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CHAPTER XXVI.
ELK.
ELK TOWNSHIP IN 1822 - TAXES IN EARLY YEARS - ORIGINAL EXTENT OF TERRITORY - ALTERATION OF BOUNDARIES IN 1851 - PROPERTY-HOLDERS IN 1833 - PIONEER SETTLERS - THE DAVIS FAMILY - FREDERICK MILLER - HIS ECCENTRICITIES - THE PRYORS - THE ENOCHS - MATTHEW GRAY-THE CRUMS - OTHER EARLY SETTLERS- FIRST GERMAN SETTLERS, 1836 - THRIFT AND ENTERPRISE- CRUMTOWN- HARRIETTSVILLE - THE VILLAGE FOUNDED BY MOSES T. SPENCER IN 1839 - ITS PROGRESS AND PRESENT STATUS - SOCIETIES - CHURCHES.
ELK TOWNSHIP is first mentioned upon the records of Monroe County in the year 1822, when Isaac Davis was appointed lister. The amount of county levy in the township for that year was $16. In 1823 Matthew Gray was collector for the township, and the tax amounted to $15.65. In 1824 the tax was $14.45; Matthew Rogers, collector. No description of the boundaries of the township is found except in the commissioner's journal for 1836, when they were as follows : Beginning at the southeast corner of section 13 in township 5 of range 7; thence west four miles ; thence north six miles ; thence east four miles ; then south six miles to the place of beginning. The township, therefore, embraced all of its present territory except the two northern and four southern sections. The two northern sections came off Franklin Township, and the four southern ones were taken from Washington County.
The commissioners of Noble County, May 1, 1851, altered the boundaries of Elk Township, making them as follows :
"Commencing at the southeast corner of section 18 in township number 4 of range number 7 ; thence north along the section line across township number 5 of range number 7, to the northeast corner of section 13 in township. number 6 of range number 7; thence west along the section line to the seventh range line ; thence south along the seventh range to the southwest corner of section 36 in township number 4 of range number 7 ; thence east along the section line to the place of beginning—containing 32 sections."
This township formerly included sections 25 and 31 of Stock Township, which were transferred to the latter by order of the county commissioners, March 7, 1854.
Moses Spencer was the first justice of the peace in this township after the erection of Noble County. He qualified for entering upon the duties of his office August 23, 1851.
From the earliest tax duplicates found on file in the auditor's office in Morgan County—those for the year 1833—the following list of holders of real estate in Elk Town-
514 - HISTORY OF NOBLE COUNTY, OHIO.
ship in that year is obtained. This is, therefore, an authentic record of nearly all of the pioneer settlers of the township, together with the number of acres owned by each, and the value of the same in 1833:
George Bonar, section 29, 162 acres, $182; David Bonar, section 23, 162 acres, $182 ; William Brown, section 23, 81 acres, $92 ; Shadrach Burton, section 36, 67 acres, $74; Jesse Dennis, section 32, 139 acres, $139 ; Enoch Enochs, section 36, 79 acres, $99 ; Matthew Gray, section 26, 157 acres, $216 ; James Lloyd and Joseph Pickard, section 32, 139 acres, $175 ; Frederick Miller, section 29, 161 acres, $200; Wine Rood, section 35, 146 acres, $182; Isaac Worstel, section 21, 80 acres, $100. Number of acres, 1,452 ; valuation, $1,731.
Among the owners of personal property in the township in 1833 are found the following- names, which do not appear on the foregoing list : John Brown, David Crum, Jesse Davis, Kinsey Davis, Isaac Davis, Widow Enochs, Hiram Forshey, John Forshey, John Forshey (2d), Wealthy Ingraham, Francis Miller, George Miller, Michael Martin, John Pryor, Samuel Pryor, Seneca Fletcher, John Rake, Jacob Rake, James Sweeny, Moses T. Spencer, Philip Koon, Francis Ferrell, John West, Oliver Ingraham.
The total tax of the township was as follows : On real estate, $19.47 ; on personal property, $21.28 ; total, $40.75.
In the same year James Young, on section 13, of township 6, range 7, was taxed for 161 acres, valued at $227, in Franklin Township.
Prior to 1812 Jesse Davis and family, from Pennsylvania, settled in this township. His children were Isaac, Kinsey.; Jesse, Nathan, Rebecca (Mrs. James Sweeny), Rachel (Mrs. Francis Miller), Polly (Mrs. Emanuel Hupp), Annie (Mrs. Henry Pryor) and Louisa (Mrs. William Enochs). The family became scattered, and now has but few representatives in the county.
Frederick Miller was a veritable pioneer a backwoodsman and a hunter. He had served in the Indian War; and had the pioneer's hatred for the red race. He al Ways wore a hunting-shirt, and carried knives at his belt. When he became too enfeebled to walk, he procured a mule, which he rode for years. He was very eccentric, and had an unvarying price for everything he sold, which was not regulated by the market quotations. He always asked thirty-three and one-third cents per bushel for corn, fifty cents per bushel for wheat and a " fi' penny " bit per pound for meat. He would sell only to those who needed supplies, and never to a speculator. He was the father of Francis Miller, who died in this township.
Samuel Pryor came to this township at an early date. The Pryors were of German origin and had lived on Captina Creek before coming here. Samuel was the father-of Ehjah, John, Henry, William, Mary, Nancy, Sarah and Elizabeth. Henry is the only survivor. He lives in Minnesota. William died in this
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township in 1886 aged sixty-eight years.
Isaac Pryor settled in this township in 1827, near Harriettsville. He was the father of Margaret, Jane, Lila, Maria, John and Howard. John is still living
Moses T. Spencer, from Maryland, was one of the most prominent of the early settlers. He and his brother-in-law, Jonas Lovett, lived near Harriettsville and owned the land on which the town is situated. The town was laid out by Spencer and named for his youngest daughter. He built a saw-mill on the creek and afterward a grist-mill, the first in the township. Spencer and Lovett had more means than most of the early settlers. Both were leading Methodists.
The Crums of this township are of German descent. William and David Crum were brothers and pioneer settlers.
The Rake and Ingraham families were among the early settlers. None of their descendants are now here. The descendants of Jesse Dennis still live in Noble and Monroe Counties.
Enoch Enochs, a brother of Elisha Enochs, the pioneer settler at Carlisle, was among the early settlers of this township. His father, Enoch Enochs, Sr., served in the Indian wars and the War of 1812. He came with his son to this township and died here in 1835. Enoch, Jr., from his eighteenth year to middle age was a keel-boatman and a steamboat hand on the Muskingum and Ohio. He was a large man physically and a thorough backwoodsman. He lived in Noble County until 1878, when he removed to Tyler County, W. Va., where he died in 1886, at the age of eighty-five.
Matthew Gray was the pioneer settler where Harriettsville now is. The log house which he built is still standing. An elk was killed near the spot on the day of the raising. This circumstance is said to have given the township its name. Matthew Gray sold out to Moses T. Spencer and removed to Pawpaw Creek. His son Jesse lived in this township several years.
The first blacksmith shop near Harriettsville was started by Charles Lloyd in 1835.
James Lloyd, from England, entered land in this township in 1830 and in 1832 moved hither with his family. His son Charles, of Harriettsville, is among the oldest residents of the township.
Charles Lloyd was born in Cheshire, England, in 1811. He came to this country in 1827 and to this township in 1832. In early life he followed blacksmithing. He is an expert and ingenious mechanic and has invented several articles, some of which have been patented. After working at the blacksmith's trade twenty-one years he engaged in the mercantile business, which he still follows. In 1837 he married Sarah Booth, of Belmont County, who died in 1885. Six of their nine children are living : John, Thomas, Edward, J. F. M., Hannah and Lydia A. Thomas was county recorder for one term. He married a daughter of Hon. W. H. Frazier. Mr. Lloyd is
516 - HISTORY OF NOBLE COUNTY, OHIO.
an Odd Fellow and a Mason, also a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Charles Lloyd, of Harriettsville, has in his possession the horns of the last deer killed in the township. It was shot by his father, James Lloyd.
James Lloyd kept the first tavern in the neighborhood of Harriettsville. He also sold goods long before there was any store in the village. His wife was a woman of good business qualifications, and she attended to the store.
Joseph Pickard, an Englishman, came to the township in 1830. His children, Jacob and Ann, are both dead. Oliver Ingraham lived on the creek above Harriettsville in 1830. None of his descendants remain. William Brown and his son John lived on section 23, and were prominent Methodists. Shadrach Burton, an early pioneer, left the country years ago. He went to California and it is supposed that he was murdered on his way home. Isaac Worstel lived on the place next above the Lovett farm. He removed after several years' residence.
As an example of how the pioneer justices of the peace transacted legal business, we give a copy of a receipt found in an early justice's docket. The name of the justice does not appear on the receipt. The document is as follows, verbatim et literatim:
" March the 24-1828.
"Received of Thomas Taylor Eight Dollars and forty Eight cents it being the remaining Ballance of a Judge ment against him on my Docket in favor of John Brown.
(Signed) " JOHN BROWN."
John Forshey was a prominent early settler and for several years served as justice of the peace.
Peter Crbw and Silas M. Bonan are among the oldest residents of the township.
Adam Crum, a native of Germany, was a soldier in the War of the Revolution ; he was wounded at the battle of Bunker Hill. At the close of the war he settled in Pennsylvania, from whence he immigrated to Monroe County, Ohio, in 1808. Two of his sons, David and William, were pioneers in what is now Elk Township. David married Miss Mary, daughter of Martin Crow, a German, who settled near Carlisle ; he had five sons and five daughters ; the latter were massacred by Indians, an account of which is given in the chapter devoted to Stock Township. David settled in Elk, and is said to have taught the first school in the township and was one of the early trustees. He had seven sons : George, James, Martin, Henry, William, Michael, and David. George married Agatha Roe, and is one of the prosperous farmers of the township; he has a family of four sons and three daughters : Peter D., J. Martin, William T., George I., Mary E., Louisa J. and Susan V. J. Martin is a prominent young teacher and a very worthy young man. Henry had four sons: William, James, Philo, and Henry, Jr. James is the only one of the family living in Elk. William
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entered land near Frederickton and for many years was a magistrate.
David Bonar, a soldier of the War of 1812 and one of the pioneers of this township, was born twelve miles above Wheeling, W. Va., in 1796. He settled four miles above Harriettsville on land which he entered from government. The country at this time was almost a wilderness. Marietta was the nearest trading point until Summerfield became able to supply the demands of the settlers. He took an active part in the politics of the township, and was one of the judges of the first township election, and held nearly all of the township offices. He was an earnest Christian and aided largely in the building of the Road Fork Baptist church. He had a family of five children : Silas, Isaac, Vincent, Nancy and Jasper. Silas, the eldest, was born in 1823, and married in 1845 Miss Freelove A. Grey. He has always resided on the old homestead and is a worthy citizen ; his family of eight children are named as follows : Sarah E., Louisa J., Mary M., Celestial A., Sylvester W., George M., Savannah and Albert M. Isaac, the second son of David, was born in 1824; was twice married ; by his first wife, Miss Ellen Jones, he had four children : Olive, Florence, Isaac W. and Mary 0. Isaac removed to Kansas. In 1849 he went to California, "sailing round the horn." By occupation he is a teacher and farmer. Vincent Bonar was born in 1825 and died in 1880. He married Margaret Hardy in 1851; she died in 1857. Of a family of four, only one, Elizabeth, is now living. In 1860 he was again married, to Emily Brown, by whom he had eight children : Henry S., Nancy A., Jesse, Charles, Mary, Adoniram J., John M , and Laura B. Vincent was one of the leading citizens of the township, holding all of the offices in the gift of his fellow citizens. He built the Road Fork Baptist church. He was a prosperous farmer and always resided on the homestead farm. His wife owns the residence and is an excellent Christian lady and an efficient Sabbath-school worker. he was the daughter of Hon. Jesse Brown and Elizabeth Brown, of Monroe County, Ohio. Nancy Bonar was born in 1833 and married Albert Rogers in 1856. She moved to Iowa in 1865, thence to Missouri in 1866, where she now resides. They have seven children Francis, Margaret E., Newton R., Otto C., James, Lydia J., and David. Jasper was born in 1835, and married Mary Leonard, of Marietta, in 1865, and moved to Fulton County. Originally he was a teacher, but is now a prosperous farmer. He has a family of three children : Albert, TIlla and Belle. The first and last named are graduates of Granville College.
There were few settlers in the township in 1830, and of the few families then here, scarcely a half dozen have any representatives now. The growth of the township was very slow until 1836. Since that date many Germans have come in, and their enterprise and industry have added largely to the wealth of the township and the development of the country. Over one-third of
518 - HISTORY OF NOBLE COUNTY, OHIO.
the inhabitants of Elk are either German or of German descent.
John Howald is said to have been the first German settler of the township, not including "Pennsylvania Dutch." He was not properly a merman, but a native of Switzerland, as was also Jacob Rohrer, who came soon after. Howald obtained a title to his land in 1836, buying from William Cantwell. He lived on L. L. Lovett's present farm. Howald came to Pittsburgh in 1826 ; thence to Captina and this township. He died in 1864. He was a wagon-maker by trade. It is said that he brought the first wagon into the township. The names of his children were Mary (Lindewood), Jeremiah, John, Joseph and Louisa (Lovett), all living except Mary.
John Howald and Jacob Rohrer have already been mentioned among the first German settlers of the township. They were followed within a few years by Leonard Schenck, C. Siebach, Adam Helm, Michael Feltner, from Bavaria ; Peter Gruber, from Prussia ; the Uhlmans, from Alsace ; Christian Eppler, from Saxony, and John and Henry Weppler, all of whom are now dead. Nearly all have descendants in the township. Almost all these early comers were Protestants. John Smithberger, a Prussian, who came in 1842, was the first German Catholic. Since 1850 the Catholic population has been largely increased by immigrants from Bavaria, Hesse Cassel and other German provinces.
The Germans were attracted to this township by the cheap lands, much still remaining unentered at the time of the first arrivals. Nearly all came from cities, a large number from Pittsburgh, having been in the country long enough to make a little money and learn something of the English language. They were all poor at the start, and it was only by the practice of the most rigid economy that they were able to pay for their small farms — generally forty acres each — of unimproved land. But time and industry soon added to their possessions : all made a living and some became wealthy.
As an example of German pluck and perseverance, let us take the case of John Smithberger. He came to America in 1840 and resided for a time in Pittsburgh. In 1841 he went to Marietta to enter the land on which his son, William Smithberger, Esq., now lives. Finding that the land office had been moved to Chillicothe, he set off for that place on foot, secured his patent and returned to Pittsburgh. In 1842 he moved with his family to Elk Township. He planted his first corn on a small clearing in the woods, preparing the ground with a mattock, as he had no plough. Many times he carried a half bushel of corn on his shoulders three miles, to have it ground at a neighbor's hand-mill. Mr. Smithberger died in 1859. Three sons and three daughters came to this township with him, the sons and one daughter being unmarried. The names of these children were John, Peter, William, Elizabeth (Long), Catharine (Rothfuchs) and Margaret (Yost).
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William Smithberger, Esq., is one of the leading business men and most prominent citizens of the township. He was born in Prussia, in 1825, and came to America with his father's family in 1840. He came to Elk Township in 1842 and remained one year. He then went back to Pittsburgh, learned the machinist's trade, and followed it five years. He next engaged in the mercantile business in Pittsburgh. In 1853 he returned to this township, where he has since resided. He has been a successful farmer, and since 1874 has been in the mercantile business. In 1861 he began buying and packing tobacco, which business he still follows. He has held the office of justice of the peace since 1858 — which is sufficient proof of the high esteem in which he is held by the citizens of the township. He is a leading Catholic and donated the lot and built St. Henry's church. Mr. Smithberger was married in Pittsburgh, in 1849, to Theresa Fauth. They have reared a family of eight sons and four daughters, all of whom are still living.
John W. Evans, a native of West Virginia, removed from Monongalia County, in that State, to what is now Elk Township, Noble County, in 1836. He was born in 1790 and died in 1874. His wife, Nancy, born in Maryland, in 1798, died in 1879. When the family came their neighbors were few and far apart. It was a common thing for a settler to go five or six miles to assist a newcomer in raising his cabin. Cornmeal was made by means of a grater or else with a hand-mill, there being few mills of any importance nearer than the Muskingum River. People were often for weeks without breadstuff of any kind in their houses, living on potatoes, pumpkins and roasted ears. There was little market for any kind of produce. Mr. Evans carried his wheat to Marietta on horseback and sold it for fifty cents per bushel. Wheat was thrashed with a flail and winnowed by hand. Dressed pork brought only $2.50 per hundred pounds. Squirrels, wild turkeys and raccoons and sometimes deer, made fearful work in the cornfield, which had to be watched constantly in order to secure a crop, Flour was only used on rare occasions. Dudley Evans, still a resident of the township, was born in Marion County, W. Va., January 23, 1834, and has a vivid recollection of pioneer days. He received his first schooling in a log cabin with greased pa:per windows, one end of the house entirely occupied by a huge fireplace. In his early years he followed school-teaching. Mr. Evans has served as township assessor several terms.
Andrew Holschuh, one of the early German settlers, was born in Hesse Darmstadt, January 3, 1812. He came to America in 1828, and to Elk Township in 1839. He died in 1882. His wife, nee Sophia Schenk, whom he married in 1837, came to this country with her parents in 1833. When Mr. Holschuh came to the township, the country was still new and very wild. He sometimes went fifteen or twenty miles to mill, and
520 - HISTORY OF NOBLE COUNTY, OHIO.
ten miles to a store. Often he was called to assist in raising cabins five or six miles distant. Living was very frugal, and at times the family subsisted for several days without bread, eating potatoes, roasting-ears and pumpkins. Mr. Holschuh was a Lutheran, and one of the founders of that church in this section of the county. His son, Adam Holschuh, at present one of the township trustees, was born May 7, 1855, and is a farmer and a prominent member of the Lutheran congregation. In 1883 he married Caroline, daughter of Jacob Ullman, one of the pioneers of the township. They have two children—a son and a daughter.
William Masters came from Guernsey County in 1845, and settled on an unimproved farm. It is said that he drove the first four-horse team that ever came down the East Fork of Duck Creek, from Carlisle to Harriettsville. The wagon was a covered one, with a Jersey bed, and attracted great attention, many having never seen anything of the kind before. The settlers, after viewing the wagon to their entire satisfaction, assisted Mr. Masters in opening a road from Harriettsville to Master-ton, Monroe County. This was in the year 1837. William Masters died in 1853. His son Richard is still a resident of the township. Richard Masters was born in Guernsey County, May 11, 1829, and is a farmer by occupation. August 15, 1862, he enlisted in Company K, Ninety-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in which he served until mustered out June 10, 1865. He has held the offices of class-leader and trustee of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Isaac Pryor came from Belmont County to this township quite early, and remained here until his decease, in 1866. John Pryor, born in Belmont County in 1815; came to this township at the same time. He has been a deacon in the Baptist church. He married Elizabeth Cousins in 1849, and is the father of nine children, seven of whom are living.
J. C. Wernecke is one of the most prominent and successful business men of the county. He came to Harrietsville in 1849. In the fall of that year he engaged in the mercantile business in which he still continues. In 1856 he purchased 160 acres of land adjoining the village, on which he has since laid out an addition to Harriettsville, which he has built up quite extensively. He is one of the largest tobacco merchants in the county and has the leading general store in Harriettsville, carrying a much greater variety and a much larger stock than is usually found in country stores. Mr. Wernecke has always given a hearty support to educational and religious interests, and is a leading member of the Lutheran church.
John N. Van Fossen, son of John Van Fossen, was born in Belmont County in 1836, came to this county with his parents in 1844 and has resided here ever since. His father entered land in Stock Township. He reared six children, five of whom are now living. J. N. Van Fossen entered the Thirtieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry in October, 1862, and served
PICTURE OF J. D. WERNECKE
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about eleven months. March 2, 1865, he enlisted in the One Hundred and Ninety-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was discharged October 4, 1865. He participated in the Vicksburg campaign and other noted movements. He is a thrifty farmer, and has served as township trustee for eleven years.. He married, first, Rebecca Barnes; and, second, Mrs. Catharine White (nee Morrison). Two children were born of the first marriage and ten of the second.
Lloyd L. Lovett, one of the prominent farmers and best citizens of Elk Township, was born in Allegheny County, Md., February 10, 1837, and came to this township in 1854. He located on the farm of John Howald, the German pioneer, whose daughter, Mary Ann Louisa, he married in 1856. He has resided on this farm ever since, and has added to the old homestead until he now has 352 acres of good land. Mr. Lovett is the father of eight children : Carey E. (Bote), Lola N. (Kirchner), Elmer E., John T., William B., Mary A., Ernest S, and Nellie R. Mr. Lovett has served as township trustee four terms. He is a leading member of the Methodist Episcopal church and has served as trustee and steward of that organization for twenty years.
Nelson C. Lovett, son of John Lovett, was born in Allegheny County, Md., in 1840, and came to this county in 1857. In 1866 he married Cynthia S. Hallett, of Washington County. They have one child, a daughter. Mr. Lovett enlisted in June, 1861, in the Twenty-fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was discharged in December, 1862, from disability caused by a wound. He was in many severe engagements. After being wounded at the second battle of Bull Run, he was captured and paroled. He was left on the field two days without food or care and was two days more in the ambulance before reaching the hospital at Alexandria, Va., where he could receive treatment. He was among the best of the many brave soldiers furnished by Noble County.
Peter Crow is a son of Martin Crow, a pioneer prominently mentioned in the history of Stock Township. He was born in that township November 6, 1814, and has followed farming. In 1835 he married Sarah, daughter -of Samuel Pryor. Their children were Sarah, Samuel, George W., William II., John W. and Francis M., of whom only George and William are living, the former in Michigan and the latter in this township. Peter Crow settled on his present farm when it was entirely unimproved. He at first bought a piece of land for $100 and afterward entered 160 acres at government price. He now has a good and well- improved farm. He has served as township trustee, assessor and land appraiser, and has been a leading member of the Methodist Episcopal church for many years. He was married the second time in 1868 to Mrs. Mary Dye, nee McPherson.
John Lee, Sr., was born at " Cassel on the Fulda," Germany, in 1788. In 1836 the family embarked for
522 - HISTORY OF NOBLE COUNTY, OHIO.
America and after an uneventful voyage landed in Baltimore, Md.; thence they moved by teams to Pittsburgh, Pa., where he and three of his sons found employment in a glass factory. In 1839 they came to what is now Elk Township, where the elder Lee located a quarter section of land one half mile northeast of the village of Harriettsville, where he resided until his decease in 1871. He was a thrifty farmer and a valued citizen. His wife, nee Martha A. Braham, whom he married in 1817, died in 1852, at the age of eighty-three. Their children were Henry A., John, Christian, Barbara, Benjamin and William. Henry, the elder was born in Bradenburg, Germany, in 1818. He followed the fortunes of the family, and in 1840 married Miss Elizabeth Enochs, daughter of the pioneer whose history is given elsewhere. Twelve children were the result of this union : William, Louisa, John, Martha, Frederick, Mary, Russell, Sarah, Henry H., Hannah E., Edgar Earlwine and Albert S. He is a prosperous farmer and one of the most extensive tobacco growers in this region. William, son of Henry Lee, was born in 1841, and married Jane Carmichael in 1864. Their children are Arminda C., Ellsworth, Columbus, Emerson B., Mary E , Rilla A., Wilbert, Evert, Wilham, Floyd and Clarence. William is one of the prominent citizens of the township and is a large tobacco grower. Louisa was born in 1842, married Thomas Pyles, who at the age pf sixteen entered the service as a member of the Ninety-second Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Their children are William H., Wesley, Minnie, Mary, Nancy, Martha, George, Thomas, Arthur and Bertha. They reside in West Virginia. Martha Lee became Mrs. Frank Shaffer. He died in 1884. He was a soldier in the late war. Frederick Lee is a resident of Ritchie County, W. Va. He married, in 1879, Miss Mary A. Naught. They have seven children : Verne, Henry D., Alverde, Clinton T., George W., Preston and Dessie. Mary Lee married William, son of the pioneer, Frederick Miller. Their children are Arthur W., Ada M., Harkass and John. The children of Russell Lee and his wife, Caroline (Miller)—are Lily, Wesley, Willard, Francis, Alberteen, Martha and Nora B. He resides on the old homestead. Sarah Lee became Mrs. Philetus Miller. Their children are Winona, Tunny, Mary, Nellie and Henry W. Henry H., one of the rising young farmers of Jackson County, W. Va., married Flora A. Thompson. Their children were Debert, Walter and Henry. Hannah E. married W. J. Kelby. They have one child, heila. Albert S., youngest child of Henry Lee, is a promising young teacher anu bids fair to become a useful citizen. Martha Lee, daughter of John Lee, Sr., was born in 1829. he married Charles Huffman and reared a family of eleven: Margaret (died in 1860), Martha (Williams), Barbara (died, 1850), John W., Frank, James B., Miles S. (died in 1886), Lovina B.
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(Morris), Philo T., Allen (died in 1873) and Ernest.
Edgar Earlwine Lee was born near Harriettsville, Ohio, in 1861. He received an academical education, and at the age of eighteen began teaching and is one of the prominent teachers of the county. He takes an active interest in political matters and is at this time (1887) clerk of the township. He is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and an efficient Sabbath school worker. In 1886 he was married to Miss Mannie A., daughter of Vincent and Emily Bonar. His future is full of bright promises.
James Carmichael, merchant at Crumtown, was born in Monroe County, August 11, 1833. His father and grandfather were both early settlers in that county, near Stafford. The latter, James Carmichael by name, was the son of a Revolutionary soldier; he was a prominent citizen, a justice of the peace and a local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal church. Samuel L., the father of the subject of this notice, was born in Virginia and came to Ohio with his parents about 1820. He is now a resident of Elk Township, and is eighty-three years of age. For some years he was engaged in the mercantile business with his son. James began the mercantile business in Crumtown in 1863, with a capital of $60. He has since erected a good store and does a prosperous business. He was married in 1853 to Elizabeth, daughter of Jacob Richey, of this county.
Solomon and Elizabeth Murrey came to Belmont County, about 1811. The wife died in that county in 1839. In 1847 the father removed to Franklin Township, in Monroe County, where he died two years later. Of the family of four sons and two daughters, only two sons survive. One of the sons, James L. Murrey, is a prominent farmer of Elk Township. He was born in Belmont County in 1826, and was brought up amid the scenes of pioneer life. In the winter of 1848-9 he taught school, and for twelve successive winters followed the same occupation, excepting in 18534 when he was in the West. In 1855 he married Margaret Sill, and settled on a part of his present farm. Mr. Murrey served one term as justice of the peace. He has been class-leader of Mt. Tabor Methodist Episcopal church over twenty years.
W. G. Williams was born in Belmont County in 1836. He has followed milling and farming. He enlisted in the Twenty-seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in July, 1861, served three years, then re-enlisted in the same regiment. and was mustered out in July, 1865. At Atlanta he was wounded in the arm. He has served as township clerk and trustee.
Sebastian Shafer, born in Germany in 1824, came to America in 1847, landing in New York April 15. After working a year at mining in Pennsylvania, he came to Ohio, and thence to Noble County, where he engaged in wagon-making, which trade he still follows. He sent to Germany for his brothers, Charles
524 - HISTORY OF NOBLE COUNTY, OHIO.
and Christian, and his sister, Caroline, who came to this country in 1853. In 1849 he married Barbara, daughter of John Lee, of this county. Their children are William IL, Frederick, Martha L. (died in 1878, aged twenty-six), John, Alexander, Malinda, Lydia, George B. M. and Hammond O. William H., born in 1850, followed the wagon-maker's trade and carpentry for some time, but for the past twelve years has been engaged in boot and shoe making, and is at present the leading man in Harriettsville in that business. He married Lucinda Eppler. They have five children, born as follows : Arthur L., September 19, 1875 ; Ora 0., March 28, 1878; Augusta C., December 28, 1879 ; Henry I., September 17, 1881; Myrtle L., March 7, 1883. Frederick, the second son of Sebastian Shafer, married Mary F. Bowlinger ; John married Sarah M. Eppler; Alexander married Margaret Huffman ; Melinda is the wife of John Crow; Lydia married W. M. Martin, son of Dr. W. G. Martin. Sebastian hafer has served as township trustee, and as trustee and president of the Lutheran church. He was school director for fifteen- years, and is an earnest friend of religion and education.
Fredericktown, or Crumtown, is a village of a few houses in the northern part of the township. The first store was kept by " Deb" Mott as early as 1854. Mott was succeeded by a man named Heidleheimer. Both were tobacco merchants. James Carmichael is the present merchant.
The village was laid out on the land of William Crum, a prominent citizen and justice of the peace fbr many years. The place was named for Frederick Miller. Elk is the name of the postoffice.
Fredericktown was laid out as a village May 8, 1854. The plat, consisting of nineteen lots, was made by Charles Burlingame, county surveyor, for William Crum, the proprietor. Its location is in the northwest quarter of section 29, of town ship 5, range 7.
On the county seat removal question, Elk cast her influence in favor of Caldwell and virtually decided the contest. The Sarahsville adherents disputed the vote, and said more ballots were returned than there were voters in the township. Affidavits were procured from every school district, certifying to the number of qualified electors, and the honor of Elk was triumphantly vindicated. James Mitchell, now of Jefferson Township, was then justice of the peace and performed effective service in the interests of Cald well.
HARRIETTSVILLE.
Harriettsville is an old and pleasantly situated village on the East Fork of Duck Creek. It has long been a trading point of importance and its merchants are still enterprising and progressive.
The village was laid out by Moses T. Spencer in 1839 and consisted of twenty-three lots upon two streets. The survey was made by Mitchel Atkinson, surveyor of Monroe County. November 5, 1870, J. C. Wernecke's
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addition was surveyed by David Miller. This addition consists of twenty- one lots, lying north of the original plat.
The village was named for Moses T. Spencer's daughter Harriet, who was the first postmistress. The first house was built by Job Smith on the lot now occupied by Herman Wernecke. This was a frame building. Smith erected the house, hoping to induce a shoemaker to come here and Locate, but did not succeed.
Joseph Watt and David Slack, doing business under the firm name of Slack, Watt & Co., started the first store about 1845, in one end of the present building of J. C. Wernecke & Son. They also dealt in tobacco. They failed after a few years and in 1849 were succeeded by J. C. Wernecke, who has continued business ever since.
During the first ten years of the village the population grew to about a dozen families. in 1849 David Slack kept hotel where W. T. Biedenharn's store now stands. Later Uhlman & Brooks opened a store there. They were succeeded by Richard C. Miles, Miles & (Winger, R. C. Miles, Miles & Biedenharn and W. T. Biedenharn. A great quantity of tobacco has been packed annually ever since the village was begun.
Two Frenchmen, names unknown, were among the early settlers of the place. One was a shoemaker and the other a hatter. One, in attempting to cross the creek on the ice, broke through ; the other attempted to rescue him, and both were drowned. This took place at the upper end of the village.
Harriettsville contains at present 130 inhabitants. The business men of the place are as follows:
General merchants and tobacco packers : J. C. Wernecke & Son, W. T. Biedenharn.
Grocer and druggist,: Charles Lloyd.
Druggist : Samuel Cooley.
Hotel-keeper: C. F. Shafer.
Saw-mill and grist-mill : Lee & Wilson.
Blacksmiths : Myers & Pryor.
Harness-maker : Herman Kirchner.
Shoemakers : Henry Shafer, August Voigt.
Physicians : A. Martin, J. W. Brock, J. H. Williams.
ODD FELLOWS.
Noble Lodge.—Noble Lodge, No. 563, Harriettsville, Ohio, was instituted December 4, 1873, with the following , charter members : Dr. William G. Martin, G. A. Wilson, C. F. Shafer, Herman Kirchner, L. L. Lovett, Samuel Cooley Charles Lloyd, H. Schenck, G. W. True, Sebastian Shafer, and Ed ward Pyles. The present membership is twenty-seven ; value of lodge property, $572.20 ; present officers : Dr. J. W. Brock, Noble Grand ; C. H. Lee, Vice-Grand ; Lewis Barker, treasurer ; G. H. Weckbacher, recording secretary ; John Barker, permanent secretary.
CHURCHES.
Methodist Episcopal Church.—A class was organized in the vicinity of Harriettsville as early as 1832. Moses T. Spencer and Jonas Lovett with
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their families were leading members. Jonas Lovett was class-leader from the organization until his death (1868). Meetings were held in a log school-house near Harriettsville until 1858, when a new school-house was built. In 1869 the present church was completed and dedicated in the month of February. The building cost about $1,100. The present membership is about fifty.
The Methodist Episcopal church near Crum town was organized under the leadership of Peter Crow. The first church erected was in 1836, of hewed logs, with a log pulpit and a plank floor. Mordecai Bishop was sent as a missionary the following year. No further data have been furnished.
Catholic.— St. Henry's church, Roman Catholic, is located in Elk Township, two miles east of Harriettsville. The congregation was organized in 1868, and in the same year, through the efforts of William Smithberger, Esq., the society was supplied with a frame church edifice 25x40 feet, and which cost $1,800. The original members were William Smithberger, John Smithberger, David Burkhart, Jacob Lang, Sr., Jacob Lang, Jr., and John Herbst. Prior to the formation of this church the Catholic families of the neighborhood —about a half dozen in all—were occasionally visited by the resident priest at Fulda. Of late the congregation has greatly increased and the present membership is forty-five families or about three hundred souls. There are seventy-five Sabbath scholars. For ten years a Catholic school has been connected with the church. The school is taught during six months of the year and instruction is given both in German and in Enghsh All of the members of the church are either Germans or of German descent. The resident pastors have been as follows: Rev. E. L. Fladung, Rev. L. Grimmer, Rev. John M. Ryan, Rev. L. Newmeyer and Rev. John B. Gamber, the present pastor. The priest of this congregation also has charge of the church at Holman's, in Washington County, about fifteen miles distant. A new church will soon be built at St. Henry's, as the present is too small for the large and growing congregation.
Baptist.—Roadfork Baptist church, near Elk Postoffice, was organized in November, 1857, by John Ables, J. D. Riley, Henry Lyons and Rev. Mr. Mattock. The first deacons were Thomas Lenington, William McPeek and Isaac W. Bonar. First members: David Bonar, Silas McBonar, David Tripp, James Crum and John Skinner. The congregation worshiped for two years in the district school-house, and in 1859 erected a frame church, 30 x42 feet, at a cost of $800. The huilding has since been repaired and improved by the addition of a good bell, an iron roof, etc. The membership is sixty-five, and the average number of Sabbath school scholars slightly larger. The pastors have been Revs. Henry Lyons, John Slepleens, John Covert, William Mc- Peek, Nathan Crooks, Mungo Taylor and J. L. Cunningham.
St. John's Evangelical Church
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This congregation was organized in 1842, with the following members: Leonhard Schenk, Michael Sebach, John Howald, Jacob Rohrer, Christian Epler, Henry Knoeh, Michael Eshelman, Peter Gruber, Peter Hartwich, Andrew Holschuh, John Lee and Henry Neuhart. The first church building was a log structure, built in 1842. The present church was erected in 1857, and is a frame structure 30x40 feet. The first pastor was Rev. Schreiner, succeeded by Revs. Turner, Hirsch, Zwicker, Buesser, Rosencrans and others. Present membership, seventy. Sabbath school attendance about ninety.
BIOGRAPHICAL.
J. C. WERNECKE, son of Diedrich Henry and Frederica Charlotta Lizabeta (Galbernagle) Wernecke, was born in Vorden by Osnahruck, kingdom of Hanover, Germany, December 6, 1818, and was educated in the common schools (Volkschule). At the age of fourteen his ambition was to become a professional teacher, and to obtain the means necessary to prosecute his studies he taught the small scholars, ranging in their ages from six to ten years. He was thus enabled to obtain private instruction in music and other branches not taught in the common schools at that time. At the age of eighteen he passed a successful examination and was licensed to teach. hortly after, a teacher in the seminary received an injury to one of his eyes, and had to give up his place. Mr. Wernecke was invited to fill the vacant chair. Upon inquiry he found that he must take charge of nearly 150 pupils. This was a responsibility he did not like to assume, and as many of his friends were preparing to emigrate to America, he decided to cast his lot with theirs and try what fortunes or misfortunes the New World had in store for him. He accordingly left Germany in May, 1837, and reached New York in July. In August of the same year he went to Savannah, Ga. A short time after his arrival at Savannah he was prostrated by fever, from which he did not recover until the following March. In May of 1838 he returned to New York, remaining a few days in the city. He took a trip up the Hudson to Rondout. At Rosendale he got employment in a cement quarry, where he remained till the spring of 1839, when the company employing him suspended, and he was thrown out of employment. By the advice of a friend in Baltimore, Md., he left New York and went to that city. From Baltimore, in company with Judge John Davenport, he came to Barnesville, Ohio. Finding no employment here, he visited J. F. Bidenhorn at Malaga, Monroe County, Ohio. He had known Mr. Bidenhorn in Germany. " At this time," says Mr. Wernecke, " I had barely fifty cents in the world." Here he attended an English school for a few months, then entered J. F. Bidenhorn's tobacco house. The next year he was so fortunate as to obtain a situation in a store as a clerk. He was taken in as a partner in 1847. In May of
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1849 he married Mrs. Sarah Neptune, daughter of Albert and Sarah Lambert. She died in 1858. Five children were born to them, two of whom died in infancy. The others are Herman A., who married Albertine Werlitz, and is in business with his father at Harriettsville ; Charles T. married Jane Finney, and resides in Montana, and William G. married Hester Dickison, and lives in Harriettsville.
In the fall of 1849 he formed a partnership with Theodore Beninghaus, and moved to Harriettsville, Noble County, Ohio, where he continues to reside with his youngest son. In 1858 Mr. Beninghaus died, after which he set up in business for himself.
In 1852 or 1853 Mr. Conrad Shank-burg came from the city of New York to clerk for Mr. Wernecke. He married Lydia Jane Neptune, the stepdaughter of Mr. Wernecke, by whom he had three children : Albert, Rupert and Frantz. In 1873 Mr. hankburg took his two oldest sons to Germany to be educated there. Albert is still at Heidelberg, studying medicine. Rupert came home in 1880. The two youngest sons are now with their father. Mrs. Shankburg died in 1872. In 1880 Mr. hankburg left Mr. Wernecke, with whom he had been in business for several years, and went to Marietta, Ohio, and engaged in the wholesale grocery trade, and later to Sioux City, Iowa, where he has a prosperous business.
Mr. Wernecke married, in 1860, Mrs. Temperance Ogle, daughter of Butler and Chloe Wells, who died January 19, 1885. By this marriage he had one daughter, wife of A. W, Sutton ; she resides in Kentucky.
Mr. Wernecke has 265 acres of fine agricultural and pasture lands near the town of Harriettsville. He has a large and convenient store-room in town, filled with a fine assortment of merchandise, and in addition to his fine family residence owns several houses and lots. He has handled every year, since 1849, 250 hogsheads of tobacco, and has on hand now (April, 1887) some twenty thousand dollars' worth. In 1870 he laid out the addition to the town of Harriettsville, improving the town very much. He was postmaster from 1856 to 1886. He was an old-line Whig until the organization of the Republican party, with which he affiliated, and with which he has acted ever since. He has long been connected with the Lutheran church, and contributed largely in building the German Lutheran church near Harriettsville, of which he has been secretary and a member of the financial board of the society. He has been school director also, and treasurer of the township for a number of years. His life has been a busy and useful one; by industry and economy he has acquired much wealth. In his varied business transactions he has associated with men of all classes, yet no man is more highly esteemed for his integrity and correct business habits than he.
WILLIAM SMITHBERGER was born in the Rhine province of Prussia, September 12, 1825. He was the young-
PICTURE OF WILLIAM SMITHBERGER
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est child of Johannes and Anna Maria Smithberger. He had three brothers: Nicholas, John and Peter, and three sisters : Elizabeth, Catharine and Margaret. His mother died when he was six years old. In 1810 his father emigrated to the United States. All the children, except Nicholas, came with him. They came to Pittsburgh about the 1st of August, William being at this time fourteen years of age. In the same year he was apprenticed by his father for a term of three years to James and John Smith, machinists, of Pittsburgh; after serving about nine months he learned that a machinist must have considerable capital to set up a shop of his own ; that there were other trades fully as lucrative and which required much less capital ; he therefore engaged with a cabinetmaker, who failed seven weeks after, his employes losing their wages. In the meantime his father had charge of a flock of sheep belonging to a Mr. Spriggs, who had a slave plantation near Wheeling, W: Va. William visited his father, who advised him to go to Elk Township, Monroe County, Ohio, at which place his father owned eighty acres of land, which he had entered some time before at the government land office. The following spring he came to Ohio, as did his father, brother John and a sister. William helped to fell the first tree and assisted in building a dwelling-house; "then came hard times," says Mr. Smithberger. "Brother John and I often carried a half bushel of corn to a mill located three miles from us, and ground it by hand. In our straitened circumstances corn bread was a luxury." During the first year on the farm, John married, and William, not liking the rough life afforded by the backwoods, begged his father to allow him to go back to Pittsburgh; permission being granted, he engaged in the city with Harmer Dennie, as gardener. One day, while walking along the street, he met his old boss of the machine-shop, to whom he had been apprenticed, and endeavored to pass him without attracting his notice ; but it seems the recognition was mutual, for coming up he accosted William, inquiring where he had been and what he was doing. William made a clean breast of it, re, counted his wanderings and hardships, and finally consented, after many solicitations, to go back to the shop; here he remained till 1847. In the spring of 1847 he entered into partnership in the retail grocery trade with his brother-in-law, Jacob Rothfuchs, the firm being Rothfuchs & Smithberger, on the corner of Seventh and Smithfield streets, Pittsburgh, and continued in the business till 1853. In May, 1849, he married Terrece Fauth, by whom he has twelve children : William G., married Catharine Burkhart, is a farmer and resides in Elk Township, Noble County ; Anthony, married Mary Epler, lives in Monroe County, and is a farmer ; Terrece married Peter Zwick, a Monroe County farmer ; Justina married Matthias Zilles, April 12, 1887, a merchant of Lebanon, Monroe County ; Thomas J. is in Dakota ; Isadore married Terrece
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Burkhart, is a farmer of Noble County; Adaline A., Martha M., Edward W., John S., Alexander D. and Gregory are still at home. In 1853, on account of failing health, Mr. Smithberger was advised to move on a farm; accordingly in 1853 he came to the farm upon which he has since resided, clearing the land and adding fine improvements as circumstances made it possible, until it is now one of the best improved farms in the township. He began packing tobacco in 1861, and has handled about seventy-five hogsheads a year, and has now on hand some $5,000 worth. He has nearly six hundred acres of good agricultural lands, mostly in Noble County, on which are three good dwelling-houses, besides barns, tobacco-houses and numerous other outbuildings necessary to carry on his business and in which to store his grain ; he has been engaged in merchandising since 1874; he has a good store-room filled with a fine selection of goods.
Mr. Smithberger is a member of the Catholic church. He took an active part in building the Catholic church near Harriettsville, contributing liberally of his means to this purpose and in support of its society. In politics he is a Democrat. The esteem in which he is held by the people of Elk Township is evidenced by the numerous positions of trust they have conferred upon him, viz.: School director and member of the board of education since 1858, township trustee, twice clerk of the township, treasurer of the township for five years, assessor of personal property for two terms, and land appraiser of the township in 1870, and justice of the peace for thirty years.
His has been a busy and useful life. A poor boy, without money and without influential friends, by his energy, industry and perseverance he has overcome the many difficulties to prosperity, and attained not only wealth but the respect and confidence of his fellow-men, and now, seated under his own vine and fig tree, he dispenses a free-handed hospitality to all.