USA > Ohio > Champaign County > The history of Champaign county, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its cities, towns, etc.; general and local statistics; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; history of the Northwest territory etc > Part 24
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With the beginning of the century, there were no roads in Champaign. For years, what were called roads were little better than wagon tracks through the forest, and these were supposed to follow the Indian trails. The highway was wide enough for all necessary purposes, but, down to 1840, or later, the roads were execrable. The undrained country partly explains the cause. At certain times, when the ground was frozen and worn smooth, or dry and solid, no roads were better ; but the proceeds of the road laws, in money or labor, were totally inadequate to keep them even in tolerable condition at the time most wanted, and only within recent years has it dawned into the minds of our road-makers that a good drainage is essential to a good road-bed. Fifty years ago, in every section of the county, the " corduroy " was found on every road. Corduroy was the name given to the roads made of rails placed crossways, through the soft and miry places. Occasionally the heavy teams, at this day, driving along the pike eastward from Urbana, will cut through the graveled crust and tear up fragments of the hidden " corduroy." At the present time, few, if any, counties of the State can boast better roads. A network of grav- eled pikes intersects every part of the county. These, in the aggregate, amount to 405 miles in length, and at a total cost of over $800,000, constructed on petition of parties interested in the proposed improvement, and paid for in installments, running through five years, by assessments on the real estate sup- posed to be benefited.
ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS.
Of the history of Champaign County, as associated with the Indian tribes, lit- tle need be said. We have elsewhere spoken of the principal chiefs and tribes which made this section, prior to its occupation by the whites, and for some time after permanent settlements had been made, a hunting-ground and trading-point. Wigwams were found over the county, and the sites, and possibly the ruins, or many of them, are still pointed out. The Mack-a-cheek towns were in the bor ders of Logan, and the Piqua or Pickaway towns, in Clarke County. We are not aware that the territory was claimed by any one tribe.
The county presented a good hunting-ground, with an abundance of deer, wild turkeys, black bear and small game. An occasional deer or flock of wild turkeys was found as late as 1835. For some time after the close of the war of 1812, Indians made their annual hunting-camps in various parts of the county, remaining long enough to lay in their usual supply. In a few years,
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they were removed to reservations, or the supply of game became so diminished that better opportunities were furnished in more unsettled parts of the State. The Miamis, Wyandots and Shawnees were the tribes whose parties most fre- quented this section. Several councils were held in Urbana, at an early day, and generally in a grove, a little distance beyond the old graveyard at the upper end of Locust street. At these councils, distinguished chiefs of the Shawnee and Wyandott tribes were generally present, conspicuous among whom was Tecumseh. The life of this extraordinary man is closely identified with the history of Ohio, and no sketch would be complete without a particular ref- erence to him. He was born not far from the city of Springfield, about 1768, at the Indian village called the Pickaway towns, which were destroyed by Gen. Clarke, in August, 1780. A town named Boston was afterward laid out on the same grounds. In 1795, he was declared chief. He then lived on "Deer Creek," near the site of Urbana. Deer Creek is supposed to be the small stream flowing through and beyond the western part of the city, fed by the springs and rivulets from the higher grounds, and at one time a good-sized brook or creek. The following year, he returned to Piqua, and, in 1798, went to White River, Indiana, and from thence, in 1805, to a tract of land on the Wabash, given to him and his brother, commonly known as "the Prophet," by the Pottawatomies and Kickapoos. He was now about thirty-seven years old, and from this time forward became conspicuous in the councils and conduct of the Indians. He is described to have been about five feet and ten inches in height, stoutly built and possessing great powers of endurance. In the chase or in feats of physical strength and skill, he was an acknowledged leader. His countenance was naturally pleasing, and he was said to have been generally opposed to the barbarities practiced by the Indians. In Drake's "Memoirs," it is stated he assisted in an attack on some boats on the Ohio River, near Lime- stone, Ky., when he was about seventeen years of age. The boats were all cap- tured and all in them killed, except one, who was burned alive. Tecumseh was a silent spectator, having never before witnessed the burning of a prisoner, and when it was over, expressed his abhorrence of the act. It is questionable whether the Indian, unprovoked and uninjured, would not have remained friendly and hospitable. The many instances, narrated by persons still living, of their confidence and friendly intercourse with the whites, are too well authenticated to doubt that they too often were the injured party. In the settlement of the coun- try, they were in the way. The same supposition has prevailed wherever the Indian has been found, and the law of force has been made the rule of action in dealing with them from that day to this. The question has been, how to get rid of him, and there was a want of moral sense in the Government to deal with him as a man, with the innate rights of a man. The wilderness-all fron- tier settlements beyond the power of the civil authority-develops an intuitive manhood or the lowest phase of human nature. Common wants and a common humanity elevate the former, and these are they who lay the foundations of a prosperous commonwealth ; the others "are of the earth, earthy "-" the ran- gers and regulators " -- who live by selfishness and violence, and administer the public interests by the equities of Lynch law. Every community, whether new or old, has its lawless ruffian, and too often these were the men who exasper- ated the Indian into deeds of atrocity. Once on the war-path, the worst passions of his nature were roused, and he inherited the vindictive cruelties of his race.
The instances of the magnanimity and hatred of cruelty on the part of Tecumseh make him the more conspicuous. The active part which Tecumseh
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took in his hostilities to the white settlements did not arise solely from acts of violence. The wide-spread combination which he sought to effect had a broader purpose than retaliation for personal injuries. He was opposed to the grants of lands made by the Indians to the whites. To his clearer perceptions, the practice was fraught with evil. To prevent further surrender of their territory, he determined to unite all the Indian tribes into a league, the purpose of which should be that no treaties or grants of land should or could be made, save by the consent of the confederation. For the success of his scheme and the co-op- eration of all the Indian tribes in its maintenance, he saw the only protection against their dispossession and ultimate destruction by the whites, and to this end he constantly traveled, taking long and perilous journeys, and everywhere, by his matchless oratory, was successful in arousing the tribes to a sense of their common danger.
The prosecution of his purpose unavoidably led to conflict in arms. In the war of 1812, he was an active ally of the British, rendering them efficient serv- ice, but always humane in his treatment of prisoners, never allowing his war- riors to wantonly murder captives or mutilate the bodies of the slain. In the summer of 1813 occurred Perry's victory on Lake Erie, when active prepara- tions were made to capture Malden. On the 27th of September, the American army, under command of Gen. W. H. Harrison, set sail for Canada, and in a short time reached the ruins of Malden, from which the British army, under Proctor, had retreated to Sandwich. The route of Gen. Proctor led through the valley of the Thames. On the 29th, Harrison was at Sandwich, and Proc- tor on his retreat. On the 2d of October, the pursuit was begun and the retreat- ing enemy overtaken on the 5th. The battle of the Thames followed on the 6th of the month. Tecumseh, who was at the head of the column of Indians, was killed early in the engagement, and his followers, no longer seeing him or hearing his voice, fled. The battle was decisive, and effectually closed hostilities in the Northwest.
The recollections of Gen. George Sanderson, who was Captain of a com- pany in the regiment of Col. Lewis Cass, published in the records of the West- ern Historical Society, give some particulars of the battle and of Tecumseh. In this paper, he says he had seen Tecumseh a number of times before the war, and remembers him well. He was a man of huge frame, powerfully built and about six feet two inches in height. I saw his body on the Thames battle-field, before it was cold. In the evening, on the day of the battle, I was appointed by Gen. Harrison to guard the Indian prisoners with my company. The location was near a swamp. As to the report of the Kentuckians having skinned Tecum- seh's body, I am personally cognizant that such was the fact; I have seen many contrary reports, but they are untrue. I saw the Kentucky troops in the very act of cutting the skin from the body of the chief. They would cut strips, about half a foot in length and an inch and a half wide, which would stretch like gum elastic. I saw a piece, two inches long when it was dry, which could be stretched nearly a foot in length. I have no doubt it was the body of Tecumseh ; I knew him. Besides, the Indian prisoners under my charge continually pointed to his body, which lay close by, and uttered the most bewailing cries at his loss. By noon, the day after the battle, the body could hardly be recognized, it had so thoroughly been skinned. My men covered it up with brush and logs, and it was probably eaten by the wolves. Although many officers did not like the conduct of the Kentuckians, they dare not interfere. The troops from that State were infuriated at the massacre at the River Raisin, and their battle-cry
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was " Remember the River Raisin." It was with difficulty the Indian prisoners could be guarded, so general was the disposition of the Kentuckians to massacre them.
Gen. Sanderson, from whose statement the extract is made, was then a Cap- tain under Col. Lewis Cass, was at the surrender at Detroit with his company, and with Harrison at the Thames, as a Captain in the regular army. He died at Lancaster, Ohio, a few years since, at an advanced age. The story as recited, and from that day until now currently believed, that the body of the Indian chief was flayed to be made into razor-strops, as mementoes of the battle, is too horri- ble for credence, and is only on a par with the barbarities tolerated by Proctor, under the weak plea that he was unable to restrain the men under his com- mand.
RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS.
The first church built in the town was a log structure, erected in 1807, in the northeastern part of the village, and, as was customary at that day, the lot on which the house was built was made the general burying-ground. In a few years, both the house and lot became too small for their intended purposes, and the same denomination erected a brick church, then considered to be of ample proportions, on the lot on the corner of Court and Locust streets. The plat- form on which the preacher sat was high, and approached by a flight of winding stairs on each side, and the pulpit for the use of the minister was a narrow semi- circular desk, apparently too contracted for the demonstrative efforts of the pio- neer preacher. All carpenter and cabinet work was made by hand, and the doors and lintels, still to be seen, give evidence of the painstaking and general finish of the work, though the pulpit presented the most elaborate workmanship. The pews were long wooden benches, with backs nearly perpendicular, uncush- ioned and uncomfortable, and were entered by two aisles running through the body of the building. A narrow ante-room across the south end shut off the audience-room, and on either side a stairway led to a gallery which extended on three sides of the house. Against the walls and to each of the pillars that sup- ported the gallery, were affixed or hung on a nail a tin candlestick or socket, with a tin back, about four inches broad by eight or ten inches long, the latter intended, probably, to perform the double duty of reflector and to guard against fire. As " reflectors " they were not a continued success. The house was lighted by tallow candles- the ordinary " dip " of that time-making ten to the pound, the sexton making his regular rounds to " snuff " the wicks of the dimly- burning lights. Carpets down the aisles or around the chancels were not thought of. Asarule, the older men chewed tobacco, and wooden boxes filled with saw- dust, for spittoons, were provided for, or perhaps furnished by the more incor- rigible users of the weed. Not only the members of the church and the more devout, but usually all, kneeled during prayers, and to this, perhaps, taken in connection with the tobacco, more than any other reason, is due the custom of men and women occupying different pews, the women usually occupying the central slip and the men the side-pews. At this day we wonder how our fathers and grandfathers were enabled to read by the light of the tallow candle, but, if the sexton did his duty in keeping the " dips " well snuffed, the candles seem to have answered their purpose.
The preacher used no manuscript or notes. The use of written sermons would hardly have been tolerated. Whatever the clergyman may have thought or known to the contrary, the congregation commonly believed that the minister,.
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being called of God to preach, would be endowed with power from on high, and his duty was to take no heed to what he should speak, as the inspiration he should receive would be all-sufficient for the hour. Hymn-books were very scarce, and, to supply this want, the chorister, or more frequently the minister, " lined " the hymn, reciting a stanza, or two lines, alternately with the singing. The singing was eminently congregational, and the tunes those which had been sung for generations, as " Dundee," and "Elgin," "Mear" and " Coronation," and the hymns mainly those of Charles Wesley. The choir sat in the gallery, opposite the pulpit, and not infrequently in singing a " voluntary " entertained the worshipers with one of the fugue tunes, which seem to have passed away with the performers. The old church was a shouting church, under the minis- trations and preaching of Raper and Finley, Boucher, Marley and Lorraine. The responses and demonstrations were numerous and loud.
In 1835, the sleepers sustaining the floor gave indications of decay, which, together with the increasing population, suggested the expediency of building another house. Fears were aroused as to the safety of the building, and, as a house of worship, it was at once and forever abandoned. "To what base uses do we come." The " old temple of worship " was converted into a carriage-shop, and to-day is used as a livery stable.
The congregation erected, in 1836, a more commodious and convenient house, on the corner of North Main and Church streets, now recognized as the First Methodist Episcopal Church, which, from time to time, has been altered and improved to suit the wants and tastes of the community. An offshoot of the first church organized a second church on Water street, and, in 1879, removed to the beautiful building, styled " Grace M. E. Church," on the corner of South Main and Market streets.
We have been thus particular in our sketch of the first church as a type of the pioneer associations. In the country, worship was commonly had in the cabins of the settlers as the "itinerant" made his circuit or a chance preacher came along. The early settlers attracted to their respective neighborhoods fam- ilies and acquaintances from their former homes, who soon built up " settle- ments " to which were usually attached the name of the first settler or most conspicuous man of the neighborhood, and sometimes designated and known from some incident or physical formation of the country. Thus, we find the Diltz and Middleton settlements, Ruffin's ridge, the Barrens, Fort Mingo, Mount Tabor and Mount Pisgah.
These settlements generally contained a few pious persons, who were ever ready to welcome the man of God, and if need be, keep a "prophet's chamber" for their use. The result was that as soon as the little colony felt itself strong enough to build a house of worship, however rude, it was put into execution without waiting for help or pecuniary aid from a distant society. The " church erection fund," common to the churches of to-day, was an after-thought. The fact is, the frontier life not only developed individuality and brought into active life the best and worst qualities of the people, but it made them independent, self-reliant and progressive, and in a little while we find chapels at Mount Tabor, Pisgah, Saint George, Nettle Creek, Concord and other places. These early structures were small, though probably sufficient for the immediate wants of the vicinity. Camp-meetings, at an early day, supplied a recognized want and were generally attended, and, if rumors are to be trusted, the " sons of Belial " were present in full numbers. The structures were of the most tem- porary and rude character, but, in the absence of rain, met the necessary
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requirements, and to both saint and sinner gave a week of enjoyable rest, wor- ship and pleasure. As the camp-meeting was a feature in the life of the early settlers, the subject may be referred to again. The log structures of the prim- itive days, as they decayed or became insufficient, were replaced by brick houses, somewhat more pretentious than the "hewed log," and indicative of the increasing growth in wealth and numbers, but these, again, have been re- placed, in many cases, by more commodious and luxurious buildings. Saint George's Chapel, on the eastern edge of Urbana Township, near the Mechanics- burg pike, on the farm of Mr. David Sowles, for many years ceased to be used, but was a source of interest and curiosity to strangers. It served its day, and with the generation that worshiped in its narrow walls, gradually decayed, and within a few years past was torn down. For more than a generation the bur- dock spread its broad leaf over the door-step and in the path, and the golden- rod nodded over the lonely graves, and to-day the few rails which still protect the latter alone remind the old settler and the passer-by of what it once was. The little church at Mount Pisgah, perched on one of the highest hills in Union Township, near the pikes leading to Buck Creek Church, further down on the same ridge of hills, is still standing and occupied at stated periods for religious services. It, too, begins to show decay, and perhaps within a gener- ation will be made to make way for a more imposing house. To-day it stands a connecting link with the past, and, like other old structures erected by the pioneers, which have been preserved, will be worthy the examination of the an- tiquary.
The Presbyterian society and church erected their first house of worship on the lot on which the court house now stands. The members who took an active part in this work were Messrs. Ward, McBeth, Bell, Magrew, Fyffe, Vance, McCord and others.
This house was destroyed by a tornado that crossed the county in 1830, inflicting great damage and considerable loss of life. The house was rebuilt on the site where the First Presbyterian Church now stands, on the lot directly west of the court house. This building was very much after the style of the old Methodist building on the corner of Locust and Church streets, both as to dimensions and interior arrangements. The high pulpit and stiff-backed benches and gallery were thought to be essential features in every house of wor- ship of any magnitude. The men who took an active part in erecting the sec- ond house were William Ward, John Ward, McCord, Helmick, Hunt, McBeth, Luse, Fyffe, Vance, Magrew, Smith, Bell, McDonald, the members of other churches, and of the church at Buck Creek.
This society was rigidly Calvinistic, believed in the "Decrees," and sang Watts' psalms and hymns. The singing was not very artistic. Spasmodic efforts were made to organize and continue a choir, which, after short periods of usefulness, vacated the seat set apart for their use, and occasionally the preacher requested some one of the congregation to "raise the tune." The service of song must have been a heavy burden, both to pastor and people, and the wonder is that the Scriptural injunction " to make melody in their hearts to the Lord" during the interval had not been adopted, both as more edifying and Scriptural than the practice in vogue. In one or two matters, however, the two congregations, representing the religious sentiments of the people, were in accord. One was an uncompromising hostility to musical instruments in a house of worship. In the eyes of these godly men and women, " a fiddle " in religious assemblies would have been considered the "abomination of desolation,"
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and he who in a catholic spirit suggested the viol or other musical instru- ment as eminently serviceable and necessary, was worse than "a heathen and a publican." Nor was there charity for sister churches. They assumed to stand on the same common platform, but the Methodists inserted "a plank" touching "free agency " and "falling from grace," while the Presbyterian im- proved his with one relating to "predestination " and the " final perseverance of the saints." Religion was a serious business, and he who had "come out from the world," and, like Bunyan's pilgrim, had set out from the " City of Destruction to go to the Celestial City," had no business to tamper with conscience. "Thus saith the Lord" ended all controversy, and, as a rule, they were strict con- structionists, as they understood the Scriptures. There could not, therefore, be much harmony between the several denominations, and doctrinal sermons were not unpopular. A favorite topic in the pulpit was the sin of dress. The curls and flounces and head-dress of fashionable display were so many snares of the devil to lead to perdition, and matters for the discipline of the church. Nor had they any weakness for flowers on the sacred desk. It was an effeminacy not to be tolerated. The Gospel was "yea and nay," and "whatsoever was more than these came of evil." The character of the one seemed built on the dogma, "salvation's free," that of the other, "repent and live." It colored their lives. The rule of faith and practice was, "Why should we keep up dis- tinct organizations unless we adhere to our distinctive tenets ?" Yet let us not judge the men of the earlier part of the century by the standards of the latter part. In many respects they were no common men. We may criticise their ways, but Phariseeism itself will recognize their virtues, and they helped- to make Ohio what it is to-day.
The society composing the first and second church erections, was not strong enough (or possibly from prudential motives as a missionary organization) to maintain itself without alliance with another society. This was effected with the Presbyterians residing in the lower part of Union Township. A house for worship was erected on the hill where the present house stands, which was after- ward destroyed by fire. The first Pastor, both of the Urbana and Buck Creek churches, was Rev. James Hughes, who preached alternate Sundays at each place. He was a man universally beloved, and remembered by many still liv- ing for his many virtues. He was not considered a great preacher, but he was a rare good man and well qualified to build up an infant church. A more detailed sketch of this branch of the church and its early founders may be found in the notes of Union Township. The successor of Mr. Hughes was the Rev. Mr. Britch. He was an Englishman, and, it was said, a protege of Lady Huntington, under whose auspices he had been educated and sent to the Western wilds. He was a large, heavy man, with a broad, English pronuncia- tion, nearly allied to the Scotch. He, too, continued his ministrations alter- nately at the Urbana and Buck Creek Churches. Many anecdotes are told of his eccentric ways and speeches. One of them was that, on a certain occasion, he announced to his congregation that he would preach in that house "on the next Sabbath, the Lord willing, and on the Sunday after the next anyhow." His residence was in Urbana, and his library kept in a store box. On one occasion a young miss whom he had reproved for her indulgence in light read- ing, proposed to do better if he would loan her one of the large folios she had seen on his table. The book was a large one, and held together by massive brass clasps. It proved to be a volume of Barrow's or some other sermons of that day which he loved and guarded with jealous care. The young miss cared
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