USA > Ohio > Clark County > The history of Clark County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its cities, towns, etc.; general and local statistics; portraits of early settlers and prominent men, V. 2 > Part 16
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The Protestant Methodist Church was organized in 1846, and a few years later the church was built where it now stands, in Section 15, at a cost of $736. Though the congregation is not large in numbers, it is mighty in interest and good-fellowship, and receives its full merit of encouragement from the sur- rounding township. The third and last church organized was the Baptist, which is still in its infancy, having been organized only since the 18th of November, 1879. It was organized in the Union Schoolhouse. in District No. 2, Union Township, Champaign County, with seventeen members. In the winter follow- ing. a neat little church, 32x48 feet, was built, at a cost of $1,315. It was ded- icated with appropriate ceremonies March 7, ISSO, Rev. E. A. Stone, of Urbana, officiating. It is situated on the Clark & Union Turnpike, two miles northeast of New Moorefield; the membership at present numbers twenty-one, and promises to increase steadily until it reaches the full measure of a model church in the Master's vineyard. As to the schools of this township and their history, very little can be said. and nothing more than can be said of almost every township in the State. They had their subscription schools in little log schoolhouses, of which the first was in 1810, taught by a man named Redwood. The next was a few years later. in the western part of the township, and was taught by Squire Lemon. These subscription schools sprung up in each settlement, and were long the only dispensatories of knowledge, nor did they entirely disappear until all the Legislative enactments relating to district schools were passed, and dis- triet schools regularly and generally established, which was not until after 1538. There are now nine districts in the township, with a $1,600 brick schoolhouse in each, and school taught for from six to nine months in each year, giving the children every advantage educationally that their fathers were deprived of. When the law made it optional with the township to sell or not the Section 16
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GERMAN TOWNSHIP.
set aside for school purposes, this township voted to sell, which was done, and the money put at interest, where it still remains. Among the enterprises of the township "which were and are not" was a stillhouse, started by Hugh Wilson in 1840, which was bummed dorm in 1861. He also started a store in 1850. These were both on Buck Creek, near the site of New Moorefield. In 1842, a saw-mill was started near the same place; it was also burned. There is now a grist and saw mill occupying the places of the burned buildings, which were started in 1862, the grist-mill having been hauled by wagon from Urbana, where it was formerly used. The first regular doctor in the township was Dr. Banes, who commenced practicing in 18-10.
Moorefield politically is Republican, as was shown by the vote for President in 1880, wherein the Republicans received 223 votes, and the Democrats 141.
It was formerly Whig by a then big majority. We will close this sketch with a little political incident that occurred in 1844, and which strongly marks the feelings of the people at that time. A man named Chauncey Face, who cast the first Abolition vote in the township, was accused of being a member of the " Underground Railway." or, in other words, of harboring runaway slaves and assisting them to escape to Canada. At last, obtaining what they considered conclusive proof of his guilt, the mob took him from his house, tarred and feath- ered him, and rode bim on a rail. They then gave him notice to leave the die- trict. The prevailing sentiment existing among them now is somewhat different from what it was at that time, and all will admit that the change is for the best.
GERMAN TOWNSHIP.
" Time rolls his ceaseless course the race of yore, Who danced our infancy upon their knee, And told our marvelling boyhood legends store Of their strange ventures happ'd by land or sea :
" How few, all weak, and withered of their force Wait on the verge eternity ; Like stranded wrecks the tide returning hoarse,
To sweep them from our sight: Time rolls his ceaseless course."
Sixty-three years ago the township of German was formed, and desig- nated as the Territory included within the following boundaries: Beginning at a point on the north line of the county of Clark, where the same is intersected by a line dividing Townships 3 and 4, thence east with county line to the west line of. Township 5, thence south with said last-mentioned line to the south boundary of the 10th Range, thence west with said range line until the same crosses Mad River: thence down the same with the meanders thereof to the north line of Section 11. fourth township and ninth range: thence west to the southwest corner of Section 36; thence north with the line dividing Townships 3 and 4 to the place of beginning. The elections were to be held at the house of Archibald Mckinley. The township then comprised besides its present land, portions of Moorefield! Township, which. in the year 1535, were taken from it leaving it with the present territory. It is in the northern tier of townships. and west but one, lying south of Champaign County, west of Mocrefield Town- ship, north of Springfield and Bethel, and east of Pike Township. The surface in general is an elevated table-land, beautiful and very fertile valleys extend from one-half to three-quarters of a mile on either side of Mad River, and Chap-
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HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY.
man's Creek, its greatest tributary in this section. The bottom-lands along these streams in point of fertility are excelled by none in the county, the soil being of that rich black loam composed of decayed vegetable matter, whose producing qualities are of the best, the lands fully warranting the supposition that this region was formerly a dense forest. West of Mad River Valley and south of the valley of Chapman's Creek, are hilly tracts of country presenting a clayey soil. The timber is of that variety known to this part of the State, sugar maple, hickory, beech, walnut, ash, poplar, etc., etc., the latter at one time predom- inating. The lands are well watered by Mad River, Chapman's Creek and their numerous tributaries. The former stream flows south crossing the eastern part of the township from north to south, and in its southern half forms the boundary line between this and Moorefield Township. And Chapman's Creek, so called in honor of the first white man that settled on its banks, entering the township within a mile of its western limit, and flows through the northern portion and emptying into Mad River near Tremont. The trees in these localites in their primitive growth were grand and stately, and the red-bud skirted the streams, which in early spring reflected a bright wreath of flowers among the green and luxuriant foliage, thus presenting a picturesque scenery. It was here in the vicinity of Tremont where Mad River first strikes the rock underlying this entire region, but it is not continuously bedded or bordered with rock until it reaches Snyder's Mill several miles below Springfield Township. The lime- stone comes to the surface about a mile south of Tremont, where a quarry was opened and lime burned about the year 1840. Beneath the soil in the neigh- borhood of Tremont, there lies a bed of gravel some two feet in thickness, and water is reached at a comparatively slight depth. Scattered through the town- ship are seen many gray or nigger heads as they are generally called, evidently of glacial deposit. At Tremont are some evidences of an Indian burying-ground. or of the works of that mysterious nation that antedates the red man, the Mound- Builders, who have long since become an extinct race.
Here upon a hill that has been terraced by Gabriel Albin and Dr. MeLaugh- lin have been exumed many bones and several skulls of human beings differing from those of our race. These were merely accidental findings, but it is to be hoped that in time further examinations will be made, and whatever secret may there lie hidden, be exposed to the scrutiny of science. The township is crossed in all directions by numerous and well-built pikes, which are intersected with fine summer roads rendering all points in this and adjoining districts accessible, but still the toll-gate --- we were about to say -- that relic of barbarism, is seen by the weary traveler by day afar off, and, by night, frequently felt by the horse as he plunges against it. Among these pikes are the Clark and Miani, and the Tremont and St. Paris, the former crossing the township in its southwest corner, and the latter running across the opposite corner. It is mainly an agricultural district, having only two small towns or villages-Tremont and Lawrenceville.
The political campaign is Democratic and strongly so, there being at the No- vember election (1850) 349 Democratic votes cast for the President and Vice Pres- ident, 141 Republican, and six Prohibition votes. There is something in the political history of the township striking and worthy of mention. In 1536, the vote polled was largely Whig. Gen. Harrison receiving for President a great majority, and this status so remained until 1842, when was rolled up a Demo- cratic majority equally as large, which has from that year to this beon repeated. There are two voting precinets in the township, namely, Lawrenceville and Tro- mont, the latter having been established in 1877, through the efforts of Esquire John Fennimore. The people are moral, industrious and frugal, being descend- ants of that plain, and unassuming class peopling this region, which began to be settled at the close of the eighteenth century. Then, as tradition transmits to
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yours truly, David J. Colvin, MADISON TP.
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GERMAN TOWNSHIP.
us, a little settlement was effected in the country north of the present village of Tremont, along the section which since became the line separating the counties of Clark and Champaign. In this region settled Nathan Adams, Thomas Cow- shick and Hemy Storms. At that day there was no Champaign nor Clark Coun- ty, but in later years when these counties were forined, it appears that the land upon which they squatted was on either side of the county line. These men, however, only effected a temporary settlement in this immediate locality, merely squatting as it were, yet remaining long enough to make some little improve- ment, then pulling stakes and going further north. The stream emptying into Mad River in the extreme northern part of the township was called Storm's Creek, after the man Storms in question. Soon afterward came Charles Rector and Archibald MeKinley, emigrating from Mason County, Ky., settling upon lands previously occupied by the above-named squatters.
Rector entered a section of land in Champaign County, and a portion of Section 11 in German Township, Clark County, on the present site of Dr. Gard's farm. Here in this township he built his cabin, in which he with his family. twelve in all, dwelt for several years, when he again built, but this time in Champaign County. His wife's name was Sarah, and those of his children (as many of whom as we have any knowledge), William, Samuel. Fanny, Susan, Winnerord, Ciraries, Benjamin, Conway and Margaret, the latter marrying Isaac Turman in 1802, who purchased land entered by William Chapman just south of Tremont, and there passed his days. His wife survived him a number of years, living on the same site, when, in 1847, the farm was bought by Silas Gard, who now resides upon it.
Father Rector was a great Methodist, one of the early Class-leaders, and his word and opinion had much weight with the early settlers, by whom he was highly respected. He died in Indiana, near Peru, and his remains rest in that State.
The last relic of this family-" Aunt Fannie " Thompson as she was famil- iarly known, died in 1878, near the home of her childhood. where she had resided the greater part of her life. She was a remarkable woman, retaining up to the last almost unimpaired all her mental faculties. She was bright, active, and for years an active speaker in the pioneer assemblages. She was born in 1793, coming to this region when it was a dense wilderness inhabited only by the red mon. How great must have been the change witnessed by this pioneer woman! She often rehearsed the happenings of the days of yore to later generations, who frequently gathered around her blazing fire during the long winter evenings, to hear her interesting narratives of the past. She had often slept in the cornfield for fear of the Indians, and remembered distinctly the "block-houses" that stood up and down the valley. By her at one of the pioneer meetings held just prior to her death. was exhibited cotton fabrics she had woven and colored: showed calico she had purchased the first time she was ever in Urbana, when the village had but one store kept by John Reynolds, giving 75 cents per yard for it. Another piece of calico her mother had bought of a peddler at $1 per yard, and still another scrap that they had gotten of the Indians. Archibald McKinley settled in Section 17. His family was composed of his wife Polly, several daughters and sons-Archibald, Westley, William and
James. Mr. MeKinley did not live long, dying a few years after his emigra- tion to the West. His children were associated with the early progress made in the township. In 1798. William Chapman and William Ross, with their families, came, the former from Virginia and Ross from Mason County, Ky. Chapman, his wife and two or three children reared their cabin on the farm now owned by Silas Gard in Section 10, having entered that and several other sections in this vicinity. To this couple, in the year 1800, was born a son.
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HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY.
Jesse Chapman, the first white child born in the territory now comprising this township. This was another Methodist family, and the head of it a local proacher. However, in later years, he joined what was then called the New Light Church.
The members were generally known as New Lights, which title did not suit Mr. Chapman, and some of the brethren on meeting him for the first time after the change had taken place, addressed him in substance as follows: "Well, so you are a 'New Light,' are you?" "No." says Mr. Chapman. "I am an old light newly snuffed." This man was one of the active and enterprising men of his day: was well known over the county and highly esteemed by all, and what- ever " Billy " Chapman said was thought to be " law gospel." He left the town- ship in 1318, going to Missouri, where he died in 1822. His son Jesse ro- mained in this neighborhood until about 1840, then going to the Pacific coast. The danghter of the son of the last-named Chapman, married U. S. Grant, Jr., son of the late President, and great soldier. "Billy" Chapman as he was known far and wide, was one of the early inn or tavern keepers of this part of the county, living on the direct road between Dayton and Urbana; he had an extensive custom from the wagoners. William Ross, though not a native of the " Blue Grass" State, emigrated from Kentucky in 1797 to Ohio, stopping ten- porarily in Warren County, and remained about one year, thence moving to the vicinity of Tremont, entering a section of land just north of that village. At the age of thirty years, he was united in marriage with Winneford Rector, a sister of Charles Rector above mentioned, which union was blessed with eight children, seven of whom were born in Kentucky, namely, William, Elijah. Nancy, Elizabeth, John, Presley and Mary. Charles having been born after their arrival. The father resided on what is now known as the north farm of C. F. Rohrer, where he built, in 1812, the first frame house is this region of country. It was quite a modern house, two stories high, with a shingle roof with tin spouting, the latter being done by Daniel Harr. a son-in-law, of Urbana. This house is still standing and is well preserved. Elijah farmed this ground with his father until 1825, when he moved out of the township and Charles took his place, and later Presley bought out Charles' interest and there died in 1852. He had previously farmed the present J. S. Gard place, and John resided on the Blase land and William, Jr., at one tim. on the same property. This pioneer, Father Ross, has a remarkable history. When but five years old, while fishing with a white man was kidnapped by two Indians, and was about to be burned, having been sent to gather the fagots by which the burning was to be accomplished, when happened along a French trader, and interceded in the boy's behalf, giving them each a blanket and thereby saving his life. Ross was taken by the trader to Detroit, where he was made a page to the trader's daughters. In those days it was fashionable for the French ladies to wear very long trails, which were carried by pages. He had been gone for years and given up by his parents as dead, when, during the French and Indian war, his brother John was among the soldiers at Detroit, and there seeing the boy, rec- ognized him and took him home. Mr. Ross was a great Methodist, and his house was the preaching-place for that denomination for years. He was a val- uable man in the conununity. His sons settling around him and being indus- trions, soon made a visible mark in the forest. His son John served in the war of 1$12; was among the early to marry in the township. being united in mar- riage with Miss Rachel Wallace in the year 1506. He lived to the advanced age of fourscore and four years. The settlement was increased in 1801 by the coming of Jacob Kiblinger. a native of Virginia. who purchased eighty acres of land and returned to his native State, and. between the years of 1801 and 1805, made four trips to this vicinity, moving several families of the Kiblin-
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GERMAN TOWNSHIP.
gers and Pences. Among the latter was a John Pence. These all became per- manent settlers in German Township. Jacob Kiblinger, Sr., father of the one above given, created the first saw and hemp mill, located on Mad River near where the "Eagle Mills" now stand, in this section of the country. Another from the "blue-grass" region came in 1802, in the person of Elijah Weaver, a native of Virginia. In ISO7, he married Mary McKinley, and settled in the northeastern part of the township. They had a son, Newton, born to them in 1810. Elijah died three years later. Virginia again responded to the call for emigrants, and, in 1804, sent forth David Jones and family, consising of his wife Margaret and the following children: Mary, Margaret, James ML., Lydia and Kiziah. Mr. Jones purchased land on Chapman's Creek, about one and a half miles west of the village of Tremont. The timber here was very thick and exceedingly large, and it is said that Jones on the occasion of felling some trees just previous to erecting his cabin, spent one entire night in chopping to fell one mammoth walnut trec, it being so large that he was compelled to cut steps `into it to enable him to reach it with the ax. What would our walnut tree men of to-day pay for such timber? And this timber was so thick that when felled one could walk over acres of ground without stepping off of logs, then so leatifal thesands of feet being burned to get it out of the way. Now how scarce and costly. The rude cabin was here built of small logs with its clap- board roof and weight-poles, and the split puncheon door swung on its hinges of wood, with the wooden latch and string, and the chimney of sticks and mud, and the greased paper window was soon ready for occupancy. Mr. Jones died in his ninety-flith year, his wife died in 1850, in her seventy-third year. His mother lived to be one hundred and nine years old. At one hundred and three, she walked a distance of two miles to attend church, and at that age could kuit nicely. The children are all living except James M., who died at Tremont Angust 16. 1880, and several are in this township. The following year emigrated from Virginia Daniel Gentis, entering 160 acres of land in Section 23. He had a large family of children, the boys settling in the neighborhood and did much to develop the country. Job Gard came about the year 1803, or perhaps a little later. He was a native of New Jersey, but had emigrated to Kentucky and from that State to the township of German, settling in Section 17. This family on their arrival was composed of eight persons, wife Elizabeth and six . children-Gersham, Daniel, Simon, Rachel, Sarah and Phoebe. Quite a num- ber of the descendants of this family are now living in the township, and are among the substantial men of the community. The father erected several mills along Mad River in an early day; was in the war of 1812; a very useful citizen, an active pioneer and business man. The settlement was augmented in. 1805, by the families of Philip Kizer. George Glass, Daniel Gentis and Abraham Zerkle. Kizer settled east of Tremont, having come from Virginia; sorved in the war of 1812 as Captain. Zerkle was from Virginia, and entered land in Section 9. The Weavers, William and Christopher, were very early settlers in this locality, coming about the beginning of this century. William Haller, from personal knowledge of several of these pioneers, speaks of them as follows: " William Ross was of medium stature, and had wonderful strength and endur. ance. Charles Rector was larger, was strong and very hardy. These men and families were fitted for a new country life, and were valuable Christian men. Weaver was also a man of fine stature, an upright and Christian man." At the beginning of the century, when most of the above-named pioneers outered this region, it was a dense wilderness. inhabited only by the red man, and roamed over by wild beasts. The Indians were very numerous and quite hostile. so that the settlers lived in constant dread of them, many times being compelled to collect together for mutual protection. In 1806, during one of their out
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HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY.
breaks, all of the whites for miles around collected at the old block-house at Boston, when Col. Ward and Simon Kenton and other prominent men made a treaty with them. John Ross remembered well Tecumseh and other noted chiefs, and the oratory displayed by the former at this conference. False alarıns were occasionally given, creating sometimes scenes of great laughter.
The pioneers of 1506 were Daniel Kiblinger and Thomas Nauman, Jr., the former hailing from that State, in after years designated as the "Mother of Presi- dents," whence so many of our pioneers came. Nauman too was a native of Virginia, and came to this vicinity on horseback and made his home with Matthias Friermood, who was a settler at a still earlier date. In 1809, Thomas Naunan, Sr., and family, settled in the township. He was one of the patriotic men who, just prior to the war of 1776, assisted in throwing overboard the cargo of tea in Boston Harbor. In 1810, Felty Snyder, of Virginia, effected a settlement in this locality. Benjamin Morris, from the same State, came the year previous, and, in 1810, entered 160 acres in the southern part of the town- ship. Served in the war of 1812. He died at an advanced age. Samuel Baker and John Keller were added to the colony in the year IS11. . And the next year, Rudolph Baker and Benjamin Frantz. the former from Virginia, and the latter from Pennsylvania. Frantz was another who served his country in the war then waged by the mother country. Virginia continued to send forth her sons, Samuel Meranda emigrating in 1814. purchasing a tract of land where Jefferson Meranda now lives, and, in 1816, camo Matthias Rust and Frede -. rick Michael. Jacob Maggart, his brother David, and Philip Goodman, are also numbered with the pioneers of the township. At a very early day, Jeremiah Simms and family came to this section of the county, but the country was so new and thinly settled that they returned to Virginia and again came out in about 1806, and entered a quarter-section of land in the southern part of the township (Sintz neighborhood). He was a valuable man, being a blacksmith bv trade, a mechanic then greatly needed in the settlement. One of his sons, Jeremiah, Jr., was a local preacher, and preached the first sermon proclaimed in Rector Church over the remains of Catharine Peck in the year 1822. George Welchaus and William Enoch, the former of Pennsylvania, and the latter from Virginia, settled here in 1805. John Kemp, of Virginia, and Thomas Havs, a · native of Kentucky, came in 1809, the former settling in Section 14. and the latter in Section 25. In 1S12, Oden Hays, a son of the one mentioned, was lost in a snow storm and afterward found dead in a hollow log in Section 32. Joseph Perrin came from Virginia in 1810. Jacob, Henry and Martin Baker were all early settlers of German Township, and natives of Virginia. Jacob settled on Section 14, died in 1821. and is buried in the Lawrenceville Cemetery. His sons Philip, Henry, Jacob. Martin, John and Samuel. as well as three dangh- ters, resided in this township. Andrew and Emanvel Circle settled in the southeasteru part of German, ou Mad River, at an early day. They were natives of Virginia, and have descendants vet living in the township. Benjamin Ream, of Pennsylvania. settled with his family in Section 32 after the war of 1812, in which he served: aud. in 1816, John Lorton and his wife Rachel. natives of Kentucky, settled in this part of Clark County: also Matthias Staley. of Maryland, who was a carpenter by trade, came in 1820, and each of these last-mentioned pioneer families have descendants now residents of German Township. Among others who we may well call pioneers are Adam Rockel and Philip Kern, natives of Pennsylvania, who settled in Section 9 in 1822. Rockle married Polly Baker, daughter of Philip Baker, who had five children born to her, viz., Peter, Henry, William. Harriet and Mary. Mr. Rockle and wife yet reside at the old homestead. and are well known and respected. MIr. Kern married the sister of Mr. Rockle, and their son Adam now lives upon the
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