USA > Ohio > Wayne County > History of Wayne county, Ohio, from the days of the pioneers and the first settlers to the present time > Part 58
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Philip Arnold was born in Lehigh county, Pa. He removed to Plain township in 1812, and settled upon what was known as the Gillis farm. After his arrival he purchased 320 acres of land from the Eagles, who had entered it. He had eleven children. For months they had no bread in the house, and were compelled to live on venison, honey and potatoes. His son, Thomas Arnold, a native of the same county, was born in 1802, and came West with his father. He was married in his twenty-fifth year to Sarah Hines. He cast his first vote in what was called " Blue school-house."
William Sidle, a native of Pennsylvania, was born in Cumber- land county, 1789, and removed to the residence of his son, John Sidle, in 1828. He was married to Mary Brandt. He went to California in the spring of 1849 by the overland route, taking a company of twelve men with him, seventeen yoke of cattle, three wagons, one horse and two cows. He left home April 5, and reached his destination in August. He died on the Yuba river in the spring of 1850. He was a man of indomitable energy and courage. John Sidle, his son, was born August 11, 1816, in York county, Pa., and removed to Plain township in 1828. He was
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married March 30, 1843, to Joanna Carson, of Plain township, and has seven children living, to wit: Mary E., William Henry, James, Lucinda, Lucertus, Clara and John C. Mr. Sidle is a farmer and stock-raiser, one of the largest real estate owners of the county, and a popular and excellent citizen.
William Goodfellow was born in the county of Caven, Ireland, and at the age of ten years he immigrated to America with his parents, two sisters and two brothers; and the family settled in Center county, Pennsylvania. Thence he removed in 1816 to Wayne county, Ohio, and opened a farm in Plain township, where he resided for nearly fifty years. He served as Associate Judge of the Court of Common Pleas from 1824 for a term of seven years, receiving his commission from Governor Jeremiah Morrow. His house, situated on the Ashland road, was widely known for its hospitality. In politics and on moral reforms Judge Goodfel- low had the fortitude or the fortune generally to work with minor- ities, as he became early an old line Whig, and was from the first a radical anti-slavery and anti-liquor man. He had the honor of organizing and being President of the first temperance society in Wayne county, and lived to see all of his long debated principles inaugurated in State or National administration or enactments.
For more than half a century he was a member of the Metho- dist Episcopal church, most of the time filling various of its laical offices, and in its communion he died in 1864. Miss Jane Alli- son, three years his junior, became his wife in February, 1809, and survived him two years. She was a beautiful character, a sin- cere Christian, an unobtrusive, discreet and saintly woman. Their children were: Matthew Allison, married Drusilla Culbertson in 1833 ; Jane, married Rev. Jesse Warner 1830, died 1843; Louisa Catherine, married Andrew Glenn 1835, died 1836; Narcissa, mar- ried James W. Boyd, 1841 ; Amelia, married William Anderson 1840, died 1844; William, married Mary E. Dempster 1851; Juliette, married Rev. L. Dorland, 1846; Isaiah R., married Susan A. Deming 1854; Maria Louisa, married C. W. Beer, 1868, Mr. Beer dying at Sandusky, October 4, 1871.
Benedict Mellinger, Sr., was born in Germany, over one hundred years ago, and removed to America when but two years of age, landing at Baltimore. His mother died on the ocean, his father immediately removing to Lancaster county, Pa., where he followed
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the occupation of a weaver. After marriage he worked at weav- ing twelve years, and removed to Plain township, Wayne county, Ohio, in 1816, locating where Christian Mellinger now lives. He had eleven children-seven daughters and four sons-the names of the latter being David, John, Benedict and Christian. He died twenty years ago, at the age of eighty. David Mellinger was born in Lancaster county, Pa., and married Mary Felger, of Wayne county, Ohio. He died in December, 1862, in Plain township. His wife survives him. John Mellinger was born in Columbiana county, Ohio, and married Hannah Casebeer. He died in Plain township, in October, 1872. Benedict Mellinger was born in Co- lumbiana county, Ohio, and married Sallie Casebeer, of Wayne county. They have four children living. Christian Mellinger was born where he now lives, in Plain township, and married Elizabeth Showalter. They have four children, viz: William, Daniel, Be- linda and Franklin. William Mellinger married Samantha Buck- walter, of Paint township, October 26, 1869. He is at present one of the Justices of Plain township, and a capable and popular teacher. His father is a first-class citizen and an old Jacksonian Democrat.
Aaron Baird was born in Massachusetts in 1767, and was of old English parentage. He came to Ohio in 1813, and purchased property in Plain township where the late Cyrus Baird lived. The next spring he brought his family and continued his residence there until his death, August 7, 1826. He was married to Eunice Murdock, a native of Massachusetts, and had seven children, four boys, named Kendal, Cyrus, Josiah and Alfred. He was the first Justice of the Peace in Mohican township, then in Wayne county, holding the office nearly nine years.
Cyrus Baird, his son, was born March 2, 1804, and at the age of ten removed to Wayne county with his father, with whom he remained till his death, and had ten children. Aaron, Cyrus and Morgan are his sons. He was an enterprising, shrewd business man, and a good specimen of the New England gentleman. Aaron Baird, his son, lives in Plain township, and is a successful farmer and stock dealer. He is noted for his hospitality and geniality, which qualities characterize his wife, and hence his house is a home to friends and visitors, where all are pleasantly entertained. Cy- rus is a citizen of Wooster.
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John Tryon was born in Oswego county, N. Y., March 8, 1794, near Milford, from which he departed in 1815. His father, Ezra Tryon, was born in Connecticut and was a soldier in the Revolution for three years, drawing a pension for twenty-five years. He was a scout in Virginia, and was present at the surrender of Cornwallis. He removed to Wayne county in 1816, and died in 1847, and his wife in 1818. He was married to Lydia Saddler, January 12, 1817. His death occurred a few years since.
Robert Eason was born in Lycoming county, Pa., Decem- ber 10, 1795, of Irish and English parents. He immigrated to Chester township, Wayne county, Ohio, April 14, 1816, and in a year thereafter married Beulah Sooy. He commenced his first housekeeping near Stibbs' mill, east of Wooster, and lived there six years, when he removed to Perry township, Ashland county, then Wayne, with his wife and three children, Samuel, Joseph and Benjamin. Here they lived eight years, and on January 19, 1832, he removed to the farm in Plain township, now (1878) owned by his son, Hon. Benjamin Eason, where he succeeded Dennis Dris- kel in the business of milling, which he continued until his death, April 14, 1864. Before coming to Wayne county he took an act- ive part in the war of 1812, serving a regular term of enlistment in a Pennsylvania regiment at Fort Erie. His wife, on March 12, 1850, was crushed to death by machinery in the mill in Plain township.
John Folgate, probably the oldest man that ever lived in Wayne county, died at the age of III years, September 15, 1870, in Jefferson, He was drafted in the war of 1812, and was discharged on account of old age.
William and Henry Rouch, natives of Pennsylvania, came to Plain township in 1815. William Rouch, son of the former of the two brothers, was born December 1, 1820, and was married April 18, 1856, to Susannah Bowers, and has five living children, viz: Sarah A. T. S., William P. and Elizabeth. Mr. Rouch is one of the hard-working, honest, plain speaking citizens of the township, who knows his own business exactly, and proposes while he lives to superintend it. He is a gentleman whose integrity is unques- tioned. Philip Rouch, another brother, emigrated to Plain town-
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ship in 1818. Jacob Rouch, his son, who died February 12, 1870, was a very remarkable man. Although he never had an opportu- nity to educate himself he was, nevertheless, one of the best in- formed men on general subjects in the county. He was a natural talker and disputant, and a speaker of great ease and fluency.
TOWNS IN PLAIN TOWNSHIP.
Millbrook received its title from General Thomas McMillan, who named it and surveyed it. It was laid out by Elijah Yocum, Au- gust 10, 1829, the plat and certificate recorded next day, and found in County Records, p. 315, vol. 7. The carding-mill to the east was originally a grist-mill, built by McMillen, in 1816, for John Nimmon.
Blachleyville was laid out by William B., and William Blach- ley, December 16, 1833, after whom it was named. It was sur- veyed by George Emery, the plat and certificate recorded March 12, 1834, and found on page 210, vol. II, County Records.
Jefferson was laid out June 30, 1829, by Stephen Williams and Alexander Hutchinson and was surveyed by Peter Emery, the plat and certificate recorded July 2, 1829, which can be found on page 276, Book G. It is favorably situated, four miles west of Wooster, and does considerable business. It had from an early period fine mail facilities, the coach line extending from Wooster to Ashland. This line having been vacated, it was restored two years ago, Charles Lessiter conducting it for one year, when it passed into the hands of Joshua Warner. George Waggoner is the Postmaster.
Reedsburg was laid out by William Reed, after whom it was named, December 23, 1835, and surveyed by George Emery, the plat and certificate being recorded January 4, 1836, and found on page 527, vol. 13. The first settlers of that neighborhood were, Matthias Starn, Joseph Mowery, John Peters, William Hagerman, and others.
Springville was laid out by David Brown and surveyed by John A. Lawrence, December 16, 1844, plat and certificate recorded December 4, 1845, the record being on page 33, vol. 28. It was formerly called Buffalo, or Heath's Corners.
Remains of Buffaloes and Cedar Trees .- Between Springville and Millbrook the land-owners in plowing, but more especially in ditching, come in contact with the
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remains of cedar trees. Half a century ago immense logs were taken out, three feet from the surface, that had lain there for ages, and were sawed into boards. Trees were found three and four feet in diameter. More recently, in ditching in the low lands directly south of Millbrook, have been found more of these cedar relics. What is mysterious about this is the fact that there are no cedar forests in that section, nor have we any knowledge of them from any source whatever. South and east of the village on the old Culbertson farm, and the one where James Bruce lives, were found buffalo skulls and horns, and remains of human bodies of immense size. Here is a field for the naturalist, antiquarian, archaeologist, ethnol- ogist, the man with the encyclopedia, and sweet Gonzales, ever smiling James.
Jacob Kister was born in York county, Pa., and removed to Wayne county in 1834, landing with his wife and family on the 16th of May, near Cross Keys. In August of the same year he bought a farm of 170 acres, including the carding mill and new grist mill, lying near Millbrook, purchasing the same from Rev. Elijah Yocum. He had three children born in Wayne county ; his wife, Catherine Shuman, of York county, had seven children at three births. David Kister, brother of Jacob, accompanied him to Wayne county, bringing his wife and family. He bought land in East Union township, lived there a number of years, then moved to Noble county, Indiana, where he now re- sides. Adam Kister, another brother, came out ten or twelve years before Jacob or David. He died near Edinburg. He was the father of Shuman Kister. Andrew Kister was married to Roxanna, daughter of Brigadier General Thomas McMillen.
Joseph G. Yocum was born in Cumberland county, Pa., October 17, 1816, and was married April 25, 1839, to Margaret D. Funk, of Chester township. His father's name was Charles, a native of Pennsylvania, and was raised in Juniata county, but removed to Wayne county in June, 1828, bringing with him his wife and three children, Joseph G., Elmer and James. When he came to Plain township he settled near the carding-mill in West Millbrook, on some lands owned by him and John, his brother, who made the improvements on William Liddell's farm. He, unfortunately, met with an accident in the carding mill, from the effects of which he died November 2, 1828. Joseph G. Yocum, then but twelve years old, went to Congress township, to live with his grandfather, with whom and with his uncle he worked. At the age of twenty he rented the farm he now lives on from the guardians of his three brothers. At the end of two years he married, and this year he purchased the farm from the heirs. There was a tannery upon the
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place, the first in the township, built by Andrew Yocum in 1825. Mr. Yocum has two children, Lucian S. and Charles M., the for- mer married to Miss Lucy Weaver, the latter to Miss Bell Ross, of Sugarcreek township. He is a member of the church, a man of sterling character and unbending integrity.
Jacob Smyser was born in York county, Pa., June 27, 1810, and is married to Sarah Diehl. He came to Wayne county in 1832, and has had seven children. His father, Jacob Smyser, was a na- tive of York county, Pa., and died September 14, 1840. He was a farmer, and of German ancestry. The subject of this notice has been a citizen of Wayne county for over forty years, and is one of the popular and trustworthy men of Plain township. He is a man of correct life, a member of the Lutheran church, noted for his adhesion to principle and unswerving rectitude of purpose and ac- tion.
A. B. Ebright was born March 27, 1818, in Perry county, Pa., and emigrated to Ohio with his father, George Ebright, and with whom he subsequently lived until his death. He was drafted in the war of 1812, but procured a substitute. He was married in April, 1841, to Miss Tamar Freese, of Plain township, and has four children living. His daughter, Artie D., married David Sloane, of Ashland, and lived but eighteen months after marriage. His sons are as follows : E. F., M. C., George J. and John B. Mr. Ebright is a man of more than ordinary intelligence, of great sagacity and independent mind and will. He is and has long been a member of the Methodist church.
Dewitt C. Kean, son of William Kean, was born in Plain township, April 14, 1832, on the farm where he now lives. He attended the township schools, and in 1854 went to Delaware Col- lege, Dr. Thompson, President, after which he began teaching, having altogether taught twelve terms in Plain township and one in Clinton. May 9, 1855, he was married to Miss Mary E. Bru- baker, of Lake township, Ashland county, and has seven children, to wit: William F., George P., Olin L., Gertrude P., Orange Judd, Laura B. and Estella. The three oldest have been attend- ing Wooster University. He is one of the intelligent men in the township and his character without a flaw; is heartily identified with every enterprise that looks to progress, and one whose excel-
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lent qualities make him a man highly regarded. For nine years he was Justice of the Peace, and, with his wife, is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
CHURCHES OF PLAIN TOWNSHIP.
Reformed Church of Reedsburg was founded by Adam Stump, a pioneer minister of the West, who labored here in 1840 and organized the congregation. Rev. J. Schlosser was next, and then Rev. Jesse Hines, who yet lives in Reedsburg. Rev. J. J. Excel came after him, and during his ministry the church edifice was erected. The congregation is at present in a prosperous condition.
Lutheran Church .- The first services held by persons of this faith were in 1836, at the residences of Jacob Smyser, Sen., and M. Starn, and an old log school-house east of the village. The family of Mr. Smyser is the only Lutheran one now known to have lived in this community at that time.
In 1842 a German Reformed and Lutheran Church was built east of the village. The building committee was Jonas Spangler, Washington Cassiday and Jacob Smyser, Jr. No regular organization occurred till 1848, when a constitution was drafted and signed by the following membership : Daniel Smyser and wife, Martin Smyser and wife, Jacob Smyser and wife, Emanuel Smyser and wife, Samuel Baley and wife, George Lawrence, David and Henry Horn, Hanna Kelley and Isaac Peter- man. In 1859 it was determined to build a church of their own in the village, and in 1873 it was extensively repaired, and now is a beautiful edifice. The pres- ent membership is ninety-seven. The line of ministers is as follows: Andrew Kuhn, W. J. Sloan, George Wolf, G. W. Shaffer, C. C. Guenther, George Leiter. A. M. Smith, D. Smith, Jacob Fry, Adam Helwig, A. Z. Thomas, and S. P. Kiefer.
Baptist Church of Millbrook .- The Baptists of this settlement for many years attended service at Wooster, and afterwards they built what was known as the Dunbar church. In about 1854 they erected a church building of their own in Millbrook, though it stands across the line in Clinton township. The early Baptists were Elijah Pocock, Mrs. Irvine Keys, Mrs. William, mother of the late Dr. Baker, of Wooster, John Reider and wife, and Mrs. Elizabeth Knox. The early Baptist members of the Dunbar neighborhood were David and William Kimpton, John Robison and wife and oldest daughter, Jacob Singer and wife, the daughters of Thomas Culbertson, and Robert Dunbar, who settled in Wooster township in 1829. Becoming an independent church, they grew in numbers and influence. The fol- lowing is the probable line of ministers : Rev. A. W. Hall, Rev. A. J. Buell, Rev. John Burke, Rev. T. J. Penny, Rev. A. E. Anderson, Rev. Nelson Crandal, Rev. J. K. Porter, Rev. G. W. Taylor, and Rev. James Samis, present pastor.
Maple Grove Church .- The original edifice was a log building, raised in 1835, on the precise grounds occupied by the new one. It was a rude structure, with slab seats without backs, etc., and was called the Case Meeting House. Prior, however, to this church, the society held religious services in a house one-half mile south of the church and now owned by James Weltmer. The members attending that church were Jean, wife of Samuel Case, Oresimus Case and Sarah his wife, Joshua Case, Gashim Woods and wife and daughter. Their new church edifice is one of the best in the township, and the church is in a prosperous condition.
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Plain Church (Lutheran) .- The lot on which this church stands was deeded to the members of the German Reformed and Lutheran churches by George Karns, in 1834. The church was built in 1834 -- 35. A permanent organization took place November 5, 1843, with the following officers and members: Elder, Jacob Soliday ; Deacons, John Miles and John Soliday; Members, Jacob Lawrence, Elizabeth and Sarah Smith, Mary Keister, Morgan Doyl, Charlotte Dysert, Mary Welty, Catharine Byers, John G. and Jacob Welty, Mary and Elizabeth Shelly, Lonvina Jones, George Muttersbangh, Lydia Miles, Catharine and Elizabeth Soliday, Sarah C. Smith, Elizabeth Knox and Mariah Lawrence. In 1853 the present church structure was erected. The present membership is sixty-two, and the line of min- istry is the same as that of Reedsburg.
Evangelical Church .- The original members were C. Felger, John Raudebaugh, M. Rittenhouse, Phillip Kettering, John Weltmer. The first house of worship was built in 1856. The present edifice was erected in 1876, under the ministry of Rev. Joseph Felger, and was dedicated by Rev. Joseph Bartzler. The building com- mittee consisted of George Felger, Harrison Swickart, George Nave, Christian Fair. Its present officers are George Nave, class-leader, and Cylas Fickes, exhorter. It is now known as the Grand View church.
Disciple Church, in Blachleyville, was built in 1866. Hugh Funk and fam- ily, Peter Baker and his father's family, Casper Swart, and others, were among the earliest of this denomination in this locality. Rev. Harrison Jones was the first preacher.
Christ's Lutheran Church, in Blachleyville, was built in 1875, Rev. George Dillman ministering to the congregation.
Oak Chapel, Methodist .- The old log edifice was erected in 1827, and was dedi- cated by Rev. Russel Bigelow. The new church was constructed in 1861, and ded- icated by Rev. Adam Poe ; the circuit preachers then being Revs. Starr and Spof- ford. It has recently been repaired-a cupola added, wherein a bell is introduced. This church is in a prosperons condition, with a Sunday-school in conjunction with it, of which David Bitner is superintendent, and near to this church, in 1818, the first camp-meeting was held in Plain township.
Nathan Warner, son of Nathan Warner, was born in North- ampton county, Pa., October 12, 1790. He was the second son and third member of a family of nine. His ancestry was of English origin on the paternal and Welsh on the maternal side .* He re- mained with his father till he was twenty-four years of age, when he was married, May 4, 1815, to Mary Rathbun, of Cayuga county, N. Y. He then removed to Plain township, settling on a piece of land which he purchased, north of the residence of Rev. Jesse Warner, deceased. Here he lived seven years, when he removed to the present residence of Daniel Thomas, east of Jefferson, where he lived from August, 1826, to May, 1843, when he removed to the premises now owned by his son, Rev. Joshua Warner, south
* See Warners, Wooster Township.
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of Jefferson, and where he continued to live till his death, Septem- ber 12, 1870. He had nine children, and had been a member of the Methodist church for sixty-two years.
Mr. Warner was a man characterized by many noble and re- markable qualities. He was a born mechanic, and in this direction there was scarcely any limit to the range of his genius. He could make anything he undertook, from a leather boot-jack to a thresh- ing-machine. He manufactured the first fanning-mill for winnow- ing wheat that was ever made or used in Wayne county. , In making it he observed no pattern ; it was a conception of his own, and though made over half a century ago, it is still in use and better than many of the more improved mills of the present day. He was always a busy man, and did not rust from idleness. His son has a powder-horn over a foot long, on the heavy end of which is horizontally cut with his pocket-knife, "N. Warner- 1809," and perpendicularly on it, "Nathan Warner's powder-horn." He has a pouch also, made of a 'coon-skin, with the hair all worn off; a finely silver-mounted rifle, with which he killed deer and bears, and a coat with but few rents, and on it a row (nine) of silver-gilt buttons, the property of his great grandfather, and descending to him, he being the third custodian of it by the name of Nathan.
He was a conspicuous man in the early history of his town- ship and county. He was one of the earliest of its tax-collect- ors; the receiver of public funds to make material improvements ; one of the trustees of his township in 1835; on the first grand jury ever impaneled in Wayne county, his name being identified with the early history of the county, as the record exhibits, in its most notable and vital enterprises. After the surrender of Hull, August 16, 1812, and the massacre on the Black Fork, a rumor was circulated that the Indians were about to move on the settle- ments at Wooster. Isaac, son of Adam Poe, was going from Wooster to Mansfield on horseback, and hearing this news, re- treated rapidly toward the former place to give the alarm and ob- tain aid from Beall's army, then at Wooster. His horse gave out when he reached Killbuck, when Mr. Warner instantly supplied him with a fresh one to continue his journey, when sixty soldiers were at once detached and sent to the relief of the inhabitants. He knew what it was to endure the hardships of pioneer life. We may draw upon our pen and the resources of our imagination, but can never produce the perfect picture. His life was a varied and eventful one, and who will say that the world is not made
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better by the lives of such men? His good wife and he toiled and struggled and lived to see the dawning and the light.
"They shunned not labor when 'twas due, They wrought with right good will ; And for the homes they won for them Their children bless them still."
Rev. Joshua Warner, son of Nathan, was born July 22, 1827, on the Daniel Thomas farm, east of Jefferson, and was married November 30, 1848, to Miss Jane Baker. He is a farmer by occu- pation, although for the last ten years he has been licensed to preach, never, however, having traveled on circuit, except one year as a stated supply. Mr. Warner is one of the best citizens of Wayne county, a man of genius and ability, an eloquent and con- vincing speaker, and in every respect an honorable and high- minded gentleman.
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