Past and present of the city of Zanesville and Muskingham County, Ohio, Part 41

Author: Sutor, J. Hope, 1846-
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 898

USA > Ohio > Muskingum County > Zanesville > Past and present of the city of Zanesville and Muskingham County, Ohio > Part 41

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WHITE COTTAGE,

or Newtonville; William Rankin settled near in 1820, and the first store was opened in 1838 by G. W. Rankin, and in 1852 A. Weller & Com- pany were engaged in merchandising.

CHURCHES.

Fultonham Methodist Episcopal. A class was organized in 1830 and worshipped at members' houses until 1840 when a frame meeting house was erected, which was replaced by a more com- modious frame building in 1875 ; a Sunday school has always been maintained, and within a few years a new frame church has been erected with belfry and bell.

Fultonham Baptist. Rev. Levi Sigfried formed the congregation, July 2, 1842, with eighteen members; Benjamin and William Moore were deacons and E. B. Lake, Ezra Madden and Ben- jamin Moore, trustees. The congregation now owns a frame church building, thirty-five by forty- five feet, with belfry and bell.

Fultonham Presbyterian. The original congre- gation of twenty-eight members was formed No- vember 28, 1848, by Rev. H. C. MacBride, who solicited money from various sources and within a year a lot was purchased and a frame church building, thirty-five by forty-five feet, was erected.

"Hard Shell Baptists" and Evangelical Luth- eran congregations possess churches at Fulton- ham, but their history is undeterminable.

At East Fultonham the Methodist Episcopal congregation erected a brick church during the fall of 1904.

Dunkards. For a long time prior to 1860 John Roberts had preached to Dunkards at his resi- dence, and in the last named year he secured pop- ular subscriptions for the construction of a meet- ing house on Mt. Goshen, an agreement being specified in the paper that the building should be free for all denominations when not occupied by the Dunkards. Before the house was completed Roberts was killed by his horse running away and his successor in the church authority repudiated the agreement respecting joint occupancy and de- nied other sects the use of the building. In 1902-3 the Methodist Episcopal society at White Cottage built a new frame church, and the Dunkards pur- chased their former meeting house and moved from Mt. Goshen to White Cottage.

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PAST AND PRESENT OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY.

A Methodist Protestant church was organized in 1865 by Rev. John Burns in the Powell school house, and a frame meeting house, thirty-five by forty-five feet, with belfry and bell, was built near Powell's mill in the Roseville road.

Other churches in the township are: Bethel Methodist Episcopal, in section twenty-four, be- tween Jonathan Creek and Stovertown; Wesley chapel, Methodist Episcopal, in section seven, one mile west of White Cottage; Covenanters, in sec- tion seven, two miles west of White Cottage; Disciples, in section seven, three miles west of White Cottage.

SOCIETIES.

Newton Lodge, No. 278, Independent Order of Odd Fellows was instituted May 16, 1855, with the following officers: P. H. Grimsley, noble grand; Isaac Wilson, vice grand; John Smith, secretary ; S. K. Ream, treasurer and J. Damson, Jeremiah Zeigler, M. Williams, Jeremiah Burgess, G. W. Smitley and T. R. Wilson.

Rankin Lodge, No. 781, Independent Order of Odd Fellows was instituted at White Cottage, De- cember 5, 1889, and White Cottage Rebecca Lodge, No. 308, was instituted August 30, 1890.

Muskingum Lodge, No. 368, Free and Ac- cepted Masons was opened at Fultonham, June 23, 1866, under authority of a dispensation dated June 15, 1866, to George Brunner, worshipful master ; W. C. Lenhart, senior warden; David Crossan, junior warden, who with Jeremiah Zeigler, treas- urer ; George W. Fauley, secretary ; A. C. Brech- bill, senior deacon ; William Sniff, junior deacon ; H. A. Stanton, tyler and John Crooks, C. P. Ens- minger, G. J. Keyes, Noah Moore, Joseph Rambo and E. Van Atta, composed the membership under dispensation. October 17, 1866, a charter was issued and the Lodge constituted with W. C. Len- hart, worshipful master; A. C. Brechbill, senior warden; G. J. Keyes, junior warden ; Jeremiah Zeigler, treasurer ; George W. Fauley, secretary ; William Sniff, senior deacon; David Crossan, junior deacon ; H. A. Stanton, tyler, with the re- maining members as before with the addition of W. H. Bugh, S. Chilcote and J. H. Cunningham.

Victoria Chapter, No. 31, Order of the Eastern Star, and Ham Gardner Post, No. 545, Grand Army Republic, are established at Fultonham.

Camp No. 3900, Modern Woodmen of America, was chartered at Fultonham, May 21, 1896, and instituted May 29, by R. E. Cornelius, with four- teen beneficial members; the first officers were : C. A. Beard, venerable consul ; H. W. McDaniel, clerk; Charles B. Moore, M. D., physician.

PERRY TOWNSHIP

is a township of the original survey of military lands, is five miles square, and is the first town- sip in range six; it was formed in 1812, and

named in honor of Commodore O. H. Perry ; its political boundaries are north by Salem township; east by Union ; south by Salt Creek and Wayne, and west by Washington.

James Brown, a man of some means, intelligent and influential, was the first settler, and came in 1802; he built the first cabin, which was used as a house of public entertainment, and was located on the Zane trace, or old Wheeling road, where it crosses Big Salt Creek. The Wheeling road was the natural base for settlement, and the earliest residents included David Comstock, 1804; Abra- ham and Reuben Gabriel, Amasa Davis, John Echelberry, and Jacob Livingood, 1807; Jacob Decker, 1808; John Wartenbee, 1809, who built a saw mill in 1810 and grist mill in 1812, on Salt creek; Peter Livingood, Jacob Vanpelt, Philip Baker and Christopher Shuck, 1810.

The first marriage was Christopher Shuck and Mary Livingood, but the date is given as "very early" in the settlement ; the first death was Abra- ham Gabriel, 1808, who had been in the neigh- borhood only one year; Jacob Wisecarver was working at the forge near Sonora in 1811, but it is claimed that Amasa Davis antedated him. The first saw and grist mill was operated by Jacob Livingood, in 1807, on Salt Creek, below where the National road crosses that stream. The first store was opened by James Brown in 1834, and the first brick house was built for Eli Wall in 1819. The first postoffice was at Bridgeville in 1833, and the first resident physician was J. S. Haldeman. Sonora, the largest village in the township was laid out in 1852, by John Brown, proprietor.

SCHOOLS.

The first school house was on the Comstock place, in 1801, with Simon Merrin as first teacher. The Sonora special school district has one two- room building, valued at $1,500.00, and employs one male and one female teacher, the enrollment being twenty-nine boys and twenty-three girls. The remainder of the township is divided into six school districts, each with a one-room building, valued in the aggregate at $3,500.00, and employ- ing three male and two female teachers, the en- rollment being fifty boys and fifty-nine girls.

CHURCHES.

Wesley Chapel, Methodist Episcopal, is a mi- gration from Washington township of a class formed in 1808, and which moved, in 1846, from a log meeting house to a frame, forty by fifty-eight feet, near Sonora.

Ebenezer Methodist Episcopal, was organized in 1827 by Rev. Joseph Carper as a class of nine persons; in 1828 a hewed log meeting house, thirty by thirty-eight feet, weatherboarded, plas-

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PAST AND PRESENT OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY.

tered and painted, was erected and later officially styled Ebenezer but known as Carr's church from Isaiah Carr, for a long time its leader.

St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran. About 1830 Rev. Samuel Kaemmerer preached occasionally at the home of George Border and formed a class composed of three families. Border and Robert Dickson donated an acre of land and a log church was built which served the purpose of the con- gregation until 1856, when another plat, east of the former, was secured and a frame, thirty-four by forty-four feet, was erected and dedicated by Revs. James Ryan and Amos Bartholomew.

Beulah Baptist. During March, 1872, a series of meetings was held in Salem chapel Salem town- ship, and a congregation of twenty-six was organ- ized, which met in a school house, and in 1873 purchased one and one-half acres and built a frame church at Sonora, which was dedicated January II, 1874.

SOCIETIES.

Sonora Lodge, No. 622, Knights of Pythias, is the only secret society, so far as can be ascer- tained, which has ever held regular meetings in the township.

RICH HILL TOWNSHIP.

March 8, 1815, the Commissioners' journal states that "A petition was presented to the Com- missioners from a number of the inhabitants of Salt Creek township praying that they would in- corporate the thirteenth surveyed township in the eleventh range to be erected into a township called and known as Rich Hill township, to which is added the twelfth surveyed township and that part of the eleventh surveyed township in said rangc which lies in Muskingum county. "These original boundaries have been somewhat reduced, and as now existing Rich Hill is an entire Congressional township, six miles square, and is bounded north by Union township and Guernsey county ; east by Guernsey county ; south by Meigs township, and west by Salt Creek township; the name was proposed by John Reynolds "because it was rich and hilly" throughout the proposed township.

The Indian roamed over the township after the white man had made his home in it and during 1807 a band of thirty Shawnee warriors cn- camped in the Salt Creek bottoms, near some growing crops ; the owners were very uneasy, fearing the Indian ponies would injure the young corn and the white men waited on the Indian chief, explained their anxicty, represented that the crop was necessary for the support of the families of the residents and asked that the camp be removed ; the chief stated he would consult the hunters upon their return, and the white men were gratified to discover that the savages (?) retired without further comment, an incident which should be re- corded to the credit of the red man.

So far as known, the first settlers were a Ger- man, named Lawrence, and his step-son, Leon- ard Stitchler, who came to the center of the town- ship in 1805, and the latter built the first log cabin in the township in that year. In 1806, Lewis Pierce and his sons Llewellyn, Jonathan and Andrew ; Abraham Warne, John Moore, Wm. Robison and John and Neal McNaughton located in the southeast portion of the township, and the last named built the first stone dwelling in the township in 1827; during 1807 Daniel Moore, John Jones, John Reynolds, Adam Shaner, Wm. Ivers and a man named Crow lo- cated near the center, and Michael Hammond and Abraham Pollock in the northeast portion of the township.

The first frame dwelling was erected by Andrew Howell in 1819; the first brick by James Calhoun in 1828, at Rix Mills, and Samuel Gre- gory built the first frame barn. The first black- smith was John Officer in 1812, and the first merchant was James Calhoun, at Rix Mills. The first grist mill was operated by Neal McNaugh- ton in 1818, on the east branch of Salt Creek, in section twenty-nine, with one run of burhs and the first saw mill was built by Abraham Warne in 1824. The first birth was John Moore in March, 1807, and the first death was a child, Elizabeth McNaughton, in 1812. It is stated there was never a tavern in the township.

SCHOOLS.

The first school was the conventional log struc- ture, in 1814, in section twenty, with John Jordan as teacher. The township is now divided into ten school districts, with ten houses containing eleven rooms, of an aggregate value of $5,000.00; one male high school teacher and threc male and seven female elementary teachers are employed, the enrollment being one hundred and fifty-three boys and one hundred and forty-eight girls.

CHURCHES.

The first cemetery was established in 1814, in section sixteen, but the land was wet and the "Methodist graveyard" was selected between scc- tions nine and sixteen.

Rich Hill Methodist Episcopal chapel. A class of ten was formed in 1812, at the house of Danicl Monroc, and in 1813 a log meeting house, 20 by 26 fect, was built on Reynolds' land and called Monroe's meeting house ; in 1836 a frame build- ing. 36 by 50 fcet, was erected at a cost of $1,200.00, which was replaced in 1861 by a new frame on the same foundations.

Goshen Baptist. October 18. 1822, fifteen members organized the congregation which held services in private houses until 1824, when it met

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PAST AND PRESENT OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY.

at Flat Run, in Guernsey county. In 1829 a church was built in Rich Hill township and the congregation returned.

Rich Hill Baptist. In 1833 a meeting house was standing in section twenty-nine and occupied by a society of this name but the building has dis- appeared with all the records of the organization.

Rixville United Presbyterian. About 1825 an Associate Reformed society was organized in the northwest part of the township and called the Salt Creek Associate Reformed church, which met at private houses. There appears to have been a similar society at Rixville which built a small church, which was destroyed by fire, and in 1850 a frame, 50 feet square, was erected at a cost of $1,600.00 and the two societies united under the above name.

Rich Hill Reformed Presbyterian church was in existence in section thirty in 1836, but has long passed out of more than memory.

Mt. Zion Presbyterian church was organized with eight members, August 24, 1839, by a com- mittee of the presbytery, and a frame building, 26 by 36 feet, was erected in 1841; in 1864 a frame, 44 by 56 feet, costing $1,800.00, was built and the former church converted into a parsonage.

Rixville was laid out by Wm. Reynolds in 1854. and the first postoffice was called Rich Hill.

High Hill Lodge, No. 340, I. O. O. F., is the only fraternity of which a record could be secured.

SALEM TOWNSHIP.

Under date of February 12, 1817, the commis- sioners' journal records that "A petition was pre- sented to the commissioners praying a township to be incorporated at the southwest corner of township two, range six, of the military district, thence east five miles to range number five, thence north five miles to township number two, thence west five miles to range number seven, thence south five miles to the place of beginning, being the second surveyed township in the sixth range of the military district and to be called Salem township." It does not appear that this became effective as July 2, 1819, in the general division of the original Highland township, the record reads, "The second township in the sixth range is called Salem township." The name was de- rived from Salem, Massachusetts, whence a num- ber of the early settlers came, and as now defined the township is bounded on the north by Adams township; east by Highland township; south by Perry township, and west by Washington and Madison townships. The northeast quarter was appropriated as school lands and divided into one hundred-acre lots. The first election was ordered held at the house of Jesse Williams, but no record is extant of the result.

The only village in the township is Adamsville, the site of which was owned by Mordecai Adams ;

in 1832 he laid it out as a town and several houses were at once built, the first to be occupied being that of Dr. Jacob Reasoner, in 1832, and he was, after Adams, the first resident of the village, as he was the first physician of the township. In 1835 A. H. Wheeler laid out an addition and later Jared Cone made several. A postoffice was es- tablished one mile from the town site in 1827 and in 1835 was moved to the village, where the first store in the township was opened in 1833, by Thomas Few. The village was incorporated in 1864, David Richardson being first mayor and George Shoemaker, J. W. Stiers and A. P. Baker, first councilmen.

The first settler was Wm. Denison, who lo- cated in section fifteen, in 1810, and erected the first cabin and planted the first orchard, and in 1812 erected the first frame house; he was ac- companied by Jesse Williams who married his daughter, Lucy, in 1810, being the first wedding in the township, and their son, Gordon, was the first white child born in the township, an event which transpired in April, 1811. Williams lo- cated in section thirteen. Jacob Swigert, Peter Shroyer, Peter Worts, Adam Wade and Jacob Gaumer were early successors of Denison, the last three being blacksmiths, and Gaumer was in ad- dition a gunsmith. Lawrence Wisecarver, George Stoner, George, Samuel and Jacob Shurtz and Peter Livingood came soon after, and the latter built the first grist mill in section eighteen in 1814-15. Joseph Stiers located in section eight, in 1815.

Jacob Zimmerman built the first stone dwelling, in section sixteen, in 1827, and Wm. S. Denison built the first brick in 1841 ; he also introduced the mower and sulky rake, and short horned cat- tle, and Singleton Hardy owned the first thresh- ing machine. Stephen Starkey was the first car- penter and mill wright; Denison Ross opened the first tavern, in Adamsville, in 1838; Joseph Bowers operated the first saw mill in 1832, on Salt creek in section sixteen; Philip Baker conducted the first distillery in 1819, in section nineteen, and George Stoner had a still in section four in 1822, and produced a so popular brand of liquor that people carried it away in jugs while it was so hot they could not handle the vessel without gloves.

SCHOOLS.

The first school house was in lot 37 of school lands, in December 1817, with Abraham Smith as teacher. The township is now divided into the Adamsville special district, with a four-room building, valued at $4,000.00, and employing one male teacher in the high school, and one male and one female in the elementary branches, the enroll- ment being fifty-five boys and thirty-five girls. The remainder of the township has three school

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PAST AND PRESENT

districts, each with a one-room building, of an aggregate value of $2,500.00, and employing two male and one female teachers, with an enrollment of forty-one boys and thirty-seven girls.

CHURCHES.

New Hope Evangelical Lutheran. A class of thirty-one was formed in 18II and a small church was built in 1817 on the site of the Lutheran cemetery, a tract of two acres which had been donated by Jacob Gaumer, and whose wife, buried in 1816, was the first death in the township; in 1838 a two-story brick was erected and May 14, 1870, the corner stone of a frame church, 42 by 70 feet, was laid, completed at a cost of $6,000.00 and dedicated May 28, 1871, on a site containing one acre contributed by Jonathan Gaumer.

Salem Baptist. A class of twenty-one was or- ganized October 10, 1818, and a small hewed log meeting house was built east of Adamsville, in 1822; in 1838 it was replaced by a frame, 40 by 60 feet, at a cost of $1,000.00, and in 1872 a new frame, 36 by 52 feet, was erected at a cost of $2,500.00.

Adamsville Methodist Episcopal. In 1840 a class of nine was formed and held a large meet- ing in Noah Honnold's barn, May 16, 1841. Dur- ing 1842 a frame, 40 by 56 feet, was built in Adamsville at a cost of $1,500.00.

Salem Chapel, Methodist Episcopal. A class of twenty held meetings at private houses and Benaiah Spragg gave an acre of ground in sec- tion eighteen and in 1852 a frame building, 40 by 50 feet, was erected at a cost of $900.00.

Good Hope, Lutheran. A class of nine was organized in 1868 and in 1871 a frame building was bought in Adamsville and fitted up and dedi- cated November 5, 1871, and soon after a Sun- day school was formed.

Beulah Baptist. During March, 1872, a series of meetings was held in Salem Chapel and a con- gregation of twenty-six organized, which is now located at Sonora, in Perry township.

SOCIETIES.

Hubbard Lodge, No. 220, F. & A. M. A dis- pensation was granted October 4, 1851, to open a lodge at Adamsville, named in honor of W. B. Hubbard, well known and beloved throughout the United States; two lodges desired the name but it was assigned to Adamsville ; October 21, 1852, a charter was issued and the number 220 assigned.

Of Fred. Aler Post, No. 412, G. A. R .; Del- phian Lodge, No. 627, Knights of Pythias, at Adamsville, and Eureka Grange, P. of H., formed in April, 1889, no information respecting or- ganization has been obtained.

OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY.

SALT CREEK TOWNSHIP.

The commissioners' journal of March 9, 1808, states that "A petition from sundry persons being presented to the board praying for the incorpor- ation of sundry townships within the county was granted, the boundaries being established and ordered for record, to wit : Cambridge, Salt Creek and Falls." The Cambridge referred to is now in Guernsey county but at the time in Muskingum. No time was set for an election of township of- ficers, as required by statute, and no action was taken, as on December 12, 1808, a petition was presented "praying an election to be ordered to elect three trustees and a treasurer of that town- ship." In response an order to John Chandler was granted but it was incomplete and again no action was taken to select officers. March 8, 1815, the commissioners' journal records that "A peti- tion from a number of inhabitants of Salt Creek township was presented praying that the original surveyed township number thirteen, range twelve, be erected into a township to be called and known by the name of Salt Creek township, and it is ordered the above township be established." Still the order for an election was not made but as no further action by the commissioners is recorded and the township was formed its political ex- istence may be dated from this time. The original boundaries have been reduced by the for- mation of Perry, Union, Rich Hill, Blue Rock, Wayne and Harrison townships, and its present boundaries are, north by Perry and Union; east by Rich Hill; south by Blue Rock and Wayne, and west by Wayne.

Salt Creek flows through the township from north, to south and west into the Muskingum and the prevalence of salt springs along this principal stream suggested a name for it as well as the township. Salt was a scarce commodity at Marietta and all the settlements, and retailed at fifty cents per quart ; as the settlements increased the demand was greater and the shrewd Yankees of Marietta began looking for a home source of supply for so staple and essential an article. The existence of the salt springs in this township was learned from the Indians and in 1795 a company was formed at Marietta to manufacture it near the site of the present town of Chandlersville ; the tests made were better than anticipated and al- though the appliances were crude the water was strong in saline qualities and the supply soon equalled the demand ; the product was conveyed on pack horses to Duncan's Falls and thence. by canoe, to Waterford and Marietta, and supplies for the saltmakers were carried in the sante mant- ner.

In 1797 Captain John Chandler left his Ver- mont home as a member of a company of fifteen faniilies to forni a settlement in Ohio, and located

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PAST AND PRESENT OF MUSKINGUM COUNTY.

near Belpre, but the members were inharmonious and the settlement was a failure; Chandler then explored the Muskingum region and selected the salt works as a healthful section where an industry was already in operation. His family consisted of nine persons and within three days of his ar- rival, in the spring of 1799, with the assistance of his sons and the men at the salt works, he had a cabin erected ; he then cleared land and planted crops, and within two years negotiated the pur- chase of the salt works, which he operated until 1807. when he sold to John, Peter and Thomas Sarchett. February 15, 1809, the state interposed by the passage of an act appointing an agent to superintend and lease the works, and the Sarchetts secured a lease for three years; February 20, 1812, the General Assembly authorized the further leasing for a period of seven years but when that period had expired salt had been found in other localities, by boring wells into the salt rock strata, and as the waters so secured were stronger than from the springs the salt industry at Chan- dlersville was abandoned. The first wells were dug and the water was drawn by a sweep pole with a half barrel as a bucket; later wells were bored and the business became very active. Dur- ing the boring of a salt well near Chandlersville, about 1820, a vein of metal was discovered which was pronounced to be silver and great excitement was created ; a company was formed, called the Muskingum Mining Company, to develop the ore, and Dr. Conant was chosen president; while sinking the working shaft the handle of the wind- lass slipped from the men operating it and the heavily laden bucket was descendng upon the heads of the helpless workers below, when the Doctor seized a scantling and braced himself to receive the force of the rapidly revolving cylinder, and although repeatedly struck down succeeded in breaking the speed of the descending load and saved the men from injury, but the shock to himself was alleged to have eventually caused his death. The well had been salted with silver filings from coin and the alleged mine was a hoax.

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Past and present of the city of Zanesville and Muskingham County, Ohio, Part 41

Author: Sutor, J. Hope, 1846- Publication date: 1905 Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 898

Author: Sutor, J. Hope, 1846-
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 898