HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 125


received by the Legislature. It was defeated by a vote of 18 to 2, even the majority of the combination not daring to vote for it as against the strong wish of the people.


WORTHINGTON AND BALDWIN TO THE RESCUE


Paul Fearing, delegate to Congress, was one of St. Clair's party, against the formation of Ohio and in favor of dividing the territory by the Scioto. Langham and others went to Washington in the winter of 1801-2 to help along the passage of a bill confirming that division. But Thomas Worthington and Michael Baldwin went to Washington also, and their efforts were crowned with such success that the territorial bill was defeated, and the cause of state government advanced.


This was the final overthrow of St. Clair. On April 30, 1802, Congress passed an act to enable the people of the. division of the territory, comprising the country from the Pennsylvania line to the mouth of the Big Miami, to form a constitution and a state government. The constitutional convention was held at Chillicothe and the constitution adopted on November 29, 1802; and the seat of government was once more brought to that city.


THE ROSS COUNTY OF 1798


Generally speaking, the Ross County of 1798 covered the broad and beautiful Valley of the, Scioto; a fertile and noble stretch of country embracing the present State of Ohio from beyond Columbus to the mouth of the Scioto, and including the Ross County of today, as well as Franklin, Pickaway, Scioto and Pike, and portions of Hocking, Fairfield, Vinton and Jackson on the east, and parts of Fayette, Highland and Adams on the west.


FINAL REDUCTION


The successive erection of the counties which resulted in the final reduction of Ross County to its present limits was as follows Fairfield, 1800; Franklin, 1803; Scioto, 1803; Highland, 1805 ; Pickaway, 1810 ; Fayette, 1810 ; Pike, 1815; Jackson, 1816; Hocking, 1818; Vinton, 1850.


PROPOSED COUNTIES TO BE CARVED


Further eliminations from the area of Ross County have been from time to time contemplated by parties who were interested in the establishment of new counties. In 1846 a movement was on


126 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY


foot to establish the County of Massie, with Bainbridge as the seat of justice, and a petition to that effect was presented the Legislature in October, of the year indicated. The active men in this movement were J. M. Greene, D. C. Carson, and Elijah Rockwell. The plan proposed was the erection of a county from the territory of Ross, Highland, Pike and Adams, the eastern boundary of which, had it been formed, would have been about ten miles west of Chillicothe. The petition met with comparatively little favor in the Legislature, and so the name of Massie was not honored, as suggested. It is to be regretted that his name was not perpetuated by being conferred upon some one of the divisions of the state, and it might appropriately have been given to Ross.


A project was also inaugurated for the establishment of the County of McArthur, with South Salem as the county seat, about the same time that the Massie County scheme was agitated. Still another movement was on foot in the '40s to create a county from the territory of Ross and other counties lying about Ade1phi, with that town as the seat of justice.


THE FIRST COURTHOUSE


The first courts of Ross County were held in a small hewed log house, which was built in 1798 by Reuben Abrams, and stood at the corner of Second and Walnut streets. To the main building, which was thirty-six by twenty-four feet, was attached a wing about twenty-four feet long and eighteen feet wide. In the lower


HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 127


room of the wing Col. Thomas Gibson, Auditor of Public Accounts for the Northwest Territory, had his office; and the upper floor was used as a living room by a small family. The upper room of the main building was a resort for gamblers and contained a billiard table. In the lower room the Territorial Legislature held its sessions in 1800 and 1801. The courts were also held there, and in later years it resounded with the voice of many a pious preacher of the Presbyterian or Methodist faith. In the war of 1812 the building was used as a recruiting rendezvous and barracks for United States troops. When pulled down in 1840 the logs of the old buildings were still sound, and the roof which was made of blue ash shingles was without a leak.


THE BOARD OF COMISSIONERS MEETS


The record of the proceedings of the Board of Commissioners begins with the "March term, 1799," when a "return of the road from the town of Chillicothe to intersect the road from the falls of Paint creek to Brush creek," was received and recorded, and instructions were given to Duncan McArthur, as chief, and Thomas McDonald and Frederick Bray, as assistants, to survey said road.


THE OLD COURTHOUSE AND STATEHOUSE


The first sittings of the court were held in Abrams' log house as stated, but in December, 1798, the court's dignity moved it to desire new quarters, so it was ordered "that Thomas Worthington and Samuel Smith, Esquire, do superintend the building of a Court-House, Jail, Jailor's house, Stocks and Pillory." Then the court ordered further that "Thomas Worthington and William Patton do apply to Nathaniel Massie for to obtain a Deed for the Public Ground on which the buildings are to be erected," Massie then being surveyor general ; and $120 was appropriated out of the public treasury to assist in the building of the courthouse.


In 1799 the court took further steps toward public buildings, moved thereto by the fact that the seat of government of the Northwest Territory was to be transferred from Cincinnati to Chillicothe. It was ordered, in that year, that $1,200 be levied by the commissioners for the purpose of building a courthouse, jail, etc. The stocks and the pillory were already built and in operation. In May, 1800, it was ordered by the court that Thomas Worthington, Gent., advertise in "Freeman's paper" (the Scioto Gazette) for contracts for building a courthouse, and the advertising was done accordingly. Following this came the order that Everhard Harr, John Collette, Elias Langham, Thomas Worthington and


128 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY


William Chandler be appointed contractors and superintendents for building a stone courthouse.


The contract for the stone work was let to William Rutledge, an old Revolutionary soldier, and he quarried all the stone on the south side of what is now called "Bell's Hill," where the old quarry may still be found. The carpenter work was done by William Guthrie and the building was completed in 1801.


The courthouse stood midway between Main Street and McCoy's Alley, about fifty feet back from Paint Street. The building was two stories in height and surrounded by a cupola over which was mounted a gilt eagle, standing upon a ball. In this house was probably held the convention which formed the constitution of Ohio, and in 1803, the first State Legislature assembled in the same place. The courts were held in the building from the time of its completion until it was torn down, and the sessions of the Legislature as long as Chillicothe was the seat of the state government.


The building was found at an early day to be inadequate for the accommodation of both branches of the Legislature, and a brick addition was erected twenty feet south of the stone structure and with its southern front on a line with Main Street. A covered way connected the two buildings. The Senate assembled in the brick building, and the members of the House of Representatives in the courthouse proper. In 1853 the building which from forty to fifty years 'before had accommodated the lawmakers of the state, was too small to serve as a courthouse for Ross County, and action was then taken toward providing one which was adequate to the demand. The historic old structure, the first public building of stone erected in the Northwest Territory, was torn down in 1852.


" PRISON BOUNDS" IN CHILLICOTHE


In the early struggles over the slavery question the court at Chillicothe took a part, for in December, 1800, it was ordered "that Oswald Crab be bound in the sum of Two Hundred and Fifty dollars not to carry the negro Jenny and her children out of this Territory." In default he was to be committed to jail, and to be confined to the "prison Bounds ;" which said bounds were defined as beginning at the southwest corner of Paint and Second, running west on Second to the first alley ; thence with the alley to the north side of Fourth Street; thence east on Fourth to the alley between Paint and Mulberry streets; with the alley to Second Street; and continuing west on the south side of Second to the place of beginning. Civil prisoners were permitted to go at will within these boundaries; they might eat at any place within


HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 129


them, but were required to report at the jail every night, and were forbidden to go beyond the allotted bounds.


THE PUBLIC SQUARE EARLY IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY


The public square was the same in location and extent then, as now, and like most of the like tracts of that time, not enclosed. The statehouse was built on the south side of the square, and fronted on Main Street. According to Howe's history, this building was commenced in 1800, and completed the next year, so that the last Territorial Legislature in 1801, was held in it, as well as the constitutional convention which met on the first Monday in November, 1802. Opposed to this statement is the opinion of the venerable Doctor McAdow, who, though born in 1806, was the son of the first physician in Chillicothe (who settled there in 1797), and was accustomed to hear these matters commented upon often, by his father and others among the first settlers. He is confident that the Territorial Legislatures of both 1800 and 1801 met in the "Abrams house ;" also that the constitutional convention met in the same place, and that the statehouse was occupied first by the first State Legislature.


The old statehouse (where the Senate met) was a two-story brick edifice, standing about twenty feet from the old stone courthouse which fronted east on Paint Street. The two buildings were on a line north and south, and the upper stories were connected by a gangway, connecting the Senate chamber and the statehouse with the House of Representatives in the second story of the courthouse. On the north side of the square stood a one-story brick building, which was first used by the Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas. John McDougal was the first to occupy it, and afterward Gen. Humphrey Fullerton. On the northwest corner of the square stood the engine house, in which was kept the first fire engine that was owned by the city. This building was erected soon after the destructive fire of 1820. On the southwest corner of the square stood the Ross County jail, a two-story building which stood for many years. In front of the public square on Paint Street, stood the market house, extending from Main Street to McCoy 's Alley.


According to ancient testimony the Chillicothe markets of those days were a sight to charm an epicure. Everything was there that could please the eye or satisfy the palate.


That eccentric peripatetic, Lorenzo Dow, preached twice in front of the market house during the period it stood in front of the square, using a butcher's block for a stand. At the close of his first address he announced that he would preach from the same


Vol. I-9


130 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY


spot in just one year from that day and hour, and disappeared. Punctual to his appointment he mounted the block when the year rolled around.


When the seat of the government was moved to Columbus, the "old statehouse" served for many years as a town hall.


Though the exterior of the courthouse was rough it is said to have been a fine building for the time ; but, however that may be, the place was made fine by the eloquence of such men as Couch, Sill, Douglass, Brush, Scott, Baldwin, Sawyer, King, Creighton, Bond, Leonard, Murphy and Grimke.


THE COURTHOUSE OF THE PRESENT


The construction of the present courthouse was begun by Gen. James Rowe and Josiah McAdow Lines, one of the county commissioners, in 1855, from designs and plans furnished by a Phila- delphia architect, under the supervision of Dr. S. McAdow, who was in the fall of that year elected as one of the county commissioners. It had been ordered built in 1852, and the plans from Philadelphia were received in 1854 and exhibited in the store of General James Rowe, who was one of the first committee appointed to superintend the building of the courthouse. When the old stone house was torn down, the sessions of court were held in the large hall on the third floor of Waddle's Block, southwest corner of Paint and Second streets. The offices which stood on the public square were torn down in 1855. The probate judge and county clerk moved to quarters over Carlisle's store, southeast corner of Paint and Main, while the treasurer and recorder had offices in rooms on the south side of Main Street, west of Paint.


The corner-stone of the new courthouse was laid July 12, 1855, under the special auspices of the Grand Lodge of Masons of Ohio. It was one of the most prominent events which had happened for years. Judge Thomas Scott, the oldest citizen then living, made a few remarks, but the oration of the day was delivered by William T. McClintick, and around the old table on which was signed the first state constitution of Ohio sat these old pioneers, and Thomas James, George Renick and Messrs. Hardy, Pinton and Robinson. Judge Scott, who had served as the secretary of the first constitutional convention and the last survivor of that body, died in February of the following year.


With the progress of time and the necessary friction of fifty or sixty years of service incident to the official business of a growing county, many repairs and improvements have been made to the original structure which replaced the old stone courthouse. Modern lighting, heating and sanitary conveniences have been


HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 131


installed, but the exterior of the courthouse is virtually unchanged, and that it has stood the stress and wear so stanchly is a tribute to the honesty and good workmanship of the original builders and supervising commissioners.


CREATION OF THE TOWNSHIPS


Within a few years after the creation of Ross County eleven townships had been erected, viz : Lick, Green, Pee Pee, Paxton, Scioto, Jefferson, Pickaway, Wayne, New Market, Concord and Union. On May 10, 1803, Reuben Adams, William Patton and Felix Renick, associate judges of Ross County, met at the courthouse to establish and regulate boundaries of the townships, and to designate places for voting in each. They reported eleven townships, as named. These townships did not all lie wholly and some of them not even in part, within the present limits of Ross County. New Market, for instance, was composed of territory which now is included in Highland County ; Pee Pee, of territory now in Pike County, and Pickaway, of territory now in the county of that name. Several of the other townships extended beyond the present bounds of Ross.


Following are the dates of the organization of the present townships, so far as they can be ascertained, together with the territory erected : Buckskin, August 10, 1807, from Paxton and Concord ; Colerain, June 11, 1804, from Green ; Deerfield, July 7, 1804, from. Union and Concord ; Franklin, September 9, 1806, from Scioto and


132 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY


Pee Pee; Harrison, December 9, 1812, from Jefferson; Huntington, March 5, 1811, from Scioto and Twin; Paint, March 9, 1808, from Paxton and Buckskin; Springfield, 1809, from Green; Twin, February 20, 1805, from Concord, Union and Paxton.


PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF WYE COUNTY


The public schools of Ross County have, for many years, stood high in the educational system of the state—both those under the supervision of the County Board of Education and those controlled by the city, and village authorities. Its primitive schools shared the common lot of scant support, and therefore poverty of facilities; in fact, as late as 1825 the rule was that no branches should be taught except reading, writing, spelling and arithmetic. Reading and spelling were the prime tests of learning, and to have mastered arithmetic was to have acquired an education, at least in the smaller districts. Until 1821 no tax could be levied for the support of the schools, so that their graduations of excellence, or otherwise, were largely dependent upon the intelligence and generosity of the adults who happened to reside in any special locality. In 1825 the taxation was made obligatory, official examiners were appointed and the county system looked upward.


In 1837 provision was made for the first state superintendent of schools, and in the following year, through the energy and ability of Samuel Lewis, the incumbent of that office, county superintendents, township inspectors and other officials were created and the foundation of the modern system was laid. The requirements for teaching were gradually increased and raised, with the broadening of the curriculum, and in 1845 the first teachers' institutes were held. Two years later was organized the State Teachers' Association and in 1849 the general law was passed, based upon the famous Akron system of free graded schools, enabling any town of two hundred inhabitants to organize its schools accordingly. From that time dates the present system of free graded schools, whether organized in the towns or townships. "By the close of the year 1855," says R. W. Stevenson, the state superintendent, "the free graded system was permanently established, met with hearty approval, and received high commendation and support from an influential class of citizens who had been the enemies of any system of popular education supported at the expense of the state and by local taxation."


THE LATEST STATISTICS


The progress of the schools in Ross County cannot be described as a whole, but their development will be indicated by the state-


HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 133


went of facts connected with various localities, by which persons and institutions identified with the cause of education will be brought into the narrative. The only general idea of the present status of the schools of the county, under the supervision of the county superintendent, is furnished by the last report of that official. The figures, which are self-explanatory, cover townships, villages and special school districts, and are as follows :


Townships and

Villages

No. of

Build

ings

Value of Property

No.

Teachers

Total Enrollment

Buckskin Township

Colerain Township

Concord Township

Deerfield Township

Franklin Township

Green Township

Harrison Township

Huntington Township

Jefferson Township

Liberty Township

Paint Township

Paxton Township

Scioto Township

Springfield Township

N. Union Township

S. Union Township

Twin Township

Hallsville Spec.

Adelphi Village

Bainbridge Village

Frankfort Village

Kingston Village

Liberty Township Frac

Totals

15

7

18

8

7

11

9

16

3

8

8

7

11

7

3

12

13

1

1

2

1

1

3

172

$ 15,200

6,125

22,500

32,200

2,830

15,300

3,800

3,050

6,675

5,070

8,985

2,045

13,100

5,850

5,940

14,700

21,185

7,950

12,300

14,545

37,850

11,225

1,885

$270,910

19½

8

14

12

8

11

10

15

9

11

9

2

11

7

4

12

15

2

4

8

7

7

3

208

189;

334

171

447

318

226

260

270

414

219

308

204

68

295

168

102

282

428

59

121

260

183

209

99

5,445




Of the total number enrolled 314 pupils are credited to the high school of the county. The column under the heading "Value of Property" represents the value of schoolhouses, lots, furniture, apparatus and libraries.


STUDY OF ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE


One of the reforms introduced by the township boards of education, which has met with such favor that it is already an estab-


134 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY


lished feature of the county system, is the study of elementary agriculture. Although the innovation is only four or five years old it is in direct line with the principles of vocational instruction and training, which are accepted, in degree, by progressive educators as of practical value. The teachers' institutes of Ross County have given it their encouragement, the center of the movement being the Ohio State University which has sent out a number of lecturers in advocacy of the movement.


Concord Township was one of the first sections in Ross County to adopt the plan. Its system was to alternate agriculture with physiology. The six higher grades of the school were paired. One year these paired grades study physiology, the next agriculture. Under this plan, the pupil entering the third grade will study agriculture the first year, the next year physiology, then agriculture, and then physiology, and then agriculture another year and physiology in the eighth grade. Or, if he begins the study of physiology in the third grade, the order is reversed.

The agriculture studied is elementary, and seeks only to discuss the fundamentals in a way which the pupils can understand. A new text book is used for every year. The pupils are taught what a seed consists of ; how it sprouts and grows ; how it feeds itself until it can develop a root ; how the plant lives and what it lives on ; how it breathes ; how the ground and the air and the sunlight all must aid it before it can develop the best condition of the ground for its growth; how the ground can be kept from drying out in a drought ; how it can be made to take up a large amount of water without seeming to be soaked with water ; what insects destroy plant life, and what insects and birds aid the farmer to get rid of the insect pest; how insects hatch and grow ; how plants are "crossed ;" how the seed matures ; the different ways of starting young plants from old, by seed, by cuttings, etc. ; and a hundred other things which every farmer, young and old, ought to know, and which he will have to learn some time.


This is educating the farmer in the right way. Heretofore it has been the policy to let country boys and girls grow up without teaching them anything in the schools regarding agriculture, and then have the state appropriate money for the state maintenance of farmers' institutes, extension schools, etc. The right way to teach agriculture is to the children, for they have the time to devote to the study of the subject, and are of an age when they can absorb more in less time than they can when they grow up. If it is proper to teach a country boy in the country schools how to add, substract and multiply, it is proper that he should be taught how to apply his addition, substraction and multiplication to the life which he is living.


136 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY



GENTLEMEN FARMERS

Most of the early residents of Ross County engaged in farming, either as an avocation or a sole means of support. Even the statesmen and professional gentlemen who gravitated to Chillicothe when it was one of the important political centers of the state usually owned land upon which they farmed or raised live stock. The organization of an agricultural society was, therefore, one of the first associations to be formed, the membership of which embraced the county.


FIRST AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY AND EARLY FAIRS


The first agricultural society in Ross County was organized on the 28th of June, 1833, by the election of the following officers : George Renick, president ; James Voss, vice president ; Felix Renick, corresponding secretary ; N. W. Thatcher, recording secretary ; Nathan Sawyer, treasurer; Duncan McArthur, Richard R. Seymour, John Crouse, Jr., John McNeil, John Foster, E. J. Harness, Dennis McConnell, A. Hugler, John Made, William Clark, Jr., managers. There are no records of this society in existence, or at least none that can be found by the historian, and the information here presented is obtained only through laborious search in the files of the Gazette.


Nothing appears in regard to the first fair, but an account of the second one, held October 31 and November 1, 1834, appears in the paper issued subsequently. It is stated that the first premium$10—for the best thoroughbred stallion, was given to Duncan McArthur, upon his horse "Tariff," and the second to John McNeil for his horse "Independence." Arthur Watts exhibited the best bull, and Duncan McArthur, George Renick, R. R. Seymour, David Crouse and Governor Trimble, of Highland County, also had on exhibition fine cattle, some of which were deemed worthy of premiums. Daniel Madeira is mentioned as having the best carrots. Dennis McConnell received a premium for raising 100 bushels of wheat upon an acre of ground, and S. V. Dorman $3 for raising 150 bushels of potatoes upon one acre of ground.


The secretary's report of the third annual fair held October 29, 30 and 31, 1835, stated that "it was an unusually large and interesting exhibition." The report continues: "We are compelled to state that the society has not met with that encouragement by way of pecuniary support which, from the patriotic character of our citizens, might reasonably be expected. The enterprise which prompted the operations of the 'Ohio Importing Company'


HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 137


emanated from this society, and has given a name and character to our county and State, which places us first in rank among the agricultural districts of the Union."


It may be remarked here that the Ohio Importing Company was organized by citizens of Ross County in 1834, for the purpose of bringing fine cattle from England. This company exhibited cattle at the fair of 1835—most of them half-breeds, and in the following year the first regular stock sale in Ohio was held October 26th, at Felix Renick's Indian Creek farm.


THE SECOND SOCIETY


The original agricultural society was succeeded by one which was organized August 17, 1846, as an auxiliary to the State Board of Agriculture, under the act of the General Assembly, passed February 27, 1846. At a meeting held at the Madeira House, the following gentlemen were elected officers of the society : President, W. Marshall Anderson; vice president, Alex. Renick ; treasurer, William H. Douglass; secretary, R. W. Burridge ; directors, Dennis McConnell, Jeptha Merrill, William Welsh, John Foster, Nathan Gillilan. The first fair of this society was held October 14 and 15, 1846, at "the Sugar grove." The market house was also used for the exhibition of articles of woman's industry, etc. At this fair the principal exhibitors of cattle were Henry Renick, Alex.- Renick, George Renick, Dr. Arthur Watts, William D. Worthington, James D. Vause, James Dean and Felix Renick. Premiums were taken upon horses by J. S. Atwood, Alex. H. McRoberts, Wesley Pryor, Dennis McConnell, Andrew Poe and Joseph McConnell. A dinner at the Madeira House was one of the features in the programme of the second day of the exhibition. This society purchased the ground on Arch and Mill streets, west of Vine, but failed to pay for it. Its affairs were ultimately closed by Amos Smith, Esq., and for several years there was no agricultural society in Ross County.


THE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF THE PRESENT


The society at present in existence held a preliminary meeting on the 5th of February, 1870, at which committees were appointed to solicit members for the proposed organization. The organization was effected March 5th, when a constitution was adopted and the following officers elected : President, L. G. Delano ; vice president, S. H. Hurst ; secretary, Philip Griffin ; treasurer, Addison Pearson ; managers, Samuel Kendrick, Dr. William Waddell, Alex. Renick,


138 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY


Jr., James Ewing of Chillicothe, Joseph McConnell of Scioto Township, S. N. Hurst of Union, Uriah Beets of Deerfield, M. Lewis of Green, Samuel Cline of Concord, Thomas Murray of Buckskin, John Woodbridge of Paint, A. W. Seymour of Paxton, David Schotts of Twin, Samuel. R. Posey of Huntington, James Davis, Jr., of Franklin, Solomon DuBois of Jefferson, Thomas Griffin of Liberty, Levi Buchwalter of Colerain, Jacob H. Cryder of Springfield and Daniel Clymer of Harrison.


ROSS COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETIES


About the year 1852 the physicians of Chillicothe and Ross County organized a society of which the late Dr. David Wills was president, but the records of the society have not been preserved, and as the newspapers of the time did not contain any mention of the organization, it is impossible to give the history of the society.


The present Medical Society of Ross County was organized at a meeting held April 6, 1876, at Dr. G. S. Franklin's office. The original members, who upon that day signed the constitution, were L. W. Foulke, of Chillicothe ; William Latta and R. Galbraith, of Frankfort ; John M. Cox, of South Salem ; Gustavus L. Franklin, of Chillicothe ; J. B. F. Morgan, of Clarksburg ; A. L. Chenoweth, of Bourneville ; E. J. Galbraith, of Frankfort ; C. M. Wilson and R. B. Hall, of Chillicothe ; George Freeman, of Richmond Dale ; Willard A. Hall, of Bourneville ; and J. M. Leslie, of Frankfort. The first officers elected were : President, Dr. William Latta ; vice president, R. B. Hall ; treasurer, E. J. Galbraith ; secretary, G. S. Franklin.


Succeeding Doctor Latta as president were Drs. G. B. F. Morgan, Robert Galbraith, John M. Cox and G. E. Robbins, the last named being at the head of the society for some twenty-one years. In October, 1904, the old organization was succeeded by the Ross County Academy of Medicine, with the following officers : Dr. J. B. Scarce, president ; Dr. F. T. Marr, vice president ; Dr. R. E. Bower, treasurer ; Dr. Mary A. Platter, secretary. Among the oldest membes of the profession connected with the academy may be mentioned Drs. J. B. Scarce, J. W. .Lash, J. M. Leslie, J. W. Barnes, B. F. Miesse, G. S. Franklin and J. M. Hanly, all of whom are deceased except Doctors Leslie and Manly. It has an active membership of about twenty-five and the following officers : Dr. R. E. Bower, president; G. E. Robbins, secretary ; W. H. Silbaugh, treasurer.


HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 139


COUNTY'S POPULATION BY DECADES


The first Federal census taken in Ross County was that of 1820, when there were 20,610 people within its limits; 1830, 25,150 ; 1840, 27,460 ; 1860, 35,071; 1880, 40,307.


Civil Divisions

1910

40,069

1900

40,940

1890

39,454

Buckskin Township including

   South Salem Village

   South Salem Village

Colerain Township, including

   Adelphi Village

   Adelphi Village

Concord Township, including

   Frankfort Village

   Frankfort Village

Deerfield Township, including

   Clarksburg Village

   Clarksburg Village

Franklin Township

Green Township, including

   Kingston Village

   Kingston Village

Harrison Township

Huntington Township

Jefferson Township

Liberty Township

Paint Township

Paxton Township, including

   Bainbridge Village

   Bainbridge Village

Scioto Township, including

   Chillicothe City

   Chillicothe City

      Ward 1

      Ward 2

      Ward 3

      Ward 4

Springfield Township

Twin Township, including

   Bourneville Village

   Bourneville Village

Union Township


1,682

211


1,542

407


2,995

734


1,346

558

966


2,050

813

1,110

1,843

806

1,494

959


1,620

883


16,629

14,508

3,953

3,949

3,508

3,098

980


1,888

142

2,159

1,896

264


1,862

516


2,957

717


1,456

551

1,136


2,011

735

1,162

2,269

936

1,599

1,068


1,034

954


14,949

12,976

....

....

....

....

1,133


2,255

356

2,317

2,069

263


1,868

489


2,907

667


1,401

378

1,085


2,197

751

1,087

2,242

959

1,654

1,074


1,888

....


12,964

11,288

....

....

....

....

1,175


2,397

205

2,505




CHAPTER VII


BENCH AND BAR


FIRST TERRITORIAL COURT AT MARIETTA-ERA OF JUSTICES OF THE PEACE- JUSTICE AS DOLED OUT BY 'SQUIRE SMITH-ONLY ONE CITIZEN HAD HIS WHISKY BARRELS " TOMAHAWKED"-DOUBTFUL CHOICE OF PENALTIES-FIRST. COURT HELD IN ROSS COUNTY -FIRST OHIO DIVORCE--TERRITORIAL FEES OF COURT OFFICERS, ATTORNEYS AND JURORS-STATE CHANGES IN THE JUDICIARY-FIRST TERM OF THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS-FIRST ATTORNEYS' LICENSES BY THE STATE-SUITS FOR DEBT-THE WHIPPING POST, BUSY INSTITUTION-BRANDED WITH RED HOT IRON-EXECUTIONS OF MURDERERS-PROBATE JUDGES-PERSONNEL OF THE BENCH AND BAR-ALLEN G. THURMAN-WILLIAM ALLEN, GOVERNOR-THE FLATTERING BOOK AGENT-THOMAS SCOTT—WILLIAM CREIGHTON, JR.-JESSUP M. COUCH-WILLIAM K. BOND—MICHAEL BALDWIN-BENJAMIN G. LEONARD- WILLIAM S. MURPHY-FREDERICK GRIMKE-JOHN H. KEITH-WILLIAM H. SAFFORD- A CITIZEN JUDGE-EDWARD KING-RICHARD DOUGLAS-LEVIN BELT—JOHN THOMPSON—JOSEPH SILL-CHARLES W. GILMORE-JOSEPH MILLER-THADDEUS A. MINSHALL.


As we know, the judicial systems of the territory and the state, and consequently those of the county, were rooted in the Ordinance of 1787. From the first the bench and bar were well to the front. When the first Supreme Court of the Northwest Territory was opened with much pomp at Marietta, Ohio, in 1788, the lawyers and supreme judges preceded the governor and clergymen, although they followed the high sheriff, the citizens and military. Further, as it was upon that occasion that the name Buckeye first sprang to the front as a characteristic word, although not then applied to any region, we condense one of Hildreth's accounts of the matter.


FIRST TERRITORIAL COURT AT MARIETTA


Upon the opening of the first court in the Northwest Territory, on the 2d of September, 1788, a procession was formed at the point where most of the settlers at Marietta resided, and marched


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up a path that had been cut and cleared through the forest to Campus Martius Hall, in the following order :


1st. The high sheriff with drawn sword.

2d. The citizens.

3d. Officers of the garrison at Fort Harmar.

4th. Members of the bar.

5th. Supreme judges.

6th. The governor and clergymen.

7th. The newly appointed judges of the Court of Common Pleas, Gen. Rufus Putnam and Benjamin Tupper.


There the whole countermarched, and the judges, Putnam and Tupper, took their seats. The clergyman, Reverend Doctor Cutler, invoked the Divine blessing, and the sheriff, Col. Ebenezer Sproat, proclaimed with his solemn "0 yes !" that "a court is opened for the administration of even-handed justice, to the poor as well as to the rich, to the guilty and the innocent, without respect of persons, none to be punished without a trial by their peers and then in pursuance of law." Although this scene was exhibited thus early in the settlement of the state, few ever equaled it in the dignity and exalted character of the actors. Among the spectators who witnessed the ceremony and were deeply impressed by its solemnity and seeming significance, was a large body of Indians collected from some of the most powerful tribes of the Northwest for the purpose of making a treaty with the whites. Always fond of ceremony themselves, they witnessed the parade, of which they little suspected the import, with the greatest interest, and were especially impressed with the high sheriff who led the procession with drawn sword. He was over six feet in height, of fine physical proportions and commanding presence and, amid murmurs of admiration, the awestruck Indians named him, on the spot, Hetuck, or Big Buckeye. It was given the colonel as an expression of their greatest admiration, but was afterward jocosely applied to Colonel Sproat by his white friends as a sort of nickname.


ERA OF JUSTICES OF THE PEACE


The popular judicial body of the county, which has substantially endured through all territorial and state forms of government, although its complexion and personnel have been changed a number of times, is the Court of Common Pleas. For about a year before any provision had been made for a regular court, neighborhood difficulties which called for outside adjudication were referred to justices of the peace. The members of the territorial Court of Common Pleas were called "gentleman justices."


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Early in the year 1797, before the organization of any court in what is now Ross County, Governor St. Clair appointed Thomas Worthington, Hugh Cochran and Samuel Smith as justices of the peace for the settlement of Chillicothe. 'Squire Smith appears to have been the most energetic, original and popular of the trio, and of him, most of the stories are told illustrative of the crude administration of the law in those days.


JUSTICE AS DOLED OUT BY 'SQUIRE SMITH


As an example : A man by the name of Adam McMurdy was cultivating some land on the station prairie, below Chillicothe. One morning, as he went to harness his team, the collar belonging to one of the horses proved to be missing. He quietly walked over to another part of the prairie where some ploughmen were at work, and, finding the missing collar in the possession of one of the men, boldly claimed it as his own. The thief, as is very common in such cases, made a great show of virtuous indignation, used abusive language and threatened to whip McMurdy for charging him with the theft. McMurdy, not being a fighting character, withdrew from the field (which threatened to be one of blood), but came immediately to the village and made complaint to 'Squire Smith. The 'Squire having heard the story, dispatched a constable with instruction to bring both the thief and collar, forthwith, into court.


That functionary soon returned, bringing the horse collar in one hand, and the culprit by his collar, with the other. The 'Squire organized his court in the open air, on the bank of the Scioto, and, having duly arraigned the accused, called upon the accuser for the proof that the collar was his property. "If the collar is mine," said he, "Mr. Spear, the maker, who is present, can testify." Mr. Spear was then called, and, without being sworn, came forward and said : "If the collar is McMurdy's, I myself have written his name, according to my custom, on the inner side of the ear of the collar." The 'Squire turned up the ear of the collar, and, sure enough, he there found the name of McMurdy, written in Spear's handwriting. "No better proof can be given," said the 'Squire, and immediately gave orders that the thief should be tied to a buckeye tree, standing near by, there to receive ten lashes, well laid on. This sentence was executed without delay, and the case ended to the satisfaction of all—with the possible exception of the culprit. The whole trial and the execution of the sentence did not last ten minutes, so summary was the 'Squire's manner of dispensing justice.


The chronicle from which we have derived these facts closes


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with the following epitome of the worthy magistrate's character : "Squire Smith was an honest and impartial man, with a vigorous and discriminating mind, always disposed to do justice in his own way."


ONLY ONE CITIZEN HAD HIS WHISKY BARRELS "TOMAHAWKED"


Before the appointment of judges and the regular establishment of courts, not only was the common law administered in a very simple and primitive manner, but extemporized village legislatures sometimes enacted laws to suit unforeseen emergencies. During those times, the promiscuous and unrestricted sale of whisky often kept the town full of drunken Indians, to the great terror of the women of the place. At length, the patience of the community being exhausted, a meeting of the citizens was held at the lower end of Mulberry Street on the bank of the river, to take measures for the abatement of this growing nuisance. A resolution was passed that if any trader or keeper of tavern or drinking shop should sell whisky to the Indians and get them intoxicated, he should either keep them in his shop or conduct them out of town to their camp, and see that they committed no disturbance of the peace. If any one should violate this resolution, after having been reproved for the first offense, "then and in that case," all his kegs or barrels of whisky should be taken out into the street and "tomahawked."


We are informed that only one man had to suffer this spirituous penalty ; and that was a Mr. Meeker, who kept a shop at the lower end of the town, near the river.


DOUBTFUL CHOICE OF PENALTIES


Another case which came under the cognizance of Esquire Smith was related by Judge Thomas Scott, of Chillicothe, and quoted by Mr. Howe in his "Historical Collections of Ohio." It seems that in the spring of 1797, a fellow by the name of Brannon stole from one of the citizens a great-coat, handkerchief and shirt. He and his wife (who was evidently an accomplice, either before or after the fact) absconded with the property, were pursued, brought back and held for trial. Mr. Scott says that Samuel Smith was appointed judge for the occasion ; which would seem to imply that the case occurred before his formal appointment as justice of the peace by Governor St. Clair. However this may be, he proceeded to organize a court in regular form, empaneling a jury, and appointing attorneys for prosecution and defense. "Witnesses were examined, the cause argued, and the evidence summed up by the judge." The jury, after being out a few


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minutes brought in a verdict, the substance of which was that the defendant was guilty and that he should be punished, at the discretion of the court. The "court," with his usual promptness, decided that the culprit might take his choice of two penalties—either to receive ten lashes well laid on, or to be mounted on his pony upon a bare pack-saddle, and be led through the village by his wife, who should proclaim at the door of every cabin: "This is Brannon, who stole the great-coat, handkerchief and shirt!" He chose the latter penalty, which was inflicted; Mr. J. B. Finley (afterward a Methodist minister and chaplain of the Ohio State Penitentiary), being appointed by the sheriff to see that the sentence was strictly carried out according to the decision of the judge. This being done, the culprits were permitted to depart.


FIRST COURT HELD IN ROSS COUNTY


The first court held in the county convened at the Town of Chillicothe on the fourth Tuesday in December, 1798. It was called the Court of Common Pleas for the United States Territory Northwest of the Ohio River, and was presided over by the "gentleman justices" commissioned by Governor Arthur St. Clair. Thomas Worthington (afterwards governor of the state and one of the first three justices appointed), James Scott, Samuel Finley, Wm. Patton, Elias Langham, James Ferguson, John Guthrey, James Dunlap, Robert Gregg, Isaac Davis and Reuben Abrams were so appointed justices by commissions which bore the date of October 11, 1798. Of these James Scott, Samuel Finley and James Ferguson soon resigned. The others served until the judiciary was reorganized under the state constitution, and even after that event Patton and Abrams, together with Felix Renick, Isaac Cook and others, served the state long and well as associate judges of common pleas.


At the opening of the first term of this court there were present of these justices, Worthington, Scott, Finley, Patton and Langham. Edward Tiffin, afterwards first governor, was the prothonotary, or clerk, and Jeremiah McLene, afterwards secretary of state, was sheriff. So far as we can ascertain, the only licensed attorneys present at this first court were John S. Will and Levin Belt. The licenses to practice law issued by this territorial court were as follows: Robert F. Slaughter in March, 1799 ; William Creighton and James Montgomery in June, 1799; Michael Baldwin in November, 1799 ; and Thomas Scott in June, 1801. The first cause docketed was: "Blair vs. Blair. In case. Damages thirty dollars. Daniel Rotruck, special bail."


The first jury was empaneled in the case of Kennett vs. Hamil-


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ton, and the entry upon the journal is as follows : "A jury was returned by the sheriff, to-wit :

Isaac Davis, Jas. Hays, Joseph Tiffin, Wm. McLinahan, Isaac Owens, Jno. Wilkenson, Robert W. Finley, Elias Bootman, Jno. Bushong, Jno. Patton, Benj. Miller and Jas. Kilgore who, being duly elected, tried and sworn, found a verdict for the defendant."


Nearly all the entries in "the first book of record" are in the neat and correct handwriting of Edward Tiffin; but at the September term, 1799, the prothonotary tried a deputy, and that deputy was evidently an Irishman, who wrote a good hand, but spelled with a brogue, for he always wrote Justice Ferguson's name Faugorson and Guthrey's " Gutery" and closed the daily records of the courts "adjournments." His record, however, only fills six pages, when Tiffin resumed the pen and continued them. until the January term, 1803, when, says the record, "Thomas Scott, Esq., produced a commission from Charles Willing Byrd, Esq., acting governor, appointing him prothonotary of the county ; " after which, having taken the required oath, he assumed the office and kept it until the state organization went into effect in April of that year.


FIRST OHIO DIVORCE


Before Ohio became a state, the obtaining of a divorce was no matter of the Court of Common Pleas, but to be taken before the House of Representatives and the Council of the Territory, and a divorce could be granted only by their act, by and with the approval of His Excellency, Arthur St. Clair, governor. Almost the first, if not the first divorce granted in the territory, was by an act of the Legislature and Council, on the 8th day of December, 1800, the day before the session of the Territorial Legislature closed. The divorce, which thus became an event in the history of Chillicothe, Ross County, was entitled "An Act for the relief of Lucy Petit," and the text of it tells the story as follows:


"Whereas it appears to this Legislature that John Gilbert Petit, Esquire, late of the county of Washington, and Lucy his wife, late Lucy Woodbridge, did in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-five, enter into a contract of matrimony and thereby became, and still are, husband and wife. And whereas, from certain unhappy differences which have taken place, between the said John and Lucy, they have mutually agreed to separate and live apart from each other from the day of such their separation for and during their natural lives; and in conform-, ity thereto did mutually sign and seal certain articles of separa-


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tion, bearing date the thirtieth day of October, in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-eight. And whereas it further appears, from the petition of the said Lucy, praying for a divorce from the said matrimonial contract, entered into as aforesaid, and the evidence accompanying the said petition, that the said John Gilbert Petit has, since the said articles of separation were entered into, gone to the republic of France, his native country, leaving the said Lucy his wife without protection or the means of support, in which country of France it appears that the said John Gilbert Petit is determined to live and abide. And whereas it also appears that the said John Gilbert Petit, hath declared that his object in executing the aforesaid articles of agreement, was to enable himself, on his arrival in the said republic of France, to obtain a bill of divorce from the said Lucy : Therefore, to confirm the said articles of separation and to grant to the said Lucy relief in the premises, and thereby to restore the said Lucy to all the rights, immunities, capacities and privileges of a feme sole :


"Sec. 1.—Be it enacted by the legislative council and house of representatives in general assembly, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That the marriage contract now or heretofore existing between the said John Gilbert Petit and the said Lucy Petit shall be, and the same is hereby dissolved, and the said Lucy is, by authority aforesaid, divorced and forever released from the said contract of marriage, and from all the obligations and incapacities of the same.


"Sec. 2.—And be it further enacted, That the said Lucy Petit shall be, and she is hereby restored to all the privileges, abilities and capacities of a feme sole, as fully and as completely as though the said marriage had never existed, anything in the said contract notwithstanding. This act shall commence and be in force from and after the passing thereof.

" EDWARD TIFFIN,

"Speaker of the House of Representatives.

"ROBERT OLIVER,

"President of the Council.


"Approved—the eighth day of December, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred.


"AR. ST. CLAIR, Governor of the Territory of the United States North-west of the Ohio."


TERRITORIAL FEES OF COURT OFFICERS, ATTORNEYS AND JURORS


It may be of special interest to the profession of today to learn what the territorial authorities considered proper fees for the court officers and jurors of that period. Necessarily they were in force


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during the four or five years which intervened between the meeting of the first court in Ross County and the adoption of the state constitution, with a new order of things judicial and otherwise. The figures are taken from the proceedings of the First Territorial General Assembly, printed by the Scioto Gazette in 1801.


"Sheriff's Fees : For the service of every writ of summons and return thereof (subpoenas only excepted), when only one defendant is named therein, thirty-five cents. Each additional defendant named therein, ten cents. For every bail bond, thirty cents. Every commitment to prison, thirty cents. Discharging a person from prison, thirty cents. Attending a prisoner before a judge or in court, when required, thirty cents. Serving a writ of possession, with the aid of the posse commitatus, two dollars. Serving the said writ without such aid, one dollar. Executing a writ of enquiry and returning the same with the inquisition, one dollar and twenty-five cents. The copy of any writ or process necessary to complete a service, for each hundred words thereof, twelve cents. Serving and returning a subpoena for each person named therein and actually summoned, ten cents. Travelling fees, upon each writ of subpoena, three cents. Attending on view and in going to and returning therefrom, per day, one dollar. Summoning a jury to be allowed on each issue tried, including travelling fees, twenty cents. Making out a list for striking a special jury and delivering the same, fifty cents. Summoning a special jury, including travelling fees, two dollars. Travelling fees upon all writs and precepts not otherwise provided for, to be computed from the place of return to the place of service, per mile, five cents. Poundage on all monies made on execution, two per cent. Service of a declaration in ejectment and return, the same fees as allowed for the service of a summons. Making and executing a deed for lands sold on execution, to be paid by the purchaser, three dollars. Making a deed for land sold for taxes, to be paid by the purchaser, one dollar.


" General Court : For summoning grand jury, to be paid by the county, two dollars. Executing a criminal, to be paid out of the territorial treasury, seven dollars and fifty cents. Bringing up a person on habeas corpus in civil causes, seventy-five cents. Travellers' fees the same as in common pleas. And all other services rendered in the general or circuit court, the same fees as are allowed for similar services in the court of common pleas with an addition thereto of twenty-five cents. Provided that no compensation shall be allowed the sheriff for any service performed in the general court, for which service a compensation is not herein provided in the court of common pleas.


"Quarter Sessions: For summoning and returning a grand jury, to be paid out of the county treasury upon the order of the


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court, one dollar and fifty cents. Summoning a jury on forcible entry and detainer, two dollars. Serving a writ of restitution, seventy-five cents, and mileage thereon as in other cases. Serving summons in forcible entry and detainer, thirty cents, and mileage as in other cases. And in all other cases the fees to be taxed and allowed to the sheriff, shall be the same as are allowed for similar services in the court of common pleas. Provided, that where the United States fail in prosecution, or the defendant prove insolvent, or unable to pay the same when convicted, no fees for any service, by the sheriff or other officer, in such case performed, shall be paid by the county treasurer (the ordinary diet, fuel and water furnished to a prisoner only excepted) any law, custom or usage to the contrary notwithstanding. And for any services performed by the sheriff under the authority of the Orphans' (Probate) Court, the same fees shall be taxed and allowed as are allowed to the sheriff for similar services in the court of common pleas.


"Attorney's Fees : For warrant of attorney, twelve cents. Drawing precipe, twenty-five cents. Retaining fee, one dollar. Term fee, fifty cents. For making up record, per sheet of one hundred words, eight cents. Drawing declaration pleadings and depositions, per sheet of seventy-two words, twelve cents. Copies of the same per sheet, six cents. Notice of trial, or other necessary notice and copy, twenty-five cents. Brief and copy, seventy-five cents. Examining each witness, twenty, cents. Attendance on balloting a jury or striking a special jury, forty cents. Fee on trial or argument, one dollar and fifty cents. Drawing cost bill, twenty-five cents. Attending judge or taxing costs, or other necessary business, twenty-five cents.


"Jurors' Fees: For each juror upon each cause he may be empaneled to try, twenty-five cents, to be advanced by the person in whose favor the verdict shall be given, and taxed in the bill of costs.


"Grand Jurors' Fees: For each day's attendance, fifty cents. Travelling, per mile, five cents. Which fees shall be paid out of the county treasury, upon the order of the court.


"Witnesses' Fees: For going to, attending at and returning from court, under a subpoena, per day, thirty cents."


STATE CHANGES IN THE JUDICIARY


The constitution of 1802 provided for a Supreme Court, with three judges to be elected by the Legislature for terms of seven years, "if they so long behave well;" directed a division of the state into three Common Pleas circuits; the election by the Legislature of a president judge for each circuit, and of not more than


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three, nor less than two, associate judges for each county, for terms of seven years, "if so long they behave well;" and that a competent number of justices of the peace should be elected by the qualified voters in each township in the several counties to continue in office three years. After five years the Legislature was authorized to add a fourth judge to the Supreme Court, and to increase the number of districts of the Common Pleas. When four Supreme judges should be in office they might divide the state into two circuits, within which any two judges might hold a court. The constitution directed the Supreme Court to hold a term once a year in each county. The Common Pleas terms were fixed by the Legislature; three times each year in each county. The associate judges could hold special terms at any time for probate business.


In 1804 the Legislature added a fourth judge to the Supreme Court ; in 1810 it reduced the number to three ; in 1816 again added a fourth judge. The court continued to have that number of judges until on February 9, 1852, a new court, under the constitution of 1851, came into being. The number of Common Pleas circuits was from time to time added to as population increased and new counties were created. There were nine circuits in 1851.


The constitution of 1851 provided for a Supreme Court of five judges, elected by the people, for terms of five years, divided the state into nine Common Pleas districts, later increased to ten ; each district having more than three counties, containing three subdivisions ; each subdivision by popular vote, chose one judge of Common Pleas for a term of five years. Under later legislation in each subdivision additional Common Pleas judges were chosen, and the 1912 constitution provides for a judge in any county which so desires, thus abolishing the subdivisions.


In each county each year one judge of the Supreme Court and the Common Pleas judges Of the district held one term of a "District Court," which took the place of the old "Supreme Court on the Circuit." The entire Supreme Court were required to hold a term beginning each year in January at the capitol. A Probate. judge, elected by the people in each county for a term of three years, took the place of the associate judges.


In 1873, an amendment of the constitution authorized the Legis lature to provide, once in ten years, a Supreme Court Commission of five judges, to be nominated by the governor and confirmed by the State Senate. Governor Hayes appointed the first commission which sat for three years, 1876 to 1879; and Governor Foster a. second commission of five judges which sat from April, 1883, to April, 1885.


In 1884, the state was divided into seven circuits, in each of which the people elected three Circuit judges for terms of six