USA > Ohio > Muskingum County > Zanesville > Past and present of the city of Zanesville and Muskingham County, Ohio > Part 37
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The Brush Creek Temperance Union, with fif- teen members, was organized May 24, 1877, in the United Brethren church, with John Cooper, president ; J. M. Riley, vice president ; Alice Mc- Connel, secretary ; Henry Blake, treasurer.
Small Methodist Episcopal meeting houses are erected in Sections 27 and 28.
CLAY TOWNSHIP.
is the smallest of the townships, being only three miles square, and is bounded, north, by Newton township; east, by Brush Creek town- ship; south, by Morgan county, and west by Perry county. The commissioners' journal of December 9, 1841, has the following entry: "A petition was presented by William Wann, signed by a majority of the householders residing within the boundaries of the proposed new township, at the last June session of the board, and laid over to the present session, which was this day taken up and the commissioners being satisfied that the necessary notice of such intended appli- cation had been given by advertisement, as re- quired by law, proceeded to take the matter into consideration. The petitioners set forth that they labor under many difficulties and disadvan- tages in consequence of the distance and other difficulties they have to labor under in going to and from elections, etc., and also praying that a new township may be set off of part of Brush Creek township, and the commissioners believing
the prayer of the petitioners necessary for the convenience of the inhabitants and township of- ficers, do hereby order a new township to be set off, according to the following boundaries, to- wit : Sections 1, 2, 3, 10, II, 12, 13, 14 and 15, in Township 14, Range 14, being part of Brush Creek township, in Muskingum county, which said new township is called Clay township. Also ordered by the commissioners that an election be held at the house of Adam Rider, sr., in said township." There is no record of the election, and the name of the township was selected for its mineral wealth and had no political signifi- cance.
Roseville is the only village in the township, and lies in both Muskingum and Perry coun- ties ; the town was laid out in 1812, by Ezekial Rose, under the name of New Milford ; two years later he built the first cabin, and soon after an- other was erected by Jeremiah Spurgeon ; the name was changed to Roseville in June, 1830, when a postoffice was established, and in 1837. James Littleton made an addition to the village. In 1840 it was incorporated and Dr. James Lit- tle was chosen first mayor ; the pioneer business men were Zedekiah Wilson, blacksmith ; Robert Allen, merchant, and John Laughlin, tavern- keeper ; clay products are the predominating industry, and several large establishments are in operation, and the commerce of the town is sufficient to sustain the First National Bank, J. N. Owens, cashier, and the Farmers' and Me- chanics' Savings Bank, A. L. Maddox, cashier, both with a capital of $25,000.00.
The first settlers in the township were Chaun- cey Ford and David Stokely and the first
SCHOOL
was kept in the conventional log cabin, by Elisha Kennedy ; the township is now divided into three school districts; the Roseville special district has one nine-room building, valued at $30,000.00, and employs two male high school and two male and five female elementary teachers, the enrollment being one hundred and eighty boys and two hundred and forty-three girls. Each of the other two districts has a one-room build- ing of an aggregate value of $1,000.00, the en- rollment being thirteen boys and seventeen girls, but the number was so limited the schools were not continuously maintained.
CHURCHES.
Prior to 1820. religious meetings, when held, were convened in private houses, and about the date named a union meeting house was erected. The denominations represented at Roseville are : Methodist Episcopal, Methodist Protestant,
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PAST AND PRESENT OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY.
Presbyterian, Lutheran, and Bible Christians, each of whom has a church building.
SOCIETIES.
A division of the Sons of Temperance was or- ganized at Roseville, in 1848, which soon be- came so popular that saloon-keeping was re- garded as disreputable ; during the fall of that year a saloon was opened with a stock of three barrels of liquor, and during a night some persons, with augers, lengthened for the purpose, gained access to the space under the saloon and tapped the barrels and permitted their contents to escape; the disgusted proprietor had no alternative but to abandon the location.
The Odd Fellow bodies are Jonathan Lodge, No. 356, instituted August 8, 1859, with E. B. Bailey, noble grand; C. F. Watson, vice grand ; J. J. Walpole, secretary, and Andrew Dugan, treasurer. David Encampment, No. 217, and Fidelity Rebekah Lodge, No. 384, the latter in- stituted August 22, 1893.
Roseville Lodge, No. 606, Knights of Pythias, was instituted November 24, 1892, with thirty- eight members, in Odd Fellows' hall, by Charles Fulkerson, of Zanesville ; a charter was granted in April, 1893, with the following as first officers : C. C. Guy, past chancellor ; William A. McDan- iel, chancellor commander ; J. B. Barbee, pre- late : B. A. Eby, keeper of records and seal ; J. W. Conley, master of finance ; W. H. Jeffries, master of exchequer; J. E. Wigton, master at arms ; Jacob Bush, inner guard ; C. W. Buchanan, outer guard.
Camp No. 3729, Modern Woodmen of Amer- ica, was instituted April 2, 1896, by R. E. Cor- nelius, with fifteen beneficial and four social members, and the following as first officers : Thomas Stevenson, venerable consul ; Henry Dobling, worthy advisor ; William Rutenbeck, clerk : M. McNeil, eminent banker ; H. Kammer, escort ; L. Scott, sentry; Gus. Wodtker, phy- sician.
Martha Washington Chapter. No. 20, Order of the Eastern Star, surrendered its charter sev- eral years ago, and March 4, 1905, was reorgan- ized as Orion Chapter, with twenty-seven mem- bers, the ceremonies being conducted by N. W. Dick, grand patron, assisted by twenty-eight members from Zanesville Chapter, No. 52.
Lone Star Tent, No. 100, T. O. Rechabites, and Clay Council, No. 50, Junior Order United American Mechanics, were formerly in existence. but have disbanded.
Axline Post, No. 290, G. A. R., and a Wo- men's Relief Corps are in operation.
FALLS TOWNSHIP
is. the first north of the Licking and west of the Muskingum river, and is bounded on the north by Muskingum township, on the east by
the Muskingum river and the City of Zanesville, on the south by the city and Springfield town- ship, and on the west by Hopewell township. It was created March 9, 1808, on which date the commissioners' journal states: "Sundry peti- tions being presented to the board praying the in- corporation of sundry townships within the county were granted, the boundaries being es- tablished and ordered for record were named, to- wit: Cambridge, Salt Creek and Falls." The township was practically destroyed by the action of the commissioners on June 7, 1816, the jour- nal stating that "A petition was presented to the commissioners praying a new township to be laid off and incorporated : Beginning at the Mus- kingum river at the mouth of Licking creek and up the creek to where the military line crosses the same, thence west with said line to the north- west corner of Section No. 2, Township No. 16, Range No. 14, thence north until it strikes the south line of Township No. 2, in Range No. 8, thence west to the southwest corner of Section No. 23 of said township in second range, thence north to the northeast corner of Section No. 3. in Township No. 2, Range No. 8, thence east to the Muskingum river, thence with the meanders of said river to the place of beginning, and called 'West Zanesville.'"
West Zanesville township as thus formed in- cluded portions of what are now Falls and Mus- kingum townships, but September 4, 1817, the record reads : "The second township of the eighth range and so much of the second town- ship of the seventh range as lies west of the Muskingum river is erected into a new township called Muskingum township, and West Zanes- ville annulled. All that part which was formerly West Zanesville and not included in Muskingum township is attached to Falls township." The territory was not further disturbed until the an- nexation of the village of West Zanesville to the city, since when several small parcels have been annexed.
The first settler was Edward Tanner. who built a cabin on the south bank of the Licking, about seven miles from its mouth, in 1790, before the trading post was established at Natchez. Tanner was a native of the south branch of the Potomac, and when sixteen years of age was captured by Indians and taken to Upper San- dusky, where he remained prisoner over three years, and when released returned to Virginia : after marriage he came to Ohtio and located as above related, and by honorable dealings with the Indians, was unmolested. His son, William C. Tanner, the well-known Captain Tanner of war time, and the last generation, was born in this pioneer cabin in 1792.
The next settlers were Major Bonifield and Baltzer Fletcher, in 1791: in 1795, John Kin-
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PAST AND PRESENT OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY.
kead, from New Jersey, and in 1798 a Mr. Priest, from Culpeper county, Virginia, arrived ; the latter, with wife and six children, walked the entire distance, the mother carrying one child and the other children and household goods being loaded on pack horses. During 1797-8 a number of immigrants settled within ten or fifteen miles of Zanesville. Abel Lewis arrived in 1800, from White Horse, Pennsylvania, and made the jour- ney afoot : at night he slept in trees to escape attack from wild animals and tied his body to the branches ; he was a surveyor and became first clerk of the courts, and 1812 retired to a farm ; in 1813 he became insane, and as there was then no provision made for the care of such un- fortunates, he was confined in the county jail, in comfortable quarters, as the ward of the Lodge of Amity, of Freemasons, but escaped in 1826 and his fate was never ascertained.
The first school held outside West Zanesville was opened in 1801 by a Mr. Black, near the line of Falls and Hopewell townships, and the first school house in the township was built on the farm owned by William Search, about 1804, in the southwest corner of the township, and about the same time J. Ranney taught school on the Kamp farm !. on the north side of the Lick- ing. In 1840, John Vandenbark donated land for a school house in the Frazeysburg road, and a hewed-log building was erected with pianks fast- ened to the walls for desks, and soon after com- pletion religious services were held in the room.
At present the Westview school house, of three rooms, is valued at $6,000.00, and employs one male high school teacher and three female elementary teachers, the enrollment being sixty- five boys and fifty girls. The remainder of the township is divided into eight school dis- tricts, with eight buildings containing nine rooms, valucd in aggregate at $8,000.00, and employing five male and four female teachers, with an en- rollment of ninety-five bovs and ninety-two girls.
About 1803-4. Moses Dillon, then about sixty years of age, came to the neighborhood as trav- eling companion to a Quaker minister on a visit to the Wyandot Indians, at the head waters of the Muskingum. Mr. Dillon was impressed with the fine water power which the falls of the Licking provided and prospected for local re- sources which could be developed by the power ; iron ore was discovered, and upon his return to Philadelphia he purchased about three thousand acres, including the falls, and moved to the loca- tion in 1805, erected an iron furnace and foundry and manufactured the various styles of hollow ware then in use ; the Dillon furnace and foundry were perhaps the first erected west of the Alle- gheny mountains. In 1806 he opened a store at Dillon's Falls, with the assortment of goods de- manded by the pioneers, all of which were
brought on pack horses ; many Indians were still in the neighborhood, and he traded clothing, am- munition and ornaments for pelts and other prod- ucts of the chase. The town of Dillon's Falls was never regularly laid out, platted or recorded, and settlers were permitted to locate at pleasure, but no title was ever given for the ground occu- pied, and at one time the village numbered about fifty families. In 1814, Dillon built a grist mill and two saw mills near the falls, one on the east bank, and his combined industries, at one time, employed as many as one hundred and fifty men ; in 1850 he built the first bridge across the Lick- ing at the falls.
John, Isaac, and Moses Dillon, Jr., were all energetic men, and were in active business alli- ance with their father until his death, in 1828; John continued the furnace, foundry, and milis for some years, until the dominating commer- cial influence of Zanesville, and the failure of ore caused the enterprises to languish and become extinct, and Dillon's Falls is now a hamlet among hamlets.
The first mail carried through the township was between Zanesville and Newark, in 1806, on horseback : in 1825, Neile, Moore & Company es- tablished a stage line, but the roads were such in name only and traversed swamps, and the coaches sought the hill sides to avoid them, and frequently upset and injured the passengers. A rival line was inaugurated by way of Irville and Nashport, by John S. Dugan, and although the route was longer, it was covered in less time and with less risks, and became the more popular line.
William Trago burned the first brick in the township, about two miles west of Zanesville, in 1808: about 1809-10, James Tharp opened the first distillery, about one mile west of the city, and soon after James Fulton engaged in the same business, near the present infirmary ; about 1823, Gen. Samuel Herrick operated salt wells in the northwest part of the township, with the same unsatisfactory experience as those on other lo- calities.
The Findley Methodist church was organized at Dillon's Falls in 1807. by Edward Tanner, Samuel Simpson, and Baltzer Fletcher, with their families, and were served, at irregular intervals, by itinerant preachers ; about 1810 a Methodist Episcopal congregation was organized in the only tavern at the falls, and a subscription was started to secure means to erect a iog meeting house, which was soon after built, and after many years was replaced by a frame edifice on the original lot.
The Hayne's, or Hooper's, society was organ- ized about the time that Tanner and his asso- ciates formed the congregation at the falls; it was located in the northwest corner of the town- ship and a log meeting house was erected during
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PAST AND PRESENT OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY.
1810; while construction was in progress, a log was blackened by fire and its insertion in the wall caused the name "Black Log" to attach to the church.
The Richvale Methodist Episcopal congrega- tion was formed in 1842 by Nathan Kelley, E. Wilkinson, S. M. Bell, Simeon Kelley, and fam- ilies, and E. V. Walker, and soon after a church was erected on the Dresden road, five miles from Zanesville.
The Oakland church was organized by Wil- liam Camp, John Vandenbark, D. Edwards, J. Pake, and others, and in 1844 Gen. C. B. God- dard donated land upon which a frame building was erected, and in which a Sunday school was soon after organized, the first in the township being formed at the house of Henry Cook, in 1824.
The first Methodist Protestant church was or- ganized at the house of John Tanner, in 1835, and in 1856 a church building was erected near the west line of the township, about midway its length.
HARRISON TOWNSHIP
is in the southern tier of townships, being bounded north and east by the Muskingum river, south by Morgan county, and west by Brush Creek township ; it was organized Decem- ber 20, 1839, by detaching all of Blue Rock and Salt Creek townships, west of the Muskingum river, and one tier of sections from Brush Creek township, and was named in honor of Gen. W. H. Harrison, the proximity to the famous cam- paign of 1840, indicating the political complex- ion of the residents. The commissioners' action is recorded Decmeber 4, 1839, as follows :
"A petition was presented by John Hammond, signed by a majority of the householders resid- ing within the boundaries of the proposed new township, and the commissioners being satisfied that the necessary notice of such intended appli- cation had been given by advertisement as re- quired by law, proceeded to take the matter into consideration.
"The petitioners set forth that they labor under many difficulties and disadvantages in conse- quence of the distance and other difficulties they encountered in going to and from elections ; and also praying that a new township be set off of parts of Blue Rock, Brush Creek, and Salt Creek townships ; and the commissioners believing it necessary for the convenience of the inhabitants and township officers, do hereby order a new township to be set off, according to the follow- ing boundaries, to-wit : Beginning at the south- west corner of section number fourteen, in the original surveyed township, number ten, in range number thirteen, and running thence north to the center of the Muskingum river ; thence fol-
lowing down the center of said river according to the meanderings thereof, to the line which divides the counties of Muskingum and Morgan ; thence west on said line to the place of begin- ning-all in the Congress district of lands, which shall constitute a new township to be called 'Harrison township.' Also ordered by the com- missioners that an election be held at the house of P. Burkholter, in Taylorsville, on the 20th instant (being December 20, 1839), between the hours of 8 and 10 a. m., and close at 4 p. m., to elect township officers according to law."
The records of the township have been lost and the names of the first officers cannot be given, except that J. W. Whissen and William Price were the first justices of the peace.
The name of the first settler is uncertain, but it is alleged that a family named Bean lived, in 1798, in the hollow of a large sycamore tree. which stood near the mouth of Back run. Among the earliest names were Larrison, Farley, Cobb. followed closely by Nathaniel Ayers, Samuel McBride, James Hemmet, Henry Ballou, James Neff, and Thomas Winn. George Dutro and Jacob Baker are recorded in 1804. The first blacksmith in the township was John W. Baer ; the first physician was one Bixby, whose full name is unknown, and the second was Noah Z. Mercer ; among the early ministers to human ills were the names of Mason, Clapp. Groves, Suter. Milligan, Ballou. Wilkins, Huff. McConnell, Terran, Atwell, Howard. Blackburn, Lyons, UI- rich, Henry, Dorr, Richie, and Evans.
In 1816 Jacob and Nathaniel Avers bored a salt well, 482 feet deep, above the mouth of Syca- more run, and later about 400 feet distant, an- other ; the apparatus for evaporation was crude and imperfect and the business proved unprofit- able, and after passing through several hands came into possession of the Neff family, who re- bored and deepened the wells, improved the ma- chinery and have conducted the enterprise until the present day. at Big Bloom, now known as Durant. Other salt operators were Stephen Guthrie, who drove wells 488 and 495 feet deep. south of Sycamore run, and Moses Avers, in 1830, who sunk one 500 feet, and after operat- ing several years abandoned the business ; sev- eral other persons sunk wells and money coinci- dently to prove the unprofitable nature of the business.
TAYLORSVILLE
is the only municipality and the only village in the township ; the pioneer store was opened by Gearing Scarvell, on the site of the town, and was its first house ; the building was diminutive and the stock of goods adapted to its proportions ; in 1829, James Taylor built a dam across the Muskingum to Duncan's Falls and erected a saw
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PAST AND PRESENT OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY.
mill on the west bank, and in the following year constructed a grist mill with six run of stones. He was an energetic, public-minded citizen, con- ducted a ferry, built the first frame house in the town, in 1830, and engaged in numerous en- terprises ; in 1833 he laid out the town of Tay- lorsville, upon the high bluff, and at the same time laid out the first cemetery in the township ; reverses were experienced and from a condition of comparative wealth Mr. Taylor died at Dun- can's Falls a poor man. In 1830, James Curran opened a tavern at Taylorsville, and the first blacksmith was William B. Rose, who was mur- dered by a man named Annon, who was con- victed and sentenced to the penitentiary ; Hum- phrey Black was the first shoemaker, James Mc- Bride the first cabinetmaker, and the first brick house was built in 1836 by Amos F. Whissen. A postoffice was established in 1850, and Dr. Fearnes named as the postmaster.
William Bagley erected a woolen mill, but it was not profitable and was moved and converted into a grist mill. When the Muskingum im- provement was made Taylor's dam was rebuilt by the state and a canal dug, one mile long, through the town, making the "island" referred to in local affairs. A bridge across the river was projected as a private enterprise, but the commissioners were persuaded to erect a free bridge, and work was begun July 1, 1874; the substructure was built by T. B. Townsend, of Zanesville, and the superstructure by the Smith Bridge Company, of Toledo, and completed in November, 1874. The bridge is sixteen feet wide and 798 feet long, supported by four piers, each 33 feet high, and cost $28,000.00.
SCHOOLS.
Early schools were held in private houses, or in small cabins erected for the purpose, at the expense of the patrons ; the first public school was opened in a two-story frame in Taylorsville, in 1834, with Robert Sheppard as teacher. The township now consists of five sub-districts, with five one-room school houses, valued at $2,000.00, and three male and two female teachers are em- ployed, the enrollment being sixty-nine boys and forty-four girls. In Taylorsville, the enrollment is forty-five boys and seventy girls, and one three- room school building, valued at $3,000.00, is maintained, with one male and two female teach- ers. The aggregate in the township is six school districts ; six buildings, containing eight rooms, and valued at $5,000.00, with a corps of four male and four female teachers, and an enroll- ment of 228 children of school age divided equally according to sex.
SOCIETIES.
Taylorsville Lodge, No. 534, I. O. O. F., was instituted July 30, 1872, by Henry Lindenburg, special deputy grand master, with Basil Craig, noble grand; Oliver Dempster, vice grand ; J. S. Craig, recording secretary ; J. R. Peach, per- manent secretary; Peter Mast, treasurer ; and ten others as charter members. The first meetings were held in a hall leased from Mrs. Stout, and after five years a hall was built at a cost of $950, and dedicated July 4, 1877.
Olive Branch Lodge, No. 368, Knights of Pythias, was chartered July 14, 1889, and insti- tuted the following day by Charles Fulkerson, of Zanesville, in the Odd Fellows' hall, at Tay- lorsville, with fifty-four charter members, the following being the first officers : D. Brittigan, past chancellor ; O. W. Ward, chancellor com- mander ; W. E. Peach, vice chancellor ; D. S. Priest, prelate; L. C. Burcholter, master of finance ; J. J. Kassell, master of exchequer ; D. Olive, keeper of records and seal ; J. H. Wilson, master-at-arms ; S. S. Waxler, inner guard ; A. Roemer, outer guard. Conventions have been held at both Philo and Duncan's Falls, the char- tered location being on the west side of the river.
CHURCHES.
United Brethren. Services were held in the dwelling of Jacob Baker, by Rev. John Russell, and about 1820, a class was organized; about 1822, Rev. Harding visited the neighborhood and for three years held services in the same place until, in 1825, the house became too small, and meetings were held in the Duncan school house, where "Father" Hastings ministered two years ; Elder Case and others served until 1852, when a hewed-log meeting house, 25 by 30 feet, was erected on Prescott's land, there being about eight or ten members. This was used until June, 1876, when a meeting house, 30 by 40 feet, was built in Taylorsville and dedicated August 27, 1876, and in which a Sunday school is main- tained.
Roman Catholic. For a long time a mission was maintained and supplied from Zanesville, but in 1836 a frame church, 25 by 40 feet, was built by Anton Erbst, at a cost of $1,000.00, and dedicated to St. Anna, by Bishop Purcell ; the parish is now supplied from McConnelsville.
Methodist Episcopal. In 1830, Rev. Goff or- ganized a class of twenty-one at James Hem- mett's, Duncan Run, which was later moved to Taylorsville, and meetings held, where practi- cable, until 1840, when a frame meeting house, 40 by 50 feet, was built and a Sunday school opened ; a new church is being erected in 1905.
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