Survey No.	Acres	Original Proprietor.
4658, 4678 7772 12081, 12744. 2833 2669	500 83 82 1,000 1,000	D. Boisseau Walter Dunn Walter Dunn & G. W. Clark Peter Manifold Peter Manifold
CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 311
102 4666 4814 8422 9724 3476 5559 5808 8565 1147 5583 12613 7822 7323 1118 4602, 4741 9002 5300. 5976, 5304 10537 5716, 5748, 5754 5279 4753 5753 4568 7491 7311 13503 7913 7143 5863 7905 9014 5596	740 1,000 1,100 110 500 750 200 200 500 1,000 888 212 .... 310 2,000 666 2/3 200 307 400 242 235 560 73 100 1,500 1,955 1,600 200 100 53 150 220 830	Henry Whiting Thomas Browder L Jones Gross Scruggs Benjamin Forsythe John Askew B. Grimes John Baird W. Dunn & N. Haines Benamin Biggs John Baird Joseph Spencer Anthony Walker & A. Jones  James Galloway George Weedon Thomas Sears Ladd & Norville R Means & D. Mason A. Bowman E. Langham D. Bradford William Heath H Woodson Edward Stokes Thomas Moore James Galloway Lucas Sullivant John A. Fulton William Townsley Thomas M. Bayley J. Galloway & J. Crawford Richard Kennon William Washington

DRAINAGE AND TOPOGRAPHY. Rush township is about four and one-half miles from east to west and eight miles from north to south, having approximately thirty-six square miles of surface. The old settlers who suggested the name of "Rush" to 312 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. the county commissioners in 1828 must have been vividly impressed with the rushes which grew in profusion along the many streams in the township. At least, this explanation for the origin of the name of the township has all the earmarks of botanical veracity. Rush township is in sharp contrast to its sister township to the west as far as the configuration of its surface is concerned. Wayne is probably the most broken township in the county, while Rush is probably the most level of any of the twelve totownshipsThe rolling character of the township is sufficiently marked to facilitate drainage and thus is an effective adjunct to its drainage system. Darby creek cuts across the northeastern corner of the township and receives as tributaries a number of small streams which find their way into the creek, either within the limits of Rush township itself or in Union county, which adjoins the township on the east. The general slope of the whole township is toward the east, each stream flowing toward the east in its channel across the county. The fertility of the soil of the township has made It one of the best farming regions of the county. The southern part was originally covered with a heavy growth of wild grass, with sporadic patches of rushes and sedges and other aquatic forms of vegetation common to swampy regions in this latitude. It was this profusion of rushes which probably led the petitioners for the organization of the township to suggest the name which was applied to the new township. Naturally, this southern section of the township had to be drained before it could be farmed, but it yielded readily to drainage and for years has been producing abundantly all of the crops peculiar to this climate. The northern part of the township was formerly heavily forested with all varieties of walnut, oak, hihickory,ugar, maple and elm trees. Here was also found the ash, linden, leatherwood, ironwood, dogwood, hackberry, water beech and a score of other less common tree forms. Practically, the only tree found in the swampy section of the township was the oak, although a hickory was occasionally found. EARLY SETTLEMENT. The northern part of the township was the earliest settled for the reason that the southern portion was too swampy to attract the early settlers. Woodstock and its immediate vicinity was not settled until the twenties, while some hundreds of settlers were located in the northern part of the township by that time. The first village in the township was North Lewisburg and it lies in the northwestern corner next to the Logan county line. It is connected CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 313 with the county seat by a railroad, as is Woodstock, the only other village in the township. Electric lines have been projected to pass through the township, but none have materialized thus far. Two years after the township1830,organized, that is, in 183o, the Ohio Gazetteer set forth a very concise history of Rush township. This history, with its characteristic brevity, is reproduced verbatim : "Rush ; a post township in the northeast quarter of Champaign county, in which the towns of North Lewisburg and Woodstock are situated, the first having a postoffice of the same name. It was constituted 1828 and at the census of 1830 contained 750 inhabitants. Taxable land 18,610 acres." FIRST GRIST-MILL IN TOWNSHIP. While the territory within Rush township was still a part of Franklin county a few squatters drifted into the vicinity of North Lewisburg. By the time Champaign county was organized in 1805 there were a number of settlers scattered over the northern half of the township, but most of these seemed to have been located here only temporarily. The names of John Rogers, Willia Martin, James Merryfield, Emanuel Merryfield, William Pickerill, Robert Bay, James Stover and Francis Owen are recorded as early settlers, but John Rogers and William Pickerill seem to have been the only ones to remain. These men were only squatters and could not have entered land if they had wanted to, since it was not yet open to entry when most of them came to the county in 1800. Pickerill built the first grist-mill in the township in 1803 and it was one of the first in the county. It was located on the stream running out of Brush lake, about three miles due west of the present village of Woodstock. The 'mill boasted of a single run of buhrs and the meal was unbolted, being turned over to the settlers as not much more than cracked corn. He sold his mill about 1813 to John Richardson, who continued it for a number of years. "THE CROSSING." Since none of these dozen settlers mentioned entered land it is impossible to determine with accuracy just where they lived, but it is fair to presume that it was somewhere near the present line between Wayne and Rush townships and between Brush lake and Lewisburg. The first group of permanent settlers came into the township the year the county was organized; that is, the year 1805—the year in which tens of thousands of settlers from 314 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. the Atlantic seaboard crossed the Alleghanies to seek new homes in the Northwest Territory. The news of the organization of Champaign county had undoubtedly reached Virginia. When it is considered that all of the land in Rush township was actually given to Virginians it is easy to understand why so many of the early settlers were from that state. As has been stated the services of thirty-eight old soldiers were paid with the land which is now within Rush township ; or, to be exact, the land allotted them for their services in the Revolutionary War included all that is now within the township, as well as considerable land in, adjoining townships in this and Logan and Union counties. There is no record of any of these old soldiers themselves locating on the land which their services brought them. Most of them assigned their claims to others, and unfortunately in many cases the lands fell into the hands of speculators. However, as late as the forties, there was land selling in the township for ten dollars an acre. Most of the land which passed into the hands of the assignees of the old soldiers was sold for from one dollar and a quarter to two dollars and a half an acre. The records show several hundred-acre farms selling for one hundred and twenty-five dollars —and these same farms in 1917 could not be bought for that much an acre. COMING OF THE VIRGINIANS. The year 1805 saw the coming of a group of Virginia settlers to the newly organized Champaign county, most of them from Dinwiddie county. These men, with their respective families, were connected by family ties as is evident from their names. The leader of the expedition, of it may so be called, which set forth from Virginia in the spring of 805, was Hezekiah Spain. In his intrepid band of pioneers were J. P. Spain, Sr., Jordan Reams, Hubert (Hubbard) Crowder, William Spain, Daniel Spain, J. P. Spain, Jr., Thomas Spain and John Crowder. Hezekiah Spain proceeded to buy one thousand and sixty-three acres of land as soon as he came to the county. This was all of survey No. 4666, the entire survey being the original entry of Thomas Browder. Most of this extensive tract is in the present township of Rush although it extends into Wayne on the west and into Logan county on the north. The chapter on the history of Wayne township tells of this group of Virginia settlers, part of whom settled in one township and part in the other. It must be remembered that all the territory which is now included in both townships was included within Wayne township until 1828. In 1805 a number of other settlers arrived in the township, but William CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 315 Johnson and Jonathan Cheney were the only ones who permanently located there. In 1807 two more members of the Spain family, Daniel and Edwin, and Joshua Stephens and Thomas Goode came from Virginia and about the same time James DeVore came from Pennsylvania. The year 1810 brought Peter Black and his father, Samuel, to the township and they located in the vicinity of North Lewisburg. The records show a number of others locating in the township before the War of 1812, but they seemed to have disappeared very early in the history of the township. At least no subsequent record is found concerning them. LIST OF EARLY VOTERS. It was stated in the history of Wayne township that the election of 1811 brought thirty-one voters to the polls. How many of these lived within the present limits of Rush and how many in Wayne it is impossible to state. But it is fair to presume that a majority of them lived in what is now Rush. The complete list of the thirty-one voters of 1811 follows : Reuben Paxton, Abraham Hughes, William Tharp, William Fagan, Joshua Jones, John Black, John Richardson, John Ballinger, John Barret, John Paxton, John Sutton, John Thomas, John Bowlman, Daniel Reed, Isaac Hughes, John DeVore, Abner Tharp, Henry Williams, Gray Gary, Nathan Norton, William Williams, Basil Noel, Wesley Hughes, Nathan Tharp, Andrew Grubbs, Otho Johnson, Benjamin Lee, Solomon Tharp, James Paxton and William Pickerill. It will be noticed that the most numerous family of the township was not represented at the polls on this October 8, 1811, but it is impossible to explain why none of the Spains was present. All of the elections up to 1828 in what is now Rush township are recorded as a part of the Wayne township records. TOWNSHIP OFFICIALS. It is not profitable to follow through the long list of township officials who have served in various capacities since the township held its first election in 1829, but a list of the various officials—trustees, treasurers, clerks, and justices of the peace—up to the time of the Civil War may be interesting in showing some of the prominent citizens of the township in antebellum days. The trustees served in the following order : Jordan Reams, Thomas Irwin, Christopher Cranston, Nathaniel Kidder, Samuel Reed, George Gideon, Jerry Colwell, Thomas Spain, Henry Fairchild, Isaac W. Marsh, William Audas, John N. Williams, Sylvanus Smith, William Milli- 316 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. gall, Stephen Spain, Elba Burnham, William Milligan, David H. Hall, William Audas, William Snuffin, Melvin Sprague, John B. Cranston, Edwin Spain, H. Hall, Jacob Elsworth, Christopher Cranston, Harvey Cushman, Joseph Johnson, Joseph P. Smith, Elba Burnham, Trueman M. Kimball, Oris Fairchild, William Audas, Elias Smith, William Taylor, William Hoisington, R. T. Burnham, Robert Elliott, A. N. Howard, C. P. Morse, Elias Smith, Charles Lincoln, C. S. Hyde, Truman M. Kimball, Jesse Smith, John Hunter, R. Jennings, Philo Burnham, Henry Winder, Henry Jackson, J. D. Cranston, Levi Kirk, and Frank Pearl. The trustees in 1861 when the Civil War opened were J. D. Cranston, Levi Kirk and Frank Pearl. The clerks of the township from 1828 to 1861 served in the following order : Elba Burnham, 1828-30; Harvey Cushman, 831; Isaac Morse, 1832; Samuel Williams, 1833; Christopher Cranston, 1834; Oziel Lapham, 1835-36 Isaac W. Morse, 1837-39; Amos Stephens, 1840-43; Henry H. Kelsey, 1844-47; Jennison Hall, 1848-49 ; H. Smith, 1850-51; S. G. Smith, 1852-55 C. W. Smith, 1856; B. S. Bennett, 1857; Azro Smith, 1858-59; B. S. Bennett, 1860; Azro Smith, 1861. The treasurer of the township during this same period (1829-1861) served in the following order : Anson Howard, 1829-33 ; Bela Kimball, 1834-37: Sylvanus Smith, 1838-61. Smith served longer than any of the officials of the township, his service closing in 1861 as treasurer, after havin been in the office for twenty-three years. Previous to entering the treasurer's office in 838 he had served as justice of the peace for a number of years. TWO SOCIAL CENTERS. The life of the township during the past one hundred years has centered around two villages, North Lewisburg and Woodstock, and the history of these two villages, presented elsewhere, sets forth in a large measure the history of practically half of the township's population, most of its industrial development and also its educational and religious side. While the earliest group of settlers were Virginians and located In the northern and western Portions of the township, centering around North Lewisburg, the later group were from New England, particularly from Vermont, New Hampshire and Rhode Island and located in the central part, with their chief settlement in the vicinity of Woodstock. The leaders among the North Lewisburg group have already been mentioned. The Woodstock leaders were Thomas Irwin, Anson and Pearl CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 317 Howard, Sylvanus, Samuel; Lester and Dexter Smith, Stephen and Ephraim Cranston, Henry, Jacob and Reuben Fairchild, Erastus Burnham, William Gifford, Benjamin D. Sibley, Levi Churchill and David Holt. This group of settlers was increased in 1820 and 1821 by Harvey Cushman, James Webb, Hezekiah Ripley, Joshua Meachem, John McDonald and an Irishman by the name of James Parkhill. The Corbets, Lanes, Wrights and Irwins were also added to the rapidly growing settlement in the early twenties. The history of this group of pioneers is :set forth in detail in the discussion of Woodstock in another chapter. There is still a third element in the population of Rush township .which remains to be considered. This is the group of settlers which located in the southern portion of the township in the swampy. section. These settlers were distinct from the North Lewisburg and Woodstock groups, although they were from Virginia and Kentucky largely. They were later arrivals and did not belong to the same stratum Of society as the Virginians who had come in the first two decades of the township's history. Most of them remained in the county only a short time and then went on farther west, large numbers of then going to Indiana and subsequently to Illinois. The general character of this early group of settlers in the extreme southern part of the township was graphically set forth a number of years ago by one of the local historians in the following language : "A wild, reckless people, joyous and free-hearted, who loved to drink alcoholic stimulants, and have a good time generally ; were fond of dancing and games which frequently encroached upon the church, and when such became too frequent whole squads were brought up before the church for trial, and after promising to do better with blessings. following them if they would go and sin no more. They were not in any sense quarrelsome, but a good fight would occasionally occur, but on the following day all was forgotten, and the belligerents would meet at a barn- or cabin-raising and be as social and friendly as ever." DIFFICULTIES OF IMMIGRATION. To the present generation it is a source of wonder how the early settlers reached this county. In the ease of the Woodstock group, when they came here in 1815 there was not a single white person living on the site of or near Woodstock. The leader of the expedition, John Cranston, led a body of twenty-four people from Rice City, Rhode Island, straight to Rush township, Champaign county, Ohio. It would be interesting to have a day-by-day 318 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. account of this trip, but since none is preserved it is left to the imagination of the chronicler to furnish the details of the trip. Most of them were natives of Connecticut and it is easy to imagine that the twenty-four people gathered together in their homes in New England and discussed the long trip to their proposed new home. They appointed Rice City as a rendezvous and on the appointed day they gathered there with their big wagons and started for the Far 'West. They were on the road six long weeks; over the mountains, through the valleys, around the swamps and over the prairies they gradually drew nearer the "Promised Land." When they came to Big Belly creek, near Columbus, Ohio, they found that it was impossible to cross it with their wagons. They finally found a man to ferry them and their goods across, but the question of getting their horses and wagons over was not so easily solved. The men then swam the horses across and then made a rope out of the bed cords, tied the rope to the end of the wagon tongue and then pulled the wagons safely across. The story of this trip is typical of scores of similar trips taken by the early settlers coming to Champaign county. The leader of this expedition to the Woodstock vicinity, John Cranston, lived to be seventy years of age. He left six children, and three of them, Stephen, Edward and John B., lived to advanced ages. The Grans-tons have been largely identified with the history of the township for a century and have always stood for the better things in life. COMING OF THE RAILROADS. The building of the railroads through Rush township is an interesting part of its history. It is probable that the complete story will never be told of the Pennsylvania railroad and its right-of-way between Columbus and Urbana. To one who looks on the map of the state and sees the wide detour that the railroad makes in going from Columbus to Urbana it seems strange that such should be the case. It would seem that the railroad should have gone through Mechanicsburg, which, in the fifties, was a larger village than Woodstock. The reason why the railroad finally. missed Mechanicsburg and hit Woodstock is largely because the latter village had a man by the name of Erastus Martin. This story, however, is given later in the chapter relating to Woodstock. The Erie railroad cuts across the northeastern corner of the township and passes North Lewisburg. These two roads have been important factors in making the township what it is today. CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 319 EARLY MILLS. Spains Creek seems to have furnished the water power for all of the early industries in this section of the county. At one time there were five mills located on this stream within the limits of this township. Perhaps the first mill on this stream was located two miles east, of North Lewisburg and was owned by Andrew Beltz and brothers, who came from Pennsylvania. The same water wheel furnished the power for a grist-mill, a distillery and a saw-mill. There was also a blacksmith shop and a cooper shop near by. Another saw-mill, owned and operated by 'William Audas, was located near the eastern edge of the corporation and during the later years of its existence was owned by John Spain. At first these mills were run by an overshot. wheel, but several years later a turbine was installed. This mill seems to have disappeared about 1865. Abner Winder was doubtless the first miller in the village of North Lewisburg. More than a hundred years ago he built the first corn-cracker and in connection with it a saw-mill, between where the Beltz mill now stands and the head of the mill dam. Immediately to the north, and where an orchard now stands, was an old dryhouse used for the purpose of drying timber. The frame work of the present Beltz mill was sawed by Winder with his saw-mill at this place. Winder built the mill, not as a grist mill, but for a woolen factory which was, however, operated as such for only six or eight years. Daniel Beltz became the owner of the mill sixty-two years ago and it has been in the Beltz family ever since. Beltz did not run the mill himself in the beginning, but leased it to Ephriam Stuart who operated it for more than a year as a woolen-mill. Adjoining the Beltz mill on the south was the old Milligan tannery that was operated for nearly a quarter of a century. Another industry on Spain's creek was a saw-mill that stood near Spain's cemetery. Remains of this mill are still in existence. CHAPTER XVIII. ADAMS TOWNSHIP. Adams township was the last township to be organized in Champaign county and dates its civil organization from 1828. The territory now comprised within its limits was a part of Mad river township when the county was organized in 1805 and later became a part of Johnson township, remaining a part of the latter township until it was set off as a separate civil organization in 1828. It is the extreme northwestern township of the county and is bounded by Logan and Shelby counties on the north and west, respectively, by Johnson township on the south and Harrison township on the east. It falls within township 3, ranges 12 and 13, having two tiers of sections of range 12 and three tiers of range 13. The thirty sections contain approximately nineteen thousand two hundred acres. DRAINAGE AND TOPOGRAPHY. The township is in the Mad river basin, the southern and western portions draining largely through Mosquito creek and its tributaries, while the northern and eastern portions fall within the watershed drained by Lees creek. The highest part of the township is found in the southeastern part, the topographical survey recording an altitude of eleven hundred and seventy-six feet at the crossing of the roads on the line dividing sections 5 and 1. The southern part of the township is decidedly rolling. In the southwest corner, along Mosquito creek, there was formerly such a widening of the creek that it was not inappropriately called a lake. There are many springs of excellent water scattered over the township, - some of them being of the sulphur variety, particularly those along Lees creek. COMING OF THE FIRST SETTLERS. The township for various reasons was not settled until several years after the other townships had become fairly well filled with settlers. The dense forests, the broken land along the watercourses, and the fact that it was entered by people who did not live on it are contributing facts which CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 321 help to explain the lateness of its settlement. The choice of a name for the new township indicates that the petitioners for the township, or the commissioners granting the petition, were followers of John Quincy Adams, who was a candidate for the presidency the year the township was organized. Many years before the township had a separate existence a few courageous settlers had ventured into its forbidding precincts. A Virginian by the name of Asahel Wilkinson is credited with being the first permanent settler with the limits of what is now Adams township. He located in section 14 along Lees creek, but it was probably some time before he entered land. There is no deed record in section 14 for several years after Wilkinson is said to have established himself along Lees creek in that section. However, Wilkinson remained in the township and eventually became a considerable landowner, many of his descendants still residing in the township. Many stories are told of this first settler in Adams township, and one of them may be repeated in this connection. When he came to the county he had two hundred dollars in cash—in silver coin—and for safety he decided to hide it in a stump near his house. On one occasion, shortly after the money had been placed in the stump, a body of Indians camped near the Wilkinson home and one afternoon the Indians used the stump as the background for a target. Mrs. Wilkinson watched with trepidation the Indians shooting at the stump and then examining to see whether they had hit their target, thinking all the time that they might accidentally uncover the money, but her fears were soon allayed, for the Indians soon tired of shooting and left without discovering the money. FIRST RECORD OF DEED TO LAND IN TOWNSHIP. It was not until near the close of the War of 1812 that additional settlers began to come into the township. A study of the deed records in the county recorder's office fails to show who were the first settlers in the township; at least, the record fails to show very few in the township before the thirties. There was considerable land open for entry in the middle of the thirties, although by that time it was largely entered from the State of Ohio, and not the United States. The records show that Joel Harbour deeded a quarter section in section 6 to Henry Ritter in 1813 ; this deed is the earliest on record in the township. There is no way of telling when Harbour entered the land, but he had evidently entered the maximum amount of land and even secured (21) 322 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. land from others who had entered but had not been able to make their payments. Harbour and Samuel W. Davis were the largest of the early landowners in the township. No one now living seems to be able to recall this man Davis, but he figured extensively in the official records of Adams township in its early history. On August 8, 1820, Davis deeded to the United States flank eight quarter sections in as many different sections of the township. How he came to get the land, how the United States Bank got control of it, or who Davis was are some of the questions which remain unanswered. Among other settlers before the twenties may be named the following: Richard Southgate and Archibald Irwin are identified with section 7 by 819 ; Samuel Curry entered a quarter section in 13 in 1815, but it does not seem that he settled on the land ; William McCroskey settled in section 5 in 1816, and received his patent for the northeast quarter of this section on February 7, 1817 ; Daniel Neal had settled in the eastern part of Champaign county some years prior to his location in Adams township in 1813 on section 36; Silas Johnson, after whom Johnson township was later named, settled on section 31 with his son Walker, in 1818. OTHER EARLY SETTLERS. It has been previously stated that Adams township was not sufficiently attractive to induce prospective settlers to pay two dollars an acre for its land, when much better land could be secured at the same price. The township was very swampy in many places and remained so for several years. Until after the Civil War there was a. large amount of forested land in the township, and within the memory of many residents of 1917 half of the township was covered with a dense forest, while scattered here and there were extensive swamps and swails. The first few settlers located on the high ground and they had the township largely to themselves until after 1830. The first half of the twenties saw very few settlers coming for permanent settlement, and it was not until after the organization of the township in 1828 that there was any material increase in their number. The period from 1825 to 1830 brought the following settlers : Isaac Curl, Levi Valentine, William Terrell, William Calland, Erastus Kinnon, James Lock-ridge, Samuel Anderson, John Cunningham, and families representing the Clarks. Halls, Remleys, Espys, Newcombs, Shanleys and McAlexanders. During the thirties the township saw several other families locating in the township, among whom may be mentioned the following: J. R. CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 323 Anderson, E. Sargent, C. C. Wooley, Jasper Scott, William Lichliter, E. Martz, Henry Wilson and Christian Hurst. The Speece and Stephenson families also came in during this decade. The two decades prior to the Ciyil War brought in the families of R. H. Pickering, D. Clark, Elisha Yost, John Hoover, George Stable, H. B. Persinger, Z. P. Zayre, John Schaefer, F. M. Lemon, John Robinson, John Blose, Peter Weimer and George R. Kizer. The population of the township in 840 was nine hundred and seventy ; in 850 it had increased to eleven hundred and twenty-three; the next decade (1850-60) saw it increased to only twelve hundred and sixty-three. Slow as was this increase for the period from 1840 to 1860, it is interesting to note that in 1870 it had actually dropped off to twelve hundred and thirty-eight. The population for each decade since 1880 follows : 1880, 1,445 ; 1890, 1,461 ; 1900, 1,406; 1910, 1,293. BAD ROADS RETARD SETTLEMENT. The early settlement was seriously retarded by the wretched roads leading into the township. William Calland, Sr., who came to the township in 1829 was compelled to cut part of his path from Spring Hills to the tract he had purchased. There was at best only a blazed trail through the woods, and of course there were no bridges to be found any place in the township. The township in 1830 was practically an unbroken wilderness, with here and there a spot of ground where some courageous settler had cleared a patch for a little corn and tobacco. Very few of the settlers who came to the township prior to the war had any money ; most of them expected to make sufficient from their farm to pay for it, and when they could not meet their payments, their more fortunate neighbors took the land off their hands. A traveler over the township in the first half of the thirties would have seen mostly log cabins ; the few frame houses were looked upon as mansions. The first brick house was erected by William Ritter in 1835, but since that year scores of brick dwelling houses have sprung up in all parts of the township. EARLY MILLS AND MILLING. It is not certain when the first saw-and grist-mill made its appearance in the township, but one Joseph Eiker had what was commonly known as a "corn-cracker" on Mosquito creek in section 29 as early as 1831. Probably the next grist-mill was in the extreme northeast corner of the town- 324 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. ship (section 3), which is known to have been in operation by John Merrill by the middle of the thirties. These two mills, together with one on Lees creek, run by one of the Lees, were all water-power mills. The official records state that William Terrell had a saw-mill in section 5, which he sold to Flemen Hall in 1852, the mill being later transferred to George R. Kizer. Terrell was also the owner of a saw-mill in section 12, which he sold in 852. Other mills dating from Civil War days were found in sections 15 and 33, but all of these have long since disappeared. There have been no flour-mills in the township since the latter part of the seventies. It should be mentioned that there is a record of at least one tannery in the township. It was located in section 29 and was operated by a man by the name of Coverton. He opened it as early as 1829 and it served a period of usefulness to the community and then was discontinued forever. Very few of the younger generation have ever seen a tannery and as a matter of fact many of the shoes they wear today have never seen one. The names of a number of the early settlers of the township have been given, and several of them have been noticed in the chapters relating to other townships. The many stories which always gather about the settlement of a township are not lacking in the case of Adams township. It had its share of Indians, bear, and deer stories and they do not differ much from the same kind of stories to be heard in connection with other townships. A few facts concerning some of the early settlers are given in the succeeding paragraphs. FIRST PERMANENT SETTLER. Ashabel Wilkinson, generally considered the first permanent settler in the township, was born in Harrison county, Virginia, September 16, 1776, and married Charlotte Ragen. They had four children when they left Virginia in 1811 for Champaign county and Adams townships They were accompanied to the state by several other families from their old neighborhood, but none of them settled in Adams township. The whole family rode on pack horses and some of the saddles used on the long journey are still in possession of the Wilkinson family. Ashabel Wilkinson entered a quarter section in section 14 and in the rude log cabin which he hastily threw up, Henry H. Wilkinson, the first white child born in the township, made his appearance in the township on April 2, 1813. The first wife of Wilkinson died in 1819 and two years later he married Nancy James. He died on February 23, 1861. CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 325 The second permanent settler in Adams township was Henry Ritter, who is recorded as having bought one hundred and sixty acres from Joel Harbour in 1813. Born in Kentucky he came to Ohio when a young man and located near Chillicothe, where he was living at the outbreak of the War of 1812. He served at the front and was mustered out with the rank of captain. In 1813 he came to Champaign county and founded a home for himself on section 6 of Adams township and shortly afterward found a wife in the person of Elizabeth Harbour to share the cabin with him. This rude log cabin continued to be their home until 1835 when he erected the first brick house in the township. This worthy couple became the parents of nine children. Ritter died in 1860 on the farm where he settled in 1813. The third permanent settler in Adams township is supposed to have been Daniel Neal, a native of Maryland, born in that state in 1773. The year 1801 found Neal in Virginia and three years later he turned up in Ohio in what is now the eastern part of Champaign county. For ten years he remained in the eastern part of the county and in that decade accumulated some property, a wife, five children and a desire to better his condition by entering as large a tract as he could afford. He entered a quarter of section 36, paying two dollars an acre for it, and moved on his new purchase in 1814. When the township was organized in 1828 he became one of the first trustees. He and his wife had seven children before his death in 1840. His widow survived him twenty years. OTHER EARLY SETTLERS. William McCroskey was one of the few settlers to locate in the township before 1820. The record shows that he received a patent from the United States for the northeast quarter of section 5 on February 7, 1817. Born in Kentucky, he was violently opposed to slavery and, in order to escape conditions as they existed near his boyhood home, he left his native state in 1816, came through Cincinnati, bought "sight unseen" the tract above described in Adams township, and drove on through with his family and their meager household effects to their new home. He lived to have a fine home in the township before his death in 1856. In the fall of the same year (1817) George Halterman and his brother, Peter, came from Virginia to the county and entered a quarter of section 18. They made the trip from Virginia to this county on horesback, passing through Cincinnati to enter their land. George Halterman worked on 326 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. his tract until 1821 before he permanently located on it, having by that time built a substantial cabin, cleared several acres, and got things ready for his young wife. In the summer of 1821 he brought his wife and their baby, Ella, to the new home. The wife died in 1838 and he married a second time. He continued to reside on the farm where he first settled until his death in 1867.. Walker Johnson, another of the earliest settlers of Adams township, was born in Fayette county, Kentucky, August 23, 1787, came to this township before 1820 and lived here until his death, January 23, 1870. He married Sarah McCroskey, April 15, 1824, and to this union were born eight children. Silas Johnson, father of Walker, above noted, came from Kentucky to Millerstown, Champaign. county, Ohio, about 1803. He was a spy during the Revolutionary War and performed faithful and dangerous service for his country. In 1805 when the land was surveyed he found himself on a school section and accordingly was compelled to move. He then moved into what is now Johnson township. That he was a prominent man is indicated by the fact that the township later organized out of this part of the county was named in. his honor. He lived in Johnson township (section 13) from 1805 to 1818, and then moved into the present Adams township, and located on section 31. Here he lived only about a year, dying in 1819 at the age of sixty. William Calland, born in Scotland, March 8, 1784, came with his wife and three children to America in 1817 and lived along the Susquehanna during the winter of 1817-18. The spring of 1814 he decided to take his family to the far West and with this idea in view he purchased as large a wagon as one horse could pull and loaded in it all of his worldly possessions. They had one chest of goods weighing nine hundred pounds and another of smaller dimensions containing provisions for the journey. They started out after the weather had settled in the spring and finally reached Noble county; Ohio, where they lived until 1829. In that year the family came to Champaign county, and settled On section 14 of Adams township. Calland accumulated a large tract of land before his death on January 8, 1864. His wife died on March 15, 1869. He has the distinction of having cast the first vote for an Abolitionist candidate for President in his township. They left a family of six children and his sons, Samuel, Gershom and Joseph Calland, became among the wealthiest farmers in the township. CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 327 SOME ARRIVALS DURING THE THIRTIES. Elihu Wooley, born in New Jersey in 1789, left his native state in 1814 for Butler county, Ohio. He had married Ellen Conover in 1810 and they had some children before leaving New Jersey. They lived in Butler county until 1836 and then came to Adams township and located in section 36 where Wooley died in 1855, his wife dying in 1871. They were the parents of eight children, one of whom, Charles C., was a township trustee for more than a score of years. In 1831 Philip Dick came from Pickaway county, Ohio, to Adams township and made his home on section 13 until his death in 1872 at the age of eighty-two. His wife, Nancy, lived to be nearly a hundred years old. They had two sons, Elisha and A. W., who became substantial farmers in the township. Another Virginia farmer was Samuel Huling, who came to the township in 1839 and purchased one hundred and fifty-eight acres in section 30; near the present village of Carysville. He died in 1849 and his wife seven years later, leaving three sons—James, Samuel M. and Henry. The Curl family have been identified with Adams township for three quarters of a century. Isaac Curl, the first of the family to locate in this township, settled in township 15, and was an influential factor in the township for the thirty years that he made it his home. Two of his sons, Lewis and Isaac, remained as substantial farmers of the township. The first German farmer in the township was G. W. Baker, a native of Lotheringia, a soldier of the German army for seven years, who came to America in 1849, landing at New Orleans. He had saved his money while serving as guardsman in the army. When he arrived in this country he worked a while at New Orleans and a year later came to Champaign county, Ohio, to make his permanent home. He bought a quarter of section 26 and on this he and his young bride went to housekeeping in an old cabin whose crevices exposed them to the blasts of winter. They moved into a commodious new home in 865. When Baker died he owned three hundred and eighty acres. He and his wife had two children. The Shafer family is represented by more than one hundred representatives in Champaign county today. The progenitor of this large number of Shafers in the county was John Shafer, born in Wurtemberg in 1815. Marrying Catherine Howalt in 1846, he came to America in 1852 with his wife and three children—Ludwig, Barbara and Christina. A trip of forty-two days landed them in New York city and they at once started for Ohio. 328 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. Christina died at Buffalo, but the family came on West and in the fall of 1852 arrived in Champaign county where they located on section 15 in Adams township. Shafer and his wife left a family of several children, most of whom settled in Mad River township. They were all members of the German Evangelical church and were large factors in the Lutheran churches in southwestern part of Mad River township. SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES. While separate chapters deal with the educational and religious life of the township, it. may be mentioned that there were a number of school houses and churches established before the township was organized in 1828. The first log .school house was built about 1821 in section 6 and Samuel Bates, a neighboring farmer, acted as the first pedagogue. It seems that his education was restricted to the rudiments 'of "readin', 'ritin' an' rithmetic," but at least he could teach this much. About 1845 the second school building came into existence and by the time, the township was organized there were four .districts organized.. Year by year new buildings and districts were added until finally the township had seven school districts with as many buildings. The first house of worship was erected by the United Brethren people in section 31 and this church is now one of the strongest United Brethren churches in the rural districts of the state. Other churches of this denomination were established in sections 33,. 27 and 6. The records show that the church lot in section 6 was sold on March 28, 1900, to John M. Chambers, the lot having been originally purchased on December 29, 1853. The church in ..section 27 has been discontinued. The congregation of the Christian church adjoining the village of Carysville purchased their lot on April 18, 1854, from Alexander Cisco. The people of the Methodist church in. the north central part of section 20 bought their lot on February 16, 1861. About the middle' of the seventies the German Baptists erected a building in the extreme northeastern .part of the township on the farm of Christian Hurst. CARYSVILLE. The town site of Carysville, which was laid out as Trenton, located in section 29, township 3, range 2, consisting of thirty-two lots, was platted for Calvin Cary, proprietor, January 14, 830. Three additions have been CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 329 made to the original plat, the first one being on July 20, 1835, containing twelve lots; the second, December 24, 1850, consisting of nine lots; the third October 13, 1884, of four lots. Among the first to, purchase a lot and build a house was William Valentine. His house was a two-story log building and was "raised" by the united efforts of the entire community. The second house was built by John Beatty. The first brick residence in the growing village was built by Robert R. Green, and it later became the village tavern. The first industrial enterprise in the village was a tannery which was built and managed by a colored man of the name of Benjamin Wilson. He continued in business for many years, but business met with the same fate as did many others of a similar sort ,along with the advance of time. With the first inhabitants in the village came the blacksmith shop, the first smith being a man named Holden. The village was laid out as "Trenton;" but when application was made for the establishment of a postoffice, it was found that there was another postoffice of the same name in the state. Thereupon the village was rechristened Carysville in honor of the founder, and has ever since retained that name. The village is one of a number in the county which has never had more than two or three stores, a blacksmith shop, a church and a dozen or more dwelling houses. The fact that it is not on a railroad and that the Detroit, Toledo. & Ironton railroad missed the village when it went through the township in 1893, has made it impossible for the village to become a center of any importance. The railroad, as it was finally built, ran about one mile east of Carysville, although it is a. mile and a half by road to the railroad station at Rosewood. Among the early business enterprises of the village may be mentioned the general stores of T. H. Heston and A. F. Lichlider and the furniture store and general wood-working establishment of Joseph Hensler. James Huling erected a saw-mill in the village in 1867 and it was the only milling industry of any importance the place has ever had. Later, John. L. Bodey had a general store and E. F. Terrell had a grocery. John Miller conducted a wagon shop and John O'Leary was the village blacksmith for many years. Hensler & Bodey were associated in the furniture and undertaking business in the eighties. S. NI. Seeley was in the saddlery and harness business (luring the seventies and eighties, and one of his contemporaries in the leather business was E. B. Sturm, who was engaged in the making of boots and shoes. The village carpenters were William Scott, John Van Horn and Samuel Halterman. Dr. H. B. Hunt was the only physician in the village (luring the seventies and eighties. 330 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO The business interests for 1917 include two general stores, one conducted by Martz Brothers and the other by L. F. Perk. A blacksmith shop is operated by George Poorman. Thomas Cain, a colored man, was the last postmaster of the village. "TIPPECANOE AND TYLER TOO." An incident has been. handed down in the history of the village concerning a political meeting within its quiet precincts in the fall of 1840. This was the famous "Tippecanoe and Tyler too" campaign which will stand as the most spectacular the. country has ever seen. The Whigs of Harrison township on this particular day had a buckeye cabin on a wagon and the display was the pride of the Whiggers of the township. It must have been a handsome piece of cabin architecture if we may judge of the envy it aroused it the hearts of the Democrats. On this day both parties were to have a rally in Carysville ; one Hamilton was to set forth the glories of the Democratic party, while the principles of the Whigs were appropriately explained by one Hayes. The rival political camps gathered around their respective speakers and so intense became the feeling that it seemed something would happen. And it did. The handsome Whig cabin, for some Democratic reason, all at once slid from its foundation on the wagon bed. The something had happened. Within an incredibly short time there was a wonderful conglomerate mixture of Whigs and Democrats around that cabin. It is needless to say that the cabin was soon a thing of the past, and the Democrats took a keen delight in using . parts of it in belaboring the heads of their Whig neighbors. The Democratic warriors won the battle, the Whigs slowly retreating, carrying off their wounded in as graceful a manner as possible. History does not record what happened to the Democrats at their next rally in Carysville. RALLY ENDS IN TRAGEDY. Another Carysville political story. In the heat of the 1863 campaign a Republican speaker came to Carysville and in the course of his speech roundly denounced the citizens who were not as patriotic as he thought they ought to be. The' Democrats became violent and threatened dire things; numerous street encounters were staged and for several days it seemed that trouble would be sure to follow the speech; one man was shot and many more were threatened with their lives. The Democrats were ordered to CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 331 hang a flag out of their windows, and the Republicans gave formal notice that all who did not decorate their homes with a flag would be destroyed by fire. A company of home guards were hurried out to the village from Urbana and were compelled to make several arrests. Long years after there was still a distinct remembrance of this bloody week in the minds of the old citizens of Carysville. SOUNDING THE KNELL OF CARYSVILLE. The village has never been incorporated for the reason that it could never get enough inhabitants at any one time to justify incorporation. This has placed the village under the control of the township authorities and has left the village itself in a measure unable to cope with petty misdemeanors committed in its midst. If the Detroit, Toledo. & Ironton railroad had only passed through the village the latter might have grown to be of corporate size, but it is now only waiting for the day when its last store will hand out the last pound of sugar. For economic reasons its days are numbered. It is certain that Rosewood, located on the railroad, is bound to attract the trade of the community. He who writes the history of Adams township in 2017 will be compelled to say that a century ago, farther back than the oldest inhabitant can remember, there was a village of the name of Carysville in that township. ROSEWOOD. The village of Rosewood, located on sections 18 and 24, Adams township, sprang into existence in 1893 when the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton railroad was being built through this section of the county. What is now the village site was at that time a part of the farm of Miles Archer, who had sufficient foresight to see the probability of a thriving village at that point. Accordingly a village site was laid out and platted and given the name of Rosewood. To John M. Birkhold is given the credit of erecting the first building of any kind on the village site. He was visionary enough to see that a store at this point would be a paying proposition. It occurred to him that since the roads crossed at this place and the farming community was of the very best that no better location could be secured. At that time he was living on his farm, a short distance from the crossroads and had never had any experience in the mercantile business. However; he had faith in his own judgment and set about to buy a lot for the purpose of erecting a store 332 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. building. He succeeded in purchasing lot 1, which at the time was a potato patch, and for which he paid the sum of fifty dollars. Immediately he began the erection of the building that is now standing on the lot, and which he rented to Charles Espy until in December, 1894. Birkhold then took charge of the store and with the assistance of his sons has continued in the business ever since. The second storekeeper in the village was James Pickering, but his place of business has changed ownership many times. The village has grown until there are about three hundred inhabitants, all of whom are law abiding and industrious citizens. The village has more than a local reputation as a stock market and the statement is made upon good authority that Rosewood is the best shipping point on the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton between Lima and Springfield. The business interests are those characteristic of the average village and include the following: Birkhold Brothers, general store; Bowers & Slagel, saw-mill; Buroker Brothers, general store ; Bowers & Clark, garage; Clyde Blackford, meat market and general store; Covault & Coval, blacksmith shop ; Daniel Clark, barber; C. F. Houseman, blacksmith shop; John Huffman, tiling, fencing, etc. ; Mrs. Mary Lichlider, milliner; John Nichol, barber ; Proctor & Sturgeon, implements; Rosewood Grain Company, grain ; A. M. Wooley & Son, restaurant and store, and Dr. W. A. Yinger, physician. POSTOFFICE, SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES. After the village gave every assurance of becoming a local commercial center, application for a postoffice was made by John M. Birkhold. Although living in another township he was appointed postmaster in April, 1894. However, he was forced to become a resident of the village in order to hold the position, which he filled for four years. He was succeeded by J. M. Buroker who held the office for a term of four years, and was followed by James W. Pickering. C. F. Houseman was the next postmaster and he was succeeded by M. R. Geyer who was appointed on January 1, 1909, and who served until March 13, 1913, when O. F. Birkhold, the present incumbent, received the appointment. In 1910 the rural community was given the advantages of a rural route from this office. The first religious services in the village were held in the school house and were conducted by Reverend Yeisley, of the Reformed church at St. Paris. The building was crowded to its capacity and the minister was so pleased that he stated it was his intention to conduct services with regularity and ultimately form a Reformed church at this point. However, in CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 333 the meantime, members of the United Brethren churches at Carysville and Antioch were active in forming a union of the two societies and finally located a church at Rosewood in 1899. Realizing that the village and the community could not support two churches, the idea of organizing a Reformed church was finally abandoned by the man who has the distinction and honor of having conducted the first religious service in the village. The village has always been fortunate in having a township school almost within its limits. The school house that was used when the village was laid out is now used for storage purposes. As the village grew larger a new school house was erected, the same now being used as a garage. This building was occupied until the erection of the present building, which is a model of its kind and a tribute to the untiring and successful efforts of its present superintendent. A startling incident occurred in Rosewood in 1913, when an explosion of an acetyline-gas plant in the house of J. M. Buroker completely destroyed that house. Happily no one was killed. CHAPTER XIX. AGRICULTURE. The history of agriculture as it concerns Champaign county is very little different from that of most of the counties in the state. One hundred years ago the farmer did not have a single one of the labor-saving devices which may be found on every well-managed farm in Champaign county today. With his single-shovel plow and hoe, his sickle and scythe, his flail and fanning-mill, his homemade harness and handmade wagon, he was but poorly equipped to combat the forest. There was no such a thing as a stump-puller or dynamite in those days to get rid of stumps or boulders; the ditching machine was not to be seen in the county for a hundred years after it was settled. In short, the meager equipment of farming implements possessed by the sturdy pioneers who first attempted to wrest a living from the soil of this county would not be considered worthy of the poorest farmer of 1917. It would transcend the limits of this chapter to go into detail concerning the vicissitudes of the early farmer. He managed in some way or another to clear the forests with the aid of ax and fire and to raise sufficient produce to make a, comfortable living for his family. Wants were so few and' the few were so simple that the two cents he received for a pound of pork and ten cents for a bushel of corn loomed as big in his eyes as fourteen-cent pork and two-dollar corn in the summer of 1917. The times have changed, people have changed ; and although we sometimes think that "the good old days" were the best and that our grandfathers and grandmothers were happier than we are today, yet we would not exchange our manner of living with all of its conveniences for the life they had to live with all of its inconveniences. NATURE INDULGENT TO CHAMPAIGN COUNTY. The soil of the county has been discussed in the chapter relating to the geology and topography of the county. The same chapter discussed climatic conditions, the drainage systems and allied subjects. It is sufficient to state CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 335 in this connection that nature has effected such a harmonious combination of the sunshine, the rainfall and the soil that the farmer of Champaign county can raise as fine crops of corn and wheat and oats and potatoes as any farmer in the United States, and for the same reason he can produce just as fat hogs, as sleek cattle, as fine horses and as well-bred sheep. An acre of Champaign county land has produced a hundred bushels of corn and half that many bushels of wheat; it has produced four hundred bushels of potatoes and as many bushels of onions; it will produce two tons of timothy: hay and six tons of alfalfa. In other words the Champaign county farmer has every reason to congratulate himself. It is small wonder that the farm which cost his grandfather one hundred and twenty-five cents an acre is now worth as many dollars per acre—and usually more than that. A LOOK INTO THE DAYS THAT ARE GONE. Let us turn back the pages of history ; let us put on the old cowhide hoots, our old coon-skin hat, our "wamus," our galluses; let us get our corn-cob pipe, our old shucking peg and saunter down through the lane to the old farm. Let us follow our grandfather, awhile and see how he managed to make a living. The barn was always of logs, the corn crib was made of rails, the fences of the same material, the hay (if there was any) was stacked out. The few farming implements were homemade and consisted of an axe, a hoe, a shovel-plow and a Scythe. It is safe to say that few farmers in Champaign county during the first quarter of a century (1805-1830) had more tools than these just enumerated. Fortunately the virgin soil was very fertile and grain had only to be planted in order to make a fairly good crop, while with a little attention it yielded abundantly. Corn was always dropped by hand and in the "new ground" was invariably cultivated the same way. The ground was first plowed with oxen and a curious sort of a plow which is hard to describe. It was a wooden implement, the only iron about it being the sole and point. It was what would now be called .a variation of the single-shovel plow. The modern breaking plow, which is distinguished from its predecessor by having a mould board, did not come into use until a few years prior to the Civil War. They were first called "harsher" plows and were considered a wonderful invention when they first appeared in the county. The earliest plowmaker recorded in the county was one Wesley Hughes of Salem township, who was a blacksmith by trade and a plow manufacturer by virtue of the fact that he was able to bolt a 336 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. piece of iron on the end of a stick. In the course of years some Yankee conceived the idea of making a plow with two shovels and thus came about the "double-shovel," truly a wonderful invention. In the seventies another man invented a cultivator, a plow for cultivating corn, which had six shovels, truly a still more wonderful invention, and then some other man put twelve shovels on a wheeled contrivance. But still the man who used it had to walk. Time went on and finally some Yankee startled the American farmer by producing a plow which combined the pleasures of a buggy and plow —the modern riding sulky. Now the farmer may be seen plowing corn and sitting on a seat, under a canopy, and doing a better job of plowing than his grandfather did with his old single-shovel. Truly the times have changed. And the story which is true of the farmer and the plow may be duplicated in a dozen other implements. From the days of the sickle, to the days of the scythe, from the days of the scythe to the days of the cradle, from the days of the cradle to the days when McCormick invented a machine that would cut the grain, from that day until we have our modern self-binder—through all these days has the farmer of Champaign county passed since 1805. His old trusty flail has given way to the threshing-machine ; his corn knife and shucking peg have given way to the corn harvester and shredder ; and he may turn on his gasoline-engine and shell his corn and even grind it ; pump his water and force it over the barn. or even over his farm ; shear his sheep, clip his horses, and even milk his cows. It is not necessary to go into detail to follow the successive changes which have come about in all the branches of farming since the first farmer of Champaign county made his appearance. There are more inventions and more tools being invented year by year than could possibly have been dreamed of a hundred years ago. DEVELOPMENT OF THE CROPS. Another interesting point to be considered is concerned with many new grains, forage and ensilage plants and divers kinds of vegetables which have been introduced within the past few years. The word alfalfa would have been as mysterious to a farmer of seventy-five years ago as the word aeroplane; a navy bean would have been as much of a curiosity as a submersible boat; egg plant would have been regarded with as much suspicion as a powder plant. Our grandmothers raised a few tomatoes in their back yard because they were nice to look at, but they would as soon have eaten CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 337 a handful. of shelled buckeyes as a dish of sliced tomatoes. In- those days tomatoes were considered poisonous and were raised for ornament, being, for some unexplainable reason affectionately known as "love apples"— maybe this name follows because of their supposed toxic qualities. There is not a than or woman in the county fifty years old who does not remember when celery was regarded as something to be eaten very captiously. And the tale might be continued indefinitely. By actual count there are as many as forty-six different vegetables grown, in the gardens of Champaign county in 1917, whereas there was not one-fourth of that number grown a hundred years ago. If a sample of the corn and wheat and oats raised by the farmers of the forties could be exhibited at the county fair in the fall of 1917, they would .make an interesting display. The corn of those days was known as Harness corn, but why this name it is not known. Then there was a dent corn, eight rows to the ear, as. was the Harness variety,. which bore the distinctive title of "hackleberry," the name being suggestive of the rough exterior of the ear. Still a third variety was distinguished by its color, being a handsome mixture of white, yellow, red and blue, and appropriately described as "calico" corn. The problem of cross pollination was not very well understood in the early days and the result was usually a very much mixed variety of corn. An effort has been made by the present historian to find out the number of bushels of corn raised to the acre in ante-bellum days. Evidence has been submitted to show that crops of from fifty to seventy-five acres were not uncommon. In 1917 there are several farmers in the county who have raised as much as one hundred bushels to an acre, and any number of farmers who will average seventy-five bushels an acre with a fair season. The old eight-rowed corn of five to six hundred grains is replaced by a sixteen-rowed corn with twelve to fifteen hundred grains. Among the varieties in 1917 are the following : White Cap, McGinnis, Yellow Dent, Clarage, Blue (Rotten Clarage) and Yellow Learning. Corn has been the staple product of the county since the earliest beginning. Fifty years ago the county was producing more than a million bushels, the average yield being about thirty-eight bushels to the acre. In 1916 the corn crop was practically double what it was in 1866, the yield being 2,111,215 bushels from an acreage of 60,441, the average per acre being only about thirty-four bushels. In addition to the usual crop of what is commonly known as "field (22) 338 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. corn," the county produces sugar corn, broom corn and ensilage corn, the latter for silage. In the seventies there were hundreds of acres of broom corn raised in the county and for probably a quarter of a century farmers continued raising it. But this has practically disappeared, although the assessors' report for 1916 shows thirteen acres in the county, most of it in small patches. Sugar corn is used for human consumption largely, although some farmers grow it for silage. There were two hundred and sixty-six acres of sugar corn in 1916, with a total tonnage of 2,032. Much of this was used by the canning factories of Urbana. Ensilage corn was given an acreage of five hundred and eighty-five, according to the last report and all of this was used to fill the hundred and forty-four silos in the county. In the early history of the county a considerable amount of it was used by the distilleries of the county. Distilleries were located at Urbana ; in the southern part of Goshen township; at St. Paris ; in Mad River township, at Steinberger's mill, at the Arrowsmith mill on the west bank of Mad river just north of the Urbana-Westville pike, and at the Mason mill west of Cable, in Wayne township. WHEAT. The story of wheat for a hundred years is more interesting probably than that of corn. From the days when it was all sown broadcast, cut with a sickle and scythe, threshed with a flail, cleaned on the top of a hill by being winnowed with a bed sheet, ground in a crude water-powered buhr-mill and made into lard biscuit—from those days down to the present time may be traced one of the agricultural miracles of the century. It is a long step from the simple hand-sickle of a hundred years ago to the complicated machine used in the West which not only cuts the wheat but threshes it and rolls the sacks off on the ground just as the binder rolls off the sheaves of wheat. The first wheat in Champaign county was sown broadcast and was covered by dragging a well-arranged pile of brush over the fields. The wheat usually grown in the early days was known as "red chaff." The wheat acreage in the county has varied considerably, but the acreage sown does not by any means bear a uniform proportion to the amount actually harvested. The increase in the yield is due to the fact that wheat has been improved by careful breeding, producing new varieties by cross fertilization, first known as hybrids. By careful cultivation these hybrid varieties have been standardized, thereby enabling the farmers to produce larger CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 339 yields. It has often happened that twice as much grain would be produced on the same acreage in two successive seasons. The earliest report found on the wheat crop shows that the county raised 393,145 bushels in 1864, and the report for 1916 showed a crop of 432,219 bushels. The acreage in 1915 was 27,454, which, in 1916, decreased to 8,766 acres. From the best evidence obtainable it appeared that the banner wheat year of the county was 1879 when a total of 792,546 bushels was raised, the average that year being 21.18 bushels per acre. There is no spring wheat grown in the county. OATS, RYE AND BUCKWHEAT. Oats has been a good crop in the county for seventy-five years, its acreage usually being about the same as that of wheat. In 1864 there were 160,196 bushels raised and in 1916 there were 587,272 bushels. There were 17,371 acres sown to oats in 1915 and 24,208 in 1916. Rye has never been a large crop in the county although there is more grown now than there has ever been. In 1864 there were 2,381 bushels grown ; in 1879 there were only 603 ; but in 1916 the rye crop amounted to 29,623 bushels, from a total of 2,274 acres. Buckwheat reported forty-two bushels in 864; 1,224 in 1879 and 315 bushels in 1915, from nine acres. Buckwheat cakes of the home grown variety have practically disappeared from the breakfast table. POTATOES AND MINOR CROPS. Irish potatoes have been one of the most important food products of the people of the county, despite the charge that they have little nutritive value. Potatoes are a peculiar crop; some years they seem to flourish like the bay tree and bear as prolifically as the Wild crab apple; other years the bugs, or the rot, or the blight or wet weather or dry weather, or some other cause, cuts the crop in two. The study of the potato record in the county bears out this statement. In 1864 it was 33,537 bushels; in 1879 it was 68,957; in 1916 it was 21,047 bushels, with a reported acreage of 352. This does not include the hundreds of small patches of potatoes ranging from a dozen to a hundred hills. Onions cast their odor over three acres in 1915 and 632 bushels of the odoriferous vegetable were produced. The tomato crop was evidently incorrectly reported in 1915. Salem township with fourteen acres, and a crop of 11,7643 bushels being the only township to return any tomatoes at all. There are two canning factories at Urbana and one at Woodstock. According to the best reports there have been eighty acres 340 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. of tomatoes promised for the cannery in the vicinity of Woodstock and about sixty in the immediate vicinity of Urbana for the season of 1917. Other townships have promised to contribute of their output to one or the other of the factories. The pea crop in 1915 amounted to ninety-nine acres and this seemingly large acreage for the succulent legume was clue to the canning factories. One of the local canning factories put up ten acres of spinach in 1917. There are a few crops which were grown by our forefathers which are now seldom found. The passing of the buckwheat patch has been mentioned; but along with it has gone flax, sorghum and tobacco. In 1864 there were 12,976 bushels of flax seed grown in the county, but in 1916 there were only three acres reported. Fifty years ago a sorghum patch was thought as essential to the family welfare as a potato patch, and it is hard to see why this saccharine plant has disappeared from the family garden. In 1864, 17,570 gallons of sorghum molasses were produced, but in 1916 there were only about one thousand gallons produced. Rush township was formerly a sorghum center and in the southwestern corner of the township was located the largest sorghum factory in the county, and to this day its importance is recognized by the general public in the calling of the cross roads ,where it was located "Sorghum Corners." There was once a sorghum Mill at Urbana and another at Cable, but these two have long since disappeared. The discussion of sorghum naturally recalls to the mind of the early pioneer the maple industry, that is, the products of . the maple tree. Seventy-five years ago maple sugar was the only sweetening the average family had, and many families not only made enough molasses and sugar for their own use, but sold enough to make substantial additions to the family larder of other necessary commodities. In 1864 there was reported maple sugar to the amount of 28,662 pounds, or about sixty-five tons. In addition there were 8,086 gallops of syrup. There was no return made of the number of trees tapped in any of the early reports, but in 1916 the report gives 16,923 in the, various "camps" of the county, Wayne township having 12,75o of the total number. The output for 1916 amounted to 2,683 gallons of syrup and 355 pounds of sugar. TOBACCO AND FORAGE CROPS. Tobacco was commonly grown in all parts of the county before the Civil War, nearly all of the Virginians having a patch of tobacco every CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 341 year. In 1864 there were 52,417 pounds of tobacco raised in the county, but this (lid not by any means include the hundreds of small patches which were to he found scattered all over the county. The production fell off after the war and by 1875 it had dropped to nearly a thousand pounds. While there are a number of small patches of tobacco grown each year in the county at the present time the aggregate does not amount to more than a ton. There was only one farmer in the county in 1915 who raised tobacco for the market—John W. Anderson, of Johnson township, who had twenty acres of tobacco which yielded 18,500 pounds. There are half a dozen cigar factories in Urbana, but none of these use the homegrown product. The forage crops of the county are a most important factor in the agricultural side of the county's growth. There was a time when the farmer turned his hogs loose in the woods in order to fatten them, and trusted to the bountiful supply of acorns and beechnuts to fatten them. Likewise in former years it was possible to turn cattle, sheep, hogs and all live stock into the woods and let them forage at will, and feel that they would find enough to eat. But land has increased in value since those days, and it is not profitable to raise sheep on land worth two hundred dollars an acre. That is the reason why the county in 1916 had only about 15,000 sheep, whereas forty years ago it supported 150,060. The same factor has been one of the causes in reducing the number of hogs raised and has its share in reducing the 175,000 raised in 1880 to 36,000 in 1916. Hence, there has come into use many different kinds of forage crops. Ingenuity has devised a method of grinding corn and wheat in order to separate the parts fit for man and brute. The mast-fed porker of our grandfather is now replaced by the porker fattened on "shorts." The silo has made its appearance and at least one hundred and fifty of these conservators of food have been built in the county during the past two decades. The report for 1916. gives 144 as being in operation in 1915. Distributed by townships, they are scattered over the county as follows: Adams, 5 ; Concord, 5; Goshen, 10; Harrison, 7; Jackson, 3 ; Johnson, o; Mad River, 11; Rush, 14; Salem, 40; Union, 7; Urbana, 30; Wayne, 12. A number of forage crops are used as ensilage. It has been Mentioned that the county produced 585 acres of ensilage corn in 1915. In addition the farmers use ordinary field corn, sweet corn, pea vines and alfalfa for silage. Alfalfa is a crop of the past few years, but has already proved its value as a forage crop. In 1915, 3,852 acres produced 8,768 tons, but this tonnage evidently does not represent the total of the three cuttings,. which most of the alfalfa grown in this latitude will stand. The late Joseph Wing, 342 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. of Mechanicsburg, was a great advocate of alfalfa and did more to intro--duce it into Champaign county than any other man. The use of soy beans as a forage crop has come within the past decade. In 1915 there were 132 acres of this legume, producing a total of twenty-four tons of. hay and 117 bushels for seed. Beets and rape are grown in some townships for stock food, but their use is limited. Clover claimed 15,999 acres in 1915, but only 2,556 acres were cut for hay. The total amount of hay was 11,767 tons, while there were 1,040 bushels of clover seed produced. A consider: able amount of clover is plowed under- each year and farmers are beginning to realize more than ever before the value of the nitrogen-fixing bacteria of the legumes. The question of fertilizers has come to the front within. the past few years. The farmer has learned by sad experience that his land has to be fed as regularly as he feeds his cattle and hogs. Crop rotation partially solves the problem of soil fertility, but it will not keep all kinds of soil in condition for producing good crops. In 1915 the farmers of Champaign county used 4,436,721 pounds of commercial fertilizer and in addition eighty-eight tons of lime, the total cost amounting to $41,290. The use of stable manure and green forage crops had been in vogue since the days of the Civil War, but commercial 'fertilizer is an innovation of the past few years. The liming of wet and sour soils has proved so satisfactory that an increasing amount of lime is being used every year. Lime has been used to a limited extent for forty years. ORCHARD. AND GARDEN FRUITS. The major crops raised by the farmers in the county have been noticed in the preceding paragraphs and before taking up an analysis of the livestock industry there are a few other crops of general interest to farmers to be noticed. Small fruits such as berries of all kinds—raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, gooseberries and currants—are found in practically every garden in the county, but there has never been any large growers of any small fruits. Grapes of various kinds are also found on most of the farms of the county, but, like the small fruits, they are not grown commercially. There were formerly cranberry marshes in the county, but the draining of the swamps has brought about their disappearance. Orchard products are well worth the attention of every farmer in the county. Every farm should have its orchard of apples, peaches, pears, cherries and plums. The persimmon, pecan and chestnut can be grown to CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 343 a good advantage in Champaign county, but little effort has been made to introduce them. Certainly the chestnut could be grown as profitably as the catalpa. The chestnut makes a better fence post than the catalpa, and most people prefer the fruit of the chestnut to that of the catalpa. The three trees—persimmon, pecan and chestnut—are handsome shade trees, quick growers and should be more widely cultivated in the county. Several men have claimed the honor of introducing the apple tree into Champaign county. Many of the early settlers brought apple and peach trees with them and there was hardly a family which did not set out at least a few apple trees immediately after getting settled. In fact, there were more apples grown seventy-five years ago in Champaign county than there are today. The apple brings to mind the story of one of the interesting characters of early Ohio and Indiana. GOOD WORK OF JONATHAN CHAPMAN. "Johnny Appleseed" has been immortalized in prose and verse and shares with Burbank the honor of doing a great deal of the pioneer work in fruit propagation. Jonathan Chapman, nicknamed "Johnny Appleseed," is one of the unique characters of the West. Born in Massachusetts in 1775, he was known to be in Ohio about 1800 and history records that his first apple orchard was started in Licking county. From that year until his death near Ft. Wayne, Indiana, in 1847, "Appleseed" wandered up and down Ohio and northern Indiana, always walking, always with a bag of apple seeds on his back, always giving them away. A volume has been written by Eleanor Atkinson, an Indiana writer, entitled "Johnny Apple-seed," and in this is given a full account of the life of this pioneer orchardist. In 1916 a monument over his grave in Indiana was unveiled with appropriate ceremonies. ORCHARD STATISTICS. Apples are being looked upon as a food and medicine, physicians of today crediting them with a certain medicinal value. In 1915, Champaign county reported 143,525 bushels of apples grown on 1,025 acres. The chief varieties grown at the present time in the county are the Rambo, Rhode Island Greening, Bellflower, Fall Pippin, Ben Davis, Baldwin, Northern Spy, Grimes Golden, Yellow June, Astrakan, Maiden Blush, Jonathan, Russet, Smith Cider, Winesap and Tulpehocken. 344 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. Apples are subject to many diseases and there are many insect enemies in 1917 which were totally unknown in ante-bellum days. In the early history of the county thousands of gallons of cider were made every year and a number of cider-mills were found scattered over the county. Today there is not one left. In those early days apple-butter was found on every table—and it was homemade—but now if it is found it is but a feeble imitation of the brand made by our grandmothers. Many a kitchen was decorated in the olden days with strings of dried apples and every family larder was well stocked with an ample supply. But this, too, is all changed and very few housewives dry apples at the present time. It might be mentioned in this connection that our grandmothers not only dried apples, but they also dried raspberries, blackberries, pumpkin, corn—and even beef. Peaches, pears, cherries, plums and quinces are found on most of the farms of the county. Probably the largest orchard of these fruits is the Winder orchard, in Rush township, near North Lewisburg. Peaches, like apples, are not as numerously grown as in former years. Pears, peaches and plums are used largely for canning purposes and to make jellies, butters, jams, preserves and pickles and for pastry purposes. Quinces are used for butter and preserves. The 1916 agricultural report gives the following returns of orchard fruits : Peaches, 58 acres, 2,456 bushels ; pears, 13 acres, 218 bushels ; cherries, 33 acres, 717 bushels ; plums, 116 acres, 335 bushels. Other small fruit, 10 acres, 898 bushels. No separate returns are made for berries of any kind. LIVE STOCK. It would be interesting to be able to trace the growth of the live-stock industry in Champaign county, but the absence of reliable statistics renders it impossible. For twenty-five to thirty years after the county was organized oxen were universally used, not only for plowing and doing the heavy hauling on the farm, but the ox-team was the only team many farmers owned and had to do the service of horses. Oxen were in constant use all over the county until the time of the Mexican War in the latter part of the forties, and even up to the time of the Civil War there Were ox-teams to be found in some parts of the county. Horses of uncertain breed and more useful than ornamental have been found in the county since Pierre Dugan's time. No effort was made to improve the breed of horses until about the fifties. Pedigreed stallions were unknown before that time. The credit for bringing the first imported stal- CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 345 lion in Champaign county belongs to Erastus Martin, of Woodstock. In 1851 lie bought a Norman stallion in France for two hundred and fifty dollars, as fine a stallion as money could buy in those days, and it was shipped direct to Woodstock, the freight amounting to only fifty dollars. This horse bore the name of "Napoleon," and after a few years' service he was sold for ten thousand dollars. Governor Vance, who was always interested in farming and stock-raising, was one of the early breeders of pedigreed stock, and is usually associated with the beginning of the breeding of shorthorn cattle in the county. The establishment of the county fair in 1856 and the interest taken in the exhibition of horses at the county fairs of the state was a very prominent factor in improving the breed of horses in the county. Abraham Miller, a hardware merchant of Urbana, is considered the best judge of horses in the county. For several years he was in the employ of a Columbus firm, and was sent to Europe to buy pedigreed horses. The number of horses in the county has remained practically stationary for fifty years. In 1870 there were 9,190 horses and on April 1, 1916, there were 10,739. THE CATTLE INDUSTRY. Cattle have been associated with the history of the county since the first ox-team pulled a Conestoga into the county. The days of the ox have gone forever, but the day of the Jersey cow was never so prosperous as today. The old ox plowed the fields and for years was the main beast of burden of the county, but he was gradually succeeded by the horse and few oxen have been used since the Civil War. The first cattle entitled to a distinct name were the shorthorns, and among the early breeders of this breed may be mentioned Governor Vance, Rowland C. Moulton, Charles Lincoln, Samuel Cheney, Parker Bryan and Oliver Taylor. The shorthorn and nondescript had the field to themselves until after the Civil War and it was not until several years later that Jerseys, Herefords, Galloways, Polled Angus, Red Polled, Guernseys, Holsteins, Dutch Belted and Durhams became known to the farmers of Champaign county. Statistics for 1870 give a total of 8,128 cattle and for 1915, a total of 18,065, while on April 1, 1916, there were only 15,815 cattle reported. The statement is often made that there were more cattle in the early days of the country than at the present time, but the number has remained practically the same for the last half century. The high price of cattle during the last year has been responsible for increasing the number raised, and conversely, the 346 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. cause of a decrease in the total number. More calves are sold for veal now than ever before and there have even been efforts to have the Legislature intervene in behalf of the calf. There are a number of large cattle feeders in the country, among them being W. O. Wing, Taylor & Son, Quinn Yocum, George McCrery, Byron Hawley and Charles Johnson. John Barnett is the most prominent Polled Angus breeder in the county and J. S. Neer is the leader of the full-blooded Jersey breeders. Neer keeps from fifty to seventy-five Jerseys on his farm and ships them to all parts of the United States. John W. Evans and son, of Goshen, are the leaders of the Shorthorn breeders of the county. They sold a bull in the spring of 1917 for fifteen hundred dollars. CREAMERY AND DAIRY STATISTICS. An important factor in the raising of cattle in the county has been the introduction Of the creamery. There are now four creameries in the county —at Urbana, Thackery, Mingo and Mechanicsburg—and all of them are doing a flourishing business. There was formerly one at Woodstock, but it has been discontinued. The effect of these creameries upon the breeding of milk cattle has been very pronounced. There are hundreds of farmers in this county who are raising more and better cows because of the creamery. One farmer made the statement to the historian in the spring of 1917 that a good Jersey cow would yield about a hundred dollars' worth of milk and butter in a year. A number of farmers have installed separators and sell the cream, feeding the milk to their calves or pigs. The creameries send automobile trucks over the county to collect: the milk. Milk is now selling in Urbana at five cents a pint or eight cents a quart. The dairy statistics for 1915 present the following interesting facts : Milk sold for family use, 172,172 gallons ; milk sold to creameries, 275,720 gallons; cream sold to creameries, 241,560 gallons ; butter made at home, 313,450 pounds; creamery-made butter, 97,972 pounds ; homemade cheese, 2,038 pounds; factory-made cheese, 2,700 pounds. THE STORY OF THE PIG. The story of the pig in Champaign county might easily be drawn out to the length of a volume. There are pigs and pigs and there is as much difference between the pig of a hundred years ago and his descendant of today as there is between the wild plum of the forest and the luscious CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 347 damson. The pig of the thirties was a thin, cadaverous looking creature, constructed for speed, and produced a quality of bacon and ham in keeping with his general tough and wiry appearance. With an alimentary canal only about five times his length, this creature was able to extract fairly well all the nutrition from his scanty food supply. His improved descendant, with an alimentary canal about ten times his length, is able to consume many times as much food, then lie down, and get from the food an even larger proportion of nourishment. Many stories have been preserved of the famous hog drives to market in the early days. It is certain that the four-hundred-pound porker of 1917 could not make the long trip on foot to Toledo or Cincinnati as did his long-legged, long-snouted, long-tailed, long-bristled, slabsided brother of the twenties and thirties. This early porker' bore the name of "elm peeler," "razor back," "rail splitter," (smaller varieties were known as "sapling splitters") ; names which were graphically descriptive of his anatomical structure. It is said that one of these porkers could outrun the fleetest horse for a mile, and that a sow with a brood was a fiercer animal to meet in the woods than a wolf. DESCRIPTION OF A HOG DRIVE. The hog buyers bought up all the hogs they could find in a given neighborhood and rendezvoused them at a central station. There were men trained as special pig drivers, (it seemed to have been a knack), and as many as five thousand hogs would be driven in one drove from Urbana to Toledo. More than one drove was driven from Urbana to Baltimore, every foot of the distance being covered by the porkers on foot. It is small wonder that they were, as the old settlers said, "built for speed and endurance." The following account of one of these hog drives is given by an early writer : It was not uncommon to see a drove of hogs driven into the public square to be weighed, preparatory to starting them on their long journey. As each porker was caught it was thrust into a kind of leather receptacle, .commonly called the harness breeching, which was suspended to steelyards. As soon as the hog was fairly in the breeching the whole was lifted from the ground, and thus one, by one the drove was weighed and a minute made of each, and with a pair of shears a patch of bristles was cut from the hindquarters as evidence of the fact that the pig had been weighed. Two or three days drive made the hogs quiet enough to be driven along the highway withoot trouble, moving along at an average gait of eight to ten miles a day. Much difficulty was experienced in keeping. together in herds the hogs bought in distant 348 - CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO. and sparsely settled neighborhoods, where they were but little handled and rarely fed. The highways, even when well opened, led through hazel brush and fallen timber, and even down to a late clay were rarely fenced on both sides. Every strange sight and sound gave an alarm, and the hogs scattered in every direction, to be gathered together again at their former haunts. This difficulty was obviated, we are informed, by John Earson, an old settler who engaged in collecting hogs from distant settlements into one drove, by enticing them into a pen and then running a "stitch" through the eye lids and securing the same by a knot. Thus blinded the hogs seemed instinctively to keep the road, and once started could easily be driven by a person on horseback. Two or three days drive made them comparatively quiet and tractable, and reaching their destination a clip of the scissors or knife made all things right again. Another pioneer adds to this statement that in order to catch the hogs shelled corn was trailed from the brush into a strong rail pen having a "slip-gap." As soon as the hogs were in the pen the gap was closed, and by means of a long pole with a hood on the end, which was made to catch behind the foreshoulder of the leg, the hog was drawn to a convenient place; a strap with a slipnoose, which was placed Just behind the tushes of the upper Jaw, drew the animal to the desired spot, when the stitches were made without further trouble and the brute then released. STATISTICS RELATING TO SWINE. The difference between the price of hogs of 1817 and 1917 is no less striking than the difference in their appearance. Records of. early prices—up to 1840, even—never show the price above three cents and a half a pound, although it was more often in the neighborhood of two cents. Many a hog was driven out of Champaign county at a dollar and a quarter a hundred. The Toledo market on June 1, 1917, quoted hogs at $15 to $16.50 per hundred, On April 1, 1916, there were 35,868 hogs reported in the county and, as far as statistics show, if their reliability can be depended upon, this was a lighter production than the county has had in any year during the past seventy-five years. In 860 the county had over 100,000 hogs, and by 1870 the number had leaped to 164,709. The highwater mark was reached in 1880 when there were 175,160 hogs reported. The cholera came like a thief in the night in the nineties and spread death and destruction on every hand. Thousands of hogs were lost and many farmers quit raising them altogether. The disease has persisted to the present time and in 1915, 5,795 hogs (valued at $38,899) were lost by disease. This deplorable state of affairs is directly responsible for the sharp decrease in the number of hogs. It will be noticed that about one hog out of about every six died in 1915. The prevailing breeds of hogs grown in the county now are Poland China and Berkshires. In addition to these two main breeds, there are Chester Whites, Duroc-Jerseys, Hampshires and Mulefoots. The latter CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, OHIO - 349 class are supposed to be immune from cholera, but they have other characteristics which have kept them from being widely raised. The Hampshires are grown by a number of farmers in the county, one of the large raisers of this breed being Luther Gayer. J. C. Stuckey and George Lincoln have Duroc-Jerseys. THE VARIABLE HISTORY OF THE SHEEP. There is no domestic animal raised in the county that has had such a variable history as the sheep. In the early history of the county nearly every family made their own cloth from either woolen and flax, or a mixture of both (linsey-woolsey), and this necessitated the raising of sheep. Then there was a woolen factory in Urbana for a hundred years and this also stimulated the production of wool. One of the factors which has tended to decrease the number of sheep raised in the county is the rise in' the price of land. When land was worth from two to ten dollars an acre, it could profitably be used for grazing, but it can not when it is worth two hundred dollars an acre. The high tide of the sheep industry in Champaign county was in the early seventies. In the middle of this decade there were 153,132 sheep reported, but on April 1, 1916, there were only 15,350. Another factor which has discouraged sheep raising is the damage done the flock by dogs. In 1915 there were 144 sheep killed by dogs and 278 injured, with a total loss of $1,152. During the same period 443 sheep died of disease, entailing an additional loss of $2,161. And finally the tariff must be charged with being an important factor in the decline of sheep raising. The Merino sheep were the first raised in the county and for many years was the only breed. Later came in the Delaine Merinos and the French Merinos (Rambouillet), Cotswolds, Hampshire Downs, Oxford Downs, South Downs, Shropshire Downs, Lincolns, Leicesters, Dorset Horned, Cheviot and Tunis. The largest Rambouillet breeder for many years was Dwight Lincoln, but he is now retired. O. M. Clark, of Cable, is now the leading Rambouillet breeder of the county and ships his stock to all corners of the United States. THE PATIENT HEN. One more of the domesticated creatures remains to be discussed—the chicken. The patient hen in 1916 produced about a million dozen of eggs