USA > Ohio > Darke County > The history of Darke County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its cities, towns, etc.; general and local statistics; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; > Part 48
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William A. Davison and Nimrod Ross, brothers-in-law. in the spring of 1838, bought together the west half of the southwest quarter, Section 12, the east half of southeast quarter, Section 11. the northwest quarter and west half of northeast quarter of Section 12, and sold this body of land on October 23 following. to Har- monious Shook for $1,800. In accord with the results of land ownership in this county, successive sales have been made and a number of good farms have been formed from this tract. It is reported that the first settlement of Wabash Town- ship was in 1832, and Jesse Hill is spoken of as the pioneer. He was followed by Isaac Finkbone, Harmon, Henry, Peter and Elijah Shook, A. D. Birt, J. M. Hous- ton, Samuel Hays and Justin Skinner. The Shooks and Birt were from Greene County, Ohio, Houston and Hays from Warren County, Ohio, and Skinner from New York. The township was organized in 1840 with sixteen voters within its limits-all of whom voted the same ticket in the exciting election of that year. The pioneer Justice of the Peace was Elijah Shook, who held that position twenty- one consecutive years, and until his demise. J. M. Houston was the first Town- ship Clerk and the first Postmaster. At the time of its organization but one road was established within its limits, and that one was nothing else than a bridge path. In 1841, what is known as the Greenville and Celina road was surveyed by John Devor, Sr., and established and opened soon after.
The early settlers had their full share of hardships, privations and adventures. Mills were distant, roads almost impassable, and often the settler, not so very hardy after all, was placed on short allowance for bread until the two or three days' trip to the mill could be made. Game was abundant, and the trusty rifle never failed to keep the table supplied with choice venison or wild turkey; indeed no one thought of going even to a neighbor's house without his rifle or shot-gun. Much of the land being owned by non-residents, the actual settlers often called upon the pioneers to assist in finding them lands and corners. Foremost among the experts of this busi- ness were Isaac Finkbone and J. M. Houston-either of whom could find any section line or corner within a radius of seven miles from his home.
Working bees were very common. Among these were house-raisings, log- rollings, rail-makings, etc., among the men. and quiltings and comfort-knottings among the women. At these gatherings, everybody within five miles was invited, and invariably went ; and the amount of work accomplished would surprise the present generation. Ten to fifteen acres were often rolled and log-heaps fired dur- ing the same day. Large log houses were raised and roofed, and sometimes floored, in a day. Often would five to seven thousand rails be made during a day by the men, while the women would finish one or two quilts ; and most of the night was then given to the merry dance, then trudging homeward through water and mud at early dawn, or, perhaps, if desirous of putting on style, some stalwart swain having brought along his horse, would take his ladylove on behind him to traverse the woods, parting the brush and leaping logs until arrived at home.
The road surveyed by John Devor, in 1841. soon became the favorite route of travel between Greenville and Celina. As the counties of Darke and Mercer were in the same judicial district. and as the only mode of travel was on horse- back, at the times of court at either Greenville or Celina, squads of lawyers could be seen wending their way, single file, to attend the sessions. The residence of .J.
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M. Houston was midway between the two towns, and it became a regular stopping place for dinner. If the path was good, the time was good; but more frequently the trip took two days, and this house was the lodgings for the night. Among these pioneer legal lights were Judges Haines and Wilson, and Messrs. Bell, Demp- sey and Knox. Those living no doubt recollect the genial hospitality. the corn bread, fat venison, social chat, and last-not least-the ingenious contrivance for bedding fifteen to twenty persons in a log cabin in size 18x22 feet. Squire Hous- ton has been in public life in Warren County for many years, and has taken great interest in public affairs. As at this time there was no mail route, he availed him- self of the lawyers' presence to " post up," and converse was often maintained till far into the night. Of those present at the organization, and voting at the first election, but one remains-Orrin Skinner. Thomas Birt is the oldest resident, but was not twenty-one at that time. The descendants of the Shook and Houston families are yet living in the township, and enjoying the fruits of their early hard- ships and toil, and many a tale of the early day may be heard among them. There are six school districts in Wabash Township, and as many brick school- houses, ranging in value from $800 to $1.200 each. The interest taken in educa- tional matters, and the liberal provision made for schools, angrs well for the future intellectual status of Wabash. The first schoolhouse was built in the spring of 1844, in the E. S. Shook neighborhood, on Section 13. The first teacher in this house was Elijah Raines, who came from Greene County. The first church was the Methodist Episcopal, built of logs. in 1844, in the Shook settle- ment. A second building, of the same material, was built in the fall of 1848, in the same locality. There was no formal dedication of the former. and it is a mat- ter of doubt whether there was to the latter ; but services were occasionally held in it by Rev. Harmount.
In 1870, a frame church was erected, the third in this place; and this was duly consecrated by Rev. Wycke. During the spring of 1876, the erection of a meeting-house was contracted for by A. R. Catterell, at North Star. On its comple- tion, it was dedicated by Rev. R. D. Oldfield, assisted by Rev. T. D. Howe. This was during the time when Rev. M. Omerod was on the Dawn Circuit. There is a Christian Church in what is called the Holsapple settlement, on the Wabash, north of the center of Section 12. about two and one-half miles from North Star. It is a frame, and was built in 1871.
In the line of manufacture there are two tile factories, one operated by Gil- bert & Trissell, formerly by Harvey Burns and Benjamin Gilbert, and the other by Ephraim Trissell and Alvin Jones. A saw-mill was erected at North Star in 1852, by John and David Trissell. To this mill, grist works were added in 1858 by Stephen J. Houston. The property is now owned by Andrew Alexander. Another mill stood a half-mile east of North Star. It was built by David Tris- sell and was burned down in 1878. The establishment of mail routes gave employment to Freeman Whittaker, who was the first to carry the mail in Wabash. In accord with the custom and necessity of the times, small cemeteries were laid out adjacent the churches ; there were three in the township, located respectively at Shook's Chapel, Holsapple's and at Perrysville.
North Star is the principal village in Wabash, and stands one-fourth mile west of the center of the township, and in the center north and south. It was laid out in 1852. It is distant from Berlin ten miles, from Rossville six, from Celina seventeen, and from Greenville eighteen. The first sale of lots was made by H. Puterbaugh from Section 17. Sales were also made by D. H. T. Sullow from Section 9, and by S. J. Houston out of Section S. None have been sold from Section 16, of which Mrs. Myra Wallace owns an eighth, and upon which she has a fine dwelling. On the corner section opposite is a general store building kept by Peter Groff, and built in 1852 by William Edwards, who put in the first stock of goods. It has changed proprietors a number of times in the interim from Edwards' till Groff's time, and both building and lot belong to the Campbell
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heirs. The church here, as stated, was begun in 1876, but not finished until recently. A blacksmith named William Pierson built and operated a shop at the village in 1860. The saw-mill previously noted does an extensive business. The population of North Star is about one hundred and fifty.
The following are the statistics of the township for 1879: Wheat, 1,280 acres, 19,463 bushels; rye, 36 acres, 405 bushels; buckwheat, 14 acres, 204 bushels ; oats, 644 acres, 20,806 bushels ; barley, 9 acres, 101 bushels; corn, 2.212 acres, 23.350 bushels ; meadow, 275 acres, 274 tons ; clover, 278 acres, 203 tons, 30 bushels seed and ten acres plowed under ; flax, 103 acres, 966 bushels ; potatoes, 564 acres, 9,004 bushels; tobacco, 9 acres, 9,160 pounds ; butter, 19,415 pounds ; sorghum, 43 acres, 3,819 gallons sirup ; maple sugar, 40 pounds ; bees (hives), 83, 1,800 pounds; sweet potatoes, 116 bushels; orchards, 144 acres. The total of lands in Wabash is 10,550 acres, of which 5,918 are culti- vated, 62 in pasture, 4,275 in woods, and 295 in waste. Considering lateness in settlement, difficulties in the way and distance from market, the record of the past and of the present give encouraging promise for the future.
ALLEN TOWNSHIP.
Allen was taken from the north end of Brown Township in March, 1839, and contained all of Townships 14 and 15 north, of Range 2 east, except one tier of sections from the east side of each. In 1848, Township 15 was thrown into Mer- cer County. The general surface of Allen is rolling, and occasional hills are seen along the Wabash and Stillwater streams-the first named enters the township near the extreme northwestern corner, and flows in a general southeast course to the southeast corner of Section 15, two miles north of Rossville, then due north- east to Section 11, where it enters Wabash Township. The second rises on the L. M. Turner place, southwest quarter Section 17, and runs southeast, crosses the pike a half-mile north of Rossville, keeps the same course a distance, reaches, finally, the southern line of the township, and enters Brown. The soil is dark and rich in the lowlands, but the clay predominates in the uplands.
At the present time, about one-third of the eastern portion of the township is timbered, which increases to a half in the western and northwestern parts. There are four saw-mills in almost constant operation. There are Titus' mill, close to the county line, five miles north of Rossville ; Rodehammel's large steam-mill, two and a half miles north of the same place, and Sutherland's mill, one and a half miles east of the steam-mill. These mills are rapidly reducing the quantity of timber suitable for the various kinds of lumber. The township is well supplied with roads. Almost every section line is either a county road or a pike. No railroad touches the township. The houses are now mostly frame buildings, but there are a number of brick dwellings. Many of the better class of residences are seen. Farms are about on an average with those in the northern part of the county, generally.
The Irelands (Ephraim and Aaron) were the first settlers in Allen. They set- tled on Section 34, just south of where Rossville now is, on what is now known as the John Hagerman place. Others of the pioneers were George Reigel, with his sons John, David, Jacob and Jonathan ; Samuel Zerby, Samuel Aspaugh, Landis Light, John Hagerman, Matthias Barnhart. Francis Jenkinson, Henry Brown ; also James Cochran, who was the first Justice of the Peace in the township.
The first schoolhouse was built, during the year 1840, on land since owned by Joseph Bingham, on Section 30. The pioneer church was erected, in 1854, by the Methodists, on the line between Sections 29 and 32, two miles west of Rossville, on the present road to Lightsville. In 1855, a church was built by the German Lutheran denomination on the farm of Jacob Zerby, a little more than half a mile farther west of Rossville than the other. The first sermons preached in the
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township were by Evangelical ministers in private houses. The first preacher was Bishop John Seibert. In the Methodist Church, the pioneer was Rev. T. Heistand. The United Brethren have a church five miles northeast of Rossville, near the Meisse property. The plans have been made and the money subscribed for a new brick church at Rossville. It is to be built by the United Brethren, and will cost about $1,200.
There are nine schoolhouses in the township, five are brick, four are frame, and have an average seating capacity of forty-five. Rossville, a village of recent date, was laid out by John G. Ross, in 1868, from a part of eighty acres owned by him and Robert Ross laid off a few lots adjacent to the plat, from his farm. During the year, a village store was started by Solomon Frank, and a post office established. Two years prior to this, a blacksmith named John Clapper had built a shop, and accommodated the farmers with a place where tools could be repaired and horses shod.
The products of the township are those usual to this section. Of these, corn is the staple ; in 1879, 2,111 acres were planted, and 75,232 bushels produced ; 1,170 acres of wheat yielded 18,390 bushels ; 643 in oats produced 18,962 bushels ; 91 acres in potatoes yielded 6,086 bushels ; 21,352 pounds of butter were made, 4,738 gallons of sirup. The waste lands number but 45 acres ; the cultivated, 5,454 ; the pasture, 193, and the wood land 6,095; the number of acres owned is 11,757. Some few sheep are kept; but, as seen, the grains are heavily raised and much of the profit from farming are derived from the fattening and sale of hogs. The amount of fruit produced is small ; attention has not been directed that way.
MISSISSINAWA TOWNSHIP.
Township 14, Range 1, was a part of Jackson Township previous to 1839, when it was taken from the north end and formed into a township and designated as above. It included all of Township 14, Range 1, except the north tier of sec- tions, which were then included in Gibson Township. April 12, 1848, when Gib- son was thrown into Mercer County, this tier of sections was then taken into the township. Mississinawa is five miles wide east and west, and six miles long from north to south, and is absolutely regular in outline.
It derived its name from its principal stream-the Mississinawa Creek, which rises near the center of the township, runs southeasterly just over into the edge of Allen Township, then southwesterly, crossing the pike nearly half-way from Rose Hill to Lightsville, and thence in a general course a little north of south of west to the county line, in the northern part of Section 30, one and three-fourths miles north of Jackson Township line.
The surface is generally level, except the northwest portions, which are some- what inclined to be hilly. The soil is warm and strong, and along the creek bottom is probably as productive as any other section of the county. About one-third of the surface of this township is timber-land with a fine growth of oak, ash, elm, hickory, sugar-maple and beech. Around the pleasant village of Rose Hill there is a greater predominance of yellowish clay in the soil, and the beech is found in the greatest numbers.
The days of discomfort have passed into forgetfulness, and the farmers to-day improve and enjoy what their predecessors toiled and suffered to make habitable. The old settlers' farms are under a good state of improvement, and, as a rule, are free from incumbrances. Crops of all kinds average well. A great deal of tile has been laid, and much excellent land rendered available to tillage by thorough drainage.
. The pioneer settler in this township was Philip Replogle, who located in the year 1833, on the land since owned by Jacob Replogle, half a mile east of Rose Hill. In 1835, Joseph and William Replogle settled near the village. Other of
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HISTORY OF DARKE COUNTY.
the early settlers were Jolin B. Anderson, Samuel C. Carter. David Brooks. John A. Mckibben, Hugh Mckibben, William Van Kirk, William B. Light, Francis Whitaker, E. H. Fisher and Mahlon Peters.
The first schoolhouse was built on the land of Caroline Grissom, the date of its erection not known. The first church was erected by the Methodists in 1851, on land then owned by Samuel C. Carter, and situated one and a half miles east of the southwest corner of the township, on the line between Jackson and Missis- sinewa Townships. Samuel Carter was the first Justice of the Peace in the township.
Rose Hill is located one mile west of the eastern line of the township and three miles north at the corners of Sections 14. 15, 22 and 23, and was laid out in 1852. The village of Lightsville was laid out by William B. Light, in 1874. It is located on Section 26, just within the eastern boundary of the township, one and a half miles from the southeastern corner. It has a population of about one hun- dred and fifty.
This village has a fine schoolhouse that will seat eighty pupils. It is a new building, recently erected at a cost of about $1.200. A saw-mill was put up in the southwestern part of the town by A. R. Crumrine. The mill burned down in 1868. Another and the present one was built in the summer of 1873, by William S. Light.
JACKSON TOWNSHIP.
The township of Jackson cannot claim great antiquity. as compared with its older sisters, consequently its history deals more particularly with events more nearly modern, and whose active influence are still being felt.
The northern part is comparatively level, with a gentle slope toward the Mis- sissinewa River. The soil is mainly a dark loam, very productive. Though the lands lie low in places, extensive drainage and tiling are rapidly making them available, and in a few years these tracts will have become the garden spots of the township.
The timber in this section is oak. ask, hickory, elm, etc., with originally a fine growth of walnut. of which little now remains. In the central part of the town- ship, the surface is more uneven, but may be characterized as undulating, rather than hilly, with a tendency to clay soil in the more elevated portions. This is the upland section of the township. Beech is the predominating timber in this part of Jackson, followed, in order of abundance, by the sugar maple and shell-bark hickory. Southward, the surface is still more rolling, the soil lighter, warmer and very fertile in the depressions. Originally there was much poplar here, but the demand for this timber for lumber has exhausted the supply. and very few trees now remain.
James Marquis was the first settler in the township. He came in 1830, accompanied by his family, from the Alleghany Ridge, Virginia. He was a stal- wart among pioneers, being of powerful frame and of full 300 pounds weight. Uniting robust health with this strong frame, he was the ideal of the pioneer, ranging the wood for game or felling the giant monarchs of the forest with swift and heavy strokes.
In 1831, his brother, William K. Marquis, removing from the old home, joined him in the woods of Jackson, and for two years, or until 1833, these were the only two families in the township, though there were four or five cabins about two miles distant, in the Creviston neighborhood. Washington Township. Kidd Marquis was born in 1794, served during the war of 1812. removed to Jackson, as said, where he died in 1858. His wife, in her eighty-sixth year, is healthy and active, makes journeys of several miles on foot, and possesses her faculties unimpaired. She is a worthy type of the settler's wife, having raised a family of nine children, now grown to maturity and filling honorable positions in life-a marked contrast
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this to the feeble health of many modern matrons with their one or two children. In 1831, a man named Burns moved in, upon the Reeves Hand place, between Union City and Hillgrove, on the bank of Dismal Creek. In 1833. Frederick Roe came from Fayette County and located upon land adjoining the Marquis clearing on the west, a portion of which is now included in the Union City incorporation.
" Pioneer " Jesse Grey settled one and one-fourth miles east of Union City, on the Greenville pike of to-day, at an early day, and by some it has been claimed that himself and family were the first in the township, but his original location was just across the line, in Washington Township. Grey was naturally kind of heart, but cherished a deep antipathy toward the Indians, and it was claimed by others and admitted by himself, that he shot them on sight, whenever possible, in revenge for terrible wrongs inflicted on his ancestors years before.
It is related by Dr. W. J. Stewart, who, while on a journey to Adams County, Ind., in 1859, called at the log cabin of Mr. Grey. who had removed thither and settled near Buena Vista, that he found the old gentleman, now over eighty years of age, living with his third wife, and the father of a bright little lad of some eight years. Conversation turning upon marksmanship with the rifle, the old man spoke of having shot a deer the day before from his cabin door. He then took a target about an inch square, and sent it out by his little boy to a tree just one hundred and ten yards distant. Standing at the cabin door he discharged several balls into the very center of the mark without a rest, a feat for which he might well feel pride.
On one occasion, he came upon an Indian, between whom and himself there existed a special enmity. Neither had the advantage, and they agreed to stand side by side, discharge their rifles and walk to some settlement. On the way to a clearing the Indian spoke of thirst, and both kneeled down to drink. Grey left his companion at the creek, and although he never confessed the murder, it was left to be inferred that he did kill the Indian at the creek.
We are told that about 1833, there were three settlements formed within the present limits of the township, viz. : One about three miles from a road running from Greenville to the trading-posts of one Courier, now known as the Greenville pike, consisting of the families of William Parent. Tobias and Abraham Miller, John Armstrong and George Elston, a single man ; a second was in the south- west portion of the township, and composed of the families of John Woods, Mar- quis and Roe ; and the third in the northeastern part of Jackson, comprising the families of Richard, John and Jacob Strait, Gilbert Vail and John Wright. These settlements having rapidly increased, the people realized the necessity of some kind of organization by means of which they would be enabled to rule themselves. Therefore, in 1833, a petition was presented to the proper authorities, praying for a township formation. Thereupon the court appointed John Armstrong Justice of the Peace, and William Parent, Constable, to serve until the regular township election, which took place in the following spring, resulting in the election of Armstrong to the office of Justice of the Peace, and, Parent refusing to be a can- didate, Samuel Dennison was chosen Constable.
It seems that on organization Jackson Township contained Townships 13, 14 and 15 of Range 1, which were then embraced within the limits of Washington Township. In June, 1836, Township 15 and the north tier of sections of Town- ship 14 were detached from Jackson and named Gibson Township. Three years later, in March, the remainder of Township 14 was formed into Mississinawa Township. Following formation, the settlement of Jackson continued by the entry of lands, and the increase of clearings. In 1834, Hezekiah Fowler arrived with his family from Maryland. He hastily put up a log shed, on the prevailing plan of a "sugar camp," that is, with an open front, and in this rude covering passed the winter. In 1835, Matthias Sawyer entered land where the Archard place now is, north of town. James Marquis, above referred to as the pioneer of Jackson, had three sons, Henry, William and Lewis. The former inhabits the old homestead
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HISTORY OF DARKE COUNTY.
on Grey's branch. Lewis lives a short distance south of Union City, Ind. William moved to Iowa, in 1858, and died there. The elder Marquis was a Methodist local preacher, and a well-educated man for one who had gained his knowledge by self-application. He gave his attention to medicine, and became in time a very good doctor. Although a Virginian, he was a notable Abolitionist, and spoke upon the subject in both Ohio and Indiana, being at times subjected to vituperation and personal abuse, which he was not backward in resenting.
William Dennison was born in Washington Township, and came into Jackson in 1833; settled four miles northeast of Union City, where he entered eighty acres of the southwest quarter of Section 14. He worked at $7 per month. and split rails at 25 cents a hundred, to secure money to pay for his farm. He had seven children, and died April 19, 1853.
Isaiah Pickett and wife moved from South Carolina to Washington Township, in 1836, and " squatted " on land near Flory's, on Greenville Creek ; later he moved to Hillgrove, and built a small house just east of the Methodist Church, where he remained a few years, and later, moved to land between Hillgrove and Union City. He died in March, 1856.
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