USA > Ohio > Union County > The History of Union County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its townships, towns military record; > Part 44
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GRAVEL ROADS.
Union County in 1882-83 is one of the foremost in the State in point of ex- cellent roadways, and, although the expense has been very great, the improve- ment has been of almost incalculable benefit. In an article entitled " Gravel Roads in Union County : What they cost and the advantages derived from them," Col. W. L. Curry, Auditor of said county, wrote as follows in April, 1882, in response to inquiries on the subject from the neighboring county of Knox :
" Union County is one of the ' pioneer counties' of Ohio, in the matter of road improvements, and our roads are all built under what is known as the 'two-mile assessment law.' The law was enacted March 29, 1867, and the first pike was constructed in this county during that year, and we have been building pikes every year since that time. We have now constructed in this county 110 gravel roads aggregating about 400 miles, and not a toll-gate in the county, and we think as good roads as any in the State. We have thirteen roads leading out from Marysville, and every one piked, and our farmers can market their grain and pro- duce as easily and readily in December and January as they could under the old system of mud roads in August or September, thus having the opportunity of taking advantage of the best markets all the year. All the main roads in the county are now graveled, and the roads that are being improved this year are usually short cross roads.
" Since the 1st of January, this year, fifty pike petitions have been filed in my office, and of forty-eight petitions that have been heard, forty-five have been grant- ed, leaving two yet to be heard by the Commissioners. These forty-five roads are all advertised, and will be sold out during the month of May, those granted ag- gregating 102 miles. Our Commissioners and engineers have learned by many years' experience that the first requisite is to make a good grade and good drain- age, and this part of the work is very closely guarded by the Superintendent and engineer, and I will here insert some extracts from our specifications that will give a better idea of our manner of constructing pikes :
"' The road to be cleared of all obstruction to the width of fifty feet. All trees and stumps within the area required for the construction of the road-bed and ditches shall be grubbed and removed therefrom ; except in fills, where they may be cut off level with the natural surface of the ground. All material natur- ally belonging within twenty-five feet of the center line of said road may be used for the construction of the same, unless otherwise reserved by the Superintendent.
412
HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.
Contractors will be required to preserve all monuments and corners to land found in the road-bed, and will be held responsible if the same are destroyed.
THE GRADE.
" The road-bed to be smooth and evenly graded (in roads of two tracks on the side to be used for dirt track ; leave no sinks or low places in the surface of the grade liable to contain or hold water) to a width of twelve feet on each side of and crowning eight inches to the center line. The sides of all cuts, tills or ditches over three feet in depth or height, to receive a side slope of one and one-half hori- zontal to one perpendicular, with side ditches not less than five feet wide at the bottom, and to be not less than one foot below the edge of the grade on the high grounds or water divides, and not less than three feet below the edge of the grade at the culverts or outlets, unobstructed and continuous with bottoms graded straight and smooth, leaving no ponds or pools by the roadside. The banks of all ditches three feet deep and less to receive a side slope of one foot horizontal to one foot perpendicular. All culverts, ditches, or small bridges must have out- lets or side ditches cut from the road sufficient to drain them thoroughly, except those which are marked on the profiles, which are not included in the contract. These ditches to be one foot wide in the bottom, and to have their banks sloped one and one-half to one foot and to be eut to a grade of 12-100 of a foot to each 100 feet until a good and sufficient outlet is made. The whole grading to be done in a neat and workmanlike manner.
" .. Contractors will be required to remove any and all earth, rubbish or other matter liable to obstruet the water way between the abutments of any bridges built by either the county or contractors, to a depth deemed by the engineer suť- ficient for the necessary water way.
GRAVEL.
"'The gravel to be spread uniformly upon the center of the road-bed as above prepared twelve feet wide, fourteen inches deep in the center. and eight at the sides when completed.'
" I only give you above the outlines of the specifications of a small gravel road, and it would not be of interest to the general reader seeking information to go into the long and minute details of the specifications furnished by our engineers.
" We usually put on about seven cubic yards of gravel to the rod, but cross roads that are not largely used for heavy teaming can be made to answer all pur- poses of usual travel with a less amount of gravel. Many of our roads are con- structed on what we call the . double track plan ;' that is, one track of gravel and one of dirt, the dirt road being used in the spring, summer and fall, and the gravel track in the winter, thus saving the gravel track, which will last many years longer. As there is little difference in the cost of constructing the single and double track roads, the matter is always left to the choice of the petitioners, some preferring single and others double track roads.
" The expense of constructing gravel roads depends largely on the distance the gravel has to be hauled and the bridging, but under the law the county makes all culverts and bridges, and this is not a matter to be considered by the land own- ers taxed for the construction of gravel roads, as the bridge fund is collected on the grand duplicate of the county, and bridges must be built for the accommoda- tion of the general travel on all roads, whether they are gravel or mud.
"Our roads now cost from $1.200 to $1,800 per mile exclusive of bridging, all governed by the distance gravel has to be hauled. We can usually purchase gravel in the pit at an average of $125 per mile. Our wagon beds for hauling gravel are constructed to hold just one enbic yard of gravel, and gravel teams will make an average of from twenty-four to thirty miles per day, so that a road that is one mile from gravel a team will make from twelve to fourteen loads, or two rods of gravel spread on the road each day to the team, and 83 per day for team and driver, and this work is largely done by the taxpayers along the line of the roads, thus making some of the money out of the construction of the road to pay
413
HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.
their taxes, and this year many of our roads will be contracted entire to the tax- payers, as there are too many roads for regular contractors to handle. In coun- ties that have no gravel but have lime stone, roads can be constructed of crushed stone at a cost but little above that of gravel.
" Two of our contractors during last year completed three gravel roads of crushed stone, of their own choice, having contracted to construct the roads of gravel, and although the taxpayers along the line of the road were at first strongly opposed to the stone, they are now much pleased and express a decided prefer- ence for the stone at the advanced cost of construction, as they are satisfied after testing them thoroughly the past soft winter that they will be more durable.
" I will give you a closely figured estimate of the cost of a road made from crushed limestone : Ordinary limestone, average quarry, No. 1 rotary crushed 10-horse power engine, including all costs for stone and labor loaded on wagon, 80 cents per cubic yard, and a No. 1 crusher will crush 60 cubic yards per day. On the usual gravel roads, we put 7 cubic yards of gravel to the rod, but of the crushed stone we use about 45 cubic yards to the rod, which makes a very ma- terial difference in the expense of hauling and spreading. The pikes in this county have cost more than $1,000,000, but the land owners have been repaid with large interest by the increase in the value of real estate. For $1,000.000 cx- pended for pikes, the value of real estate has been increased $2.000,000. without taking into consideration the luxury of having good roads.
" Lands that were worth $40 and $50 per acre on mud roads now sell readily at $60 and $70 and upward per acre, and many citizens of old and richer counties are coming in and purchasing farms in this county. their reasons being that they wish to own land in a county blessed with good roads. It makes a good system of drainage for low lands, and many farms are largely drained by tiling into these side ditches; fences are improved along the line of these roads, new dwellings are built, barns are painted, and the whole country is improved and beautified wher- ever you see good pikes.
' When the gravel road question was first agitated in this county, the enter- prise was bitterly opposed by some of our heaviest taxpayers and best citizens. as they argued (and honestly, too) that first, ; there was no gravel in the county to build the roads, and second, if there was material it would bankrupt the county to build them.' But fifteen years' experience has demonstrated the fallacy of their argument, as we have built 400 miles of pikes and paid for them, and the county is much richer to-day than fifteen years ago, and we seem to have an abun- dance of material left, and old ' Mother Earth' gives forth her stores bountifully, and her abundance cannot be exhausted by building a few miles of gravel road.
" To illustrate : About sixteen or seventeen years ago, the citizens of Marys- ville, shipped by railroad fifteen miles distant, from another county, gravel to put on our streets; and since that time they have learned that the whole town is un- derlaid with a superior article of gravel to that shipped, and so you may find in your county an abundance of material where you least expect it. Now those who were the strongest opponents of gravel roads in the beginning, are their most en- thusiastic advocates, and I have never yet found an opponent of gravel roads that once he has a good pike past his farm would part with it for three times the amount of tax he paid.
" The citizens of this county are well satisfied with the money they have ex- pended for road improvements. The farmers are well paid by the increase in the value of their lands, the merchants are well pleased that they have at their coun- ters, in winter season as well as in summer, customers who live fifteen and twenty miles from the county seat, and the carriage-makers are well pleased that they now sell twenty buggies and carriages where under the mud road system they sold one, and altogether we seem to be a very happy, industrious, honest, temper- ate and religious sort of people, and our advice to our neighboring counties is to build gravel roads and you will be correspondingly happy with us. We pay our contractors in six per cent bonds that are anxiously sought and sell as readily as United States bonds.
414
HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.
GRAVEL ROADS IN UNION COUNTY.
NAMES.
MILES.
NAMES.
MILES.
Ryan Chapel
11
Darby Chapel.
1
Cannon Mill
9
Inskeep & Crary
Beech Grove ..
-16
Shortees & Grassy Run.
315
Johnson
Dry Run.
4
Orchard
Buckeye
2.3 -16
Holy Cross & Epps
Sager Mill
5.7
Wilber
Grassy Run
Pottersburg & Darby
Ilannawalt
1 7
North Lewisburg & Darby
Howey & Gamble.
11
Milford & Irwin.
Bell
.)23
Milford & Urbana
23
Long & Brown
115 16
Boundry
Fish & Myers.
·)14 -16
Wallace
Kezartee .
16
Brooks & Russell
.15
Marysville, California & County Line.
133
Byhalia & Mansfield.
Marysville & Pharisburg ..
81
Bellefontaine & Delaware
17 2
Marysville & Delaware.
6
Broadway & Pharisburg.
) 3
Plain City & California.
York Centre & Bethel
10 3.7 T6 5
Marysville & Watkins.
Cotton Slash.
16 ) 1
Delaware & Bellefontaine.
Wheeler & Green
Wills Johns.
Van Sant.
Watkins & Bellpoint.
McPeek
Watkins & California
Lockwood & Toby
Weaver
Morse & Cook
Delaware & Watkins ..
3:
Ford
Frankfort & Ostrander
3
Davis.
1.9 16
California & Frankfort
3_5
Stony Point ..
111 16
Ostrander, & Frankfort & Dublin.
41
Newton & York Centre
California & Delaware
511
Hinton Mill
6
Suediker
Dover & County Line ..
21
Reed & Jollifl.
T
Richey & Ilannawalt
11
Patrick
1
Delaware & Union County Joint.
Jones & Graham
Spring Dale.
Baxley & Green.
Henderson
5) 7
Snell
Marysville & Milford
53
Newton & Perkins
Irwin & Little Darby
Marysville & Broadway
Irwin & Woodstock.
11
Marysville & Newton
Unionville.
45 8
Richwood & Middletown
London
Agricultural
Post Road.
16
Hamilton
Marysville & Unionville.
Webb.
Richwood & Pharisburg
Plain City & Unionville
Somersville & Broadway.
Bridgeport & Milford
Richwood, Somersville & York Centre.
Milford & Woodstock
Somersville & Coon.
Marysville & North Lewisburg
Richwood & Miller
Marysville & Bellefontaine
Byhalia & County Line.
Conner
Richwood & Bokes Creek
Sabin & Bigelow
Fastman
Milford & Allen Centre
Clark.
1
Jewell & Blue
Richwood & Hoskins
Milford & North Darby
Rush Creek.
Newton & North Lewisburg
·)?
Grove Street.
Wheeler.
Newton & Bellefontaine
4
Bennington.
13
Broadway & Newton
2
Logan & Darby
125 3
Newton & Crowder ..
315
Cook.
1
Peoria & Middleburg.
4.9
Kirby.
-7%
Potter & Allen Centre.
132
Marysville & Amrine Mill
15
47 35 Mitchell C'emetery ...
NOTF .- Total value, $1 069,770 74; total miles, 475.
1-3111225547
|13 44 23 5 115 3 : 115 16
Dover & Perkin
51
Sandusky
1.
111 32 9 9
-16
18682
6788978253
Snyder Otway
45548274711220
Richwood, Essex & La Rue
32221
5.1 3.5 3 211 16
Newland
16
Waldo
5.
York Centre & Miller.
9
16
Dean
16
16
London
Willich AM Beck
417
HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.
RAILROADS.
Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati &. Indinapolis Railway .- The original charter of this company was granted by the Legislature of Ohio, March 14, 1836 the object being to construct a railway from Cleveland to Cincinnati, via Columbus and Wilmington. Through non-user that charter became dormant, but it was re- vived and amended by act of March 12, 1845. The road was completed and the first train run over it from Cleveland to Columbus on the 22d of February, 1851; distance, 138 miles. In 1861, the track of the Springfield, Mount Vernon & Pittsburgh Railway from Springfield to Delaware, fifty miles, was purchased. The latter road is the same now passing through Irwin, Milford, Marysville and Dover Stations, in Union County, the charter for its construction having been granted March 21, 1850, to the Springfield & Mansfield Railroad Company. By a decree of the Clark County Court of Common Pleas, entered at the August term, 1852, the company's name was changed to the Springfield, Mount Vernon & Pittsburgh Railroad Company. June 16, 1860, the road and property were placed in the hands of John R. Hilliard, as receiver. It was divided into two parts and sold by order of the court, January 1, 1861, the fifty miles between Springfield and Delaware being purchased by Peter Odlin, J. R. Hilliard and F. A. Lane, who, on the first of January, 1862, sold the same to the Cleveland, Columbus, & Cincinnati Rail- way, and it is now a part of the Cincinnati Division of the C., C., C. & I. After several changes, the name by which the company is now known-Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati & Indianapolis Railroad Company-was adopted May 16, 1868. This was the first railway line constructed in Union County, the citizens of which became greatly interested in the enterprise in 1850-51. A preliminary survey had then been made upon nearly the route finally adopted. The road was completed from Springfield to Delaware in the spring of 185-4, the first train be- tween the two points passing over it on the twenty-ninth of March in that year. That train carried a large number of excursionists. The next day, a young man was badly hurt at Delaware, having both legs cut off by the engine while he was attempting to jump on its pilot (commonly called " cow-catcher ") as it was coming from the engine house. Between Springfield and Delaware , the locomotive jumped the track several times. The flanges of the forward wheels of the locomo- tive, which was called the "Olentangy," were defective, and the aid of the " Goshen " was necessary to pull the train back to Springfield, the passengers being delayed overnight on the way. The business of this road has grown to very large proportions, and its equipment is generally in keeping with the demands of the times. The number of miles of track owned by the company, according to the report of Railroad Commissioner H. Sabine, for 1882, is as follows:
Main track. 17.87
Sidings, etc 1.92
Total. 19.79
The company owns 417.55 miles in the State, of which 390.62 miles are laid with steel rails.
Pittsburgh, Cincinnati & St. Louis Railway .- The road in Union County operated by this-the " Panhandle Company "-is by lease from the Columbus, Chicago & Indiana Central Company, to which the road belongs. Of this there are in the county 13.05 miles of main track and .97 of a mile of sidings, making a total of 14.02 miles. The original charter of this road was granted to the Colum- bus, Piqua & Indiana Railroad Company, by act passed February 23, 1849, and that company proceeded to construct a road from Columbus via Urbana and Piqua to Union City, on the line between Ohio and Indiana. Receivers were ap- pointed for this road June 23, 1856, and on the 24th of June, 1863, it was sold for $500,000 to three trustees. On the 20th of November, in the latter year, a re-organization took place under the name of the Columbus & Indi- anapolis Railroad Company, and by subsequent changes and consolidations it has been known successively as the Columbus & Indianapolis Central Railway
418
HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.
Company, the Columbus & Indiana Central Railway Company, and the Columbus, Chicago & Indiana Central Railway Company, the last name being adopted upon the consolidation of the Columbus & Indiana Central with the Chicago & Great Eastern, December 4, 1867. The combination leased its lines to the P., C. & St. L. R'y Co. January 22, 1869, for a term of ninety-nine years, renewable forever, and the latter company now operates them as a part of its own lines. The track of this road has not yet been laid with steel rails.
New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio Railway .- This road was originally built by the Franklin & Warren Railroad Company, which was chartered March 10, 1851, under the provisions of " An act regulating railroad companies," passed February 11, 1848. The line was constructed from a point on the State line in Trumbull County to Dayton, a distance of 246 miles. The name, Atlantic & Great Western Railroad Company, was subsequently adopted by this company for Ohio, and by others for New York and Pennsylvania, the lines together forming a through route to the East. August 19, 1865, these three companies consolidated and became merged in one corporation, with the general name of the Atlantic & Great Western Railway Company. January 6, 1880, after several changes, the New York, Penn- sylvania & Ohio Railroad Company of Ohio was formed, and on the 24th of March, 1880, it was consolidated with companies bearing similar names in the States of New York and Pennsylvania, and the New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio Railroad Company now owns and operates the line. The stations on this road in Union County are Woodland, Richwood, Claibourne, Broadway, Peoria and Pot- tersburg. Length of road in county, main track, 23.909 miles; sidings, etc., 4.525 miles; total, 28.434 miles. About 165 miles of the road owned by this company in Ohio are laid with steel rails. It was formerly a broad gauge line, but has been reduced to a standard gauge. It has more miles of track in Union County than, either of the other roads.
The Columbus & Bellefontaine Railway Company was incorporated in April, 1878, with a capital stock of $200,000, in shares of $50 each, to construct a rail- way-" beginning at Columbus, county of Franklin and State of Ohio; running thence in a northwesterly direction through the counties of Franklin and Union, and through the towns of Dublin and Marysville; thence northwesterly through the county of Logan to the city of Bellefontaine, in said Logan County." The incorporators were: J. H. Anderson, T. Ewing Miller, W. V. Marquis, C. L. Cool- ey, Robert Lamb, W. W. Woods, Philip Snider, J. W. Robinson. The road is not yet built.
TELEGRAPH LINE.
The first telegraph line in the county was put up in the winter of 1858-59, extending from Springfield to Delaware, via Marysville. The poles were distrib- uted along the line early in October, 1858, and it was completed to Marysville in the latter part of February, 1859. Since that time the county seat has had tele- graphic communication with the outer world. The telephone has been recently introduced in the place, and proves a great convenience. Connection is had with Columbus, and thence with all important cities in the State.
PART IV.
MILITARY RECORD.
PMP
WAR HISTORY
OF
UNION COUNTY,
CONTAINING A HISTORY OF THE SERVICES OF UNION COUNTY SOLDIERS IN THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION, THE WAR OF 1812, THIE WAR WITH MEXICO, 1846-47, AND THE WAR OF THE REBELLION, 1861-65.
BY W. L. CURRY.
MARYSVILLE. OHIO. 1883.
To my late comrades in arms now living, and to the widows and orphans of our comrades who fell upon the fields where we fought, this history of the services of the soldiers of Union County is affectionately inscribed.
PREFACE
W HO can write worthily of the services of Union County's soldiers, unless it were to write the history of almost every campaign and battle of the war of the rebellion, for the soldiers of this county served in every department of the army? In these few pages it has been the aim to give a brief history of every organization represented in the county. Brief indeed, will it seem to the soldiers who served in these organizations when the history of one regiment, even of one company, would fill a volume as large as the space occupied by the military record of the county in this history.
Although I have for several years been collecting material for this work, when it is now completed I feel that the foundation has just beeu laid for future historians to write the history of the services of Union County's soldiers ; my first intention was to confine the history to the soldiers of the war of the rebellion, but as the work progressed it was decided to include a brief sketch of the services of the grand old heroes of the war of the Revolution, the war of 1812, the war with Mexico and the old " Militia" organizations. As there was no material either written or printed from which to compile, I have woven together but a few frag- ments gleaned from the old pioneers and descendants of these heroes of three wars, and hope this chapter may not prove entirely devoid of interest, as it is the first that has ever been published in the county.
In the preparation of the roster, the names and record were copied from several different lists, the first being that taken by the Township Assessors in 1865, just at the close of the war, giving the names of all the soldiers who had en- listed from the different townships in the county. While this list was not complete, it furnished a good basis for operation. The rosters of the ex-soldiers associa- tion and of the Grand Army of the Republic have been very material helps. The Township Assessors in the spring of 1882 very kindly took the names of all soldiers living in the county at that date, the letter of company, number of regi- ment, date of enlistment and discharge, wounds, capture of prisoners and other matters of interest. Blank rolls were also furnished to three or four comrades in each township to be filled with the names of all soldiers buried in their townships and of those buried in the South, also the names of the soldiers of the Revolution, 1812 and Mexican war. These comrades have worked faithfully, and I am under many obligations to them for their good services. This mass of material, pro- cured without any reference to the arrangement of companies and regiments, was copied by companies and regiments in alphabetical order, and then sub- jected to inspection by comrades of each organization and many correc- tions were made in the spelling of names, letter of company and number of regiment. They were then carefully compared and verified with the records in the Adjutant General's office and many corrections made in dates of enlistment and discharge, after which the rolls were again copied and revised. Many mat- ters have been looked up by correspondence both in and out of the county, and the files of newspapers published during the war have been of great assistance in verifying dates and furnishing lists of killed and wounded, and of those who died in the service. Many corrections have been made from personal knowledge, as I served in the same department with many of these soldiers.
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