100 - HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY camp. The wounded Indian knew them and told Philip he had helped to kill his parents. The other of the two was the one who had killed Kate. On his finger was her ring and by his side was her scalp." A Moses who attempts to lead the public through a wilderness of history should be better informed and not flounder in a sea of inaccuracies. The above quotation shows that the writer is as ignorant of the facts as he is of the orthographer of the name Zeimer. If Kanotche had been killed, as stated by the writer of the article from which the quotations are taken, the New Philadelphia and Newark incidents could not have occurred. Judge Wright's statement is correct beyond a doubt and is fully substantiated by other historical accounts. Billy Bunting remained at the Ruffner cabin all night the night of the Zeimer massacre, and when neighbors went to look for him the next morning they found him milking the cow, unaware that Mr. Ruffner had been killed. No Indians were killed in that vicinity, except the two at Zeimer's and those who fell in the Copus battle a week later, and Billy Bunting was not there at that time. "Billy Bunting" was Levi Barnaheiser, who afterwards became a prominent citizen of Sharon township, where he died December 26, 1868, aged seventy-seven years. The man who was said to be engaged to Kate Zeimer—called Henry Martin by McGaw was Jedediah Smith. who came to Richland county and entered land in Washington township in the spring of 1812. A month or more before the Zeimer massacre, Mr. Smith had gone to his home in Washington county, Pennsylvania, and did not return to Ohio until 1816, and therefore could not have killed the slayer of Kate, as he was not here at the time. As two of the five Indians were killed by Martin Ruffner at the time of the massacre, and three were captured a week later at Fern Island, none of the party was left in the Blackfork valley, and no Indian was killed there during the interim between the Zeimer massacre and the Copus battle. While confined in the jail at New Philadelphia, Kanotche gave the partocilars of the Zeimer massacre to Jude Wright and Sheriff Laffer. Kenotche has had wonderful descriptive powers, considering his limited knowledge of the English language, and narrated the incidents of the bloody tragedy with dramatic effect.  He was one of the most cruel, revengeful and vindictive of his tribe. Instead of feeling remorse over his bloody deeds, he took delight in narrating; them. After the removal of the murderous trio to the west, was stated that Kanotche met his death by the hands of one of his own race. THE CAMPAIGN AND SAD FATE OF COLONEL WILLIAM CRAWFORD The Rev. Joshua Crawford, now pastor of the Methodist church at Perrysville, contributes the following sketch of the campaign and cruel death of the late kinsman, Colonel William Crawford. "My attention has been called to an article concerning the exact spot where stood the stake at which Colonel William Crawford was burned by the Indians HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY - 107 ine 1872. I can throw no new light on the subject and only know it was by the Big Tymochtee, near a grove. I have never visited the place but presume the grove has long since disappeared and every landmark save the lay of the land and the stream. It is reasonable, however, that those who from long residence nearby have kept a tab on the spot should make a much better guess than those unfamiliar with it. I am not a descendant of Colonel Crawford, but belong to his kindred the family lines coming together in his grandfather five generations back of myself. His tragic death has been much talked of in the numerous Crawford circles. There are a few legendary tales of the battle which are somewhat different from written history, especially from ‘Dodridge's Notes' as transcribed in Howe’s Historical Collections of Ohio. There were several members of the Dye and Leet families among the troops who intermarried with the McIntires and Bradens, ancestors of my mother, and some of whose descendants yet live southeast of Galion; and also with the Hiskeys, who once resided south of Lexington, in Richland county. It is said that Major Leet differed with the other officers of the council of war held the night the retreat commenced. He proposed that instead of returning over the same route they had come they should cut through the enemy’s lines, go southward to a point somewhere in the present Marion county, then turn eastward and strike the Owl Creek trail and take that to the forks of the Muskingum, now Coshocton. and from thence over the route of Bonquet’s army to Mingo Bottom. The council decided against him. Leet was self-willed unto stubbornness and when the retreat was ordered, his command being a part of the rear, he, with ninety men, broke away from the main body, carried out his project and reached the place of rendezvous before the others. Young John Crawford, the son for whom the Colonel went back to search was with this ninety and got home safely. "If this be true it solves the mystery of how Crawford and Knight were soon lost from the army for he kept on expecting to meet other troops and thus went too far. It is not known where Crawford was captured, but it was not, as some conjecture, near the place where the battle of the Olentangy was fought. It would have been sure death for them to have followed in the wake of the army, hence, after proceeding northward for a few hours they turned, going eastward in a straight line as nearly as possible. They may have been captured somewhere in Vernon township Crawford county. It is probable one more day of travel would have brougt them to the track of the returning troops. They would have struck the old trail leading from Mohican Johnstown to Mohican Johns Lake, (Lake Odell) near which the twin body encamped on the night of the 7th June. “For many years public opinion has done Crawford and his army great injustice seeming to regard the expedition as a wild and reckless raid without other motive than revenge and bloodshedding. To say that these brave men, ‘hoped to murder the Moravian Indians before their belligerent friends could take up arms in their defense,’ is false. To say that `it was rash and undertaken and conducted without sufficient forecs to encounter with any prospect of success the Indians of the plains,’ is a reflection on the wisdom of those who planned the campaign. "It never should be forgotten by true Americans that British officers who 102 - HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY had the management of the war against our li.evolutionary Fathers saw fit to hire savages to annoy our frontier and even condescended to pay a stipulate prices for American scalps. They made Detroit a center to supply the Indian with arms and all other munitions of war and kept there a body of troops under Major De Peyster whose only purpose was to aid their savage allies. Under this inhuman stimulus the Indians made the whole frontier from Osweg, New York, to the mouth of the Great Kanawha, Virginia, red with the blaze of burning cabins and the blood of innocent and peaceable settlers. There was scarcely a mile in that long' stretch that had not witnessed some horrid deed of massacre. The fagot and scalping knife were spreading terror everywhere something had to be done to relieve this dreadful situation. An unauthorized foray had gone to Gnadenhutten and wreaked a bloody revenge on those Christian Indians. It was wrong and I blush at the shameful cruelty of the affair, and yet I assert that these Indians were not half as innocent and lamb like as some prejudiced writers try to make them appear. The village was full of treacherous spies and even blood stained garments of massacred were people hidden there, and some of them died defiantly singing war songs instead of Christians hymns. "The stronghold of Indians, (paid allies of Great Britain) was the region of Upper Sandusky. It was a strategetical point, because it was at the head of canoe navigation of both the Ohio river and the Great Lake regions. Suplies could be transported from Detroit through the lakes and up the Sandusky to a point where the portage was only two miles from thence over the Scioto to all the waters of the Ohio. The Crawford campaign was planned by General Irvine and submitted to General George Washington and received his approval. The design was to surprise and destroy or force a treaty from the Indians of this region before English help could reach them and thus put a cheek upon their cruel forays. That Gnadenhutten might not be repeated Colonel Crawford was chosen leader, with the understanding that the troops be permitted to vote for a leader, but if their vote had given it to Williamson the militia would have been sent home and the expedition temporarily abandoned. It was planned in secret and here was the fatal mistake. There were Tory sympathizers on the frontier and even before the troops gathered at Mingo Bottom, British spies had carried the news to Indian runners posted along, the border who hurried to every Indian village of the northwest and to Detroit. General Irvine had not calculated on the swiftness of these Indian runners not the promptness of England to send aid to her savage allies. "When Crawford reached the Upper Sandusky country there were not less than five hundred Indians and one hundred and fifty British troops ready to meet him and others pouring in every hour. Simon Girty, an ingrate white man but an Indian commander of no mean ability, and Captain Caldwell of the British army were on hand to plan the battle. A wooded knoll, since called Battle Island, was the key of the situation which was captured by Crawford’s men after a sharp conflict. The enemy made several strenuous attempts to retake it but were sorely repulsed. "I shall not describe the battle for you readers are familiar with the details. It's Crawford legends of which I wish to write. There are many tales of the HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY - 103 losses on each side. Captain Caldwell reporting to Major De Peyster, says: ‘My lossess were very inconsiderable, one ranger killed and myself and two others wounded, and four Indians killed and eight wounded.' He estimated the American losses in killed and wounded at two hundred and fifty. Let me say right here that Crawford's army consisted of four hundred and eighty men, for the finest marksmen in America. “Being militiamen, they may have lacked in military consistency but they were not wanting in cool headed bravery, knowledge of Indian warfare and perfect marksmanship. They were not defeated nor demoralized. The only time of confusion was during the first few hours after the retreat commenced, when Indian and British opened a rapid fire in both front and rear. The fact that they fell back in two bodies one of ninety and the other of three hundred men, is evidence that they were not panic stricken and the enemy did not capture any except isolated parties and these isolations were probably due to Leo’s disobedience of orders. The total loss of the Americans did not exceed seventy men and members of the troops even contended that they inflicted a heavier loss on the enemy than their own. “Leet, a scout, (not the Major) who had afterward married a Dye, told his children many times that when Battle Island was first taken fifteen dead Indians were found; and he further said the next day he saw Girty riding back and forth among the Indians greatly excited while they were carrying away the dead and wounded. He also said that during the retreat when Butler's rangers and some mounted Indians were making dashes to cut out stragglers he saw three white men fall from their saddles who did not rise again. When the last dash was made near the Olentangy when Lieutenants Rose and Gunsaulus had placed a body of Americans in ambush and had sent out a few men to act as stragglers and decoy the foe, when the enemy came clashing up, he said in all his war experience he had never seen so many saddles emptied in so short a time. The last little fight so severly punished th enemy that they did not fire another shot at the main body but contented themselves with picking up stray parties. “I do not know what percent of the Dye, Leet and Braden tales are exaggeration but I am sure that when the British and Indians undertook to retake the position they had lost that the unerring marksmen of the frontier died not send them back unpunished. Neither would they allow themselves to be hectored from daylight until two or three p.m. by an exulting foe and not occasionally empty a saddle. Crawford's men never admitted that they were defeated in battle and boasted that they would have made short work of the one thousand Indians, but it was the certainty of four hundred English bayonets and the boom of coming artillery that convinced them of the necessity of retreat. "Another story I have heard is that in 1806 when the surveyors were busy laying off the lands of Wayne and Richland counties. Mrs. Hannah Crawford, widow of the colonel, visited the spot where her husband was burned and at that time there was no grass growing upon it. Her guide was Billy Crawford, said to be a nephew of her husband. My informant says she stayed over night with his grandmother, Mrs. Allison, in Harrison county, and a man by the name of McBride was her escort from there home. 104 HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY "Another legend claims that friends and relatives of Colonel Crawford swore uncompromising revenge again every Indian who helped handle the fagots that tortured him and that they carried this oath out to the letter, That they were with Harmer, St. Clair and Wayne marking these Indians and shooting them at every opportunity and even made a hunt on the banks of the Sandusky for this bloody purpose. It is said the last one was shot in Holmes county in time of peace. Here is the Story 'An Indian once came to a tavern in Killbuck, where under the influence of liquor lhe boasted that he was present at the burning of Colonel Crawford and said that after the Big White Chief had fallen that he and several other Indians jumped on him and cut his heart out and he had eaten a piece of the raw heart, and, smacking his lips, said it tasted good.  Billy Crawford heard this boast and when the Indian left he followed him. Billy afterward admitted that he had killed him near Holmesville and buried the body and gun in a pile of stone. Years afterward the body was found, but such was the sympathy of the people for those who suffered from Indian outrages that nothing was over thought about it. "Society in those days had been worked up to a fearful spirit of revenge. Men had suffered under Lradian outrages until their natures hecame fierce and drove out that high sense of human love taught by the Savior, and they went forth, guns in their hands, to hunt and shoot Indians as though they were wolves or bears. THE ZEIMER MASSACRE At the northern limit of Blackfork settlement in the year 1812 there lived a Pennsylvania German named Martin Ruffner. The Ruffner cabin stood about a mile northwest of Mifflin and about a half mile west of Staman sawmill on the Ruffner run. Ruffner had in his employ a German boy who is known by the historical sobriquet of "Billy Bunting." The Zeimer cabin was further down the valley and nearer the old Indian village of Greentown. The cabin stood on an elevation near a fine spring of pure water and a clear babbling stream. All was forest then except the clearings in which the cabins stood. The Zeimer family at that time consisted of Frederick Zeimer and wife, their son Philip and their daughter Kate. A few days after the burning of Greentown, a party of Indians was seen by Billy Bunting sitting on a log between the Ruffner. and Zeimer cabins. They inquired if Puffner and Philip were at home. Billy told them that Ruffner was at home and that Philip was at his home. The Indians started toward the Zeimer cabin, and Billy hastened to inform Ruffner what had transpired Ruffner took his rifle and deployed around the Indians, reaching the Zeimer cabin in advance of the savages. A consultation was held. Philip suggested that he had better go and inform the settlers further down the valley and secure their assistance. Ruffner first objected to this, thinking that if Philip remained and they were attacked they coiild kill the savages themselves. Finally, it was agreed that Philip should go and inform James Copus, John Lambright and HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY - 105 other settlers of the approach of the Indians and ask them to return with him. As the settlers lived several miles apart, it took Philip some time to make the trip. As the Indians were afraid of Ruffner, it was not thought they would attack the family while he was there. Soon after I'hihp had left the house the Indians arrived, trnd seemed surprised at finding Ruffner there. The Indians had frequently been at Zeimer's, especially Knotche, who had tried to shoot Philip the day before, claiming he was shooting at a bear. The savages seenied sullen, evincing that their call was a friendly one. For some time a desultory conversation was held at intervals, but finally the actors to the impending tragedy sat and eyed each other in silence, conflictng emotions. no doubt, passing through the mind of each. Ruffner, the valiant German, sat like a Trojan soldier between the helpless family and their savage foes. They seemed to suspect the cause of Philip's absence, and would cast glances at each other and then at Ruffner, who had his eye riveted upon them, watching them closely. Finally, when suspense could be bourne no longer, the Indians sprang to their feet with a yell of demoniacal fury, and made a rush at the brave Ruffner, who shot his foremost assailant dead, and clubbing his rifle, felled another prostrate to the floor. As he struck at the third, he accidently hit the stock of his rifle against joist, and the Indians. taking, advantage of the mishap, fired upon him, two shots taking effect, either of which would of itself have been fatal. They dragged the tssly of the dying nian into the yard, and inhumanly removed his scalp ere he expired. At the beginning of the assault. Kate fainted. When she regained consciousness she realized that Ruffner had been killed, and, seeing them assault her aged parents, she again fell in a swoon, unconsciousness kindly veiling from her sight the horrible spectacle. I, tot, would fain turn a pane rather than further prolong his story of blood, but history' is remorseless and must be written whether its narration brings smiles or tears. When Kate recovered and realized the awful butchery that had been committed, her grief gave vent in heart piercing shrieks and lamentations whose intensity should have readied the calloused hearts of even those inhuman savages. But instead she was ordered by her relentless foes to give them her father’s money and the valuably of the family, and as she complied with their demand, her betrothal ring was rudely taken from her finger. But they did not then spare her life, for Kanotche, raising his tomahawk, buried it in her brains, and she fell upon the hearth, mingling her life's blood with that of her parents. The account of this tragedy was given some time later by Kanotche himself while he was confined as a prisoner in the jail at New Philadelphia. The principal motive which led to the murder of the Zeimers was that of robbery, as they were regarded n.s quite wealthy and were known to possess considerable money. When Philip returned with his party, nature had already thrown her sable mantle of night over the valley. Except for the occasional hooting of an owl almost death-like stillness. No breath of wind stirred the leaves of the forest, and the stars shown with a pale, flickering light. 106 - HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY As the party neared the cabin no light was ,seen and all was quiet and still within. After a consultation, Mr. Copus advanced alone to the rear of the house and tried to peer through its four-light window, but nothing could be seen in the darkness within. IIe then cautiously crept upon his hands and knees around to the front of the building. and finding the door ajar, endeavored to push it further open, but found something against it like a body, on the inside. He then placed his hands through the opening of the door and found that the floor was covered with blood. Returning to the party, he thought it best not to tell Philip what he had discovered, fearing that the Indians might still be in the house waiting the son’s return. Enjoining silence he led there quietly away and when at a safe distance. told them he feared the family had been taken prisoners, and that they had then better go to the blockhouse for assistance. Philip's anxiety for the safety of the family made him want to rush recklessly inside the, house to learn their fate, but his friends restrained him and the weary, groping walk through the darkness to the blockhouse was commenced. A halt was made at a Mr. IIill's, where the town of Lucas now stands, and upon the break of day they proceeded to the Beam blockhouse on the Rocky Fork, where the first settlement in the county was made, and there got a detachment of troops and some settlers, who accompanied them back to the Zeimer cabin, where they found the dead and mutilated body of the brave Ruffner in the yard, and those of the family inside the house. The grief of Philip was so great that many of the strong men present were moved to tears by witnessing his sorrow. Father, mother and sister all gone and he left alone ! Would that he had shared their fate with them, was his wish. Kind friends tried to console him, while others dug graves and performed the last office that the living can do for the dead. They then returned to the blockhouse. Philip gave his service to his country during the remainder of the war several years later he sold the farm to a Mr. Culler, whose descendants own it today, and upon the site of the ill-fated cabin a monument now stands. erected to the memory of the Zeimer family and Martin Ruffner who fell in their defense. The Indians who committed these crimes were stragglers from the Greentown tribe, who returned for rapine and murder. Of the five who constituted the party, Ruffner killed two, whose bodies were carried away, as was custom thee among the Indians, and the three survivors were afterward captured about five miles below New Phliadelphia, on what is now called Fern Island, a picnic resort on the C., L. & W. railway, near the Royal Clay works. The exciting and sensational events which followed their capture will be given later on. Kate Zeimer was described by the writer's father, who lived a few miles further down the valley and often saw her, as being a beautiful girl, a brunette, rather stout in build, and of a cheerful disposition. She was engaged to be married to a man who lived near her former home in the east. The month of September is regarded by many as being the most charming of the year. The hazy halo of the atmosphere with its languorous warmth are conducive to day dreaming. And there were days of dreaming, no doubt, for the beautiful Kate whose betrothed lover was soon to come to claim her as his HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY - 107 bride. Days of naming in the leafy forest or rowing upon the crystal lake; days of watching the cimson sunset shining; redly through the darkness of the branches and glittering away as golden threads to a paradise too sweet to name; days when love seemed to fill the air and make music sweet in the rustle of the leaves; days when Kate wondered vaguely whether she was not dreaming happy dreams, dreams too enhancing to last, and they were for instead of bridal robe, the winding sheet was soon to be her habiliment. The news of the murder of the Zeinier family caused the settlers to go to the blockhouse for safety, and nearly every cabin was left tenantless, and the country was filled with alarm, and not without cause, for other deeds of blood were soon to follow. PURSUIT AND CAPTURE. "They knew no dread of danger. When rose the Indian's yell; Right gallantly they struggled, Right gallantly they fell." The massacre at the Zeimer cabin aroused the feelings of the people, not only in Richland, but in other counties, almost to frenzy and companies were organized at Wooster, New Philadelphia and other places to protect the settlers. Captain Mullen commanded the Wooster company and Alex McConnel the one at New Philadelphia. Of the five Indians who committed the Zeimer-Ruffner murders, two had been killed by the heroic Ruffner in his defence of the Zeimer family ere he himself fell in the murderous assault of the savages. Some weeks later the three surviving Indians of that murderous gang, after having been seen lurking near Odell’s lake, were captured at Fern Island, five miles down the Tuscarawas river from New Philadelphia. Fern Island is now a famous picnic resort and is reached by steam and electric cars both from New Philadelphia and Urichsville. The Tuscarawas is, perhaps, the most poem-inspiring river in the state. It courses through one of Ohio's most fertile valleys with an ease and grandeur that is both restful and inspiring. As rays of light shine upon its dark waters they reflect emerld tints as though the bottom was paved with precious stones. But the Indians had not sought that locality for its romantic beauty, nor because the waters of the Tuacarawas were wont to dazzle one with their diamond-like gleams, but the protection the dense forests of that secluded isle would give them. The mark of Cain was upon them and the avenging Nemesis was following their trail. In that forest-embowered isle stood armies of ferns with nodding plumes and crimson falchions and among these the tired savages lay down to sleep. Captain McConnel, hearing that Indians were upon the Island, marched his company over the “Plains'' and when the destination was reached he left his men on the bank and swam his horse across the eastern branch of the river 108 - HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY and surprising the redskins, took them prisoners. On reach in the company with his prisoners, some of the men suggested that the Indians should be put to death. “Not until they have a trial according to law," said the captain. The prisoners were then marched up past the old site of Shoenbrun, to New Philadelphia and there incarcerated in jail. When the news of this capture reached Wooster the excitement there became intense and Captain Mullen marched his company to New Philadelphia to take summary vengeance upon the captives. Henry Laffer, then sheriff of Tuscarawas county, called upon the citizens to turn out and protect the prisoners, which they refused to do. John C. Wright, an attorney from Steubenville, was in town, nd volunteered his services to the sheriff. Mr. Wright was afterwards the judge of the court of that circuit. Captain McConnel, Sheriff Laffer and Mr. Wright pleaded with the attacking party for the lives of the Indians and declared if the prisoners were molested it would he after they had walked over their dead bodies. The attack was finally abandoned and the company returned to Wooster. While in jail there, Kanotche made a confession to the sheriff, detailing the Zeimer-Ruffner murder, and the part he took in the same, admitting that he had killed Kate and that the principal motive for the crime was robbery. The other prisoners did not confess and Kanotche refused to either implicate or exonerate them. The Indians were kept in jail until Governor Meigs arrived in New Philadelphia, when they were turned over to the military authorities and were conducted by Lieutenant Shane of the regular army to the western part of state, then where, tinder the terms of a, cartel, they, as prisoners of war, were released, the charge of murder not being placed against them. While enroute, Lieutenant Shane, with his troops and prisoners, stopped over night at Newrrrlr where an attempt was made by two recruits to buy drugs to poison the Indians, which shows the deep-seated feeling then existing against them on account of the atrocities and murders they had committed. Returning again to the Blackfork settlement, to the locality where James Copus lived, on the east side of the stream, about midway between Mifflin and the old Indian village of Greentown, we are upon the memorable grounds where the sanguinary conflict took place between a large party of attacking Indians and Mr. Copus and a " corporal's guard" of soldiers. As we look about the place the various scenes of that bloody battle come up from the history of the past like a panoramic view' before us. But few can walk indifferent and unmoved over fields of bloodshed and strife and the lapse of time only serves to enhance the memories of other years. And these are heightened by the thought that the relatives of many of our neighbors and friends shared in those conflicts. Of the old-thee families and their descendants of that historic neichhorhood, the names of the following are recalled : Solomon Vail, William Kuntz, G. H. Mowry, A. Bowen, Samuel Wilson, Mr. Syler, .11annel Charles, George Bittinger, Philip Caller, Sebastian Culler, Mrs. Martha King, Harrison Hoover, W. Milligan, John Simpson, Simon Whitemyer, Mrs. Barrick, Curt Greenewald, William Lattimer, Mr. Giffen, Mrs. Harland and A. Milligan, the latter owning and residing on the Copes place. HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY - 109 The name Zeimer was pronounced by the Pennsylvania German settlers something like Zeimer, and McGraw, in his romance, changed it to Seymour. The government deed was a signed by Philip Zeinrcr and when the land was transferred to Mr. Culler, the deed was signed by Philip Zeimer and Elizabeth Zeinter, his wife. Philip Zeimer married a Pickaway county woman soon after the close of the war, and the deed for the land in Richland (now Ashland) county, was executed May 1, 1815, before Thomas Mace, a justice of the peace in Pickaway county. Captain James Cunningham, who had charge of the troops at the burial of the Zeimer, dispatched couriers in all directions to inform the settlers of what had occurred and to advise them to go to the blockhouses for protection. Captain Cunningham took in situations intuitively and was prompt and intrepid in action. He was the son of an Irishman who served in the Revolutionary war and helped to consecrate the battle field of Bramlywine with his blood. While our German citizens are no less brave and might more tenaciously hold a fort or endure a siege, the Irish have that dash and daring which wins applause and their bravery is equaled only by their chivalry. Moore, the great Irish poet, paid a deserved tribute to the honor of Erin's sons in his ballad, which is as immortal as it is beautiful “Rich and rare were the gems she wore, And a bright cold ring, on her wand she bore But oh! her beauty was far beyond Her sparkling gems, or snow-white wand. ‘Lady, dost thou not fear to stray, So lone and lovely through this bleak way? Are Erin’s sons so good or so cold. As not to be tempted by woman or gold? ‘Sir Knight, I feel not the beast alarm, No son of Erin will offer sure harm For, though they love woman and golden store, Sir Knight, they love honor and virtue more!' On she went, and her maiden smile In safety lighted her 'round the isle; And blest forever is she who relied Upon Erin’s honor and Erin's pride." All the settlers of the Blackfork, James Copus and family included, had taken refuge in the blockhouse. But Mr. Copus soon became restless of confinement in the Beam blockhouse and wanted to return home. He believed the Indians were all gone, but if any were lurking around, he felt confident they would do them no harm as he was their friend. When he stated that he intended to return to his cabin Captain Martin, the commandant at the blockhouse, protested against him taking such a step and told him he would endanger the lives of himself and family by doing so. Mr. Copus was it man of decided opinions and on the morning of the fourth day after the Zeimer murder, started with his wife and seven children to their forest home, a detail of nine soldiers going with them. Captain Martin, who was going out with a scouting party, 110 - HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY promised to call and spend the night there. Finding no trace of the Indians and reconnoitering farther than they had intended to go, they did not get to the Copus home until noon the next day, too late to avert the fate that had fallen upon that household. When the Copus party had arrived at the cabin they found things undisturbed, with the stock grazing in the fields. The soldiers indulged in athletic sports during the day and, seeing no signs of Indians, felt no uneasiness for the safety of the family. However, Sarah, the twelve year old daughter of the Copus, going into the field for potatoes for dinner, saw some Indians lurking there. This she did not tell, knowing her father did not believe they were near and, being a very strict man, would punish her for trying to raise an alarm. As evening drew near, the sun gave a strange, weird aspect to the sky that seemed ominous of ill. Its rays melted into a transparent sheen that stretched over both hill and valley, casting a foreboding aspect upon the earth, which was remembered and commented upon in after years by those who witnessed the phenomenon. Mr. Copus became apprehensive of danger and insisted upon the soldiers sleeping within the cabin, but, the night being warm, they preferred the barn a few rods distant, but promised to come to the cabin at the morning's down As the night advanced, Mr. Copus' fears increased and the intervening hours were weary, sleepless. restless ones, and he told his family of his forebodings of dangers. Except the barking of the dogs, silence reigned without, but the death angel hovered over the valley. HISTORICAL SKETCH OF TIIE LIFE AND WORK OF "JOHNNY APPLESEED." Upon the occasion of the unveiling of the monument erected to the memory of Johnny Appleseed. in the Sherman-TIeinema.n park at Mansfield, Ohio, November 9, 1900, A. J. Baughman, secretary of the Richland County Historical Society, and the author of this work, gave an address on the work, life and death of John Chapman, commonly called "Johnny Appieseed." A. J. BAUGHMAN'S ADDRESS. John Chapman was born at Springfield, Massachusetts, in the year 1775 Of his early life but little is known, as he was reticent about himself, but his half-sister who calve west at a. later period stated that Johnny had, when a boy shown a fondness for natural scenery and often wandered from home in quest of plants and flowers and that he liked to listen to the birds singing and to gaze at the stars. Chapman's passion for planting apple. seeds and cultivating nurseries caused him to be called "Appleseed John,'' which was finally changed to "Johnny Appleseed," and by that name he was called and known everywhere. The year Chapman came to Ohio has been variously stated, but to say it was one hundred years ago would not be far from the mark. An uncle of the late Rosella Rice lived in Jefferson county when Chapman made his first advent in Ohio and one day saw a queer looking craft coming down the Ohio river above Steubenville. It consisted of two canoes lashed together, and its crew was one HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY - 111 man-an angular, oddly dressed person—and when he landed he said his name was Chapman, and that his cargo consisted of sacks of apple seeds and that he intended to plant nurseries. Chapman's first nursery was planted nine miles below Steubenville, up a narrow valley, from the Ohio river, at Brilliant, formerly called Lagrange, opposite Wellsburg. West Virginia. After planting a number of nurseries along the river front, he extended his work into the interior of the state—into Richland county—where he made his home for many years. He was enterprising in his way and planted nurseries in a number of counties; which required him to travel hundreds of miles to visit and cultivate them yearly, as was his custom. His usual price for a tree was a "fip penny-bit," but if the settler hadn't money, Johnny would either give him credit or take old clothes for pay. He generally located his nurseries along streams, planted his seeds, surrounded the patch with a brush fence, and when the pioneers came. Johnny had young fruit trees ready for them. He extended his operations to the Maumee country and finally into Indiana, where the last years of his life were spent. He revisited Richland county the last time in 1843, and called at my father's, but as I was only five veers old at the time I do not remember him. My parents, (in about 1827-35), planted two orchards with trees they bought of Johnny, and he often called at their house, as he was a frequent caller at the hones of the settlers. Mymother'ss father, Captain James Cunningham, settled in Richland county in 1808, and was acquainted with Johnny for many years, and I often heard him tell, in his Irish-witty way, many amusing anecdotes and incidents of Johnny's life and of his peculiar and eccentric ways. Chapman was fairly educated, well read and was polite, and attentive in manner and was chaste in conversation. His face was pleasant in expression, and he his hind and generous in disposition. his nature was a deeply religious one, and his life was blameless among his fellow men He regarded comfort more than style and thought it wrong to spend money for clothing to make a fine appearance. He usually wore a. broad-brimmed hat. He went barefooted not only in the summer, but often in cold weather, and a coffee sack, with neck and armholes cut. in it, was worn as a coat. He. was about five feet nine inches in height, rather spare in build but was large boned and sinewy. His eyes were blue, but darkened with animation. For a number of years Johnny lived in a little cabin near Perrysville (then in Richland county), but later he made his home in Mansfield with his half-sister, a Mrs. Broome. who lived on the Leesville road (now West Fourth street) near the present residence of R. G. Hancock. The parents of George C. Wise then lived near what is now the corner of West Fourth street and Penn avenue and the Broome and Wise families were friends and neighbors. George C. Wise Hiram R. Smith, Mrs. J. H. Cook and others remember "Johnny Appleseed" quite well. Mrs. Cook was, perhaps, better acquainted with "Johnny" than any other living person today, for the Wiler House was often his stopping place. The homes of Judge Parker, Mr. Newman and others were ever open to receive "Johnny'' as, a guest. But the man who best understood this peculiar character was the late Dr. William Bushnell, father of our respected fellow townsman, the Hon. M. B. 112 - HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY Bushnell, the donor of this beautiful commemorative monument. and by whose kindness and liberality we are here today. With Dr. Bushnell 's scholast attainments and intuitive knowledge of character he was enabled to know appreciate Chapman 's learning and the noble traits of his head and heart. When upon his journeys Chapman usually camped out. He never killed anything, not even for the purpose of obtaining food. He carried a kit of cooking utensils with him, among which was a mush pan, which he sometimes wore as a hat. When he called at a house, his custom was to lie upon the floor with his kit for a pillow and after conversing with the family a short time would then read from a Swendenborgian book or tract, and proceed to explain and extol the religious views he so zealously believed, and whose teachings he so faithfully carried out in his everyday life and conversation. His missions was one of peace and good will and he never carried a weapon not even for self defense. The Indians regarded him as a great "Medicine Man,'' and his life seemed to be a charmed one, as neither savage man nor wild beast would harm him. Chapman was not a medicant. He was never in indigent circumstances for he sold thousands of nursery trees every year. Had he been avaricious his estate, instead of being worth a few thousand might have been tens of thousands at his death. ''Johnny Appleseed's'' name was John Chapman—not Jonathan and this is attested by the muniments of his estate, and also from the fact that he had a half-brother (a deaf mute) whose Christian name was Jonathan. Chapman never married and rumor said that a love affair in the old Bay state was the cause of his living the life of a celibate and recluse. Johnny himself never explained why he led such a singular life except to remark that he had a mission, which was understood to be to plant nurseries and to make converts to the doctrines taught by Emanuel Swendenborg. He died at the home of William Worth in St. Joseph township. Allen county, Indiana, March 11. 1847, and was buried in David Archer's graveyard a few miles north of Fort Wayne near the foot of a natural mound. His name is engraved as a senotaph upon one of the monuments erected in Mifflin township, Ashland county, state, to the memory of the pioneers. Those monuments were unveiled with imposing ceremonies in the presence of over six thousand people September 15, 1882, the seventieth anniversary of the Copes tragedy. During the war of 1812 Chapman often warned the settlers of approaching danger. The following incident is ;given : When the news spread that Levi Jones had been killed by the Indians and that Wallace Reed and others had probably met the same fate, excitement ran high and the few families which comprised the population of Mansfield sought the protection of the blockhouse, situated on the public square, as it was supposed the savages were coming in force from the north to overrun the country and to murder the settlers. There were no troops at the blockhouse at the time and as an attack was considered imminent, a consultation was held and it was decided to send a messenger to Captain Douglas, at Mt. Vernon, for assistance. But who would undertake the hazardous journey? It was evening, and the rays of the sunset had faded away and the stars were beginning to shine in the darkening sky, sand the trip of thirty miles noust be made in the night over a nest cut road HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY - 113 through a forest infested with wild beasts and hostile Indians. A volunteer was asked for and a tall, lank man said demurely: "I'll go." He was bareheaded, barefooted and was unarmed. His manner was meek and you had to look the second time into his clear, blue eyes to fully fathom the courage and determination shown in their depths. There was an expression in his countenance such as limners try to portray in their pictures of saints. It is scarcely necessary to state that the volunteer was "Johnny Appleseed" for many of you have heard your fathers tell how unostentatiously "Johnny" stood as “a watchman on the walls of Jezreel," to guard and protect the settlers from their savage foes. The journey to Mt. Vernon was a sort of a Paul Revere mission. Unlike Paul’s “Johnny’s was made on foot. barefooted, over a rough road, but one that in time led to fame. “Johnny” would rap on the doors of the few cabins along the route, warn the settlers of the impending danger and advise them to flee to the blockhouse. Upon arriving at Mt. Vernon, he aroused the garrison and informed the commandant of his mission. Surely figuratively speaking. “The dun-deer’s hide On fleeter feet was never tied," for so expeditiously was the trip matte that at sunrise the next morning troops from Mt. Vernon arrived at the Mansfield blockhouse, accompanied by ''Johnny” who had made the round trip of sixty miles between sunset and sunrise. About a week before Chapman's death, while at Fort Wayne, he heard that cattle had broken into his nursery in St. Joseph and were destroying his trees, and he started on foot to look after his property. The distance was about twenty miles and the fatigue and exposure of the journey were too much for his physical condition, then enfeebled by age; and at the eventide he applied at the home of Mr. Worth for lodging for the night. Mr. Worth was a native Buckeye and had lived in Richland county when a boy and when he learned that his oddly dressed caller was "Johonny Appleseed” gave him a cordial welcome. “Johnny” declined going to the supper table, but partook of a bowl of bread and milk. The day bad been cold and raw with occasional flurries of snow, but in the evening the clouds cleared away and the sun shone warm and bright as it sank in western sky. "Johnny" noticed this beautiful sunset, an augury of the spring and flowers so soon to come, and set on the doorstep and gazed with wistful eyes toward the westt. Perhaps this herald of the springtime, the season in which nature is resurrect from the death of winter, caused him to look with prophetic eyes to the future and contemplate that glorious event of which Christ is the resurrection and the life. Upon reentering the house, he declined the bed offered him for the night, preferring a quilt and pillow on the floor, but asked permission to hold family worship and read, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven,'' "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,” etc. After he had finished reading the lesson, he said prayers, prayers long 114 - HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY remembered by that family.   He prayed for all sorts and conditions of men; that the way of righteousness might be made clear unto them and that saving grace might ,be freely given to all nations. IIe asked that the Holy Spirit might guide and govern all who profess and call themselves Christians and that all those who were afflicted in mind, body or estate, might. be comforted and relieved, and that all might at last come to the knowledge of the truth and in the world to come have happiness and everlasting life. Not only the words of prayer, but the pathos of his voice made a deep impression upon those present. In the morning Chapman was found in a high state of fever, pneumonia having developed during the night, and the physician called said he was beyond medical aid, but inquired particularly about his religious belief, and remarked that he had never seen a dying roan so perfectly calm, for upon his ran there was an expression of happiness and upon his wan face there was a joy, as though he was communing with loved ones who had come to meet and comfort him and to soothe his weary spirit in his dying moments. And as his eyes shone with the beautiful light supernal, God touched him with His finger and beckoned him home. Thus ended the life of the man who was not only a hero, but a benefactor as well and his spirit is now at rest in the Paradise of the Redeemed, and in the fullness of time, clothed again in the old body made anew, will enter into the Father's house in which there are many mansions. In the words of his own faith, his bruised feet, will be healed, and he shall walk on the old-paved streets of the New Jerusalem of which he so eloquently preached. It has been very appropriately said that although years have cone and gone since his death, the memory of his good deeds live anew every springtime in the beauty and fragrance of the blossoms of the apple trees he loved so well. "Johnny Appleseed's" death was in harmony with his unostentations blameless life. It is often remarked, "How beautiful is the Christian life,” yea, but far more beautiful is the Christian's death, when "the fashion of his countenance is altered," a.s he passes from the life here to the life beyond. What changes have taken place in the years that have intervened between the "Johnny Appleseed" period and that of today ! It has been said that the lamp of civilization far surpasses that of Aladdin's. Westward the star of empire took its way and changed the forests into fields of grain and the waste places into gardens of flowers, and towns and cities have been built with marvelous handiwork. But in this march of progress, the struggles and hardships of the early settlers must not be forgotten. Let us not only record the but the history legends of the pioneer period ; garner its facts and its fictions; its tales and traditions and collect even the crumbs that fall from the table of the feast. Today, the events which stirred the souls and tried the courage of the pioneers seem to come out of the dirn past and glide as panoramic views before me. A number of the actors in those scenes were of my "kith and kin" who have long since crossed "over the river" in their journey to the land where Enoch and Elijah are pioneers, while I am left to exclaim: "Oh, for the touch of a vanished hand The sound of a voice that is still." HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY - 115 While the scenes of those pioneer days are vivid to us on history's page, future generations may look upon them as the phantasmagoria of a dream. At seventy-two years of age, forty-six of which had been devoted to his self-imposed mission, John Chapman ripened into death as naturally and as beautifully as the apple seeds of his planting had grown into trees, had budded into blossoms and ripened into fruit. The monument which is now to be unveiled is a fitting memorial to the man in whom there dwelt a comprehensive love that reached downward to the lowest forms of life and upward to the throne of the Divine. At the close of Mr. Baughman’s address, the monument was unveiled, after which a quartet sang “Onward and Upward.” The exercises closed with the singing of “America.” AN ESTATE OF JOHNNY APPLESEED. Alexander Finley, in his lifetime, sold to John Chapman what is estimated to be three acres, in southeast corner of the southwest quarter of section 26, being in the quarter originally entered by said Finley, and which is now owned by A. J. Young, and forms part of the little town of Lake Fork. This land was deeded to Chapman by Finley, but the deed was lost, though recorded, and the tract never transferred on the auditor's books. For some time the land was in the possession of the Finley heirs by whom the taxes were regularly paid. Later a Mr. Young came into possession of the property, and some contension arose later about the ownership of the same. Chapman had made slight improvements and had started a small nursery. THE MURDER OF THOMAS URIE. In 1816 Mr. Urie and his brother Thomas were on a hunting excursion through the eastern part of Ohio, and established their camp between New Philadelphia and Cadiz. The brothers, in pursuit of their game, had become separated during the day. Thomas had succeeded in killing a bear, the skin of which he was conveying, toward evening, to the camp, which he had nearly reached. Solomon was also making his way in the direction of the camp, driving before him his horses, which had been belled and spancelled. When within hearing distance of the camp, his ears were greeted with a sound similar to that of a double crack of rifles, or of the the falling of two trees. Knowing that hostile Indians were in their neighborhood, as they had unmistakable evidence during the night before, he considered it prudent to lead his horses and reach his camp by another route. On approaching, he discovered two Indians in his camp, plundering it of its contents, while a third stood upon the outside as sentinel. He raised his rifle with the intention of shooting the Indian on the outside; but before he could fire, his brother's dog commenced barking and his position and attitude were discovered by his enemy. In the rear of Solomon was a swamp, but comprehending that it would be an unsafe retreat, he boldly pushed forward to the assault of the sentinel. The latter ran, dodgine behind trees, with the view of protecting himself and gaining 116 - HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY an opportunity for shooting his antagonist. Mr. Urie pressed forward, and in his course discovered the dead body of his brother. The three Indians pursued him about three miles to the brink of a precipice, down which, without a moment's hesitation, he descended ; and, on reaching solid ground, discovered that the breech of his rifle was broken—the trigger of the lock, however, being uninjured. The Indians, on reaching the margin of the precipice, were so appalled at the height that they gave up the pursuit.   Mr. Urie continued his journey, in the direction of the Ohio river, five miles, when he came to an encampment which, much to his agreeable surprise, contained, among its inmates, several of the Brady,'s and other Pennsylvania friends. He remained the night, with his friends, and on the following morning the entire party returned with him to the late camp of himself and brother, and found the body of the latter covered with the skin of the bear he had killed on the day previous. One of his legs was stripped of its "leggin" and moccasin, and on the posterior part of his neck was a cross, indicating that this mode of warfare against the whites was to be continued. His body had been pierced by two bullets, doubtless fired by the rifles the sound of which Solomon had heard the evening before. The body was deposited in a grave made with wooden shovels, and in a coffin made of puncheons. The Indians had taken their two horses, forty deer, ten bear, and ten beaver skins, together with their entire stock of provision and traps. Mr. Solomon Urie offered his friends the full property of which he had been despoiled, and an equal amount in addition, if they would aid man in had pursuit and infliction of summary punishment upon the murderers of his brother. They regarded the undertaking, however, as too hazardous, and declined the offer of Mr. Urie. During the war of 1812, Mr. Uric and his son Samuel served in army as volunteers, and in the fall of 1815 removed to land in Orange township, and upon which land he had previously made some improvements. His family, at this time, consisted of his wife and the following named children: Samuel, Thomas, Susan, David, Solomon, John, Elizabeth, George W. and James, Mr. Urie brought with him to the country a couple of dogs, one of which taking a dislike to the "home of his adoption," made his way back to the old homestead, in Washington county, Pennsylvania., a distance of about one hundred and forty miles. This journey he performed, traversing the wilderness and swimming the rivers, in less than twenty-four hours. A BAND OF OUTLAWS. Among the pioneer incidents of Green township, the following is given: In the year 1825, a band of outlaws, locally called land pirates, under the leadership of John Driskel, made their principal headquarters in Green township, upon the farm later owned by John Taylor. They were the terror of the good people of Green and neighborhood, as they had previously been of the inhabitants of Columbiana and Wayne counties, where they had formerly resided, and where they had committed extensive depredations. While in the first named county, the elder Driskel had an encounter with one of the Poe HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY - 117 family, resulting in the loss if the tip of his nose, which added to his naturally repulsive features, gave him a marked and hideous countenance. During his residence in Wayne county, but while the other families connected with the gang, hereafter mentioned, were living in Green township, he had been sentenced to the penitentiary, and effected his escape. A reward was offered for his recapture and return. His confederates were numerous, and scattered over a large district of territory; but John Driskel, his son Pearson, and his son-in-law Reeson Brawdy, and Aaron Brawdy, were among the most desperate; and they (when not professionally engaged) and their families made their headquarters on the place above mentioned. Their principal crimes were horse stealing, incendiarism, and burglaries. They were men of great physical strength and brutal courage, and never omitted an opportunity to exercise these qualities. The boldness and frequency of their depredations had aroused intense indignation among the people of the neighborhood, and organized efforts were trade to detect the haunts and effect a capture of the leaders. Among those most active and vigilant in securing this object were Jonathan Coulter and William Irvin, the former being generally engaged when one of the gang would he arrested, in prosecuting for the state, and the latter being constable of the township. The outlaws had offered, alternately, violent being constable of the township. The outlaws had offered, alternately violent threats and large bribes in money to these and other like adversaries to secure their neutrality: but their firm resistance of all corrupt offers to compound felony, and their inflexible determination to either bring the culprits to justice or rid the country of their presence, brought upon them the concentrated malice of the entire gang, and a war of extermination became necessary to the security of life and property in the settlement. The barns of Coulter and Irvin were fired during the fall of the year 1829, consuming several horses and large stocks of grain , hay, etc., and requiring all the energies of Mr. Coulter and family to prevent, the flames from communicating with their house. Suspicions led to the arrest of Pearson Driskel, who was tried and sentenced to the penitentiary for the crime although in the progress of him trial it appeared that he was only a particeps criminis, having employed a fellow known as “Crop-eared Brawdy” to accomplish the incendiary work. Efforts were, some years later, made to arrest the elder Driskel, who, having effected his escape from the penitentiary, had been discovered, one December evening near dark, by John Kidwell. in Mohican township, making his way, stealthily, on horseback, through the woods, in the direction of the dwellings of his son and son-in-law. The younger Driskel in the mean tine had served his term in the penitentiary, and was at home. Kidwell, anticipating the destination of old man, immediately set out on foot through the woods to communicate his discovery to the immediate neighbors of the outlaws.  A force of five resolute men were assembled and proceeded to the suspected houses, which they reached at a late hour of the night and after a careful reconnaissance of the premises discovered a new saddle hanging under the portico of young Driskel's cabin. This indicated that the fugitive was at that house, and three of the party led by Thomas W. Coulter opened the door and entered. They went to the fire place, and stirring the coals producee a light in the room. The inmates at the house had been in a profound slumber up to that time, and were awakened 118 - HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY by the movements of the Coulter party. Their cries at once aroused the old man Driskel, who, springing from his bed, bowie knife in hand, stooped down and also seized his rifle, threatening with death every intruder who did not instantly leave the house. His order was instantly obeyed, the three men retreated and closed the door after there. Driskel stormed terribly and swore that he would not be taken alive, that he would rather be shot down at his home than to be returned to the penitentiary. and that he would sell his life as dearly as possible. It was a very cold night, and the party on the outside, suffering from the inclemency of the weather, determined to bring the scene to a close and the Driskel that they would give him five minutes in which to make his selection of surrender or death. He had several times tried to escape through the door but confronted the officials. During these efforts to escape he had thrust his gun and arm through an opening in the doorway, when William Irvin seized the opportunity to deal a heavy blow with a. club upon his exposed arm, which for the time paralyzed it. Four of the live men were armed with flintlock muskets these being the best firearm in common use in those days, and the other had a pistol. Old Driskel was a little, ahead of the times. He owned a pick-lock gun, percussion caps were not known in this country then, but old Driskel’s nice gun had what were called "percussion grains.'' These grains were about the size of a pin's head, and the, pick striking down on one was what exploded the powder. The old man had his gun raised to fire at Mr. Rice, who was standing in front of the partly open door, when his son Pearson slipped his hand between his gun and the pick, thereby preventing the discharge of the gun, but receiving a wound upon his own hand. The once snapped his gun within four feet of the breast of David Ayres, and the latter aimed a pistol at the body of culprit then but his weapon also missed fire. The five minutes having expired, the order to fire was given, and the result was four “snaps" and one "flash." Ayre’s pistol was a crack one, and in a few minutes its load was accidentally discharged . To obtain a better sight on the old man, the party began to push out the "chinking" between the logs for the purpose of securing portholes for the muzzles of their guns, when the criminal yielded to the entreaties of his family, and announced his willingness to surrender. The men then entered the house and secured the limbs of the prisoner with a rope, committed him to the charge of two strong men, brothers, named Peterson, who, on the same morning, left with their charge for Columbus. Arriving at Sunbury, Delaware county, Driskel managed to snake his escape, and thus terminated the career in Ohio one of the greatest desperadoes that over cursed this community. Driskel's family and confederates soon joined him in the west, where they continued their vocation of crime for some years. Later John Driskel, his son William and another of the gang were captured by a band of "Regulators" in northern Illinois, and were immediately shot. The body of David Driskel the youngest, was soon afterwards found hanging upon a tree. This gang was composed in part of some of the settlers and of some from a distance. Their depredations alarmed the neighborhood and gave rise to the formation of the "Black Cane" company. The "Blade Cane" company was composed of the most prominent settlers of HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY - 119 the various neighborhoods wherein the land pirates had committed depredations and thefts. Each member of the Black Cane company carried a black cane. The canes were made of crab-apple or black how wood, the bark being peeled off and canes burned black, after which they were oiled and polished to give them a glossy appearance. By vigorous and vigilant work the company succeeded in clearing the country of the land pirates and peace and security reigned until about 1833 when similar services were again in need to clear the country of a band of counterfeiters. THE STEINGRAVER CASE The first murder trail in Ashland county was that of Charles Steingraver, charged with the murder of Clarinda Vantilhurg, a blind girl, aged ten years and two months. Steingraver was in the employ of Mr. Vantilburg as a farm hand, and on the 4th of July 1851, the Vantilburg family went to Perrysburg, Ashland county, to attend a Sunday school celebration, leaving Steingraver and the blind girl at home. It was alleged that the killing was clone in an attempt to commit a rape. Steingraver, however. claimed his innocence to the last. At the September term of court. 1851, the grand jury found a "true bill," the seventh and eighth counts charged the accused with murder in the first degree, by averring that he killed the deceased purposely and of deliberate and premeditated malice. The trial attracted a great deal of attention and aroused the morbid curiosity of the people to an unusual extent. B. W. Kellogg, the prosecuting attorney, was assisted in the ease by the Hon Isaac J. Allen, who afterwards attained distinction as a journalist and diplomat. The accused was defended by John S. Fulton, of Ashland, and Jacob Brinkerhoff, of Mansfield. Mr. Brinkerhoff as a member of congress from this district, was the author of Wilmot Proviso and later served as a judge of the supreme court of Ohio. He was a first cousin of General R. Brinkerhoff, of Mansfield. The jurors in the said case were John McCormick, Ephraim C. Marks, Samuel White, Henry Demit, Isaac Hatch, Jacob Johnson, Jacob Bucher, Elisha Barnes, George Stott, Samuel Harman, James L. Drake, John Harman, who being duly impaneled and severally sworn to well and truly try and true deliverance make between the state of Ohio and the said Charles Steingraver, and a true verdict give according to the evidence, having heard the evidence adduced, the arguments of counsel and the charge of the court, upon their oaths aforesaid did find that Charles Steingraver wm guilty of murder in the first degree, as charged in the indictment. On the Monday following, before the full bench, Steingraver 's attorneys made a motion for a new trail, which was over-ruled, whereupon the court sentenced Steingraver to be hanged on Friday the 30th day of January, 1852, between the hours of twelve o’clock meridian, and two o'clock post-meridian, and that in case the sheriff of the county, by reason of his absence or inability to perform the execution, then for the coroner to take the said Steingraver to 120 - HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY the place appointed by law and execute him by hanging him by the neck until he was dead. The court decreed that in the meantime between the date of sentence; and the time of execution that said Stein raver be confined in the jail of the county in charge of the sheriff. EXECUTION OF CHARLES STEINGRAVER. From the Ohio Union, Feb. 4, 1852. The execution of Charles Steingraver took place on Friday, the 30th of January, 1852, as ordered and directed by the court. Early in the morning immense numbers of the people were collecting' from every section of the country some from a great distance, and directing their course to the exectition ground which was guarded by the military, who were called out for the purpose of suppressing any disturbance which might occur to mar the proceedings, or hinder the law from being peaceably enforced. By eleven o'clock A. M. there had congregated, it is supposed, from eight to twelve thousand persons; and we are sorry to state, that many of this immense assemblage gave evident signs of intoxication. It might therefore be submitted whether executing the extreme penalty of the law in this manner brings about the desired reform, viz., of suppressing the awful crime of murder. Steingraver was led from his cell precisely at twelve o'clock, accompanied by the sheriff and five ministers. He marched from his place of confinement to the allows under the solemn and impressive notes of the "Dead March" which were calculated to soften the most obdurate and hardened, and impress suitable reflections for the solemnities of death. He shed not a tear—he moved along with a firm and unfaltering' step—ascended the scaffold with as little apparent regard for his hard fate as the ox for the slaughter. His long white robe was calculated to rouse solemn reflections about the destiny of man and his long home, when he returns to his mother earth, and lies mouldering in the dust, wrapped in the slumbers of death—dreamless and quit. While religious exercises were taking place on the scaffold, his bearing firm and unmoved. He knelt and listened to several appropriate and powerful prayers both in German and English, and not until the last prayer was being offered was he seen to shed a tear. Be then wept—was much affected, but again braced up, rose with a firmness ill befitting his situation, and requested the sheriff to announce, as his dying' words, that he was not guilty of the imputed to him. He then requested that the people be exhorted, in German and English, to avoid sins that were calculated to lead them into vice and eventually to ruin. He then took his parting leave of the officers and ministers present on the scaffold—submitted calmly to have his arms and feet pinioned—the cap drawn over his head and face—the rope placed around his neck, and drawn up to order to launch him into eternity. The sheriff called out, nineteen minis the time expires—ten minutes—five minutes--one minute, during which announcements, he stood like a statue—unshuddering—unmoved, save to incline HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY - 121 his head a little to the right. A moment before he was precipitated from the scaffold, the sheriff, approaching him, pressed the question, "Steingraver, are you innocent of the crime of murder as charged against you?'' with apparent earnestness he replied, "Sheriff, I am innocent." It was now just fifteen minutes past one o'clock. A moment, and his guilty or guiltless soul was thrust into another world to meet its Creator; a few spasmodic shrugs of his body and limbs and all was over. He hung suspended by his neck about an hour; was then pronounced dead by the medical men present ; his body taken down and placed in a coffin and in something; over half an hour it was transferred to an obscure place in the Ashland cemetery, and there interred. During these proceedings the people behaved with decorum, the best of order prevailing throughout, except when the body was precipitated from the scaffold and for a short time became invisible to the crowd. Order, however, was soon restored, and the people quietly dispersed. THE THORNTON POOL CASE. The second murder trial in Ashland county was that of Thornton Pool, charger with the killing of Noah Hock, at the town of Orange, on December 17, 1853. The tragedy had its origin in the matter of seven cents that had been used at a raffle. The money belonged to Mock but had been appropriated by Pool, and in the controversy, growing out of the affair, Pool stabbed Mock fatally. The ease was tried at the March term of court, 1854. Alexander Porter was the prosecuting attorney, and Fulton, McCombs and Given were the attorneys for the defense. The trial resulted in a verdict of murder in the second degree, and the sentence of the court was, that, Thornton Pool be taken hence by the sheriff to the county jail and from there thence within sixty days from the rising of the court be taken by the sheriff to the Ohio penitentiary, there to remain in confinement and to he kept at hard labor for a period of ten years. THE GRIBBEN-HORN MURDER CASE One of Ashland county's most atrocious murders was that of Harry Williams which occurred at folk at about three o'clock on the morning of March 25, 1883, and for which William H. Gribben and George A. Horn were executed upon the scaffold. The murder was the result of a quarrel and was committed when the parties were in it state of intoxication. There had been bad feeling between the parties for some time and meeting at West Salem, Saturday evening, March 24 taunting words passed between the parties and the murder resulted after they had reached their home town of Polk. We quote from Judge Jabez Dickey's charge to the jury at the close of the trial. "The indictment charges in substance, that William Henry, Gribben, on be twenty-fifth day of March, 1883, at the county of Ashland and State of Ohio, unlawfully, willfully, purposely and feloniously, and of deliberate and premeditated malice did make an assault on one Henry Williams, by striking 122 - HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY him in the head with a certain stone and a certain axe, with the intent then and there, him the said Henry Williams, unlawfully; willfully, purposely feloniously and of deliberate and premeditated malice to kill and murder. And by reason of the blows so struck, with the stone and axe, certain mortal wounds were inflicted in and upon the head of him the said Henry Williams and of which, mortal wounds he, then and there, instantly died. And that the said William Henry Gribben, by the means and in the manner aforesaid, unlawfully, wilfully and feloniously and of deliberate and premeditated malice, him, the said Henry Williams, did kill and murder. "The. indictment will be before you and you will look to it for a more particular statement of the charge. While the indictment charges the prisoner jointly with one George Andrew Horn, you will treat it as though it was against the defendant, William Henry Gribben, alone; each defendant being entitled to a separate trial.'' On Thursday, February 7, 1884, Gribben and Horn were sentenced by the court to be hanged on Friday, May 16. On the day of the execution a crowd of about eight thousand persons assembled in and around the courthouse grounds. A militia company was present to preserve order. 'There was much fear that the enclosure would be torn down which was not at all lessened by the three or four shots which were fired. It was at time of suspense and horror to those inside the enclosure. They could not see what was going on outside and had to depend on their ears for information. There were plenty of men who would have followed a leader right against the militia. The crowd was massed at the south end of the courtyard, and made most of their demonstration on that side. As the time of the execution approached the crowd grew bolder. and several attempts were made to tear down the fence, but the soldiers stood firm. The police were utterly unable to control the crowd. Several times they attempted to make arrests, but their boot prisoners were taken from them before they could hardly move. During the attacks on the fence a stone was thrown by some one in the crowd which struck one of the militia men on the head. Some one took one of the bayonets from the rifle of one of the militia had threw it back towards the soldiers. It struck one man and disabled him from his active service. Had the execution been an hour later there would have been bloodshed for each moment the crowd grew bolder. The entrance gate was on this side and was doubly guarded; as those who had tickets to with execution were admitted loud and derisive cries went up from the enraged and loud and deep were the curses heaped upon the sheriff for admitting so many, yet calling out the military to keep the execution from being private. The crowd was led by a tall farmer to whom the guns of the militia has no terror. IIe and several others turned their attention to the woodhouse, and part of the side was soon torn off, but the gap was filled with four soldiers. The former, nothing daunted, grabbed the guns by the bayonets and some one in the rear struck one of the guard with a stone. An extra company was brought from the south side to reinforce the, HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY - 123 at this side. If there had been fifty men like the one who tore down the woodhouse they would have made an entrance to the yard. The sheriff hurried Gribben on to the trap doors and the ropes were quickly adjusted by Sheriff Brown around Horn's neck and by Ex-Sheriff Gay of Mansfield around Gribbens. There was a delay of a few seconds and then the voice of the minister was beard in prayer. He had uttered but a few words when Sheriff Gates sprung the trap and the bodies were precipitated downwards to death. Both men were killed instantly; there was a few spasmodic jerks of the. muscles and all was over. The trap fell precisely at ten thirty a. m. The bodies were both pronounced dead in twenty minutes. Both their necks were broken by the fall. It was a perfect execution and there was not one mistake made unless in view of the excited, yelling crowd there was some little hurry in the final preparation of the men. The scene on the scaffold was one of confusion and disorder made so by the crowds who would listen to no reason or argument. It was almost impossible to make out what Gribben said so loud was the noise. Horn was perfectly calm and cool. He spoke to but few and was as calm and cool apparently as ever in his life. Both inen walked up the narrow stairs leading from the jail unsupported and also out of the window to the scaffold. There were less than one hundred and fifty spectators inside the enclosure. One man lit a paper and attempted to set fire to the woodhouse on the north side. The Polk company was placed at one of the most exposed points, but every man stood to his post. Theirs wns a most trying position because they were personally acquainted with a large number of those who were trying to get in. Several of them were struck with stones and clubs, but fortunately none seriously hurt. They will make good witnesses before the grand jury. THE STEIN-PORTER TRAGEDY. The most important case investigated by the grand jury of Ashland county at the October (1908) term of common pleas court, was the Stein-Porter tragedy at Loudonville, which occurred Friday afternoon, August 14, 1908. The following is taken from one of the local papers; “A wave of horror passed over Ashland county when the awful news was told and it became known that Miss Hester Porter, a highly respected lady of that town had been mysteriously shot twice in the back of the head and instantly killed and that Morris B. Stein, a prominent young business man of Des Mines, Iowa, had also been shot and killed, at Miss Porter's home in Loudonville. Since that terrible event there has been a great deal said and printed in the newspapers over the state, also at Des Moines, Iowa, where young Stein resided. Many were of the firm belief that it was a case of double murder; while others were inclined to the belief that it was a case of murder and suicide—that either Stein shot Miss Porter and then himself or vice versa. At all events, the 124 - HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY double tragedy has been a mystery, for the solution of which Prosecutor Frey has been diligently working since it happened. The prosecutor has been of the firm belief that Mrs. Mary Bayarrd, a sister of Miss Porter, and her daugter, Mrs. Morris B. Stein, wife of the dead young man, both of Des Moines, and were visiting at Loudonville at the time of the tragedy, knew more about the affair than they testified to at the inquest held by Coroner Ash at Londonville the day following the killing. There was considerable interest manifested in what action the grand jury would take in this Stein-Porter case. The jury took up the case on Wednesday afternoon and heard the testimony of fourteen witnesses. It is understood that the jurors took five or six ballots, including two Friday morning, and each time the vote stood eleven for indictment for murder against Mrs. Bayard and daughter, Mrs. Stein, and four against an indictment. It is also stated that some of the jurors got into a very heated argument while in session this morning and for a time it looked as though there would be trouble among them. The grand jurors also reported that they complied with the court's instruction and examined the county jail, etc., and that everything was found in proper condition as required by the statutes." THE JUNE FROST OF 1859. On Sunday morning, June 5, a great sheet of frost covered the hills and valleys in this part of Ohio, and was particularly severe in Ashland county. The spring season of that year compared somewhat with that of 1816, in which year there were frosts every month in the year. The frosts of 1816. although severe did not do as much damage as that of 1859. A writer to the State Commissioner of Statistics states: That after February in 1859, the weather had some extraordinary changes. Part of March and the first part of April, the season was very favorable and appearances promised one of the best of harvests. The fall grain looked more healthy than usual until the 4th of June, when a rain, it clouded up and flakes of snow were seen flying in the air. On the morning; of the 5th there was more than a common frost—it was a severe freeze. The ice had been formed from one-half to five-eights in thickness. Everything froze of the plant kind. Wheat and rye froze in the blossom, corn in the stock, potatoes and other vines to the ground. Some of the corn recovered, but the greater part of it did not. The weather was changeable, the greater part of the time cold, and on the morning of the Fourth of July there was another frost which froze the corn on flat and swampy land the second time. On August the 11th and on the 28th there were frosts. Also in May and September there were light frosts, and on October 9th there was a heavy frost, which froze the corn fodder and soft corn. After that the weather was more favorable for the remainder of the autumn. Another report to the state commissioner gives the following account of frost disasters of that and other years: In 1834 destructive frosts took place in May, as late as from the 13th to the 18th, six mornings in succession, destroying all the fruit and much corn and wheat. But the wheat was then in blossom, HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY - 125 and in a great measure recovered by pushing up new stocks from the uninjured roots, and produced ai small crop. The corn was replanted, and warm rains succeding, the farmer was blessed with a fair return for his labor by the kindness of Him who has said "Seedtime and harvest shall not fail.'' Even so in the year 1859, where the fields were immediately replanted as late as the 10th of June The crop of corn was fairly good. The damaged by In the frost was a serious loss as the previous year had been unfruitful. While the climate of Ashland county does not differ generally from that of its neighboring counties, yet an incident was related by the Rev. Seamans, at a meeting of the Ashland County Historical Society that is out of the ordinary, which is this: That upon one season back in the pioneer days snow fell on the 6th day of June to the depth of six inches, and that the young robins were frozen to death in their nests , another statement was that in 1823 frost destroyed all the corn in the month of August, but it resprouted and produced quite a VI. TOWNSHIPS We turn from events of a more general character to enter into detail and specific account of the organization and settlement of the townships. MONTGOMERY TOWNSHIP. Montgomery township was surveyed by Jonathan Cox, in 1807, and the same year the survey was platted and certified to Jarad Mansfield, surveyor general of the United States. The township was organized by the commissioners of Richland county in 1816. Prior to that time Vermillion and Montgomery each elected one justice of the peace and acted as one township. The pioneers of Montgomery at the period of its organization, are believed to have been Robert Newell, Daniel Carter, Jacob Fry, Benjamin Cuppy, Henry Baughman, Samuel Burns, Daniel Mickey, Solomon Uric, Samuel Urie, Jacob Figley, William Montgomery, Jacob Crouse, James Kuykendall, Joseph Markley, John McNaul, Michael Springer, John Springer, Henry Springer, Daniel and Henry Vautilbnrg, and probably a few others not now remembered. The first justice of the peace was Robert Newell, who was succeeded by Daniel Carter, Sr. 'The date of the settlement of Montgomery township may be said to have commerced about the year 1818, the settlers prior to that time being very few in number. From 1818 until about 1821, the township had received considerable accessions to its population. Squire Newell was the largest landholder, he being flit owner of one thousand acres ; the next largest as a. Mr. Lanterman, of Trumbull county, who was the owner of about nine hundred acres, embracing what was later known as the "'Tunker Settlement.' Under the laws of congress in force at that time, no one could enter less than a quarter section, and very few of the original settlers entered more than that quantity. These quarters were often divided and sometimes subdivided by the original purchasers, and sold to other settlers, which had a strong tendency to promote the density of the 126 - HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY settlement, and develop the resources of the country. No better agricultural lands can be found in the state than those in this township. In the southern part of Montgomery township was the well known Wyandot trail which in 1761 was followed by Rogers and his rangers in their route to the forks of the Muskingum on their return to Fort DuQuesne. It was also the route of General Beall on his expedition to Sandusky. This trail passes into Milton township and then into Richland county. Montgomery, lying back from the principal streams was not settled as early as the other parts of the county, as no settlers were found within its limits until several years after the settlement at Greentown. It was mid-winter when the first settler arrived and his shelter until his cabin was built was an open-ended tent. He cut and hauled the logs for his cabin as quickly as possible, but could not raise it without help, and had to travel sixteen miles through the forest to get the fourth roan for that purpose. This cabin was one mile northeast of the present town of Ashland. These pioneers were brave men with a determined purpose to thus settle in the dense woods, in January with no shelter from the cold, the snow. the wolves, the bears, etc., but a tent. But after the war of 1812, the county and township began to fill up quite rapidly and their pioneer history is much the same as has been written of the pioneers in other townships. As soon as the settlers could get a clearing about their cabins, and provide for their immediate wants, they began to plan about schools and churches. "Old Hopewell." was the first erected here. It was called "Old" from the fact that later there was another of the same name erected in the town of Ashland. The old church was erected of logs, a mile west of Ashland, in 1819 by the Presbyterians. LAKE TOWNSHIP. Lake township was surveyed in 1807, and was organized on the 5th day of September, 1814, as it now is, except that a part or the whole of Washington township, Holmes county, was then included within its borders and so remained until the erection of Holmes county in January, 1824. There is no town in Lake township. By the operation of the act of 1846 erecting Ashland county, Lake, which had already been shorn of its full proportions, by the erection of Holmes county, became further reduced, and has now a smaller area than township organization in the county, except Mifflin. It is sometimes called "Little Lake," yet, notwithstanding its decimation of territory the census report shows that it has increased in population- favorably with the townships of the county. Population in 1820 - 311 Population in 1830 - 552 Population in 1840 - 1145 As many references are made in the memoranda of the early settlers to this of tol an thi to coy HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY - 127 mill, it may be a matter of interest to state that it was erected by Nathan G. Odell, in the spring of 1812. Mr. Odell entered the tract upon which the mill is located in April, 1810, and at once commenced his improvement, and in march, 1811, removed his family to the place. He was the first white settler within the limits of what is now Clinton township, Wayne county. He died in Michigan, in 1833, at the age of sixty-seven. The building was originally constructed of hewn logs. In December, 1807, Joshua Oram, and family, immigrated to Fairfield county, Ohio,' from the state of Maryland. In November, 1811, the family removed to Lake township, and entered and commenced improvement upon a quarter which, by subsequent divisions, became a part of the township of Clinton. In the fall of 1812, the family of Mr. Oram, with several others, established a fort near the southern line of Lake township, where they remained about three months. In 1815 his father sold the farm he originallypurchased, and entered the northeast and southeast quarters of section 15, Lake township, and immediately commenced improvement upon the former quarter. After residing upon this land about three years, he sold to Asahel Webster, and removed to the southeast quarter. which he improved and made his residence until his decease, which occurred on the 27th day of August, 1831. When his father commenced his residence in Lake, there was not a white family residing within the limits of what now forms the township. When he raised his second cabin, in 1815, he traveled a circuit of ten miles to gather the necessary force of men for the purpose. The supplies of breadstuffs were obtained from Knox county, which was thou considered the "Egypt" of the country, where the corn purchased was ground at Shrimplin's Mill, and was brought home on packhorses during the winter season, and on canoes when the streams were navigable. After the neighborhood began to raise its own supplies of corn, it was prepared for converting into bread by breaking up into wooden mortars, an article which belonged to nearly every cabin, and which was regarded as an indispensable machine in the domestic economy. The mills were so remote that many families subsisted for months, upon this domestic meal. The Presbyterians and German Lutherans were the first church organizations in the religious field in Lake township ; the Presbyterians having an organization there as early as 1826, other denominations coming later. MOHICAN TOWNSHIP. Mohican township was surveyed in 1.807 by Jonathan Cox. On the 11th of April, 1812, the commissioners of Wayne county divided the county into four townships—the western part, including what are "now Jackson, Perry, Mohican and Lake, and part of Washington in Holmes county, and the west half of what are now Clinton, Plain, Chester and Congress in Wayne county, and organized this territory as one township, under the name of Mohican. Thus Mohican township once embraced an area equal in extent to one-half of that which now constitutes Ashland county. Mohican was among the first settled and the first 128 - HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY organized of any of the townships which now compose Ashland county. I population of Mohican township in 1820 was six hundred and thirty-two; 1830, one thousand three hundred and sixteen; in 1860, one thousand so hundred and twelve. Thomas Eagle arrived in the township of Mohican on the 2d day of May, 1809, having, succeeded the family of Alexander Finley a few weeks. 1 family then consisted of his wife and daughter Amelia. He first opened a in farm on the land now owned and occupied by Henry Treace. In the early part of the war, he, together with several of his neighbors, removed their families the fort, at Wooster, as security against attacks by Indians. Alexander Finley was the first white settler in Mohican township. Wit it few weeks, however, other persons, namely. William and Thomas Eagle. Banjamin rain Bunn, and John Shinnebarger, all having families, settled in the nigh! hood. The year following, (1810) Amos Norris, Vachel Metcalf, Will Bryan, Thomas Newman, and James Slater, with their several families, removed to the township. The Indians in the neighborhood at this time were an intermixture of sere tribes, the Mohegans, Delawares, Wyandottes, Shawnees, Chickasaws, and one two who claimed to be of the Cherokee tribe. They were friendly and harmless, until the war of 1812 commenced, when the main body of them disappear and most of them, it is supposed, became attached to the British service. The first year or two after Mr. Finley carne to the country, he obtained supplies of flour and corn meal from Shrimplin's rail!, below Alt. Vernon. T journey to the mill was performed in canoes or pirogues, down the Lake Fork and Mohican, and up Owl creek, and occupied about three days for the it These vessels would carry from twenty to fifty bushels of corn meal. The forests at this period were destitute of underbrush or small timber, were covered with sedge grass, pea vines, and weeds, which afforded excel' pasture from early spring until about August. The sedge grass, when cut July, or earlier, afforded very nutritous and palatable food for horses and eat during' the winter. Very little iron was used in those days. The sacs `'mould board" plow and wooden and brush harrows were generally in the twelve or fifteen Sears after Mr. Finly came to the country; and many tinned their use several years afterward. The clothing of the men was buckskin and flax linen. The women in clothed in a fabric made of raw cotton and flax linen. Handkerchiefs head dresses, and aprons were made, by the thrifty housewives, of raw cotton, I price of calico (being from fifty to seventy-five cents per ,yard) placed it with the means of any but very few to purchase. An excellent and industrious girl, as late as 1822 or 1.823, toiled faithfully six weeks for six yards of calico, which, in those primitive days, before the era of hoops, was deemed sufficient for a dress. The lady who appeared in the first calico dress, attracted, it may supposed, considerable attention in "the settlement." window glass was not in use until some years after the war of 1812, oiled paper being employed substitute. When Mr. Hootman came to the township the major part of the village of Jeromeville was covered with fallen timber and hazel bush. The improvements HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY - 129 on the farms then settled were small, being loo cabins surrounded by a few acres of partly cleared land. The roads were new and unimproved, and many of them little more than bridle-paths. The prices of produce in 1828-29 were, on the recollect distinctly : wheat, twenty-five cents; pork, one dollar and fifty cents per hundred weight; corn, eighteen cents; salt, five dollars per barrel; coffee, fifty cents per pound; tea, fifty cents per quarter; butter, six cents; eggs, nothing; iron, twelve and one-half cents per pound. The usual and best market place was Portland, (now Sandusky City). Twenty to thirty bushels wheat, a big load for two and four horses, ten days of travel if the roads were good, two weeks if not good. Massillon became a market town. The opening of the Ohio canal run the price of wheat up at once to forty cents, then fifty, and then our farmers at that time were satisfied, and expressed the wish that the price would continue at that as they then could make money. Our nearest gristmill was an old concern known as Goudy's Drill, southeast of Hayesville, with one run of stone, old niggerhead or boulder stone at that. Another was Smith's Mill. below Mohicanville, In the winter, when those small streams were frozen, we went to the Clearfork to Manner's Mill. Sometimes we had to go to Owl Creek, in Knox county. There were the remains of no less than five ancient fortifications in Mohican township; the embankments very regular and very distinctly defined, until cultivation has nearly destroyed their original features. Three are near Jeromeville, and two near the junction of the Muddy and Jerome Forks. They embraced areas averaging about one and a half acres. A mound near the old Indian village, bearing unmistakable evidence, after excavation, of its being a work of art and upon which trees, the growth of centuries, were standing, was also in existence. The following chronological memoranda of events of interest that have occurred in past years, furnished by Judge Ingmand, will be found of general and local interest: November 13, 1833. Lights were seen falling on the early morning of this day, (three or four hours before daybreak.) having the appearance, of showers of stars. May 15, 1834. The first frost that, since the settlement of the country, occurred which had been known to materially injure the wheat crop. June 21, 1834. A terrific storm passed over Jeromeville and a district of country west. which appeared to have its most violent force between the latter place and the vicinity of the farm upon which the County Infirmary is now situated, prostrating in its pathway forest trees and fences, unroofing buildings, removing them from their foundations, etc. 1835. The summer remarkably wet, bottom lands much overflown, and too wet for tillage. Hay crop badly damaged, and cattle died the following winter in consequence of eating it. A comet appeared during the fall of the same year. November 11, a severe storm, which did much damage to Buffalo and other ports on the American side, and to the shipping on the lakes. May 2, 1841. A snow storm of rare violence. July 21, 1843. Frost. 130 - HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY September 27, 1844. Snow covered the ground, and lay upon it all the following day. October 18, a violent snow storm at Buffalo. May 7 and 25, 1845. Frosts appeared, which again destroyed the wheat crop of this year. To those familiar with the days of log cabins, the phrase so often used, "the latch string is out," is clearly understood.. This latch or fastening was made of wood, and in order to enable those from without to enter the dwelling, a small string was attached to the latch, (which was always on the inside) and passed through the door to the outside, and hence, to prevent the entrance of any person, the inmates would pull in the latch string, so that when it was not seen on the outside of the door, it was evidence that no one could be admitted, One window was usually all that was considered necessary in a log cabin. This was made by cutting out one log, some two feet in length, and then closing up by putting in small sticks, in the form of sash, and pasting greased paper over them to cause it to admit the light more readily. As stoves were almost unknown in those days, a fireplace was used instead thereof. These were made by cutting out a hole in one end of the building, in some cases large enough to pass a two-horse wagon through the cavity. On the outside of the house, and connected with this, the chimney was built of wood and mortar, sometimes lined on the inside with stone and mortar, immediately adjoining the fireplace. In front of the fireplace was a large space left in the floor called the hearth, which was usually covered with flat stone, and hence the old phrase ''hearth-stone." As the wants of the people of that day were few, and easily satisfied the log cabin usually contained but one room, which served as kitchen, dining roomm bed room, sitting room and parlor. Upon land in Mohican township was a prairie, which appeared originally to have been a crust of vegetable matter overlying a sheet of water. As it was evidently land of great fertility, if the water under it could be withdrawn efforts were made thoroughly to drain it. Ditches were made, in some places to the depth of six feet, and considerable quantities of cedar trees, some of the them twelve and eighteen inches in diameter, were found imbedded in the eat What length of time they had occupied the position in which they were found is, of course, unknown, but they appeared as free from any evidence of decay as they would have shown on the day they perished. What is remarkable is that no cedars were ever found by the early settlers, growing in that vicinity. The inference is that a cedar swamp once covered the ground, and a tornado may have violently uprooted them, thus breaking the crust and burying them beneath the surface. Swamp flag and wild grass, very little decayed, were also found at the depth of from five to six feet. Skeletons of buffalo and elk were also discovered, some of them of immense size. The head and horns of one elk found partly imbedded were of such dimensions that, placing the points of the horns upon the ground, two men on each side supporting them is an upright position. William Eagle, a man whose height was nearly six feet, would pass under them erect. In the early settlement of the country there was no law providing for common schools—no tax levied or other funds provided for payment of teacher. Hence all buildings for the use of common schools consisted of some old evacu- HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY - 131 ated dwelling; or, if built for that express purpose, had to be done by voluntary contribution of citizens immediately interested. During the war of 1812, there were three blockhouses erected in Mohican township, one on the town plat of Jeromeville, a few rods north of the present gristmill; one near the Mohican creek, about four miles south of Jeromeville, on land later owned by Henry Treace; and one about a mile farther down the creek. To these houses all the neighborhood would run for safety whenever the alarm was given, and not unfrequently they would have to remain there for several days and nights. with but little to eat or drink. Sometimes some trivial circumstance would cause an alarm, and the whole neighborhood would gather into the blockhouse, and, after remaining there perhaps a day and night, the mistake would be found out, and all would return to their homes again. CLEAR CREEK TOWNSHIP. Clear Creek township was surveyed in 1807, by Mansfield Ludlow, but the date of its organization as a township cannot be ascertained by either township or county records. However, it is known that the population of the township in 1820 was three hundred and nine. The number had increased to one thousand three hundred and twenty-seven in 1860. When the first settlers came to this township they found the land covered with a dense forest, and had hard labor in clearing and improving, their farms. The first list of township officers on record were those of 1862, to-wit: trustees, A. F. Shaw, John Bryte, and E. T. Garrett; clerk, M. C. Percival ; assessor, John Gibson ; treasurer, David Stem; constables. John Swineford and John Neff.. The town of Savannah being pleasantly situated and on a leading road it was a place of considerable business for a number of years, and during the period of the evolution of counties it was a prominent candidate for the seat of justice for a new county. Savannah was laid out December 25th, 1818, and was maned Vermillion, although the place was locally known as Haneytown, for the Rev. James Haney, an early resident of the place, and who had served several terms in the legislature as a representative from Ashland county. Rev. Haney was a man of good sense as well as of fine sentiment, and in a letter to a friend, speaking of the prosperous condition of the township, the result of the labors of the pioneers, also looked forward with an interest somewhat tinged with melancholy from the past to the future and expressed the inquiry as to whether succeeding generations would be 'informed of the names even, of those who had cleared the forest in fields and first cultivated the same. He recalled the lines of Henry Kirk White, that— "Fifty years hence, and who will hear of Henry? Oh! none; another busy brood of beings Will shoot up in the interim, and none Will hold him in remembrance." The histories then written were of a general or national character and the 132 - HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY Rev. Haney did not anticipate that local histories in time would come. The selection of Ashland as the county-seat of the new county of Asland. gave a back-set to Savannah and the business of the town began to decline, its downward course was checked by the erection of the Savannah Academy 1858. The first school taught in Clear Creek township was by Mrs. Elliott in her own house in 1817-1.818. The first instance in which the population of the village of Savannah taken separately from that of the township of Clear Creek was in 1860. It then contained three hundred and thirty-six inhabitants. A Presbyterian church was organized in Savannah in 1833. This ohm was an offshoot from the Hopewell church of Ashland. A Free Presbyterian church was organized in Savannah in 1851, with F. M. Finney, minister. United Presbyterian church was organized there in June, 1858, by combining members of what was before known as the Associate and the Associate. Reform Presbyterian churches, with J. W. Ashenhurst as pastor. The Associate Reform Congregation of Savannah was organized in September, 1831, by the late James Johnson, of Mansfield. The first house of worship in Savannah built in 1834. A Disciple church was organized in the township in the 1830. The denomination which was then known as the Disciples is nos' c "Christians,'' but the proper denominational name for this sect of people "The Church of the Disciples of Christ." In 1837 the names of the town and postoffice were changed from Vermillion to Savannah. In 1822 the only mill in the township was a horsemill, built and maned Thomas Ford. The first sawmill in the township was erected by Joseph I on the Clear Creek in 1822. In 1824 John Hendricks built a frame grin on the Vermillion, a short distance below the mouth of the Clear Creek, 1827 John and Thomas Hancy erected a gristmill on Mulhollen's run, a distance south of the town. Prior to the erection of gristmills in Clear township, the pioneers had to tale their grists to Odell's in Wayne county, distance of from thirty to thiry-five miles. The first election in the township was held at the house of John Freeborn The first physician in the township was Dr. Cliff. Prior to that then physician was at Ashland. The cabin of Thomas Ford was a prominent place of holding religious meetings in pioneer times in Clear Creek township. Men and women traveled often six or eight miles on foot, through the woods, at night they lighted pathways by torches of hickory bark, to enable them to attend the se In 1830, a church building was put imp. known as "Ford's Meeting House This meeting house was considered the best structure devoted to religions vices in that part of the county. The four quarterly meetings of the of the Methodist Episcopal church —Mansfield being included in the circuit- were held in this church for several years. The first religious service Ford's Meeting House was the funeral of Thomas Ford, who died October 1830, aged fifty-seven Years. His was the first interment in the Aram adjoining the church. HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY - 133 In about 1820. the first schoolhouse in the southern part of the township was built on the line of the land of Abraham Huffman. The house was of hewn logs, eighteen by twenty feet, cabin roof, puncheon floor, puncheon tables and puncheon seats. It had greased paper windows, and the facilities for heating, were limited to fires made in a fireplace such as were in general use in the cabins of those days, and afforded in cold weather insufficient heat to admit of practice in writing, as the ink would almost freeze in the pen in the process of transferring it from the inkstand to the paper. The first teacher was Robert Nelson, of Hilton township, who continued in that capacity two or three years. As evidence of the privations endured by many in the early settlement, Mr. Vanostrand mentions the case of a worthy family who came to the country destitute of either provisions or money, who subsisted a greater portion of one season upon pumpkins alone—commencing their use as food while the vegetable was yet unripened. The family would perhaps have suffered death by starvation, had it not been for the friendly aid afforded them by the neighbors, after learning their situation. Every house in Clear Crack, as was the case in other townships in the early settlement, manufactured the wearing apparel for its own household. The males were dressed in buckskin and domestic linen ; and the women and children were also dressed in fabrics the product of their own fields and households.  There were no woolen goods, as sheep would be devoured by the wolves; and after the wolves had so far disappeared as to invite the introduction of sheep, the climate and wild food were discovered to be unfavorable to their life and health. Jacob Myers immigrated to Clear Creek township, April 23, 1829. His native state was Pennsylvania, Green county, where he was ordained as a clergyman of the Baptist church. He purchased and entered the land which forms the tract upon which he has since resided, on sections 3 and 4, Clear Creek township. Among, the pioneer families of Clear Creek township, the following names are recalled: Elias Ford, Peter Vannostrand, William Shaw, James Haney, John Freeborn, David Burns, John Richards, Thomas Ford. Abraham Claberg and John Bryte.. Elias Ford came to Clear Creek township in 1819, and the Fords have been numerous and prominent in the township ever since. One of the number, Thomas H., became lieutenant governor of Ohio and was later a Colonel in the Union army in the war of the Rebellion. David Bryte settled in Clear Creek township in 1821. He later located in Mansfield, where he served as deputy sheriff for two terms and in 1840 was elected sheriff. of Richland county.He died in 1872. COMMUNICATIONS FROM REV. JOHN HANEY. Under date of November 10, 1861, the Rev. John Haney wrote the following communication from Lansing, Iowa. to Editor Knapp, of Ashland. Mr. Haney writes as follows 134 - HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY "In compliance with your request, T will state that the settlement of when is now Clear Creek township, Ashland county, commenced in the spring, of eighteen hundred and fifteen (1815) . In the winter preceding the Rev. James Haney, (my father) John and Richard Freeborn and William Shaw built a small keelboat in Cross Creed township, Washington county, Pennsylvania, and hauled it a distance of twelve miles to the Ohio river. On the evening of the 10th of March of that year, Richard Freeborn, William Shaw, Daniel Devlin my father and myself embarked on the boat which we had freighted with our goods, provisions, etc., from Wellsburg, Virginia, to the nearest navigable point on the Muskingum waters, thence to our destination. John Freeborn went by land with our horses and cattle. On reaching the month of the Muskingum we met unusually high water, which retarded our progress and made the labor of propelling our keelboat very severe. Daniel Devlin and I were then only sixteen years of age each. After many adventures and perils, we arrived at a place called Finley's bridge, about five miles south of Jeromeville, on the 26th of April, where we met our horses and pack saddles. On the evening of the 29th, we encamped on the ground now known as the old grave yard, on the line between Clear Creek and Orange townships, one and a half miles southeast of Savannah. The names of the parties there encamped were John Freeborn, Richard Freeborn, his wife Elizabeth and infant daughter Mary, William Shaw, his wife and daughters Eleaner and Jane, small children, Rev. James Haney, his sons John and Thomas and daughter Mary, aged respectively sixteen, fourteen, and twelve at that time. The balance of the family came out in the fall. "Abraham Huffman, Robert McBeth and Patrick Elliott, were among the first settlers of Clear Creek township. "The entire range of surveyed townships from the north to the south side of Richland county, in which Clear Creek was situated, constituted but one organized township, at first named Vermillion. The date of the organization of Clear Creek township I do not distinctly recollect. It was either John or Richard Freeborn who personally applied for the organization and gave the name. It was the name given by the Messrs. Freeborn to the principal creek in the township when they first saw it in the summer of 1814, and they gave the township the same name. I do not recollect who were the first officers of the township, but I do remember that, for several years the officers served without pay. Robert McBeth was the first justice of the peace. "I am unable to recall the years that my father represented Richland county in the Ohio legislature. It was, however, during the period that the state organized its canal system. "My impression is that Mrs. Elliott taught the first school in the townshipl at her own house. I think the first religious meeting was held at father's house three-fourths of a mile east of Savannah. At any rate, Rev. James Haney preached the first sermon ever preached in the township. For sometime after the commencement of the settlement of the country, religious meetings were hold at private houses. If I am not mistaken, the first religious society was formed at Mr. Thomas Ford's and the first administration of the sacrament took place there. The precise time when and where the first church building was ererected, do not recollect. HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY - 135 "The village of Savannah was laid out in the winter of 1818, by myself. It was first called Vermillion. The first man who settled in the town was JosephPast. The first schoolhouse was a. small log building erected on the northeast corner of the town plat. Jacob McLain was the first brickmaker and hatter in the town. Garnett Whitelock was the first blacksmith. Joseph Davis built the first sawmill on Clear creek, one and a half miles west of Savannah. "John and Richard Freeborn planted the first apple seeds, which furnished the trees for several of the oldest orchards in the township. Thomas Ford erected the first horsemill for grinding grain in the township. "The Indians hunted for several years after the first settlers came. They were principally Delawares and Wyandots. Game was plenty for several years after the first settlements were made.  The wild pasture was good at first. Horses and cattle did well, but sheep were unhealthy until the country was improved. "The streams had more water in then than now. The general health was pretty good, considering that the climate was damper than at present. The principal diseases were intermittent fevers and rheumatism. The social condition of the first settlers was good. Their common wants brought them in contact favorable to the cultivation of the social virtues. Few of the settlers did more toward improving the country than Abraham Huffman. He was a man of great industry and energy, always ready to administer to the wants of the needy. His uncompromising hostility to what he considered wrong, sometimes caused him trouble that many others could have avoided. "Robert McBeth was an intelligent man, of fine social qualities, and sterling integrity, "Patrick Elliott was emphatically an honest man. "Thomas Ford was a highly reputable and intelligent citizen." SULLIVAN TOWNSHIP. Mr. S. Parmele, one of the party which surveyed Sullivan township gave the following account of the survey and early settlement of the township: "Sullivan township was surveyed in 1816, by Esquire Baldwin, of Newburg, Cuyahoga county, assisted by myself and others. The survey was commenced in the month of October, and the surveying party camped in the woods two weeks, there being no settlement nearer than Harrisville east, and Elyria north; no road but a line of marked trees. A road was laid out in the time of the war of 1812, nearly parallel with the present, but had never been marked. Game was very plenty. Business of importance recalled Mr. Baldwin to Newburg; being absent longer than was expected, the county not having very comfortable quarters, I started after him, there being no mode of communication but by messengers. I traveled on foot the whole distance by the aid of marked trees and trail not very well defined after I had left Harrisville. "On the 8th of November, a very heavy fall of snow obstructed my walking very much; it was about a foot deep in the woods, but I went through. After all this fatigue and delay, I was obliged to return without him. On my return night overtook me, and I was unable to follow the trail; but, nothing disheartened 136 - HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY I sat down on a log and waited for the moon to rise. It was still very difficult to follow the trail, and I could only do so by feeling the marked trees. As good fortune would have it, I was not very far from Mr. Strong's, of Strongsville; and arriving there, I tarried till morning. In a few days Mr. Baldwin came, and we again prosecuted the survey; he brought another surveyor with him which expedited our business much, and we accomplished the survey in with him week. During this time, considerable rain fell, and from Wednesday till Friday had to wade in water in some places Up to our armpits. On Saturday morning finished the survey; it was a very rainy day, the water had been so high we could not get to Harrisville for provisions, and were obliged to divide our rations having only one-fourth of a pound of bread a piece for three days, and some beef. We finally succeeded in getting to Harrisville on Saturday night. We went to James Rogers, and, notwithstanding they had a wedding. we were received from the woods with the greatest kindness, and treated with marked attention ; and surely wedding supper was never more acceptable to any one or devoured with keener relish—meats, pudding, pies, cakes, and a variety of sauce of wild fruits, cranberries, crab apples, plums, etc., for dessert. Soon after this I returned to Vermont, having finished surveying; and selecting three thousand acres of land for myself and friends. "On the 6th day of June the following year, (1817) seven families, all living in one neighborhood, namely, John Parmely, Sr., his wife Dorothy and his two youngest children, two married sons, namely, Sylvanus Parmely and Lois Parmely, and four children ; Asahel and Fanny Parmely and two children;: Jesse Chamberlain and his wife Betsey Chamberlain; Abijah and wife; Thomas and Lucinda Rice, with nine children ; and. James Palmer and his wife and five children, started for Ohio. "All had ox teams but one—Thomas Rice had a span of horses. Each had one or more cows, which afforded them plenty of milk. "Soon after our arrival in Sullivan, Mr. James Palmer went out to gather nuts, of which there was a great abundance. It was on the afternoon of one very pleasant day in September; but venturing out of sight of clearing, he got lost. He wandered about till dark, without finding anything from whch he could judge of his direction or distance from home. Night overtook him, and in this dilemma he was obliged to give up and laid himself down by, a log to rest till morning. He passed a restless, if not a sleepless night. At one time a huge bear came very near him, but fortunately was not hungry enough to attack him. His friends became quite alarmed at his prolonged absence, and at dark rallied out to find him; but their search was fruitless. Preparations were then made for search next day; two men were dispatched to Harrisville to raise men to assist them. They were fitted out with hickory torches and went this while distance and returned, before day-light—making a journey of twenty miles by torchlight. Mr. Palmer, however, by the aid of the stakes set up by the surveyors was enabled to find his way home about nine o'clock in the morning. A. messenger was instantly sent to Harrisville with the glad tidings that tthe lost was found. "Our cattle grazed in the woods, and we took turns watching them; one of our number following them through the day and bringing them up at night HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY - 137 fortunately we did not lose any. Each family selected one hundred and sixty acres of land as near the center as possible, and then decided to draw lots, as being the best way of settling the matter satisfactorily, for all had their preferences. This being amicably disposed of, all immediately built rude huts or shanties upon their land, without chimneys, and with but part of a floor ; and around these rude fireplaces clustered their hearts' fondest affection, and the endearments of home in this forest wild rendered them contented and happy; and to this day they will cite you back to those times with delight and affection. "Truly, what mighty changes have taken place, and how the, wilderness has been made to blossom as the rose "Thus located in the midst of a dense forest, far from any settlement, and entirely dependent upon their own resources and good luck, they saw no dark side to the picture, but hopefully gazed on the bright sunlight that streamed in upon them as the forest trees fell before the athletic arm of the pioneer, and saw, or thought they saw, in the future many blessings in store for there and their children. "Our nearest neighbors on the east were at Harrisville, ten miles distant; south, about eight miles; north, Elyria, twenty-five miles; west, New London, fifteen miles; sundry necessary articles of consumption and clothing could not be obtained this side of Cleveland. Salt was nine dollars per barrel, and cotton cloth fifty cents per yard. The nearest store was at Wooster, Wayne county. I walked through the woods to the latter place without any road, to obtain fifteen lights of glass for a window to my log house. "I recollect at one time I went six miles south, to get my horse shod, through the woods, with only a footpath, which was nearly obscured by the falling leaves. On my return it became so dark that my horse could not follow the path, and I was obliged to dismount and lead him. The only way I could keep the path was by the breaking of sticks under my feet when I got out of it. Twice in my efforts to find the old path, I turned round and went back a quarter of a mile to a certain place I knew I had passed, and you may imagine how difficult it was to get along, when I tell you it took me all night to get home over the distance of two miles. About this time a large body of Indians came from Sandusky into town on a hunting expedition; making, rather too free use of firewater, they were quite quarrelsome, and had frequent disturbances among themselves. At one time they got into a quarrel, and in their affray killed one of their number. This affair shortened their sta'v, and they left, to the great joy of the inhabitants, who dreaded their presence; indeed, they were rough neighbors, and sent terror to the hearts of every family. "A child of Mr. Durfee went out just at dusk with his uncle; he sent him back while he went into the woods to hunt some hogs. On his return he found the little boy did not go home. They immediately searched for him, and continued it for several days, but found no trace of the missing child. The next spring his bones were found by the side of a log, where doubtless he had perished the first night. "On the evening of the day the boy was lost two girls, daughters of a neighbor in Sullivan township, on their return home from Thomas Greer's, heard, on their way, what appeared to be the hoarse moans of a child; but fearing that 138 - HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY it might proceed from a wild animal, they continued on their way. Mr. Durfee's house lay in their path, and calling there, they were for the first time informed of the loss of the child. Their conclusion at once was that the voice they heard proceeded from the lost boy; and the father immediately started for the spot indicated—heard distinctly the sound, but his agitation and bewilderment finally traced it to the tree tops, and the voice becoming undistinguishable from the noise of the rain falling, upon the dry leaves, he abandoned his search in despair, and returned home." MILTON TOWNSHIP. Milton township was surveyed in 1807 and was organized in 1816. Originally, the two western tiers or sections, including the town of Olivesburg, were given to Richland county when Ashland was erected. The population of the township in 1820 was five hundred and forty-four in 1830, one thousand one hundred and fifty-six. Among the pioneers of this township were the Andrews, the Dotus, the Lockharts, the Reeds, the Woodburns, and in addition to the above were Peter Brubaker, Joseph Bechtel, Henry Keever; John Neal, Michael Smeltzer, Jacob Foulks, Robert Nelson, Benjamin Montgomery, James Andrews, Peter Brubaker, John Clay, Frederick Sultzer, John Hazlett, Joseph Charles, Andrew Stevenson, David Markley, James Crawford. David Crabbs, Elijah Charles, David McKinney, John Ferrell, Abel Montbomery William Houston, George Burget, and possibly a few others. The residents of Milton township have always been such a well behaved and orderly people, satisfied with the good things of earth which they have so plentifully fully about them, that there is nothing very eventful to be said about the township. Prior to 1816, Milton had been under the jurisdiction of Mifflin. The first justice of the peace was Robert McBeth, from what is now Clear Creek, then under the jurisdiction of Milton. The surveyors not only noted carefully the kind and quality of timber, but also the direction and size of the streams, the Indian trails, villages, and other objects of curiosity. The south boundary of Milton is noted as uneven and hilly land second rate, and timber composed of oak, beech, and hickory. The east boundary is noted as generally level, soil good; timber the same as on the south line, with sugar maple, dogwood, and an occasional wild cherry. The land of the township is described as of gentle ascents and descents, some place level; soil good for farming, and, generally, more or less clay. It has an abundance of water, flowing from clear, pure, and never-ceasing springs. In the neighborhood of the Short farm is to be found one of the strongest springs in the county. Milton, like other townships in the county, was densely timber with oak, hickory, beech and other hard wood in the early settlement. No steams of any consequence are found in this township, but there are many fine springs and one of the finest in the county is found here. This is essentially a farming HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY - 139 community, no town existing within its limits. Its early reminiscences are similar to those of other townships whose history has already been written, and need not he repeated. The same may be said of the struggles and triumph of its early settlers who came to a wilderness and have, after years of hardships, toil and dangers, brought it to a state of cultivation. These pioneers are now gone but their good works remain. The early settlers of the township worshiped at the Old Hopewell church, which stood near the line between Milton and Montgomery. Among the early settlers were James Andrews, who came in 1806, and was a justice of the peace for twenty-seven years. He also served as a captain in the war of 181.2. Abraham Doty also came in 1816; William Lockhart, in 1808; John Woodburn, in 1825. Other early settlers were: Peter Brubaker, Joseph Bechtel, Joseph Charles, John Clay, John Hazlett, Henry Keever, John Neal and Michael Smeltzer. HANOVER TOWNSHIP. Hanover township has been called the. goodly land, with a health-giving climate and a wealth-giving soil; a country of beautiful landscapes, a land of rugged hills and charming valleys; a land Where the esthetic and ideal harmonize and blend with the practical and real, forming an earthly elysium. Hanover is the most southern township in Ashland county; a part of its territory is quite hilly, in fact some of its hills have altitudes almost like mountains, but the greater part of the township is adapted to cultivation and is not excelled for fertility by any other township in the county. The Clearfork of the Mohican enters Hanover from near the northwest corner of the township, and after flowing an average southeasterly course about five miles, unites with the Blackfork and forms the Mohican. There is not the distance of a mile along the Clearfork that does not afford sufficient fall and volume of water sufficient to turn a mill the year round. Its channel is narrow and rapid, and confined within high banks, and the scenery along the stream is magnificently grand. The Blackfork enters Hanover township at Loudonville, and pursues a southwesterly course about three miles, when it unites with the Clearfork. In the yeas agone a little town sprang up at the juncture of the forks, and a carding machine was built and operated there for a number of years, as also was a sawmill. Hanover township was surveyed in the year 1.807, by General James Hedges, deputy surveyor under General Jarad Mansfield, who was then the surveyor-general of the United States. The township was organized in November, 1818. The population two years later was one hundred and eighteen. The first election was held on the 7th of November, 18l8, fifteen votes being cast. The following are the names of the electors: Thomas Taylor, Robert Dawson, George Davidson, George Snider, Anthony Zeers, William .Burwell, George Davidson, Jr., Amos Harbaugh, William Webb, Ransom Clark, Abner Winters, Stephen Butler, John Lisar, Abel Strong, and John Burwell. The 140 - HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY following are part of the officers elected: Clerk, Abel Strong; trustees,; Hilderbrand, Abner Winters, and George Davidson; treasurer, Amos Harbaugh Londonville, the only town in Hanover township, was laid out August 16, 1814, by Stephen Butler and Tames Loudon Priest. The following sketch of Loudonville was written by Miss Mary E. Stewart, in about 1863: "The town of Loudonville was laid out in 1814, by James Loudon Priest and Stephen Butler. The beauty of the surrounding country, the mildness of the climate and the fertility of the soil, attracted the attention of the pioneer and, in many cases, induced him to rear his humble dwelling upon some of one beautiful land and make it his future home. When the town was laid out there was but a single dwelling in the place. It was a to cabin, owned by Stephen Butler, and although it had but once roon, it was a hotel as well as the dwelling place of two families. "Owing to the many hardships which emigrants to the far west (it was then called the far west) had to endure, and the difficulties they were obliged to encounter, the town improved but little during the first few years of its existence. In the year 1813, Mr. Caleb Chappel immigrated, with his family, to the then far west, and settled, for a short time, in Knox county, a few miles south of Loudonville. He assisted in surveying the grounds where the town now lies, and, in the spring of 1814, he entered land adjoining the town. The remainder of the year was spent in clearing, the timber off the farm, erecting a log house, and preparing the grounds for use by the next spring. In the spring of 1815 he removed his family to his farm, which joins the northwestern corner of the town. Everything was new; and the many inconveniences with which they had to contend, and the dangers to which they were exposed, can only be known to those who have left comfortable homes, and taken up their abode in the wilds of a new country. "Wild animals roamed at large through the surrounding forests, and the Indians built their fires and held their councils in the neighboring woods. Mr. Chappel's nearest neighbor was Mr. Butler; he was the squire, the tavern keeper, and, in fact, the only man in town. Mr. James Loudon Priest lived some five miles east, and Mr. Oliver three miles to the west. The nearest places for trading were Wooster and Mansfield, then small towns, containing a limited number of buildings and inhabitants. The dress mostly worn by the male portion of the community consisted of a loose hunting shirt, made of homemade linsey, being sometimes red, and sometimes blue. Those made of blue linsey were trimmed with a red fringe, and those made of red were trimmed with blue fringe. A pair of pantaloons made of the same material; a pair of stout moccasins; a cap made frequently of rabbit skin; a broad, black belt, worn around the waist, to which was attached a large knife, and frequently a tomahawk and gun, completed the dress of the early settler. Pantaloons made of deerskin were generally worn by hunters. The female dress was made of either flannel, linen, linsey, or calico—the calico being the most expensive, as the others were manufactured at home. Such was the dress worn by the early settlers of our country, contrasting, greatly with the dash style of the fast young man and modern belle of the present age; and no doubt many a young American would consider it far beneath his dignity to acknowledge such was the simple dress worn by his forefathers. HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY - 141 "One of the greatest disadvantages with which the early settlers had to contend was, that of educating their children. There was no school for some time after the town was incorporated ; and the great cause of education was greatly neglected. At length, the people of the village and the neighboring country, seeing the necessity of establishing a school in their midst, convened together for the purpose of taking the matter into consideration. They soon came to the conclusion to build a schoolhouse and to procure a teacher who was worthy and capable of imparting instruction to the rising generation. A subscription was raised for the purpose of building it, and it was not long before it was entirely completed. It was made of planks, stood upright, and weather boarded on the outside; it had a shingle roof, then a great rarity. It occupied a very conspicuous place on the public square and was about eighteen feet long and fourteen feet wide, with a door in front, and three windows on each side of the room. A large fireplace occupied one end of the room and benches were placed along the sides. Taking all things into consideration, it was quite a respectable looking building, and served for many years as a public building for almost every purpose—for holding meetings, both religious and political. The system of public schools not being then established, the schools were all raised by subscription, and was seldom in session more than three months in a year. "In October, 1834, a printing office was established in Loudonville. The paper was called `Mohican Advocate and Hanover Journal. The proprietor was a Mr. Rogers. For want of patronage, the publication was suspended after having reached six numbers. "The mail in those days was carried on horseback, and when the first stage coach glade its appearance, it was an object of wonder to the people in general. The day of the arrival of the stage was always looked forward to with much expectation, and people would gather around the Country Inn to await its arrival and to scrutinize the passengers. "The first sale of lots was made on the 14th day of September, 1814. The proceeds of the sale were small. The first justice of the peace who was elected, living within the town of Loudonville, was Stephen Butler. "From 1817 until about 1830, a direct trade, by means of flatboats, was conducted with Louisville and New Orleans—the boats passing down the Black Fork into the Mohican, then into the White Woman, (or Walhonding, as it is now named) thence into the Muskingum, and thence into the Ohio. These boats were generally freighted with flour and whisky, and would carry about forty-five tons. The completion of the Muskingum improvement and Walhonding canal cut off this trade. During the period of this commercial intercourse with New Orleans, flour at Loudonville would command from two dollars and a half to three dollars per barrel, and would sell at the former place for five and six dollars. "In the legislation connected with the internal improvement system undertaken by the state of Ohio, the town of Loudonville and the Black Fork of the Mohican occupied no inferior space. At a very early day the Black .Fork was declared by legislative enactment to be within the purview of the fourth Article of the Ordinance of 1787, which proclaimed the navigable waters leading into the 142 - HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY Mississippi and St. Lawrence, and the carrying places between the same, as common highways, and forever free, as well to the inhabitants of the said territory, as to the citizens of the United States, and those of any others states that may be admitted into the confederacy, without any tax, impost, or duty therefor.' "The Walhonding canal was commenced with the intention and expectation of extending it up the branches of the river of that name, to Loudonville, on the Black Fork, and to Mt. Vernon, on the `Vernon river,' or, as it was and is more generally known, the `Owl creek,' also called the Kokosing.' On the 10th of March, 1838, a law was passed to provide for the extension of the Walhonding canal to the points named. “A few days previous to the time designated for advertising the letting of the work, a communication was made to the board of public works by the commissioners of the canal fund, then in New York, notifying the board that money could not then be borrowed at the rate authorized by law; and urging that the work for a time be suspended. "The suspension proved to be indefinite; and thus, after a few spasmodie but ineffectual revivals, ended a project which, had it been successful, would in all probability, have made Loudonville at this day the seat of justice of one of the most flourishing counties in northern Ohio. It was only the protracted period of financial embarrassment that immediately succeeded the year above mentioned, an embarrassment involving all the productive interests of the country as well as corporations and states, that defeated the construction of the improvement of the Black Fork." One of the most prominent men in Hanover township was Judge George H. Stewart, who was born in Alexandria, Huntington county, Pennsylvania. October 9, 1809. When a boy in his teens he went to Amagh, Pennsylvania, and clerked in a store for two years. It was at the time of the making of the Pennsylsvania railroad and the Portage canal over the Allegheny mountains. Judge Stewart came to Loudonville in the summer of 1833, and was one of the early mere merchant of the town. He commenced the mercantile business at a time when the people were talking about building a canal up the White Woman and Mohican. Stewart, having had experience in eanaling; took an active part in procuring a law for a state canal to Loudonville, and the law was passed while General William McLaughlin, of Mansfield, was our state senator, and it was through his untiring labor in the legislature that the bill was passed and the canal was located to Loudonville, and advertised for letting, but before it was commenced the lature abolished all state works not commenced, and they failed to get a canal. In 1835-36, when the question of organizing Ashland county was agitated, he took an active part in bringing it about, and was sent to Columbus several times to lobby for the undertaking, spending his time and paying his own expenses In 1845-6 his efforts were rewarded, and in 1845 he was appointed associate judge for Ashland county, which office he held seven years. From 1846 to 1850 he took an active part in the construction of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago railroad, for which he secured the right of way through Holmes, Ashland and a part of Wayne and Richland counties, and in 1851 purchased a tract HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY - 143 of 'land of David Foltz in Wayne county, and laid out what is now called Shreve, a station on the railroad above mentioned. He was employed by the railroad company as station agent for ten years. E. B. Fuller, father of the late Dr. Amos B. Fuller and grandfather of the present. Dr. Fuller, was born in New York in 1799, and married Sarah Culver, in Tioga county, Pennsylvania. In 1831 he first settled in Loudonville, and began the practice of medicine; was a doctor of the old school ; was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. In polities he was a democrat, one of the liberal kind, bitterly opposed to the fugitive slave law. In 1856 two fugitives came to his house early in the morning. Ile fed them and sent them to Robert Wilson, where they were cared for and taken beyond the reach of United States marshals, bloodhounds, etc. Andrew J. Scott was born in Ashland county in 1827; attended school at the Ashland academy while Loren Andrews was proprietor, and also at Vermillion institute at Hayesville. For two years he taught in the Loudonville academy, and studied medicine with E. B. Fuller and was also a graduate of Buffalo university. He was a doctor of the old school. He was the father of the present Dr. C. B. Scott. On June 19, 1899, there was a severe storm and rainfall in the Clearfork valley near Loudonville. The river rose so suddenly that a Mr. Hunter who lived not far from the stream, had no time to escape and nine days after his partly decomposed body was found at a point six miles below where he had lived. The illustrations show some of the work of the flood. E. F. Shelley, although born in Wayne county, is now one of Loudonville 's most prominent citizens, and is president of. the Loudonville Savings Bank. Mr. Shelley is also a member of the advisory board of this work. GREEN TOWNSHIP. Green township was surveyed in 1807, by General Hedges, deputy surveyor of the United States. There is no date on record when the first settlement was made. Knapp's History of Ashland County contains the following statement: "The family of Abraham Baughman was the only one residing in Green township when the Messrs. Tannehill commenced their improvements in 1810." Another writer says: "Just what date Abraham Baughman and John Davis came to the neighborhood of Greentown, Green township, Ashland county, has not been ascertained, but it was at a very early date, it might have been before 1807. They were the first settlers in Green township. They were there before Judge Peter Kinney, who arrived in 1810, but how long they were there before that date is not now known. Baughman was a man of family and lived near Greentown." In an historical paper written in 1858 by the late Hon. John Coulter is the following statement: "I came to Green township in 1810 in company with my father, Thomas Coulter, Jonathan Palmer, Joseph Gladden, Otho Simmons, Melzer Tannehill, Sr., and George Crawford. We reached the hopitable home of Abraham Baughman, August 25, 1810. Mr. Baughman was the only white man living on the Blackfork from one end to the other. Mr. 144 - HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY Baughman and myself felled the first tree on my quarter section, for bees, a short time after I had entered the land. We were all from Pennsylvania" Inasmuch as Abraham Baughman had an improved place when the Coulter party came there in 1810, he had evidently been located there for some time, perhaps as Mr. Graham stated in his history of Richland county. "as early as 1807." Therefore in all probability, Abraham Baughman and John Davis were the very first settlers. in Green township, and their. cabins were not only the first ones in the township, but the first in the valley of the Blackfork. John Davis was a widower and kept widower's hall on what was later known as the William Irvin farm. Davis had been a soldier in the war of the Revolution, and died a few years after he came to Ohio, while on a trip to Chillicothe to draw his pension. Davis' death left Abraham Baughman and family the only white settlers of the Greentown country for several uears Abraham Raughman's family at that time consisted of himself, wife and two sons—Jacob and George—who were then boys in their teens. Mr. Baughman is described as a large, powerful, fearless man, who lived in peace even with the savages, who were at first his only neighbors. Jacob and George as young men indulged in athletic sports with the ,Indians ; Jacob's favorite sport was to "run, hop, step and jump," in which he excelled; George's was wrestling and never found an Indian who could put him on his back. As the Indians did not take defeat very good naturedly, Jacob would sometimes permit them to win; but George with less diplomacy declined to accede to Jacob's advice for him to sometimes let the Indians throw him. Abraham Baughman, his wife and three of their five sons are buried in the Perrysville cemetery. By 1812, a number of families had been added to the Blaekforksettlement prominent among; them being Rev. Jaynes Copus, Frederick Zeimer, Captain Ebenezer Rice, Judge Peter Kinney and Captain. James Cunningham. Abraham Baughman and Captain Cunningham lived on adjoining farms, and Mr. Baughman's son, Jacob, married Captain Cunningham's daughter Elizabeth and they were the parents of A. J. Baughman, the author of this work. The Blaekfork of the Mohican river enters the township from its western border and flows in a southeasterly course until it reaches Loudonville, in Hanover township, a distance of about ten miles. The low banks and sluggish current of this stream renders its water-privileges, of but little value There are however two darns in Green township. One of these runs the two pairs of buhrs and one saw and was formerly owned by Mr. Beachley, and the other, formerly known as the Stringer mill, but later owned by A. A. Taylor and ran three pairs of buhrs. The valley of this stream is generally broad, and its, fertility is not excelled elsewhere in Ohio. Upon the Clearfork of the Mohican, which runs only about a mile through the corner of Green township, there is a dam that furnishes power for running a gristmill with three pairs of buhrs and one saw. These mills were formerly the property of Thomas W. Calhoun. Honeycreek has its source in the Quaker springs in Vermillion township and pursues a southwesterly course through Green, a distance of abourt five miles, and empties into the Blackfork at the farm once owned be the late HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY - 145 Abraham Dehaven. Upon this stream there have been several sawmills and one gristmill. The first case of ague in Green township is given by a writer, as follows: William Hunter, who came from Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, to Green township, in 1818, with his wife and eight children and settled on the north half of section 36, was an Irishman and had been an officer in the Federal service in the whiskey insurrection in Pennsylvania. Mr. Hunter returning from a trip to the mills at Newville became ill, and laid himself down before the wide fireplace so close to the embers on the hearth that his feet were partly imbedded in the warm ashes. His trembling limbs created a great dust, which added to his chattering teeth, despite their warm sympathy for their father's affliction, provoked mirth from the younger children, which so annoyed the father that he raised himself up and demanded to know if they had no better manners than to laugh at the miseries of a dying man, and made an effort to give the children a "brush.'' His illness proved to be a hard ague chill—the first of which he or his family had had any experience, and which in about three months resulted in his death. Much of the surface of Green township is broken, although hills and vallevs yield rich reward to the cultivators of its soil. The country in those early days was more beautiful than any pen can. describe. The valley of the Blackfork was very densely covered with a low, matted growth of small timber, while, close to the creek, the ground was rankly covered with long grass, and the interlacing vines of the wild morning-glory, pluny willows, and the dark, thick growth of Alder. The hills were crowned with giant oaks, and the fragrant winds were healthful as the breezes of the ocean. Wild game abounded, even great ferocious wild hogs, with their foamy, white trashes gleaming out and looking frightful. On page 358 in Knapp's History of Ashland county, gotten out in 1863, is the following paragraph relative to the first family in Green township. The family of Abraham Baughman was the only one residing in the township when Messrs. Tannehill commenced their improvement. This place became afterward known as `the Guthrie farm,' and is now occupied by John Castor. There was also an unmarried man named John Davis, keeping 'bachelor's hall' upon the farm now owned by William Irvin, being the southwest quarter of section 30. In the fall of 1811, Melzer Tannehill, Sr., (father of Charles and Bazel,) removed his family to Green township. Upon Hull's surrender at Detroit the settlers considered that the peace and public welfare demanded immediate additions to the military force for the purpose of resisting anticipated Indian invasions in Ohio, and volunteers were enlisted for that service and placed under the command of Major Kratzer, of Mt. Vernon. Soon thereafter a body of troops on a scouting expedition discovered a vacated camp in the vicinity of New Haven, Huron county. The camp had the appearance of having been a few hours previously occupied by the Indians. It was afterwards ascertained that the night previous the militia and the Indian encampments were not over a mile apart. But this fact was not known until the following day, which gave the Indians a day's start of our troops. On the day Copes was killed, five militiamen were sent to the relief 146 - HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY of the settlers on the Blackfork, as it was supposed the Indians contemplated an attack upon that settlement. They were led to this conclusion from the fact that Zeimer and Ruffner had been killed a few days previously. Arriving near the Ruffner place, they met the remaining troops, (seven in number,) who had been engaged in the battle at Copus 's having in chars surviving members of the Copes family. These troops had also, since the battle, been joined by about one hundred others belonging to the same cost command (that of Major Krebs, of. Tuscarawas county.) The united force on that night encamped in the vicinity of the Copus cabin, and, on the next morning, Mr. Tannehill and party took leave of the Tuscarawas militia, and pursued their way to the deserted village of Greentown. Near that place, at the cabin of Abraham Baughman, (which was also found deserted,) Mr. Tannehill se from his companions and continued his way homeward. Near Perrysville, he overtook John Coulter and Harvey Hill, who were urging forward some cattle at "double quick," and from whom he had learned that the settlement had heard the tidings of the last battle. and that they formed the rear guard of the settlers who were fleeing to Samuel Lewis's blockhouse, on the Clearfork. On the day following, the men returned and erected a blockhouse, on place of Thomas Coulter, which afforded security for a greater portion of the Blackfork settlement of Green township during the remainder of the clearfork. During the excitement that pervaded the community at the blockhouse, on the evening after the attack upon the Copus family, the male inmates of the fortress, including boys and men, assembled, in the dusk of the evening in the vicinity of the fort, and near the apprehended point of attack, for military drill. There were no regular soldiers, and it was a parade of the militia Such as had bona fide rifles and muskets shouldered them, and those who had riot, substituted wooden or Quaker guns. The roll was called and the men would respond for themselves, arid the boys, and a multitudinous number of mythical persons— thus leaving the impression upon the minds of the concealed foe, if such were in sight and hearing, that an immense force was defending the blockhouse. From the date of the first settlement of the township until about 1816, the wants of new immigrants created a good demand and good prices for all the surplus produce the farmer could raise; but in the year above mentioned, a surplus beyond the wants of the settlement was produced, and prices fell to a very low figure. This made it peculiarly hard upon the first settlers who had leased Virginia Military District School lands, as the interest on their purchases fell due about this time. Corn, which had in the previous years since the first settlement, found ready sale, at seventy-five cents per bushel, could not be sold at any price ; and wheat, which had formerly sold for one dollar and twenty-five cents per bushel and even higher, was now reduced to thirty-seven and a half cents and even twenty-five cents per bushel.. Five bushels of wheat were exchanged by Mr. Tannehill for one bushel of salt. The first market was at Portland, or Sandusky City. The first trip which Mr. Tannehill made, in 1819, occupied ten days. At an early day, John Coulter and Captain Rice took the job of cutting a road from Ashland to Mansfield. They contracted to cut ten miles for ninety dollars, and the place of beginning was specified then as the Trickle farm. The HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY - 147 Trickle family had left their poor little home on account of the Indians, and gone to Wooster for safety. The father of the family died the day the men commenced their job of cutting. After the roads were cut, or laid out through the woods ready to work on, Philip Seymour was made one of the first supervisors. His district extended from Perrysville up the Mansfield road, almost to Lucas. One time when they were laboring on the road and felling trees on the Mohawk Hill, one fell aslant and broke one of Richard Conine 's legs. The men made a comfortable resting-place for him against a tree, and then started John Oliver off to borrow Peter Kinney's old gray mare to carry Dicky home. John had five miles to walk throught the woods; it was growing late when he returned, and Dicky suffered extremely. His father rode and took him on behind, and there he was all that weary ride of rough miles, his lea dangling and the broken bones grating to-gether and paining him intensely. Solomon Hill and Jude Coulter attended to the binding up and splintering and fixing his poor limb that night, as the family were in poor circumstances, and no doctor nearer than Mt.. Vernon. It was many weeks before Richard could get around, and as soon as he could walk, he limped out on crutches to look at the young pigs in the pen, and before he got hack to the house he slipped and fell and broke it over again; and then the two men were sent for, and the dreadful performance unskillfully fone through with another time. Then, before he wholly recovered, the settles had to flee to the blockhouse for safety from the Indians; and there, within its dreary, lonesome walls, Dicky's young mother died, with no physician near to save or help; none but hardy and sympathizing men and weeping and pitying women. THE FIRST SETTLER IN GREEN TOWNSHIP The first settlement in Green township was made on the Blackfork near the village of Greentown by Abraham Baughman at a very early date. Dr. Hill, in his history of' Ashland county, says it was possibly as early as 1807. In a paper written by the late Hon. John Coulter in 1858 and published some years since in the Loudonville Advocate, Mr. Coulter said: "I came to Green township in 1810, in company with my father, Thomas Coulter, and Jonathan Palmer, Joseph Gladden, Otho Simmons, Melzer Tannehill and George Crawford. We landed at Abraham Baughman's about the 25th of August. He was the only white man on the Black Fork, `from one end to the other.' We were all from Pennsylvania. Mr. Baughman and myself felled the first tree on my quarter section, for bees in August, 1810." Therefore, according to this statement, Abraham Baughman was the only white man living on the Black Fork "from one end to the other" when the Coulter party arrived in 1810. The settlement was in Green township, Ashland county, then a part of Richland. Gaham, in his history of Richland county says, that inasmuch as Abraham Baughman had an improved farm when the Coulter party came in 1810, that he might have been there prior to 1807. 148 - HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY In Knapp's history of Ashland county is the following statement: "The family of Abraham Baughman was the only one residing in Green township when the Messrs. Tannehill commenced their improvements in 1810." Abraham Baughman married Diary Katherine Deeds, and removed from Cumberland to Washington county, Pennsylvania, and then to Richland county this state. His brother, George, also came to Ohio and located at what is now Gahanna, in Franklin county. Abraham Baughman and wife were the paents of eight children, five sons and three daughters.When they came to the Black Fork their two younger children, Jacob and George, were single and lived with their parents. Jacob Baughman was born at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, February 19, 1792. While the family resided in western Pennsylvania, Jacob, then in his early 'teens, had worked with an apple-mill maker. After the Baughman family had lived two or three years on the Blackfork and had their farm well cleared and improved, Jacob received an offer to return to Pennsylvania and finish his trade. Their postoffice was then at Wooster, fifteen miles east of which Jacob's brother John had settled and for whom a township was named. Money was then very scarce, and while they could grow what they needed for their sustenance prices were so low that but little cash could he realized the sale of farm products, and in fact there was but little, if any, market for them. A family council was held and it was decided that Jacob should "buy his time, "—the two years he lacked of his majority,—accept the offer and remit quarterly installments to his father, which would furnish him money with which to pay his taxes, and so forth. With his clothing tied up in a bandana handkercheif. Jacob set off alone on foot on his long journey. His pathetic parting with his mother he often feelingly described. The war coming on, he returned to Ohio before his two years were completed. Mrs. Baughman died in August, 1820, and her husband the January following. On their gravestones in the Perrysville cemetery is the inscription, "Pioneers of 1810.” as the exact date or year is not known. Mr. Coulter, in the paper referred to, also speaks of the cordial reception they received "at the hospitable home of Mr. Baughman." Hospitality was a prominent characteristic of the pioneers. The latchstring was always out in a literal as well as in a figurative sense. To fasten a door would have been considered an insult to society—a, reflection on the honesty of the neighbors John Davis, an unmarried man, kept "bachelor's hall" on a farm adjoining the Baughman place. Davis had been a soldier in the war of the Revolution, and died soon after he came to Ohio, while upon a trip to Chillicothe to draw his pension. His death left Abraham Baughman and family the only white residents of the Greentown country for several years, with the Indians as their only neighbors. Mr. Baughman has been described as a large, fearless, pwerful man, who lived in peace with the savages. By 1812, a number of families had been added to the Baughman settlement, prominent among which were James Copus, Frederick Zeimer, Captain Ebenezer Rice, Judge Peter Kinney and Captain James Cunningham. Abraham Baughman and Captain Cunningham lived on adjoining farms. Mr. Baughman's son, Jacob, married Captain Cunningham's daughter, Elizabeth, and they were the parents of A. J. Baughman and the author of this volume. HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY - 149 PIONEER INCIDENTS. Abraham Baughman, grandfather of the writer of this work, the earliest settler in Green township, Ashland county, bought a calf of an Indian, paying him the price he asked. A year later the Indian demanded an additional sum of money because the calf had grown and was bigger than when he sold it. Baughman paid the amount demanded to avoid trouble, and the next year an additional sum of money was demanded, and paid under protest. To prevent the animal from getting bigger still with an additional supplemental price being paid every year, the animal was slaughtered for beef.. One evening when Baughman and wife were at a neighbor's, two Indians called at the Baughman cabin and finding the two boys, Jacob and George, then in their teens, in bed ordered them to get up and give them something to eat. After luncheon the Indians ordered Jacob to go to the stillhouse, as distilleries were then called, and get them whiskey. They held George, the younger boy, as a hostage, threatening to scalp him if Jacob delayed or gave the alarm for want of a more suitable vessel, Jacob took his mother's tea canister in which to carry the whiskey. Ile made the trip as expeditiously as possible, and upon his return the Indians smelled cautionsly at the whiskey, and detected a peculiar odor, which they mistook for poison, they became enraged and flourished their tomahawks furiously. They then made the boys drink of the whiskey and awaited to see the result upon them, but as no bad effects developed, the Indians accepted the boys' explanation and proceeded to drink the contents the tea canister and were howling drunk when the parents returned. VERMILLION TOWNSHIP. Vermillion township was surveyed in 1807 and was organized in 1816, by the commissioners of Richland county. The first settlement in the county was made in 1811, by George Eckley. He built a cabin in the locality later known as Goudv's mills. There were no towns at that time nearer than Wooster and Mansfield. Ashland had not made its appearance. and the village of Hayesville did not exist even in the mind of the most hopeful pioneer of the locality. There were two Indian villages, Jerometown and Greentown—nearer Mr. Eckley's than, were Wooster and Mansfield. Jerometown was the residence of the notorious Captain Pipe. In 1815, the first public road was laid out through what is now Vermillion township. It ran from Wooster to Mansfield, and was quite a help to the settlement, as it was a direct route from the eastern portion of the state to the western. The lands along the road were bought and settled in a short time. Emigrants traveling west had to camp out at night, as there was no hotel then, and that conditions continued until 1817, at which time a public house was established by Linus Hayes, at Hayes' cross roads, who provided food for man and beasts. At that time there was neither schools nor churches in the township. In 1816, a small church building was erected by Mc. Eckley, which was the first building for that purpose and at the same place and about the same time a graveyard was laid out, and Constance Lake was the first person buried in it. The church