USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume I > Part 22
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Ordered, that Jacob Grubb he appointed County Treasurer for the County of Franklin. Ordered that four dollars be appropriated for the purpose of completing the election boxes in this county, agreeably to the requisition of law.
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Ordered, that there be allowed for wolf and panther scalps as follows, to wit : For every wolf or panther scalp any person shall kill under six months old, one dollar ; for every wolf or panther that is above six months old, two dollars. The proceedings respecting any wolf or panther scalp to be particularly and pointedly regulated by the law passed by the Legisla- tive Council and House of Representatives in General Assembly of the territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio River entitled, An act to encourage the killing of wolves and panthers, passed ninth of January, 1802; said law to be complied with in every respect except the price given for scalps, which shall be as before mentioned in this order; and the holders of any certificate for such scalps shall be paid out of the county treasury so soon as the tax for 1804 shall be levied and collected, and not hefore.
[Session of January 7, 1804.] A return of the view of road from Franklinton to New- ark was made by the surveyor and viewers that were appointed at September session which return of survey and report were received and ordered to be recorded.
Ordered, that the supervisor in Liberty Township proceed to open said road thirtythree feet wide, and prepare and make it passable for loaded carriages or wagons. A petition was presented by the Reverend James Kilbourne and others, praying for a view of a road to lead from Franklinton to the town of Worthington, from thence to the south boundary of the fifth tier of townships, etc. It is ordered, that the prayer of said petition be granted, and that Michael Fisher, Thomas Morehead and Samuel Flenniken be appointed viewers, who, or any two of them, shall view and make report of the same. And it is further ordered that Joseph Vance be appointed surveyor to attend said viewers and make a correct survey of the same and return it to this court.
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It is further ordered that the prayer of the petition presented by the Reverend James Kilbourne and others, praying for a road to lead from the town of Worthington to intersect the road which leads from Franklinton to Newark, be granted on the conditions that the said petitioners defray at their own expense the viewing, surveying and opening the same.
It is further ordered, that Maj. William Thompson, Ezra Griswold and Samuel Beach be appointed viewers of said road, and report the same to this court at their next session ; also, that the Reverend James Kilbourne be appointed surveyor, who shall attend said viewers, make a fair and correct survey, and return the same to this court at their next session.
On application of Ezra Griswold for license to keep a tavern in Liberty Township, he be- ing recommended to the satisfaction of this court, and he also paying into the Clerk's hands the tax required by law, it is ordered that license be granted lim accordingly.
On application of Nathan Carpenter of Liberty Township for license to keep a house of public entertainment, he being recommended to the satisfaction of this court and he having also paid into the hands of the clerk the tax required by law, it is ordered that license be granted him.
Usual Osbourn, having given bond with approved security for the collection of the county tax in Darby Township, it is ordered that he be appointed collector of the same.
Ordered, that Lucas Sullivant be appointed Recorder for the County of Franklin pro tempore, who shall proceed to provide the necessary books for the office, who shall, if he is not continued permanently be paid by his successor the necessary costs of the same at the time of delivering up the records, etc., to his successor, which he shall do whenever a Re- corder shall be permanently appointed.
Ordered that this court adjourn until Tuesday next.
Test,
LUCAS SULLIVANT, Clerk.
[Session of January 10, 1804] Ordered, that there be paid nnto Adam Hosack, Sheriff of this county, the sum of one dollar and fifty cents for summoning the grand jury for Jan- nary term, 1804.
Ordered, that there be a jail built immediately for the use of this county, on the follow- ing plan, to wit: Of logs twelve feet long and eighteen inches diameter, with two sides hewed so as to make a face of eight inches, and to be let down dovetailing so as to make the logs fit close together ; to be seven feet at least between the lower and upper floors, which floor is to be of timbers of like thickness, with three sides hewed so as to let them lie entire- ly close, and to be smooth on the face of the lower floor, and the upper floor to show an even face in like manner on the lower side, and to have two rounds of logs at least, of like timbers above the upper floor ; then to have a cabin roof (made of clapboards held down by timbers laid transversely in lines about three feet apart) well put on, a door cut out two feet eight inches wide and prepared in a workmanlike order, to hang the shutter of the door, which
shutter is to be made in a strong and sufficient and workmanlike manner of plank two inches thick. There is to be two windows, eight inches by ten inches wide, made in said prison house, which windows are to be secured by two bars of iron one inch square sufficiently let in, in each window, the corners closely sawed or eut down.
Ordered that this court be adjourned without day.
Test,
LUCAS SULLIVANT, Clerk. * *
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[Session of March 24, 1804.] Ordered, that there be paid to Joseph Parks and Samuel Mc- Elvain, each, three dollars out of the county treasury, for three days services in viewing of a road from Franklinton to Newark.
Ordered, that there be paid unto David Pugh and John Hoskins, each, two dollars and a quarter out of the county treasury for three days services in carrying the chain on the view of the road from Franklinton to Newark.
Ordered, that there be paid to Samuel Smith four dollars and fifty cents, for three days services in surveying the road from Franklinton to Newark, as per return of survey.
Ordered, that there be paid out of the county treasury to Lucas Sullivant, eighty dollars, for the building of the jail, in Franklinton, for the county.
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.
Ordered, that Lucas Sullivant he appointed surveyor, to attend the viewers of the road from Franklinton to Springfield, and to survey and return a plat thereof of that part which has not been viewed.
Ordered, that there be paid unto John Dill, Esq., eight dollars out of the county treasury, cash by him advanced to purchase a lock for the jail of Franklin County.
Adjourned,
LUCAS SULLIVANT, Clerk.
The eounty jail ordered in the foregoing proceedings was built by Lucas Sul- livant at a cost of eighty dollars. It was burned down not a great while after- wards. There is no record that stocks and a whipping-post were provided in con- neetion with it, although an early tradition so states, and was corroborated by the customs of the period. Under the Territorial Government the use of such imple- ments of punishment began as early as 1788, and in 1792 the judges passed a law directing that the stocks, whipping-post and pillory, as well as a jail and eourt- house, should be erected in every county. In defiance of the Ordinance of 1787, forbidding slavery, a law was passed August 15, 1795, providing that a non-paying debtor might be subjected to servitude for a period of seven years on demand of his creditor. Under the Constitution of 1802 similar laws were enaeted. They were borrowed originally from the Statutes of Pennsylvania.
The courts of Franklin County met in hired rooms until 1807-8, when a court- house was erected under the supervision of Lucas Sullivant. It was built of brick manufactured from the clay of one of the ancient mounds of the neighborhood." A brick jail, Arthur O'Harra contractor, was built about the same time, situated a few rods northeast of the courthouse. These buildings continued to be used until the countyseat was removed to Columbus in 1824.8 After that, the courthouse was nsed, for some time, as a schoolhouse. It remained standing until 1873, when it was torn away, and the present Franklinton school building was erected on its site.
Among the new settlers in Franklinton from 1805 to 1809 were Isaae and Jeremiah Miner, Samuel White and sons, the Stewarts, the Johnstons, the Weath- eringtons, the Shannons, the Stambaughs, the Ramseys, the Mooberrys, the Sharps, the Deckers, the Rareys, the Olmsteds, the Kiles, Jacob Gander, Percival Adams, John Swisher and George W. Williams.9 To these were added, from 1805 to 1812, several young men whose talents and energy afterward made them conspicuous. Among these were Lyne Starling, Doctor Lincoln Goodale, Doetor Samuel Par- sons; R. W. McCoy, Francis Stewart, Henry Brown, John Kerr, Alexander Me- Laughlin, Orris Parish, Ralph Osborn, and Gustavus Swan.
Owing to their subsequent prominence and usefulness, several of these earlier settlers in Franklinton deserve more particular notiee.
Isaac, afterwards known as Judge Miner, arrived from the State of New York in 1806 or 1807. Jeremiah Miner came a year later. After residing in Franklin- ton one or two years, the brothers engaged in stock-raising on Deer Creek, in Madison County. Several years later they bought a large tract of land, sinec known as the Miner farm, from which was derived a portion of the ground sinee consecrated as Green Lawn Cemetery. Judge Miner died in 1831, aged fiftythree. Jeremiah Miner was never married. He died at an advanced age, in Upper San- dusky, and was interred at Green Lawn.
Orris Parish came from the State of New York. He was elected President Judge of Common Pleas for Franklin County in 1816, and afterwards represented the county in the General Assembly.
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FRANKLINTON.
Ralph Osborn arrived in 1806 from Waterbury, Connectient, where he had acquired the profession of the law. After remaining in Franklinton a few years, be removed to Delaware County, of which he became the first Prosecuting At- torney. At a later period he removed to Pickaway County, and in 1810 was elected Clerk of the Ohio House of Representatives. In 1815 he was elected Auditor of State, an office which he held eighteen years in succession. In 1833 he was chosen as State Senator for the Counties of Franklin and Pickaway.
Doctor Samuel Parsons, father of Hon. George M. Parsons, whose name has been a prominent one in Columbus for many years past, was a native of Reading, Connecticut. Martin's History says of him : " He acquired his profession in his native State ; removed to the west a young and unmarried man, and arrived at Franklinton on the first day of the year, 1811, where he located and commenced the practice of his profession. In 1816 he removed over to Columbus, where be continued to practice until the last eight or nine years of his life, when he retired. As a physician he was attentive and cautious, and acquired a high reputation- and as a citizen was highly respected. In 1843 he was, without solicitation or desire on his part, elected a Representative for this county in the State Legisla- ture, where he served with ability. He was also for a number of years President of the Franklin Branch of the State Bank of Ohio."
Gustavus Swan was born in the town of Sharon, New Hampshire, July 15, 1787. After many severe struggles with poverty, he acquired the profession of the law. He set out for Ohio ou horseback in April, 1810, and in the ensuing May arrived at Marietta. Ile brought with him fifteen hundred dollars, which he loaned to a friend and lost. . He was not dismayed by this misfortune, believing, says his biographer,10 that "a young man's best capital with which to begin active life is good morals, a liberal education, and the fear of starvation." In the spring of 1811 he visited Cincinnati, Chillicothe, Zanesville, and finally Franklinton, where he concluded to make his permanent settlement. He was led to this deci- sion by the conviction that the seat of government of the State would be located at the Forks of the Scioto. Ile opened a law office in Franklinton, served as a volunteer in the war of 1812, and in 1814 transferred the theatre of his professional practice to Columbus. Of his subsequent career more will be said in its proper historical connection.
John Kerr was a native of Ireland, born in 1778, and educated at the Uni- versity of Dublin. Ile came to America early in the present century, and arrived, about 1810, in Franklinton, near which he made extensive investments in land, particularly on the east bank of the Scioto. Chiefly from these investments he afterwards became very wealthy.
Lyne Starling, born in Kentucky, December 27, 1784, came to Franklinton, by invitation of his brotherinlaw, Lucas Sullivant, in 1805. Having served as an assistant in the office of the clerk of the courts at Frankfort, he soon became a useful helper in the official duties of Mr. Sullivant, then clerk of the court at Franklinton. He finally became the clerk himself, and held the office for several years. Induced by a taste for business to renounce official station, he became a partner in trade with Mr. Sullivant, established a flourishing store, and was first to venture cargoes of produce in decked flatboats down the Scioto, and thence to New Orleans. When the war of 1812 broke out, he became a commissary for the
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.
Northwestern Army under General Harrison, and took large contracts for furnish- ing its supplies. His investments in land were extensive and very profitable, as will hereafter be seen. Mr. Starling's personal presence was imposing, his height six feet six inches, his carriage graceful, and his dress faultless in the style of a gentleman of the old Virginia school. He was " emphatically a great man," says Hon. Gustavus Swan. " He arrived at conclusions and was acting upon them, while ordinary minds were contemplating at premises. It was this peculiar in. tellectual superiority which rendered his efforts in business so uniformly success- ful, and which enabled him, before reaching the meridian of life, to amass one of the largest fortunes which have been accumulated in the West."11
Although his wealth and dignity made him seem aristocratic to the popular mind, Mr. Starling was a man of generous impulses. Judge Gustavus Swan, him- self a man of uncommon ability, paid him these fine compliments : " Before the progress of disease had undermined bis constitution, and a shattered nervous system had rendered bis days wretched, Mr. Starling was amiable, frank, confid- ing, social and manly, wholly disinterested in bis friendships, charitable to the frailties of others, and only severe upon his own. The poor and necessitous never applied to him in vain, and he was as far from avarice as any man that ever lived. His mind had no grasp for small things, and when he relieved, it was no calculat- ing or grudging bounty."12
Another remarkable man who came to Franklinton in 1805, was Doctor Lin- col Goodale. The father of Doctor Goodale was Major Nathan Goodale, one of the " minute men " of the War of Independence. At the first outbreak of that war, in 1775, Major Goodale quitted his farm near Brookfield, Massachusetts, and enlisted in the Fifth Massachusetts Infantry. He fought brilliantly in several battles, was twice wounded, and suffered the horrors of the Jersey Prison-ship, at New York, while, for a time, in captivity. Removing to the West, after the war, he arrived at Marietta July 2, 1788, and in April, 1789, settled at Belpre. There he assisted in building stockades for defense against the Indians, and became an officer of the militia by appointment of Governor St. Clair. His subsequent fate is illustrative of the perils of pioneer life at that time on the Ohio frontier. Let the story be told in the words of one of the leading chroniclers of the events of the border :
On the first day of March, 1793, the [Belpre] colony met with the most serious loss it had yet felt from their Indian enemies, in the captivity and ultimate death of Major Goodale. On that day he was at work in a new clearing on his farm, distant about forty or fifty rods from the garrison, hauling rail timber with a yoke of oxen from the edge of the woods which bordered the new field. It lay back of the first bottom on the edge of the plain, in open view of the station. An Irishman, named John Magee, was at work grubbing or digging out the roots of the bushes and small saplings on the slope of the plain as it descends on to the bottom, but out of sight of Major Goodale. The Indians made so little noise in their assault that John did not hear them. The first notice of the disaster was the view of the oxen seen from the garrison, standing quietly in the field with no one near them. An hour or more they were observed still in the same place, when suspicion arose that some disaster had happened to Mr. Goodale. One of the men was called, and sent up to learn what had happened.
John was still busy at his work, unconscious of any alarm. In the edge of the woods there was a thin layer of snow, on which he soon saw moccasin tracks. It was now evident that Indians had been there, and had taken him prisoner, as no blood was seen on the ground. They followed the trail some distance, hut soon lost it. The next day a party of
FRANKLINTON. 11.
rangers went ont, but returned after a fruitless search. The river at this time was nearly at full bank, and less danger was apprehended on that account; it was also early in the season for Indians to approach the settlements. The uncertainty of his condition left room for the imagination to fancy everything horrible in his fate ; more terrible to bear than the actual knowledge of his death. Great was the distress of Mrs. Goodale and the children, over- whelmed with this unexpected calamity. His loss threw a deep gloom over the whole community, as no man was more highly valued; neither was there any one whose councils and influence were equally prized by the settlement. He was in fact the life and soul of this isolated community, and left a vacancy that no other man could fill.
At the treaty of 1795, when the captives were given up by the Indians, some intelligence was obtained of nearly all the persons taken prisoners from this part of Ohio, but none of the fate of Major Goodale. About the year 1799, Colonel Forrest Meeker, since a citizen of Delaware County, and well acquainted with the family of Major Goodale, and the circum- stances of this event, when at Detroit on business, fell in company with three Indians, who related to him the particulars of their taking a man prisoner, at Belpre, in the spring of 1793. Their description of his personal appearance left no doubt on the mind of Colonel Meeker of its being Major Goodale.
They stated that a party of eight Indians were watching the settlement for mischief ; and as they lay concealed on the side of the hill back of the plain, they heard a man driving or "talking to his oxen," as they expressed it. After carefully examining his movements, they saw him leave his work and go to the garrison, in the middle of the day. Knowing that he would return soon, they secreted themselves in the edge of the woods, and while he was occupied with his work, sprang out and seized upon him before he was aware of their pres- ence, or could make any defense, threatening him with death if he made a noise or resisted. After securing him with thongs, they commeneed a hasty retreat, intending to take him to Detroit, and get a large ransom. Somewhere on the Miami, or at Sandusky, he fell sick and . could not travel ; and that he finally died of his sickness.
A Mrs. Whittaker, the wife of a man who had a store, and traded with the Indians at Sandusky, has since related the same account. That the Indians left him at her house, where he died of a disease like a pleurisy, without having received any very ill nsage from his captors, other than the means necessary to prevent his escape. This is probably a cor- rect account of his fate ; and although his death was a melancholy one, among strangers, and far away from the sympathy and care of his friends, yet it is a relief to know that he did not perish at the stake, or by the tomahawk of the savages.13
Doctor Goodale remembered well being stationed, when a boy on the farm at Belpre, to watch for the approach of Indians while his father and assistants were at work in the fields. When he came to Franklinton, he brought with him his widowed mother, and engaged in the practice of medicine, which profession he had studied in the office of Doctor Leonard Jewett, at Belpre. But the trade of the frontier was at that time so profitable that he was soon drawn into mercantile business, and opened a store, which he conducted with great success. Part of his stock consisted of drugs and medicines, for which there was great demand. Mean- while he gave to the poor his services as a physician free of charge. Like the other business men of Franklinton he made large investments in the lands of the vicinity, and reaped therefrom a liberal profit. He enlisted as a volunteer in the War of 1812, became an Assistant Surgeon in Colonel, afterwards Governor, Me- Arthur's regiment, and was taken captive at Hull's surrender, and sent to Maken. He was afterwards exchanged at Cleveland.
Doctor Goodale was a man of extraordinary excellence. Hospitable, refined, strict in his integrity, and clear and accurate in his judgment, he delighted in assisting others, and did many noble things in an unobtrusive way. His bene- factions were numerous, that by which he is now best remembered being his mu- nificent gift to the City of Columbus of the beautiful park which bears his name.
11
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.
NOTES.
1. The counties of contemporary origin were Scioto, Warren, Butler, Montgomery, Columbiana, Gallia and Greene.
2. Martin's History of Franklin County.
3. Ibid.
In his address before the Franklin County Pioneers, June 3, 1871, Mr. Joseph Sullivant said : "The first county of the Northwest Territory, established within the present limits of the State, was Washington County. which included all of our county east of the Scioto. The second county was Hamilton, lying betwixt the two Miamis, with the Little Miami for its eastern boundary. The third county was Wayne, which included a large part of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, all of Michigan and a part of Minnesota, with its countyseat at Detroit. Now the southern line of Wayne County was a line drawn west from Fort Laurens and continued until it intersected the east line of Hamilton County, which is here declared to be 'a due north line from the lower Shawnee towns upon the Scioto River.' It is evident, therefore, from this, that betwixt the time of establishing Hamilton County, in 1790, and that of Wayne, in 1796, the eastern boundary of Hamilton had been greatly extended. This is also confirmed, if we refer to the alteration in the western boundary of Adams County in 1798
"Now, whether we assume the lower Shawnee towns on the Scioto at the mouth of the river, to be intended, or those in the vicinity of Westfall, in Pickaway County, the dne north line forming the eastern boundary of Hamilton would include the greater part of the present Franklin County, and must have passed just east of the spot where we are now assembled. So that it will be seen that our territory has been attached to seven distinct political divisions in succession, as follows: Bottetourt, Illinois, Washington, Hamilton, Adams, Ross and Franklin-with eight different countyseats, [viz.], Fincastle, Virginia; Kaskaskia, Illinois ; Marietta, Cincinnati, Manchester, on the Ohio; Chillicothe, Franklinton and Columbus."
4. The Constitution of 1802 contained these requirements : "Each court shall appoint its own clerk for the term of seven years; but no person shall be appointed clerk, except pro tempore, who shall not produce to the conrt appointing him, a certificate from a majority of the judges of the supreme court, that they judge him to he well qualified to execute the duties of the office of clerk to any court of the same dignity with that for which he offers himself." -Art. III, Sec. 9.
5. Martin's History contains the following sketch of Franklin Township: "This is the oldest township in the county, and the only one of the four original townships that retains its name. It was laid ont and organized when the county was, in 1803. It then contained about twice as much territory as the whole county now does. Its first settlement was the town of Franklinton and vicinity. ... Then the settlement extended down the river ; and amongst the first families to settle there were those of Samuel White, John Huffman, William Harrison, Sr., and a few others. The township was not reduced to its present limits until after the creation of Jackson in 1815 and of Prairie in 1819. The town of Franklinton has not varied much in population and business for the last forty years [1858]. It has always been, to a great extent, a town of farmers and laborers, who lived in the town and worked Mr. Sullivant's extensive prairie fields, or were engaged in stonequarrying, hauling, etc. For the last ten or twelve years there has been an extensive business done in this township in the raising, curing, and shipping of broom corn by Captain P. M. White and C. L. Eaton, Esq. The town and township have been the theatre for sportsmen. The race courses have always been in this township, generally in some of the large prairie fields adjacent to the town, but latterly at the Four-Mile House, so called, but still in the township, where a fine race course was fitted up some eight or ten years since, and still kept for sporting characters to practice their nags upon.
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