. C., April 13, 1865; and was present at the surrender of Gen. J. E. Johnston, commanding the rebels, to Gen. Sherman, at Durham, N. C., April 26, 1865. For the five years preceding the war, he was engaged upon the survey of the Northern and Northwestern lakes. After the war, he was Engineer Secretary of the Lighthouse Board ; from July 3, 1865, to May 1, 1870 ; then Engineer Eleventh Lighthouse District, Lakes Iluron, Michigan and Superior, and in charge of River and Harbor Improvements from De- troit to Lake Superior, from May 1, 1870, to May 1, 1873, during which time he designed and began the enlargement of the Sault Ste. Marie Ship Canal, and built Spectacle Reef, L. H., two of the principal engineering works of the day. From January 1, 1873, he has been aid de eamp to the General of the army of the United States, with the rank of Colonel of Cavalry, and since January 19, 1874, has been, in addition, a member of the Lighthouse Board of the United States.

Gen. Poe was married at Detroit, Mich., June 17, 1861, to Eleanor Carroll Brent, horn August 26, 1843, second daughter of the late Thomas Lee Brent, of Louisiana, Captain United States Army, and they have children.

«. Charles Carroll, born December 14, 1863, in Perry Township, Stark County. b. Winifred Lee, born December 9, 1866, at Washington, D. C.

c. Elizabeth Comstock, born July 22, at Washington, D. C.

d. Orlando Warner, born December 10, 1876, at Washington, D. C.

2. Andrew Warner, son of Charles Poe, born November 25, 1834, at Navarre, Stark County ; died June, 1853.

3. William Charles, born August 8, 1841, at Navarre, Stark County, Ohio; married and re- sides at Massillon.

4. Rebecca Anne, born December 14, 1843. at Rochester, Stark County, Ohio; married to Reuben Z. Wise, and now living at Middle Branch, Stark County.

5. Margaret Maria, born in Coshocton County, and died in infancy.

V-Vl. Daniel and George J. Poe, twins, born in Columbiana County October 12, 1809. Daniel married, became a Methodist preacher, and, previous to the Mexican war, whilst a missionary in Texas, died with his wife on the same day, leaving three children, one boy and two girls ; they all grew to adult age. Andrew was killed during the war, near Kenesaw Mount- ain, in Georgia. George married Miss Bow- man, of this township, and has several chil- dren, and now resides at Bowling Green, Wood County, Ohio; all the boys served during the war.

VH. Andrew, born in Columbiana County, Ohio ; married Mary Sweeny, of Canton. They had children who died in infancy. He died many years since.

VIII. Eleanor, born September 10, 1813, in this township; married Nathan Lash, of Sugar Creek Township, and is now a widow, living at Bowling Green.

IX. John, born in this township June 14, 1815; twice married, and killed on the railroad track at Massillon, being run over by a passing train. His family resided in this township until within two years past, when they removed to Kansas. He left a widow and three sons.

X. James MeLean, born in this township in 1818; has been dead many years.

XI. Catherine, born July 10, 1820, in this township ; married John Emerson, and is now dead.

XII. Joseph Robb, born April 11, 1824, also in this township; married, but had no children, and is now dead. And this closes the record of one of the most remarkable families that has ever lived in the township. Andrew

Heremiale Forty

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TUSCARAWAS TOWNSHIP.

Poe was a man of strongly marked character, a good neighbor and kind friend, with many eccentricities that will not be forgotten. His excellent wife, Nancy, will be remembered as a woman of noble physique and a face of re- markable beauty, that is recognized in her grandchildren.

The year 1814 was marked by immigration into the township from Northern New York, away on the borders of Vermont, among whom were Stephen Thacker and family, William El- dredge and family ; his sons' names were Will- iam and Nathan, the latter of whom is well remembered as a man of character. His widow. Catharine. a daughter of Stephen Thacker, yet lives in the township, a member of the family of her nephew. William Moffit, Esq. Henry Doxsee and family, Jehiel Fox, a brother in- law of Henry Doxsce, and family, Abel Stafford, Thomas Eldridge, Jr., Thomas Eldridge, Sr., appeared to have been in the township at its organization. as were James and Stephen El- (Iredge. All of these families were a noble class of people ; a son and daughter, two sons-in-law, and a daughter-in-law, wife of Isaac Doxsee, now reside in Massillon. Eleanor, wife of Henry Doxsee, shortly after the family had got settled in their cabin, in the Pigeon Run neigh- borhood. went to see some neighbors at the little hamlet called sometimes Wintersville. but which has settled down into Brookfiekl, and. as usual, rode through the woods on a " bridle path." as the avenues were called, on horseback ; wide roads, except the main road from Pitts- burgh to the Great West, being unknown, and, staying later than she intended, started about dark for home. She had just gotten into the densest portion of the forest when the howl of wolves fell upon her ear. Her horse under- standing that " The De'il had business on his hand." started at once; the howl increased. The horse knowing the path, was left to his own guidance ; Mrs. Doxsee's only care was to keep her seat in the saddle. The wolves came almost alongside, as the " clearing " about Mr. Doxsee's residence was reached. When the wolves seemed to know that they were foiled. they stopped, gave one long doleful howl of disappointment, and abandoned the chase. The horse, however, never stopped until he reached the cabin door, and landed his rider in safety. Jehiel Fox settled in Brookfield : was a earpen- ter by trade, and one of the first in the town-

ship ; was also elected Justice of the Peace, and it is supposed, taught the first school in that neighborhood. His daughter, Eliza, wife of James Bayliss, Esq., resides on " the section " in the township. This couple celebrated their golden wedding Jan. 1, 1881. .

The first tavern in the township was kept hy William Byal, who was also a shoemaker by trade. an expert with the rifle, never failing to bring down a deer or other game that came in his way. Next to him, closely in point of time, was Peter Voris, as a tavern keeper, father of the late Hon. Peter Voris, an Associate .Fudge, many years ago, in Summit County, who was father of Gen. A. C Voris, of Akron. Judge Voris died within a few years past. at Mattoon, Illinois. William and Thomas Dean, two brothers, were also of the pioneer settlers and pioneer Methodists on the banks of Pigeon Run, east of Section 16, which was near the center of the township. Each neighborhood had its distinctive features. The people from the "settlement," where Doxsee, Eldridge and the Essex County, New York, people lived, coukl be identified in a moment, as could those from the northern portion of the township, who were from Washington County, Pennsylvania. The Baptists, south of Pigeon Run, were another class, but all had the same object in view, " the encouragement of schools and the means of in- struction." In Poxsee's neighborhood. William Lawson taught the first school. The first black- smith in the township was Francis Smith ; his brother, Ethan Smith, was the first tanner ; he died in 1825, and was a worthy member of the Society of Friends (Quakers.) The first tavern in Brookfield was kept by Philip SIusser, which gave the place the name of Slusser's Tav- ern, as Brookfield never was laid out, and never did as a village. The Pennsylvania Dutch el- ment was not behind in aiding to develop the township. In 1812. Frederick, Peter and John Oberlin came in from the Cumberland Valley, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. They were good and true men, and left a posterity numer- ous and worthy, who have not failed to vindi- cate the good name of their ancestry. Their immediate relatives, by marriage, were Fred- erick Rodocker, Jacob Fry and George Gilbert, who, with the Oberlins, were heads of families. Jacob Fry was the proprietor of Greenville. Of this class were the Ritters, Daniel, Jonas and David, and were among the carly settlers.

518

HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY.

When the township was reduced to its consti- tutional limits, Daniel Ritter was found to be in Perry Township, where he resided until his death.

One of the remarkable families of this town- ship was that of Conrad Neustetter, who was one of the 17,000 llessians that came over in the war of the Revolution, and was surrendered to Gen. Washington and the French forces at Yorktown, Va., in 1781. After the surrender he remained, under his parole, in Virginia, but not relishing human chattelship, he concluded to go where there was "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except for crime," and find a new home. Where could he have gone to carry out his ideas of human rights so well as to Ohio, the first-born of the Ordinance of July 13, 1787 ? He had three sons-Henry, Conrad and Joseph -and four daughters, all of whom had families, and have left a numerous posterity. While there were few of what were known as the Pennsylvania Dutch in the town- ship at its organization, within two years the tide of immigration to Tuscarawas Township, from Franklin, Laneaster, Lebanon, York, Cumber- land, Dauphin, Lehigh, and the central counties of Pennsylvania, rolled onward until that ele- ment equalled in numbers any other in the town- ship; and as agrieulturists they had no superior, as the broad acres under cultivation show. That tide of immigration continned for many years. The first quarter of a century after the organiza- tion of the town was especially and favorably marked by that class, from the connties of Franklin, Lancaster, Lebanon and Cumberland. The prophecy of Berkley, Bishop of Cloyne, was fulfilled so far as this township was con- cerned :

" Westward the star of empire takes its way. The first four acts already past. The fifth shall close the drama and the day. Time's noblest offspring. is the last."

After navigation was open on the Ohio Canal to Massillon, and business, generally on the west side of the county and including Wayne County, as well as on the north and south of Massillon, began to center at that point. Judge Henry. who had for many years prior to 1826, been the merchant of Perry Township, finding his occupation gone, concluded he could put Brookfield into competition with Massillon, and about 1830 moved to Brookfield. opened a store determined to intercept western trade. Find-

ing that that plan would not succeed, he deter- mined to erect a steam flouring-mill, saw-mill and woolen manufactory, and which was the first and only establishment of the kind in the township. Meanwhile, Massillon had got a start as the great shipping point for all kinds of produee and woolen manufactures, which rendered the Brookfield Steam Flouring-mill and Woolen Manufactory, dead capital. In order to place the business in the hands of a younger and an energetie person, Judge Henry put what capital he had invested in the Brook- field enterprise into the hands of his son-in-law, C. B. Cummins, but he could not command success so near to Massillon, and the result was the enterprise was abandoned. and Mr. Cum- mins took his stock in trade to that city, where he continued until 1854, when he went ont of business. Judge Henry, being out of business at the abandonment of the Brookfield invest- ment, moved to Wooster, Wayne Co., and ended his days at the age of eighty years, and thus ended the competition between Brookfield and Massillon. There is not one stone left upon another to indicate that business of the charac- ter above described was ever earried on there. The machinery was taken out and sold, the buildings torn down, and at this writing there are few living who worked on the premises.

The first post-office in the township was at the village of Greenville, and William Byal was the first Postmaster. As it paid but a small salary, although the Postmaster was en- titled to thirty per centum of the receipts for letter postage and fifty per centum on news- papers and periodicals, Mr. Byal resigned in 1828, and there being no one to take the office, it was discontinued, and the effects belonging to it were taken to Massillon. It has, however, been re-established by the name of East Green- ville.

Prominent among the early settlers who laid the foundations of the great moral structure of the township were William and Thomas Dean, brothers ; Peter Johnson, Wesley Hatton, Will- iam Henry, Seth Hunt, Thomas Eldredge, Stephen Thacker, and family, Rev. Josiah Fos- ter, Peter Johnson, and all the other Methodists in the township. In 1810, a society was formed at once on the arrival of the preacher. Rev. James Dixon, and amid all the changes it has remained. The few Methodists on the East side of the river at Kendal, came into this

519

TUSCARAWAS TOWNSHIP.

township for worship, until in 1824. when the Pittsburgh Conference was erceted, and Canton circuit was organized in 1824. In 1816, the Hackett brothers, their mother and sister, came into the township, but one of whom, Andrew, remains. He now, at the age of seventy-six, lives in the city of Massillon, having lived in this and Perry Township sixty-six years. The brothers were John, William. Reese, Andrew, Christian, David and Simon. Their father. An- drew, came into the township in 1811, from Fayette County, Penn., and brought a wagon- load of the household goods of his father-in- law, Christian Bates, who moved into the town- ship. He then returned to Pennsylvania and came to Ohio again in 1812, and died in 1814. Christian Bates died in the township, leaving two sons, Adam and Andrew, who may be classed among the first of the township's set- tlers.

The sturdy Dutch settlers from Pennsylvania were generally, in their religious connections, German Reformed and Lutheran ; and in neigh- borhoods where neither were able to erect a church edifice, the two would join hands and ereet a building, and worship in it on alternate Sabbaths, until each congregation was able to build for itself. In 1819, George Krider came into the township, bringing with him a family. He, too, was from Pennsylvania, and with his family contributed largely to the development of the township as tillers of the soil and mechanies. Samuel Krider, a son, has been twice a member of the House of Representa- tives, in the General Assembly of Ohio, and is now a Justice of the Peace.

Tuscarawas was not behind in the elements of advancing civilization. It had the first dis- tillery west of Canton in which whisky was made, Col. Isaac Taylor being the proprietor. He was Colonel of one of the regiments in the Third Brigade and Sixth Division of Ohio Militia, and as such was distinguished. for in those days a Colonel " on the peace establish- ment " was regarded as a man of parts. The militia system sank into discredit, and the Colonel ran the distillery until it ran him so nearly into the ground that he disposed of it. It ran through successive ownerships until it fell into the hands of Elder Frederick Freeman, who distilled whisky during the week and preached Baptism by immersion, for the re- mission of sin's. on Sunday. There are a few

yet living in the township who have drank of his whisky and listened to his preaching. The distillery finally ran down before the enlightened progress of better ideas.

Among the earnest men, and who were among the first to open up the forest on the west side of the county, was Stephen Harris. While it is a matter of doubt whether it was Stephen llarris or the brothers John and Robert Worden who were the first to make a permanent settle- ment on the west side of the river, it is certain that on the reducing of the townships of Tus- carawas and Lawrence to their proper limits, Mr. Harris was in Lawrence and the Wordens were in Tuscarawas. It is equally certain that they were all within the territory known as the New Purchase, in 1807. which was before the organization of the county.

Mr. Harris was born in Elizabethtown, N. J., August 21, 1780. His paternal ancestry was English, and his mother a Scotch woman, a relation of Gavin Hamilton, of Mauchline. the friend and patron of Robert Burns, the Ayr- shire plowman, and the same family as Alex- ander llamilton, who fell in the duel at Wee- hawken, N. J .. in 1804. with Aaron Burr, and whose father emigrated to the island of Nevis, in the West Indies.

She (his mother) was a woman of fine physique and appearance, and rare mental gifts, though in humble life, and engrossed in the care of rearing twelve children. Soon after the close of the Rovolutionary war, his father, who served as a soldier in that struggle for the vindieation of the rights of man, moved with his young fam- ily, Stephen being but six years of age, to Washington County, Penn., where the subject of this sketch worked on a farm until he was twenty-one. He then worked for himself in various pursuits, sometimes as a farm hand, sometimes as a boatman on the Ohio River, and for some time was engaged in the ginseng trade, at Maysville, Ky .. in which he saved money enough to enter a considerable body of land in the vicinity of Lawrence station, on the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway, in the now township of Lawrence, being the northwestern township in Stark County, which entry was made at the land office. at Steuben- ville. When Mr. Harris arrived at the spot, where is now the city of Canton, and county seat of this county, on his way to his new home, there were but three or four cabins to mark

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HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY.

the spot. Where now stands the flourishing city of Massillon, was an impassable swamp.

About 100 rods northeast of the present vil- lage of Lawrence, he commenced a " clearing." The first winter he had no feed for his cows and young cattle, but subsisted them upon browse; he woukl eut the young linden, some- tinies called basswood, tree, and soft maples, and the cattle would follow him as he went with his ax on his shoukler on a cold morning, on his way to the woods, waiting and watching for their provender. rushing for the tree-top as soon as it fell. He was civil to the Indians. of whom there were many, and, of course, received civility in return. In the winter of 1812, this region was visited by an earthquake. New man's Creek, so named for JJacob Newman, a pioneer government surveyor, was covered with thick ice. Mr. Harris was awakened from his sleep late one night by a crashing noise rapidly approaching from the east; it was the break- ing of the ice, occasioned by a swift passing wave, which flew by Mr. Harris' cabin, which stood on the bank of the creek, and was lost in the distance on its western course in a moment, the rocking of the cabin and crashing of the ice, producing fear, which vanished with the cause of it, and all was quiet. After clearing and improving the farm first entered, Mr. Ifarris sold it at an advanced price, and pur- chased a half section of land in the northwest- ern corner of this township, which he improved and owned until near the close of his life. It is believed that he built the first brick house in the county west of the Tuscarawas River. This farm was, and is, famous for the fertility of its soil, good crops and excellent fruit, and in this ; connection it should be said that it was owned and worked by one of the most scientific and practical farmers of his day.

The unwritten law of those days was to keep open house, or, to use a modern expression. the " latch-string hung outside." With Mr. Harris, the " latch-string not only hung outside," but the front door was open, and, as Massillon and Canton grew into notoriety, the residents of those villages always found a warm welcome at Mr. Harris' delightful home. The visitors were the pioneers of Canton and Perry Town- ships, as Mr. Harris was of Lawrence and Tus- carawas, and when they met, they delighted to discuss the history of the perils and privations through which each had passed in the acquisi-

tion of a new home. Those meetings estab- lished a friendship that was only severed by death. Those hardy pioneers are all gone, but not forgotten.

Mr. Harris died at the age of eighty-two, while temporarily residing with his daughter, Mrs. William Finley, in Chippewa Township, Wayne Co., Ohio. Mrs. Finley was the mother of Ilon. Ebenezer B. Finley, member of Con- gress from the Bucyrus District, Ohio.

Intellectually, Mr. Harris was far above the average of men who aspire to distinction in the learned professions. lle was a man of fine physique and wonderful strength. He wore a number eight hat, and had a head that phrenol- ogists pronounced a model.

As were most of the pioncer settlers of this township, Mr. Harris was of limited education, but by patient study he has stored his mind with choice history, English literature, espe- cially the English poets, and science, and under such mental discipline, notwithstanding his life of toil, achieved the distinction of being con- sidered a most agreeable gentleman in the social circle, and one whose colloquial talents were of a high order.

lle and his wife, Sibyl Clark. were the par- ents of twelve children, ten of whom lived to be married. Two of his sons have been mem- bers of the Legislature, a third is a successful practicing lawyer at Bucyrus, Ohio, where he was for some years a partner of the late llon. Josiah Scott, formerly a Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio. Of his grandsons, two are prac- ticing law in the city of Philadelphia ; one in Bucyrus, Ohio ; one in Chicago, and at present a member of the Legislature of flinois; and one great-grandson. a member of the bar at Cleveland, Ohio. Mr. Harris was uncle and guardian of Rov. William L. Harris, D. F., Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, who made his home for some time in his uncle's family, and taught school in the MeFarland District in 1845, near Lawrence. Ile (Stephen Harris) was a brother of Hon. John Harris, of whom mention is made in the "Sketches of the Bench and Bar of Stark County," and who, from his long and active life, is necessarily mentioned in Canton, Perry, Tuscarawas and Lawrence history.

On one occasion the writer remembers hear- ing Mr. Harris say, " I propose to settle my estate myself," and it is believed that at his

521

SUGAR CREEK TOWNSHIP.

death he owed no man anything, and had dis- posed of his estate among his heirs, so that the intervention of an executor or administrator was not necessary. Of course such a man com- manded the respeet and esteem of his neigh- bors and while good and useful men are remem- bered, his name will fill a place on the historic page with that of the Pioneers, who, amid toil and hardship, made

" The wilderness blossom as the rose."

The pioneer settlers of this township were men of the class of Mr. Harris; they aimed to do right in all the relations of life, and the truth of history would not be vindicated with- out according to them due prominence. They wore downright, manly, earnest and sincere. The result of their labors is eulogy enough ; their story is told in these sketches exactly as it was.

Of the thirty-six sections of land of which the township is composed, almost every quarter section is of a most excellent quality ; the sur-

face produces cereals of every description, while building stone, limestone and mineral coal are found in exhaustless quantities, as the Warmington, Grove Coal Company, Pigeon Run and Massillon City Coal Companies attest, by the trains of ears daily loaded at and from their mines with the far-famed Massillon coal, the equal of which, nor the exhaustless quantities of which, are found elsewhere in the Tusearawa- Valley. Seventy-one years have gone by since the people of the township were organized into a political community, and it is safe to say. that for steady progress since that organization, Tuscarawas Township is the peer of any town- ship in this great county. To attempt to enum- crate its representative men now would be an effort that could not readily be accomplished. Suffice it then to say that Tusearawas Town- ship has kept pace in the march of improve- ment with any township in the great county of which she is a member. Her motto is . .. No steps backward."

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History of Stark County, with an outline sketch of Ohio, Part 91

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