500 - SOUTHEASTERN OHIO But is that the voice of the mourner A-wail through the leafless trees, That brings the gaunt hound from his corner— And the child to his father's knees? Ah, no! 'Tis no night wind benignant That the poor settler knows so well, 'Tis the sound of the awful, malignant And devilish Indian yell! Small need is there now for reciting— Meager need for the poet to tell How the brave pioneer fell fighting, How his dauntless wife fought and fell. Let the autumn breeze whisper the story, Till rustling reeds quiver and wave— Till the goldenrod showers its glory O'er the pioneer's lowly grave. As for us—when the spring flowers are peeping From the frost-freed mould beneath, And the ice-freed river is leaping Like a flashing blade from its sheath, Let us gather the first wild beauty We can find on the brown earth's breast And place it here—as a duty— Where the pioneer lies at rest. And again—when the summer is dying And the year is growing old, When the russet leaves, falling and flying, Fetch a message of coming cold, Let us deem it a noble pleasure Once more to assemble here And bring a late autumn treasure To the hardy old pioneer. CHAPTER CXLIV LEGISLATURE PROPOSED MORGAN'S ORGANIZATION IN 1817 BUT DELAYS ENSUED BECAUSE OF BITTER CONTEST OVER LOCATION OF COUNTY SEAT—FIVE COMMUNITIES WRESTLED FOR THE PRIZE AND McCONNELSVILLE WAS VOTED THE WINNER—PIONEERS HAD BEEN BUILDING FOR COUNTYHOOD—EARLY SETTLERS MADE OF GOOD STOCK—POPULATION ABOUT THREE THOUSAND IN 1817—FIRST JAIL COST $530 AND COURTHOUSE NUMBER ONE WAS ERECTED IN 1820. Late in the year 1817 the General Assembly of Ohio gave evi-dence of its willingness to take territory from Muskingum, Washington and Guernsey counties and create with it a new county, Morgan, but no headlong haste was observed in the steps adopted to give the proposed county a working existence. The act of 1817, passed December 29, provided that the new subdivision should bear the family name of Gen. Daniel Morgan, brave officer of the Revolution, and should have these boundaries: "Beginning at the southwest corner of township 8, range 13 ; thence east to the eastern bank of the Muskingum River ; thence down said river with the meanders thereof to a point where it will first intersect the northern boundary of the donation tract ; thence east with the said northern boundary line to the southeast corner of township 5, range 9 ; thence north to the northeast corner of said township ; thence east to the western boundary line of Monroe County to the southeast corner of township 6, range 8; thence north to the, northeast corner of township 7, range 8; thence west to the line of Muskingum County; thence south to the southwest corner of township 8, range 10; thence west to the center of township 14, range 14 ; thence south to the southern line of said township 14, range 14 ; thence east to the southeast corner of said township ; thence south to the place of beginning." LOCATING THE COUNTY SEAT This act postponed organization of the county until such time as the Legislature might "think proper" and provided that mean- - 501 - 502 - SOUTHEASTERN OHIO while the new county should remain a part of the counties which it was to come from. The Legislature took the next step January 26, 1818, when a resolution was enacted, to appoint three commissioners to locate the county seat. Ephraim Cutler, of Washington County; Samuel Lybrand, of Pickaway, and David Robb, of Guernsey, were named for that purpose. They took action in May, Cutler and Lybrand voting for McConnelsville; but Robb held out for a point on the Marietta-Zanesville road because it was nearer the county's center. The General Assembly sought to complete the work in hand by an act approved December 28, 1818, to take effect March 1, 1819, providing for organization and ordering an election to be held on the first Monday in April. Evidences of an election at which a complete quota of officers were chosen are lacking, but David Fulton, Sylvanus Piper and Robert McKee were chosen county commissioners, Nathan Dearborn coroner and Timothy Gaylord recorder. FIVE SOUGHT THE PRIZE Practically all residents of the new county rejoiced in its creation but they were far apart as to the location of its county seat. The field of contestants included McConnelsville, Malta, • the David Stevens farm in section 36 and the Chandler farm in section 14, of Bristol Township, both on the Zanesville-Marietta Road; and the Dawes and Shepard farms, on the Lancaster-Harmar Road. The first board of county commissioners made no provision for public buildings, perhaps because its members did not want them located at McConnelsville. This omission gave great importance to the second election, held October 18, 1819, to fill the offices of sheriff and coroner and the three commissioners. The desire to elect commissioners who would choose the "right" spot for the county seat drew a full quota of voters to the polls. The following table lists the candidates and gives their respective votes: William Montgomery, Bloom Township - 323 Richard Cheadle, Windsor - 303 John Shutt, Deerfield - 318 David Fulton, Manchester - 200 SOUTHEASTERN OHIO - 503 Sylvanus Piper, Morgan (west side) - 252 Robert McKee, Oliver - 257 Enoch S. McIntosh, Center - 22 William Craig, Union - 11 John Sears, Manchester - 11 M'CONNELSVILLE THE WINNER Each elector was of course entitled to vote for three commissioners. Montgomery, Cheadle and Shutt, the leaders, were for McConnelsville. Voters in the eastern townships—Noble, Olive, Olive Green, Manchester, Seneca, Center and Meigsville—were unanimously opposed to McConnelsville and they received such backing from the west siders as to give McConnelsville the vic-tory by a moderate margin. Defeated but not crushed the losers sought from the Legislature a victory denied them at home. Preparing a petition praying for the appointment of a second commission to review the de-cision of the first, McConnelsville's foes sent it to Columbus and induced the House to pass a resolution "designating other commissioners with power to review and relocate." There being in 1819 no radio, wireless, telegraph, telephone, airship, mail train, stage coach or steamboat service between Columbus and McConnelsville, and but one mail a week (on each Saturday evening) the hustling petitioners might easily have slipped that House resolution through the Senate while the victors were asleep at the switch, but in some way the news of its pendency reached Morgan County in time for McConnelsville's friends to hold fast to their prize. NEWLY-WON PRIZE IN PERIL They were soon very busy drawing up a remonstrance and getting signatures. Dr. Charles Robertson, Morgan County's historian, says that these came "not only from residents of McConnelsville and its vicinity, but from names on the militia rolls in possession of the captains of the neighborhood." At any rate, the document was made ready and Jacob Adams started with it for Columbus by way of Lancaster, reached the state capital on the second day, cornered Col. George Jackson, state senator from Muskingum County, unrolled his remonstrance and told the law- 504 - SOUTHEASTERN OHIO giver, no doubt, how Morgan's voters had already settled the question. Colonel Jackson called up the House resolution in the Senate next morning, moved its indefinite postponement and had the satisfaction of hearing but one "no," which was cast by Senator Robb, then representing Guernsey, Coshocton and Tuscarawas counties in the Senate. Thus it was that McConnelsville retained the county seat. SWAPPING TOWNSHIPS The boundaries of the county then included original townships 6 and 7 of range 8, but on December 24, 1819, these were transferred to Monroe County. Compensation for this loss of territory was obtained March 11, 1845, when Athens County's two townships, Marion and Homer, and seven sections of Roxbury Township, Washington County, were attached to Morgan. However, there was a later loss, in March, 1851, when Brookfield, Noble, Olive, Jackson (formerly Olive Green), and half of Manchester townships were taken from Morgan to swell the acreage of Noble County. The Morgan County townships in existence in 1819 as the county's civil divisions were Bloom, Bristol, Brookfield, Center, Deerfield, Meigsville, Morgan, Noble, Olive, Olive Green, Penn, Windsor and York. Deerfield and Noble were organized before Morgan County was. The others were organized under the jurisdiction of the county. Brookfield, Noble, Olive and Olive Green (now Jackson) are now in Noble County. Of other Morgan County townships Union was organized in 1821 ; Manchester, 1822 ; Malta, 1839. BACK TO BEGINNINGS Having introduced Morgan County and her thirteen townships of 1819, we shall go back a quarter of a century to the time when the white settler began to start clearings, build cabins and plant grain within the territory which was then part of Washington County, but which became in due time a part of Morgan. It is worth while to recall how these men and their descendants. rendered service as carriers of the banner of civilization. Morgan County's rich river and creek bottoms were mainly favored by the early settlers and most of these came from Penn- SOUTHEASTERN OHIO - 505 sylvania, Maryland and Virginia, the Muskingum from Zanesville and from Marietta being the most convenient avenue of ingress while there were practically no roads. Members of the Society of Friends also came in considerable numbers as did westward bound New Englanders. It appears that relatively few white men ventured into this section of the Northwest Territory until after the treaty of 1795, clinching Wayne's victory at Fallen Timbers, had convinced intending settlers that the Muskingum Valley would not again be the scene of Indian hostilities. The massacre of whites at Big Bottom acted as an especial discouragement to the pioneers who had planned to settle on the middle Muskingum, so strongly did it testify to savage ruthlessness. The story of this horror has been told in the preceding chapter. FAST FLOWING TIDE OF PIONEERS With fear of Indian attacks out of the way the inflow of pioneers quickened. In 1796 settlers were taking up land and improving it in several sections of what is now Morgan County —along the Muskingum and its tributaries. By 1800 the tide was flowing in larger streams, Windsor Township being its especial beneficiary, with Bloom and other townships profiting also. The coming of the second decade of the nineteenth century brought a marked increase, settlers taking up many claims in Malta, Penn, Windsor, Marion, Deerfield, Meigsville, Union, Homer and York townships, with Windsor still in the lead. County histories of two or more generations ago (and some Ohio counties have gone without formal historical presentation within the past forty years), were written with great fullness of detail, especially in the sections listing earliest settlers and re-calling their activities. This was and always will be a matter of interest to the average reader, but to indulge in an equal number of particulars in a sectional history such as this is would be impracticable. A FEW OF THE "FIRSTLINGS" Were we to attempt to preserve all the names of first settlers and their activities in connection with the twelve Southeastern Ohio counties here dealt with the number of volumes required 506 - SOUTHEASTERN OHIO would put its cost beyond the reach of most pocketbooks, would put it into the hands of but a few subscribers. But while necessity demands the curtailment suggested it does not exclude all the "firsts" which led to the conversion of the Morgan County wilderness into a group of fertile farms and a collection of busy villages. We shall try to show some of the firstlings in county making. WRESTLING WITH THE WILDERNESS The pioneers who came hither were physically prepared for a life of toil and mentally strong and purposeful. First in the order of endeavor came the building of a cabin home and next a clearing for the first patch of corn. Rifle, powder and ball were essential, for a part of the daily subsistence must come from the turkey, the deer, the bear and other wild creatures of the forest. If the settler's home was on or near the Muskingum or one of its tributaries he found it necessary to construct a canoe or two, perhaps a craft of larger size. If there were neighbors within a reasonable distance hours and sometimes days were spent in cutting rude trails to other cabins so that intercourse might be rendered easier, for the pioneers were neighborly and helpful toward one another. PROVIDING FLOUR A PROBLEM Some kind of mill was indispensable unless the pioneer was willing to take his grist on horseback or by canoe to Zanesville. The most primitive substitute for the water mills of the valley was a hollowed out tree-trunk into which the grain was poured and pounded until it became a very coarse flour. The hours of time consumed in any of these processes undertaken to secure flour made heavy drafts upon the settler's time. The families were large, appetites were strong and plentifulness of food was a necessity. JACKS OF ALL TRADES WERE NEEDED The arrival of a blacksmith was welcomed by his pioneer neighbors for their tools, implements, harness, etc., often required his mending skill. Wagons were exceedingly scarce and greatly needed so that the newcomer was sometimes forced to become a SOUTHEASTERN OHIO - 507 wagon maker. Crude indeed was the product of his hands, especially the wheels of his vehicle, which were sawed out of tree trunks of suitable size, perforated in the center for the axle and put into use without spoke or tire. Some neighborhoods had their professional hunters and these were also welcome, for not every pioneer was a good shot or an experienced hand in tracking the deer or the bear, highly prized animals not merely because of their food yielding qualities but also for the warmth giving virtues of their skins. This is a reminder that the pioneer was apt to become an amateur tanner unless the professional hunter upon whom he depended for game supplies furnished hides already tanned. JUST THE SOIL FOR ORCHARDS Another form of labor was that of planting fruit trees and that thrifty orchards soon began to appear near Morgan County's giants of the forest is a tribute to the industry and forehandedness of her early settlers. In climate and soil the county was fitted by nature for the production of apples, peaches and other fruits and these to this day are not anywhere excelled in point of flavor. As time passed the various rude industries were established by newcomers fitted in smile particular way to launch them. Boat building, carpentering, water-milling, blacksmithing, distilling, sugar making, road building, etc., grew as the need for them constantly increased. Taverns sprang up, the school teacher appeared, the itinerant preacher began to appeal to the pioneer's spiritual nature and the organization of religious bodies began before there were houses of worship to receive them. ABOUT 3,000 SOULS IN 1817 And so, step by step, the inhabitants of this territory pierced by the middle Muskingum and its tributaries multiplied in numbers and became more and more independent of the outside world and more and more ready for county organization, and for an increase in the instrumentalities of civil government. At the close of 1817 it was estimated that the territory which the Legislature had just proposed to take from Washington, Muskingum and Guernsey counties and turn over to the new County of Morgan contained about 3,000 persons. The fixing of boundaries, the 33-Vol. 2 508 - SOUTHEASTERN OHIO second step taken by the Legislature in behalf of organization, and the election of five county officers has been referred to in foregoing paragraphs, as has the contest waged for the county seat. OFFICERS BUT NO COUNTY BUILDING The General Assembly gave Morgan's electors opportunity to man the new county's offices and the electors acted to the extent of choosing commissioners, a sheriff and a coroner, but there was no courthouse for any of the officers to function in and no jail to receive transgressors of the law. We quote at this point from Doctor Robertson's history, page 113 : "The county seat having been established the commissioners turned their attention to the arrangement of the machinery for the administration of justice. The first edifice (jail) for this purpose was built of the large poplars from near by, hewed on one side so as to make a smooth surface for the interior, the bark removed and the logs notched down at the corners, `log-cabin' fashion, with puncheon floor and ceiling. The door at the end was Well spiked and furnished with heavy hinges and lock; but either from its peculiar construction or other causes the building was never used as a prison and was sold, together with the lot on which it was built, to aid in building a court house." THE JAIL COST $530 The second attempt at jail-building was made in 1820 on ground at the rear of the present courthouse. Hewed poplar logs were again used to a height of twelve feet. A wall of the same was built around the first one so that twelve inches of intervening space might be filled with stone. Ventilation was not provided for. Thomas Byers was given the contract December 3, 1819, at a price of $530. The building contained two rooms fifteen feet square and a hall of five feet. Jail No. 3 was built in 1840, and has since undergone several modifications. It stands on the square immediately east of the courthouse. The sheriff's residence occupies half of the build-ing, which is of brick except as to the prison, the lower part of which is in part of dressed stone. The first courthouse was erected in 1820. Doctor Robertson thus describes it: SOUTHEASTERN OHIO - 509 COURTHOUSE NUMBER ONE "It was about forty feet square and two stories high. The court room was below and the four rooms above were probably in-tended for jury rooms. . . . and for the county officials, though for the latter purpose they were never used, each official furnishing his own office wherever most convenient in town." It was not only a courthouse but a meeting house for religious de-nominations, a hall for political gatherings, amateur theatricals, etc. This building's successor stands nearly on the same spot, but fronts on Center Street. Built in 1858, with a width of fifty-six feet and a length (including the portico) of seventy-eight feet, it has a basement six feet high. CHAPTER CXLV TOWNSHIP RECORDS FULL OF MORGAN COUNTY HISTORY MORGAN TOWNSHIP SET OFF IN 1818 AND MALTA TOWNSHIP TWENTY-ONE YEARS LATER-QUAKERS HELPED TO LAUNCH PENN AND MARION-WINDSOR'S PIONEERS INCLUDED MANY YANKEES-DEER-FIELD AN ANTI-SLAVERY HOTBED-BRISTOL PEOPLE ENJOYED LIFE -HORSE-THIEF VALLEY IN UNION-OIL STRUCK IN HOMER, 1861- SQUIRRELS INVADED BLOOM-YORK, MANCHESTER AND CENTER MENTIONED. We here condense the story of Morgan County's subdivision into townships and begin with the township of the same name. MORGAN TOWNSHIP This subdivision was included in Deerfield Township prior to the county's organization, being that part taken from Washington County., Morgan Township was set off August 10, 1818. When this occurred Morgan comprised the original surveyed township 11 of range 12. In 1819, when Penn Township was organized, a row of sections was taken from the south side of Morgan while a like number was transferred to Morgan from the south side of Bloom. This evened up the territorial holdings of the three townships. When Malta Township was erected, in 1839, the river became the line and Morgan Township got half of sections 6 and 19 and that part of section 30 situated east of the river to Meigsville "and a little nook in section 27 adjoining the sections previously detached from Bloom." MALTA TOWNSHIP Set off in 1839 Malta became the youngest of Morgan County's children, falling heir principally to Morgan Township territory - 511 - 512 - SOUTHEASTERN OHIO and to a few sections from Deerfield. It was the home of but few settlers until the close of the War of 1812 and as late as 1835 it was, broadly speaking, a wilderness. PENN TOWNSHIP On July 7, 1819, the court of common pleas made and recorded the order which follows : "Whereas, it appears that our commissioners of Morgan County have set off a new township by the name of Penn : Ordered, that said township be entitled to two justices of the peace and that the qualified electors of said township be authorized to assemble at the house of John Harris, in said township, on Saturday, the 24th inst., for the purpose of electing one or more justices of the peace." Thus was Penn launched. Most of its earliest settlers were from Belmont and Jefferson counties, Friends, who no doubt rejoiced when their new township was given the name of that great Pennsylvanian who sought to teach white men how to make friends of the Indians. Penn Township lost and gained territory in 1828 when the county commissioners took from it sections 25 and 26 in township 8, range 13, and attached them to Union Township, at the same time transferring to Penn the west fraction of section 31 in township 10, range 11. WINDSOR TOWNSHIP This subdivision was formed in the summer of 1819. It had been settled earlier than any of its sister townships, was the largest in area and added to the county the largest number of inhabitants and improvements. Its pioneers were largely of New England origin, men and women of mental and moral strength. They took kindly to Windsor's bottom lands whose area exceeds the level sections of any other township in the county ; they raised families whose members proved their worth to the end of their lives and they taught many of Morgan's pioneers to plant orchards and raise fruits. Here occurred one of the saddest events of the Indian war, the Big Bottom massacre of 1791, which is handled elsewhere. SOUTHEASTERN OHIO - 515 MARION TOWNSHIP According to Historian Robertson : "Marion Township, which became a part of Morgan County in 1845, is the eighth township of the twelfth range of congressional townships and was included in the lands sold by the United States Government to the Ohio Company. The present boundaries of the township are those of the original survey, with the exception that half of the northeast corner section has been set off to Windsor Township. In 1805 all of Athens County was divided into four townships. Ames Township included both of the present townships of Homer and Marion. Homer Township, organized in Athens County prior to 1820, included part, if not all of what is now Marion Township. In 1820 Homer had a population of 201 and in 1830 of 636. Marion first appears in the census enu-meration in 1840 and then had 1,079 inhabitants. The eastern boundary line of the township has been several times changed. February 8, 1807, the eastern tier of sections of township 8, range 12, was attached to Washington County. February 10, 1814, sections 11 and 12 of the same township were also added to Washington County. After the annexation of Homer and Marion to Morgan County (March 11, 1885) the eastern boun-dary line of Marion Township becoming as it now stands." Many of Marion's early settlers were members of the Society of Friends, who exemplified pioneer worth on every occasion. Chester Hill became a center of their activities. DEERFIELD TOWNSHIP Deerfield was a township before Morgan was a county and one of Washington County's largest townships. It is claimed for Deerfield Township that in 1836 within its limits Morgan County's first, and perhaps Southeastern Ohio's first, anti-slavery society was formed. Following is the preamble to the society's articles of association : "Believing slavery to be a sin against God, a violation of human rights and an obstruction to the cause of Christianity by making it the patron of sin and exciting the derision of opposers, believing that it consigns the slave to degradation, suffering and despair, surrounds the masters with perils and exposes all who 516 - SOUTHEASTERN OHIO uphold the system to the judgment of God and believing that we owe it to the oppressed, to our fellow citizens who hold slaves, to our country, to human interests universally, to posterity and to God, earnestly to seek the abolition of slavery by using such .means and such only as are sanctioned by the law of the land and by the dictates of humanity and justice : We do hereby agree to form ourselves into a society to aid in the accomplishment of this object." The constitution provided that the society's name should be "The Deerfield Township Anti-Slavery Society." Those who signed the constitution were : William Shutt, Joseph Woodward, George Martin, J. K. Jones, William Woodward, Jacob W. Stanbery, Robert Lavery, Richard Massey, James Evans, James Cope, E. A. Merriam, Owen Gifford, William Brady, Isaac Williams, John Metcalf, William Oliver, Kersey Smith, Nathan Cope, James Harrison, Ralph Porter, Osburn Plumly, George Williams, Milton Griffith, William Wells, Ed. T. Moore, Eliza Stanbery, Pheba Woodward, Ruby B. Porter, Achsah Guthrie, Abigail Woodward, Rachel Martin, Elizabeth Metcalf, Martha Cheney, Susan Evans, Ann Cope, Lydia Porter, Sarah Cheney, Ruth A. Evans, Betsey Metcalf, Anna Porter, Lydie Wells, Susannah Metcalf, Abigail Cope, Hannah Metcalf, Anna Williams, Hannah Wilson, Ruth Smith. MEIGSVILLE TOWNSHIP Doctor Robertson is authority for the statement that no record is extant of the first organization of this subdivision, but he cites the existence of a poll book covering an election held for two justices of the peace October 12, 1819. Samuel Murray, William Laugherty and Andrew Welsh were chosen as judges; Thomas and William Murray, clerks; John D. Rutledge and William Horner, justices of the peace. Among the township's earliest settlers were Henry Nichols, John Wilson, John Murray, Isaac Counsil, Andrew and Robert Welsh. The settlements were at first along the township's water courses and on the Zanesville-Marietta Road. The township's territory was large in area when it was part of Washington County, embracing all that later be-came Bristol, Bloom and Morgan Township of Morgan County. SOUTHEASTERN OHIO - 517 BRISTOL TOWNSHIP Judge Gaylord wrote of Bristol as follows : "Perhaps no people in the pioneer days enjoyed themselves more rationally and actively than did the people of Old Bristol. The Maine Yankees and the Pennsylvania and Virginia 'Corn Crackers,' coming together and commingling at their social gath-erings, backwoods fashion, made for themselves lively times." The township became a Morgan County subdivision July 7, 1819. Well watered by the branches of Meigs Creek and by Horse Run, a branch of Dye's Fork, the township offered to early settlers the kind of farms they sought, with rich and productive soil. The first settler was David Stevens, who entered land in the northeast quarter of section 36 (in 1804) and took possession of it in 1808, in which year he became postmaster. In Bristol, on the Joseph Devereaux farm, located in the western section of the township, occurred the first general muster of the First Regi-ment of Morgan County militia. Judge Gaylord wrote of it thus : "The regiment was about five hundred strong and was offi-cered by Col. Alexander McConnel ; B. W. Talbot, lieutenant colonel, and Asa Emerson, major. The regiment appeared on the ground fully armed and equipped—some with and many without guns ; some with walking-sticks, others with cornstalks and because of the latter being the prevailing arm of 'offense and defense’ at these musters they were everywhere called the 'corn-stalk militia'." UNION TOWNSHIP Before Morgan County existed this subdivision had been a part of Deerfield Township. When organized in 1821 Union was one of the latest of Morgan's townships to be erected. One of Wolf Creek's branches flows through Union. In early days Union was the home (on Sunday Creek) of a gang of horse thieves who held on for years. Their headquarters came to be known as "Horse-thief Valley." In 1811 John Quigley and William Corner entered the township's first quarter-section of land and during the following year they erected Union's first cabin. The township went without a mill until 1828, when William Corner built it on Wolf Creek, section 13. Andrew Vest built the first frame house and Edward Miller the first one of brick. 518 - SOUTHEASTERN OHIO HOMER TOWNSHIP Located in the southwest corner of Morgan County, Homer Township appealed to early settlers with its good soil and well-watered surface, Federal and Sunday creeks and their branches furnishing the drainage. Among other riches which newcomers did not take account of were the rich coal seams. In 1805, when Athens County was organized, Homer Township was a part of Ames Township, that county. Prior to 1840 Homer was formed from Ames, while Marion Township was formed in whole or in part from Homer. Both Marion and Homer were made a part of Morgan County March 11, 1845. One of Ohio's very early oil wells was sunk in April, 1861, on the Bishop farm, in Homer Township, by Sidney S. Tuller. At sixty-seven feet illuminating oil of good grade was struck. On the same farm twenty-eight other wells produced an average of about forty barrels a day for the first six months. BLOOM TOWNSHIP Bloom Township had been organized by July 17, 1819, and court journal entry of that date provided for the township's first election. To a point on the west side of the river near Mus-kingum County came Bloom's earliest pioneers. There was no blacksmith until James Briggs came in 1818. Doctor Robertson mentions an interesting bit of early farm news: "In 1822 Ohio produced an excellent crop of wheat. In mime sections of Morgan County, however, the crop suffered from a blight known to early settlers as 'sick wheat'. Several farmers in the east portion of the township suffered severely. The berry was full and plump. The flour from it was white, raised well in baking, but when eaten it produced sickness, violent vomiting, so no use could be made of it. No animal could eat it without producing the same effect. The cause of this has never been satisfactorily explained." One thousand eight hundred and twenty-three was squirrel invading year. At one point where the rodents crossed the river William and James White killed enough of them to fill two three bushel bags. Traveling east the squirrels crossed the river, blacks and grays in limitless number, and attacked the cornfields. Some of the farmers lost all their crops, others large portions of it. SOUTHEASTERN OHIO - 519 YORK TOWNSHIP This subdivision began its existence in 1819. Its early set-tlers included many Germans and these began improvement and farming operations with a dogged industry and perseverance characteristic of their race. Levi and Reuben Deaver came from 'Maryland in 1809 and settled where Deavertown now is. In 1815, Levi Deaver laid out the Village of Deavertown. The Longstreths followed the Deavers to York Township, four of them, coming from Cambria County, Pennsylvania. Settlements were made in the Deavertown neighborhood and the four families totaled fifteen persons. One of the brothers, Bartholomew, a Catholic, built a church near Deavertown. In 1815 Henry Pletcher, Sr., came from Loudoun County, Virginia, and purchased 1,760 acres of land and in 1816 the entire family, numbering twelve, came to swell York's population. DEAVERTOWN A BUSY PLACE IN THE SIXTIES Before Crooksville, Roseville, White Cottage or East Fultonham had shown signs of becoming busy industrial centers and long before Philo could see any promise that it would become the seat of one of America's greatest generators of power the village of Deavertown, Morgan County, was going strong industrially and commercially. Between 1860 and 1870 this village of about 325 inhabitants could boast of the following forms of activity : Two tanneries employing four to five men; two blacksmith shops employing five to six men; two cabinet makers employing three men; one windmill factory; three shoemakers employing five to six men ; one coverlet weaver making numerous patterns which are now rare and as antiques are in demand; two carpet weavers; one brick yard; one carriage factory employing three men; one farm wagon maker; one chair factory making strong kitchen chairs; one saw and grist mill; one horse collar factory ; one felt hat factory; two plasterers; two carpenters who in addi-tion to house building made plain kitchen furniture, tables, etc. One wool carding mill making wool rolls ready for spinning. In those days there were many spinning wheels and looms in farm houses making dress goods, blankets and yarn for wool stockings and socks. This carding mill did a thriving business during the late summer and fall each year. 520 - SOUTHEASTERN OHIO There were five general stores handling dry goods, boots shoes, notions, queensware, groceries and confections, in fact everything sold in a general store or used in rural districts. One saddle and harness shop working three men, made fine saddles for women and men ; also heavy wagon harness and car-riage harness. One cooper shop making salt and flour barrels, also barrels for cider, pork, etc. ; one paint shop; one photograph gallery; one hotel ; one dentist; two doctors, Dr. Philip Kennedy and Dr. Iri Hurd; three churches and a graded school. A STATION ON THE "UNDERGROUND" One resident of a still earlier Deavertown had become known all over Ohio as a friend of the fugitive slave. This was Thomas L. Gray, who was one of the Ohio's 1,500 Abolitionists that as "agents" of the "underground railroad" sent 40,000 slaves through the state to Canada and freedom. It is said that during fugitive slave times he hid five hundred of these blacks at Deavertown until he could forward them mostly by way of Zanesville (Putnam rather) over the "underground," whence others sent them north. MANCHESTER TOWNSHIP This is Morgan's smallest township. When organized it was of good size, a complete congressional township of thirty-six square miles. But in 1851 the eastern half of Manchester was handed over to the new County of Noble. The west side of Manchester is drained by Brannan's and Dye's Fork of Meigs Creek and on the east is Olive Green Creek. Heavy deposits of four-foot coal exist in Manchester. Charles Harwood was the township's first settler, coming in 1806 from Washington County. He and his fellow-pioneers "carried on" "without law, legal organization, justice or anything else indicating a political existence," to use Dr. Robertson's words, from 1819 until 1822, when the court of common pleas ordered that an election be held for the choosing of two justices of the peace. CENTER TOWNSHIP The county commissioners organized Center July 6, 1819. The early elections did not permit the victorious candidates to SOUTHEASTERN OHIO - 521 serve because there were contests. One election held November 3, 1822, was contested on grounds set forth below. The docu-ment should be edited but here it is, as originally penned : "We, the onder signers beingen cold apond and sworn akorden to law to examin the contested Lection of Joseph C. Lin and Willem Olephan of Senter Township the advertisen onlegal and the election be in closed befor four a clok & these pints being proving to our Satersfacon." It was 1818 before Center Township was much more than a wilderness. Clearings made their appearance slowly, so dense was the underbrush, which had to be grubbed out and burned. Schools did not appear until 1823 and as the first itinerant minister, Rev. Archibald McElroy, had a circuit of 800 miles Center Township folk did not often hear him. CHAPTER CXLVI THE MUSKINGUM PLAYED A BIG PART IN MORGAN'S SETTLEMENT INDIAN'S CANOE FIRST TO FLOAT OVER ITS BOSOM—BUT THE WHITE MAN SooN BUILT LARGER CRAFT—FLATBOATS CARRIED BIG CARGOES DOWN STREAM— FIRST STEAMBOAT, RUFUS PUTNAM, ARRIVED 1824— CAPT. ERVEN TRAVIS AN AUTHORITY ON RIVER LORE—TELLS ABOUT THE SALT INDUSTRY—ENGINEERS' OFFICES AT McCONNELSVILLE WHEN RIVER IMPROVEMENT BEGAN—FLATBOAT BUILDING GREW AND FLoUR MILLS MULTIPLIED—ICE BY WATER FRoM CLEVELAND—GUNBOAT VS. MORGAN RAIDERS. From the days of Indian occupation canoes were freely used on this river but the time came when the products of the valley called for craft of far greater capacity and in time flatboats capable of transporting 400 barrels of flour were built on the river and put into commission. In 1825 Joseph McConnel built at McConnelsville a crude flatboat, loaded it with staves and with John Alexander as pilot and a small crew started down the Muskingum and in due time floated out upon the majestic Ohio. All went well until one day while descending the Mississippi a snag sent McConnel's boat to the bottom. The boat and cargo were lost but McConnel and his men survived. The financial loss was heavy : staves which cost but $5 a thousand in Morgan County then brought $20 a thousand on the Mississippi. FLATBOATS AND THEIR CARGOES A little later McConnel and St. Clair turned out at McConnelsville a new and novel flatboat, one equipped with a tread-wheel which when trod by horses, furnished navigating power. It was viewed with curious interest on its way south and its cargo (horses and hounds) was traded off with profit. Jacob Adams made a specialty of buying Morgan County wheat at 30 cents to 40 cents a bushel and pork at $2 a hundred weight and flatboating it to Maysville, Ky., where, for the period, - 523 - 34—VoL. 2 524 - SOUTHEASTERN OHIO good milling facilities existed. Here he made an exchange on the basis of six bushels of wheat for a barrel of flour and the flour brought $2.50 to $3 a barrel in New Orleans, while the pork was sold at $9 to $9.25 a hundred pounds. Heavily laden flatboats carried salt from the Morgan County furnaces to Louisville and intermediate points. FIRST STEAMBOAT FROM MARIETTA McConnelsville folk were much excited when the Rufus Putnam arrived on that memorable trip made in January, 1824, from Marietta to Zanesville and return, an event which is elsewhere described. In the spring of 1827 the Speedwell of Pittsburgh, on her way to Zanesville, gave McConnelsville another awakening and carried some of her people, as passengers, to Muskingum's county seat. In 1828, when spring or summer freshets rendered the river navigable, several steamboat trips were made from Pittsburgh to Zanesville and return. CAPTAIN TRAVIS' MUSKINGUM LORE Volume fourteen of the Ohio Archeological and Historical Society's publications carries a story written by Capt. Erven Travis entitled "Navigation on the Muskingum" which is so infor-mative and interesting that it would be submitted in full did not its length forbid. The next best thing is to condense it for the space at our disposal. Capt. Erven Travis was born near Roxbury, Windsor Township, Morgan County, August 17, 1849. His father, John Travis, became a resident of McConnelsville, was a builder of flatboats during the summers and he went with them and their cargoes to New Orleans in other seasons. The son Erven naturally took an interest in the Muskingum and its traffic and at the early age of twenty became a pilot, serving later in that capacity on such fine' packets as the Lizzie Cassel, Carrie Brooks, General H. F. Devol, Oella, etc. In 1887, he was appointed United States store-keeper at McConnelsville, where he has resided many years. SHIPPED APPLES IN BIG CANOES We learn from Captain Travis that when settlers along the Muskingum began to gather from their multiplying orchards SOUTHEASTERN OHIO - 527 more apples than they could use there was a need for something more than the Indian or the pioneer canoe to transport the fruit to market, whereupon larger canoes were constructed and launched. Large forest trees having a length of seventy-five to ninety feet were used for the purpose and the big canoe was capable of carrying 200 bushels of apples. The paddle of the Indian was rejected and two men propelled the boat with poles. When in 1817 salt-making became a Muskingum River industry a still larger boat was required and this came in the form of the pirogue. Captain Travis says of this : BIGGER BOATS FOR SALT "About one hundred and twenty barrels [of salt] could be stored away in a pirogue in a single floor tier. There being few if any roads along the river such supplies as the valley then afforded were carried by pirogue to the different salt works. Wood was then used as fuel and we find that the first places where the timber was entirely cleared off was in the immediate vicinity of the [salt] furnaces. This furnished employment for wood-choppers and teamsters in addition to those who pumped and boiled the salt water. When the supply of wood was exhausted in the immediate vicinity shoots were built from the crest of the river hill where wood was collected and carried down the shoot to the furnace doors." The flatboat or broadhorn followed the pirogue in 1825. It was not built with reference to prolonged durability, for owners sold the boats at New Orleans on disposing of the cargo, but the flats were large enough to carry three hundred to four hundred barrels of salt. Poles also furnished the propelling power for these boats. The keelboat appeared on the Muskingum about 1827 and was so much larger than the pirogue that twenty-five men were needed to "pole" the larger sized boats against the current. The keelboat's capacity ranged from sixty to one hundred and fifty tons and to get the larger types up-stream through chutes and ripples ox teams on the banks often were necessary. The keelboat was not common until the early '30s of the last century, when round trips were frequently made between Zanesville and Pittsburgh, which consumed from three to five weeks' time. One man at McConnelsville did not wait for the state to build a lock or dam there. On February 22, 1830, Robert McConnel 528 - SOUTHEASTERN OHIO was granted permission by the Legislature to build a lock and dam. The latter was constructed of brush and rubble stone and the lock of stone masonry, its inner wall becoming the outer foundation of the old McConnel mill. In 1832 or 1833 the work was completed and nearly ten years elapsed before the state's lock and dam at McConnelsville were ready for use. SLACKWATER NAVIGATION PROPOSED The Legislature authorized the Muskingum's improvement March 9, 1836, and $400,000 was appropriated for the work. McConnelsville had the honor of becoming headquarters for the men carrying on the work. In August, 1836, prospective bidders were informed that proposals would be opened at Morgan County's courthouse October 20. Meanwhile the work of surveying had proceeded, the state's engineers having assembled at Zanesville in June and begun the work on the 20th of the month with the lower sill of the Symmes Creek lock as their starting point. They occupied a flatboat fitted out with office, dining room, kitchen and sleeping rooms. One of the rodmen in this corps was a young man who later became a famous Ohio senator and secretary of the treasury, John Sherman. OFFICES AT M'CONNELSVILLE The boat was floated down stream from point to point where the engineers were working. It reached McConnelsville in due time, was tied up while the work went on and proceeded toward Marietta which was reached on or near August 1. Returning to McConnelsville the engineers occupied an office there, made their estimates and calculations and located the locks and dams. The successful bidders and the jobs they secured were: George W. Manypenny, Zanesville dam ; Josiah Spaulding, Zanesville lock; Hosmer, Chipin & Sharp, Taylorsville, McConnelsville and Marietta dams and McConnelsville and Marietta locks; Lyon, Buck & Wolf, Luke Chute and Lowell dams and Taylorsville and Lowell locks; Arthur Taggart, Eagleport, Stockport, and Devol dams and Eagleport, Stockport, Beverly and Devol locks; John McCune, canal and dam at Beverly. The twelve locks and eleven dams cost the state $1,627,018.20. The work was SOUTHEASTERN OHIO - 529 completed in the fall of 1841, tolls being collected from October 1, that year. BUILT FLATBOATS AT M'CONNELSVILLE Traffic in flour, with flatboat transportation, increased steadily on the river for nearly twenty years ending with the coming of the Civil war. Many of these flour boats were built at McConnelsville, on the river front between Main Street and the head of the canal---five or six of them each summer. Here is an informa-tive paragraph from the Captain Travis story : "In this connection I quote another pioneer boatman, who now resides in our midst, Mr. John Travis, who as a pilot on one of these flour-boats left Marietta in the fall of 1852, making the run to New Orleans in seventeen days and eleven hours, thirteen hours of this time being lost at Islands Nos. 101 and 102 on the Mississippi by rough weather. This being the only landing made in this long run of 1,794 miles gives an average of over five miles per hour. "In five weeks and two days the crew had returned to start on a second trip. On this particular trip a light load was taken, being 1,200 barrels. The dimensions of the boat being 18x90 feet, the usual size being 18x100 feet, capacity about fourteen hundred barrels. This class of boats continued long trips of this kind until the Civil war interfered, though in the last few years with less vigor." FLOUR MILLS MULTIPLY There was a marked increase in Muskingum River steamboat traffic from 1841 forward. That between Zanesville and Pittsburgh was heavy and in the early '50s trips between Zanesville and Parkersburg were sometimes made three times a week. With excellent water power coming from the new dams there was a great increase in flour mills and a consequent gain in steamboat transportation of flour and wheat. The Parkersburg packets carried tobacco, wool and live stock to Parkersburg to be sent east by the Baltimore & Ohio Railway.. In 1840 Morgan County was the heaviest salt-producing county in Ohio, but the industry declined during the years required to furnish the river with locks and dams. The Civil 530 - SOUTHEASTERN OHIO war, however, revived the industry and in 1865 twenty-three salt works were in operation on the Muskingum between Hooksburg and Zanesville. The price reached $3 a barrel. Here is an interesting bit of Muskingum River propeller history: ICE CARGOES FROM CLEVELAND "After the close of the Civil war quite a business was started by one of these propellers, called the Barnhart, which towed a canal boat of her own size, called the Tipton Slasher, making regular trips between Port Harmar, at the mouth of the Muskingum and Cleveland via the Ohio canal and this river (the Muskingum) carrying cedar logs on her south-bound trips to the large bucket factories, then operating at Port Harmar. On her return trips salt was taken to Cleveland. Transient boats made many trips on this route, bringing iron ore down from the Lake Superior region for points on the Ohio between Marietta and Cincinnati. Lake ice was also taken to Ohio River towns in this manner, there being no ice plants thought of at this time. I have known boats to pass south twice without going north on the Muskingum." MUSKINGUM HAD A "GUNBOAT" Oil production in the '60s in Morgan County and the neighborhood furnished traffic for Muskingum River steamers. Oil refineries were built at McConnelsville and Windsor.. A considerable number of soldiers were carried southward on the Muskingum during the Civil war and some of her packets were pressed into the service for use on the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers; and the river had at least one "gunboat" when the Morgan Raiders were galloping northward toward the Muskingum. At that time the side-wheeler Jesse Edington was the McConnelsville-Malta ferryboat. To equip her for contact with the raiders McConnelsville's 4th of July cannon was placed upon her deck and her crew, including several gunners, took her up-stream toward Eagleport where Morgan was expected to cross. He had reached the east side of the river and galloped away when they arrived at Eagleport. Additional Muskingum River data will be found in the General history printed in volume 1 of this work. CHAPTER CXLVII MORGAN COUNTY'S PART IN THE COUNTRY'S WARS HER SONS WERE WILLING TO WAR AGAINST MEXICO BUT "POLITICS" PREVENTED—COUNTY'S PATRIOTS AROUSED BY THE FALL OF SUMTER— MORGAN'S GUARD THE FIRST COMPANY FORMED, WITH F. B. POND AS CAPTAIN—SECOND COMPANY CAPTAINED BY SUELEM McCASLIN—MORGAN CoUNTY BOYS DID THEIR SHARE IN MANY BATTLES—JOHN MORGAN'S RAID STIRRED UP THE COUNTY—HIS FORCE CROSSED THE RIVER AT EAGLEPORT—COUNTY IN THE SPANISH WAR AND WORLD WAR. THE MEXICAN WAR A brigade of militia, consisting of two regiments, was formed in 1825 with Col. Alexander McConnel as brigadier-general, while Francis A. Barker was colonel of the first regiment and Erastus Hoskins was colonel of the second. There were eight companies in each regiment and to each regiment a volunteer company was attached. The first muster of these amateur soldiers is referred to in our sketch of Bristol Township history. A battalion of riflemen was formed from the two regiments, with Amos Conway as lieutenant-colonel and Eli Gorby, major. From the cavalry companies of the regiments a squadron was formed of which Colonel Dawes was lieutenant-colonel and James Hunter, major. And the county's active military spirit did not stop there. An artillery company was organized and was cap-tained by Timothy Gaylord. MORGAN RIFLEMEN FORMED A subsidence of the military spirit followed in due time in Morgan County as it did throughout Ohio, but when in 1846 the governor called for volunteers to render service in Mexico General Love ordered an assemblage of the county's militia in McConnelsville. There was praiseworthy response and the boys listened carefully to appeals made by General Love and Hon. J. E. Hanna. The Morgan Riflemen were organized more than one hundred strong. - 531 - 532 - SOUTHEASTERN OHIO From these volunteers a company of eighty-three men was organized. General Love, Tartus Lindly and Austin Hawkins became respectively, captain and first and second lieutenants. A little later the company proceeded to Cincinnati and there became attached to the Third Regiment. Doctor Robertson thus describes what happened : "In the course of a week or ten days all the company except the captain were at home ! Why? was the inquiry. A major for the Third Regiment was to be elected and with Captain Love's company in the regiment the election to that place of a young man from Muskingum County who was not a volunteer but a candi-date was rather doubtful ; but in order to secure it the company of eighty-three men and another of only fifty substituted. This of course produced remonstrance from the captain and other officers but it was of no avail. The company was discharged and furnished with transportation home." THE CIVIL WAR The deeds performed on Southern battlefields by Morgan County's valiant sons during the War of the Rebellion would fill this volume if adequately set forth. We must be content instead to chronicle the beginnings, to show the spirit of patriotism which actuated the citizens of Morgan and to summarize their sacrifices and services. South Carolina's ordinance of secession, passed December 20, 1860, aroused the men and women of the county to the danger that was impending and revealed their determination strongly to support the cause of the Union. Their response to a call for public action was prompt and weighty. Citizens from most of the townships assembled at McConnelsville January 1, 1861, and Hon. J. E. Hanna presided over the gathering while James A. Adair acted as secretary. James M. Gaylord, F. W. Wood, James Moore, George A. Vincent, Enoch Dye and F. B. Pond, the com-mittee on resolutions, reported declarations ringing with senti-ments in favor of maintaining the Union and these were adopted. AROUSED BY THE FALL OF SUMTER When news reached the county in April, 1861, that Sumter had been fired on and that President Lincoln had called for 75,000 SOUTHEASTERN OHIO - 533 volunteers, the stars and stripes were flung to the breeze from the courthouse and preparations for another public demonstra-tion of. support followed. Meanwhile, the work of raising a company of volunteers went rapidly forward. Morgan's Guard came into existence April 28. Hon. F. B. Pond, who with Hon. J. E. Hanna had been chiefly instrumental in the work of recruiting, became the company's captain, while Amos Whissen and Amos W. Ewing were made its first and second lieutenants respectively. GUARDS OFF FOR LANCASTER A memorable scene occurred in front of the courthouse when this company assembled to receive a very handsome flag from a committee of patriotic ladies. Rey. W. M. Grimes made the presentation speech and Hon. J. E. Hanna accepted the emblem in behalf of the Guards. Judge Hanna was elected captain but the realization of his accumulating years moved him to decline. However, he accompanied the Guards to Lancaster May 7, where the company (H), was assigned to the Seventeenth Regiment O. V. I. for three months' service, under J. M. Connell, colonel, and F. B. Pond, lieutenant-colonel. The Morgan County com-pany's captain was W. H. Floyd and its first and second lieu-tenants were Amos Whissen and A. W. Ewing. The regiment reached Parkersburg by rail to Bellaire and thence. by steamer on the Ohio and was brigaded with the Ninth and Tenth O. V. I. under General Rosecrans. In the mountains of West Virginia Company H operated faithfully against the Confederate guerillas. The Seventeenth Regiment departed for Ohio on August 3 and was mustered out of service on the 15th. SECOND COMPANY LEAVES A second company was enrolled late in April and on May 2 was organized with Suelem McCaslin as captain, Charles Bean, first lieutenant and George Newman, second lieutenant. The company went to Columbus in June and was attached to the Twenty-sixth. Regiment O. V. I. Friction having developed in the regiment there were official resignations which caused the Morgan County company to disband. Captain McCaslin and part of his company returned to their homes but twenty-five or thirty 534 - SOUTHEASTERN OHIO of the company stayed in camp and were attached to Captain Seaton's Richland County company, then a part of the Twenty-sixth Regiment. Charles Bean and Luther Timberlake were appointed first and second lieutenants. IN THE BIG BATTLES The Morgan County boys, as soldiers in the Twenty-sixth Regiment, saw service at first in the Upper Kanawha Valley and later in the Cumberland Valley campaigns. Later still they took part in the Nashville campaign, the siege of Corinth, the battles of Stone River, Chattanooga, Missionary Ridge, etc. The fight-ing Twenty-sixth was reduced to 200 men by January 1, 1864, so heavy were the battle tolls, and most of these gallant survivors reenlisted to serve until they were mustered out October 21, 1865. Other Morgan County companies mustered in during. 1861 were: H, of the Twenty-fifth O. V. I. ; E, West Virginia Cavalry; F, Eighteenth O. V. I.; B and I, Sixty-second O. V. I. ; F, Seventy-seventh O. V. I. ; E, Seventy-eighth O. V. I. THE JOHN MORGAN RAID When John Morgan's command was defeated at Buffington Island on the Ohio River he retreated northward through Meigs, Athens and Perry counties and entered Morgan July 22, 1868, camping for the night on the Wright farm in Deerfield Township, on Island Run. Reaching Eagleport at 8 o'clock the next morning he succeeded in crossing the Muskingum there. Much excitement existed at McConnelsville over the possibility that the raider might dash into the town. Citizens crowded the streets, bells pealed their alarms, plans of defense were discussed, groups started for the Malta side to fell trees across the roads and to guard the latter and the fording places. Housewives, meanwhile, hid their jewelry, silverware, money, etc. The town was agitated, confused and fearful. MORGAN AT EAGLEPORT There were conflicting reports that day, the 22nd, but before its close the definite news came locating Morgan on Island Run, and indicating. that the raider, knowing the crossing at Eagleport to be unprotected, would pass to the Muskingum's east side there. SOUTHEASTERN OHIO - 535 Doctor Robertson has written as follows of what immediately happened : "This information was forthwith communicated to Colonel Hill (then at Windsor, nine miles below McConnelsville and sev-enteen miles below Eagleport) by C. L. Barker and J. E. Thomas and subsequently during the night twice repeated. Yet although he was thus often and personally urged and a full statement of facts presented, he refused not only to come with his command on the boat but also to permit Captain Marsh with his company to come up by land. But about nine o'clock next day, after Morgan had crossed at Eagleport, the boat landed below town and the Colonel with his two field pieces passed through and took the Ridge road to within two miles of where Morgan had passed nearly two hours before." Judge L. J. Webber's story of the Eagleport crossing. will be found in the Muskingum County section of this work. THE WAR WITH SPAIN Pearl Savage, of McConnelsville, who served in Company K, Fifth U. S. Regular Infantry, during this conflict, reports knowledge of the service of sixteen other Morgan County boys. Eight of these were members of Battery C, the Zanesville Company, and the remainder were in several different commands. The Fifth Infantry campaigned in the Philippines and four of Morgan's sons served in Cuba. None of the soldiers lost their lives in the service, but six of them have since died. IN THE WORLD WAR O. P. Richardson, of McConnelsville, Commander of Malconta Post No. 24, the American Legion of Ohio, reports that about 600 Morgan County men served in the World war. The county was represented in nearly every regiment and division, particularly in the Thirty-seventh and Forty-second Regulars and her men were in most of the French, Italian and Belgium campaigns. We add to his statement the following list of soldiers from Morgan County who lost their lives in the service, with the date of each death, permission for its use having been given by Charles B. Galbreath, author of the History of Ohio, in which it was published : 536 - SOUTHEASTERN OHIO Anderson, Harold A., McConnelsville, February 18, 1919. Buchanan, Leonard, McConnelsville, November 5, 1918. Calendine, Leonard E., Stockport, October 17, 1918. Coler, Jesse J., Malta, October 16, 1918. Gheen, Johney, Hooksburg, October 10, 1918. Griest, Vernet R., Stockport, October 8, 1918. Henry, Clark L., Stockport, October 5, 1918. Hook, Byron, Stockport, October 17, 1918. Hughes, Amos W., McConnelsville, September 26, 1918. Johnson, Harlan W., McConnelsville, November 1, 1918. Leggett, Leonard G., Malta, October 4, 1918. MacDonald, Roscoe H., Chesterhill, October 19, 1918. Maxwell, Ernest E., McConnelsville, October 20, 1918. Miller, Charles W., McConnelsville, October 3, 1918. Morris, Ora M., McConnelsville, October 8, 1918. Parsons, Albert M., Ringold, October 19, 1918. Patterson, Dewey, McConnelsville, June 24, 1918. Pennell, Delmer L., McConnelsville, September 28, 1918. Ray, Lyle D., McConnelsville, October 4, 1918. Richardson, Chester C., McConnelsville, September 30, 1918. Rowland, Lyle D., Roxbury, October 8, 1918. Savage, Roy, McConnelsville, December 10, 1918. Settle, Delmar A., Malta, August 16, 1918. Shipley, Harry A., McConnelsville, July 3, 1918. Strahl, Chalmer E., McConnelsville, October 15, 1918. Thompson, Albert L., Roxbury, October 8, 1918. Welch, Ernest, McConnelsville, November 25, 1918. CHAPTER CXLVIII MISCELLANEOUS ELEMENTS OF MORGAN COUNTY HISTORY MANY A FUGITIVE SLAVE WENT TO CANADA AND FREEDOM OVER HER UNDERGROUND RAILROAD—THOMAS GRAY SMUGGLED 500 THROUGH DEAVERTOWN—HISTORY OF THE COUNTY'S EARLY BANKS—COUNTY-SEAT WAR BROKE UP PARTY LINES—COAL EVERYWHERE BUT LITTLE MINED—SALT ONCE A GREAT INDUSTRY—THREE ROADS IN 1819— POPULATION CHANGES IN COUNTY, TOWNSHIPS AND TOWNS—TWIN-CITY CHURCHES—COUNTY SCHOOLS—OIL AND GAS—McCONNELSVILLE —MALTA—COUNTY OFFICERS—PUBLIC UTILITIES. A study of underground railroad history yields interesting evidence of the importance of Morgan County points as stations thereon. Many slaves crossed the Ohio at Parkersburg and Point Pleasant on their way to Canada and were helped by the abolitionists of the Southeastern Ohio border to reach Morgan County. In the southern portion of Morgan there were two parallel underground lines, one running. northward to Roscoe and the other to Chester Hill. The Roscoe line branched at that point, one on the west passing through Morganville and the other following. the boundary between Deerfield and Malta townships in its extension northward. These two routes came together at Deavertown and thence to Zanesville there was but one line. The other line had three courses northward from Chester Hill. These met at Pennsville, whence the line ran northwestwardly to a point just east of Morganville, where it connected with the course followed by the line along. the Deerfield-Malta Township boundary. Along the Morgan County underground routes thus referred to there were about twenty stations where friends of the slave were ever ready to help him northward toward freedom. GRAY FREED 500 At Deavertown lived Thomas L. Gray, who was one of Ohio's most fearless and active foes of slavery. During the period in - 537 - 538 - SOUTHEASTERN OHIO which he befriended black fugitives from the South 500 of the latter were forwarded to his co-workers farther north. It is assumed that all of these were cared for in Zanesville and Putnam, probably far the greater portion in Putnam, until it was safe to get them off to stations beyond. The map of Ohio's underground railroads shows that no line ran due north from Zanesville. One extended eastward, however, to New Concord and Cambridge, whence two parallel routes existed to Coshocton. From Marietta to Deavertown the underground existed in two parallel lines and although a more direct route northward from the mouth of the Muskingum ran through Summerfield to Cambridge, the Putnam operators must have taken care of a great many of the fugitives befriended in Marietta. SEPARATION THE SPECTRE During the first decade of the nineteenth century the slave-holder's treatment of his black chattels was such that flight to the North on their part did not assume significant proportions, but when in the next decade the auction block and the brutal overseer multiplied, whole families of slaves as well as individuals began to make their way toward Canada where no fugitive slave law could be invoked to carry them back and where ruthless separation of family members could not take place. To the auction block and the overseer was often added the death of a master as a reason for flight, since in the division of his property among. the heirs the dreaded breaking up of slave families often occurred. It is on record that members of a family of seven fugitives whose northward flight took them through Zanesville gave as a reason for their perilous journey the fact that the old master was about to die and they knew that would mean the breaking. up of the family. The Morgan County friends of such fugitives may be set down as men and women of supreme courage and conscience. Not only were the terms of the fugitive slave law severe, but the attitude of northern friends of the slaveholders was exceedingly hostile towards those who aided fleeing bondsmen to escape. To be taunted and ostracized by these was the lot of such foes of slavery. These foes might openly have faced the of their neighbors and have taken extreme risks in evading the law but they could aid the fugitive only by exercising extraordinary caution in SOUTHEASTERN OHIO - 541 conveying the blacks on their way and in hiding them at the underground stations. F. W. Howard, whose boyhood and young manhood were spent at Roseville, Muskingum County, and who wrote for local newspapers a number of enlightening stories about that village and Zanesville has condensed from Thomas L. Gray's underground railroad reminiscences an account of the conveyance from Deavertown to Zanesville of a group of fugitive slaves. For safety, Gray took the blacks a mile into the country to the home of Mrs. Affadilla Deaver, who said she was going to Zanesville the next day and would take the fugitives along. In the morning, accompanied by her twelve year old son, Hiram, she started. The blacks were on the bottom of the wagon, covered with straw and on top of the straw rested her marketing. All went well until the foot of Wigton's hill, near Roseville, was reached. There the wheels stuck in mud so deep that the team could not budge the load. The usual recourse would have been to a lightening of the load, but think what that would have meant to her and the slaves. Fortune favors the brave ; soon Farmers Wigton, Diltz, Walker and Erwig came to the rescue and pried the wagon out of the mud without lifting the coverlet which hid all in the wagon and without asking a question. Among Southeastern Ohio's aggressive "underground men" was Rial Cheadle, who is said to have lived in Windsor Township, Morgan County. He often stopped at Thomas L. Gray's, Deavertown, "on his midnight trips to Zanesville and stations farther on." He was eccentric but a very effective underground operator. He died in 1867. MORGAN COUNTY BANKS An informative article on this subject, written by the late H. B. Vincent, veteran McConnelsville jeweler, and published in the Herald's excellent Morgan County Souvenir of 1909, states that as early as 1846 Goodlive and McLain were doing a broker-age business,—"shaving notes"—"buying uncurrent money, buying and selling specie, in the basement (in their barroom, in fact) of their tavern at the foot of Center Street," McConnelsville. Back of the profits of this business there was a demand for 542 - SOUTHEASTERN OHIO banking accommodations and out of this came the organization of the banking firm of Goodlive, McLain, Bell & Co., with William B. Young, of Malta, as a silent partner. The Partesius block was erected with an annex designed to be the bank's home. A vault whose door had a time lock was built in a corner of the room. AN EARLY M'CONNELSVILLE BANK When this bank began operations *the business met many difficulties. Numerous bank notes were at a discount and counterfeits prevailed. The Goodlive, McLain, Bell & Co. institution, weathering the dangers, moved up town in the late '50s into the Robert A. Pinkerton building. But Goodlive and McLain retired from the firm and went West. Later, Bell did the same and was succeeded by Grosvenor C. Devol. "With two years of banking, 1854-5, by Edwin Corner," wrote Mr. Vincent, "we have a brief resume of the banking busi-ness of Morgan County up to the time of the Civil war" and he added: "Too much credit cannot be given our people who in the darkest days of '63 undertook the establishment of a national bank in McConnelsville." By the 28th of April the capital was pledged and a charter secured for the 46th National bank of the United States and at a meeting then held at the old town hall, with representatives of ninety-four stockholders present, directors were named as fol-lows: William P. Sprague, John 'E. Thomas, Joshua Davis, John B. Stone, F. W. Wood, Moses McDaniel, William Hawkins. The board organized by electing William P. Sprague, president, John E. Thomas, vice president and Grosvenor Devol, cashier. The bank prospered. At the end of a year the capital stock was increased from $75,000 to $100,000. BANKS OF THE PRESENT DAY The existing Malta bank is : The Malta National, R. K. Brown, president, Charles B. Smith, cashier. Capital, $50,000; surplus and undivided profits, $31,268. The McConnelsville banks are : The Citizens National—capital, $100,000, surplus, $50,000, undivided profits, $10,158. President T. J. Bailey, cashier J. R. Alderman. SOUTHEASTERN OHIO - 543 Citizens Savings—capital $50,000, surplus $15,000, undivided profits $4,982. First National—Capital $100,000, surplus $25,000, undivided profits $10,000. President, J. T. Stanton ; cashier, D. A. Finley. MORGAN COUNTY POLITICS Local issues rather than those of state or nation had voters in their srip when Morgan County was organized. Out of the county seat contest arose two parties, the "Junto" and the "Brimstones," the former name being applied to the friends of McConnelsville and the latter to those on the east and west sides of the river who were set against the choice of McConnelsville as the county seat. Doctor Robertson has written that "by these names each party was known and recognized in all the elections, irrespective of the county, state or national issues and each opposed the other with as much if not more vindictive spirit than is now evinced by the partizan politicians of the present day." And the historian adds: "But this unpleasantness became somewhat ameliorated as times and circumstances changed until the presidential election in 1826, when the local names became less prominent and at the celebration of the 4th of July, 1826, by all parties, including the ladies, after the viands were disposed of and the toasts responded to the requiem of both parties was sung by L. D. Barker in an original song, 'Old Uncle Sam,' with chorus : 'Let Brimstones and Juntos Unite in good cheer And spend one day together In the course of the year.' " When Andrew Jackson became President most of Morgan County's Juntos attached themselves to the democratic party and this resulted in democratic local victories almost constantly until 1845, when the whig majority in the general assembly placed Athens County's Homer and Marion townships within Morgan's limits and this overthrew democratic rule in the last named county. In 1851 Morgan's democracy was still further weakened by the transfer to Noble County of Morgan County communities, since when the last named subdivision has been republican. ^ 544 - SOUTHEASTERN OHIO COAL NEARLY EVERYWHERE BUT LITTLE MINED When Doctor Robertson wrote his history of Morgan County, published in 1886, he expressed the opinion that in the valuation of land in the county ($4,387,181 in 1880) it was not probable that any additional estimate had been made of the underlying coal and he added : "And the singular fact may be observed—by reference to the geology of the townships, that in the entire course of the river through the county, on either side, there is as yet no coal devel-oped for the distance of from two to five miles from it with the exception of Sherwoods and Hooksburg. Consequently the salt works have been, and the villages on the river are, dependent on what is mined from two to three miles above the county line in Muskingum County, furnished by Mr. Siler per his steamer and Mr. Stone with his barge from Blue Rock." In this connection the historian added the county's coal production figures as follows : 1873, 174,050 bushels; 1874-5, 143,975 bushels; 1875-6, 135,500 bushels. SALT IN MORGAN COUNTY It is said that Zuriel Sherwood "bored the first well and made the first salt in Morgan County, and, including Ayre's, the second on the river, in 1820, on the farm much later owned by James Moore." Salt was later produced for many years. William Selvy and others engaged in the industry and by 1836 salt furnaces lined the Muskingum from a point three miles below McConnelsville to the Muskingum-Morgan boundary and beyond. Census figures show that in 1840 Morgan produced more salt than any other Ohio county. Cincinnati became Morgan County's chief salt market and the product was carried thither by flatboats, sometimes called "salt flats," which were usually manned by a crew of six. About four hundred to five hundred barrels of salt were carried on flats 80 to 100 feet in length. THE FIRST THREE ROADS In 1819 but three roads traversed Morgan County territory; one, connecting Zanesville and Marietta, passed through Center and Bristol townships; another, on the east side of the Muskin- SOUTHEASTERN OHIO - 545 gum, connected McConnelsville and Zanesville; the third was the Harmar-Lancaster state road. The county commissioners responded to the growing demand for additional roads between July and October, 1819, by ordering seven new roads to be opened up: Dye's road; Massey's road; Moore's road; Collins' road; Gates' road; Center road and Hoit's road. Robertson is authority for the statement that "the earliest regularly surveyed road in Morgan County was the state road from Zanesville to Marietta." "The distance from Zanesville to the mouth of the Muskingum by this route," he adds, "was fifty-nine miles." This illustrates the crookedness of that stream, which, between Zanesville and Marietta has a length of seventy-five miles. POPULATION DATA We have stated that in 1818 the county's population was estimated at 3,000. The census returns for later periods, which follow, indicate gains, then losses: 1820, 5,297; 1830, 11,800; 1840, 20,852; 1860, 22,119; 1870, 20,363; 1880, 20,074; 1900, 17,905; 1910, 16,097; 1920, 14,555. In 1880 the population by townships and villages was as follows: Bloom, 898; Bristol, 1448; Center, 1164; Deerfield, 1035; Homer, 1693; Malta, including town, 1574; Malta Village, 652; Manchester, 723; Marion, 1989; Meigsville, 1201; Morgan, including McConnelsville, 2005; McConnelsville, 1473; Penn, 1245; Union, 1595; Windsor, including Stockport, 2392; Stockport, 335; York, 1112. The table which follows shows population changes by townships and towns: