The History of Tuscarawas County, Ohio, Part 53

Author: Warner, Beers & Co.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1017

USA > Ohio > Tuscarawas County > The History of Tuscarawas County, Ohio > Part 53

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Abraham Berntrager, Benjamin Helwig and George Harshman came a few years later. Mr. Berntrager emigrated from Pennsylvania, and settled on the west half of the northwest quarter of Section 20. He was a Lutheran, and died in Bucks Township. Having no children, he adopted several, and reared them in his backwoods home. Benjamin Helwig came originally from Penn- sylvania, but prior to his settlement in Bucks Township, in 1824, had dwelt for a time in Harrison County. He was a hunter of some note, and entered 480 acres of land, the south half of Section 20, and the northwest quarter of Section 21. In 1834, Mr. Helwig removed to Dover Township, where he died years afterward. He was a Lutheran, and had a family of ten children. George Harshman, from Fayette County, Penn., settled on the west half of the southeast quarter of Section 8.

George Gonter, about 1822, constructed a horse grist mill, which, for a few years was extensively patronized by the needy pioneers. Above the beam to which the horses were hitched, was a large horizontal wheel, nearly forty feet in diameter, communicating by means of wooden cogs with another small wheel on the shaft which turned the mill-stone. This rude primitive struct. ure served a valuable office until water mills were erected a few years later. George Gonter, Jonas Spengler, Frederick Mauerer and a Mr. Mishler oper-

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William Latto

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ated little copper stills, whence the surrounding settlers obtained their bever- age. The grist mill at Rowville is the only one now in the township. Cheese- making is not carried on so extensively as in the adjoining township of Auburn. But one factory is in operation in Bucks.

School advantages were very meager. For years there were no schools, and when attention could be given to the instruction of the then rising generation, there was only one quarter, or term of three months' duration, each year. Many children could not be spared from the work at home to attend even this. An early schoolhouse stood on the Miller quarter section, the northeast quarter of Section 8. John Travis, George Travis and Rev. Jacob Summers, a Dunkard minister, and others taught here.

Greensburg was laid out in 1817 by David Seldenright and Henry Sliffe, on the northeast quarter of Section 16, in the midst of the woods. The road led to it, but a barrel of whisky was rolled through the brush to the site of the expectant town, and those who assisted in the feat of making the town jollified at the conclusion of their labors. The piat was cross-shaped and contained seventy. two lots. High and Main streets were the principal thoroughfares, and the remaining public highways were dubbed East, West, North and South streets. The town came to naught. No lots were ever sold. The quarter upon which it was platted is still called the town quarter. It was entered by David Seldenright, who hailed from Easton, Penn., and dwelt in Auburn Township.

Rowville was founded in 1848 by Lewis Row. It is located on the north- west quarter of Section 5, entered by Jacob Gonter. The lots of the original plat, seventy-two in number, front on both sides of two streets, Cass and But- ler, each sixty feet wide, which intersect at right angles and form a square, which is 160 feet each way. Butler street extends north eighteen degrees east; Cass, south seventy-two degrees east. The proprietor, in 1850, laid out an addition of six lots on a northern extension of Butler street. William R. Foster, in 1851, made an addition of fifteen lots on the west side of South Butler street, and at the same time Frederick Knopp added twelve lots to the east side of South Butler street. Lewis Row was a farmer, and later in life removed to Owen County, Ind., where he died. The lots were cried off at

public sale, and sold quite low. William Burkey built the first house, about. 1849. He paid $12 for his lot. He was a tanner by trade, had lived at Farm- ersville, Holmes County, and died in 1855. Adam Regula and Max Dengler kept the first store, and Levi Hostetler was an early merchant. Samuel Long was the first Postmaster. Martin Row, now of Owen County, Ind., taught the first school. He was the son of Lewis Row, the proprietor of the town. Daniel Forney, quite early, built a grist mill which was destroyed by fire about twelve years ago, while owned by John and William Dietz. It was a custom mill, operated by steam and contained but two buhrs. The present school- house is an old two-story frame, containing two apartments. It is under the control of the Township Board.

Rowville, during the last year or two, has increased considerably in size. The Connotton Valley Railroad passes through it, and has added very materi- ally to its gain. The population in 1880 was 189, and is now estimated at 350. The town is rich in cognomens; it has always been named Rowville, but is also known as Buena Vista and as Baltic. Buena Vista is the name given the railroad station here, and was also the title of the post office until quite recently, when the department dubbed it Baltic. The village now contains two dry goods stores, one grocery, one clothing store, one millinery store, two drug stores, two hardware stores, one stove and tin store, one furniture store, two shoe

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stores. two hotels, two saloons, two livery stables, two blacksmith shops, a har- ness shop, a wagon shop. a tannery, a planing mill and a grist mill.

The tannery is owned by Jacob Wolfarth, and has been in operation about twenty years. The Rowville Mills were erected in 1881, by Jacob Mast and William Miller, who were succeeded by Mast, Troyer & Co., the present owners. The new roller process has been adopted, and the mills are doing an extensive merchant and custom business, running night and day. The planing mill, a large brick building. was erected in the spring of 1883 by Philip Miller and John Wolf, and is now working at its full capacity.

Dr. B. C. Blackburn, now of Roscoe. Coshocton County, was the first physi- cian. He located at Rowville about 1850, remained in practice twelve or fourteen years, and was succeeded by Dr. W. H. Putts, who four years later sold his practice to Dr. A. S. Metzler, the only physician now residing in the village. Drs. Phillips and P. J. Heinz were formerly practitioners here for brief periods.

Zion's Evangelical German Church, erroneously called Lutheran some- times, of Rowville, was organized in 1856, by Rev. H. G. Holm. The earliest membership included John Schnell, Valentine Wolf, Jacob Hoobler, Freder- ick Knopf, Jacob Gass, John Rinehart, Frederick Marhofer, Richard Siegel, Adam Scar and others. A carpenter shop was purchased, converted into a house of worship, and so used until 1881, when a neat frame edifice was erected at a cost of $1,475. Rev. Holm remained pastor until 1879, when Frederick M. Haefele became and still continued the minister in charge. About twenty-five families are connected with the church.

St. John's English Lutheran Church was organized in 1875, by Rev. John Y. Myers, with a small class, including William H. Burkey, William Stull, Francis Hoobler, Jacob Hoobler, Joseph Rinehart and a few others. Rev. Myers was pastor for four or five years, and was succeeded by Rev. John Marks, of New Philadelphia, who still serves the church. The membership is now about sixty. The church building occupied is an edifice reared about 1858 by a German Reformed congregation, which became too weak to maintain an organ ization.

The Rowville Methodist Episcopal Church was organized by Rev. J. T. Hoak, with about twelve members, among whom were Dr. A. S. Metzler, Chris- tian Lenz, George Rigby and C. J. Rice. The same year a neat frame build- ing was erected at a cost of about $1,300. This class is yet small, and during the year 1822-23, was not regularly supplied with a minister.

Without the village limits are three other churches in the township. In the southwest corner of Section 24, in the southwest part of the township, stands St. Paul's Evangelical Church. Among its first members were Daniel Koenig, Peter Gebhart, Lewis Wentz, Sr., John Thomas, Sr. John Thomas, Jr., Henry Diebel, Peter Mauerer, Lewis Wentz, Jr .. Valentine Hothem, Andrew Potz, Balth- azer Bretzens, John Mauerer, and John Zinkon. Rev. Holm G. Holm became pas- tor in October, 1849, and served thirty years. He was succeeded by the present pastor, Rev. F. M. Haefele. The first church was a log building, which was su. perseded in 1871 by the present frame structure. About thirty-five families are associated in the congregation.

In the northern part of the township, southwest quarter of Section 8, is an old frame church, where two congregations worship, the Evangelical and German Reformed; the church was built in 1840. Rev. Henry Colerado was the pioneer minister, and remained in charge of the church until his death in 1846. He was a zealous laborer. and traveled throughout the county, and into Holmes and Coshocton, establishing churches and harmonizing the religious difficulties which prevailed among the German element. Rev. Haefele is pas-

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tor of the Evangelical congregation, and Rev. Beesy, of the German Re- formed. Each possesses a creditable membership.

In the southeast part of Bucks, near the east line of Section 22, is Evan's Creek English Lutheran Church. The society is strong, and is supplied by Rev. John Marks. A German Reformed society also holds services here.

The following citizens have served the township in the capacity of Justice of the Peace: Michael Swagler, 1825; Henry L. Dally, 1826; Henry L. Dally. 1829; Richard Cunning. 1831; Joseph Conghenour, 1832; Richard Cunning, 1834; Philip Mizer, 1834: John Shank. 1837; Philip Mizer, 1837; John Shank, 1840; Philip Mizer, 1841; Joseph Helwig, 1843; Philip Mizer, 1843; George Gonter, 1845; Philip Mizer, 1846; George Gonter, 1848; Philip Hawk, 1847; Philip Mizer, 1849; Peter Hawk, 1850; John Lower, 1851; Philip Mizer, 1852: Peter Hawk, 1853; John Lower, 1834; B. C. Blackburn, 1855; John Lower, 1857; B. C. Blackburn, 1858; John Lower, 1860; Casimer Lorenz, 1861; John Lower, 1863; Casimer Lorenz, 1865; John Schoemacher, 1866; David H. Troendly, 1868; John Schoemacher. 1869; Peter Everhart, 1871; David H. Troendly, 1872; Peter Marsch, 1874; David H. Troendly, 1875; Peter Marsch, 1877; David H. Troendly, 1878; Peter Marsch, 1880; David H. Troendly, 1881; Henry Deibel, 1883.

CHAPTER IV.

CLAY TOWNSHIP.

ITS HISTORIC INTEREST-SITE OF THE FIRST WHITE SETTLEMENT-THIE MORA- VIAN PIONEERS-THE PRIMAL CHURCH-BEERSHEBA CHURCH-OTHER RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES-THE COMMENCEMENT OF METHODISM IN THE COUNTY-VALUE OF COMMODITIES IN 1800 -MILLS. SCHOOLS, ETC .- ERECTION OF CLAY TOWNSHIP- ITS JUSTICES-LOCATION -- GNADENHUT- TEN-LOCK 17.

P ERHAPS to no region in Eastern Ohio clings so tragic an interest as that which attaches to the beautiful shaded groves of Gnadenhutten, for it was here, on the fatal Sth of March, 1782, that ninety six unoffending, peace-lov- ing Indians fell innocent victims of the fierce border hatred that raged relent- lessly between two bitter, hostile races. It was not the mere destruction of the Indians that shrouds the locality with so deep an interest, but the fact that they were martyrs, sacrificed by an implacable venom engendered by Indian warfare, which demanded victims, guilty or innocent, before it would be ap- peased. Within the secluded cemetery, near the banks which overlook the Tuscarawas, is the site of the tragic occurrence, narrated in an earlier chapter of this volume. Clay Township was also the region of Tuscarawas County that was first permanently settled by the whites. When the faithful remnant of Indian converts returned from Canada to the Tuscarawas Valley, in charge of the Moravian missionaries in 1798, John Heckewelder, the agent of the So- ciety of United Brethren, which held in trust the three Moravian tracts, sought to induce Moravians of Pennsylvania to occupy, by lease, the lands not needed by the Indians. An Indian mission was re-established at Gnadenhut- ten, but not long after it was consolidated with the Goshen mission in what is now in Goshen Township, leaving the Gnadenhutten and Salem tracts unoccu-

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pied. From the records of the church of Beersheba, from which much of the following has been obtained, it is learned that on the 8th of October, 1798. both the Salem and Gnadenhutten tracts were surveyed into farming lots.

John Heckewelder and William Edwards, accompanied by five Indian brethren, arrived at Gnadenhutten, June 18, 1798, after a very difficult and fatiguing journey throught the wilderness from Fairfield, Canada. Heckewel- der built the first house in Gnadenhutten, and moved into it September 29, 1798. It stood on Lot 3, west corner of Main and Cherry streets. Paul Greer, Peter Edmonds, Ezra Warner and Peter Warner, the first permanent white settlers, came from Gnadenhutten, on the Mahoning, Pennsylvania, May 29. 1799. They cleared a few acres of land west of the river, opposite Gnaden- hutten, on land now owned by the Patricks, and all returned to Pennsylvania for their families in the autumn of the same year, except Paul Greer, who re- mained at Gnadenhutten. The first wagons arrived from Pennsylvania in June, 1799, and brought John and Dorothea Jungman, and Gottfried S. and Catherine Oppelt, missionaries, on their way to Canada. Rev. William Ed. wards, June 18, 1799, after a year's residence at Gnadenhutten as assistant to Heckewelder, removed to Goshen. Rev. Mortimer, of Goshen, preached his first sermon at Gnadenhutten, June 23, 1799, to seventeen white people and six Chippewa Indians. The first communion was served at Gnadenhutten, July 13, 1799, by Rev. Zeisberger to thirteen persons, including John Bush and Henry Ballenger, employes of Heckewelder. A store house was raised at Gnadenhutten ou what is now Lot 36, south corner of Main and Cherry streets, August 24, 1799, and on the following October 18th, David and Dor- cas Peter arrived from Bethlehem, and took possession of the store building three days later. November 6, 1799, Jonathan and Sarah Warner and Mary Everett, also Nathan and Anna Deliverance Warner with six children, and Asa and Catherine Walton arrived from Pennsylvania. On the 15th of the same month, Ezra and Magdalina Warner, with four children, and Mrs. Hannah Greer, a married sister, also reached their future home on the Tuscarawas.

All these families settled as lessees on the Gnadenhutten tract, west of the river. They were members of the Moravian Church. The beginning of the present century thus found about half a dozen families settled on this tract in Clay Township. Besides the missionaries at Goshen, there were probably no other white men within the limits of what now constitutes Tuscarawas County. The children of Ezra and Maria Magdalina Warner, some of whom were born in Tuscarawas County, were Samuel, Lydia, Ruth, Sarah, Maria Magdalina and Hannah Susanna. All except Ruth moved farther west in 1811, and set- tled on the Mohican River. The children of Nathan and Ann Deliverance Warner were Massa, Nathan, Peter, John, Moses, Joshua, Jesse. Anna and Susanna. The family of Asa and Catherine Walton consisted of six children- Mary, Joel, Jeremiah, Sarah, Elizabeth and Stephen, all born in this county.

In July, 1800, Rev. Lewis Huebner and wife Christina, arrived at Gnadenh ut- ten from Pennsylvania. Shortly before. Peter and Elizabeth Edmonds, with five children, and Peter and Grace Warner, with three children, came from the Mahoning, Pennsylvania. The family of Peter Edmonds consisted of David and Daniel by his first wife, and Peter, Edward Daniel, Benjamin, Elizabeth, Ro- sina Bethia, Catherine and Rebecca by his second.

John Heckewelder returned from Pennsylvania June 9, 1801, with his wife Sarah and two daughters, Anna Salome and Susanna. Joseph and Sarah Everett, formerly from Gnadenhutten, Penn., arrived November 24, 1802, from Marietta, Ohio, where they had settled some years before. They brought with them seven children. Until April, 1805, they dwelt on the east side of the river; they then removed to the west side. The family consisted of John, Joseph, Moses, Thomas, Henry, Charles Peter, Phoebe, Maria and Sarah.

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Mrs. Mary Warner, a widow, and Jesse and Hannah Walton reached Gnad- enhutten from the Mahoning, Pennsylvania, October 19, 1803, and settled west of the river. The children of Jesse Walton were Boaz, Hannah, Cynthia, Caroline, Hiram, Rosanna, Lucinda and Jesse V. Boaz and Rosanna Walton, with three children, Isaac and Rebecca Simmers, with five children, and Miss Mary Simmers came from Gnadenhutten, Penn., November 19, 1805; also the aged father of Isaac Simmers and Miss Catherine Rhodes, who were not Mo- ravians. The children of Boaz Walton were Joseph, Lydia, Martha, Benja- min, Catherine, Josiah and Matilda; those of Isaac Simmers were Jesse, Sarah, Hannah, Edith, Rebecca Maria, Martha Melinda and Charlotte.

John S. Petticoart raised a house on his lot north of Boaz Walton's, near Lock 17, January 7, 1807, and moved into it with his family from the other side of the river, January 31, 1807. His children were Levi, Mathias, Mary and Elizabeth. In October, 1809, Thomas Hamilton raised a house on the north bank of the river, near the southwest corner of the Gnadenhutten tract. One year later, Mathias Taylor built a cabin on the east side of the river, in the Gnadenhutten tract. His children were John, Ann, Mary Ann and Re- becca. Mathias Taylor and family, William, Horatio and John S. Petticoart, three brothers, and Thomas Hamilton, an unmarried young man, emigrated from North Carolina in 1804 and settled in the vicinity of Gnadenhutten. Thomas Hamilton was here married, in July, 1805, to Mary Ann Taylor, one of the earliest marriages in the county. Until 1809, the young couple dwelt in what is now Warwick Township. Mr. Hamilton remained a life- long resi- dent of the county, and died in Clay Township in February, 1872, aged eighty- eight years. His children were Archibald, Alexander, William, John, Ma- thias and Taylor. All the above were connected with the Moravian Church.

Abraham Fry was probably the earliest resident of Fry's Valley. He owned and occupied Military Lot 25, immediately north of the Gnadenhutten tract, was a Moravian and remained in the township the remainder of his life. His wife was Susanna, and they had but one child-Samuel-and an adopted daughter-Lydia Dodge.

Michael Rehmel, a Moravian from Lancaster County, Penn., came about 1802 and settled on Lot 20 of the Gnadenhutten tract, just east of the village. He remained here till his death, which occurred September 9. 1845, at the age of sixty-nine years. He left a large family of children, of whom Joseph still lives in Warwick Township.

Tobias Hirte, an eccentric character, who had formerly led a wandering life in Maryland, Pennsylvania and elsewhere, came to the township about 1803 and remained here for some time. He was a bachelor and a hermit, and employed his time in extracting and distilling various roots and herbs.

Cornelius O'Donald settled in Fry's Valley, three miles north of Gnaden- hutten, in 1806. He was a Catholic and was killed near Newcomerstown. Casper Engler, a Lutheran, settled in the same region a year later. David Smith, a Methodist from New York State, came in 1809. In the northwest- ern part of the township, among the earliest settlers were Henry Davis, who owned Military Lot 1; William Simmers, brother of Isaac Simmers, occupying Military Lot 18; another brother-Henry Simmers-a bachelor, lived and died on Fry's Creek. Charles Oppelt, son of the missionary Godfrey Oppelt, re- sided on Military Lot 8.

John Anderson, in 1820, owned and occupied the south half of Military Lot 6, situated about one and a half miles south of Gnadenhutten. The southern part of the township was not settled to any great extent until after the construction of the Ohio Canal. The population of this portion of the township is largely German.

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The first church of white membership in Tuscarawas County was the Mo- ravian Society of Gnadenhutten, which was formed in 1800. In July of that year, Rev. Lewis Huebner and wife arrived at Gnadenhutten from Pennsyl- vania, and became the first regular pastor of the few Moravian families who had settled in that locality. Rev. Mortimer, a missionary at Goshen, had occa- sionally held services at Gnadenhutten previously. January 30, 1801, a par- sonage was built on Block A. the pastor having formerly occupied a cabin which stood on the same lot. The first services were held in Heckewelder's cabin, afterward under a spreading tree on the east shore of the river. and from August, 1801, in Peter's house, and soon after in Rev. Huebner's parson- age. January 8, 1802. a hewed log church about thirty feet square, was raised on Block A. It was dedicated July 10, 1803, by Revs. Zeisberger and Benja. min Haven, of Goshen. Rev. Huebner returned to Pennsylvania in August, 1805. He was succeeded at Gnadenbutten by Jacob Roushenberger. who remained in charge until about 1828, when Rev. Samuel R. Huebner, son of the first pastor, assumed the ministry and continued until 1834 or 1835. The subsequent pastors have been Revs. Traeger, Herman Titze, Sylvester Wolle. L. F. Campman, Charles Bleck, C. L. Reinke, Henry Bachman, James B. Haman, Henry J. Van Vleck and Henry T. Bachman. The last named min- ister is now in charge. The communicant membership is 218: the total mem. bership, 346. The present church edifice, which succeeded the first structure, was erected in 1852 on Lot 48. It is valued at $3,000, and is 45x70 feet in size.

Bishop Loskiel, in the autumn of 1803, visited Gnadenhutten, and while here the settlers west of the river petitioned him for separate ministerial laborers, inasmuch as the high waters often prevented them from attending church and from sending their children to school. The request was granted, and in the spring of 1804. Rev. George G. Muller was called, but the prevail. ing fevers induced him to postpone his journey to the infant charge. A spot for the church building was selected and cleared June 29, 1804, in the west corner of Lot 28, about a mile west from Gnadenhutten. Rev. Muller arrived in August, 1805. The erection of the church building is thus minutely described in the records of the church: "The building was raised in March, 1805, and the roof laid in August. Doors and windows were cut out by Peter Edmonds and Joseph Everett; the chinks were filled by Jonathan Warner in September and October. It was plastered October 11 and 12 by all the brethren and some others. The chimney was completed by Nathan War- ner October 15, and, in November, logs were sawed for floors by Mr. Tracy and Daniel Warner. The floors were laid December 3 to 6 by Boaz and Jesse Walton and Joseph Everett. Doors, stairs, windows, etc., were made by Jacob Winsch, of Gnadenhutten, and a bake oven was built by Nathan War- ner and a garden spot cleared by Peter Edmonds in December. The church was dedicated December 15, 1805, in the presence of about 200 people, and christened Beersheba Church." Rev. Muller moved across the river December 20. Under date of August, 1807, he writes: "I hired at my own expense Everett's twins, and they cleared an acre of ground for me toward the south." The first burial in the Beersheba Cemetery, a mile west of Gnadenhutten, occurred May 10, 1812, when the body of Rebecca, daughter of Cornelius O'Donald, was consigned to its resting-place. Beersheba Moravian Church was maintained as a separate congregation until about 1825, when it was merged into the Gnadenhutten congregation, from which it had its origin. It was the second religious society of white men organized within the county.

About two miles northwest from Gnadenhutten stands Fry's Valley Mora- vian Church. It was erected in 1858. The society that worships here was

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organized in 1857, with twenty-four members, prominent among whom were Joseph Kinsey, Jacob Wenger and L. Keiser. Rev. Henry Bachman was the first pastor. His successors have been Revs. James Haman, E. Schwartze, L. Huebner, William T. Van Vleck and H. J. Van Vleck. The first services were held at the residence of Joseph Kinsey. At present, this congregation has a total membership of 243, of whom 114 are communicants.

The Ross Moravian Church is a small edifice located near the center of Section 19. It was built by the Lutherans in 1855. The Moravian society was organized in 1859, with eleven members. Its pastors have been those who have had charge of the Fry's Valley congregation. Peter Helter, F. Helter, Jacob Reitz and Charles Helter were among its first members. Services are conducted in the German language. The society has a membership of about thirty, sixteen of whom are communicants.

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The History of Tuscarawas County, Ohio, Part 53

Author: Warner, Beers & Co. Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1017

Author: Warner, Beers & Co.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1017