The History of Union County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its townships, towns military record;, Part 30

Author: Durant, Pliny A. [from old catalog]; Beers, W. H., & co., Chicago, pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, W. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1254

USA > Ohio > Union County > The History of Union County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its townships, towns military record; > Part 30

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

That there was marrying and giving in marriage at an early day in the pioneer history of Union County, there can be no doubt; but, as no official record has been found showing the marriages which took place during the first years after the region was settled, it is possible only to give them accu- rately after the county of Union had been organized. The first marriage sub- sequent to that date, as found on the records, was that of Thomas Reed and Jane Snodgrass, who were united by John Irwin, Esq., on the 20th day of April, 1820. During the first year after the organization of the county, the marriages numbered eleven, and but eight couples started on the matrimonial journey in the year following. In 1822, however, the spirit appeared to move the young people more thoroughly to action-or there were more to be moved

283

HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.

-for the musty records show that twenty-four marriages took place in that year, the ceremony having been usually performed by some favorite Justice of the Peace. The following is a list of marriages which occurred in Union County from its organization, in 1820, to the 1st of January, 1830:

1820.

Thomas Reed and Jane Snodgrass, by John Irwin. Justice of the Peace. John Deakins and Dolly (Peggy) News. by Richard Gosnel, J. P. James Snodgrass and Polly McDowell; no return recorded. Benjamin Foster and Amanda Cone. by Vinol Steward. Moses Bedford and Betsey Southard. by Richard Gosnel, J. P. John McCune and Polly Hager, by Clark Broding, J. P. Winthrop Chandler and Lucy Hamilton, by Richard Gabriel, J. P. William Richey and Massey Bodley; no return recorded. Thomas Osborn and Elizabeth Price. by James Bell, J. P. Elba Burnham and Lorinda Burnham, by John Irwin. John Merron and Polly Parthemore, by Clark Broding, J. P.

1821.

Standish Culver and Betsey McCloud. by Russell Bigelow, J. P. Abraham Davison and Jane Martin, by Clark Broding, J. P. Benjamin Sibley and Lydia Hilliard, by George Brown, J. P. William A. Brown and Mary Bagley, by Rev. Jeremiah Converse. William Concleton and Martha Thompson, by James Bell, J. P. George Parmenter and Nancy Marquess; no return recorded. Charles Brooks and Polly Hanahman, by L. Maze. J. P. Elisha White and Sarah Culver, by George Brown.

1822.

Jonathan Miles and Susannah Porter; no certificate recorded. Andrew Dodds and Hannah Hukman, by Rev. James Robinson. Hiram Dodge and Clarinda Parmenter, by Clark Broding. J. P. Warren Wren and Lucy Hubbard, by Elias Robinson, J. P. John Taylor and Jane Noteman, by Clark Broding, J. P. Asahel Parmenter and Eleanor Dodge, by Clark Broding. Jonathan Brooks and Mary Gates, by William Ruba, J. P. Thomas Saunders and Maria Geer, by Elias Robinson, J. P. Isaiah Garwood and Caroline Culver, by George Brown, J. P. David Gill and Eleanor Piper, by Rev. James Robinson. James Reed and Elizabeth Johnston, by Rev. James Robinson. John Donally and Betsey Milton, by Matthias Collins, J. P. Michael Wood and Elvira Thayer, by James Bell. J. P. Israel Lockwood and Angeline Culver, by Elias Robinson, J. P. Robert Cratty and Eleanor Porter, by Rev. James Robinson. Calvin Winget and Cynthia A. Irwin. by Rev. James Robinson. Andrew Craig and Betsey Vandrevander, by Elias Robinson, J. P. John Bartholomew and Hannah Sager, by Clark Brown, J. P. David Furrow and Sally Wolford, by George Brown, J. P. Richard Smith and Betsey McCloud, by Samuel Smith, J. P. Garret Harris and Sarah Orr, by James Beadle, J. P. Robert Dinwiddie and Susan Bradley, by Rev. Jeremiah Converse. George Elifrits and Martha Harris, by James Bell. J. P. James Connor and Delby De Witt, by Clark Brown.

284

HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.

1823.

Robert L. Hanaman and Hannah Plummer, by William Ripley. J. P. Joseph Geor and Jane Churchill, by George Brown. d. P. Hezekiah Kennedy and Martha Saunders, by George Brown. J. P. Thomas Graham and Jemima Conkleton, by Rov. J. Converse. Westbrook Knight and Catharine Cramer, by Elias Robinson. J. P. Reaves Robinson and Hannah Wilson, by Rev. John Taylor. Jonathan Burris and Elizabeth Said, by Rov. Jacob Drake. William Newhouse and Ann Richey, by Rov. James Robinson. Benjamin Sager and Dilly Rossell, by James Boal. I. P. William Thompson and Sally Sherman, by James Boal. J. P. Southard Mathers and Phelenie Rice, by Rev. John Inskeep. Joseph Lawrence and Mary Cochran, by Rev. James Robinson. John W. Robinson and Betsey Mitchell, by Rev. James Robinson. Moses Green and Sarah Stickle, by J. Buck. J. P. Robert Maze and Sarah D. Mitchell. by James Beale. J. P. Jesse Mitchell and Eliza Robinson, by Rov. James Robinson. William Graham and Elizabeth Bell. by William Richey. J. P. David Harrington and Fanny Lane. by Elias Robinson, J. P. Jeremiah Banghan and Ellizabeth Brake, by James Boal. J. P.

IS21.

Daniel Harris and Sybil Lathrop, by Elias Robinson, J. P. Simeon Hager and Rhoda Taylor, by John MeCune, J. P. Jotham Johnson and Polly Marquis: no return recorded. AAbraham Amrine and Polly Wolford, by Matthias Collins, J. P. William Borham and Urana Wilson, by William Richey. J. P. David Ripley and Phebe Cooledge, by Elias Robinson. J. P. Samuel Reed and Joanna Hathaway, by Elias Robinson. J. P. Nicholas Hathaway and Elizabeth Morton, by Samuel Robinson. J. P. Hardin Hovey and Eliza Brown, by Elias Robinson. J. P. John Kanady and Betsy Morse, by Richard Gabriel. J. P. Leonard L. Wilmoth and Lydia Gibson. by William Richey. J. P. Stephen Johnson and Hannah N. Patch: no record of certificate. Abraham Amrine and Naney Adams, by Matthias Collins. J. P. Lafayette Tibbetts and Matilda Ann MeGowen, by Matthias Collins. J. P. Stephen Hill and Susannah Enkenbill. by William Richey. J. P. Moses Harris and Polly Lukenbill. by William Richey. J. P. John Porter and Hannah Dodds, by Rev. James Robinson. John Porter and Jane Crawford, by Rov. James Robinson.

1825.

Elijah Orahood and Sarah Carter, by William Gladhill. J. P. Sammel T. Hovey and Rachel Comer. by Richard Gabriel. J. P. William Porter and Hannah Snodgrass, by Rev. James Robinson. Summer Payne and Aurelia Burnham: no return shown. George Lukenbill and Margaret Sager, by William Richey. J. P. Renben Burdick and Elizabeth Dinwiddie, by Samuel Farnum. J. P. Jacob Parthemore and Sarah C. Thornton, by Silas G. Strong. J. P. Silas Burdick and Margaret Richey, by Silas G. Strong. J. P. David Burnham and Nancy Gabriel, by Rov. James Robinson. Henry Hulse and Polly Wilson, by Silas G. Strong. J. P. John Reed and Jane Aun Snodgrass, by Samuel Robinson. J. P.

Live Lonybrake

287

HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.

Edmund Holycross and Jane Andrew, by Richard Gabriel, J. P. Thomas F. Woods and Sarah Shelpman, by Rev. James Dunlap. David Mitchell and Hannah Caldwell, by Rev. James Robinson. Harvey Burnham and Eliza Hovey, by Elias Robinson, J. P. Caleb Orahood and Elizabeth Shirk, by William Gladhill. J. P. Benjamin Gorton and Mary Ann Cooledge, by Rev. James Robinson. John McDonald and Philomela Miller; no return shown.

1826.

Adam Brake and Eva Baughan, by William Gladhill, J. P. John S. Lock and Louisa Harrington, by Silas G. Strong, J. P. Ira Patrick and Laura Tarpening, by James Bell, J. P. William Holycross and Amy Andrews, by Richard Gabriel, J. P. Jacob Sennet and Eve King, by James Boal, J. P.

Lawrence Tarpening and Mary Davis, by James Boal, J. P. Silas Bell and Abigail Sherman, by Samuel Farnum, J. P. John W. Edgar and Parmela Johnson, by William Gladhill, J. P. William Mitchell and Mary W. Reed, by Richard Gabriel, J. P. John P. Reed and Melinda Asher; no record. John King and Polly Porter, by Richard Gabriel, J. P.

Minor Walcott and Clara Butler; no record. David Duval and Elizabeth Coleshine; no record.

Levi Phillips and Sarah Cooper, by Silas G. Strong, J. P.

William Robinson and Hannah Coe, by Rev. James Robinson. Cranston Bates and Mary Gaston; no record.

Jason Rice and Julia Lathrop, by Silas G. Strong. J. P. Daniel Furrow and Polly Baty; no record.

James D. Irwin and Polly Reynolds, by Silas G. Strong, J. P.

Mordecai Boughn and Ozillye Orahood, by William Gladhill. J. P. James Cochran and Elizabeth Reed, by Silas G. Strong, J. P. Matthias Collins and Prudence Gates; no record. John Irwin and Rhoda Stokes, by Rev. John Inskeep. Aaron Merriman and Mary Ann Sager; no record.

Tobias Beightler and Sarah Amrine, by Andrew Amrine, J. P.

1827.

Joseph Gibson and Polly Anderson, by Rev. James Robinson. Aaron Harrison and Margaret Lukenbill, by William Richey. Thomas Randall and Mary Stuart, by Rev. James Robinson. Lyman Konknight and Sarah Culver, by Rev. James Dunlap. Ralph Cherry and Rachel Comer: no record.

Eli Frankenberger and Caroline Rice: no record. Abraham Elifrits and Polly Boram, by Silas G. Strong, J. P. Ralph Graham and Hannah Burdick, by William Richey, J. P. James Clark and Sarah Wilson, by Henry Swartz, J. P. John W. Plummer and Matilda Randall, by Silas G. Strong, J. P. Benjamin Fenner and Sarah Bennett, by Rev. Samuel Bradford. Richard Hoskins and Ann H. Martin, by Silas G. Strong, J. P.

1828.

Jehial P. Buckman and Clarinda A. Plummer, by Silas G. Strong, J. P. Lemuel Tucker and Maria Walton, by Silas Strong. Jonathan Bowen and Mahala Clark, by Samuel Farnum, J. P. Samuel Beebe and Lucy Ann Rogers, by Judah Dodge. J. P.

288

HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.

James Russell and Charity Smith, by Silas G. Strong, J. P.

Lucas Low and Margaret Sager: no return.

Robert Snodgrass and Eleanor Robinson, by Rev. James Robinson. William Harrison and America Harrison, by Samuel Farnum, J. P. Jesse Porter and Eleanor R. Reed: no return.

Amos A. Williams and Eleanor Stewart: no record.

Moses Taylor and Susan Marshall, by Henry Sager, J. P. John Luckenbell and Elizabeth Andrews, by Eliphas Burnham, J. P. Levi Hinton and America Ann Harrington, by William Richey, J. P. Welling Westlake and Sophia Elliott, by Andrew Amrine, J. P.

Gideon Sennett and Lney Alley, by David Mitchell, J. P. Samuel Simpson and Mary Brannan, by David Galland. J. P. William Parkison and Jane Reed, by Eliphas Burnham, J. P. Peter Andrus and Delila De Witt. by Samuel Farnum, J. P. Levi Sager and Margaret Low: no record.

Rodney Smith and Delila Reynolds, by Rev. Samuel Bradford. Christopher Myers and Hannah Graham, by William Richey, J. P. James Holycross and Miranda Impson, by David Mitchell, J. P. Otway Curry and Mary Noteman, by James Buck, J. P.

John Kingry and Sophia Carter, by Henry Vangorden, J. P.

1829.

John West and Caroline Patch; no record.

Michael Brake and Polly Shirk, by William Gladhill. J. P.

Andrew Keves and Rebecca Sabin, by Elias Robinson. J. P.

Joseph Roseberry and Margaret Carter, by William Richey. J. P. William M. Robinson and Hannah H. Crawford, by David Mitchell, J. P. Samuel Reed and Sarah Davis, by Rev. B. Lawrence. David Reed and Mary Allen, by John Rathbun. J. P. Hollis Strong and Prudence S. Williams: no record.

Hezekiah Spain and Susan Epps; no record. William Edgar and Rachel Kigar, by Ira Wood, J. P. Jesse Spurgin and Susan Wilson, by Samuel Farnum. Joseph Stokes and Mary Austin, by Rev. John Inskeep. Hiram Kent and Amanda Harrington, by Rev. Samuel Bradford. William Campbell and Ann Colbert, by Ira Wood, J. P. Apples Eastman and Barbara Marquiss, by Henry Sager, J P. Christian Stiner and Ruth Gibson, by Ira Wood. J. P.

Jesse Bowen and Susannah Spergin, by William Richey, J. P. Perry Hughbanks and Sarah White. by D. Galland. J. P. William Coffman and Mary Brake, by William Gladhill. J. P. John Cartwright and Martha Mitchell, by David Mitchell, J. P. Robert Graham and Judith Bell. by William Richey. J. P. Andrew Amrine and Ruth Wells, by A. Amrine. J. P. Zephaniah Westlake and Isabella Gregg, by Andrew Amrine, J. P. Ira Bennett and Betsy Scott; no record.

Stephen Winget and Matilda W. Marshal, by David Mitchell, J. P. John Lane and Mary Dysert, by William Richey, J. P. Manuel Brown and Lydia Cronse, by David Mitchell, J. P. George Parthemore and Mary Wood, by David Mitcell. J. P. Hezekiah Spain and Susannah Epps. by Rev. John Inskeep.

The first election held within the limits of the present county of Union was for the township of Darby, in 1803, when a Congressman was to be elect- ed from the State. This election was held at the house of Judge David

289

HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.

Mitchell, and eighteen votes were ca-t. The election in the State at that time resulted in the choice of Jeremiah Morrow, of Warren County. for Con- gress, and that sturdy pioneer and statesman made his journeys to the capital of the nation on horseback.

In 1818 or 1819, the first brick house in Union County was built by Samuel Robinson, on his farm in Darby Township. Benjamin and Noah Tinkham manufactured the brick and laid them in the walls.

William M. Robinson was a resident of Marysville, was born on the farm of his father, James Robinson, in Darby Township, in April, 1808, and was a curiosity from being the only boy in the neighborhood. He remembers that the Indians encamped many a time opposite his father's place. They were always civil and peaceable. The boy used to be called "Whistling Will- iam " because of his habit of whistling much of the time. On one occasion, he was riding a horse tramping out wbeat, in the old-fashioned way, and was whistling happily, when some Indian boys who happened along heard bim and were surprised into a laugh; they had never heard whistling before. After awhile. the boy stopped whistling, but as the young Indians seemed anxious for him to continue, his father told him to keep on, which he did, to the great delight of the youthful red-skins. The latter had their bows and arrows with them. When James Robinson was drafted during the war of 1812, he left his wife and six children at home in the woods, but they were not much afraid, as the Indians were always so peaceable. The red people usually walked while traveling. but they had ponies and could have ridden had they desired. There were living in November, 1882, but three persons in Union County who had been residents thereof as long as Mr. Robinson, and those were George Snodgrass, of Marysville; Josiah Reed, of Union Town- ship, and Joel Conklin. of Leesburg Township. This statement is made on the authority of Mr. Robinson.

On the farm of James Robinson, in Darby Township, where he first began to clear. were a couple of wild plum trees which afterward bore for many years. Those trees were vet alive in the fall of 1881. and it is probable that living portions of them may still be standing. They are indeed " old settlers."

On the south bank of Big Darby Creek, on land owned by Nathan How- ard, Esq., present County Commissioner, about two miles above Milford Center, is a locality known as the " Indian Fields," so called from having been a favorite camping ground of the Indians. They had two or three acres cleared, and the space subsequently grew up to a thicket of plum trees. The ground was never cultivated by the Indians, so far as known. It is in Allen Township, at its southern extremity.

It was necessary for the settlers to have some means of preparing their grain for food, and the first form of mill used was a " hominy block, " made by burning a hole in the top of a stump and arranging a sweep so that two men could pound corn into meal. For a sifter, a deer skin was stretched over a hoop. and small holes made in it by a hot iron-often a common steel table fork. Next followed the hand-mill, which was but a slight improve- ment; then the horse mill, and finally the water-mill and steam-mill. These are given in the order of their importance, though in some localities it was the case that the water-mill was the first introduced. The first mill of any importance in Union County was a water-mill which was built by Frederick Sager, in what is now the township of Jerome. It stood on the north bank of Big Darby Creek, about a mile above Plain City (formerly Pleasant Valley), and a short raceway was constructed to convey the water to the wheel. The set of stones used by Mr. Sager he had manufactured from bowlders found in the neighborhood, and they ground everything that was brought for the pur-

290

HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.

pose-wheat, buckwheat and corn. John F. Sabine, Esq., of Marysville, re- members going to this mill in 1814, and thinks it then had been standing for several years. It is stated that George Reed's log mill on the Big Darby, at Milford, was erected in 1810 or 1812, and that the date was prior to the erec- tion of Sager's mill, but the evidence is not sufficient to substantiate the fact. Both mills were built very early, and both were found by the inhabitants of the region at that time to be exceedingly convenient institutions. For ser- eral years after the first settlement of the county, the wheat erop was nearly a failure. and would scarcely grow at all on the Darby Plains, where now it is the principal cereal produced. Corn was the main crop of the pioneers, and on it their dependence was mostly placed for breadstuff; yet unfavorable seasons affected it greatly, and the higher-which were the poorer-lands were only cultivated for many years, or until a system of drainage was adopt- ed, developing the lower lands into excellent crop-raising localities. Distil- leries abounded in all the settlements, and much of the corn raised was taken to them and worked up into whisky. Small copper stills were used, and a bushel of shelled corn was the price of a gallon of whisky. One of the earliest distil- leries in the county was owned by one of the Sagers, about one and a half miles west of Plain City. The article of whisky manufactured among the settlers was different in several respects from that commonly dispensed by dealers at the present day. It was nearer a genuine article, and was not warranted to kill at forty rods, yet if imbibed in sufficient qualities its immediate effects were not perceptibly different from those attendant upon the free use of liquor in this year of grace 1883. It is not denied that people "got drunk" in the times when log-cabins were the only mansions in this region, and it is even admitted that some of them were in a state of inebriation rather oftener than was conducive to their good; while it is freely stated that it was the custom for everybody to drink, hand out the bottle and cup to guests, and keep the article always on hand. A person who did not taste the liquor occasionally was almost a curiosity.

Salt was a very expensive article. In Franklin County, some of the settlers manufactured it at a salt spring three or four miles below Columbus, but the enterprise was not found to be profitable. It is not now known whether any of the salt from that locality found its way into Union County or not. Most of that used here was the Kanawha salt, procured at Cincinnati. After the State canal was opened, the New York salt was introduced, coming by way of Columbus. When purchased at Cincinnati, its usual cost was $3 per bushel of fifty pounds. Salt came also from Zanesville. John Jolly, an early resident of Darby Township, wanted some salt at one time, and after threshing out twenty-five bushels of wheat, he took his ox team, hauled the grain to Zanesville, along with the necessary provisions for the trip, exchanged it for a barrel of salt and returned, having been absent from home for ten days.

The stock owned by the early settlers was hardly equal in quality to that now seen in the same region. There were a few horses and cattle; the people from New England used oxen instead of horses, as a rule. After a time, im- provements were begun by the settlers on the plains, and the inferior varieties became known as " woods stock." As by law required. each owner of an animal had his private mark, crop or brand placed upon it. All animals were allowed to run at large. "Hogs ran wild without a pen," and among the older settlements the principal legal suits were brought for stealing hogs. When the supply of pork was short, it was only necessary to step out and shoot some stray grunter in order to replenish the barrel. If the animal's ears happened to bear the mark of some other owner, they were cut off and

291

HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY'.

thrown away. It was not customary to obtain an abstract of title to the doomed hog when the larder was empty, and one man stood as good show as another.

Among the evils which brought terror into the settlements for a consid- erable number of years was the dread disease known as milk-sickness. Its real cause was never known, but it is now supposed that it lay in a fungus growth which abounded in deeply shaded places. At all events, the disease disap- peared after the country was cleared up. Its effects were nearly always fatal; it cansed terrible suffering, the thirst of the victim being intense from the internal fever caused by the poison within. It was common everywhere, and many persons died from contracting it. Occasionally one recovered, and those who did, though now wearing the livery of age, remark the extreme suffering they underwent during the time they were ill. There are several persons now living in Marysville who lost relatives by it, and who were themselves almost past recovery, but who fortunately withstood the attack and lived to tell of its terrors.

An observing person would have noticed great difference in the manners of the settlers from different regions of country. The New Englander had his peculiarities, but they were not in the least like those of the Pennsyl- vanian, and either was unlike the Virginian, the Carolinian, or the Kentuck- ian. An occasional New Yorker found a home in this county, and he, too, possessed the traits of the State from which he had emigrated. The customs of the fathers were handed down to their sons, and it is quite easy, even at the present time, if possessed of a thorough knowledge of the manners of the people of the various States here represented, to determine whence the inhab- itants derive their lineage. The county of Union, however, is more cosmo- politan than most of its southern neighbors, and the blending of the different classes has resulted in a general community of which any State might be proud. Here is a thrifty and enterprising population, inhabiting a region rapidly developing into one of the best in the great State of Ohio.

In some of the surrounding counties, it was customary among the pio- neers, upon their arrival, to construct three-sided, sloping-roofed shanties, which they called " camps." In front of the fourth side, which was open to the weather, a huge fire of logs was kept burning, and these primitive struct- ures were occupied until the regularly built log cabin was ready for occu- pancy. In Union County, however, it is stated that very few of the " camps " were ever built, the settlers preparing the log houses for permanent occu- pation at the very start and thus saving considerable labor. If help was plenty, it was easy to build a cabin in a day. The shingles, or " clapboards," four feet long, were split out on the ground, and the roof, held firmly in place by weight poles, could without much extra labor be put on the same day. It sometimes occurred that a family moved into its cabin before the puncheon floor was laid or the door hung, but this was in case of extreme weather, when some place of shelter was indispensable.

A person writing about 1846-47, of early days in Delaware County, re- corded the following items, which are as applicable to pioneer times in Union County :

" I learn from the old pioneers that during the early period of the county the people were in a condition of complete social equality; no aristocratic distinctions were thought of in society, and the first line of demarkation drawn was to separate the very bad from the general mass. Their parties were for raisings and log rollings, and, the labor being finished, their sports usually were shooting and gymnastic exercises with the men, and convivial amusements among the women; no punctilious formality nor ignoble aping

292

HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.

the fashions of licentious Paris marred their assemblies, but all were happy and enjoyed themselves in seeing others so. The rich and the poor dressed alike-the men generally wearing hunting shirts and buckskin pants, and the women attired in coarse fabrics produced by their own hands. Such was their common and holiday dress, and if a fair damsel wished a superb dress for her bridal day, her highest aspiration was to obtain a common American cotton check. The latter, which now sells for a shilling a yard, then cost $1, and five yards was deemed an ample pattern; silks, satins and fancy goods, that now inflate our vanity and deplete our purses, were not then even dreamed of. The cabins were furnished in the same style of simplicity; the bedstead was home made, and often consisted of forked sticks driven into the ground. with cross poles to support the clapboards or the cord. One pot, kettle and frying- pan were the only articles considered indispensable, though some included the tea-kettle; a few plates and dishes upon a shelf in one corner was as sat- isfactory as is now a cupboard full of china, and their food relished well from a puncheon table. Some of the wealthiest families had a few split bottom chairs, but as a general thing stools and benches answered the place of lounges and sofas, and at first the green sward or smoothly leveled earth served the double purpose of floor and carpet. Whisky toddy was considered luxury enough for any party; the woods furnished abundance of venison, and corn pone supplied the place of every variety of pastry. Flour could not for some time be obtained nearer than Chillicothe or Zanesville; goods were very high, and none but the most common kinds were brought here, and had to be packed on horses or mules from Detroit, or wagoned from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, thence down the Ohio River in flat-boats to the mouth of the Scioto, and then packed, or hauled up. The freight was enormous, costing often $4 per ton. Tea retailed at from $2 to $3 a pound, coffee 75 cents. salt $5 to $6 per bushel (50 pounds). The coarsest calicos were $1 per yard, whisky from $1 to $2 per gallon, and as much of the latter was sold as of all other articles, for several years after Delaware was laid out; but it must be remem- bered that this then was the border town, and had considerable trade with the Indians. It was the common practice to set a bottle on each end of the counter for customers to help themselves gratuitously to enable them to pur- chase advantageously! Many people suffered hardships and endured priva- tions that now seem insupportable."

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

The History of Union County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its townships, towns military record;, Part 30

Author: Durant, Pliny A. [from old catalog]; Beers, W. H., & co., Chicago, pub. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Chicago, W. H. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 1254

Author: Durant, Pliny A. [from old catalog]; Beers, W. H., & co., Chicago, pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, W. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1254