USA > Ohio > Fairfield County > Pioneer period and pioneer people of Fairfield County, Ohio > Part 11
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Wheat was cut with the sickle or hook, as the cra- dle and machinery were then unknown.
A gang of men, 10 or 15, went into the field with their hooks, cut through a land about three feet wide and bound the sheaves on the way back. Fifteen men would cut about what is now done with a binder in one day. The owner of the field generally tried to get the best reaper to lead the field, as it was called, and sometimes he was paid extra. But woe to the leader if it were found out - his hide would be the forfeit, as they called it. Taking his hide meant laying him in the shade.
Isaac Wilson, late of Greenfield, but in early life, of Richland township, was a great leader, one of the best men with a sickle in those days. He was best in
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many things. He was a mighty man, and he who insulted him did it at his peril.
Horse racing in the early days was very popular, though it was not introduced to any extent until thor- oughbred and blooded horses came to the state.
Each neighborhood had scrub horses to run from 100 to 300 yards. As early as the thirties, Chaney Rickets of Pickerington, then Jacksonville, owned some good horses and that point was somewhat famed for this amusement.
About 1838, Benjamin Yontz came out to this county from Maryland and brought with him some well bred horses, Cupbearer and others. He had a fine race track built just south of New Salem and kept it up for some years.
The pioneers were a hardy race and it is safe to conclude that the outdoor work and outdoor sports had much to do with it.
The people of Europe, especially of the continent. have plenty of outdoor amusements, and this may be one reason for their content and apparent happiness under conditions to which Americans would not sub- mit.
The writer is old enough to remember one old- fashioned fox hunt and confesses to a weakness for the music and excitement of the chase. A fox at full speed in the distance, his long brush in line with his back and nose, fifteen or twenty hounds, many of them handsome, stretched out for two hundred yards, running at full speed, their noses to the ground, all in full cry, but each with a different note. Many men well mounted, their horses going at full speed, and the best trained clearing fences, jumping ditches, the voices of the riders, shouting and calling out names
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of favorite dogs. I hear old Spot, she's in the lead now, old Bet leads the pack and so on, for they all know their dogs. Sometimes the riders were left far behind, but the music and the cry of the leader could be heard afar off.
Who would not have enjoyed such a scene with old Billy Murphy as leader ? And his smile of triumph when, in at the death, he found that his favorite dog had captured the prize.
Major Cox used to say that the man who did not love the music of the hounds had no music in his soul.
REMINISCENCES
OF SEVERAL FAMILIES PROMINENT IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY.
" Old friends are the best friends."
"Sing me a song of the early days."-Riley.
C HE early settlers of Fairfield County, then in- cluding Perry and Licking Counties, were a hardy race of men and women. People of large frame, strong and active. Brainy men, and intelli- gent for their opportunities, and usually possessing rare good common sense.
In brief sketches it will not be possible to even name all worthy to be remembered ; we can only select a representative type here and there of the long list of worthy men. The great majority of the people of this county are better educated than the people of 60 years ago, and have read more books and light liter- ature, but in strength of character and strong intellect, they are not superior, if, indeed, equal. The men of the early days read the Bible, Milton's Paradise Lost, Homer's Illiad, and a few other books of like charac- ter, and they read them well - they thoroughly di- gested their contents. A few such books are worth more than a whole library of the present day fiction.
Rev. Foster was the first Lutheran preacher to preach in Lancaster. He lived in Thorn township, now in Perry County. He settled there at a very early day with his six stalwart sons and gave each a farm. His son Andrew married a sister of the late Thomas Anderson, of Pleasant township. His son Samuel
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married a daughter of Jacob Graybill, and lived all of his life near Lancaster. He was a well known char- acter to all old citizens. He was the father of the late Col. Sam Foster, of Columbus, and Geo. W. Fos- ter, of Cincinnati; also of the late Mrs. Alvah Perry.
Rev. Geo. DeBolt was the first Baptist preacher to preach in Lancaster. He settled in Walnut township prior to 1806, being one of the first settlers. He was a "hard shell" preacher of the most pronounced type. A good speaker and an intelligent man. But he could not deliver a discourse without severely berating other denominations. Sixty years ago, yes, 50 years, a weed known as dogfennel was the curse of the country. Every lane and byway and the public road was full of it, and every common white with its bloom in the season. During a revival season at the Methodist church in New Salem DeBolt preached to his congre- gation at Union Chapel. He called their attention to the revival services and warned them that if not more faithful and active in their religious life the Methodists and dogfennel would take the country.
He raised a large family, all of whom filled a re- spectable and useful position in life. One of his sons, Reason DeBolt, studied law, married a daughter of the late Wm. McCleery, of Greenfield township, and moved to Trenton, Missouri. He rose to some emi- nence. He was a captain in the civil war, and with Gen. Prentiss, was captured at Shiloh and taken to Libby prison. Returning to Missouri, he was elected a member of congress from that state. Reason was one of the first schoolmates of the writer.
Edward Teal was one of the early settlers of this county, and in many ways was a remarkable man. 12
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He came from Maryland, and first settled on Pleasant Run, near where Amos Webb now lives. In his cabin, or near it, at this place, the first class of Methodists in this county was formed.
Teal afterwards moved to what has since been known as the Ashbrook farm, now owned by the heirs of H. G. Miller. On this farm he and his family are buried. Bishop Asbury visited Teal in 1803, and re- cords in his journal that Teal owned 1200 acres of as good land as could be found in the country.
A daughter of Mr. Teal married Rev. James Quinn, the first man to preach in this county, in the year 1799. The Teals were at one time very prominent people, but death has claimed most of them. Perry Teal, a grandson, and Mrs. Townsend Reed, a granddaugh- ter, are about the only ones left of the old stock.
Of the many distinguished men who honored Greenfield township by their residence there, one of the most striking figures was Walter McFarland.
He came to the township as early as 1798, and en- tered at once upon a long, industrious and honorable life. Walter McFarland was over six feet in height, well formed and well proportioned. He was a man of great strength and activity, and renowned for his herculean feats. No man could match him at the end of a hand-spike. No man could carry a timber of the weight he could lift and walk off with, with ease.
For sixty years he was one of the prominent men of his neighborhood and of the county. His fine presence attracted the attention of strangers and commanded their respect. His son John, now an old man, is a resident of Lancaster. One of his daughters married David Keller, now a prominent banker of Shelby
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County, Illinois, and one married Capt. A. R. Keller, late of this city. One daughter married the late Capt. Rigby.
JOHN LEITH
There are but few of this generation who ever heard of John Leith. He was a farmer, and lived two miles from Pleasantville, in Walnut township. His father emigrated from Leith, Scotland, to South Caro- lina. His mother was a native of Virginia. John was born on the Peedee river, March 15, 1755, and was left an orphan at five years. His uncle took charge of him and soon apprenticed him to a tailor, who took him to Charleston to live. In three or four years he ran off and made his way to York, Pennsylvania, where he engaged himself to a farmer, with whom he re- mained four years. He then made his way to Fort DuQuesne, afterwards Fort Pitt, now Pittsburg. Here he engaged himself to an Indian trader, and they took a stock of goods to an Indian village on the Hock- Hocking, then called the "Standing Stone." We find upon examination of some authorities that this was about the year 1772 or 1773. His employer left him here at the age of 17 years in charge of the store and went to Fort Duquesne for more goods. The Indians confiscated the goods and carried Leith off a prisoner. He remained in captivity 16 years and had a varied experience. A part of this time he clerked for British Indian agents in various localities-for three or four years at Upper Sandusky. At the time he lived near Mt. Pleasant there was a white woman with the In- dians, but he did not give her name. This is the first white woman known to have lived on the spot where Lancaster stands. In 1779, while still a prisoner, he was married to Sallie Lowry, also a prisoner. This
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took place at Coshocton. He was 24 and she was 18 years of age. His wife had been a prisoner since a mere child. They lived two years in Gnadenhutten. Two children, boys, were born to them. Samuel was born in 1780, and died in Fairfield County in 1820. He was the second white child born in the Tuscarawas valley. In 1786 he, with his wife and two children, escaped from the Indians, leaving near Sandusky, with a supply of parched corn, and made their way on foot through the wilderness, in winter time, a distance of 200 miles to Fort Pitt, where they arrived in safety, having subsisted on the parched corn. He lived for a few years in Pennsylvania, for a time in Robbstown, and was for a time a partner of David Duncan, a trader. During these years he became religious. In the year 1795 he built a boat and loaded his goods and family, and floated down the Ohio to Marietta. Here they tried to push his boat up the Muskingum, but met with an accident, and boat and goods were lost. For several years after this accident he had a sad and varied experience. His wife died and left him alone. In a year or two he married a Mrs. McKee, and with her moved to Guernsey County, and from there to Fair- field. This was about the year 1816. He died in the year 1832. His first wife was a sister of Jane Lowry, who was also a prisoner among the Indians, and be- came the wife of John McNaghten, a pioneer of Wal- nut township. His son, George W. Leith, lived for many years near Nevada, Wyandotte County, Ohio, and if we mistake not, was associate judge of the Com- mon Pleas court. Leith was a very enthusiastic mem- ber of the Methodist church, and related a wonderful conversion and experience in a pamphlet written for
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him by Ewel Jeffries and printed by the Lancaster Gazette, in 1831. Rev. Samuel Hitt brought him into the church.
REV. DAVID JONES
Among the noted visitors to the spot where Lan- caster now stands, the name of Mr. Jones cannot be omitted. Rev. David Jones lived at Freehold, New Jersey, and so far as known, was the first preacher to visit the territory of Ohio. He was a Welsh Baptist. In 1772, he, with Gen. Geo. Rogers Clarke and several other adventurers, left Fort Pitt for the lower Ohio, Louisville being the destination of General Clarke. On this trip Jones preached to Indians and scattered settlers wherever he found them. Rev. Jones made the return trip in 1773, overland. We give a passage from his journal: "February 9, 1773, came safe to Mr. McCormick's, at Standing Stone. This town consists chiefly of Delaware Indians, and is located on the Hock-Hocking creek. Though it is not wide, yet it admits large canoes and peltry is thus transmitted to Fort Pitt. Overtook here Mr. David Duncan, a trader from Shippenstown, on his way to Fort Pitt." Here was a trading post kept by a white man, a stopping place for others, and a wandering missionary 27 years before Lancaster was thought of, and corroborative of Leith's story as to a trading post. It is highly prob- able that Leith was there and that Jones saw him. During the war of the revolution Rev. David Jones was a chaplain attached to the command of General Anthony Wayne, of the Pennsylvania line.
He was a very eloquent man and did much to cheer up the soldiers and maintain discipline at Valley Forge. He told the disheartened soldiers "that a shad would as
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soon be seen backing up a tree as a revolutionary soldier turning his back on the enemy or going to hell."
Robert McClellend, the famous Indian scout, of General Wayne's army, visited Mt. Pleasant, or Stand- ing Stone, a few years after the visit of Jones, but as a spy, and accidentally finding a white girl, heroically fought off the Indians for a day and night and rescued her from a horrible fate.
He became a resident of Lancaster in 1800, and kept one of the first taverns. His daughter married Thos. Hart. They reared a large family. J. B. Hart, Judge Samuel Hart, Mrs. Borland and Mrs. Stambaugh were children. McClelland spent his old age on a farm in Perry County. He was born in western Pennsylvania. He has many relatives there and in Pittsburg ; also near Steubenville, Ohio. His uncle Robert was a pioneer of Jefferson County. His family was a large and pron- inent one. They were Scotch-Irish.
McNAGHTEN
The McNaghten family was for near 90 years quite prominent in Walnut township. The ancestor of this family was Thomas McNaghten, a Scotchman, who came to America prior to the revolutionary war. Like thousands of other good Scotchmen, he settled in Penn- sylvania. One writer, Fiske, states that more than 500,000 Scotch-Irish came to the United States and set- tled in the interior and western part of Pennsylvania and the valleys of Virginia and North Carolina.
Another writer, Hunter, avers, and gives ample authority and names of public men, that they were the prominent Indian fighters who defended the frontier for 40 years against the Indians. And that they were the prominent leading men who settled in Kentucky
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and Ohio and left the impress of their genius and enter- prise upon the institutions and laws of those states. The Sectch-Irish were undoubtedly a great people and a great factor in western civilization. More prominent and useful men of that race adorn the pages of Ohio history than of any other. Whoever, therefore, has a trace of Scotch-Irish blood in his veins, has reasons to be proud of a noble ancestry.
John, the son of Thomas McNaghten, married Jane Lowry, a sister of Sallie Lowry, who was the wife of John Leith, referred to above. Like her sister, she had been a prisoner among the Indians, and after her escape or redemption, married John McNaghten in Western Pennsylvania, and moved to Ohio. This was prior to 1806, but we cannot give the year. He was a taxpayer here in 1806. He settled two miles northeast of Pleasantville in what has been known a century as the Elm flats. Here he purchased land enough to give each of his children a farm - the sons, John, Thomas, James, Neal, Alexander, 160 acres each; and the daughters, Mary, Jane and Elizabeth, 80 acres each - a 50 per cent. discrimination unworthy of his Scotch blood. In a few years the sons and daughters, except Thomas, sold their lands and left the country ; Neal going to Wheeling, and the others to the west. Neal became quite a prominent citizen of Wheeling - was respected and esteemed for many good qualities of head and heart. He was a gentleman of elegant man- ners and fine presence, a man who attracted attention on all occasions. Thomas McNaghten was the repre- sentative man of this family, and lived a long and hon- orable life in this county. He was always the noted and prominent man in his township, and distinguished for his integrity and other good qualities. During all
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of his life he was a leading member of the old school Baptist church. Every third Sunday found him in his seat in the northeast corner of the church at Pleasant Run, surrounded by the fine heads of Jonas Friend, Col. Ruffner, Christian Baker, Jonathan Peters, Tunis Ashbrook, John Ashbrook and Jacob Kagy. As goodly a company as any man ever worshipped with. His first wife was Rebecca Young. Their children were Jane, Mary, Araba, David, Noah, Owen, John S. Children by his second and third wives were Hiram, Cyntha, Rebecca, Harrison, Thomas J., James M. and Tunis.
David married Amelia Ashbrook and they spent their lives on a farm near their old home. One of their favorite sons was killed in the charge upon Fort Wag- ner and was heard of no more.
Noah McNaghten was for 30 years a very promi- nent farmer of Richland township. His wife was a daughter of Tunis Ashbrook. No better citizen lived in his time than Noah McNaghten. He has been dead a number of years. His widow lives with a daughter near Boston, Massachusetts. Owen McNaghten mar- ried a daughter of Christian Baker and became an ex- cellent and prosperous farmer of Walnut township. He reared a good family of children. He has been dead a number of years. Tunis McNaghten lives in Frank- lin county, Ohio. He is a prosperous farmer. Both he and his brother Thomas were valiant soldiers in the Union army. Thomas J. McNaghten is the present postmaster of Pleasantville. He married the youngest daughter of Tunis Ashbrook. Thomas J. is an exem- plary citizen and follows in the footsteps of his Bap- tist father, he being one of the leading members of the Pleasant Run church.
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The descendants of John McNaghten are very num- erous in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa; also Penn- sylvania and West Virginia, and an honor to the sturdy race from which they sprang.
We have traced but one family, as that is the only one in a marked manner identified with Fairfield County. We would be glad to give more information in regard to this branch, but it is difficult to obtain re- liable and full information. We fear that many people will, when too late, wake up to the fact that their family history is lost. The writer is trying to preserve what is yet obtainable, and to stimulate others to do likewise.
THE WELL-KNOWN PETERS FAMILY
It is not known in what year the ancestor of the Peters family came to America, or from what country. He settled in Philadelphia as a married man and two sons were born, Jacob and Henry.
Henry was twice married but was not blessed with children. Jacob was born in Philadelphia and married there. He moved to Baltimore where he reared his family of three sons and one daughter. We cannot give name of daughter, but can only state that she mar- ried a man named Burns. The sons were John, Jacob and Samuel. Samuel, the ancestor of the family, the subject of this sketch, was born in Philadelphia Sep- tember 27, 1772. He died at his home in Amanda township, Fairfield County, O., September 10, 1829.
His wife was Mary Stevenson, daughter of Daniel Stevenson, of Baltimore county, Md. She was born September 28, 1773, and died in Fairfield County Feb- ruary 15, 1861, aged 87 years. Their oldest son, Henry Peters, was born October 1, 1796. They came to Ohio
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April, 1812, and lived for five years on what is now the Frank Stevenson farm.
Daniel Stevenson was born September 21, 1737, and died September 3, 1829. Ruth, his wife, was born January 24, 1743, and died January 12, 1834. They were the parents of ten children. They came to Ohio several years earlier than Peters and his wife. The wife of Samuel Peters was a model woman and mother. She was a daughter of Daniel Stevenson, one of the early pioneers of Richland township, and on whose land the first Methodist church in the county was erected. The old homestead now belongs to Edward Stevenson, a grandson of the pioneer. There were several brothers and sisters of the Stevenson family, Daniel, Jesse, Mordecai, Edward, Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hampson are those remembered; most of them were born in Maryland and came to Ohio with their father as early as 1803. James Hampson, during life a very prominent farmer of Pleasant township, was a grandson of Daniel Stevenson. Frank Stevenson, son of Mordecai, occupies the old homestead, one of the best farms in Fairfield County. Mrs. John Greer is a granddaughter of Daniel Stevenson. The children married and settled upon farms in the neighbor- hood, where most of the old stock lived and died. Daniel Stevenson, the pioneer and father of this large family, was a very prominent man of the early days and much respected for his sterling character. He was a Methodist and gave the ground for the first church in the county. He entertained Bishop Asbury on one or two of his visits to this county, and it was on his land where Asbury conducted the first camp meeting held in the county. The church referred to was built of hewn logs. A few of our readers will
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remember the big broad axes used to do this work, and with what skill a few of the pioneer workmen could use them, and with what skill the corner men could notch the logs perfectly, and carry up their corner, a perilous job, but performed by hundreds of men. We have digressed and now return to the his- tory, briefly, of the Peters family.
Mr. Peters and wife came in the year 1812 to Fair- field County and settled two miles north of West Rush- ville, on Rushcreek, at the mouth of Snake run. Here they remained for about the space of five years, when they purchased land south of Royalton, (now owned by Benjamin Haas) and opened up a farm and endured the hardships incident to pioneer life. Here they spent their lives, living the quiet life of farmers and rearing a large family of children. Mr. Peters was a man of sterling character and possessed good business qualifi- cations. He was prominent and beloved in his neigh- borhood, and exerted an influence in the community far above the average. His success in rearing a large family to honorable anu useful lives, is evidence of many good qualities and ability as a parent - the good wife and mother comes in here for a large share of credit. His sons were Henry, Nathan, Robinson J., Ebenezer, Wesley, Gideon, Stevenson, Lewis and Andrew, most of whom lived to old age and all excep- tionally fine business men. Nine brothers, possessing better business ability, or more successful in business will be hard to find among the pioneers, or at any other period. They were stalwart men, most of them of commanding presence. Take this family, the Steven- son family, the Beery family - where can you find such large families of stalwart, robust long-lived men?
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Where can we find such men, even in small families ? Are we degenerating ?
Henry Peters at an early day moved to Marion County and when the Wyandotte Indians sold out he moved to Wyandot County. He was a good man, a sagacious man. He prospered and made good invest- ments. He died a few years ago in Upper Sandusky, and left to his heirs quite an estate. Upon the death of his brother Gideon in 1844 he took charge of his children and reared them as a father, and at his death they were well remembered. Nathan Peters moved to Marion County at an early date. He engaged in farm- ing for a number of years and was successful. His old age was spent in Marion where he owned a fine home. His son Harvey was for many years a leading druggist of Marion.
Ebenezer Peters moved at an early day to Marion County where he was a prosperous farmer and stock dealer. Like all of his brothers he was a good business man and respected and honored by his neighbors. He died some years since at an advanced age. In middle age he resided in Marion where he took an active part in politics and assisted in electing our fellow citizen Samuel A. Griswold county auditor. His son Irwin Peters is still living.
The Peters name is one that is honored in Marion and Upper Sandusky.
Stevenson and Lewis became farmers and located in Pickaway County, near Nebraska P. O. Like their brothers they were successful in business, accumulated property and lived in good style. They were among the prominent members of the Methodist Episcopal Church in that vicinity. Lewis Peters was an unusu- ally intelligent man, of good social qualities and a man
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of influence and very highly esteemed. One of his sons married a daughter of Rev. John W. White, once well known in Lancaster, and resides in Upper San- dusky. Both gentlemen are dead. A son of Steven- son, a man of some parts, occupies the old home. The second wife of Lewis Peters was a daughter of Wm. Coulson, a distinguished pioneer merchant of Rushville.
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