USA > Ohio > Highland County > The County of Highland : a history of Highland County, Ohio, from the earliest days, with special chapters on the bench and bar, medical profession educational development, industry and agriculture and biographical sketches > Part 14
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not but express our admiration for one who fills up the measure of that expressive saying "An honest man the noblest work of God." In the laying out of Hillsboro the error of narrow streets and still more narrow alleys, and diminutive lots, which was the unfortunate feature in the early towns of Ohio, was entirely avoided. Hays, who was not only the director but the surveyor as well, seemed to understand and appreciate the beauty, utility and healthfulness of uncramped conditions of town and cities, and the full merits of his plan are now understood and followed in the towns of more recent origin and growth. The two principal streets, Main and High, were laid off ninety-nine feet wide, and all the others sixty-six. The alleys were sixteen and one-half feet. The inlots were ninety-nine feet front, by one hundred and ninety-eight feet back.
The director was ordered by the court to offer the lots at public sale. This sale took place on Beech street, east of the present site of the Clifton House. The land purchased for the town was an unbroken forest of dense growth. The timber was oak, hickory, walnut, beech, with dogwood, spice, hazel for undergrowth.
Christian Bloom and his wife were present with a full stock of ginger bread and whisky, in a small tent near the stand of the auc- tioneer. John Davidson, of New Market, was that important per- sonage. Quite a number of lots were sold at prices ranging from twenty to one hundred and fifty dollars. The Smith corner, as it is called now, was purchased by Allen Trimble for one hundred and fifty dollars ; the Johnson corner sold for the same price; other lots on Main and High streets extending out from the center, brought from forty to seventy-five dollars, while the lots on Walnut street and Beech street went at twenty and twenty-five dollars. Hays bid off the Mattill corner, and David Reece bought the corner where the widow of Joseph Woodrow now resides. The lots were sold on twelve months' credit. The out-lots sold at from twenty to twenty- five dollars, and contained from three to five acres.
Almost immediately after the sale was made, preparations for improvement began. John Campton, a tanner from New Market, bought the lot known as the Trimble tanyard, on which he had dis- covered a spring and had carefully covered it with bushes, to hide it from the eyes of possible bidders. After his purchase he built a little shanty at this spring and was living in it within ten days after the sale. This was the first building of any description erected in Hillsboro. The next was a small log cabin with clapboard roof and door, upon the lot on which the Parker House now stands. This cabin was erected by Joseph Knox. Joe had his house completed by the first of November of that year, and it was opened as a tavern.
During a term of court following the selection of the new locality for the county seat, the Clear Creek men, feeling their victory over the New Market people, were disposed to exultation. There had
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been bad blood for some time on both sides and some severe fights had occurred when the parties met at courts or other gatherings. At this session of the court the boasting and sneers were louder and more open as the final decision had been reached, and victory was absolutely assured. The New Market men bore the taunts of the Clear Creekers the first day, but with no very good grace, and it was clearly understood that any aggravation or provocation, however slight, might bring on a fight between the factions. As an outlet for the spirit of rivalry a wrestling match was arranged for the last day of court between a New Market man and a Clear Creek man, in order to settle the question of which section had the best men, a question thought to be very important and its settlement at that time very necessary. They adopted wrestling as the means of settlement for the obvious reason that it would not do to incite a dangerous fight while the court was in session, and the terrors of Barrere's new well stared them in the face. This new well, dug by the Barreres, in the absence of any building for the safe keeping of offenders, was used as a jail. It was some twenty feet deep, dry and unwalled, and the sheriff would place his unruly subjects in this hole in the ground, pull up the ladder, cover the top of the well with heavy fence rails, and leave his unfortunate friends to repentance and tears. So the two champions, Dana from Clear Creek and Gibler from New Market, entered the ring formed by their friends, in the street just in front of the barroom where the court was sitting. Gibler was the stoutest man of the two and the New Market men were certain of the victory. After a most desperate struggle they fell, but Dana was on top. At this unexpected result the Clear Creek men shouted like savages, and gave their well known war whoop. Gibler arose morti- fied and maddened by the crowing of the opposite party and instantly struck Dana and knocked him down. At this "Billy" Hill quick as lightning knocked down Gibler and Hill was instantly knocked over by Bordon. Then Joe Sweringen pitched in and knocked down some five or six New Market men, in such rapid suc- cession that the first one was just getting up as the last one was going down. The whole crowd by this time was engaged in the fight, and such a general knocking down was never witnessed before in New Market, nor, doubtless, in Ohio. Sweringen was very strong and exceedingly active, and he fought so dexterously as to damage New Market greatly and escaped himself without a scratch. His Honor Judge Belt was compelled to suspend business on account of the roar out doors. He ordered the sheriff to command the peace and arrest the offenders. The order was easy but how to execute it was not apparent. Major Franklin, the sheriff, made the effort, but saw that the game had to be played out then and there, and he wisely desisted. The battle finally ended with neither side claiming a decided victory, but all, more or less, bearing the scars of bloody affray. The court
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concluded as there was but one new well in New Market, and that too small to hold the offenders, he would treat the whole thing as a grand exhibition of Highland county chivalry, "equal," the judge remarked, "to twenty Spanish bull fights."
At the annual election for state and county officers, on October 13, 1807, Moses Patterson was elected commissioner in the place of Jonathan Boyd. The election in Liberty township was held at the home of Samuel Evans on Clear creek. Augustus Richards was elected sheriff over William Hill. The largest number of votes in the county were cast for Hill, who was very popular, but for some cause, not explained upon the record, the entire vote of Fairfield township was thrown out, which gave the office to Richards. This, however, was the only office affected by the rejection of the Fairfield vote. There is some mystery about this affair that has never been cleared up, and it is just possible that at that early day the astute politician was enabled to manipulate affairs to suit his interest as adroitly as at the present day. Duncan McArthur was chosen sena- tor for Ross and Highland counties, and Jeremiah McLene and John A. Fulton received the highest votes in Highland for repre- sentatives. For governor of the state at that election there were four candidates, Nathaniel Massie, Samuel Huntington, Thomas Worth- ington and Return J. Meigs. General Massie was Highland's fav- orite candidate, and received all the votes in the county except six. Huntington received one vote, Worthington two and Meigs three.
In the month of November an event occurred resulting in the death of David Hays, clerk and recorder of the county and director of Hillsboro, which cast a deep gloom over the entire community. Hays was an unmarried man between thirty and thirty-five years of age. On the day the accident occurred he and some others were in Hillsboro on business which detained them until late in the after- noon when the party started out on horseback. Some one of the number bantered the crowd for a race home, which Hays among the rest accepted. They started at a rapid gait along the bridle path, G. W. Barrere in the lead and Hays just behind him, but upon the second rise in the path, some few yards from the Glascock cabin, Hays' horse swerved so that the rider passed close to a sapling, a small dead branch of which entered his eye and penetrated the brain. This ended the race. Hays was taken to New Market and remained at Barrere's some days. There being no surgeon of sufficient skill in reach of the wounded man, he was taken to Chillicothe, and the snag extracted, but death followed soon after. There seems to be some conflict of dates in regard to this sad accident, as the record of the court shows an order in December of that year, "that Morgan Vanmeter, G. W. Barrere and Philip Wilkin be appointed to view a road from New Market to Morgan Vanmeter's and that David Hays is appointed surveyor." If Hays died some time in November,
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he certainly would not have been appointed surveyor in December afterward. Dates are difficult to determine, when incidents without record are sought for.
The removal of the county seat from New Market destroyed all its hopes of future greatness. From that time onward it was doomed to obscurity and neglect. The oldest town of the region, it had, up to that event, been regarded as the social and political center of the promising county of Highland. Nine highways had been opened up, leading to New Market, to-wit, Cincinnati, Chillicothe, West Union, Manchester, Lebanon, Augusta, Maysville, Mead river and Lytle's Saltworks roads, and there were other roads that intersected .these main roads at short distances from the place. While the hopes of New Market departed when the county seat was lost, it continued for some time to be a place of some business. The surrounding country was good and had been brought under intelligent cultivation, and corn, wheat and fruit were greatly in advance of home consump- tion and market. Cattle, sheep, hogs, and horses were raised by the farmers, while the tannery, hatter shop, blacksmith shop and dry goods and grocery stores still drew trade from distant settlements which as yet were unprovided with these conveniences and means of supply.
A brief mention of some of the later arrivals in Highland county will show the different and widely separated localities chosen by families who emigrated from the same state and often from the same locality to settle in the West. Moses Patterson came from Fayette county, Ky., and settled near New Market, where he lived for a few years. He purchased the tract of land owned by Ulric Sloan. Upon this land some time before, James Smith had erected a small tub- mill, a short distance below where the turnpike now crosses the creek. Patterson ran this mill for some years, his son Robert being the miller, and kept bachelor's hall in a little one-room cabin near by. This mill had an extensive run of custom, and especially was this so in dry weather, as the water supply seemed to be more lasting than at other mill sites scattered over the country. This mill at a more recent date was replaced with a large brick structure, passing into the possession of many different parties, until only a few years ago it was torn down and the only remains is the outline of the dry race which conveyed the water from the old Trimble dam, nearly a mile above. Andrew Shaffer came to New Market in 1805. He was a soldier in the Revolution, and was present at the battles of German- town, Monmouth, and Trenton. After a short residence in New Market he removed to his farm where he passed a long and useful life, dying in the year 1855 at the age of 94 years. John Roush and Adam Arnott, with their families, came in 1806 and settled near the present town of Danville in the neighborhood of Giblers and Wilkins. One peculiar feature of this year was the remarkable growth of mast.
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So great was the crop that incredible quantities could be gathered under the white oak trees, the ground being covered to the depth of three or four inches. Hogs running at large became so fat that it was impossible to eat the sides, which were so oily that nothing remained after cooking but the skin swimming in great quantities of pure lard oil.
The great event of 1807 was the squirrel invasion. Colonel Keys says that early in the spring these animals commenced coming in, and by the middle of May the whole of southern Ohio was overrun or "inundated" by them. They swam the Ohio river in myriads, and the crop just planted was entirely taken by them. They had viten been destructive but never so numerous or bad as in this spe- cial year 1807, when it seemed that a combination of evils unlooked for was destined to destroy the entire bread supply of the country. Of course replanting was resorted to, but the squirrels were on the alert and would scratch up the grains of corn almost as fast as they were planted. One field of five or six acres belonging to a man by; the name of Sharp was totally destroyed by them, not a single hill remaining. Sharp concluded that as his corn crop was gone he would raise a field of tobacco hills, and he set out the plants, fully persuaded that he could raise that crop in spite of all the animals in the world, as no one used tobacco except fools and "billy goats." But the squirrels evidently reasoned that Master Sharp had hidden some corn under those beautiful hills which he had decorated with a green plant, and so they went to work very industriously and scratched up tobacco plant and hill and poor Sharp had neither corn nor tobacco. After it was all over Sharp grimly told one of his neighbors that he had no doubt that the squirrels did it through mistake, as they never used tobacco. Joined to the squirrel pest was the wolves, wild cats, pole cats and 'possums, which were all plentiful and played havoc with sheep, pigs and chickens. But game was still plenty, deer roamer everywhere, and wild turkey without number. Corn was the crop upon which the farmers depended for bread. Some farmers had commenced to raise wheat, but this year the wheat was "sick," as it was called. The grain was full and ripe, the flour white and responded quickly to the leaven, and the bread looked light and fine. But it could not be eaten, for as soon as taken into the stomach a deathly sickness came on, nausea and vomiting. The cause was unknown, but the fact was established beyond a doubt. A stranger calling at a home asked for some wheat bread, but was told that the flour was sick; wheat flour could not be eaten. The stranger claimed that sick wheat existed only in the imagination of the people, so he had the lady make some warm biscuits of wheat. He ate heartily, sitting for a moment at the table smiling in triumph over his demonstration that sick wheat was only in the imagination, but he suddenly turned pale and started
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for the door. Joined to the squirrel depredations and the sick wheat, two or three frosts caught what little corn the squirrels had left, before the grain had hardened, and soft corn was the result, which could neither be ground or pounded into meal, and bread starvation stared the county in the face.
In consequence of the ravages of the squirrels the legislature in December, 1807, passed a law of seven sections, entitled "An act to encourage the killing of squirrels." This made it the duty of all persons within the state who were tax payers, to furnish in addition to their taxes a certain number of squirrel scalps, subject to the same penalties and forfeitures as delinquent tax-payers. Any person pro- ducing a greater number than demanded was to receive two cents for each scalp out of the treasury of the county. This law, however necessary at the time, worked badly for the farmer. The intensely severe winter of 1807-8 almost destroyed the squirrel race. Of course it was impossible to furnish the scalps, as there were no squir- rels, and money was more plentiful than the scalps. The law was not enforced and in 1809 was repealed.
The winter of 1807-8 was memorable for its severity and deep snow which destroyed nearly all the birds and small animals. The county seat was a dreary, desolate place in the extreme. Few hunters passed through it, and none came to stay, unless forced by some busi- ness transaction to visit the county town, which consisted of two cabins and a half finished log jail. So this winter passed in undis- turbed silence. The choppers could not work for the severity of the cold, and during the coldest part of the season deer nibbled at twig and bush where the court house and jail now stand. Bear tracks were found in the spring in the melting snow in the low ground where the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern depot now is. All the efforts of man had not thus far been able to redeem nature from its savage state, nor keep the county seat from the presence of the native inhab- itants of the forest, who so long had ranged at will over the hills and hollows of Highland, and quietly grazed in the bush where the city of Hillsboro was yet to be.
"Our spring season," says Colonel Keys, "was always a very busy laborious time of the year. Sugar making was very hard work, then clearing up ground for corn, rolling logs, and burning the heaps." It was not uncommon for hands to attend ten and twelve log-rollings every spring, and with all the numbers employed it was very hard work. Added to this were cabin raisings for new comers, and house and barn raising for the older settlers. These barns were almost always built of hickory logs peeled. They were built double with a threshing floor in the center, horse and cow stables at each end and mows all over. These barns were covered with clapboards and with the doors of the same class. This peeling of the logs answered in place of hewing and as the logs were selected with some
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care, straight and as nearly of a size as could be obtained, about one foot over (diameter) they made a very neat looking building, but were not very durable. The raising of these barns was very heavy work, and the able-bodied men for miles around would be called out to assist. The work would often consume two days, and generally broke up with a frolic at night, at which the younger part of the laborers with the girls of the neighborhood enjoyed themselves in their own way. This custom continued for a number of years. It was the law of the country that those that wanted help must help others, and if any refused they could get no help. War had been made upon the wolf and panther tribe, which had been so destructive to the pigs, sheep and other animals of the farmer, encouraged by a large bounty from the county treasury for their scalps. At one ses- sion of the county commissioners, $52.50 were ordered paid for the scalps of these dangerous animals. One hunter, Edward Curtis, drew fifteen dollars and another, Ashley Johnson, drew ten. The commissioners concluded the price for scalps was too high and reduced the bounty to one dollar and fifty cents for the scalps of old animals, and seventy-five cents for cub scalps.
The laying of the foundation of the court house at Hillsboro was begun about August 1, 1808, and the brick work soon followed. When completed, this first temple of justice was a plain, two-story. house, about forty feet square, with large doors fronting on Main and High streets. The first floor was the court room, with the judges' bench in a recess on the west end, and on each side of this a large fire place, in which logs were burned for heating. In front of the court was the enclosure of the bar, and beyond were raised seats for the spectators. Upstairs were jury rooms and court offices.
The contract for building the jail in Hillsboro had been awarded to Samuel Williamson. Williamson some time before this had con- tracted, in connection with William C. Scott, with a Mr. Beasly to cut twelve miles of road, now known as the Old West Union. They were to cut this road so that a wagon could pass, removing all timber under two feet in diameter, and were to receive ten dollars per mile for so doing. They cut six miles of this job in partnership, when Williamson was forced to leave the balance of the distance to Scott, and begin his contract on the jail. Scott continued the road cutting in connection with James Montgomery, whom he hired at fifty cents a day. They were able to cut about a quarter mile each day and in the course of about three weeks arrived at the town of Hillsboro. Quite a change had taken place in their absence, for the axe had been busy with the stately oaks which covered the ridge. Williamson and a partner, named Cain, were nearly ready to commence raising the jail, and prevailed upon the road cutters to remain and assist at the work. The jail was built of hewed logs and stood on the northeast corner of the public square. The logs were white oak timber and
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were made square about fourteen inches in diameter and notched down until the sides met. About the first of November the jail was enclosed and Scott returned to George's creek, Adams county. In the following spring he returned to Highland county, making it his permanent home. Scott was a gunsmith by trade, but he was an expert workman in making edge tools of all kinds in use in the west. After settling in Highland he worked at axe making in connection with other smithing. He was very expert in making flax hacklers, making over one hundred in one winter for customers all over the county and was the first general iron worker in the county and his skill was of great benefit to the farmers. He had served in the war of 1812, was a justice of the peace for fifteen years, and served one term as associate judge on the Highland bench. He was not only a pioneer himself but his family before him had been identified with the struggles in the early settlement of the Northwest territory. A maternal uncle, Major Clark, fought through the whole of the Revo- lution, and had his last battle at St. Clair's defeat, where he com- manded the Pennsylvania riflemen. Falling wounded in the retreat, he managed to conceal himself and escape the scalping knife, and many days later he reached Fort Washington alone and barely alive. As he ever afterward related, a little man in the uniform of the rifle- men, and shining with a dim light that broke the gloom of the forest, appeared nightly to the fever racked and starving man, and led him to a refuge.
The first prisoner put in the log jail-a man accused of horse-steal- ing-broke out, and when he was recaptured the vigilance of John Shields, the first jailer, was aided by a posse of armed citizens until the prisoner could be taken to Chillicothe. In 1811 a new jail was finished, a two-story house, built of stone, including rooms for the jailer, and upper-story cells for debtors, and this jail was used until 1837. The first court house was used until a new one was finished in 1834.
The second term of the supreme court in Highland county, begin- ning October 14, 1808, was held in William Barrett's tavern at Hillsboro, where the court of common pleas was also held, before the courthouse was completed. The grand jury, when it retired to delib- erate, sat upon the trunk of a fallen tree. Justices Samuel Hunt- ington and William Sprigg presided at this session. Allen Trimble was appointed to succeed David Hays as clerk, James Daniels was admitted to the practice of law, and the first suit for divorce was heard and dismissed. Daniels was the first lawyer who made his home at Hillsboro, according to Scott's history. The courthouse was not completed, it seems, until 1810, and it appears that the first court held in it was the third term of the supreme court, Justices Irwin and Brown sitting.
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There was but little change in the character of the population of the county until after the close of the war of 1812. Up to this time the settlers were in the main natives of some of the older states of the Union, but there now set in a tide of emigration from the old coun- tries, which mingled the rich brogue of the Irish with the broad and awkward attempts at English by the Dutch. "I remember," says an old pioneer, "the advent of some of these families. Old man Fer- guson, a neat old Irish gentleman, dressed in his Sunday suit of black velveteen, long hose and knee and shoe buckles, called at our cabin to introduce himself as a new comer in the settlement with a large family. He was a weaver by trade, very fond of talking, and could tell much about the troubles, civil, religious and political, of the old country." It is told of Samuel Stitt, another Irishman "fresh from the sod," that in attempting to plow he would put the lines around his neck and try to guide the restive horse by turning his neck in the opposite direction from the way he desired the horse to go. But he was an excellent citizen and raised a family large and respectable in every way. His eldest son, Samuel Stitt, was a man of fine muscular development, and much force of character. He entered the army in the war of 1812 in Captain Trimble's company, Nineteenth regiment, was known as a brave and gallant soldier, and was severely wounded at Lundy's Lane.
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