USA > Ohio > Wayne County > History of Wayne County, Ohio, Volume I > Part 38
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While traveling on horseback up the Killbuck bottoms, south of Woos- ter, Mr. Jones captured three black bear cubs and put them in a sack over the saddle. They proved, however, to be heavier than he had calculated, and, hearing the mother of the cubs approaching, he considered it wise to throw one out of the sack, and gave the others away. He carried the mail from Canton to Mansfield on horseback. He aided in the organization of the first agricultural society, and he owned a colt that took the premium at the first county fair.
After an eventful career, both in public and private life, Mr. Jones died, honored by all who knew him. It was such characters as his that fashioned the foundation stones of the good government of his state and county.
PLAIN TOWNSHIP.
Plain township, the second from the south line of the county and on the western line of Wayne county, contains about forty-two sections of land, being seven miles east and west by six north and south. It was organized in 1817. It derives its name from the plains, or grades, that to so large an extent constituted its timber growths at the date of its settlement. The population of this township in 1900 was one thousand six hundred and sixty-six.
The first settler in the township was John Collier, locating on the
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James Childs farm. William Meeks, a native of Virginia, was tlie second settler in this township. The first justice of the peace in the township was Cyrus Baird. George and David Lozier settled upon the prairies in 1814, south of Blachleyville. They came from Pennsylvania and owned good farms. Benjamin White, a shoemaker and preacher, was another of the sturdy pioneer characters. Daniel Miller built a sawmill in 1815. He also built the first house in Blachleyville, where Swain's hotel later stood. He kept a tavern and sold whisky; went to Indiana and began the practice of medicine. Augustus Case settled as early as 1814. John Cassiday was the first to teach school within this township. The first minister of the gospel was Elder French, a Baptist. Another early settler was Philip Arnold, of Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, who came in 1812; for many months after their arrival they had no bread in the house and were compelled to live on venison, honey and potatoes.
Dr. William B. Blachley, born in New Jersey, lived in Washington county, Pennsylvania, until 1816, when he emigrated to Wayne county, Ohio, settling in Plain township. He practiced his profession in Blachleyville for nineteen years, then moved to Valparaiso, Indiana, where he died, aged seventy-four years. The town of Blachleyville was named for him.
Benedict Mellinger, Sr., Aaron Baird, Cyrus Baird, John Tyron, Robert Eason, John Folgate ( who reached the age of one hundred and eleven years, the oldest of any man in the county), William and Henry Rouch were all settlers of a very early date in Plain township, and had much to do with laying the foundation stones of the township's government and helped to make its first pioneer improvements.
TOWNS AND VILLAGES OF PLAIN TOWNSHIP.
The town plattings of this township are indeed quite numerous. Mill- brook received its title from General Thomas McMillan, who named and surveyed it. It was laid out by Elijah Yocum August 10, 1829. A grist- mill was built by McMillan to the east of the town site in 1816 for John Nimmon ; later this was turned into a carding-mill.
Blachleyville was platted by William B. and William Blachley, Decem- ber 16, 1833.
Jefferson was platted June 30, 1829, by Stephen Williams and Alex- ander Hutchinson. This place is four miles west of Wooster and came to be a place of much business importance. It was on the Wooster and Ash- land stage route, making it a desirable quarter in which to live.
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Reedsburg was laid out by William Reed in December, 1835, and its first settlers were Matthias Starn, Joseph Mowery, John Peters and Wil- liam Hagerman.
Springville was platted by David Brown, December 16, 1844, and was originally called Buffalo, or Heath's Corners.
REMAINS OF BUFFALOES AND CEDAR TREES.
Land owners in plowing and ditching on the way between Springville and Millbrook, many years ago, unearthed the remains of large cedar trees, and about 1830 immense logs were taken out three feet from the surface that had probably lain there for ages. Trees were found from three to four feet in diameter. South of Millbrook, while cutting a ditch, more of these large cedar trees were found. What is strange about all this is the fact that there are no cedar forests in this section, nor is there any knowledge of any having been here in the centuries past. In about the same locality were also found numerous buffalo skulls and horns and the remains of human bodies of great size. Who they were and what their history can only be conjectured at this late day.
CLINTON TOWNSHIP.
Clinton township is the extreme southwestern township in Wayne county and contains twenty-eight sections, its domain being four miles north and south by seven east and west. Ashland county is on its west and Holmes county to its south. It was organized June 7, 1825, and in 1870 had reached a population of one thousand five hundred and two, but according to the United States census of 1900 the township had a population of two thousand and twenty-eight. It derived its name from Governor DeWitt Clinton.
The first white men to invade the wilds of this township for the pur- pose of effecting a permanent settlement were as follows: Nathan G. Odell, John Newkirk, Joshua and Thomas Oram, Thomas Odell, Abner Lake, Jacob Funk, Abner Eddy, Thomas McConkey. John Jones, Stephen Morgan, Asa Griffith, William and J. Wells, Reuben and Philip Aylesworth, Noah Whit- ford, Lorenzo D. Odell.
Mr. Brewer built a cabin on the east bank of the Newkirk spring. about twenty feet from its source.
The first election in the township was held in the cabin of John Jones. Nathan G. Odell was chosen first justice of the peace, but he declined to serve,
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when James Priest was elected and served the remainder of his life. The first public road opened was the one running from Wooster to Loudonville. An Indian trail extended from the head of Odell's lake to Millersburg, and one to Jeromeville from the same point. The Indian town was located on the north side of the lake and contained about three hundred Indians, under Mo- hican John.
What was known as the Big Prairie was at first looked upon as an impassable swamp; it was soggy, wet, full of ponds, dangerous to stock and counted of no value.
The first man known to have died within Clinton township was Thomp- son, an emigrant who took sick while stopping with John Newkirk. He was sick but a short time.
The first physician in the township was Dr. Henry Peters, who located at the intersection of the roads at the Newkirk graveyard. The first woman to die in the township was the wife of Thomas Oram.
In 1814 Reuben Newkirk and Thomas Odell, two young men, went to Wooster to procure a coffin, carrying it home on the backs of their horses. Each bore one end of it, though at times the end would strike the trees, when they would singly, time about, have to carry it on their shoulders.
The first resident of the township to marry was Thomas, son of Nathan G. Odell, who was united to Nancy Drake, of Holmes county, in 1813.
The first school house in this township was called the Newkirk school. It was located on Henry Newkirk's land. It was a small log affair, the neighbors having met, cut trees and converted them into a school house. It was covered with shingles, and contained three long benches for the children. and a fireplace running the whole length of it. The first teacher was a lady from Holmes county who received seventy-five cents per week for teaching.
The first church was erected by the Disciples, about a mile and a half northeast of Shreve.
The first work of Methodism in the township was near Newkirk Spring. where a church was built in 1843. See chapter on church history.
At an early day, in this township were the following named persons engaged in the distillery business: Almond Aylesworth, Henry Shreve. Thomas McConkey, Thomas A. Brown, Mahaley McConkey and John Comer.
Cornelius Quick built the first mill at the outlet of the lake, in 1825 ; his dam backwatered the region and raised the lake about fifteen inches. Nathan G. Odell sold the land, not wishing to litigate over the matter. Comer, how- ever, later had a law suit over it and, after long years of lawing, both men were financially ruined.
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The towns and villages of this township are Shreve, Craghton, Big Prairie and Centerville.
FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP.
Franklin is one of the two irregular-shaped townships in Wayne county, the other being Wooster township. Franklin was named from old Benjamin Franklin of Philadelphia, the statesman and scientist. The township was organized for civil purposes June 7, 1820. Its population is now about one thousand two hundred and one.
The first settlement made by any one in Wayne county, outside of Woos- ter, was made in this township on lands later owned by Thomas Dowty. James Morgan and Thomas Butler were the two white settlers who first wandered into the territory now embraced in this township. They came in 1808 and soon after came in John Boyd, Robert Buckley, John and James Cisna, Tommy Lock, Samuel Mitchell, Jacob Nixon, William Nolan, Jacob Miller, Moses Lockhart and John Hughes.
The first land entered in the township, in the regular way, was by James Morgan.
The first justice of the peace was Samuel Mitchell. One of the early school houses was the Polecat school house on the farm of Daniel Daringer.
The pioneer distillery of the township was conducted by old Johnny Boyd, who sold it in quantities, "Yes, sir, just as little as you want, sir."
The first grist mill was erected by a Mr. Mitchell on land later owned by Andrew Bucher.
The first lime in Wayne county was burned in a log heap to test its quality, and later a kiln was made and lime successfully burned in the same by Henry Munson. Sr .. in 1816 or 1817. It was he who furnished the lime employed in the building of the old Wiler house of Mansfield, hauling it there by ox teams at about fifty cents a bushel. At nights he slept under his wagon, while he turned his oxen out to graze.
Among the recollections of Pioneer John Harrison, the following was, many years since, made a matter of record: "Salt was worth six cents a pound when I came here. Bought a two-horse wagon from old Billy Poulson in 1826 and paid for it in salt; went to Cleveland for it; obtained one barrel there and one barrel ten miles out of the city. These two barrels of salt paid for the wagon-price thirty dollars. A bushel of wheat would then pay for a pound of coffee, the former being of little cash account until the canal was opened. There were some Indians about when we came here. Old
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Chief Dan Lyon remained after the other Indians had all left. He was used to making wooden ladles and trade them to the whites for bacon."
INDIANS BURN THE BUTLER CABIN.
From a reminiscence dictated by John Butler, a pioneer justice of the peace of Franklin township, we take the liberty to extract the following.
Mr. Butler being absent at his father-in-law's, the Indians burned his cabin. The cause was presumed to be as follows: Butler had raised con- siderable corn in the bottoms and had a good many hogs. A gang of In- dians passed one day and shot one of them. Mr. Butler followed after and found them encamped in the locality of the present site of Shreve. He went to the chief and told him the circumstances, and that he must pay him, the chief going to the thief and telling him he must pay for the hog lie killed. He asked him what he killed it for, whereupon the Indian replied, "I wanted grease." The chief made him pay for the animal, Mr. Butler receiving in pay therefor two deer skins, which the Indian indignantly kicked toward him. It was soon after this Mr. Butler's cabin was burned, and he claimed the gang of Indians did it. He then erected a hewed log house on the exact spot where had stood the rude cabin that they had burned. In this Mr. Butler died March 17, 1837.
THE MORGAN BLOCKHOUSE.
This fort stood on the Thomas Dowty farm, and but a few rods from his house, and was quite a large structure and a source of protection to the pioneers. During the summer of Hull's surrender a company of soldiers were stationed here from Tuscarawas county. A would-be brave soldier of this company was ever boasting of his courage and ached for an oppor- tunity to have a fight with the Indians. The boys concluded they would ac- commodate him. They caused to be painted and decked in true Indian style of costume one of their number, and had him secrete himself in a swamp close by. The company proceeded on one of its scouts and passed by this swamp, when the mythical Indien sprang out, yelling and pointing his gun, took . after Sir Valiant Soldier, who rushed at the top of his speed and concealed himself in a marsh. The company and the painted man rapidly returned to the blockhouse. Soon thereafter the would-be Indian fighter, who had lost his shoes in the swamp, returned. Some of the boys went in search of his shoes and brought them into camp.
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DEATH OF OLD CHIEF LYON.
Alexander Bell, of Holmesville, once informed 'Squire Butler that when he was a boy he went to old Lyon's camp, near the mouth of Butler Spring run, and found him in a sick condition in his rude hut. Lyon asked Bell to take his camp kettle and bring him some fresh water, which he did, when Lyon asked him to look at his tongue. Bell told him how it looked, when the old chief said, "Me dead Indian." Bell said, "I will go and tell Jess Morgan if you wish me to," to which Lyon consented. Jess came, accompanied by Bell, and they found the old chief very sick, whereupon he repaired to Sandusky and communicated the facts to his Indian friends, when several of them came along back with Jess. They took the old Indian upon one of their ponies, but in a few days word came back that his spirit had gone to the happy hunting ground.
Throughout the county there used to be many reports concerning this old chief. The early settlers all knew him, as he visited their cabins and frequently was a source of terror to women and children.
MORELAND VILLAGE.
Moreland is the only village ever platted within Franklin township. It was laid out by Jonathan Butler and George Morr January 17, 1829. The first building in the place was erected by a blacksmith for a shop; his name was Loux.
SALT CREEK TOWNSHIP.
Salt Creek township is on the south line of Wayne county and the second township from the eastern line of the county, with Holmes county on the south, Paint township on the east, Franklin on the west and East Union township on the north. It contains twenty-four sections, is four miles from north to south and six from east to west. It was formed March 5, 1816.
Of the first settler in this township and his family, the following may be narrated : William Searight was born October 17, 1779, in Cumberland county, Pennsylvania. His father was a native of Ireland, who came to America about 1760, settling at Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He served seven years in the Revolutionary war. William, the son, who came to Wayne county, Ohio, selected lands here in 1810 and built a small log cabin on
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the banks of Salt Creek, facing the Pine Hill." He was then the only man and his family the only family within Salt Creek township, as now bounded -indeed he was "monarch of all he surveyed." He entered four hundred and sixty acres. His nearest neighbors lived in Prairie township, Holmes county. The next to effect a settlement in Salt Creek township was Henry Barnes, just after the close of the war of 1812-14. After the news of Hull's surrender, Mr. Searight and family fled for safety to the blockhouse, four and a half miles distant, built in Prairie township, Holmes county. The Indians there were friendly. About this time old Chief Lyon visited Sea- rights and told Mrs. Searight that he had cut the tongues from out of ninety- nine women and wanted hers to make an even hundred. Mr. Searight died July 16, 1846, and his good wife followed him in February, 1848. They had ten children.
From the memory of Pioneer Joseph Miller the following facts concern- ing this township are given to enrich its history :
William Searight built the first saw mill erected on Salt creek, the date being 1813. Judge Frederick built the next mill in 1816. The Sea- right mill burned and John Cheyney and Samuel Miller rebuilt another in 1820 for saw mill purposes only. Frederick's second mill was built in 1836, and had a capacity of two hundred barrels a day-a very large flouring-mill for then or even later years in the history of milling. This mill was burned in 1876. James Russell, a blacksmith, built the first house in the town. Samuel Miller built and conducted the first hotel. Jacob Frederick had the first distillery in the township and it is related that in the days when the old Ohio canal was being constructed that there were no less than eight distilleries within two miles of Fredericksburg village. The first doctor was James Clarkson, who came in 1827 and died in 1846. John Taylor was the first lawyer. Samuel Goodwin said that buffalo, deer and elk would haunt the salt licks.
FREDERICKSBURG VILLAGE.
Fredericksburg was platted by Jacob Frederick November 27. 1824. and named in honor of its founder. He served as one of the associate judges of Wayne county as early as 1826. The Fredericksburg Cemetery Association was organized in 1872.
The population of this village in 1900 was five hundred and eleven. Its business interests consisted of : The Bank, by E. Z. Aylsworth; under- takers, J. H. Hunter and B. S. Bontrager; general stores, S. M. Warner,
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Charles Sterling and J. B. McCormick ; hardware, Stucker & Leeper ; baker, C. W. Smith; butcher, J. B. Shultz; Fredericksburg Pottery Company, plan- ing mills, flouring mills and Ohio Terra Cotta Company. The present post- master is C. R. Kilgore. Churches, Presbyterian, Congregational, United Presbyterian, Methodist Episcopal and Christian.
The town and country is well cared for in the way of a first-class bank- ing house, known as the Citizens Bank, with a capital of one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars individual responsibility. Its officers are: H. W. Cary, president; A. T. Stultz, vice-president ; E. Z. Aylsworth, cashier.
PAINT TOWNSHIP.
This is the extreme southeastern sub-division of Wayne county and was organized March 5, 1816. It derives its name from the fact that a spring existed in its territory, the water of which resembled red paint and im- parted its peculiar color to the earth and other objects it chanced to touch. Ac- cording to the 1900 United States census, the township contained a popula- tion of one thousand two hundred and six. There are now two town plats within Paint township, Mount Eaton and West Lebanon.
The first person to settle within the limits of Paint township was Michael Waxler, who emigrated from Harrison county in 1810. He was a true backwoods character, dressed in buckskin breeches, hunting shirt and moc- casins, and usually armed with his scalping knife, tomahawk and rifle. As the brave are generally generous, even so was he who had the honor of first breaking soil in this goodly part of Wayne county. He frequently hunted with old Chief Lyon and Bill Harrison. It is told of Mr. Waxler that he encamped one night where Winesburg is now located and barely escaped de- struction from a gang of angry wolves which attacked him, and to which he offered a stout resistance until morning, having, in the meantime, killed several, and in true Indian style, scalped them.
The next settlers in Paint township were James Sullivan, John Sprague, David Endsley, Nathan Peticord. James Galbraith, William Vaughan, Elijah Carr. Samuel Shull, Frederick Shull and Jacob Beals.
The first election held in the township was in 1816, and Frederick Shull and Jacob Beals were the candidates for the office of justice of the peace. Not many votes were cast and the result was a tie, whereupon the aspirants cast lots, and Beals was the winner, hence became the first justice of his township. He held the position twelve years.
Another character of the early days in this township was David
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Houmard, a native of Switzerland, and was among the very first emi- grants to pass through the locks on the great Erie canal at Lockport. The family passed through Cleveland, Ohio, when there were but about fifty houses there, arriving in Sugarcreek township September 2, 1825. He was seventeen weeks in coming from Switzerland. At Cleveland he bought a yoke of oxen for thirty-six dollars which he hitched to a wagon and in that way came to Wayne county. He remained at the Sonneberg colony a month and settled in Paint township in May, 1826. He was a cutler by trade, and made many curious firearms and tools. His house has been thus described : "The original dimensions of it were twenty by thirty feet, and it was constructed of logs, not hewed until after the house was erected. It was composed of two rooms, the second one on the east side being nearly square, and without being filled or mudded. Here his family, consisting of wife and child, passed the winter of 1826 and '27. This cabin was without a floor, the fireplace was in the center of the room, and as companions of his family, the cow and calf were wintered in the same room, the cabin being house and stable both. The milk was kept in white walnut troughs, strained through old garments and cloths and the churn was made of a hollow cherry tree, with a board nailed on at the bottom."
Joseph Perrott was the second Frenchman to locate in Paint township, coming in 1829, and Emanuel Nicolet came in 1830. In 1834 immigra- tion set in in earnest.
MOUNT EATON.
Mount Eaton, formerly styled Paintville, was platted as early as 1813 by William Vaughn and James Galbraith. Elijah Carr is supposed to have erected the first building in the place, and Samuel Shull kept the first tavern. The earliest minister to proclaim the gospel at this point was Archibald Hanna, a Presbyterian, who conducted religious services for a number of years in a tent in the big woods.
In 1829 the name Mount Eaton took the place of former Paintville. The first incorporation election of Mount Eaton was held April 4, 1870, when three trustees were elected as follows: J. B. Westcott, James Huston and John Schlafly. There were forty-two votes cast at this election.
Mount Eaton had a fire company organized as early as 1861. In 1823 James Morrow operated a carding mill by horse power in Paintville. In 1827 an iron foundry was in operation there, the same being run by Weed & Jones. In 1827-8 Joseph H. White published the Anti-Masonic Mirror, a weekly newspaper, which soon languished for lack of support. In 1831 the first steam grist mill at Mount Eaton was placed in running order by
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Col. William Goudy; five years later it was burned, but in 1838 was re- built, and again destroyed in 1839 by the explosion of the boilers. In this accident John Murphy was suddenly killed by being scalded, John Mc- Donald was mangled, and Jeremiah Nelson and James Bradley were injured and only survived a few days. One of the boilers was hurled fifty yards up the hillside, splitting a sawlog in its course.
Cholera made its dread appearance at Mt. Eaton in 1833, the disease having been brought there by a Frenchman named Benedict Brown- stine, who, with his family, were emigrants who had a dead child-a cholera victim-with them when they arrived. The disorder soon became malignant in its form. David Boyd, an intoxicated man, strutted up to the wagon to see how a cholera victim looked, and, being attacked, died the same day before sundown. In a month twenty-six persons died of the scourge. It made its appearance about the middle of August. Doctors Hall and Barber did all in their power to stay its spread, but for all that every one in ten of the population died. The last victim was James Galbraith. Many of the citi- zens fled from the village during the epidemic.
The church and school history of Paint township is given in another chapter.
The factors going toward making up the present business of Mount Eaton are as follows, the same having been furnished in October, 1909. General merchandise, A. N. Roth, E. F. Graber; hardware, S. A. Schlafly ; boots, shoes and rubbers, William Willard; C. N. Clark, physician and surgeon.
WEST LEBANON.
West Lebanon is situated in the extreme northeast part of the township, three miles northeast from Mount Eaton. It was platted in 1833 by Philip Groff and Rev. William S. Butt. Frederick Bysell, it is believed, built the first house, run the first hotel and was postmaster. Another theory is that Isaac Stine built the first cabin and that the first postmaster was Adam Zar- ing. One of the founders of this place, Philip Groff, was a native of West Lebanon, Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, and in memory of his native town called this village by that name.
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