USA > Ohio > Union County > History of Union County, Ohio; its people, industries and institutions > Part 44
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Jonathan Burwell, a native of Pennsylvania, made his settlement about the same date as Isaac Allen.
Southard Mather, of Maryland, came with his father's family to Milford Center, where he married Paulina Rice, and settled in Allen township in 1822.
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Later, he removed to Iowa where he died. He was another of the first thir- teen voters in the first election. He was elected the first township clerk.
Moses Redford, a native of Virginia, emigrated to Ohio, first locating at Milford Center, where he followed shoemaking. He married Betsey South- ard, settled on Buck run and also voted at the first township election. He moved on to Champaign county.
Another immigrant from old Virginia was William Epps, who settled in Champaign county in the years between 1806 and 1809. About 1825 he located in Allen township, where he subsequently died. He was also num- bered among the voters at the first township election.
William W. Haines, born at Chillicothe in 1801, and in December of that year moved with his father's family to Logan county ; he remained there until 1818-20, then came to Union county, settled in Allen township and remained a resident until his death in 1850. He voted at the first election of this town- ship. He married Atlantic Grubbs and by her had a large family of sturdy sons and daughters.
William Asher, a native of Culpeper county, Virginia, in 1800 emigrated with the family to Ohio, first settling in Ross county, then in Logan county, locating in Allen township, Union county, about 1823. He and his son John made two more of the original voters at the original election in Allen town- ship. He had a large family.
William Milligan, from Pennsylvania, with his family emigrated to Union county, Ohio, settling in Darby township in 1824, and there resided a number of years. By trade he was a tanner. He finally located at North Lewisburg.
Nimrod Garwood was another original voter in this township. He was one of the first set of township trustees and a leading man in the organization of Allen township. He was clerk of the township from 1828 to 1831.
Joseph Russell completes the list of the original voters in Allen. Where he came from and at what time cannot be learned.
John Paver, a native Marylander, emigrated to Fairfield county, Ohio, in 1802. In 1820. he removed with his family to Union county, settling in Allen township, where he died in 1851. He was one of the sturdy, hard working pioneers, who married and reared a family of nine children. He performed every duty as a citizen of the newly formed county and civil town- ship in which he was counted among the early settlers.
Abraham Leonard, from Virginia. emigrated to Ohio, settled in Pick- away county, married Elizabeth Paver, and in 1827 removed to this township,
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taking land in survey No. 2,983. He lived on this land until his death in 1853.
Hollis Amy settled in 1829 and married Prudence Williams. He died about 1876 at North Lewisburg.
Amos A. Williams became a settler in Allen township in either 1827 or 1828. He suffered the loss of one of his feet by being run over by the cars; it was amputated and he only lived a few weeks after the operation. His son, William, was a soldier in the Civil War and died in the Union army.
Alvin Wilcox, a native of New York state, emigrated to Madison county, ยท Ohio. at an early date, and in the spring of 1829 to Allen township, Union county. He later moved to Illinois and then to Missouri.
Luther Wood, a native of Connecticut, born March, 1799, emigrated with his father's family to York state, where the father died. In 1820, he removed to Ohio, settling in Union township, where in 1823 he married Rosana Cochran. In 1829 he located in Allen township, where he lived until a short time before his death, when he moved into Jerome township, then to Piqua, Ohio, where six weeks later, August 1, 1867, he died. He was the father of a large number of sons and daughters who made up a part of the robust element that braved the dangers and hardships incident to that day in this county.
Matlock Stokes, from Virginia, emigrated to Ohio, settling first in Logan county, but in about 1830 came to the western part of Union county. He re- sided in Allen township many years and then moved to West Liberty, Ohio.
William Inskeep, Jr., son of John Inskeep, one of the early settlers of Logan county, Ohio, married Mary Stokes and settled in Allen township, Union county, on the tract of land where Hiram Inskeep later resided. There he died in 1845. He was an honored citizen and was elected to many town- ship and county offices.
Other settlers along about 1829-30, were Elisha Cowgill, Edward Tyler of Virginia, Cornelius Meshon of Kentucky, John Milligan, a half brother of William Milligan, John Dawson of Pennsylvania, Joseph Dunlap of Putnam county ; in later years, Daniel Spain of Virginia, Abraham Holycross and many more whose names have slipped from the gleaner of this late date.
Isaac Brodrick, born in New Jersey in 1802, was brought by his parents when six months of age to Wheeling, West Virginia. In 1813 he moved to Warren county, Ohio, where Isaac grew to manhood and married Hannah Wood. In the winter of 1833 he settled in Union county. When he came here he knew but two settlers between his place and Newton (now known as
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Raymond), one being James Wilbur and another farther north. His wife died in 1876, the mother of four children : Mary Ann, who married Richard Wells: Isaac, who married Sarah Huff ; James, who moved away during the Civil War, located in New Orleans as an engineer on a steamboat and was not heard of afterward; Hannah Jane, who married Charles Van Wye, and John WV. Brodrick, of Marysville, judge of the common pleas court.
Daniel Coe, a native of Pennsylvania, emigrated to Ohio in 1833, settling in this township and remained until his death.
James Wilbur, born in New York state, settling in Allen township in 1830. He married Sarah Cameron and reared a large family.
James Stillings was born in Maryland in 1785: in 1829 emigrated to Clark county, Ohio ; in 1834-35 moved to this county, settling in Allen town- ship where he died many years later.
Samuel Marsh was born in what is now West Virginia, 1809. He mar- ried and in 1835 settled in this county and township. He had only one hun- dred and fifty dollars in cash and a team of cows. He went in debt for his land, but as the years went by he accumulated a handsome property.
The above were early settlers in Allen township and also the followmg, of whom but little is now known; Vandever Reed, Joseph Coberly. George Miller, John Gabriel, Dixon Mitchell, Samuel Ballinger, Alfred Hale, William Smith, Thomas Dodds, James Cochran, William Hoff, William Rowland, Benjamin Vickers, Thomas Dunn, Elijah Kinney, Elijah Burroughs, L. Hib- bard and John G. Hibbert.
One more pioneer couple should be mentioned, James Cavender and wife. Mr. Cavender was born in New Hampshire, May 15, 1776. He married Rachel Buttler, born in 1789. and in 1846 they emigrated to Ohio, locating in this township, where they spent the remainder of their days. They had nine children, Annis, Abraham H., Jonathan B., Sarah, Charles, Mary E. Burn- ham, Rachel and David. This worthy couple traveled life's journey together for more than seventy-two years, longer than the average span of human life.
MILLS OF ALLEN TOWNSHIP.
One of the earliest mills in the township was the Beltz grist mill, located on Big Darby, near the Champaign county line. About 1820, Samuel Hawkins built a saw mill on this site, run by water power. After a few years it was sold to Thomas Dunn, who was succeeded in 1835 by Beltz Brothers, and it remained in that family's hands for more than a half cen- tury. Soon after Mr. Beltz purchased this mill he put in a distillery and it
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was successfully operated a number of years. A saw mill attachment was also erected and conducted until 1870.
The older settlers of the county will recall the Wetzel Mill further down the Darby in the extreme southern portion of the township. Daniel Coe here erected a saw mill about 1836-37 and commenced the digging of a race to sup- ply power from the waters of the Darby sufficient to run a grist mill. He was two years in constructing this race and it cost him one thousand three hundred dollars. He also laid a good foundation for a grist mill, but being unable to complete it for want of capital, he finally sold out to Ira Johnson, who then erected the grist mill, and also at one time had a distillery there with a large warehouse for grain. This entire property was destroyed by fire. Later, it was rebuilt on a smaller scale. But this undertaking caused the owner to fail in business and it passed into the hands of Williams & Bennett, who also failed, which put an end to all distilling business. Howard & Leonard pur- chased the old mill at auction and sold it to Martin Wetzel. While in the latter's hands it was burned in 1856. He re-built and operated it several years, when it was removed to Unionville.
The Finley saw mill, built in 1850, by James Finley on the Milford & Allen pike, was run by steam power. Just before the Civil War it was sold to S. B. Childs.
At Pottersburg, a saw mill was started in 1868 by Williams & Bennett, which ran many years.
POTTERSBURG.
This village dates its platting from February 18, 1869, when David A. Williams and George F. Bennett had surveyed twenty-four lots and named it in the records of the county "Pottersburg." It is situated on survey No. 315.
October 22. 1872, W. A. Armstrong caused to be surveyed fourteen lots as an addition to the original village of Pottersburg, the same being situated on the north side of the railroad then known as the Atlantic & Great Western.
In the summer of 1868, before the first platting was executed at Potters- burg. Jonas Cline, a carpenter, erected a saw mill. He also erected the first house, the same being for Abel Lary. In 1869 he also built a store room twelve by eighteen feet and filled it with groceries, the first store of the village. B. Andrews was the first blacksmith. In 1869 Captain Cline peti- tioned for a postoffice and was appointed postmaster the same year. In the spring of 1864 the New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio railroad was completed and the first train put in operation. Captain Jonas Cline was appointed ticket agent. By 1882 there were about one hundred people residing at Pottersburg.
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There was a general store and several small shops. It has declined and today has less than fifty residents.
The following have served as postmasters at this place: Jonas Cline, June 29, 1869 ( appointed ) ; J. F. McIlray, February 23, 1883; Daniel Cline, December 30, 1885; Eli Norviel, April 13, 1887; Alexander Smith, September II, 1890: Daniel Cline, June 1, 1894; A. B. Robinson, April 20, 1896; Joseph Overfield, February 23, 1905 ; Fay B. Johnson, August 28, 1907; Edgar D. Edwards, March 15, 1909.
ALLEN CENTER.
At this point the first business enterprise was the ashery, carried on at an early day by Joel Everett. It was about 1848-49 when Joshua Eaton pur- chased five acres and laid out a few town lots. A postoffice was established in 1851 with Reuben Foote as commissioned postmaster. Ransel Smith was engaged in the cabinet business and Stephen Donahue was the village black- smith. In 1861 Barnett Bennett erected a large two-story frame building and the next year placed in it a large stock of merchandise. He continued in trade until about 1865, then sold to Jacob Painter, who ran it until about 1875, when he sold and moved to Mississippi. About the opening of the Civil War the postoffice was discontinued and the site of the once hopeful hamlet is now covered with fields of waving grain.
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CHAPTER XXVII.
JACKSON TOWNSIIIP.
This is the extreme northeastern township of Union county and is bounded as follows : on the north and east by Marion county, on the south by Claibourne township, on the west by Washington township. The first land surveys were made in 1831, tract No. 3,473, of four hundred acres, for John Williams, being the first to be surveyed. Rush creek is the only stream of much importance within this civil township. It enters from Washington township on the west, flows southeastwardly until it reaches the interior of the township and then turns northward and crosses over into Marion county. It was named for the large quantities of wild rushes found growing along its banks at an early day. Lime rock and gravel is found along this stream. The surface of the land in Jackson is slightly rolling, though by no means considered rough or very hilly. The few ponds or swamps found by the pioneers in the township have all long since disappeared and their beds have become productive fields of corn, wheat and grasses common to this latitude. Drainage has been very successful in this part of the county. Beaver Pond was a large sheet of water in the northwestern portion and originally con- tained about forty acres, but no traces of the pond can now be seen. Few springs abound and the water supply is known as limestone water. The father of this township, so to speak, was Ebenezer Cheney, who petitioned the county commissioners March 3, 1829, for a new township. The prayer of the peti- tioners was granted and the bounds set forth as follows: "Beginning at the county line eight miles south of the northeast corner of Union county ; thence running west parallel with the north line of the county of Union to the east line of Liberty township ; thence with the Liberty township line to the northern boundary of the county of Union ; thence south eight miles to the place of beginning." At the same date it was ordered surveyed by Levi Phelps.
June 3, 1829, the following entry appears of record : "The commissioners of Union county reconsidered the order for the running of the township of Jackson, and ordered that the said township shall be laid off, beginning two miles and one-half north of the first mile-tree north of Bokes creek on the eastern boundary of the county of Union ; thence west parallel with the south-
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ern boundary of said county of Union to the boundary line between Liberty and Leesburg-all north to be considered as the township of Jackson." The same day an election was ordered to be held June 16, 1829. As thus con- stituted it will be observed that the new township embraced the greater part of what is now Claibourne township, as well as the Miller settlement in York township. The township was reduced to its present form and size by the erec- tion of Claibourne township in 1834.
Just where the first election was held is not now known, but no doubt in some one of the pioneer houses in what is now styled Claibourne township. In 1832 the election was held at the house of David Carr and in 1838 it was ordered that the township trustees should call the election at the house of Michael Blue. In 1843 the school house at Essex became the regular voting place and so continued for many years.
THE INDIANS.
Before referring to the white settlement in this part of Union county it will be interesting, no doubt, to mention some items connected with the race that preceded the white race. The Indian tribe here found was the Wyandots. These Indians, with possibly other friendly tribes who from time to time visited this tribe, lingered hereabouts until 1833. Several burying grounds of this race reveal their former occupancy. On the old farm of Jason Chap- man, in a gravel bed situated between the road and the creek, six skeletons were dug up in 1834 and other evidences were found of the Indian occupancy and a regular camping ground. On the farm settled by Joseph Cameron, later owned by W. F. Cheney, was a large mound that had served as an Indian grave-yard. The mound or knoll was composed of sand and gravel and on the north, east and south rose quite abruptly, while on the west it sloped gradually to the loamy soil below. It covered about two acres. When the gravel and sand were removed for roads and building uses a number of human skeletons were exhumed. Arrow heads and other trinkets were found.
The Wyandots were expert bee-hunters. Ebenezer Cheney, while on a bee-hunting expedition, once found a large bee tree. The hive was in an upper limb and hence inaccessible to him without chopping down the tree, which was the usual course adopted by white hunters. While deliberating whether it would pay to cut down the giant oak, an Indian hunter approached and obligingly offered to procure the coveted honey for him. The offer was gladly accepted. The brave drew his tomahawk and felled a small sapling so that its top fell against the lower branches of the bee tree. He ascended
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on this to the lower branch of the oak and then proceeded to cut and trim a limb with a hook at one end. He caught the hook in a limb overhead and climbed up to it hand over hand. Throwing away the hooked limb he cut off the branch containing the honey. Then balancing himself, he leaped down to the lower limb and descended to the ground by the same means he had employed in ascending.
On another occasion an Indian appeared at the cabin of Ebenezer Cheney and desired to obtain a gun-lock to replace his own which was lost. He ex- changed a cotton shawl for one and when he had finished hunting returned to the cabin and wanted to trade back. Only a daughter of Mr. Cheney was then present and to the demand of the red man she exclaimed "No swap." "Swap anyhow," said the hunter and taking the shawl from the wall, he threw down the gun-lock and strode out of the door. Miss Cheney, displeased with this procedure, set the dogs at the retreating Indian, but the boys working in the field, not knowing the cause of the disturbance, called them off.
Many of the Indians became christianized. After the race had about disappeared from the township, an Indian minister named Manonku, camped out in the woods and while here attended a Methodist meeting then in progress, and at his own invitation. participated in the religious exercises.
When grain was first grown here the only market was at Lake Erie. The only highways were mud roads. Wheat brought from sixty to seventy cents a bushel, and farmers usually hauled it to Portland, taking forty bushels at a load. and consuming an entire week to make the round trip. The first ground prepared for the seed in this township was by John Cheney, who used a mat- tock. He sowed the land to heets. Daniel A. White brought the first joint of tile into the township.
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
Benjamin Carter was undoubtedly the first white settler in Jackson town- ship. He was born in Tennessee in 1787; emigrated to Ohio in 1805. settling in Champaign county ; there he married in 1812, served a short time in the War of 1812. Christmas day, 1826, he landed with his family in Jackson township, purchasing a hundred acres of land in survey No. 9,889, southwest from Essex. He spent the remainder of his life in clearing up and cultivat- ing the soil of his own farm. He died in March, 1866, and his wife in 1871. They had a large and highly interesting family of sons and daughters.
Harvey Moore, a young unmarried man, accompanied Benjamin Carter
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to this township. He was born in 1805 and married and settled down here in 1833.
Ebenezer Cheney made the next settlement. He was born in Virginia in 1777; emigrated to Ohio in 1807 and to Jackson township in 1827. He was attracted hither on account of the wild game then found here. The route by which he and Mr. Carter before him reached this country was by an Indian trail from Fulton creek north to Rush creek, which almost fol- lowed the line of the present pike road. They came by ox-team and were often obliged to stop and cut logs away in order that their team might pass. Their cabins were reared by the aid of men from far and near. Cheney was a famous hunter in this township and killed hundreds of deer. He had the ill luck to lose one eye by being hit with a brush while working in the timber. He died in 1833.
David S. Allen came in with the Cheneys in 1827 and settled just west of the later village of Essex.
Jacob Reed, born in Virginia, 1807, came to this township in 1829 and erected his cabin a mile or so west of Essex. He did not move his family here until 1830. Subsequently he became a merchant at Essex. He sold out his store in 1851 and then emigrated to Mahaska county, Iowa, where he died in the spring of 1880.
Joseph Cameron's permanent arrival in the township was in 1830. He came with his brother-in-law Reed. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1807 and when two years old accompanied his parents to Ohio. The family set- tled in Champaign county where he grew to man's estate.
Samuel Sanders, born in Maryland in 1766, was married in 1785 to Nancy Reed. They settled in Jackson township in 1830 at a point about one mile north of the village of Essex. He died in 1846 and his wife in 1851.
John Price settled a mile north of Essex in 1830 and died in 1848.
Jacob Collins in about 1829 built himself a cabin two and a half miles west of Essex. He was not a land owner, but a squatter. He built a small blacksmith shop. When not engaged at the glowing forge he hunted. He sold his squatter's rights to Ebenezer Davis, moved to Washington township and later moved to unknown parts.
David Carr was born in Bradford county, Pennsylvania, in 1802, and emigrated to Champaign county, Ohio, in 1817. He married Mary Cheney in 1826 and in 1831 moved into Jackson township, settling southeast of Essex. where he died in 1874.
Tabor Randall. a native of Windsor, Vermont, born in 1805, moved
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with his parents in 1818 to Franklin county, Ohio, making the journey by teams from New York state. He taught a term of school in Mill Creek township in 1825 and later in Jerome township. He married Elizabeth Cheney in 1832 and settled west of Essex. He farmed, taught and clerked in Essex a number of years. In 1854 he was elected clerk of the courts for Union county. He lived in Marysville fifteen years and held other county positions at Marysville. .
James Bell, born in Pennsylvania in 1801, was married in 1822 to Margaret Sanders. They settled in 1832 in Jackson township. He farmed and run a blacksmith shop until he removed to Marion county, where he died in 1872.
John Scott, who came originally from Pennsylvania, moved about 1830 to Jackson township. He was a zealous and successful hunter.
Ira Bennett effected his settlement in the township in 1830: a few years later he wended his way on to the west and was lost sight of in this county.
Albert R. White, born in Bradford county, Pennsylvania, in 1801, came with his parents to Mill Grove, Warren county, Ohio, in 1819, and the fol- lowing year moved to Franklin county, Indiana. He moved to this town- ship in 1831. He lived to be past eighty.
Jason Chapman, of Frederick county, Virginia, born 1793, married in 1813, came to Ohio in 1825, and in 1833 removed to Jackson township. He made an excellent citizen and did his full share of hard work as a farmer. He died in 1880. He was a strong Whig in the days of that political party. He belonged to the Methodist Protestant church. During the War of 1812, he served eight months in the Northwestern army under General Harrison. He was present at the building of Ft. Meigs. He had eleven children and one son, Joseph, was killed at the battle of Missionary Ridge during the Civil War.
Michael Blue, born in Virginia in 1801, married in 1820; came to Jack- son township in September, 1833, settling a short distance northwest of the village of Essex on a, farm of one hundred and fifty acres. He purchased the place before his removal here. He died in 1857 and his wife in 1876.
Southworth Mather, a native of New Jersey, when a young man moved to Virginia, and from there the family came to Ohio. He was married in Union township, in this county, to Philona Rice, and in about 1831 moved to Jackson township. He became a squatter a mile west of Essex village. He later purchased land in Washington township, but finally removed to lowa, where he died.
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The names already given, together with the following, all came in before 1840: Henry Bennett, Francis Baldwin, Ira Bennett, Jesse Bowen, John and Henry Baldwin, Benjamin Bradshaw, Daniel Bell, Michael Deck, John Dixon, Absalom Forbes, Samuel Grant, Jacob Honaker, Peter Hinkle, David Jones, William Lockhart, Hiram Keeler. George Knightlinger, Samuel Mer- ritt, Reuben Redding, Thomas Temple, Nicholas Van Buskirk, David Wash- burn, David, Dennis and Benjamin Welch.
Of the churches and lodges, etc., as well as the schools of Jackson town- ship, the reader is referred to chapters on these special topics.
THE EARLY MILLS.
Notwithstanding Jackson was settled much later than any of the other townships, its milling facilities were poor for many years. It was no un- usual thing for a number of families to band together and send a four-horse wagon filled with grain to a mill near Mechanicsburg, thirty miles distant. Mills came in later and they greatly helped the pioneers. While these mills were not in the township, they were within easy driving distance from home, one being sixteen miles distant, at Millville, on the Scioto river. There were numerous "corn-crackers" put in by which corn meal was produced in abun- dance. These were only used when wheat grinding mills could not be reached on account of high water or bad roads. In 1840 William Britt built a small grist mill and had a saw-mill attachment on Rush creek, a mile below Essex. Later. Warner Bridge constructed a saw mill two miles west of Essex, and soon had a rude pair of burrs set in motion by which a poor grade of flour was made.
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