The history of Clinton County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its townships, cities, towns, etc.; general and local statistics; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; history of the Northwest territory, Volume 2, Part 40

Author: Durant, Pliny A. ed; Beers (W.H.) & Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : W. H. Beers
Number of Pages: 1410

USA > Ohio > Clinton County > The history of Clinton County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its townships, cities, towns, etc.; general and local statistics; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; history of the Northwest territory, Volume 2 > Part 40

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In 1836, the election was held at the house of Michel Pepper, and the following officers were elected:

Clerk, A. R. Sewell; Trustees, Samuel S. Austin, William West and David A. Sewell; Treasurer, Ephraim Smith, Jr .; Constables, James Marshall and Alfred Cast; Overseers of the Poor, Aaron Sewell and Eli Hale; Fence Viewers, James A. Cook, Samuel T. Louden and John Thomas.

The receipts for the year 1836 were $122.879; expenditures, $98.064.

The cause of this great increase of expenditures is the fund raised and ex- pended by the Supervisors on the roads, the Trustees receiving $3, $2.25 and $2.25 respectively; Clerk, $7; Constable, $3.87}; Treasurer, $1.12}.

From the year 1836 to 1862, the records are lost. We find in the year 1862 that William Carson, J. W .. Warner and W. B. Smith were Trustees; W. H. Gardner, Clerk; J. W. Compton, Assessor; Albert Parker, Treasurer; and John Dempsy, Constable.

Statement for 1862: Township funds, receipts, $161.40; expenditures, $93.55; road funds remaining in Treasurer's hands, $37.352; poor funda, ro- ceipts, $44.94; expenditures, $60.04.

By this statement, the affairs of the township financially have not yet ar- sumed that financial importance which characterizes it at prosent.

In 1863, same township officers elected. At a special election in 1863, Jonathan Lawrence was elected Justice of the Peace of Vernon Township.

July 9, 1864, an election was held to fill the vacancy caused by theex- piration of the term of J. W. Compton, Justice of the Peace. W. H. Card ner was elected. Mr. Gardner refused to serve, and another election washeld in October, 1864, to fill the vacancy. The vote on this occasion shows that

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this election to fill this very important office was little more than a burlesque. The vote is as follows: James H. Bird, seventy-four votes; D. P. Mckinsey, one vote; Dr. Conkey, one; blank, one; T. S. Garland, one; J. W. Warner, ono.

In 1865, J. W. Warner, W. B. Smith, Josoph McCray, were Trustees; W. M. Reeder, Clerk; J. W. Compton, Assessor; Milton Smith, Constable; James Linton, Treasurer.

In 1866, W. B. Smith, James E. Muroch, S. S. Austin, Trustees; W. M. Reoder, Clerk; ' J. Lawrence, Assessor; James Linton, Treasurer; John Dempsy, Constable. April 7, 1866, A. R. Sewell was elected Justice of the Poaco.

In 1869 -- Trustoos, W. B. Smith, John Sewell, C. C. Millor; Clerk, E. B. Howland; Constable, A. D. Williams; Assessor, J. W. Compton; Treasurer, James Linton. I. M. Stabler was elected Justice of the Peace.

In 1870-Trustees, W. B. Smith, John Sowell, J. L. Humphreys; Assessor, A. D. Williams; Treasurer, T. J. Garland; Constable, John Dempsy; Clerk, E. B. Howland.

In 1872, the expenditures of the township began to assume something near their prosent proportions.

On April 1, 1872, on hand --- Cometory funds, $84.81; abandoned grave- yard funds, $107.97; poor funds, $426.27; township funds, $324.94; road fund. $186.83; total, $1,130.82. Whole number of votes polled at the election April 1, 1872, 286.

At the annual election held April 5, 1875, the question was submitted to the votors of the township whether a special tax be levied for township house, and rosulted as follows: Township house-Yes, 162 votes; no, 111 votes. ' A special tax of $2,000 was levied, and a neat, substantial building was erected for township purposes.

The following report was made to the County Auditor September 6, 1880, of the disposition of the poor funds for the year ending September 6 1880: Aggregate paid physicians, $440.50; for food, etc., $3.01; to Trustees, ad- ministration of poor funds, $37.50; total, $481.01.

In the year 1882, the following officers were elected: Trustees, W. B. Smith, John Sewell, I. M. Statler; Clerk, E. B. Howland; Treasurer, W. H. Gardner; Assessor, J. W. Compton; Constable, Clark Hadley.

THE WAR.

The history of Vernon Township does not differ from that of other town- ships in war times. Vernon was ever ready, and promptly furnished her quota of men at every call. The stay-at-home patriots made louder professions of loyalty than the brave boys who were risking their lives far from home. The first man who volunteered in Vernon was John Dakin. The first soldier boy killed from Vernon was Isaac Sewell, of the Twelfth Regiment, Ohio Volun- teor Infantry. In the lonely chapparal of West Virginia, the bullet of the bushwhacker pierced his breast. Without a moment's warning, with no fare- well to his comrades or his friends at home, he met his fate like a brave man, and his bones lie near where he fell.

ROADS.

There is nothing, probably, that presents a greater contrast than the roads of early times and those of the present, and the vehicles used. In the very early times, there were no public roads, and each settler was obliged to cut his road from the older settlements to his dwelling. As was the case with a good many of the early settlers, they did not nood much of a road-sometimes just

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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.

a path in which a horse could travel and footmen would not miss their way. We find by the early records that about the same system of keeping the roads in repair (?) was in vogue in early times as at present, viz., the division of the township into road districts, and the election of a Supervisor for each road district by the qualified voters of the district. In early times, when labor on the highways was a public necessity, and when the people had to depend on their own individual labor to make the roads barely passable, the system was good; but now, when all our principal roads are free pikes, and the people are taxed by county and township to repair roads, it is time the old system was abolished. In early times, with such men as John Hadley, Joshua Lazenby, Ephraim Smith, and men of that kind, as Supervisors, it was considered a disgrace to evade or try to shirk road work; but now there are many who are never ready to work or pay, and, if they pretend to work, it is more of a holi. day affair than a public benefit.

The corduroy road, or causeway of logs, was the first method of road work after cutting down and clearing timber from the road-bod. The log or cause. way systom of road-making, in regions where the soil is wot and timber abun- dant on the spot, and only costing the cutting, in places where drainage among the green roots was too expensive, was a very effective way of fixing bad places. Passing over some of these causeways is at times more serious than amusing; where the logs are of unequal sizes, and one of six inches in diameter is placed beside one of twenty-four inches, the transit from one to the other in a vehicle without springs is by no means agreeable. The first road laid out in Vernon Township is what is known as the College Township road, and two important points in said road in Clinton County were the Sewell settlement and Morgan Van Meter's house, at what is now Snow Hill. It has been so changed by use, trying to avoid the bad places, as to be scarcely recognizable from the original field notes. The most of the old roads are unrecognizable now from early notes by any except the oldest inhabitants. For instance, in 1811, a road was laid out "beginning at John Berkley's, past Smalley's mill, and intersecting the State road at O. Whitaker's, where said road crosses the old road loading to the Wilson settlement." The Columbus & Cincinnati State road, crossing the township from it east to southwest, was laid out in --. The road past Villars' Chapel, thence on to Blanchester, is known as the road from Jonathan Baldwin's to Wilmington, and was laid out in -- -. The road from Lawrence's (Sever's) to Clarksville was laid out in 1836. There have been numerous changes and road alterations, and new county and township roads from time to time, but it is presumed that a description of each will not be of enough im. portance or interest to be entitled to space in this article.

The first pike passing through this township was the Goshen & Wilming. ton Turnpike. It was built by a company, about the year 1840, of broken stone principally, and was kept up as a toll-pike 'until 1880, when the Com- missioners of Clinton County bought the road and proceeded to improvo it under the road improvement law. In the years 1869 and 1870, the College Township road, from Clarksville to Cuba, was piked under an act passed in 1867, entitled, "An Act to authorize County Commissioners to construct roads on petitions," etc. P. Clevenger was the appointed engineer, John C. Batten, contractor; but the work on that portion in Vernon Township was su perintended by C. L. Sewell, assistant engineer. The road-bed was made twenty feet on top, thirty-four feet at base, and two feet high from bottom of side drains; whole width from outside drains, about forty feet. The road Ind was covered with gravel twelve feet wide and sixteen and one-fourth inches deep ..

In the years 1875 and 1876, the road from Villars' Chapel through Blan.

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chester to the Brown County line was piked under the same law; 'C. L. Sew- ell, engineer. The road-bed was twenty-two feet on top, thirty-two feet at base, and forty feet from out to out. This was graveled on the end next to Villars' Chapel, twelve feet wide and twelve inches deep. In 1880, the Go- shen & Wilmington toll pike was purchased by the County Commissioners and improved, making it a free pike. In the same year (1880), the road leading from the Goshen & Wilmington pike, near Clarksville, past the mill to the Warren County line, in the direction of Harveysburg, was piked; John Har- vey, engineer. This road crosses the fine bottom lands of M. P. Marshall, of Kentucky. During freshiets, the waters of Todd's Fork have always crossed these bottoms at two or three points near the mill. Harvey endeavored to hold this surplus water and koop it from crossing the bottom by throwing up a high grado at those points, and therby making a level grade from the bridge to the mill. The earth, sand and gravel of which the grade was made was nearly all taken from the lower side, scooping out holes in some places ten or twelve feet deep. Twenty-inch . tile was put in at three places in the grade to carry off surplus water. This fancy road did well until the floods came in the spring of 1882. The grade held the water until the large bottom field was one sheet of water, forcing a greater amount of water through the bridge, and nearly drowning out the inhabitants of Bucktown, a suburb of Clarksville, when it broke over, sweeping the sand composing the grado off clean, scooping out deep holes on the lower side and utterly ruining the road at several places.

In early times, there were no pleasure wagons and carriages used. When the family went visiting, it was either on foot, horseback, or, at best, in a big . wagon. The sounds of the old wagon bumping over the causeways, and the yells of the driver as he urged his horses forward, are no longer heard.

SCHOOLS.

In early times, there were no public schools, but the people kept up, as well as the sparsely populated country could afford, private or subscription.

The first school taught in Vernon Township was in a log cabin, on lands now owned by Mary Fordyce, in 1811 or 1812; Levi Garretson, teacher. The first division of the township into school districts was in August, 1826, by the Trustees of the township, agreeably to the fourth section of an act en- titled, "An act to provide for the support and better regulation of common schools."

The districts were of immense size. For example, what is now No. 4, or Hopewell, extended from Jonathan Lawrence's (Sever's) to William Austin's (Mt. Pleasant), and from Ditto's (Batten's) to Nicholas Burns' (Second Creek). The schools were taught altogether by subscription. The early schoolhouses were rude affairs, built of round logs, with a fire-place at each end, puncheon floor, clapboard roof, and a log cut out of one side and the aperture covered with greased paper for light. There were one or two long benches for chil- dren. They were usually too high, and the little fellows would have to sit all day, perhaps, with backs bowed and feet dangling a long way from the floor. Then there were puncheons, or boards, placed slantingly against the wall, which formed a kind of writing-desk for the larger ones. No blackboards, no maps nor apparatus, and very few books. The teacher spent a good share of his time in making and sharpening pens and using the rod. Contrast this with the schoolhouses and fixtures of the present day, and then wonder no more why our forefathers were not so well educated as their descendants.

Some of the early teachers were Robert Eachus, Nugent Ward and Caleb Smith. A. R. Sewell, George Athey, Noah Newland and others may be called more modern teachers.

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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.

In the year 1829, the districts were changed somewhat, but very little difference was made in the respective sizes of the districts.

Report of the Board of Education of Vornon Township, Clinton Co., Ohio, for the school year ending August 31, 1881:

RECEIPTS.

Balance on hand September 1, 1880 $2244 78

State Tax .

300 75

Irreducible School Fund. 42 60

Township Tax

1740 33

Total

$4328 47

EXPENDITURES.

Whole amount paid teachers. $2341 51

Amount paid for fuel and other contingent expenses, etc .. 780 83

Total $3122 34

Number of subdistricts, 7; houses, 7; rooms, 7; total value of schoolhouses, $5,500; teachers employed, malo, 7; fomalos, 3, total, 10; average wages, malo, $30; fomalo, $30 per month; average number of wooks schools were in session, 35; pupils enrolled, boys, 153; girls, 142; total, 205. Number of pupils in each branch of study -- Alphabet, 29; reading, 244; spelling, 241; writing, 100; arithmetic, 101; geography, 127; English grammar, 67; United States history, 4; physical geography, 6; algebra, 16.

This report of course does not include the special school district of Clarks- ville.

· CHURCHES.

The early settlers, as well as the people of the present, differed on relig- lous matters. At a very early day, we find organizations of Presbyterians, Baptists and Methodists, while a large portion of the early settlers did not be- long to any church. The members of certain families take as kindly to rolig. ious doctrines and church organizations as ducks do to water. "Have Method. ist heads." This homely expression is not my own, but is credited Mr. S. S. Cast, of Washington Township, and it is used here not as a slur, but to illus- trate the idea that some have certain organs largely developed, and it comes natural, almost, to be religious, while the members of other families care very little for religious forms and ceremonies, and do not relish, perhaps, the dis- cipline of church organizations.

The first church organization in Vernon Township was that of the Pres. byterians, at the house of David Sewell, about the year 1812. For some time after this, there were no churches, and religious services were held in the cab. ins of the early settlers. The house of Judge Sewell, whose wife was a Pros. byterian, was the place where the Presbyterians frequently had preaching. The Baptists held their meetings at E. Kibbey's, Philip Titus', and other places, while the Methodists met at William Austin's or James Villars', Sr.

In the spring of 1817, William Austin and James Villars, Sr., donated two acres of land and built a log church and called it Mt. Pleasant. It was used in which to hold meetings until 1849, when the society erected a neat frame house, 30x40 feet, the present Mt. Pleasant Church.

In the year 1823, a church was built by the Baptists in the village of Clarksville. This denomination also built a church called "The Free ',' ou the College Township road, one and one-fourth miles above Clarksville. The Baptists in this township seemed unable to recruit from the younger people, and we only recollect the members as being very old persons. When they died, there was no organization.

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VERNON TOWNSHIP.

The Methodists have shown a good deal of vitality in this township There is an M. E. Church at Clarksville, one at Mt. Pleasant and one at Kan- sas, and the P. M. or M. Church have two-one at Clarksville and Villars' Chapel. This church was built in 1868, on the Clarksville and Cuba pike at. his individual expense, by Rev. James Villars. The church is of brick, large and commodious, with a basement for Sabbath school purposes and the upper story for church purposes. The building is " free to all Christian denomina- tions," and cost, when completed, about $10,000.

The Presbyterians never built a church. The Friends, or Quakers, form a large and influential portion of the inhabitants of Vernon. They have a church at Clarksville. The Mormons, previous to their going to Nauvoo, Ill., had frequent meetings at Nauvoo Schoolhouse, and several persons joined them and went away with them, among whom were John and Harrison Fugate, --- Griffith and others.

POLITICAL.

We can get no correct statement of the political complexion of Vernon Township previous to 1862; but we believe, from talking with older persons, that there always has been a majority against the Democrats. The first figures we can present are of the election (Presidential) of 1860, when Lincoln, Re- publican, had about fifty majority over Douglas, Democrat.

1862-F. F. Bachus, Republican, 139 votes; R. P. Ranney, Democrat, 92 votes.

1863-John Brough, Union, 199 votes; C. L. Vallandigham, Democrat, 40 votes.

1864-William Henry Smith, Republican, 161 votes; William Armstrong, Democrat, 48 votes; Abraham Lincoln, Republican, 176 votes; G. B. McClel- land, Democrat, 57 votes.

1865-J. D. Cox, Republican, 155 votes; G. W. Morgan, Democrat, 69 votes.

.1866-William H. Smith, Republican, 201 votes; Benjamin Lefevre, Demo- crat, 99 votes.

1867-R. B. Hayes, Republican, 179 votes; Allen G. Thurman, Democrat, 121 votes.

1868-Isaac B. Sherwood, Republican, 210 votes; Thomas Hubbard, Dem- ocrat, 118 votes; U. S. Grant, 207 votes; Horatio Seymour, 113 votes.

1869-R. B. Hayes, 173 votes; G. H. Pendleton, 108 votes.

OLD-TIME POLITICS IN VERNON.

Vernon Township is no exception to the general rule of division into po- litical parties. We can find no record of the political complexion of the town- ship at an early date, but from tradition and anecdotes handed down, we learn that at an early day, as well as of late years, Vernon Township approached the stage of being "red hot" occasionally. Numbers of the early settlers were Virginia Whigs. Among them were the Sewells, Austins, Harrises, Stablers, Tribbeys and others; while the Democrats were represented by such zealous men as Wysong, Branstrater, Thomas and Villars. During the year 1840, the excitement was intense. The Whigs, in their enthusiasm for "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too," were ably led by James Harris, Samuel Louden, S. S. Austin and John Hadley, while some of the active Democrats of that day were A. R. Sewell, Joseph Wysong, A. Branstrater and Dan Hutchinson. Buckeye cabins, barrels of hard cider, coon skins, canoes, etc., were the order of the day. Barbecues, a species of entertainment almost unknown in the present day, were common. Sheep, hogs and oxen were roasted whole. "Whisky flowed freely as water, and the people would seem to give themselves up to the frenzy of ex.

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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY.

citement. A barbecue was had in Clarksville. The tables were set in a yard near where M. C. Wysong's house now stands. A buckeye cabin was built on the lot where Jack Thomas' house now stands, while a buckeye tree five or six inches in diameter was planted in front; a live coon, chained, was permitted to climb the tree. To the surprise of all, the tree lived and thrived, and was cut down by Mr. Thomas when he built his house. Even the old and digni- fied Judge Sewell was carried along with the excitement and he with his neighbor, William Cook, dug out a canoe from an immense buckeye. The Democrats found themselves unable to stem the tide, so they very wisely let it spend its force. A rather peculiar character made his appearance in Clarks- ville in the year 1843 or 1844. His name was Pierpont Edwards. Born in New Hampshire, he served seven years' apprenticeship as a harness-maker then went into the United States Navy. After serving three years in the navy, and four years on board a merchantman, and visiting nearly all parts of the world, he was put off at New Orleans Hospital, as he says, to die, for it was thought that he had consumption. After recruiting up a little, he startod north up the river, and he could not tell why he came, but he landed at Clarks- ville and secured work as journeyman har jess-maker with A. W. Kibby. Ho was tall, angular, very dark, with large, staring blue eyes, bushy eyebrows, and a heavy, full beard and mustache, both very long and black as a coal. I will here remark that at that time and up to the gold fever of 1848, it was the custom, and was followed as a religious duty almost, to keep the face shaved clean every week. Any one letting the beard grow was looked upon with sus- picion as a brigand, highwayman or gambler, at least; but this is a digression. Edwards walked with' a loose, shambling gait, like a sailor on land, was very reticent, telling his business to no one. He was looked upon oddly and sus- piciously by the men, and was an object of great curiosity to the boys, who would go to the shop to get a peep at " Kibby's wild man," as they callod him. Edwards worked at his trade, saying nothing to any one as to what his business was, or where he came from. In the canvass of 1844, the Democrats had recovered from the effects of their defeat four years before, and were ready to meet their opponents at all points. The Whigs had raised a very high pole, close to where Matt Wysong's house now stands, and the Democrats resolved to beat them. They first raised the lower part of their pole, near where John Snook's house now stands, with a kind of platform or mast-hoad on top, and prepared to hoist the top part by the aid of rope and tackle. In order to fasten the top part on, it was necessary to have a man on top of the first part raised. Ed Brewer was their best climber, and he started up the pole; but the height was too great, his head grew dizzy, his hands lost their grip, and he was obliged to slide down to the ground. No persuasion or ro. ward could induce him to try it again. The Whigs were jubilant, the Demo crats almost in despair, when Edwards, who had been an apparently uncon- cerned spectator, volunteered to go up the pole. With collar open, and ent- like agility, while cheer after cheer rent the air, he went up the pole. On the top he made his bow to the crowd below, and they began to hoist the polo. In their excitement and eagerness to raise it, when they got it nearly up, one of the ropes broke, and it fell to the ground. The impetus of the fall, and its striking some of the stay ropes, gave a fearful motion to the part on which Edwards was, it swayed from side to side, and the crowd below expected to see him dashed to the ground every moment; but the pole was hickory, and Ed. wards appeared less concerned than the crowd below. More careful work, and the pole was fixed firmly in its place, and for years the feat of Edwards' climbing the hickory pole was one of the pleasant reminiscences of old-time politics. Edwards married a Miss Richards, and settled down in Clarksville

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VERNON TOWNSHIP.

He acquired some property, carrying on his trade, and remained until the year 1865, when, with a large family, he moved to Missouri.

CLARKSVILLE.

This village is situated in the western part of Vernon Township, on the Cincinnati & Muskingum Valley Railroad. It was laid out April 5, 1839, by William Hadley, the survey being made by Peyton West. The town, as orig- inally laid out, consisted of forty-four lots of the usual size, four poles front and eight poles back. In the year - -, there was an addition to the town, called Morrow's Addition. In the year 1858, the boundaries were extended, taking in a quantity of the adjoining land; the survey was made by James Linton. The land taken in was divided into lots and numbered as outlots, a plat was made with streets, etc., of the whole, but the work was irregularly done, and the territory thus added cannot be considered as an addition to the town.

The lots composing the original town were dry, with a gravel deposit be- neath, making excellent natural drainage for cellars, but the land adjoining, almost up to the original town, was not a very inviting locality for settlers at that time; Todd's Fork on one side, winding around through the bottom lands, and the waters crossing the bottoms during freshets, making and leaving pools or bayous, which did not give promise of ever being fit for cultivation. Then all these bottoms were covered with timber, with a heavy undergrowth of bushes and vines. The East Fork, on the other side, is a more rapid stream, and was confined to its channel until after it passed the town. The town was incorporated in 18 -. Samuel T. Louden built the first cabin and opened a hotel or tavern. Keeping tavern in early times was hardly the thing it is the present day. It consisted in furnishing the traveler with the rough and sub- stantial fare common to all the settlers -- a bed in a loft or in an addition in which to sleep, and last, but not least, with plenty of whisky to keep up his spirits and to act as an antidote or preventive of malarial poison so common in new countries. Mr. Louden sold his hotel to Joseph Wysong. He lived on the farm now occupied by S. T. Whitaker for many years, and afterward traded this farm to A. W. Kibby, moved back to Clarksville, and died there. John Oxley built the second house in the village in the year 1815. We can learn nothing of the history of this early settler. In the year 1817, Ephraim Kibby moved to Clarksville. He was a tanner by trade, and was the first to engage in that occupation in the village. His tan-yard was on the lot now owned by J. A. Howland. He bought out the stock of William Smalley, who had a small tannery west of Clarksville. He was a member of the Baptist Church, was thrifty and prosperous in his business, and at the time of bis death, which occurred in 1876, he was well known in Clinton County. John Keenan and Joseph Thompson were among the first settlers of Clarksville, but we do not know what business they were engaged in.

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The history of Clinton County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its townships, cities, towns, etc.; general and local statistics; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; history of the Northwest territory, Volume 2, Part 40

Author: Durant, Pliny A. ed; Beers (W.H.) & Co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago : W. H. Beers Number of Pages: 1410

Author: Durant, Pliny A. ed; Beers (W.H.) & Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : W. H. Beers
Number of Pages: 1410