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CARROLL AND HARRISON COUNTIES - 185 CHAPTER XXII LEE TOWNSHIP ITS PRESENT TERRITORY-ITS GENERAL FEATURES-ORGANIZATION -POPULATION-SETTLEMENT VILLAGES - THE FIRST SCHOOLHOUSE OF THE COUNTY-SOIL FOUND HERE. Present Lee Township embraces parts of original surveyed township 12, range 4 and township 13, range 5. Eighteen sections off the east side of the former were left in Jefferson County at the formation of Carroll County. Three rows of sections off the west side of the township (13) contributed to the formation of the present civil township of Union. Two congressional townships contributed in part to the formation of four civil townships as they now exist. Township 12 was originally known as Jefferson Township. The remainder was known as Rock Township for a number of years after the organization of Carroll County. In March, 1833, the county commissioners of Carroll County made the following entry in their journal : "Ordered that so much of the townships of Clinton and Springfield as is included in the county of Carroll, be and the same is hereby erected into a separate township to be known by the name of Jefferson." At their June session the same year, Rock Township was erected and contained thirty-two square miles. At the March, 1836, meeting the entry made was : "After reading and considering the petition for the erection and alteration of several townships in different parts of the county the following is moved": "A township named Centre was ordered to be erected from parts of Washington and Harrison townships, including Carrollton ; also a township named Lee was ordered to be erected from parts of the townships of Rock and Jefferson ; also a township named Loudon was ordered to be erected from the balance of the said Rock Township and Jefferson Township." The line was also changed between Perry and Union townships at that meeting of the county board. SETTLEMENT John Jackman settled on Elk Horn Creek in this township in 1802 and was followed by Peter Albaugh in 1805. Elkhorn Creek derived its name from Reynolds, proprietor of a mill and a log tavern at the road-side near the creek, as he had for a sign the antlers of an elk, each measuring over six feet in length. On account of this circumstance the place was known as "Elk Horn Tavern" and later the township was likewise named. William Albaugh used to relate how the wolves used to be very numerous and that very early he received $12 bounty for killing six of these animals in Lee Township. 186 - CARROLL AND HARRISON COUNTIES FIRST SCHOOLHOUSE OF THE COUNTY, ETC. The first public schoolhouse within what is now Carroll County was built in Lee Township. The first justice of the peace in Lee Township wag Joseph Wolff and at about the same date the other justice was John Albaugh. The county's 'plat books show that in December, 1814, William Van Horn, Alexander and David Milligan laid out a town in section 17, township 13, range 5 and gave it the name of Millersburgh. This was on the old Thomas Lee farm near old Green Hill church. No trace of a village now attracts the passerby, save an old grave-yard in the woods. September 24, 1832, John Rice laid out another town named Woodsberry, in the southeast quarter of section 36, township 12, range 4 (Lee Township), but this village like the other just named above, never materialized. POPULATION In 1840, Lee Township had a population of 1,372, but it had decreased in 1880 to only 933 ; in 1890 it was 926 ; in 1900 it was 849, and in 1910 about the same. This great loss in population may be accounted for in part from the fact that the smaller tracts of land were all taken over by parties holding large tracts and the original men went on to the far west in search of larger homesteads of their own, .leaving this township with few men who held the most of the lands suitable for cultivation. SOIL The soil of this township is a Sandy loam, having a limestone and clay sub-soil. Any and all of the staples common to this latitude can be successfully grown here. Coal abounds at many places within Lee Township and from it has come much of the wealth of the community. VILLAGE OF HARLEM SPRINGS This village was laid out by Isaac Wiggins, prior to the organization of Carroll County as the records show that the "above plat of the town of Harlem is situated in the southeast quarter of section 10, township 13, range 5, Rock Township, Harrison County, Ohio, Isaac Wiggins, proprietor." He platted an addition to his village August 31, 1840. In 1884 Harlem Springs had a population of 300; had three churches—Methodist Episcopal. Presbyterian and United Brethren. Harlem Springs College was located there (see Educational chapter). Boop Brothers had a steam flouring mill ; Samuel Dunlap was a coal dealer and operator. The physicians were Drs. John B. Moody and J. B. Frame ; the dry goods dealers were W. A. Groves and another dealer, name forgotten ; the harness-maker was Jacob Karns ; general merchandise, Peterson & Saltsman ; hotel,- Mrs. I. Wiand of the "Harlem Hotel." CARROLL AND HARRISON COUNTIES - 187 A writer on this village in 1884 said as follows: "The town has a romantic situation and every house is occupied by its owner. It is in the midst of a rich agricultural community which contributes largely to its support. No liquor saloons are tolerated and the morals are governed by the standard set by its educated and refined citizens." In 1854 when cholera visited Carrollton and her streets had blue sulphurous lights burning as a disinfectant, Dan Rice, the great showman of that time, turned aside from the place and pitched his tents at Harlem Springs on the public square. Before the advent of the railroad, Joseph Wolff kept a tavern on the State road midway between Harlem Springs and Carrollton, called "Three Mile Tavern" where man and beast could slake their thirst before pursuing their journey. David Lee operated a cheese factory not far from Wolffs and when he marketed the products of his factory, he would haul the cheese in big wagon loads to Steubenville with ox teams. The coming of the Civil war closed down this factory and it was never reopened. This village is six miles southeast of Carrollton. Before the Civil war it was a health resort where invalids came from distant parts of the country to drink of its chalybeate springs. Among the visitors were Gen. Robert E. Lee and Hon. Edward M. Stanton of later date fame. The Harlem Springs College was founded in 1858, John S. Steeves, president. In the late eighties this village had a Methodist Episcopal, a Presbyterian and a United Brethren church and the usual number of shops and stores found in villages of its size. It is situated in section 16 of Lee civil township. |