678 - HISTORY OF TUSCARAWAS COUNTY.

CHAPTER XX.

WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP.

ORGANIZATION - SURFACE FEATURES-FIRST SETTLERS- LEGEND OF GILMORE -HUFF AND THE WOLVES - NEWTON - ALBANY - GILMORE - CHURCHES - FIRST SCHOOL - JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.

WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP was organized March 5, 1827, from Oxford and Perry. It comprised then as now Township 5, of Range 2. The nalified electors of the township were directed to hold their first election at the house of Benjamin Servisson, at Ill o'clock on the first Monday of April, 1827.The southeast quarter of the township is Congress land; the remainder is military land, divided into 100-acre lots. The township is five miles square. except that the Salem Moravian tract encroaches slightly upon the northwest corner. Dunlap Creek is the only stream. It crosses the township in a northwesterly direction, and with the numerous little rivulets that feed it drains almost the entire surface. A water shed, extending east and west, is situated about one mile from the south line of the township, and divides the waters flowing north from those flowing south. Along this dividing ridge extends the old Coshocton road, a thoroughfare that was greatly traveled in early times, when emigrants sought Western homes by tedious wagon journeys. The township is very hilly, and was densely wooded in early times. Its wild hills and lonely hollows were the homes of the prowling wolves, wild cats, panthers, bears and other beasts of prey. Deer were at one time so plentiful as to prove a great annoyance to the pioneer. for at night they would enter his field and garden and destroy large quantities of vegetables and grain.

Ananias Randall was probably the first settler in the township. His name is the first to appear on the county tax duplicate as a resident land owner in the territory which constitutes Washington Township. He entered the northeast quarter of Section 21, upon which the village of Newtown is situated, and also the northeast quarter of Section 22. Richard Lanning was next to acquire a freehold in the township. He bailed from New Jersey, and in 1817 entered the southeast quarter of Section 19. His brother. Joseph Lanning, emigrated from -New Jersey in 1819, and settled in the Same locality. He died in 1876. and his widow. Mrs. Elizabeth Lanning, is still a resident of the township, at the ate of eighty-five years. The first Methodist meetings were held at her cabin, She has a vivid remembrance of the pioneer's hardships and struggles, through which she and her husband passed.

Among the next settlers in the southeast part of the township were David Miller, who settled on the northwest quarter of Section 21, and atone time was the only Whig in the township: Henry Platt. who hailed from the Keystone State, settled on the southeast quarter of Section '?1, and died here: Henry Smith, also a Pennsylvanian. who owned and occupied a small place in the southwest quarter of Section 19, and William Coats. who owned the southeast quarter of Section 22.

Among the pioneers of the. third or southwest quarter of Washington were Anthony Asher. who owned Lot 19, and (lied on his farm: Henry Cramer, Lot 31: John Coats, Lot 36: Thomas Coon. Lots 32, 24 and 7: Samuel Dicks. Lot

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10; Abraham Kees, who came about 1821 from Pennsylvania, and still survives, Lot 21; David Kees, Lot 23; Matthew Organ, from Pennsylvania, Lot 9: George Ord, who afterward went West, Lots 13 and 18; Laban Parks, who emigrated from New York and afterward removed to the West, Lot 6. The earliest in the northwest quarter were Robert Barr, from Pennsylvania, Lot 10; Jacob Kees, Lot 30. The northeast portion of this township was the wildest and the last settled.

The Tuscarawas Chronicle preserves the legend of the site of Gilmore: "Years before Gilmore was a town, and, beyond the memory of most of the inhabitants, there lived a family near the present site of the village who were supposed to be robbers and murderers. Travelers, passing that way through the wilderness, mysteriously disappeared; strange horses and property supposed to have belonged to travelers were seen in possession of this family, and a number of suspicious circumstances made the community tolerably sure that there were dark doings in that home. No direct evidence could be obtained, but after the family left the country it is said that a number of articles were found that could not have come into their possession honestly. It is thought that many a poor victim lost his life here, and found a grave in the ravines near town, on account of the valuables he carried."

Near Gilmore. Joe Huff, the hunter of Perry Township, once had an encounter with wolves. He had been hunting and had slain two bears, which he dressed and hung on saplings out of the reach of the ravenous animals. Toward night he reached the vicinity of Gilmore. The day had been disagreeable, rain and snow falling alternately most of the time. He had heard the wolves howling for some time, but they caused him no uneasiness. They grew bolder as they circled around him and increased in number to fifteen or twenty. When he reached the head of the ravine below Schneider's blacksmith shop, they showed signs of attacking him. He had proceeded down the ravine but a short distance when they rushed at him from all sides. Hastily pointing his rifle, he piece only snapped, for the priming was wet. There was no time to change it and no safety in flight. Fortunately a bushy sapling stood near, and Huff lost no time in ascending it, several of the wolves springing at him before he was fairly out of reach. Replacing the wet with dry powder, he shot into the struggling mass below with fatal effect, reloaded and repeated the operation until the bodies of ten or eleven dead wolves surrounded the tree. The rest. then left him and he proceeded homeward.

Newtown was laid out in 1817 by Ananias Randall. The plat then made embraces forty lots, the full extent of its present bounds. It is situated in the northeast quarter of Section 21, near the southeast corner of the township. The first house was built by Samuel Hagans. Mr. Randall kept the first hotel in a two-story log building. William Peoples was the first blacksmith, also the first in the township. Joshua Brown was the first store keeper: Madison Snyder was the first Postmaster, Robert Feaster the present one, the name of the office being Peoli. The first physician was an itinerant doctor, who later in life served a term in the Ohio Penitentiary. Dr. McPherson was his successor at Newtown. The growth of the village has not been commensurate with its age. It now contains three stores, a wagon shop, a shoe shop, a blacksmith shop, and two churches a Disciple and a Methodist Episcopal.

A Baptist society was organized by Rev. Stone abont 1840, and a church was erected in 1845, the first religious edifice in the village. The first members were Mortimore Wood and wife, Peter Tiderick and wife, Charles Schontz and wife, Hannah Brashears, Francis Simmerman and wife, Mrs. David Tiderick and others. The society went down in a few years, and about 1865 a Disciple congregation was organized, which purchased the old church and repaired it. The first membership was about thirty: the present, twenty.

680 - HISTORY OF TUSCARAWAS COUNTY.

Deaths and removals are the causes of decline. Rev. Bryant, of Guernsey County, is the present pastor.

A Methodist Episcopal Society was organized about 1850, by Rev. J. Merriman. The first church was built in 1856, and in 1870 the present brick edi fice took its place. Among its first members were Isaac George, Jonas George, Harlon Randall, Philip Font, David Miller, Francis Simmerman, John Shaw and others, to the number of twenty. The membership is now about seventy-five. Rev. D. W. Knight is pastor.

Albany is the name of a post office and small cluster of hoaxes situated on Dunlap Creek, in the extreme western part of the township. Benjamin Duhammel was the first Postmaster and kept the office several miles farther up the creek. He also retailed merchandise there, displaying his goods at first in a corn crib, and afterward removing them to a loft to which access could be had only by mounting a flight of outside steps and squeezing through an aperture about two and one-half by three and one-half feet in size. As may be surmised, the stock was not very extensive, and this primitive merchant sometimes refused to sell more than a small amount of various articles, through fear of exhausting the supply. Isaac Bartholow was afterward Postmaster, and dispensed mail to his neighbors a short distance below the present office. B. Robison is the present Postmaster. A store and blacksmith shop are at Albany, and adjoining it is a saw mill on Dunlap Creek, built many years ago by James Stewart, and now operated by Anthony Miller.

In 1848, Walter M. Blake founded the town of Gilmore, on the east end of Lot 9, in the first quarter of Township 5, Range 2. Including five outlots, the plat contains forty-four acres. The inlots, eighty-three in number, compose an L-shaped piece of land, the streets of which are Burrows. Dearth and Blake. The town is located near the northeast corner of Washington Township, and adjoins Clay. It was named in honor of Nathaniel Gilmore, a wealthy Irish farmer residing in the vicinity. John Sewell, Sr., and John Dinning erected the first houses almost simultaneously. Sewell came to the newly founded town to operate a tread saw mill, which failed to work effectively, and was abandoned, Mr. Sewell returning to his farm. Philip Lanning erected the third house in the fall of 1848, and opened a store. He has been a merchant in the village ever since, during a period of thirty-five years, and still commands an extensive trade. John A. Bates opened a stock of goods for sale a few weeks prior to Mr. Lanning and kept store for several years. The number of stores has varied from one to four, there being two at present. A post office was established at Gilmore about thirty years ago; Philip Lanning was appointed Postmaster, and has ever since retained the office. A tannery was started by John Myers and Hugh Smith soon after the village was laid out. William Hires, William Shears, Harrison & Gray and John Arnold were the subsequent proprietors, and under the last named the tannery was abandoned about 1869. The village in 1880, contained 116 people, a slight depreciation from the census of 1870 and of '1860. Besides the two stores, there are in the village a drug store, three blacksmith shops, two shoe shops and a wagon and carriage manufactory, now operated by Abraham Schneider, of Port Washington. hundred vehicles have been manufactured here during the past year. Dr. Gamble was probably the first resident physician. He was succeeded by Dr Livingston who remained several years. Dr. Daniel Slonaker then located in the village and continued a practice until his death. Of the two physicians now established here, Dr. J. J. Gooding has been a resident of the village about eight years, and Dr. D. Hefling nearly twice as long.

The Protestant Methodist Church is the only one in the village. The society was organized in 1850 by Rev. Henry Lossen. The house of worship is

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located on Lot 45, and was erected in 1878 at a cost of $1,500, during the pastorate of Rev. J. D. Murphy. The church building had occupied the same lot, and was built about 1856, prior to which date meetings had been held at private houses. Eli B. Lukens, Silas A. Souders, H. Matson, Howard Cecil. James Merchant and Philip Lanning were early members. The society now numbers thirty or more. and is in charge of Rev. O. Lowther.

A Disciple congregation was organized at Gilmore during the winter of 1875-76, by Rev. T. J. Newcombe. Religious exercises were held for some time in the village hall, and then transferred to an unoccupied building a short distance north of Gilmore, in Clay Township, where services are now conducted occasionally. The society is small, but contemplates the construction of a church building anon.

West Union Methodist Episcopal Church is located about a mile south of Gilmore, on the section between Lots 11 and 12. From the former lot, Mordecai Davidson donated a half acre, and from the latter, Peyton ton Morris, a half acre, for a church lot. The first building was a diminutive, rough log structure, erected between 1830 and 1835. It was superseded about 1855 by the present frame building. Wesley Honnel, John Stout and Paten Morris were among the earliest members. The church membership is now strong, exceeding 100, and the society is now ministered by Rev. Knight. A large graveyard adjoins the church, and many of the old settlers lie buried here.

Wesley Chapel is the name of another Methodist Episcopal meeting-house It is located in the southern part of the township, on the line between Military Lots 2 and 3, of the third quarter. The society was organized about 1839, by Rev. John Miner, with a membership of about thirty, including Jacob Meek and wife, David Ripley and wife, Thomas Taylor and wife, Ruth Chadwell, Mary Hursey, Phebe Taylor, William Peoples and wife, Anthony Asher and wife, and Liberty Miller and wife. The meetings were held in the schoolhouse until about 1843, when the present. frame building was erected. The membership now exceeds seventy-five, and Rev. L. Timberlake is pastor.

Hartwood Methodist Protestant Church stands in the northwestern part of the township, in the southeast corner of Lot 18. The society was organized between 1830 and 1835. The Woodwards, McFees, Dorseys, Murphys and a few others were the earliest members. The first house was built of logs, and was of the most primitive stamp. The seats were in keeping with the building, and consisted simply of slab benches without backs.

The first school in the township is said to have been taught by John Ward, in an unoccupied log cabin in the southern part of the township. The first in Gilmore was a subscription school taught by Mrs. Nancy Donahey. A schoolhouse was afterward built on a lot donated by the proprietor of the village, and among the first teachers in it was Eliza Hughes, who was the most popular that ever taught in Gilmore.

The following have been the Justices of the township, with the date of elec tion: John Hudson, 1831; Joseph Mathany, 1832; John Hudson, 1834; John McFadden, 1836; Joseph Mathany, 1837; John McFadden, 1838; Matthew Anderson, 1840; Jacob W. Honnold, 1840; Jacob W. Honnold, 1843; Matthew Anderson, 1843; Matthew Anderson, 1846; Benjamin Parrish, 1846; Matthew Anderson, 1848; Joshua Brown, 1848; John Murphy, 1851; Jacob W. Honnold, 1851; Hiram Matson, 1854; John V. Richards, 1854; Isaac Couts, 1856; Hiram Matson, 1857; Isaac Couts, 1859; Abraham Atherton, 1860; Isaac Couts, 1862; R. L. Berkshire, 1863; Isaac Couts, 1865; Robert L. Berkshire, 1866; Isaac Couts, 1868; T. T. Chadwell, 1869; Isaac Couts, 1871; Thomas T. Chadwell, 1872; Isaac Couts, 1874; Thomas T. Chadwell, 1875; Isaac Couts, 1877; Thomas T. Chadwell, 1878; Isaac Couts, 1880; Thomas T. Chadwell, 1881; Isaac Couts, 1883.