260 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE PIONEER SOCIETY.

THE MEETING AT HEMLOCK FALLS-THE ORGANIZATION AT BELLVILLE - THE ORGANIZATION IN 1869 - CONSTITUTION -THE CENTENNIAL MEETING-THE MEETING IN 1879-GEN. BRINKERHOFF'S ADDRESS - A LIST OF THE PIONEERS.

FROM time to time, for many years, efforts had been made to organize a pioneer association for the purpose of preserving from oblivion important facts connected with the history of Richland County. Meetings for this purpose were occasionally held in different parts of the county. An impetus was given to this movement many- years ago by Rev. James R. McGaw, who published an historical romance in the Mansfield papers. and by Gen. Brinkerhoff, who, from time to time, urged the necessity of it in the public prints. About the year 1856, one of the first, if not the first, pioneer meeting in the county, was held at Hemlock Falls, in Worthington Township. This meeting was probably an informal one, but the matter of rescuing the early history of the county from oblivion was earnestly discussed. The meeting was attended by Dr. Bushnell, Gen. Brinkerhoff, Rev. James R. McGaw, Dr. J. P. Henderson and other influential and interested parties. In 1858, Messrs. Cook and Robinson, manufacturers of axes, offered a certain number of axes to the oldest pioneers then living, and a meeting of these pioneers was held in Mansfield for the purpose of awarding the axes thus offered.

It was not, however, until September 26, 1860, that a pioneer society was duly organized at Bellville, at a fair held in that place. This organization, of which the temporary officers were John Redding, of Morrow County. President. and Miller Moody, of Richland County; Secretary, included the veterans of the war of 1812 and the pioneers of Richland, Knox, Erie, Huron, Morrow, Holmes, Wayne and Crawford Counties.

A committee, consisting of H. B. Curtis, T. W. Bartley and William Larwell. was appointed to report a constitution and names of officers for a permanent organization.

The meeting was addressed by Hon William Stanberry, Thomas H. Ford, H. B. Curtis, James Purdy and others.

The permanent organization was effected by the election of ex-Gov. Mordecai Bartley, of Richland, as permanent President; Eli Miller, of Knox; Amos A. Coffer, of Licking; John Shauck, of Morrow; Nathan Haskill; of Ashland; Jabez Cook, of Richland ; Daniel Riblet, of Crawford ; William Larwell, of Wayne ; Abijah Ives, of Huron ; Elutherus Cook, of Erie, and D. P. Leadbetter, of Holmes, as Vice Presidents ; Miller Moody, of Richland, Secretary, and Fred M. Fitting, of Richland, as Treasurer.

The Executive Committee were: Charles T. Sherman, of Richland; Henry B. Curtis, of Knox; William Stanberry, of Licking; Gen. E. W. Benson, of Morrow; Charles Tannehill, of Ashland; William Musgrave, of Crawford ; Martin Welker, of Wayne; Platt Benedict, of Huron ; George Reber, of Erie, and Joseph Ankeny, of Holmes.

A committee was also appointed to draft a constitution to be presented to the Society at a future meeting; and those present were requested to obtain the names of the pioneers in their respective neighborhoods, and to obtain

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and preserve all matters of historical importance.

Even, while this meeting was in progress, the mutterings of civil war were heard all over the land, and this, breaking out soon after, swallowed up all thought of everything save the safety of the country.

Upon the return of peace Gen. Brinkerhoff, of Mansfield and a few others in various parts of Richland County, again urged the formation of an historical society. This was again effected, as far as Richland County was concerned, in September, 1869, at the county fair in Mansfield.

This meeting was a success, between two and three hundred pioneers, who were residents of the county prior to 1820, being present.

The meeting was organized by calling Alexander C. Welch to the chair, Gen. Brinkerhoff then reported the following constitution, which was adopted

ARTICLE 1. This Society shall be called the Richland County Historical Society.

ART. 2. Its objects are to collect and preserve in proper form, the facts constituting the full history of Richland County, Ohio.

ART. 3. The officers of the Society shall consist of a President, eighteen Vice Presidents, a Treasurer, one Recorder and one Secretary.

ART. 4. The officers hereof shall be elected annually, at the annual meeting, and shall perform the duties usually pertaining to their respective offices.

ART. 5. The annual meeting of the Society shall he held in Mansfield on the last day of the county fair of each year hereafter.

ART. 6. Any person may become a member hereof, by signing this constitution and paying into the treasury the sum of 25 cents.

ART. 7. This constitution may be altered or amended at any annual meeting hereafter, by a vote of two-thirds of the members present.

The following-named persons were then elected officers for the first year

President-Alexander C. Welch.

Vice Presidents--John Woods, Butler Township; Charles Savers, Blooming Grove Township ;J. E. Bevier, Cass ; Michael Keith, Franklin ; Calvin Clark, Jackson , Reuben Evarts, Jefferson; Calvin Stewart, Madison; David Miller, Mifflin; Daniel Snyder, Monroe; James Doty, Plymouth, John Steel, Perry; John Finney, Springfield, Dr. John Mack, Sharon; James Reed, Sandusky; James R. Gass. Troy; Benjamin Dean, Washington; Nathaniel Pittenger, Weller, and T. B. Andrews, Worthington.

Recorder-Henry C. Hedges.

Secretary-Gen. R. Brinkerhoff.

Each Vice President was requested to make out a full list of the pioneers of his township. Addresses were then delivered by James Purdy, Mr. Welch and others.

Notwithstanding the intention of the Society to have an annual meeting, for some reason the time went by, and for several years no regular meeting was held. The officers, however, held meetings occasionally, and kept the organization intact.

The centennial year, however, brought the matter again before the people of Richland, as well as other counties. and' a large meeting was held on the Fourth of July. At this meeting General Brinkerhoff delivered an address of great value, the larger part of which has been incorporated in this history in various places. This centennial year gave a great impetus to the collection and preservation of pioneer history.

The concluding part of Gen. Brinkerhoff's address is the final verdict of all thoughtful students of pioneer times, and was as follows:

"The settlement of Ohio was a mighty work, and those who did it were men of iron nerve, of undaunted courage, and persistent force.

"God almighty has so arranged and constituted the nature of things that nothing great or good, or strong in matter or in mind, comes to the earth except it comes through straggle and through storm. It is this law, and the struggle under it, which has made Ohio, of all the States

264 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

of the Union foremost in war and foremost in the councils of the nation.

"The original settlers of Richland County for the most part, have passed away, but their children. nurtured in the wilderness. are largely with us yet, and to them we. of the second generation owe a debt of gratitude which we can only repay by imitating their virtues and by perpetuating in our children, and through them in the generations of the future. tile free institutions and the Christian civilization which they have bestowed upon us. I say Christian because our institutions are the outgrowth of Christianity as much as the oak of the acorn.

"The pioneers of Ohio, for the most part were God-fearing, Christ-loving. serious-minded men : their courage was a Christian courage rooted and grounded in the hope of a life that lies beyond. Wherever their went, churches went with them: and wherever log cabins were gathered there also was the meeting-house and the schoolhouse.

"Men and brethren, fellow-citizens, young men and maidens each and all old or young, who have gathered here to-day as we stand this hour at the threshold of a new century, let us not mistake the cause of all our greatness. or the secret of its continuance. It is not in money it is not in railroads or telegraphs or architecture, or art ; it is not in the pride and pomp and circumstance of tramping armies: or in a vast, array of iron-clad vessels or cannon-mounted forts. These are all well enough in their place provided they are the battlements and bulwarks and ornamentation of that faith in God and humanity, that heritage of liberty and law and righteousness. which our fathers have bequeathed to us from their struggle in the wilderness. So long as the Republic shall remember and cherish the faith of its founders it will live, but whenever it forgets it and shall recognize no God but the blind evolving forces of nature, and shall have no belief of life, or reward; or retribution beyond, it will die.

"Long before another centennial day shall be celebrated in this place you and I. who are gathered here to-day, will have passed away: and our children also will have passed away ; even our tombstones will be moss-grown and crumbling, but we may, if we will, keep our memory green by transmitting to that generation unimpaired the faith and liberty we received from our fathers.

"For myself, I desire to put on record now in the full maturity of every mental and vital power. the convictions I have given as to the perpetuity of the Republic.

"In their lifetime but, few men are judged rightly and therefore, when we die the wisest epitaph. perhaps, that can he written is, 'he was horn and he died. Still if a hundred years hence there are any living who care to remember me and in looking back through the perspective of a century gone, they can come to an honest conclusion that the facts will warrant it, there is nothing I can think off that I would desire more than that they would add to the inscription given and grave it deeply in the granite. He loved his country: he endeavored in his day and generation to be helpful to his fellowmen : he lived and died in the faith of the Divine Nazarene."'

The next meeting of the Society was held in September 1878 at the fair grounds in Mansfield and was largely attended and very enthusiastic. At this meeting J. H. Cook, James H. Gass, Thomas B. Andrews, Samuel McCluer, Calvin Stewart, E. W. Smith and Gen. R. Brinkerhoff were appointed an Executive Committee for the purposes of keeping up the organization and arranging for future meetings. Committees were also appointed for each township.

The next spring the Executive Committee met at the savings bank and arranged for a meeting of the Society to he held July 4, 1879. This meeting was held accordingly was largely attended and very interesting. Addresses were delivered by some of the aged pioneers present.

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These meetings from year to year are very interesting. The gray-haired veterans are dropping into the grave one by one, and the time cannot be far distant when all those who first set foot on the soil of Richland County will have passed away forever. So it has ever been-so it will ever be.

"Time runs his ceaseless course. The race of yore

Who danced our infancy upon their knee,

And told our marveling boyhood legend's store,

Of their strange ventures happed by land and sea,

How are they blotted from the things that be!

How few, all weak and withered, of their force,

Wait, on the verge of dark eternity,

Like stranded wrecks, the tide returning hoarse,

To sweep them from our sight! Time rolls his cease-less course."

At the pioneer meeting in 1878, Gen. R. Brinkerhoff delivered an address which seems so pertinent to the objects of this chapter that it is inserted in full

"We of this generation are most happy to meet so many of the generation which preceded us. We rejoice to know that so many of the pioneers of Richland County yet remain and we extend to one and all a cordial welcome.

" It is now seventy years since the first white man made his home in Richland County, and the dozen years which succeeded his coming are those which we regard as the pioneer times. During those years, the forests were subdued, roads were opened, houses were built, farms were inclosed and the wilderness ceased to be the abode of wild animals and wilder men and Richland County became the seat of an organized and permanent civilization. After 1820, the special trials and hardships of a pioneer life were ended and society was orderly and comfortable. It is this heroic age, from 1808 to 1820, inclusive, that we celebrate to-day. It is an age of scanty records and yet the deeds of those who lived in it were more influential in shaping the civilization which followed than all the other years combined. Pioneer times are fountains in the wilderness

from which rivers are formed and whose waters through all the coming ages will flow in the channels first selected.

"Richland County to-day with slight variations, is what the pioneers made it and it will thus continue through the generations to come until by some catastrophe, chaos and the wilderness shall return again.

"That I do not exaggerate in this estimate of pioneer times, let us look at the facts of the case in the State of Ohio.

"1. Our constitution and laws, with all their peculiar differences from other States, are substantially what the pioneers made them and labor as we will, it is impossible to secure any large modifications. Take for example, the restrictions upon our Governors, and the form of our courts our best thinkers believe they ought to be changed and a change has been attempted by constitutional amendments, but the people promptly vote them down every time.

"2. Our political divisions into counties and townships, with all their distinctive names and local combinations which so powerfully affect the daily associations and life of our people, were all substantially the work of the pioneers. The boundaries of Richland County, it is true were altered in 1845 and 1848 by the creation of Ashland and Morrow Counties, but it was a temporary aberration which the people themselves of the districts cut off would to-day gladly rectify if they could.

"3. The location of cities, county seats villages and roads in which and through which the public and private life of our people must continue for the most part to manifest itself remains almost entirely as the pioneers decreed. Suppose, for example. that Mansfield had been located at Campbell's Mill, where James Hedges and Jacob Newman first designed and staked it out, who can tell what its population and local life would have been to-day. Supposing those two men had been New England Yankees.

266 - HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

instead of Virginia and Pennsylvania Germans, Mansfield, instead of being platted with a market square in the center, with narrow streets radiating out in every direction, would have been laid out like a checker-board, with broad avenues toward the points of the compass, and who can tell what a difference it would have made in the whole internal life of our city.

The religious institutions and tendencies are mainly as the pioneers made them. The most powerful element ill tile whole structure of society is its religion. Men in communities, or as individuals, develop according to their faith. Unlike an animals, a man's life is the outgrowth of what he believes, and what he believes is for the most, part what he is taught in his youth. So a community develops according to its faith, and its faith in its fountain head is the faith of the men who founded it. In accordance with this law, the faith of Richland County, not only in religion but also in politics is stamped with the image and superscription of our hardy pioneers. Coming, as they did, in the main from Pennsylvania; from it was but natural that orthodox Christianity should dominate the county; and that it should manifest itself most largely through the Methodist, Presbyterian and Baptist Churches, and so it did, and so it will continue to do for generations to come. The pioneers of Richland County were steady, honest and industrious farmers, who feared God and hated shams, and so to-day, we are unvexed with heresies in religion or politics, and John Wesley, John Calvin and Thomas Jefferson continue the guiding stars of action in church and State with a large majority of our people.

"5. The equality of our serial life, with none very rich and but few very poor, we owe largely to the pioneers. They were mostly men of moderate means, and fulfilled the prayer of the Psalmist, who desired neither poverty nor riches. There were no large landed proprietors to absorb the public domain and crowd our population into tenant houses, and the result is that to-day the average size of farms in Richland County is less than one hundred acres and the acres, and of our farmers own the land they till, and non-resident farmers are few and far between. The advantages of this are immense, and will continue a subject of thankfulness for generations to come. So in every direction we look we have reason to rejoice in the legacies we have received from the pioneers of Richland County; they were wise and prudent in their generation and it is just and fitting that we should render honor to those who remain among us.

"Our photographic friends are doing a good work in preserving their portraits, but a more important work should still be done in preserving a record of their deeds.

"The pioneers of Ohio were a different type of men from those who for the most part have settled the prairie States to the West of us They were hardier and more adventurous, and for the simple reason that the dangers to be encountered and the difficulties to be over-come, were greater. Ohio was a gigantic forest, which to subdue was a work in itself so enormous as absolutely to appal the average civilized man. It was only the strongest, the boldest, the most courageous, who dared to encounter it. The men in war who volunteer to lead a storming column in battle: are honored for life when they survive. So it seems to me we should honor those who volunteered to charge upon the howling wilderness of Ohio during the early years of the present century. No wonder Ohio stands to-day the foremost State of the Union. Her people are the descendants of the mighty men of valor who conquered the wilderness.

"The time will come when the pioneers will be more appreciated than they have been heretofore, and our grandchildren will wonder why we of this generation have been so negligent

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in preserving a record of their names and deeds. Every effort in this direction is praiseworthy, and even at this late clay much can be accomplished.

"We welcome, therefore, the pioneers of Richland County. We give them greeting in the name of 40,000 citizens who inherit their labors, and bask in the sunshine of that civilization which they founded sixty years ago. We invite you to all the honors of this convention, and hope to hear from you of the days and doings of the years we celebrate to-day."

So far as the record of the Society shows, the following names comprise a list of the pioneers who settled in Richland County, prior to the year 1820. This list is very meager and incomplete, but in addition to this the reader is referred to the history of each township, in the gathering of which the compiler has been able to add a number of names to the pioneer list.

Butler Township-Maria Wood, 1818 ; Susannah Claberg, 1819 ; Jacob Claberg, 1816.

Franklin Township-Adam Linn. 1819; Mrs. E. Pettenger, 1816; Jacob Bradley, 1819; Samuel Stevenson, 1816 ; N. Pettenger, 1815; William Hagerman, 1817 ; Mrs. William Bradley, 1818.

Jackson Township-Henry Taylor, 1817;

Monroe Township-Jane Douglas. 1819 ; Mrs. C. Welty, 1819, H. Ritchey, 1815; Joseph Williams. 1815; Mrs. John Douglas 1818: Daniel Cromer. 1815; William Stewart. 1815: Solomon Gladder. 1817; John Coulter. 1810: Mrs. John Coulter. 1810: I. Patterson, 1817: John Wolfe, 1815 ; Melzer Coulter. 1811.

Madison Township- Mrs. H. McLaughlin, 1816: William Niman. 1815: Stephen Welder, 1819: John Cline. 1815: Mrs. Jane Broill, 1815: Sarah Fleming. 1818. J. H. Cook, 1816 ; Mrs. A. Anderson, 1818 : Robert Cairns. 1815 ; David Johns, 1812: John Weldon, 1810; Robert Larimer, 1815: E. Wilkison. 1817; John C. Gilkison, 1810 ; Robert Maloney, 1818: James Weldon, 1810 ; Eliza Grant, 1815 ; Mrs. Jane Newman, 1819; William Garrison, 1815; Mansfield H. Gilkison, 1811; John Neil, 1815; Harriet Newman, 1817; Henry Newman, 1810; Michael Keith, 1817; Mary Crall, 1814; Mrs. William Garrison, 1819; Mrs. Sarah Finite, 1816; Margaret Niman, 1819; William Darling, 1814; Henry Cook, 1815; Nathaniel Mitchell, 1815; Calvin Stewart, 1816.

Mifflin Township-John Vantilburg, 1815; Nancy Tagart, 1814; D. M. Snyder, 1815; James Raitt, 1814 ; John Yeamon, 1818; Elias Kissling, 1817; Charles Young, 1815; Thomas Starritt, 1816; Mrs. Rebecca Mann, 1814; David Miller, 1817; James Church, 1817; James Starr, 1816.

Jefferson Township-Mrs. Nancy Sargeant, 1816; Mrs. Mary Hardesty, 1817; Lewis K. Leedy, 1811 ; Samuel Shaffer, 1817 ; J. F. Lewis, 1815; George Coon, 1811 ; Richard Oldfield. 1810; William Robinson, 1815; J. Flaherty, 1817; Reuben Evarts, 1816; William Weaver. 1815 ; Mrs. Catharine Garber, 1811.

Perry Township-John Steel, 1818. Plymouth Township- Solomon Loffland, 1810; Silas Morris, 1818; Alexander Ralston, 1815; James Ralston, 1814 ; James Doty, 1815.

Sharon Township- Mrs. Jane Kingsborough. 1816 ; Dr. John Mack. 1818 ; Garrison Mickey, 1819 ; Hiram Wilson, 1818 ; S. Tucker, 1818.

Springfield Township-Mrs. Mary Ann Barrett, 1815 ; Jeremiah Post, 1816; Mrs. Jane Marshall, 1813 ; James Marshall. 1817 ; Joseph Welch, 1815; Alexander C. Welch, 1815 ; John Finney, 1819: Julia Dougal. 1811; ; Mrs. Ellen Douglas, 1817: Jeremiah Post. 1815; Mrs. Jane Williams, 1813; Thomas Ferguson, 1814 ; A. Mitchell, 1816; Charles Ensell, 1819; J. C. Dougal. 1817; Mrs. Mirinda Casebar. 1812; J. Dougal. 1817 ; E. Mitchell, 1816; .J. Proctor, 1819; Mrs. Sallie Welch, 1816; ; Mrs. M. Dougal, 1815; Mrs. Jennette Welch. 1816; Mrs. J. C. Barr, 1815; Mrs. Eliza Finney, 1818; Mrs. Martha Day, 1816: Mrs. Ann Condon, 1814;

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R. H. Mitchell. 1816: James Finney, 1819; Mrs. Rosanna Welch. 1818.

Troy Township: Mrs. Sarah Johnson. 1815: Mrs. Jane Craycraft. 1815: Isaac Gass, 1819: Mrs. Rachel Dickey. 1814: Amos Day, l815; William Gass, 1812: U. C. Day. 1815: James Craycraft, 1815; Charles Craycraft, 1815 : William Post. 1818: Benjamin Gass. 1812: John Meredith. 1818: Sazutwl McCluer. 1809: James R. Gass. 1811.

Washington Township-Mrs. Hamilton Bell. 1815; James Sirpless. 1815: E. Clark. 1815: Thomas Smith. 1816: John S. Smith. 1816: Thomas Pollock, 1817. William Stewart, 1815 Martha C. Riper. 1818: Hannah Pulver, 1819: Mrs. Man Flint. 1819: Mrs. Ellen Stevens, 1817; Mrs. Margaret Stewart. 1815: Mrs. Martha A. Craig. 1816: Mrs. Ellen Smith. 1817: J. Ford, 1819.

Weller Township-Miss Sarah Dickson. 1814 . John Ward, 1819: John E. Palmer. 1819 : Mrs. Jane Newman. 1819: Mrs. John E. Palmer 1819; Samuel Pettenger, 1815: J. S. Houston, 1814: John Taylor, 1818; J. O. Hagerman, 1815: Mr. Abigail Taylor, 1817.

Worthington Township - John Bishop,. 1817; Mrs. Thomas B. Andrews 1815.

The following names appear in the Society report, unconnected with any township.

Margaret Cunningham,1809: George Dean, 1812; Hiram E. Gibson, 1818: Mrs. D. Dean. 1812: Henry Amsbaugh, 1815: Mr . Elizabeth Smith 1816. George Amsbaugh, 1814: George Mull, 1814: Mrs. Mary Bradley, 1818: Mrs. Elizabeth Baughman, 1819: Mrs. Mary Shirley, 1812, Mrs. E Zeat, 1809: Mrs. C. Coates. 1819; Mrs. Harriet Hedges, 1815: M. Day 1815: A. A. Richey, 1815: George Mitchell 1817: Samuel Harmon, 1819: Alexander Robinson. 1814; Jonathan Peters 1816: John Crawford, 1811: C. C. Cou!ter. 1818: Andrew Mason, 1814: William Bradley. 1819: John Doty. 1815: John Wiler, 1819: Priscilla Burns 1817: Gavier Blair, 1815.