(RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE) 282 - HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO FRANKLIN. This township was erected by the county commissioners September 9, 1806, from territory belonging to Scioto and Pee Pee townships, both of them in Ross county, but the later now of Pike county. We copy from the commissioner's book of records, of date September 9, 1806, as follows: " Ordered that a part of the townships of Scioto and Pee Pee be laid off to form a new township, and bounded as follows: Beginning on the Scioto river at the lower corner of McNeal's upper survey; thence with lower line of said survey, and continuing on the same direction until it will strike the former line of Pee Pee township; thence with said line so far that a line drawn from the dividing ridge, between Indian creek and Crooked creek, will strike the mouth of Indian creek; thence down the Scioto river to the mouth of Patton's run; thence with the line of Jefferson township and Lick township so far that a west line will strike the place of beginning. The same to be known by the name of Franklin township." It was ordered that the election he held at the house of Benjamin Foster. Robert Graham qualified as justice of the peace in 'Franklin township, April 3, 1809. John Johnson qualified May 1, 1809. George Corwine was qualified justice in 1809; commission was dated April 10, 1809. September 8, 1814, it was " ordered that so much of Franklin township, east of the Scioto river and not included in Beaver township, be attached to Jefferson township." It is one of the finest townships in the Scioto valley, owing its best characteristics to the fertile bottom and terrace lands that lie in the shape of an enormous wedge, several miles broad at the base, and extending along the river, which is here exceedingly tortuous in its course, well to the northward. Back of this tract, the surface is hilly and broken, and the land rather poor. The outline of the township has the general shape of a triangle, bounded by right lines, of eight miles' length, on the south and northwest (the latter boundary intersecting the river two miles above the State dam), and a river-front of about ten miles on the east. Three streams of some local importance—Stony creek, Pittenger's run and Wilson's run, cross portions of the township in a general east and west direction, and fall into the Scioto. The Columbus and Portsmouth turnpike runs through the southwestern part for three and a quarter miles, and the Chillicothe and Waverly pike follows the valley in the eastern part. Both are excellently kept roads, the former still a toll road, the latter free. An Indian trail, up and down the river, was formerly plainly marked. Unlike its neighbor, Jefferson, across the river, the township forms part of the old Virginia Military tract, and the farms are, consequently, very irregular, some of them most uniquely so, in their boundaries. The major part of the population (numbering one thousand and eighty-two, by the census of 1870,) is on the rich lowlands of the valley and along the Columbus and Portsmouth turnpike; the hills are more sparsely settled. In former days, this region was renowned for the larger game, as bear, deer, wildcat, and even panther. Occasional representatives of these familes have been seen in the remoter districts quite down to recent days. The township is probably not without mineral wealth underlying its soil, though little has yet been developed. Many years ago General McArthur bored a brine-well at the mouth of Stony creek, and made considerable salt; but the enterprise was finally abandoned. In later times, a boring of about seven hundred feet was made for oil near Higby's station; but without success. Ancient works, in the form of mounds, are quite numerous in the valley; and near Higby's, on the farm of Mr. William McGuire, a little distance back of the school-house, is a small but well-preserved enclosed work, about seventy-five feet square, with corners greatly rounded, and some other unwonted features. A mile and a half from this, on the Waverly road, opposite an old blacksmith shop, is an unusually large circular "dug-hole," fifty to sixty feet in diameter, and still about fifteen feet deep in the center. It is believed to be also a relic of the Mound Builders, though it may belong to the period of Indian occupancy, and be simply an uncommonly big "corn-hole." The Ohio and Erie canal runs through the entire eastern part of the township, as also the Scioto Valley railroad, the two being side by side a large part of the way. A notable work upon the former is the State dam, one hundred yards in length, thrown across the Scioto at a large expense in 1832, as a feeder to the canal, with three locks adjacent. The railroad has a station here, variously known as the "State Dam," or "Three Locks;" and makes other stations in the township at Stony creek, the county bridge (a fine structure, spanning the Scioto about midway of the eastern limit of Franklin), and Higby's. Only the latter, however, is, as yet, dignified with a station house. There is no village in the township; but a post-office is kept at Higby's, and another at Alma, on the Columbus and Portsmouth turnpike. Foster chapel, on the Waverly road, in the south part of the town, named from the pioneer preacher shortly to be mentioned, is the only church edifice in the township. It is occupied by a Methodist Episcopal society. JUDIAH E. AND AMANDA HIGBY. Judiah Ellsworth Higby,* deceased, was the oldest son of Dexter H. and Rosanna Ellsworth Higby, of Castle- ton, Vermont, where he was born March 6, 1800. He received a rather limited education in the Castleton schools, and was brought with his father's family to Chillicothe, in 1812, when the town, although sixteen years old, was yet scarcely out of the wilderness. He killed deer within the present limits of that city, and was always fond of deer-hunting, slaying his last when in his sixty- seventh year. The family removed to Richmondale soon after coming to Ohio, where his father died, on the twelfth of September, 1821, and his mother on the twenty-ninth of July, of the same year, The elder Higby included a wagon-shop among his various investments and branches of business in that place; and Judiah therein learned the trade of wagon-maker, and, in due time, succeeded to the management of the shop. He also built flat-boats at Richmondale—called, in those days', "Orleans boats," from their ordinary destination and took them full- freighted with corn and other products of the valley, out of Salt creek into the Scioto, and down that, the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. He handled as many as nineteen boats in this way, and found the business highly profitable. His surplus means were largely invested in real estate; and to one of his farms, a fine one situated in Franklin township, near the Scioto river, about half way between the county bridge and Higby's station, he retired in 1848, where 'he peacefully spent the remainder of his days, dying there, in a good old age, January 3, 1879. He was of strong and vigorous frame, and enjoyed excellent general health until his last years. He was a successful business man, and left a handsome property * This name was formerly spelled Higbee. to his heirs. Taking a lively and intelligent interest in public affairs, he was, nevertheless, no office-seeker, and remained aloof from the selfish strife of politics. On the sixth of January, 1822, at Richmondale, he was married to Miss Amanda Miner. Their children were, in due order of birth: Eliza Maria, who died in infancy; Adeline, now widow of the late Judge John H. Keith, of Chillicothe; Orlando, killed in the California mines about 1853; Adelia, Oliver Ellsworth, and Hannah, all deceased ; John Willey, a prosperous farmer, occupying the old homestead in Franklin; and Edgar Judiah, who lost his life in the service of his country in the late war. Mrs. Amanda Higby, wife of the subject of the preceding sketch, was the second daughter of Adonijah and Hannah (Barber) Miner. She was born in Coxsackie, Green county, New York, on the twenty-first day of July, 1800. Her father was a farmer, and, in 1819, emigrated in wagons to the west. Missouri was his intended deslination, which he expected to reach by keel-boat from Pittsburgh; but a child of the family taking sick, he pushed on over the roads to Richmondale, where he decided to locate. Amanda remained at home until her marriage, three years after. Fifty-seven years, within three days, she lived in faithful and loving companionship with her husband, sharing his toils and cares, and encountering her full share of the perils and accidents, one of which, an overturn from a canoe into the Scioto river, very nearly cost her her life. She still survives, a vigorous example of the sturdy health and strength of the older generation, with hearing and eyesight, and other faculties in remarkable preservation, and bids fair to remain in this lower world yet many a year, if not fully to round out the century with which she began. HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO - 283 The first white settlement made within the limits of this township was in 1798, by two brothers, Thomas and the Rev. John Foster, the latter a local preacher of the Methodist church, and both sons of John Foster, sr., an emigrant from Maryland, who settled at or near the present site of Piketon, now within the bounds of Pike county, the same year. Others of the family came afterwards, or grew up to settle on places of their own. John, one of the sons of the Rev. John Foster, was a captain in the war of 1812. Another son, Thomas C. Foster, born in 1813, still survives, a hardy old veteran of the early day. The first election in the township was ordered to be held at the house of Benjamin Foster. Soon after the Foster arrivals, probably about 1800, two brothers from Virginia, John and George Johnston, arrived and settled near. The former is noted is having served as justice of the peace for twenty-three years. Charles Davis came in 1812, and cleared the fine farm now occupied by Sylvester N. Higby, his son-in-law, near the station which bears the latter's name. John and James Davis, brothers of Charles, came later. All the earlier settlements were in this vicinity, on the fertile lands of the valley. It is impossible at this late day to follow carefully the progress of settlement in this township. An old " estray book," in the possession of Mr. S. N. Higby, and containing records from 1803 to 1839, furnishes, however, some valuable data. The names of some of the early residents of the township, with the dates of their first appearance upon this book, are given below. These dates do not, of course, accurately indicate the dates of settlement, but show, with reasonable certainty, that the persons named were in the township at the time. The orthography of the names has generally been preserved as found: "1803, Jesse Tomlinson, Alexander Argo, Thomas, John, and Lewis Foster, Elijah Lochard, George Johnston, John Nixon; 5805, Joseph Mounts, Edward Dawson; 1806, Daniel McMullin, William McCorkel, James Huff, John (or Jon.) Berry, John Gooden (or Goodin); 5807, Asa Mounts, Eli and Jesse Ragon, Solomon Fevebaugh (elsewhere De Vourbaugh), Mahlon and James Longshore, Robert Graham, William Pittinger; 1808, Thomas Stewart, John Ragon, Abraham Love, William Elarton; 1809, George Corwin, John and George Bishong, Lewis Rush, Enos Moore, Daniel Bower, John Boman; 1811, Isaac Matthews, George Johnston, jr.; 1812, Thomas Colwell, Allen Nixon, Levi Hodges, Isaac Johnston, Joseph Mathers; 5853, Samuel Phillips, William Summers, Samuel Barney, Robert Hening; Richard Tomlinson, John Heath, Samuel Hibbens, David Lyons, John McMullin; 1815, William Foster, John Wood, Benjamin Phillips, James Miller, James Ransom, William Chinoweth; 1818, Alexander McCrary, Benjamin Summers; 1819, John Mongar, James Cotteral, Thomas Wallace; 1822, Michael Miller, Sebastian Southward; 1825, Joesph Moore, Cornelius Beard; 1826, Lawson Brooks, James Hays, William Anstil, Joshua Parker. [James Critchett is said to have been one of the first settlers on Stony creek.]" Rev. John Foster was the first preacher in the township; James Greearly the first school teacher; Thomas Tomlinson was the first lock-tender at the State dam, and his brother Richard the first grocer at the settlement here; and Samuel Wilson built and operated the first mill in the township. The most remarkable character ever identified with the history of Franklin township was one William Hewitt, who had in his day much local celebrity as "the hermit of the Scioto." He was a native, and, probably, during most of his life a resident, of Botetourt county, Virginia, coming of a family said by some to be respectable in position and circumstances, but by others, better informed among them a visitor to his cave in 1837, who had known him in the Old Dominion—to be low, illiterate, idle and quarrelsome. Long after he had grown to manhood, but while still unmarried, probably about the year 1816, a fierce family quarrel, according to the visitor of 1837, resulted in his shouldering his rifle and bidding farewell to his parents, telling them that they should see his face no more a prediction which he verified to the last. Another account, probably the offspring purely of romantic gossip, represents him as a married man at or near the old home in Virginia, returning from a journey unexpectedly, to find upon entering his house such unmistakable proofs of his wife's infidelity that he killed her paramour upon the spot, and fled at once and forever from the permanent society of his fellows. He haunted for several years the then wild regions about the headwaters of the Kanawha, where he is supposed to have begun his hermit career, occasionally, however, taking a boat-load of deer-skins, bear-skins, bear's oil, and other products of the chase, down the rivers to Cincinnati and Louisville, where they were exchanged for ammunition and other simple supplies for his solitary hunter's life. No details of his adventures here are known, as he was invariably reticent concerning his record before coming to Ohio. About the year 1823 Hewitt made his appearance in the Scioto valley, the lower part of which, back from the fertile bottom and terrace lands, was still mostly in a state of nature. There was, however, a pretty heavy fringe of settlement along the river. Unmindful of this or the proximity of Chillicothe, already a good-sized town, the migratory hermit, after looking about a little, fixed his residence at a cave in Franklin township, situated in the dense forest at the southwestern foot of the dividing ridge, on the west side of the Scioto, and some miles from the river. It furnished but a poor shelter, being simply but a low, shallow den under a shelving rock, which supplied back wall and roof. The sides and front were rudely walled up by the occupant, thus completing a room in which he could not stand upright, but which was sufficient for his purposes. In this he carried on his simple culinary operations, dressed the skins taken in hunting, and slept on a rude couch of skins and blankets. The locality is now close by the track of the Columbus & Portsmouth turnpike, eleven miles south of Chillicothe, and about one mile from the Alma post-office. While this highway was in course of construction, the turnpike company, learning the interesting associations of the spot, ordered the erection of a neat stone monument on the rocky shelf just above the cave, bearing the inscription: "William Hewitt, the hermitt, occupied this cave fourteen years, while all was a wilderness around him. He died in 1834, aged seventy years." The obelisk is plain to be seen from the roadway, and is in a good state of preservation, but much disfigured by the inscriptions of visitors, and to some extent by breaking pieces from it. 284 - HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO. It figured in Howe's "Historical Collections of Ohio," which also contains a brief description of the cave and its quondam occupant. Hewitt passed his days chiefly in hunting, by which he subsisted. He was naturally an object of great curiosity to the settlers of that region, and had many visitors. These he received not courteously or graciously, but patiently, as he was of mild, inoffensive disposition, and conversed with them freely upon the commonplace topics that came within his range. He asserted without hesitancy that he was not a married man, but could not be induced, even when questioned in the most direct manner, to reveal anything about his parentage or early home, or the circumstances of his leaving it. He recognized Mr. Brownlee, however,—the visitor from Virginia before mentioned,—and when told that his father was dead and had left him a small property, remarked that he thought he should return to Botetourt county to claim it, He occasionally visited Chillicothe, to trade his skins, and was the observed of all observers whenever there. The children of the place would follow him in troops, as many of them, now somewhat venerable citizens of the ancient town, remain to testify. An uncouth, unshaven figure, "tall as an Indian," as one of the former "Academy boys," who used to see him, says, and clad rudely, but rather neatly, in buckskin and furs, he made a truly unique figure, even for pioneer days. In the later years of his life he was induced to relax in a measure his penchant for solitude, and spent a few weeks of every summer at the fine residence on "Fruit Hill," then occupied by Governor Duncan McArthur, in recent years by his son-in-law, Governor William Allen. Here he filled his time mainly in shooting obnoxious birds from the numerous fruit-trees on the farm. But he always returned gladly to his wretched haunt among the hills; and from there, in 1838—not four years previously, as the inscription puts it—at an age, it is believed, of about seventy years, he wandered to the village of Waverly, in Pike county, five miles from his cave, where he was stricken with mortal illness, the result of an attempt to eat three dinners in prompt succession, at as many places where they were offered him, He was cared for without delay by the poor authorities, of whom Mr. James Emmitt, elswhere noticed in this volume, was one, lingered for a few days, carefully tended throughout his illness, and then peacefully passed away, leaving no other legacy to mankind than his almost profitless memory as "The Hermit of the Scioto." His remains were buried in the old cemetery at Waverly. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. SYLVESTER N. HIGBY, ESQ., AND WIFE. Sylvester Norton Higby, farmer, storekeeper, station agent and postmaster at Higby's station, Franklin township, which takes its name from him, was the youngest son of Dexter H. and Rosanna E. Higby, and brother of the late Judiah E. Higby, who is the subject of a separate biography in this history. He was born in Jackson county, Ohio, where his father was temporarily residing, and engaged in running a saw-mill, September 19, 1819. At the tender age of three years he lost both parents; and thus, doubly orphaned, he was taken to rear by his married sisters--at first by Mrs. Robert Dawson, of Richmond Dale, and afterwards by Mrs. John W. Willey, of Cleveland, whose husband was the first mayor of that city. His education was received in the old-fashioned "subscription schools" at the former place, and in good private schools in the latter; and thus was laid the foundation of the large and liberal intelligence which is now one of his best and most useful endowments. At intervals he labored upon the farm owned by his brother-in-law, near Cleveland. 1n 1837, when about nineteen years, of age, he returned to the Scioto valley to reside with his brother, Mr. J. E. Higby, now deceased, but then occupying a fine farm in Jefferson township, Ross county. He remained with this relative, taking nearly a year for schooling in Richmond Dale, until the next year, when he began clerking for his brother Judiah, then a merchant in that place. He took a pecuniary interest in the business shortly after, and formed a partnership in it with Mr. Washington Simpson. This lasted until 1847, when the firm sold out to Messrs. Tomlinson & Dascomb, and Mr. Higby removed to his present home in Franklin township. Here he has since been occupied in improving the handsome property, which includes a spacious brick mansion, built in 1857, elegantly furnished, and containing one of the finest libraries and museums of antiquities to be found in any country house in the State. Here he lives, surrounded by an interesting family, and dispenses a generous hospitality. He takes a hearty interest in public affairs; has been a Republican from the beginning, and helped to organize the party in Ohio; has had occasionally a place on the party tickets, and is often elected to township and school offices; is a Free and Accepted Mason, having attained the dignity of a Knight Templar, and is also in Odd Fellowship, in which he has taken all the degrees, and is a district deputy grand master. He is a thoroughly public spirited citizen, and the Valley Railway owes not a little to his exertions in forwarding its interests during and since the period of its construction. Hannah (Davis) Higby was the first daughter of Charles and Elizabeth (Hayes) Davis, born on the place where she now resides with her husband, on the twenty-eighth of June, 1824. Her father was of Virginia stock, and among the first settlers in the valley. She was educated in the local schools, and remained at home until married to Mr. Higby, as noted in the preceding sketch. She has for many years been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. At the age of thirteen she suffered the loss of her father in a most distressing manner, he having been gored to death by an imported bull, while alone and unaided in his barnyard. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Higby are: Charles, who was a soldier in the Fifty-third Ohio infantry, and now resides upon his father's place; Mary Elizabeth, wife of Marcus Boggs, a wholesale grocer in Chillicothe; Julia A., died September 9, 1852, aged three years; Rosanna Ellsworth, Keziah Davis, Joseph H., and Lama W., who reside with their father at the old homestead. THOMAS C. FOSTER. Thomas Coke Foster was born at the old pioneer home of his parents, in Franklin township, July 21, 1813, the third and youngest son of Rev. John and Martha (Prather) Foster. His father was a local preacher in the Methodist Episcopal church, and one of five brothers who settled early in the valley, in Ross and Pike counties, and was himself among the very first to set their stakes down in Franklin township. Young Thomas went to school, near his home, of winters, till about eighteen years of age, otherwise engaging himself in the labors of the farm. At about the age of twenty-two he began to do for himself, and was married in October, 1839, to Miss Jane E. Davis, of the same neighborhood, who was born April 22, 1821, daughter of John Davis. His father died the same year, his mother surviving until twenty-eight years afterwards. In the spring of 1840 he bought out the other heirs to the paternal estate, and took the home farm, Which he has occupied and managed prosperously ever since. It is situated on the south side of the Waverly pike, about one and a half miles from Higby's station. In 1837 he got out of the old house into the new, exchanging the pioneer log cabin for the spacious and neat brick mansion welch he now occupies. He is no politician or office-seeker, but has filled various township and school offices. August 12, 1852, he lost his wife by death, and has never remarried, Their children were: Martha, born July 31, 1840, now wife of James Foster, a farmer near Lawrence, Kansas, Major James C., born May 3, 1842, an officer in the late war, and now residing near his father; Hannah, born September 4, 2844, and still HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO - 285 living with her sire; John, born January 4, 1847, a farmer at Lucasville, Scioto county, Ohio; William, born September 16, 1850, died February 4, 1874; and George, born June 21, 1852, and still at the old home. We have the pleasure of presenting in this volume a portrait from the only photograph for which Mr. Foster has ever sat=one taken expressly for this purpose. It represents the face and figure of a venerable and upright man, in good repute among his neighbors, and still in the enjoyment of a hearty and vigorous old age. WILLIAM AND HARRIET McGUIRE. William McGuire, a wealthy farmer near Higby's station, in the southeastern part of the township, is one of the oldest residents of the valley,-who were born in it. He is a native of Chillicothe, where he first saw the light November 15, 1814, the son of Robert and Priscilla (Clarke) McGuire. On both sides he is of Irish descent. He was one of three children, both the others being sisters, the oldest, Mrs. Margaret Hays, a widow residing in Waverly, the other, Mrs. Rachel Mace, having been dead some years. While he was still a boy, the family removed to Indiana, where they resided near the mouth of Eel river, and then at Terre Haute, where his mother died. The young William was taken back to Ohio, where he was reared by a maternal aunt, Mrs. Keziah Davis, near Waverly. His first schooling was received there, and in that and the labors of the farm he passed his time until the twenty-second of November, 1835, when he was married to Miss Harriet Wilson, of the same neighborhood. He remained upon his aunt's farm, however, a while longer ; but about the year 1839 he bought a tract of a hundred acres half a mile below Waverly, and cultivated it for three years, when he sold it and again set his face westward, removing this time to Marion county, Illinois. Here he bought a valuable prairie farm of three hundred acres, and staid upon it nineteen years, when continued sickness and frequent deaths in the family, induced him once more and finally, to go back to the Scioto valley. Here he inherited from his rich aunt, the lady before mentioned, the magnificent estate of more than a thousand fertile acres which he now occupies, and to which he went in March, 1861, after his return to the State. Upon this place he has resided ever since, mostly engaged in its cultivation and improvement, although he has several times consented to accept public service as township trustee and in various school offices. He has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church during forty-four years, at first joining the society near Sharonville, Pike county, but for many of his later years being connected with the church at Foster's chapel, near his present home. Of this he has much of the time been at once class-leader, steward, and trustee, and is justly reckoned one of its leading, most reliable and consistent members. He is also an Odd Fellow, a member of the lodge at Sharonville. At peace with God and man, in the possession of an ample fortune, and with his surviving children all residing near him, he is passing into a serene old age, respected by his fellow-citizens and with happy prospects for time and eternity. Harriet (Wilson) McGuire was born in Pike county, Ohio, October 22, 1814, the third child of John and Sarah (Tilton) Wilson. Her father was a Jerseyman by birth; but of Scotch ancestry; her mother was from Loudoun county, Virginia, but came from Mason county, Kentucky, with her husband, to the Scioto valley. The former had been brought across the Alleghanies into Kentucky in a basket, upon one side of a horse, while his brother balanced the weight in a basket upon the other. His father was the builder and owner of a grist-mill, run by water, near the present site of the county bridge connecting Jefferson and Franklin townships, at a very early day, probably the latter part of the last century. It was the first mill of the kind anywhere in that part of the Scioto valley. He came up the river in a pirogue with one of the first parties of pioneers, and settled upon the present site of Sharonville. His granddaughter, Harriet, received some education in the district schools, but was mostly confined to the labors of the house and farm; dropping corn, digging potatoes, and engaging in many severe toils. She became a member of the Methodist Episcopal church at the age of fifteen, and has ever since remained faithful to the profession then made. Seven years afterwards she was married to Mr. William McGuire, as before noted. Their children have been: Priscilla, born August 15, 1836, married William Landrum February 13, 1870, and died in April, 1878; Huldah, born September 23, 1838, died March 28, 1871, the wife of Thomas Southworth, of Marion county, Illinois; Phebe, born September 15, 1840, now wife of J. B. Lynch, and residing near her father; Nancy Ann, born October 3, 1842, died February 7, 1861; Sarah Tilton, born June 2, 1850, died October 24, 1855; James Davis, born August 23, 1853, died November 16, 1855; Keziah Davis, born November 6, 1855, now wife of Mark Lynch, also residing near; and Margaret Elizabeth, born October 20, 1858, who still lives with her parents in their comfortable and happy home.