History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume I, Part 25

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1202

USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume I > Part 25

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

TREASURERS.

At first the County Treasurer was appointed by the Associate Judges ; after- wards, until 1827, by the County Commisioners. In pursuance of an act of the General Assembly passed January 24, 1827, the Treasurer has since that date been elected biennially. The first Treasurer was Jacob Grubb, appointed by the Asso- ciate Judges in 1803. He continued to serve, by yearly reappointment, until 1827. Since that year the Treasurers have been as follows: 1827, Christian Heyl, ap- pointed by the Commissioners ; 1827, Christian Heyl, eleeted for two years ; 1833, George McCormick; 1835, William Long: 1841, Joseph McElvain; 1845, Joseph Leiby; 1851, O. P. Hines; 1855, James H. Stauring; 1859, John G. Thompson ; 1863, Joseph Falkenbach ; 1867, Aaron C. Hadley ; 1869, James E. Wright, ap- pointed vice Hadley, resigned ; 1870, Lorenzo English ; 1872, James E. Wright; 1877, P. W. Corzilius; 1880, George Beck; 1884, A. D. Heffner; 1888, Henry Pausch.

COUNTY COLLECTORS.

"Many changes have taken place in the mode of collecting taxes. The first two or three years after the organization of this county, the chattel tax was collected by Township Collectors, and a County Collector collected the land tax. After that, say from about 1806 till 1820, the State was divided into four districts, and a Collee- tor of non-resident land tax appointed by the Legislature for each distriet ; and at the same time the County Collector collected the chattel tax, and tax upon resident

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FRANKLIN COUNTY CIVIL LIST.

lands. And from about 1820 until 1827, the County Collectors collected all taxes for State and county purposes. Since 1827 it has been the duty of the Treasurer to receive or collect the taxes."- Martin's History of Franklin County.

The Collectors from the organization of the county until the office was abolished in 1827, were as follows: 1803, Benjamin White; 1804, Adam Hosaek; 1808, Elias N. De Lashmutt; 1811, John M. White; 1812, Samuel Shannon ; 1815, Francis Stewart ; 1818, Jacob Kellar; 1822, Andrew Dill; 1823, Arora Buttles; 1824, Peter Sells; 1826, Robert Brotherton, who served until the office was abolished.

COUNTY ASSESSORS.

The office of County Assessor was created by act of the General Assembly, passed February 3, 1825. Prior to that date, each township chose its own assessor at the annual spring election. An act passed January 16, 1827, provided that the assessor should be appointed by the County Commissioners, to serve until the following October, and that thereafter they should be elected by the voters, biennially. An act of March 20, 1841, abolished the office of County Assessor and provided that an assessor should be elected in each township. The County Asses- sors during the continuance of the office were as follows: 1825, James Kilbouru ; 1827, John Swisher; 1835, James Graham ; 1837, William Domigan, who served until the office was abolished.

RECORDERS.

The County Recorders were appointed by the Common Pleas Judges until 1831 : since that year they have been chosen triennially by the voters. The first Recorder was Lucas Sullivant, appointed in January, 1804. He served until 1807, when Adam Hosack was appointed. Hosack's successors by appointment were Lincoln Goodale in 1813, and Abram I. McDowell in 1817. McDowell served until 1831, since when the recorders have been elected as follows: 1831, William T. Martin ; 1846, Nathan Cole; 1882, F. M. Senter; 1885, Michael A. Lilley ; 1888, Robert Thompson.

SURVEYORS.

An act of March 3, 1831, provided that the Surveyors should be triennially chosen by the voters; previous to that act, they had been appointed by the Court of Common Pleas. The first Surveyor was Joseph Vance, originally appointed in 1803, and continued by reappointment until his death in 1824. His successor, Richard Howe, after serving a brief period, transferred the duties of the office to his deputy, General Jeremiah MeLene, who acted as Surveyor until 1827, when he was appointed to the office. Lyne Starling, Jr., was elected McLene's successor in 1832, but resigned in April, 1833, and was succeeded by Mease Smith, who was appointed for the remainder of Starling's term. The surveyors since then elected have been as follows: 1833, Frederick Cole ; 1836, William Johnston ; 1839, Uriah Lathrop; 1842, John Graham ; 1845, William Johnston ; 1848, Jesse Cortright ; 1854, W. W. Pollard ; 1857, Daniel Hess, resigned ; 1860, C. C. Walcutt, who resigned and was succeeded by Uriah Lathrop, appointed for Walcott's unexpired term ; 1862, Uriah Lathrop, elected ; 1865, W. P. Brown; 1871, Josiah Kinnear; 1875, B. F. Bowen ; 1883, Josiah Kinnear; 1889, John J. Dun.

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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.

COMMISSIONERS.

The first Commissioners of Franklin County were elected in June, 1804, and their terms of service, determined by lot, were as follows : John Blair, Clerk of the Board, until October, 1804; Benjamin Sells, until October, 1805 ; Arthur O'Harra, until October, 1806. The subsequent members of the board have been: 1804, Michael Fisher, Clerk ; 1805, Ezekial Brown ; 1806, Arthur ()'Harra ; 1807, Michael Fisher; 1808, James Marshall ; 1809, Arthur O'Harra, Clerk; 1810, Robert Armstrong ; 1811, James Marshall (Adam Hosack, Clerk); 1812, William Shaw ; 1813, Robert Armstrong (Gustavus Swan, Clerk) ; 1814, James Marshall (Joseph Grate, Clerk) ; 1815, William McIlvain (J. A. McDowell, Clerk) : 1816, Robert Armstrong, Samuel G. Flenniken (J. A. McDowell, Clerk) ; 1817, Joseph Grate, James Marshall (J. A. McDowell, Clerk); 1818, David Jamison (Joseph Grate Clerk until 1821, when he was appointed County Auditor, whose duties were, and have since been, in part, to act as Clerk of the Board of Commissioners) ; 1819, George W. Williams; 1820, Joseph Grate ; 1821, Robert Armstrong, Horaee Walcutt; 1822, James Marshall ; 1823, Andrew Dill; 1824, Robert Armstrong ; 1825, William Stewart; 1826, John M. Walcutt; 1827, William McElvain ; 1828, William Stewart; 1829, Horace Walcutt, William Miller; 1830, Matthew Matthews; 1831, William Stewart; 1832, Horace Walcutt, who died in 1833; 1833, John M. White, Matthew Matthews, and Timothy Lee, appointed vice Walcutt, deceased; 1834, Hiram Andrews, vice Stewart; 1835, Robert Lisle ; 1836, James Bryden ; 1837, R. W. Cowles, vice Andrews; 1838, John Tipton, viec Lisle ; 1839, James Bryden ; 1840, William W. Kyle, vice Cowles; 1841, Samuel S. Davis; 1842, John Greenwood, vice Bryden ; 1843, William W. Kyle ; 1844, Samuel S. Davis; 1845, John Clarke, vice Greenwood; 1846, Adam Stewart, vice Kyle; 1847, Thomas J. Moorman, vice Davis; 1848, O. P. Hines, vice Clarke ; 1849, Jacob Slyh, vice Stewart; 1850, Eli F. Jennings, vice Moorman ; 1851, Jesse Baughman, vice Hines; 1852, C. W. Speaks, vice Slyh ; 1853, Edward Livingston, vice Jennings; 1854, Willis Mattoon, vice Baughman ; 1855, Theodore Comstock, viee Speaks; 1856, Edward Livingston; 1857, C. P. Hines, appointed vice Mattoon, deceased; 1857, Isaac White, elected viee Hines; 1858, David L. Holton, resigned ; 1859, Thomas Sparrow, appointed viee Holton ; 1859, John Snider, elected ; 1860, Dennis B. Strait ; 1861, Jacob Slyh ; 1862, James W. Barbee ; 1864, John M. Koerner; 1866, John G. Edwards ; 1867, William Gulich; 1868, Eli M. Lysle ; 1869, J. O. B. Renick ; 1870, Francis Collins, viee Lysle, resigned ; 1870, William Cooper, vice Gulich, resigned; 1870, Frederick Beck ; 1871, John P. Bruck, vice Beck, resigned; 1872, Adin G. Hibbs; 1873, Francis Riley ; 1874, Isaac S. Beekey ; 1875, Daniel Matheny ; 1876, Dennis B. Strait; 1877, Isaac S. Bcekey; 1878, Daniel Matheny ; 1879, Thomas Robinson ; 1880, Joseph M. Briggs; 1881, Josiah C. Lunn ; 1882, William Wall ; 1883, Joseph M. Briggs; 1884, Richard Z. Dawson; 1886, Lewis Morchead ; 1887, same as in 1886; 1888, Thomas D. Cassidy ; 1889, same as in 1888; 1890, Richard Z. Dawson, Thomas Cassidy, Lewis Morehead.

CORONERS.

1805, Joseph Dixon : 1807, William Domigan ; 1815, Townsend Nichols ; 1817, Thomas Kincaid ; 1818, Robert Brotherton; 1819, William Richardson; 1821,

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FRANKLIN COUNTY CIVIL LIST.

Adam Brotherlin ; 1825, Jacob Ebey ; 1830, Jonathan Noereamer; 1835, George Jeffreys ; 1839, James Walcutt ; 1843, A. W. Reader ; 1845, Horton Howard; 1849, A. W. Reader; 1851, James W. Barbee; 1853, A. W. Reader; 1855, Elias Gaver ; 1869, Patrick Egan ; 1891, John P. Egan.

DIRECTORS OF THE INFIRMARY.

The first Directors were Jacob Grubb, Ralph Osborn and P. B. Wilcox, who were appointed by the County Commissioners, in 1832. Subsequent appointments were made as follows; James Walcutt, George B. Harvey, W. T. Martin, and William Domigan. Directors were first chosen by the voters at the State election of 1842, viz .: George Frankenberg for one year, Augustus S. Decker for two ' years, and for the three years term Robert Riorden, who was continued in office by releëction until 1848, when he was succeeded by John Walton. Directors have sinee been elected as follows : 1849, S. D. Preston and Arthur O'Harra; 1852, Amos L. Ramsey ; 1853, Rufus Main ; 1854, Orin Baekus; 1855, L. J. Moeller ; 1856, John Lysle; 1857, William Aston; 1859, James Legg; 1860, John Greenleaf (appointed vice Moeller, resigned) and Newton Gibbons and Philemon Hess, elected ; 1862, Fred Beek ; 1867, Jacob Grau ; 1868, Frederick Fornoff; 1869, Henry L. Siebert ; 1870, W. H. Gaver ; 1871, John Schneider ; 1872, John H. Earhart ; 1873, W. H. Gaver ; 1874, John Schneider ; 1875, John H. Earhart, 1876, W. H. Gaver; 1877, James Burns ; 1878, John H. Earhart; 1879, Christian Engeroff; 1880, James Burns; 1881, Jacob Reab; 1882, Christian Engeroff; 1883, James C. Cleary ; 1884, Harvey Lisle ; 1885, Emery McDermith : 1886, James C. Cleary ; 1887, Harvey Lisle : 1888, Stephen Kelley ; 1890, Adam Fendrich ; 1891, John P. Egan.

SUPERINTENDENTS OF THE INFIRMARY.

Robert Cloud, appointed in 1832, resigned and was succeeded by William King, who continued in charge until October, 1837, when he gave place to Edward Heddon. The Superintendents since then have been : 1844, C. F. Schenck ; 1851, Joseph McElvain ; 1852, Charles Jucksch ; 1853, Joseph McElvain ; 1854, Daniel Evans ; 1857, L. J. Moeller ; 1860, S. P. McElvain ; 1869, J. J. Fanston ; 1871, S. P. McElvain ; 1880, Thomas A. Jackson ; 1881, H. C. Filler.

CHAPTER X.

WORTHINGTON.1

At the very beginning of the Republic, the National policy with respect to the limitation of slavery, became a matter of profound practical concern. In New England, particularly, it deeply affected the movement of population to the Great West, then opening to settlement. Thousands who were eager to participate in building up new States beyond the Ohio were inflexibly determined to live under no słaveholding regime. "Make the land worth having," said Manasseh Cutler to the Continental Congress when bargaining for a tract for the New England Asso- ciates. "Unless you do," he continued, " we do not want it." The purport of this admonition was fully understood. "Exelude slavery from the Northwest, and we will buy your land there, and help you to pay off the war debt; allow slavery to enter, and not a penny will we invest." Accordingly the great political charter, then maturing, for the vast regions northwest of the Ohio, was so framed as to forever prohibit, within their limits, all " slavery and involuntary servitude."

Fifteen years later this question came again to the front. A new State was about to be created, and a territorial convention, sitting at Chillicothe, was en- gaged in framing its constitution. Would that constitution admit slavery or , exclude it? Upon the decision of that question depended the political future of the new commonwealth, and the destiny of the thousands who desired to become its citizens. Acting in conformity with the glorious covenant of the Ordinance of 1787, the Convention gave its voice for freedom, and incorporated these epoch- making provisions into the first constitution of Ohio :

There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in this State, otherwise than for the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted ; nor shall any male person, arrived at the age of twentyone years, or female person arrived at the age of eighteen years, be held to serve any person as a servant, under the pretense of indenture or otherwise, unless such person shall enter into such indenture while in a state of perfect freedom, and on condition of a bona fide consideration received, or to be received, for their ser- vice, except as before excepted. Nor shall any indenture of any negro or mulatto, hereafter made and executed out of the State, or if made in the State, where the term of service ex- ceeds one year, be of the least validity, except those given in the case of apprenticeships.2

Among the New Englanders who awaited this verdict with deep interest, was James Kilbourn, then residing at Granby, Connecticut. Mr. Kilbourn was born at New Britain, in that State, October 19, 1770. The War of Independence broke out when he was but five years of age, and swept away nearly all the property of his father, Josiab Kilbourn, who had been, prior to that time, a prosperous farmer. This loss, together with that of three members of his family, who perished in the

[184]

James Kilbourne

185

WORTHINGTON.

war, bereft the senior Kilbourn for several years of his reason. The family home- stead was broken up, and young James Kilbourn, then a boy of sixteen, was obliged to quit his parents and go forth in search of the means of self-maintenance. This he did with a brave heart, and a spirit of determination above his years. His resources lay entirely within himself. When he crossed the parental threshold, and went out alone and penniless into the great world, he had neither coat nor shoes, and bis education was so meager that he could scarcely write his name.

After walking thirty miles, he obtained employment with a farmer, which engagement he exchanged at a later period for an apprenticeship with a clothier. whose trade he undertook to learn. During five months of each year, reserved by the terms of his apprenticeship for his own disposal, he worked on the farm of a Mr. Griswold, whose son, then a young man, afterwards became a distinguished bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church. The future bishop took a friendly interest in the young apprentice, and gave him instruction which supplied. to some extent, the deficiencies of his education.

By means of these helps, and his energetic efforts to help himself, young Kilbourn rapidly mastered the intricacies of his craft, and so won upon the conti- dence of his employers that he was placed at the head of the clothier's establish- ment. He also won the hand of Miss Lucy Fitch, daughter of John Fitch, of Philadelphia, the inventor of steam navigation, and builder of the first American steamboat." Married at the age of nineteen to Miss Fitch, he soon afterwards en- tered upon a business career which carried him steadily on to affluence. After becoming the owner of mills, stores and several farms, including that which his father had lost by the war, he settled as a merchant at Granby. There we find him at the opening of this chapter, meditating schemes of western colonization, and also officiating occasionally as a clergyman of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in which, at the solicitation of friends, he had taken orders. He had meanwhile founded a publie library and acquired some reputation as a writer and speaker. After his ordination, several parishes desired him as their permanent pastor, but he declined their invitations. The fascination of the Great West had seized upon his mind, and permeated the current of his thoughts. In pursnance of these predilections he had already made several preliminary explorations in western and northwestern New York, when his fatheriulaw, Mr. Fitch, advised him to turn his attention to Ohio. Acting upon this advice, he matured plans for the organiza- tion of a company to establish a settlement in that region. These plans he began to broach in 1800, but, says his biographer, " it took about one year for him to per- suade his friends that he was in earnest - and another, that he was not insane. Ohio was then regarded as on the utmost verge of the West; and they thought him too pleasantly situated to make so great sacrifices as were involved in such an enterprise."4

Kilbourn thought otherwise, and persisted in his designs. Having enlisted the first seven of the forty members of his proposed company, he set out in the spring of 1802 on his first expedition to Ohio. Traveling by stage until he arrived at Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, where the stage line then terminated, he there shouldered his pack, walked over the mountains to Pittsburgh, descended the river to Wheeling, and thence penetrated the Ohio Wilderness by the way of Zane's Trace, which he followed to the Muskingum and Lancaster, where he turned

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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.

northward to the Forks of the Scioto. After spending the summer in exploring the country, and conferring with those best acquainted with it, he concluded his mission by selecting for the proposed settlement a tract of sixteen thousand acres on the east bank of the Whetstone, nine miles above Franklinton. He did not then purchase the land, but returned to Connecticut, and made his report to his associates. From that report, written by Mr. Kilbourn's own hand, on coarse paper now yellow with age, the following extracts are here copied :

We, James Kilbourn and Nath'l Little being by a resolve and determination of the Scioto Company appointed agent for said Company to explore the Territory of the United States Northwest of Ohio, and to transact any other business for said company which we should deem for their benefit, beg leave to report.

Here follow descriptions of the country eastward from Wheeling, and of the lands in the valleys of the Muskingum, Hockhocking and Lower Scioto. The remarks on the tract finally selected for the colony contain these passages :

This tract is situate on the Eastern side of the Scioto, and is watered largely by Wal- nut Creek - a stream as large as Salmon Brook in Granby - and the Bigbelly Creek, which is near or quite as large as Farmington River at Farmington; both clear lively streams of pure water as ever flowed from a fountain, with small gravel and in places large pebble bot- tom. . . . There is in this tract a thousand acres at least, in one place, of the best clear mead- ow I ever saw in any place whatever, without a tree or a busb in the whole extent and the old grass and weeds are burnt off every spring. The present growth (which is good stack hay if mowed early) was, in the lowest places, higher than a horse's back, except where it was lodged down; and generally higher than my head, sitting on my horse, to the topmost spires. It was so thick as to be almost impossible to force a horse through it. A Mr. Spence and Mr. Little being with me, we had to take turns in going before, to break down a patlı, as a horse would tire and tangle himself in a small distance.

This meadow is so dry as to be good plow land, and fit to be planted with corn, any year, with only plowing and fencing; and for the latter purpose there is a good forest of fencing timber around it on all sides, so that it might all be enclosed without drawing any rails two rods. The clear black mold in all this meadow, and others of the kind, is at least three feet deep, and will produce, if kept clear of weeds, seventy or eighty bushels of corn per acre, at a crop. This is fully verified by fields of corn on similar lands in the vicinity. . .

The soil of this tract is, in my opinion, rather superior to any of so great extent I have seen in all the Territory. It is of various depths from six inches on the highest hills, to three feet in the bottoms. Upon the large creeks, the bottoms seem to have a soil almost as deep as the banks of the stream.

The principal timber is oak, making near one half of the whole. Part of this is white- oak - perhaps half- and the other yellow, black and Spanish oak .. Then there is hard maple, hickory, black walnut, ash and whitewood in abundance. There is also cherry and butternut, elm, soft maple, buckwood, some beach and honey locust. The undergrowth which is not thick except in some particular spots, is chiefly spice-bush, mixed with pawpaw in all the bottoms and richest uplands. Upon the thinnest upland the underwood, where any there is, consists of boxwood, hard-beem, hickory saplings and hazelnut bushes ; but not an alder of any kind have I seen beyond the hills on the Forks. On the sides of the prairies are thousands of plum-bushes which are very fruitful.

The timber in all this region is much better than it is further south, and increasingly so as we go to the north, yet not very heavy, but generally of a fine size and straight, hand- some. Its growth is lighter by half than I had expected. But yet there are some very large trees in various parts, especially in the bottoms. I have frequently observed solid whiteoaks which will measure twelve feet in circumference many feet from the ground, and black wal- nut and whitewood equally iarge, or nearly so, and buttonwoods in the flats much larger.

187

WORTHINGTON.

The navigable waters to this tract are the Scioto on the west and the Bigbelly, which, when there is water sufficient, is boatable and very good for the business, entirely across the tract.

Plums and apples are the principal natural fruits, of which there are thousands of bushels to be found in any part of the country, and they are not only plenty, but the plums are a fine palatable fruit, I apprehend, however, not very healthy. I saw a vast quantity of grapevines, but few or no grapes. They do not bear in the woods, especially in the rich bottoms. On the hills, and where it is open, they are said to bear well. I frequently saw vines that measure from six to eight inches in diameter.

There are three or four settlers on this traet, but none have purchased except one, Mr. Gibson, on the south tier of sections of No. 10.

The main road from Chillicothe to Franklinton, at the Forks leads through the western part of this tract, and a road soon to be eut by order of Congress from the Forks and a great distance to the northwest, to Lancaster and Zanesville and thence on to the eastward may be brought through No. 10 in a direet course.

The nearest trading town is at present Franklinton at the Forks. ... but Chillicothe is the best and will be so for a considerable time yet. . .. It will, for the present, be as much as twelve miles from these townships to any mill whatever. .

Respecting the healthfulness of this country, I have to report that it is in fact sickly, in a considerable degree. At the first settlement it was thought to be very healthy, there being only a few cases of the ague and fever ; but in the fall of 1800 a bilious fever took place of which many were sick, in the lowest situations. and some died. In the summer and autumn of 1801 the fever made its appearance again with more terror. Almost all were siek, both in towns and country, so that it became difficult, in many instances to get tenders for the sick. In many instances whole families were down at a time, and many died. . . . In the country around the Pickaway Plains, where are the lowest bottoms or rather the most fre- quent wet prairies, or meadows, and where the people have uniformly settled in the low bot- toms by side of the ereeks, the fever prevailed more generally and violently than in any other part of the Scioto Country. But there is no part of the country exempt from the malady, from the Great Miami to the Muskingum River. . . . What seems to me strange is that the Indians who were natives of this country are as subject to the disorder as the whites. Of the few who remain in the Territory some are now sick with it. and they say it has always been so, and that they have often been obliged to move back from the meadows and bottoms, where they always lived, into the woods and uplands during the sickly season to es- cape it.

Colonel Worthington, who is a gentleman of first rate information, informed me that where families were careful in their manner of living and housing themselves from the damp air and fogs, they generally avoid the fever ; that many families, particularly his own and Mr. Windship's, by prudence, had almost wholly escaped. And he is of opinion that when a little more opened and those vast meadows improved by planting, mowing and feeding, so that the immense vegetation does not putrefy on the ground, and be wafted about in the air, [this] will become as healthy as any country whatever.

Through the lines of this report we see the country hereabouts as it was when just emerging from its primitive wildness. The statements made are frank, and no doubt in the main correct.

The effect of this information, and of the free constitution of Ohio, comploted in November, was such as to enable Mr. Kilbourn to raise his association, in a short time, to its full membership, to organize it as the " Scioto Company," and to elose in its behalf, the contract for the sixteen thousand acres of land which he had selected. The organization of the Company dates from December 14, 1802. On April 7, 1803, Kilbourn again started for the West, this time on horseback, and followed by a millwright, a blacksmith, nine laborers, and a family in two wagons. Following is the report of this expedition, transcribed from the original manu- script in the handwriting of Mr. Kilbourn :

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History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume I, Part 25

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co Publication date: 1892 Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co. Number of Pages: 1202

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1202