USA > Ohio > Champaign County > The history of Champaign and Logan counties : from their first settlement > Part 3
USA > Ohio > Logan County > The history of Champaign and Logan counties : from their first settlement > Part 3
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There were many rattle snake adventures of varied types and phases, but let the above suffice. It may however be said that many persons became reckless and were the victimis to their own folly; others were unavoidably bitten, but as a general rule the Indian remedies were resorted to, and generally were effectual in their cure. In some few cases however the bite proved fatal ; one instance can be given that was a sad one ; and by way of introduc- tion to the sequel, the remark may be made that there were per- sons and not a few, who seemed to lose their terror of the reptiles from their familiarity with the abundance and it was a very common practice to be provided with a stick two or three feet long with a prong at one end, which they would use when an opportunity offered, by throwing the fork or prong upon the neck of the snake, and pinning it down to the ground for the purpose of teas- ing it, as young kittens will a mouse before killing it, and when they have satisfied themselves with this amusement, they seize the serpent by the tail, lift off the yoke, and give a sudden backward jerk and breaklits neck. A very fine young man in the neighborhood who was greatly esteemed, by the name of Mc- Mahan, who was about to be married to a daughter of Judge Hughs, (who was uncle to Mrs. William Ward of Urbana) espied a large rattle snake, and attempted to capture it in the mode above described, but it slipped away from him and glided into a small hole in a stump, and before it had drawn in its whole length he seized it by the tail to draw it back with a sudden jerk and break
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its neck, but unfortunately the aperture was large enough for the snake to coil itself back, which it did, and bit him among the blood vessels of his wrist, which to the universal regret of the com- munity caused almost immediate death. The introduction of swine into the country, relieved the people in a great degree of this pest in a few years. It is averred, though I will not avouch its truth, that even the timid deer was a great snake killer, that when it came in contact, it would with its fore feet stamp the reptile to death. This branch of the subject here closes with this one remark-the rattle snake has one redeeming trait, when let alone it will never attempt to bite without giving notice by the rattles.
This settlement continued to progress in the direction of improve- ment. Log cabin churches, school-houses, mills and other indis- pensable utilities were erected, and furnished the people with the usual facilities of society, their granaries and larders were replen- ished, and they began to realize all the comforts that persevering industry always brings in its wake. All were happy and contented up to about 1810, when that mania among the first settlers of a new country, in the shape of new adventures broke out in all its most virulent types. The most glowing descriptions of new localities west ward in the State were circulated, the new counties of Wayne, Stark, and especially a place still further west under the general term of the Mad River Country, attracted the deepest interest as a land "flowing with milk and honey," interlarded with game and wild hogs in great abundance, about which the most extravagant hyperbolical declarations in jest were made, such as that roasted pigs were running at large with knives and forks stuck in their backs, squealing out, "Come and eat."
This agitation in the end, culminated in the exodus of about forty families, more at that time than two-thirds of all the old set- tlers of Brookfield township, who in their frenzy, sacrificed to new comers, the results of their toils for years; not then, even dream- ing of the hidden treasures under their feet, in the shape of inex- haustible coal fields and rich mines of iron ore, that have since been the source of unbounded wealth to that community, making improved lands then sold for three or four dollars an acre, worth, upon an average, one hundred dollars an acre at this time.
As I have elsewhere said not less than forty families began to prepare themselves for this movement, and strange as it may now
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appear, not less than thirty of them selected the Mad River Val- ley, and within a year or two all of them settled in what at that time was Champaign County, and my being so mixed up in these scenes, must be my excuse for connecting my pioneer life in Chani- paign County, with its incipient stages in Trumbull County. It seems to me from my stand-point, I could not separato them so as to contine myself alone to this my prosent locality, for the reason that my old associates in a large degree were my new comrades in early pioneer life in this part of the State. And the scenes from 1806 to 1811 are now endeared to me, and can not be eradicated or separated from the scenes of pioneer life in Champaign County, but must by me be treated as one of the parts of my early life in Ohio. I can well adopt the language of Tupper in his veneration of old haunts; his portraiture in the following lines vibrates upon every chord of my early reminiscences, and vividly renews all those early recollections which I have attempted to delineate in varied sketches. In view of all these surrounding circumstances am I not justified in their conncetion?
Old Danuts.
"I love to linger on my track. Wherever I have dwelt In after years to loiter back. And feel as once I felt; My foot falls lightly on the >w. rd. Yet leaves a deathless dint :
With tenderness I still regard Its unforgotten print. Old places have a charm for me. The new can ne'er attain- Old faces now I long to see, Their kindly looks again.
Yet these are gone-while all around Is changeable as air. All anchor in the solid ground.
And root my memories there'
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The sentimentality of these lines after a lapse of more than a half century, has on two or three occasions induced me to revisit the locality of these scenes of my boy-hood. The spring near my fath- er's cabin; the site of the old log school-house; the place where stood the old church to which my father and mother led me, all claimed my first attention. The "deathless dint" was there, but the "old faces" were not there; these were "gone," I shall never see "their
kindly looks again." A deep veneration for these sacred spots can never be erased. Memory cherishes them, and_the judgment endorses the declaration that all is vanity.
I have already stated that a general stampede among the settlers was about to take place, and which ended in its consummation. My father and his brothers Samuel and Johnson Patrick caught the contagion, the two latter moving in the fall of 1810 and set. tled on Beaver Creek, in what is now Clarke County, and afterward moved into what is now Logan County.
But my father remained in Brookfield until the next spring, and during the winter entered into an arrangement by which five of his neighbors united with him and built a boat, about two miles above Sharon on the Shenango River, of sufficient capacity to con- tain six families with their goods, and was made ready to be launched. It was no doubt the first, if not the last, enterprise of the kind so far up from the confluence of the river into Big Beaver. The boat being ready, it was after the first sufficient rise floated over three new mill-dams down to the mouth of Big Yankee creek and moored, and side oars and rudder being attached, was ready for the embarkation of the families of RichardI Kramer, Jacob Reed- er, William Woods, Josiah Whitaker, Isaac Loyd and Anthony Patrick, with their goods, when after a sudden spring rise in the river were all on boar l in due or ler as above indicated, when the cable was loosed, and this band of immigrants numbering about twenty souls set sail and wore gently wafted with the current down the Shenango to Big Beaver, and down falls of the latter, when the boat was agam moored and the crew and their effects were by wagons employed, conveyed to the foot of the rapids. The boat was put into the handsof a pilot to navigate it over the falls which was done with great speed, but through the unskillful- ness of pilot, was greatly injured upon the rocks and had to be re- fitted at some expense, and made sea-worthy, after which she was again duly laden, and the voyage renewed by running with the
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current from the falls to the confluence with the beautiful Ohio Riv .- er, and thence down to Cincinnati without noting the daily stop- pages and delays after about a three weeks voyage, interspersed with many incidents which will be now passed.
Cincinnati was then a little town under the hill. Here these old family wayfarers seeking new homes separated, after selling their boat for about twenty dollars and dividing the proceeds, in- tending to meet again in the Mad River Valley, which was ultimately realized, as all of them became settlers in old Cham- paign County as bounded in 1811, embracing what is now Clarke, Champaign, Logan, Hardin, &r., &c., north to the Michigan Territory line.
My Father moved his family to Lebanon, Warren County, arriv- ing there on the evening Moses B. Corwin was married, remain- ing there and working as a journey-man cabinet maker until August, when he moved to Urbana, arriving there the 9th day'of August, 1811.
NOTE: I have attempted to describe a log cabin raising, in its multiform delineations from the standing forest to the completed structure. And in doing so have committed myself to the criticisna of many yet living, who would be more capable of the task I have assumed. I am aware that my attempt has many defects in point of accuracy of description, that will likely be pointed out as need- ing amendment. But my motive was not the enlightenment of the present generation, but was attempted from a desire to hand down to posterity the primitive structures up to 1820, believing that before the year 1920, this mode of building will have become obsolete, and unknown. As the new settlers of this day do not resort to the log cabin, but to the frame house or hovel, the idea of the original log cabin as already said will be unknown, hence the reason of my feeble attempt.
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CHAPTER IV.
LOG CABIN CONTINUED.
In the presentation of the fragmentary sketches contained in the preceding chapters, I owe it to myself to make some additional ex- planations of the motives that actuated me, in a seeming departure from the programme of the " Western Ohio Pioneer Association," in locating scenes of pioneer life in sections of the State outside of Champaign and Logan Counties. And they in part consist-be- cause my most early experience antecedes and as elsewhere inti- mated, connects itself with the scenes which followed my early settlement in Champaign County in the year 1811. Pioncer life in all its general relationships is so uniformly the same, that all its general features are as applicable to one locality as another ; and therefore all those generalities of which I have treated, such as hardships endured, dangers encountered, difficulties met and over- come, including all those manifestations of generosity, equality, and sympathetic mutual kindnesses, that have been portrayed as traits of character in the early settlenient of the Eastern part of the State, are to the letter, applicable to the first settlers of Champaign and Logan Counties, and as a beginning point may be transferred to the latter locality.
As already said, my father arrived in Urbana, August 9th, 1811, and rented of Benjamin Doolittle a double cabin, then standing on lot No. 175, on what is now East Court St., opposite the First Bap- tist Church, and near the present residence of Mrs. Keller.
At this point I will attempt a pencil sketch of all the habitations of the old settlers at the date here indicated, and in order to do so more understandingly will promise the remark, that the original plat of Urbana at that day, consisted of 212, in lots 6 rods in front, abutting streets running back ten rods ; four fractional lots around . the Public Square six rods square ; and two tiers of out lots on the western border, and one tier on the sonthorn border of the town, aggregating twenty-two lots, varying in size from about one and one-half acres to three acres ; for all further general descriptions 1
LOGAN COUNTIES.
will refer to the records. And as a further prelude will remark, as the streets now nearly ali have now names, that I will adopt them with reference to my localities, and I will take my standpoint in the Public Square, and briefly dot the several localities of the first settlers of that day, as fully as my recollections will enable me.
PUBLIC SQUARE,
On the southeast corner of fractional lot No. 1. Benjamin Doolittle occupied a two-story log house, with a back building attached to west rear for dining room and kitchen, as a tavern stand, and being the same lot now owned and occupied by McDonalds and others.
Joseph Hedges occupied a small frame with shed roof, called the knife-box, little west of northeast corner of fractional lot No. 4, as a store room of Hedges & Neville, with small family residence in the west end, and being the same lot now owned and occupied by Glenns and others.
John Reynolds owned and occupied a neat white two-story building on northeast corner of in lot No. 48, fronting east on the Public Square, and used in part as a store room ; the balance being his family residence. The store room being on the corner was also by him used as the Post-office, he being the first Postmaster of the place. The very same spot is now used for the Post-office in the Weaver House. This whole lot is now owned by Henry Weaver, and as already intimated, is the site of the Weaver House.
Widow Fitch, the mother of Mrs. Blanchard, owned and occu- pied in lot No. 1, opposite the Weaver House, and had a small log building on it, which was occupied as a family residence, to which she added in front facing east on the Public Square, a respectable two-story hewed log house, using the same soon after as a tavern stand for several years. This site is now known as the Donaldson corner, &c.
Dr. Davidson occupied a small frame, fronting the Square on lot No. 154, on part of the site of L. Weaver's block.
SOUTH MAIN STREET,
From the Public Square, south. Alexander Doke owned and occupied in-lot No. 104, and had on it a little south of the pres- ent tavern stand of Samuel Taylor, a double cabin residence of
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his family, and being a blacksmith, he had on the same lot a smith shop. This lot embraces all the ground south of S. W. Hitt's store to the corner on market space, and owned now by several individuals. All this ground during the war of 1812, was used as an artificer yard.
W. H. Tyffe owned the south half of in lot No. 55, &c., and occu- pied the southeast corner of it, as his family residence; it being the same building now on said corner, having since been weather- boarded, and is now owned by his descendants.
George Fithian, the grandfather of Milton Fithian, owned and occupied as a tavern stand, the same building now standing on in lot No. 63; it has undergone but little improvement in outside ap- pearance, excepting the weatherboarding of the log part of it. This same tavern was afterward owned and occupied by John Enoch, the father of John Enoch, Jr., and is now owned by the Second M. E. Church as a proposed future site for a Church edifice.
George Hite, on the next abutting lot on west side of South Main St., being No. 71, erected a two-story log house for his family, an l being a wheel-wright, had a shop near it. The present residence of Mr. Bennett occupies the site of the old dwelling.
Job Gard, the father of Gershom Gard, owned in-lot No. 87, the corner of South Main and Reynolds streets, and lived in a hewed log house near the present residence of Col. Candy. This lot is now owned by the New Jerusalem Church an I others.
Alexander MeComsy, father of Matthias McComsy, owned and had a cabin for his family on south-east corner of South Main and Reynolds streets, on out-lot No. 18, now vacant and owned by William Ross.
William and John Glenn owned in-lots No. 124, 125, 126 and 127, on which they had sunk a tan-yard, with a rough log shop for fin- ishing ; this is now what is called the lower tannery, in the present occupancy of Smith, Bryan & Co. William Glenn then owned and had a cabin-residence on lots No. 134 and 135, now owned by John Clark, George Collins and others.
NORTH MAIN STREET,
from Public Square, north. John Shyach owned in-lot No. 163, upon which his family lived in a respectable two-story, hewed log house, near the drug store of Fisler & Chance. (Years afterward
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was burned.) This property embraces the row of business build- ings now occupied from the corner of North Main and East Court streets, to J. H. Patrick's hardware store.
Randal Largent occupied a small rough cabin on lot No. 24, on the north-west border of a pond, between it and what is known as the " Hamilton House," on the ground now occupied and owned by J. 11. Patrick as his residence.
Samuel MeCord had nearly opposite to last mentioned place, his family residence on lot No. 173, being a story and half howed log house, which was many years after burned down.
N. Carpenter lived in a small one-story log cabin on the corner of in-lot No. 32, near the present residence of John Smith, corner of North Main and West Church streets.
John Frizzle occupied a large double two-story log cabin as a tavern-stand, fronting east on North Main street, on in-lot No. 40, near present residence of O. T. Cundiff.
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EAST MAIN OR SCIOTO STREET,
from Public Square, east. Joseph Vance owned lot No. 155, and was erecting in the fall of 1811 the present two-story frame and part of the back building in which his son, Judge Vance, now dwells, as owner of the premises described.
Frederic Gump occupied a small one-story cabin on east half of in-lot No. 160, near the present site of the Episcopal Church.
David Vance owned lot No. 97, and had on it a small story and half hewed log house, occupied by Solomon Vail, and being the same house, with some additions, now owned and occupied by Joseph S. Kiger.
WEST MANIN OR MIAMI STREET.
From Public Square, west. David Parkison owned and occupied a two-story log house, and had a smith shop near it, both fronting the street on in-lot No. 2, now opposite the Weaver House, near the livery-stable and Fisher's rooms.
Zephaniah Luce owned in-lot No. 50, and occupied it by his family in a double log house, standing on the ground now occupied by Doctor Mosgrove's large brick residence. Mr. Lnce was also the owner of in-lots No. 51, 52, 53 and 54, and on the two first sunk
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a tan-yard, and had finishing-shop on same, which he used during the war of 1812, as Issuing Commissary Office, he holding that post.
Lawrence Niles (hatter) occupied a hewed log house on east part of in-lot No. 3, being the same property no v owned and occupied by Wm. Sampson, having been repaired in such a manner as to present a neat two-story house. His family, like many new set- tlers, after living here a few years, became dissatisfied, and with- out waiting to dispose of their property moved west, seeking new adventures, and were never heard of afterward. It was supposed they were either all drowned, or murdered by the savages.
EAST MARKET STREET,
East from South Main. James Fithian occupied a two-story hewed log house, with an addition of a one-story on west side of it, (the latter being used in the war of 1812, as a Quartermaster's office) on in-lot No. 105, being the present premises of Mrs. Dr. Stans- berry ; the log buildings above described were moved east on to lot No. 109, property of estate of Samuel MeCord, and very re- cently torn down.
Simon Kenton, as Jailor of Champaign County, occupied one family room below and the rooms above in the old Jail building, on lot No. 107, as his family residence. Here two of his daughters, Sarah, afterward Mrs. Jno. MeCord, and Matilda, afterward Mrs. Jno. G. Parkison, were married. This lot is now owned by two of the Lawsons.
Frederic Ambrose, by trade a potter, afterward Sheriff and County Treasurer, owned and occupied in-lot No. 111, and lived in a cabin on southeast corner, with a shop near it; this lot is now owned by Havery Stump.
Wilson Thomas, colored, right south on the opposite side of the street on in-lot No. 121, owned and occupied a small cabin, near the present residence of Mrs. Jacob Fisher.
Toney, a colored man, whose full name I have forgotten, but who was somewhat distinguished in the war of 1812, according to his own statements, occupied an old cabin in the Northeast cor- ner of E. B. Patrick's in-lot No. 112, fronting East Market Street.
Peter Carter, colored, husband of old Fannie, owned in-lot No.
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113, and had a cabin in the rear, which stood on the ground now occupied by the present African M. E. Church building.
WEST MARKET STREET,
West from South Main. Edward W. Pierce, a very highly educa- ted lawyer, without family, had a hewed log office near the present residence of Mrs. E. P. Tyffe, on in-lot No. 61. He pos- sessed sterling talents, but from some cause had much mental affliction, and in the winter of 1816, was found dead in the woods between here and Springfield, much torn by wolves as then sup- posed. Persons of that day who professed to know the fact, said that in his very early life he had the misfortune to exchange shots in a duel, and killed his adversary, which was the secret of his mental malady. This I give as a matter of information only.
EAST WATER STREET,
Froni South Main, East. Daniel Helmick owned in-lots No. 136 and 137 ; on the latter he had a double cabin as the residence of his family, and on the corner of the former in front of the Second M. E. Church, was his hewed log cabinet shop; he afterward built the brick house now owned by J. C. Jones.
Nathaniel Pickard owned and occupied lots No. 142 and 143, and erected for his family residence a hewed log cabin, standing imme- diately West of Moses B. Corwin's present brick residence.
WEST WATER STREET,
West from South Main. William Ward, Sr., the old proprietor of the town, then lived in a double log cabin standing near the pres- ent residence of Mr. Smith, southeast corner of West Water and High Streets, on a block of lots, No.'s 83, 84, 85, 86, 91, 92, 93, 94, and now the property of Messrs. Smith, Donaldson and others.
EAST REYNOLDS STREET,
East from South Main Street. Joseph C. Vance owned and occu- pied in-lots No.'s 152 and 153, and erected on the premises a two- story log house as a family residence; he also erected a small hewed log office, he being the first Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, and Surveyor, &c.
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WEST REYNOLDS STREET,
West from South Main Street. Isaac Robinson, a brick mason, occupied a cabin on one of out-lots on south side of the street, but I am now unable to locate it.
John Gilmore, a brick mason, occupied a cabin on out lot No. 8, now enclosed in the private park grounds of Col. John H. Jones, in which his superb family mansion is situated.
EAST COURT STREET,
East from North Main Street. Anthony Patrick, as already stated, occupied a double cabin nearly opposite the Baptist Church on in- lot No. 175, owned then by Benjamin Doolittle.
Jacob Tharp occupied a cabin on lot No. 165, near the site of the present Baptist Church.
WEST COURT STREET,
West from North Main Street. Capt. WM. Powell occupied a small frame tenement on West side of in-lot No. 14, being the pres- ent premises of Duncan McDonald.
--- Stout occupied a small roughly built frame, which stood near the present residence of Miss Nancy Jennings on in-lot No. 22.
EAST CHURCH STREET,
East from North Main Street. Samuel Trewett the grandfather of Nathan Reece occupied in-lot No. 194, and lived in a hewed log one story cabin near the present residence of Robert Bell. He was a local M. E. preacher.
WEST CHURCH STREET,
West from North Main Street. John Huston a rough carpenter, built a story and a half hewed log cabin and occupied it on in-lot No. 26, being the present premises of William Scorah.
Daniei Harr the father of Newton Harr, was here with his then small family, and as I have no other building in my eye for a fami- ly residence, I am inclined to the opinion that he occupied a small cabin on in-lot No. 27, the present premises of W. H. Colwell; if he did so occupy, it was only temporarily, for I remember soon after, he improved the north half of in-lots No. 55, 56, and erected the
1
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two story frame now owned by W. L. Studybaker on South Main Street and occupied the upper part and rear buildings as his family residence, and front as a store room of Harrand Rhodes-the latter being the father of Nelson Rhodes, Esq.
Henry Bacon if memory serves me, owned and occupied a small frame building on the ground now owned by Mr. Osborn on in-lots No. 38, 39; he afterward erected the brick building known as the Insurance Office on in-lot No. 8, and occupied it as a dwelling.
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