HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY. - 233

CHAPTER XXIV.

EARLY SETTLEMENTS AND THEIR EXTENSION.

THE TERRITORY of RICHLAND COUNTY-FIRST SETTLER AND SETTLEMENT-THE NEWMANS AND BRUBAKERS - THE NEWMAN CABINS- "POLE" CABINS-CATHARINE BRUBAKER - FIRST SAW-MILL-ARRIVAL OF MICHAEL NEWMAN-THE FOUNTAIN CABIN - EARLY SETTLERS ON THE BLACK FORK - FIRST GRIST-MILL-LAYING OUT A TOWN-JACOB NEWMAN-MICHAEL AND "MOTHER" BEAM-SECOND SETTLEMENT IN THE COUNTY-THE MCCLUER SETTLEMENT-FIRST ROADS-SETTLEMENTS IN 1809-SETTLEMENTS IN 1810 AND 1811-OPENING OF THE COUNTY THE ARMY IN 1812-SETTLEMENTS IN 1814 AND 1815-WAGON TRAINS AND OTHER MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION-PRODUCTS AND PRICES-"TAVERNS" AND TOWNS-SOCIAL MATTERS-RING FIGHTS -WOOD CHOPPINGS, QUILTINGS, CORN HUSKINGS, ETC.-WOLF PENS-FIRST TEMPERANCE SOCIETY-THE IRISH SCHOOLMASTER-FOURTH OF JULY AND MILITIA MUSTERS-Ax PRESENTATION-AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS -HEALTH-CONGRESSMEN FROM RICHLAND.

"Should auld acquaintance be forgot

An never brought to min' ? "- Old Song.

" I hear the tread of pioneers,

Of nations yet to be,

The first low wash of waves where soon

Shall roll a human sea." -Whittier.

WHEN Gen. James Hedges was sent West to " spy out the land," the territory now embraced in Fairfield. Licking, Knox, Richland, and parts of Morrow and Ashland Counties, constituted one county, called Fairfield. with the county scat at Lancaster. But few settlers, were then in Knox and Licking (1805-06), and none whatever in the others. This territory was then covered thickly with the original forest, and was the favorite hunting-grounds of the Indian tribes of the Northwest. Hedges began the survey in 1806, and in February, 1808. "Old Richland " came into existence not as a county proper, but as a township called "Madison, not having a sufficient number of votes within its limits to entitle it to a young organization. It therefore remained under the jurisdiction of Knox County until 1813, and included nearly all of Ashland and part of Morrow, within its limits. The question of who was the first permanent white settler within this territory has been settled beyond any reasonable doubt. The man was Jacob Newman. Several white men were here before Jacob Newman, and some of them became, afterward, permanent settlers. Gen. Hedges himself was here a year or more before Newman, and afterward became a permanent resident of Mansfield, but lie was not here as a settler in 1807, when Jacob Newman came-he was simply in the employ of the Government as surveyor; and the same may be said of his employes. Thomas Green, who established the Indian village of Greentown, might have been called the first settler in Richland County, lead he been considered a settler at all in the proper sense of that term: but, although here tears before Mr. Hedges, lie was looked upon as a renegade, and not a settler though he lived many years at Greentown. and his name is perpetuated in the history of that village, and the name of the township, which is now within the limits of Ashland County. Other renegade white men, may, and probably dill, occupy the village temporarily. Just what date Abraham Baughman and John Davis came, has not been ascertained; but they came to the neighborhood of Greentown at a very early date ; it might have been before 1807, but there is no evidence of it. They are mentioned in Knapp's history as

234 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

being here before Peter Kinney who arrived in 1810. The evidence is very conclusive that Jacob Newman came to tile Rocky Fork within the present limits of Richland County, in the spring of 1807, tusking him the earliest permanent settler. Mr. Newman was then living near Canton, Stark County, whither he had moved from Pennsylvania. He may have been here to visit his kinsman. Gen. Hedges, once or twice before he located his land or built his cabin. He, however, sold out at Canton, and in the spring or summer of 1807, built his cabin on the bank of the Rocky Fork, three miles southeast of the present city of Mansfield, near the present site of Goudy's mill. Here he preempted three quarter-sections of land and three brothers, by the name of Brubaker, came out with him and assisted in building his cabin. He may have been assisted by Gen, James Hedges and his employes, who no doubt, made his cabin their headquarters while surveying portions of the county. At this time Mr. Newman was a widower, his wife having died in Pennsylvania; and Catharine Brubaker, a sister of the three brothers, and a niece of Jacob Newman, was his housekeeper. The settlers of Richland County then. during the year 1807, can be numbered on the fingers of one haul; viz.. Jacob Newman. Catharine, Isaac, Jacob and John Brubaker. The Brubakers were from Paint Creek, Ross County. Ohio. Mr. Newman's a children (four in number) were yet, in Pennsylvania, except the youngest. Henry, who remained near Canton. The nearest neighbors of these hardy pioneers were, on the east, at Wooster, and on the south at Fredericktown, Knox County, the distance to either place about twenty-five miles. They erected a small cabin on the bank of the beautiful Rocky Fork near a clear sparkling; spring; that yet gushes from the bank emptying its waters into the first mill-race in Richland County. The cabin is fairly represented in the upper right-hand corner of the accompanying sketch. The sketch of these cabins was made from a description given by Henry Newman one of the children of Jacob Newman, who is yet living at Bryan, Ohio, a hale, hearty, well-preserved old gentleman, who was here before Richland County was formed and has lived

HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY. - 235

to see it peopled by its thousands ; its well cultivated farms take the place or its dense forests: its thousands of cattle and other domestic animals, in place of its wolves and bears ; its beautiful towns and farmhouses in place of the wigwam of the savage. He was a boy of nine or ten when this cabin was erected, but remembers it well, and says it was a little log pen, with a roof over it : a wide fireplace occupying nearly all of one end with a stick and mud chimney running up on the outside, no floor but mother earth: windows made: of a little twelve-by-twelve piece of oiled paper, put in where a log was sawed off for the purpose. It contained but a single room with aloft overhead: was made of rough, round beech logs with the bark on ; chinked and daubed with sticks and mud to keep out the wintry blast. The door was so low that a man of ordinary height must stoop to enter; but the latch-string always hung out for these pioneers were men of large and open hearts, warm hands and no stranger was turned away empty. Indian or white man it mattered not, he was welcome to unroll his blanket by the great log fire: and partake of the homely fare of venison and corn bread, served upon a table of puncheons.

The Newmans, lived in this little but about two years when by hard work, having accumulated some means, they begin to feel aristocratic and erected a new cabin, this cabin is also shown in the sketch. It was of hewed logs, was built about eight or ten feet from the old one, and a covered porch extended from the old one over this space. By the time they were ready to erect this larger and better cabin they had a saw-mill in operation and this enabled them to put a board floor in it and as it was a half-story higher than the old one. A board loft was put in which was reached by a ladder and used as a sleeping-room. The doors and window frames were made of sawed lumber; the logs were nicely hewed and fitted, and they were able to procure glass for the windows. The usual great cheerful fireplace occupied the end, and the never-to-be-forgotten iron crane was suspended therein, with its numerous hooks upon which to hang the iron cooking kettles.

It was not often that an early settler of Richland County was found who could afford to have a cabin like this hewed-log one of the Newmans. The earliest settlers often lived for weeks and mouths, with their families, in what was called a " pole cabin;" that is, a cabin made of small poles and sticks, and covered with brush and bark. These could be erected by the head of the family, without assistance, in twenty-four or forty-eight hours, and during the summer season were not unpleasant habitations. Hundreds of these brush cabins were erected. The settlers generally arrived in the spring, and the first consideration was to put in a crop of corn or wheat, and establish a "truck" patch ; therefore they put off building their permanent cabins until fall, or until the spring crop was attended to, and in the mean time these temporary brush structures were erected to shelter the family. Sometimes they brought tents which they pitched, upon the bank of some beautiful stream, and lived in them until they could make a little clearing in the great woods, and put in the spring crop; at other times they camped out without shelter except such as their covered wagons afforded. They did their cooking by a fire in the open air and used their wagons for sleeping rooms.

It may be imagined what these five pioneers at the Newman cabin did during the long summer, autumn and winter of 1807, occupying their solitary cabin far in the deep, dark woods, surrounded by wild animals and wilder men. There was much more to do than could be accomplished in one season; indeed, years must elapse-years of the hardest kind of pounding before a home could be shaped out of this wilderness. Catharine Brubaker, the pioneer woman of the county-the first white woman to settle in Richland County, so far as known

236 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

had enough to do to cook for those four brawny backwoodsmen, with their appetites sharpened by labor and the pare air of the woods. It is ; not on record that they raised a crop that first summer, they were too late for that, and the woods were to be cleared away and buildings erected. Their provisions were brought from Canton, to which place Mr. Newman frequently returned. But four of them could get through with a good deal of work and, knowing they would soon be followed be other pioneers, who would need lumber for their cabins, they made preparations to erect a saw-mill. This sawmill was not finished, however until the spring of 1809. and was the first mill of any kind in the county. It was not until the spring of 1808, that an addition was made to the settlement then Michael Newman came--a brother of Jacob's. He brought his wife: with him from Canton, and went into that little cabin with one room. Upon his arrival Catharine Brubaker returned to her home, and Michael Newman's wife became the housekeeper. The location of this first cabin was upon the right bank of the creek, back several hundred yards from it, near the present dwelling of H. L. Goudy, a few feet west of his barn. The spring is a short distance west of the site of the cabin. The saw-mill they erected stood almost on the exact spot where Goudy's mill now stands.

The spring of 1808 opens with six settlers in this little cabin. People may now wonder how so many could be accommodated, and it must be remembered that, in addition to these, Gen. Hedges and his employes were frequently there a day or two, so that without doubt, eight or ten people or more were often crowded into this cabin. During this summer the men worked upon the mill race, and put in crops of corn and wheat in the clearings they had made during the winter. In the tall of this year Jacob Newman brought his son Henry, from Canton, and he constituted the seventh permanent occupant. This was not enough. however; the cabin must have looked very empty and cheerless to Jacob Newman, for he went back to Pennsylvania and married again, bringing his bride out, on horseback probably, to occupy and render cheerful the vacant places in that cabin, which now contained but eight people.

It is not remembered whether the Brubaker boys remained at the Newman cabin during the winter of 1808-9. but Michael. his wife and others. occupied it. and Gen. Hedges made it his headquarters.

In the spring of 1809 the saw-mill was in operation. and they probably had an addition to their settlement during this year. A family by the name of Fountaine came and erected a cabin near the Newmans. Other pioneers were by this time coming in along the Black fork. a few miles further east. The Copus and Zimmer families, Martin Ruffner, Samuel Lewis, Henry McCart, James Cunningham. Mr. Schaffer, Archibald Gardner and Andrew Craig, arrived and settled near the Indian village of Greentown, in Green Township now Ashland County.

The saw-mill erected by the Newmans was a rude log affair and had all the business it could do from the start. It worked very slowly.

In the spring or 1810. Michael Newman moved out of Jacob Newman's cabin and into the one erected near by Moses Fountaine, the latter leaving moved away probably east to his former home.

About this time the Newmans saw the necessity and began the erection of a grist-mill. Thus the first grist-mill in the county was established; and a mill is yet in operation on its site though nearly all evidences of the first mill have disappeared.

There is little doubt that James Hedges and Jacob Newman thought when Mr. Newman entered his land on the Rocky Fork. that it was near the center of the territory which they knew would soon be erected into a county, and they desired to make their fortunes by establishing a county seat. With this in view

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they laid out a town near the mill. They soon changed their minds. however, regarding this location. and went further up the Rocky-fork where Gen. Hedges had entered land; and nearer the center of what afterward became a county where they established the present city of Mansfield. In 1811 Jacob Newman sold his possessions on the Rocky Fork, and moved to the present site of Mansfield. Mr. Newman was in all respects a superior man. He is described its an imposing-looking man, over six feet high, well proportioned and of light complexion. He was of a social disposition and very popular among his associates. He was temperate in his habits, never using intoxicating liquors of any kind or tobacco in any form. He was always a friend to the poor, and had many of them about him dependent on him. He was a man of the highest character in all respects and died greatly beloved and regretted. In the winter of 1812, he acted as guide to Gen. Crooks, contracting a disease from which he died. Thus passed away the first settler in Richland County. His remains were among the first to occupy the old cemetery that had been established on the southwest corner of the town plat. They were removed about twenty years since and now rest in the new cemetery, in Lot 100.

Michael Beam purchased the Newman place on the Rocky Fork, finished the grist-mill which became celebrated and widely known as Beam's mill, it was a crude water-mill, the buhrs being made of "nigger-heads," which did poor work but it was a great deal better than no mill and was patronized by the early settlers, who came from great distances from every direction through the unbroken forest. Mr. Beam was often compelled to turn away patrons being unable to do all the grinding that came to him. His wife familiarly known as "Mother Beam, " was largely instrumental in bringing custom to the mill. Settlers were often compelled to wait several days for their grinding meanwhile boarding with Mother Beam, who was celebrated for the excellence of her corn-cakes, corn-dodgers, and her general superiority as cook.

Mr. Beam remained here many years, and, in 1812, erected a block-house near the mill, well known as "Beam's block-house," where squads of soldiers were stationed at different times during the war and to which the settlers looked for protection from the Indians.

The second settlement in Richland County, so far as known was on the site of the city of Mansfield in the fall of 1808, made by one Samuel Martin, from New Lisbon, Columbiana Co., Ohio. Martin was somewhat of an adventurer, had followed the current of the pioneers westward. stumbled upon the Newman settlement, heard of the new town which had been laid out in June, 1808, came up, and, with the help of Jacob Brubaker, one of the employes of Gen. Hedges. erected the first cabin and be came the first settler in Mansfield. The record is silent as to whether Martin brought his family with him; but he lived in this cabin during the winter and sold whisky to the Indians, which being against the law, compelled him to leave the country. When he moved out, the cabin was occupied by James Cunningham, in 1809. From this date, the settlement at Mansfield begin a steady and permanent growth, the details of which will be found in another chapter.

The next settlement in the present limits of Richland County was upon the present site of Bellville in 1809. and wits known as the "McCluer settlement."

James McCluer seems to have wandered up the Clear Fork in 1808, entered land and erected a cabin thereon, but did not bring his family until the spring of 1809, from which time, therefore. the settlement must be dated.

At that time there were no roads in Richland County, nor anything resembling a road more than in Indian trail. McCluer was a small

238 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

man, but one of those bold, daring spirits that always stand ready to act as the picket-guard of civilization. He walked up through the woods from Mount Vernon, then a little hamlet and frontier town, and erected his cabin far in advance of all others. Probably the first road that entered the county came from the east at Wooster and ended somewhere about Greentown, and was probably soon extended to the Newman settlement, and thence to Mansfield. The next road was the one leading from Mount Vernon north through the McCluer settlement. A settlement existed at the mouth of Huron River, and this road connected Mount Vernon and other frontier towns with that settlement. and was opened through Richland County in 1811. McCluer was so well pleased with the country and his prospects that he induced some of his relatives among whom was Jonathan Oldfield and Samuel McCluer, his nephew to accompany him and his family in the spring of 1809 and stake a permanent settlement. Thomas McCIuer also came and worked as a hired hand, helping to clear up the land.

This James McCluer afterward became prominent in the affairs of the county, being one of its first Associate Judges. When Mansfield began to grow, he left his farm at Bellville, and resided in Mansfield a few years, occupying a cabin on the southwest corner of Main and Fourth streets (present site of the savings bank), and afterward moved to the vicinity of Leesville, in Crawford County, where he had previously purchased a piece of land, and where he resided until his death, occupied with farming pursuits.

During this year (1809) settlements were made in different parts of the county, mostly however along the tributaries of the Mohican, the Black Fork, Clear Fork and Rocky Fork. They came partly by boat up these streams, and partly by the Indian trails. David Hill made the first settlement at Lucas, in this year. A number of his kinsmen followed and constituted quite a settlement of Hills in this neighborhood. Samuel Lewis settled in the northern part of Worthington Township and afterward erected the "Lewis Block-house" on his premises. Settlements were also made in Green Township in what is now Ashland County and in Mifflin Township within the present limits of Richland. Mansfield also received two or three additional settlers during this year.

During the year 1810, the road before mentioned, from Wooster to Mansfield was opened, and settlers cattle more rapidly: none however settled west or north of Mansfield. A few were added to each of the settlements already made : and the same may be said of the year 1811, except that. Archibald Gardner and perhaps one or two others pushed on up the Black Fork settling near the present site of Windsor: a settlement was made in the vicinity of Lexington another in Vermillion Township (none in Ashland County) east of Hayesville; one in Monroe and one in Worthington Township. The war of 1812 checked emigration somewhat but after it ended the tide began again two flow it greater volume than ever. The passage of the armies of Gens Crooks and Beall, as well as the presence and passage at different times of smaller bodes of troops served the purpose of opening roads in different direction, as well as introducing into the new country thousands of men who would never otherwise have known of its beauty or advantages and who when they were at liberty to do so, returned and settled in it. The county no doubt, settled far more rapidly than it would hall there been no war of 1812.

The march of Beall's army opened up the county to the north, hence, in 1814 and 1815, quite a number of settlers followed "Beall's trail," and settlements were made at Trucksville. Plymouth. and in different parts of Montgomery, Milton, Weller, Franklin, Blooming Grove, Plymouth, Cass and other townships in

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the northern part of the county. The march of Crook's army opened the road west of Mansfield through to Upper Sandusky, and settlers followed this road settling in Springfield and other townships west.

The road from Mansfield to Ashland. or a point near Ashland-Treckle's cabin-was cut in 1813. Samuel Lewis cut six miles of it, beginning at Mansfield. and Capt. Ebenezer Rice the remainder, beginning at the cabin mentioned. It, was ten feet wide and they received $9 per mile. and went to Chillicothe to draw their pay.

Where no roads existed. numerous " blazed " trails let off through the woods in every direction from the different settlements to the home of the solitary settler in the great woods. One of the most important and most used of the early roads was the one north and south from Mount Vernon to the lake. From Mansfield this road bore directly north to Brubaker Creek, in Franklin Township, thence northeast through what is now Shiloh to Plymouth and New Haven, in Huron County, thence to the mouth of Huron River. At Plymouth it intersected Bealls trail, which is followed from that place to the lake.

This road was the great outlet for grain and produce in the rich and older settled counties of Knox. Licking and others. Great covered freight wagons with tires seven or eight inches broad and an inch thick drawn by six horses or mules, made regular trips from Baltimore and Philadelphia over the national road to Zanesville; thence over this mud road stopping at the little stations on the way to receive and discharge freight. Many of those teamsters were men of high character, standing and credit, and, in transacting,; their business would require persons who shipped goods by their wagons to make out three bills of lading all properly signed with as much regularity as a ship at sea or the freight trains of to-day; one bill to accompany the goods, one to be retained by the shipper, and one to go by mail to the consignee. One of those teams would today be a greater curiosity than a steamer or a train of cars. They are yet to be found on the great prairies of the West, transporting freight to points not yet reached by the iron horse.

These wagons did most of the carrying trade, of the country. The merchant who wished to purchase goods in the East, sent his order and received his goods by these wagons and, in order to pay for the goods often intrusted large sums of money to these teamsters. The products of the country, received by the merchant in exchange for goods consisting mostly of wheat, whisky. furs, etc., were also shipped by these wagcns going, generally to the lake, where they were sold or shipped on a vessel for some point east and months would often elapse before returns could be received.

Another source of outlet for the produce of the country was by the water-courses, which were then untrammeled by mills, or bridges. and, by reason of the swampy condition of the country and the consequent abundance of water, were navigable for small boats to points which would seem incredible at this time. Flat-boats were built, carrying from twenty to fifty tons. These were loaded with pork, flour, whisky, the products of the chase etc., and taken to New Orleans where the cargo and boat were sold, and the pioneer, with his money in his pocket would return across the country walking perhaps the entire distance or may be purchasing a mule or horse by the way, or taking occasional advantage of the well-remembered stage coach for short distances. In this primitive way, the early pioneers of Richland County communicated with the outside world. Nearly forty years elapsed from the time of the first settlement before these means of transportation were superseded by that great civilizer - the railroad.

The products of the country, for want of a market, brought very low prices: The average being. for wheat, 35 cents per bushel ;

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oats, 12 cents per bushel ; corn, 20 cents per bushel ; whisky, 15 cents per gallon; pork, $1.50 per cwt.: cows, $8 to $10 each ; horses, $30 to $40 each. Coffee bought from 75 cents to $1 per pound; salt from $4 to $6 per barrel; calicoes from 50 cents to $1 per yard, etc. Money was the exception, traffic and trade the rule. The great wagons carried the produce to Portland (now Sandusky City) and Huron and returned with salt, fish, etc.

In trading with the Indians it was customary to set a bottle of whisky on each end of the counter. that the purchasers might help themselves gratuitously, and thus facilitate the business. These cabins for the purposes of trade and traffic sprang up along the new roads, and were occupied by some hardy pioneer and family, who procured his living partly by hunting, partly by trading whisky, tobacco, blankets, knives, tomahawks and trinkets with the Indians and settlers, and as travel on the roads increased, by keeping travelers over night, finally converting his cabin into a "tavern." Frequently these taverns were the means of starting a town, which afterward grew and prospered or became extinct. Establishing a town was like investing in a lottery ticket, which might draw a prize or a blank. Nothing now remains to mark the site of many early towns platted on the soil of Richland; others are marked by small clusters of partially deserted houses.

One of the earliest settlers thus writes! Our social parties consisted of cabin-raisings, log-rollings, quilting parties, corn-huskings, etc. Our sports were various gymnastic exercises and shooting matches. There was no punctilious formality nor aping after fashions. The rich and poor were dressed alike. The clothing of the men consisted of coarse material for hunting shirts and pants made of buckskin. The women were also attired in coarse fabric ; if a young; damsel wanted a magnificent wedding dress, she would have her highest aspirations in this respect gratified by obtaining a suit of American cotton check, which then cost from 50 cents to $1 per yard, but which can now be obtained for one shilling. Silks, satins and other varieties of fancy goods. which now infest society, were never thought of. Our drink was whisky toddy, which we thought was good enough for a king. The woods furnished us with abundance of meat and corn-pone supplied the place of the present dyspeptic-producing pastry.

This pioneer might have added that in addition to their gymnastic exercises and shooting matches they frequently engaged in ring-fights by way of variety. Mr. John M. May the first lawyer in Mansfield thus describes one of these affairs

"Every neighborhood had it bully or chief fighter and these were pitted against each other like game-cocks. These fights often ended in a general melee in which whole neighborhoods were sometimes engaged against each other. I remember one fight of this kind which took place, on the public square in Mansfield between the Clearforkers and Blackforkers. The Clearforkers were the fighting men living in the southern portion of the county, in the valley of the Clear Fork and the Blackforkers were from the northern and eastern portions of the county living along the black Fork. These two regions were always at enmity, and always getting; up fights with each other.

"Among the Blackforkers were the Prossers, Burrels and Pittengers, noted fighting men. Jonathan Prosser was their champion man. Among the Clearforkers were the Brodies, Slaters and Driskells. Of these Stephen Brodie was the champion.

"At the time referred to, I noticed Stephen Brodie and Bill Slater riding up to the North American corner.

They hitched their horses and there I noticed Burrell and two of the Prosser boys ride up also.

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"Jonathan Prosser jumped off his horse and told Brodie he was going to whip him. I saw there was to be a fight, so I and Sylvenus Day mounted a big stump on the square to see the fun. A crowd gathered and joined hands forming a ring around the champions. Prosser and Brodie stepped into this ring, stripped and prepared for battle. They looked like giants.

"The fight soon commenced and was going on in due order, according to the rules of the ring, when suddenly Bill Slater, who was outside, made a rush to break through the ring. As he came up, Burrell let go and knocked him down like a beef. I thought he was dead.

"The ring was re-formed, and the fight continued as before. Pretty soon, however, Slater came to. and raising up caught Burrell by the leg, threw him down and, getting on top of him, began pounding him. This brought on a general fight and all hands went in with a will. The result was, the Clearforkers came out ahead."

The early settlers were a rough, hardy set of backwoodsmen: and if they were always ready for a fight, they were also always ready to help each other on any and all occasions, and for this purpose would put themselves to great inconvenience and go great distances. Did one of them want a cabin raised. He had only to let his neighbors (and all were neighbors who lived within a circle of five or ten miles) know they were wanted on a certain day and they would be there, the only compensation asked being a generous supply of whisky.

Log-rollings were almost an every-day occurrence: every settler would have one or more of these gatherings every year. Settlers would come for miles around with their handspikes, Oxen and axes: the logs were cut, hauled together and piled in great heaps to be set on fire after drying. The younger members of the community, girls and boys, piled the brush and smaller sticks in immense heaps: and boys, not very old, can remember when these heaps were set on fire at night, and how all the young people for miles around gathered, and played "goal" and "round-town" by the light of the cracking brush.

Then there were "wood-choppin's" and "quiltin's," where everybody, old and young, would go, the men with their teams and axes, the women with their needles. Aunt and Uncle Somebody would get wood enough in a few hours delivered, at their cabin door, to keep the great fireplace roaring the whole winter; and enough quilts and things to keep them warm in spite of the snow that drifted through the clapboard roof upon their beds. The delightful part came in the evening, when the older people went home, and the younger danced the happy hours of the night away to the music of the violin and the orders of some amateur cotillion caller.

The red man of the forest was often the silent and amazed spectator of these happy gatherings. To the simplicity of his heart, he did not dream the white people were "like the leaves of the forest," and that they would soon overrun and possess all the soil that for centuries had been the hunting-grounds of his tribe. He could not realize the fate that awaited him, so beautifully expressed in Longfellow's verse -

"Wrapt in thy scarlet blanket, I see thee stalk through the city's

Narrow and populous streets, as once by the margins of rivers

Stalked those birds unknown, that have left us only their footprints.

What, in a few short years, will remain of thy race but the footprints?"

In later years when Johnny Appleseed's orchards began to bear fruit, "parin.' bees" were in order. and also "corn-huskin's." These were gotten up on the principle that many hands make light work," and in addition to the word: accomplished they furnished excuses for social gatherings. Fashionable calls were of course unknown: work was the order of the day and, all feeling the necessity of continual labor, they

242 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

varied its monotony and made it lighter by assembling together and getting through with a large amount of it at one time, at the same time enjoying the social advantages thus offered.

A moonlight night was selected for the corn-huskings. Sometimes the corn was husked as it stood in the field, and large fields were thus cleared of corn in a single evening. At other times. the owner of the corn field would go through it a day or two before the husking was to take place, jerk the eats from the stalk and haul them to some dry place in the meadow, where they were piled in a huge circle. About this circle, on the outside, the men would gather in the evening, and, amid the rattle of husks, and the general hilarity, the yellow cars would flow toward the center of the circle in a continual stream, while the huskers buried themselves deeper and deeper in the husks, until after a time they emerged and stood upon the inner line of the circle, with a great pile of corn in front and a pile of husks in the rear.

Occasionally the corn was, as nearly as possible, equally divided into two heaps: captains or leaders were chosen by the men who choosing their men arranged themselves in opposition. Each of' the opposing captains endeavored to finish his pile first, tile bottle being passed frequently each one helping himself to as much of the contents as he desired. The successful captain was elevated upon the shoulders of his men, amid prolonged cheers, and carried around the pile. Sometimes the beaten party were aggravated until knock-downs ensued after which they would repair to the house of the host and partake of the good things prepared for the occasion.

A good deal of ingenuity was exhibited among the early settlers in making traps to secure the wild animals of the forest. At one time it seemed utterly impossible for the pioneers to raise sheep or hogs on account of the depredations of wolves and bears: the latter invariably preferred pork to mutton, but the wolves always attacked the sheep in preference. The State offered $6 each for wolf scalps: this and other considerations stimulated tile settlers in the work of capturing and destroying them. Many of the young men devoted their time almost exclusively to this business. For the purpose of trapping them a "wolf-pen " was constructed of small logs six feet long four feet wide and three feet high. It was formed like a large box with a puncheon flour. The lid was made of heavy puncheons, and was moved by an axle at one end made of a small round stick. This trap was set by sticks placed in the shape of a figure 4, and haited with any kind of meat, except wolf meat, the animal preferring any other to his own. Upon gnawing the meat the lid fell, inclosing the unwary native for the benefit of the trapper."

The continual and common use of whisky among the pioneers, receded its first check in Richland County, on the 29th of March 1828, at which time the first temperance society was organized, at the house of Samuel Smith, in Monroe Township, near the east line of Washington. This society was entirely indigenous to the soil of old Richland, none of its members having had any previous knowledge of such an organization. On this occasion, Thomas Smith was called to the chair and Samuel Ritchey appointed Secretary. Thomas Smith, Alexander McBride and Samuel Smith were appointed a committee and presented the following as a basis of action

Where as, The common use of intoxicating liquors as a beverage, is injurious to the health of the consumer, and ruinous to the morals of the community,

Resolved, That we form ourselves into a society to be known by the name of the Washington and Monroe Temperance Society, and that we adopt the following pledge for our guide:

We, whose names are hereunto attached, do pledge ourselves to dispense with the common use of ardent spirits in our families, and at our gatherings and frolics: and, as far as our influence extends, use all laudable means to discourage the use of it in others.

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This was adopted after considerable discussion, in which many expressed their fear that they could not get along with their raisings, rollings and harvestings without liquor. The pledge was signed by Thomas Smith. Sr., Henry Mosar, Lambert Larnee, Joseph Coe, Jedediah Smith, Robert McDermot, Levi Tarr, David Newlin, Thomas Smith. Jr., Samuel Smith, John Conwell, Joseph Reed and Alexander McBride. Thus began a crusade in this county which has not yet ended. The pledge was for one year, but at the end of that time it was renewed and continued gaining in strength until more than five hundred names appeared on its list. This was a society of earnest workers. They met on the 1st day of January, yearly, and continued the organization more than thirty years.

This curse of intemperance permeated all classes and conditions of society. Even the children of the early schools, when they barred out their teacher on New Year's Day, as was the custom of the time, frequently demanded a certain amount of whisky among other things as the price of admission. The children could hardly be blamed, since both teachers and parents, perhaps, as a rule, indulged more or less in strong drink. In this connection. Judge Jacob Brinkerhoff in his address at the laying of the corner-stone of the new court house, tells an anecdote characteristic of the times.

"I have told you who was the first tavernkeeper in Mansfield. Now among his successors in that hospitable employment was a Mr. Moore, whose weakness it was to entertain what were then deemed extravagant notions of the future prosperity and glory of the town of Mansfield.

"The village school was taught or rather kept by an Irish schoolmaster who, before crossing the water, had kissed the blarney-stone, was always ready to make free use of the gift thus derived, and well aware of the powerful weakness, of Mr. Moore.

"In those days to keep a tavern was to sell whisky, carefully measured out at a fippenny-bit a gill, and it happened that the schoolmaster's weakness for whisky was quite equal to that of Mr. Moore, for the future of Mansfield. And the cases were not infrequent, that, when the ardent spirit was most ardently desired, the requisite fippenny-bit would be wanting and the blarney would be the only available substitute. And so he would begin -'Áh! Mesther Moore, there are few gintlemen in this wilderness counthry that have your sagacity - your gifts of foresight. I tell you what it is, Mesther Moore, Mansfield is predestined to be a great say-port yit some day! ' No sooner would this prediction be uttered than the heart of Mesther Moore would soften, and then would follow the coaxing question- Mesther Moore, couldn't yees trust us for a gell of whisky. this blessed mornin?

"The coveted potation would at once appear and go where so many of the like had gone before-to cheer the heart and thaw the blood of the poor exile of Erin,' as he went forth to the arduous labor of dusting, with his hickory rod, the buckskin breeches of boys who, in those days were not always ruled by moral suasion alone."

The great days among the pioneers were the Fourth of July and those upon which the militia assembled for muster. These were the holidays when the people ceased from labor and turned out en masse, And when plenty of fun and whisky were expected. The place of assembling was generally in some clearing near some "tavern," the landlady of which had the reputation of being a good cook. 'there was plenty of drumming, fifing and noise, and somebody was always found who could readily perforin the duties of President of the meeting; somebody who could read the toasts and somebody who had been under Harrison or Van Rensselaer as Orderly Sergeant to act as marshal. Plenty of men were ready to read that

246 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

wonderful document, the "Declaration," for among the settlers were not only many excellent scholars and gentlemen, but here and there could be found a veritable graduate of Yale College. When no minister was present to act as chaplain, a good pious man was called to that post. If the meeting did not end with a grand ring fight, the people went home disappointed.

At a meeting of the pioneers of the county in 1858, of which Mr. Jabez Cook' was President, an ax was presented to each off the following persons, they being the oldest pioneers then living in the county; Jacob Stoner, who settled here in 1807 or 1808; Michael Newman, who settled in 1808; Jonathan Oldfield,1809; Thos. McCluer. 1809 : Henry Nail, 1810, and John Coulter, Uriah Matson was also presented with an ax in consideration of his having cleared more land than any man in the county. Richland County is only seventy-two years of age-yet in its infancy. What mighty changes! The human mind can hardly comprehend it. Yesterday, a wilderness full of wild animals and wild men; to-day, rejoicing in the bright light of the highest civilization.

"I ask myself, Is this a dream?

Will it vanish into air?

Is there a land of such supreme

And perfect beauty anywhere?"

There are over three hundred thousand acres of tillable land in the county, valued at about eleven millions of dollars; property in city and villages valued at about four millions, and chattels and personal property, nearly twenty millions; all in seventy-two years.

Statistics prove that Richland County is one of the best in the State: for agricultural purposes, generally. Almost everything grown in the Northern States can be grown on its soil. It does not largely excel in any one thing, but in some things stands first among the best.

Out of eighty-eight counties in the State, only nine raised more, wheat in 1878 than Richland, and these were generally larger counties, with more acreage sown. The average yield was a little more than fifteen bushels to the acre; the average in the State, for twenty-eight years, being a little more than eleven bushels per acre.

In the same year, only two counties in the State raised more oats than this: these were Stark and Wayne, in both of which the acreage was greater. The average is in favor of Richland, it being a little more than forty bushels per acre, while both Stark and Wayne averaged a little more than thirty-nine bushels. The yield of wheat was 488,641 bushels and of oats, 982,993 bushels.

The average yield of corn in the State for twenty-eight years was a little over thirty bushels per acre; Richland, in 1878, averaged over thirty-five bushels the yield being 1,063,045 bushels.

These are the principal crops, and it will be seen that Richland excels. In all (other crops her standing is high.

For a healthful climate and the longevity of its citizens the county stands almost unrivaled. The purity of its water and air, and the general intelligence of its citizens. have tended to lengthen their days. There are a number of hale, hearty pioneers who have passed the three-score and ten allotted to man; a few who walk with comparatively firm step under the weight of eighty or ninety, or more years and one at least John Wiler, Esq. who, in this year (1880) completes a century of existence.

The political history of the county is not unlike that of other counties in the State. Its first member of Congress was Mordecai Bartley, who was elected in 1823, to the House of Representatives, serving four terms or until 1831. The second, William Patterson, was elected to the Twenty-third Congress in 1833, serving as a member of the House until 1837. The third was Jacob Brinkerhoff, elected to the House in 1843, serving two terms. or until 1847. The

HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY. - 247

fourth was John Sherman, elected to the Thirty-fourth Congress, in 1855, serving as a member of the House until 1861, when he was called to the Senate to take the chair vacated by Salmon P. Chase, who became Secretary of the Treasury. The county was honored by the presence of Mr. Sherman in the Senate from that-time until called to the cabinet of President Hayes. The fifth man elected to the House of Representatives from this county was William Johnson, who served one term, from 1863 to 1865. The present member, George W. Geddes, resides in Mansfield, and was elected in 1879, making the sixth furnished by this county to the councils of the nation.