450 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY party accompanying Massie on his original surveying tour, and after the work was done, he purchased a portion of the land surveyed, being a farm about a mile south of Clarksburg not far from the Chillicothe pike. John F. Burris, his nephew and namesake, afterward owned and occupied a portion of the farm, having come West from Pennsylvania in 1807, at the age of six years. William Baker came out from Virginia in the year 1799, and settled on the Scioto River. After a stay of two years there he moved to Deerfield, settling on Deer Creek near Peter Jackson. Mr. Baker purchased first 100 acres of land from Gcneral Massie. With Mr. Baker came John Baker, his father, who was afterward somewhat prominent in politics. John Baker, son of William, and grandson of John, subsequently resided in Union Township, and Marcus A. Baker, his son, lived upon a fine farm in Deerfield, being the fourth of the name in direct descent to own land in the township. George Smith was born in the year 1789, and came to Ross County in 1806, in company with Henry Potter, Samuel Turner and Thomas Coons. He served in the War of 1812, and afterward, in 1817, came to Clarksburg, in Deerfield, and was for more than half a century identified with the business of the place. He brought the first goods ever sold in Clarksburg, and lived to be considerably over ninety, being at the time of his death one of the few pensioners of the War of 1812. Henry Peck came from Hardy County, Virginia, in the year 1813, and settled in Pickaway County, just across the line from Deerfield. The journey was made by wagon, in company with his wife, two sons, one daughter, and his brother, Jacob Peck. The two bought 400 acres of land. Henry bought, in the year 1850, about 500 acres in Deerfield, across Deer Creek from his Pickaway County land, moved over to the new farm in 1857, and died there. His son, John J. Peck, then became proprietor of the farm, one of the finest in the county. John Farlow came from the State of Delaware in the year 1818, and settled in Concord Township, on the farm later owned by William Dyer. He remained in Concord until about 1830, when he came to Deerfield, and in 1831, bought from Josiah Lewis the farm where he afterward lived and died. The farm is about two miles west of the Clarksburg turnpike. Mr. Farlow married, in 1836, Elizabeth Folks, who survived him. His death occurred in 1868. Clarksburg, the only village in Deerfield, was laid out in the year 1817, by George Clark, the father of Hon. Milton H. Clark, of Chillicothe, whose settlement dates back to the beginning of the century. During that year George Smith established a store in the HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 451 house where he now resides, and James Timmons opened the first tavern. When Clarksburg had grown to sufficient size to warrant it, a postoffice was established and Mr. Smith was made postmaster. The first effort toward the establishment of a school is also to be credited to Mr. Smith, who with George King raised a subscription and hired a teacher, about the year 1820. The schoolhouse was established on the public square. Clarksburg was in the ante-railroad days a town of some importance, and now has in its form of government at least some pretense of dignity. TWIN TOWNSHIP AND BOURNEVILLE This beautiful wooded township is located west of the central part of the county and in early times was the hunter's ideal of all that a country should be. When the first settlers came into the township in the last years of the eighteenth century and the first of the nineteenth, the courses of Paint Creek and such branches as Upper and Lower Twin, were heavily timbered with ash, hickory, black and white walnut, cherry, hackberry, oak, poplar, sugar-maple, sycamore and other varieties. The absence of underbrush was also quite noteworthy. The woods abounded in wild game of every description, deer and wild turkey being especially numerous, and from the peculiarity noted, they were easily run to cover and shot. When the township was formed from territory taken from Union, Concord and Paxton, in February, 1805, the Twin Branches of Paint Creek, which flow with almost parallel beds and similar courses through the northwestern sections of the township, suggested the name which was officially adopted. Some of the most notable of the settlers who came to the township previous to 1805 are here mentioned. One of the first settlers was Lewis Igo. He was a native of Maryland, born near Baltimore in the year 1767. In the fall of 1797 he came from Kentucky to the Scioto Valley, purchased a tract of land of General McArthur, on Lower Twin, and built a cabin on the farm afterward owned by his son William. The following spring he brought out his family, and was also accompanied by his brother-in-law, Philip Hare. When they arrived in sight of the cabin they were astonished to see smoke ascending from the chimney, and Igo at once concluded that the Indians had taken possession of his home. He and Hare loaded their rifles, and approached the house cautiously, expecting a fight, but a nearer inspection revealed the unexpected but gratifying fact that the occupants were a white family. A man by the name of Jeffers had moved in during Igo's absence, and, finding a habitation ready 452 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY for his accommodation, very naturally took possession. He afterward settled on the farm adjoining that of Igo. When the Igo family located their nearest neighbors were a family living on Paint Creek, a short distance above where Bainbridge now is, and a family in the vicinity of the Slate mill. Their meal and salt were brought for some time after their settlement from Kentucky, Mr. Igo himself making the strips on a pack-horse. He was a cooper by trade, and made all the wooden ware used by the early settlers, his customers paying him by splitting rails for him. He died in 1844. He raised a family of eight children, some of whose descendants still reside in the township. George Vinson Haller and family, and his brother, Jacob Haller, originally from the south branch of the Potomac, moved to Ross County from Kentucky about 1798. They settled on Paint Creek, in what has since been known as "Haller's bottom," George Haller owning most of the land in that locality. The family lived the first winter in a shanty constructed of puncheons, and lined with the skins of bears that Mr. Haller had killed. One end of the structure was entirely open and before it was a logheap, which was kept burning and which served the double purpose of warming the occupants and keeping at bay the wolves, whose hungry eyes were often seen glaring at them through the blazing fire. Mr. Haller afterward moved onto higher land, the bottoms being subject to overflow. He was a local preacher and a man of excellent character; was one of the first of the settlers' who brought sheep into the country. He finally exchanged his lands in Twin Township for lands in Adams County. He was born in Berkeley County, Virginia, December 16, 1770, and died in Chillicothe September 8, 1839. He raised twelve children, all of whom survived him. A son, Lorenzo Dow, was with Fremont in his western explorations. Among the earliest settlers were the Teters. Samuel Teter, Sr., migrated with his family from Washington County, Pennsylvania, in 1799, and settled on Lower Twin. Some years afterward, he moved to Union County, where he died. He owned considerable land on Twin, which he divided among his sons. William and Edward Kearan came from the south branch of the Potomac, prior to 1800. William settled in Haller's bottom, where he lived about five years, when he located on Plug run and resided there some sixty years. He died in 1840. Edward Kearan settled on the farm then owned by Samuel Turner, of whom he took a lease. Subsequently he moved to Hardin County. He died there in 1846. Hugh Cochran, Sr., emigrated with his family from Kentucky to Ross County, in the spring of 1796, and located at Station Prairie, below Chillicothe. He purchased a large amount of land in the HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 453 vicinity of the present village of Bourneville, which he divided among his children. He died in the year 1829, at the age of eighty-four years. Hugh Cochran, Jr., was among the earliest pioneers of the township, and lived and died on the farm his father gave him. He was born in 1788, married Jane, daughter of Joseph Myers, who was also an early settler in Twin, and died in 1863, in the seventy-sixth year of his age. His sister Elizabeth was the wife of George Kilgore, who came with the Massie colony in the spring of 1796. They were married in Chillicothe, April 17, 1798, and theirs was the first wedding celebrated in the Scioto Valley. They settled, at an early date, in Twin Township, a short distance above Bourneville, and lived there until their children, of whom they had a large number, were adults, and then moved to Indiana. James, David, Andrew and Allen Cochran also settled in this township, but the first three finally moved to the West. Allen was a justice of the peace, for a number of years. He died February 13, 1850, in his sixty-third year, from an injury received while attending a trial in Chillicothe. In 1800 John Core moved into the township, and settled on Lower Twin. He was a millwright, and erected a grist and sawmill soon after his arrival, on the creek, a short distance above his residence. He had a family of seven sons and four daughters. Peter Storm and his family, consisting of his wife and nine children, migrated from near Martinsburg, Virginia, in the fall of 1802. They started on their journey early in the month of September, and arrived at Haller's bottom about the first of October. Many of their old neighbors and friends accompanied them on their journey a number of miles, and then bidding them a sorrowful adieu, returned to their homes with the firm belief that they should never hear of the adventurers again. Two sons, George and John, then lads of fourteen and twelve years of age, drove two cows from Virginia, walking the entire distance. Mr. Storm raised one crop of corn in Haller's Bottom, and then he purchased of General McArthur 150 acres adjoining the farm afterward owned by his son, John, a soldier of the War of 1812. Abijah Flora was one of the earliest settlers in Haller's bottom, emigrating from Virginia. He served in the war of the Revolution as lieutenant of his company, and died at the age of seventy years. Daniel Hare, who settled in Vain in 1801 or 1802, migrated from Kentucky. He came out in the fall of 1797, and built a cabin on Paint Creek, about a mile above Bainbridge. He was an experienced hunter, and the following winter he did but little else than hunt. He killed deer, and othcr wild game, which he salted down—bringing the salt from Kentucky—in a trough dug out of a large 454 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY sycamore tree. Over this trough thus filled with meat he placed another of the same size, and then covered the whole with brush to conceal it from the Indians, who were encamped in the immediate vicinity. In the spring he returned for his family, and when they arrived he found his meat untouched. He cleared there a piece of land for Nathaniel Massie, for which he received a hundred acres on Lower Twin, in Twin Township, besides what he could raise from his cleared land. He remained in Paxton four or five years, during which time he had accumulated enough money to purchase an additional 100 acres in Twin. He then received a dced from General Massie for 200 acres, and removed to that township. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1766, and died in Bourneville in 1850. His wife died in 1807, and he subsequently married again. He had three children by his first wife. Aaron Foster emigrated from Pennsylvania in the early settlement of the township. He served in the War of 1812, as adjutant, under Colonel McDonald. He was a justice of the peace of Twin Township for twenty-one years, and served as county commissioner one term. William Reed came from the State of Delaware before 1800, and located on Lower Twin one of the first grist mills in the township. David Elliott was an early settler, and captain of a company in the War of 1812. Jacob Myers, a carpenter, served in the War of 1812 as major, and was distinguished for his bravery. Colonel John McDonald, the well-known author of "McDonald's Sketches," was a resident of Twin Township for over fifty years. He was born in Pennsylvania, in 1775, came to Chillicothe in 1796, and three years afterwards was married to Catharine, daughter of John Cutright. In 1800, he settled where John Campbell afterward located and in 1802 moved to Poplar Ridge, where he resided the remainder of his busy life, which is more completely depicted elsewhere. Gideon Coover migrated from Pennsylvania in the year 1800, and purchased the farm subsequently owned by Mrs. Rowe. About the year 1820, with others, he went to New Orleans with a flatboat laden with flour, pork, hops, etc., and died of yellow fever. He had disposed of his cargo and was returning home, when the nature of his sickness becoming known to the captain of the vessel, he at first refused to carry him further, but was finally prevailed upon to take him to Baton Rouge. There he was put ashore, and died at the house of a minister whom he had previously known. Philip Gossard and his son-in-law, Caspar Plyley, with their families, migrated together from Philadelphia to Ohio about the year 1801. When they reached Pittsburgh, intelligence was re- HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 455 ceived of Indian depredations in the country to which they were going, and they remained for a short time in that city. During their sojourn there their number was augmented by the birth of a son to Mr. and Mrs. Plyley, that son being Philip G. Plyley. Gossard and Plyley first settled at the mouth of Deer Creek, in Union Township, but the location on those bottom lands being very unhealthful, they soon moved to the ridge in Twin Township, since called Plyley's Ridge. Plyley kept a public house there for many years. Caspar Plyley served in the war of the Revolution. His father had been the owner of considerable real estate in the vicinity of Philadelphia, and had lost much of his property through the worthlessness of the continental money. Mortified by the reverses of the family, Caspar, although then a minor, enlisted in the army, and subsequently participated in numerous engagements under General Greene. He died at an advanced age. Philip Gossard settled on the farm immediately west of Plyley, afterward called the Fuller farm, and died there. He was a native of Switzerland, and it is said was an excellent scholar in his native language, and also an accomplished musician. William Campbell, a native of Scotland, emigrated to the United States before the year 1800. He found his way to Chillicothe soon after, and went to work for General McArthur, his cousin, and remained in his employ until his marriage in 1816. Two years later he settled in Twin Township, and lived there until his death, which took place in 1852. He was the father of sixteen children. Isaac McCrackin, born in 1785, emigrated with his wife, Catharine (Parker), from Hampshire County, Virginia, to Twin Township in 1808. They lived two years in Haller's Bottom, when he purchased the farm owned at a later date by William Taylor. He died in 1849. His wife survived him a number of years. Judge McCrackin represented Ross County in the Legislature, session of 1831-32, and at the expiration of his legislative term was appointed associate judge of Ross County, in which he served efficiently for seven years. He had previously been justice of the peace of Twin Township for a number of years, and was one of the earliest elected to that office. James Sommerville and family, consisting of his wife and three children—Helen, James, and John—emigrated from Scotland to this county in 1808.. He settled on the place subsequently occupied by Seth Fuller, and died there. James went to Kentucky, where he engaged in school teaching, and among his pupils were members of the Breckenridge and Clay families. At a later date he went west and was killed at the battle of Tippecanoe. John married Elizabeth Smith, and lived on the farm afterward occupied by his daughter, Sarah Sommerville. He reached the advanced age of 456 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY nearly ninety-two, dying in April, 1879. He was quartermaster under Colonel McDonald during the campaign of 1814, and was among the early justices of the peace of Twin Township, and served efficiently for a number of years. He was the father of twelve children. John Mahan was an early settler, and also George Yoakum, who had previously lived on Big Bottom, below Waverly. When he moved into Twin, he cut the road through the woods, which was afterward known as Yoakum's trace. Job and John Harness settled in Twin some time before the War of 1812. They made the journey up the Scioto and up Paint Creek in a keelboat, landing near the bridge above Bourneville. They settled on Paint Creek, and erected a grist mill at an early day. They finally sold out and moved to Indiana. Christian Baum came from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, about 1815, and bought 160 acres of land in Madison Township, Pickaway County. He afterwards added largely to his purchase, buying 200 acres in Twin Township, Ross County, which is still in possession of the family. In 1818 he was married to Sarah Shook, and raised a family of seven children. He died in 1862 Peter Platter, Sr., was born in Germany. He came with his father to Pennsylvania in 1764, when he was only five years old. He served as a soldier in the war of the Revolution and was in the battles of Bunker Hill and of Brandywine. He married, and with his wife and one child, moved about 1793 to Kentucky. A few years afterward he became a resident of Adams County, Ohio. In 1811 he traded his 300 acres in Haller's Bottom. He died in 1832, and his wife during the same year. They had a family of thirteen children. OLD BOURNEVILLE CEMETERY The mention of Bourneville recalls the fact that it was the site of one of the first cemeteries to be laid out in the county. The Methodists had formed a class and held services in Haller's Bottom as early as 1800, and William Keran, the local preacher who conducted them, is said to have preached the first sermon in Paint Creek Valley. He was a man of earnestness and active piety and after a long life of great usefulness died in Bourneville in 1840. Under Mr. Keran's ministration a log meetinghouse was erected on the farm of John Teter, and, as was customary, a small burial ground was laid out adjoining it. Daniel Teter, a son of the original settler by that name, was one of the first persons interred. The first burials were made in the bottom, but although the burial grounds extended up the side of a hill, the Methodists thought HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 457 best to open a new cemetery on a more appropriate site nearer the settlement of Bourneville. Under Mr. Keran's ministration they therefore laid out the Bourneville cemetery soon after the erection of their new double hewn-log church, which was completed about 1814. In that graveyard were interred the remains of many of the earliest pioneers of Twin Township. The oldest inscription is that of Sarah, wife of Matthew Mahin, who died December 27, 1814. SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP AND HOPETOWN Springfield Township, which lies in the eastern hills and slopes of the Scioto Valley, opposite Scioto Township and the City of Chillicothe, is a region of varied interest. Its western portions adjoining the river are in many places rugged and impressive. Within three miles of Chillicothe is Mount Logan, which rises about 600 feet above the city, and from its summit a grand view of the Scioto Valley is presented. North Pinnacle, still farther in the direction indicated, is of greater height, but of less fame than Mount Logan. The former affords a striking view of Circleville, and even Columbus is seen as a blur in the more northern distance. This is the region also of a number of ancient earthworks, both curious and picturesque. Except along the Scioto River the surface of Springfield Township is usually rolling in contour. At the arrival of the pioneer settlers of the region, the timber on the bottom lands consisted mainly of sugar maple, black walnut, oak and shellbark hickory. On the upland and hills was found mostly the oak, the white variety predominating. The wild beasts inhabiting the woods when the white men came were the bear, panther, wildcat, deer, wolf, wild hog, and smaller game too numerous to specify. Among the pioneers of Springfield were many noted hunters. One of these was Samuel McRoberts, who located in the township with his parents when a boy, being one of its first settlers. When only fourteen years of age, with his gun and small dog, he encountered an old she-bear and five cubs on Walnut Creek, and killed every one of them. When about twenty-one years of age he took his rifle and rode on horseback through the wilderness to Missouri on a hunting expedition. He was with Daniel Boone on several occasions and received some valuable lessons in hunting and trapping from the famous Kentuckian. Michael Cryder, Sr., with his wife and seven sons, migrated from Huntington County, Pennsylvania, in the year 1796. He came down the Ohio River on a flatboat to the mouth of the Scioto and thence on a kcelboat pushed up the Scioto to Chillicothe. There he remained a few months, during which he put up a cabin on 458 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY the east bank of the river, west of Hopetown, into which he moved. He entered all of section 6 and the land west of it to the river, comprising some 1,400 acres. He lived in the cabin on the river a few years, then erected a two-story, hewed-log house, where he died in 1816. He was a native of Pennsylvania, and served as commissary in the Revolutionary war. His wife Sarah died in 1817. They raised a family of eight sons and one daughter. Martin Overley and his sons, Boston, Frederick and Martin, came from Bourbon County, Kentucky, in 1797. They built a bark shanty in section 5, in which they kept bachelors' hall until fall, during which they cleared off a piece of land and planted it to corn. They subsisted principally on cornbread and sugar water, with an addition sometimes, by way of variety, of scalded nettles. For their meal and salt they were compelled to go to Kentucky. In the fall, after securing their crop, they returned for their families, moving out on pack-horses. There was no road, only an Indian trail through the dense forest. The wife of Frederick Overley carried on her horse, all the way from Kentucky, a spinning wheel and her babe, eight weeks old. They all moved into the bark shanty until their several log cabins could be built. The father occupied the farm afterward owned by George Haynes. Alexander McRoberts, a native of Virginia, emigrated from Kentucky to Chillicothe in 1796. He built a cabin on the northwest corner of Second and Mulberry streets, after which he returned for his family. He entered 300 acres in the south part of section 7 of this township, and in 1798 or 1799 erected a frame house, which is claimed to have been the first frame dwelling erected in Ross County. He died in 1800, his death being one of the first in the township. He was a soldier of the Revolutionary war and served from the battle of Bunker Hill to that of Yorktown. He was the father of three sons and four daughters, all of whom are these many years deceased. Samuel, the eldest son, was the first in the township to enlist in the War of 1812. He died in 1859. Alexander H. McRoberts, second son of the pioneer, was a prominent citizen of Springfield and was its justice of the peace for many years. Squire McRoberts died in 1853. Henry Musselman located in Springfield Township soon after those previously mentioned, coming from Kentucky. His wife, as already stated, was Elizabeth Cryder, whom he married in Pennsylvania, and the favorable reports of the new country which he received from his father-in-law induced him to emigrate. He entered the north half of section 7 and erected a mill on the Scioto River, further mention of which is made elsewhere. He died in 1848, at the advanced age of eighty-five years and ten months He was one of the first justices in the valley. HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 459 George Haynes, Sr., came from Shepherdstown, Virginia, in the year 1798. Col. Thomas Worthington had visited Chillicothe in 1797, purchased a few lots and erected a frame house. On his return to Virginia he contracted with Mr. Haynes, who was a blacksmith, and one Joseph Yates, a millwright, to come out the following winter or spring and erect for him a sawmill and a gristmill on the north fork of Paint Creek. For those mills Mr. Haynes brought the iron with him from Virginia. He put up a shop in Chillicothe on the corner of Paint and Water streets, without doubt the first blacksmith shop in Ross County. Mr. Haynes resided in Chillicothe until 1815, when he moved to Springfield Township, locating on a farm and erecting a small grist-mill and distillery on Spring Branch, but because of conscientious scruples in regard to the manufacture of liquor he soon discontinued the latter and located in another neighborhood. It is said that he and a brother ironed the first steamboat that was ever built. He was born in York County, Pennsylvania, in 1770, and died in 1853. Thomas and Zebulon Orr were among the early pioneers of the township. When boys they emigrated with their parents, Thomas and Sarah Orr, from Ireland. They came to the Scioto Valley from the south branch of the Potomac, as early as 1798, built a cabin at "High Bank" and cultivated a crop of corn. Subsequently Thomas returned for his family, and also brought out his brother William and his sister Jane. It is said his team was the fifth one driven west of Wheeling. After remaining at High Bank some five or six years he moved to Dry Run, where he made a clearing, planted an orchard and made other improvements. But his land was subsequently entered by another man, and he lost his improvements. He then purchased, in connection with his brother William, some 380 acres where Henry Miller and Wesley Orr afterward resided, and passed the remainder of his life there. He was first married to Rebecca Alexander, and, after her death, to Mary Jones, and was the father of twelve children. James Cutright, who was among the first pioneers of Springfield Township, was born at Station Prairie, February 26, 1798, and was one of the first white children born in the county. His father, John Cutright, came from Virginia with the Massie party in 1796. He remained at the station for a short time, then moved to the east side of the river, on land belonging to Nathaniel Massie. He died there in 1830. James Outright, the son, married Sabre Neff, and located first on a portion of his father-in-law's farm ; afterward settled on the river, but finally bought out the Neff heirs and occupied the place until his death, which took place June 16, 1870. He was an influential man in the settlement, and was commissioner of the county at one time. 460 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY The first school was kept in a log house on the Haynes farm, about the summer of 1815. The house, which had previously been the dwelling of Martin Overley, was moved by Mr. Haynes, Sr., onto the road and fitted up for a schoolhouse. The first teacher was James Finley, an old Revolutionary soldier. He taught one quarter, and was followed by a man named McIntosh, also a soldier of the Revolution. The first female teacher was Tirza Robinson, and after her Abigail Marsh. As early as 1806 the Methodists held meetings in Musselman's mill, and afterward in the log schoolhouse which stood where Michael Cryder 's orchard afterward flourished. The pioneer circuit preacher in the township, and, indeed, in the Scioto Valley, was Rev. James Quinn. Michael Cryder, Sr., was one of the earliest local preachers. A class was formed in west Springfield at an early date in the settlement of the township, comprising Henry Musselman and wife, John Cryder and wife, Jonas Rudisill and wife, and Mr. and Mrs. Coleman. Mr. Musselman was an active and leading member, and was the first class leader. In 1834 the church at Hopetown was erected, the ground for which, as well as for the graveyard, was given by Mr. Musselman. Soon after he came in from Kentucky, about 1798, Henry Musselman built a log grist-mill on the river, southwest of where Hopetown now stands. This was the first mill ever erected on the Scioto, and one of the first in the county, and people for many miles distant came there to get their grinding done. About the same time Governor Worthington erected a mill on the north fork of Paint Creek, and McCoy one on Kinnickinnick, better known as Crouse's mill. These were the first mills in the country. Mussleman's mill was a rude affair, and was the first run by horsepower. Subsequently he erected a large frame mill, which went out of existence many years ago. David Cryder built further up the river on the little stream called Spring Branch, an "overshot" mill, in 1816 or 1817. Several years before his father, Michael Cryder, had built in the same place a sawmill. On this same stream, George Haynes, Sr., had a small grist-mill and also a still. A grist-mill was erected at an early date on the river in the southwest corner of the township, by Major Kilgore. There are at the present time no mills in the township, except, perhaps, portable sawmills. Hopetown was laid out by Henry Mussleman, the original owner of the land on which the town is situated, in 1819. As early as 1805 Jacob Weider kept a tavern at a point where the roads then forked. Weider had there also a still and brewery, and the place was appropriately called Barley Forks. The tavern was a long frame building containing a row of nine rooms, and was known as HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 461 the "long nine." This tavern was successively kept by a son of Jacob Weider, a man by the name of Campbell Rider and Jacob Overley. The first store was opened by Peter Slimmer in a part of his dwelling and he afterward changed its location to the western part of the village. Michael Cryder, who moved to Chillicothe, conducted a store on the pike in Hopetown for some twenty-five years. Hopetown is a small hamlet on the Scioto Valley traction line, and its growth is still based on hope. UNION TOWNSHIP One of the largest and best improved townships in Ross County, Union extends from its northern limits almost to its center, a few miles west of Chillicothe. While there is some poor land, most of it is of an excellent quality, and the bottom lands along the Scioto River, Paint and Deer Creeks, are in fertility and productiveness unsurpassed. The township contains numerous streams, and the surface is generally quite uneven. The Scioto flows along its entire eastern border, and the north fork of Paint Creek forms, for the most part, its southern boundary. Deer Creek, a large branch of the Scioto, flows in an easterly direction through the northern portion of the township and divides it into what is called North Union and South Union. Yellow Bud, a stream of considerable magnitude and also a tributary of the Scioto, flows through a small portion of the northern part of the township. South Union is watered by Dry Run, a small branch of the Scioto, and several branches of the north fork of Paint Creek. The first settlers found the township covered with a heavy growth of timber, to clear it of which, and fit the land for cultivation, involved an immense amount of labor. The varieties consisted principally of walnut, hickory, sugar-maple, burr-oak, butter-. nut, cherry and elm, which were found on the bottom lands, while on the uplands the oak generally prevailed. Precisely at what date the settlement of the territory embraced within the present limits- of Union Township was commenced, or who should be accorded the honor of making it, it is impossible now to say. It is quite probable that the first settlement was made in 1796, as some of those who came in with General Massie, in the spring of that year, shortly afterward selected their lands in this township and settled upon them. Among these were the McCoys—Joseph, Thomas, and John. They were natives of Pennsylvania, but emigrated from Kentucky to Ohio. Joseph McCoy, after remaining a short time at the "station," settled on the farm afterward owned by his grandson, James B. McCoy. A few years after 462 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY his settlement he erected the hewed log house, which was long occupied as a dwelling, nearly opposite the brick residence of James B. McCoy. The house was a two-story structure, with a fireplace below and above. The chinking was done with genuine plaster, and not with mud, as was common, and the logs were whitewashed. It was considered, in its day, a fine residence, being a great improvement over the ordinary rough log cabin. While stopping at the station, his wifc was taken ill and died. She was buried about where the depot now stands, and is said to have been the first person interred in Chillicothe. Mr. McCoy subsequently married again. He died in 1811, aged about forty years, and is buried in the graveyard of Union Church, of which he was a prominent member, being one of its first elders. Thomas and John McCoy built their cabins in Chillicothe soon after the town was laid out, that of John McCoy being the first structure erected in the place. Thomas remained there until the spring of 1797, when he moved into Union. He bought 300 acres in the Obadiah Smith survey. In 1808 he erected the substantial brick house subsequently occupied by Moses Stitt, his grandson. The brick were burned upon the place, and the nails used in its construction were brought from Kentucky on pack-horses. He died in February, 1852, aged nearly eighty-two years. He had a large family of children, but none of them is now living. John McCoy first made a settlement at the mouth of Paint Creek, where he remained for a few years, when, because of the unhealthfulness of the bottoms, he decided to remove to a higher location. He came to Union, and settled upon the hill where his descendants afterward lived, and died in the year 1844, in the seventy-third year of his age. There were few permanent settlers in Union, earlier than John Rodgers. He was born in Loudoun County, Virginia, in 1777, and when ten years of age went to Kentucky. At the age of nineteen—in 1797—he emigrated to the Scioto Valley with his uncle Benjamin Rodgers, and has often said that he was here three months without seeing a white woman. He located land in the vicinity of where the Slate mills now are, on the north fork of Paint, built a shanty and kept bachelor's hall. About two years afterward he brought out his father and the rest of the family. His father, William Rodgers, afterward resided on the place and kept tavern for many years. John Rodgers was married December 31, 1799, to Mary, daughter of Joshua Clark, and in the spring following settled in Union, during the previous winter having erected the house which was continuously occupied for about a century. Mr. Rodgers assisted at the raising of the first cabin in Chillicothe, and brought the first cattle into Ross County, driving them from Kentucky. His wife HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 463 died in 1860, and a few years afterward, having lost his sight, he took up his residence with his daughter, Mrs. Beard. He died in 1866, at the age of nearly eighty-nine years, having raised a family of eleven children. Gen. James Manary, a native of Pennsylvania, moved out from Kentucky in 1796. He brought his family on horseback, his wife carrying a four weeks' old babe in her lap. General Manary had visited the country a few years before, having accompanied Massie in his surveying operations. He was an expert hunter, and to him was assigned the duty of providing the party with game. He received from Colonel Massie 100 acres of land, which he located on the north fork of Paint Creek, in Union Township. Here he settled with his family and resided until his death. He was a general in the War of 1812, and subsequently was elected to the Legislature. One of the prominent pioneers of Union was Col. James Dunlap, son of Alexander Dunlap, who purchased land in the township in 1796. Colonel Dunlap was a native of Virginia, born in 1768, and removed to Union, settling on the land his father had previously bought. He erected the brick house later occupied by Richard Marzluff, prior to 1815, and resided there at the time of his death, which took place in 1821. He was a member of the Legislature at an early date, and was once a candidate for governor of the state. He had a family of three children, viz : Peggy, who became the wife of Alexander McCoy ; Nancy, who married John Mace, and Alexander, who went to Tennessee. Alexander Robertson moved to Chillicothe from Augusta County, Virginia, in the fall of 1798. In the following spring he located on the farm which he leased from George Haynes. In 1803 he settled and afterwards lived where his son, Capt. James Robertson, afterward resided. He died in 1840. Michael Beaver, Sr., migrated with his family from Virginia to Ross County, in 1796, but remained only two years, when he returned to Kentucky on account of malaria and other unsanitary drawbacks of the new country ; but in 1800 he returned and bought 1,100 acres in the Chilton survey, on Deer Creek. He was a soldier of the Revolutionary war, and his son, Michael, of the War of 1812. William, Anthony, Samuel, Jeremiah and Robert Smith, all brothers, came out with Colonel Massie in 1796. William and Samuel afterwards settled in Union, on the river, but finally moved to Pickaway County. Samuel Smith was, without doubt, the first magistrate in Ross County. Joshua Robinson came out with Col. Nathaniel Massie and party in the spring of 1795. The party proceeded on their journey without molestation until their arrival a short distance below the falls of Paint Creek, when they came in contact with some Indians who 464 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY had encamped at Reeves' crossing, near where the Town of Bainbridge now is. A fight ensued in which Joshua Robinson was shot through the body and died in a few minutes. His brother, William Robinson, who was also in this fight, moved to Ross County in 1800 and settled on the land which he had previously purchased of Colonel Massie, comprising some 640 acres in South Union. His cabin was among the first erected in the vicinity. When war was declared in 1812, he promptly volunteered, although exempt from duty by reason of his age. He died at the age of seventy years. John Robinson on the death of his father was adopted by his uncle, William, with whom he lived until he was of age. He served in the War of 1812. as corporal in Capt. Alexander Manary 's company. After the close of the war he settled on the farm on which he lived until his death which had nearly concluded the century mark. In the spring of 1800 Henry and Thomas Bowdle and Thomas Withgott moved in from Dorchester County, Maryland. James Sisk and family came at the same time, or shortly afterward. They all located temporarily in Chillicothe, while they selected their homes in the woods. The same season they cleared off a small piece of land on the farm on which Withgott afterward settled, and planted it to corn. They would walk out to their work every morning, and home at evenings, a distance of eight or nine miles, and picking their way through the forest by means of blazed trees. Henry Bowdle and his sons purchased the Jones survey of 1,000 acres, and built his cabin on the farm which became the family homestead. He died in 1829. Isaac Cook, born in Connecticut in 1768, emigrated to Chillicothe from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1798. He was the agent of General Nevil for the sale of his land, and after living for two years across the river from Chillicothe, he took up his residence in Nevil's survey, in Union Township, erecting his house where his son, William, afterward lived. Judge Cook was a man of character, ability and influence. He was an associate judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Ross County for twenty-seven years, being first appointed in 1803 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Felix Renick. He was also a member of the Legislature for several terms. He died in 1842. Thomas Hicks was also a prominent settler in this neighborhood. He emigrated to this county from Maryland in 1802. John Winders and family settled on Dry Run in 1800; also his brother, James, about the same time. John Winders moved from Pennsylvania to "high bank prairie" in 1796, and remained there four years, when he located in Union. Levi Warner came out with the family and subsequently married a daughter and settled on part of his father-in-law's farm. These families were Quakers, and HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 465 soon after their settlement others of the same sect moved in—the Crispins, Websters and Fergusons. Soon after Winders arrived, a Friend's society was formed, and a log meeting house erected on his land a short distance north of Mr. Warner's residence. They also established a school and built a schoolhouse on the same lot. Nothing is now left of the buildings, but their site is marked by the little burying ground in which their dead were deposited. David Augustus was an early pioneer of Union, emigrating from Delaware before 1800. He settled where Martin Briggs afterward resided, and died there in 1842, aged nearly eighty years. Thomas Earl, Sr., settled about 1800 on the farm now occupied by Curtis Kinneman. James Armstrong, from Kentucky, settled about the same time where his son-in-law, William Bostwick, subsequently lived. He was associate judge for a number of years. He died in 1843, aged seventy-one. Levi Hurst and family, in company with his brother-in-law, Samuel Badley, and Robert McCollister and family, emigrated to Ross County from Maryland in 1801. Mr. Hurst was induced to go West by the migration of his Methodist friends, the Bowdles, Withgotts and Sisks, during the previous year. The party left Dorchester County, Maryland, in April, traveling with three or four carts which were drawn by two horses driven tandem, until they arrived at Wheeling. There Mr. Hurst purchased a flat-boat, on which the company and their effects floated down to Portsmouth, except the horses, which Badley and a couple of lads brought through by land. At Portsmouth horses and carts were again brought into use and in nine days the travelers reached Chillicothe, arriving in the month of June. Mr. Hurst moved to Union in September following, purchasing 'of Governor Worthington a farm in the Morgan survey. The hewed log house which he built in 1804, he occupied until his death. He was born in 1770, and died in 1860. Their married life had extended over a period of seventy years. They were the parents of fourteen children, of whom they reared ten. Col. John Evans and Anthony Simms Davenport were among the earliest settlers of North Union, and both of them owned a large amount of land in the vicinity of where Yellow Bud was afterward platted. Colonel Evans was born in Baltimore County, Maryland, in 1766, and migrated to Ross County about the year 1800. He was a surveyor, a man of energy and enterprise, and became wealthy. He died in 1841 in his seventy-sixth year. Hezekiah and Isaiah Ingham came out from Berks County, Pennsylvania, in 1810. They were industrious, energetic young men, and Hezekiah was a practical paper manufacturer, having served an apprenticeship in the business in Pennsylvania. David Vol. I-30 466 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY Crouse had in process of construction at the time of their arrival a flouring-mill, on Kinnickinnick Creek, in Green Township. The Messrs. Ingham leased the property for seven years, and finished the building, which they converted into a paper-mill. At the expiration of their lease, about 1818, they came to Union and subsequently engaged in a like enterprise in that township. Hezekiah Ingham was married to Nancy Justus, a daughter of one of the early settlers of Green Township. He died in 1863. His sons, William and James, became proprietors of the paper-mill in Chillicothe. Isaiah Ingham died in 1867. The first schoolhouse in South Union was built about the year 1800, on land which afterward became the farm of Joseph Clark. It was a log structure with puncheon floor, and a roof of clapboards with weight-poles. laid across to keep them in place. The windows were made by cutting out a log for several feet on each side of the house and putting greased paper in the opening. One end of the house was almost entirely occupied by a fireplace. The seats consisted of split slabs supported by wooden pins. In this manner the schoolhouses were built for a number of years. About 1816 a school was opened' in a log cabin about a mile north of where Andersonville was afterward platted, the teacher being a man by the name of Perkins. Later it was held in a schoolhouse on the Ingham farm east of the village. A hewed log house was erected a short distance above Andersonville in 1823, and was used until the brick house in the village was erected. A schoolhouse was built at an early date near where the Union Church now stands, and another (about 1815) where the upper part of the basin now is. Mr. Young and Mr. Lowery were the first teachers. One of the earliest schools was opened on the farm of Thomas Withgott in which Charles McCrea was one of the first teachers. The first burials were made in private burying-grounds, which have not, except in a few cases, been maintained. The Bowdle burial-ground is the oldest regular burial place in the township, being laid out soon after 1800. The first person buried there was Mary Sisk, the first wife of James Sisk, the date of which event was February 2, 1801. In the Union Church burying-ground the oldest inscription the writer noticed was the one recording the death of Joseph McCoy, who died in 1811. In the canal days 'there were a number of towns, or stations, along that waterway in Union Township. The two best known were Yellow Bud and Andersonville. Yellow Bud, situated on the stream of the same name, had its origin in the erection of a grist-mill, soon after 1800, by Francis and Baylis Nichols. In the fall of 1835 a distillery was built by HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 467 a company composed of Joshua Clark, of Lancaster, Ohio, and others, and a pork-packing business established. Merchandising was also carried on. It was laid out as a village by Isaiah Ingham, John Boggs and Samuel G. Lutz, in 1845. A postoffice was established with Washington Delaplane as postmaster in 1845 or 1846. A dry-dock, for the construction and repair of canal boats, was built at Yellow Bud about the year 1837, by William Thompson, the first one of the southern division of the Ohio canal. The town collapsed with the exit of the canal period. Andersonville, six miles north of Chillicothe, took its name from Mahlon Anderson, who formerly owned the land on which it is situated, and who opened the first store there. The land was afterwards purchased by Major and Lorenzo Dunlap, who platted the town in 1851, and recorded their plat under the name of Lewisville, out of compliment to their surveyor, Col. Lewis Sifford. A post-office was established in February, 1873, with John Bridges as postmaster. The name of the postoffice was Andersonville and the town was generally so called. Andersonville must not be confounded with the old station on the Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad, which is still in evidence as Anderson and is wedged in between the present Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton and the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern lines. LIBERTY TOWNSHIP AND LONDONDERRY Liberty, one of the smaller political divisions of the county, is in the first tier of townships between the Scioto River and Vinton County. It was included in Jefferson until the winter of 1822-23, when Dr. Joseph Baker circulated a petition asking for a division of the township and the establishment .of a new one. During the winter, Liberty Township was erected from parts of original townships seven and eight, comprising twenty-four full sections of the latter and fourteen sections from the former, three of them being fractions. The first justice of the peace was Josiah Drummond, who was elected in Jefferson Township before its dismemberment, but living within the newly formed Township of Liberty he served his term there. The first justice elected under the new organization was Alexander Graham. Elections have been held at Londonderry since the organization of the township. Two considerable streams flow through Liberty Township—Salt Creek, in the eastern part, and Walnut Creek, west of the center, both flowing from north to south. The original timber was white and black oak, walnut, wild cherry, beech, sugar maple, elm, ash, poplar, butternut and buckeye. There still remains some valuable 468 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY timber among the hills, although the better part has been cut. The northern and eastern portions of the township are rather hilly, with fertile valley lands, but the central and western sections contain the best farming lands. There are several high hills, such as Rattlesnake Knob and Point Lookout. In this township is located what was long known as the "high bank prairie," on which the early settlers raised their first crop. Across and farther up the Scioto River is the "station prairie," also settled by the first comers. The lands bordering on the river were very rich, but had their drawbacks, which caused many to remove to the hills in pursuit of health. The prevailing disease was ague, which attacked all alike and was sometimes so severe that every member of a family would be down at the same time, with no one to provide drink for the sick. In such cases buckets would be filled in the morning by those most able to walk to the spring, and placed where each could help himself. At some seasons of the year the roads were almost impassable, and when it was so that travel could be attempted there were many sick, else there would have been a general stampede for their old homes by the settlers. As it was, they were compelled to remain, until in time the country became settled and the prevailing disease and its cause were in a measure removed. Among the first who located homes in Liberty Township were James Kilgore and family, who settled on the "high bank" in 1798 and raised his first crop of corn. He afterward bought the upper trail of the "high bank prairie," which he divided with a Mr. Holton, and where both died. Following Kilgore were Thomas and Zebulon Orr, who located on the "high bank" in 1798 or 1799, and there raised a crop of corn. They afterwards moved to Springfield Township, where they died, leaving families whose descendants now reside in various parts of the county. About the same time Robert Corken, Benjamin Kerns, Amos Taylor and others, settled in this vicinity, where they remained until the sale of the lands in 1802, and, finding themselves outwitted in the purchase of the land on which they had located, they moved to the adjoining sections back from the river, and some to the hills, where they again made homes. At that time the government sold no smaller tracts than a section, and many of the settlers clubbed together to purchase the section on which they had located. But, on the day of the sale, when these lands were sold, the crier, instead of naming them the "high bank" lands, offered them as the lands lying at the mouth of Indian Creek, and they were bought by Benjamin Kerns, Felix Renick and Joseph Harness, except the upper fractional section, HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 469 which was purchased by James Kilgore and Holton. This scattered the pioneers who had settled along the bank and some of whom fell back to the flats or second bottoms. The first wheat raised on the "high bank" was by Benjamin Kerns, who was allowed to harvest and stack it, soon after which some unknown person set fire to it and it was burned in the night. Mr. Kerns also cleared a place for an orchard, and while burning the log heaps he planted his trees, which were obtained at considerable cost, as there were no nurseries in the country at that time. A few nights after the planting of the trees was finished, some person or persons pulled up every tree in the orchard and laid the roots in the fire. After the land sales the Orrs settled on Dry Run, Robert Corken and Benjamin Hanson located on Walnut Creek, near Mooresville, in what is now Harrison Township, and others remained in what is now Liberty Township, where they settled and made homes. Londonderry, or Vigo, as it often appears on the map (from the name of the postoffice), is a station on the Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railroad. It was laid out about 1831 by Adam Stewart and Nathan Cox ; Stewart laying off the south part and Cox the north. The latter sold all his property after a time, and removed to Stark County, Illinois. Stewart was an Irishman, from near Londonderry, after which he named the village. The first store in the place was kept by Ebenezer Guy, in 1832. He remained but a short time, and during the same year Simon Ratcliff opened a store, which he sold to Nathan Cox after a time. Cox received Abel Dixon as a partner, and remained in business but a short time. James Gillespie was also in business there during 1832. The first physician to locate in the township was Dr. James Moore, who came to Londonderry about 1831, and remained some four or five years. The first hotel in Londonderry was kept by Benjamin Barnett, who came from Maryland at an early date, and about 1829 built a hotel in the village which he managed several years, or until the death of his wife, after which he moved to Kingston. In about a year the village was honored with a postoffice, which was named Gillespieville from James Gillespie, its first officer in that line. When the Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad was completed through the township in 1860, two stations were established Schooley's and Londonderry. Postoffices were obtained at those points at about the same time. John Schooley was postmaster at the station which had taken his name, and Jacob Beck at Londonderry station, the postoffice there being named Vigo. 470 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY OLD BURIAL PLACES Both Londonderry and Schooley's are still small settlements. Like some of the other hamlets of the county, however, many sacred memories cluster around the old burial places which have been laid out near them and within their limits. Among the first in the township was the ground at Schooley's station which was opened soon after 1800. There was another three-quarters of a mile north Another old ground was situated near the Friends Church in Londonderry. In 1868 the following old citizens of Londonderry formed themselves into an organization which was incorporated under the state laws as the Londonderry Cemetery Association : Simon Ratcliffe, Thomas H. Griffin, Hiram Dixon, John Humphrey, Jere W. Drummond, Joseph Dixon, Benjamin M. Walker, Marcus H. Walker, Simon R. Dixon, Benjamin Rains, S. S. Walker, Philip G. Griffin, Abdalla Griffin, Samuel Griffin, Sr., Samuel Griffin, Jr., Mahlon S. Dixon, Levi Jones, Joseph Thomas, John W. Brown, Jeremiah Ratcliff, Thomas Ratcliff, Abraham Cox, Jr., Jesse Brown, John Cox, Joseph Cox and Adams Reed. The officers of the association are president, treasurer, board of trustees and sexton, and the cemetery is a beautiful four-acre tract on the Chillicothe road near the village. All of the incorporators namcd took an active part in founding the Londonderry Cemetery and are buried therein. BUCKSKIN TOWNSHIP This township, which is bounded on the west by both Highland and Fayette counties, was carved out of Paint and Concord townships in 1817. From the west-center of the township to the corner below, the boundary is Paint Creek, a stream at this point large enough to be designated by the name of river. Hop Run empties into Paint a short mile and a half from the southwestern corner of the township, and in the southeastern corner is a branch of lower Twin Creek. In the northeast quarter is a tributary of the north fork of Paint Creek, while the two branches of Buckskin Creek flow in a nearly parallel course from the northern and northwestern line of the township, until they unite just above the Village of South Salem, and thence follow a southwestern course until the stream enters Paint Township. Buckskin Township was named from the creek of the same name. The tradition of the naming of Buckskin Creek is that some white men who were a part of a surveying party, or hunters, surprised a company of Indians on its bank and seized the buckskins they were curing and dressing. Another story is that the Indians, HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 471 who had a town at what is now Frankfort, made a raid among the settlers and stole a number of horses, with which they fled. They were followed and surprised in their camp near the south line of the township, where stood a large, hollow sycamore tree, in which they had built a fire, and were drying their buckskins. There is a slight discrepancy in these two accounts, but the probability is that the latter is the correct account, and that instead of tanning and curing the skins procured in the chase, they were simply drying them over a fire in this place. True it is, that such a, hollow sycamore tree stood near the spot indicated, and several of the older settlers and their descendants, who visited and examined this tree, which is one of the things of the past, said that the cavity was so large that a ten-foot rail could be turned end for end inside the tree. Throwing aside the tradition that a bold white family lived among the Indians of Buckskin Creek as early as 1779, the first permanent settlement in the township was made by James Wilson, who built a house on Buckskin Creek, near South Salem, in 1799. He was followed by Noble Crawford, who built near by in 1800. Soon afterward Abram Dean built a log house in the neighborhood. Noble Crawford made his house near the present location of Lyndon Station, where he built the second house in the settlement. It was constructed of round logs, scutched down. Mr. Crawford sold to Frederick Free in 1800, and moved to Paint Township. SOUTH SALEM South Salem and Lyndon are the villages in Buckskin Township. Lyndon is a station on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, comprising a general store and a few scattered buildings; while South Salem, although unfavored by either the old Marietta & Cincinnati or any other railroad, obtained an early reputation as an academic site and is quite a brisk little settlement today. There was a settlement on the present site of South Salem so early in the nineteenth century that in 1802 the Presbyterians organized a church there. The original name of the congregation was Buckskin. Quite a number of the founders of the church—the Wilsons, Irwins, Edmestons, Wallaces and Taylors—had migrated to that locality that they might leave behind them the abhorred institution of slavery. SALEM PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH AND ACADEMY Reverends Dunlevy and Marquis were thc first ministers to visit the infant settlement, and the first preaching service in the township was held by them under an elm tree near the residence of 472 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY James C. Irwin. The church was organized by Rev. Dr. Ralston, of Pennsylvania, on the twenty-seventh day of October, 1802. On the first roll were placed the names of thirty members, who chose John McConnell, David Edmeston, John Edwards and Abram Dean, as ruling elders. Many of these first members lived in what is now Buckskin Township, while some were in Paint, Twin and Concord. Four days after the organization the communion and the Lord's supper was celebrated in the woods, near the residence of Mrs. James A. Wallace. For two years they had no house of worship, but met for services under the trees and in cabins of the settlers. In 1804, a log house was built near the place where the first communion was observed, where it remained one year, but a more central location being desired, it was torn down and rebuilt on the lot where is now the graveyard, adjoining the present village of South Salem. The church was considerably enlarged when it was rebuilt, and was occupied until the year 1828, when a large new brick church was erected and a Sabbath school was established. SALEM ACADEMY In the year 1842, Rev. H. S. Fullerton, pastor of Salem Presbyterian Church, called together the members of his church and neighborhood to consider the question of establishing an academy in the place. At the meeting, the project met with favor, and subscriptions to the stock were at once received. Work was commenced HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY - 473 on a stone building, which was pushed forward as rapidly as possible. In the fall of the same year the academy was opened, under charge of James S. Fullerton and John Huston (both of whom afterwards became Presbyterian ministers), assisted by Miss Martha J. Fullerton, who, many years later, became a missionary to the western Indians. In the fall of 1843, Rev. John C. Thompson (a Baptist minister) was elected principal, in which office he was continued five years. His colleagues were Rev. Joseph T. Irwin and Rev. J. A. I. Lowes, both ministers in the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Thompson resigned in the summer of 1848, and was succeeded by Rev. J. A. I. Lowes, with Rev. J. C. Thompson as his colleague for one year, and also with Rev. R. E. Wilson and James Long as assistants. In addition to 'these, Miss Elvira McCune, Eliza D. Baird and Sarah Ann Lowes, in succession, had charge of the female department. Mr. Lowes resigned in the summer of 1858, and Rev. I. J. Cushman was elected principal, in which office he continued until December, 1859, when Mr. Lowes was again elected principal. A short time before this event, in the spring of 1859, by a vote of the stockholders, the institution was transferred to the care of the Chillicothe Presbytery, since which year it has been managed by that body. A fitting conclusion to this sketch of Salem Academy is the following from the pen of the venerable Rev. Robert C. Galbraith, of Chillicothe, taken from his "History of the Chillicothe Presbytery :" "Soon after this (the transfer of the academy to the charge of the Presbytery) began the war between the States, and during all those bloody years on a hundred different battlefields, and in every state where the conflict raged, were Salem students, fighting, bleeding, starving, dying for their country. The school was, of course, reduced in numbers by the call for volunteers, but continued to do good work. "In the '70s the increasing number of high schools in the towns and of preparatory departments in the colleges; affected the school by diminishing its patronage from abroad, but of late years the number of students has increased, and the standard of excellence of the school has never been lowered. " It is unfortunate that of many years the records cannot be found, and, therefore, the whole number of students who have been at Salem Academy cannot be determined ; but during its long existence hundreds have there sought instruction, and learned lessons helpful in after life, many conferring honor upon the Academy by the positions of importance and usefulness they have since occupied. Among the students who have attained special prominence may be mentioned the Rev. Stephen D. Merrill, D. D. and L.L. D., bishop of the M. E. church, one of the early students of the academy, a man 474 - HISTORY OF ROSS COUNTY whose name is held in honor in all the land. Others who were enrolled in the list of students were Hon. Granville Barrere, of Canton, Ill., for a long time a prominent member of congress ; the late Judge Alfred Yaple, of this city, and Cincinnati ; Hon. J. W. McDill, former railway commissioner of Iowa, congressman and United States senator; Hon. J. J. Pugsley, Hon. J. B. Foraker, United States senator from Ohio, and many others." The village of South Salem was the offspring of the academy, as it was laid out by John Sample, about 1846, to meet various demands of students, faculty and patrons. It grew very rapidly for about two years, when it had very nearly reached its present proportions, and having attained to what was at first intended—the means of accommodating the students who came to attend the academy—nothing remained but for it to continue in a stationary stage of existence. It was incorporated in the late '70s, with the power to elect three trustees or directors, for the purpose of improving the streets and alleys. The population is from 350 to 400. Among the first merchants of the place were Hugh McKenzie, Thomas P. Cady, Joseph Giterman, James Bell, Samuel Pricer, James C. Steel, Bush & Sperry, Noah Grove, Gilbert Marshal and Levi Pricer. LYNDON Lyndon was laid out by John N. Huggins, in about 1853, and was by him named Zora. It retained this name a few years, when the Langdons bought the land and changed the name to that of their native town in Massachusetts. PISGAH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH This was organized as a mission church by the pastor and members of Salem Church in the year 1810. It remained a mission, under the care of the pastor of the above church, until 1817, when it became strong enough in members and means to employ its own pastor and maintain an independent organization. The first house of worship was abandoned and a new one built. The Pisgah Church, which is one of the oldest religious bodies in the county, celebrated its centennial in September, 1911. Its pastor in 1811 was Rev. James H. Dickey, and in 1911, Rev. T. S. Huggart. In the course of the proceedings of that historic celebration it was stated that the original location of the Pisgah meeting house was about three miles northeast of the location of 1911; that it was constructed of logs, and that in the center of the room was a platform of brick or stone raised slightly above the floor upon