400 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION costs. The other cases growing out of the Long-Hale fight have already been mentioned. FIRST JURY TRIAL The first jury trial was in a criminal case, that of Elkanah Bramblet, who had assaulted one William McConnell, at the Salt Works, July 10, 1816. He entered a plea of not guilty and the following petit jury was empanelled the first in the history of the county, viz. : Basil Johnson, Moses Gillespie, John Ogg, David Mitchell, John Corn, Salmon Goodenough, Allen Rice, Austin Palmer, Samuel Stephenson, James Weeks, William Alden and John George. The state's witnesses were Joseph Armstrong, who was afterward the. first director of the Town of Jackson and Andrew Donnally, the tavern keeper, who presented his petition on the day of the assault. The jury made short work of the case, and Bramlet was found guilty and fined $6 and the costs. A singular coincidence was that Austin Palmer, one of the jurors in this case, had just been fined for assaulting a neighbor. named Andrew Frazee. Both lived in Milton Township and the affair had occurred August 10, 1816. When indicted August 13th, Palmer entered a plea of guilty, and was fined $12 and the costs. The only other indictments of this term of court of general interest, was the appointment of Dr. Gabriel McNeal as surveyor of the county, for a term of five years. McNeal lived in District No. 1 of Jefferson Township and was next to George L. Crook-ham the strongest character in the county. He was a physician, civil engineer, surveyor, an expert machinist, farmer, orchardist, and ,,a preacher of no mean ability. He served for many years as surveyor of the county, assisted in subdividing great areas of land, and laid out the south half of Jackson. But it was as surgeon, that he proved himself most useful to the pioneers in the woods. His manner in operating was cool, bordering as many patients thought on the cruel, but he succeeded and this won their admiration. It is said that he was remarkably steady of nerve, and indulged in a low whistle, throughout an operation. No record of his many operations has survived, but three or four must be enumerated. William R. Lloyd afflicted with rupture was injured one day in the road near Portland, and the rupture "became strangulated," Lloyd was carried in great agony to a house nearby, and Doctor McNeal was sent for. He told Lloyd that only an operation could save his life. Lloyd submitted to the ordeal, and was relieved. He recovered and lived many years, dying in the end of cholera in 1850. A young woman living in Madison had a disease, of the arm bone, and Dr. McNeal, made a fine circular saw, and after splitting the flesh, he with this circular saw, cut off both ends of the bone and removed 'a piece four inches long. The arm healed, until the young woman could weave on the hand loom, and perform all other kinds of hard work. 'In November, 1844, Peter Hutchinson and Hickman Powers, became involved in a broil at the town house in Madison at the presidential election and Hutchinson stabbed Powers in the stomach, the knife entering through the walls 'of that organ. Doc- HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 401 for McNeal had just arrived on his way to see a patient in the neighborhood, ill with fever. Ordering a quantity of boiling water from the nearby home of Rev. Robert Williams, he operated quickly on Powers, opening the abdomen, and sewing up the stomach walls. He continued in charge of the case until Powers recovered. The latter brought suit for damages against Hutchinson, and at the trial McNeal testified, that he had removed a tumor from the side of a man named Chaffin in Scioto County and that he cured him, and that he lived a sound healthy man for fifteen years afterward. In healing him he had used a poultice of powdered charcoal, and some medicaments. His most remarkable achievement however was a Caesarian operation on an indigent mother in his own township, and the mother and child lived. Whatever he undertook he performed, and not one patient operated upon by him ever died from its effects. To appreciate his great skill and success, it must be remembered that all his operations were performed with instruments which he had made at his own smithy. He invented a number of ingenious devices and it is regrettable, that he. never duplicated his instruments, or ever applied for patents upon them. In addition to his surgical instruments, he made his own surveyor's instruments, made the watch which he carried until his death, and many other metal contrivances. For instance he made clocks, and wolf traps of his own design for the farmers, also smaller traps for foxes and smaller game. McNeal's traps helped to exterminate the wolves which were still numerous in his township as late as 1830, also panthers and wild -cats. He also built a horse mill on his farm i4 District No. 1 of Jefferson, doing all the work himself. He did all kinds of smithing besides, and he was thus the great, and in fact, the only metal worker in his township for almost a generation. He was very successful as a physician and learned from his long experience how to treat the fevers of the woods. He used many native plants although in no sense an herb doctor, and often resorted to the leech or the lance. He was also an ordained minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church but was not as popular as some noisier exhorters. His voice is said'to have been soft and musical, and his manner earnest and sincere, but he was slow and deliberate and not "fiery," which was deemed a defect in those days. He lost the ear of the crowds because he was so severe in denunciation of every form of hypocrisy and cant and narrow sectarianism especially on the- part of his Baptist neighbors. He was an abolitionist from his youth, and his anti-slavery sermon was his masterpiece. Its withering sarcasm made him unpopular, with many of his neighbors of Southern origin. He assisted in organizing a Sunday school in the Arthur district, where he resided and finally organized a Methodist class which prepared to build a church, on the Jenkins farm, about a mile west of his home, but his death occurred, the congregation broke up and the church building was never finished. The Jogs were finally taken down by David J. Evans and made into a dwelling. Although he practiced as a physician for more than fifty years; and served his people in many other ways, even teaching them how to set out orchards, and furnishing them trees from his own nursery, yet on account of the modera- Vol. I-26 402 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION tion of his fees, he did not become as wealthy as some of his neighbors. He built a brick house on his farm, making the brick on his own land and improved his land otherwise but at his death in 1848, he was worth less than $15,000. He lies in a graveyard laid out on a high hill overlooking the beautiful valley of a branch of Symmes Creek and many of his kindred sleep beside him. VOTERS AT THE FIRST GENERAL ELECTION The voters of the county held their first general election in October, 1816, and 252 votes were cast, an increase of thirty-two votes since April. There were now eight townships in the county. The votes for governor were divided thus: Thomas Worthington, who was elected, 120 ; James Dunlap, 132. The vote for congressman was more scattered, thus : Levi Barber, 125 ; Joseph Kerr, 72 ; Samuel Monnett, 17 ; Henry Brush, 41 ; John A. Fulton, 12; Barber was elected. For state senator, David Ridgway of Gallia, received 150 votes ; and Robert Lucas of Pike, 107 ; but Lucas was elected in the district. The legislative district was composed of Jackson and Pike counties and the vote stood : Jared Strong, 171 ; George L. Crookham, 89 ; Guthrie, 5. Strong was elected and secured the distinction of being the county's first representative. He was re-elected in 1817, 1819, 1822 and 1823. He had come to this county in an early day, and had built a watermill on Salt Creek at what is now known as Bierlytown. He was a business man of some ability, and was one of the contractors who built the first jail, and he was interested in the contract for the first courthouse. He was also a partner in a general store at Jackson as early as 1819. Unfortunately he died December 20, 1827, aged only forty-five years seven months and ten days. There was a hot contest for sheriff, but Abraham Welch was re-elected over Joseph Armstrong by 144 to 127 votes. Welch's victory did not profit him much, for circumstances not to his credit forced him to leave the county, a few months afterward. The vote for coroner stood as follows: John Stockham, 94; Peleg Potter, 49 ; John Gillespie, 31 ; William Polly, 24; John Knight, 1. Gillespie was thus defeated for re-election. There was a very lively contest for commissioners. The three incumbents were candidates, but Brown was defeated. The vote stood thus : John Stephenson, 185 ; E. Traxler, 165 ; R. G. Hanna, 153 ; John Brown, 112 John Delay, 24; Samuel Hull, 27 ; John Scott, 21. Hanna was a young man, and had been much about the Salt Works, which gave him an advantage over Brown who lived in Milton Township, ten miles away. The new commissioners held their first meeting November 11, 1816, and began by casting lots for terms. Traxler drew the three year term, and Stephenson the two year term, but Hanna was re-elected in 1817, and in 1820 he was elected to the Legislature. VIOLATIONS OF LIQUOR LAWS The salt boilers and the squatters in the woods were a rough, carousing people, and much of the time of the Common Pleas Court was taken HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 403 up in dealing with cases of fisticuffs. All the criminal docket at the August and November terms of 1816 consisted only of cases of this kind but in April, 1817, prosecutions began for violations of the liquor laws. The first indictment was against William Howe for selling liquor, viz. : one-half pint of whiskey to one James Nail on June 10, 1817, without having first obtained .a license. He pleaded guilty of bootlegging and was fined $10 and the costs. A study of the court journals shows that many thought bootlegging to be an innocent diversion, for even Sheriff Abraham Welch, indulged in it. He was indicted at the July term, 1817, for three illegal sales, one of which had been made to the foreman of the grand jury. At the same time Welch was indicted for assaulting one Valentine Pancake, at the Salt Works on January 10, 1817. He entered a plea of guilty of 'course, for such a court record was an advertisement of a man's prowess, but the court taught him a lesson by fining him $30 and the costs, and requiring him to give a peace bond in the sum of $300. There was a riot at the Scioto Townhouse at the spring election of 1817 similar to that at the home of Judge Hugh Poor of Bloomfield; in 1816. It began in much the same way, when Robert Darling and Joseph Hartley engaged in fisticuffs. Hartley was trounced, and then his brother Philip went to his rescue and was pummelled like his brother. Darling was fined for both offenses. FIRST, PENITENTIARY CONVICT The first convict sent to the penitentiary from Jackson County was Burgess Squires. He was convicted at the May term, 1817, for issuing counterfeit money. Much spurious money had been in circulation for some time, and the first arrest was made in March, 1817, on the complaint of Andrew Donnally, the tavernkeeper. It appears that Nimrod Kirk, had given him six notes of 50 cents each, purporting to having been signed by I. Ross and N. Mercer, at Brownsville. Kirk was indicted at the July term, but was acquitted July 23, 1817. Burgess Squires indicted at the same time for issuing, a ten dollar note on the Bank of Pennsylvania, on March 10, 1817, and a dollar note on the Bank of New Lisbon. He paid these notes to Abraham Welch, the sheriff, and he, Dr. N. W. Andrews, Levi Mercer, and Francis Holland were witnesses against him. He was prosecuted by Joseph Sill and defended by N. K. Clough. The jurors were Cornelius Culp, Anthony Howard, Joseph Armstrong, William. Reed, James Dempsey, Alex Poor, Peter Williams, Moses Gillespie, Jared Strong, Reuben Long, Daniel Harris and William Grove. The verdict was guilty, and he was sentenced to the penitentiary for five years. Soon afterward Sheriff Abraham Welch was indicted and he gave bond in the sum of $500, with J. W. Ross, Francis Holland and James Graham as sureties. Welch disappeared and did not answer to his name. when called at the next term of court. Called again on Monday, March 23, 1818, he did not appear and his bond was forfeited. He never returned to the county and the general belief was 404 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION that he and Burgess Squires were associates. At any rate, all spurious money disappeared from circulation after Welch left the county. PERMANENT SEAT OF JUSTICE The organization of the new county involved the, establishment of a permanent seat of justice. The act erecting the county had designated the house of William Given for the temporary seat of justice but it was used only the first year. The court for the April term of 1817 was held at the home of Dr. N. W. Andrews, the clerk of courts, but the reason. for the removal from the Given home is not known.. It was moved again at the July term to the tavern of Andrew Donnally, where two sessions were .held, but several broils having occurred in the barroom, while court was in session, in the parlor, the court moved on like a teacher boarding around, to the houses of Joseph W. Ross, Charles O'Neill, Mrs. Richmond and others of the well to do people. The tavern of Andrew Donnally stood at the corner of Portsmouth and Water streets. In the meantime the principal citizens were paving the way to secure a courthouse. The only village in the county was the assemblage of huts and cabins at the Salt Works, and the injurious effect of government ownership in preventing the building of substantial houses, was finally brought to the attention of Congress. Accordingly an act was passed, April 16, 1816, authorizing the Legislature to sell one section of 640 acres, out of the Salt Lick Reservation, not including the "Salt Springs," and that the -Money accruing from such sale should be applied to the building of a courthouse, or other public buildings for the use of the. County of Jackson. The Legislature had already adjourned, and no action could be taken until the following winter, but when that session convened, Hon. Jared Strong, who was Jackson County's first representative, bestirred himself, and an enabling act was passed to carry out the term of the law passed by Congress. The date of its passage was January 14, 1817. It contained seven sections. The first provided for the election of commissioners to select a section of land. The second directed that a town, to be named Jackson, should be laid out upon it, and that a director should be elected. This official was authorized to lay out one-half of this section into in and out lots, and to sell them after giving due notice. He was to receive $2 a day for his work. The proceeds of the lot sale were to be used in erecting county buildings. Three commissioners, Samuel Reed of, Pike, Lewis Newson of Gallia, and Henry Bartlett of Athens, were elected by the Legislature, January 24, 1817, and Joseph Armstrong of Jackson County, was elected the first director on January 27, 1817. The three commissioners came to the Scioto Salt Works on March 18, 1817. This was one of the great days in the 'history of the county, and the attendance upon the commissioners was nearly as large as that at the first term of court the summer before. Several stories about the transactions of the day have been handed down by tradition, but it goes without saying that the taverns were well patronized on that blustery March day. The commissioners received such a royal welcome HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 405 at the taverns of Andrew Donnally, Dr. N. W. Andrews and Abraham Welch, two of whom were officers of court, that they determined to bring the seat of justice as near as possible to their houses. The report of the commissioners was filed with Judge John Thompson, April 7, 1817, and it reads as follows : "'The commissioners appointed by joint. resolution of the Legislature of Ohio for fixing the seat of justice in the county of Jackson, after being notified of their appointment, and the inhabitants having due notice of the time and place of their meeting, entered on the duty assigned them by the Legislature, and after examining different sections of land in the six miles square reserved by Congress for the use of this state, do report that they are unanimously of opinion that section numbered 29 is the section they have chosen for the use of said county o. f Jackson, and that they are unanimously of opinion that the north end of said section, south from Salt creek and immediately back of the houses occupied by N. W. Andrews, Mr. George and Mr. A. Welch, upon the highland, is the most eligible place for the seat of justice in said county of Jackson. All of which is respectfully submitted. Given under our hands at poplar Row, Lick township, the 18th day of March, 1817. "HENRY BARTLETT. SAMUEL REED, "LEWIS NEWSON, COMMISSIONERS. " The selection was a good one for the highland referred to has a commanding location. It is surrounded on all sides by a valley, so that all roads leading to Jackson run down hill into this valley. The tradition handed down from the Indians is to the effect, that this highland was thee site upon which many white prisoners were tortured and burned by the Indians, and many other white prisoners have been punished in the courthouse built upon the same site. The report of the commissioners was approved by the court, April 19, 1817, and Joseph Armstrong, the director, gave bond in the sum of $10,000 with John Stephenson, E. Trexler, Robert G. Hanna and Andrew Boggs, as sureties. SURVEY OF NEW TOWN OF JACKSON The first duty of the new director was to make a survey of the town, and Joseph Fletcher of Gallipolis was employed for the purpose. Dr. N. W. Andrews and David Radcliff assisted in the work. Joseph W. Ross, Francis Ory and George Riley were employed as chain carriers, James Chapman and a son, of Sheriff Abraham Welch, made the stakes. Maj. John James furnished the stones for the corners of the public square. This lot was surveyed first, beginning with the northeast line, which as designated by the commissioners was run with reference to the houses of Dr. N. W. Andrews and Abraham Welch. Both as well as that of John George were in Poplar Row which had been' built on the northeast slope of the highland where the courthouse stands now, and facing the original Chillicothe road laid out in 1804, under the direction of 406 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION Samuel S. Spencer. The lines of the public square determined the angles of the streets in the original survey of the town, and they in turn were determined by the direction taken by the old Indian trail along the bank of Salt Creek, which was followed by Spencer 's surveyor in laying out the Chillicothe and Gallipolis road. The remainder of the half section was divided into 137 inlots, 36 outlots and a common, together with the necessary streets and alleys. The work occupied eight days. Fletcher was paid $60 for his services. The surveying party was boarded by John George whose bill amounted to $19.62 1/2 . The sale of the lots, was arranged for at once. It began June 2, 1817, and continued for ten days. The auctioneer was Joseph W. Ross and the clerks, Dr. N. W. Andrews and Richard Johnson. The attendance was large for it was one of the most exciting incidents in the history of the town. Many of the villagers had spent sums of money not inconsiderable for those times on their leaseholds, and were anxious to bid them in. Speculators from the adjoining counties of Ross, Athens, Gallia, Pike and Scioto came also, and this made the bidding very lively. The sale began on Lot No. 1 the southeast corner of Main and Portsmouth streets and it was bid in by Elisha Fitch of Chillicothe, for $107. He was the successful bidder for the 'Commercial Bank corner also getting it for $79. The four lots facing the public square brought $390. The Sternberger corner, now occupied by the Lewis drug store, .was bought by Robert Lucas of Piketon, for $100. Lucas was the senator, who had interested himself in behalf of the Salt Boilers in 1815 when the question of establishing the new county came before the Legislature. He was a native of Shepherdstown, Virginia, born April 1, 1781, and he claimed direct descent from William Penn. Lucas came to Ohio in 1802, and moved to Piketon after a short residence in Scioto County. He became a merchant but was also active in politics. He served several terms in the Senate and the House, was speaker of the House one term, and in 1832 he was elected governor of the state by one vote over Gen. Duncan McArthur. He visited the Jackson lot sale as a speculator and recognized the possible value of the lot which he .bought, but it was many a day before business climbed the .hill from Poplar Row and his purchase did not benefit him. The lot facing his, the site of the Cambrian Hotel, was run to $145 by Reason Darby of Ross County. The high bidding took a more earnest phase when lots 51 and 52 were offered. Daniel Hoffman was the occupier where he conducted small, store. It was not in the business quarter however, and he secured them for $102 and $141 respectively, or $243 for the corner which the Gibson House now occupies. The business center of the town at that time was the square formed by Portsmouth and Water streets and there the highest bidding on separate lots occurred. Inlot No. 116, where the old Methodist Church now used as a schoolhouse stands, was bid in for $165 by Daniel Hoffman. The southwest corner where Andrew Donnally had his tavern was run up to. $200 at which price he bought it in. The highest bidding was on Inlot 120 the northeast corner of Portsmouth and Water streets where Noel's tan yard was located later, and it fell to Benjamin Kiger whose bid was HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 407 $225. Abraham Welch was forced to pay $102 for his lot late known as the Beyron lot, where his tavern stood and John George another tavern keeper had to pay $120 for his lot, .facing the Ruf Building on Water Street. Maj. John James bought the McKitterick corner, Water and Bridge streets for $140. Outlot. No. 1 was bid in by Samuel W. Blagg, for $200. On the whole the sale was a success for all but eleven inlots and one outlot were sold for a total of $7,196.75. The expense account of the survey and sale amounted to $349.95, leaving a handsome balance toward the erection of public buildings. A jail was the first necessity and the commissioners met on July 4 following the sale, to let the, contract for its erection. The journal entry, of this meeting contains a detailed statement of the expense account of the director, Joseph Armstrong, and it is inserted here in part because it pictures in a definite way the manners and customs of the times and shows also that men's attitude toward public enterprises was much the same then as now. Joseph Fletcher was paid. $60 for making the survey ; John George for boarding in the time of the survey, $19.621/2 ; Richard Johnson for acting as clerk for ten days, $10; N. W. Andrews same, $10, and $5 for five days after the sale ; John James for boarding hands, $14.121/2 ; John James for use of boy and one horse wagon for hauling stakes and stones for corner of the public square and a hand one day in making stakes, $6.50 ; Richard Johnson employed to go to Chillicothe for blank notes and certificates, $3; J. Nashe of Gallipolis for printing bonds and certificates, $10.25 ; William Ransom for going to Chillicothe to surveyor general's office for field notes, $3; Abraham Welch for use of horse in going for field notes and a boy one-half day in making stakes, $1; one-half paper of pins, 20 cents ; three quires of writing paper, $11.121/2 ; Andrew Donnally's account for whisky in time of sale, $25.75; for one quart of whiskey for hands erecting shed for clerks, 371/2 cents ; James Chapman making stakes, $1.50 ; J. W. Ross, $2.25, Francis Ory, $4.50, George Riley, $3, and David Radcliff, $2.75, were chaincarriers and Hugh Poor furnished two hands seven days, for $11.50 ; Joseph W. Roy for crying sale ten days, $17.75. PATENT FOR SECTION 29 Although the sale of lots actually occurred in 1817, the patent for Section No. 29 was not granted by the President until three years later. The text which is of interest to all realty owners in the section is as follows : "To All To Whom These Presents Shall Come, Greeting : "Know ye, that there has been deposited in the general land office a certificate of His Excellency, Ethan A. Brown, Governor of the State of Ohio, stating that in pursuance of an act of Congress, passed on the 16th of April, 1816, entitled, 'An Act to authorize the State of Ohio to sell a certain part of a tract of land reserved for the use of that State,' the Legislature of the said State did, by an act passed on the 14th of January, 1817, authorize and empower certain Commissioners to select, 408 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION and a Director to sell, a section of land in said reserved tract, and that the said Commissioners had selected, and Joseph Armstrong, , the Director appointed by said State, had sold the section so selected, to-wit : Section .29 of Township 7, in Range 18, being part of the six miles square reserved for the benefit of the State of Ohio, at the Scioto salt springs. " There is, therefore, granted by the United States the section of land above described unto the said Joseph Armstrong, and his successors in office, in trust, to execute title to the purchasers of the land aforesaid. "In testimony whereof, I have caused the letters to be made patent and the seal of the general land office to be hereunto affixed. " Given under my hand at the City of Washington, the 16th day of February, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and twenty, and for the Independence of the United States of America the forty-fourth. By the President, "JAMES MONROE. This section is now nearly all built upon. The public square is in longitude eighty-two degrees forty-one minutes and forty-eight seconds west and latitude thirty-nine degrees and fifteen minutes north. These observations were made by Surveyor Oliver. N. Tyson, who held office from 1838 to 1846, and the point was in the center of Main Street in front of the old courthouse which burned down in 1860. MICHAEL MCCOY'S RECOLLECTIONS Very few notes about early days at the Licks were written by pioneers who had been witnesses of what they wrote, and the only ones of any importance or value are random remarks written by Michael McCoy for the Standard in the late sixties. He was born in Lawrence County on January 22, 1800, and came with his parents to Hamilton Township in this county., in 1816, where he continued to live until his death, which occurred November 8, 1869. The following gleanings from McCoy's letters deserve a place here : We came to this county in the Spring of 1816. We landed en the 17th of April and settled near where Jacob Brown now (1866) lives. At that time there were but two houses where the town of Jackson now stands, and they were taverns. One was down below where the Ishams House stable now stands, and the other was down towards where Steel's (Ruf 's) tanyard now is. These taverns were kept by Abraham Welch and Jared Strong. There were five salt furnaces in operation at that time, run by Ross Nelson, John Johnson, John W. Sargeant, Asa Lake and William Givens. * * * This much I know (about the old Court House). The brick was made in 1820, not far from where Pearl street and Broadway cross. I do not think the wall of the Court House was built until 1821. What makes me think so is, that , the Elias Long house was built in 1820 by a man named Gibbs. I made and carried the mortar for more than two-thirds of. that house ; Nathan Sheward carried the HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 409 brick. We worked for 50 cents a day, or at least the promise of it. I never got over half my. pay. The same year that little checkered brick by Noel's tanyard was built by a man named Puffenbarger. I made and carried the mortar for that building from foundation to the top ; same wages and same pay. Both men broke up, and I had to take just what I could get There were two wells of salt water near Jackson in 1816, one owned by Asa Lake, not far from where the bridge crosses Salt creek on the _Chillicothe road. The furnace was out on the road not far from where George L. Crookham built some years afterward. There was another well not far from where Diamond Furnace is now located, belonging to William Givens. The furnace was on Givens' Run, in a southwest direction from town. * * * The Richmond family came to Jackson in 1817, the old man, his wife and seven sons all grown. Two of the sons are married.- Doctor Andrews served as clerk of courts until he moved to Portsmouth. * * * Now, I will give you a sketch of the wild aspect of things about Jackson when the first lots were sold. True, there was a great deal of timber cut for the salt furnaces, and in some places the young growth had started considerably. .There were three or four public roads that led to Jackson, the Gallipolis and Chillicothe road, the Athens road and the Piketon road. The latter was made for the purpose of hauling corn from the Big Scioto to the salt works. Then there was a track that was called the Guyan trace, along which hundreds of bushels of salt were -packed to the Ohio river. That trace left town where Nelson's Furnace was located. It ran a south course and crossed the' divide near Where Irwin's station now is. It then ran southward to the Adkins place, from there to old Joseph Price's, crossed the Black Fork of Symmes creek, then crossed Dirty Face near Philip Lambert's mill, then up Sweet Bit, crossed Dry. Ridge road, went down a run and crossed Symmes creek near where old Henry. McDaniel lived, then up Long creek, and crossing Greasy Ridge ran down Trace Fork to the forks of Indian Guyan, now Scott town ; thence south or nearly so to Guyandotte. Many a Red Man of the forest has traveled this path." Several decades later, runaway slaves followed the same path to Jackson County and freedom, when George L. Crookham was agent on the underground railway. There was another Indian trace Or trail which ran through Liberty 'township, known as the Pancake trail. It crossed Pigeon Creek, .passed near Big Rock, then climbed the long ridge to the famous Buffalo Wallow on Linn Hill and followed Hay Hollow to the Pancake ford of the Scioto which gave it the name after the whites settled in the country. The trail from the Licks to the mouth of Leading Creek on the Ohio soon disappeared, but there is a road passing through Middleton and on into Meigs County which follows its general direction. BUILDING OF THE JAIL AND COURTHOUSE The commissioners were in session during the first week of the sale and they made arrangements to build a jail. The contract was let July 410 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION 5, 1817. There was only one bid, that of John George, for $3,000, whose sureties were Ashley Gibbs, Jared Strong and Levi Mercer. Gibbs actually did the work. The building was completed by February 7, 1818, when it was received by the commissioners. It was two stories high, thirty feet front, and twenty feet deep, with four rooms and a hall on each floor. The walls of the prison part consisted of two tiers of oak logs, each a foot square. The walls were painted white, roof and shutters Spanish brown, and the casings lead color. It is said that no prisoner ever escaped from that jail built by the pioneers. The court fixed the jail bounds at 400 yards each way from the building on February 25, 1818. Previous to the completion of the jail all prisoners had been guarded by deputy sheriffs and fed at Andrew Donnally's ordinary. For instance, John George, who bid in the jail contract, was in trouble in the year 1817, and the expense of guarding him as a prisoner in the fall months cost $33.75. The guarding of Peter Marshall for a few days in August cost $39.75 and he escaped after all. The commissioners paid William Jolly $25 for his recapture. .The contract for building the courthouse was let December 4, 1819, to Elisha Fitch of Foss County, at $4,601. He gave Hooper Hurst, Jared Strong, Levi Mercer and William Given as his sureties. The work occupied several years. The building never was really completed. = The same plan was' used as in the courthouse at Piketon. The interior work dragged along until in 1825 and the bell was not hung until in the fifties. The building was destroyed by the great fire which swept Main Street in 1860 simply because the county did not own a ladder. The fire caught in the cupola from shingles carried by the wind from burning buildings across the street. There was a revolution in the appearance of the town after the ground was laid out in town lots and the titles to leaseholds were secured by the lessees. Many moved from cabins had to be moved from lot lines, and they were enlarged and otherwise improved in rebuilding, adding to the beauty as well as the conveniences in their domiciles. For many years however, the great majority of the houses were built of logs, and as late as 1836 Jackson was a village of log cabins. EARLY TAXPAYERS A perusal of the list of taxpayers living in Lick Township in 1819 reveals the fact that it was very different from the list of electors in 1816 and it is worth preserving. They were Nathaniel W. Andrews, John Antwell, Timothy Allen, Joseph Armstrong, Henry Armstrong, David Bierhop, G. W. Bartlett, Edward Byers, Sol Brown, Levi Booth, Peter Bunn, John Bennett, S. M. Burt, Abraham Crow, G. L. Crookham, John Capel, William Crow, A. Donnally, T. Darling, A. Dehaven, James Franklin, J. Faulkner, Jos. Franklin, W. Given, J. B. Gillespie, John Gillespie, S. Goodenough, D. Hoffman, S. A. Hall, John Hall, A. Hill, Wm. Hill, Chas. Higginbotham, A. Hursey, W. Harris, Hooper Hurst, Olney Hawkins, J. James, Dan James, Jas. Kelly, Hugh Kennedy, S. HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 411 Lake, Asa Lake, Robert Lucas, Sol Maines, John Motes, Mary Mabee, D. Mitchell, John McBride, John McGhee, A. McPheter, Zebiah McDaniel, John McClure, Moses Nally, Chas. O’Neil, John Ogg, Caleb Odle, John Praither, D. Penny, Sol Pickrel, Horace Penny, Poor Richmond & James, Henry Poffinberger, Val. Pancake, Edmund Richmond, Sr., Henry Routt, Mary Ransom, J. W. Ross, Robert Ross, Charles Radcliff, William Ray, James Saddler, Strong & .Givens, Jared Strong, Job Sperry, Edward Story, Vincent Southard, Sol Starr, Thomas Starr, John Starr, Elizabeth Wilcox, William White, John Wilson,Cooley Wiles, Absalom Wells, James Weeks, Wm. Ward. The list of taxpayers in Jackson Township was as follows : . Andrew Boarer, Peter Boarer, Stephen Baker, James Blain, Jesse Brewer, Henry Coon, John Coon, Daniel Clark, Isaac Clark, Thomas Clark, James Craig, Dan Corner, James Corner, George Comer, John Campbell, William Darby, Walter Davis, Robert Darling, William Davis, Judith Ellsworth, Silas Gergue, Wm. Grover, Dexter Biglow, Nehemiah Hayes, Isaac Hayes, Thomas Hartley, John Hartley, William Howe, David Leonard, Jacob Lush, George Mooney, Hibert Newell, Isaac Newell, Leonard Nicholas, Hibert Newell, Jr., John Runkle, Jonathan Van-coyer, Ira Ward, William Wilson, Isaac Washburn. Of the above William Darby was a soldier of the Revolution, according to his declaration of 1821, in which he claimed that he served as a drummer in Captain Davis' company, in the Pennsylvania line when Davis was killed, then in Captain Carberry's company in Colonel Hoobley's regiment, and that when discharged he was serving in General Wagner's division. He was in the service five years and ten months. The list of Scioto Township's taxpayers in 1819 included several who were afterward citizens of Liberty or Hamilton, viz. : Alex. Anderson, John Allen, Nathan Bergen, George Boarman, John Cuykendall, Cornelius Culp, Lewis Crabtree; Sr., Thomas Crabtree, Jr., Jacob Culp, Ed Crabtree, John Clemens, Thomas Crabtree, Sr., William Crabtree, Lewis Crabtree, Jr., Andrew Davisson, Sarah Doty, John Dixon, Eli Dixon, Henry Dixon, George Dever, William Mooney, Peter McKeain, Samuel McDowell, John McDowell, Jr., John McDowell, Sr., Isaac Miller, John McCorkle, Jollies Graham, John Graham, Joseph Graham, Sam Gilliland, John Halterman, Isaac Perry, Alex. Scott, Hugh Scott, Dan Spriggs, Abner Whaley, George Whaley, Silas Whaley, D. W. Walton, Urillah Wilking, Ben Flack, Sam Craig, Michael May. G. Whaley named above was a native of Greenbrier County, Virginia, and enlisted there on November 15, 1776, in the company of Capt. Matthew Arbuckle of the Twelfth Regiment, for one year. He re-enlisted at Louisburg in 1777, in the company aforesaid, which was in Col. John Newell's regiment and General Hand's brigade, and served two years. He was discharged at Fort Randall at the mouth of the Big Kanawah. He fought with the Indian as when Fort Randall was attacked in 1778. Whaley had served under General Lewis in 1774, and after the War of the Revolution, he came to this county, where he died. The family was a numerous one in Scioto and Liberty townships for a century. Another 412 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION Liberty man who served in the Revolution was Seth Larrabee. He enlisted at Windham for three years, in January, 1777, under Capt. Nino Elderkin in Col. Herman Swift's regiment, and served until. December, 1780. Returning to Windham he re-enlisted under Capt. Joseph Thong in Col. Thomas Swift's regiment and served another term of three years, making six years altogether. He saw much hard service and was in many of the battles of the Middle States, including Germantown and Monmouth. A third veteran who located afterward In Liberty was John Exline of the Virginia Line. He enlisted in Hampshire County, Virginia, in 1781 for eighteen months,. under Capt. Thomas Wyman and was in the campaign at Yorktown and saw Cornwallis surrender. He was then sent south with his regiment and saw service in the Carolinas and Georgia and finally returned to Cumberland Courthouse, where he received an honorable discharge, under Gen. Charles Scott. Doubtless a number of other veterans of the Revolution not cited in this book came to this county, but there is no record of their service, as there is of those enumerated above. It is thought that the volume containing the declarations of other veterans was burned wrier the courthouse was destroyed in 1860. The data given were copied as they appear from affidavits filed with the clerk of courts, and found accidentally by the writer while looking for other papers in a large pile of unclassified papers stored .in the courthouse attic. CHAPTER VI PIONEERS AND PIONEER MATTERS PIONEER TRADERS AT THE LICKS-GEORGE L. CROOKHAM, PIONEER TEACHER SCHOOLHOUSE OF OLD-FIRST BOARD OF EXAMINERS - FIRST LAWYER OF THE COUNTY-PETTIFOGGERS-PAYMENT IN TRADE-CIRCUIT RIDERS VISIT JACKSON-FIRST CHURCHES AND SUNDAY SCHOOLS-FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF JACKSON-PIONEER FARMERS AND FARMING-REAL SETTLERS SUCCEED SQUATTERS-OLD AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS-THE FLAX CROP AND THE SPINNERS -COTTON AND COTTON SEED-SPORTS OF BACKWOODSMEN- TYPICAL WEDDING-SICKNESS AND DOCTORS. When the first census of Jackson County was taken in 1820 the inhabitants were found to number 3,746. When it is recalled that the voting population was fewer than five 'hundred, it will be seen readily, that it was a county of large families. There were sixteen children in the family of George L. Crookham and the family that could not show five or. six lusty sons, and an equal. number of buxom daughters was not able to command much attention. By 1830 the population had increased to 5,941 and to 9,447 in 1840. In 1850 a part of the county was taken to form the County of Vinton, but a small area was added from the County of Gallia and the census returns showed a population of 12,719. Much of the increase from 1830 to 1850 was due to the coming of the Welsh immigrants into Madison, Jefferson, Bloomfield and Franklin townships, and to the building of two iron furnaces. The railroad came in 1853, and by 1860 the population had increased to 17,941. Up to that year Jackson was the only village of any importance in the county, and yet the population of the town and Lick Township was only 2,334. In the meantime, Milton, with no villages, and only an agricultural population, had 2,365 inhabitants. Franklin, which had the largest 'population when the county was organized retained its leadership ,in 1830, and 1840, and it continued to grow until. 1870, the figures for the four decades up to that time being 1,045, 1,295, 1,434 and 1;665. The rural exodus and other causes began to tell by 1880, and the population fell to 1,502.. Madison's population was more than doubled between 1840 and 1850 by the advent of the Welsh, rising from 724 to 1,515. Jefferson. grew during the same decade from 752 to 1,036 and it almost doubled from 1850 to 1860, rising from 1,036 to 2,050. In this connection. it 'must be borne in mind, that several large colonies. left the - 413 - 414 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION county for western states, between 1840 and 1860. One of Welshmen went to Minnesota in 1856 and one of Oak Hill neighborhood people went to Missouri about the same time. In the same period, the Massies, Kellys, Waltons, Aliens, Corns and many other families sold their farms to the Welsh and moved south to Lawrence, others to Scioto and the rest farther west. The coming of the Welsh into the townships named, and of colonies of Pennsylvanians and Western Reserve people and of Germans into Liberty and Scioto townships, drove out the last of the squatters who were as numerous in some parts as the actual settlers who bought the lands upon which they had lived. About 1870 the rural exodus began and the country townships have lost much population, but the explanation of that phenomenon belongs at a later period in the county 's history. The Germans of Scioto have been mentioned. A few Irish came in early days but the majority of them did not come until 1854. PIONEERS AT THE LICKS The first traders at the Scioto Licks were undoubtedly Frenchmen, but English traders may have visited the 'Licks while the Indians were in possession. Peddlers from Chillicothe came as soon as the whites settled here ,and supplies were brought in by traders for some years before any merchant opened a store. There is no record of any merchant until after the county was organized when licenses began to be issued. The first was secured by Daniel Hoffman, November 5, 1816, on the payment of $15. His `business was on a small scale, for in. June, 1818, the commissioners, John Stephenson and Robert G. Hanna, appraised his house and store with all the loose plank in the lot and counter and other work for the store at $175. This store stood on the site of the -Gibson House, corner of Main and Portsmouth streets. Peter Apple & Company started a second store, receiving their license April 8, 1817. Daniel Burley, the third merchant, took out his license May 12, 1818. The firm of Hugh Poor & Company, consisting of Hugh Poor, Horace Wilcox and Edmund Richmond, took out a license July 15, 1818, and Strong & Given, consisting of Jared Strong and William Given, secured a license September 26, 1818. Another firm, James & Hurst, consisting of Maj. John James and Hooper Hurst, started a store in 1819. James had been a partner with the firm of Hugh Poor and Edmund Richmond before that, taking over the interest of Horace Wilcox, who had died early. in 1819. It appears that one Walter Murdock had been engaged in business before June 30, 1818, for on that date he petitioned for relief as an insolvent debtor. He was the first bankrupt in the county. The tavern keepers sold liquor and their profits were larger than those of some of the merchants. Absalom Welch, John George, John James and others, opened taverns in the days of the Salt Works, James in 1807. Andrew Donnally was the first to secure a license. He opened his tavern' in Bloomfield Township but soon moved to Poplar Row. James McQuality came later, and for many years he owned the most pretentious tavern in the town, a two story frame building in Main Street, with the small windows HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 415 that the oldest citizens remember. As his business grew he built an extension toward the alley on the west. In time the lower room of this extension became the postoffice. The upper room was used for an office and Allen G. Thurman always occupied it when he was in attendance at the Jackson courts. Other noted men, including General Harrison, Henry Clay, and many of -minor note have spent a night or more in this old tavern. David Mitchell was one of the old time blacksmiths from 1808 until official duties took him out of the shop. Mechanics were scarce in the county until the '30s, for there was little building, except of log houses. The majority of the frame buildings in the county were erected by journeymen from Chillicothe or Gallipolis. GEORGE L. CROOKHAM, PIONEER TEACHER George L. Crookham was the first teacher in the county, and the only school for more than a decade before the county was organized was the one conducted by him at the Salt Works. Then other neighborhoods began to employ men to teach schools in their own homes, one week in each home in the community until the teacher had gone the round of the paying patrons. This system was very unsatisfactory, .and cabins began to be built for the sole use of schools, and after the sale of school lands regular districts were organized, some of which remain to this day, with little change of boundaries. But after schoolhouses were built, teachers continued to board around until in the '50s, and even later. THE SCHOOLHOUSE OF OLD The following pen picture of a pioneer schoolhouse of Jackson County was written by Davis Mackley, who was a teacher for many years, beginning in 1836: "Going along a path through the woods, we heard a kind of monotonous sound between talking and singing. It is the united voice. of twenty-five or thirty boys and girls all reading or spelling aloud in school. Now we can see the schoolhouse. It is situated by the side of the path. It is built of unhewn logs, and up to the roof is not more than some seven feet high. The roof is made of clapboards held to their place by weight poles. The chimney is built with cat and clay, or mud and split lath. The fire place takes in wood eight or ten feet long. The chimney, is frequently taking fire and a boy is engaged putting it out by pouring water upon it from a large gourd. The house is about twenty feet square. The floor is made of puncheons or split logs, with the upper side hewn smooth. There is one door, the shutter of which is made of clapboard and is hung upon wooden hinges and fastened with clapboards. The .windows are made by widening the space between two logs and these spaces are covered with paper pasted in. It is greased with lard on the outside to preserve it from the weather. Holes in the logs under the windows are made to hold pins on which are laid light puncheons for use as writing desks. The seats are made of split poplar 416 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION Jogs, the upper side hewn smooth, with four legs set in holes in the four corners, made with augers. The cracks between the logs are chinked with mud. There is not an ounce of metal or any glass in the building." This description will answer also for the cabins of nearly all the pioneers. Even the most prosperous lived in such houses until in the '50s, and a large number lived in meaner shanties. Families of five to fifteen children were raised in one room log cabins before 1840, and some of the children became leaders in church and state, outside of their own county. The teacher in the early schools could read, write and cipher, and that was all the teaching done. The books were few in number. There were small spelling books, Bibles," Testaments, some annuals and occasional books of history or biography. After some years, elementary arithmetics and primer grammars were used by more progressive teachers. Each pupil had a blank book made at home of foolscap paper, bound in cloth or calico, in which the teacher wrote problems, models for writing; rules of grammar, etc., and the scholars followed copy, and wrote in solutions of problems. Some of these old copybooks are treasured by descendants of the scholars of those days. Spelling was the principal exercise, and wonderful proficiency was acquired by some pupils. The spelling school as an entertainment came into vogue at an early date and played about the same part for the children as the shooting match did for their elders, with this social advantage, that both sexes participated in the spelling matches, and the girls often won. The teachers and pupils generally provided their own fuel and 'the Saturdays devoted to chopping and hauling wood for the school was. a glorious holiday. The great event of the school year was the Christmas treat, when children were given candy brought from a distant town. The treat was always preceded by a frolic called "locking" or "barring out" the teacher. It was "barring out" before the day of locks. Some morning when the teacher arrived at the schoolhouse, he would find the door barred and all the large boys inside of the -house, while the small boys and girls are waiting expectantly for his arrival outside. Then began parleying and maneuvering, for the teacher was expected to make a fight, to get in. All the tricks of an ingenious Yankee were used by the best teachers, for the' purpose of testing the boys' wits, and for several days the teacher might succeed in breaking in, but in the end the boys were allowed to win and the teacher capitulated. Two large boys were then sent to the nearest store, perhaps as far as Jackson, to get the treat and all ended well. Occasionally however a bitter row developed, and some teachers were ducked in creeks, or some of the boys were . pummeled and expelled from school. In the earliest days, the treat for the largest .boys always included . whisky, and maple sugar and fruit for the smaller ones and the girls, but in time sweets came in. Many of the older teachers had been failures at everything else, but in the '40s ambitious' young men, who expected to become lawyers or ministers, began to teach, and they introduced new methods. Some of the best of this class in Jackson County were Rev. John P. Morgan, a wonderful mathematician, who entered the HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 417 Calvinistic ministry, and Edward Jordan, who in after years became solicitor' of the United States treasury. Practically all the professional men worked their way up through the common schools, first as pupils, then as monitors, then as teachers. This kind of training gave the men of the pioneer days fine training for coping with all the great problems of life. Such experience is lacking today, and something is missed out of the lives of the professional men of today, on that account, which nothing else can replace. One of the best of the old style teachers was William Wilds. He taught from house to house for several years and then a cabin was built for him by the neighbors of Adam Sell, northwest of Coalton, about 1820. James H. Darling was the last survivor of his school and he recalled that Wilds was a free user of the rod. His oldest scholars read the Bible and studied arithmetic and writing. The smaller ones spelled and played. The teachers of the Wilds type passed away soon after teachers examinations were required. FIRST BOARD OF EXAMINERS The first board of examiners was appointed June 8, 1826, and consisted of George L. Crookham, Daniel Hoffman and Alexander Miller. Some of the children had to travel many miles to school before the first sub districts were organized but this proceeded rapidly after 1826 and by January 5, 1828, Jefferson Township for instance, had three sub districts. The first had twenty-five householders, viz.: Theophilus Blake, Lewis Arthur, Joel Arthur, Amos Arthur, Jesse Radabaugh, Young Slaughter, Gabriel McNeal, James Walton, Isaiah Walton, Isaac Leniger, James Jenkins, Enoch Ewing, John Johnson, Amos Jenkins, Ben Arthur, W. H. C. Jenkins, Lewis Harmon, John White, John Horton, William Hughes, Henry Hughes, Abner Cutler, George Hughes, William Coiner and Thomas Canter. The second district included eighteen householders, viz. : James Kelly, Jesse Kelly, Solomon Mack-ley, George Grager, John Shoemaker, Robert Massie, Jonathan Massie, Moses Massie, Jephthah Massie, Jr., William Lloyd, Jephthah Massie, Sr., John Corn, John Mackley, John McKensie, Samuel Corn, George Corn, Robert Massie, Joseph Cummins. The third district included thirteen' heads of families, viz. : William Corn, Joseph Phillips, Peter Seel, John Whitt, Jacob Fodge, David Morgan, Peter Corn, Matt Farley, Thomas Farley, George Slack, William Silvey, James Wallace, John Farley. Solomon Mackley, named above, moved to Jefferson Township in 1821. He was one of those who established horse mills for grinding Corn, which he did in 1832. At that time the nearest mill was near Camba on the Stropes Farm. George Corn, named above, came to Jefferson Township about 1826. He was the father of twenty children and many of them came to this county. He was a native of Virginia and had served in the Revolutionary war. Lucy, his daughter, became the wife of Big Jep Massie, -son of Robin Massie, the pioneer, and an account of Vol. I —27 418 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION the wedding was written: for the Standard by Davis Markley about forty years afterward. FIRST LAWYER OF THE COUNTY Perhaps the first lawyer to locate in Jackson was Joseph Lake and the second was Elihu Johnson, who came to Jackson in 1829. The practice had been attended to by attorneys from bordering counties especially Ross. Joseph Sill, Richard Douglass, N. K. Clough of Chillicothe, had cases at the first term of court in 1816. Then came Samuel F. Vinton and David Boggs of Gallia County and Le Grand Byington of Pike. Perhaps the most noted lawyer to practice in the Jackson County Courts in those early days was Allen G. Thurman. He was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, November 13, 1813, and the next year his father moved. to Chillicothe where young Thurman grew to manhood. After reading law under his uncle, William Allen, he was admitted to the bar in 1835. The first case which he tried in court as an attorney was in Jackson County. He had a room in McQuality's tavern where he always stopped while in Jackson. About the same time James Hughes, the third attorney, located in Jackson. He played an important part in the history of the county, founded the Standard in 1847 and helped to develop thought and intelligence in the county. PETTIFOGGERS For lack of lawyers there was employment in the various justice courts for a class of men called pettifoggers. Of this number were several noted characters, such as Henry McDaniel of Symmes Creek, and William Martin of Jefferson. Many justices went to other townships to 'practice before their colleagues. Martin's fee for his services was 50 cents, and he accepted pay in goods, such as ginseng, linen, feathers, coonskins, etc. There was great rivalry for- the office of justice and the contests were the most exciting in the townships. Sometimes the candidates brought jugs of whisky to the polls to keep up the spirits of their partisans. PAYMENT IN TRADE Payment in goods was common in all business transactions on account of the scarcity of money, and there is a record of a case in which Peter Seel was sued by one David Morgan for the services of his son, Thomas Morgan, for one month. The consideration was to have been linen and flax. Seel set up the claim that he actually paid young Morgan 3 1/2 yards of flax linen, worth $1.75 ; 2 1/2 yards flax and tow linen at 41 cents, or $1.02 ; 1 jacket pattern of striped jeans at 50 cents ; and $1.50 in cash. John T. Brasse represented Morgan and N. K. Clough came for Peter Seel at the trial held in March term, 1830. Morgan won-a verdict for $3.75. Seel felt that he had been wronged, and HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 419 after the trial he said to Morgan : "Dave there is hemp growing for you" and the story goes that Morgan went west soon afterward, killed a man, and in course of time was hanged. CIRCUIT RIDERS VISIT JACKSON COUNTY Methodist circuit riders visited Jackson as early as 1801 if not earlier and a camp meeting was held here that year. In a few years regular appointments were made. The oldest record however goes back only to 1816, when Rev. John Tivis was the circuit rider with David Young as presiding elder. Burroughs Westlake succeeded Tivis in 1818, but he was cross eyed and this interfered with his work. G. R. Jones followed in 1819 and was a powerful preacher. He was succeeded in 1820 by an eccentric man named William Westlake. In 1821 James Harris came and had a successful ministry ; William Crawford came in 1822; Andrew S. McClain in 1823 ; William Page in 1824 and 1825 ; John Walker in 1826 ; Richard Branduff in 1827 ; John H. Powers in 1828. Two men were appointed in 1829, James Armstrong and Absalom D. Fox, and then came Jacob Delay in 1830. He was a citizen of the county living in Milton Township, where he had settled before the county was organized. His family remained on the farm, while he travelled on the circuits. He retired at last and died ripe in years. A direct descendant, Hon. Frank Delay, is now probate judge of the county. John Ulin came on the circuit in 1831 and 1832 ; F. D. Allen and David Kinneer in 1833 ; W. P. Strickland and S. A. Rathburn in 1834; F. H. Jennings and J. A. Brown in 1835 ; Ben Ellis in 1836 ; John F. Gray. and J. W. Young in 1837 ; Francis Wilson in 1838 ; Samuel Bateman in 1839. The noted Daniel Poe came in 1840 and he organized several new churches, one at Clay as the result of a camp meeting held in the Ben Callahan woods, west of the cross roads. Poe was a descendant of the famous Indian fighter. Poe went later to Texas where he died. Richard Doughty came in 1841 and Jacob Delay was returned in 1842; Joseph Morris and A. L. Westervelt came in 1843 and Abraham Cartlich served in 1844 and 1845. These data were furnished by Rev. John Stewart in a letter written for the Standard in 1869. He had known the circuit since 1816: FIRST CHURCHES AND SUNDAY SCHOOLS The Methodist Episcopal denomination is by far the strongest in the county now, but the Baptists actually built the first church within the present bounds of the county. This was erected in 1819 on a ridge near Faulkner's Mill in a neighborhood included in Gallia County until 1850. The Baptists had many adherents among the pioneers, but the high character and native shrewdness of Dr. Gabriel McNeal turned the tide in the south in favor of Methodism and they retained the leadership until the Welsh came in. Julius A. Bingham, a Presbyterian, started a Sunday school at old Oak Hill in 1832 but he was not able to establish a 420 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION church. His school was held in a grove, east of the village, near where the Calvinists built their church afterward. It attracted much attention and hosts of young people attended the first summer, the roll reaching 300. It was the largest open air school ever held in the county. Bingham secured the services of Reverend Howe to preach to his school, but the best pupils were already members of the Baptist or Methodist churches, and no proselyting was possible in those days. The school died when winter came. The Methodist class in Jackson previous to 1830 had the following members : John and Nancy James, David and Eleanor Mitchell, John and Margaret Martin, Samuel Hale and wife, Jacob Schellenger and wife, John Ogg, Philip Strother, Hannah McKensie, and others whose names have been lost. The oldest, however, was Mother Sylvester, who with her sister, Mrs. John Martin, was converted at the camp meeting held near the Salt Works in 1801. Preaching services were held in the woods in summer and in the homes in winter until the courthouse was completed in 1821. In time, other' denominations demanded the use 'of the courthouse and the commissioners shut all of them out but permitted a union Sunday school for the town to be held in it under the leadership of Vincent Southard. Shut out of the courthouse the' Methodists met for a time in a log schoolhouse, but in 1835, they built a church measuring forty feet by thirty feet, and eleven feet to the ceiling. Samuel Burt was the contractor and it cost $350, but it was never' painted. The officers at the time were Elias Long, John D. James, Isaac Brown, William Flowers, Philip Noel and Daniel Hoffman. The oldest record book belonging to the Methodists began April 16, 1830, when Rev. Jacob Delay was pastor. The members then numbered forty-six. The first brick church was built on the same site in 1855. It was most substantial and when it became too small the board of education bought it for use as a schoolhouse, and four rooms were made out of it. The Baptist Church was organized July 19, 1841, with Rev. John L. Moore as moderator, Prof. W. Williams Mather was secretary of the meeting. A creed was prepared by Mather, Felix Ellison and Oliver M. Tyson, and it was signed by them and Jonathan Walden, William Gillespie, Emily Mather, Martha Gillespie, Gilbert Weed, Elizabeth Dyer, Frances M. Bolles, and Catharine Tyson. The first deacons were O. M. Tyson and William Gillespie ; clerk, W. Williams Mather; treasurer, William Gillespie. Their first church was completed in 1846. The first Presbyterian Church in Jackson which is the strongest belonging to that denomination in the county was organized in 1836. The pioneer was Vincent Southard who played an important part in the history of the town and county. He was a tax payer as early as 1819 and w in 1827 he was made auditor of the county. He served two years, went out two years, was elected a second time in 1831 and served seven years. It was in 1831 that he started the Union School in the courthouse, which lived four years when it was divided, the Methodists going to their own church. In the meantime Southard had secured the oc- HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 421 casional services of Rev. Hiram R. Howe of Virginia, who settled on Raccoon in 1832, and he began to preach at regular intervals in 1835. Howe was born in Vermont, settled in Virginia, entered the Ohio University where he graduated in 1827, returned to Virginia where he graduated frfrom theological seminary and entered the Presbyterian ministry. There were two ladies in Jackson who had been members of a Presbyterian Church at Portsmouth, Mrs. Eunice Isham and Mrs. Rachel French. Through the influence of Southard and the efforts of these two ladies, a Presbyterian Church was organized in January, 1836. The first meeting was held in the home of Dr. Asa W. Isham and his wife, Eunice. Rev. Hiram R. Howe, minister and John Strong, Amasa Howe and James Glenn were visiting elders. The members were Mrs, Eunice Isham, Mrs. Rachel French, Vincent Southard and wife, Mr. and Mrs. Gillespie, James and Thomas Nicholl, Christian Behem and wife, Chapman Isham, Samuel Montgomery, Dr. Asa W. Isham and a colored man named Kale, together with others making twenty-nine in all. Among the preachers who had been here before was John Rankin of Ripley, the famous abolitionist. The first elders were Dr. Asa W. Isham, Christian Behem and Thomas Nicholl. Rev. Howe was succeeded in 1837 by Rev. Ellery Bascom, who began the building of a church. It was of brick, forty-five feet by twenty-five feet. Many years elapsed before it was completed. Bascom was a strong abolitionist, while the town was strongly democratic. His usefulness was thus impaired, and he left in 1839 giving way to Reverend Boggs and other transients in turn. In August, 1842, Rev. Isaiah Ford came and he finished the church begun by Bascom. He remained the pastor until his death in 1851. Reverend Hicks followed for two years and was succeeded by Ref,. L. C. Ford in 1853, who remained pastor for five years. Rev. Thomas Towler was called in 1859 and remained until November, 1862, when his sermons against slavery gave so much offense that he left. PIONEER FARMERS AND FARMING Farming was, of course, the only occupation of the pioneers except at the Salt Works, but there were two classes of farmers, the squatters and the settlers. The first class were nomads with no abiding dwelling place. Their ancestors in England or elsewhere had been unfortunate in war or business, and had been transported to Virginia where they, were sold as indentured servants. In course of time, many persons of this class escaped into the Virginia mountains where they built cabins and made small clearings where they raised corn and beans, and pumpkins, together with tobacco. Their farming was only a light side line to secure food to balance the meat diet, which they secured by hunting and trapping. When real settlers came who had bought the land titles, the squatters moved on into the wilderness until they finally crossed the mountains and descended along branches of the Ohio. There they were dispossessed after the Revolution and the flight across the Ohio began. A few, like the Patricks already named, entered the Ohio woods, earlier 422 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION than 1785, and many more came into the woods as soon as the Indians had ceded the southern part of Ohio in 1795. Several score of this class of pioneers came to Jackson County. Some of them were superior men, and marrying into the families of settlers, they bought lands, and became permanent residents. Others remained as squatters in the woods, until the iron industry began to be developed. It produced conditions much to their liking, and they became wood choppers and colliers, and in course of time were herded into the huts on the furnace lands or moved west, in quest of wild country where they could continue their squatter life. Those who moved on furnace grounds drifted to the towns after the furnaces ran their course, where they are still nomads drifting on, and forming a permanent nucleus for the army of unemployed. Many of those squatters were indifferent to all the conventions of society, and cohabited and raised large families without marrying. This is the dark side of pioneer life in southern Ohio, and it is seldom referred to in the books. The squatters were responsible for many wild fires, and they were often charged with hog and cattle stealing. But their shortcomings were not of the flagrant kind, and while murders were occasionally committed in the woods, only a few strangers ever disappeared in 'the Jackson County woods. As they grew old, some of them were abandoned by their children. Some of those established camps in rock shelters, and several men and women have died in such rude habitations, one such death occurring near Eifort (where three counties meet) within a few years. The burials were made by the townships. Such phases of life are possible today only in hill counties like Jackson where the forest is slowly reclaiming a part of its former domain for her own. The actual settlers were men of a higher type. They followed the trail of the squatters into the woods, spied out the choice house, sites selected by many of them, entered their land, bought the claim of the squatters, in order to secure peaceful possession, for a gun or a few dollars, made a small plantation of corn and tobacco, built a cabin, and then returned to Virginia, to bring their families into the new country in autumn when the creeks were low, and wild vegetation had lost its rankness. In some instances, the improvements of the squatters were such that the family- could be moved here at once. The settlers had no difficulty in getting rid of the squatters except in one township. There they had taken possession of a rich valley, and several had made improvements of some pretension, and they demanded large sums of money for those days, before moving off. .The settlers were forced to organize in their owl* defense, but no actual hostilities occurred, after one showing of strength was made at a shooting match. There was disturbance in two or three townships between rival families over certain unentered lands, and the feud was kept up in one township until a murder was committed. This put 'an end to hostilities because the attention of the county officers was attracted by it to the feud and they made short work of it. All of Jackson County outside of the Salt Reserve was Congress lands. The surveyors began their work in 1798 and by 1805 much of the county had been subdivided ready for settlers. Some of the first HANGING ROCK IRON REGION - 423 settlers were thrifty salt boilers who had found farms to their liking on Fourmile, McDowell's Run and Buckeye, and secured patents while still living at the Salt Works. Other settlers came in by way of Gallipolis and entered lands on the headwaters of Raccoon in Bloomfield. Two colonies came by this route, one in 1806 from Stokes County, North Carolina, including the Scurlocks, Stokers and others, and a second colony from Virginia in 1810, including the Radabaughs, Jenkins, Arthurs, McNeals and many others. Another stream of immigrants came from Ross County, and a third from the lands of the Ohio Company. But Greenbrier County in Virginia, which had furnished so many, soldiers for General Lewis' army in 1774, was in a large measure, the Mother of Jackson County, and those soldiers and their descendants formed almost one-third of the population as late as 1820. East Lick was known as Greenbrier down to war times, and the descendants of its Virginians are a recognizable element of the population e'en. today. The first settlers chose the lands where the timber was heaviest, the farms of big oaks, ash, hickories, chestnut and walnuts. But only a few trees were chopped down, those needed for the cabins, stables and fences. The clearing was begun by cutting out the undergrowth of pawpaws, plums, dogwood, crabapples, hawthorns and then the larger trees were deadened and in one or two years they could be burned down. Vast fortunes thus disappeared in smoke but the land was needed for corn to feed the family. The ash and poplar were usually selected for lumber for the buildings, one because it slabbed nicely, and poplar because it could be hewn quickly for the log sides of the cabin's and furniture. The original poplar logs are still in the Joel Arthur house built near Clay in 1816, which is perhaps the oldest house in the county. Girdling the trees was not alto-tether an easy task, and settlers ignorant of wood craft had their bitter experiences. But they soon learned that an oak tree .girdled to the red would die at once the first 'season, while trees of other varieties had to be peeled six to eight feet, in order to kill them. The burning of the standing wood which occupied so much of the time of the settlers in clearing the land, was at first a glorious side of pioneer life, but the beauty of the wood fires at night was soon forgotten, when the serious side appeared, the danger to improvements already made, the burning of cabins and stables and fence, by wild fires which became uncontrollable, and not least, the driving of all game from the forest, thus robbing the pioneers of their meat supply which at one time was so bountiful. There was one advantage derived however, the driving out of beasts of prey and the destruction of venomous snakes which abounded in the hill country. The clearing was far from ready for the sowing after the trees were burned, because of the stumps and the roots, and the following season, a forest of sprouts sprang up. The fight with the forest was more tedious than the fight with the wild beasts in earlier eras for the forest grew while the pioneers slept, and the sprouts would reclaim the clearing in two or three seasons, unless destroyed. 424 - HANGING ROCK IRON REGION OLD AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS The only plow brought in by the pioneers was the common shovel plow. No other could be used in the root bound soil and even the shovel plow did little more than tickle the soil. The first cast iron plow did not appear until about the '30s, the first in Jefferson Township being brought by a family from New York in 1833. The corn sprouted quickly in the rich soil of the northeast hillsides which were .usually cleared first and it needed but little cultivation to produce from twenty-five to thirty bushels to the acre. There were no weeds to speak of except the late butterweeds, for the pestiferous immigrant weeds were unknown then. But the corn had many other enemies, which required -vigilance on the part of the settlers, the crows and blackbirds which found the new food much to their liking, and as the ears developed the raccoons and the squirrels which came to collect rent from the white man. There were no mills for grinding at first and all the corn had to be grated. The hand mills came first, then crushers were made by burning a hole in the top of a stump, which, when cleaned out, was filled with grain and crushed by a heavy timber hung from a sweep pole. Horse mills came next, established by men like Dr. Gabriel McNeal, John Kight, Solomon Mackley, Stropes, Stephenson, Clark and others. These 'were the only mills of importance until the '40s with the exception of two or three water mills,, like Faulkner's on Black Fork, Traxler's on Fourmile, Strong's on Salt Creek. There was little wheat raised until the '30s. It did not thrive in the new land, and there were so many handicaps in preparing it for food. 'Harvesting was done with a sickle, threshing with a flail, cleaning with sieves, or some blowing devices, grinding could not be had within ten to twenty miles, the nearest mills being in Gallia County, and baking was difficult on account of scarcity of household furnishings. After a time threshing was done on barn floors, by driving horses round and round on the straw. One of these old threshing floors may still be seen in the barn of H. H. Stephenson of Hamilton Township. Fanning mills were at last brought into the county, which were a great improvement over the riddles and flapping sheets, but the first fanning mills were beyond the means of the average pioneer. Some oats, and rye were raised together with beans, pumpkins and garden vegetables of a poor type, also two kinds of potatoes, an early variety of a rusty dark blue color, and the late red potatoes. Little hay was grown, the cattle as well as the horses being fed on corn fodder, or grazed on the sparse wild pea vines in the woods. But in addition to raising crops for food and feed, the pioneers found it necessary to raise flax for clothing. Then men sowed the flax and broke it, but the rest of the work was done by the women. When it was ripe they pulled and cured it on the ground, tied it in bundles, and housed it. Then it was spread on the ground to rot the woody part of the stalk, bundled a second time, and dried on a scaffold over a fire. After the man broke it, the women scutched it, that is, beat out the stalk, hatchel led it and put it up in twists. Next it was spun, the