History of Stark County, with an outline sketch of Ohio, Part 97

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 97

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The township is not of the usual size-six miles square-but lacks about four sections of being up with the standard. This is owing to the fact that the southern boundary of the township is partly of the Greenville treaty line, which takes a dip to the southwest from Section 34. Entering the township about a mile east of the northwest corner, thence flow- ing with many windings in a southeasterly di- rection and leaving from Section 34, is the famous Tuscarawas River. It is now only about two-thirds its size in early years. Boats drawing several feet of water were accustomed in early years to ascend this river to the north- ern part of Stark Co. or farther, to take loads of grain down the river to the Ohio, thence to New Orleans to market. This would be impos- sible at the present depth of the river. The township is well and thoroughly drained by various small tributaries of the Tuscarawas. As a whole, the townslfip is too rolling for ag- icultural purposes. The valleys and level tracts of lands are exceedingly rich. as is shown by the heavy crops raised upon them annually. The forest is left standing on the more rolling land. In some cases such land has been con- verted into meadows or pastures. Coal and stone are found at several places. Out from the river the land is leveler, though even here it is far from flat.

Contributed by W A Goodspeed.

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HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY.

The question of first settlement is always one of great interest, though it cannot always be solved, owing to the non-recording of early transactions. It is a curious fact, yet people are constantly doing things of which they will be sorry. A little thoughit is sufficient to convince thein. though at the time they are as blind as Cupid to all results. People deceive themselves. because they color their judgments with their prejudices. They seem incapable of taking an unbiased view of any object or question where their interest is involved. Metaphysicians prescribe as a fixed rule for the mental mastery of any subject, a complete rejection of all prej- udice. that the mind may be as free as air in all its movements. But few persons are capa- ble of this. With some, the greater the effort. the greater the difficulty. Some have formed wrong conceptions of their own interest. They have studied long and have acquired extensive knowledge, but wisdom still lingers. These are the persons who are unable to tell what is best for them. These are the persons who neglect to record passing events, and thus refuse to pro- vide for ascertaining the probable future, for from the past do we judge of the future. Al- though people are not in the habit of recording passing events, yet many things are stored in the memory that are recalled when needed. Tradition is a library of faet (sometimes some- what doubtful) that the historian is at liberty to peruse. It is the deepest spring from which the waters of the past are drawn. Old records are often valuable, as will be seen below. The following is a catalogue of all the land-holders of the township for the year 1827: Ebenezer Allman (320 acres), Jacob Anspaugh, Harman Buchtel, Jacob Bixler, Samuel Bixler, George Brantingham (625 acres), Christian Blongh, John Burkholder. John Bachtel, John Brinton. Jacob Burkholder, Jacob Burns, Henry Burk- holder. John Cook, James Chapman, Aaron Cul- ver, John Kreighbaum, Jonathan W. Condy(who owned nearly all the lots in the village of Beth- lehem), William Christmas, John Dinnius, Pe- ter Dinnius, IIngh Davidson, Henry Fry. George Foulk. Michael Finley, Henry Grendle, Joseph Gibbon, Christian Garber, Abraham Galloday, Horton Howard, John Hutchinson, Samuel Hughes, Edmund Hogg, John Housel, James Hughes, Henry Hipsh, William Jolly, John Kerstetter, George Keen, Baltzer Koontz, Adam Kemmel, William Lewis, Charles Linerode,

Daniel Longenacre, Isaac Lash, Thomas Mc- Kean, Alexander Mock, Gotlieb Myers, Samuel Mufflin, John Naftsinger Daniel Oller. Peter Rider, Abraham Rowland, John Roan, Abra- ham Shrock, Adam Shell. Christian Schwenk, John Shalter, John Sherman (not the ex-Sena- tor), John Shorb, Jacob Shorb, Henry Shoe- maker, Nicholas Stump. Mathias Shipler, Simon Snyder. Frederick Stump, Joseph Snively, Michael Sterner, Thomas Troul. John Troul, Thomas Taylor. Zaccheus Test-(ninety-nine lots in the village of Calcutta were owned by unknown parties)-Herman Van Dorstan. Ilen- ry Van Dorstan, Benjamin Whetmore. Henry Wade, John Wright, George Warner (686 acres), Jacob Youngman, Abraham Yant (322 acres), John Yoder, Jr .. and William Young.

Among the above are some of the earliest settlers in the township. Many came in prior to 1827 and left before that date. and their names. of course, would not appear on the list. The following regarding the early settlement of the township, is taken from sketches written a few years ago by Rev. David Yant :

" The Indian capital of Tuscarawas at the old Indian crossing place above Fort Laurens, the Post Mission and Calhoun's trading-house were located at and near the month of Sandy, and were included in the original boundaries of Bethlehem Township. Richard Carter, a Quaker. and Joshua Comly, a brother-in-law of Carter's, settled at the mouth of Sandy at an early day. Elizabeth Himes, whose maiden name was Musser. says that the Musser family came to Laurensville, opposite Fort Laurens, in 1807, and that Richard Carter was then living at the mouth of Sandy. Carter was a bachelor, his two sisters. Sally and Maria Carter, two pleas- ant young ladies, keeping house for him. They are well remembered by the writer. A trading- house had been built upon the ground pre- viously occupied by Mr. Post's mission, by John Fleming, a mulatto from Canada, and a man by the name of Armstrong, who had been captured when he was but fourteen years of age by the Indians, and grew up to manhood among them. acquiring their tastes, habits and modes of lite. His father found him and tried to persuade him to return to his home in West- ern Pennsylvania ; but it was in vain. Ilis nature had been entirely recast in the Indian mold. He said he would not work, and re- turned to the Indians. It is much easier to

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BETHLEHEM TOWNSHIP.

make an Indian out of a white man in life and habit, than to make a white man out of an In- dian. Riehard Carter got possession of the trading house after Fleming left, and kept up a brisk trade with the Indians. The friendly treatment of William Penn and his Quakers had so far won the confidence of the Indian tribes generally, that the former wore classed as a distinct race. Beaver Hat said : When an Irishman fills my powder horn, he fills it about half full ; an American fills it a little higher : but a Quaker fills it up full.' The same gener- ous and Christian treatment would have se- cured the same confidence to the Irishman and the American. But the country has reaped the harvest of a bad seeding with the Indian. Richard Carter went to Wheeling for supplies, and left Elizabeth Himes (then Musser) aged fifteen, and her brother, in charge of the trad- ing house. The young fellow was fond of the hunt, and left his sister two days alone with the Indians. She said she was not afraid unless they got fire-water, but an Indian came along who was on a 'bust.' He took a butcher knife, eut the string of the window shutter and proceeded to throw out the furs and skins, and completely emptied the post. Mrs. Nimes knew there was no use to oppose him, but a squaw came along and persuaded the Indian away, and returned and put things to rights. Mrs. Comly, the wife of Joshua Comly, took the fever at the mouth of Sandy, and died. She loft her heart-stricken husband with the care of four small children. This was, perhaps, the first death among the settlers. Mrs. Comly was buried on the Stump farm. Mrs. Eliza- beth Himes kept house for Mr. Comly until he was able to make further provisions.

" The great flood of 1815 is still remembered. It took place in the month of June. Carter's house stood by the house of John P. Bordner. A canoe had been tied at the bank of the river, and the water had risen during the night so as to leave only the untied end of the canoe upon the surface. My father, Abraham Yant, and Philip Vant, my grandfather, managed, by swimming and diving, to untie the canoe, and run it on the porch of the house. The inmates had retreated to the second story, and were carried out, and brought to our house, until the flood abated. Richard Carter owned over 500 acres of land, of what has since been known as the Brantingham tract. He traded the land

to George Brantingham, another Quaker from England, for city property in Philadelphia. Penn., and removed there about 1818.

" Many chapters might be filled with inter- esting incidents and ancedotes, but a few only can be given. Game was abundant ; deer were so numerous that they were hardly ever out of sight for a day. Bears were not so plenty, but they were frequently met with. On one occa- sion, John Swank, who lived ju sight of our farm, went through the woods to George Kuhn's. somewhere near where Davidson Brown now lives. He treed four cub bears on a dogwood sapling. made strings of some tow he had in his pocket, climbed the sapling and secured the enbs by tying two together. When he came to the ground the noise of the cubs attracted the mother, who rushed at him with her jaws wide open. He dropped the cubs on the side of a large fallen tree and jumped upon it, and the bear came up on the opposite side. but did not attack him. He broke off a dead limb and frightened her off; and after following her a short distance, returned, caught the cubs, made his escape and brought them home. Swank parted with two of the cubs and kept two, which grew finely. The bears and a pet pig slept in the shelter of a hollow sycamore that had been sawed off and placed for the purpose. One rainy night after washing day, when a grapevine full of clothes had been left out. the bears put their natural instincts to work, and taking the clothes proceeded to the woods and climbed a large red-oak tree, the top of which parted into three branches, where they made a nest of the clothes and lay snugly down. In the morning the clothes were gone, and the bears were gone. After many conjectures and a protracted search, the white clothes were seen and soon the whole mystery was solved. Then the question was, how to get the clothes. This could only be done by chopping the tree. When the bears became sensible of the situa- tion, they coolly ran out on a limb. rolled up into a ball, dropped to the ground, and scam- pered off home. They afforded abundance of amusement, and in our evening visits, would waylay us in the dark. In the chase the hind- most "eodger" was sure to be caught by the foot in the paws of the bear. frights and screams availing nothing, but we were never hurt. My father had a large, strong, active greyhound, named Beaver. Swank's children came on an

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HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY.

evening's visit and one of the bears accom- panied them. Beaver was frantic with rage at the bear, but never would take hold of it. The bear ran up a tall sugar tree, sat among its branches and growled. When the children left it came down and took to the fence, and the dog followed. making a fearful noise and threatenings of mortal combat, but would not come in reach of the bear's paw. I never saw an animal for which I had formed so strong an attachment, as Beaver. He lived until okt age rendered him nearly helpless. He had been my constant companion in my hunts and ram- bles, killing and treeing the wild game ; but at last it was determined that he should be killed to put him out of his misery. I pleaded for his life, caught him round the neck and wept as though he were my brother, but without avail. or he would not have pitched his tent toward Sodom. In 1821, the Brantingham family removed to the vicinity of Salem, Ohio, where George Brantingham, Sr., died, in 1845, aged seventy-five years. Phoebe Brantingham, his wife, died in the spring of 1853, in her eightieth year. Among the early settlers, none were more conspienous than Mathias Sheplar, Nicholas Stump and Ebenezer Allman. Mr. Sheplar was born in Westmoreland County, Penn., November 11, 1790. ITis first wife was Elizabeth Retan. He came to Bethlehem Township in an early day ; was for many years a Justice of the Peace, and several times a member of the Legislature, both of the House and Senate; served one term in Congress and filled varions minor offices, in all of which sta- tions lie retained the confidence of the people, " Richard Carter left the mouth of Sandy in 1816. George Brantingham, a Quaker, his wife Phobe, and Sarah Bolton, an unmarried sister of Mrs. Brantingham, with four children, as a moral, upright man, and faithfully dis- charged the various duties assigned him. Mr. Shepler was married three times. Ilis first wife died while yet young. He was married to Eliz- came to the mouth of Sandy in the spring of : abeth Bechtel, who died in 1837. His last marriage was with Sarah Linerode, the widow of Otho Linerode, and daughter of John Sher man. She still lives at the age of seventy-six, though much enfeebled. Mr. Shepler died in April, 1863, a member of the United Brethren Church. His remains are interred in the Sheplar burying ground, on the farm where he formerly resided.

1816. Mr. Brantingham traded city property in Philadelphia to Richard Carter for a tract of 500 acres of land. and settled upon it. The Brantingham children were Joseph. Ilannah. George and Sarah. The children, like their father, were full of life, and soon exchanged their city ways for the more free and active enjoyments of the backwoods. My father's family and the Brantingham family became much attached to each other, and were lifelong friends, notwithstanding their different religions views. When my father would kneel in family prayer. George Brantingham would sit in sol- ein reverence. with his hat on, and worship God in the spirit. The want of religious soci- ety of their own faith, rendering the further stay of the Brantingham family at the month of Sandy undesirable, and the tract of land owned by Mr. Brantingham was subdivided and sold. The neighbors tried to reconcile him to stay, stating as a reason the fertility of the land, to which he replied : " If we live for hog and hominy, we need not leave ; but if we live for something better we had better go.' This striking declaration of the choice of a good man contains an important admonition. There are many, vast numbers indeed, who live only for ' hog and hominy." Esan lived for hog and hominy, or he would not have sold his birth- right ; Lot was governed by hog and hominy

" Nicholas and Frederick Stump came from Chambersburg, Franklin Co., Penn., in 1808. Most of the goods belonging to Nicholas were lost in crossing the Nimishillen. Frederick Stump settled in Perry Township, on the farm now 'occupied by his son, Levi Stump. Nicho- las Stump settled on the northwest quarter of Section 10, now owned by Henry Myers. Nich- olas Stump was elected several times to the office of County Commissioner, when public honesty and economy were the rule. Rings, jobs and reckless extravagance are the results of a superior refinement and the advancement of the age.

" Ebenezer Allman came from Bentleysville, Washington Co., Penn., in 1807. His sons George and William were out a year or so previous. They settled on the northeast quarter of Sec- tion 4, now occupied by Mrs. Eve Allman, a daughter of Frederick Stump, and the widow of Barney Allman. Carroll Allman was killed by the falling of a tree, in his seventeenth year,

BETHLEHEM TOWNSHIP.

and was the first death in the family. Jane was married to George Klingle, referred to as the first dry goods merchant in Bethlehem. Sarah, another daughter, was married to Jerry Sluts. The family consisted of seven sons and two daughters. Ebenezer Allman died in 1828, aged sixty-fonr ; Agnes, his wife, died in 1839, aged sixty-six.

" Abraham Yant came from Allegheny Co .. l'enn .. to Bethlehem Township, in the fall of 1812. He stopped at the house of Nicholas Stump, who went with him and showed him the northeast and southeast quarters of Section 21, then vacant. He went to Steubenville, located one quarter, returned to his home, seven miles from Pittsburgh, near the Monongahela River, worked at the shoe bench until the spring of 1814, when he came out and located the other quarter, built a shanty or camp of butternut poles, stayed three months, cleared a lield. planted it in garden vegetables, corn and pota toes. While at work in the wild woods his supplies of bread were procured from the set- tlers, the wild turkeys and pheasants supplied him with eggs, and his ritle abundantly sup- plied him with venison and turkey. He returned in July, and started for his new home about the 1st of September, and arrived at the cabin on the 19th of September. 1814. The family con- sisted of my grandfather, Philip Yant, Sr .. my unele, Philip Yant. Jr .. my father and mother, Abraham and Catharine Yant. my brother Anthony, and my sister Magdalene. I being then sixteen months old. and the youngest. The moving party were on the road two weeks. with wagon and two horses. The season was remarkably wet. My mother says she carried me all the way ; that it rained every day, and I cried the whole journey. The little hut had a fire-place on the projecting corner, and it con- tained room for kitchen purposes, a bed, and the dear old " trundle-bed " The rest of the family slept in the covered wagon. A cabin house was soon put up, with a log fire chimney, puncheon floor and clap-board roof. The farm in its natural state was heavily timbered with oak trees of immense size on the hill slopes. and the bottoms were covered with sugar maple. becch and hickory. It was hard labor and a slow process to clear up a farm; but by perseverance, late and early, every year added an eight or ten acre field to the opening. Labor was cheap. The best choppers could be hired

for $8 or $10 per month. The sugar season afforded the greatest enjoyment and the hardest labor of any other part of the year. Camping out and running the sugar camp day and night was full of fun and excitement, through shish. snow and rain. The exposure was not con- sidered dangerous. Half a dozen different camps, within neighboring distance of each other, afforded a vast amount of social enjoy- ment for the young folks. The log-cabin pioneers, with all their hardships and simple. rough fare, were healthier and enjoyed social life to a greater degree than falls to the lot of their more refined and weakly descendants. Abraham Yant became a minister of the Ger- man Baptist denomination. The last few years of his life were spent in the Gospel ministry. lle died in January, 1812, aged sixty-one years. His widow, Catharine Yant, survived him, and reached the unusual age of ninety-three years before her death occurred.

" Prior to 1815. Bethlehem and Piko were in eluded in Canton Township ; but, in 1815 and 1816, Pike and Bethlehem held elections jointly. Bethlehem Township was created on the 12th of December, 1816, and an election hekl in April. 1817. Baltzer Koonts was the first Justice of the Peace. The first couple mar- ried in the township were Aquilla Carr and his wife, Nelly ; her maiden name is forgotten. The ceremony was performed by Squire Koonts. Adam grounds, the father of Jacob Grounds, came to Bethlehem in 1806 or 1807. The first three barrels of salt were brought into the town- ship by Mr. Carr. He conveyed them up the Cuyahoga River in a canoe, hauled the canoe across the Portage, south of Akron. to the Tus- carawas, and floated down to Bethlehem. He sold one barrel to Godfrey luth at the month of One-leg Creek ; Mr. Grounds got one barrel. and the other was secreted in the woods, to keep the Indians from finding it. The salt was soll at $25 per barrel, but Mr. Carr said he would haul no more at that price. Jacob Grounds taught the first school at Bethlehem, and was clerk of the first election held at 'anton. James Gaff made the ballot box, for which he received 50 cents. The first entries of land were made by Brinton & Condy. Richard Carter. Nicholas Stump, Ebenezer Allman, Harman Van Dorston, Mathias Shepler. Charles Linerode and others.

" In 1819. Mr. Brantingham laid out the town

5.4

IfSTORY OF STARK COUNTY.

of Calcutta, had a sale of lots, and built a warehouse on the bank of the river. Several flat-bottom boats were loaded here for the south- ern trade, the cargoes consisting of flour, whisky, bacon and pottery ware, the latter being man- ufactured at Canton. A store was also estab- lished and continued for several years by Fred- erich C. Phersich, a German. Ifis goods were valued at abont $500. and comprised axes, hoes, salt, tobacco, groceries and a small quantity of prints and muslins. Of course he kept whisky. There was where his greatest profit was real- ized. His store became quite a resort on this account. Some six or eight dwellings were erected in Calcutta, in which as many families resided for a few years. A blacksmith ap- peared, and, it is said. a printer named White came there with the intention either of starting the somewhat doubtful venture of a newspaper, or of doing a general advertising business, or both. He was probably looking up a location, as he stayed there but a few months. The outlook was decidedly unfavor- able for such an enterprise. The warehouse did quite a thriving business for a few years, until the river was no longer safely navigable by the flat-boats. Calcutta was considered the bead of navigation on the Tuscarawas. The river, except at a high stage of water, proved unsafe, and a number of shipwrecks, with loss of cargo, put an end to the New Orleans trade upon the Tuscarawas. The last flat-hoat that passed down the river was about 1822. or a year later. As the leading idea of building up a town of some commercial importance, was di- rectly connected with this trade, the prospects of the future city of Calcutta were abandoned with it. The town plat was vacated. and is now embraced in the farm of John Kaler.

" Thomas and Charity Roach, from Kendall, Stark County, frequently stopped at Branting- ham's, on their way to visit the Zoarites, in whose welfare they interested themselves greatly. George Brantingham went with Thomas Roach to a Yearly Meeting at Mount Pleasant, Jeffer- son Co., Ohio, during which Mr. Roach took sick and died, and was buried at the Short Creek Quaker burying ground. Charity Roach and her husband, Thomas Roach. were without ! children. Charity, with the true spirit of Christian benevolence and charity, founded the ' Roach Charity School.' She requested Sylvanus Buckius, a tinner, to make a ' roach'

(a fish) to be placed upon the building as a vane, so that the name should not be forgotten ; it is there to this day. There was but little need of this, as the 'name of the righteous shall be an everlasting remembrance.' Al- though not upou an extensive scale, it is one of the noblest charities in the State. Men of wealth who do not know what to do with their abundance, should pay it a visit, then ' go and do likewise.' The remains of Charity Roach rest in the old burying ground at Kendal. Many a poor orphan has stood by her humble grave and called her . blessed.'

" The village of Bethlehem was laid out by Jonatban W. Condy. in 1806. Mr. Condy and Martin Brinton, a brother-in-law, were lawyers from the city of Philadelphia. They located large tracts of land in Bethlehem Township. Mr. Condy was accompanied by the Rev. Rich- ard S. Goe. Religiously, they had embraced the tenets of Emanuel Swedenborg. Their pro- ject was to establish a religious society. mold- ed after the Moravian Society at Bethlehem, Penn., after which the town was named. Mr. Condy was a man of enterprise and integrity. Ile built a saw-mill on the stream east of the village, and contracted the building of a grist- mill ; but the latter was abandoned. He erected a storehouse on the northwest corner of Mar- ket and Second streets, which was occupied by James Klingle. This was the first dry goods store in the village. It was afterward occupied by Mr. Goe as a store, and was torn down but a few years since. For various reasons, Mr. Condy's expectations were not realized. He returned to Philadelphia until after the location of the Ohio Canal, when he came to see his landed interests. On riding across a corduroy bridge his horse was attacked by yellow jackets, became frantic, threw Mr. Condy, broke his shoulder, and otherwise very seriously injured him. From these injuries he died a short time afterward, and was buried in the old grave- yard. This was in August, 1827.

"After the location of the Ohio Canal, Na- varre was laid out by James Duncan. The I year before, Nathan MeGrew had laid out on the western side a village, which he named Roches- ter. Raffensperger and Chapman afterward laid out an addition to Rochester. The three villages, Navarre, Bethlehem and Rochester, became places of immense trade in wheat and dry goods. The principal merchants were D. &

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History of Stark County, with an outline sketch of Ohio, Part 97

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