USA > Ohio > Knox County > Past and present of Knox County, Ohio, Vol. I > Part 4
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In passing to other parts of the county, it should be added that near Fredericktown, at the site of the old Quaker "meeting house," and on land owned at one time by Ellis Willet, a mound was to be seen from thirty to forty feet in diameter and about ten feet high. It stood on the exact spot which Mr. Willet selected for his building site, hence the cellar was excavated directly under the mound and thus it was forever destroyed as a monument to those pre-historic days. Human bones were found within it, and also some articles resembling cooking utensils, charcoal, evidences of fire, etc. These articles are generally found in these mounds when properly explored.
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Scores of smaller mounds were to be seen at an early date, before the plow- share of civilization had cut deep its way into the soil.
In Clay township, in its northern portion, there are several mounds, the largest of which is about two acres in area and was originally (when country was first settled) covered with a dense growth of heavy timber. Charles Murray owned this land in 1880. Smaller mounds near it cover from one half to an acre.
In .Morgan township may be: seen other mounds built by-history does not enlighten us by whom or when. One is on the land formerly owned by James Campbell; it is about five feet high and measures forty feet in diameter. In the late seventies this mound was opened and nothing secured, save ashes and pieces of charcoal. Smaller mounds abound all around this one, and thousands of arrowheads are picked up annually about the premises.
In Wayne township there are evidences of many of these mounds, but the hand of time has obliterated all but one, in the southern part of the town- ship. When the first settlers came in a very perfect work existed within the present limits of the town of Fredericktown. It was located on the highest point of the hill upon which now stands the town. Sandusky street runs directly through it today. The entire work covered probably an acre of ground, and included a portion of the lots on which were later erected the Methodist and Baptist churches. The embankment was circular in form and about three feet high, with a ditch inside, and a gateway opening to the east. A mound was within the enclosure, and its size was thirty to forty feet in diameter at the base and seven to ten feet high. When the timber did not grow there, which likely did not when these works were made thousands of years ago. from this high point of view the top of the mounds at Mt. Vernon, as well as the entire chain along through this part of the country could have been seen, one from the other. Whether made for defense, for signals by means of fires lighted thereon, or for religious burial places, none will ever positively know.
The famous mound in Mound View cemetery, at Mt. Vernon, this county, has attracted the attention of thousands of admirers, with the passing of the decades, since the grounds were first used by the white race as a bury- ing place. This is of small size, compared to others in Knox county, but its beautifully rounded and compact built proportions are rare .. From its sides and top trees have sprung up that have come to be of large size. On a clear day, from its summit may be seen the village of Fredericktown. This mound has for many years been used for vaults for the dead of the recent genera- tions of white men and women. But the general exterior and fine form has
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been left intact and is a marvel of beauty and leads many a man to look upon its well sodded surface and wonder concerning its true, yet altogether for- gotten history.
MYSTERIOUS WELLS.
"Howe's Collection" speaks of historic wells as follows: "When the settlers first came, there were two wells only a few rods apart on the south side of Vernon river, on the edge of the town, the origin of which remains unknown. They were built of neatly hammered stone, laid in regular masonry and had the appearance of being overgrown with moss. Near by was a salt lick at which the Indians were accustomed to encamp. Almost immediately after the first settlement, all traces of the wells were obliterated, as was sup- posed, by the Indians. A similar well was brought to light, a mile and a half distant, by the plow of Philip Cosner, while plowing in a nearby cleared piece of forest land. It was covered with poles and earth and was about thirty feet deep .**
That these wells existed and that they were made for providing drinking water for a part of the human race, there can be no doubt.
STREAMS, AREA, ETC.
The total area of land in Knox county is, by survey, 324,404 acres, three-fourths of which were under cultivation in 1896, and the balance in woodlands and pasture, with less than four thousand acres marked by author- ity of the state as "waste land."
The county is not noted for its numerous and large water courses, but its domain is well watered and drained by scores of lesser streams which seem to be running far above the original river beds of a previous geological age. The main valleys have thousands of years since been filled with drift soil and a new system of smaller streams has thus been formed.
The greater of these streams is the Kokosing river, formed by the con- fluence of Owl creek and Dry creek, which unite at Mt. Vernon, forming the first named stream. Owl creek has a north and south branch and runs from the northwest to the southeast. The general course of the Kokosing river is easterly through Knox county.
The Mohican river simply courses through the eastern part of the county, touching in Union and Jefferson townships.
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Big and Little Jelloway traverse the northern part of the county, form- ing a junction in Howard township and also in the same township flows into the Kokosing river.
Other streams are Granny creek, Skanks creek, Muckshaw river, Syca- more creek, Big run, Tuma run, north fork of Licking river, Indian Field run, Isaacs run, Wahatomaha creek, Elliott run, north fork Paul river, Herred run, Center run, Yance creek, Brush run, West Owl creek, Colman's branch, and many streams that have never been named in the surveys made of the county.
There are numerous fine springs and some small lakes within the county, and flowing wells abound in many sections ; they are sometimes called artesian wells, but do not go to a sufficient depth to properly be so termed. The water of Knox county, in town and city, as well as in the rural districts, is unex- celled in Ohio for its purity.
CHAPTER IV.
ORGANIZATION OF KNOX COUNTY.
Before reciting the first settlements and the manner and customs of those who resided within the limits of what now constitute Knox county, it will be well to acquaint them with the organization of the county, as a legal enactment.
The first settlement in the present county of Knox was effected five years before its organization. It was created, as was Licking county, by an act of the Ohio Legislature, January 30, 1808. The wording of the portion of that organizing act as related to Knox county was recorded in the state journal as follows :
"Section 2. Be it further enacted, that all that tract of country included in the following boundaries be, and the same is hereby laid off into a separate county, which shall be known by the name of Knox : Beginning at the south- east corner of the fifth (5) township of said tenth (10) range; thence west along the northern boundary line of said county of Licking, to the line be- tween the fifteenth (15) and sixteenth ( 16) range aforesaid ; thence north to the northern boundary of the military land aforesaid ; thence westwardly along said northern boundary line to the twentieth (20) range of the lands of the United States, lying north of said military lands ; thence north on said west- ern boundary line to the northwestern corner of the seventeenth ( 17) town- ship in said range, thence east until it intersects the said north boundary line of the military lands ; thence eastwardly along said northern boundary line to the east boundary line of said tenth ( 10) range in the military lands; from thence south along said range line to the place of beginning.
"Sec. 3. Be it further enacted, that it shall be lawful for the coroner, sheriff and constables of said county of Fairfield and all collectors of the county of Fairfield, to make distress for all dues and officers' fees unpaid by the inhabitants of said new counties at the time said division shall take place. and they shall be accountable in like manner as if this act had not been passed. and the court of Fairfield county shall have jurisdiction in all actions and suits pending therein at the time of such division ; and they shall try and de- termine the same, issue processes, and award execution thereof.
"Sec. 4. Be it further enacted, that the temporary seat of justice in the county of Licking shall be at the house of Levi Hays, and the temporary
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seat of justice in the county of Knox shall be at the town of Mount Vernon in said county.
"Sec. 5. Be it further enacted, that the inhabitants of said new counties shall assemble in their respective counties on the first Monday of April next, at the usual place of holding elections in said counties, and proceed to elect a sheriff, coroner, and commissioners for their respective counties, who shall continue in office until the next annual election, and until successors are elected and qualified.
"Sec. 6. Be it further enacted, that all justices of the peace and town- ship officers in said counties shall continue to exercise their duties of the respective offices until successors are chosen and qualified.
"Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, that all of that tract of country lying north of the aforesaid county of Knox, and south of the Connecticut Western Reserve, and so far east as the line between the fifteenth ( 15) and sixteenth (16) ranges of Congress lands, shall be, and is hereby erected into a separate county, by the name of Richland, and shall be under the jurisdiction of the county of Knox, until the Legislature may think proper to organize the same.
"This act shall take effect and be in force from and after the first day of March next.
(Signed) "P. BEECHER, "Speaker of the House of Representatives. "JOHN BIGGER, "Speaker Pro Tem of the Senate.
"January 30, 1808."
The first election under the above act was held April 4, 1808. The offi- cers of election were Ebenezer Brown, Jabez Beers, Samuel Kratzer, judges ; William Gass and Robert Anderson, clerks.
Voters were present from the most remote portions of the county. The following shows the vote on the various county officers which were elected at that date, the first set of Knox county officials :
County Commissioners-John Lewis received fifty-six votes, John Herrod, fifty-two votes, and Joseph Walker, forty-eight votes.
Sheriffs-Silas Brown elected without opposition.
Coroner-Jonathan Craig had forty-five votes, Francis Hardesty, one vote.
Trustees-George Downs had forty-one votes, Henry Roberts had thirty- six votes, and Joseph Coleman, thirty-six votes.
Overseers of the Poor-Moses Craig received twenty-two votes, James Walker, two votes, Alexander Walker, twelve votes.
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Supervisor-Samuel Kratzer received thirty-five votes and Peter Baxter received thirty-six votes.
Fence Viewers-The candidates were George Zin, Michael Click and :
Jesse Severe.
"House Praisers" (as the record has it), Archibald Gardner and James Craig, each having had twelve votes.
Constables-Gabriel Wilkins received thirty votes, Philip Walker, twenty-one votes, Jonathan Hunt, Jr., fifteen votes, and David Miller, three votes.
Treasurer-Benjamin Butler received twelve votes, James Walker, two votes. None of these men were living in 1878.
The county commissioners' record shows that among the first acts in the county proceedings, that four civil sub-divisions, called townships, were made from out the newly organized county of Knox-Wayne, Clinton, Morgan and Union townships. (For a description of these see township histories in this volume. )
THE "ORIGINAL" KNOX COUNTY TERRITORY.
While all that has been said in this chapter on the organization of this county is true, yet it had a name and existed as early as 1800, when by the organization of the Indiana Territory, the counties of St. Clair, Knox and Randolph were taken out of the jurisdiction of the Northwest Territory. By the boundaries given in that action on the part of the ruling power of what is now the state of Ohio, Knox county embraced all of the territory included in the counties of Scioto, Highland, Brown, Clinton. Fairfield, Clark, Champaign. Hardin, Marion, Morrow, Knox and Licking.
So, in reality, this county was constituted under Gen. Arthur St. Clair, territorial governor in 1788, and continued so to be until the adoption of the state constitution in 1803. By his orders the county of Fairfield was created December 9, 1800, and so continued without change until February, 1808, when it was made the subject of boundary changes and a separate county organized and named in honor of General Washington's secretary of war, Gen. Henry Knox.
Until 1848 Knox county had attached to its domain three townships which since that date have belonged to other counties and are now a part of Morrow county on the west. These townships are Bloomfield, Chester and Franklin.
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THE TOWNSHIPS DETACHED FROM KNOX COUNTY.
As has already been observed, Knox county at one time had much more territory than it possesses today. A part of this has been accounted for by the foregoing; now will follow the history of the detachment of what was named Madison, Green, Chester, Bloomfield and Franklin townships.
The act establishing Knox county was passed January 30, 1808. The act establishing Richland county was passed the same date, and contained a provision that it should be under the jurisdiction of Knox county until the Legislature should order otherwise. Then, June 9, 1809, the county of Rich- land was declared a separate township, to be known as Madison, which at the annual election of said year cast seventeen votes, and only nineteen votes in 18II.
On January 7, 1812, the county commissioners divided Madison town- ship and established Greene township, which at the annual election of this year cast forty-one votes. March 14, 1812, the court of common pleas ordered three justices of the peace be elected in Greene township. By act of the Ohio Legislature, passed January 7, 1813, Richland county was organized. In April, 1809, Mansfield was established as the county seat of Richland county.
ORGANIZATION OF MORROW COUNTY.
Knox county in 1848 contributed the three townships, Chester, Bloom- field and Franklin, toward the creation of Morrow county. Chester was or- ganized in 1812; Bloomfield in 1817; Franklin in 1823. By the cutting off of Knox of these three important townships, the population was greatly diminished to the extent of almost four thousand people, and it also marred the shape of the territory.
A branch of Owl creek passes through Chester township, and Chester- ville is its chief town. Its population in 1830 was 778; 1840, 1,297; 1850, I,620. Enos Miles was the proprietor of Chesterville, situated on the road from Mt. Vernon to Mt. Gilead. As early as 1830 the population of the town was 350. Evan Holt, a Revolutionary character, was among the old- time men of this place, having settled in Knox county in 1808.
BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP.
This, another one of the western townships of Knox county, was at- tached to Morrow in 1848. Its population in 1840 was 1,251; 1850, 1,395;
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Sparta and Bloomfield were early towns of note in this township. It derived its name from the fact that in the spring of 1817, while seeking a name for the new township, John Blinn called attention to the wild flowers in bloom in the field and suggested it be named Bloomfield.
In this township, on July 4, 1862, while celebrating Independence day, and at five o'clock in the evening, after speeches were through with, three thousand people witnessed the falling of a balloon with a man in its rigging, the same being up over five hundred feet. The man was killed instantly by the bursting of the balloon in mid-air.
FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP.
Franklin was the third and last township of Knox county detached and made a part of Morrow county. This was in 1848. It had been authorized in 1832 and named in honor of Benjamin Franklin. In 1830 it had a popu- lation of eight hundred. Pulaskiville was for years the chief town of this township. Allen Kelly, from Pennsylvania, was among the earliest, if not the first settler. Colonel Strong was one of the noted military men from this township ; also Bernard Fields.
MAKING MT. VERNON THE COUNTY SEAT.
It seldom occurs that a county is organized without some difficulty re- garding the location of the seat of justice. Men's interests so many times warp their better sense of right and hence factions are often created, regard- less of natural locations and advantages for a county seat, and pulling and hauling has been practiced until one side or the other has been compelled by popular opinion to yield. This county was no exception to this general rule, though the fight here was one of pleasantry and void of that foolish violence exhibited in many another county.
Before the date of settling the county seat matter in Knox county, there had been two town sites platted near each other, Clinton and Mt. Vernon. Both sought to capture the seat of county government, knowing full well whichever point succeeded in this would doubtless be the chief town within the newly formed county.
ORGANIZATION.
On February 9, 1808, James Armstrong, James Dunlap and Isaac Cook were appointed commissioners to locate the county seat. In pursuance of such duties, these gentlemen proceeded to the justice of the peace, John Mills, on March 28th of the same year, and were each and severally sworn to discharge their duties as locating commissioners.
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Clinton was larger than Mount Vernon. It had more stocks of goods for sale; more mechanics ; more houses ; more enterprise ; it had the first and only newspaper in the county, at the time; had the first and only church in the county for a number of years, but perforce of circumstances (the shrewd manipulation of men), Mount Vernon won in the spirited contest. Clinton, it is true, had the advantage of New England Yankee genius, but in the round-up the men at the head of affairs in Mount Vernon outwitted and out- generaled the men in Clinton, which soon went to decay, after a few years' struggle and strife for supremacy. With all of its business start, its stores, shops, tanneries, the church and printing press to back it, it did not survive as a business point much after the close of the war of 1812 with Great Britain.
The manner in which this contest was finally settled by the commis- sioners has for two generations been told in different ways. The records of such matters are not usually kept intact longer than the results of the decisions are known, each faction trying to put the most plausible construction upon their side of the reason for the final location where it has been made, hence in this connection we will give what old settlers, whose memory runs back the farthest, state to be the facts, then add another solution of how Mount Vernon won and how Clinton lost the county seat of Knox county. Historian A. Banning Norton (very reliable) seemed, in his day and generation, to favor the theory first given, which is as follows :
The commissioners first visited Mt. Vernon, as that had been selected by the act of the Legislature as the temporary seat of justice of the county. They were there received by Benjamin Butler, who conducted a log tavern in the place and who was also one of the townsite men of the place. He showed great hospitality, had the men well cared for and a colored man to groom their horses and make their stay in town as pleasant as possible. His wife, being an excellent cook, spread her tables with all that a man, tired and hungry, could ask for, in a new country. At the same time, the worthy landlord made it appear to the commission that he, with everyone in town, was very busy. He had planned with each man in town to "get busy" and. with coats off and sleeves rolled up, men might have been seen in all parts of the town, then a forest of dense brush patch, plying the ax and shovel and spade, in improving the streets and doing all that industrious pioneers could to show that the citizens of Mt. Vernon were an enterprising, thrifty set of people and were not afraid of hard work. This included the landlord as well as others, so the commissioners were left for a time to stroll about the little hamlet in the big woods and deliberate on the matter of its being a proper place at which to locate a permanent county seat. Nothing was left undone,
(4)
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on the part of manager Butler and his sturdy townsmen, that could possibly be done to put on the appearance of being too busy to show them around much, and they acted rather indifferent as to the outcome of the cominis- sion's visit and chief mission in the place. Butler asked few questions, but when asked any by the strangers he was free to speak kindly of the other rival for a seat of justice, all of which greatly impressed the commissioners with the notion that really here were a thrifty, sensible, unselfish set of citi- zens. This cunning practice might have been looked for at Clinton, made up of so much Yankee blood, but hardly expected in the town in which the men of authority (commissioners ) were then stopping.
At Clinton the welcome with which they were met was not of the pleas- ing type as had been put before them over in Mt. Vernon. For by pre-ar- ranged plans of Butler and others, a set of rough men of the "baser element" had been sent on ahead of the commissioners from Mt. Vernon's outskirts, and had gone to Clinton in advance, and there were pretending to be in a high state of intoxication (they might have had a few drinks-it was com- mon and cheap those times), and ran against the honorable, dignified commis- sioners, and by their rude and rowdish conduct, heartily disgusted the com- missioners, who naturally believed they belonged in Clinton and that they were a fair example of the average citizenship of the little burg, seeking to be placed on the map of the world as "county seat town."
At any rate the commissioners did not locate at Clinton. Whatever might have been their reason, the world will never fully know, as the records are silent and the participants in the matter have been buried in the grave many decades ago.
When it had been made known that Mt. Vernon had won the seat of jus- tice, there was naturally great rejoicing in town and bonfires were kept brightly burning.
Pioneer Butler used to relate about the part he took in this funny con- test. It will be recalled that he was the hotel man who so nicely entertained the commissioners at Mt. Vernon. He said : "In the morning, before ready to start, the commissioners were friendly and I asked them to join in a jump- ing match. and they did, and I jumped farther than they could and one said. 'Well, landlord, you can jump some.' I asked them if they were not going back to take another look at the Clintonites, whereupon they said 'No.' I told them how I regretted that they had not been better served at my hotel, but 'twas the best I could do. They said, 'We fared well. and if ever we come here again we will be pleased to stop at your tavern.' They then asked me to accompany them to Delaware to pilot them over the rough country, which I did. On the way over I asked them, indirectly, if they had located the county seat yet. But they gave an evasive reply and I said no more. I told them that
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sometimes I got discouraged and thought I might do better somewhere else for myself and family. But Commissioner Dunlap said I was doing well enough here and that times might be better. So when I returned home I called the 'boys' of the town about me and told them what I had found out and believed that we had got the county seat. Then I asked all hands to take a drink with me on Mt. Vernon. This little 'trick' of ours, I am sure, turned the scales with the commissioners in our favor, as they never saw through it."
Jonathan Hunt's account of the work being performed at Mt. Vernon,, the day after the commissioners arrived, is as follows :
"Gilman Bryant sort of bossed the job and, being a cripple, he tended on them and gave out whiskey and water, cheering them up by saying : 'Work like men in harvest, but keep sober, boys.' Mike and John Click drove the ox teams used. Mike was a bully hand with oxen and made them tear up stumps, haul logs, plow and scrape. Men never worked better on a road than that force did. They chopped down trees, cut off logs, grubbed. dug down rough spots, filled up gulleys, burned logs, and made a wonderful change in the looks of things. This, to my certain knowledge, was the first street work ever performed in Mt. Vernon."
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