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HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO - 329 DEERFIELD. This township, territorially one of the smallest in Ross county, is level in surface and fertile in soil. It occupies the border land between the fertile level of the Pickaway plains and the diversified areas of Ross, Highland and Pike counties. As may be truly said of nearly every township in the Military district, it is well watered. Principal among its water courses is Deer creek, an affluent of the Scioto, which forms a portion of its boundary line, and the fertile bottoms of which attracted the first settlement to the borders of the present township.. The wood of the country, now abundant, was then profuse, Oak, walnut, maple ("sugar tree"), and many other varieties of deciduous trees, covered its surface in dense forests. Game, as the very name of the township and creek suggests, was abundant, and everything combined to make the area of land which we now call Deerfield an attractive one to the crowds of immigrants who followed the Chillicothe pioneers into the new country. It is not surprising that its most desirable tracts of land were soon taken up by bona fide settlers. ORGANIZATION. Deerfield was erected as a separate township by an order of the county commissioners, made July 7, 1804, which was as follows : "Ordered, that a part of Wayne (now in Pickaway county), Union and Concord townships, be taken off in the following manner, viz : Beginning where the Westfall road to the old Chillicothe town crosses Deer creek, running thence toward said Oldtown, three miles nearly a northerly course so as to strike the Concord township line partly central between the north fork of Paint creek and Deer creek ; thence' running with the said township line, crossing Deer creek ; thence con- tinning on the course of said line, three miles toward Darby ; thence, a southerly course to strike the head of the main stream of Yellow Bud ; thence, down the Yellow Bud to the Westfall road ; thence, with said road to the beginning." It was also ordered that the election be held at the house of Jared Davis. Changes were afterward made in these lines, so indefinitely fixed, and the township eventually, and through various changes, assumed its present shape. It is a striking commentary on the low value of land, and the slight importance attached to making a boundary line definite beyond dispute, that the commissioners of Ross county should have entered on their minutes an order so hastily and loosely drawn that it would have puzzled a land grant surveyor to frnd the lines. The first entry in the record book of Deerfield township is as follows: "At an election held on Monday, the first day of April, 1803, at the house of Jared Davis, for officers of the township of Deerfield, the following were duly elected: Samuel Langdale, clerk, sworn before Charles Cade, esq., Peter Jackson (swore himself into office contrary to law), White Brown, sworn before Peter Langdale, esq., Jacob Davis, sworn before Peter Jackson, trustees; Ignatius Sellers, Simon Hornback, both sworn before Peter Jackson, overseers; John Timmons, Abraham Ater, not sworn according to law, fence viewers; John Sewell, sworn before Charles Cade, lister; John Baker and John Clark, 42 330 - HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO. supervisors; Richard Williams (failed of giving bond according to law; of course, his election is void), and John Riddin, constables; John McLain appointed, April 19th, in room of Peter Jackson, trustee; James Blair appointed, by trustees, April 25th, constable; appointed, 'by trustees, April 25, 1805, Moses Colvin, Michael Alkire, fence viewers." At the annual meeting of the trustees of Deerfield township, held March 3, 1806, the following persons were selected as jurors for the ensuing year: Michael Alkire, John Timmons and Isaac Cade, grand jurors; Abraham Ater, Samuel Phebus, Steven Timmons and Moses Colvin, petit jurors. These were the first jurors who were appointed from Deerfield township. There is also in existence a book of marks and brands for cattle and hogs, opened by Samuel Langdale, the clerk in the spring of 1805, which gives us almost a repetition of the names contained in the election and jury records, above quoted, and leads us to think that the official element in the Deerfield community must have been in a large majority over the civil,—that it was necessary to press into the service of the people nearly every man in the young community to fill the numerous township offices. The present township officers for Deerfield (1880) are: A. Thomas, Daniel Ater, Austin H. Brown, trustees; E. W. Templin, treasurer; 0. M. Howser, clerk; William H. Smith, S. O. Day, constables. It is, perhaps, fitting to treat first in order of the settlements in Deerfield, that of White Brown, who, if not in point of time actually the first comer to the township, was ladle princeps in matters of public improvement. Mr. Brown was a native of Delaware, a man of intelligence, and of very strong religious belief. Already, before coming to Ohio, he had, in 1781, built a Methodist meeting-house in his native State, which was known as Brown's chapel. In 1799 he had become somewhat reduced, financially, and this, coupled with the fact of his disapproval of slavery, led him to contemplate a removal westward. During that year he made an expedition to Chillicothe and the adjoining country, and selected a place on Deer creek for settlement. He was, at the time, the owner of forty slaves, and these he promised their freedom if they would come to Ohio and assist him in the journey and in his settlement. In the year 1801 he came, with his older sons, to Ross county, and purchased, at the price of two dollars per acre, five hundred acres of McArthur and Massie's survey, included in the farm now owned by Austin H. Brown. This was perfectly unbroken forest at the time, and, pending the time when it should be cleared, Mr. Brown's sons and the negro servants raised a crop of corn on the ground now occupied by the Ross County infirmary. The family reached the Deer Creek farm on the thirteenth of August, 1802, and camped there for three weeks, while a log house was building. Steven Timmons, whose name was, afterward, a prominent one in Deerfreld, and who had married Mr. Brown's oldest daughter, came out with them and assisted in the work of clearing the farm and building the house. This house, so built, was one of the earliest in the township. During the year 1803, the balance of Mr. Brown's family, coming out from Delaware, joined him, In that year was built, near the house, a log barn, which is still standing, and is, no doubt, the oldest existing barn in Ross county, if not in Ohio, But it possesses an interest, apart from its age, as it is the cradle of religion in that whole region. Here, from 1803 to 1818, were held the services of the pioneer Methodist Episcopal church in Deerfield. Steven Timmons, the son-in-law of Mr. Brown, above mentioned, was probably the first to gather together the scattered settlers of the new country to hear, in this rude and primitive sanctuary, the preaching of the word of God. After Timmons, the log walls echoed the eloquence of such men as Bishops Francis Asbury, Whatcoat and McKendry, as well as George and L. R. Dow and the Finleys, father and son. An organization of the church was effected, and, in 1818, a house of worship was erected where the new and ornamental Brown chapel is now situated. Previous to the removal to the new site, Mr. Brown's farm had offered hospitality to the living and the dead alike, for there was established, about 1805, the first cemetery in Deerfield. This was situated on the hill, back of the old house, and it is estimated that fully two hundred interments were made before the establishment of the new cemetery at the chapel. Only two graves are now to be identified, however. One is that of the Rev. Ralph Lotspeich, who died June 16, 1813, and whose funeral was held in the town. The worn sandstone slab which bears his name was erected, as the half-obliterated inscription tells us, "by his female friends." The other stone bears the simple inscription, "Lija Brown," with the date (1815) of his interment. He was one of the slaves whom Mr. Brown freed, and was active in the early work of the church. The class was organized on Christmas, in the year 1802, John Sale preaching the sermon. Mr. Brown and his wife, and five colored people, were the original members of this class. During the year 1803, a revival occurred at a camp-meeting held on the Brown farm, and sixty persons were converted to christianity, and united with the new church, After that time, for thirty-four consecutive years, camp-meetings were held at the same place, with the result of making the neighborhood a stronghold of Methodism. In the year 1818, as has been stated, a church building was erected at a point on the Brown farm, some distance from the old barn. Later, in 1835, a frame church building was erected on the same site, and in 1871 it was, in turn, replaced by the present brick structure. In 1805, White Brown erected on his farm a saw-mill, having made a very primitive dam over Deer creek by cutting a tree so that it fell across the stream, and then piling brush across above it. This was the first mill of any kind in Deerfield. In 1815 Mr. Brown built a gristmill adjoining the saw-mill, and from that time controlled the business of the neighborhood for some years. Previously the settlers had been obliged to go, first to Portsmouth, and later to the falls of Paint to have their grinding done. Both of these buildings are now standing, HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO - 331 having in turn been owned by William Brown, son, and Austin H. Brown, grandson of the builder. The latter is the present owner. It is curious to note the increased • volume of Deer creek, indicated by the fact that the present dam is three hundred and forty-five feet long, probably five times the length of the one built seventy- five years ago in the same place. This is partly due, no doubt, to the fact that the damming of the water has widened the channel, but it also shows the influence of climatic changes and increased surface drainage. Hall's mill, three-fourths of a mile below Brown's, is the only other mill in Deerfield, and is, in fact, the only one which has ever offered any competition for the trade of the neighborhood. This was erected at an early day, previous to 1830, and the original building is now standing, It was on the White Brown farm that the camp of Massie's surveyors was located in the year of 1790, when they were surprised and fired upon by a war party of Shawnee Indians. A clump of black walnut trees near a mill on Deer creek, marks the site of this camp, the only spot in Deerfield rendered interesting by its connection with the Indian hostilities of early days. Colonel Peter Jackson was one of the very first settlers in Deerfield. He came in the year 1801 or 1802 to Deer Creek, and built him a cabin within a hundred yards of the spot where Brown's mill was afterward erected. For some time the community was comprised of the Jackson, Brown, Timmon and Clark families, and the colored people who accompanied Mr. Brown. John F. Fulton was one of the party accompanying Massie on his original surveying tour, and, after the work was done, he purchased a portion of the land surveyed, being a farm about a mile south of Clarksburgh, not far from the Chillicothe pike. John F. Burris, his nephew and namesake, now owns and occupies a portion of the farm, having come west from Pennsylvania in 1807, at the age of six years. His recollection of early history is excellent, and few men in the community can remember with such vividness, events covering a period of seventy years. William Baker came out from Virginia in the year 1799, and settled on the Scioto river. After a stay of two years there he removed to Deerfield in 1801, settling on Deer creek, near Peter Jackson. Mr. Baker purchased, first, one hundred acres of land from General Massie. With Mr. Baker, came John Baker, his father, who was afterward somewhat prominent in politics. John Baker, son of William, and grandson of John, now lives in Union township, and Marcus A, Baker, his son, owns and lives upon a fine farm in Deerfield, being the fourth of the name, in direct descent, to own land in the township. George Smith was born in the year 1789, and came to Ross county in 1806, in company with Henry Porter, Samuel Turner, and Thomas Coons. He served in the war of 1812, and afterward, in 1817, came to Clarks- burgh, in Deerfield, and was, for more than half a century, identified with the business of the place. He brought the first goods ever sold in Clarksburgh, and is now living, at the age of ninety-one years, remarkably strong in body and mind. He is one of the few pensioners 0f the war of 1812 now living. Henry Peck cane from Hardy county, Virginia, in the year 1813, and settled in Pickaway county, just across the line from Deerfield. The journey was made by wagon, in company with his wife, two sons, one daughter, and his brother, Jacob Peck. The two bought four hundred acres of land. Henry bought, in the year 1850, about five hundred acres in Deerfield, across Deer creek from his Pickaway county land, moved over to the new farm in 1857, and died there. His son, John J. Peck, now owns the farm, one of the finest in the county. John Farlow came from the State of Delaware in the year 1818, and settled in Concord township, on the farm now owned by William Dyer. He remained in Concord until about 1830, when he came to Deerfield, and, in 1831, bought, from Josiah Lewis, the farm where he afterward lived and died. The farm is about two miles west of the Clarksburgh turnpike. Mr. Farlow married, in 1836, Elizabeth Folks, who survives him. His death occurred in 1868. CLARKSBURGH, the only village of any importance in Deerfield, was laid out in the year 1817, by George Clark, the father of Hon. Milton H. Clark, of Chillicothe, whose settlement dates back to the beginning of the century. During that year George Smith established a store in the house where he now resides, and James Timmons opened the first tavern. When Clarksburgh had grown to sufficient size to warrant it, a post-office was established, and Mr. Smith was made postmaster. The first effort toward the establishment of a school is also to be credited to Mr. Smith, who, with George King, raised a subscription and hired a teacher, about the year 1820. The school-house was established on the public square. Clarksburgh was, in the ante-railroad days, a town of some importance and now has, in its form of government at least, some pretense of dignity. Its corporate officers are at present: Josiah Mumford, O. M. Howser, and S. N. Brown, trustees; S. N, Brown, clerk; O. M. Howser, treasurer; J. W. Stockley, marshal. The early record books of the town are, unfortunately, lost, and it is not possible to ascertain the names of the first or any of the very early officers. BAPTIST CHURCH. There is now standing a small frame building, battered and worn by time and weather, where, in 1820, was established the first and only Baptist church in Deerfield. It was first supplied by the early preachers of the neighborhood—William Baker, Nathan Carey, Peter Sperry, and John Littleton, but afterward had a regular pastor, and was for some time an influential and prosperous organization. Removals and deaths among its members wrought sad havoc, however, and it has now fallen into partial disuse. During each month with five Sundays services are held, with preaching by such supplies as can be obtained, but the congregation in the populous old cemetery about the church building is greater than that within its walls. 332 - HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO Subsequent to the foundation of Brown's chapel two other Methodist Episcopal churches were organized, one at Clarksburgh, known as "Asbury church," and another on Dry run. Neither had any importance, compared with Brown's, and the Dry Run church no longer exists. In addition to these, the Presbyterians have a church at Greenland, where occasional services are held, and the "Christian" church has an organization at Clarksburgh. |