USA > Ohio > Knox County > Past and present of Knox County, Ohio, Vol. I > Part 34
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of them did agree to. Hard times came on and the company failed, after having executed considerable grading work along the line. The citizens in Knox county, mostly along the route proposed, put up bonds to the amount of ninety-five thousand dollars, securing the same by first mortgages on their farms. The road was not built, but the bonds held (then) by innocent pur- chasers had to be paid, which caused much personal loss and distressed many a Milford farmer, and in cases broke them up for life. Such was the early- day railroading in this county and commonwealth.
FIVE CORNERS.
This is the name given to a place near the center of Milford township, where, about 1843. a postoffice was established called Milfordton. Emor Hawkins was first postmaster. There were two churches and a school house there early in the eighties that had been there many years.
VILLAGE OF LOCK.
This, too, is of ancient origin as a town site, but never has proven to be a place of much commercial or social importance. It is situated on the south line of the township, a part of it being in another county. In 1836 Abraham Abbot purchased the south part of lot 10 in the Burnett section, and engaged in the business of making potash. In 1837 he laid out a village and named his place "Lock." Isham Abbot was the first person to sell goods there. In 1839 a postoffice was established and Isham Abbot was appointed postmaster. He was succeeded by Peter Eddy, Edwin Horton, Eber Smith, James Stearns, Washington Hildreth, who was appointed in 1860 and was still in office in the early eighties, at which time the place supported two dry goods stores, a school house, three churches, a blacksmith shop, harness shop, cooper shop, a wagon and boot and shoe repair shops. Several lodges have been formed at one time or another in this village and township.
The 1910 federal census gave Milford township a population of seven hundred and six. as against seven hundred and ninety-two in 1890.
The history of schools and churches will be found in their respective places in the general chapters of this volume.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
MORGAN TOWNSHIP.
Morgan belongs to the southern tier of townships in Knox county. It was named after Gen. Daniel Morgan, noted in military affairs in Revolutionary days. As originally organized in May, 1808, it comprised what is now called Morgan, Hilliar, Miller, Milford, west half of Clay, and the south half of Pleasant township, with the southwest quarter of Harrison. When the gen- eral reorganization of townships took place in March, 1825, it was reduced to its present boundary lines. The streams that flow through its borders include the Sycamore, Tumas, Big run, Rocky fork and Muck Shaw run.
Here, as in many places in Knox county, are to be seen several Indian mounds-so called-or possibly the work of a prehistoric people. One on the old James Campbell farm was originally about six feet high and forty feet in diameter. In the neighborhood have been discovered hundreds of arrow- heads, but the interior of the mound has never been thoroughly explored by scientists, as have others within Knox county.
Morgan is purely an agricultural district, where the fertile soil has made the farmers wealthy and independent, above many other sections of the state. The timber here is of the variety so common and valuable in this county -- beech, maple, walnut, ash and oak. Thirty and more years since, it was claimed for Morgan township that it possessed more really valuable timber than any other in the county. Another feature here, for many years and in a measure today, is that the lands are owned in quite large tracts and there are not so many small farms as in other townships within the county.
The pioneers at first were largely from Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland and New Jersey, with but here and there a foreigner-there being perhaps fewer of foreign birth than any place in Ohio. The first settlers located in the western part of the township. In 1890 the township had a population of 645; in 1900, it had 650, and in 1910 the federal census gave it but 622.
The first man to set stakes in this township, as near as can be learned from records and land papers, was John Green, who came from Maryland in either 1805 or 1806, entering land in the northwest part of the territory now known as Morgan township. He became a justice of the peace and an in- fluential man in all public affairs.
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Cornelius Bartalow, Sr., was perhaps the next to invade the wilds of the township. He emigrated from Martinsburg, Virginia, in 1806, taking up forty acres of military land near the village of Utica, Licking county. When he came Indians were very numerous and constituted about all the near neighbors he had for a number of years. Later he removed to Clay town- ship, near the village of Martinsburg, where he died in 1814, he being the second person buried in the cemetery there.
Azariah Davis came from Greene county, Pennsylvania, and settled in Utica, Licking county. He was born 1756 and served in the war for inde- pendence. Just before coming from Pennsylvania, he harvested a crop of wheat which, when threshed, he hauled to Zanesville, Ohio, where he had it made into flour and stored in a mill warehouse there. As often as he needed to he went to Zanesville and procured flour from his storage. By such a pre- caution his family never went hungry, as did many another, for the lack of bread, until such times as he could clear up a patch and raise more grain.
Jacob Hanger came in from Old Virginia about 1809, settling in the southeastern portion of this township. He married Rebecca Davis and they reared twenty children, ten of each sex, all becoming men and women of more than ordinary strength and usefulness to the world. Mr. Hanger served as justice of the peace for twenty-one years in this township. He passed from earth in 1834 honored by all within the radius of his acquaintance.
The Pumphreys were numbered among the pioneers here. They were all zealous Methodists, and at their places stopped all of the early ministers of this denomination. Caleb, who was the eldest, died in 1817.
John Sellers, who in 1880 was the largest land owner in Morgan town- ship, having at that date eleven hundred acres of choice land, came from Greene county, Pennsylvania, in 1823, locating two hundred and fifty acres in the northern part of this township. He built a cabin, returned to Pennsyl- vania, and permanently settled here in 1824. Energy and perseverance were his chief traits. The great "Burlington storm," mentioned in the miscellaneous chapter, struck his farm in 1825, the year after his family came to the town- ship.
In 1819 Aaron Davis came from Essex county, New Jersey, and at one time was the only Whig living in the township. He was of good old Revolu- tionary stock, his father, Joseph Davis, having served several years in the patriot army, being one season a bodyguard to Washington. When the Brit -. ish army occupied Elizabethtown, New Jersey, he was engaged to be married in two weeks, and had bought his wedding suit, which the British secured with other plunder, and he afterwards saw an English officer wearing it. The marriage was postponed until that long war had ended. Aaron Davis lived in
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this township many years and was among the most intelligent and upright men within its pioneer borders. He died in 1842.
John F. McLain, who came to Morgan township in 1828, was an exten- sive land owner and live stock dealer. He also conducted an early store at Mt. Vernon. He died in 1858.
The Bell family were numerous in this part of the county. James Bell came from Greene county, Pennsylvania, in 1815, hauling his household goods overland, being seventeen days in coming. He settled in the eastern part of the township, where death overtook him in 1867. His son, Samuel, who was born in 1800, also lived here. A son of Samuel was William Bell, who served as sheriff and auditor of Licking county several terms, and was elected secre- tary of state in 1874, also serving as a railroad commissioner, by appointment of Governor Bishop. He belonged to what is known as the Bell Disciples church.
Another emigrant from Pennsylvania was John Clutter, who in 1818 settled near the center of the township. He was a member of the Owl Creek Baptist church for more than sixty years.
John Sperry, of Hardy county, Virginia, removed to Morgan township, this county, in 1812, settling two miles from Utica. Both he and his wife were killed by the cars of the Baltimore & Ohio road while crossing the tracks, with a team, on August 2, 1872.
Another Virginian who made his home in this township was James Honey, who came in 1818, settling on the third military section. His early wheat crops he hauled to Zanesville, where he sold it at thirty-one and a fourth cents per bushel, paying five dollars for a barrel of salt.
David Campbell, born in Ohio county, Virginia, came to the township in 1824, locating one hundred and forty acres on military lot number 14.
Nehemiah Letts came from Greene county, Pennsylvania, to Morgan township in 1806. He first erected a frame house, southeast of the brick house on what was known as the Veasy Price land. He died in Morgan township in 1835 and was buried at the Owl Creek Baptist cemetery. He was an old Revolutionary war soldier. He became wealthy and gave each one of his children a large farm, from two to three hundred acres each.
EARLY INCIDENTS.
The Browns of this township were all good shots with the rifle. "On one occasion," says an early-day writer, "the elder Brown, needing some articles that could not be procured without cash, determined upon securing a bear, as bear hides always brought money. For the purpose he went out one moon-
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light night, taking with him his dogs, his flint-lock rifle and one of his sons, the latter carrying an axe. The good dogs were successful in treeing a bear, and Brown fired at him, but on account of the absence of enough light only wounded him in the leg. This was, however, sufficient to bring bruin to the ground, where he was fiercely attacked by the dogs, several of which he wounded in the fight, and one was killed. The boy came bravely to his father's rescue with the axe, and the bear was finally dispatched." Adventures of this sort were of frequent occurrence in those early times in Knox county.
FIRST EVENTS.
The first wedding in this township was that uniting Thomas Huston and Elizabeth Brown.
The first funeral was that of Calvin Brown, the next being that of Mrs. McLain.
The earliest saw mill was constructed by James and Asa Beam, on the headwaters of Rocky fork. No grist mills were built in this township.
The Baltimore & Ohio railroad runs through the north part of this town- ship, but there is no station point within the township.
The first wagon-road was cut through the forests from Mt. Vernon to Newark in 1805 or early in 1806.
This township is villageless, its people going to nearby townships and villages to do their trading and marketing.
CHAPTER XXXV.
MONROE TOWNSHIP.
That portion of Knox county composed of the seventh township in the twelfth range constitutes the civil township of Monroe, according to the records made by the county commissioners March 9, 1825. This township ยท was named after President Monroe.
It is traversed by Schenck's creek from northwest to southeast, and is fed by numerous springs. This stream derived its name from old Gen. W. C. Schenck, who at one time held a large tract of land here. In the south part is seen Center run, another creek which empties into Owl creek just below Mt. Vernon. The native forests abounded in hickory, white oak, sugar maple, black walnut, gum beech, red oak, sycamore, linn and cherry. Much of this timber has been cut off and the land utilized for farming purposes, yet there is an abundance for home use.
Among the earliest settlers in Monroe township was Joseph Coleman, who emigrated from Fayette county, Pennsylvania, in 1806, lived one year at the Haines settlement, south from Mt. Vernon, and the next year moved to the Daymude place, on Schenck's creek. At the first election of Knox county, before the townships had any of them been organized, Mr. Coleman was elected a trustee of the county. He also served as a justice of the peace from 184I until 1853. He died in 1856, aged fifty-six years.
Seely Simkins was born in 1791 in New Jersey and came with his father to Knox county in 1804. They first located on Owl creek, above Mt. Vernon, but in 1807 removed to Monroe township. There the father, John Simpkins, died and was buried in 1809. Seely Simpkins was one of twelve children in his parents' family.
David Johnson, another early comer in this township, located on Schenck's creek, where later Henry Barker resided. He built a block-house as a protection against the Indians. To him belongs the distinction of planting the first orchard in the township. In 1820 he erected a saw mill on his own land, the first mill in Monroe township. He came to Knox county from Washington county, Pennsylvania, but just when is a question, though it is found that his name appears on the poll books in 1809. He failed in business
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about 1829 and his property was sold to James Smith, Esq., of Mt. Vernon, who occupied the same until 1837.
James Smith, an odd character of early days here, was the first person to locate at Monroe Mills. His name is found among the first jurymen of Knox county.
John Adams came from Virginia, locating in the extreme southwest corner of Monroe township in 1811. He made a good citizen and died in this township in 1829.
Rev. William Thrift moved from Morris township to Monroe township at the close of the war of 1812-14, locating near the place later known as county commissioner Stephen Craig's. He was a Baptist minister and was licensed to marry people by the early county commissioners.
Another early settler was William Ireland, who settled a half mile above Gilcrest's mill and remained a few years, then removed to Morrow county. Later residents were the Dowds, Craigs, Landerbaughs, Dixons, Skeens, Youngs, Hunts, Hulls, Berrys, Barkers and Millers.
MILLING INTERESTS.
Owing to the great fall of the water course known as Schenck's creek, in its passage through Monroe township, there were many saw and grist mills erected along its banks by the early settlers. It is impossible to give accounts of all, but the following facts will suffice in this latter day, when milling has about dwindled down to nothing of interest. In 1825 Robert Gilcrest built a saw mill and in 1833 added a grist mill. It had three run of buhrs and was a fine plant for so early a time. In 1837 this mill ground out forty thousand bushels of wheat, the flour being marketed at Zanesville. In 1845 the mill was sold to Peter Skeen. A carding machine was attached, also a fulling mill. The flour mill was still operated as late as 1876, when it was burned and never rebuilt. A half mile below the Gilcrest mill was one built by Mr. Davis in 1828; this, too, had a carding machine and fulling mill attached.
The next mill in the township was the one near the west line, on Schenck's creek, by Scott Gilcrest and Truman Purdy, in 1835, and the Mon- roe mills were put up in 1844 by Henry Boynton and Jacob Davis. This did excellent business and its proprietors branched out into other enterprises ; they operated a store, established a postoffice in 1846, farmed and dealt in stock. In 1860 Mr. Boynton failed and made an assignment to Jacob Davis, James Graham and James E. Woodbridge. They operated the mills a few years and then turned the property over to the Knox County Bank. Nelson and George Critchfield purchased the mills of the bank for four thousand dollars and
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operated them eight years. The mill was doing a thriving business in 1881, but milling is not what it was a third of a century ago in Knox county.
The Lhamon mills, located on the Wooster road, in Monroe township, came as the result of a saw mill erected by Jacob Lutz in 1840. Jacob Davis soon came into possession of the property and he erected a flouring mill adjoin- ing the saw mill. This was a small affair, having one run of buhrs and a corn cracker. The saw mill was sold and removed in 1868 when timber had be- come quite scarce for lumbering uses.
A tannery was built in 1815, on the old H. H. Young place by Joseph Rogers, who in 1821 sold to Joseph Robinson. He continued to run it four or five years, after which it was abandoned.
A blacksmith shop was opened at Monroe Mills as early as 1840. Later a large carriage and wagon shop was put in operation, this being probably about the commencement of the Civil war. Harmon Lybarger was its owner and he continued until 1864, when he enlisted in the One Hundred and Forty- second Ohio Regiment, and died in Virginia. The shop was sold to Silas A. Spindler, who ran it many years.
In 1846 the first general store was opened at Monroe Mills by Boynton & Davis. Later dealers were William Shrimplin, Lewis Ralston, John McFar- land, James Bebout and M. J. Ranna.
In 1830 Andrew Miller kept a tavern where the Coshocton road crossed Schenck's creek, since known as Monroe Mills, and about that time a hotel was opened on the Wooster road called the Four-Mile House. There the land- lords included Clemintine Wolverton, R. S. Clements, Charles Bird, William Harold and others. The place was long since forsaken.
James Martin introduced the first fine grades of cattle into this part of the county in 1860. These were short-horn Durhams from Kentucky and proved of great financial value to the township.
POPULATION OF TOWNSHIP.
In 1830 it was stated by the census returns that Monroe township con- tained 437 people ; in 1840 it had 1,258; in 1850, 1,324; in 1860, 1,085; in 1870, the same as in 1860; in 1880, it had 1,028; in 1890, 874 ; in 1900, 897, and in 1910 it had 812.
The history of the schools and churches will be found in the general chap- ters under their respective headings.
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CHAPTER XXXVI.
MIDDLEBURY TOWNSHIP.
By an act of the Knox county commissioners, December 3. 1823, Mid- dlebury township was erected as a civil sub-division of the county. It now con- stitutes the extreme northwestern township in the county. Its territory, how- ever, at first embraced much more of the county than now. The last change was made March 9, 1825, when the following was enacted by the board of com- missioners :
"Middlebury township shall be composed of the following bounds, to-wit : Beginning at the northwest corner of the seventh township in the fourteenth range ; thence north on the range line to the Indian boundary line; thence southwesterly to Franklin township: thence north to the east boundary of Franklin to the county line; thence east to the line between the fifth and sixth sections in Knox county ; thence south on the said line to the old Indian bound- ary line: thence northeasterly on said line to where the range line between the thirteenth and fourteenth ranges strikes the said boundary; thence south on said boundary line to the northwest corner of township seven, in range thirteen : thence west on the township line to place of beginning."
This township is composed of twelve and one-half square miles of terri- tory, south of the Greenville treaty line, in the United States military district, and seven and one-half square miles north of said treaty line, the latter being Congress land. This division of the township, on either side the Indian boundary and irregularities in surveys, causes a jog in the territory, one over- lapping the other, as it were.
This part of the county is a gently rolling country, well adapted to agri- cultural pursuits of its happy, prosperous possessors.
Owl creek traverses the township from northwest to southeast, the same at an early day affording ample water power which was utilized by the pio- neer settlers in many instances for milling purposes.
The census taken by the United States government in 1910 gave Middle- bury township 777 people within its borders; this is eleven less than in 1900. It was named "Middlebury" after the place of that name in Vermont.
SETTLEMENT.
To the Friends Society, sometimes dubbed Quakers, belongs the honor of first settling this part of Knox county. They emigrated from Maryland.
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In the autumn of 1806 William W. Farquhar arrived in this county and stopped temporarily with Henry Roberts in Morris township, but soon located with other Friends in Fredericktown, Wayne township. There he remained until 1808, when he removed to Middlebury township, settling on the old William Burkholder place. This was two miles to the north of Fredericktown and there he passed the remainder of his days. He was a man of character and public prominence. In February, 1808, the General Assembly of Ohio chose the first associate judges of Knox county, and this gentleman was se- lected as one of them; he served faithfully three years, when he resigned. The first jury case tried in the county by the supreme court was that entitled Will- iam W. Farquhar vs. James Craig, in which verdict was rendered for Mr. Farquhar for one hundred three dollars and sixty cents. He was one of the original stockholders in the Owl Creek Bank, owning fifteen shares in that quite famous banking house. In 1818 Mr. Farquhar was elected as a mem- ber of the Ohio Legislature.
Another Friend from Frederick county, Maryland, was Samuel Wilson, who came at about the same date as Mr. Farquhar. His name appears on the poll book at the first election in the township of Wayne. He was one of the judges of election at that election. He was a very active Friend and do- nated an acre of his land to the Owl Creek society, on which to locate meeting- house buildings, etc. For years his son, Joseph, occupied the old homestead, but finally it passed into the hands of other families.
Thomas Townsend located a mile and a half north from Fredericktown in 1808. He was a true Friend and kept an "underground railroad" station in which he used to harbor and feed as high as twenty fugitive slaves at one time, and when sufficiently rested would set their face toward the north star and bid them depart in peace and "God be with you." He died in March, 1859, aged seventy-eight years.
Another Friend who effected settlement here was Samuel Willett, who settled on section 21, north of Fredericktown, in 1808.
Robert Wright and Jesse Vore came about that date. Also John and Jacob Cook were of the same colony and voted in Wayne township at the first election. They came in from Washington county, Pennsylvania.
Others who were quite early in Middlebury were Richard Hall, Thomas Finch, John Mitchell and Daniel Levering. The last mentioned came from Bedford county, Pennsylvania, prior to the war of 1812-14. In the spring of 1813, after having resided near Waterford a while, he moved to this township. That season he, with several others, built a block-house on his farm for the protection of his family against Indians. He opened the first blacksmith shop in the township and built the first mill for grinding corn and wheat. He reared
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a large family and gave each a good home of their own when married. He died at the age of fifty-six, in 1820, leaving a name highly honored.
Truman Strong, born in 1790 in Vermont, came to Knox county in 1812, locating on lot II in the southwest quarter of Middlebury township. He was a Universalist minister, traveled extensively and preached his liberal faith wherever he went. He also figured as a Fourth-of-July orator. He had a wife and five children.
Zebulon Ashley, who was from the same place in Vermont as the last named settler, was born in 1770 and moved to Middlebury township in 1812, locating on lot 22. He died in 1835 and lies buried on a plot of ground he had donated the community for a burying ground.
Munson Pond, from Massachusetts, born in 1772, located here in 1815, on lot 6, later known as the Elizabeth Ladd farm. On this place grew a sycamore tree measuring twelve feet in diameter. The tree, being hollow, was cut down, a Fourth of July celebration held in a section of it and then it was turned into a bedroom. Mr. Pond remained until 1830, then removed to Huron county, Ohio.
Other settlers from New England were Luther and Alvin Bateman, of Vermont, who settled here in 1815, near Batemantown, which they tried hard to make a thriving town of, but signally failed in these laudable efforts.
John Ackerman settled in the northwest corner of this township in 1813. He had sons, Stephen, Morgan, Leander and Harvey.
Jonathan, David, Richard and Robert Ewers emigrated from Loudoun county, Virginia, and settled in the eastern portion of this township. They all reared large families and hence the name is common throughout the entire county now.
Jacob Young had a corn-cracker and saw mill on the south fork of Owl creek in 1813. He was elected associate judge that year to fill the unexpired term of William W. Farquhar.
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