400 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY statement and C. W. Butterfield's History of Colonel Crawford. It the banks of the Tymochett in Crawford township, Wyandot county. This brief resume of the capture of Colonel Crawford gives but one the many historical events that occurred in old Richland, and for which county is so. noted in history. Both Richland and Crawford claim the honor of having been, each in its time, the home of the late Hon. Ross Locke, a political satirist, better known to the reading world as "Petroleum V. Nasby." In 1855-6 Mr. Locke was associated with General R. Brinkerhoff in the publication of the Mansfield Herald. Upon his retirement from the Herald, Mr. Locke went to Plymouth and became one of the publishers of the Adveitiser. Later he went to Bucyrus, where he was connected with the Journal for several yeas. During the early part of, the Civil War Mr. Locke began his Nasby letters, which soon attracted much attention and were widely read in the North. His first letters were (the date-heading indicated) written from Wingert's. Corners, in Crawford county, but that was only feigned. Many of the circumstances and incidents narrated in the Nasby letters, although given with partisan coloring, actually transpired, and the principal characters were taken from fancied resemblances to individuals living at the Corners at that time. As the Nasby letters became more generally read Mr. Locke changed their headings. from these Corners to the "Confederit X Roads, which is in the state of Kentucky." Toledo Junction is seven miles west of Mansfield, where the Toledo division leaves the main line of the Pennsylvania railroad. A few buildings are clustered around in that vicinity, but the place is a railroad junction, not a town. VERNON JUNCTION.  Vernon Junction is in Sharon township, at the crossing of the Toledo, Walhonding Valley & Ohio, the Toledo division of the Pennsylvania, and the "Big Four" railroads. The crossing takes its name from Vernon township, Crawford county. It was first called Junction City, then changed to Vernon Junction, in accordance with Goethe, that "Change amuses the mind." But there may have been more potent reasons in this case. Vernon Junction was founded in 1872, upon the building of the "Coldwater" railroad, and a fine hotel was erected there and was kept by a Mr. Sager, who had previously been a popular landlord at Shelby. A number of business rooms and dwelling houses were also erected, and whatever the little village lacks in size is fully compensated for in appearance. Fifty year ago a railroad junction was thought to be a big thing because there were so few of them in Ohio at that time, but they are so numerous now that their value and importance have diminished. The country about Vernon Junction is generally level, and in its primitive state was covered with a dense growth of hardwood timber. There were swamps in places along the Blackford, east of Vernon. An Indian trail passed through Sharon township, from the northe to Pipestown or Wingenund's on the Sandusky river near Leesville. The HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 403 was an Indian hunting camp near to the present site of Vernon Junction for many years after the war of 1812. It is stated that about a dozen Indians under the lead of Johnnycake maintained a camp there until 1828. Civilization has blotted out all external evidences of Indian occupation, but here and there Indian relics are often plowed up. Many of. these relics may be of a prehistoric instead of an Indian period. After a greater number of the Indians had gone to other hunting grounds, a small party of' redskins called at the cabin of a settler with whom they were acquainted and upon invitation gave an exhibition of one of their war-dances. They chose one of their number, named Buckwheat, to personate a white man. Buckwheat was placed in the center of the room, and the other Indians then began to dance around him. Hideous as the Indians were themselves, they added to their repulsiveness, contortions of face and body. They jumped and whooped and yelled furiously, and finally threw Buckwheat roughly upon the floor. Then one of the "braves" placed his foot upon Buckwheat's neck and went through the pantomimic action of scalping him; while other 'braves" acted the part of plunging their knives into the body of their victim. Buckwheat also played his part so well that the scene was horribly realistic and made a lasting impression upon those who witnessed the performance, and recalled vividly the atrocities perpetrated in certain localities but a few years before. The pioneers endured many privations, especially during the period prior to the year 1820. The flouring mills were but few, and from five to twenty miles distant from some of the settlements. Whenever trips to mills could not be made, grain was. pounded in a mortar with a wooden pestle. The mortar was made out of a log, hollowed out by burning a hole sufficiently large to hold bout a half-bushel of grain. At the close of the "pounding," the next process was sifting with sieves of different meshes until the grade of flour or meal desired was obtained. The finest flour was made into bread. The coarser grades were made into batter and baked into pancakes or boiled into porridge. Corn-meal was made into pones, Johnny-cakes or mush. Sometimes both flour and meal chests were empty, but the pioneer women were always resourceful, and when that condition existed in the fall season the children Were sent to the cornfields to get ears of corn which the good women would grate into meal and prepare into food. If the corn-meal was mixed and baked in a Dutch oven it was called "pone"; if baked on a board in front of the fire it was called "Johnny-cake," and if made into balls and baked in the oven, the cakes were called "dodgers." Another way to use meal to boil it in water, and this was called "mush." But if bread was scarce at times, game and honey abounded in great quantities. As far as possible the pioneers chose the uplands, but many of them built their cabins. upon land that. rose up, island-like, out of swamps and marshes. They did not seem to care for the ague and malarial fevers, especially incident to the low wet lands. With no hope of ever seeing the land tiled. and drainek they went to work to clear -farms and let the sun in to dry up the stagnant water. As there were but few math in the county in the pioneer times, paths 404 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY were "blazed" though the forests, and as they were often indistinct in places, people sometimes got lost. A case of this kind occurred in. Worthington township as late as 1851. A farmer living in Slater's valley had occasion to go to Independence, and took a "near-cut" through a half-mile stretch of woods and got lost. He wandered through the woods for some time and finally got to the edge of the timber and saw a beautiful valley spread out before him. At the far side of the valley stood a large brick house, and the man said to himself, "What a lovely farm, what a fine residence; I wonder who lives there." He crossed the fields, went up to the house and asked th way to Independence of a woman who was standing upon the porch. The woman was his wife, the house and farm were his own, but in his confused and bewildered condition he had failed to recognize them, as lie was so thoroughly "turned around" that he thought north was south, and that east was west, but when his wife spoke the points of the compass were right to him, and he then realized that he had been lost within call of his home. Children were frequently lost, a few of whom were never found. A little girl some miles southwest of Vernon Junction disappeared from a sugar-camp where her mother was boiling sap, and was never heard of. A number of strange Indians had been seen in the neighborhood, and it was supposed they had stolen her. OLIVESBUBG. Olivesburg is in Weller township and was laid out by Benjamin Montgomery in 1816, and was named for his daughter, Olive. By 1821 business in its several lines of those days was represented there. Benjamin Montgomery kept a. tavern, Abel Montgomery, a blacksmith shop ; John Gun, a tailor shop ; Thomas Beach, a cabinet shop, and Joseph Burget, a tannery. The town is on the left bank of the Whetstone creek, about two miles north of its junction with the Blackfork of the Mohican. The first road in the Whetstone country was cut through the forests by General Beall's troops in September, 1812, and the road is still often called "Beall's Trail." The first roads were called "trails" and "paths." There was the "Great Trail" from Fort Pitt (Pittsburg) to Detroit. Then there were Muskingum and Wyandot trails, the Portage path and others. Not only were the Indian trails used largely by the pioneers, opening the way to a distribution of population over the new country, but they became the course of the first roads. In those days nearly all the roads passed along ridges, having been located along buffalo trails, later widened by the Indians and the pioneers. The first towns as well as the first roads were upon ridges and hills. But in time the need of motive power furnished by the streams led to the building of mills in the valleys, and about the mills sprang up settlements and towns. The coming of the railroads was the doom of many villages, .and the shrill scream of the locomotive sounded the passing of many towns, not only on the hill-tops, but also in the valleys. The Beall trail in time became the Wooster road to the Northwest. And since the trail was cut through, the village of Olivesburg has been built, and, instead of the wild forest that surrounded Camp Whetstone, where General Beall's army encamped, fields of waving grain are now kissed and ripened by the summer sun, HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 405 To one of an imaginative turn of mind, who is interested in history, the old century comes back at times in retrospection. In a panorama-like view, border armies can be 'seen marching by in militia garb or in the uniform of Continental soldiers. The pioneers may also be seen, the lines upon their faces telling of the hardships and work which made the present civilization possible. And in each scene the story may be read of the century now passed away. The mission of Beall's army was to keep between the settlements upon the south of the trail and the British troops and their allies—the Indians--upon the north. After remaining in camp a few days at Olivesburg General Beall moved forward and founded Camp Council, in Blooming Grove township. The first schoolhouse in Olivesburg was built in 1824. It was a log building, twenty feet square, and Joseph Ward was the first teacher. The Presbyterians built a church in 1827 and the Methodists erected one in 1847. People say "the railroad killed Olivesburg," meaning the Erie road. A more correct expression would be that railroads-the railroad age—prevented Olivesburg from becoming anything more or greater than a little village. It has a pretty location and nestles. in a quiet valley with charming surroundings. In 1857-8 the Rev. J. R. Burgett was the pastor of the Presbyterian church at Mansfield.. His pastorate, though brief, was successful. He was called to Mobile, Alabama, and was on board the vessel with Mason and Slidell when they were captured while enroute to England as emissaries of the rebellion. When a boy, Olivesburg was the Rev. Burgett's home. The sawmill a short distance below Olivesburg was operated for a number of years by Mr. Tinley, the father-in-law of Mr. Willis, of East Fourth street; Mansfield. William Houston came to Ohio from the state of Delaware in 1815, and was a resident of Olivesburg for many years. Jonathan Montgomery, then a resident of Olivesburg, was a county commissioner in 1850. Dr. Hubbs, of Butler, passed his boyhood years in Olivesburg. The late David Berry was a wagonmaker in Olivesburg for a number of years. John T. Crabbs, of Mansfield, formerly lived in Olivesburg. Perhaps incidents are of more interest to the general reader than are personal mention. A story is told of a justice of the peace in the long ago but as the same story has .been located in different places the exact location can not be vouched for. A certain man who had just been elected a justice of the peace, upon returning home told his wife that he had been elected a "'Squire," as such magistrates are usually called. The next day the children were calling each other "'Squire." Their mother ordered them to "shut up," ying, "There is nobody 'Squire here but your daddy and me." When David Tod was running for governor as a democrat before the war, Joe Geiger made a campaign song out of the foregoing incident, changing it to suit the politics of the time. One stanza of the doggerel runs as follows: "Be silent, each little young sappy,. Or I'll tickle your back with a rod ; There's none but Myself and pappy Shall ever be Governor Tod." 406 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY An old resident, speaking of muster days, says : "We boys had fine times during the general musters. Then we got gingerbread, which to our taste was next to ambrosia, the food of the gods. Whisky, too, was plenty– the good kind that Tom Corwin called the leveler of modern society. Of the schools, another states that, "The early school teachers were paid for their services by subscription. There being but few schoolhouses, teachers often got permission to hold school in settlers' :cabins. The. children learned to 'read, write and cipher,' the latter as far as the rule of three, which Iva Considered sufficient for ordinary business purposes." East of Olivesburg, in Ashland county, "sick wheat" was often produced in the early settlement of the country. This condition could riot be accounted for. The grain would look as plump and perfect as the best quality ever grown and the flour made from the same would be as white and nice as any ever bolted, and when made into bread would be palatable, except that the bread would have -a sweetish taste. But whenever eaten by man or beast a distressing sickness would follow. Neither the weevil, rust nor smut then affected the grain and the cause of "sick wheat" was never ascertained. Elijah Charles came from Beaver county, Pennsylvania, in 1814, and built a sawmill on the Blackfork, about one and a half miles south of Olives-burg. His son, Isaac Charles, succeeded to the property, to which he added a grist mill in 1835. In 1868 he removed to Bluffton, Allen county, where he died some years later. His son, Isaac, was charged with murdering his father, and was convicted and sentenced to the state prison for life. When Rogers' rangers passed through the northeastern part of what now Richland county, in 1761, the Blackfork was called "Moskongam Creek. The writer was in Olivesburg the night of the great frost—June 4, 1859. Sunday morning, June 5, the sun rose on a, scene of artistic beauty, but, alas, it was only a crystalline veneering of destruction. As the warm rays of the sun shone upon the ice-incrusted vegetation, the scene of beauty was soon changed to one of desolation, as all plant life wilted and withered, some haying been frozen to the roots. Ice was formed a half-inch in thickness. Garden as well as field crops were ruined. While some vegetation revived, a season of scarcity followed, and breadstuff advanced to prices never reached before. This frost devastation passed over a considerable area. of country and was particularly severe: in northern Ohio. There were frosts every month in the year of 1859. In 1838 there were destructive frosts between the 15th and 18th of May. But these are only incidents. Seedtime continues to come and hart' have never entirely failed. DARLINGTON. Darlingtown was originally called Hagerstown—named for Christop Hager, the first settler on the town site. For postoffice reasons the name changed to Darlington. Darlington is the only town in Perry township. Perry is six miles long from north to south, and three miles wide from east to west, and contains eighteen sections. The location of Darlington is a little southwest of the center of the township. HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 407 The first store in the little village was opened as a branch of a Johnsville concern. Later there were stores there which were owned and conducted by residents of the village. William James, was the first blacksmith of the village. A dry goods store, a grocery, wagon, blacksmith and other shops constituted the business of the place thirty-five years ago, ands the town being simply a country village, has changed but little in the years that are past. The first settlement in Perry township was made in 1809 by John Frederick Herring on the east side of Section 11, Richland county, and represent, in the main, families of prominence and probity, and many of them were pioneers and helped clear the county. and change the forest lands into farms. A formidable amount of work confronted the pioneers—the building of comes and barns, clearing and fencing the land. Then came planting and swing and the cultivating and harvesting the crops. The first buildings were log cabins. Logs of a suitable size were cut to the length required, hauled to the cabin site, and neighbors invited to the "raising." An axeman went to each corner to notch and fit the log and put them in place. The cabins. mere covered with clapboards, which were held in place by "weight-poles." Floors and doors were' made of "puncheons." After the advent of the saw-mills, boards superseded puncheons. Roads had to be made and streams bridged. What stupendous work was one by the pioneers—work of which no written record has been left of its doing, for although they In history, they did not write it. It is a fact that the typical pioneer said but little about his exploits, and vaunted not of his work. It is the same with soldiers. Take the men who served a few months in the Civil War, what stories they: spin, as did Othello tell the fair Desdemona, the hair-breadth escapes, of battles and of sieges in which they were engaged, while the veterans who served from the start to the finish of the war, say but little about the bloody conflicts through which they passed. They were brave in war, but are not boastful in peace. It has been stated that the pioneer annalist left his diary to his son, who lost it in moving to the far West, and that thereby the story of the lives of e first settlers exist largely in tradition. In an address delivered in they Lutheran church, Mansfield, September 15,1885, the late Hon. Henry B. Curtis, in speaking of the character of the pioneers, said in substance that it is a great mistake to suppose that our fathers ere of less culture in the arts and .sciences, and all the elements of civilization, an the succeeding generations. On the contrary, the natural character of men, and the advantages they had received in earlier life, gave them an ascendancy to which the first generation that followed' could not attain for the t of these accessories. So that it often happened that the growing family sons and daughters in the absence of schools were wholly or largely depend-upon their parents for such teaching and instructions as other pressing labors would permit them to give. Hence in contemplating the character of our fathers we must go back beyond the generation that succeeded and remember the men in their individual and collective relations ; in the great qualities that fitted them to lay the foundations of government . 408 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY In the years of the past there were more demonstrative manifestations of feeling at revival meetings than are exhibited today. Two churches prominent in such exhibitions were Center church in Perry and Easterly's in Worthington township. At these "shouting" was a nightly occurrence. One Adam Bechtel, who had been unable to "get through" at a. revival at Center church, prayed one night that a sign might be given him. A few hours later the Bible fell from a shelf, and upon picking it up Mr. Bechtel opened it at the passage, "He. brought me up also out of a horrible pit." This converted Bechtel and gave. the religious excitement new impetus. Pioneer ministers did not receive large salaries, but did their full char of the work of civilization. ADARIO. Adario is the only town in Butler township, and was founded in 1838 b Henry Foulks and was called Lafayette. The name was changed, it seems, to conform to that of the postoffice, but the place is still called by many people by its old-time name in honor of the Marquis d' La Fayette, the liberty-loving Frenchman who came to the aid of the American colonies in the darkest time of the war of the revolution. Butler is the northeast township in the county, and was mapped and organized March 5, 1849, after Ashland county was created. The township is six miles in length from north to south, and is four miles in width—a strip of two miles was given it from Clearcreek township on the east, and a two-mile strip from Blooming Grove on the west. As Clearfork was formerly in Richland county and lies so close to Adario, this sketch may deal with the Clearcreek country. Adario's part in the history of Richland county towns has not been a prominent one. The people of that part of the county are industrious and law abiding, and the village has two churches—Methodist and Disciple—and its schools are noted as rating well with others elsewhere. A single exception to the rule of good deportment among the Lafayette people was the case of Parson Montgomery, but his was a case wherein a man's great intellect 'became unbalanced, resulting Adario downfall and degradation. Adario was a lovely site, and Butler township as fine lying land and as beautiful farms as there are in the county. The surface is level, but is sufficiently rolling for proper drainage. The makings are equal to the best, making country trips both pleasant and desirable. As you drive, farm after farm can be seen stretching toward the horizon - to the line where the firmament seems to come down to encircle the green fruitful earth with the blue canopy of the skies. A level country is conducive to evenness of life. John Brown's scheme did not thrive upon the plains of Kansas; but, with a change of the venue to mountains of Virginia, he nursed his purpose and matured his plans to precipitate an insurrection. But before he went to Kansas he had dwelt a the solitudes of the Adirondacks, where no voice spoke to him but the screaming winds which in winter sweep summits in hurricane blasts, making the HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 411 isolation of the mountains conducive to gloomy and, perchance, misanthropic thoughts. Thomas Ford and his son Elias came from Jefferson county in April, 1819, and entered. the northeast quarter of. section 22, in Clearcreek township. The journey was made in a one-horse wagon which contained, besides themselves, such tools and implements as would be needed in clearing land and building a cabin. They found tolerably well-defined roads until after leaving Uniontown—as Ashland was then called—about two miles west of which they entered an unbroken wilderness; and had to cut their way through the forest to the land they had entered. Their first work was to erect a place of shelter, which was a little cabin with a bark shed-roof. The father returned to his home in the East and Elias remained to get the place in readiness for the advent of the family in the fall. Elias Ford, who at that time was about twenty years of age, had a lonesome summer, but a very busy one. The Indians infested the country during the hunting seasons, and were his only 'neighbors." Rattlesnakes were so numerous that Mr. Ford had to have his bed suspended from the rafters to keep the venomous, reptiles from sharing it with him, and having once retired to his swinging bunk, he did not dare to it till daylight the next morning lest he would tramp upon the snakes crawling over the floor. In front of his cabin a fire burned all night to keep off the wolves. and drive away the mosquitoes. His dog was a faithful sentinel at his door, and his gun was within reach each day and night. In November of that year the father and family joined Elias, and a larger cabin was erected for their comfort. Within a radius Of six .miles there were but four settlers to assist at this raising. At that time there was neither a. schoolhouse nor church in the township, and the cabin of Mr. Ford was used for a place of religious worship for eleven until "Ford's meeting house" was erected in 1830. The pioneers, as rule, were regular attendants upon religious meetings, men and women often going five or six Miles on foot to hear the gospel preached and to worship. At night they found their way through the forest by carrying lighted torches of hickory bark. On the 10th of October, 1830, Thomas Ford departed this life, aged fifty-seven years, and his funeral was the first religious service held in Ford's eting house. To show the needs and generosity of the pioneers the following incident is given: In the spring of 1822, Mr. Ford had purchased three bushels of frost-bitten cornmeal, which he supposed would be sufficient to sustain him nil he could realize something from the ripening of a small piece of rye which he then had growing. This meal, however, as a matter of economy, and in order to lengthen out its days, was baked and eaten without subjecting if to the usual process of sifting—as he well knew that if his little stock should become exhausted before his rye harvest of he would not be able to obtain any more supplies. The little sack of corn and the growing field of rye were watched with intense solicitude. A short time before the latter, was ready for the sickle he was called upon by two neighbors, who informed him that their 412 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY families were entirely out of breadstuff, and appealed to him for relief in their extremity. Mr. Ford produced his sack of cornmeal, poured its contents upon his puncheon table and divided it into. three equal parts, and his neighbors gratefully received each his third and the other third was returned to his sack. When the little field of rye, which was the only one in the neighborhood, was harvested it was found scarcely adequate to supply himself and neighbors, although it was the only grain of any kind then immediately attainable ; and it was consumed without having been ground—the grain being boiled and eaten with milk, or being cooked by frying. That was the most trying season for the settlers of the township—the succeeding harvests being generally sufficient to afford materials for bread. John Ford, a son of pioneer Thomas Ford, married a Miss Barnes and settled in Washington township, where he was a prominent farmer for many years, and was a justice of the peace. He was the father of S. N. Ford, W. E. Ford, E. C. Ford and T. W. Ford, of Mansfield. Another son of pioneer Thomas Ford was Colonel Thomas H. Ford, father of P. P. Ford, of Mansfield While the pioneers were yet few in numbers, the Clearcreek neighborhood was thrown into a high state of excitement by the following occurrence: Sarah Brink, the eighteen-year-old daughter of Thomas Brink, who resided in the southern part of the township, started one evening on an errand to the house of Nathaniel Bailey, situated about a mile distant; became lost in the woods and wandered about for three days and nights. The whole neighborhood was searching for her, but as the weather was intensely cold, after the second day all hope was abandoned of finding her alive—that she must have perished or been devoured by the wolves. But the morning of the fourth day found her yet alive, though her limbs were frozen, and she was nearly famished. She heard the barking of a dog, and following the sound came to an Indian camp near the western shore of the lower Vermillion lake. The Indians gave her attention and care and returned her to her home. But she was crippled for life in consequence of the loss by freezing of nearly all the toes from both feet. The round-up of the great wolf hunt of 1828 was made near Adario. No wolf was captured, but a, number of wild turkeys and deer were secured. Butler is not behind some of her sister townships in spook stories. There is a place called Spook Hollow southwest of Adario, where apparitions are said to be occasionally seen. Adario has no railroad as yet, but a trolley line is expected to pass through there in the near future. Looking at the map of thirty years ago, the Kirks and the Fords seem to have been the largest land owners there at that period. WINCHESTER AND HEMLOCK FALLS. Winchester was platted On the southwest quarter of section 9, in Worthington township, March 31, 1845. The land was owned by Noble Calhoun and the name was suggested by George Hammon, a Virginian, in honor of Winchester, the beautiful town of the Shenandoah valley—a town and valley since made memorable in history and in song by "Sheridan's Ride" and other incidents of the Civil War. HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 413 The Winchester site is on. the left bank of the Clearfork of the Mohican, about half-way between Butler and Newville. The principal reason for the founding of the town was on account of the mills and the industries which had gathered around them. The site is near the center of the township, and ewville is near the north-line, and as the elections were held there many voters had to go five miles to their polling place; and the idea of a town near to the center of the township (became quite popular with many people. David Herring built mills gt this point late in the '30s. There were a grist mill, A. saw mill and a woolen mill. The grist mill was the largest in the county at that time. and the building stands intact today. There were three sets of buhrs, two for custom and one for merchant work. A number of buildings were erected in the vicinity of the mills, and a store of general merchandise and other lines of trade were conducted and business seemed to increase and require more facilities. And a town was platted upon the opposite side of the river on account of that being the more desirable site. Lots were sold and dwellings were built and soon the place contained eight or ten families. But ere the Village got fairly started the town of Butler—first called Independence—was laid out upon the line of the railroad then being built from Mansfield to Newark, and as the railroad town was within two miles of Winchester the rest of the story need not be told, further than to state that where Winchester one stood there are now fields of waving grain, and the fine old structure that Was once a grist mill is now used for a barn. By becoming surety for friends, David Herring became financially embarrassed and finally lost all. He died in 1872, and his widow, Mrs. Hannah L. Herring, now resides at No:15 North Walnut street, Mansfield. In the erection of the Herring grist mill a beam fell, crushing a man to death, and the blood stain remains upon the timber until this day. The Clearfork flows through an alluvial valley, bordered with hills of modified drift, generally sandy,: in places composed of coarse, waterworn pebbles and boulders. A freshet of this stream, locally known as the "great flood," occurred on June 28, 1838, the day of Queen Victoria's coronation. And when the flood was at its height a Miss Duncan was rescued from the island in a canoe and, declining a seat, stood with one foot upon each side of the little shallop and from a bottle drank to the health of the crowd upon the shore. The "island" is above the mills, and there, near the cabin, which for years stood between the head race and the river, is Where a legend claims a "pot of gold" is buried, and for which considerable search has been made. And there lights are seen to glimmer as though to indicate the place where the treasure is hidden. Hemlock Falls is usually associated with Newville, but the place is more properly connected with Winchester. The falls is two miles south of Newville and two miles cast of Winchester, making the distance relatively the same. But the geological and other features for which the falls locality is noted begin at Winchester andd extend down to and around the falls, making the two places bound together by chains of rock-ribbed ridges and everlasting hills. The falls is about a mile—as the road goes—south of the Clear- 414 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY fork; and the water is a spring run that leaps over a ledge of rocks that extends fora mile or more along the. east side of a.vale,which is a spur of the main valley. The little stream which here leaps over the precipice first runs over slanting rocks for perhaps fifty feet, then plunges over and down, making a direct leap of twenty-five feet into a basin below. Like other streams, this is not nearly so large as it was when the country was first settled, but even now whenever there is a freshet the altisonant roar of the waterfall can be heard more than a mile away with a sigh and moan like that of distress. Hemlock Falls is interesting in its rough, wild beauty and in the geologcal formations and physical features of its ledge of rocks, especially those south of the falls, where here and there grotesque grottos, curious corridor and capacious caverns abound. It was in a cave beneath the falls, as McGaw states; where Philip Seymour first saw Lilly Pipe, and of which meeting he gives such a graphic description. The parties had taken shelter there from a terrific storm, one of -the most violent that ever visited that part of the country. In viewing these massive rocks innumerable marks and indentations are seen upon their otherwise smooth surface, which are clearly wave marks, made by the surging waters .of a lake that was but is not. "What are the sad waves saying?" can here be changed to what have they here written in the centuries agone, when the valley lying west was a lake, as was, perhaps, the entire valley-of the Clearfork. The surface of this part of Ohio was once covered with ice. The origin of this condition was in the continual accumulation of snow over the glacial region in excess of the melting power of the summer sun. The extent of the glacial region ;is now pretty accurately known. In America the glacial sheet extended sto the south of New England and Southwestward from New York to the Mississippi. In Ohio the line of its southern boundary entered the state in Columbiana county, and ran nearly due west to the vicinity of Loudonville in Ashland county; thence south, bearing a little west, to a point not far from Lancaster; thence southwest, leaving the state in Clermont county, about twenty miles above Cincinnati. To this limit' the ice of the glacial period extended in its, southern movement, and as it withdrew the ice in melting left the material it had picked up in its long journey from the north to mark its former presence. There is no doubt that great changes have taken place in this valley since the preglacial period, but what they have been can only be learned through geology. The date of the close of the glacial period has been approximately estimated at not far from ten thousand years. A theory in explanation of the wavemarks upon the rocks at Hemlock Falls is 'that a post glacial gorge between the hills dammed up the river, thus inundating the valleys above. The Waves of the lake may have surged and tossed against these Hemlock Falls rocks for centuries, leaving their marks as wave-prints of time. At last the gorge gave away, gradually perhaps but more likely broke suddenly through and tore the dam from its summit to its base to make a passage, and the rocks lying here and there. down the river were thus strewed HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 415 by the flood Which was precipitated down the valley on account of the. disruption and avulsion of the gorge. Names have been given to a number of the rocks of the locality of the falls. One is called Threshing Floor, and rises perpendicularly three hundred feet above the river. The top is about forty feet square, and is nearly upon a level of the surface of the land upon the east. In the pioneer times the top of this rock was used as a floor. upon which to tramp out wheat. There is a story that one of the horses used to tread out the grain fell over the rocks, whereupon the owner of the beast remarked, jokingly, "Well, that 'hose' will never fall again." Hemlock Falls is interesting in its physical geography and in its historical associations. There is a. fascination in its picturesque, rugged beauty that charms the eye, while it both interests and instructs the student of nature. "Under the Hemlock wild flowers grow, And the green banks slope to the stream below." There are writers who seem to think that truth is not as interesting to the reader as are some fancies of their own brain which they give forth to the public as legends. and traditions. Why not give the facts of history—why not tell the truth? " 'Tis strange—but true; for truth is always strange, Stranger than fiction." And truth can be as entertainingly written and can be clothed in as fine a garb as can any fiction that the most visionary romancer can invent. MILLSBOROUGH, NEW CASTLE, ONTARIO. On account of their proximity sketches of Millsborough, New Castle and Ontario may be given in the-same chapter. Millsborough was platted in October, 1831, and was the first town in Springfield township. It Was laid out on part of the northeast and northwest quarters of section 28.. The plat contained thirty inlots, two streets, six alleys and a public square. The main street was called "Portland," on account of being the road north to Portland—now called Sanduskyon Lake Erie. The location of the town is picturesque, being situated among the rolling hills and narrow valleys of the east branch of the Clearfork of the Mohican. The stream furnished ample water-power for mills and other purposes, and John Garretson erected a grist mill where the road crosses the stream, and on account of this enterprise the town was founded. James Woods, father of Harvey Woods, built a grist mill a mile down the stream, now known as the Otto mills. The Garretson mill' is no more. These mills, with a saw mill or two, gave the town the name of Millsborough. It is interesting to learn how towns got their names. Mansfield was named for Colonel Jared Mansfield, who platted the town June, 1808. Gamble's Mills was changed to Shelby, to have a name indicating a town instead of a grist mill, and the latter name being in honor of General Isaac Shelby, 416 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY an officer of the War of the Revolution; and also of the War of 1812, and who commanded Kentucky troops at the battle of the Thames October 5, 1813. In addition to his other public services, General Shelby was governor of Kentucky, and in the civil as well as in the military service of his country, he discharged faithfully, honestly and well the duties of the several positions given him, and the name has seemed to be talismanic, for but few towns can point with more pride to their past history or to brighter prospects for the future than Shelby. Bellville was named for its founder, Robert Bell. Newville was founded by John Frederick Herring, and was named for his former home town----Newville, Pennsylvania. Lexington was named in commemoration of Lexington, Massachusetts, where the first blood was shed in the War of the Revolution, April 19, 1775. New Castle, as has been claimed, was named for Henry Cassell, who owned land upon which the town was platted: But, for orthographical and other reasons, this claim has been doubted, and there are assigned to prove that the name was given in honor. of the New Castle-upon-Tyne, a city and seaport in great things were expected of the town in a commercial way, it being a station on the crossroads of travel and traffic, from the East to the West and from the South to Lake Erie on the North. Ontario took its name from Ontario county, New York, the native place of Hiram Cook, who owned the land upon which our Springfield township, Ontario, stands. In addition to his mills, Garretson erected other buildings and open a public house at Millsborough, and after conducting it for some time sold the same to John. Martin, who "kept tavern" there for a number of years. Landlord Martin was the father of Captain Martin, who headed a company of Richland county militiamen for the Ohio-Michigan boundary line war in 1835. At Millsborough was established the first postoffice in the township. The town grew and had .a prosperous trade, with two stores of general merchandise with shops of the several lines of trade usual to villages at that time. Duning the '30s the town bid fair to hold its own in the march of time. But fate is an uncertain quantity, playing as fickle with towns as with individuals, and Millsborough is now a village of the past. But few houses remain, while ruins of others can be seen with the timbers rotting where they fell. The causes which led to these results are at least twofold - two rival towns were founded in close propinquity to Millsborough, and a few years later the Ohio & Pennsylvania was built and the town of Crestline was started at its crossing of the Cleveland Columbus road, four miles northwest of Millsborough, and Crestline; being a railroad junction town, With shops and division yards, it had the advantage from the start over its neighboring villages, and as Crestline increased in population and importance and went up high in the scale of progress Millsborough went the other way, downward to the lowest notes. New Castle was laid out and its plat recorded in ,December, 1834, and was the rival of Millsborough from its start. Being situated on the Mansfield & HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 417 Bucyrus stage line, at the juncture of a cross-road, it had certain advantages over Millsborough but lacked the water-power facilities of the latter. But soon another Richard was in the field, and Ontario was created within a mile of New Castle on the west, with a situation more elevated and commanding and was upon cross stags lines. New Castle had taverns, stores and shops and all villages were more or less "wet" in those days. But neither "wet" nor "dry" conditions. will save town when fate points at it its gaunt finger and says "Go." And New Castle, with graceful genuflexions, acquiesced in the survival of the fittest. The following facts anent the killing of Peter Lintholm at New Castle were obtained of M. E. Douglas, whose boyhood years were passed in Springfield township. Peter Lintholm had passed the prime of life when the tragedy occurred that cost him his life. He was called "Old Peter Lintholm," and was rather feeble-minded, and was easily irritated, and upon this occasion was being teased by one Samuel Cristman, whereupon Lintholm struck Cristman, and the latter stabbed Lintholm with his knife, with which he had been whittling. The knife-blade passed between two of Lintholm's ribs and penetrated the heart, Lintholm dying almost instantly. At the preliminary hearing before Squire William Douglas, Cristman was bound over to the court of common pleas, Where he entered the plea of self-defense, upon which he was acquitted. Ontario was platted December, 1834, and soon thereafter took the lead of its two sister villages. Upon the opening of the Atlantic & Great Western railroad Ontario was given. a station, which is still maintained. The .Ontario academy was successfully conducted for a number of years, attended by students from different parts of the country and which added much to the town's growth and prosperity. Dr. Abraham Jenner was a prominent citizen of Ontario for many years and represented Richland county in the Ohio legislature in 1858-60. Dr. Jenner was the father of Judge John W. Jenner and the Hon. S. Eberle Jenner, of Mansfield. Dr. J. W. Craig was a successful physician at Ontario for a long time. He was the father of Dr. J. Harvey Craig, of Mansfield. As Ontario grew religious congregations abandoned their houses of worship in the country and erected new buildings in the town. Among the number were Bigelow chapeI and Taylor's meeting house. The Methodists put up a church building in 1835. In 1850 the United Presbyterians erected a house for worship, as also did the Presbyterians in 1851. Along the east bank of the Millsborough branch of the Clearfork of the Mohican, a half-mile below the town, is Newton Y. Gilkinson's forestry park, containing about five acres, with four hundred and seventy-seven different kinds and varieties of trees, native to the soil of Ohio. This is the only forestry park of the kind in the state, and deserves the attention of the public. Mr. Gilkinson has been years in, planting and cultivating the trees of this park—not from pecuniary motives but as a work of love. Mr. Gilkinson was a soldier in the Mexican War and has now reached the age where the shadows lengthen. When he answers the final roll-call he 418 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY will leave monuments behind him of trees such as no other park in Ohio contains. RICHLAND VILLAGE The village of Richland is in Cass township and was laid out in 1837. A number of houses, forming a little village, had been erected there before the town was platted. John Long was the first settler and started a tannery. The Long cabin was on the State road, running from central Ohio through Mansfield to the lake, at its intersection with the road leading from Wooster to the northwest—then commonly called the Beall trail. Houses of public entertainment were called taverns in those days, and at the junction of there roads a tavern had been a necessity long before the town was laid out. The cabin of John Long was the only house at the crossing for some time, but supply came with the demand, and after the land was platted dwellings and business houses were put up, and the village soon had a population of about two hundred, with taverns, stores and shops to meet the wants of the trade. John Plank, who had the village laid out, kept the principal tavern of the town, and the Place was therefore called Planktown, which name it is commonly known by today. At this time the State road was the highway of freight transit between the interior of Ohio and Lake Erie. The port of the lake, after the opening of the Erie canal, were market marts for farm produce. Along this State road through Richland village teams hauling grain north and merchandise South passed in great numbers, sometimes as many as two hundred in a day. The village grew quite rapidly for those days, but in 1850 the Cleveland & Columbus railroad was built through Cass township, leaving Richland a mile off its line to the east, and a new town—now called Shiloh—was built at the crossing. Richland then went into decline, and but little is left of the village today. As narratives of the murders committed at Richland by Return J. M. Ward have been given to the public in newspapers and in pamphlets, it might seem superfluous to repeat the story here. But as those bloody deeds were committed more than fifty years ago, generations have since come :upon the stage of life to whom .the- narrative may be new. Then, too, this historical chapter would not be complete without at .least a resume of Ward's terrible career of crimes. In about 1847, Return J. M. Ward became proprietor of the Eagle house, situated at the northeast corner of Wooster and Norwalk streets. Ward has been described as a large strong man, with a sinister countenance. On the south side of Sandusky street, a short distance west of the Eagle house, one Noah Hall kept a store, carrying a line of general merchandise, as was the custom, at that time. The store building was an isolated frame structure, with the north end to the street. Hall boarded with Ward and slept at the rear end of the store. There were no "drummers" on the road in those days, and merchants went east twice a year for goods. In March, 1850, Hall collected money preparatory to going to New. York to purchase goods for his spring trade. On the morning of March 18 the little village was startled by the report that Hall had been murdered the night previous. Ward directed suspicion against Daniel A. Myers and Thomas McGarvy, HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 419 bothers-in-law. As usual, detectives formulated theories and tried to find evidence to sustain them, instead of letting the facts establish a theory, and Myers and McGarvy were arrested and indicted on the charge of murder. Persons charged with certain crimes could elect under the old constitution whether to be tried by the supreme or the common pleas court, and upon being arraigned, April 13, the prisoners choose the latter. They were then remanded to jail and their trial set for the July term. The prisoners elected to be tried separately, and Daniel A. Myers was put on trial for the murder of Noah Hall: William Stevens was prosecuting attorney, and Jacob Brinkerhoff and D. W. Stambaugh represented the prisoners. The trial resulted in a verdict of not guilty, and on July 16 McGarvy was also released and the case dropped from the docket. At the trial of Myers, Return J. M. Ward, the landlord, was the principal witness for the prosecution, and the overzeal he exhibited on the stand to obtain a conviction of the accused caused suspicion to be cast upon himself, which contributed somewhat to the acquittal of Myers. Ward was a too ready witness, too anxious to convict and his testimony bore earmarks of abrication. Some time after the Hall murder a pack-peddler by the name of Lovejoy put up at Ward's tavern for the night, and as he did not appear at the breakfast table the morning following Ward, in answer to' inquiries, stated that the peddler had left early, and that seemed to end the matter for a time. It has been thought that Ward's wife suspected that her husband had murdered the peddler, for she soon afterwards became insane and was sent to an asylum, where she died. In a general:way the suspicion of the public turned to Ward as the murderer of Noah Hallbut there was not evidence sufficient to place charge against him in a court. of justice. It also became the opinion of the public that the peddler, Lovejoy, had met with foul play at the hands of Ward. The distrust and suspicions of the people became so apparent that Ward left the place and later located in Sylvania, Lucas county, and again married. It has been written that— "They whose guilt within their bossom lies Imagine every eye beholds their crime." And thus it wa.s with Ward, and even the soughing of the winds reminded him of the moans of his victims, and the evening zephyrs seemed to whisper accusations against his guilty Such simple causes lead to the unmasking of crime that no matter how its perpetrators may endeavor to hide it, "murder will out." The blood of Abel crying out against Cain is the type of all murders. The earth refuses to conceal such heinous crimes, and all nature conspires to betray the unlawful shedding of blood. The man who passes from earth in the ordinary course of nature may be missed and mourned for a while, but the community yields to the inevitable, for all are born under the sentence of death. Compared with the vast numbers of people who throng the earth one man is but an atom, a unit of the whole, but as such he is under the ever watchful care of the Father, who gave the command from Mount 'Sinai, "Thou shalt do no murder," and 420 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY who has declared "That 'vengeance. is Mine." Vice leads to vice and crime begets crime. Ward, having imbued his hands in human blood, was not satisfied with his Planktown crimes, but added another to the list by murdering his wife, and to conceal the act attempted to cremate her body, which led to his detection. For this murder he was arrested, indicted, tried and convicted, and was hanged at Toledo, Friday, June 12, 1857. Several weeks before his execution Ward made a confession of the three murders, in brief, as follows. That having access to Noah Hall's store, he unfastened the back door during the day, and at midnight "I left my house, entered the store by the back door and found Hall sleeping soundly. I was armed with a heavy iron poker, large at one end and tapering to a point at the other. Having carefully. ascertained Hall's position, I struck and stuck the point of the poker-through his skull, on the left side above his ear, and then gave him a violent blow with the heavy end of the poker upon the top of his head. I then seized his pillow and held it tightly over his mouth, and with the other hand grasped his throat and choked him until life was extinct." Upon searching the premises Ward obtained over eight hundred dollars in money, which he buried until after the excitement subsided, after which he used the money in small amounts as he needed it. In Ward's confession of the murder, of the peddler, Lovejoy, he says: "The peddler complained of being tired and retired early. I showed him to his room—a corner room on the second floor. At that time I had no idea of killing him. I awoke about midnight, and the thought struck me that the pedder might have money. There was no lock on his door. I got up went to his room, opened the door softly and found him asleep. The moon was shining in at the window, making the room almost as light as day. The temptation to kill him was so irresistible that I went and got an axe and with it dealt him a tremendous blow on the top of his head. He scarcely struggled and in a few moments was dead." How to dispose of the body of the peddler was a question that Ward had not previously considered. He had to act quickly and soon decided to dis-member the body and pack the same into a box, which he did, and before the morning dawn he had the remains boxed up and placed in the cellar. Upon the pretext of going to his father's, at Milan, Ward placed the box with its gruesome contents in his wagon the next morning and drove away. That night he dumped the box, heavily weighted, into the Huron river, near Abbott's bridge, and never heard of it afterwards. For this murder Ward obtained fifty dollars in money and such goods from the pack as he could use without creating suspicion against him. Ward's mind was capable of planning crimes, and he kept his own counsel, but the curse of Cain was upon him and he could not rest. He changed locations, but the continued fear of exposure, like the fabled sword of Damocles, was ever suspended over him. He could not escape, and the edict, "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed," was meted out to Ward upon the gallows. HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 421 In this series of historical sketches the subject of "good roads" has not heretofore been considered. But as this chapter treats of the county at the intersection of the State road with the Beall trail, the matter will be briefly considered. In everything else the county has progressed marvelously, but with roads there has been but little improvement. The roads in Richland county have been patched up from year to year, and in those seventy-five or eighty years the work and money expended would have made our highways as good and as lasting as were those of Rome, built centuries ago, and which are still in use. It is a matter of poor economy to be annually repairing roads, with the view of having such repairs last only until a new supervisor comes along the next year. Far better and cheaper in the end to make a large outlay for more permanent results. The great National road was opened in 1818, and notwithstanding the storms and frosts of the eighty-five years of its use its roadbed and its arches are in as good condition today as they were when Henry Clay, Lewis Cass, Thomas H. Benton, William Allen and other statesmen made stage journeys to and from Washington over the National pike while serving as senators in the congress of the United States. SALEM, SHILOH. To understand the history of Shiloh that of Salem must first be reviewed and conditions considered. Prior to 1828 a town called Salem was laid out in the north part of what is now Cass township, a mile south of the Huron county line, but, as the plat was not recorded, there is no historical date of the survey. The lots were in time declared vacated. Mr. Powers, the founder of the place, had logical reasons to believe that a town was needed there, the site being at the crossing of the Savannah with the Huron road, the latter being at that time a great highway of travel between central Ohio and the ports on the lake. Powers was the first merchant in the place. Shoemakers, blacksmiths and wagonmakers were so necessary in every village that it seemed as though they were indigenous to those localities. One of the first schools in the township was held in a log cabin at the Salem Corners, on the south side of the Savannah road, and was taught by the Rev. Bennajah Boardman, a Methodist minister. Teachers were paid by subscription then, the present common school system not being inaugurated until years afterwards. As a rule, the teachers in those days did not spoil the child by sparing the rod, and as the history in those early schools is recalled they bring to the mind Goldsmith's lines: "There in his noisy mansion, skill'd to rule, The village master taught his little school; A man severe he was, and stern to view. I knew him well; and every truant knew; Well had the boding tremblers learn'd to trace The day's disaster do his morning face." The first church at Salem was a hewn-log structure, built by the Methodists in 1823. In about 1816, the Rev. Boardman began holding religious services at the homes of the settlers. He was a Methodist minister and preached 422 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY in that part of the county as such for a number of years. Among the ministers who followed the Rev. Mr. Boardman were the Rev. Erastus Felton, the Rev. Mr. Chase, the Rev. Mr. Goddard and. the Rev. Mr. Poe. The Rev. Mr. Boardman finally settled at Salem as !a local preacher, where he died in 1858. Among the members of the Salem church were Asa Murphy, Peter and Annie Maring, John, Catharine, Nancy, Betsey and Sarah Long, and John and Hannah Bell. It is often difficult to obtain historical dates. The date of the running of first railroad train from Shelby to Mansfield, over the Mansfield & Sandusky road—now a part of the Baltimore & Ohio system—is obtained by its association with another event—with the holding of a meeting to get recruits for the Mexican War. The first blood in the war between the United States and Mexico was shed April 24, 1846. General Taylor, having been informed that the Mexicans were crossing the Rio Grande, above his encampment, sent Captain Thornton with sixty dragoons to reconnoiter. They were surprised and captured. Sixteen Americans were killed in the skirmish. Troops were called for to reinforce General Taylor, and a war meeting was held in Mansfield May 16. For the purpose of running an excursion to Mansfield, to the war meeting, seats were improvised on fiat-cars that had been in use in the construction of the road. But this train ran only to the north limit of the town, stopping in the vicinity of the present waterworks pumping station. The late John Rickets fixed the date of the first train of passenger cars running into Mansfield by the record of the birth of a son—June 19, 1846—and remembered the coincidence of the two events. But not even a coincidence as to the date of the completion of the Cleveland & Columbus railroad—now a part of the "Big Four" system—through Shiloh can be obtained. Jesse Maring thinks the road was opened in the fall of 1849. Mr. Maring was the station agent of this road at Shiloh for thirty years from 1851 to 1881. But, so far as Salem was concerned, the date of the opening of the road was not of so much importance as was the event itself, and the result would have been the same had it occurred sooner or later, for the railroad was run nearly a mile west of the town, and the station that was erected there was in such an undesirable location that it was soon afterwards removed a half-mile further south—still further away from Salem. The new site for the station being at the crossing of the Wooster & Tiffin road, a town was platted there in September, 1852, by Charles R. Squires, who had purchased four acres of land for that purpose. This new town was called Salem Station. Then there were Old Salem and Salem Station, to distinguish the old town from the new. In 1862 the name of Salem Station was changed to that of Shiloh. The Old Salem is now known as a locality, not as a town. The name "Shiloh" was taken in part as a matter of convenience, as there were two or more other towns in the state called Salem, and partly in patriotic sentiment after the battle of Shiloh—one of the battles of the Civil War, fought April 6 and 7, 1862, and in which the Union loss in killed; wounded. and missing was 13,491 men. Shiloh, however, in the scriptural meaning of the word, signifies place of rest, peace. The ark of the covenant, kept at Gilgal, HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 423 during the progress of the conquest, was at Shiloh from the last days of Joshua to the time of Samuel.. And it is written that "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, till he shall go to Shiloh." No reason is now known, why Salem was thus named. At it was a religious center, perhaps the name was given from biblical reasons, as some commentators claim that Salem, so-called in Psalm 76, means Jerusalem—"At Salem is His tabernacle; and his dwelling in Zion." As to names, it has been said that words are the daughters of earth, and that things are the sons of heaven. In the long sweep of time names may be forgotten, but events will be remembered. Shiloh has prospered and is one of the promising towns of the county, with natural gas sufficient, at least, for its own heating and lighting purposes. New wells are to be drilled.; and even though oil may not be found a greater volume of gas may be tapped, sufficient in quantity to pipe to other towns. The railroad runs through a slight cut north of the main street. As trains go through this cut, playing, as it were, "hide and go seek" with the town, the passengers get glimpses of the beauty of the village, and often express regrets that they have not a better view .of the town. The Lutheran and Methodist denominations have handsome and com modius houses of worship. There is a graded school, which, with the churches, bear evidence that .both the religious and the educational interests of the place receive proper attention. The Brenneman block, built in 1873, is a three-story brick building, with a basement at the east end. In the fall of the Centennial year John Bradford Williams rented one of the business rooms in the Brenneman building and opened a dry goods store. He had married the second time just prior to locating in Shiloh. The woman 'he married was a milliner by trade and hailed from Medina county. To outward appearances they got along nicely for a time, but ere long gossip reports stated that the domestic relations of the Williams family were not of the most pleasant kind. These reports were confirmed by subsequent events. One night in the fall of 1877 there was a cry of fire—that the Brenneman building was on fire. The fire was in the room occupied by Mr. Williams. By prompt action and hard work the flames were extinguished with but slight damage to the building, but Williams' goods were more or less damaged by both fire and water. The Richland Mutual Fire Insurance company, of Mansfield, had insurance on the stock, and N. S. Reed went to Shiloh to investigate the matter and adjust the claim. He arrived at Shiloh late in the afternoon and was met by Mr. Williams, who escorted him to the store and explained his theory of the origin of the fire, which was this : That it was the work of an incendiary, and, taking Mr. Reed down the stairway into the basement, pointed to a small, open window, through which; as he alleged, the incendiary had gained entrance. Then they separated until after supper. As usual, Mr. Reed was affable and courteous, and Williams, no doubt, thought he had smooth sailing. At the second interview, however, Mr. Reed remarked: "Say, Mr. Williams, 424 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY in planning this fire there is' one thing you forgot—you should have swept that cobwebnet from the window." Whereupon Williams nearly fell from his chair, broke down and confessed and begged for mercy. Williams was arrested but at the preliminary hearing entered a plea of ."Not guilty." At the December term of court, 1877, indictments were found against Mr. Willams and his son Frank on the charge of arson. The latter confessed and turned state's evidence against his father. At his trial John B. Williams was found guilty, and was sentenced to five years in the penitentiary, but was pardoned before the expiration of the term. The son got off with a jail sentence of four months. A few months after Williams' conviction his wife—Mary Ann Williams—obtained a divorce. Mr. Reed did a clever piece of detective work in the case that will favorably compare with a Sherlock Holmes story. The Hon. J. M. Hunter, now a resident of Shiloh, tells of his first trip to that locality, which shows the changes of time. His father was a farmer, then residing in Blooming Grove township. After the compeletion of the Mansfield & Sandusky railroad, Plymouth, thus having railroad shipping facilities to the lake, became a great grain :market. The warehouse at Plymouth was built across the cut, which was of sufficient depth to permit the cars to pass beneath the building, thus requiring no elevator. The box cars used in shipping were covered with canvas or tarpaulin, and held about a hundred and forty bushels, and wheat in August, 1846, brought forty-five cents a bushel. It was perhaps the latter part of the summer of 1850, when Mr. Hunter's father was hauling wheat to Plymouth, that J. M. accompanied him upon one of his trips. This the boy considered a great privilege, and it was upon that trip that he first saw the site of Shiloh, and remembers it the more vividly, perhaps, because the street or road was being graded down to make a grade crossing, and that was the first grading the boy had ever seen. At the junction with the New State road west of :Shiloh, they got in with a caravan of wheat teams coming from the south, while others were following them from the east. Thus wedged in, it took them hours to get to Plymouth and wait for their turn to unload. Mr. Hunter was then about six years of age. His life has spanned the half-century period in which the world has advanced more than in any other age. During those years we have made history. It would require volumes to give even a syllabus of each of the discoveries, inventions and improvements of the last fifty years. We use the utilities of today, and recall the past only as a matter of sentiment, or for the lesson it teaches. Mr. Hunter has served the people. in a number of public offices, the most prominent of which was representing Richland county two terms in the legislature. H. S. Moser retired from his farm some years ago, and resides in Shiloh. As, in. the past, .he always. has a cordial greeting for an old friend. Richard Kimmel, for many years a Mansfield grocer, owns a farm just north of Shiloh, and is now a tiller of the soil, but is as jovial as ever. Fred Wolfsereberger, .editor of the Review, makes somewhat frequent visits to Mansfield of late, on account, he claims, of political matters, but inasmuch as he is young, good looking and single, the reasons for his visits should not be insisted upon too strenuously. HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 425 Further personal mentions must be deferred for a future chapter. NEWVILLE. Newville was founded by John Frederick Herring, and was platted in December, 1823. It is situated upon section 3, Worthington township. Abraham Nye was one of the first settlers there, and was instrumental in inducing Mr. Herring to lay out the town. In 1811-12, John .Frederick Herring ;built the second grist mill in Richland county. This mill was situate on the Clearfork, four miles west of Bellville, in what is now Perry township. Peter Weirick was employed to do the carpenter work, and while he was erecting the building, Mr. Herring drove to Baltimore with a six-horse team to procure buhrs, wheels and Bearings for the mill. The round trip from this part of Ohio to Baltimore and return was then made by team and occupied about two months' time. Now the same distance can be traveled in fewer hours than the days required then. After operating this mill for several years, Mr. Herring sold the same to Francis Baughman in 1815. In 1833, Mr. Baughman disposed of this property to John. Hanawalt, who operated the same for about fifty years, and the mill is known. in history as "Hanawalt's." This mill. stood where the Lexington and Fredericktown road crosses the Clearfork. The building is now used as a barn. John Hanawalt was the father of J. L. Hanawalt, of South Main street, Mansfield. After selling the mill west of Bellville, Mr. Herring entered another mill site, also on the Clearfork, fifteen miles down the stream, where he erected his second grist mill, and a few years later laid out the town of Newville. The first settlers in Newville and vicinity were John Frederick Herring, Abraham Nye, Michael Hogan, Daniel Carpenter, George Armentrout and Luther Richard. Abraham Nye was the first tavern keeper, Daniel Stoner the first blacksmith and Michael Hogan the first merchant. Newville was named after Newville, Pennsylvania, the native place of the founder of the town. At the time Newville was laid out, the volume of water in the Clearfork of the Mohican was larger than it is now, and the pioneers were wont to found towns along streams of water, for mill power and other purposes. Great things and a bright future were predicted for the town, but the hopes entertained for its future greatness were never realized. In the scramble. for new counties back in the "forties," Newville had hopes of becoming a county seat town, but "The best laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft a-gley," And the county-seat hopes in which Newville people indulged, ganged aft a-gley. But, to add further to disappointments as to future prosperity, the two railroads that were built through the southern part of the county, left Newville about midway between them, the B. & O. at Butler, four miles to the southwest, and the Pennsylvania at Perrysville; four miles to the east. This being a road age, towns off the paths of the iron horse seldom thrive, and Newville has been no exception to the general rule. Newville nestles in a lovely little valley, at the confluence of Slater's Run with the Clearfork of the Mohican. It is nearly surrounded by rock-ribbed 426 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY hills; which, when covered with summer verdure, are picturesque and beautiful. The early settlers of the Newville country came, mostly, along the old Wyandot trail, following up the Mohican and its Clearfork to Newville. Some of the latter arrivals came along the Portage road—a military road cut through by a portion of General Harrison's army in 1812. This road runs diagonally across Worthington township from the northeast to the southwest. This was probably the first road in the township, and although it has been changed in certain places to conform to local conditions, it is still a public highway. The decade between 1825 and 1835 was a preaching period at Newville, such as no other town in the county ever passed through. Men preached according to their own views of the scriptures without regard to what any denomination taught or believed, all agreeing, however, upon Anabaptist lines. They were out-comers from various sects, and in time organized new ones. The most prominent among these preachers were the Rigdons—Sidney and Thomas—both gifted men and orators of great power. Sidney Rigdon, it has been claimed, was one of the most charming and convincing speakers of that olden time when there were orators in the land. For several years he was a minister of the Disciples, as was also his brother Thomas. Later Sidney became a Mormon elder, and took a number of converts from the southern part of this county with him to Nauvoo. In time, an estrangement sprung up between Brigham Young and Mr. Rigdon, resulting in the withdrawal of the latter, who returned to the east, where he died in 1876, aged eighty-three years. Notwithstanding the early promulgation of different views, the M. E. Church is the only one that has been able to maintain an existence as a religious body in Newville. Daniel Carpenter was one of the principal promoters of the business and industrial interests of Newville. He had a store of general merchandise and founded and operated a tannery and an ashery. Baltimore was the market placed for this part of the country at that time and the journey to and from--a round-trip distance of a thousand miles—had to be made with wagon teams, and part of the journey was over mountain roads. Grain was too bulky, heavy and low priced to haul so far to market. Ginseng, maple sugar and beeswax were the principal marketable articles and they were not all year-round products. To further the business interests of the town, Daniel Carpenter founded an "ashery," and manufactured another exportable commodity—pearl ash. His teams traversed the country for miles around, buying ashes of the farmers, thus adding to their meager income. Of the distinguished men who once claimed Newville as their home, the name. of the late Hon. Samuel J. Kirkwood should head the list. He was one of the first school teachers of the village. Mr. Kirkwood read law, became prosecuting attorney of Richland county, and after the close of his term, removed to Iowa, became governor of that state; was later a senator in the Congress' of the United States, and closed his official career as a member of the Garfield cabinet. HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 427 Major Hogan was a scholar and a gentleman, more devoted to his books than to his business interests. Dr. J. P. Henderson, who passed nearly all his life in Newville, was a close student and much devoted to .archaeological researches. Joseph Musgrave, once a Newville merchant, was a state senator from the Ashland district in 1856-57. The late Major George F. Carpenter—lawyer and banker—was a son of Daniel Carpenter, the promoter of the early business interests of Newville. Major Carpenter was one of' the charter members of the Richland. County Historical Society and its first vice-president. Governor J. P. Altgeld, was for several years a Newville boy. As a man in after years he became a noted jurist, an eloquent orator and a great leader among men. These are all departed. from earthly scenes. Others, young men still living, who were once Newville boys, have gone out into the world and in their several lines of endeavor are winning success. Among the early industries was pennyroyal distilleries, dotted here and there over the pennyroyal regions of Ohio. Pennyroyal grew in profusion in the southern part of the country in the earliest days. It is a deciduous, herbaceous plant, aromatic, with a pungent taste. As this was a rare and peculiar industry, a brief description of the process of distillation may be of interest to the reader. The pennyroyal after being gathered was allowed to wilt until it would pack well, and was then tramped down carefully in a steam chest until it was full. The oil is in small globules on the under side of the leaf. When set free by steam, it passed into a condenser; into which a small stream of cold water was conducted. After being condensed it was poured into an oil vat, nearly filled with water. The oil being lighter than the water, ran into the vessel and passed out into a receiver. Pennyroyal oil is used for its medicinal properties, and was thought by the pioneers to be valuable as a carminative remedy. The last pennyroyal distillery in this part of the county was Fisher's, at Palmyra, five miles south of Bellville. At the Fisher distillery essence of peppermint was also distilled. Distilleries are often called "still houses." And upon this play of words Comrade Ricksicker, of Galion, tells 'a good anecdote in his inimitable way, at Grand Army reunions. As the story goes, a revenue officer was trying to ferret out illicit distilleries in Kentucky during the latter part of the Civil War. He had not been successful, and being anxious to show results, approached a typsy soldier, an Irishman, and inquired after "private stills," as the illicit distilleries are called. But Paddy didn't seem to have any information to give out. Then the detective offered him a ten-dollar bill, whereupon Paddy admitted having certain knowledge about several' private stills and offered to conduct the officer to one, but the money must be paid in advance: This having been done, Paddy escorted the detective through forests and over hills, and finally, coming upon .a camp of soldiers, they halted. The officer demanded an explanation. An Irishman never gives away a friend, even though he should be a "moonshiner." Paddy called the officer's attention to a soldier who was sitting by a tree, and said: "That man is of a good family, 428 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY and enlisted with high hopes of being made a general within a short tim But now, after two years' service, he is a 'private still.' " Worthington, in which Newville is situated, was the banner township the camp-meeting line in the days of the popularity of such gatherings. the several camp-meeting sites the one called "Easterly's," two miles west Newville, was. the most popular and the best known. The meetings were and the auspices of the United Brethren denomination. Perhaps, also, by the Evangelicals, commonly called the "Albrights." In these camp-meeting gathering, social, cordiality was blended with religious zeal. Fervor along religious lines was more intense and demonstrative a half century ago than it is today. A man was expected to shout to show his zeal and attest his spirituality. It is different now. The camp-meeting preachers believed, as a rule, that "where the spirit of God is, there is liberty." And aside from the general supervision of the prayer meetings, they did not, attempt to control the boisterous element around them. Thus meetings seldom got far advanced before men and women were praying, groaning and singing together.. Some were groaning on. account of their sins, some praying for their companions, others singing and shouting because they felt happy, and a few would swoon from physical exhaustion. A horse-back procession of religious enthusiasts, returning from a camp meeting, was heard approaching by a poorly-clad woman working in a field near to the roadside. It was a 'sound of music of men's and women's voices mingling harmoniously together in sacred song. Abashed, she hid herself behind a tree, but peeped around as the procession passed by. To the unseen observer the countenance of the leader's wife seemed lighted up like the face of a glorified saint. Her bonnet hung by its ribbons down her back, and her auburn hair floated like Waves of golden sheen over her shoulders, forming a beautiful, living, moving picture. The faces of all the members of the party glowed with happiness as they sang: "What is this that casts you down What is this that grieves you? Speak; and let the. worst be known, Speaking may relieve you." This scene, with its music and song, so affected the poor woman who lot was to toil in the fields, that she sank upon her knees in prayer, and dat her conversion from "that very hour." LUCAS. Lucas is situated on the Pennsylvania railroad, seven miles southeast of Mansfield, and was laid out in 1836 by. John Tucker, who acted as agent for his brother, David Tucker, the owner of the land upon which the village was platted. Prior to the founding of Lucas a town had been started about a mile farther down the Rockyfork and upon the opposite side of the stream, and was called Octororo. In the rivalry that ensued Lucas won, and Octororo HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 431 quietly acquiesced in the decree of fate and not a building is left to show Where the town once stood. Lucas is situated on the Rockyfork, with excellent mill sites and three grist mills were operated there for many years. The old-time names of these mills were LaRue's, Zerby's and Oldfield's: LaRue's and Zerby's are gone, but Oldfield's has kept step to the music of a progressive age and is still in business. The Zerby mill was built in 1820 by Peter Zerby, the father. of the Peter Zerby now a. resident of Mansfield. The LaRue mill was built in 1830 by a Mr. LaRue, and Oldfield's was built about the same year by Reinhart Oldfield. The Oldfield mill was owned a number of years by Silas Rummel. This mill was owned in the "fifties" by Colonel George Weaver—a man prominent in his day and generation, having been the sheriff of the county and a soldier in two wars. There were also a number of saw mills on the Rockyfork in the vicinity of Lucas. The first cabin within the present limits of Monroe township was near the e where the residence of Silas Rummel now stands. The first house in the village of Lucas stood near the place now occupied by the new bank building. The Myers house was the second building erected and has been a hotel for two-thirds of a century. Lucas for its size has dwellings and business building's that will compare favorably with any other place in Ohio. Water from a spring on the south side is piped to the center of the village and supplies the people with pure water Churches and graded schools are second to none elsewhere, and the blessings and utilities of the age are at every man's door. But it was not always thus. The locality passed through the strenuous pioneer period, whose history is written on "A Storied Page Whereon the Letters Speak" of Indian massacres, and of other dangers and hardships of the pioneers. Hill's, as the Lucas locality was called by the first settlers, was on the Indian trail between Greentown and Tymochte, and along this valley in 1782 marched Colonel Crawford and his little army of 480 men, and the tale of their defeat and of the awful tortures and death of Colonel Crawford is a sad one, in our history. General Brooks came up the Rockyfork in 1812 with government supplies for the army at Fort Meigs, and halted a day where Lucas now stands. He had about one hundred teams, six horses to each wagon. Among the "supplies" was money to be used in paying the troops in the northwest. Fort Meigs was on the right bank of the Maumee river, opposite the rapids. It was important frontier post during the war of 1812. What an unusual spectacle was presented in that supply train coming up the valley. One hundred wagons, drawn by six hundred horses, making a procession miles in length, and winding through the forests in whose fastnesses wild beasts had their lairs and in whose treetops birds sang. Now railroad trains course up and down the same valley in the interest of interstate trade and foreign commerce. The sun shines upon cultivated farms where the 432 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY primeval forest once stood. The pioneers of the time when General Brooks' army train passed through Mansfield and halted at the Lampert spring are long since gone, and the generation that succeeded them are passing away. The late Rosella Rice once wrote that it is hard to be reconciled to this natural order of things, to see the pioneers passing away, to see them standing leaning on their staffs, dim-eyed and with white locks tossed in the winds, dazed at the change that has stamped its seal upon the wilderness whose winding paths they once knew so well. They beheld it slowly laying off its primeval wildness and beauty, and its grandeur of woods and waters, until now it blooms like unto the garden of the gods. How beautiful the labors of their hands. How much we owe to them ! But the olden time is passing away and bearing on its bosom the dear old men and women whose "like we ne'er shall see again"—the glory of one age if not dimmed in the golden glory of the age succeeding it. Bossuet, a French author, wrote that "although God and nature have made all men equal in forming them of the same earth, human vanity can not bear that equality." Substitute "ambition" for "vanity," and the statement is verified in everyday life by young men who try to rise to other pursuits than those in which they were reared. In Europe, with but few exceptions, the child is born to the station of the parent, but in America, with equally few exceptions, the reverse is the rule. The most illustrious men often rise from humble beginnings. The man of millions, whose home is a palace, lived, perhaps in a log cabin when he was a boy. So in Monroe township. At least a half dozen of the leading lawyers of the Mansfield bar were Monroe township boys—farmers' sons—and several of them had to earn their education's. Today they are men among men, and have filled high places of honor and trust. The Hon. W. S. Kerr, ex-state senator, ex-congressman, a lawyer of large practice, with one of the most handsome residences on Mansfield's fashionable avenue, was born and reared in Monroe township. There is Judge N. M. Wolfe, who served two terms upon the common pleas bench, and as a trial lawyer is second to none in Ohio. And there is the Hon. C. E. .McBride, who served his county faithfully and. capably in the Ohio legislature, and whose success as a lawyer secured for him the position of attorney for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company for "all the lines west of the Ohio river." Such corporations seek the best talent at the bar. And there are the Douglass brothers. A. A. Douglass served two terms as prosecuting attorney and is prominent in politics and -as a lawyer. S. M. Douglass was a judge of the circuit court, and has the distinction of having been the first chief justice of said court. J. M. Reed, J. P. Henry and Harry T. Manner each deserves a more extended notice than there. is space to give them in this article, and all these were once Monroe township country boys, who tilled the soil until their attainments led them into more congenial pursuits. In the medical profession there are Dr. W. S. Mecklem and Dr. G. W. Baughman, also from Monroe township, who served as coroner of his county. Allen S. Beach has worked his way from the bottom of the ladder, round by round, to affluence and position, and HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 433 has the respect and confidence of all the people. These men are Monroe products, and men who succeed should be pointed to with pride, not in envy. If there are those who begrudge a man his hard-worked-for and well-earned success in finance, in law, in medicine, in literature or in any other pursuits, such people should be commiserated, for it is a pity they were not molded upon broader lines. Sumner said "that the true grandeur of nations is in those qualities whih constitute the greatness of the individual. The causes which shape the fortunes of men and the destinies of states are often the same. They may be remote and obscure until shown by results. The elements of success in life in any line of endeavor consist in both innate ability and a determination to succeed. John Barnes was the leading merchant at Lucas when the Pennsylvania railroad was being built. He seemed to have ample means, was quite popular and had the confidence of the people. He was a large contractor on the railroad, with a number of sub-contractors under him. One morning he failed to appear at his place" of business, and upon inquiry it was ascertained that he was not in the town. He had dropped out of existence, so far as Lucas was concerned, during the night and never seen there afterward. Searching parties traversed hills and valleys in the and streams were searched on the theory that he had been murdered—but without finding either his body or any trace of the man. A report was circulated that a pistol shot had, been heard at the Mohawk hill upon the night of Barnes' disappearance, which confirmed in many 'the theory that he had been murdered, and that the men working on the railroad had committed the deed. But that railroad bed was made by Irishmen, and the Irish are not murderers. When it became known that Barnes had collected large sums of money just previous to his disappearance, and that he was indebted to a large amount, the people generally settled down to the 'conclusion that Barnes had "skipped out," and this was confirmed years afterward by reports that he had been seen in California. There are people, no doubt, who 'still cling to the "foul play" theory. The fact is that John Barnes disappeared from Lucas upon a dark night more than fifty years ago and has not yet returned. BANGORVILLE. The student of history is, interested not only in events, but also in a study of the causes which lead to the prosperity or precedes of a locality. Cause precedes effect. Two towns may be platted and start to build up with seemingly equal prospects of attaining size and importance. But conditions may change, beneficial to the one and detrimental to the other. New towns sometimes supplant older ones. But there are always causes for such changes, although they may not be so apparent that "he who runs may read" and understand the reasons for the same. Situations, conditions, commercial industries must be "studied and analyzed to determine the cause of either decadence or prosperity. The fundamental principle that the greater force overcomes the lesser is as true in history as it is science. This force may be Itfof attraction or propulism. The results is called "fate" or "destiny," which 434 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY is so remorseless that it neither rejoices at the prosperity nor weeps adversity of either towns or individuals. Bangorville, situate on the west line of Jefferson township, a mile north of Knox county line, was through the prosperity period in the "forties," and now has but little to point to with pride except its past history. The location is upon high land and commands a fine view of the country surrounding it. The little village stands on the Lexington and Fredericktown road, about midway between the two towns. This road intersects the New State road about a mile south of Palmyra. Another road runs east from Bangorville, crossing both the new and old State roads, four miles south of Bellville. A road also runs due north along the township line, and another, from a half-mile south of the town, leads through the Lost Run region to Waterford, on the Owl creek. These roads diverging from the Village seemed to place it in advantageous relations with the surrounding country, which fact was one of the reasons why Bangorville was selected as a location for "Moore's foundry," a manufacturing plant of large capacity and of larger possibilities. Four miles south of the new State road, there was a settlement of Maine Yankees, and the locality was called Yankeetown. And among these Penobscoters was one William Moore; the founder of Moore's "foundry” at Bangorville. The name not did not fully cover the scope of the plant, but as foundries were not numerous in this part of the state at that time the name was not given in a special but in a general sense, and nearly all shops where casting was done were thus designated. These Moore works were quite large for that period. The main building was two stories high, with molding room and blacksmith shop as annexes. The business was quite extensive and the machinery, implements and articles made and manufactured were threshing machines, wind mills, cider presses, with automatic presses, cheese presses, plows, cultivators, stoves and stove utensils, mill gearings and all kinds of custom work. Much of the output was of Mr. Moore's own inventions. The threshing machine was of the "knocker" style, somewhat like that of the Aultman-Taylor machine of today, and competed successfully with the "endless apron" variety. The plow was called "The Grasshopper" and was quite popular. The shop started with a force of about twenty-five, which was increased until the pay roll for five years averaged about fifty men. The town grew and increased and the people prospered and were happy. William Moore was a born mechanic, and was competent to capably fill the place of the most skilled workman in any department of the shop. He was an inventor and draughtsman as well as a skilled mechanic. In addition to these he was a business man of marked ability, with a foresight of the needs of the country and of the possibilities of the future, at 'least so far as farmers' supplies were concerned. He .knew that thereafter grain would be threshed by machines, instead of being pounded out with flails; that the wooden mold board plow would. be supplanted by one of cast-iron, and that the lug-poles and trample hooks of the days had served their time, and that cooking was thereafter to be done on stoves. He saw that the country was in a state of HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 435 transition from the old to a new order of things, and took the tide at its flow. His mind could grasp what was needed, and his inventive genius could supply the article. His inventions were not only numerous, but covered a wider scope than those of any other man perhaps in the world, and were made at a period when inventions were but "few and far between." Salesmen canvassed the country, for the sale of Moore's machinery, farm impelements and the other products of his foundries, and wagons conveyed the some to the farmers' homes. But when the plant was on the highway to a still greater success, one night flames were seen to shoot . from the foundry up through the dark pall that hung ominously over the village, and the people were aroused. by the cry of “Fire! Fire! Moore's foundry is on fire. But the flames had spread throughout the building to such an extent that it could not be saved, nor its contents taken out. And thus went out in smoke and in flames one of the earliest and most promising manufacturing plants of Richland county. The factory was never rebuilt for want of means. And with the destruction of the foundry, “Othello's occupation," so far as Bangorville was concerned, was gone, and the town went into decadence, and now barely holds a place upon the map of the county. "What would have been if things had been otherwise,'' is often asked, but an answer can only come from the speculative realms of fancy. A new condition of affairs came on soon after the Moore plant was destroyed that would of itself have operated against building at Bangorville. A railroad was built—was extended from Mansfield to Newark, and, like the priest and the Levite, it went by on the other side—left Bangorville five miles away on the uplan.ds to the west. Mr. Moore removed to Mt. Vernon, where he later connected with the Copper works, and Contributed much to the success of that firm. He is now dead, but his inventions place him in the list of a benefactor of the period in which he lived. PLYMOUTH. Plymouth was first settled in 1815, but the town was not platted until May 17, 1825. The village was first called Paris, but at its incorporation in 1838 the name was changed to Plymouth. Plymouth has the distinction of ,being in two counties—the main street running east and west, being theline.between Richland and Huron counties. The postoffice is on the Richland county side of the line, the town is therefore always referred to as being in Richland county. Plymouth became a village without the premeditation, plan or scheme of any land owner. After the close of the War of 1812 people came from the east to locate in Ohio, and quite a number came along the Beall trail and settled in the northern part of Richland county, and among them was one Abraham Trux, who erected a cabin on the headwaters of the Huron river, and became the first settler upon what later became the town site of Plymouth. Other cabins were soon thereafter erected near Trux's for the convenience of neighborly associations, and thus without design a town was founded. A reference to the close, of the War of 1812 suggests the difference in both the methods and the time required in transmitting and receiving news in 1815 436 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY with our facilities of today. The treaty of peace between the United States and Great Britain was signed at Ghent, December 24, 1814, but the news of the same was not received here until a month later, and in the meantime the battle of New Orleans was fought, where. General Jackson won his victory over the British. How different now, with telegraph wires and cables spanning continents and encircling the globe. At the time Plymouth was platted there were sixteen houses, all of them log buildings, on the town site and occupied severally by Abraham Trux, Patrick Lynch, Benjamin Wooley, James Young, Enos Rose, Abner Harkness, A. D. W. Bodley, Haslo, John and Henry Barney, Christian Culp, B. F. Taylor, William C. Enos and Lemuel Powers. The travel through the village caused taverns to ,be opened in accordance with the law of demand and supply. Like other taverns of that period, three of the principal articles on the bill of fare were "hog, hominy and whisky." If these suited the guests the present generation can be excused from registering a complaint now about what their forefathers ate four-fifths of a century ago. Patrick Lynch was the first blacksmith in Plymouth; William C. Enos the first lawyer; Dr. Lemuel Powers the first doctor; Mr. Howe the first school teacher; Mr. Curtis the first tailor; W. V. B. Moore and John Skinner the first shoemakers; Hugh Long the first tanner; Robert Moorfoot the first bricklayer and plasterer; A. D. W. Bodley the first wheelright; Anthony McLaughlin the first cooper; James Drennan the first cabinet maker; James Dickson, William Crall and Mr. Gilcrease the first carpenters; G. C. Graham, Mathero McKelvey and Wilson brothers the first merchants. The first mayor of the village was Daniel Colckglazier; the second, Ensign Benschoter; the third, Robert Wilson. Mr. McKelvey, who had a number of daughters, erected a two-room frame building in 1831, started an educational institution called a seminary. with competent teachers, which was successfully conducted for several years. The first bank was started by a Mr. Barker in 1839, in connection with his mercantile trade. After Mr. Barker's death in 1859 the business was continued by Robert McDonough and S. M. Robinson until 1870, when Mr. McDonough opened a regular bank of discount and deposit, which was continued until his death in 1873. After that the First National Bank was organized, with Josiah Brinkerhoff as president. Banker Barker was the father of Frank Barker, who was killed in Mansfield by his brother-in-law, Robert Mercer Bowland, about sundown on the evening of June 18, 1846. The tragedy took place near the northwest corner of Main street and Park avenue west. A broken-shaft monument in the Plymouth cemetery marks Frank Barker's grave. Plymouth always had able representatives in the legal profession. In the past there were Downing H. Young, D. M. Stambaugh, W. W. Drennan, Sherman Culp, S. M. Young and others. Religious services were held at Plymouth at an early day, and church organizations effected. The Rev. Wolfe, a Presbyterian; the Rev. Arbuthnot, Covenanter, and the Rev. McIntire, Methodist, were early missionaries there. The Rev. Benjamin Wooley settled there and was a local minister of the HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 437 Methodist church. Nearly all the early ministers in the county preached in Plymouth at times. Among the number were Bigelow, Boardman, Conger and Harry O. Sheldon.. The religious interests awakened in the little village of Paris in the long ago has ever since been maintained, and the churches Plymouth today are an honor to the town. The change of name froth Paris to Plymouth was a felicitous one. "What's in a name !" exclaimed: the Bard of Avon. There is much in a name. Paris is suggestive of revolutions and of the guillotine; Plymouth, of the Mayflower and of the Pilgrims. Names in both poetry and prose appeal to the imagination. The title of a poem or story may induce its reading and conduce to its popularity. Poetry and song contributed to the rapid settlement of Ohio on account of its name. A stanza drops in here as a matter of history. It is from one of the songs that were sung "down east" at parties where kissing came. in the 'games played by young people, many of whom later became settlers in Ohio: "Arise, my true love, and present me your hand, And we'll march in procession for a far distant land; When the girls will card and spin, And the boys will plow and sow, And we'll settle on the banks of the pleasant Ohio." Another song widely sung was "The Hills of Ohio," given as follows: "The hills of Ohio, how sweetly they rise, In the beauty of nature. to blend with the skies; With fair azure outline and tall ancient tries, Ohio, my country, I love thee for these. "The homes of Ohio, free, fortuned and fair, Full many hearts treasure a sister's love there; E'en more than thy hillsides or streamlets they please, Ohio, my country, I love thee for these. "God shield thee, Ohio, dear land of my birth, And thy children that wander. afar o'er the earth; My country thou art, where'er my lot's cast, Take thou to thy bosom my ashes at last." This song was very popular in the past and its singing should be revived. The song is from Alexander Auld's "Key of the West." He was the author of what was called the "patent-note" system, a change from the "four-note" scale of the "Missouri Harmony." How dear to the memory of the older class of people are the text books of half century ago! They were Webster's "Elementary Spelling Book," "McGuffey's Readers," "Ray's Arithmetics" and Harvey's and Pinneo's grammars. These books were studied under pedagogical instruction by the pupils of that period, but to recount those old school days would be interesting only to those who served under the old system of the "rod and ferule" rule, and to those. who have been touched by the historical passion. 438 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY From the "Old Red" school house of the pioneer period, Plymouth advanced upon educational lines even more than it did in material growth In 1834 the town was divided into two school districts, but in 1849 they were reunited and organized under what was known as the Akron law. Previous to 1835 special school laws were often passed for particular localities. This was permissible under the old constitution. The Akron law, enacted in 1847, made the town one school district, created a school board, authorized a suitable number of primary schools and one grammar school and conferred power to levy taxes sufficient to meet the expense of the system. This law was also enacted for other towns, Plymouth among the number. The state school law of 1853 was little more than an amplification of the Akron law. In 1875 a. school. building was erected in Plymouth at a cost of $25,000. This has since been improved and the town today takes no second place in the educational march of the age. A newspaper called the Journal was started in Plymouth in 1851. Two years. later the name was changed to the Advertiser, under which title it has been published for fifty years. Plymouth- has two railroads—the Baltimore & Ohio and the Northern Ohio. Among the early settlers in Plymouth were the Brinkerhoffs, of Knickerbocker, and the Beviers, of Huguenot descent. The Brinkerhoffs and the Beviers are related by marriage. The Hon. Daniel Brewer, one of the distinguished citizens of Plymouth in the past, represented Richland county in the legislature in 1847-49. He was a fluent speaker and was an effective campaigner for "Buck, Breck and the Union" in 1856. The shibboleth of the other party in that campaign was "Fremont, Free Speech and Free Kansas." Mr. Brewer is now deceased. Since the founding of Plymouth many changes have taken place changes wrought by American genius. Genius is power. The power that grasps in the universe, that soars out into space, and overcomes all obstacles. Genius cannot be suppressed. "You may as well forbid the mountain pines To wag their high tops, and to make no noise When they are fretten with the gusts of heaven," as to hush the voice of genius. Genius loves toil, impediment and poverty. for from these it gains its strength, throws off the shadows and lifts its proud head to fame. LEXINGTON. Lexington has always been noted for the culture and social standing of its people. The village is beautifully situated upon an elevation of gentle slope and the Clearfork of the Mohican laves its eastern boundary. The town was named for historic Lexington, where the first battle for political freedom on the American continent was -fought, April 19, 1775 - a battle that put an end to the long dispute between the colonies and Great Britain, and inaugurated the war of the revolution. Lexington was laid out in 1812 on land owned by Amariah Watson, HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 439 who built the first house---a log cabin—dn the place, in the spring of 1812, soon after the town was platted. The second house was built by Jacob Cook. The first cabins had port-holes for purposes of defense against the Indians. Grist and saw mills were erected on the Clearfork at Lexington within the year and contributed to the development of prosperity of the new town. A tannery was built and Stores of general merchandise opened and Lexington soon had several hundred inhabitants. About this time a very important event took place—the log school house was built. It was built of unhewed logs and covered with boards or shakes; the seats were of the ancient make—a slab with pegs for legs constituted the seats—counters ranged along the walls were the desks whereon to write and cipher. Tempus fugit and years went by and in 1850 the "iron horse" came puffing along the valley. A railroad may make or unmake a town, but it did neither in this case—it simply let the village remain as it found it, which status it still maintains. It is difficult to write of Lexington—a town with such a conservative history; of a well-balanced people, free from eccentricities and vagaries, such as make towns notorious. No people ever treaded the paths of peace with more willing feet, and the law of love has been the rule of their action and the light by which they interpreted events. Envy knocks in vain at the door of their hearts. The people are not jealous of their neighboring towns, but peace and good-will have a perfect habitation in the village's unruffled breast. When Lexington was founded this was the western border. Since then civilization has marched westward with rapid strides, across the Mississippi, over the Rocky mountains and out to the isles of the Pacific, and will soon meet a similar column advancing from the East and ere long will engirdle the earth. Then the "border" will be obliterated and previous conditions changed. Civilization is peregrinatic and capricious, and coming centuries may verify the prediction of Macaulay that New Zealanders shall sit upon the ruins of Westminster Abbey and gaze upon the crumbling ashes of forgotten London. It is claimed there was an advanced civilization in China before Babylon was founded, and before Jerusalem existed, even in prophecy. Yet we now speak of the inhabitants of the Celestial . Empire as "heathen Chinee" and call them "barbaria,nS." What the future of American civilization may be, time alone can disclose. Amariah Watson was instrumental in many ways in furthering the interests of the Lexington settlement, in founding its industries and in developing the country, and his name is interwoven with the early history of that part of Richland county. The Rev. Orville E. Watson—a descendant of pioneer Watson—is a priest of the Episcopal Church, and holds the position of canon in Trinity Cathedral at Cleveland. The Lexington Seminary was a continuation of Monroe Seminary, situated in Monroe township, and was opened in 1851 by Rev. R. Galley. The recitations were for a time. conducted in a church, yet the school drew 440 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY to itself a large share of patronage. Mansfield and Wooster sent many pupils to the school. In 1860 the school was removed to Lexington. A substantial brick building was erected by a stock company and devoted to school Purposes. Some trouble arose in 1866 between the seminary and the public. The trustees offered the house for sale at fifty per cent of its normal value. Rev. Galley purchased the house and furnished it, making some improvements. He sold the house the following year to the United Brethren Church. They paid off all claims against the property and furnished it comfortably. They occupied the upper room for a house of worship and gave the lower room to. Miss Gailey for a school room. The school was a private enterprise, in no sense denominational. The enrollment in the fall of 1865 was eighty; in 1866, one hundred and nine in 1867, one hundred and twenty-six. The school declined in members for several years, so that only ninety-four were enrolled. in 1878. Rev. Galley after spending twenty-four years in the interests of the school, died in 1875, and was succeeded by his daughter, Miss Jane Gailey, who continued the school until the close of the spring term of 1880, when she was married to Rev. Mr. Dysart. This event closed the Lexington Seminary. The cemetery. lies northeast of the village on the opposite side of the river on a gentle elevation. It is 'well cared for. Lexington had several school teachers in the olden time who afterward became noted men in both state and nation. One of these was the late Hon. Columbus Delano, and Judge Kennon was another. It is the custom of writers of . history to dilate upon how railroads have affected certain towns, favorably or unfavorably, as it is often necessary to show cause for the prosperity or decadence of the same. But Lexington has been but little, if any, affected, pro or con, by the railroad that skirts its northern border. The town was not platted with the expectation that it would ever make a great city. It was founded to be a country town for the convenience of country people, and as such it is a successful village, whose inhabitants have always been reputable among their fellow men. Even during the Civil War times at mass .gatherings, where social probity was at times somewhat lax-, the statement that a certain group of ladies were from Lexington was to them both passport and shield. Such women give tone and character to any community. Amariah Watson and Elisha Robins settled at Lexington in 1812. Then came William Gass, Calvin Culver and Francis Mitchell. Uncle Noah Cock came in 1814. Mr. Cook was a Presbyterian and conducted the first prayer meeting in the township. An account of this service has been given before, but as a good story, especially one of far-reaching beneficent results, will bear a brief repetition here. The meeting had been announced for the school house of that neighborhood, and at the appointed hour "Uncle" Cook was the only person present He hesitated only for a few moments, then .opened a service of worship and sang and prayed and read a lesson from the scriptures and then preached a sermon. It is not on record whether he stated, "J take my text," etc., as some preachers do now, thinking, it seems, that the matter is not' entirely clear that the extract of .the scriptures read is intended HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 441 for that purpose, but such doubts did not trouble Mr. Gook, for he had no congregation. But had an unseen hearer for a part of the service. A passer-by, hearing the singing, did some eaves-dropping—pardonable in this and left at the close of the service, without making his. presence known. But he told of the appointment. and induced a number of his friends to attend, which resulted in a fair sized audience for the next meeting, and from that humble beginning the religious interest of the settlement advanced, even until this day. The Lexington of today is a cosy village with a surrounding country of beautiful landscape views and of productive farms. The town has stores and shops to meet the wants of trade, and there at school buildings wherein the children can be instructed; and churches at whose altars the people may worship. VILLAGE OF BUTLER. Butler is a thriving village in Worthington township, nineteen miles south of Mansfield, on the B. & O. railroad. The town was originally called "independence," but was changed to "Butler" some years ago, to agree with the name of the postoffice named after General William O. Butler, of Kentucky, who was a hero of the Mexican war, and the candidate for vice president on the ticket with General Lewis Cass in 1848. The postoffice was established before the town was laid out and was kept at the residence of Squire T. B. Andrews, the first postmaster. Independence was laid out on the northwest quarter of section 20, January 12, 1848, by Daniel Spohn. The place was familiarly called Spohntown for a number of years by the people of that vicinity. The extension of the Mansfield & Sandusky City railroad to Newark caused Independence to be laid out on its line, and as the business men of Bellville were jealous of having a; rival town spring up within the limits of their trade, T. B. Andrews suggested that the new town be called "Independence," in defiance of the attitude of Bellville. The town was therefore christened according to 'Squire Andrews' suggestion, and was called Independence over forty years ere it way changed to Butler. The Spohn land upon which Butler stands Was entered by William Simmons May 13, 1820. The town. was surveyed by Joseph Hastings. The first business place in the town was started by William Lamley, who kept groceries and "wet .goods," the latter being very much in demand during the construction of the railroad. The grocery was situate near where William Shively now lives. Lamley afterward put up a larger structure farther up the railroad, where he conducted a grocery and hotel for a number of years. The first public house was erected by Joseph Geary; the building has since been enlarged and is now kept by Mr. Wise. In 1850 General G. A. Jones and others, of .Mt. Vernon, erected a warehouse, bought grain and conducted a general merchandise for several years, making Independence a grain market. The name of the firm was Robinson, Jones & Co. Pearce & Severns succeeded Robinson & Jones and conducted the business for a number of years. The warehouse was destroyed by fire some years 442 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY ago, and a handsome two-story business building now occupies the old warehouse site. Downing & Son have a dry goods store in the Lamley building, and Mr. Downing is one of the old residents of the place. Daniel Garber was the first shoemaker in the town; John Diltz the first carpenter; John Daugherty the first wagon maker, and Daniel Loose the first cabinet maker. Garber and Loose married daughters of Richard Oldfield, who was an early settler and prominent resident of Jefferson township. 'Squire Andrews was county commissioner two terms and was a justice of the peace or many years. David Taylor and John Ramsey were county commissioners, and the latter was a justice of the peace. They were not residents of the village, but lived upon farms near by and were identified with the place. The Craig and Phipps families were also prominent people in that community. D. J. Rummel built the Rummel grist .mill on the Clearfork below the town in about 1850 and it is still in operation, and is one of the most successful country mills in the county. The same can be said of the Kanaga mills (now 'Plank's), a mile above the town. Among the recent acquisitions is a bank, in its own substantial brick build on a corner of two of the principal streets. And the people also "point with pride" to the new depot recently erected. Butler is well represented in all lines of business and trade, and her fine school and church buildings speak well for the village. There are many worthy people and features. of the town—too many to mention them all. Worthington township was named for Thomas Worthington, who was governor of Ohio in 1814-16. The surface is broken and hilly, especially along the Clearfork, where in many places the scenery is picturesque and beautiful. Two tributaries enter the Clearfork near Butler—Andrews run from the southwest and Gold run from the southeast. Butler is situate at the great bend of the B. & 0. road, where a number of railroad accidents have occurred, the most notable of which was the terrible collision in September, 1872, during the first state fair at Mansfield. BELLVILLE. The second settlement within the present limits of Richland county was made by James McCluer in 1808, where. Bellville now stands. Although "James McCluer was the first settler where Bellville now stands and. the locality was called the McCluer settlement, the town of Bellville was founded by Robert Bell, for whom it was named. The town site was well chosen, situate in the fertile Clearfork valley lying between the hills of the "divide" upon the north and the less abrupt elevations to the south. Gushing from the hillsides are springs of living waters and down the valley a clear stream courses in graceful curves in its onward flow to the sea. Bellville is one of the most beautiful of the smaller towns of Ohio. It isis a village of lovely homes and while there are perhaps no very wealthy reso- HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 445 dents, there are no paupers. The homes are mostly owned by those who occupy them, a condition that speaks well for the thrift of the people. The principal street is paved with brick, and a well shaded square makes a beautiful center-piece for the town. The original plat of Bellville contained forty-eight lots and embraced the land between Main and Huron streets, and bounded on the north by Ogle and on the south by Durbin streets. The first lot sold was to Enoch Ogle—lot No. 1—at the corner of Huron and Ogle streets. Ogle built a house and opened a tavern—the first in the township. Ogle was a prominent man there in his day, appreciated a good story and had a host of friends. The blockhouse and the McCluer cabin antedated Ogle's tavern, but the latter was the first building erected in the town proper after it was platted. The next building put up was on lot No. 5, in which Richard Crawford conducted blacksmithing. Joseph Carter brought the first stock of merchandise to the place and occupied a room in Ogle's tavern. A postoffice was established January 22, 1824, with Isaac Hoy as postmaster. Prior to 1824 the residents of Bellville received their mail at Mansfield, and the postage on. a letter was twenty-five cents. About the time the postoffice was established John Moody opened a store of general merchandise, and by 1835 the town contained three stores. John Moody was a preacher of the Christian denomination faith. He owned a grist mill at Bellville, with a large farm adjoining. He took no pay for his preaching, and when the country was threatened with a famine in the "thirties," Moody's garners were well filled with grain. When crops failed and people went to Moody's mill to buy breadstuff, the question was asked each, "Have you money to pay for it?" If the answer was in the affirmative, they were told to go elsewhere to buy. Those who had no funds went away with well-filled sacks and were told to return again when they needed more. The product of thousands of bushels of grain was thus given away, but giving to the poor and hungry did not impoverish Moody for the blight of drought did not touch' his fields, but each succeeding harvest the crops yielded grain more abundantly, and Moody was blessed in the giving, as the people were in receiving his assistance. John Moody needs no monument in marble, for the memory of his good deeds lives in the hearts of the people of Bellville from generation to generation. Benjamin F. Hines was a prominent citizen of Bellville for many years. His wife's maiden name was Armstrong, and her family was also old settlers. Hines was a successful business man and accumulated considerable property. Their only surviving child is Clark B. Hines, who is a prominent young attorney with law offices both in Bellville and in Mansfield. Benjamin Jackson settled in Bellville in an early day and engaged in the mercantile business. Later, he became an associate judge of the common pleas court. John Markey was a prominent citizen and leading merchant at Bellville for many years. Dr. A. I. Beach was a leading physician at Bellville for many years. He was born in New Haven, Connecticut, October 16, 1804, and located in 446 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY, Bellville in 1826. He married a daughter of Judge Jackson. Dr. Beach was a brother of Moses Y. Beach, the founder of the New York Sun newspaper. Other prominent physicians at Bellville were Dr. S. W. Ells, Dr. James C. Lee, Dr. J. M. Smith, Dr. B. Ridenour, Dr. N. D. Whitcomb and Dr. Thomas Austin.. Dr. Lee' was a California "forty-niner," and upon his return found gold at Bellville in 1853. Dr. Smith was the father of Mrs. B. F. Lantz, of Vennum avenue, Mansfield. The Methodists were the pioneers in the religious field, and the Disciples came a few years later. The first house for worship was built by the Methodists in 1835. Jonathan Oldfield and Robert Bell were prominent Methodists. About the same time John Moody built a house of worship for those who believed in the views proclaimed by Alexander Campbell. Captain Joseph Johnson was a faithful member and officer of this church for many years. In 1847 the Universalists organized a society at Bellville and built a church. Among their leading members were Samuel Cutting and Richard Oldfield. In 1838 the Presbyterians organized and later built a church. Among their prominent members were Enoch French, John Lafferty, Philip Traxler and Mathew Geary. About the same year a Lutheran congregation was organized two miles west of Bellville called Salem. Some years ago the village members of the Salem congregation organized at Bellville and built a brick church building of modern architecture. The late Rev. Mr. Ritz, the father of C. S. Ritz, of West Fourth street, Mansfield, organized the Salem society. The Baptist and Cumberland Presbyterians have had organized' congregations there, but they are now gone. The church buildings are very creditable to the place, that of the Universalists' being of stone. The Rev. William Dowling was the pastor of the Disciple—now better known as Christian—Church in the' "forties." He was beloved by the community. In the '30s a Frenchman named Light came to Bellville and engaged in the mercantile trade on the northwest corner of Main and Ogle streets, where he conducted business for a number of years. He bought the "old yellow house" on the west side of the square, remodeled it as it stands today. After having been there several years, he dropped the name "Light" and resumed his French name of "LeBlond," the meaning of the words being somewhat similar. One of his sons—F. C. LeBlond—settled in Celina, Mercer county. and represented that district, in the thirty-eighth and thirty-ninth congresses 1863-67. James L. High, a son of the village blacksmith, became a leading lawyer in Chicago, and his legal writings gave him high rank in his profession. John P. Altgeld, deceased, worked his way from the fields northeast of the village to prominence as a lawyer in the city of Chicago, and later to the high position of governor of the great state of Illinois. The first newspaper in Bellville was established in 1849, by A. Lauback and was called the Rainbow and Repository. Its publication was discontinued within the year. After a long interval, the Dollar Weekly came in 1872 and was continued for a number of years. It was published by James C. .Potts our present county surveyor. In 1875 the .Richland Star was started by the Garber brothers. After some years another paper, called the HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 447 Independent, was started. In time the Star and Independent got out of the way for the Bellville Messenger, a six-column quarto, with James A. Price as editor and proprietor. The Messenger was established December 8, 1892. In the Civil War Bellville and Jefferson township furnished more than their full quota of men and sent officers and privates to every battle field in the Union. Thy each performed a part in that great drama in the history of the republic. They assisted in settling for all time the supremacy and perpetuity of the Union. And after the war was over, realizing that mercy is the brightest flower in the victor's wreath, they bade the vanquished return to their homes, lay aside their swords and muskets for the tools and implements of workshop and farm, and mingle .with the songs of the birds their joyous lays of contentment, industry and peace. Thus spreading over, the bloody past the mantle of charity and brotherly love, and soon the soldiers were merged with and into the ranks of citizens of peace. The soldiers of the Civil War are on their last march, and the majority of them have answered the long roll-call. In the Bellville cemetery lie the remains of Captain Miller Moody, Captain D. W. Wilson and a. hundred other soldiers who served their country in the great war of the rebellion. Captain Miller Moody; a son of the Rev. John Moody, the philanthropist, was the captain of Company I, Sixteenth O. V. I., a company of "first-call troops" raised at Bellville at the outbreak of the Civil War. At the close of that term of service he raised a company at Bellville for the Fifty-ninth New York infantry and became its captain. He was in the battle of Gettysburg, where he received wounds from which he died after submitting to five amputations. His remains were brought home and interred in the Bellville cemetery. Captain Moody was a graduate of Kenyon College, and had been a member of the Ohio legislature in 1849-50. Captain Moody wore faultless broadcloth and was of dignified bearing and courteous manners, but the poor and humble ever looked upon him as a friend. He gave his life to his country, and who could do more? Captain A. W. Loback was the first lieutenant of Captain Moody's company of "first-call" troops. In 1862 Comrade Loback raised a company at Bellville for the three' years' service, and went into the One Hundred and Second O. V. I., and served until the close of the war. Captain Loback took good care of his troops, and a braver soldier never "donned the blue." Captain D. W. Wilson was one of the first to volunteer when troops were called for at the beginning of the Civil War, .and at the close of his term of service reenlisted for three years, and was in the service four years .and three months—from the beginning of the war to its close—and returned as the captain of his company, with the good will and confidence of his men. Lieutenant James Riddle was an officer in the Sixteenth O. V. I. in the three months' service of 1861, and later entered the One Hundred and Second and lost his life in the service. Lieutenant S. B. Donel was a member of Captain Miller Moody's company in the Sixteenth O. V. I., and was the first man wounded in the regiment. In 1862 he entered Captain A. W. Loback's company of the One Hundred and Second as a lieutenant, and served until 448 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY the close of the war. Comrade Donel made a good soldier and enjoys recalling army reminiscences whenever he meets his old comrades-in-arms. The first lawyer in Bellville was Professor Wilcox, who had been a teacher in the high school, or the academy, as it was then called. John Quincy Goss was a Bellville lawyer in the '50s. He possessed literary attainments; was a contributor to the press and lecturer of some note. He removed to Nebraska in 1859. George C. Howard read law with Judge Bartley, but, being engaged in business pursuits, only practiced in lower courts. Other lawyers have been located at Bellville for a time, but did not make it their permanent home. John Morrow was a Bellville merchant for nearly a half-century. He has been dead for a number of years. Agitation of the temperance question was waged at Bellville for years and there were various and varied exhibitions of the zeal and earnestness of the prohibitionists. Liquors were spilled or bought as occasions seemed to require to close the saloons. Bellville has a beautiful village green—a lawn-like square in the center of the town, studded with graceful trees—through which giants were seen to stalk at night in the autumn of 1861. People returning from evening "prayer meeting" walked with quickened steps as they passed the square, casting furtive glances to the right as they hastened homeward. The "giants" in this -case were some soldier-boys returned from the first three months' service, and had a little fun with the timorous by one sitting upon another's shoulders, with an army blanket draped around them as a shawl, shawls being worn instead of. overcoats in those days. This composite figure made a giant about nine feet high, and in the semi-darkness of the night, as a citizen now deceased expressed it, "made an awful sight." Bellville, not to be behind any of her sister towns, even in the matter of ghosts, has its haunted house, or had forty years ago. Then there is the ghost that is said to appear occasionally at the bend in the State road, just north of town, at Deadman's run, the appearance of which chills men's blood and makes horses careen. This is a bar-room tale that is spun sometimes for the entertainment of -travelers who may have to drive to Mansfield after the shadows of a starless night have enveloped Gold Valley. The Wild Irishman episode was not of the spook variety, but was viewed as a banshee call, foreboding direful events. At night a voice could be heard from the Durbin hill, warning people to "repent, for the day of judgment is at hand." Some one facetiously called this hill-preacher the. "Wild Irishman." After the exhortation had come in stentorian tones from the hill-top nightly for a week or more, a searching brigade was organized. The party wended its way slowly. up the steep, smooth slope of Durbin's hill, but when the summit was reached from which the voice had seemingly come, no one was to be seen, but from the Moody hill, north of the town, came the same words of warning, "Repent, ye, for the day of judgment is at hand!" The party which had so expectantly marched, up the hill then marched down again, the men troubled in spirit lest the warning and prophecy might be too soon fulfilled. The next night the party was divided into two squads, one taking Dur- HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY - 449 bin's and the other Moody's hill, resolving to capture the "Irishman," and put an end to hill-talk. As the squads advanced, prophetical sentences and words of warning were wafted antiphonally from one hill-top to the other in sepulchral tones, but, as before, when' the places were reached, no one could be found, but a change of venue had sent the "Irishman" to Snake hill, and the words came solemnly upon the midnight air, "As one risen from the dead, I beseech you to repent!" That was the last hunt and the last cry of the banshee. While the majority of the people considered the preaching the work of some practical jokers, a few viewed the occurrences in a more superstitious light, and the religious sects held protracted meetings and a great revival followed. In the Social glow of a campfire in West Virginia, in the spring of 1861, a comrade stated to the writer that he. was one of the "Wild Irishmen," and what fun they had out of the affair. These "prophets" were named Joshua and Samuel. Honey creek valley is a fertile and prosperous farming locality and lies south of Bellville, in Jefferson township. Honey creek makes a confluence with the Clearfork of the Mohican, a short distance above the site of the old Greenwood mills, in the shadow of the. Spruce hills. Honey creek and its branches have a joint length of over ten miles and drain a considerable area of country—a land that flows with "milk and honey!' The several branches of Honey creek are fed by the springs which flow from the unpretentious hills that skirt the wide, undulating valleys. The Honey creek farms are not only fertile and productive, but their well-kept appearances show the prosperity and thriftiness of the owners. The volume of water in Honey creek is not as large as formely, which is true of all the streams in the county. But in former times the stream furished water power for both grist and saw mills. A Mr. Cornell built a grist mill in 1821, on section 15, a half-mile below where the creek crosses the Old State road. It served its time and purpose, but has long been numbered with the "things that were but are not." A pottery was operated for several years in the locality of the mill. The late Johnson Howard, father of the Hon. James E. Howard, of Bellville, and of Dr. Howard, of Mansfield, built, a sawmill on this creek, between the two state roads, which he operated for a number of years. Samuel Heron had a mill on the east side of the New State road, and the Marshall mill, a mile up the central branch, sawed logs for many years, and was later purchased by Samuel Heron. A mile south of Bellville the State road forks. The left-hand or old road goes via Ankenytown and Harter's tavern to Mt. Vernon, and the right-hand or new road goes through Palmyra and Fredericktown to Mt. Vernon. The State road does not leave Bellville for the south upon its original location, which was from Huron street, near to Switzer's stables, but now goes over Durbin's hill from South Main street. In the fork of the State road at the northern border of Honey creek valley, he old "Red House" tavern—one of the most popular and best known hotels between Mt. Vernon and the lake, in the stage days, was situated. Its location as favorable to command the trade of both branches of the road. A line of stages ran north and south over the State road through Bellville from 1826. to