350 - KNOX COUNTY, OHIO. light night, taking with him his dogs, his flint-lock rifle and one of his sons, the latter carrying an axe. The good dogs were successful in treeing a bear, and Brown fired at him, but on account of the absence of enough light only wounded him in the leg. This was, however, sufficient to bring bruin to the ground, where he was fiercely attacked by the dogs, several of which he wounded in the fight, and one was killed. The boy came bravely to his father's rescue with the axe, and the bear was finally dispatched." Adventures of this sort were of frequent occurrence in those early times in Knox county. FIRST EVENTS. The first wedding in this township was that uniting Thomas Huston and Elizabeth Brown. The first funeral was that of Calvin Brown, the next being that of Mrs. McLain. The earliest saw mill was constructed by James and Asa Beam, on the headwaters of Rocky fork. No grist mills were built in this township. The Baltimore & Ohio railroad runs through the north part of this township, but there is no station point within the township. The first wagon-road was cut through the forests from Mt. Vernon to Newark in 1805 or early in 1806. This township is village less, its people going to nearby townships and villages to do their trading and marketing. CHAPTER XXXV. MONROE TOWNSHIP. That portion of Knox county composed of the seventh township in the twelfth range constitutes the civil township of Monroe, according to the records made by the county commissioners March 9, 1825. This township was named after President Monroe. It is traversed by Schenck's creek from northwest to southeast, and is fed by numerous springs. This stream derived its name from old Gen. W. C. Schenck, who at one time held a large tract of land here. In the south part is seen Center run, another creek which empties into Owl creek just below Mt. Vernon. The native forests abounded in hickory, white oak, sugar maple, black walnut, gum beech, red oak, sycamore, linn and cherry. Much of this timber has been cut off and the land utilized for farming purposes, yet there is an abundance for home use. Among the earliest settlers in Monroe township was Joseph Coleman, who emigrated from Fayette county, Pennsylvania, in 1806, lived one year at the Haines settlement, south from Mt. Vernon, and the next year moved to the Daymude place, on Schenck's creek. At the first election of Knox county, before the townships had any of them been organized, Mr. Coleman was elected a trustee of the county. He also served as a justice of the peace from 1841 until 1853. He died in 1856, aged fifty-six years. Seely Simkins was born in 1791 in New Jersey and came with his father to Knox county in 1804. They first located on Owl creek, above Mt. Vernon, but in 1807 removed to Monroe township. There the father, John Simpkins, died and was buried in 1809. Seely Simpkins was one of twelve children in his parents' family. David Johnson, another early comer in this township, located on Schenck's creek, where later Henry Barker resided. He built a block-house as a protection against the Indians. To him belongs the distinction of planting the first orchard in the township. In 1820 he erected a saw mill on his own land, the first mill in Monroe township. He came to Knox county from Washington county, Pennsylvania, but just when is a question, though it is found that his name appears on the poll books in 1809. He failed in business 352 - KNOX COUNTY, OHIO. about 1829 and his property was sold to James Smith, Esq., of Mt. Vernon, who occupied the same until 1837. James Smith, an odd character of early days here, was the first person to locate at Monroe Mills. His name is found among the first jurymen of Knox county. John Adams came from Virginia, locating in the extreme southwest corner of Monroe township in 1811. He made a good citizen and died in this township in 1829. Rev. William Thrift moved from Morris township to Monroe township at the close of the war of 1812-14, locating near the place later known as county commissioner Stephen Craig's. He was a Baptist minister and was licensed to marry people by the early county commissioners. Another early settler was William Ireland, who settled a half mile above Gilcrest's mill and remained a few years, then removed to Morrow county. Later residents were the Dowds, Craigs, Landerbaughs, Dixons, Skeens, Youngs, Hunts, Hulls, Berrys, Barkers and Millers. MILLING INTERESTS. Owing to the great fall of the water course known as Schenck's creek, in its passage through Monroe township, there were many saw and grist mills erected along its banks by the early settlers. It is impossible to give accounts of all, but the following facts will suffice in this latter day, when milling has about dwindled down to ;nothing of interest. In 1825 Robert Gilcrest built a saw mill and in 1833 added a grist mill. It had three run of buhrs and was a fine plant for so early a time. In 1837 this mill ground out forty thousand bushels of wheat, the flour being marketed at Zanesville. In 1845 the mill was sold to Peter Skeen. A carding machine was attached, also a fulling mill. The flour mill was still operated as late as 1876, when it was burned and never rebuilt. A half mile below the Gilcrest mill was one built by Mr. Davis in 1828 ; this, too, had a carding machine and fulling mill attached. The next mill in the township was the one near the west line, on Schenck's creek, by Scott Gilcrest and Truman Purdy, in 1835, and the Monroe mills were put up in 1844 by Henry Boynton and Jacob Davis. This did excellent business and its proprietors branched out into other enterprises ; they operated a store, established a postoffice in 1846, farmed and dealt in stock. In 1860 Mr. Boynton failed and made an assignment to Jacob Davis, James Graham and James E. Woodbridge. They operated the mills a few years and then turned the property over to the Knox County Bank. Nelson and George Critchfield purchased the mills of the bank for four thousand dollars and KNOX COUNTY, OHIO - 353 operated them eight years. The mill was doing a thriving business in 1881, but milling is not what it was a third of a century ago in Knox county. The Lhamon mills, located on the Wooster road, in Monroe township, came as the result of a saw mill erected by Jacob Lutz in 1840. Jacob Davis soon came into possession of the property and he erected a flouring mill adjoining the saw mill. This was a small affair, having one run of buhrs and a corn cracker. The saw mill was sold and removed in 1868 when timber had become quite scarce for lumbering uses. A tannery was built in 1815, on the old H. H. Young place by Joseph Rogers, who in 1821 sold to Joseph Robinson. He continued to run it four or five years, after which it was abandoned. A blacksmith shop was opened at Monroe Mills as early as 1840. Later a large carriage and wagon shop was put in operation, this being probably about the commencement of the Civil war. Harmon Lybarger was its owner and he continued until 1864, when he enlisted in the One Hundred and Forty-second Ohio Regiment, and died in Virginia. The shop was sold to Silas A. Spindler, who ran it many years. In 1846 the first general store was opened at Monroe Mills by Boynton & Davis. Later dealers were William Shrimplin, Lewis Ralston, John McFarland, James Bebout and M. J. Ranna. In 1830 Andrew Miller kept a tavern where the Coshocton road crossed Schenck's creek, since known as Monroe Mills, and about that time a hotel was opened on the Wooster road called the Four-Mile House. There the landlords included Clemintine Wolverton, R. S. Clements, Charles Bird, William Harold and others. The Place was long since forsaken. James Martin introduced the first fine grades of cattle into this part of the county in 1860. These were short-horn Durhams from Kentucky and proved of great financial value to the township. POPULATION OF TOWNSHIP. In 1830 it was stated by the census returns that Monroe township contained 437 people ; in 1840 it had 1,258 ; in 1850, 1,324 ; in 1860, 1,085 ; in 1870, the same as in 1860 ; in 1880, it had 1,028 ; in 1890, 874: in 1900, 897, and in 1910 it had 812. The history of the schools and churches will be found in the general chapters under their respective headings. (23) CHAPTER XXXVI. MIDDLEBURY TOWNSHIP. By an act of the Knox county commissioners, December 3. 1823, Middlebury township was erected as a civil sub-division of the county. It now constitutes the extreme northwestern township in the county. Its territory, however, at first embraced much more of the county than now. The last change was made March 9, 1825, when the following was enacted by the board of commissioners : "Middlebury township shall be composed of the following bounds, to-wit : Beginning at the northwest corner of the seventh township in the fourteenth range ; thence north on the range line to the Indian boundary line ; thence southwesterly to Franklin township ; thence north to the east boundary of Franklin to the county line ; thence east to the line between the fifth and sixth sections in Knox county; thence south on the said line to the old Indian boundary line ; thence northeasterly on said line to where the range line between the thirteenth and fourteenth ranges strikes the said boundary ; thence south on said boundary line to the northwest corner of township seven, in range thirteen ; thence west on the township line to place of beginning." This township is composed of twelve and one-half square miles of territory, south of the Greenville treaty line; in the United States military district, and seven and one-half square miles north of said treaty line, the latter being Congress land. This division of the township, on either side the Indian boundary and irregularities in surveys, causes a jog in the territory, one overlapping the other, as it were. This part of the county is a gently rolling country, well adapted to agricultural pursuits of its happy, prosperous possessors. Owl creek traverses the township from northwest to southeast, the same at an early day affording ample water power which was utilized by the pioneer settlers in many instances for milling purposes. The census taken by the United States government in 1910 gave Middlebury township 777 people within its borders ; this is eleven less than in 1900. It was named "Middlebury" after the place of that name in Vermont. SETTLEMENT. To the Friends Society, sometimes dubbed Quakers, belongs the honor of first settling this part of Knox county. They emigrated from Maryland. KNOX COUNTY, OHIO - 355 In the autumn of 1806 William W. Farquhar arrived in this county and stopped temporarily with Henry Roberts in Morris township, but soon located with other Friends in Fredericktown, Wayne township. There he remained until 1808, when he removed to Middlebury township, settling on the old William Burkholder place. This was two miles to the north of Fredericktown and there he passed the remainder of his days. He was a man of character and public prominence. In February, 1808, the General Assembly of Ohio chose the first associate judges of Knox county, and this gentleman was selected as one of them he served faithfully three years, when he resigned. The first jury case tried in the county by the supreme court was that entitled William W. Farquhar vs. James Craig, in which verdict was rendered for Mr. Farquhar for one hundred three dollars and sixty cents. He was one of the original stockholders in the Owl Creek Bank, owning fifteen shares in that quite famous banking house. In 1818 Mr. Farquhar was elected as a member of the Ohio Legislature. Another Friend from Frederick county, Maryland, was Samuel Wilson, who came at about the same date as Mr. Farquhar. His name appears on the poll book at the first election in the township of Wayne. He was one of the judges of election at that election. He was a very active Friend and donated an acre of his land to the Owl Creek society, on which to locate meetinghouse buildings, etc. For years his son, Joseph, occupied the old homestead, but finally it passed into the hands of other families. Thomas Townsend located a mile and a half north from Fredericktown in 1808. He was a true -Friend and kept an "underground railroad" station in which he used to harbor and feed as high as twenty fugitive slaves at one time, and when sufficiently rested would set their face toward the north star and bid them depart in peace and "God be with you." He died in March, 1859, aged seventy-eight years. Another Friend who effected settlement here was Samuel Willett, who settled on section 21, north of Fredericktown, in 1808. Robert Wright and Jesse Vore came about that date. Also John and Jacob Cook were of the same colony and voted in Wayne township at the first election. They came in from Washington county, Pennsylvania. Others who were quite early in Middlebury were Richard Hall, Thomas Finch, John Mitchell and Daniel Levering. The last mentioned came from Bedford county, Pennsylvania, prior to the war of 1812-14. In the spring of 1813, after having resided near Waterford a while, he moved to this township. That season he, with several others, built a block-house on his farm for the protection of his family against Indians. He opened the first blacksmith shop in the township and built the first mill for grinding corn and wheat. He reared 356 - KNOX COUNTY, OHIO. a large family and gave each a good home of their own when married. He died at the age of fifty-six, in 1820, leaving a name highly honored. Truman Strong, born in 1790 in Vermont, came to Knox county in 1812, locating on lot II in the southwest quarter of Middlebury township. He was a Universalist minister, traveled extensively and preached his liberal faith wherever he went. He also figured as a Fourth-of-July orator. He had a wife and five children. Zebulon Ashley, who was from the same place in Vermont as the last named settler, was horn in 1770 and moved to Middlebury township in 1812, locating on lot 22. He died in 1835 and lies buried on a plot of ground he had donated the community for a burying ground. Munson Pond, from Massachusetts, born in 1772, located here in 18'5. on lot 6, later known as the Elizabeth Ladd farm. On this place grew a sycamore tree measuring twelve feet in diameter. The tree, being hollow, was cut down, a Fourth of July celebration held in a section of it and then it was turned into a bedroom. Mr. Pond remained until 1830, then removed to Huron county, Ohio. Other settlers from New England were Luther and Alvin Bateman, of Vermont, who settled here in 1815, near Batemantown, which they tried hard to make a thriving town of, but signally failed in these laudable efforts. John Ackerman settled in the northwest corner of this township in 1813 He had sons, Stephen, Morgan, Leander and Harvey. Jonathan, David, Richard and Robert Ewers emigrated from Loudoun county, Virginia, and settled in the eastern portion of this township. They all reared large families and hence the name is common throughout the entire county now. Jacob Young had a corn-cracker and saw mill on the south fork of Owl creek in 1813. He was elected associate judge that year to fill the unexpired term of William W. Farquhar. William and Basil Murphy found homes here in 1815-16 and commenced the tanning business in the township, carrying on the same until 1863. In 1817 came Obediah Stillwell, born in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, in 1776. He located in the northeast quarter of section 9. In 1817 also came to this township Warren Owen, and William Watkins followed in 1819. The Johnsons, Denmans, Stevenses, Walters, Ebersoles, Grahams, Zolmans, Comforts, Fiddlers, Cravens, McPhersons and Martins were all pioneer settlers of character and stability. It was such men as those already narrated above who felled the first forest trees, cleared up the ground and raised the first crops in Middlebury township. Saw mills were located here and there, all over this township, wherever KNOX COUNTY, OHIO - 357 the little streams would permit of fall enough to run the same. Some were saw and some combined saw and grist mills. Among these may be recalled by some of the very oldest residents of the township the following : The first mill was the Daniel Levering mill at Waterford, about 1815, then followed the Owl Creek mills, by Joel Starmer; the saw mill, fulling mill and carding machine of 1824, at Bateman, a short-lived concern; Craft's mill, later Blair's, combined saw and grist mill ; Abner Trowbridge, saw mill, on lot 26, 1830; the William Watkins saw mill of 1850; the William Rambo saw mill of 1845 ; and various others whose wheels have long since rotted and the frame buildings decayed and floated down stream and in many cases the stream has dried up, so that only when heavy floods come are they looked upon as streams. In 1850 R. D. Ketchum had a general store at Batemantown, which he managed to conduct about six years, when it was closed up. A Mr. Hall tried the hotel business there, but met with no better success than had others and quit for other parts. In 1881 the town consisted of about a dozen houses which now have disappeared from the face of the earth. Concerning the many schools and churches within Middlebury township, the reader will find an account of these under proper topic headings in the general chapters of this volume. WATERFORD AND BATEMANTOWN. These are the only villages within the township, and Waterford is the larger of the two and "the only place of any commercial importance in the township today. It is situated on the north fork of Owl creek, six miles to the north of Fredericktown. It was platted on the northwest quarter of section 3, township 8, range 14, of Congress lands. It is near the Greenville treaty line, and was owned by Josiah Fawcett and Noah L. Levering, being surveyed by Merritt M. Beam, November 26, 1841. Joseph Fawcett erected the first house on the platting. The first store was conducted by John and William Levering before the village had been platted. In 1865 Levering sold to Benedict & Smith. Josiah Fawcett commenced to operate his store there in 1835 and continued until 1858, when he removed to Fredericktown. In 1862 William Killen began a merchandising business at this point, at the old stand left by Mr. Fawcett, and he remained there many years. A postoffice was established at Waterford in 1836, named "Levering." It was on the postal route from Mt. Vernon to Tiffin, Ohio. While the Democrats were in power, John Levering was secure in holding the office, but when the Whigs came into office it naturally gravitated towards the "shop across the way," kept by Josiah Fawcett. for, then as now, "to the victor belongs the spoils." While these sudden and frequent postal changes were going on at 358 - KNOX COUNTY, OHIO. Waterford the office was removed to Batemantown. However, this did not continue, for by a united effort the office was relocated at Waterford. From 1853 on, for many years, the office was in the hands of the following : Columbus Levering, Dr. Thomas Waters, J. D. Burke, Dr. Clayton, W. Townsend, Abraham Oberholtzer, Zoe Levering, Monroe Keys, Frank V. Owen, Curtis Hardgrove, 1881. Waterford is still only a country hamlet, with a small amount of commercial business. TOWNSHIP'S MEN OF NOTE. While scores of the men who have developed this goodly part of Knox county have been men of brains and distinction in the great busy world of affairs, yet some naturally tower higher in the walks of life than others. Some have taken high rank among the nation's best statesmen and law givers. Lawrence Van Buskirk, long since deceased, came to this county in 1830, located on the northwest quarter of section 2, a mile east of Waterford. In 1848 he was elected to the Legislature of Ohio and in 1851 to a seat in the state Senate. Hon. Columbus Delano was reared near Batemantown and went to Mt. Vernon and studied law with talented attorneys and made his way into many high official positions, including Congress and the cabinet. For more concerning this product of Middlebury the reader is referred to the other chapters of this work. Hon. William Windom, born in Belmont county, Ohio, in 1827, came to Middlebury township with his parents when but a youth. His father was Hezekiah Windom, who located on the northwest quarter of section 2, a mile and a half east of Waterford. He learned the trade of a tailor in Waterford, with J. D. Burke, and the first coat he made after serving his apprenticeship was for John Walters, which, it is said, was not the best of a fit. Young Windom disliked farming and was not a success as a stylish tailor, but the world had a place for him. He studied law under Judge Hurd at Mt. Vernon, Ohio, and rose to become a leading lawyer and prosecuting attorney for Knox county, elected as a Whig in 1852. While studying law he delivered temperance lectures through the country, when, by reason of his advanced grounds, he was threatened with mob violence in Morrow county. He went to his appointment and laid his pistol down on the desk and delivered his lecture without any interference. He went to Minnesota in 1855, and was made United States senator ; later was a member of the cabinet and talked of strongly for President, but his life was suddenly snapped from him, while delivering a toast at a banquet in New York city. His was, indeed, a noble manhood. one this township may ever refer to with pride. CHAPTER XXXVII. MILLER TOWNSHIP. Previous to 1815 this township, with numerous others, belonged to and constituted a part of Morgan township, but on September 4th of that year Morgan was divided by the county commissioners, forming a now civil precinct to be known, the record says, as "Sychamore," and whether the orthography was correct or not, its territory comprised what is now included in the townships of Miller, Milford and Hilliar, and a strip one mile wide from off Morgan township, as well as one section from the southwest corner of Pleasant township. The name Sycamore (or Sychamore) did not suit the people, who protested that it should be changed, so at an election—possibly the very first one held in the township—it was determined to give it a new name. William Bair, Jonathan Hunt, Jr., and Lemuel Chapman were the trustees elected, and John Mott, clerk. Several names were suggested for the township name, each urging his as being the best. The state election was to be held on the following October, and wisely it was agreed that the privilege of naming it should be postponed till then, but the method was what today would seem irregular and somewhat questionable, since the county of Knox has gone "dry" on the liquor question. It was to be awarded to the voter who should put up the most good whisky for election purposes. Whisky was then almost a regular legal tender for all debts, "both public and private." James Miller was the successful bidder, he agreeing to furnish five gallons and a half of his best whisky, then worth fifteen cents per gallon. The township was named "Miller" for him, and so remains to this day. Among those seventeen voters were Riverius Newell, Ottis Warren, Samuel Rowley, Gideon Mott, Riverius Newell, Jr., Aaron Hill, Abner Hill, Alpheus Chapman and James Miller. In 1818 it was petitioned to have the township of Miller separated and this was effected and the newly made township was called Hilliar. Again, in 1823, another township was required by the people who had Milford township created by order of the county commissioners March 3d of that year. In March, 1825. a petition was granted asking for the organization of Pleasant township ; thus Miller was materially reduced and took on its present boundaries. It is five miles long and four and a half miles in width from east to west. This township was composed of military lands, save the northwest 360 - KNOX COUNTY, OHIO. quarter, which had not been appropriated yet. 'William Stanbury owned the northeast quarter, which contained twenty-four hundred acres ; the southwest quarter was owned by George Born ford and contained four thousand acres ; the southeast quarter was held by George B. Jackson and contained three thousand acres. In 1808 Mr. Jackson sold the first piece of land that was ever sold to an actual settler in the township. It was sold to John Vance, Sr. THE SETTLEMENT. The first settler was John Vance, Jr., son of the man above named. He sold lot number 3 to his son, who, in 1808, erected the first house in this township. In the eighties this land was still held in the Vance family and doubtless some of it still remains intact, as the homestead of one of the Vance heirs. The old original log house stands a monument to the pioneer days in Miller township. There was born the first child in the township. Hannah Vance, later the widow of Daniel Houck, the date of her birth being June 10. 18(39. Daniel Vance. a son, was also born in this log structure and was proud of the fact, too. Pausing here for a moment, the reader will be interested to listen to the account given of the scenes enacted in and near this dwelling of pioneer days, by Daniel Vance, who gave it a third of a century ago : "At the time John Vance came to what is now Miller township the Indians were numerous. After Mr. Vance had erected his log cabin (size sixteen by sixteen feet), and moved into it, he used a blanket for a door. He worked away from home and frequently remained over night, leaving his wife and one child alone, the child later known as Mrs. Houck. The Indians were her frequent callers, and frequently brought venison to trade for corn. One Indian, especially, was fond of the white family. Upon one occasion he came to the cabin in the dusk of evening and asked Mrs. Vance if her husband was going to be at home that night, calling him 'Pale-face.' Mrs. Vance's first impulse was to say yes, as she did not know his real designs in asking such a question, but she thought it would not do to tell him a falsehood, so she said, `No, he would not be home that night, as he went to work for corn.' The Indian replied, Pale-face sha'nt be hurt ; pale-face need not be afraid.' He then lay down in front of the door, and remained all night, which he did on several subsequent occasions." Returning to a description of other settlers who made up the pioneer colony in this township, it may be stated that in 1809 Abraham Cairnes, from Virginia, purchased lot number 1 in the Jackson tract, being in the southeast corner of the township. The same season Andrew Thompson bought lot number 2. KNOX COUNTY, OHIO - 361 In 1810 came Cornelius Thompson, from Hardy county, Virginia, purchasing lot number 4. He died within a few years, leaving a son, Enoch Thompson, who remained in the township. In 1812 Daniel Bailer bought lot number 9, William Campbell lot 10, and Henry Row lot number 5. Peter Weaver came in 1816. That year George B. Jackson died and the remaining land fell to his heirs. The remainder was really a wilderness and so remained until about 1840. To trace further the comings and goings of the men who came into this township is almost useless, as the names are almost obliterated from the memory of those now in Knox county. Some were good men and others of the baser sort, who loved whisky and the huntsman's chase more than refined homes and schools. The last piece of government land taken up in this township went to Richmond Hillard, it being the northwest quarter of section 6, which in the last records at hand (1881 ) was in the name of J. M. Hillard. POPULATION OF TOWNSHIP. The population of Miller township in 1830 was 548; in 1840, 977; in 1850, 1,064 ; in 1870, it was 925 ; in 1880, it was 827; in 1890, only 750; in 1900, it was 755, and according to the last official count, in 1910, it had a population of only seven hundred. EARLY HARDSHIPS, ETC. The occupation of these first settlers in Miller township was that of hunting and farming, cutting timber, splitting rails and clearing up the land as fast as possible. In the spring of the year, a large amount of maple sugar and syrup was made from the immense quantities of sap-bearing trees. This was taken to Zanesville to market and exchanged for groceries and such things as could not well be supplied at home. Each farmer kept a small flock of sheep, and wool was spun and woven into cloth with which the family was clothed in winter time. Flax was raised, too, on every clearing patch in the township, and from this was made the shiny linen summer-wear goods. All farm products were extremely low priced ; wheat seldom reached forty cents and corn was eight to ten, sometimes fifteen cents a bushel. Good cows sold at eight to ten dollars, and even at these rates it was next to impossible to obtain money. The only thing high was postage—twenty and twenty-five cents a letter. Wheat was made up into flour and packed into barrels, as was pork, and much of the surplus corn crop made into whisky. All this made a demand for cooperage 362 - KNOX COUNTY, OHIO. and Mr. Miller furnished his share of coopers. Among the pioneer coopers can now be recalled Messrs. Levi Ward, Cyrus Gates, Emor Harris, James Sealts, Oliver Squires and Chester Coleman. After 1850, the farmers were generally engaged in wool growing, this coming to be known as the banner wool township in the county. VILLAGE OF BRANDON. Near the center of the township is the village of Brandon, at the point where the Sycamore road crosses the Granville road. James Hare erected the first house 'here, five rods from the Sycamore road and two from the Granville road. The next house was built by C. L. Bennett. In 1824 Phineas Squires purchased the land in the northeast corner—eighty acres in a wilderness—and there built a hewed log house, said to have been the largest log house ever raised in the township. It was twenty-eight by forty-five feet in size. It took two lengths of logs to reach across one end; it was a two-story building and very high ceilings. The chimney was built in the exact center and a fire-place on either side of its dingy walls. Phineas Squires was captain of the militia company and the neighbors all called this house the "war office." In 1830 Manley Rowley bought one acre in the corner to the southwest, on which he erected a building for hotel purposes. The same year Samuel A. Bagley and Enos Barnes formed a partnership as blacksmiths and wagonmakers. In 1831 they built a brick shop, twenty by fifty feet. It was soon burned and one of the firm operated alone, in the-half rebuilt structure. In 1839 H. C. Lockwood purchased the property, including fifteen acres. In 1824 John Mott owned all the land on the southeast corner and he and Mr. Lockwood agreed to lay out a town site there. They engaged a surveyor who went to Mt. Vernon to attend to it and there got "full" and was gone so long they gave the enterprise up and while some lots were sold, the town was never legally platted. A dispute arose over what the place should be named and finally Brandon was the popular name it has always gone by ; whether it suited the other partner or not, history is silent at this late day. A postoffice was established there in February, 1839, called Hildreth, with Miner Hildreth as postmaster. About 1842 Hildreth resigned as postmaster and H. C. Lockwood was appointed in his place, when the name was soon changed to Brandon (probably what he wanted it called originally). At present there are the usual number of stores and shops found in country hamlets. In Civil-war days Miller township certainly did her share towards filling up the quotas for soldiers and in 'supplying the soldiers' families with food, etc. The number of men enlisted from Miller township was one hundred and fourteen ; number killed. five : number died in service, sixteen. CHAPTER XXXVIII. MORRIS TOWNSHIP. When Knox county was first divided into townships, Morris was equally divided between Wayne and Clinton townships. Occupying a central position, being well supplied with water courses, the chief of which is Kokosing, which made the township one of the best for agriculture in the entire domain of the county, it was no wonder that settlers flocked hither before they did to other parts of the state of Ohio. The western half of the present township comprises two military sections of four thousand acres each, the southwest quarter of the territory being known as the Canfield section and the northwest quarter as the Armstrong section. The eastern half was laid off in lots of a hundred and sixty acres each. The former half is most level bottom land, with a rich deposit soil, while the eastern half is of a more undulating upland, abounding in good springs of living water. A mile and more to the east of Fredericktown may be seen a mound some twenty feet high and sixty feet in diameter, surrounded by a ditch and an embankment, the latter being outside of the former. On the William Loveridge farm north from the village of Clinton is the work of the Mound Builders of ancient days, which object is treated elsewhere in this book. THE TOWNSHIP'S SETTLEMENT. Hon. William Bonar, years ago, furnished much of the material from which this part of the chapter is compiled, and he was certainly good authority. William Douglass left his home in Morris county, New Jersey, and, after weeks of journeying, finally pitched his tent on the banks of Owl creek, just below the confluence with its principal branch in 1804 and this made him the first white settler in Morris township. He it was who erected a saw mill on Owl creek above Mt. Vernon. Assisted by his son. Aaron Douglass, he dug a race, put in a dam and completed his saw mill. Then, wanting a grist mill, but not having the necessary capital. he bethought himself to do the next best thing for the community, by adding a corn-cracker, which served well till the completion of his flouring mill in 1806. Two years later he built his fulling mill and carding machine attachment. When sheep were kept for their wool and this made up into clothing for the family, it was a necessary thing that a 364 - KNOX COUNTY, OHIO. fulling mill and carding machine be near at hand. And so much was this enterprise appreciated by the county at large that the county commissioners, May 2, 1809, declared : "The tax on William Douglass' mill is ordered to be taken off, as it is a public benefit." When the first grand jury was made up, Mr. Douglass was among its honorable number. He was also elected county commissioner in 1808. He rendered valuable service in the war of 1812 as captain of a volunteer rifle company and later escorted the Greentown Indians beyond the lines. He was a large stockholder in the old Owl Creek Bank and sold out his seventy shares for six hundred dollars and moved to Indiana, where he later died. His daughter Phoebe married Richard Ewalt and Sarah married James Rodgers. James Walker came in from Pennsylvania in 1804, locating near the Douglass mill site. He occupied, at first, a small cabin said to have been built by Captain Fitting in 1803. Mr. Walker and his good wife died and were among the first buried in the old Clinton graveyard ; no stone now marks their resting place. John Simpkins first located in this township in 1804, but soon removed to Monroe township. Samuel H. Smith, from New England, came in from the east and soon platted the village known for years as Clinton, in section 4, township 7, range 4, United States military district. See its history in the early chapters and in county-seat contest affair. It was Smith and one McArdle who established the first newspaper in Knox county, the Ohio Register. Captain Nye was another associate of Smith's, and he -jived across the street from Smith in Clinton village. Amariah Watson arrived from Wyoming, Pennsylvania, and put up with William Douglass in 1805, but moved to Fredericktown in 1806. In the spring and summer of 1806 came many of the first Quakers who took land in this and adjoining townships. The venerable Henry Roberts headed this colony from Maryland. This family at once proceeded to farm the land they had secured. With a four-horse team and breaking plow they turned over nine acres of the virgin sod the first season. In the fall of the same year came William Y. and William W. Farquhar, from which little settlement sprang the large settlement of Friends in that section of Knox county. John Johnson, of Chester county, Pennsylvania, came into the township in 1806, locating near a large spring on property later owed by the heirs of William Day. This magnificent spring was situated on the Indian trail from Greentown. While the Indians were still in the county some trouble was had with them pilfering, but it was not long until they were legally removed. KNOX COUNTY, OHIO - 365 William Mitchell came to the township in 1807. Daniel Cooper, from Butler county, Pennsylvania, came here in 1809, locating west of the main branch of Owl creek and a little later was followed by his brothers, Carey and Elias. Daniel Cooper had seven children, Thompson, William, George, Henrietta, Julia, Josiah and Sarah. Of the Bell family there were Hiram, Uzziel, Cyrus and Timothy, who came from New Jersey, locating on the Owl creek bottofs where their father had bought one thousand acres of choice land. The first physician in this township was Dr. Timothy Burr, whose notice in the old Ohio Register in December, 1813, reads as follows : "Samuel. H. Smith having added a large stock of goods to his former assortment, will trade for butter, sugar, country linen, rye, corn, hides, deer skins and furs. Dr. T. Burr is duly authorized to attend to his business and will prescribe gratis to purchasers of drugs and medicines." Barnet Bonar came from Pennsylvania in 1812, located on Granny's creek. He died in 1844, aged eighty years. DISTILLERIES OF THE TOWNSHIP. Morris township, at an early day, was famous for its distilleries and for its favorite brands of whisky. Among the earliest enterprises of such a character were Simeon Carpenter and his brother Freeman. William Douglass also had a distillery a short distance from his mill. Richard Philips carried on a like business on the west side of the Fredericktown road, near Smith's tannery ; Smith Hadley, on low land now owned, or was later, by James Ramsey, and Robert and James Rogers on the old Harvey Cox place, east of the road to Fredericktown. Then there were several more still-houses in operation at other points within Morris township. The only reason why such industry was conducted in those days was the fact that whisky was almost universally used in the home. This applied to all classes, church people and all, except the one temperate sect, the Friends, who settled in the west part of this township ; they would have no lot or part in the "fire water," as called by the Indians hereabouts. OLD VILLAGE OF CLINTON. Clinton, the village of pioneer days that contested for the county seat of Knox county and lost, has long years been vacated and the stranger of this generation cannot find its lines or its streets. It has been, legally vacated many years, but it had a history worth recording and worth preserving, being a part 366 - KNOX COUHTY, OHIO. of the pioneer history of the county of which we now write an interesting chapter. Samuel H. Smith, a New Englander, laid out Clinton in section 4, township 7, range 4. It had one hundred and sixty lots, streets, and a public square. The platting was duly acknowledged before Abraham Wright, a justice of the peace. December 8, 1804, and was named in honor of Governor DeWitt Clinton, of New York state. The great fight for the location of the county seat has already taken up its share of space in the opening chapters of this volume. Smith built the first house ; Samuel Ayers got out the native lumber and Amriah Watson, James Loveridge and William Douglass raised the structure. Smith opened the first store of Clinton. He also built a brick hotel in 1808. In 1812 he added a tannery and advertised to pay two dollars and a half a cord for oak bark. In July, 1813, he, with Mr. McArdle, established Knox county's first paper, the Ohio Register. In 1809 Smith helped form the first Masonic lodge in this county, the ninth in Ohio. With all of his tact and energy, this shrewd Yankee character finally failed in business and, just before the breaking out of the Civil war, left for Texas, where he was engaged at land surveying. James Loveridge built the first tannery in this township and was followed by Messrs. Samuel H. Smith, proprietor of the town, Benjamin Corwin, John McMahon, James S. Banning and possibly others. Loveridge erected his tannery in 1807 and when the men returned from Hull's surrender during the war of 1812-14, many of them halted at Clinton in very destitute circumstances. Loveridge cut up his hides and made them moccasins. James Miller dressed deer skins and manufactured an endless variety of buckskin goods. John Sawyer was the pioneer blacksmith in this township. His shop stood where Mr. Banning later built his residence. There was a chair factory at one time in Clinton carried on by John Barney. One business man and concern after another left for Mt. Vernon, when that became the permanent seat of justice for Knox county. April 17, .1818, by order of the court, in answer to a petition signed by Smith et al. of Clinton, the village plat was declared vacated.. The postoffice, at Clinton was established in 1810 and was the first in Knox county. Its early postmasters were Messrs. Smith. Fishback, Marshall and Andrew Clark. Daniel Norton bought Smith's interest in the real estate he held in Clinton, but was dispossessed of it by a suit at law by Hosmer Curtis. J. S. Banning purchased forty-five acres of the land on which stood the village and Uriah Walker the remainder. KNOX COUNTY, OHIO - 367 The aggressive factors in the establishment of Clinton and the factors who carried forward its business a century ago, have, of course, all long since been gathered to their fathers, and all one can learn of them, or the place they hoped would become great, can only be learned from newspaper files, local history and the traditions of men. CHAPTER XXXIX. PIKE TOWNSHIP. Pike township is situated in the northern part of Knox county and contains thirty-six square miles, a portion of which lies north of the Greenfield treaty line, adjacent to Richland county. It was established June 8, 1819, by act of the county commissioners and by them named in honor of General Pike. The first election was held at the house of Michael Harter, June 26, 1819, for the election of township officers. On March 9, 1829, the boundaries were changed and the records reads : "Pike township shall be composed of the eighth and ninth townships in the twelfth range, and the twentieth township in the seventeenth range." The surface in this portion of the county is somewhat rough, owing to the bluffs and valleys along and leading to Schenck's creek, which courses through the township from north to south. The soil is not the best in the county, by any means, but yields an annual harvest of much that is profitable to its owners. In 1880 it was said that one quarter of the domain was still in heavy timber, chestnut, white oak and hickory predominating. SETTLEMENT OF THE TOWNSHIP. Just who to ascribe the distinction of making the first settlement here cannot now be determined. In 1816 an Irishman named Henry Lander was found living on the southwest quarter of section 13. He was a giant in stature, standing full six feet and six inches high, weighed two hundred and fifty pounds and used to wager whisky for the crowd that seven men could not take his hat off. He would then back up against a tree or wall and swing his long, strong arms as if in defiance to the crowd. John Arnold, from Maryland, came to this township in 1816, locating on the southwest quarter of section 8, where he reared his family and improved his land. Charles McBride came from the same state, locating on section 4, the date being also 1816. Aaron Bixby came from Huron county, Ohio, in 1816, taking land on section 16. He taught the first term of school in the first school house in Pike KNOX COUNTY, OHIO - 369 township. It was a rude log house a half mile south of the present place known as North Liberty. The date was 1823. Philip Armentrout located on the northwest quarter of section 8 and died there many years afterwards. Nicholas Headington came in from Baltimore county, Maryland, and settled in Pike township in 1822. His son brought the first tobacco seed to Knox county and marketed the first crop of tobacco in the county. Aaron Wilson came in very early and removed from the township in 1837. William Wright came to the place where Amity is located about 1819, when but a boy. The first brick building built in Pike township was by Francis Popham. The first grist mill was built by John Arnold in 1831, on Schenck's creek, on section 8. The next was built by a Mr. Hillis on section 23 in 1834. The first saw mill in this township was built by an Englishman named Thomas Smith, in 1832, on section 18. It was bought in 1836 by Silas Daniels. In 1849 an excellent saw mill was put in operation by John Walkey, near the center of section 23, on Schenck's creek. The first threshing machine and cook stove brought to Pike township was in 1834. John Arnold and Daniel Grubb at an early time operated a distillery in the township, but it is recorded that in 1881 there was a population of one thousand three hundred and not a drinking saloon in the entire township. VILLAGES OF AMITY AND NORTH LIBERTY. The village of Amity was located in the southeast corner of Pike township and in 1880 had a population of one hundred and fifty. It was platted in 1832 by David Jackson, who owned the land on which it stands. It was originally called Emmettsville, but in 1837 was changed to Amity. This old village was on the stage road from Wooster to Columbus and at one time was a place of considerable business. Lewis Strong was the first merchant there. David Jackson kept a hotel there. A postoffice was established soon after the platting of the village, but strangely, that was not named Amity, but Democracy, which existed till 1911. William Gordon was first postmaster and was followed by Messrs. Henry Warrick, James Gilchrist, D. P. Wright, Jerrod Parrish and C. C. Barber, among the earlier ones. It is still a quiet hamlet within a fine farming community. North Liberty, in the northern part of the township, was laid out by Francis Blakely, William Johnson, Daniel Grubb and J. Nelson Dean, in 1838. (24) 370 - KNOX COUNTY, OHIO. Grubb erected the first frame building. In this the hotel was kept. Mr. Grubb, assisted by others, provided the "village weil" where all might partake freely of the pure water from its old oaken bucket: A postoffice was first established at Jonathan Smith's, in the southwest corner of the township. in 1848, with Smith as postmaster, but in I 85o it was removed to North Liberty, and Henry Taney appointed postmaster. In 188o this hamlet consisted of the postoffice, Albery Mishey being postmaster and conducted a grocery ; J. K. P. Mishey ran a dry goods store : there were a few shops of small repair in the village and a Methodist and Lutheran church. At present there are a church and a few buildings in existence. Democracy postoffice was established many years ago. but has been discontinued since January 1, 1911, and the patrons are served from Mt. Vernon by the rural route system. The postmasters who served at the Democracy office were as follows : Scott Gilchrist ; Dr. Edwards, under President Buchanan ; 0. P. Wright. under President Lincoln ; Smith Barber, under the same administration ; C. C. Barber and J. A. Wright, under Presidents Grant and Hayes ; S. G. Dowds, under President Harrison ; S. D. Parrish. under Cleveland ; H. E. Fletcher, under Roosevelt ; William M. Edgar, under Cleveland, also serving under Roosevelt : F. W. Loney, under William H. Taft's administration. At first the mail was only weekly, then semi-weekly, thrice and finally daily. On account of the rural route system the office was discontinued. It was last kept in the general store of Loney & Hixon. CHAPTER XL. PLEASANT TOWNSHIP: Pleasant township is situated directly southeast from Mt. Vernon, and, according to official record, "shall be composed of the sixth township in the twelfth range." A prominent citizen of this township, John Kerr, gave it the name it bears. The township was first organized March 9, 1825, and again it had a change in its territory, December 7, 1838, when the county commissioners ordered that the first quarter of Pleasant township be struck off into a separate township named College." This was in honor of Kenyon College, which is located at Gambier, College township. The northern portion is traversed by Kokosing (or Vernon) river. Hence the topography is somewhat rough and hilly, but the southern part of the township, with Big run for its chief stream, is quite smooth and even in its surface. Here farming is carried on in all of its possible perfection, by the employment of modern methods. Of the population at different decades, it may be stated that in 1880 it had 1,033 ; in 1890 it had 865 ; in 1900 it had 818, and in 1910 its population was 784. Just who first settled in what is now Pleasant township is unknown, but certain it is that James Colville came there among the very first. He was a Washington county, Pennsylvania, man, who emigrated to Knox county, Ohio, in about 1803-04. In 1804 he bought a hundred acres of land east of Mt. Vernon, in Pleasant township, cleared some timber off, planted an orchard, and raised a crop in 1805. That year he built a small log cabin, and by 1806 was living in it with his newly married wife. Jonathan Hunt, born in Somerset county, New Jersey, in October, 1780, moved to Knox county, Ohio, in 1806. In company with his father, Jonathan Hunt, Sr., he located in what is the southwest corner of Pleasant township. He was a locksmith by trade and here he mended many of the guns for the Indians previous to the war of 1812-14. He was present at Mt. Vernon March 28, 1808, when the locating commissioners were there to fix the county seat. He was one of the illustrious number who went to work with shovel and ax to show the commissioners that Vernonites were not lazy and believed in things being improved. His name also appears on the list of the first grand jury. He was the elected trustee from Sycamore township, so little known 372 - KNOX COUNTY, OHIO. about by citizens of today. In the war of 1812-14, he was a soldier under Major Kratzer, where a part of his time he was employed at repairing guns, for which he received one dollar per day extra. In 1815 he was granted a license to open a tavern. Hunt's Station perpetuates his name. Silas Brown came in about 1806, locating near the line between Pleasant and Clinton townships, north of Hunt's Station. In 1808 he was elected sheriff of Knox county, having first been commissioned by the acting governor. It was during his term that William Hedrick was punished on the square at Mt. Vernon, by having forty lashes applied to his bare back, the last public whipping in this county. It fell to Sheriff Brown to apply the lashes, and he was called down by a bystander for striking the man over the kidneys, instead of over his shoulders. James Parks and William Patrick both were early settlers and both elected justices of the peace in this township. Daniel Applegate settled near the election hall of today. William Harrod, another early pioneer here, used to boast that he had killed two hundred deer "while sitting on old Baldy's hack." Perhaps it was only a deer story, but 'tis said he killed many. Other early settlers in this township were the Grahams, Veatches, Beatys, Craw fords and Rohrers. In 1815 John Kerr, who had settled at Nashport, Muskingum county, sought to improve his location, so came to Mt. Vernon and bought a tract of land on the Kokosing river, two miles below town, and employed one Solomon Geller to construct a dam and erect a saw mill, for which he was paid a. thousand dollars. In 1817 Mr. Kerr moved to his new purchase and erected a grist mill, fulling mill and put in a carding machine. In 1819 he built the first brick house in the township. In 1825 he built a distillery, which was of stone, thirty feet square, and for a time carried on a flourishing business, but times and markets and public tastes, as well as public opinions, materially changed and in 1837 we find him removing to Missouri. The distillery was shut down, but the mills continued to operate under different men's hands until August. 1880, when they were burned. A brewery was erected on the Gambier road in 1835, by Jacob Kurtz. Later others owned it and in the hands of John Bechtel it was running when the "crusaders" depreciated, his business and the brewery was abandoned. Frederick Rohrer, on the Martinsburg road in 1825, kept a tavern and operated a brewing plant. Hurford's steam grist mill on Big run, in the northeast corner of the township, was originally a small water mill, built by a Mr. Hur ford, but later Simon Dudgeon purchased it and added steam power. as the stream had so KNOX COUNTY, OHIO - 373 decreased in flow of water that it was useless for power purposes. Warmon's steam mills is another plant of this township and with many changes was still running at last accounts. The Mt. Vernon nurseries are located in Pleasant township. They were started in 1848 by Barton Starr, who at his death was succeeded by his son, Newton P. Starr, who continued many years. It came to be the largest nursery in this part of Ohio. CHAPTER XLI. UNION TOWNSHIP. This sub-division of Knox county was organized in 1808 and embraced-Brown, Jefferson, Union, Butler, Jackson, Howard, three-fourths of Harrison, and the east half of Clay townships. In 1825 it was reduced to five miles square, having Jefferson on its north, Howard on its west, Butler to the south and Coshocton county on the east. Then another change was effected in 1876 by cutting off one mile from the south side of Jefferson township and adding it to Union. This township is made up of a fine body of land, of almost every variety of soil. The surface is somewhat broken and hilly, along Owl creek and Mohican river, where the numerous bluffs are, were at an early day covered with good timber common to this part of Ohio. The two largest streams in Knox county run through Union township. Owl creek passes through the southwest corner, while the Mohican river cuts off part of the northeastern portion. The Little Jelloway, and its numerous tributaries, flows through the southern portion. The Cleveland, Columbus & Mt. Vernon railroad runs diagonally across the north part, the direction being northeast and southwest. SETTLEMENT. The first white men to come in to make for themselves homes in Union township came in 1806-07. George Sapp, Sr., entered the first piece of land in 1806, settling in the northwestern part of the territory. Jacob Baughman came from Somerset county, Pennsylvania, in 1809, locating in the central part. Paul Welker emigrated from Pennsylvania about 1808 and made a settlement in the western portion. The Critchfields, Robinsons, Rightmires, Durbins, Spurgeons, McMillens, Hibbitts, Logues, Ryans, John Wood, Greers, George Davidson, Jacob Black, William Shaw and John Arnold all settled in this township before 1814. At the election held in 1810 twenty votes were cast and six years later the number had increased to forty-five.