(RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE) MORGAN - 333 CHAPTER XVIII. MORGAN. ORGANIZATION-EARLY ELECTIONS-THE FIRST MAGISTRATE-ROSTER OF PIONEERS- DEACON MILES-THE JUNTOS AND BRIMSTONES-OLD JOE-ELECTION CUSTOMS-MEMORABLE CONTEST BETWEEN THE JUNTOS AND THE BRIMSTONES- EARLY COURTS-COURT ATTENDANCE OF PIONEER DAYS-TAVERN GATHERINGS-REMINISCENCES-PERSONAL INCIDENTS. THE history of Morgan Township is contemporaneous with that of McConnelsville, and so closely interwoven are the two that it is almost impossible to write of one without narrating facts concerning the other. By ordinance of Congress; May, 1785, the territory northwest of the Ohio was surveyed into ranges, townships and sections. The ranges were numbered from east to west and the townships from south to north, each township having thirty-six sections. In this survey an error occurred by which the twelfth range, instead of being six, was only five miles in width. Morgan and 334 - HISTORY OF MORGAN COUNTY, OHIO. the other townships of this range are consequently only of that width. Prior to the organization of the county in 1819 Morgan Township was included in Deerfield, being that part taken from Washington County in which James Young officiated as magistrate. The only record of the transaction is the following order : " Ordered by the trustees that Jacob R. Price be and is hereby authorized to adjust and settle with the trustees of Deerfield Township all accounts between said Deerfield and Morgan Townships. "JOHN SEAMAN. "April 20, 1820." The accounts were adjusted and the following report, dated September 2, 1820 submitted : " We, the undersigned, being, appointed to adjust the accounts between Deerfield and Morgan Townships, after a thorough investigation, do find seventy-nine dollars and twenty-one cents clue to both townships at the time Morgan was set off, which was on the 10th of August, 1818, of which Morgan Township's share is twenty-five dollars and forty cents, as witness our hands. " JACOB R. PRICE. " JOSIAH WRIGHT. " MARTIN PRICE." When the " set off " was made, Morgan comprised the original surveyed Township 11 of Range 12. In 1819, when Penn Township was organized, the commissioners struck of a row of Sections from the south side of Morgan and attached .a like number to Morgan from the south Side of Bloom, thus equalizing the territorial limits of the three townships. On the formation of Malta Township, in 1839, the river was made the line with the addition to Morgan of half of Sections 6 and 19, and all that part of Section 30 east of the river to Meigsville, and a little nook in Section 27, adjoining the sections previously detached from Bloom. In shape Morgan Township might now be called an irregular triangle, the longer line or southwest border being on the river. It has a smaller area than any other in the county 11 3/4 sections, 7,520 acres. Two miles north of McConnelsville, coal, of what is called the Cumberland seam, of the average thickness of three feet, has been mined and used for over fifty years ; it is in two stratas, divided by about an inch of carbonaceous slate. The lower stratum of this coal is equal to any other in the county. One mile east of town coal is found, and was formerly the chief dependence for the people in the vicinity. In this same vicinity iron ore of the kidney variety is said to be in abundance. Judge Gaylord, in his reminiscences, says : " In the early part of 1819 we find only a partial organization existing. James Young was the only acting justice of the peace in the township. He was commissioned November 17, 1818, and resigned February 11, 1820. He had his office in an old, dilapidated shed attached to his dwelling on Lot 64, corner of Maine and Union streets, McCon nelsville, where he dispensed justice and attended to the legal wants of his neighbors with dignity and dispatch unsurpassed by any of his numerous successors. Squire Young was a brickmolder and mason, and built the first brick dwelling in the county, the Adams House. He also made the brick and put up the first courthouse in the county. Young being almost constantly occupied in his mechanical pursuits, besides at- MORGAN - 335 tending strictly to his duties as tavern- keeper, was obliged to make Saturdays his court-days, from necessity, on which occasion much legal business was disposed of in a way peculiar to the times. "Legal business accumulating in the township, it was deemed necessary to have another justice's court opened ; ;thereupon the trustees of the township, in the absence of any action of the common pleas court, ordered an election to be held on July 31, 1819, to elect an additional justice of the peace. This election was the first political demonstration we have any account of among the early settlers of the township, and was held in McConnelsville at the time ordered, Alexander McConnel, Daniel Chandler and John Pettit judges ; Jesse L. Paschal and Simeon Pool, Jr., clerks of election. By reference to the pollbook of that election a pretty complete list of the pioneers is obtained as follows : Lewis Ramey, Gilbert Olney, Nathaniel Sprague, W. M. Dawes, Amasa Piper, Simeon Pool, John Bell, Alexander McConnel, Simeon Pool, Jr., Jacob Adams, Joseph Wyatt, William Lewis, Sylvanus Piper, Jacob R. Price, John Pettit, Robert Aikens, Jr., John Smith, William Hughes, John Williams, Philip Kahler, John Seaman, Abraham Hughes, Benjamin T. Johnson, Isaac Walbridge, Timothy M. Gates, W. C. Johnson, Israel Redman, Jonathan McMullen, William Murphy, James Larrison, Nathaniel Shepard, James Young, Samuel A Barker, JonaS Fox, Charley Brian, Henry Awmiller. Daniel Chandler, a judge, and Jesse L. Paschal, a clerk, did not vote, making the number thirty-eight. Eleven of this list resided within the present corporate limits of McConnellsville ; all others resided in the township, and most of them on the Malta side. Timothy M. Gates was elected, receiving fifteen of the thirty-six votes." In October, 1820, a general election was held, and from the records are obtained the following election certificates: " We do hereby certify that Andrew Wharton had 46 votes, David Fulton had 33 votes for commissioner ; Jeremiah Morrow had 69 votes, Ethan A. Brown had 7 votes, William M. Dawes had 2 votes for governor ; Timothy Buel had 44 votes, Alexander McConnel had 53 votes, Ephraim Cutler had 15 votes, William M. Dawes had 28 votes, Joseph Barker had 5 votes, A mzi Stanley had 4 votes for State representative. " JONATHAN PORTER, "JOHN SEAMAN, " WILLIAM PALMER, "Judges." This is followed by another certificate " that Levi Barber had 13 votes, Henry Brush had 62 votes, and Thomas Scott had one vote for representative in congress." The following bears the same date : " We do hereby certify that Joseph Barker had 20 votes for State representative and Timothy Buell had 17 votes for State representative. " WILLIAM SUMMERS, "JONATHAN PORTER, " JAMES YOUNG, "Judges. " JACOB R. PRICE, " FRANCIS A. BARKER, " Clerks. " December 19, 1820." At that time Morgan County elected, with Washington County, two representatives; and that there was some dis- 336 - HISTORY OF MORGAN COUNTY, OHIO. satisfaction in one or the other of the elections is indicated by the following ‘' official notice " for holding the first political convention in the county, which is copied verbatim from pages 17 and 18 of the record: “Notice to the electors of Morgan Township to meet at the schoolhouse in McConnelsville on Saturday, the 1st of September next, to elect two delegates to meet in general delegation in McConnelsville on the 4th of September next, for the purpose of forming an annual ticket to be supported at the next annual election for Morgan County. Also to choose a committee to correspond with a committee of Washington County. " By order of the trustees, "JACOB R. PRICE, T. C. " August 24, 1821." " Ordered by the trustees that an election be held at the Schoolhouse in McConnelsville to elect two delegates for the township of Morgan to meet with delegates from the other different townships of Morgan County to form a ticket to be supported at the ensuing election. Also to choose a corresponding committee to correspond with Washington County and the different townships of Morgan County. "WM. C. JOHNSON, " JONATHAN PORTER, " Trustees. "August 24, 1821. Attest : Jacob R. Price. " The above is misplaced ; it ought to be before the advertisement." At the annual election, October 9, 1821, subsequent to the call for the general delegation" there were 95 votes cast; and it is apparent that the effect of the "general delegation " was: the formation of two regular tickets, with probably the first " Brimstone and Junto " battle at the poles. The candidates for the State senate were Sardina Stone and Ephraim Cutler. For representatives : Timothy Buell, Alexander McConnel, Wm. M. Dawes and James Whitney. In those days it was the fashion everywhere at elections for candidates to treat their friends, and to their enemies to extend merely a " smell." Liberally and frequently the voters indulged the generosity of the candidates during the day. It was common at the election to find the " big-bellied bottle" exhibited and set out with the name of the candidate inscribed thereon. It was the order of the day to first vote and then drink the success of the favorite candidate from his bottle. If any candidate should have conscientious scruples about furnishing his demijohn well filled, his chances for success were very slim. On the 22d of January, 1820, an election was held for a justice of the peace, at which Timothy M. Gates, Gilbert Olney and Alexander McConnel acted as judges ; John Seaman and Jacob R. Price, as clerks. The following pioneers appear for the first time upon the record : William B. Young, Moses Lawrence, John Davis, Joseph Smith, William Brown, David Smith, Theophilus Caton, Isaac Miles, Samuel H. Gates, Henry Snider, John Jack, Jonathan Porter, Simeon Morgueridge, William Palmer. Jacob P. Springer, Isaac Walbridge was elected, receiving twenty-four out of thirty-one votes cast: The larger portion of these pioneers were residents of the village and MORGAN - 337 township in 1819. In this list of pioneers will be found the name of Isaac Miles. He was peculiar in his ways, blunt and determined Among his numerous friends he was known as Deacon Miles, not that he possessed any of the particular Christian virtues appertaining to that kind of a church officer, or had he connection with any of the theological organizations extant among the people at that time, but from his peculiarities displayed on all occasions. For some years he was one of the con- tables, and the law during his administration made it his duty to visit every newcomer settling in the township, and notify him or her to depart the same, so that he or she should not in any event become a public charge upon the township. This was called " warning out," and the notice in the hands of Constable Miles was given to everyone ; no matter what might be their circumstances in life, the rich and the poor were sure to receive a call from Constable Miles. On one occasion Constable (or Deacon) Miles, in his rounds of "warning out," came to the domicile of a lone widow, and without notice of his approach, he bolted across the threshold of her cabin, and in no smooth or pleasant vein blurted out, " Madam, I warn you out of this township and off the face of God's earth ! " The woman, surprised at the sudden intrusion of the officer of the law and his peremptory commands, raising her hands toward heaven, cried out, "My God, Mr. Miles, off the face of God's earth ! Where shall I go to ?" "Go to ? " said the deacon ; " go to the Kanawaha saltworks." The Kenawaha saltworks, at that time, was a sort of asylum for the lame, halt, blind and unfortunate, and also a refuge for those who were compelled to leave the country for the country's good. In continuation of the pioneer list, we again quote from Judge Gaylord's reminiscences : "June 3, 1820, an election was held in which the following additional pioneers first make their appearance upon the records : Thomas Byers, John Berry, Timothy Gaylord, Charles Kinsel, Sr., Isaac Sprague, Isaac Hedges, George Miller, William Sprague, Edwin Corner, Robert Robinson, David Irwin, Robert Morgan, Leonard St. Clair, William Van Horn, Joab Kennison, Jonathan Williams, David Miller, William Fouts, Simon Vance, John Scott, Joseph McConnel." Five or six of the above-named were residents of the township in the early part of 1819. On the 29th of August, 1820, an election was held for a justice of the peace. At this election there were forty-six votes cast, and the additional pioneers participating in the local political strife were : Alex. Brown, John Lawson, Jonathan Whitney, John Lucas, Francis Lucas, Obadiah Scott, Barney Scott, Robert Henery. William Spurgeon, Robert Winter. At this election Timothy Gaylord received twenty-seven votes and Alex. McConnel nineteen. Thomas Byers contested the election before Simon Merwin, Thomas Devin and John White, freeholders of the county. The election was declared legal, and Gaylord was duly commissioned. At that day the local party distinctions of Brimstones and Juntos prevailed, and all the local political contests were marked by much strife and bitter feeling. Gaylord was a Brimstone and McConnel a Junto. (Some account of these parties will be found in Chapter XIV.) An 338 - HISTORY OF MORGAN COUNTY, OHIO. election for a justice of the peace was held on the 6th day of August, 1821, at which election sixty-one votes were cast. Francis A. Barker received twenty-six votes, and Timothy Gates thirty. The election of Gates, who was the head center of the Brimstone faction, was chronicled as a great victory for the Brimstones. The follOWing pioneers for the first time appeared, and had their names registered, viz.: Jesse Spurgeon, Martin Froby, Caleb Wells, Daniel Chandler, Thomas Barr, Jacob Kahler, John B. Stone, Loyd Piatt, Levi Ellis, Nathan Wilder, John Clemens, Alexander R. Pinkerton, Stephen Gates, Sr., Frederick Pope, John Patterson, Orange Walker. Of the above several were residents before 1820. Why their names do not appear on the records earlier is at this time unexplainable. On the first day of April, 1822, an election was held, at which seventy votes were cast. The result was claimed as a Junto victory. The following pioneers put in an appearance for the first time, viz.: William Hawkins, Eclo Stubbs, George Newcomb, William Stephens, Zenas Cox, John Paton, Allen Robinet, Jeremiah Conaway, Jeremiah Stevens, John Stutes, Micah Adams, Rufus P. Stone, William Dawes, Isaac James. Some of them were residents of the township in 1818. The last exciting contest between the Juntos and the Brimstones was held on the 14th day of October, 1823. The election was for a justice of the peace. Alexander McConnel and Timothy Gaylord were the aspirants for magisterial honors. Alexander McConnel received forty-eight votes, and Timothy Gaylord forty. This was a decisive triumph for the Juntos. The presidential contest coming on in the next year, 1824, the " Brimstone and Junto partisans were to some extent lost in that memorable conteSt. Breaking loose from former political associations, " Brimstones " and Juntos" were found working harmoniously together for some one of the presidential candidates. Politics then, as now, made " strange bedfellows." McConnel and Gaylord, who twelve months before were engaged in a bitter strife over the insignificant office of a justice of the peace upon the " Junto " and " Brimstone " platforms, were found working harmoniously together for the election of Clay, and four years later both were prominent Jacksonians; while ethers; formerly equally as hostile and bitter toward each other in the local political strifes of the day, would embrace each other in a friendly hug in 1824, and then throw up their hats and strive for the election of JackSon or Adams. Then it was that the Brimstone and Junto factions commenced to die out, and most of their bitter partisans were lost in the national contest of 1824 and that immediately succeeding it. In 1828 the following pioneers were enrolled upon the record : W. C. Shugert, Amon Wells, John P. Ferrell, Samuel Morrison, Holmes Morrison, James Hughes, William Wells, George Dawes, Charles Dawes, Ebenezer Hammond, Augustus Hoskin, Robert P. Oliver, Benjamin Beckwith, Jacob Singer, Matthew Lutton, James Baker, Samuel Baker, George Newman, Michael Wiseman, Joel Olney, Silas Leroy, Thomas Dugan, Enoch Loper, William Brooks, James Gillespie, Samuel Pollard. The list of pioneers of Morgan Township on the 14th. day of October, 1823, and prior thereto, is here given, numbering 144. Several of these pioneers MORGAN - 339 became residents of the township long before they made their appearance at the elections in which their names are chronicled, and no doubt some few names are omitted from the list who should have a place in the same for the season that they did not attend these venal elections and have themselves registered. To a great extent we have depended upon the poll-books consulted for a full list, but we find the names of Rev. George Russel, Joseph Barrow, John Collison, James Clemens and some others, unnaturalized foreigners, whose names are ommitted from the records. Of this list of 144 names only nine could answer to the rollcall in 1873. Many of their descendents still reside in the township and county. In the pioneer days there was a class of men who could not be placed under any common description of mankind their like will never perhaps be known again. They frequented the courtS and were about on public days, and they practiced, more or less, at the bars of the village taverns. At that day, besides the judges, lawyers, suitors, jurors and witnesses, a goodly number of spectators were in attendance to witness the proceedings of the courts. Not only were they present to witness the doings of the court, but in those days, when the newspapers were not so prodigal of their circulation as now, a class of persons would come out on such occasions to learn the current news of the period and indulge themselves in the discusSion and investigation of the events going on in the outside world, and have their friendly chats with one another upon various local subjects and questions then and there suggested. Sixty-seven years ago but few newspapers found their way within the bounds of Morgan county ; perhaps the Zanesville papers and one or two weeklies from east of the mountains would be the extent of the circulation through two or three postoffices in the whole county, and they delivered by a weekly horseback mail. All inquiring and wide-awake men residing away from the county seat, contentedly living in their rude log cabins, upon new farms, generally depended for the news of the day on the now-and-then traveler passing through the country, who, for his supposed fund of news and gossip, was always a welcome guest and hospitably entertained and kept out of bed until a late hour in the night, answering the many questions of his inquisitive host, and also upon those neighbors who now and then emerged from the woods into the outside world, who on their return would impart much information of what waS going on. For these and other purposes, might be found congregated at the county seat at court-days all kinds of characters. Among this motley and somewhat promiscuous throng of visitors might be seen Joseph D , residing close upon the borders of Bristol Township. Old Joe was one of those men possessing a rough and unseemly exterior, but a good heart within. He was a great hunter, of unquestioned skill and bravery, who had in many contests vanquished the beasts of the forest. He was admirably well skilled in all the expedients and customs of the pioneers, and was truly a hardy, active and expert backwoodsman. His native abilities were superior, and without the advantages of school and book education he was looked upon as a prodigy. He could therefore accommodate him- 340 - HISTORY OF MORGAN COUNTY, OHIO. self without inconvenience or perplexity to all kinds of company he might meet with. When in a promiscuous gathering, Old Joe shone out in all his native dignity and equanimity of mind. It is remembered that on one occasion Old Joe was hard-up for lodgings. All the taverns in the village were crowded and no accommodations could be found for Old Joe. lie had no place to rest his weary and befuddled head. At that day McConnelsville presented rather an unsightly appearance. Brush and log- heaps were numerous. Old Joe settled himself for a nightsis lodging at a large log-heap, fired up the pile and after the custom of the hunter made his bed and sweetly reposed all night. At early dawn Old Joe made his appearance at the bar of one of the village taverns, extremely thirsts but somewhat refreshed in body. He called for his gill of "Moxahala." At that (lay liquor was dealt out indiscriminately to all callers in measures of gallons, quarts, pints, gills and half- gills. On this occassion it seems that a gill was sufficient to quench Old Joe's thirst. With expedition he turned it of and took his place among the village throng who had been indulging in their early morning drams. One of these present seemed to know something about Old Joe's whereabouts the previous night, and thinking to have some fun at his expense began, "Well, Mr. D , if it's not impertinent on my part, I should like to know where you lodged last night." "Well, sir," replied Old Joe, "I do not take it as impertinent for one neighbor to interrogate another as to his whereabouts in this neck of the woods, particularly if his absence should be in the night season, for you know, Captain McQuaide, I am not much concerned about where I shall sleep, what I shall eat, or how much I shall drink. I sojourned last night, sir, at the tavern with the sign of God help us.' This inn has neither roof, sideboard, bed nor bar." Well, Mr. D____, whereabouts in McConnelsville is that tavern located ? " Old Joe, stretching himself up to his full length, over six feet, and with a sonorous and deliberate pronunciation, said, " Sir, that place of accommodation for the wayfarer is to be found on the corner of Poplar, Beech, Hickory and Walnut streets. " With much hickory bark to light your way, But nothing to landlord or hostler pay." “Well. Mr. D_____ , if your tavern occupies all of those four corners it must be an extensive Structure. Landlord, set out the drinks." On another occasion, when in a sober circle of neighbors some one was boasting of his recent religious conversion and under whose ministry the event had taken place, Old Joe patiently listened to the tale of the new convert, and being somewhat skeptical in such serious matters bluntly broke out, "Yes, my young friend, we read in the good book that in old times one Balaam was converted by the braying of an ass. I see nothing to prevent such a miracle taking place at this time and right here on Meigs Creek." Roswell Whipple, a native of New York, came from Pennsylvania and first settled in Bloom on the. farm now owned by Jesse Ryan. From this farm he removed to the farm owned by his son William, where he resided until his death, which occurred in 1861. He was a worthy citizen and a prominent farmer. Samuel Farra came from Lancas- MORGAN - 341 ter County, Pa., in 1819, and located in Bloom Township. He was a farmer and stonemason by occupation, and the progenitor of the Farra family in this county. He died in Bloom Township. His family consisted of five boys and three girls. William, one of the sons, was born in Lancaster County, Pa., in 1804. He married Miss Francis, daughter of Wilkes Bozman, one of the pioneers of Bristol Township. He settled on the farm now owned by Joseph Parmiter. He was a successful farmer and accumulated a fine competency. He died in Meigsville in 1879. He reared a family of nine children— six boys and three girls. John Sharp was born in Pennsylvania. and when a young man emigrated to Ohio and settled in Washington County, where he married Miss Mary Mitchell. But little is known of his history further than that he was a man of considerable prominence. During the war of 1812 he recruited a company, which he commanded ; he was taken a prisoner, and was not released until the close of the war, when he returned to his home near Marietta, where he died in 1820, aged 47 years. His wife died in 1818, aged 35 years. R. J. M. Sharp, son- of John Sharp, was born in Washington County, Ohio, December 31, 1806. In March, 1830, he came to McConnelsville, and in September following married Miss Fanny, daughter of Andrew J. McAllister. She was born in Essex County, Vermont, November 9, 1807, and came to Morgan County with her parents in 1819. Her father was born in New Hampshire and married Miss Abbie Rodgers. She died in Iowa in 1862, he in McConnelsville in 1847, aged 76 years. Mr. and Mrs. Sharp reared a family of eight children ; Edgar B., one of the prominent business men of McConnelsville, is the only one residing in the State. Among the early settlers of Meigsville Township were Charles and Sarah (Holbrook) McCarty, the former a native of Virginia, the latter born in Maine. They were staid and thrifty people and reared a family of seven children,Charles W. being next the eldest. He was born in Meigsville, May 29, 1831, and was reared on his father's farm. He received a good common-school education and at the age of twenty-two married Miss Margaret A. Triblett. She died in February, 1867. Six years after her death he was again married to Miss Sarah J. Wagner, of Meigsville, and the year following moved to where he now resides. Mr. McCarty is a thrifty and prosperous farmer, as his well-tilled fields attest. In his religious and political affiliations he is a Methodist and a republican. James C. Loughridge was born in Muskingum County, Ohio, near Zanesville, January 29, 1836. He removed to where he now resides in 1853. Samuel Koons was born in Frederick County, Md., December 7, 1809. In 1821 the family came to Perry County, this State, and from thence in 1844 to Malta village. He is the present proprietor of the Koons Hotel, in McConnelsville.