USA > Ohio > Champaign County > The history of Champaign and Logan counties : from their first settlement > Part 29
USA > Ohio > Logan County > The history of Champaign and Logan counties : from their first settlement > Part 29
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to call all this country,) especially Job Sharp's family I thought were very good people. Many of the neighbor men who came to see us, and many of whom I saw going to and returning from meeting on the Sabbath day were dressed partly in buckskin clothing ; buckskin pantaloons and vests were quite common, and sometimes buckskin coats were worn, and moccasins were quite fashionable.
On the morning of November 1st, we started and traveled om the laid out road from Urbana to Garwood's mill-now East Lib- erty-and al about 11 o'clock, A. M., on that day, being the second day of the week, arrived in Mingo Valley, at the spot which was after that time the home of my parents during their lives, and still belongs in the family. The place was entirely in the woods, except a small cabin 17x20 feet, by a fine spring of water, which had been built and used as a school-house. In this house our family of ten persons lived about eighteen months. Here at our cabin we entertained many friends, in good old-fashioned order. At that time I think there was no store or trading point nearer to this neighborhood than Urbana; and as the road from Urbana to East Liberty-the main thoroughfare of the country- passed very near to our house, and the distance to travel from this neighborhood to Urbana and back, and to do the trading desired, was too great an undertaking for one day, and as persons from this vicinity could go to town and conveniently return as far as our house in one day, that seemed to be a general stopping place for many of our friends and acquaintances living in this neighbor- hood. Hence our family was quite intimate with many of the families living here, as we were with our nearest neighbors. We had very frequent calls from members of the families of Thomas James, Levi Garwood, John Garwood, Daniel Garwood, Job and Joshua Sharp, Joseph Stratton, Joseph Curl, Abisha War- ner, Joshua Inskeep, Dr. John D. Elbert, Joseph Stokes, John Inskeep, and many others. Frequently the youngfolks of several families would join and come down in a wagon, drawn hy a four-horse team, and stay all night at our house, and would seem to make the time pass very pleasantly. Then, as now, there were very many good-looking girls in the vicinity of this place. They did not dress as fine then as they do now, and wore quite a different style of bonnet, which I can not now well describe. The beautiful young women of that time were gener-
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ally clothed in home-spun, mostly the work of their own hands. Not only their own clothing, but that of their fathers and broth- ers as well, was mostly made by the hands of the industrious girls of that period, to whose cheeks, health and the constant prac- tice of industry and exercise imparted a glow of beauty which ran never be equaled by paint or other artificial appliances.
"The old men and matrons, those loved ones of vore, I ask not for them, they can greet me no more.
But the young men and maidens. ah! they are « itterel and gor . And I travel on ward and am nearly alone."
Of all the venerable pioneers of my carly acquaintances, I re- member Joshua Inskeep with love and affection, at least equal to any other person who was not related to me ; as he was the friend and companion of my father almost from my earliest recollection, he spent many days and evenings at our house in social and re- ligious conversation with my father and our family. The last time I saw Joshua Inskeep was on a beautiful Sabbath day in Oc- tober, not long after my father's death; he called at our hon-e ; his aged and excellent wife was with him; he seemed to be re- markably solid and serious in his deportment. When we sat down to dinner, the good old man in a solemn manner raised his hands and offered a beautiful prayer, asking that the choicest of heaven's blessings might rest upon my mother and upon all of us through life, and that when we were called to die we might be prepared to meet my father in that better land where we believed his spirit was at rest.
"There are many dreams of gladness, That eling around the past, And from the tomb of feeling Old thoughts come thronging fast
The forms we loved so dearly In the happy days now gone The beautiful and lovely So fair to look upon.
Whose smiles were like the sunshine In the spring-time of the year- Like the changing gleams of April They followed every tear.
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They have passed like hope away- All their loveliness has fled; Oh! many hearts are acinng That they are with the dead.
Like the bright buds of the summer They have fallen from the stem. Yet oh, it is a lovely death To fade from earth like them.
And yet the thought is saddening To muse on such as they, And feel that all the lovely Are passing fast away."
PIONEER INCIDENTS.
Mr. Samuel Carter, one of our oldest residents, the- describes the først general religious services held in Logan county. The settle- ment of Belleville consisted at the time of a few families who lived in primitive log houses with puncheon floors and that hel roofs. In the latter part of April, 1817, the inhabitants assembled at his dwelling near the present site of the fair grounds, on jeSgh- hath morning. The fence surrounding the house w. - Firtjolly torn down and the rails were placed on the floor in the form of & hollow square; thus it was that seats were provided. Mary than fifty persons had congregated at this first gathering, atal the an- nouncement had awakened general interest. The minister, Rev John Strange, delivered an impressive seriaon to the colonists, and invoked God's blessing ij on them.
The people had early divided into three classes. There was formed a party styling themselves the Regulators, a sort of vigil- ance committee, who made it their duty to administer justin to all offen lers who should transgress the laws of the State and the community. Public whipping posts were erected, and Mr. Urter says that he has seen several persons publicly dogood. Inderided contrast to this element were the men and women obo maif on that day for religious service. They were quiet, unott filing pe- ple, who preferred to deal out judgment to the wi k Leiddis and ever had at heart the best interests of the settlement. There www. also, another party who, although holding to no definite religious convictions, cast in their lot with the better branch of the column- nity. It was from this field that the convert- comp. The Regula- tors were, in the main, an incorrigible set of persone, who | | Ilt- the fear of God, and less of man, before their eyes.
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The services concluded with singing and prayer. Another meet- ing was held soon after in the house of a neighbor, and a revival soon began in their inidst. Class meetings were held, and al- though the Methodist faith was held by many, there was perfect harmony and unity in the common cause of Christianity.
Belleville disappeared from the map, and further to the north- ward rose the noy prosperous town of Bellefontaine.
Of all those who assembled at these meetings there remain but Mr. and Mrs. Carter. Their descendants, however, are to be found scattered throughout the length and breadth of the country.
Mr. Wm. Henry gave account of his first assessment of Zane township, then comprising Logan and part of Champaign coun- ties. He traversed that territory from Dan to Beer-Sheba, wher- ever inhabited, and charged ten dollars for his services. But the Commissioners cut him down one dollar. At that time he had to go to Urbana and pay four dollars a bushel for salt, and "tote " it home on bare back, considerable of it dripping out before getting home.
Dr. Brown then read a paper, which was ordered to be put among the archives of the Association.
Mrs. Sallie Moore handed in a paper which was read by Dr. Cowgill, and ordered to be kept among the archives of the Asso- ciation.
Another paper was also read, and disposed of in the same way.
Dr. B. S. Brown, T. Cowgill and Joshua Antrim were appointed a committee for collecting a history of Logan County, in book form, and report at next meeting of the Association. Twenty dollars were appropriated for paying expenses of same.
Address by Archibald Hopkins.
In the year 1797, my father emigrated from the State of Dela- ware to the Northwestern Territory, now the State of Ohio. He started in search of a better country, and came to Redstone, Old Fort; and there a company of five persons was raised, four be- sides himself. They gathered up a set of plow-irons, and a supply of pumpkin and turnip seeds, and seeds of various kinds, and traveled on to the Peepee prairie, twelve miles below where ('hil- licothe now stands, on the Scioto River ( on the west side ). Here they broke about twelve acres of prairie, and planted it in
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corn, pumpkins, etc., and made rails and fenced in their crop, to keep the Indian ponies out. Besides what provisions, salt, etc., they packed on their horses, they lived on deer, bear, turkey, etc., a part of the time without bread, until the latter part of July. After sowing their turnip seeds, they returned home, to prepare to move their families to their new home.
My father made preparation to move to Robstown, above Wheeling, in wagons, and there prepared a flat-boat, and Bloated down the Ohio River to the mouth of the Scioto. And the night we arrived at the Scioto, the river was frozen over, and remained so till the winter broke. The other four families had been at the improvement at Peepee prairie for some time, and had taken care of our crop of corn. We had to pack our goods as well as we could, up the river to the improvement, which was probably about twenty-four miles. The next day after we arrived there, every one that was able turned out to help us build a house ; again-teve- ning our house was raised and covered, a door cut out, and our goods put in it the same evening, and a fire built on the ground floor in the middle of our cabin. The next morning the snow was knee deep to the men, and lay so till the winter broke. Our house was quite open, and the wind blew in at one side, and the smoke went out at the other side, so that we remained on the side that the wind blew to keep out of the smoke. We manufactured fur- niture for our house from the stump; a bedstead was made by driving two forks into the ground-floor, about three and a half feet from the wall, and laying on clapboards, one end on the pole, and one end in the crack of the wall for bed-cord. We made a side- table by boring two holes in the wall, and driving in two pins about two feet long, and laying a puncheon on the two pins about two feet broad and six feet long. We had plenty of corn, but no way to make bread, and had plenty of the best wild meat and hominy, and lived well, and enjoyed ourselves finely, and , were comparatively happy, though we lived about six works of the time without bread.
We lived there one year from the following spring, and had the most kind and sociable neighbors. A man then came and claimed the land on which we lived, and wanted us to pay him rent, which my father refused to do, and we moved six miles down the river, and settled on the east side, on Congress land, and remained
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there about two years after the land sales. Being disappointed in getting his money from the east, my father could not buy the land on which he lived.
We remained in this neighborhood two years after the land sale, then my father bought land in the Pickaway Plains, Ross County, and moved there. My father and mother died within four years of the time we moved to Pickaway Plains. I still remained there until the spring of 1814, when I settled in what is now Logan County, about three miles east of where West Liberty now stands, on land now owned by the widow of Henry Enoch, deceased. My neighbors at my new home were Isaac Titsworth and Robert and John Smith, who had been living there several years. Sam- uel Scott, Isaac Thomson, and Griffith Evans, had lived here a few years, and Robert Frakes lived a few miles north. Robert Smith had a little mill within one mile of my house, and our nearest store was at Urbana. John Reynolds and Thomas Gwynne cach had a store at Urbana at that time. Champaign County then ex- tended to Lake Erie.
The first religious meeting I attended here was held at Griffith Evans' house.
About the year 1816 a small log meeting-house was built at Mt. Tabor. The first camp meeting was held at Mt. Tabor, in 1816, which was continued there a few years. I heard Lorenzo Dow preach at Mt. Tabor in 1826.
The first election I attended in what is now Logan County, I think was held at Robert Frakes' house, on Maca cheek.
My home here was near the place where Simon Kenton was once tied on a wild colt (as I have often heard him relate) by the In- dians, with the expectation that the colt would run through the plum thickets and soon tear him to pieces. Instead of that the colt was as gentle as a lamb, and quietly followed the Indians without doing him any harm. Simon Kenton told me that the Indians made a mound, yet standing in John Enoch's field, on which the Indian Chiefs used to stand and see white men run the gauntlet on the track in the prairie near by.
THE PIONEERS.
First Quarterly Meeting.
In pursuance of notice previously given, the Western Pioneer Association met at the Fair Grounds, at Bellefontaine, Logan Coun ty, to hold their first quarterly meeting and picnic. The day was warm, pleasant and beautiful, and the attendance very respectable in numbers, considering the fact that the ceremony of laying the corner-stone the day before prevented as large an attendance as would otherwise have been anticipated. All who came from a dis- tance arrived early in the forenoon, and spread their cloths about the grounds for dinner. At half-past eleven the Bellefontaine Band marched down playing lively airs and joined the assembly, par- taking, on invitation, of a sumptuous dinner with the pioneers. Our reporter shared the excellent and bountiful dinner prepared by Mrs. Volney Thomas.
Among the pioneers and old citizens present, whose names we knew, were: Dr. B. S. Brown, Cartmiel Crockett, James Moffatt, Joshua Buffington, Ephraim Vance (87) Gen. 1. S. Gardner, Volney Thomas, Capt. Wm. Watson, G. Walls, Wm. Henry, Ishae Pain ter, Samuel Carter, Robert Dickinson, Capt. Job In-keep. Chpt. J. A. Jones, Hon. William Lawrence, J. R. Van Meter, Thomas Cookston and others. Capt. Job Inskeep was one of Capt. James Euans' company who were quartered in the block-house at Zenes- field in 1813. Capt. Wm. Watson, an old citizen of this county, now of Paxton, Illinois, who has for some time been on a visit to friends here, is mentioned in Dr. Brown's speech at the laying of the corner-stone, and also in that of to-day.
After dinner and meeting of old acquaintances, and the arrival
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of many more people, at 1 o'clock President Gardner called the meeting to order and a touching and appropriate prayer was of- fered to the Throne of Grace by the venerable Chaplain, George McColloch. Then came the reading of the proceedings of the previous meeting on July 30, by Secretary Joshua Antrim, pre- ceeded and followed by fine music by our excellent band, when the venerable President Gardener arose to welcome in a few brief and feeling words his fellow pioneers and citizens, on the occasion of their first meeting. He was pleased to meet them all, but re- gretted the absence of many who would have been present and renewed old acquaintance but for the meeting yesterday, but was glad to meet those who had resolved, notwithstanding, to be here to-day. When he came to this county forty-four years ago, nearly all who lived here then had since died, but few were left, and they would soon be called away, and before they went it be- hooved them all to write out and state their experience of the early settlement of the county and the manner of life and cus- toms of the early settlers, that some record should be made for future history, otherwise the unwritten history of our county will soon pass away with the last of the actors in it and be lost forever. When he saw so many younger people around him who had been born since he came into the county, he thought he might weil say he was getting to be an old man. He did not intend to make a speech, but as presiding officer of the Association found it his pleasant duty to welcome all, old and young, and hoped for a larger gathering at their next meeting. He then introduced Dr. B. S. Brown as one of the speakers chosen for the occasion, who arose and read a well-written and very interesting sketch of the early history and life of the pioneers, which was listened to with marked attention, which we here reproduce:
Remarks by Dr. B. S. Brown.
As I understand it, the principal objects of this association are to bring to-gether as many of the early settlers of this section of the country as possible, for the purpose of collecting the various data which go to make up the history and reminiscences of its first settlement by our race. And also that what few of the very early settlers are left, may by meeting in this friendly, social manner, enjoy the company of one another and remind one another of cir-
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cumstances and incidents which occurred more the! half a century ago, which by bringing up afresh, would be very interesting, not only to all who lived here at the time, but to the present in- habitants, and (if properly collected and preserved) perhaps to generations unborn, who are to come after ns. The alteration which have taken place in this section of the country since its Hrst settlement, are so great, not only as to the country it -elf, but al to everything in it, and that belongs to it, that a person who might have been living here then, and been intimately acquainted with the whole country around, its inhabitants, their immers and en- toms, their privations and enjoyments, and then loft inderttl 1 in other parts of the country-as many have done would, men visiting here now, be entirely unable to recognize it is the me country or the same people, he had left sixty years ago. Every thing has changed, but the chang's have been sager final that per sons living here all the time, and as-isting and participating i them, scarcely notice them, unless something like the calls up recollections of the pist -of early times. Thighlos (Qua, might in some measure point out the duty as well ne 150 privoles. of every member of this society-the women as well as the nem for I believe the former are equally eligible to beco no cioni um Many of our members have lived here when the whole olaf region was "a vast and howling wilderne ," thickty co del nearly all over with the primeval forest, where the vdlb-elect the region ranged at large, with but little to "molefor men them afraid." The wild deer and turkeys were very piny, ml were a great advantage to the early settlers, as in usby Comoill they afforded the principle anind food a great part of thegw- Besides this advantage of their furnishing su h mat han l une what would now be considered a really luxuri jus d , Ahp Hormone for them was a very pleasant and exciting recre it m. amusement, much more beneficial to the healthon from I might say to the morals of those engaged in it. theo theeyes popular, senseless base ball exercise of the profit ffer ; daily and nightly resort to the gambling billiard -due, il have also become very popular with many of our young in
In order that some idea may be formed of the plants and abundance of the wild deer of those days, I may tue the for Bellefontaine had become something of a brushy town, on ! the
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courts had been held in it a number of years, many, perhaps a hundred deer were killed so near that the report of the rifle could' be heard all over town; and, indeed, in several instances, were killed within the present incorporated limits of the village. Capt. Wm. Watson, who was a citizen of this town at the time, and who hunted some, has told me that he could, by going out early, almost any morning, kill and bring in & deer before the usual breakfast time, and that without going more than half a mile, or a mile from town. Bears and wolves were also here-the latter so numerous as lo he's great annoyance to the early settler, especially to those who were trying to raise sheep. Their dismal, doleful howlings could be heard reverberating through the wilds of the forest almost every night, and woe be to the sheep or lamb which was not suffi- ciently protected from their voracious and devouring jaws. The depredations of these animals became such a nuisance, that the Legislature had to take the matter in hand to endeavor to abate it by the extermination of the whole race. For this purpose they enacted a law allowing a premium for every wolf scalp which any person would present to the proper officer- the county clerk, I believe, and some persons made considerable amounts of money by killing and scalping the "varmints." The premium on the scalps, however, was not the principal inducement for killing them ; it was more to rid the country of their annoying depreda- tions. These animals were so wild and watchful, and as they trav- eled principally in the night, it was very seldom that a hunter could get a shot at them with his riffe, and, therefore, other means had to be resorted to-the principal of which was the steel trap. The nabit of wolves was generally to go in gangs of from five or six to a dozen together. When they would find a neighborhood that would suit them, they would perhaps vi-it it every night for weeks together, although their hiding place, by day might be in tangled thickets of brush many miles away. The principal wolf- trapper with whom I was acquainted was Joh Garwood, a son of Levi Garwood, who was one of the Associate Judges of Logan county. Job had become so well acquainted with the habits and haunts of these beasts, that he has told me that when a gang of them came into any neighborhood where he was acquainted, that he could and often did catch and kill the last one of them bofore they would leave. His plan was, when he heard of a particular locali- ty where they prowled at night, (and that was easily known by
LOGAN COUNTIES.
their howling,) he would procure a part or the whole of the car- eass of some dead animal, and drag it with horses or oxen on the ground, perhaps for miles through the woods where they had been heard. In the trail made by this dragging, he would place his traps, at suitable distances apart, carefully covering them with leaves, so that they could not be seen. The wolves would follow this trail by the scent, and, suspecting no danger, step into some of the traps and be fastened. The traps were large and weighed several pounds, but it would not do to chain them fast, is it wa- said the wolf would gnaw his own leg off and escape, but while he could drag the trap he would not do that, but make off at best he could through the bushes and brush, taking the trap with him. In this way they sometimes got miles away, before the trapper could overtake them by the next day, with the assistance of his dogs, which were trained to follow them up by the scent. After being caught in this way, they generally hal to be killed by a rifle shot at last. In addition to those I have mentioned, there were several other wild animals, of smaller kinds, that inhabited our woods, the principal of which was the raccoon, which were very plenty, and, although they were very destructive to the corn- fields, yet they afforded fine amusement and considerable profit to the hunters. They were generally hunted in the night with dogs, which were so well trained to finding and following their tracks, that they could readily distinguish them from the tracks of other animals, and would not follow up such small game as the possum, rabbit, or skunk. The raccoons were mostly hunted for their skins, which had very good fur, and brought a good price. It was quite a profitable business for fur dealers to collect and send off these skins, as thousands were sent off every year, and brought consid- erable means into the county. Iam aware that it is not the wild animals alone which were so plentiful in our woods in early times, that we are to speak about, and bring up to the remembrance, al- though much might be said and written about them that would be interesting. There are many other subjects which would doubt- less be equally, if not more interesting, and perhaps more in ac- cordance with the objects and the designs of the Pioneer Associn tion. The clearing up of the forests, and preparing the land for cultivation ; the building of log cabins, and the manners and cus- toms of living in them; the kind, and usual amount of crops raised ; the log-rollings and corn-huskings ; the parties of pleasure
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and amusement, and very many other subjects too tedious to men- tion here, might be spoken of and written upon, which would bring up interesting recollections, which, if properly collected and preserved, would be sufficient to fill volumes, which might be valuable as well as interesting to the present, rising and future gen- erations. And I would here suggest, that each and every member be requested to contribute something towards the furtherance of this object. If some of them are not in the habit of writing their thoughts and recollections, they all can remember, and tell of things of the past which would be valuable in such a collection .- Then let them tell it, and get somebody else to write it, and let it be brought and filed with the archives of the Association, and thereby contribute their share to so valuable an undertaking .- Everything has so changed that almost anything in regard to those times would seem new and interesting now. The construction of log cabins, and the manner of living in them are worthy of re- membrance, for they have so nearly gone out of date, that it will not be a great many years before the people here will scarcely know what they were. They were generally constructed of round logs, one story high, covered with clap-boards which were not nailed down, but kept to their places by weight-poles, laid length- ways across every row of boards. In fact, many very comfortable dwellings were built and lived in without so much as a single iron nail being used in their construction. As there were no saw-mills in the country at its very early settlement, the floors of the cabins were made of what was called puncheons. They were made by splitting large logs into slabs three or four inches thick, and by nicely hewing them on the upper side, and neatly fitting the joints, they made a very good and permanent floor. The open spaces in the walls between the logs were neatly filled up, and made smooth by "chinking," and daubing with clay inside and outside. The fire-place was at one end of the building, generally outside, an opening being cut through the log wall for that purpose. The flue was built up above the comb of the roof, with what was called " cat and clay." The fire-places were large, sufficient to take in back logs from twelve to eighteen inches thick, and four to six feet long. These buildings varied in size from fourteen by eighteen feet, up to eighteen feet wide by twenty-four feet long.
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