USA > Ohio > History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. II > Part 52
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bent pioneer, leaning upon his staff, willingly turns his eyes backward upon that far-off period in his life; but his light is like the moonlight on the waters, revealing only the outlines. From this meagre and imperfect source it has been ascertained that the first settlement within the present limits of Greenville township was made about 1805, or the year before, by the Boston family, from North Carolina, which is yet repre- sented in the township. The earliest settlers were largely from the South-North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia. A few were from Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and fewer still from New England. Thus the mixture of blood has made the present inhabit- ants a rather homogeneous race, but the charac- teristics of the different sections of the country adhere to them with wonderful tenacity, and the careful observer will, by listening, make a very close guess as to what part of the country their ancestors were from.
There is no doubt that the Bostons, Wellses, Browns, Andrew Mundell, the Clarks, Collinses, and Woodses were the first settlers of this town- ship. The first settlement was made on Indian creek, above the forks, not far from the present village of Galena. Those who immediately fol- lowed them were Mordecai Collins, John and James Taylor, Madison Martin, William Wil- liams, Jacob Garrison, Ludlow Hand, Judge Mills, William Ferguson, Jacob Miller, Amos and Jonathan Davis, Thomas Hobson, Adam Smith, John Daniel, John Smith, Abraham Coff- man, Major Stewart, James Alward, Joseph Woodville, John Moore, John McKown, Jacob Floor, Morris Morris, Major Lucas; Benjamin Bower, Daniel D. Porter, William Foster, Benja- min Haines, Reuben Smith, Mathias Sappen- field, and Alexander Hedden. The above were all settlers in this township prior to 1826, and some of them came as early as 1810 or before.
Next to the Boston family, of which there were Robert and his brother, both of whom entered land, were the Browns, who came about 1806. Two brothers, John and William Brown, came first from South Carolina to Kentucky, and from the latter State removed to Greenville township, settling near the Bostons, on Indian creek. Both brought their families with them, entered land, erected their cabins, and became permanent set- tlers. It is believed that none of the members
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of these families now reside In the township.
John Clark was also a settler of 1806, coming from Kentucky. He subsequently married and reared a family, and one of his sons, John, yet resides in the township.
These settlers were followed by William Wells, in 1809. This family was from South Carolina, but came to this township from Kentucky, in which State he had resided a few years, where Joseph B., a son, nowa resident of this township, was born in 1801. The family consisted of Wil- liam Wells, his wife, and five children, none of whom are now living except Joseph. The four families above mentioned settled near together on Indian creek. When they first came the whole country was a wilderness, with no settle- ment nearer than Corydon. The site of New Albany, Mr. Wells says, was then a wilderness, with but a single settler, a man named John Spratt, an Indian trader, who occupied a pole cabin and kept a few trinkets for barter with his red neighbors.
Mordecai Collins, from Virginia, settled in the southern part of the township about 1809, or be- fore, and reared quite a family, two of his chil- dren being yet residents of the township.
Isaac Woods settled northwest of the present site of Greenville village, about 1810. Mr. Woods was from North Carolina.
Wells was a carpenter and millwright, and as- sisted in building most of the first mills in the township.
Andrew Mundali was also among the first set- tlers, making his appearance some time before 1809. He entered land and settled on the present site of Greenville, building his cabin near a spring in the western part of that village. He subsequently, with the assistance of Benjamin Haines, laid out the town. He had a wife and several children, but has no living representative in the township at present. He was a school- teacher in Kentucky prior to his removal to this place.
James Taylor was among the earliest settlers in the southwest part of the township. One of the family now occupies the old homestead.
Madison Martin was a settler in the same neighborhood, reared a family of some size, and passed away at an advanced age about four years ago.
William Williams was also a settler in the .
same neighborhood with Taylor and Martin. He reared a family of several children, one of his sons, Thomas Jefferson, being yet a resident up- on the old place.
Jacob Miller was among the early settlers on Indian creek, and subsequently represented the county in the Legislature. One of his sons still resides on the home farm.
Amos and Jonathan Davis, Thomas Hobson, Adam Smith, Jacob Garrison, Ludlow ("Lud ") Hand, John Daniel, Judge Mills, and John Smith, were all settlers on Indian creek. The Davises were from one of the Carolinas, and have representatives yet living in the township. Hobson was likewise a Southern man, reared a family, and died in 1847, of heart disease while eating his dinner. Smith was from Pennsylvania, and also died in 1847. One of his sons is now engaged in milling in Greenville village. Garri- son was a Yankee and son-in-law of Adam Smith. His widow is now living in Galena. Hand was also a Yankee, and a son-in law of Jacob Garrison. Daniel and Mills were Vir- ginians. Both were intelligent and influential farmers, and the latter became something of a politician, and was made an associate judge. Neither has any representatives living in the township. John and Peter Smith were cousins, and came from the South. The latter is yet liv- ing, at an advanced age, in the neighborhood where they first settled.
William Ferguson was an Ohio man, and reared a family, of whom one, Mrs. Nancy Wood, a widow, is yet a resident of Greenville village.
Abraham Coffman was among the earliest set- tlers of the village. He was a Pennsylvanian, and reared a family of seven children, some of whom are still living and have accumulated con- siderable property. Coffman was the proprietor of a horse-mill in a very early day, and one of the first millers in the township. Mrs. Coffman is yet living, having been a resident of the town- ship since 1823. One of the boys, a rather ec- centric gentleman, now conducts a fine dairy farm near the village, and is somewhat noted for the quality and quantity of butter produced on his farm.
Robert Brown, Major Stewart, James Allward, Joseph Woodville, John (better known as "Jack") Moore, John McKown, and Jacob Floor were all
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early settlers in the village of Greenville. Stew- art was an influential man, and one of the first merchants. He was also a bit of a politician, and was looked up to and consulted in regard to voting by those who made no pretensions to the study of politics. The evidence of this lies in the fact that, upon different occasions, when a certain resident of the town was asked for whom he intended casting his vote at the coming election, would reply: "Well, I do not know ; I must see Major Stewart first."
James Allward was a Yankee and one of the village doctors, probably the first one. However, Messrs. Conkling and Hayden were also Yan- kees and doctors, and all three were in practice here at the same time. Dr. Reuben C. Smith came in a little later, and is yet living and prac- ticing in the village. Hayden was probably the best read doctor in the village while in practice; but he took to preaching, then to drinking, and he latter habit killed him.
Woodville was from Pennsylvania, and en- gaged in milling.
Moore was a somewhat eccentric character, with a club-foot, lived "from hand to mouth," and indulged a good deal in drink. It is said that he once became impressed with the idea that his eyes were failing, and went to one of the merchants to select a pair of "glasses." After looking the lot all over, and being no doubt a little clouded intellectually on account of having imbibed too freely of his favorite beverage, he selected a pair without glasses, and putting them on, ohserved that they were satisfactory and pur- chased them. The defect was discovered by his wife.
Mckown was of Irish descent; some of the family are yet living in the neighborhood.
Floor was one of the first tanners in the vil- lage.
Morris Morris was a Welshman, and one of the first settlers on Richland creek. Isaac Wood, before mentioned, was also a settler on the creek, his land adjoining that of Morris. He entered his tract, then all covered with timber, and spent his first winter with his family in a bark house. As the winter happened to be an extremely cold one, the family suffered considerably, not only from cold, but from lack of provisions and clothing. Mr. Wood succeded in getting work at a considerable distance from his cabin, in
what is now Clarke county, and for this he was paid in wheat, which he brought home on his back, and in the same manner transported it to what was known as Bullitt's mill, located on a small island at the head of the Falls of the Ohio, where it was ground. This was the only mill then in that part of the country, except one on Blue river, further away, owned by Governor · Harrison. Mr. Wood had only an ox-cart in which to bring his family and household goods to the new country. The wild pea-vines and undergrowth were so dense that it was with the greatest difficulty he could get to his land. He was compelled to hew his way with his axe, and in the same way to cut paths in different direc- tions from his bark cabin. Once, when near the point of starvation, he shot a buck from his cabin door. The log beside which his hut was built, proved to be the receptacle for a large number of snakes, which had crawled in there for the winter. Mrs. Wood often remarked in after years, when they were in comfortable circum- stances, that her first pair of shoes was her wed- ding shoes.
The struggles of this family simply illustrates the hardships of nearly all the pioneers of that time. Those who came to the country destitute of the means of living during the succeeding year (and very many did) often greatly suffered.
Major Lucas was also one of the pioneer set- tlers on Richland creek, in the Wood settlement.
Other pioneers are mentioned in the history of the village of Greenville. Most of those named have passed to the silent land, and-
How few, all weak and withered, of their force Wait on the verge of dark eternity.
MILLS
were among the most necessary things in the new country, and at the same time among the most difficult of construction, considering the tools in the hands of the pioneers. The settler could support himself and family for a time with his rifle, his fishing rod, and his "truck patch," but, after havesting his first crop, whether it were corn or wheat, some kind of a mill for reducing it to flour or meal was indispensable. The first resort was to the "hominy block," many of which were in use among the pioneers of Greenville township, as elsewhere. It was the most simple of all machines for the purpose, and easily con- structed, requiring as tools only an axe, a
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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
hatchet or a gouge, or, in the absence of either, a firebrand would do the work-anything that would make a hole a foot deep and six or eight inches in diameter, in a log or the top of a good, solid stump, was all that was required. In this receptacle the corn or wheat was placed and pounded with a pestle until pulverized, when the mass was taken out, sifted, if desirable, and was then considered ready for use.
These machines were very unsatisfactory, how- ever, and but a short time elapsed until they en- tirely disappeared, and the horse-mill took their place. This was also a very primitive and clumsy affair. Two or three of these mills were in operation at different times on the present site of Greenville, one by Mr. Coffman, before men- tioned, which stood on or near the site of the present steam mill; and one by James Gregg, at the west end of the town. Probably the first mill of this kind erected in the township was by a Mr. Morris, about a mile west of the site of the village. His mill stood upon four posts and a long, crooked sweep came down to within two or three feet of the ground, to which the horse was attached. The mill was entirely constructed of wood, except the buhrs, which were made by the miller himself out of native " nigger-heads." It was merely a corn-cracker and unsatisfactory in its operations, but still a great improvement over the hominy block. Gregg's mill was differ- ently constructed, though its results were about . the same. His was the latest style of horse- mill, being propelled by the horses tramping upon an inclined wheel. A large wooden wheel was fastened securely at an angle of less than forty degrees, and upon the lowest part of it one or two horses were placed, and as they attempted to travel around it the wheel began to turn, thus keeping the horses all the time on the lower part and the wheel continually in motion. Some iron was necessary in this mill. The gearing was placed underneath the large wheel. The buhrs were similar in construction to those in the Morris mill. They made poor flour and meal, but were well patronized for a time, and were looked upon as the wonder of the age. No bolting was done at these mills; that must be done by hand by the customer, if done at all.
Prior to the erection of these horse-mills, and while hominy-blocks were yet in use, a mill had been erected on an island at the head of the falls to
which the early settlers for some years resorted, even after the horse-mills were in operation, as they could get better work at the island mill. This mill was conducted at that time by a man named Bullitt, and was situated upon the island where General George Rogers Clarke was encamped with his troops, about 1778, just prior to his famous expedition against Kaskaskia and Vin- cennes. Another early water-mill, to which the settlers of Greenville township sometimes re- sorted, was the one on Blue river, within the present limits of Harrison county, which was owned, at that time, by Governor Harrison. Neither of these mills, however, could run the whole year around. In winter they were frozen up, and often they were out of repair for weeks at a time. At such times the only recourse was to the hominy-block or horse-mill ; these were generally ready to do the work.
Probably the first water-mill in the township was erected on Indian creek by Adam Smith. It was a very primitive affair, built of logs, and could not do much in the way of grinding. The buhrs were home-made, and the mill could only run a portion of the year; but it was quite a convenience to the settlers. Quite a number of mills of this description were erected along Indian creek, in various places, and at various times. The creek was in those days a steady, honest, sober, business-like stream, but since the country has been cleared up it has grown eccen- tric, and occasionally gets into a towering rage, at such times sweeping every thing before it. It soon subsides, however; its waters run rapidly away until a duck could cross it at many points without being required to swim. For this reason the mills on its banks and depending upon it for power are no more.
Adam Smith's old log mill continued in oper- ation quite a number of years, when it was taken down and a frame erected in its place. Dr. R. C. Smith, now of Greenville, did the carpenter work on this mill, which stood until 1850 or later, when it was purchased by John G. Tomp- kins and removed to Galena. Mr. Smith erected a saw-mill in 1832, which he also con- ducted in connection with this grist-mill.
One of the earliest mills was known as Engle- man's, and was located on Knob creek. It has long since passed away, but Mr. Jean Engleman still conducts a saw-mill on its site.
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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
Two other early mills on Indian creek were those owned by Peter Smith and Jonathan Em- mons-both "corn-crackers." Sınith's mill dis- appeared in a few years, but Emmons improved his and made a very good flouring-mill of it. He sold it to John S. Coffman, who had been engaged somewhat in the horse-mill. Mr. Coff man erected a brick mill on its site about 1850, and continued doing a prosperous business for some years, but, getting tired of it, he let it go down. He subsequently took part of the brick from the walls to build his present very fine dairy. A portion of the wall of the old mill is yet stand- ing.
Among the other primitive mills in this town- ship in an early day were the carding and full- ing mills. These were not required until some time subsequent to the first settlement, after the settlers began the raising of sheep. James Gregg, who was a live business man, conducted one of these mills in connection with his "corn-cracker" in Greenville. Another stood on the site of Reason Smith's cooper-shop. Several others were in operation in different parts of the town- ship, and continued in use for many years. They were indispensable to the clothing of the settlers. The wool was brought to these mills where it was manufactured into rolls ; and when the cloth was ready it was brought here to be " fulled." Prior to the erection of these mills the carding was done in the cabin of the settler, as were also the spinning and weaving. The fulling was accomplished by a process known as " kicking ;" and in early days "kicking bees" were much in vogue. Half a dozen young peo- ple would gather at a cabin and, putting their chairs in a circle on the cabin floor and lashing them together to prevent recoil, would divest themselves of their boots or shoes and stockings, and the cloth being placed in the centre of the circle, the dozen feet would begin the kicking, while some one poured hot soap-suds on the pile of cloth. This was continued, the cloth being driven round and round until it was shrunk as much as desired.
At present there are two very excellent flour- ing mills in the township, one in Galena and one in Greenville village.
The first mill erected on the site of the Green- ville flouring-mill was the horse-mill before men- tioned, conducted by Mr. Coffman. The pres-
ent substantial brick structure was erected about 1840, by John B. Ford, since somewhat noted in connection with the manufacture of glass at New Albany. After a few years he sold out 'to a German named John Korb, and while in his possession it was burnt to the ground. It was soon again rebuilt by Mr. Korb, who conducted it'successfully eight or ten years, when he sold to the present proprietors, Messrs. Keithley & Brown. Having a surplus power, these gentle- men added the manufacture of staves and head- ings for barrels. The business of barrel-making has been quite extensively engaged in for many years in various parts of the township. Cooper- shops were among the first shops erected, and ever since the earliest settlement quite a number of the people have secured a living by coopering. Of late years, however, these shops are growing less in number, partly because the coopers can no longer compete with machinery, which man- ufactures barrels so much more rapidly than they, and partly because first class timber for coopering is rapidly disappearing, and in some parts of the township has disappeared entirely. The process of steaming timber before cutting the staves by machinery-which process is in operation in Greenville-enables the manufact- urer to use many kinds of timber that could not be used by the old process. Formerly the cooper must have straight-grained wood that ·would split easily, and generally used oak; now, however, beech and other hard woods are used in this shop and others with success, regardless also of the splitting qualities, as the staves are simply cut out with a sharp knife, driven by steam, after the wood has received a thorough steaming and has thus been rendered soft and pliable.
Near the eastern suburbs. of the village of Galena was, and is, a fine spring, which deter- mined the location of the steam mill. This is a large brick structure, and was erected about 1857- 58 by John G. Tompkins. This mill is the succes- sor of the old mill built by Adam Smith on Indian creek, before mentioned as having been transferred from that place to Galena. Mr. Tompkins brought the old frame up from the creek, placed it over the spring, and added steam-power. In a few years he tore it down and erected the present building. About 1861- 62 the property was purchased by John Swartz,
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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
who subsequently sold it to his brother, the pres- ent owner. The firm is at present D. B. Swartz & Son. The mill has two run of stone, makes an excellent quality of flour, and is doing a large business.
Last year, 1880, Mr. Henry Roub erected a steam hominy mill about two miles west of Greenville, which is now in full operation. He has also a shingle-cutting machine attached, and a machine for making staves and barrel-head- ings.
Brick for buildings, iron and steel machinery, and steam for power, has here, as everywhere in the State, superseded the log structure, wooden machinery and water-power. The same inexora- ble law of improvement rules even the milling interest.
CHURCHES.
In the pioneer days of Greenville township churches, religious matters and religion appear on the surface to have occupied more of people's thoughts than they do at the present day. Whether the people are degenerating, whether growing more wicked than in those " good old days," or whether to-day they are gathered into fewer churches, is a question for others than the historian to discuss ; he can only give facts as they appear. It seems as if there were more church organizations in proportion to the num- ber of people in those days than at present ; and also that more people belonged to some church organization then in proportion to the whole number of inhabitants. Whether this be true or not, one fact in the religious history of this town- ship-and the same is probably true everywhere in the country-the religion of the people has changed very materially. Some of the older de- nominations have almost entirely disappeared, and others, with different names and doctrines have taken their places. For instance, what has become of what was once so familiarly known as the " Hard-shell " Baptists? This was probably the pioneer church in this township ; but, so far as can be ascertained, it has entirely disappeared. The New-lights and Universalists were once quite numerous, but seem to have generally disap- peared; at least, if they exist, they do not appear in an organized body. The old Lutheran church seems to be on the decline, and even the Meth- odist church doctrines are not in as much favor as they once were. This latter church was once
a powerful church, as well as generally the pio- neer religious society ; but it has seen its best days, apparently. Among the new churches that have superseded the older institutions may be mentioned the Congregational and New-school Presbyterian. The reason of this seems to lie largely, if not altogether, in the fact of the greater latitude and more liberal creeds of the latter. The world of to-day is more given to liberal views and freedom in religious matters as in other things. Whether this is for the best is quite another question.
This township had its pioneer preachers of al- most every denomination. Brave, hardy, ad- venturous workers they were, coming into the great woods sometimes on horseback, sometimes on foot, and generally preaching the Gospel ac- cording to their best light, freely, "without money and without price." The earliest preach- ers were missionaries sent out by some society among the "heathens" of the Western wilder- ness to convert them to their way of thinking, and build up churches that would stand forever to the honor and glory of the Master they de- sired simply and humbly to serve. Sometimes they were paid a mere pittance for their services; more often they only received their board and lodging. Whether the pioneer was a professor of religion or not, his "latch-string was always out," and he freely gave the best he had to every stranger that passed his door, be he preacher or layman, or neither.
The larger proportion of the pioneers were members of some church organization prior to appearance in this township; therefore the preachers always found a large religious element in every community to sustain them in their labors. Indeed, all were glad to have a preacher come among them, whether church members or not; and all went to hear the preaching. The first religious services were held either in the open air or in the cabin of some settler, until the old log school-houses began to spring up here and there in the woods, when services were generally held in these until organizations were effected and church buildings erected.
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