1100 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO September 22, 1827. He was .the fourth son of Robert and Mary Russell who emigrated from Loudoun county, Virginia, to this county about 1818 and settled near the farm where John Russell was born. John Russell was reared on his father's farm, where he had the experience of many a boy of those early days ; but he had a few cardinal characteristics which distinguished him from his fellows. In his early youth he evinced a breadth of vision and marked intellectuality which promised well for his coming career. After he had acquired a common-school education at the district school near his home, he taught school in the winter time after he reached sufficient age. Not content with the education he had, J ohn longed to go to college. By strict economy and untiring industry, he acquired sufficient money to enter Ohio Wesleyan University, at Delaware, in the fall of 1849. He remained there two years and was graduated in the scientific course. Soon after he returned home he married Margaret M. Russell, the daughter of Aaron and Tamzon Russell, but whose family was not related to his. At an early age John Russell united with the Methodist Episcopal church, and throughout his life he adhered to the precepts of the Christian religion with unswerving fidelity in all his relations of life. There is no doubt that much of this estimable trait of his nature was ingrained through the early training of his mother, who in her long life impressed her deeply religious character and noble womanhood upon her entire family. Without his solicitation, John Russell was nominated and elected clerk of the common pleas court of the county in 1854 by the largest majority ever given to a candidate in the county up to that time. During his first term, his able, scrupulous and .courteous service to the public so commended him to the electorate, that he was re-elected and served until 1863, a period of nine years. Soon after the expiration of his last term as clerk, he was appointed chief clerk to the secretary of state, William Henry Smith. Upon the resignation of the latter, Governor Hayes, who later became President of the United States, appointed Mr. Russell to fill the vacancy. After his term had expired, he returned to Urbana and busied himself in the office of W. W. Wilson, collector of internal revenue for this district. In 1869 he was nominated by acclamation and elected state senator for the district composed of Champaign, Clark and Madison counties. Before the convening of the Legislature, however, he was stricken with paralysis, and died on December 16, 1869, when he was in the prime of his life. Not only the whole community united in honoring his memory at his death, but the. officers of the state met at Columbus and. passed resolutions of deep regret CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 1101 for his death and a high eulogy of his life and character. The officers of the state attended the funeral in a body, led by Governor Hayes, who, on that occasion, united with the ministers in giving testimony to the many virtues and sterling integrity of John Russell. Champaign county has produced several men of great talent and high distinction ; but it has produced few who equal John Russell in those qualities of a true Christian gentleman, which endeared him to his friends and neighbors and commended him to those he served in public capacity. JOSEPH P. SMITH. Joseph P. Smith, a citizen of Urbana, state librarian of Ohio under Governor McKinley and later head of the Bureau of American Republics, was one of the many men of Champaign county Who made a name for himself in state and national affairs. Smith was born in Adams county, Ohio, and came to Urbana in 1888. He became the editor of the Citizen and Gazette, a position which he capably filled for a number of years. Before McKinley became governor he had become acquainted with Smith and a close friendship sprang up between the two men ; so close, in fact, that when McKinley became governor of Ohio he tendered Smith the position of state librarian. Here. he made himself invaluable to the governor and when McKinley made the race for the presidency in 1896 it was the former Urbana newspaper man who became his confidential secretary during the progress of the campaign. The campaign of 1896 was notable in one particular respect. McKinley remained at his home in Canton, Ohio, during all the summer and fall of that year and received delegations from all over the United States in his own front yard. It was Smith's duty to gather data for a speech appropriate for each particular delegation, and he did it in a consummate manner. If the 'delegation happened to be from Hooppole township, Posey county, Indiana, Smith looked up the .county and township and made appropriate suggestions for a speech extolling the resources of the particular community ; if . the delegation was from Wisconsin, Wyoming, or any other state in the Union, was Smith's duty to look up and prepare for McKinley the necessary data to be used in a speech appropriate to the occasion and delegation. Consequently, when McKinley became President, Smith was appointed to a responsible position at Washington. He was given a prominent position in the Bureau of American Republics and placed' in charge of the magazine issued, by the bureau. He continued his connection with the bureau until 1102 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. his death, February 5, 1898. His health had been failing for some time previous to his death, and he had gone to Miami, Florida, during the winter of 1897-98 in order to recuperate. He is buried in the Oak Dale cemetery at Urbana. FRANCIS MARTIN WRIGHT. Francis Martin Wright, former auditor of Champaign county and later auditor of the State of Ohio for ten years, was born in Frederick county, Virginia, July 14, 1810, and died on January 18, 1869, as the result of a steamboat accident on the Mississippi. He came to Urbana in 1834 and made that. city his home until his death, with the exception of the years spent in Columbus. He was a man of keen political sagacity and had an unusual insight into the maneuvers necessary for political success. He was not a politician in the ordinary Machiavellian sense, but a public-spirited citizen who was sincerely interested in public affairs. He served as county auditor for some years and as state auditor from 1856 to 1867. He resigned his position as state auditor on account of his health and it was while on a trip to the South that he met his death in 1869 as the result of a steamboat explosion. DR. JAMES WILLIAMS. Dr. James Williams, state auditor from 1872 to 188o, was born in Prince George county, Maryland, May 21, 1822, and died at Mechanicsburg, Champaign county, Ohio, July 9, 1888. He came to Champaign county in 1831 with his parents and was licensed for the practice of medicine in 1843. He followed his profession until 185o and then went to California, but returned a year later and was elected the same fall to the state Legislature. When Francis M. Wright became state auditor in 1856 he appointed Doctor Williams as trust-fund clerk and he served in this capacity for eight years. In 1864 he became deputy auditor and held this position until he was elected auditor in 1872. His long connection with. the office had made him thoroughly conversant with every detail of its administration and as a result he was re-elected in 1876, serving until 1880. He was in the auditor's office continuously from 1856 to 188o, a period of twenty-four years, and a longer period than any man had served in the office up to that time. After retiring from the office in 188o, he returned to his former home in Mechanicsburg, where he quietly lived until his death, July 9, 1888. CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 1103 REV. WILLIAM HALLER. William Haller, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church and a resident of Champaign county from 1812 until his death in 1880, was born in Mason county, Kentucky, August 5, 1801, and arrived in Urbana with his parents on October 12; 1812. In 1814 the family settled on Nettle creek and there the future minister grew to manhood. At the age of nineteen he was ordained as a minister in the Methodist Episcopal church ; married in 1825 to Sarah Arrowsmith, who died ten years later, leaving three children ; married, in 1837, Jane Arrowsmith, sister of his first wife, two children being born to the second marriage before the death of his wife in 1851; married, in 1855, Myrtilla Bishop and one child was born to this third marriage. Reverend Haller was a frequent and valuable contributor to the local papers on a wide variety of subjects. For sixty years he was a local preacher and served many of the Methodist churches in this and adjoining coun- ties. Shortly after his first marriage he built his cabin in Mad River township and continued to reside in that township until after the death of his second wife. He then located on the hill one mile west of Urbana, but some years before his death he removed to Kingston, where he was living at the time of his death on December 2, 1880. He lies in the Talbott cemetery, beside the remains of his second wife. JOHN H. YOUNG. John H. Young was born in Franklin, Warren county, Ohio, September 15, 1813, a son of Gen. Robert Young, of Dauphin county, Pennsylvania. He passed his boyhood days in Piqua, Ohio, where his father was a pioneer lawyer and prominent citizen. At the age of fifteen Young began working in a printing office in Piqua and soon afterwards entered Oxford College, Ohio, and was graduated therefrom in 1835. The year of his graduation found him located in Urbana and reading law with Gen. Israel Hamilton. Admitted to the bar in 1837, he was married in 1838 to Elizabeth J. White and to this union three children were born :1 Frances, the wife of Frank Chance ; Carrie, wife of M. E. Barber, and Robert, now a resident of Chicago. Being a Democrat, Young was never able' to hold a public office in Champaign county, although he was a memeber of the Ohio constitutional convention of 1873 and served as presidential elector several times. He was known as a "War Democrat," and gave his active support to the prosecution of the war. He was a candidate 1104 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. for Congress on the Democratic ticket on more than one occasion, and made a strong race against such men as Joseph Vance and Moses B. Corwin. always running ahead of his ticket. For nearly half a century he was one of the leaders of the local bar and was employed on one or the other sides of the most important cases in the county. He was active in the practice until a short time before his death, November 25, 1895. JOHN S. LEEDOM. John S. Leedom was one of the first college men to practice law in Urbana, and was in the active practice in Urbana from 1851 until his death. Born in Pennsylvania, August 1, 1826, he came with his parents to Miami county, Ohio, in 1831 and to Champaign county in 1835. He was reared on a farm in Concord township, began teaching school while still in his minority, and completed the literary course given in the Springfield Academy in the forties. He entered the law office of John H. Young in Urbana, in 1849, and a short time later entered the University of Indiana, at Bloomington, and was graduated from the law department of that institution on February 26, 1851. He was at once admitted to the bar at Cincinnati and located at Urbana in partnership with his former preceptor. He was a Democrat, and consequently did not have an opportunity to play an active part in county political affairs. He served as prosecutor from 1854 to 1856 and again from 1858 to 1862, but this was the only official position he ever held in the county. He made the race for Congress in 1868, but could not overcome the heavy Republican majority. Leedom was for years one of the leaders of the local bar and at his death one of his biographers said "he was apt, terse, forcible in argument, ready and confident in debate, quick to grasp and combine the guiding principles underlying the mass of legal rubbish of a case. Thoroughly conversant of the law, careful and conservative, ready and trenchant in debate and expert in the analysis of human motives and passions, he had peculiar qualifications for a successful advocate." FRANK CHANCE. Frank Chance was one of the many local lawyers trained under the able tutelage of John H. Young and, at the time of his death in 1991, probably enjoyed a larger income from the practice of his profession than any man in the county. Born near Westville, in this county, May 17, 1842, he CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 1105 was educated at Miami University and when eighteen years of age began the study of law under John H. Young, of Urbana, reading law during the winter of 1860-61. He enlisted at the first call of President Lincoln for troops in April, 1861, and served until June 25, 1864. His military service was very extensive ; enlisting as a private in the Thirteenth Regiment he later enrolled in the Eighty-sixth Regiment. Still later he was adjutant of the Fourth Regiment and in 1863 became attached to the United States naval service and was with the "Gazelle" on its famous expedition up the Red river in 1863-64. In the fall of 1864 Mr. Chance married Frances S. Young, the daughter of his preceptor, and at once joined partnership with his father-in-law in the practice. He had been studying law during the progress of the war and had been admitted to the bar on May 4, 1863. He was another of the many able lawyers of Urbana who have been Democrats and therefore unable to enjoy political favors at the hands of their fellow-citizens. He was honored on more than one occasion, however, by being nominated for Congress, but was always defeated. In the latter part of the seventies he became solicitor for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and retained this connection until his death in 1901. It might be said that he was followed in this position by Clarence B. Heiserman, another gifted lawyer of Champaign county, who is still serving in that capacity. THOMAS SIMS M'FARLAND. Thomas Sims McFarland, one of the most prominent local historians and newspaper correspondents of the county, was born in Concord township, July 14, 1832, and died on March 19, 1914. He lived his entire life in Champaign county and was known not only in this county, but in many other counties as well. He was the son of Robert McFarland, a pioneer resident of Champaign county, who settled in Concord township when it was still inhabited by the Indians. T. S. McFarland was one of a family of nineteen children. Mr. McFarland gained much of his wide acquaintance and reputation through his work as a newspaper correspondent of different Champaign county papers, as well as of metropolitan papers. He began his newspaper career as a contributor to the old Citizen and Gazette during the days of Joshua Saxton. He adopted at the beginning of his newspaper work the nova de plume of "Specs, Jr.", under which he always wrote. He adopted (70) 1106 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. this from an older writer whom he knew and admired and who wrote under the nom de plume of "Specs"—the late James B. Armstrong. Mr. McFarland did much historical work and was the author of a complete history of Concord township which Was published several years ago. He also wrote a history of the McFarland family, which was published. He always took an active interest in pioneer meetings held in Champaign county and adjoining counties, and many of these meetings were held at his own home. At many of these meetings he often had men of state and national prominence and on one occasion had as the speaker of the day the speaker of the national House of Representatives. JOHN FRANKLIN GOWEY John Franklin Gowey was born in North Lewisburg, December 7, 1846, and died in Yokohama, Japan, March 12, 1900. His father was Hartland C. Gowey, a native of New York, who settled with his parents in Licking county in 1837. In 1844 he removed to Champaign county and settled in Lewisburg, where he remained until his death in 1909. His wife was Eliza A. Willey, and to them were born two sons, John F. and Marcus C., of whom the former was the elder. John F. Gowey received his early education in the common schools of North Lewisburg, but as he grew older he realized that his ambition was fettered by the lack of a higher education. Accordingly, he entered Ohio Wesleyan university at Delaware. It is quite probable that he received encouragement, both pecuniary and moral, from his parents, for his father understood the value of adequate preparation, since he had taught school for twenty years. After John Gowey left the university, he studied law and was admitted to the bar, May 10, 1869, and attained marked prominence in his profession. His father, before him, had been active in the public life of his community, for he had been postmaster for thirty-three years, and mayor of North Lewisburg for ten years, hence it was altogether natural for Mr. Gowey to have aspirations to public life. He was elected to the state Legislature in 1873 and served one term. As he had such recognized ability as a barrister, the people of Champaign county conferred upon him the office of prosecuting attorney in 1876; and, as he performed the duties of the trust with impartiality and exactitude, he was re-elected in 1878. In obedience to the well-known admonition of Horace Greeley, who advised young men to go west, Mr. Gowey went to Olympia, Washington Territory, where he was registrar in the United States land office from 1882 CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 1107 to 1886. He soon entered the public life of the territory and was elected a member of the Washington territorial Legislature in 1887. He not only attained prominence in political circles there, but also in business life; for in 1888 he was chosen president of the First National Bank of Olympia. Later, after the federal Congress had passed the enabling act which authorized the territory to frame a constitution, John F. Gowey, because of his preeminent ability in the legal profession and as an impartial moderator, was chosen president of the constitutional convention. On April 25, 1867, Mr. Gowey married Clara McDonald, a daughter of James and Rachel McDonald, of Woodstock, Champaign county, Ohio. They had one son, Franklin Gowey, who was born on June 4, 1869. Mr. Gowey was married the second time on November 3, i886, to Georgiana Stevens, who was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, September 23, 1852. On account of his prominent place in affairs at Washington, Mr. Gowey was appointed consul-general at Yokohama, Japan, in 1897. He faithfully performed the duties of this office until his death in 1900. His body now lies at Olympia, Washington, in the state whose fundamental law he had no small part in forming. Champaign county can well be proud that it is the home of a man so exemplary in his personal morals and so clean in his business, professional and political relations as John Gowey ; for in this respect he is without a superior among the many prominent men the county has sent out to do their duty in the world of men and affairs. Moreover, it must be said that the county has produced no man who has, achieved so high a place in the service of the nation and in that of another state as did John Franklin Gowey. JULES GUTH RIDGE. The late Jules Guthridge may be counted as the most distinguished newspaper man the county has ever produced. Born at Fairfield in Greene county, Ohio, he came with his parents to Urbana when he was only a few weeks old and it was in the latter place that he was educated and reared to manhood. At the early age of sixteen he learned telegraphy in Urbana in the office of D. T. Bacon., then superintendent of the United States Telegraph Company, but stationed at the time in Urbana. He enlisted as a member of Company A, One Hundred and Thirty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and had the unique distinction of having been the only member of that regiment not to lose a day's service because of illness or for any other cause. 1108 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. After the war Mr. Guthridge entered the journalistic field and during the course of the last half century had been employed on some of the largest papers in the country. He served on the Cincinnati Gazette, Chicago Times, San Francisco Examiner and the New York Herald. He then became identified with the United Press Association and was thus employed until he became secretary of the Indianapolis monetary committee, an organization which came into existence to further the gold-standard movement in 1896. About 1905 he became the manager of the Washington office of the New York banking house of Henry Clews & Company. His long residence in Washington and his wide reputation with the leaders in the Republican party throughout the nation led McKinley to select him to manage the press bureau at the Republican national headquarters in New York City during the campaign of 1896. He was employed in a similar capacity in the presidential campaign of 1904, his appointment being made at the suggestion of President Roosevelt. Mr. Guthridge made his home in Washington, D. C., from 1881 until his death in the spring of 1917. He died of apoplexy in his apartments, the funeral services being held at the residence of his brother-in-law, Dr. J. J. Little, in Washington. He was sixty-nine years of age at the time of his death. CHAPTER XXXIX. SIDELIGHTS ; OR LIFE IN OTHER DAYS. A description of early life in Champaign county may very properly be included in this chapter. The early churches, schools, industries, organizations and many other phases of life have been treated in separate chapters, but there are a number of things, not of much general importance, and yet throwing a flood of interesting light on the way our forefathers lived. CLOTHING. Everything the early settlers wore was made in the home : Shoes to headgear, socks to mittens, pants to shirt. The clothes were made of wool, flax, hemp and cotton, or a mixture of linen and wool. Many a pioneer had breeches (or pants, the word trousers never being used), made of leather, sometimes tanned and sometimes not. And instances are on record when the Spanish-needle (Bidens bipinnati) was treated as flax and a very substantial cloth made from its fibre. Nearly all classes of people of both sexes wore moccasins of buckskin in the winter, while the summer season saw the entire population barefooted. Judges sat on the bench in their bare feet, and one instance is on record where court did not convene on time because the 'judge was engaged in the important duty of trimming an obstreperous toe nail. Everyone of the period prior to the Civil War can recall three kinds of cloth—linsey-woolsey, jean and flannel—made on the old homemade loom. Jean was given its beautiful brown color with the juice of the walnut and the famous "butter-nut" shirt was known throughout the Mississippi valley. The "pepper-and-salt" woolen cloth was made by using white wool for the warp, and black wool for the woof. Every family had its spinning-wheel, reels, looms, warping-bars, winding-blades and all of the necessary paraphernalia for carding, spinning and weaving. For at least a quarter of a century after this county was settled, every household carded the wool for the family clothing on little cards ten inches long and four inches wide. The children picked the wool and helped card it, but it was left to the mother and her daughters to do the weaving. 1110 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. There was one man in Urbana, Joseph Clark, who was engaged in the manufacture of spinning-wheels and other weaving instruments until the latter part of the thirties. With careful use a spinning-wheel would last through generations; in fact, many of the spinning-wheels were brought to this county in 1805 and could be used today—if their owners knew how to manipulate them. After the woolen-mill was opened at Urbana in 1816 many families got their yarn from the mill and of course some of them bought their cloth from the mill. All socks, mittens, wristlets and some other articles of clothing were knit, and it was not uncommon for the boys of the family to be taught to knit. Tradition has preserved a number of instances where the boys of the family were as deft with the needle as their sisters. FOOD. Food was plenty. Game of all kinds was to be had for the shooting and every settler had a rifle and knew how to use it. Corn was easily grown and there was always an ample supply of it, even though it had to be eaten at times when only half ground. "Pone" and "dodger" were the staple pastry products and were about the same in make-up. Both were made out of cornmeal, baked in a Dutch oven, or on a slab of wood or sometimes on a hot stone. The batter was composed of three ingredients, meal, salt and water, and as long as salt could be obtained the family was happy. Meal and water were always to be had, but sometimes salt was very difficult to get. There were times when it took five bushels of wheat to get one bushel of salt. Some women mixed pumpkin in the meal batter and thus concocted some kind of a meal-pumpkin bread, the name of which seems to have been lost. Corn was also dried in season and was also converted into hominy. The use of wheat came in several years after the county was settled. Some families had wheat bread once a week, usually in the form of biscuits, but most of the wheat was sold. Venison, bear meat, squirrel, and other forms of game were to be had all seasons of the year. Deer meat was frequently dried, as was beef, but for. many years there was such an abundance of game available that there was little necessity for laying in a supply of meat. The friendly sugar tree furnished the only sugar the first settlers had and it was also the means of furnishing many families with a commodity to barter for articles which could not be made at home. Maple sugar always commanded a good price and many settlers derived a larger revenue from their sugar crop than from any- CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 1111 thing else on the farm. Molasses was plentiful and there are people yet living who do not dislike corn cakes and genuine maple molasses. Wild honey was also abundant and many a bee-tree yielded several bucketsful of honey. Of garden vegetables and berries there were but few for several years. There is no reference in the early writings of the pioneer to many of the commonest of our garden vegetables being in use in the early days of the county. Beets, peas, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, cabbage, cucumbers and several others were not to be found in the first gardens. Even the humble potato was not as common as might be thought, but the friendly pumpkin and a kind of a bean familiarly known as "cornfield bean", grew on the first cornstalks in the county. It is not certain when the first stove came into use, but there were few stoves in use in the county until the latter part of the forties. The first stoves were crude affairs and from the pictures of the stoves for kitchen use which appear in the local newspapers in the forties they must have been hard to handle. Even after stoves came into use, many housewives still used the fireplace for boiling. The family washing was usually done in the yard, the water being heated in a large kettle. The washing-machine was as unknown as the flying-machine, and the clothes were cleaned with the use of a wash- board. The same kettle that heated the water for the washing was used in the spring in making the family soap for the year. Soap-making time was always dreaded by the small boy of the family. For some days he was kept busy keeping the kettle boiling, carrying lye and taking his turn at stirring the saponiferous mixture in the kettle. The ash hopper was found in every well-regulated backyard, and every woodshed had its barrel into which every fragment of fat found its way. It was the judicious mixture of the leach and fat meat that produced the finished product. ODD GLIMPSES OF OUR FOREFATHERS. The early settlers had some distinctive fashions that would look queer today. For several years 'after the county was organized many of the men wore their hair long and often wore it in a queue. Even as late as the thirties men of the older generation still clung to their "shad-belly" or "pig-tail", and there were even some young men who paraded in the old-fashioned queue. Some wore their hair tied back with a ribbon and ribbons were seen up until the thirties. By that time the style had changed and the "dudes"—the name was not then in use—combed their hair straight back—pompa- 1112 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. dour fashion, but still let it long enough to reach to the top of the coat collar. The forties saw a new style in vogue. The hair of the men was cut very short behind from ear to ear, often fairly clipped, while the front part was left long—even as long as six to eight inches—and this mop of hair was then combed straight back, those not affecting the style derisively calling it "soap-locks." Whiskers and mustaches have undergone some radical changes. In the twenties and thirties few men wore whiskers and certainly no Democrat could be loyal to Jackson and permit hair to grow on his face ; likewise, the Whigs showed their loyalty to their leader by eschewing all hirsute adornment and Henry Clay was the idol of the Whigs of the county for two decades. In the forties the men of whiskers were associated with poker players, cutthroats and thieves. A man with a long mustache who would have come into Urbana in the forties would have been looked on with suspicion. The Civil War was responsible for a marked change in whiskers and mustaches. Because it was practically impossible to keep shaved while at the front it soon became the fashion to have a full beard, and the custom then inaugurated spread throughout the country. But the old pioneers who lived through the days of the Civil War always kept themselves smooth shaven. Those who recall Governor Vance, Judge John Taylor, John H. James, William Patrick, John Earsom, Jacob Minturn, Robert M. Woods, John Enoch, Samuel Humes, James McLean, John Hurd and Simon Earsom will recall that they were always clean shaven. SOMETHING RELATING TO DRESS. The men wore short breeches until in the twenties, especially the older men. The three-cornered hat, the famous Continental coat, with its fancy facings and gaudy lapels, the silver-buckled slippers, silk stockings, and other evidences of wealth were not unknown in early Urbana. There was a sharp distinction between the dandies of the county seat and the rural folk who were not able to wear gold braid on their clothes. The dandy was held in contempt and the man from the country districts never failed to express his hearty disapproval of his city brother. It is recorded that Martin Hitt wore to the day of his death the "shad-belly" queue, short breeches, gaiters, stockings, silver-buckled slippers and the Continental coat. Colonel Ward also retained all the old styles as long as he lived. Solomon Vause held to his queue to the end, although he discarded the rest of the old styles. CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 1113 And the women. How did they dress ? Their styles fluctuated with such regularity that it would be impossible to describe them with any degree of accuracy. Homespun was the common dress material of the great majority. Hats were unknown for several decades. Girls wore their hair in a knot tied up with a string, and everyone wore a sunbonnet in summer. In winter they wore hoods and shawls over their heads, but later a headgear called a "fascinator" came into use. Hats of straw were sometimes made at home and colored to suit the whim of the wearer, but the use of straw and felt hats for women did not come into general use until after the Civil War. Dresses were very plain ; lace was unknown to most women ; one dress for pod" (the words "good" and "common" were curiously applied to dresses used for "meeting" and Sunday, and for those worn every day, respectively), was known to be worn for ten years—and then "made over" and worn for another indefinite period. Of course, there were a number of women who wore the finest of silks and satins, but they were few in number compared to the great majority who had nothing but linsey-woolsey and flannel. Most of the dresses, naturally, were cut in order to save as much of the goods as possible ; that is, to make it go as far as possible. It is on record that the largest women in the county, a Mrs. Lafferty, required only six yards for a dress—"and left a remnant for repairs." History does not state how many yards were in the remnant. AMUSEMENTS OF THE PIONEERS. The amusements of the early settlers were very simple. There were no moving-picture shows to attend ; no shows of any kind, and the thousand and one games we have today were unknown. The neighborhood gatherings engaged in shucking corn, peeling apples, stirring-off sugar, log-rollings, house and barn-raisings, and the like, all of which were events of material benefit to the community. It must be understood that a log-rolling was as much fun for the young men of that day as a baseball game of today, and the same may be said of the house-raising. Corn-shuckings were mixed affairs, attended by both the young men and the young women and where there were plenty of red ears of corn the affair was a decidedly "bussing" affair, the lad who found a red ear being entitled to the privilege of kissing the girl of his choice. Apple-peeling parties were of the same general nature as the corn-shuckings and were participated in by both sexes. There also were quilting parties and threshing parties, all of which, it will be noted, were concerned with work which had to be done on the farm. But the people of 1114 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. the early days enjoyed these semi-work-play affairs with all the zest which we of 1917 feel for any of our social parties. Then there were singing schools, spelling matches and ciphering contests. mental diversions which were more or less amusement affairs; at least, they were among the most enjoyable affairs of the young people. Some danced at their homes and others thought the dance was to be utterly tabooed. But many of the best people danced to the music of the fiddle—never to the violin. The Virginia reel, the schottische, the minuet, and the waltz were the favorite terpsichorean measures. There was a distinctive "hoe-down" and a number of jigs and shuffles which were always called for at every gathering, being as one .old settler remarked to the historian, a "solo dances." Eliphas Meacham is one of the last of the old fiddlers. He is still living at Woodstock and during the past few years has taken several prizes in old fiddlers' contests. jumping, running foot races, wrestling and throwing weights were indulged in whenever young men congregated at log-rollings, barn-raisings and the like. It was a great honor to be known as the best wrestler (always called "rastler") in the community, and every young man thus honored prided himself on his ability to throw his adversary with "overholds" in what was called the "side rastle." Fist fights were common, especially where there was much drinking, but scientific boxing was unknown and boxing-gloves would have been laughed out of the county. The common expression in the local papers in the forties in describing a fight was that "they went at it hammer and tongs", which, in effect, was a rough-and-tumble fight not based on any established rules of fistic procedure. The playing of cards was usually looked upon with worse disfavor than dancing. Many a man would drink and get drunk, but would never think of allowing a playing-card in his house. Cards were invariably associated with gambling, especially poker-playing, and many tales are told of the large sums of money lost by prominent men in Urbana in the early days—and some not so early. One judge of the common pleas court was very fond of playing poker and on one occasion lost all his money in a game carried on in a room across the street from the court house. Before the Civil War there were a few circuses that found their elephantine way into the county. Advertisements in the Citizen and Gazette bear witness to the fact that "The Most Gorgeous and Spectacular Performance in the World" would be in Urbana on next Saturday. Those shows were all of the wagon variety, with a few animals, and always an elephant, CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 1115 a few horseback riders and a few clowns. They were well patronized by the people, one newspaper in the fifties estimating the crowd at a circus in Urbana at three thousand. A LEGEND OF PROCTOR CREEK. Once upon a time a portion of the Wyandotte tribe of Indians dwelt upon the banks of Proctor creek in Rush township. Living in the vicinity of this stream was a renowned Indian chief by the name of Tzipenachoota, who had pledged his faith to a beautiful maiden of the tribe known as Shining Star. On one occasion a party of braves came into the little Indian village with a captive, an innocent pale-faced maiden. The attractiveness of this girl, "White Dove," as she was familiarly called by them, was too much for an Indian warrior's heart, thereby causing the chief to neglect his former love and pledge his vows to the pale-face. Shining Star tried hard to retain the love of her dusky warrior. Revenge is one of the dearest things to an Indian's heart and Shining Star made her plan to wreak vengeance upon her betrayer. She induced Tzienachoota to grant one more interview and, according to her plan and suggestion, they were to meet at midnight on the banks of the Proctor. The chief came at the appointed hour. Shining Star was not there ; the chief called and while listening for a response an arrow pierced his heart. The Indian maiden's revenge was accomplished. She rushed forward, clasped him to her bosom and leaped into the dark, deep waters beneath her. The next morning their bodies were found quite a distance below the little Indian village. The usual and customary rites were performed over their bodies by their brethren and they were buried in one grave near the stream which silently witnessed the Indian maiden's revenge. ANOTHER INDIAN STORY. Daniel Howell, of near Woodstock, came to this section from Maine at a very early date, accompanied by his wife and two children, the latter eight and ten years of age, respectively. The exact date of their corning cannot be ascertained, but one is safe in saying that the inhabitants of what is now Champaign county were then very few. They settled here in the spring and in spite of the many dangers remained unmolested during the following summer. Rumors reached their ears of terrible outrages that were being committed by the Indian savages. Howell, taking due precautions, decided to move his family to a larger settlement on the Scioto river. Accordingly 1116 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. he started out into the woods one morning to procure enough wild game to last them on their perilous journey. But on the morning mentioned he was constantly haunted with fears that his family was in danger. His fears grew on him and he became so apprehensive of his family's welfare that he started in the direction of his home. When a short distance from his little log hut, his eyes were met with a most appalling and heart-rending scene. His house was in flames; his wife had been murdered and his youngest child had been taken captive by the heartless Indians. Just what later became of this man is not now known. WOLVES AS REVENUE PRODUCERS. The county commissioners' records bear frequent testimony to the fact that wolves were very common hereabout in the early days of the county. A bounty was paid for every wolf scalp and some farmers made a comfortable sum every winter hunting wolves. As late as in the forties wolves were to be found all over the county and wolf-drives were held in which scores of the animals were rounded up. r Many stories have come down concerning these wolf-drives. The settlers for miles around gathered, having been instructed to meet along certain roads at an appointed time. The four lines of the hollow square were from three to ten miles apart, and the lines began to march toward each other at a given time, each line being in charge of a leader. No firearms or dogs were allowed, but the men were usually provided with pitchforks, clubs and horns. When the lines finally converged there was a motley collection of wolves, foxes, rabbits and even deer within the living wall. Then the animals were dispatched, sometimes with dogs, sometimes with pitchforks and clubs, but often they were captured alive. These drives continued until after the Civil War. THE FITHIAN TAVERN. One of the most prominent of the early buildings of Urbana was the tavern which George Fithian built in 1805 on the corner now occupied by the Grace Methodist church. Samuel McCord opened a store in the building in March, 1806. One evening in 1808 it was reported that the Indians were going to attack the village and orders were at once issued for everyone in the village to collect in Fithian's tavern. They all got there, about fifteen or twenty families, and they remained there all night, so for this one night the old tavern was a fort. Fithian used the building as a tavern from 1805 to about 1813. He sold it to John Enoch, who kept the tavern for about a CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 1117 year and then sold it to one Birdsley who also used it as a tavern for about two or three years. He was the last one to use it as a public house. A man by the name of Thomas, a watch repairer, next bought the building and he and his wife lived in it until it was sold at public auction on April 27, 1878, for fifty-five dollars. It was used as a school house at one time and also as a jail. CHAMPAIGN COUNTY AND URBANA IN 1819. That Urbana and Champaign county were already recognized nearly a century ago as forming a prosperous, progressive and representative Ohio community is proved—if proof were necessary—by a copy of a rare old book found only a few years ago in a garret at Akron, Ohio, after having reposed there, undisturbed and covered with dust, for more than three-quarters of a century. The book is a copy of "Ohio Gazetteer and Topographical Dictionary", published in 1819 by John Kilbourn, at Columbus. It contains a description of every Ohio county, city, town, lake, river, etc., as then known. Despite its great age and neglect, the old book is still well preserved and it provides the basis for an interesting comparison of bustling Urbana as it is now with conditions when Ohio was an infant state and considerable of its area was still known as Indian country. NO RAILROAD OR TELEGRAPH. There were no railroads at that time and the telegraph was unknown. If anyone in that day had predicted the aeroplane and the wireless telegraph he probably would have been consigned to a lunatic asylum. No canals had been constructed and travel was by stage, horseback, on foot or aboard, a few pioneer steamers just making their first appearance on the Great Lakes and the larger inland streams Much of Ohio was still covered with verdant forests. The population of the entire state was not more than a quarter of a million, and one of the objects of the publisher of the "Gazetteer", as explained in his preface, was to circulate the book among the people of the Eastern states, and thus encourage emigration to what was then considered the far West. The following quotations from the "Gazetteer" are those that refer specifically to Urbana and Champaign county. No doubt they include a number of facts not generally known to the people of the city and county today : 1118 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. URBANA HAD A "GAOL." Urbana, a flourishing post, and county seat for Champaign county, contains a printing office, court house and gaol, a bank, a Methodist meeting house, a market house, nine mercantile stores, 120 houses, principally of wood, and 600 inhabitants. It is situated on a fertile and tolerable well cultivated body of country, and therefore is fast improving. Distance, 44 miles West by North from Columbus and 34 Northeastwardly from Dayton, N. Lat. 40 deg., 8 min., W. long, 6 deg., 41 min. MUCH SOIL WAS WET. Champaign, a fertile and wealthy interior county, bounded on the North by Logan county, East by Delaware and Madison counties, South by Clark county, and West by Miami county. It is 26 miles long from East to West, and 16 broad from North to South. It is descriptively named, from the generally level and champaign face of the country. Part of the land is rather elevated and roaming, while much of it is low and wet. The soil is very rich and= productive. The principal streams are the head waters of Mad River, Deer, Darby and Boques Creek. TOWNS THAT HAVE GONE. The county is populous and wealthy containing 10,485 inhabitants, among whom are 2,097 voters, and a valuation of $2,445,557. It is divided into ten following named townships: Urbana, Mad River, Concord, Salem, Wayne, Jackson, Goshen, Harrison, Union, and Miami. It also contains the towns of Urbana, the seat of justice, Mechanicsburg, Harrison, Leesburg, Winchester and New York. CHAMPAIGN COUNTY IN THE TWENTIES. By Dr. Thomas Cowgill. In representing some account of my knowledge and experience of the trials and privations, the pleasures and friendships of the pioneer settlers of this county, I may not do better than to give the history of the "emigration and settlement" of our family here. The history of one is mainly the history of all the families of the early settlers, as they all had nearly the same object in view—they were in search of a home in the wilderness ; and they generally had about the same means of conveyance—they moved in covered wagons, in carts, on horseback, and on foot. There was not then the convenience of railroad, turnpike, canal and river conveyance, as at present. They traveled through the woods on the new and rough roads, and often without roads, to the respective places selected for their homes. They were generally about on an equality in point of property, were mostly comparatively poor, and had sought this new country where land was plenty and cheap, to better their condition in life. Yet some had left comfortable homes in Virginia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, etc., and had come to settle in this country, CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 1119 that they might be entirely free from any participation in that "sum of all villainies,"—that scourge and curse of the human race—human slavery. About the middle of October, 1817, our family had made necessary preparation, and started on our journey toward the setting sun, leaving our family home in Columbiana county, Ohio. In the latter part of this month, we traveled up the valley of Darby to the neighborhood where Middleburg now stands. This neighborhood, and north and east of it, as far as settled, was then known as the "Beech-woods", and farther south and west, in Mingo, Kingscreek and Madriver valleys, was called the "Plains". In the east part of this state, and perhaps other places, all this section was known as Madriver, or the Madriver country. We remained in that neighborhood two or three days, visiting some relatives, and many old Virginian acquaintances of my parents, and among those old acquaintances were the Elberts, Sharps, Garwoods, Jameses, Stokeses, Ballingers, Bishops, Euanses, Inskeeps and Warners. On the morning of November 1, we started, and traveled on the laid-out road from Urbana to Garwood's Mills (now East Liberty), and at about 11 o'clock, a. m., on that day, being the second day of the week, arrived in Mingo Valley, at the spot which was since that time the home of my parents during their lives, and still belongs in the family. The place was entirely in the woods, except a small cabin, seventeen by twenty feet, which had been built and used as a school house, by a fine spring of water. The logs of this house were of large oak and hickory trees split in two, and the building was five logs high to the square, with puncheon floor, or slabs about four inches thick, split out of large trees, and hewed a little where they were too rough. The fire-place occupied the entire south end of the house—about seventeen feet—with a back wall of round stone and clay, built up about five feet high against the log wall. At the top of the square, a log was laid across about three feet from the south wall, and on this log and the wall the chimney was built of sticks and clay ; that is, a little house was built up there, about three by four feet, a little higher than the roof, and the cracks filled up with mortar ; there was no upstairs to the house, and the roof was tolerably flat. In this house our family of ten persons lived about eighteen months. During the winter of 1817-18, a school was taught by the late Judge Daniel Baldwin, about one mile south of our house, in a house similar to our dwelling, except there were some joists and an upper floor. This school was largely attended by the young men and women of the neighborhood—a number of them coming four miles to school. There were at least ten young men attending this school over six feet high and large in 1120 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. proportion, and weighing about two hundred pounds each. There were about the same number of young women attending this school. Verily, there were giants in those days. And those large and tall young men exhibited more signs of humility than some of the smaller scholars, for in walking across the floor they must bow, or they would bump their heads against the joists every time. A number of those young men and women were in their spelling-books. The young women were neatly clothed in home-spun, mostly the work of their own hands. Their educational privileges seemed to be poor, yet they were highly favored of nature ; they were fair and comely, and I have never beheld a more beautiful company of young ladies. The school books consisted of Webster's Spelling Book, Lindley Murray's Works, the introduction English Reader, Sequel, and the New Testament, Walsh's and Pike's Arithmetic. I think there was no one studying English Grammar or Geography. The late Nicholas Williams, his two sisters and several brothers attended this school. I have taken some note of the subsequent history of the young men and women who attended this school. With a few exceptions, they have all gone to the house appointed for the living ; and with the exception of one or two prodigals, they all did well in life, were mostly bright ornaments to society, lived useful lives, and died respected and lamented. A little incident occurred which may be worth relating as an evidence of the care and protection of Divine Providence. On a beautiful sunshiny Sabbath day, in the spring of 1818, all of our family, except my mother and I, and three smaller children, had gone to a meeting about three miles from home. About noon, mother was walking in the yard near the door, and no doubt that she felt lonesome, when a man came running through the woods towards our house. In passing by, in sight, he discovered our cabin was on fire ; at the junction of the clap-board roof with the stick and clay chimney, the fire had kindled and was burning in a blaze. In a moment, he was on the roof, and with a bucket of water soon put the fire out. If this good man had not been passing by at the time, there is no doubt that our home would have been destroyed in a few minutes. I think it was Samuel Adams, in speaking of the history of the early settlement of this country, who said : "These things, my countrymen, should not be forgotten. For the benefit of our children and those who come after them, they should be recorded in history." One object with me in writing these notes, is to induce others of the early settlers still living in our favored country, to write their experience of early times in order that they may be perpetuated in history for the benefit CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 1121 of those who live after us. And thus each one who can, bring their "tithes into the storehouse", may call to mind many pleasant scenes now forever past and gone. "And here our pilgrim fathers bowed, In fervent faith and prayer." I propose to give an account of two ministers of the gospel of the Society of Friends, who visited this country in early days. I believe many of the pioneers paid much attention to the promotion of religion, to founding churches and building meeting-houses. "For angels of mercy oft met with us here, In the wilderness home that we loved." One of those ministers was a lady over seventy years of age, residing in North Carolina. This aged and devoted Christian traveled on horseback through the wilderness from her home in North Carolina, on her mission to the people of this then new country, mostly camping out at night, and where she could find a little settlement, holding meetings and preaching the glad tidings of mercy and peace to the lonely settlers. In passing through the woods from a meeting held in "Marmon's Bottom", to an appointment at Job Sharp's house, near where Middleburg now stands, the party was overtaken by a heavy rain, accompanied with much wind, thunder and lightning, and her companions proposed to halt and shelter under the trees as best they could. She at once said, "No, go on ; go on, we shall be too late to meeting." Her mission and desire seemed to be to do the will of her Divine Master. "Her shield was faith in God." The above relation was given to me by some one of the early settlers of this country, and I cannot now give the lady's name, as the incident took place before we removed to this country. About the year 1820, Joseph Hoag, whose home I think was in the state of Vermont, in the course of a religious visit to the people of the South and West, was a guest at my father's house, and held meeting for Divine service at our meeting-house, and also held a number of meetings in the vicinity, mostly with the members of his own church. He was a remarkable man—a first cousin to Lorenzo Dow—and spent about sixty-five years (70) 1122 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. of his life in traveling and preaching the gospel; his wife also spent about the same length of time in the same service. He had nine children, all married, and all his children and children-in-law, with two exceptions, were able ministers of the gospel, of the same church with him. Several of his children became public preachers before they were fifteen years of age. At the time he visited my father's house, he had been traveling through the Carolinas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, and other states. He related to my father how the Kentuckians treated him. At Lexington, he was taken sick, and Henry Clay removed him to his house and treated him in the most kind and friendly manner until he recovered from his illness. Being unable to travel for some time, he held several meetings in the neighborhood of Lexington, and preached to the people. When he was about to take his leave, the Presbyterian church sent a committee to him, inviting him to remain with them as their pastor for one year, offering him a house, furnished as he desired, and every convenience about it that he wanted, and fifteen hundred dollars per year (which was considered a great salary fifty years ago,) and if that was not satisfactory, they wanted him to say what would be, as they desired him to remain with them. He stated to them that he felt that his duty was discharged to them—that his mission was to visit other churches and people, and that he must leave them and travel on. The committee evinced much feeling on the occasion and proposed that if he could not remain with them, that he would accept a purse of one hundred dollars to enable him to pursue his journey. He thanked them for their kindness, and said that if he needed help, he would be as willing to receive help from them as any other people, but as he was prepared to pursue his journey, he desired that they would help other persons, if they met with such that were needing help, and they would not lose their reward.—From "Antrim's "History of Champaign and Logan Counties," published in 1872. HIDDEN TREASURE. By Edward L. Morgan. One of the early settlers of Champaign county, was Richard Stanup, a Virginian, and a man of color. When the writer first knew him, he lived on the hill a short distance north of the place where Mr. Saul Clark now lives, in Salem township, about one mile north of Kings creek, in sight of that creek and its beautiful valley. A short distance east of the spot where Stanup then lived and on the brow of the hill, which inclines to the south, lie CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 1123 buried the mouldering remains of a number of human beings, white, red, and black, without a stone to mark the place of their earthly repose. A few short years and they and the place where their ashes lie, will pass from the memory of man. Richard was a Baptist preacher, known to many of our citizens of the present day, for he lived to a great age, and died a few years ago at the age of about one hundred and twelve years. Stanup, although comparatively an illiterate colored man, was in the prime of life, and before the commencement of his second childhood, one of the ablest preachers of his time. His comparisons and illustrations were mostly drawn from living nature, as it then existed, and could be easily understood by the learned scholar, or the unlettered plowboy. The writer once heard him preach the funeral of a young colored woman, at the graveyard before mentioned ; after describing the punishment of the wicked in their place of torment in another world, he spoke of the happiness of the righteous in heaven, and when he came to describe that happiness, he pointed toward the beautiful valley which lay before us, then clothed with wild prairie flowers of every color and variety that was pleasing to the eye, from the "rose of Sharon" to the humblest "Jump up Johnny," and said that to us here was a pretty sight, but only a faint resemblance of the country to be hereafter inherited by the righteous. Richard was not only a good preacher, but a good hand to dig wells. He and Major Anderson did most of the well-digging in this part of the county (Salem ) in old times. Between forty and fifty years ago, Stanup was employed by John McAdams, Esq., to dig a well on his farm. McAdams then lived upon a farm which is now owned by M. Allison Wright, and is situated about one mile south of Kennard, and on the Atlantic & Great Western railroad. The digging was begun about the first of September, and at the depth of about sixty feet the old man "struck water," and immediately informed those above of the good news. As was the custom on such occasions, a bottle was filled with whiskey, corked with a corncob, and placed in a "piggin", which was let down to the bottom of the well in a large tub, which was used to draw up the sand and gravel. At the moment the tub and its contents reached the bottom of the well, it began to cave in, and instantly covered the tub, bottle and piggin. Stanup seized hold of the rope and climbed slowly until he had ascended something more than half way to the top of the well, when the earth gave way and the unfortunate man was covered up with dirt, sand and coarse gravel, at least twenty feet below the surface. All the men and women who were present and able to work, went at it to remove the earth as soon as possible, and the younger portion of the family were sent 1124 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. in haste to alarm the neighbors. It was late in the evening when the body of Richard was reached, and all supposed that life was extinct. The rubbish having been removed from the upper part of his body, Mrs. McAdams cut a few yards of linen from a web she had in her loom, which was placed around his body, below the arms ; to this was fastened the well rope, and the body was drawn up by the men at the windlass. On reaching the surface, all supposed that life had fled ; not the slightest symptoms of breath or pulse could be detected; yet as there was some warmth about the body, every known remedy was applied, and after a long time there began to be signs of life ; breathing could be perceived for a few moments and then ceased, when all present said in a loud voice, "Richard is dead !" This appeared to rouse him up ; he again rallied, and with a voice audible to all, he exclaimed, "I is worth two dead niggers yet !" The "hidden treasure" consists of a mattock, shovel, large tub, piggin and bottle of whiskey, at the bottom of the well, where they now are, untouched by human hands, and the whiskey untasted by mortal lips. Now, as the question as to the relative merits of old and new whiskey is still unsettled, I propose that some gentlemen test the matter by unearthing the whiskey I have described, and all I shall ask for giving account of its whereabouts, will be the first swallow from the old bottle, after the cob shall be removed.—From Antrim's "History of Champaign and Logan Counties," published in 1872. PICTURE OF URBANA IN 1849. URBANA CITIZEN AND GAZETTE. Urbana, Champaign County, Ohio, Friday, April 20, 1849. Vol. 12—No. 1 Whole No. 573 The oldest paper on file in the auditor's office in the court house bears the above title and date. It was a seven-column sheet, owned and edited by Joshua Saxton, subscription $1.50 per year. There is absolutely no local Dews in the twenty-eight columns of the paper, and the only value of the paper as a historical record lies in its varied advertisements and "notices". The first article on the front page is entitled "Marrying for Money" and this financial disseration is followed by "The Battle of Hohenlinden." A few articles of a miscellaneous nature, such as "Fearful Scene at Sea", "The CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 1125 Land of the Bible", "Hired Girls", "The Charms of Life", etc., make up the remainder of the first page. The "notices" include a directory of lodge meetings, the Masons, Odd Fellows and Sons of Temperance listing their regular meetings. The postmaster, James Taylor, informs the public of the incoming and outgoing mails. The town had daily mail by this time. The physicians represented include only E. P. Fyffe and J. S. Carter and they are running a notice to the effect that they have dissolved partnership, from and after March 20, 1849. While these are the only physicians mentioned in the advertising columns, there is a wonderful and fearful array of patent medicines set forth in all their curative splendor. Brandreth's Pills are "ninety-two years old" and are equally good for "man, woman or infant" ; "a genuine cure" for paralysis, St. Vitus dance, epilepsy, rheumatism, cholera morbus, "dysentry," etc. As early as 1840 it is to be noted that there was a "Great Remedy for Consumption" and, at the same time, this same panacea—Winter's Balsam of Wild Cherry—was a specific for pleurisy, asthma, bronchitis, hemorrhages and all affections of the pulmonary organs. $1.00 per bottle. An old friend is to be seen here in 1849. Dr. Jayne's Family Medicines, still on the market in 1917, were with our grandfathers in 1849. Jayne has six different medicines advertised and there was not a disease to which human flesh is heir that could not be cured by one—or a combination—of these six ; so the reader was informed, at least. Valuable as these foregoing medicines must have been, they were not to be compared with "The Greatest Medicine of the Age", namely Hunt's Liniment. This medicine cured as many diseases as could be printed in a paragraph of ten lines, and for each disease it was "a certain, safe and speedy cure". Here are a few of the common diseases it would cure : Tic doloreux, quinsy, mosquito bites, nervous diseases, rheumatism, corns, bunions, scrofula, hives and paralysis. It takes half a column to set forth appropriately the merits of the wonderful liniment. And here is another old friend : Ayer's Cherry Pectoral was engaged in the laudatory work of "arresting the prevailing disease and terror of our climate—consumption." This same concoction was in the same "arresting" business until the pure load and drug act of 1906 came into existence, and is still on the market. That consumption had its victims in 1849 is strikingly set forth by a perusal of the columns of this paper of 1849. Here in another column may be seen in startling headlines "Upward of ten Thousand Cured” —Consumption Can be Cured." Then follows beneath this sooth- 1126 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO ing statement a glowing account of the efficiency of Dr. Rodgers' Compound of Syrup of Liverwort and Tar. A number of people testify to the fact that they had been "cured of a continual spitting of blood", "snatched from a premature grave", and saved when "even my physicians thought I must die of consumption." But enough has been given to show that the patent medicine we have today is not a recent thing in the realm of wit and humor. Witness this heading : "Joy to the World. Perry Davis' Pain Killer In the West". Dr. Townsend consumes a half column in order to inform the female public that his Compound Extract of Sarsaparilla is "A Wonder and Blessing, the Most Extraordinary Medicine in the World". To read his advertisement one would be led to believe that there would be no women left in this world if he had not appeared on the scene with his medicine. "Six times cheaper, pleasanter and warranted superior to any sold." $1.00 per quart. Dr. Myers has a "Detergent and Diuretic, Sarsaparilla, Will Cherry & Dandelion Compound", which cured everything from dandruff in the hair, consumption of the lungs, gravel in the kidneys and bowel complaints to sores on the feet. It must have been what its advertiser called it—"The Universal Medicine". The merchants of the town in 1849 included the following : Stadler & Brother, clothiers ; Hitt & Wilson, dry goods ; Pickard & Morgan, dress good (Bareges, tissues, etc., for summer dresses) ; A. & L. H. Magrew. "Stock of Goods" ; Kauffman & Nelson, druggist ; Patrick & Wiley, furniture ; Stevenson & Crabill, furniture ; Amos Rupert, harness and saddles ; D. & R. C. Talbott, hats and caps ; Isaac N. Pence, merchant tailor; Weaver & Brothers, hardware ; W. D. & C. McDonald, dry goods, groceries, queens-ware ; Mosgrove & Moore, druggists. REMINISCENCES. By E. Ward, 1887. Among my early schoolmates of my early boyhood days, I note that three of them are now residents of Urbana, namely : A. P. Vance, John Vance, and Mrs. Elizabeth Arrowsmith. Besides these there are possibly a half dozen old pioneers such as Squire Burrower, of St. Paris ; Jackson Loudenback, P. W. Prince and David Kite, also of St. Paris. To recite my labors as an educator from 1846 to 1887 would fill a volume of a thousand pages. Suffice to say that the harvest was a commendable crop of ministers, doctors, lawyers, educators, county officials, carpenters and farmers. Regarding the superficial aspect of the county seventy-five years ago CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 1127 I think I am safe in saying that nearly, if not entirely, two-thirds of the western half of the county was in heavy timber, and many of my boyhood days were spent in the clearing, gathering and burning the brush and trash in preparation for the plow. Then we heard the familiar bang of the flax brake, the hum of the spinning wheel, and the thump, bump of the loom at almost every farm house. The goodly mothers and fair daughters prepared sumptuous meals without cook stove or range, and the sturdy fathers and sons with the old single-shovel plow and home-made hoe filled the barns and cribs with the bountiful produce of the soil. In those days the forests abounded in wild turkeys, the gray and black squirrel, and occasionally a black bear. Those have disappeared and in their place have come the beetle, the cabbage worm and the currant worm. Arriving at almost school age, I remember going one day to John Putnam then about two weeks to Harris Faulkner, then came in succession Noah Ward, John Donovan, Samuel Goldsmith, Jacob Barger, and finishing my collegiate course under the direction of Thomas Crawford in the imposing new log edifice in the Vance school district in Mad River township. Those sedate old schoolmasters generally procured their police regulators from the spreading branches of a beech tree, which never fails to impress upon the mind of the unruly, that "the way of the transgressor is hard." One of the chief sources of our education during the early days was the debate. These debates occurred with regularity and debating teams from other places in the county were met. One of the most memorable debates that occurs to me was on the subject : "Resolved that bull fighting is a greater curse and more demoralizing to a community than the liar." I was picked on the affirmative side and got completely mixed by the liar side. This was quite unsatisfactory and I sought relief by expressing my views in the newspaper. This little circumstance started me out as a newspaper writer, being in April, 1847. This was the beginning of a long newspaper experience, during which I wrote for several of the papers in Columbus, Springfield and Dayton. SYSTEM OF INDENTURE. The early settlers, not only in this county, but in the entire country, considered it necessary that their children should be taught a trade under the supervision of an artisan. In order that their children might receive such instructions without expense to them, and with as little trouble as possible, the children were given over to tradesmen and oftentimes to farmers to learn, 1128 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. as it were, a trade by which they could earn a livelihood. Contracts were entered into by the parents of the children and with the tradesmen whereby the children were to receive training for definite periods of time, usually without compensation. The spirit that actuated parents to enter into agreements for such a purpose was doubtless all right, but as conditions actually existed, the system of indenture was nothing more than licensed slavery. To give the present generation an idea of what these indentures really meant exact copies have been made from the records of Goshen township as it was necessary according to law that such indentures be made and recorded with the township trustee. The copies follow : Indenture of apprenticeship between Louis Rigdon and G. W. Hupp and Eliza Rigdon, witness aforesaid that the said Eliza Rigdon, aged 11 years on the 11th day of July, 1845, by and with the consent of Louis Rigdon, her father, hath and doth hereby bind herself as an apprentice up to the said G. W. Hupp until the 1st day of March, in the year 1853, to learn the trade and occupation of housekeeping and that the said Eliza Rigdon for herself and by the consent of her father doth hereby covenant to the said G. W. Hupp to faithfully serve him and constantly demean herself during the term of her apprentiship, and the said G. W. Hupp does hereby covenant the said Louis Rigdon and Eliza Rigdon and each of them that he will teach the said child the trade and occupation aforesaid and will provide her with lodging, medicine, food and clothing, and at the expiration of said term of apprenticeship the said Eliza Rigdon shall receive a new Bible, a dress of common wearing apparel to be worth not less than $10. The above contract was entered into in March, 1845. Asa Kirkley was township clerk and the fees attached were thirty-one and one-half cents. Indenture made this 10th day of April, 1839, witnesseth that Abarilla Grubb of Goshen township, Champaign county, Ohio, hath and by these presents put and placed his child Amanda Grubb, aged 11 years on the 27th day of February, last as an apprentice to Richard Williams of Goshen Township in state and county aforesaid to learn the trade and occupation of housekeeping, with wife, and in the family of, and with said R. D. Williams, as an apprentice, to dwell and serve from day and date aforesaid until the 27th day of February, 1844 at which time said Amanda Grubb will be eighteen years of age if she so long lives, during all of which time, said apprentice shall perform all duties that shall be required of her by her master, and according to the best of her abilities. And further said Amanda Grubb doth hereby covenant and agree to and with the consent of said R. D. Williams that she the said Amanda Grubb will be responsible for the performance of all duties and work required by R. D. Williams and in case of non-performance the said R. D. Williams on his part doth covenant to agree to use whatever means he deems necessary to bring about the performance of said duties. That he with the assistance of wife are to instruct and train said Amanda Grubb in all the arts of housekeeping, after the best way and manner of the wife of R. D. Williams and that he will provide for the said Amanda Grubb good clothing, lodging, and other necessities proper and suitable for an apprentice in sickness and health during the time of apprenticeship, and cause said Amanda Grubb to be taught to read and write well and at the expiration of said apprenticeship to furnish Amanda Grubb with a new Bible and in addition to give a decent suit of clothes and $10 in money. CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 1129 At the time this contract was made John Owen was clerk of the township. MAD RIVER NAVIGATION COMPANY. A hundred years ago it was thought that. Mad river could be made navigable and pursuant to an act of the Legislature approved on February 27, 1816, a company was organized which bore the nautical appellation of the Mad River Navigation Company. The legislative act was drawn for the purpose of effecting the organization of a number of companies which should see to the cleaning out and straightening out of the Little Miami and all of its tributaries which might be made navigable. Champaign county was very much interested in the navigation of Mad river through its confines and joined with Springfield and Clark county in 1818 in the agitation for some definite action. Preserved in the archives of the auditor's office are two age-worn, weather-beaten documents rerating to this scheme. One contains a list of citizens who signed a petition asking an investigation into the possibilities of the scheme ; the other was evidently prepared with a view to giving a roseate account of a meeting which was held to boost the proposition. The meeting was held at Springfield and Judge Fithian, of Urbana, was chairman. A committee composed of George Croft, Micha French, Peter Cents and Uri Marten was appointed to take donations for the work and have general charge of the expenditure of all the money collected. William Bunker, of Urbana, was selected to "clear Mad river from the forks as far north as Kyser's mill". As far as is known nothing further was done and the company organized for such a laudable purpose was soon disbanded. AN OLD-TIME ROMANCE. An innocent document in the shape of a first and final account, which was filed in the probate court, December 21, 1898, contains a pretty story of sentiment and romance. Away back in 1860, John Caraway, a wealthy resident of the county died, leaving a large estate. In the will left by Caraway two hundred dollars was left in trust for Hetty Smith who was to draw the interest on that sum and at her death the executor was to do what he saw fit with the money. The real romance of the story is due to the fact that this Caraway met Hefty. Smith while driving along the dusty road in the vicinity of Woodstock one hot summer day. The girl was drawing water from an 1130 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. old well and the old gentleman, pulling up his horse, asked her if she would give him a cool drink of water. She in her bashful and timid way complied with his request. The old man was so enraptured with her winsome manner that he asked her name. Reluctantly she told him and then he drove on and the incident was entirely forgotten by the child. This man, Caraway, frequently referred to the incident in talking with his family, and when he made his final will he left two hundred dollars in trust for Hetty Smith, the little girl who had won her way into his heart by giving him a drink of cool, sparkling water. Caraway died in 1860, and it was not until then that Hetty Smith knew that she had been remembered in the will. James D. Powell was made executor of the Caraway estate and for thirty-eight years had charge of the fund paying her the interest year by year. Hetty Smith married when she grew to womanhood and died in December, 1897. On December 21, 1898, Powell as executor of the Caraway estate, filed his first and final account showing what disposition had been made of the trust fund which had been left to Hetty Smith. THE HISTORY OF "O. K." By Charles E. Gaumer. In the good old days of the thirties, Urbana was famed throughout this region for its political conventions and demonstrations, and on many occasions business was almost wholly suspended and public attention was entirely devoted to making the affair a success to be talked about for months and years to come. Perhaps of all the conventions ever held in this city, the one of 1840, in the Harrison campaign, is the most noted. The older residents, at any rate, are very decided in their claims that its equal has never been known hereabout, either before or since. One fact is certain, that bright day of September 15, 1840, gave to this country one of the best known phrases that we have today : that of "O. K." The demonstration was one that was planned for weeks in advance and a thorough organization was perfected to handle and feed the great throngs that were expected, but when at last, after many days of anticipation and hurried preparation, the great day came, the crowd was so large that it was with difficulty that any semblance of order was maintained. The town was in gala attire and flags and decorations were everywhere in evidence. The young ladies donned their prettiest dresses and their presence was a pleasing CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 1131 picture of loveliness. The day was one of great hilarity and excitement. Several hours before the dawn delegations were on the road from surrounding counties and before the forenoon was far advanced the town had swelled to abnormal proportions. The delegations came from all directions and in every conceivable mode of conveyance. The hero of the day, of course, was General Harrison, who had addressed the people of Piqua, a thriving city thirty miles west of Urbana, the day preceding. The railroads at that time being a matter for the future to develop, the only means of travel was by horseback—a means that was necessarily slow—considering the large number of people who accompanied him. Growing weary of waiting, the vast congregation of people started out on Miami street to meet the general. When the two cavalcades met, a procession was formed that was almost two miles in length, and as he entered the city excitement was at fever heat, and today as the old resident recalls the stirring scene his face lights up with youthful vigor. The stirring music of the old-time drum-and-fife corps was heard on every hand. Inasmuch as the general's early days were spent on a farm, with a humble log cabin for a home, it was fitting that in the parade there should be numerous floats illustrating his early life. Log cabins made of buckeye logs, on wheels, were numerous, while many huge wagons bore small trees in full leaf, with coons perched along the limbs ; many miniature corn fields, crowing roosters, fences with calabashes or gourds dependent therefrom, cider barrels containing the real stuff, and every idea illustrating the early career of the famous general was to be found in the parade. One wagon contained twenty-six young ladies of Urbana, in honor of the twenty-six states of the Union. Each young lady was adorned with a bonnet made of shavings from a buckeye tree. The bonnets were made by Mistress Arrowsmith, who then lived in the house later occupied by Rev. Dr. Thompson on West Market street. Many were the campaign songs sung that day, and perhaps the best known among the number was the following : Where, tell me where, Was your buckeye cabin made ? Where, tell me where, Was your buckeye cabin made ? 'Twas built among the merry boys That wielded the plow and spade, Where the log cabin stands In the bonnie buckeye shade. 1132 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. Oh what, tell me what Is to be the cabin's fate? Oh what, tell me what, Is to be the cabin's fate ? We'll wheel it through the capital. And place it there elate For a token and a sign Of our bonnie Buckeye State. Every delegation carried flags and banners, and mottoes were to be seen on every side. Chief among these was a rustic banner borne by a prominent county delegation, bearing the information that "THE PEOPLE IS OLL KORRECT." The inscription met with a hurrah, and the phrase soon became known far and wide ; today the letters "0. K." are familiar to every person in the country. Indeed, it would be difficult to find a substitute containing so much significance and brevity. Twelve tables, each three hundred feet long, had been built in the grove in the southwest part of the town on the property of John A. Ward, father of the famous sculptor, John O. A. Ward. The tables were laden with provisions, oxen and sheep were barbecued And the cider was passed about in the grove with a liberal hand. General Harrison was introduced by Moses B. Corwin. cousin of the famous Thomas Corwin, of Lebanon, Ohio, and spoke for two hours. In the evening addresses were made by Richard Douglas, Chillicothe ; Mr. Chambers, of Louisiana, Arthur Elliott, and ex-Governor Metcalf, of Kentucky, who wore a buckskin hunting shirt. In short, it was a red-letter day in the history of Urbana, and today it is the delight of the aged residents to relate the circumstances under which the famous letters "O. K." came into existence.—From the Champaign Daily Journal of July 13, 1899. THE ADDISON WHITE SLAVE CASE. Mechanicsburg in the days of the "underground railroad" was one of the regular depots for the fleeing fugitives from slavery. Her people were noted for their abhorrence of the institution, and never failed to give such shelter and protection. In 1857, when the fugitive slave law was in operation, an attempt was made by the United States authorities to seize Addison White, a runaway slave who had found a home with a farmer in the vicinity CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 1133 of the village. The circumstances, as told in Beer's "History of Clark County" are here narrated. Ad White, a fugitive from Kentucky bearing the surname of his master, made his way to the place of rest for the oppressed, and, thinking he was far enough away, had quickly settled down to work on the farm of Udney Hyde, near Mechanicsburg. His master had tracked him to the farm of Hyde, and obtained a warrant for his arrest at the United States court in Cincinnati. Ben Churchill, with eight others, undertook his capture. Ad was at that time a powerful man, able and willing to whip his weight in wildcats, if necessary, and had expressed his determination never to return to slavery alive. Churchill and the other men had been advised of this, and make their approaches to Hyde's house cautiously, informing some people in Mechanicsburg of their business, and suggesting to them to go out and see the fun, which invitation was promptly accepted. Ad slept in the loft of Hyde's house, to which access could only be obtained by means of a ladder, and only one person at a time. Here he had provided himself with such articles of defense as a rifle, a double-barrel shotgun, revolver, knife and axe, and had the steady nerve and skill to use them successfully if circumstances forced him to. Churchill and party arrived at Hyde's and found the game in his retreat. They parleyed with him for some time, coaxed him to come down, ordered old man Hyde to go up and bring him but, deputized the men who followed them to go up, but all declined, telling them that five men ought to be able to take one. White finally proposed, in order to relieve Hyde of danger of compromise, if the five marshals would lay aside their arms and permit him to go into an adjoining field, and they could then overpower him, he would make no further resistance; but so long as they persisted in their advantage he would remain where he was, and kill the first man who attempted to enter the loft. Deputy-Marshal Elliott, of Cincinnati, was the first and only one to attempt to enter where White was; and as his body passed above the floor of the loft he held a shotgun before him, perhaps to protect himself, but particularly to scare White. But White was not to be scared that way. He meant what he said when he warned them to let him alone, and, quick as thought, the sharp crack of a rifle rang out in the air, Elliott dropped to the floor, not killed, but saved by his gun, the ball having struck the barrel, and thus prevented another tragedy in the slavehunters' path. This was the only effort to dislodge White, and after consultation they left for Urbana, going thence to Cincinnati. The gentlemen who had followed them out to Hyde's rallied them considerably on their failure, and in all probability were not very choice in their English to express their opinions of "slavehunters." Chagrined and mortified by their failure, and smarting under the sharp rallies of the bystanders, Churchill and Elliott made their report to the court at Cincinnati. and made oath that Azro L. Mann, Charles Taylor, David Tullis and Udney Hyde had interfered and prevented the capture of the negro White, and refused to assist when called upon. Warrants were issued for their arrest, and a posse of fourteen men, headed by Churchill and Elliott, went to Mechanicsburg and took them into custody. The men were prominent in their community, and their arrest created intense excitement. Parties followed the marshals, expecting them to go to Urbana to board the cars for Cincinnati, but they left the main road, striking through the country, their actions creating. additional excitement, causing suspicion of abduction. A party went at once to Urbana and obtained from Judge S. V. Baldwin a writ of habeas corpus, commanding the marshals to bring their prisoners and show by what authority they were held. John Clark, Jr., then sheriff of Champaign county, summoned a posse and started in pursuit, overtaking the marshals with their prisoners just across the county line, at Catawba, 1134 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. when the two parties dined together. In the meantime Judge Ichabod Corwin and J. C. Brand went to Springfield with a copy of the writ, and started Sheriff John E. Layton, of Clark county, and his deputy to intercept them at South Charlestown. They reached there just as the marshals passed through, and overtook them half a mile beyond the town. In attempting to serve the writ, Layton was assaulted by Elliott with a slung-shot, furiously and brutally beaten to the ground, receiving injuries from which he never fully recovered. Layton's deputy, Compton, was shot at several times, but escaped unhurt, and when he saw his superior stricken down and helpless, he went to him and permitted the marshals to resume their journey. Sheriff Clark and his party came up soon after, and Sheriff Layton was borne back to South Charlestown in a dying condition, it was supposed, but a powerful constitution withstood the tremendous shock, although his health was never fully restored. The assault on Sheriff Layton was at once telegraphed to Springfield and other points, causing intense excitement and arousing great indignation. Parties were organized and the capture of the marshals was determined on in earnest. Their track now lay through Greene county. Sheriff Lewis was telegraphed for, and joined the party. On the following morning, near the village of Lumberton, in Greene county, the state officers, headed by Sheriff Lewis, overtook the marshals, who surrendered without resistance. The prisoners were taken to Urbana, before Judge Baldwin, and released, as no one appeared to show why they were arrested, or should be detained. The United States marshals were all arrested at Springfield, on their way to Urbana, for assault with intent to kill, and, being unable to furnish security, were lodged in jail over night. James J. Christie was justice of peace at the time, and issued the warrants for the arrest of the marshals. The excitement was so intense that the examination was held at the old court-house, which proved too small for the crowd. Mr. Christie was one of those who were obliged to attend at Cincinnati. The marshals again returned to Cincinnati and procured warrants for the arrest of the four persons released upon habeas corpus, together with a large number of the citizens of Mechanicsburg and Xenia, who participated in the capture of the marshals. In Champaign county the feeling against the enforcement of this feature of the fugitive slave law had become so intense that the officers serving the warrants were in danger of violence. Ministers of the gospel and many of the best and most responsible citizens of Urbana said to Judge Baldwin, Judge Corwin, Judge Brand and Sheriff Clark, on the day of arrest: "If you do not want to go, say the word, and we will protect you:" feeling that the conflict was inevitable, and might as well be precipitated at that time. These men, however, counseled moderation, and were ready and willing to suffer the inconvenience, expense and harassment of prosecution for the sake of testing this feature of the slavedrivers' law, and also in the hope and belief that it would make it more odious, and secure its early repeal or change. The cases of Udney Hyde and J. C. Brand were selected as test cases, representing the two features—that of Hyde for refusing to assist in the arrest of a fugitive slave. and that of Brand for interference with a United States officer in the discharge of duty. The district attorney was assisted by able counsel, and the most eminent lawyers of the state were secured to conduct the defense, when after a long and stormy trial, the jury failed to make a verdict. The contest had now lasted nearly or quite a year, and all parties were becoming tired of it. The patriotism actuating both sides, though being of a different character and order, was entirely exhausted, and the glory to be obtained would now be left for others yet to follow. The Kentucky gentleman who had stirred CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 1135 up all this racket in his effort to get possession of his $1,000 in human flesh and blood now stepped to the front and proposed to settle the trouble if he could have $1,000 for his Ad White, and the cost in all the cases paid. This proposition was readily acceded to, and the money paid, and the cases all nolled by District Attorney Matthews. The deed of Ad White was made in regular form by his Kentucky owner,- and now forms one of the curious and interesting features of the probate court records of Champaign county. Thus ended one of the greatest conflicts in the enforcement of the fugitive slave law, which did much toward crystalizing public sentiment against the extension of slavery. These scenes transpired in 1857, and nearly all of the prominent actors have passed away. Ad White was notified of his freedom, and at once returned to Mechanicsburg, where [1881] he is still residing, borne down by hard work and age, but ever cherishing the memory of those who gave him shelter and protection when fleeing from oppression and seeking freedom. MASONRY AND MEASLES. The idiosyncracies of men reveal themselves in many ways. A man may be perfectly sane on a thousand things and have some one particular hobby which may make him appear "queer" to people who do not know him. Another man may go through life regarded as being absolutely sane in all respects and then leave a will devising his estate in such a manner as to make his relatives and friends wonder that they never questioned his sanity. We are all queer in some ways—some of us more queer than others—but a former Champaign county resident must be given the palm for having devised a will which has no parallel on the local records. David McAlexander, an estimable citizen and a loyal member of the local lodge of Masons, was threatened with the measles and thinking that the dread disease might prove fatal proceeded to prepare his last will and testament. His faith in his Masonic brother is strikingly shown in the way he addresses him, and also in the drawing of the square and compass which is made a part of the will as recorded. The complete will as recorded on May 26, 1868, follows : Sir Henry Idle, I am about taking the measles and I don't know whether I will get over them or not and if not I want to settle up my business, to sell all that I have at public sale and payable to my just debts and yourself for trouble and I want you to set my land off to them as it is laid out in the plat and I want you to do it and no other man if you please on the square [here is a crude drawing of the square and compass emblematic of Masonry] and compass to all of my children as is laid out in the plat each one 31 acres except Jeremiah and his will be a little more pay all of my just debts & funeral expenses these favors I ask of you as a brother master mason. So farewell to meet you in heaven. DAVID MCALEXANDER. March 19, 1866. 1136 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. OLD-TIME CAMP-MEETINGS. There are many still living in Champaign county who cherish distinct recollections of the old camp-meeting ground, which continued to attract thousands of people annually from 1866 until the hundreds of cottages which had grown up over the spacious grounds were burned in 1904. The fire on the night of November 17, of that year, closed the history of a veritable institution in Champaign county. It is often said that there was more religious fervor in the early history of the county than is manifested in these latter years. Those who recall the stirring scenes which accompanied the camp-meeting of fifty years ago at the old grounds south of Urbana will unhesitatingly say that our forefathers, if not more religious than their grandsons of today, at least made a more ostentatious showing of what religion they did have. The beginning of the use of the ground which later became known as the Urbana Camp-Meeting Ground dates back several years prior to the actual acquisition of the tract by an association. A search of the records in the recorder's office shows that the twenty-five acres in section 15, township 5, range I I, was purchased from Henry B. McCompsey sometime in January or February, 1866. At least the deed for a tract of this size at this particular location was recorded on February 14, 1866. It appears that McCompsey did not have a clear title to the land, or rather that his title was in danger because of his inability to meet certain obligations. The land was actually sold by the sheriff at the court house door and bid in for two thousand five hundred and thirty dollars by the trustees of the "M. E. Camp Ground Association",. George B. Coulter, Ronald Donaldson, James D. Hedges, J. I. Wilson, Andrew Runyon, A. C. Deuel and A. R. Hedges. An act of the Legislature which was passed at the request of W. R. Warnock, then state senator from Champaign county, provided for the incorporation of a company which should have the power to manage the affairs of such an organization as it was planned to organize. The original intention of the promoters of the association was to conduct it solely for moral and religious purposes, and not with the idea of deriving any financial profit from it. Following the purchase of the grounds in 1866 tents were used to house the people who gathered there and later the construction of cottages began. These grounds are located about two miles south of Urbana on a farm now owned by Nina B. Kite. Year by year the grounds had been improved; additional cottages and other buildings were erected, until by the time of the fire on November 17, 1904, there were at least two hundred and seventy-five CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 1137 cottages on the grounds and a number of other buildings, all of which, with the exception of one small cottage and the children's pavilion, were completely destroyed by fire. The loss of buildings alone was estimated. at three hundred thousand dollars, while the fire destroyed hundreds of valuable trees. Of course, there was a considerable amount of household furnishings, all of which were lost. There was a large tabernacle with a seating capacity of eight thousand, filled with park seats, and this was swept away with all the cottages. There was very little insurance on any of the buildings and the fire may be said to have brought the career of the old camp-meeting ground to an abrupt close.. A volume might easily be written about the old camp-meeting ground; about the hundreds of inspiring religious meetings; about the hundreds of political gatherings; about the thousands of picnics and festive occasions of every conceivable description—all of which found a cordial reception in the beautiful grounds. Were it possible to visit one of those picnics of half a century ago it would be better than taking a trip to the best circus in Urbana in 1917. Just as many interesting things would be seen, even though it was our fathers and mothers, our grandfathers and grandmothers, who made up the picnickers. But those days are gone forever and all that can be done now is to preserve an account of an institution which meant as much to the people of Champaign county a half a century ago as the fairground does today. The old camp-meeting ground witnessed national gatherings and under its beautiful maples there gathered representatives of practically every state in the Union. In 1901 those in charge of the grounds added the chautauqua feature and as soon as the Dayton, Springfield & Urbana Electric line was built through to Urbana the company began to lay plans to build a spur to the camp-meeting ground. The fact that the company was willing to build a line about two miles long, which could be used at the most only three or four months in a year, is some indication of the number of people they expected to haul over the line. The building of the electric .line to the ground stimulated the interest in its maintenance and everything pointed to a new era of prosperity in the history of the place. But man had reckoned without one factor which is no respecter of the rights of people. The fire came and the buildings went. The labor of three generations was swept away in a few hours. The fact that very few owners of property on the grounds had any insurance is no doubt responsible for the ultimate decision of the board of trustees to decide not to attempt the retention of the grounds. President (72) 1138 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. George Hitt and secretary R. S. .Pearce canvassed the situation thoroughly and announced that it was the sense of the board of trustees that the grounds be placed' on sale. The twenty-five-acre tract was sold on September 8, 1905, to Sherman Huston, and he transferred it to Joshua Kinna, who sold it to Nina B. Kite, the present owner, in 1909, for two thousand two hundred dollars. TOWN RIVALRIES OF A HALF CENTURY AGO. The historian does not vouch for either the metrical or historical accuracy of the following doggerel which appeared in the Urbana Citizen and Gazette, January 4, 1865. It is a fair sample of much of the local effusions of a half century ago. MINGO vs. KENNARD. Now, I'm not a poet nor a poet's son, And what I am writing is only in fun. From Mingo, a distance of a few miles west, A station is kept by Cowgill & Gest. Vice versa, you know, as a learned man would say, This station is kept by Williams & Gray. Now, I do not intend to take either one's part; But the agent at Mingo has made the best start. Now the boys at Kennard have taken great pains To do his surveying and they found the road chains. They did it free gratis, because they were able, And measured the distance from here out to Cable. For our postoffice they came here to plot it, They did it tip-top and Mingo has got it. The Quakers felt interested in our affairs And gave us a puff going through on the cars. They stood on the platform to get a good look, And saw a few girls and one little pup. They saw a warehouse as they passed it by, They said it wasn't finished, but that was a lie. We are now to have a new station house. I am sorry at Kennard it is nix-cum-a-rouse. Should your house get on fire, as good Christians orter, All Mingo will be there to help carry water. If you wish to prosper and prosper you will You'll mind your own business and build you a mill. Ship off your cattle and ship off your hogs, And put up your mill and don't wait for logs. Rise up with the lark and slip on your trousers; Put on your steam and saw up your houses. Put some money in corn, invest some in wheat, Resolve in your hearts you'll never be beat. CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 1139 If you will search history you will find there a clause Which says that the Mingos were a match for the Choctaws. Then hurrah for Mingo ! Down low in the bogs! The mill and its owner with lots of good logs. Logs pile rather different from those at Kennard— They were brought here for sawing and are piled in the yard. May his life be extended and happy and blest, Ever ready to shake hands with Cowgill & Gest. Boys, we forgive you, you have broken no bones, Those living in glass houses should never throw stones. Mingo, January 1, 1866.—BROAD GAUGE. PASS THE MUTTON. In the early history of the county there were many more sheep in the county than at the present time ; in fact, for many years there were more than one hundred thousand sheep raised in the county each year and there were years when the number exceeded one hundred and fifty thousand. This is all the more striking when it is stated that in 1916 there were only fifteen thousand three hundred and fifty sheep in the county. In the early days wool was grown for the family clothing and sheep were considered as essential to a well-regulated farm as the hog is today. Fifty years ago wool did not bring the price it did in the spring of 1917. Then wool often dropped to a price as low as fifteen cents a pound and mutton did not command any price at all, while in the spring of 1917 the wool clip brought from sixty to sixty-five cents a pound. The low price which wool brought in the sixties and seventies was the cause of the rise of a peculiar industry at Mechanicsburg. At that time sheep were such a drug on the market that John C. Baker conceived the idea of buying them up and killing them for their hides and tallow. Some interesting facts concerning this unusual method of disposing of sheep have been gathered by W. H. Hunt, a member of the. board of county commissioners. He has found that Baker opened a plant on the site of the old fair grounds adjoining Mechanicsburg, where he slaughtered sheep for their hides and tallow and gave away the carcass to the farmers who hauled them out on the fields and plowed, them under for fertilizer. A few of the best hams were saved for meat, but mutton was at such a low price that it did not pay to try to dispose of it. The hides and tallow found a ready market and according to the best accounts the proprietor of the establishment soon built up a flourishing business. At one time Thomas J. Glendenning brought three thousand sheep to Baker and received from fifty cents to a 1140 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. dollar a head for them. The industry thrived until the price of wool and mutton reached the point where it became more profitable to dispose of them in the customary fashion. THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY SALE IN CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. It takes all kind of people to make the world and one of the many different kinds to be found in Champaign county was the late John Eicholtz. This eccentric genius had a few traits of character not common to the most of people and it was the exhibition of some of these idiosyncrasies which drew to his farm after his death the largest crowd of people that ever attended a public sale in Champaign county. The following notice of the sale appeared in the 'Champaign Democrat the week following the sale : URBANA, Ohio, November 22 [1883]—The public sale of the effects of the late wealthy eccentric, John Eicholtz, at his farm yesterday drew about five thousand people, the largest attendance at a sale ever in this county. People came from all parts of the country to see the curiosities. The deceased's things were in a state of decay. Ten thousand bushels of corn, decayed from age, some of it twenty-one years old. Eighteen carloads from ten to twenty years old, has been shipped and about twenty carloads yet remain. One horse was sold for ten cents. A number of old horses were sold which had never seen a halter or harness. One horse was sold that had been confined uninterruptedly in his stall for eight years and had become blind from confinement in the dark pen. Remnants of almost every kind of agriculture implements ever made were on the farm. One of the vehicles of antedeluvian days was a wagon having solid wheels cut from a log. Eicholtz's father died a miser and left him a dollar in three silver pieces made in the year John was born. These were inseparable pocket pieces until death. He died leaving an estate of over $100,000. LINEAL DESCENDANTS OF METHUSELAH. Living in Champaign county is undoubtedly conducive to longevity, for in past years three of its residents have become centenarians, the sum of their ages being three hundred and thirty-four years. Evidently the northwest corner of the county is more peculiarly adapted to long life than are other sections, for these three persons, Thomas Tipton, Sarah Bates and Richard Stanhope, were, respectively, residents of Adams, Johnson and Concord townships. Thomas Tipton, the maternal grandfather of Gersham Wilkinson, a farmer of Adams township, was born in the eighteenth century near Baltimore, Maryland. At the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, he lived about seven miles from Mount Vernon, in Fairfax county, Virginia, from which he enlisted in the patriotic cause about the last of June or the first of July, CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 1141 1776. In all, he served four years during the war, enlisting the second time from Frederick county, Virginia, and the third, from Botecourt county, the same state. He was under the command of General Washington when the letter retreated across New Jersey before King George's hireling Hessians in the winter of 1776-77. Later he fought under General Gates ; and at the siege of Yorktown, he was first sergeant in Capt. John Galloway's company which was attached to Colonel Lewis's regiment. In the famous battle in the "buckwheat field," where he received several bullet holes through his hat, he was under the command of General Morgan. As was the practice of the Revolutionary soldiers, he went home several times to see his wife and children when the combat lulled. After the war was over he came to Ohio and settled in Adams township, this county. While he was there a resident he was allowed a pension, allowed Revolutionary soldiers by the act of 1832. When he received his pension in 1838, he was then one hundred years old, but he lived to reach the extraordinary age of one hundred and eleven years, nine months and nine days. His body was interred in the old cemetery on the Johnson farm in Concord township. In that same graveyard lies the remains of Richard Stanhope, a man who reached the most advanced age of any person in the history of Champaign county. He was born at Fredericksburg, Virginia, on March 1, 1748, and died on September 20, 1862, having then reached the advanced age of one hundred and fourteen years, six months and twenty days. Richard Stanhope, who was a colored man, was beyond all question one of General Washington's servants, and had in his possession until a few years prior to his death a certificate attesting the fact, in Washington's own handwriting. During several of the hard-fought battles of the Revolution he was with General Washington, and from his participation in that struggle, he could show honorable scars. When his master died in 1799, he was at the bedside. Stanhope was alsp a participant in the War of 1812, and was present at Hull's disgraceful surrender at Detroit. At that time he was driving a four-horse team. On being ordered to drive his team to a certain point for delivery to the British, he- positively refused to comply, unhitched his saddle-horse and made his way back to this county. Stanhope was the father of twenty-eight children, most of whom were living at the time of his death. He was a resident of Champaign county for more than fifty years, where he always deported himself as .a good citizen and an upright man. For ninety years he was a member of the Baptist church, having joined it in 1772. Another centenarian was Sarah Bates, who, at the time of her death 1142 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. in 1913, was credited with being the oldest person in Ohio. She was a native of this county, having been born north of Millerstown, on September 3o, 1804. Her father was one of the first settlers of Johnson township. At the time of her death in December, 1913, she was one hundred and nine years old. WOODEN LEGS FROM CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. It is an ill wind that blows no one any good. The European War has cost millions of lives and thousands of arms and legs. Champaign county has the honor to furnish the material for some of the legs which will be used by the French soldiers who lost theirs in the great war. When Mad river was dredged there were a number of fine willow trees cut down. On the Urbana-Westville road, about a mile west of Urbana, just east of Mad river, there were a number of large willows cut down in the winter of 1916-17. The owner of the land, Charles F. Johnson, could find no market for the trees as timber and they were of small value as wood, but about the time the trees were cut down there happened along a man who had lost both legs. This man at once recognized the willow wood as being the best material for artificial legs and got into communication with a firm at Mount Sterling that was purchasing such timber. The result of the communication was the offer of one hundred dollars for all the trees. By the time this article is being read by the people of Champaign county the willows of Mad River valley will be doing duty "somewhere in France". A COLLEGE BEQUEST IN WAYNE 'TOWNSHIP. The fact is not generally known that Wayne township once contained a farm of one hundred and nine acres belonging to Bethany College, of West Virginia. This farm was about a mile west of Cable, the same now being owned by several parties, including tracts owned respectively by the Pennsylvania Railroad, D. J. and M. G. Corey, George and O. B. McCullough, N. B. Johnson and Nettie Jones. It was a part of Survey No. 4512. This tract was willed by Alexander Pickard to the college to be used in such manner as the latter might see best. The map of Wayne township which appeared in the county atlas of 1871 has this tract credited to "Bethel College", but a reference to the deed shows that it belongs to Bethany College. Pickard was an active member of the Christian church (Campbellite branch) and this explains the bequest. The land was sold by the college in 1881 for three thousand six hundred dollars and this ended the connection of the college with the county. CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 1143 THE LYNCHING OF ULLERY. There have only been two lynchings in Champaign county. The first was that of a tramp by the name of Ullery on Saturday night, January 16, 1876. Ullery appeared in Urbana on January 12, 1876, and induced a girl of ten years of age to walk with him outside of the city limits. There he ravished her and left her to come back to the city alone. The exposure and nervous prostration suffered by the little girl led to her death within a year. The tramp was caught at Marysville on the 14th by Dr. S. M. Mosgrove and Capt. John 0. Dye and was brought back to Urbana and placed in jail. He admitted his guilt and when given a preliminary hearing before Mayor Brand on Friday morning, January 15, he was remanded to jail to await trial. On that night the jail was attacked by a mob, but was defended by the bravery of Sheriff Ganson. On the following night, Saturday, January 16, a mob of forty men attacked the jail, broke through the doors and bars, held the sheriff and his deputies, and finally reached the prisoner. The wretch was taken out in the court house yard, put on a box, given two minutes to prepare for death, and when the two minutes were up he was hung to a catalpa tree in front of the court house. No one was arrested for participation in the affair. The body of the wretch was unclaimed and was buried in Oak Dale cemetery. A few nights later a group of young medical students were caught in the cemetery opening his grave in order to get the body. They were driven away, but not until after they had the body nearly exhumed. It was reinhumed and thus closed the last chapter in the affair. THE LYNCHING OF CHARLES W. MITCHELL. The first week of June, 1897, will go down in history as the most exciting week Urbana and Champaign county have thus far experienced. On Friday morning, June 4, 1897, there was enacted a scene in the court house yard at Urbana which has never had a parallel in the county ; few, if any, spectacles have ever been staged in the state, or the United States, that will compare in dramatic intensity with the lynching of a negro on this peaceful June morning in 1897. It is not the purpose of this review to elaborate upon the gruesome story, nor to pass judgment one way or the other upon the proceedings of that eventful June week. The facts leading up to the lynching may be briefly told. A negro by the name of Charles W. Mitchell had been arrested on May 28th charged 1144 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. with assault on a prominent woman of the city. The attack had been made on Thursday morning, May 27, while she was in her own home and attending to her household duties. The negro had concealed himself in the house and when he made the assault had his face covered with a shawl. He was defeated in his nefarious attempt and his victim, escaping his clutches, rushed out of the house to the home of one of her neighbors. In the meantime the negro escaped. He was captured the next morning and was at once lodged in the city prison, where he was given his hearing on Wednesday morning, June 2, before Mayor Ganson. He waived examination and was bound over to court to await the action of the grand jury. His victim readily recognized him as the man who had assaulted her. On Wednesday evening the prisoner was removed from the city prison to the county jail. All during the day, there had been frequent threats made against the life of the prisoner and it became apparent during the afternoon of this day that an attempt would be made the same night to take him out of the city prison and hang him. Fearing that the jail might be attacked on Wednesday night, Sheriff McLain ordered out the local militia company to defend the jail and about twenty members of the company remained on guard around the jail during the night. Wednesday passed without any outbreak, but it became more apparent on Thursday morning that the temper of the people would brook no delay in the exacting of justice. At this juncture Judge Heiserman felt that he should convene the grand jury at once and he ordered it summoned on Thursday afternoon. It met and indicted the prisoner, who was at once arraigned. Mitchell plead guilty and Judge Heiserman immediately sentenced him to twenty years in the penitentiary. While this rapid course of justice was in progress the jail and court house were both locked and guarded by the troops and no one was admitted to either building except the officers, attorneys and newspaper reporters. With the prisoner sentenced, the next question was how to get him out of the city and to the penitentiary. Thursday night, June 3, was probably the most exciting night the city has ever experienced. All night long there was a great crowd around the court house and jail and shortly after. midnight it became increasingly evident that it was going to be next to impossible to keep the mob from breaking in the jail and taking the prisoner out. The crisis came about 2:30 Friday morning. By that time the mob had become so large and threatening that the soldiers on duty retired within the jail and closed the doors. Then something happened. It will probably never be known who gave the com- CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 1145 mand to fire, but suddenly twenty rifles were fired from the jail into the mob. These twenty bullets found twelve victims : Two men were instantly killed and ten others received more or less dangerous wounds. The two who were instantly killed were Harry Bell, the top of whose head was blown off, his brains being spattered on the court house wall, and Upton Baker, who was standing on the steps leading to the side door of the jail. A bullet passed through his body killing him instantly. The ten people struck' with bullets were Dennis Graney, John Wank, Ray Dickerson„ Wesley Bowen, Dr. Charles Thompson, George Elliott, William McClure, Augustus Weiser, John McKeever and Sherman S. Deaton. Immediately after the shooting the sheriff telegraphed Governor Bushnell for more troops and the colored company from Springfield was ordered to Urbana. When Sheriff McLain heard that negro troops were being sent to the city he at once advised the governor that in view of the existing circumstances it would be very unwise to send colored troops. Accordingly a white company, thirty-six in number, came up from Springfield on Friday morning and marched from the station to the jail where they were received by the mob with hoots and jeers. In fact, the temper of the people was such that after counselling with a number of the prominent citizens of Urbana, Captain Bradbury withdrew his company and they returned at once to Springfield. The withdrawal of the Springfield company was followed by a conference between Mayor Ganson and Sheriff McLain and it was agreed that there would be no more shooting by the local militia. The local militia boys then laid down their guns and were undoubtedly relieved to feel that they were freed from further responsibility. Just as soon as the mob on the outside understood that there was to be no more firing they made a rush for the jail and within a few minutes they were inside and in front of the cell where the wretched negro lay. The story will never be told of the next few minutes; it was done so quickly and with such confusion that the sequence of events cannot be followed. It was but the work of a few minutes for the mob to get a rope around Mitchell's neck and but few more to get him out of the building. Dragging him out with the rope around his neck the mob vented its fury upon the unfortunate wretch by jumping on him after the rope had slipped from his neck as he fell off the jail steps. Again placing the rope around his neck he was carried across the court house yard to the tree in the southeast corner of the yard and there the rope was thrown over a convenient limb. Hundreds of willing hands stretched the victim in midair and then tied the rope 1146 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. to a fence. For at least an hour the body was left dangling in the air before Mayor Ganson ordered it cut down. The body was placed in an open pine box and was left in the court house yard until 2:3o in the afternoon when it was removed to Humphrey's undertaking establishment, where it was held until Saturday. An effort was made to sell it to a medical college at Columbus, but the college declined to take it. Mitchell's relatives likewise refused to take charge of the body and on Saturday afternoon it was loaded onto a dray and carted away to the potter's field. And Urbana and Champaign county concluded its second lynching. It is not the purpose of this article to condemn or condone—only to tell the facts as near as they can be ascertained. SENSATIONAL ESCAPE FROM COUNTY BASTILE. On December 31, 1915, the county jail was the scene of .a sensational dash for liberty by two dangerous highwaymen, Frank Martin and James Doyle. On the evening of November 27 of that year, these men held up and robbed David Ogg, and were confined in the county jail awaiting trial. The two men had a bad record, for Martin, under the name of O'Brien, had escaped from the southern Illinois penitentiary where he was serving a twelve year sentence. The local authorities, however, had refused to return him to Illinois until he had been tried on the robbery charge in this county. Martin had already entered a plea of guilty to carrying concealed weapons, which would have sent him to the penitentiary. He was also wanted in Delaware, Bucyrus, Marion and other Ohio towns on charges of robbery. Doyle was also wanted in Columbus for a robbery committed in that city several years before. Both men had several aliases. When Martin and Doyle were confined in the jail they were locked inside the inner corridor, not being allowed the privileges extended to the other prisoners ; and every night they were locked in individual cells. The only access from the inner corridor to the main one, except through a heavy iron door that was always kept locked, was through an exit between the water pipes and bars. It had always been thought that a full-grown man could not crawl through this aperture, but Martin and Doyle undoubtedly gained access to the main corridor in this manner. In accordance with his usual custom, Sheriff Faulkner went to lock the prisoners in their cells soon after nine o'clock on the evening of the escape. Mrs. Faulkner locking the big iron door to the jail behind her husband. Without looking into the cells, the sheriff locked the cells with the assistance of CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 1147 Guy Ropp, one of the prisoners. When he reached the entrance he was seized suddenly in the vice-like grip of Martin and disarmed of his thirty-two calibre revolver. Mrs. Faulkner, who had started to open the big door, could not lock it again before Doyle had pushed it open, while with the revolver covered the sheriff, who had released himself from Martin's grip. Losing no time, the prisoners beat a hasty retreat out of the south entrance of the jail. Sheriff Faulkner immediately notified the authorities, and the chase was begun. Men scoured the country in all directions until an early hour on New Years day, but they could find no trace of the robbers. In addition to these efforts, the authorities of the surrounding towns were notified, but they could give no clues. The birds had obviously flown. Since that time nothing has been heard from Martin. Doyle was later captured in Indiana, and was there convicted and sent to the penitentiary for twenty years. SOME POSTOFFICE STATISTICS. The maximum number of postoffices in the county was in the year 1890, when there were twenty-three offices in existence. The salaries of the postmasters at that time ranged from twenty-three hundred dollars in Urbana to fifteen dollars at Lookout. Ten years later, with the introduction of rural free delivery, these postoffices began to disappear, and in 1917 there are only eleven left. It is interesting to submit in this connection a complete list of all the postoffices of the county in 1890, together with the postmasters and their respective salaries. T. C. Cain, who succeeded B. F. Conner at Carysville in 189o, was the first colored postmaster in the county and so far as known the only one who has ever held the position in the county. The list referred to follows :