USA > Ohio > Licking County > Granville > The history of Granville, Licking County, Ohio > Part 8
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The paroled men, still drawing pay for several months from the Government, went home, attended to the fall work of their farms, and during the succeeding winter, having six weeks of good sleighing, they took upon sleds, to the lake, whatever supplies they could spare, and sold to the commis- sary for army use. Flour brought $20.00 a barrel, and oats $2 a bushel. But for this demand, wheat would have sold at home for seventy-five cents a bushel, corn for twenty-five cents, and pork for $3.00 a hundred.
On their return, vague rumors preceeded them about their exposure to the hostile Indians. Captain Grove Case, with- out any commission, immediately raised a company of mounted volunteers, and started to join the army that was gathering for their relief. The roll of this company was as follows :
,
,
102
REGISTER OF CAVALRY.
Grove Case, Capt.
Matthew Critchet,
· Titus Knox,
Alexander Holmes,
Archibald Cornell,
Campbell Messenger, John Mays,
Wm Stedman,
Helon Rose
Silas Winchel,
Lemuel Rose, Jr.,
Jesse Munson,
Wm Holmes,
Caleb Randal,
Levi Phelps,
Leicester Case,
Justis Stephans,
Worthy Pratt,
James White, Benjamin Carpenter, John H. Philipps,
Simeon Avery,
Julius Coleman,
John Parker,
Ethan Bancroft,
Cornelius Elliott,
John Sinnet,
Frederic Case,
Elisha S. Gilman, John Wells,
Timothy Case,
Josiah Graves,
Joseph West,
Gabriel Critton,
Joseph Holmes,
Amos Wilson.
-[36.]
Happily, the alarms proved false, and they returned home. Peace was not declared until 1815, but our colonists took no further part in deeds of war.
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103
ANNALS, 1812- 15.
CHAPTER XVIII.
In 1812, the colonists made their first acquaintance with the "seventeen-year locusts." They did considerable damage to the young orchards, and, to the superstitious, gave pre- monition of coming war, by the ominous black W upon their wings.
The first barrel of cider from apples grown .in the colony was made in the fall by Job Case, from his orchard at the foot of Lower Loudon, a mile out of town.
Hon. William Gavit represented this district as State Senator, in which capacity he served acceptably for two years ; and afterwards, one year intervening, for two years again ; the seat of government being then at Chillicothe.
Daniel Baker, Esq., took Mr. Gavit's place as postmaster, retaining the office until 1818.
In the fall, Mr. Ralph Granger came to the place from the Western Reserve. [See Chapter, Our Commercial Enter- prises.] Mr. Gabriel Werden, also, came to the place from Vermont, settling on Burgh Street. This name has been variously spelled in the records and elsewhere : Wardain, Wardin, Worden, Warden, etc. The orthography Werden is taken from the family monument.
104
DEATHS AND ACCESSIONS.
There were two deaths during the year: Mindwell, wife of Samuel Everitt, Sen., December 6th, aged seventy ; Sally Mather, daughter of Spencer Wright, October 3rd, aged two years.
In 1813, Judge Rose died. He had left his house in the village and was opening his farm on Centerville Street, two and a half miles east of the village. While preparing his dwelling for occupancy -a small brick house on the road leading to Munson's mill - he was temporarily in the home of his daughter, Mrs. William Stedman, on the adjoining farm, and there his death occurred, He had been for some time troubled with a tumor in his throat. At times it seemed to change its place, or form, and would press upon the wind- pipe, causing moments of suffocation. He was subject to these attacks in his sleep. His family were aroused one night by his efforts to make himself heard. He succeeded, with great effort, in forcing the words : "I am dying !" when he fell back exhausted, and was soon dead.
Mr. Benjamin Cook succeeded Judge Rose as host at the tavern, corner of Broad and Pearl Streets.
Mr. Daniel Shepherdson came from Middletown, Vermont, and settled on Burgh Street, purchasing the farin still occu- pied by his descendants, just on the verge of the township.
Mr. Amasa Howe came from Highgate, Vermont, settling on the farm still owned by his descendants, on Lancaster Street, one and a half miles south of the village.
Mr. Edward Nichol became a citizen. He had just lost his property. Commencing the manufacture of potash, he inade it a prominent industry. The year he came, his brother died at the east, and Mr. Nichol at once wrote to the widow to come west, with the children, and he would assist in providing for them. They brought out with them a choice old French mirror, which has been in the family over two hundred years.
Mr. Samuel Falley came, and settled on Upper Loudon Street.
105
DEATHS AND ACCESSIONS.
There were thirteen deaths during the year, including : Catharine, wife of Seth Lewis, January 8th, aged sixty-three ; John Wheeler, Esq., April 26th, aged forty-five ; Lieutenant Jesse Munson, April 27th, aged seventy-two; Hon. Timothy Rose, November 27th, aged fifty-one ; Mr. Thomas Philipps, May 26th.
In 1814, arrived Mr. Azariah Bancroft, formerly from Granville, Mass , but then coming from Lewis Lake, Penn., where he had been engaged in the manufacture of glass. He settled on Lancaster road on the farm next south of Mr. Howe's.
Mr. Samuel Chadwick arrived during the year, adding considerable productive ingenuity to the young and growing settlement.
Mr. Sereno Wright, a printer from Vermont, arrived in the fall and spent the winter. Returning, he brought out his family the next spring and became a permanent resident, teaching school the first year, then publishing for some years a paper called The Wanderer. Afterward he engaged in merchandise.
Capt. John Phelps, often familiarly called "Capt. Put,". bought the saw mill, or mill seat of Mr. Job Case, a mile southeast of town, where a brook issues from the line of hills on the south side of Raccoon ; where afterward the large flouring mill stood. In order to have a reliable and access- ible saw mill, the citizens raised a subscription, payable mostly in labor, to aid him in opening a road and a mill race.
There were twelve deaths during the year, of which were Deacon Theophilus Rees, February 17th, aged 70; Ethan Bancroft, May 9th, aged 34; Deacon Nathan Allyn, June 2d, aged 74; John Kelley, October 8th, aged 47.
In 1815, arrived Mr. Linus G. Thrall from Rutland, Vt., and with him Jesse Thrall and his son Walter, Joel and Oliver, sons of Eliphas Thrall, Nathaniel Paige, Job Paige, Capt. Wm. Mead, Capt. Oliver Harmon and the family of a Mr. Bassett. They found the Tuscarawas River very high
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106
THE FIRST SABBATH SCHOOL.
and crossed it by lashing two canoes together, rolling the wagons upon them, one wheel in one canoe and the other in the opposite. Mr. Bassett, who had come with them thus far, being an expert in the water preferred to swim back and forth. When nearly through with their work, as he was swimming across for the last time, he was observed to be sinking. It is supposed he was taken with cramping or strangling, for he drowned before help could reach him.
Messrs. Joseph H. Weeks, Walter and Nicodemus Griffith came from Oneida County, N. Y. At Buffalo they separated, Mr. Weeks coming around with his team, the others by sloop across. In fording the Tuscarawas, one of the sons of Mr. Weeks, eight years of age, was riding the lead horse. In the middle of the stream the horse stopped, and no urging would induce him to go forward. At last a man called to them to turn up stream as there was a deep hole before them. As the waters were high at the time they were thus saved from a serious mishap. The Griffiths coming later were not so favored, for their horses got into the hole, though the waters had fallen.
Mr. Thomas Little arrived from New Jersey and settled on Centerville Street, Mr. Gerard P. Bancroft, a son-in-law, coming with him.
Mr. Lewis Twining settled between Granville and Newark on the other side of the creek from "dugway," where he subsequently built a saw mill. Though living in Newark Township his family were identified with Granville and its history.
It was at this time that the first Sabbath school of Gran- ville was started by Dr. Southard, a practicing physician and an active Christian man. He did not long remain a citizen of Granville .. The following year it was continued by Mr. Sereno Wright. It was held in the frame school house, and the scholars were ranged around the wall desks, the girls on one side and the boys on the other, the house being full. Beginning with the girls, Mr. Wright gave to the first the
107
GRANVILLE ALEXANDRIAN BANK.'
first chapter of John, to be committed to memory by the next Sabbath; to the next, the second; which was to be ready the second Sabbath; then the third for the third Sab- bath ; and so on around the circle until fifty or sixty chap- ters were assigned. Next Sabbath they proceeded to study the first chapter; the third Sabbath the second chapter, and so on. Very soon thereafter Samuel Philipps taught a Sab- bath school. on the Welsh Hills, which met at Deacon Theophilus Rees', and Leonard Bushnell another in the Hill- yer neighborhood southeast of town.
During the year, Amasa Howe, John Phelps, Gabriel War- dain [Werden] and Lucius D. Mower were engaged on a written contract putting up a new building in the " village of Irville."
Immediately after the close of the war in 1815, the Gran- ville Bank was established. [See chap., Our commercial En- terprises.] The Alexandrian Society established the bank and built for it the small stone structure on the east side of the square south of Broad ; Henry George and Joseph Evans doing the work in connection with Wm. Stedman, or under him as contractor. [See cut in closing record.]
The first opening of the quarry on Prospect Hill was under Esq. Baker's direction, by one Morey, to obtain the stone for this building. The quarry on Sugar Loaf was opened much earlier and it furnished the stone for the smelting stack of the furnace.
In the early times change was very scarce. The silver inoney in circulation was of Mexican coinage. To facilitate exchange, if a silver dollar could be had it was cut into four equal quarters and each passed as twenty-five cents. After a time some got to cutting the dollar into five pieces, and still each one would pass for a quarter. Though it fell short in value the convenience of change supplied the deficiency. A man would take it as long as he knew the next man would be glad to get it. · One man receiving such a half-moon fifty cent. piece was minded to cut it into three twenty-five cent
108
DEATHS OF THE YEAR.
pieces. In cutting it up, one of them flew under the stroke of the hammer and was never seen afterwards. He consoled himself that he still had two quarters and had not lost any- thing. When Mr. Sereno Wright was County Treasurer he used to receive these silver coin chippings, but only by weight. There always comes a time when convenience fails to supplement honesty and things must pass for their true value.
It was about 1815 that Elihu Cooley, Spencer Wright and Enoch Graves came out from Granville, Mass., on a tour of observation, staid a while and returned, going and coming on foot. All of them were of the original company, but had not yet taken possession of their land.
Wm. Mead arrived in Granville. He was the father-in- law of Dr. Homer L. Thrall, who became quite noted as a scientist and physician.
There were fourteen deaths during the year. Among · them were Mrs. John Ward, February 7th, aged 47; David Butler, April 3d, aged 51 ; Mrs. Love Baker, March 5th, aged 81 ; Hannah Messenger, April 19th, aged 52; Samuel Thrall, May 10th, aged 55; Christopher Avery, September 12th.
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ANNALS, 1816.
CHAPTER XIX.
The year 1816 marks an era in the prosperity of Gran- ville. The war had closed, having brought considerable money into circulation in response to the activities of the people, and immigrants came with increasing numbers. The land was generally occupied on every side of them, and much of it was under good cultivation. The roads were well worked for a new country, and except where they passed through a tract that was not held for sale and therefore not settled, they were good. Such an exception was quite noticeable in the Newark road. As soon as it passed the farms of Judge Rose and Deacon Hayes it entered the Hogg tract, and for a long distance it was not cared for. As the Newark people had little use, personally, for the road, they did not feel the necessity of having it worked. But the Granville people, being greatly dependent upon it, were willing to work it, provided it should be set off to Granville Township. A tacit agreement was at length arrived at that this should be done. Relying upon it, the Granville people made a good road through the tract, and claimed the formal transfer. This was not made, however, until Hon. T. M. Thompson, of Mckean Township, was a commissioner. The matter was presented before the Board, and all con- sented to recognize the understanding among the people, and make the legal transfer. The Granville people went home satisfied. After they were gone, two of the commis- sioners wavered, and were about to reverse their action. But the third, Mr. Thompson, insisted on the propriety of keeping their word, and thus the Township of Granville was en- larged by the addition of six hundred acres.
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The congregation under Mr. Harris' labors had outgrown the little frame building in which they had worshiped since 1810. On occasions some would be obliged to stand out of doors during service, and that in cold weather. One even-
110
THE MEETING HOUSE OF 1816.
ing after such an occasion, when even women with infants in their arms failed to find room within, Mr. Harris expressed to Esquire Baker the desire for a better house of worship. He replied that a subscription for a house would be success- ful. Next morning Mr. Harris started with a paper, seeking aid from any and all, but pledging the house to the Cliurch of which he was pastor. The result was a subscription which finally reached $6,000-in trade. Corn, in trade, was worth
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25 c. a bushel, but to buy cash goods, or pay cash debts, it was worth only half that sum. At the same time nails cost 22 c. and 25 c. a pound, and glass $20 a box. So it took two bushels of corn to pay for a pound of nails, and 160 bushels of corn to buy a box of glass. On this basis a building committee was appointed, of whom were Azariah Bancroft and Augustine Munson. The subscriptions were paid in timbers for the frame, lumber, labor or ought else that men could furnish. "There were fifty men engaged at once in framing timbers, under the direction of Major Pratt."
111
THE MEETING HOUSE OF 1816.
In due time appeared an audience room about 45 x 55 feet and 20 feet between joints, with a gallery on three sides and a porch in front, over which a steeple rose to the height of 80 feet. Within the porch two flights of stairs led to the hall overhead, from which double doors led into the gallery ; and at the west side a door opened to a long, steep flight of stairs leading up to the belfry. Above the belfry was a closed story of ten feet, surmounted by a cap of six feet, from which rose the iron rod supporting the gilt balls and weather-vane. In 1837, this steeple became unsafe and the upper part was taken down, the belfry being capped over with a dome. The first weather-vane was a fish. It was gilded by Anthony P. Prichard, who kept it secluded until ready to put in place. Covering it with a coffee-sack, he went up to the church, carrying it slung over his shoulders, mounted to the steeple and to the spire, adjusted it, and left it to surprise the citizens.
Another instance of Mr. Prichard's handiwork was this: Esquire Baker was employed to paint a sign. He went to din- ner leaving the work unfinished. Mr. Prichard stepped in and painted the next letter. The Esquire returning, began to inquire who had meddled with his work. Anthony was obliged to own up. "Well," said Mr. Baker, "if you can do so much better than I can as that is, you go on and finish it."
The windows were in two stories, of 8 x 10 lights, twenty- four in a window. The pulpit was high enough for a man to stand erect in the recess under it, upon a platform elevated one step above the floor of the house. It was sup- ported by fluted pillars, and on either side were high, steep flights of stairs. The body of it was in panel work, and it projected forward in a semi-circle, having a Bible cushion of brown velvet with cord and tassels. In the recess under- neath stood the chest which contained the communion ware. Behind the pulpit was a wide window in three sections, the middle one being arched in a semi-circle. To the right and left were windows above and below, in the same range with
112
AN OLD - TIME PULPIT.
the side windows. The face of the gallery was high, and it was supported by a row of solid, fluted, eight-sided pillars. The finishing of the entire house within was in butternut wood and unpainted.
This is the pulpit in which Dr. Lyman Beecher preached in 1831. When on his way to Cincinnati, he stayed in Granville several days. With one of his fervid gestures he knocked one of the pulpit lamps from its place, but recovered his equanimity before it touched the floor below. Peering over at the disaster he remarked, "Good enough for me! I had no business to come up here to preach!" Then going below he finished his sermon.
The work was under the direction of Major Pratt, Tim- othy Spelman, Esq., being one of the most experienced workmen. The latter, while working one day upon a high scaffold, was taken in an epileptic fit, to which he was sub- ject in his. latter days, and falling backward, would have gone over the edge of the scaffold had not David Messenger, who was working near, caught him.
After the house was enclosed, it was furnished with tran- sient seats, and began to be used thus in 1817. It was not plastered until 1821, at which time the audience floor was
113
OLD - TIME PEWS.
furnished with seats in the form of square pews. A thousand dollars were spent in these improvements. These pews were generally about six by seven feet, those in the corners being enough larger to admit of a door beyond the abutting ranges. The wall pews were raised one step above the floor of the house. The sides of the pews reached nearly to the. shoulders of an adult while sitting, and quite above the heads of children. Each pew had about ten sittings, and sometimes accommodated two families. The mother would generally have a little " foot stove " in cold weather, which, as a great favor, would sometimes be passed to the younger members of the family. These tiny furnaces, supplied with coals, were all that served to give the comfort of warmth to the congregation in the coldest weather.
A row of seats was constructed around the front of the gallery, for the use of the choir. The pews of the gallery were not put up until 1829. They were so high that boys disposed to be roguish could easily hide from observation and give themselves to mischief. This license required a tith- ing man (often pronounced tidyman ) to keep them in order.
This was the year of the starting of the Granville Furnace, an enterprise that, perhaps, did as much as any one thing in early times to bring money from abroad and put it into circulation here, and to give employment to citizens of the place. [See Chapter, Industrial Enterprises.]
At this time, the spring which issued from the east side of Prospect Hill, hard by the Mt. Vernon road, and fed the 15
114
RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES.
great pond in the northeast part of town, was flowing copiously. Thither the women and girls used to go to do the week's washing, and while the older ones were busy with the suds, the children would sport with the pendant grapevines that ran luxuriantly over the trees. In early times, the water had been carried in logs, underground, to the rear of Major Case's lot, and there it came up through a two-inch bore in a generous stream, supplying all that part of town. Near the spring stood a cabin, used this year as a school house, the school being taught by Luther Thrall.
In early times, Sugar Loaf was a symmetrical cone, shaded with a beautiful growth of beech trees, its surface unbroken by the deep quarries since opened for stone. There came a year of great plentifulness of squirrels, migrating toward the southeast. Sugar Loaf was a great haunt for them. Men and boys resorted thither with guns and clubs, and great numbers of them were killed. This kept "an awful din " of shooting, yelling, and clubbing, by day and late into the night. One whose quiet was disturbed by the noise, went one night and cut down all but two or three of the trees that stood on the western slope; and, soon afterward, the quarries were industriously worked for building stone, and the beautiful hill was left bare and broken.
On the first day of this year ( 1816) was formed the first local Bible Society, auxiliary to the Ohio Bible Society, now represented by Granville and Vicinity Bible Society. During the year was formed The Female Charitable Society. "Its objects were various. It clothed the poor, furnished tracts for the Sabbath School, made a cushion for the pulpit, and did other good things as occasion required."
In 1816, Joel Lamson came from Essex, Vermont; Hon. T. M. Thompson, with his son Robert, and Anthony P. Prichard, David Pittsford, the brothers Thomas and Leonard Bushnell, , and Chauncy Humphrey, all becoming permanent citizens.
The deaths of the year were four, among them : Araunah Clark, August Ist, aged fifty-seven ; Moses Boardman, Sep- tember 29th, aged fifty-three.
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ANNALS, 1817-20.
CHAPTER XX.
The business enterprises of 1817 were somewhat im- portant, and are described in the chapter given to that subject. They were the forge, the salt works, the two tan- neries, and the flouring mill east of town.
There was a drummers' school of thirty scholars, taught by one Brown, a graduate from which became the drum major of his regiment. At the same time, one Lathrop taught a school for fifers, which was liberally patronized.
Mr. Charles Sawyer came to the place and opened a saddler's shop, gradually rising in business prominence, and was active, at a later date, in establishing the Baptist Female Seminary.
Mr. Elias Fassett, also, became a citizen, then a young man of business promise and training. His energy soon carried him to the front rank of business men, and he was conspicuous in most of the important business operations in the place.
He was a relative of Governor Chittenden, of Vermont. He was only nineteen years of age when he came to Granville. In . person, he was short and heavy, could be brusque or affable in manner, as suited him. He left Granville for Cleveland, Ohio, and thence went to New York city, where he engaged in bank- ing. He returned to Granville in 1856, and for two years was President of the Central Ohio Railroad. He then retired to his farm, south of Granville, where he died suddenly in 1863.
Mr. Gaylord came, and settled southwest of town, near Mr. Lamson.
Mr. Joshua Stark, a young man who had studied medicine, arrived, with Mr. George Case, they having fallen in com- pany on the way. They united their energies in the business of making brick, and it resulted in the erection of eighteen or twenty substantial brick houses in the village within a very few years.
116
MILITARY MATTERS.
Rev. Timothy Harris had Esquire Baker make him a wagon box, handsome for the time, and nicely painted. The first time it was hitched to a horse and brought home, he had just taken his little daughter out of the wagon, and turned for the moment away, when the horse took fright and ran through the woods, tearing the wagon to pieces.
Prices at this time ruled as follows : By the pound, sugar, 25 c .; coffee, 50 c .; tea, $ 2.50 ; brimstone, 25 c .; pepper, 75 c .; butter, 16 c .; nails, 22 c .; powder, $ 1.00 ; iron, 162/3 c .; cam- bric, $ 1.25 a yard ; gum camphor, 50 c. an ounce ; a spelling book, 25 c .; whisky, $ 1.00 a gallon ; a cow and calf, $ 25.00 ; wheat, $ 1.00 a bushel ; corn, 50 c.
In 1818, military matters received considerable attention. There were three uniformed companies, representing the three arms of the land service. From the very first of the settlement, military matters were made prominent by necessity. The experience of service in 1812 gave zest and held the minds of the citizens to its importance. P. W. Taylor commanded a company of cavalry, Willard Warner one of artillery, and Timothy Spelman, Jr., one of infantry. There were, besides, two companies of militia, under Cap- tains Myron Phelps and Alpheus Jewett. A small cannon was cast at the Granville Furnace, bored and mounted in Granville, and was long used by the artillery company. It opened its mouth at the Licking Summit Celebration, and at Fourth of July celebrations for many years after.
Mr. Sereno Wright became postmaster in place of Daniel Baker, Esq.
Joseph Blanchard and family arrived from Maine, adding much to the industrial enterprise of the place. He settled two miles north of the village.
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