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 35

Author: Ogden, J. W. (John W.); Beers (W.H.) & Co., pub
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : W.H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 926

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 35

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Ichabod B. Halsey and George Harlan, of Warren County, and William McClelland, of Butler County, were appointed Commissioners to locate the county seat for Champaign. They met during the summer of 1805. Spring- field was the only town laid off in the county, but the law required the seat of justice to be as nearly central as possible. Instead of purchasing land for a site as the law required, they made an arrangement with Col. Ward to select the present site of Urbana on condition of his laying off a town, and giving to the county one-half of all the lots. Col. Ward, it is said, urged them to select the table-land on Bogle's Run, now owned by the county as the Infirmary Farm, the reason being that the nearness to Springfield would prevent the lat- ter from being made a county town, and, consequently, the incentive for the division of the county would be taken away. The Commissioners made report to the court at the September term of their selection and the proposals of Col. Ward. The action of the court consisted in appointing "Joseph C. Vance as Director to purchase the land and make the necessary arrangements for estab-

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HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.

lishing and fixing the permanent seat of justice." In an old contract between Robert Renick and another for the sale of a piece of land at Urbana, the land is described as lying on Flag Run. The " crossing place " was "down by old Mr. Luse's." The curious of to-day will find Flag Run is what is now called the "Town Branch." The "crossing" was on Miami street, near an old tannery, and "old Mr. Luse" was Zephaniah Luse, owner of the tanyard, which was perhaps the first one sunk in Urbana. On the authority of the "history " before named, a colored barber named Robert Fleming, who always traveled the circuit with the Court of Common Pleas, and had spent his youth among the Shawnee Indians as a servant of Matthew Elliott, said that the "Run" was called by the Shawnees the " Hop-kesepo," which meant the Pleasant River.

Sales of lots were made in October, 1805. But no sale lists were preserved and no reports of sales exist. The court files were kept loosely. No minutes of the County Commissioners are found prior to 1809. William H. Fyffe was present at the first sale and bought the lot on the corner of South Main and Market, where he lived and carried on a saddlery shop.

The court allowed Arthur St. Clair $25 for his services at the first term of the court as Prosecuting Attorney. In 1826, James Cooley, then Prosecutor, received $30. In more recent times, the sum of $200 is considered the proper honorarium.

At that period, the body could be taken for debt. In the list of civil cases, it is curious to note that in every instance suit was commenced by capias, and special bail was entered. In every instance defendants gave bail when execu- tion was ordered, which was generally by an entry on the docket and signed by the attorney. The order is for a writ to take the defendant's goods and not a writ for his body.

At a special election in 1806 to choose a Sheriff, Coroner and three Com- missioners, the returns of Salem Township only are found, which consists of a single sheet of foolscap, folded in half and stitched, with the certificate of John Runyon, Associate Judge, at the top. Thirty-seven votes were polled. Jacob Minturn, Alexander Miller and William Hendricks were Judges, and David Vance and John Lafferty, Clerks. Some of the names of the voters are spelled differently from the orthography of to-day, but this probably was due to the Clerk. Salem then embraced the eastern half of what is now Champaign and Logan, and the list of voters shows that their descendants are still among the efficient men of the section in which they lived. The names are in the follow- ing order : John Runion, George Jameson, James Suit, Zekiel Davis, John Jameson, Abner Barret, Clark Miller, Joseph McLain, James Walker, Samuel Lafferty, Barton Minturn, Allen Minturn, Stephen Runion, John Clark, Jo- seph C. Vance, Jacob Minturn, David Vance, Matthew Stuard, Hiram M. Curry, William Dosen, William McLain, William Hendrix, John Lafferty, Archy McCaney, Joseph Sutton, Joseph Caffey, Paul Huston, Justes Jones, Abraham Jones, William Powell, Thomas M. Pendleton, David Parkison, Ben- jamin Springer, Daniel Mckinnon, Daniel Jones, John Pierce, Ninion Nicols.

In 1806, Zane Township was formed and taken from the north end of Mad River and Salem Townships, and embraced very nearly the present county of Logan. It was named in honor of Isaac Zane, who lived at the Big Bottom on Mad River, near the present town of Zanesfield. When nine years old, he was taken prisoner by the Wyandots, and, having lived with them many years, married an Indian woman. By her he had a son, Isaac Zane, who lived

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HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.

at the same place, and four daughters, who married men of prominence in the county, and among the earliest settlers, named McCulloch, Armstrong, Long and Reed. Their grandchildren and descendants still live in Logan.

Isaac Zane was one of the sworn interpreters at the making of Wayne's treaty at Greenville, in 1795. He stood high in the estimation of the Wyan- dots, who assigned him a tract of land four miles square at the Big Bottom on Mad River. This reservation was not stipulated in the treaty, and he after- ward petitioned Congress to confirm the grant. Being in the Virginia Military District, the confirmation could not be made, but the President was empowered to convey by patent to Zane three sections, which he could select from any un- sold lands in the Northwest Territory. Two of the sections selected were on King's Creek, east of the Urbana & West Liberty road, embracing now the Kingston Mills ; the third, at the mouth of King's Creek, on Mad River.

Robert Renick was a Justice of the Peace in the early days, and many good stories are told of him. One of them is that, having occasion to detain in custody a person who had been brought before him, and having no court house, he had a large stick of wood, too heavy to be dragged off, split open at . one end by a " glut." The prisoner's leg was inserted in the opening and the glut knocked out. The clamp was not tight enough to do injury, but sufficient to hold the prisoner till wanted.

The store of Fabian Engle has been noticed elsewhere. The grassy nook by the edge of the forest, near the clean and gravelly knoll where it stood, still remains, but the house was removed fifty years ago. His stock in trade consisted of knives and forks, spoons, knitting-needles, weavers' reels and Tur- key red, awl-blades, sewing-thread, needles, powder, lead and tobacco, a little whisky, and one piece of calico, to exchange for linsey-woolsey and home-made linen.

For these valuables he received, in pay, home-made woolsey and linen, bees- wax and deer-skins. Money was a scarce article, and could be dispensed with altogether except for the payment of one thing-taxes. Fabian was a bad manager and a not very neat shop-keeper. He fell into debt, and the last ac- counts of him were his arrest and imprisonment for debt.

In 1807, two men named Bowyer and Morgan, brothers-in-law, liad settled in the southwestern part of the county, and made a clearing. As the country was open, the Indians, in their hunting expeditions, built lodges near by, which Morgan one day burned. This exasperated the Indians, who sought revenge in shooting Bowyer, whom, by accident, they had mistaken for Morgan. The killing was done in sight of the wives of the two men, who, with their children, fled and hid in a thicket. Five Indians passed close by them and approached the body, and finding they had shot the wrong man, passed on without carrying off any plunder or committing any depredations. It gave great alarm to the country. Morgan left the country, and many returned to Kentucky. Henry Weaver, long an old resident of Urbana, then a mere lad, was among the few who refused to leave. A deputation from Urbana, among them Joseph Vance, went down to William Lemon's to make note of matters and bury the body. They reported that the killing indicated a private grudge, and that there was no cause for general alarm. Mary Lemon rode to Urbana on horseback behind Joseph Vance, as was the custom. In December of that year (1807), Joseph Vance and Mary Lemon were married.

The killing of Bowyer caused very general alarm, and brought in messages of peace from the Indians. A general meeting of the Indians was held at

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Springfield, and some of the chiefs stopped in Urbana to talk the matter over. Col. Ward and Simon Kenton were present. Ward exhibited great excite- ment in his talk and manner, while Kenton, throughout, remained composed and silent. His knowledge of the Indian character made him take this course and gave an effectiveness to his words when the time came for him to speak.

Joseph C. Vance was appointed Director of Greene County in 1803, and in laying off the seat of justice drew on his classical learning for a name for the new town, which he called, from the Greek, Xenia, meaning hospitality. In 1805, he moved to the newly created connty of Champaign, and was again appointed Director of the county. In laying off the town, which he called Urbana, he drew his name from the Latin tongue, literally meaning city-like, or courteous. He died in 1809, leaving a large family. His successor as Clerk of the Court was Maj. Thomas Gwynne, one of a family which came from Cumberland, in Maryland, and settled on Deer Creek. They, or their ancestors, perhaps, came originally from Wales, the name in Welsh being a synonym of White. He was for many years Paymaster in the army, and settled and died in Cincinnati in 1824. Other members of the family settled here, and were conspicuous as merchants and enterprising men. Maj. Gwynne probably never served as Clerk. In the year following the death of Joseph C. Vance, William Ward was appointed Clerk, and succeeded to all the offices held by Vance. He was also made Director of the town of Urbana, David Gwynne and Samuel McCord being sureties in the sum of $1,500.

The aggregate statement of taxes for the year 1810 shows there were seven townships, and the amount of State and county tax levied was, for county, $925.85, and for State, $792.20, making a total of $1,767.85-a rate of about $1 to each inhabitant. In 1866, the same territory (Clark, Cham- paign and Logan) paid $210,000 State and municipal taxes, and Champaign alone, in 1880, $236,033.92.

The wolf was a serious enemy to the early settlers. The Territorial Leg- islature enacted a law paying to every one over ten years of age, for killing a wolf within six miles of any settlement, 50 cents for a wolf under six months old, and $1.25 if more than six months. A bounty was allowed by the County Commissioners, in 1809, of $1 for each one. The certificates for wolf scalps were used for currency, and Collectors of taxes took them in payment as money. The price for scalps was afterward made 75 cents for those of wolf pups, and $1.50 for those of the old wolves.

It has been elsewhere noted that Congress provided in the law for the sale of the public lands that Section 16 in each township should be set apart for the use of schools in that township. By State law, it was required that the inhab- itants of these townships should elect three Trustees and a Clerk, who should be a corporation for leasing the school sections. This was done by granting a lease of a quarter-section for a short term of years, on condition that the ten- ant should erect a cabin and clear a certain number of acres, after which the tenant paid a portion of the crops as rent. The proceeds of these crops were paid to the teachers, as per pupils, and the amount was credited each quarter, pro rata, on the tuition bills. Congress afterward gave consent to the sale of the lands, which was concurred in by the State, with the provision that the money should go into the State Treasury, at 6 per cent forever. Sales were made in 1828 and after-probably the land selling for all it was worth then- . but subsequent growth and value have shown the short-sighted policy, to be repeated nearly forty years afterward in the sale of Agricultural College land

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HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.

scrip. The section within a mile of Urbana sold for an average of $3 per acre, or about $1,900 in the aggregate. The same land to-day will be valued at $50 an acre, without the improvements.

The number of votes cast in these townships, which, in 1810, comprised the limits of Champaign County now, was 287. The amount of tax-lists for 1811, for the three counties named, delivered to Samuel McCord, Collector, was (State and local), $1,727.75. It was then made the duty of the Collector to call on every tax payer at his home. His fees, by law, were 8 per cent, and the Commissioners appropriated that year $130 for his services.

Among the first-or probably the first-native-born citizens of the town, were Newton Harr and Edward P. Fyffe, and in the county, James McGill, James McLain and Jacob Minturn.

When John Reynolds settled in Urbana, a post road had been authorized from Cincinnati to Detroit, and a mail was carried from Cincinnati to Leb- anon, and thence to Xenia, where it stopped. Postmaster General Granger agreed to establish a mail to Urbana on condition that the inhabitants would pay the expenses and save the department from loss. Mr. John Reynolds became Postmaster on these terms, and the mail was carried at his expense, less the proceeds of the office, which but slightly reimbursed him.

In 1826, John C. Pearson was Postmaster, and postage on a letter was 12}, 25, 37} and 50 cents per half-ounce, according to the distance carried. Every separate piece in the letter was taxed at the same rate. Thus, a letter contain- ing two one-dollar notes was charged at the rate of three letters. The envel- ope was a later invention. To fold a letter neatly was considered a fine art, and some of the school-teachers made this one of the lessons for their pupils.

In 1838, William Hunt was Postmaster, who afterward was President and Director in the Mad River & Lake Erie Railroad. About 1840, he removed to the old Simon Kenton farm, about five miles from Springfield, on the Urbana pike, where he died a few years since.

In the early settlement of the country, the office sought the man. If any one wanted an office it was no discredit to announce his name as a candidate. Conventions came into fashion about 1828, and like all new machinery worked awkwardly and with friction at the first. The setting up and manipulation of conventions, have, in these later days, been reduced to a science. A change of parties in power is now understood to mean new men and new ways; and we find in the run of years that Samuel K. Ward, Decatur Talbott, John A. Cor- win, James Taylor, Newton Ambrose, William C. Brand, Daniel Hitt, and perhaps others who have in turn sorted the mail, ranging from the weekly advent of the post-boy on his tedious and tired horse with his single pouch of papers and letters to the two-horse " carryall "-semi-weekly-the splendid coach of the old stage company-"all full inside "-and to-day a daily mail by express car-from east, west, north and south-weighing 500 to 1,000 pounds.

One portion of this "veritable history " is lacking-a feature commonly overlooked-but one which perhaps as much as any other one thing shows " the form and pressure of the times "-the phraseology or modes of expression and thought of the people at different periods. That of Simon Kenton was pecu- liar, and although each man brought more or less of the dialect of the locality whence he came-there soon came to be a "shibboleth," common to many of which the slang words and expletives formed a rich and forcible vocabulary, which, if the truth were known, has contributed its portion of " Anglo-Saxon'

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to the unabridged. Untrained in the schools, circumstances suggested analo- gies and expressions stronger and more expressive than its Latin synonym.

Abram Smith in the early settlement of Salem Township, bought a tract of land on what is now the Urbana pike, about three miles southeast of West Liberty, and paid at the rate of $2 per acre. David Ogden sold the same land to Abraham Herr about 1850, for $50 an acre. The property to-day is owned by Joseph Miller, and would probably sell in the market for $100 per acre.

Daniel Louderback, of Mad River, purchased, in 1820, 160 acres of land, valued at $50. He has held continued possession until 1880, and the same land is now valued at $70 per acre. Taxes have advanced in the same ratio.

Mr. Solomon Vause's farm in Union Township, in 1830 valued at $5 per acre, has been in the uninterrupted possession of Robert M. Woods till 1880 ; assessed value, $50 per acre. In 1832, taxes $1 per 100 acres; in 1880, 50 cents per acre.

In 1830, and onward for many years, the town held weekly lyceums, com- posed of the attorneys, preachers and young men of literary tastes, where questions of popular interest were discussed in the presence of enthusiastic audiences, of which the ladies composed a large part. By 1840, an essay or lecture was added to the amusement of the evening.

In 1850, or later, public lectures were read at certain intervals. Members . of the bar and other scientific and literary gentlemen of the community responded to the call, and a course of lectures was given during the winter months.

By 1870, the public lecturing business had become one of the fixed " insti- tutions " of the country. Bureaus were established at various centers to facili- tate the securing of prominent and popular essayists and orators, when a choice of names was offered and terms arranged without an extended correspondence. Under this system, a committee have continued until the present a winter course of lectures by many of the distinguished public speakers.

It is elsewhere stated, that, in the earlier period of the State's history, the squirrels were accustomed to travel in countless numbers from the north to the south. The squirrels then were a nuisance, and their destruction encouraged by a squirrel tax. So effective has been the course pursued, but more particu- larly by the bands of young hunters, that the squirrels are becoming very scarce, and in one or two more decades will be so rarely seen as to be a curi- osity. The last emigration of the squirrels from or through Champaign County was in 1836. They came from the northwest, moving across the county diagonally, and crossing open fields, fences and houses in their course. They were rarely seen in numbers together, but, singly, each seemed to be striv- ing to reach its destination. In the fields one might have been seen in every space of fifty yards square. Thousands were killed by the boys with clubs in mere wantonness, and a large proportion of the squirrels were found to be infected with "warbles," a probable larva of the gadfly. The "stampede " continued about a week, but was at its height not longer than twenty-four hours. The remaining time was filled by scattering ones, which had perhaps lagged behind from weariness.

In 1830, and for many years thereafter, the " martins," as the summers came, were very numerous. In 1880, they are little seen. The birds which are found in the groves and in the trees of town, are the thrush, catbird, robin, blue-jay and turtle dove. In the country, the prairie blackbird, the wood- pecker, sap-sucker, crow and blackbird-the last in numbers-the others less

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numerous than they were ten years ago. No flock of wild turkey has been seen since 1840, and no wild deer since 1835. The pheasant is occasionally found, but is almost exterminated. Quails are becoming numerous-protected for a limited time by law. In 1875, a few pairs of English sparrows were first noticed in Urbana. In 1835, wild geese and ducks were abundant, but annually have become less and less numerous, and, in 1880, are rarely bagged by the hunter.

Every national census has recorded the names of residents in every town. ship who have long passed the year allotted by the Psalmist as the measure o human life. The two oldest, of whom we have any record, are Stanhope, ) I Concord, mentioned in the notes on that township, and James Gales, of Urbana Township-both colored men. Gales is still living on a farm about four miles south of Urbana. The oldest citizens of Urbana remember his coming to Urbana · fifty or sixty years ago, and say he was an old-looking man then, and the uni- form testimony is that he cannot be less than one hundred and twelve years old. The record in the family Bible, in the possession of his son, Cal Gales, makes him one hundred and twenty. He is a native of Berkeley County, Va., and his occupation generally was that of a farm hand. He goes about the house and yard, but his senses and appearance all indicate the feebleness and breaking of old, old age.

In a hurried manner, we have reviewed the early beginnings and progress of the county until the present. The log cabin has made way for the commo- dious dwelling; the tinder-box, with its lint and flint, for the lucifer match ; the pine knot and the cotton-wick in the bowl of grease, tallow candle, lard oil, to kerosene and gas; hard, constant, manual toil in the workshop and the field, for machinery-lifting the burden of labor. Instead of the transient, expensive weekly newspaper, the mammoth daily, from every city ; the lumber- ing coach and weekly mail exchanged for the palace car, steam and telegraph ; the science of politics and the rights of man better understood than ever before ; art, science, literature and religion cultivated and maintained; human life lengthened. These are among the landmarks in the progress of a lifetime; and, dispassionately surveying what was, compared with what is, and as indica- tive of what may be, the general verdict will be, "the latter times are better than the former.'

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HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.

URBANA AND URBANA TOWNSHIP. BY J. W. OGDEN.

A sketch of the settlement and prosperity of the city of Urbana, and of the territory bearing the same name, would be, substantially, a record of the county in all the features which underlie its growth. The county was organ- ized in 1805, and, in the same year, surveys were made and lots laid off, by Joseph C. Vance, on Section 23, for which William Ward held a patent. The town, as originally platted, contained 212 inlots, 6 rods in front abutting streets and running back 10 rods, and two tiers of lots on the western border and one tier on the southern border, aggregating twenty-two lots, ranging in size from an acre and a half to two acres, with suitable streets. Lots No. 201 and 202 were donated for educational and religious purposes, but were used, in part, for a burial-ground.

As was customary at that early day, and which found many followers in the Western territory, the center of the newly-made town was made an open space, called "the square," composed of four fractional lots, six rods square. This space was intended, probably, less for ornament and the uses of a park than as

convenience for countrymen who should bring in the products of their farms, for sale, or who desired a convenient place to secure their teams. Be this as it may, "the square " was made the "camping ground " for the surrounding country for many years, and, as the county became the more settled, was the more filled with wagons of wood, hay and other farm products. A few rods north of the center was a deep well, from which water was drawn by a wind- lass, in an old "iron-bound bucket," which, from its constant use, was never suffered to become "moss-covered."

The proportions of the public square and the extent of the newly surveyed village do not suggest the suspicion of great expectations. William Ward, the proprietor, was originally from Greenbrier, Va., and, with several of his neigh- bors, some years before, had settled in this district. He had an "eye for a farm," and, in the almost untrodden wilderness, with unerring sagacity, saw and selected for himself choice tracts of land.

By the third section of the act defining the boundaries of the county, the temporary seat of justice was fixed at the house of George Fithian, in Spring- field, where the first court was held. Court was afterward held at the rapids of the Maumee, though there is no record of the fact, and the statement rests only on hearsay testimony. The seat of justice being removed to Urbana in 1807, a log house on Lot No. 174, on Court Street, afterward occupied as a dwelling-house by Mr. Duncan McDonald, was used as a court-room. The old court house has been removed, and on its site stands the livery stables of Mr. Samuel Marvin. The jail was erected on Lot No. 107, now called the Lawson property.

George Fithian, Joseph C. Vance and Simon Kenton were the first settlers in the village. Thomas Pearce, father of Mr. Harvey Pearce, before the town was laid out, built a log cabin on what is now the market space, and cultivated a field many years on the north side of Scioto street, near East Lawn avenue. George Fithian opened a tavern in a hewed-log house where Grace Methodist Episcopal Church now stands.

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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 35

Author: Ogden, J. W. (John W.); Beers (W.H.) & Co., pub Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago : W.H. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 926

Author: Ogden, J. W. (John W.); Beers (W.H.) & Co., pub
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : W.H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 926