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 49
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434
HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.
crops small ; game was scarce, having been driven, by the noise of building, into deeper solitudes, and what there was was very shy. The ground for crops had to be cleared and prepared by hand almost entirely. Few farmers had stock, and in no cases had they horses. Their implements were of the rudest kind, being entirely of wood, even to the teeth of their harrows.
Among those who came in later years, and while the country was yet new, we could name a score or more, but, as they are for the most part now living, it will be sufficient to mention, as examples, two-John Johnson and William McCrea-the latter having figured rather extensively in the political history of the township and county. The former came to this township shortly after the war of 1812. He was born in Fremont County, Ky., in 1794. He came here from between Springfield and London, where he first settled. He bought his land of "Jimmy" Reynolds and Elijah Dawson, for $5 per acre. He could have purchased it cheaper, but at the time did not know it. The land was then so wet he did not expect to have many neighbors, and it seemed to be perfectly level. He settled in the woods, built him a round-log hut with greased paper windows, and in the first year cleared three acres. This he planted with garden truck and corn.
At this time, the children all went to subscription or pay schools, when they went at all. The teacher set the price at so much per capita, ran- ging from $1.50 to $2 per quarter. The first school was in the Grafton set- tlement. Shortly after this, one was built just north of Addison, which was taught by a man named John Hutton, and another south of town-all one-story log huts. Mr. Johnson has raised a large family, and is still living with a part of them on the old place, about a mile south of St. Paris, in this township. He tells an incident illustrating the hardships of the times. His mother came to see him, and he wanted to get some white flour for her, as she was from Kentucky, which was then pretty well settled, and its people were used to eating wheat bread. He was obliged to go about forty miles for it, through unbroken forests, over un- trodden prairie, following Indian trails and fording streams. After an incred- ibly long and arduous journey, he succeeded in reaching his cabin with a small sack of flour, of the meanest kind, which cost him a good deal of money and more trouble. This is but one of the many incidents that might be told which go to show how our sturdy forefathers had to battle with all kinds of obstacles, that we might have a land to call our own.
Mr. Johnson was the first man to start a grist-mill in the township. It was little more than a " corn-cracker," but served very well for grinding the corn for his neighbors. It is said by some of his old comrades, that, after the mill was ready for work, it was not used for some days, but that at length a neigh- bor brought some corn to be ground, which was put into the hopper and the mill started. The corn disappeared, but the meal did not appear. This puzzled Mr. Johnson very much, and at length he took the mill apart to see what the difficulty could be, and found that some ground-squirrels had built a nest in the mill, and the corn was ground so slowly that they would eat the meal as fast as it was ground.
Mr. Johnson is the oldest settler now living in this township. He is in good health, and, although he looks old, yet he does not look like a man who has endured the hardships through which he has passed.
William McCrea came here when fourteen years old with his father and mother, both of whom were from Ireland. His father entered three hundred and twenty acres near Addison ; but, owing to a change of law, he had to relin-
435
HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.
quish a part of it. William went to pay school at the school north of Addison until after 1825, when the law for dividing the township into school districts was passed, and then he went to district school. He then went to Cincinnati, married and returned, started a store in the village of Addison, or Christians- burg, as it was then called. This was the first store ever in that place or in the township, although a man by the name of Smith kept a few things for sale in his house in Addison. Mr. McCrea's store was in a log hut when he opened in 1829-30. His stock consisted of groceries, such as teas, coffees, sugar, salt, etc., hardware, dried meats and fruits, dry goods, harness, nails, glassware, queensware, pewter-ware, silver-ware such as there was, dye stuffs, cloth, medicines and millinery goods, and, in fact, everything else that was sold in those days. He one day sold a woman some tea, which she was buying for an ex- tra occasion, as she was going to have company. When she got home, she cooked the tea in a pot with the meat she was boiling, and when she came to the store next day she said she "didn't see why folks bragged tea up so much," she did not think it amounted to very much.
In this same year, McCrea built a frame house and had it plastered. It was the first frame house built in the town, and people would come from the whole town- ship to see it. He used to keep a tall green bottle on his counter by the side of a pitcher of water, and all of his men customers, and some of the women, when they would come in, would take a sip of the green bottle's contents. Mr. McCrea has held almost all of the township offices at different times. He was a Justice of the Peace for a number of years, and in 1842 was elected to serve the people as Representative. In this capacity, he continued for three terms. The people of the earlier day would have very little to do with his wife, saying she was "stuck up " and " thought herself above them." Just after the store was opened, a neighbor called on her and, when the door was opened, she came in, but instead of walking on the carpet, that covered the middle of the room, she walked on the clean scrubbed floor around it. Upon being asked by Mrs. McCrea why she did so, she said, " I never would walk on any one's coverlets." This was before carpets were much used. Mr. and Mrs. McCrea still live to talk and laugh over their recollections of those early days. They spend their summers on the old home farm near Addison, and their winters with their chil- dren in Dayton. For their years, they are both very young-looking, but the ravages of disease are beginning to tell on the wife. This ends our album of early settlers-those Christian men and women who toiled like slaves that we might enjoy the comforts of which they were deprived.
The first saw-mill in the township was put up by John Merritt, in 1816. It was a water-mill, and was run by an overshot wheel. It was the only saw- mill until 1830, when others were started. The first steam saw-mill was not started until after 1850. The first brick houses in the township were built by two brothers named Tonnahill. One of them (James) was a brick mason. They were built from 1823 to 1830-the date cannot be definitely fixed. The first tavern in the township was kept by David Kyle, in Addison, between 1835 and 1840. James Grafton opened one in the country some four or five years after- ward. The first pike in the county was made in 1831, that is, it was laid out and graded in that year, but it was not completed until five years afterward, when the route was changed a little and the pike completed. It was the one called the Urbana, Troy & Greenville Turnpike, and was completed by a new company as a free road. The first doctors were two brothers, who commenced the practice of medicine in Addison about 1818-19. They were very
436
HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.
dissipated and soon left. There were many Indian doctors before them, but they were the first white ones. Dr. Van Mewter followed them. He was a Scotch- man, educated in England, and was a scientific physician, but he did not seem to be appreciated by the people here, so he made way for Drs. Marshall and McFarland, who came in 1832, and Dr. Mussen, who came in 1838. Spinning- wheels were made in the township as early as 1822, by a man named Wood. He was also the first Justice of the Peace, serving for thirty-one years from the formation of the township. A tannery. was started by William Kelley, in Addi- son, in 1832, which was actively carried on until 1850. The old house in which the business was started is still to be seen on Mr. Kelley's lot, in Addison. The first humbug imposed upon the people was a clairvoyant, who came around in 1828, and claimed to tell past and future events while in a stupor. Wind- mills for blowing chaff from wheat were made as early as 1835, by a man named Ludd, in Addison. The first blacksmith was old Jesse Julien, who came in 1817-18. The next was a Yankee named Gridley, who came in 1820. He used to charge so much for work that people would ask him to keep the article for mending it, but this he invariably refused to do. In 1835, a fire broke out in a house in the township, occupied by John Moore and family, in which his three children were burned to death. About this same year, a terri- ble storm passed over the country, destroying orchards, uprooting forests, blow- ing down barns, and, in some cases, moving large double-log houses several feet. This township had the honor of being the birthplace of a man who was at one time the greatest trader in the United States. His name was Andrew Wilson ; he was born in 1816 or 1817 ; bought hogs, horses, land and grain all over the country, and, in 1862, went to New York, where he laid out an addi- tion to the city, but, becoming in some way involved, he committed suicide by cutting his throat with a butcher-knife. The township now comprises seven sub-school districts, in each of which there is a comfortable schoolhouse, costing an average $300 each. There are also two fractional sub-districts, but the expense of keeping them up devolves on other neighboring townships. The average amount annually expended for school purposes is $3,150. The school- house in Addison accommodates the children of two districts, and it is accord- ingly twice as large as the others, being a two-story frame building, with two rooms, built at a cost of about $1,200. There are about 100 pupils attending there.
CHURCHES.
There are in the township five churches, two (Methodist and Christian) in Addison and three (two Baptists and one Methodist) in the country. The first of these, the Honey Creek Baptist Church, was organized in 1811, at the house of Elder Stapleton, one-half mile east of where Addison now stands, with six members. The following is a list of the ministers with their terms of service : Robert Stapleton, 1813 to 1817; Moses Frazee, 1817 to 1826; Moses Frazee, 1830 to 1831; Abraham Buckels, 1831 to 1833; Moses Frazee, Jr., 1833 to 1837 ; Elder Willis, 1837 to 1844; T. J. Price, 1844 to 1848 ; William Fuson, 1848 to 1849 ; David Scott, 1849 to 1853; William Hawker, 1853 to 1854, eight months ; William Fuson, 1854 to 1857 ; David Scott, 1857 to 1861 ; J. W. Icenberger, 1861 to 1864; W. R. Thomas, 1864 to 1865; James Harvey, . 1865 to 1867; John L. Moore, 1867, three months ; William Fuson, 1867 to 1870; W. R. Thomas, 1870 to 1873; James Harvey, 1873 to 1875; N. B. H. Gardner was called 1877. The members met from time to time in private houses, after the organization of the church, until 1816, when a church was
437
HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.
built of logs, 24x26 feet. This was replaced in 1831, by a brick building, 36x 46 feet in size, and in 1874, the present church building was erected. It is a. beautiful brick church, plain but substantial, 34 feet wide by 56 feet long, in which the meetings and services of the church are now held. In connection with this church, there is a burying-ground, called the Honey Creek Grave- yard. It originally comprised four acres donated by Andrew Wilson, about. the time the church was organized. Two acres more were added in 1880, making in all about six acres. The first bodies interred were the wife and daughter of Andrew Wilson, in 1821. The graves were originally made with- out regard to order, but the addition has been platted into lots. There are about 1,000 bodies lying in this small churchyard cemetery, a great many of their resting places being marked with beautiful and costly monuments. The Mount Zion Baptist Church is a branch from the Honey Creek Church. Four- teen members of the present church took their letters March 8, 1851, for the purpose of forming the colony. They built a church on Section 9, in the Beaty neighborhood. They do not have regular preaching, but the pulpit is supplied by the ministers of the circuit. The church now numbers eighty-seven mem- bers. Successful Sunday schools are conducted in connection with both of these churches.
The Grafton Methodist Episcopal Church .- This church was organized in 1838, with fifteen members, mostly Graftons, hence the name. Immediately after organization, a church was built upon land donated for the purpose by James C. Grafton. While the church was being built, they worshiped in Fitzpatrick's Schoolhouse, in which place the church was organized. The church was a small, one-story frame building, which is now used as a stable on Farmer Pence's place, having been moved and its place filled by the present large and more convenient one which is also frame. The church now numbers a membership of between sixty and seventy. It is a regular station in the Hampton Circuit which is now filled by Rev. Klabifus. It was originally in the Troy Circuit, but was changed for the sake of convenience. Among the ministers who have ministered to the spiritual wants of this church are Revs. Bowlcher, Raper and Granville Moody. It is said that this circuit is the first one ever ridden by that famous old pioneer Methodist, Moody.
Addison Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 1835, with eight members ; services and class-meetings were begun at the houses of the different members, and continued until 1857, when a nice frame church was built at & cost of $1,500, or about that amount, the exact cost not being known, as it was built by piece-meal. The following is a list of the ministers who have served the church, in regular order, as near as it is possible now to get them : Revs. Fields, Smith, D. N. Smith, Mosgrove, Jackson, Father Smith, Williams, Zinc and the present Pastor, Brother Rollie. The church is still small, num- bering but between eighty and ninety members.
The Christian Church of Addison is a comparatively new society. It. was organized in 1875, and has been, for a new church, very successful. They purchased a church and parsonage for $600, which had been built by the Pres- byterians, and promises soon to be one of the largest churches in the township. Their ministers, thus far, have been Revs. Mccullough, Smith, Kirby and Dilse. They are now without a regular Pastor. The church which they pur- chased was built at a cost of $1,800 by the Presbyterian Church, which was organized some forty years ago, and after calling, at various times, Revs. Springer, Smith, Martin and others, found that they were financially unable to
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HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.
support a church, and, disbanding, sold the church property at a sacrifice to the Christians.
THE TOWN OF ADDISON.
This little hamlet was laid out by Joshua Howell, in 1817, on land entered by him some time before. It grew rather slowly, having in 1820 only six houses, or rather log huts, used as houses. The first frame house in the town was built ten years afterward by William McCrea, and used by him for a gro- cery store. The town was then called Christiansburg, in memory of the town in Virginia from which the Howells emigrated. The post office still retains the name of Christiansburg, although the name of the town was changed to Addi- son, in 1842.
In 1832, a tannery and other business places were opened. In 1835, the town was incorporated, and the following officers were elected : Mayor, Mr. Bouinger ; Councilmen, Messrs. Silas Overton, John Corbley, Henry Christ, Noah Howell and William Kelley, but, in less than a year, finding that they were unable to support a municipality, their charter was relinquished, and they again became a hamlet.
The following is a list of the village Postmasters, in the order in which they served : James Smith, William B. McCrea, James Smith, D. N. Jones, Will- iam Kelley, Noah French, James Smith, I. P. Pond, L. D. Marshall, John F. Overton and William Marshall. In 1842, a lodge of Odd Fellows was or- ganized. There were eight or ten charter members. They were regularly organized by a Grand Master from Columbus, Ohio. Their hall is a third story which they built on a two-story house, at a cost of $1,200. The first chief offi- cer was John C. Corbley. The present officers are James Lynn, N. G .; John Collins, V. G .; S. W. Simmons, Sec'y ; L. Fields, Treas. The lodge now numbers sixty-two members. In 1852, a lodge of Masons, eight in number, was organized. They also put a third story on a two-story house for a hall, paying $1,000 for the same, but they afterward bought the property for $750; it is valued at $1,800. The first presiding officer was C. H. Wright. The present officers are William Marshall, S. W .; Wallace Johnston, J. W .; J. B. Hollace, S. D .; C. Richison, Jr. D .; A. Bowers, Treas .; I. P. Pond, Sec'y ; Charles Williams, Tiler.
The town now numbers about five hundred inhabitants, and has about one hundred houses and stores. There are two carriage-shops, two groceries, one cloth- ing store, one dry-goods store, one carpenter-shop, a tile manufactory, two black- smith-shops and one hotel. Its nearest railroad station is St. Paris, on the C. C. & I. C. Railroad, seven miles distant. This town promises, with fair advantages, to become one of the liveliest towns in the county.
JOHNSON TOWNSHIP.
This is the smallest of the twelve subdivisions known as townships, into which the county is divided, containing an area of thirty square miles, or 19,- 200 acres, and, in point of location, is the middle subdivision of the western tier of townships, bounded on the north by Adams, on the east by Mad River and Concord, on the south by Jackson Township, and on the west by Miami and Shelby Counties. These boundary lines were established in 1821, being in order the fifth township of the twelve that now comprise the county, having
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HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.
been formed four years later than Jackson, and was named in honor of Maj. Silas Johnson, the first white man, to settle within the present limits.
One of its peculiar features is its marked topography, containing the high- est agricultural lands, not only in the State (if, perhaps, we except an elevated area found between the head-waters of the Miami and Scioto Rivers), but pre- sents the highest elevation between the Alleghany Mountains, in the East, and the ascension of the river Platte in the West of Nebraska. Nor between the
Laurentian Range, in the North, and the Ozark Mountains in the Southwest, is there higher arable lands. To the eye, some portions of the township appear to be low and flat, requiring drainage for agricultural purposes, but the low and flat areas, embracing many of its best farms, are simply a dished surface, and, as compared with the surrounding country, the highest of lands. The topog- raphy of the township will probably be better understood by a comparison of altitudes, and the table used below has been carefully compiled from actual sur- veys and measurements, and will, doubtless, be found correct. The altitudes as given show the height above tide-water :
Johnson Township's highest point. 1,326 feet.
Head-waters Scioto and Miami.
1,344 feet.
Hill in Logan County.
1,540 feet.
Summit, Richland County
1,389 feet.
Shults Mountain, Highland County
1,325 feet.
Fisher's Knob, Highland County
1,300 feet.
Samantha burying-ground.
1,214 feet.
Bald Mountain
1,250 feet.
Long Lick Mountain.
1,254 feet.
Low water-mark of the Ohio at Cincinnati.
432 feet.
Surface of Lake Erie 564 feet.
Scioto at Columbus. 776 feet.
Arcanum and Versailles, Darke County 1,064 feet.
Sidney, Shelby County
980 feet.
Kenton, Hardin County 1,002 feet.
Marysville, Union County
985 feet.
Celina, Mercer County
955 feet.
Bremen, Auglaise County
1,000 feet.
Loramie Water Summit ..
951 feet.
This table might be further extended, but it would not change the fact that, excepting a small region between the Scioto and the Miami Rivers, near their origin, Johnson Township is the most elevated land, suitable for cultivation, in the State, and that its altitude surpasses all the peaks or summits save three. The eastern side of the township slopes toward the southeast, the northwestern part toward the northwest, while at least an area of three miles square looks to the " setting sun " and the south-the whole forming a slightly elevated water- shed, lying along and extending from the northwest corner to the neighborhood of St. Paris, in Section 18, throwing the waters of Nettle Creek into Mad River, and those of Mosquito Creek into the Great Miami, the former reaching Mad River south of Urbana, and the latter the Great Miami at Sidney. These two streams, small in this township, with their numerous tributaries, accom- plish, principally, the natural drainage of the subdivision in question, and we may add that the natural drainage thus afforded is superior to most townships. In the northern part of the township is a body of water, irregular in shape, comprising about sixty acres, called Mosquito Lake, this, with the creek of that name, having derived their appellations from the abundance of mosquitoes that infested their vicinity at an early day. Before proceeding further, permit us to here state that Nettle Creek was so called from the rank growth of nettles on its banks.
440
HISTORY OF CHAMPAIGN COUNTY.
Having shown, by carefully collected data, the great height of the region under consideration, we believe there is ample proof (geologically speaking) that the " Drift" at this point reaches its greatest depth. The deepest wells and borings have failed in finding the bed-rocks ; no quarry stone has been discovered. There is reason for believing that the "Drift " here, including deposits of clay, will closely approximate a depth of two hundred feet. The sur- face of the lake, above referred to, is one hundred and thirty fcet below the highest surrounding parts ; and yet, forty feet below the bog that surrounds the lake, no limestone has been found. Sidney, Piqua, Springfield, Urbana and other points where stone is found in abundance, are lower by hundreds of feet, and the probability is the township would have to put itself on a level with them if it ever opens up a quarry.
In some portions of the township the Erie clay contains great quantities of tree-trunks, branches and roots. At and near Millerstown, in digging wells, limbs and trunks, presumably red-cedar, have been found many feet below the surface. That in this region there was an ancient, but now carried, soil over- lying the blue clay, and supporting dense forests, admits of unquestioned proof. In the hills surrounding Mosquito Lake there are beds of ochre, and, occasion- ally, small deposits of umber. The working of these beds will probably some day be profitable. In the ravines leading to the lake, and on the hills sur- rounding it, are thousands of bowlders, some of them of enormous size. By the application of fire, bowlders are readily broken into fragments, and are extensively used for foundations and cellar walls. At the present time they command about $1 per perch.
The bog or marsh encircling the little lake, and extending along Mosquito Creek for a mile or more, contains peat, muck and marl in large quantities and of the best quality. As natural fertilizers, these articles will be of incalcula- ble advantage to the farmers of the neighborhood in the future. So far, the soil has not been robbed of its original productive qualities as to make. an urgent demand for natural fertilizers. The clay heretofore spoken of furnishes excellent material for brick and tile making, quite a number of the latter being manufactured at St. Paris, where are in operation quite extensive tile-works.
The township is pretty well timbered, consisting of quite a variety, such as sugar, beech, oak, hickory, elm, poplar, linden, ash, walnut, maple, etc .- sugar and beech on the higher lands, and oak and hickory in the central part and on the lower lands. These four kinds or genera give character to the forest, and are typical of it. Large numbers of poplar-trees formerly dotted the town- ship, but they have now been almost exterminated. The farming land of this region compares favorably with any of the county, the richness of whose soil and producing properties are unsurpassed. Much corn and wheat are raised, and, necessarily, large quantities of grain and considerable pork are sent forth to the markets of the world.
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