USA > Ohio > Muskingum County > Zanesville > Past and present of the city of Zanesville and Muskingham County, Ohio > Part 36
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March 17, 1817, he moved from Natchez into the commodious brick residence still standing on the north side of Market street, east of Sixth street, so long known as the Van Horne resi-
dence, and which he purchased from Alexander Mclaughlin, who constructed it at great expense.
In 1826 he resigned as receiver of the public money, and died February 2, 1834. He was one of the most prominent, active and energetic bus- iness men of his day, and greatly esteemed by the community.
CHAPTER XX.
THE TOWNSHIPS, DESCRIBED IN ALPHABETICAL OR- DER AS THEIR ORDER OF SENIORITY IIAS BEEN IMPOSSIBLE TO DETERMINE.
THE TOWNSHIPS
have been the most difficult and unsatisfactory subjects in preparation ; recollections of the older residents have proven conflicting and indefinite ; private and public records are incomplete or en- tirely missing : public officials are so frequently changed that the records of predecessors have been lost. Where public records have been found they have been accepted as correct nothwithstand- ing that they may disagree with personal state- ments, for the reason that a record made at the time has more to commend it than the lapses of memory which occur after a series of years, al- though the relator may have been a participant in the event.
That the narrative of the townships is incom- plete is conceded, but the exclusion of doubtful matter was preferred to the inclusion of what was far from being established. Not a single township or village clerk in the county contributed a word of information, or paid any attention to the in- quiries of the editor for specific facts, perhaps for the reason that it was beyond his ability to com-
ADAMS TOWNSHIP.
The Commissioners' journal of December 5. 1826, records that "A petition was presented by Caleb Jordan, signed by a number of citizens of Madison and Monroe townships, setting forth that they labor under many difficulties and disadvant- ages in consequence of the distance they have to travel to elections and praying that a township may be set off of part of Monroe and Madison townships, and the Commissioners believing the prayer of the petitioners neces- sary for the convenience of the inhabitants and township officers do hereby order a new township to be set off according to the following boundaries, to wit: Beginning at the northeast corner of Salem township line and running thence west along said line to the north- west corner of said township, thence north to the Coshocton county line; thence east to the north-
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west corner of the original survey of township number three, in the fifth range, thence south to the place of beginning, comprising the original surveyed township number three in the sixth range, Military Land, which shall constitute a new township to be called Adams township. Also ordered by the Commissioners that an election be held at the house of Caleb Jordan, esquire, on the first day of January next, being January 1, 1827, to elect officers for the township." The town- ship was named in honor of John Quincy Adams, then President, and the political boundaries are, north by Coshocton county ; east by Monroe town- ship : south by Salem township, and west by Mad- ison township.
The electors assembled at the designated time and voted viva voce for officers, except justices of the peace, there being one each from Monroe and Madison townships residing in the new town- ship. As the election had not been by ballot, as the statute directed, a new election was held April 2, 1827, when there were chosen : Caleb Jordan, township clerk; Anthony Slater, James Wilcox and Benjamin Whitebury, trustees; Abraham Wisecarver and David Ross, overseers of the poor ; Jacob Sturtz and Powell Christman, fence viewers : John Campbell, treasurer ; John Shona- field and John Mullen constables ; David Swigert, Thomas Green, Francis Titus and Robert Brown, supervisors. Subsequent elections alternated be- tween private houses and school houses until 1876 when a township house was built.
The first settler was James Wilcox, who built a hut of brush and bark in the wilderness in 1808-10; wild beasts were numerous and his few domestic animals were kept in close pens for se- curity. His immediate successors were David Brelsford, Jacob Hashmer and Hugh Ballentine, who settled at the bend of Wills creek, in 1810. Benjamin Whitebury, John and William Camp- bell, Abraham Wisecarver, Caleb Bidwell, Samuel Monroe, Robert Osborn, William Barton, Valen- tine Shirer, and Anthony Slater were located by 1818.
The first blacksmith was David Brelsford, about 1810, and in 1833 he erected the second saw mill in the township on a small stream which bears his name ; the first saw mill was operated by David Swigert. The threshing machine and mower were introduced by Anthony Slater. The first marriage was in 1822, of David Shirer and Lydia Gaumer ; the first frame house was built for Will- iam Barton and the first brick was erected for Jacob Gaumer, Jr., a noted hunter of the day. the brick being burned on his farm during 1840, and the building put in the following year.
SCHOOLS.
As in the other townships of the county, the first schools were not maintained at public ex-
pense ; the building was erected by the persons desiring it and the teacher was paid by those pat- ronizing it. The first school house was near the location of the present township house, and the first teacher was William Jennison, in 1820. Dur- ing 1824 a number of the neighbors united in erecting a log school house, eighteen by twenty feet, at the forks of the road below Fairview, on land of Mordecai Edwards ; the floor was the cus- tomary puncheon, the benches were slabs or split logs with pins for legs at the ends and middle, and the desks were slabs supported by wooden pins driven into the walls. The teacher for the first few terms was James Hayworth, an eccentric, scholarly recluse and miser. In 1836 another lot of neighbors built a house on land of J. J. Bell and in 1841 one was erected on the farm of Solo- mon Wenner ; the latter was of hewn logs, twenty- two by twenty-four feet, with permanent desks. In 1854 a frame school building, twenty-four by twenty-five feet, was built on the Sandel farm. The township is now divided into four school dis- tricts, each of which has a one room building of an aggregate value of $2,000.00; four male teach- ers are employed, and the enumeration is sixty- seven boys and sixty-two girls.
CHURCHES.
Bethesda Methodist Episcopal church is the oldest religious society in the township; the first sermon preached was by a local, Jesse Roe, in 1821, and in 1826 he formed a class of eight at the residence of John E. Honnold, which met in Roe's home and a school house. In 1827 Joseph Car- per and Cornelius Springer formed a class of fourteen, mostly from former members of the Wheelen church, in Madison township; in 1835 a log church was built, twenty-six by thirty feet, on a lot donated for the purpose, and before the building was completed Robert Shields and Rob- ert Halsty bought adjoining land for burial pur- poces, and the first interment was a child. In 1856 a frame church, thirty-eight by forty-two feet was erected upon the original site.
Fairview Methodist Episcopal church is a branch from the Roe or Bethesda church ; when the school house was built on "Father Edwards' " place the services which had been conducted in his home were transferred to the school house, and in the fall of 1831 a class of twelve was formed. In 1834 Edwards donated an acre of ground, on which an old pioneer and church associate was buried, and in 1835 a hewed log church, twenty- six by thirty feet, was built and dedicated in July, and called the Edwards' meeting house. In 1854 a new church was required and a location one hundred and fifty feet north was selected, on an eminence commanding a view of the surrounding country ; the new frame building was completed
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PAST AND PRESENT OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY.
in 1855 and called Fairview, and the Sunday school, organized in 1835, was moved into the new structure.
Zion Evangelical Lutheran church. The Ger- man settlers desired services in their native tongue and religious faith, and in 1839 Rev. Frederick Minner organized a congregation with twenty adult members; February 22, 1840, Valentine Sandel donated a lot of ground to trustees, and in 1841 a hewed log building, twenty-six by thirty feet, was erected. Services were conducted in German until 1868 when the younger members desired an English service and Rev. Bartholomew, of Zanesville, preached the first English sermon ; the innovation gave great offense to the elder members and a division occurred, the Germans incorporating the congregation as the Evangeli- can Lutheran and Reformed Zion church, and held the old building and the burial ground. The church has no pastor.
In 1872 Jacob Sandel donated an acre of land north of the old church and in the same year a frame church, thirty-six by fifty feet, was started ; the corner stone was laid September 22, 1872, and the structure was completed at a cost of $2,- 000.00 and dedicated October 5. 1873; the ma- jority of the members at once affiliated with the new congregation where the services were in Eng- lish.
Adams Township Baptist church. Elders Will- iam Sedgwick and E. W. Handle organized a congregation of seventeen members, March 3. 1855, and a frame church was built in the same year ; the congregation was never strong in mem- bers, but active and harmonious ; removals worked its disintegration, and in 1891 the building was sold and the congregation disbanded.
BLUE ROCK TOWNSHIP.
June 4, 1810 "A petition was presented by a number of inhabitants of the township of Salt Creek praying for a division to be made of the same which was granted, and ordered to be re- corded in the name of Blue Rock township, and that a copy of the division be handed to the clerk of the Court of Common Pleas." This action by the Commissioners does not appear to have been effectual ; no election was ordered and December 3. 1812. the record reads: "A number of the in- habitants of Salt Creek and Zanesville townships petitioned to be incorporated into a new township by the name of Blue Rock, and it was granted. The boundary may be known by reference to the township book in the Commissioners' office." The present boundaries are : North by Salt Creek and Wayne townships ; cast by Mcigs township ; south by Morgan county and west by the Muskingum river.
The first election was held at the house of Law- rence Allwine, above Gaysport, January 6, 1814.
when the following officers were chosen: Law- rence Allwine and Joseph Smith, justices of the peace : Eli Sherman, James Larrison and Daniel Bean, trustees; David Dutro, Sr., treasurer ; Ja- cob Ayers and Peter Dingman, overseers of the poor ; Samuel Johnson and William Eviland, fence viewers; John Larrison and Daniel Bean, supervisors ; George Watson and James Larrison, constables ; Jacob Ayers, assessor ; Lawrence All- wine, clerk.
James Larrison was frequently selected by his neighbors as a township officer, and on one occa- sion he was to meet Robert Finley at the river to be sworn in ; the stream was too high to be forded and no boat was near to cross; Finley shouted to Larrison to hold up his right hand and with his voice keyed to its full volume, he administered the oath of office, with the river rolling between them : they were in each others presence and hearing and the law does not specify how near the parties must be, and since affidavits are now made by telephone this instance of long distance swearing may serve as a precedent for the later practice.
There are no legends even upon which to trace the first settlers; the deed books would impose too much labor, and some first things only can be enumerated. That there were young people to woo and be wooed at an early day is attested by the first marriage, April 7. 1803, of Stephen Reeves and Mary Briggs. by Lawrence Allwine, justice of the peacc, who in 1810 opened the first tavern in the township above Gaysport. John Bird blacksmith, near Rural Dale : Robert Silvey, shoe- maker : Jesse Thomas, wheelwright ; John Davis, stonemason : J. Revenaugh, wooden plow maker ; Absalom Roberts, distiller : James Burroughs, chairmaker ; Thomas White, tanner: Joshua Crumbaker, cabinet maker ; Dr. Baker, physician, were the pioneers in the industrial and profes- sional lines named.
Caleb Hall built the first frame house ncar Ru- ral Dale: Joseph McLees erected the first stone house in the cast part of the township : Caleb But- ler built the first brick house in the southern part of the township; Nathaniel Ayers sunk the first salt well in Gaysport in 1822, and in the same year Ramey and Turner drove one near by: in 1824 a salt well driven 572 fect deep, gave off gas, but its use was not recognized. John Trimble built the first saw mill below Rural Dale in 1820; San- uel Culbertson erected the first steam saw mill in 1827 and the first steam grist mill did not ma- terialize until 1872, at Gaysport, operated by Wor- stall Brothers. The first grocery was opened by Jolin P. Farrell, and the first general store by Ru- fus Putnam.
A custom prevailed in the township which was current elsewhere of cutting coin to make small change. Spanish coin was current and American was rare except in the smaller denominations ;
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PAST AND PRESENT OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY.
dollars were seldom cut into more than five pieces ; halves and quarters into four parts, and the term "bits" came from this practice. The pieces were called "sharp shins" because of their tendency to cut the pocket.
Rural Dale was laid out in 1854 by J. B. Mil- hous, although a number of houses had been pre- viously erected, the first as early as 1816; the orig- inal name was Rockville, but was changed to Ru- ral Dale when a postoffice was established; the first store was kept by Briggs and Kearns in 1836, and the first tavern by William Kirk.
Kiefer was laid out as Ridgeway, but the post- master general would not approve the name for a postoffice on account of confusion of names and the shorter designation was selected.
Gaysport was laid out by Asa Gay, March 20, 1880, and named after himself.
SCHOOLS.
The first school was near the river in 1815; in 1819 a log house in Rich Hill served the children in Rich Hill, Meigs, Salt Creek and Blue Rock ; in 1821 a union school served Blue Rock, Meigs and Salt Creek, and in the same year one school was formed for a Blue Rock neighborhood ; in 1824 a union for Blue Rock and Meigs and one for Blue Rock exclusively were established, and in 1828, 1830 and 1833 schools for Blue Rock exclusively were opened.
The township is now divided into nine school districts, each with a one room building, of a total value of $8,000.00, and employing five male and four female teachers, with an enrollment of one hundred and twenty boys and one hundred and twenty-five girls.
CHURCHES.
A Presbyterian class was held in a stone build- ing on Joseph Wallace's land, in the early years, but was not connected with any regular denom- inational authority. The third church organized in the township was known as the Radical Metho- dists, who erected a frame church, but they have so long ceased to have an existence that only a memory of them remains. The Friends or Quak- ers had a meeting house in 1831, on the land of Enoch Harlan, and later built on the premises of Warner Mowharter, but the society has long since been extinct.
Blue Rock Baptist. A class met from house to house and the first regular service was held at the home of Jesse Johns in 1822 ; at a meeting at the house of John Revenaugh, July 25, 1828, the Blue Rock Baptist church was organized with twenty- five members, and soon after a log church, thirty by fifty feet, was erected ; in 1855 a frame, forty feet square, was completed.
Rockville Baptist. August 13, 1844, a council of five churches was held under a large oak on the summit of a hill south of Rockville, and after a sermon sixteen persons, with letters from several congregations, were formed into the Rockville Baptist church, and a meeting house was erected and dedicated November 22, 1845.
Bethlehem Methodist Episcopal. George Stew- art donated a site for a cemetery in which the first burial was made in 1828, and a class of twelve members built a church in 1830, which has been moved to Rural Dale.
Methodist Episcopal churches are erected also at Gaysport and Rockville.
SOCIETIES.
Rockville Division, No. 585, Sons of Temper- ance, was organized at Rockville, May 1, 1849, by William Logan, J. P. Smith, Samuel Harlan, A. Hoopes and D. T. Johnson, and was discon- tinued in 1852.
Rural Lodge, No. 157, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Rural Dale, was chartered Feb- ruary, 1850, and instituted June 13, by W. C. Earl, grand master, with J. P. Smith, noble grand ; W. A. Hawley, vice grand; J. B. Milhous, secretary ; C. H. Trimble, treasurer, and Abram Morrison ; eight members were added by initiation at the in- stitution. June 13, 1853, the Lodge took posses- sion and dedicated a hall built by J. B. Milhous.
Blue Rock Grange, No. 359, Patrons of Hus- bandry, was organized at Rural Dale, December 27, 1873, by S. H. Phipps, district deputy grand master, with T. M. Allen, master ; C. Frame, sec- retary ; E. W. Harlan, treasurer.
BRUSH CREEK TOWNSHIP,
although near the city of Zanesville, was among the latest to be settled. The Commissioners' journal of February 10, 1817, states that "A pe- tition was presented by a number of the inhabit- ants of Harrison township praying that a new township be incorporated viz. : Beginning at the southeast corner of section thirty-one in township number ten in range number thirteen; thence north with the range between the thirteenth and fourteenth ranges to the northwest corner of sec- tion number six in township number eleven in the thirteenth range, east to the Muskingum river; thence down said river until it intersects the range line between the twelfth and thirteenth ranges, thence to the county line, thence west to the place of beginning, called Brush Creek town- ship." The name was taken from Brush creek which traverses the township and bestowed on the stream of the growth of low underbrush which originally was found on its banks to the water's edge. The township is bounded on the
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PAST AND PRESENT OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY.
north by Springfield township and the Muskin- gum river; on the east by Harrison township; south by Morgan county and west by Newton and Clay townships.
The knowledge of no living person extends to the pioneer period; records are scant and the seeker after facts connected with the early settlers must rely very largely upon family records and traditions, which are often incomplete and at times at variance with similar evidence; the gleaner is not infrequently confronted with questions as dif- ficult of solution as the "age of Ann," and the origin of Cain's wife, and is obliged to determine, unaided, the reasonableness of a legend, tradition or incomplete record, that a misrepresentation be not perpetuated and succeeding generations be not misled by accepting our records as accurate when they are mere legend. This digression is made from the narrative that the reader may understand some of the difficulties under which an editor la- bors if he seeks the bare truth, and that the labor of days may be condensed into one line. The di- gression is made here because of the statements made concerning the advent of the recognized pi- oneer of the township ; it is universally conceded that George Swinglc, a German, who came with his son Nicholas, in the year 1810, was the first white man to make a residence in the township ; having selected a location the father returned to Pennsylvania for the family and left the son to erect a cabin for their reception which it is said he did "with the assistance of the neighbors." Who were they? If there were neighbors, by what course of reasoning can Swingle be given the distinction of being the pioneer? If they came immediately after him it is illogical to assume that they neglected their own comforts to mitigate his discomforts which were no greater than their own. The relation serves only to illustrate and make clear what is referred to in the digression about the ambiguous, contradictory and unreasonable statements offered as history, from which the compiler has to separate the grain from the straw.
Mr. Swingle's experience was not unlike his cotemporaries, but he regarded it sufficiently inter- esting in retrospect to recall and compare with the improvement which later years provided. During his first year's residence he made a barrel of maple sugar and another of molasses ; parched corn was an acceptable substitute for coffee and sassafras roots made a tea which was palatable and refresh- ing. During his second year he built the first hewed log house in the township, set out an or- chard, planted wheat and erected a barn to shelter his crops.
Among his early neighbors were Thomas Da- vidson, the first blacksmith, in 1813: Samuel Stover, in the same year, dammed Brush creek to create power to operate a saw mill, and in 1819 added a grist mill at Stovertown; the first physi-
cian was a Mrs. Addison, in 1813, who success- fully treated the ailments of the people with roots and herbs, which she carried in saddle bags to the patient's home. George Swingle (2), to distin- guish him from the pioneer, and Joseph Show- ers were the first carpenters and while the settlers were dependent upon the forest for meat, Henry Dozer, Adam Leffler and Henry Stainbrook were designated, locally, as the hunters. Archibald Buchanan operated a tannery in Turkey run in 1815; the first salt well was sunk by Thomas Moorehead in 1818, and a profitable business was conducted for a number of years. William Swingle made brick early in the settlement of the township and in 1820 Adam Leffler made whiskey for local consumption. The first store was opened in 1830 by Gottleib Slyder, near Stovertown, and the only village in the township is named after a prospective merchant. Samuel Stover, who was operating mills, had ordered a stock of goods with which to open a store on the site of the pres- ent village, and before their arrival was murdered at Zanesville; the store was opened and became the nucleus of the village which was laid out in 1832, and named in his memory.
SCHOOLS.
The first school was taught in a log house dur- ing the winter of 1814, by David Woodruff. The township is now divided into ten school districts, with eleven buildings containing thirteen rooms, valued in the aggregate at $6,000.00, and employ- ing three male and ten female teachers, with an enrollment of two hundred and three boys and one hundred and eighty-six girl pupils.
CHURCHES.
St. John's Evangelical Lutheran. During the years 1812-18 Rev. William Foster, an Evangeli- cal Lutheran itinerant, held house to house serv- ices in the township, and in 1819 his successors formed a circuit including Deavertown, Morgan county, and the Brush creek, Roseville and Ful- tonham classes in Muskingum county, and in that year the Brush Creek congregation erected a log church building two miles south of Stovertown, where so many of the pioneers lie buried and where Phoebe J., daughter of George Swingle, whose death was the first in the township, was in- terred. In 183! the Lutherans and Presbyterians united in the construction of a church half a mile south of Stovertown, and in 1851 the Lutherans purchased a lot adjoining the union building and built a frame church, thirty-six by forty-four feet, which was known as St. John's ; in the spring of 1878 additional ground was purchased adjoin- ing the first and a Gothic frame, forty by sixty- six feet, with a steeple one hundred feet in height.
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PAST AND PRESENT OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY.
and costing $5,000.00, was erected and dedicated the same year.
Presbyterian. The First Presbyterian service was held at the residence of Mrs. Turner, a widow, and the congregation which was formed from such assemblies united with the Lutherans in erecting the edifice of 1831.
Antioch United Brethren. The first service was held at the house of George Swingle, the third, in 1830, and continued there until 1844, when a cabin was built on the farm of Samuel Dozer, where services were conducted until the construction of a frame church in 1869.
Zion Baptist. Six persons holding certificates of former affiliation with different churches of the denomination, met in the school house on Irish Ridge, June 4, 1831, and organized a congrega- tion. The school house was occupied until 1833 when a log meeting house was built, and in 1859 a frame church was erected.
The Amity Sunday School Union was organiz- ed September 23, 1831, as a regular society, with a constitution and regulations ; the first officers were Lemuel Whitaker, president ; William Swin- gle, vice president ; Adam Baughman, treasurer ; John Baughman, secretary. Morning and after- noon sessions were held and an annual meeting, to which the parents were invited.
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