500 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY. much about their books then as children of the present do at the age of ten. What little book learning the pioneer children received was obtained in the face of extreme discouragement. Dwellings were the first schoolhouses, and fathers were the first teachers. Often one book served the whole family, or perhaps several families. The letters which the small children learned had been pricked through paper with a pin, and to decipher them the child was obliged to hold the paper between himself and the window (if the schoolhouse had such an aperture). It is stated that some of the children in Plain Township went to school all winter during a number of the early years with no covering to their feet, their phalanges became covered with a thick, tough skin, that enabled the children to withstand, in a measure, the snow and cold. When the cold was too severe, the children. would take a small piece of hard board, heat it extremely hot at the fire-place, and then, with this in their hand, would start on the run toward the schoolhouse. When their feet could bear the cold no longer, the hot board was placed upon the ground, and upon this the children stood until their feet had, in a measure, been warmed, after which they took up their " portable stove," and again started on the run toward the schoolhouse. This performance was repeated as often as necessary until the schoolhouse was reached. It is said that nineteen scholars were in attendance at Mr. Stevens' school. Some state S that this building was not a schoolhouse but was a log dwelling that had been abandoned by the owner, and converted to the uses of education. Stevens is said to have been a large man, with red face and reddish whiskers, and nose of sufficient size to answer all requirements. He was in the habit of participating in the games on the playground, and, in wrestling, could throw down any young man who came to school to him. His commands in the schoolroom were obeyed without question. He was a kind teacher and competent instructor. "He taught his scholars the rule of three, Reading, and 'riting, and 'rithmetic too; He took the little ones upon his knee, For a kind old heart in his breast had he, And the wants of the littlest child he knew; ' Learn while you're young,' he often said, There's much to enjoy down here below; Life for the living, and rest for the dead!' Said the jolly old pedagogue long ago." Much of the early school history is forgotten. It is certain that in about the year 1815, there were four on more schools in session in the -township, and before this time, several school -districts had been created. The entire township was at first divided into two unequal districts. This was due to the fact that two distinct neighborhoods, separated by a distance too great to be traversed by the scholars, had separate schools. As the settlements widened, and the township became more densely populated, these districts were divided and subdivided, until -the present number was reached. It is doubted whether any other township in the county, except, perhaps, Canton, can show as early and extensive a division into school districts. A log schoolhouse was built south of New Berlin before the year 1820. In about the year 1835, the first one was built in the village. It was a log building that was afterward weather-boarded, and is now used as the residence of John Kolp. This building was used for school purposes some eight or ten years, when a frame was erected to take its place. The frame is now used as a blacksmith-shop, by Henry Kloss. In 1867, the present schoolhouse—a brick—was built. The school is graded, two teachers being employed during the winters, and one during the summers. The country schools are well conducted, and well attended. Log schoolhouses were the first on the programme ; but these, after being used from five to fifteen years, were replaced with small frame structures that have been succeeded by several others since, each an improvement on the one preceding it. The following is a statement of the receipts and disbursements of the school funds of Plain Township for the year ending August 31, 1880: Board of Education - $1,925 23. State Fund - 1,249 50 Section 16. - 232 83 Building - 1,157 91 Incidental - 966 34 Balance from 1879 - 1,449 07 Total receipts for the year - $6,980 88 Vouchers filed - 4,053 44 Balance on hand - $2,927,44 Number of school districts - 11 Total number of scholars - 833 Whole number of acres - 23,135.99 Total value of - $1,144,580 Value of houses - 143,060 Value of mills - 9, 600 Value of other buildings - 86,150 Average value per acre - 49.4 PLAIN TOWNSHIP - 501 The following table shows the number of school districts in the township, the sections upon which the houses stand, the size of the lots in acres and hundredths of an acre, and the total value of the school property, census 1880 NUMBER OF DISTRICT Section. Acres Value of Property. No. 1 1 1.00 $900 No. 2 2 18 800 No. 3 6 .05 170 No. 4 20 .50 250 No. 5 21 .50 850 No. 6 14 .50 550 No. 7 26 .50 300 No. 8 34 .50 600 No. 9 32 .25 880 No. 10  30 1.00 800 No. 12 Lots 17 & 18 Berlin 1100 . The Lutherans and German Reformers were the first religious sects to organize in die township. In the fall of 1806, Elder Stough held a meeting in the house of Jacob Loutzenheiser, and here the seed was first sown that has produced so abundantly and well. The first church was built in about the year 1809, by the combined societies, on the land of Henry Warstler, and was named in honor of this man " Henry's Church," a name that yet clings to it like a vine of ivy. Religious services were held here alternately by Rev. Benjamin Foust, of the German Reformed society, and Rev. Anthony Weyer, of the Lutheran. A constitution was framed and was signed by the following persons : Christopher Warstler, Michael Holtz, Jacob Warstler, Peter Troxel, Abraham Miller, Christopher Hennig, Nicholas Schneider, Christopher Beard, John Holtz, Peter Schneider, Mathias Bauer, John Ringer, John Holm, John Everhard, John Stickler, George Wertenberger, George Smith, Conrad Ruffner, Antonius Weyer, Christian Krum, Adam Werner, Adam Essig, Jacob Schneider, Jacob Essig, Michael Holtz, Jr., George Beard, Henry Warstler, Jacob Lam, George Greasemor, Philip Hollenback and Adam Schmit. After a number of years, the two sects separating, the Reformers built a church in the northern part, and the Lutherans retained the old church. These societies are yet in existence, and each has had one or more churches. Rev. Stough was a missionary, who lived at New Lisbon, and traveled over large sections of country on his parochial visits. Many of the societies now nuerically great and in excellent condition were organized by this good man. The " Zion Church " was first built about the year 1812. The building was a rough affair, and never completed. The Catholics of New Berlin built their " St. Paul's Church " about forty years ago, at a cost of some $1,200. It is yet in use, and has a membership of some thirty-five families. A Union Church was built in the village not far from the same time. Some twelve years ago, the present brick was erected at a cost of about $1,000. In 1880, the German Reformers built a fine new brick church in the village. It is the largest and costliest church in the township. Its estimated cost is $3,000, over half of which was paid by John Sheets, who may be considered its patron and founder. It will thus be seen that the village and township are well supplied with religious institutions. From the following table may be learned the names of the churches, their location, the number of acres in the church lots or cemeteries and the value of the church property : NAME OF CHURCH Section Acres Value of Church Property. St. Paul's Catholic Church - 17 2.00 $550 Union Church 8 .15 250 Henry's Church 14&23 3.00 900 Mt. Pleasant Church 24 1.00 700 Middle Branch Church 2 .26 540 St. Peter's Church 33 11.00 1,200 502 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY. CHAPTER XXIII.* PARIS TOWNSHIP — DESCRIPTIVE AND TOPOGRAPHICAL— SETTLEMENT BY THE WRITES—FACTS AND INCIDENTS—EARLY IMPROVEMENTS—ORGANIZATION OF TOWN SHIP — EMT TIONAL —VILLAGES. "Here frowned the forest with terrific shade; No cultured field exposed the opening glade." —Meigs. PARIS TOWNSHIP was originally a part of Osnaburg, and so remained until 1818, when it was set off by order of the County Commissioners, and became a separate and independent township. Although of more recent organization than Osnaburg, yet its history dates back to a period quite as remote as the latter, and embraces much that is equally as interesting. The first decade of its occupation by the whites, its history and that of Osnaburg were very similar, in fact the same, as both were under the same civil organization. The surface features are also much the same, Paris, perhaps, comprising a little more level land than Osnaburg. The larger portion of it, however, is rolling, and in places even hilly. It is a fine agricultural region, notwithstanding the rough surface, the hills, where cultivated, producing excellent crops. Corn and wheat are extensively cultivated, and considerable attention paid to grazing and stock. raising. The land is well drained by Black Stream—so-called from the dark color ̊tits waters—Hugle's Run, Sandy Creek and their branches, with a few other little streams that are nameless on the maps. The timber . consists of oak, hickory, maple, beech, elm, etc., with a little walnut and poplar. The township is bounded north by Washington Township, east by Columbiana County, south by Carroll County, west by Osnaburg Township, and by the census of 1880 had 2,720 population. The Connotton Valley narrow-gauge and the Tuscarawas Branch of the Cleveland, Pittsburgh & Wheeling Railroads pass through its territory, also the projected line of the Steubenville, Canton & Cleveland Railroad. Plenty of coal may be found, and that near the surface, costing but little trouble or labor to mine it. *Contributed by W. H. Perrin. So far as our researches have gone, the first settlement made in what is now Paris Township by a white man was by Rudolph Bair, in the fall of 1806. He is prominently mentioned in the history of Osnaburg Township, as his residence was in that division of the county, until the formation of Paris Township. He was a man of considerable native intelligence, and very prominent in 'the early history of the country. He was a native of York County, Penn., and when grown to manhood came to Ohio, and located in Columbiana County, which was then a part of Jefferson, and comprised a large district of country. Ohio was still a Territory, and had but few settlers within its limits. A biographer of Mr. Bair thus speaks of him : " Rudolph Bair, Sr., generally called ‘Rudy ' Bair, was a man of more than ordinary ability. Though his education was limited, his natural endowments were above the average. He had a liberal share of good common sense, a qualification not acquired at college. Such confidence had the community in his judgment, and disposition to do right between man and man, that he was a very general referee to settle questions of difference that will occur between individuals, and from his decision no appeal was taken. He was a member of the German Reformed Church, and his daily life was consistent with his religious profession. Though known as a farmer, his business was more particularly that of a land speculator. To accommodate emigrants of limited means, he often sold land on long time payments, and though these were not always met when due, he was never known to oppress delinquents." Mr. Bair was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1802, that framed the first State Constitution. Says a writer, commenting upon the subject : " That Convention completed the work for which they had assembled in twenty-nine days, an example of industry and faithfulness contrasted with the disposition of many of PARIS TOWNSHIP - 503 our officials of the present day." It has been a subject of frequent remark in these latter days that the race of men who can dispatch public business as expeditiously as did the members of the first State Constitutional Convention of Ohio are rapidly becoming extinct. The more is the pity! Mr. Bair was an early Justice of the Peace in Stark County, when his jurisdiction extended over half New Berlin the State of Ohio, and his decisions are said to have been models of justice and equity. He was also a member of the State Legislature when the State Capitol was at Chillicothe. There are traditions of great speeches made by him before this august body, rivaling, in eloquence and wisdom, Cicero's appeals in the Roman Senate ; but those who knew him best are disposed to be somewhat skeptical on the subject, and to consider his speeches in the legislative halls of the State about as apocryphal as the story of George Washington and his little hatchet. A communication published in the Canton Democrat has the following of Rudolph Bair, which is of interest, as being a part of the early history of the township : " In the summer of 1806, Rudolph Bair and his brother Christopher made a trip on horseback through the eastern portion of Stark County (what is now Stark), with the view of selecting land to enter. They confined their explorations along each side of what is now known as State Road, at that time a mere bridle path. They selected a number of quarter-sections in Paris and Osnaburg Townships, which they entered in the land office at Steubenville. Among the number was the south half of Section 5, now ()wad by the Mayer heirs. On this place Rudolph Bair settled in the fall of the same year. He built a cabin into which he moved, with all his household goods, before the floor was laid or a door hung. As a substitute for the latter, a quilt was suspended at the opening from wooden pins. In this rude shanty the wife was left alone, with her young babe, several days and nights, while her husband returned to Columbiana County for supplies. There were Indians encamped on the creek a short distance below, just where the State Road .crosses the creek ; but there were no white persons nearer than Osnaburg, five miles distant. At night the wolves came howling around the cabin, and, in order to frighten them off, she would throw out chunks of fire, which had the effect to keep the wolves at a respectful distance. Thus she spent the time until her husband's return." Mr. Bair died in 1820, and lies buried in the graveyard he laid out, and which he donated to the town of Paris. There was a walnut slab placed at the spot to mark his grave, but it has long since moldered into dust, and there is nothing now by which the place may be identified. No marble column, with its mock dignity, points to the spot where the old pioneer calmly sleeps. Requiescat in pace. The next family to settle in Paris Township was that of George Thuman, in 1808. He came from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and settled upon the northwest quarter of Section 19, where he opened a farm and lived for many years. Mr. Deweese located on Section 16 the same year, and proceeded to clear up a farm. Samuel Deweese, a son of his, used to tell of going to Slusser's to mill, on the Nimishillen, and carrying a bushel of corn on the back of a bull, which served him in the place of a horse. Such .a performance would present a rather novel appearance at the present day, and afford unbounded amusement to the small boys of the community. He used, also, to go to Yellow Creek for a bushel of salt, for which he paid the moderate sum of eight dollars. It wasn't the day of war prices, either, but the times which " stirred men's souls," or their industry and energy, to enable them to make a living. Jasper Daniels, John Byers, Jacob Thoman and John Augustine came into the township in 1809, and made settlements. Augustine is represented as a prominent citizen, who was well known throughout the county, and one who possessed energy and enterprise, which was zealously used for the improvement and development of the community in which he lived. He served as Sheriff of the county for two terms—from 1820 to 1824—and State Senator eight years in succession—from 1824 to 1832. Conrad Henning came to Paris Township in 1811. He was from Pennsylvania, and upon his removal to this place, he bought of Mr. Bair 100 acres of land in the southwest quarter of Section 4, for which he paid $200. He and. his good wife proved very important personages in the little community—he as the first blacksmith, and she as a midwife. In this branch of medical practice she was eminently successful, it is said, as during a period of thirty years or more, in which she attended more than five 504 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY.   hundred cases, she never lost a single patient nor called in medical assistance. In addition to the pioneers of Paris Township already named, the following parties rank among the early settlers : John and Zadock Welker; Peter Musser, who was a great fighter and neighborhood bully; John and William McInderfer, Adam. Shull, John Thomas, George Crowl, two men of the name of Fulton and Scovey, Michael Stonehill, Daniel Shively, Samuel Neidigh, John Cameron, Vance, and Pipher, and Jacob Hayman. The following incident is related of Hayman : He was returning home one evening from a house-raising, when he met with a bear that had been wounded by a rifle shot. His courage, stimulated by the whisky he had drank at the raising, and armed with an ax, he gave Bruin battle, under the determination of taking his scalp home, as a trophy to his frau. Advancing upon the bear, with his ax uplifted, intending to cleave his skull, his arm was rather unsteady, and the blow proved ineffectual. Bruinoncludeded to take a hand in the melee, and grappled with Hayman, who, before he could extricate himself from the clutches of the bear, had nearly all his clothes torn off, and was severely wounded. When he did succeed in getting away, he discovered that his desire to carry him home as a trophy had vanished, and that he felt like giving him a wide berth. Of the other settlers mentioned, little may be said, beyond the fact that they moved into the township, entered land, and opened up farms. Most, if not all, the settlers mentioned came in previous to the war of 1812. After the close of the war, and the establishment of peace, an influx of immigration set into this section of the State, and people poured into Paris Township so rapidly that it is impossible to keep trace of them, or to notice, individually, the settlement of each family. The day of the pioneer is gone—the period in which he lived has passed away. A local writer, moralizing on his day and generation, thus speaks of him : "We may now regard him as a soldier in the cause of human advancement, whose battles have been fought and won, and he may well look back in surprise at the wonderful social and material results that have followed in his wake. The shifting sands of time have covered his footsteps, but the solid and substantial foundation laid by the pioneer for the social structure of the West will endure." Modern inventions have followed the old-time implements and tools used by the pioneer fifty or seventy-five years ago—ox wagons, wooden plows, the " reap-hook," the scythe and cradle, wooden-tooth harrows, and all such antique utensils, have, in the slang of the period, "played out," and in their stead the farmer has plows that will almost turn the soil without any motiv , power ; reapers that cute and bind the grain as they go, and in place of the patient ox and lumbering wagon, they have the locomotive engine and the rushing railroad train. As we contemplate these gigantic strides in the march of improvement and progress, what may we not expect in the next fifty years to come? Is it not possible that we shall then fly through the air in our pleasure cars, as we now fly over the country at the heels of the iron horse ? During the early years of the settlement in Paris Township the inhabitants were compelled to make extensive journeys to get their grain ground. To go twenty or thirty miles through unbroken forests was no small undertaking, and as each grist was ground in the order of its reception at the mill, the trip often consumed days of valuable time. These disadvantages and inconveniences originated many ways and means " of providing meal for family use. It is said that " necessity is the mother of invention," and the straits in which the pioneer often found himself led to many rude modes and expedients to enable him to get along at all. One of his inventions was the " stump mortar," which was made by burning cavity in the top of a stump. A spring pole was then arranged, to the end of which the pestle was attached, when the mechanism of the primitive " flouring establishment was complete. The unfortunate individual who furnished the motive power for this rude appliance realized the Scriptural injunction, " In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." Other modes resorted to were the coffee-mill and the grater. At last, when a little mill was built in Osnaburg by Jacob Kitt, which was operated by oxen on a " tread wheel," it was considered a great benefit to the community,. and Kitt as a benefactor of his kind. The first grist-mill built in what is now the township of Paris was built by Rudolph Bair, on Black Stream, about the year 1814-15. It was .a two-story frame building, with two run of buhrs. The history of this mill is somewhat PARIS TOWNSHIP - 505 eventful. It passed into possession of Daniel Bair, upon the death of his father, and at his death to Benjamin Roop, who sold it to John P. Myers. The water supply, never very strong, finally failed, and the mill was abandoned and a steam mill erected near by, which a few years later was sold by Myers to a man named Greiner, who eventually removed it to Strasburg. Bair also built a saw-mill on Black Stream, a few years before erecting the mill just described. A grist-mill and saw-mill were built in 1820, by John Whiteacre, which were for years known as the " Whiteacre Mills." He also kept a distillery in connection, which furnished fighting whisky to the surrounding, population. Other mills were built in adjoining neighborhoods, and the trouble of the early settler in this direction was forever removed. Peter Oyster opened a tanyard, the first in the township. It was a small affair, but found of considerable convenience to the community at that early day. Paris Township has excellent railroad com munication, as it is tapped by two already completed lines, with a flattering prospect of another. The roads, which are mentioned in the opening of this chapter, have been of great benefit to the township, and brings the best markets of the country to the very doors of the people. The old Sandy and Beaver Canal also passed through Paris. It was built during the great "internal improvement " fever, and extended from Glasgow, on the Ohio River, to Bolivar, in Tuscarawas County, and on the Ohio Canal. It was abandoned some thirty years ago, but still remains as a part of the drainage system of the country through which it passes. Much of the early history of Paris Township is very closely connected with the little village of Paris, laid out in an early day, and will be given under that head. The first religious meetings were held there and the first church organized there, also the first store and first post office were kept within its limits, together with many other items of interest that occurred in that immediate vicinity, which will he mentioned in their places. As stated in the beginning of this chapter, Paris Township was originally "apart of Osnaburg. It was organized into an independent township, on the 1st of April, 1818. At a meeting of the County Commissioners, who were then composed of John Sluss, William Alban and John Saxton, held on that day, the records show that " Rudolph Bair presented a petition for the incorporation of a new town-. ship, by the name of Paris,' now a part of Osnaburg, signed by himself and others, and that the election of township officers be held on the list inst., at the town of Paris. said township." At the election referred to, Thomas Deweese and Samuel Bosserman were elected Justices of the Peace. The following incident is related of Bosserman, one of those early representatives of the law. He accepted his commission with considerable misgiving as to his ability to discharge the duties, and his first case, it is said, so " befuddled " his mind that he resigned the office in disgust. As no one else could be found in the township willing to accept it, Daniel Burgert, a resident of Osnaburg Township, agreed to remove into Paris on condition that they would elect him, which agreement was faithfully carried out, and Mr. Burgert clothed formally with the dignity of office. As the early records of the township are destroyed, any further roster of the early officers is not to be obtained. Previous to the formation of Paris Township, its citizens voted at Osnaburg, but this movement brought the war into Africa, or, in other words, gave them a voting place of their own. The township has furnished its quota of talent for engineering the affairs of the county. Its first public servant was Gen. John Augustine, who was elected Sheriff in 1820 and served until 1824, when he was elected to the State Senate, in which body he served eight years. Rudolphus Martin served as a Representative one term ; Arnold Lynch, Recorder three terms, from 1837 to 1843 ; Isaiah Estep, Commissioner one term, and John W. Greenwood was appointed Associate Judge of Common Pleas Court, in 1842, serving seven years. Thus it will be seen that Paris has furnished some of the brains of the county, as well as a good deal of the bone and sinew. Of the first births, deaths and marriages, we have but little record or data from which to glean information. Thomas Deweese, Jr., a son of one of the early settlers, was born in Feb ruary, 1808, and is supposed to have been the first-born of what is now Paris Township. The cabin:: in which his father's family then lived was neither " chinked " nor " daubed," 506 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY. nor had it any floor, except mother Earth. Such were some of the hardships of pioneer life. The first couple to embark in a matrimonial venture was John Bair and Catharine Henning. Since the solemnization of their nuptials, many have gone and done likewise. Of the first death we were unable to obtain any informs,-_ Lion. The first physician was Dr. Robert Estep, who came from Pennsylvania, and settled in Paris in 1818. The following is related of him : " He had served an apprenticeship as a silversmith, but soon abandoned the business, for the study of medicine, for which he exhibited more than ordinary aptitude. Thrown upon his own resources for pecuniary aid, he was unable to attend medical lectures, but, like the majority of practitioners of that day, in the West; set up in the business without having obtained the decree of M. D. He very soon acquired quite a reputation, not only as a successful practitioner, but as a bold and skillful operator in surgery. Twice he performed the Caesarean section, the only physician in the county who ever attempted the operation. He left in 1834, removing to Canton, and was succeeded by Dr. Preston. Conrad Henning was the first blacksmith in the township, and was here as early as 1.811. For several years he did all the work in this line for the entire community. During the war of 1812, many of the able-bodied male citizens of Paris volunteered, or were drafted into the service. Among them were Samuel and Jacob Thoman, and Jacob Augustine. While Augustine was at Detroit, there was a call for volunteers to go on a perilous expedition to Mackinaw, and he was the first to offer his services. He assisted in building the fort at that place, and was in an engagement with the English forces, August 14, 18147 under Col. Colgrove. His immediate commander was Maj. Roller, of Columbiana County.* These citizen soldiers participated in many of the battles of the war, and, in all, acquitted themselves with credit. The township has always been patriotic to the core. In the great rebellion its record is glorious, and worthy the great State, of which it is a part. During the existence of the old Militia Law of the State all able-bodied men between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, were compelled to turn * Canton Democrat. out on certain days to " muster." Paris supported a fine company of this " cornstalk" militia, who always participated in the general musters, and received many merited compliments for theirflnee appearance and excellent discipline. Their officers were John Unkefer, Captain David Unkefer, Lieutenant, and John Henning, Ensign. The cause of education received the attention of the people of Paris in an early period of its history. The first school in the township of which we have any account, was taught in the winter of 1810-11, by Thomas Deweese, in a log house of Jasper Daniel's, his father-in-law. The next school was taught by Conrad Henning, in a building *put up especially for school purposes, and was the first temple of learning erected in the township. It stood on Section 4, on land owned by Jacob Motts, and was of the regular pioneer pattern, viz., log structure, clap-board roof, stick chimney, puncheon or slab floor, greased-paper windows, etc., etc. Rapid strides have been made in advancing the cause of learning in the last fifty or sixty years, as the following statistics from the Board of Education will show : Balance on hand September 1, 1879 - $943 54 State Tax - 687 00 Irreducible fund - 135 76 Local tax for school and schoolhouse purposes - 2,111 52 Total.- $3,877 31 Amount paid teachers - $1,810.00 Fuel and other contingent expenses - 485.72 Total expenditures - $2,295 72 Balance on hand September 1, 1880 - $1,581 59 Number of schoolhouses in the township - 8 Value of school property - $6,700 00 Number of teachers employed—Males - 10; Females 7 - 17 Average wages paid teachers—Male - $38 00 Average wages paid teachers—Females - 18 00 Number of pupils enrolled—Males - 190 Females, 187 - 377 Average monthly enrollment—Males - 128 Females, - 142 - 270 Average daily attendance —Males - 97; Females - 104 - 201 The following incident, which occurred in this township, may be read with some interest, and is from a communication recently published in the Canton Repository: "A very sin- PARIS TOWNSHIP - 507 gular circumstance occurred in Paris Township not many years ago, that should be mentioned. Mr. Carr and wife, of Wayne County, were traveling in a one-horse buggy, east on the State Road. It was in summer, and on a still day ; not a breath of air stirring. A short distance beyond the town of Paris, as they were passing a dead tree standing by the roadside, it fell, without warning, directly across the buggy, crushing the vehicle and both occupants to the earth, killing them instantly. The horse broke away, was caught by a neighbor who happened to be on the road, taken back, and the couple found as described ; though yet warm. there were no signs of life. A sad ending of an anticipated pleasure trip. The melancholy event created quite a sensation in the neighborhood, and was the subject of comment and speculation for a long time after." In the " midst of life we are in death," and the ways of Providence are inscrutable. The township of Paris is well supplied with villages, but all of them put together would scarcely make a respectable town in point of population. The village of Paris was the first projected city, and dates its origin back only sixty-eight years. It is located on the northeast corner of Section 8, and is supposed to have been laid out by Rudolph Bair, December 22, 1813. It was surveyed and duly platted by Daniel L. McClure, July 1, 1816, and recorded in the Recorder's office the September following. The State road passed through it, or by it, which gave it considerable prominence, as that road was then the great thoroughfare of travel through the country. The stages that ran over the State road changed horses here, which further contributed to its notoriety. The first tavern in the place was kept by one John Unkefer, who is described as a jolly, good fellow, and as belonging to that class of landlords who could spin a good yarn and furnish a square meal, which gave his house, as well as the town, a widespread reputation. He kept the stage stand, and while the horses were being changed, the passengers were fed by the hospitable landlord. About stage time, everybody gathered around the door of the old log tavern to see the stage come in, just as the boys of the present day gather at the railroad depot at train time to disgust decent people, in try ing to see who can swear the biggest oaths, chew the most tobacco, squirt the greatest quantity of tobacco juice and use the most obscene language. As the stage rattled up with the " blowing of the horn and the prancing of the steeds,' the people stood round, open-mouthed, ready to pick up any stray scrap of news from the outside world. The first store in the town was kept by Samuel Putnam. His stock would, at the present time, be considered rather limited, but the wants of the people were confined to a few actual necessaries. Had their desires extended beyond this, they had hot the means to indulge them, as money was scarce and not easily attainable. Putnam finally sold his stock and good-will to Robert Alexander. A man named Daniel Burgert, mentioned elsewhere as one of the early Justices of the Peace, engaged next in the mercantile business. He carried on an extensive trade and did a considerable business, dealing largely in horses and cattle. He was the first Postmaster of the town, and as such was commissioned August 12, 1822. The fate of Mr. Burgert was involved in some mystery, and is thus related by those who are familiar with the circumstances : "It was in 1833, that, having some business in Steubenville, he started to go there on horseback. The next morning, after leaving home, he was found dead in a saw-mill race in Jefferson County. The supposition of many was, that during the night, which was very dark, he had mistaken the mill for the bridge, and was killed in falling off. By others, he was believed to have been robbed and murdered, as it was well-known that he frequently carried large sums of money on his person. The mystery remains unsolved to the present day." After the laying-out of Paris by Mr. Bair, his next move was to find a name worthy of the town whose foundation he had just laid. He chose the name of Paris, but wherefore, we are unable to. say ; whether it was for Paris, the son of Priam, whose judgment on Mount Ida, in favor of the beauty of Venus, obtained for him the promise of Helen, whom he afterward carried off from the house of her husband, thereby involving Troy in flames, or whether for Paris, the beautiful city of the plain, the great metropolis of the fashionable world, or whether in the " eternal fitness of things " all objects must have a name, is now unknown and of little moment to the reader. It was christened Paris, and by that name it is still called. Shortly after the town was platted, Bair donated 508 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY. two acres of land within its limits to the German Reformed and Lutheran Congregations for a church and cemetery. Upon this lot a log building was erected at a very early day, and used both as a schoolhouse and a church, and in it John Augustine taught the first school. Among the first ministers who preached in it were the Revs. Mahuesmith and Hewett, who were itinerants. Revs. Weir and Faust, from Canton, were the first regular preachers. A cemetery was laid out adjoining the church, in which a child of Robert Stewart was the first burial. The old log church has been replaced by one in keeping with the time, and the cemetery has become rather densely populated. The Presbyterian denomination occupy the Lutheran Church, and the Methodists have a church of their own, which was built in 1873. The present business outlook, of Paris is two dry goods stores, one drug store, one provision store, two hotels, one wagon and carriage factory, one wagon factory, two paint shops, two harness shops, three boot and shoe shops, two blacksmith shops, one meat market, one planing mill (built in 1880), one saw mill, one grist mill, one vinegar factory, etc., etc. Minerva is the largest village in the township. It is in the southeast corner, on Section 36, and lies about one-third in Carroll County. It has communication with the outside world by means of the Tuscarawas Branch of the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad, and the Connotten Valley Narrow-Gauge Railroad ; it also has the benefit (?) of a projected road, known as the " Steubenville, Canton & Cleveland Railroad." The place .has a fine water-power in the Sandy. River or Creek, and the old Sandy & Beaver Canal, which is, to some extent, utilized by mills and other industries of the village. Minerva was laid out about the year 1835, by John Pool and John Whiteacre, who, to give it prominence, perhaps, and to make it a successful competitor of Paris, which had already been booming for several years, called it by the classical name of Minerva, the daughter of Jupiter, who, it is said, sprung from his brain " fully armed and equipped," just after he (Jupiter) had swallowed his frau, Metis. Minerva was the goddess' of wisdom and the patron saint of literature ; and in this respect, her namesake on the banks of the raging Sandy very closely resembles her, as evidenced •by their support of the history of Stark County. The first house erected in the village was built by John Whiteacre, about the time the town was laid out. He erected a grist mill in 1836, which received its motive power from the Sandy Creek, and was the first mill in the village. The first store was kept by a man named Tabor, who ,opened a small stock of goods about 1836. He was followed by John Christmas and John Pool, who managed the mercantile business for some time. Bennett Perdue built a house in 1835, in which he began keeping tavern, and for several years it was the only public house in the place. A post office was established February 8, 1828, and John Pool was commissioned as Postmaster. The Disciples, or Christians, organized the first church in the village of Minerva, and erected the first church building, but at what precise date we were unable to learn. It still retains the strongest membership of either of the four churches in the village. Besides this church, the Presbyterians, Methodists and Lutherans have organized societies, and each have a good, comfortable temple of worship. They are all supplied by able pastors, are well supported, and have large membership and flourishing Sunday schools. The Masons organized a lodge years ago, as Brown Lodge, No. 235, but, from some cause, interest in it waned to such an extent, that in the summer of 1880, it suspended work, and its charter was returned to the Grand Lodge. The Odd Fellows, too, had a lodge here at one time, but it has also become' extinct. The school building of Minerva, which is a large and commodious edifice, is located in that part of the town lying in Carroll County. It forms a special district, and the school is graded, a movement which was accomplished in 1879, through the exertions of the present able Principal and Superintendent, Prof. S. D. Cameron. The teachers, besides Prof. Cameron, are S. D. Sailor, Eva H. Perdue and Lizzie, M. Morrison. The Minerva Union Agricultural Fair Association has its grounds here. An annual fair is held, and occasionally a horse fair in the early summer. This interest, however, is fully given in the chapter on geology and agriculture. Since the town sprang into existence, it has enjoyed the luxury of several newspapers at different periods, which were established and flourished, some of them, but for a brief while, and then passed away " among the things that PARIS TOWNSHIP - 509 were." The last venture in the " art preservative" is the Minerva Monitor, which issued its initial number May 20, 1881, and is edited and published by D. B. Sherwood. It is a four-page paper, with eight columns to a page, and is well filled with reading matter, and a good display of advertisements. It should receive the hearty support of the citizens of Minerva and the surrounding country. The first paper in Minerva, was established by William Morris, but did not last long. This was followed by the Minerva Commercial, established in 1869, by R. E. Watson. In March, 1872, the Weaver Brothers became the proprietors, and in 1877 the paper was discontinued. From this time the village was without a paper until the recent establishing of the Monitor. The commercial and social interests of Minerva, as mirrored at present, show the following cast : A large flouring mill, owned and operated by Davis Brothers ; a planing mill, by T. D. Yost ; car-shops (a private enterprise), carried on by Pennock Brothers, doing a large and profitable business ; general repair shops, by A. B. Chaffey & Co.; four general stores ; . two millinery stores ; two drug stores ; two hardware stores ; one jewelry store ; one furniture store; one bank ; a schoolhouse ; four churches ; a post office ; one newspaper and four hotels. Mr. G.. F. Yengling, a prominent, business man, is putting up quite an elegant little opera house, and several other business blocks are in the course of construction, which will add materially to the attractiveness of the town. Robertsville, or Robardsville, was laid out in 1842. It is situated on Section 19, and has the advantage of Black Stream as a " water highway," and the Connotton Valley Railway, which passes through. It was laid out by Joseph Robard, a Frenchman, who bought the land upon which it stands, from Samuel Rhodes, an early settler in the vicinity. Samuel Young kept the first tavern in the place. A post office was established in December, 1862, and Peter Adolph commissioned as Postmaster. There are two churches in the village, Catholic and Reformed. The former was built some twenty years ago, and the latter about 1875-76. The business consists of two dry goods stores, one grocery store, and a number of shops, a steam saw mill and a planing mill, a churn manufactory and a schoolhouse. A new schoolhouse will be built during the present summer, 1881. New Franklin is situated in the northeast corner of Section 12, and has never been regularly laid out as a town. It consists of a small collection of houses, and has a Methodist Church, and a Lutheran Church and cemetery, a schoolhouse and a store, with the usual complement of shops of different kinds, generally found in a hamlet of its proportions. A post office was established in February, 1832, with Jesse Shoard as Postmaster. 510 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY. CHAPTER XXIV.* TUSCARAWAS TOWNSHIP—DESCRIPTION AND BOUNDARIES —THE ROLL OF EARLY SETTLERS— FIRST CENSUS—SCHOOLS AND EARLY TEACHERS— CHURCHES —THE POE FAMILY — POST OFFICES, ETC. ON the fifth day of March, 1810, the Commissioners of Stark made the following entry on their journal : " On the petition of sundry inhabitants of that part of Canton and Plain Townships lying west of the Tuscarawas River, was organized into a township called Tuscarawas, and it was ordered, that the first election be held on the first Monday of April, 1810." The limits of the township, as do those of all the other townships south of the Western Reserve, include thirty-six sections of 640 acres each, or 23,040 acres each, and it may be wcll said of the township that for mineral and agricultural resources, it has no superior in the county. Following in the wake of the " New Purchase," as the territory west of the Tuscarawas Branch of the Muskingum was called, immigration commenced into that territory in 1807. The surveys were commenced in that year and concluded by William Henry, Joseph H. Larwill, John Larwill and John Harris. Among the first lands entered in the township, was Section 10 ; this was entered by John Barr, and by him sold to Jacob Bowman, Esq., afterward President of the Monongahela Bank of Brownsville,,Penn., and by his heirs, or the immediate grantees of his heirs, to James Bayliss, Esq., and is as fine a body of land as is in the county. Having been kept in an unbroken body for years, it is known all over the township as the " Section." During the time of the making of the surveys on the west side of the Tuscarawas River, settlements were made there more rapidly than in the west. That portion of the county was known as a part of Canton and Plain, as late as the organization of the township, and such was the weight of population that the county had been entered but one year, when the people petitioned for a separate township, and obtained their organization, so as to be included * Contributed by Robert H. Folger. in the third census of the United States, under the name of Tuscarawas Township, the true name being Tuscarora, as will be seen by consulting the treaties by which the territory was obtained, and the works of Francis Parkin an, Jr. The first permanent settlement in the township;- then, however, only known as a part of the New Purchase," was made by two brothers, Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, John and Robert Warden. They left their home in Washington County, Penn., with a cart and horse, and rifles, a change of clothing, a filled straw tick and blankets and rations, to be replenished as time and chance might enable them to do .so, they had forded the river where is now the northern terminus of Clay street, Massillon, and reached, in their western journey the surveyor's camp, at the spring on the " Section." There they made a permanent halt, and when the land came into market, entered the quarter-section now owned and occupied by David Gib. Subsequently, John purchased the interest of his brother, and lived many years on that farm, holding offices of trust and responsibility in the township, and aiding in laying the foundations of good order, for which the township has since been celebrated. The third census of the United States showed, of old and young in the township, '145 inhabitants, nearly every man in the township being the head of a family. Their names are here given : William Henry, Seth Hunt, Daniel Hoy, Charles Hoy, Stephen Harris, John Patton, Isaac 'Poe, William Byal, Caspar Noll, James Eldredge, Stephen Eldredge, Thomas Eldredge, Edward Otis, Thomas Chapman, Henry Clapper, Daniel Clapper, John Clapper, Adam Lower, Peter Johnson, William Crites, Adam Grounds, George Baystone, Massum Metcalf, Jacob Metcalf, Jeremiah Atkinson, Robert Warden, John Geringer, Peter Slusser, Andrew Augustine and Robert Barr. At this date, 1810, the entire population of Stark and what is now Wayne- TUSCARAWAS TOWNSHIP - 511 County, was 2,734 ; Wayne had of that number 332, and Stark 2,402. These facts are taken from the original manuscript census, furnished to the writer by the late Hon. Joseph H. Larwill. It is proper, just here, to correct an error into which the author of Howe's Historical collections was inadvertently led in preparing that valuable work. On page 517, Mr. Howe says : " Wayne was established by Gov. St. Clair, August 13, 1796," and adds: Its original limits were very extensive," and proceeds to give them. 'Tis true that Gov. St. Clair, by proclamation, did enact a county called Wayne, of widely extended limits, but those limits were reduced by the erecting of other counties by Gov. St. Clair, and the General Assembly of the State Of Ohio, after 1802, until Gov. St. Clair's county of Wayne was in the Territory of Michigan, where it yet remains, Detroit being the county seat. On the organization of :Stark County, Ohio, in 1809, the act of the General Assembly creating the county, described certain territory lying west of Stark County, but subject to its jurisdiction until otherwise ordered; to be called the county of Wayne. In 1812, the General Assembly of Ohio provided that that territory should thenceforth be known as a separate and distinct county, and should be called Wayne County. The correctness of this statement will at once be acknowledged when it is remembered that it was not until the year 1805, by the treaty of Fort Industry that the Indian title to the territory west of the Tuscarawas Branch of the Muskingum was extinguished, and the United States authorized to assert their author ity over any territory west of the Tuscarawas. Under the order of the Commissioners, the township was organized as a political community, and it is much to be regretted that the rec- ords of the early organization cannot be found. The township was settled rapidly with industrious and useful inhabitants. They realized that " schools and the means of instruction were essential to good government," and accordingly Churches and schoolhouses were erected in every neighborhood, or religious exercises were held in private houses. " From the best information that can be had; the first election in the township was held on Monday, April 1, 1810, at the house of William Henry, at which William Henry and Daniel Hoy were elected Justices of the Peace ; Ste- phen Harris, Daniel Hoy and Peter Slusser, Trustees ; Thomas Chapman and Henry Clapper, Supervisors of Highways ; Adam Lower and William Crites, Fence Viewers ; Andrew Augustine, House Appraiser ; William Henry, Treasurer ; Stephen Harris, Constable ; Peter Johnson, Township Clerk. At this time the township embraced a large amount of territory in fractional sections adjoining the river which became parts of Perry, Lawrence, Jackson and Franklin, the latter township being now the southwestern township of Summit County, as it was the northwestern township of Stark previous to 1840, when, by act of the General Assembly of Ohio, it was taken from Stark to help Summit to the constitutional amount of territory to make a county. Hence it will appear in many instances that the same persons were original settlers in two or more townships. For example, Stephen Harris, William Crites, Henry Clapper, Daniel Clapper and John Clapper, first settled in what is now Lawrence Township, and, except Mr. Harris, never moved away from their first entry of land west of the river, until after Lawrence was organized, in 1816. When Tuscarawas Township was reduced to its legal number of sections by the organization of other townships, Mr. Harris, as appears hereafter, sold his land in Lawrence, purchased property in Tuscarawas, on the hill south of Lawrence Station, on the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway, removed into that township, and remained there until his death. He lived to an old age, and was prominently identified with the growth and prosperity of the county, as will be seen by a personal sketch of that gentleman, of peculiar interest, derived from a source that entitles it to the highest credit. Among the very early settlers west of the Tuscarawas River and before the organization of the township was Michael Oswalt the Indians disturbed him and he went back to Columbiana County, but soon returned and represented Stark County in the House of Representatives many years. He was an upright man, and discharged his duty according to the best of his ability. During his term of service in the House of Representatives, the great question of State internal improvement, by canal navigable, came up, and during its preliminary stages, Mr. Oswalt voted for it. On its final passage, the hue and cry that had become general   512 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY. throughout the county against it so alarmed him that he voted against it. He lived, however, to see the Ohio Canal opened, and navigable to the now city of Massillon, when he joined in the popular feeling in its favor, and insisted that the Ohio Canal was his baby. In 1836, he sold his land in what had then become Perry Township, and moved to Fairfield County, where he ended his days, a respected citizen of that excellent county. Among the survivors of the early days of the township is Alvah Wood, born at Brookfield, Clinton County, New York, May 5, 1795. This venerable gentleman is now a member of the family of William Walter, in the southern portion of the township. He never was married. By his labor and economy, he acquired a farm which now supports him comfortably. With his father, Jonathan Wood, a Revolutionary soldier, he came into the township in 1819, and, with the interegnum presently noticed; has been a resident ever since, for the full period of sixty-eight years, and is believed to be the oldest person in the township. The writer of these sketches is indebted to him for many facts touching the early settlement of this township. In 1809, James Eldredge entered the southwest quarter of Section 25, at the land office at Canton, and paid all in silver. Between that period and 1813, Robert Barr entered the fractional Section, now in Perry Township, in which is located the celebrated Warming-ton Coal Mines, and, in order to facilitate the transit across the Tuscarawas River, established the fording known as " Barr's Fording," near where is now the iron bridge. Robert Barr is yet . remembered as' a genial Irishman, whose house was never closed to the new-comer seeking a home in the then wilderness. He was one of those who had left the land of the harp and shamrock during the rebellion of 1798, and found a home at last in the then dense forest on the west side of the great county of Stark, now numbering its 60,000 inhabitants. He removed west. after selling his possessions in this township, and aided in building up another portion of the great empire, the success of which is renowned alike in song and in story. Another pioneer settler whose name appears in the census of 1810, was Massum Metcalf, generally called Madcap. He had started with the march of civilization. He located in what is now Lawrence Township, but did not remain, for the reason that the " county was too thickly settled ; he could hear his neighbor's dog bark, and it was so cleared up that he could not fell a tree at his door for firewood." "Wild game was plenty," says Mr. Wood, " wolves, deer, bears, wild cats and turkeys were plenty,* and among the Nimrods were Charles Dougal and Solomon Wilson, who never traveled anywhere without a rifle, powder horn, shot pouch, and a sheath-knife suspended to a belt. When game was killed too large to be carried home, it was thoroughly bled, the entrails removed, and the carcass hung to a limb,' and, under the common law of hunters, it was safe for the. owner to call for it, with the means of tansporting it home. He who would disturb it, did so at the peril of his life, if ever found out. As the county was settled, Dougal and Wilson went where civilization had made fewer inroads. Mr. Wood has resided in Tuscarawas Township, since 1813, excepting three or four years, when he returned east, and remained in Vermont. He is now at the age of eighty-six, enjoying excellent health and a clear memory of many events of the early settlement of the township. In those days there were few mills in what now constitutes the township of Franklin, 'Summit County, Lawrence, Jackson, Perry and. Tuscarawas, Stark County. On Newman's Creek, in Lawrence were two, Roger's and Grundy's being the first, and they of limited capacity. Goudy's mill was erected in 1812, of wooden gearing, which was constructed by two young millwrights, one of whom, John Crail, died within ten years last past, and was the father of Mrs. Fletcher, of Massillon. When the young men reached the Tuscarawas River, on their way to their job, the ferryman proposed to charge them 50 cents each for carrying them across. Unwilling to pay such a price, they waded the river and carried their' tools and saved their money. After finishing their job for 601. Goudy, they went to Kendal, and, in 1814, built the dam across Sippo Creek, which supplied the water for the mill of Capt. Mayhur. Folger, referred to in the History of Perry Township. Mr. Crail was well known to the writer, as an upright and useful citizen, who life-long contributed his share to the common weal. The mill he built for Col. Goudy passed through many owners, was repaired and iron TUSCARAWAS TOWNSHIP - 613 machinery put in, and finally destroyed by fire a few years since. The first licensed minister of the Gospel in the township was the Rev. Edward H. Otis, a Baptist, who settled in the southern portion of the township prior to 1810, as his name appears in the census for that decennial period, and who had the stated preaching of the Gospel at the houses of the five neighbors in that portion of the township. The second minister who came into the township was the Rev. James Dixon, who was appointed to Tuscarawas circuit, Nov 1, 1810, the district being known as Muskingum District of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the conference being known as the Western Conference ; and since the coming of the Rev. James Dixon, the township has never been without preaching by some minister of that church. Elder Otis was born in Massachusetts in 1766, was a son of Stephen Otis, who was a Major on the staff of Gen. Joseph Warren, when Gen. Warren fell at the battle of Bunker Hill, Maj. Otis being also severely wounded. On recovering from his wounds he was attacked by small pox, which carried him off. Gen. Elder Otis' wife, Mary, was born April 18, 1770. Their family was Lois Otis, married to Thomas Eldridge ; Ezekiel Otis, married to Widow Stansbury ; Jesse Otis, married to Charlotte Davy ; Phebe Otis, married to George Allman ; Mary Otis, married to William Harding, well remembered as a wagon-maker in Kendal, in Perry Township, in 1826 ; Merrill Otis, married to Hannah Pierson ; Edward Otis, married to Sarah Shubb ; Marina Otis, who was married to James Kilgore, a son of William Kilgore. On the death of Manilla, Mr. Kilgore married Miss Olive Dean, of the Pigeon Run settlement. Elder Otis organized the first Baptist Church in Stark County, and which, as nearly as can be ascertained, was known as Pigeon Run Baptist Church. Among the members were Curtis Downs, Jacob Cox, his family and sister, Jonathan Wood and his family of six or seven, Thomas, Charles and John Rigdon, and their families, cousins of Elder Sidney Rigdon, who afterward became prominent as a Mormon 'Elder. They also had a cousin George, a plain, blunt man, whose integrity of character compelled him to speak out just what he thought, no matter who might be hit and hurt. On one occasion, at a meeting of Elder Otis, church and congregation, for prayer and conference, the Elder called on the brethren and sisters present to tell their religious experience. George had taken a seat in a remote corner of the room and listened attentively to the tribulations, trials and wrestlings with the adversary, of those who spoke, and finally the Elder said' to him, " Brother Rigdon, haven't you something to tell us concerning what the Lord has done for you since our last meeting ?" George sprang to his feet and in his peculiar manner said, " Brother Otis, I'll be dang'd if I came here to lie," and immediately sat down. The Elder made a closing prayer and dismissed the congregation. Death and removals have long since scattered the Pigeon Run Baptist Church. The history of this township immediately following its organization is strongly marked by the incoming of the Presbyterian element, among whom were Ebenezer Shaw, John Warden, his brother Robert Warden (who now became permanent settlers), William Johnson, Nathaniel McDowell, John Forsythe, Archibald Steele, James Irvin, Robert Noble, Daniel Hoy, Charles Hoy, Robert McDowell, James McDowell, William Donahey, the Tiltons, McFaddens, Evanses, Fultons and Lytles. Col. John McDowell, who afterward moved into Sugar Creek Township, Wayne County, as did William Erwin. There were a number of families by name of Porter, from Western Pennsylvania, who settled west of the river, who, when. Lawrence Township was organized in 1816, found themselves in that township, where they remained. Ebenezer Shaw will be remembered with all the other Presbyterians named, as one of the true men of Tuscarawas Township. He came into the new territory of Stark County with Robert Latimer and Daniel Carter, in 1806, and entered land about four miles east of the now city of Canton. On that farm Mr. Shaw had two sons born—James and Abraham F. James studied for the ministry, and was called to the church at Windham, Portage County. Shortly after, he was ordained, and if the memory of the writer be not at fault, he, remained the Pastor over that church until his death, a few years since. He was an early graduate of Western Reserve College, and spent a long and faithful life in his Master's service. He was born in 1807, and at his death had nearly or quite filled out the threescore and ten years allotted 514 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY to man. His brother, Abraham F. Shaw, resides at Savannah, Ashland County, at the age of seventy, and is one of the worthy citizens of that county, deservedly enjoying the esteem and confidence of a large circle of friends. Many of the early Scotch-Irish Presbyterians settled in the northern part of the township, by means of which the neighborhood took the name of Dublin, a name the school-district bears today, and Dublin Schoolhouse is a historic landmark. The elder stock of the McDowells has of course passed away, but with all the rest of that class, including the Erwins, they left a name the excellence of which is transmitted to their posterity. Most of them moved into the township about the same time; 1815 and 1816. On getting into the township and providing a house of the rudest kind for their families, their next care was to see to it that a house for religious worship should be erected, previous to which the preaching was at Mr. Shaw's in the winter, and in the summer at Mr. Daniel Hoy's barn. , he first Presbyterian preacher was Rev. James Adams, from Dalton, Wayne County. The Presbyterian Church of Pigeon Run was organized in 1820, although it is somewhat certain that a church edifice was built much earlier on Mr. Shaw's land, as Robert Noble assisted in hewing the logs, of which it was built, in 1816. On the organization of the church in 1820, which was done in the barn of Ebenezer Shaw, William Johnson, Nathaniel McDowell and Ebenezer Shaw were chosen Elders. At this time, Rev. Archibald Hanna was Pastor of Mount Eaton, Fredericksburg and Pigeon Run Churches, one-third of the time being devoted to each, at a salary of $400, one-half to be paid in wheat, at 50 cents per bushel. That portion allotted to the Pigeon Run congregation, to be paid in wheat, was to be delivered at Mr. ShShad's from there Mr. Hanna had it hauled to market, and sold it at 40 cents, taking pay in such articles as merchants would give in exchange, for in those days wheat would not command money at any price, nor did it command money until 1829, after the opening of navigation on the canal, the market being at the new city of Massillon. Mr. Shaw donated three acres of his land for a church and burial place, or, in the language of those days, a " burying ground," on which the hewed. log edifice was erected, and used summer and winter. without a stove. "There we sat," says Abraham F. Shaw, Esq., in a late letter to the writer of these reminiscences, "in the winter time, during a long service of about two hours, trembling .with, cold, and the preacher trembled too. The word of the Lord was precious in those days." After Rev. Mr. Hanna, came Rev. James Snodgrass, who is supposed to be the last settled minister over that congregation. He came from Jefferson County, and died while discharging the duties of the pastorate at that church. Death and removals have sent that church out of existence. In a further account of' the manner in which the preaching of the Gospel was delivered to the Presbyterians then, Mr. Shaw says : "After some time, the people were able to buy, a stove and as much pipe as would reach through the gallery floor. The smoke all remained ip the house. It was hard to tell which was the more endurable, the smoke or the cold." The first school taught in that neighborhood was taught by Adam Johnson. He taught in a small house with a large fire-place and greased paper windows, on Section 16. The teacher's knowledge was limited, and the branches he taught were few, The shorter catechism was learned, and had to be recited every Saturday afternoon, by the whole school. First, and prominent among the settlers of this township, was Andrew Poe, and was elected a Justice of the Peace at the second Justice's election. Mr. Poe's remote paternal ancestor immigrated to this country in 1745, from the Palatinate, and settled on Antietam Creek, Md., where his wife died. He was afterward murdered by one of his teamsters on the road between his home and Baltimore. He left four children : I. George Poe, who inherited his father's estate, and when the war of the Revolution broke out, he remained loyal to the British cause. II. Andrew Poe, born in the Palatinate, in 1739; came to this country with his parents, and, some time after his father's death, went further west, to what is now Washington County; Penn. He was in the Army of the Revolution, married and had a family. Some of his descendants are now living in Ravenna, Portage Co.. He was engaged in the fight with Big Foot and his band of Wyandots, in 1782; at the mouth of Tomlinson's Run, on the Ohio River, in Hancock County, W. Va. He was the person who had the individual fight with Big Foot and one other Indian, and not Adam, as usually stated. TUSCARAWAS TOWNSHIP - 515 III. Catharine Poe was born in the Palatinate, and came to this country with her parents. She subsequently joined her brother in Washington County, Penn. But little is known of her history. IV. Adam Poe, born 1745, at sea, while the family was on its way to this country. Some time after his Father's death, he also joined his brother Andrew, in Washington County, Penn. He married Elizabeth Cochran, who was born in February, 1756, on the northwest coast of Ireland, whose first husband-Cochran-was killed by Indians, on the Ohio River, opposite East Liverpool, Ohio. Adam was also in the fight with Big Foot, and was the person who actually shot that Indian. Ile died September 23, 1838, at the age of 93, at the house of his son Andrew Poe, in this township, and is buried at Sixteen Church. His widow died in the same house, December 27, 1844, aged eighty-eight years and ten months, and is buried by his side. They had several children, among whom was Andrew Poe, born November 12, 1780, in Washington County, Penn., who married, September 8, 1803, Nancy Hoy, born June 6, 1779, in York County, Penn., the daughter of Charles 110y. They settled in Columbiana County, Ohio, and, in 1812, the family moved to Tuscarawas Township, Stark Co., where he died, August 12, 1851, aged seventy years and nine months, in the same house where his father and mother died, and was buried at " Sixteen Church." His wife- died in the same house, March 29, 1865, aged eighty-five years, nine months and twenty-three days. They had children : I.-II. Sarah, and Adam Poe, twins, born July 12, 1804, in Columbiana County, Ohio. Sarah married John Montgomery, of the same county ; had several children, and is dead. Adam married and had three children. He was a well-known Methodist preacher and D. D., and died some years since, at Cincinnati, being at the head of the "Methodist Book Concern" in that city, at that time.* III. Elizabeth, born March 20, 1806, in Columbiana County, married John Gayer, of the same county, and had children. They went to the Southwest, and she is now dead. * Since the sketch of the Poe family was prepared, it has been ascertained that Isaac Poe, named in the 3d U. S. c nsus, in which Tuscarawas is included, was a brother of Andrew Poe, and who preceded him (Andrew) in getting into Tuscarawas Township, but did not remain. Isaac went to Missouri and died there. IV. Charles, born September 26, 1807, in Columbiana County, Ohio ; married in Stark County., Ohio, May 31, 1831, to Susanna Warner, born November ,5, 1817, at Loudon. Franklin Co., Penn. He died in Coshocton County, December 14, 1852, and his widow died March 21, 1881, in Stark County, Ohio. They had five children : I. Orlando Metcalf, born March 7, 1832, on the farm now owned by Hon. Thomas W. Chapman, in Bethlehem Township, in this county ; entered the United States Military Academy, at West Point, September, 1852, from the district then composed of Knox, Coshocton 1 and Holmes Counties; graduated June, 1856, and was appointed a Lieutenant in the corps of topographical engineers, where he remained until March, 1863, when, by the consolidation of that corps with the corps of engineers, he became a Captain in the resulting organization, and a Major March 7, 1867. He was brevetted Major July 6, 1864, for gallant services at the siege of Knoxville, Tenn.; Lieutenant-Colonel, September 1, 1864, for gallant services in the capture of Atlanta, Ga.; Colonel, Dec. 21, 1864, for gallant services in the capture of Savannah ; Brigadier General, March 13, 1865, for gallant and meritorious services, terminating with the surrender of the insurgent army, under Gen. Joseph E. Johnston. He also held the following appointments in the volunteer service during the war : Colonel Second Michigan Infantry, from September 16, 1861, to November 29, 1862, and Brigadier General of volunteers from November 29, 1862, to March 4, 1863. Also, the following staff appointments: Chief Topographical Engineer Department of the Ohio during the campaign of Gen. McClelland, its Commander, in W. Virginia, May 13, to July 25, 1861. Rich Mountain campaign, Chief Engineer Department of the Ohio, commanded by Gen. Burnside, September 27, to 'December 15, 1863, during which he conducted the defensive operations at the siege of Knoxville, Tenn.; Chief Engineer on the staff of Gen. Sherman, Commanding. Military Division of the Mississippi, from April 3, 1864, to June 29, 1865, covering the Atlanta campaign, the march to the sea, and the campaign, of the Carolinas, and was in the 'following actions : battle of Rich Mountain, W. Va., July 11, 1861; fight at Lewinsville, Va., September, 1861; siege at Yorktown, Va., April 5 to May 4. 1862 ; battle of Williamsburg, Va., May 5, 1g62 ; battle of 516 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY. Fair Oaks, Va., May 31, 1862 ; second battle of Bull Run, Va., August 29-30, 1862 ; battle of Fredericksburg, Md., December 13,1862; battle of Blue Springs, E. Tenn., October 10, 1862 ; siege of Knoxville, E. Tenn., November 18, to December 4, 1862; siege of Dalton, Ga. May 7, to May 14, 1864 ; battle of Resaca, Ga., May 15, 1864 ; Adairsville, Ga., May 17, 1864 ; Kingston, Ga., May 19, 1864 ; battle of New Hope Church, Ga., May 20, 1864 ; battles of Dallas, Ga., May 25-28, 1864; battles of Kenesaw Mountain, Ga., June 20, to July 2, 1864; battle of Ruff's Station, Ga., July 4, 1864 ; battle of Atlanta, Ga., July 22, 1864 ; siege of Atlanta Ga., July 22, to August 25, 1864 ; battle of Jonesboro; Ga., August 31, 1864 ; Sandersville, Ga., November 26, 1864 ; siege of Savannah, Ga., December 9-21, 1864 ; battle of Averysboro, N. C., March 16, 1865 ; battle of Bentonsville, N, C., March 20-21, 1865 ; capture of Raleigh; N. C., April 13, 1865 ; and was present at the surrender of. Gen. J. E. Johnston, commanding the rebels, to Gen. Sherman, at Durham, N. C., April 26, 1865. For the five years preceding the war, he was engaged upon the survey of the Northern and Northwestern lakes. After the war, he was Engineer Secretary of the Lighthouse Board ; from July 3, 1865, to May 1, 1870 ; then Engineer Eleventh Lighthouse District, Lakes Huron, Michigan and Superior, and in charge of River and Harbor Improvements from Detroit to Lake Superior, from May 1, 1870, to May 1, 1873, during which time he designed and began the enlargement of the Sault Ste. Marie Ship Canal, and built Spectacle Reef, L. H., two of the principal engineering works of the day. From January 1, 1873, he has been aid de camp to the General of the army of the United States, with the rank of Colonel of Cavalry, and since January 19, 1874, has been, in addition, a member of the Lighthouse Board of the United States. Gen. Poe was married at Detroit, Mich., June 17, 1861, to Eleanor Carroll Brent, born August 26, 1843, second daughter of the late Thomas Lee Brent, of Louisiana, Captain United States Army, and they have children. a. Charles Carroll, born December 14, 1863, in Perry Township, Stark County. b. Winifred Lee, born December 9, 1866, at Washington, D. C. c. Elizabeth Comstock, born July 22, at Washington, D. C. d. Orlando Warner, born December 10, 1876, at Washington, V. C. 2. Andrew Warner, son of Charles Poe, born November 25, 1834, at Navarre, Stark County ; died June, 1853. 3. William Charles, born August 8, 1841, at Navarre, Stark County, Ohio ; married and resides at Massillon. 4. Rebecca Anne, born December 14, 1843, at Rochester, Stark County, Ohio ; married to Reuben Z. Wise, and now living at Middle Branch, Stark County. 5. Margaret Maria, born in Coshocton County, and died in infancy. V-VI. Daniel and George J. Poe, twins, born in Columbiana County October 12, 1809. Daniel married, became a Methodist preacher, and, previous to the Mexican war, whilst a missionary in Texas died with his wife on the same day, leaving three children, one boy and two girls ; they all grew to adult age. Andrew was killed during the war, near Kenesaw Mountain, in Georgia. George married Miss Bowman, of this township, and has several children, and now resides at Bowling Green, Wood County, Ohio ; all the boys served during the war. VII. Andrew, born in Columbiana County, Ohio ; married Mary Sweeny, of Canton. They had children who died in infancy. He died many years since. VIII. Eleanor, born September 10, 1813, in this township ; married Nathan Lash, of Sugar Creek Township, and is now a widow, living at Bowling Green. IX. John, born in this township June 14, 1815 ; twice married, and killed on the railroad track at Massillon, being run over by a passing train. His family resided in this township until within two years past, when they removed to Kansas. He left a widow and three sons. X. James McLean, born in this township in 1818 ; has been dead many years. XI. Catherine born July 10, 1820, in this township ; married John Emerson, and is now dead. XII. Joseph Robb, born April 11, 1824, also in this township ; married, but had no children, and is now dead. And this closes the record of one of the most remarkable families that has ever lived in the township. Andrew TUSCARAWAS TOWNSHIP - 517 Poe was a man of strongly marked character, a good neighbor and kind friend, with many eccentricities that will not be forgotten. His excellent wife, Nancy, will be remembered as a woman of noble physique and a face of remarkable beauty, that is recognized in her grandchildren. The year 1814 was marked by immigration into the township from Northern New York, away on the borders of Vermont, among whom were Stephen Thacker and family, William Eldredge and family ; his sons' names were William and Nathan, the latter of whom is well remembered as a man of character. His widow, Catharine, a daughter of Stephen Thacker, yet lives in the township, a member of the family of her nephew, William Moffit, Esq. Henry Doxsee and family, Jehiel Fox, a brother-in-law of Henry Doxsee, and family, Abel Stafford, Thomas Eldridge, Jr., Thomas Eldridge, Sr., appeared to have been in the township at its organization, as were James and Stephen Eldredge. All of these families were a noble class of people ; a son and daughter, two sons-in-law, and a daughter-in-law, wife of Thaw; Doxsee, now reside in Massillon. Eleanor, wife of Henry Doxsee, shortly after the family had got settled in their cabin, in the Pigeon Run neighborhood, went to see some neighbors at the little hamlet called sometimes Wintersville, but which has settled down into Brookfield, and, as usual, rode through the woods on a " bridle path," as the avenues were called, on horseback ; wide roads, except the main road from Pittsburgh to the Great West, being unknown, and, staying later than she intended, started about dark for home. She had just gotten into the densest portion of the forest when the howl of wolves fell upon her ear. Her horse understanding that " The De'il had business on his hand," started at once ; the howl increased. The horse knowing the path, was left to his own guidance ; Mrs. Doxsee's only care was to keep her seat in the saddle. The wolves came almost alongside, as the " clearing " about Mr. Doxsee's residence was reached. When the wolves seemed to know that they were foiled, they stopped, gave one long doleful howl of disappointment, and abandoned the chase. The horse, however, never stopped until he reached the cabin door, and landed his rider in safety. Jehiel Fox settled in Brookfield ; was a carpenter by trade, and one of the first in the township ; was also elected Justice of the Peace, and it is supposed, taught the first school in that neighborhood. His daughter, Eliza, wife of James Bayliss, Esq., resides on "the section " in the township. This couple celebrated their golden wedding Jan. 1, 1881. The first tavern in the township was kept by William Byal, who was also a shoemaker by trade, an expert with the rifle, never failing to bring down a deer or other game that came in his way. Next to him, closely in point of time, was Peter Voris, as a tavern keeper, father of the late. Hon. Peter Voris, an Associate Judge, many years ago, in Summit County, who was father of Gen. A. C. Voris, of Akron. Judge Voris died within a few years past, at Mattoon, Illinois: William and Thomas ,Dean, two brothers, were also of the pioneer settlers and pioneer Methodists on the banks of Pigeon Run, east of Section 16, which was near the center of the township. Each neighborhood had its distinctive features. The people from the " settlement," where Doxsee, Eldridge and the Essex County, New York, people lived, could be identified in a moment, as could those from the northern portion of the township, who were from Washington County, Pennsylvania. The Baptists, south of Pigeon Run, were another class, but all had the same object in view, " the encouragement of 'schools and the means of instruction." In Doxsee's neighborhood, William Lawson taught the first school. The first blacksmith in the township was Francis Smith ; his brother, Ethan Smith, was the first tanner ; he died in 1825, and was a worthy member of the Society of Friends (Quakers.) The first tavern in Brookfield was kept by Philip Slusser, which gave the place the name of Slusser's Tavern, as Brookfield never was laid out, and never did as a village. The Pennsylvania Dutch element was not behind in aiding to develop the township. In 1812, Frederick, Peter and John Oberlin came .in from the Cumberland Valley, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. They were good and true men, and left a posterity numerous and worthy, who have not failed to vindicate the good name of their ancestry. Their immediate relatives, by marriage, were Frederick Rodocker, Jacob Fry and George Gilbert, who, with the Oberlins, were heads of families. Jacob Fry was the proprietor of Greenville. Of this class were the Ritters, Daniel, Jonas' and David, and were among the early settlers. 518 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY. When the township was reduced to its constitutional limits, Daniel Ritter was found to be in Perry Township, where he resided until his death. One of the remarkable families of thiS township was that of Conrad Neustetter, who was one of the 17,000 Hessians that came over in the war of the Revolution, and was surrendered to G0-en. Washington and the French forces at Yorktown, Va., in 1781. After the surrender he remained, under his parole, in Virginia, but not relishing human chattelship, he concluded to go where there was " neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except for crime," and find a new home. Where could he have gone to carry out his ideas of human rights so well as to Ohio, the first-born of the Ordinance of July 13, 1787 ? He had three sons—Henry, Conrad and Joseph----Iand four daughters, all of whom had families, and have left a numerous posterity. While there were few of what were known as the Pennsylvania Dutch in the township at its organization, within two years the tide of immigration to Tuscarawas Township, from Franklin, Lancaster, Lebanon, York, Cumber. land, Dauphin, Lehigh, and the central counties of Pennsylvania, rolled onward until that element equalled in numbers any other in the township; and as agriculturists they had no superior, as the broad acres under cultivation show. That tide of immigration continued for many years. The first quarter of a century after the organization of the town was especially and favorably marked by that class, from the counties of Franklin, Lancaster, Lebanon and Cumberland. The prophecy of Berkley, Bihop of Cloy ne, was fulfilled so far as this township was concerned : "Westward the star of empire takes its way, The first four acts already past, The fifth shall close the drama and the day, Time's noblest offspring, is the last." After navigation was open on. the Ohio Canal to Massillon, and business, generally on the west side of the county and including Wayne County, as well as on the north and south of Massillon, began to center at that point. Judge Henry, Who had for many years prior to 1826, been the merchant of Perry Township, finding his occupation gone, concluded he could put Brookfield into competition with Massillon, and about 1830 moved to Brookfield, opened a store determined to intercept western trade. Finding that that plan would not succeed, he determined to erect a steam flouring-mill, saw-mill and woolen manufactory, and which was the first and only establishment of the kind in this township. Meanwhile, Massillon had got a start as the great shipping point for all kinds of produce and woolen manufactures, which rendered the Brooenld Steam Flouring-mill and Woolen Manufactory, dead capital. In order to place the business in the hands of a younger and an energetic person Judge Henry put what capital he had invested in the Brookfield enterprise into the hands of his son-in-law, C. B. Cummins, but he could not command success so, near to Massillon, and the result was the enterprise was abandoned, and Mr. Cummins took his stock in trade to that city, where he continued until 1854, when he went out of at the abandonment of the Brookfield investment, moved to Wooster, Wayne Co., and ended his days at the age of eighty years, and thus Massillon. There is not one stone left upon another to indicate that business of the character above described was ever carried on there. The machinery was taken out and sold, the buildings torn down, and at this writing there are few living who worked on the premises. The first post-office in the township was at the village of Greenville, and William Byal was the first Postmaster.. As it paid but a small salary, although the Postmaster was entitled to thirty per centum of the receipts for letter postage and fifty per centum on newspapers and periodicals, Mr. Byal resigned in 1828, and there being no one to take the office, it was discontinued, and the effects belonging to it were taken to Massillon. It has, however, been re-established by the name of East Greenville. Prominent among the early settlers who laid the foundations of the great moral structure of the township were William and Thomas Dean, brothers ; Peter Johnson, Wesley Hatton, William Henry, Seth Hunt, Thomas. Eldredge, Stephen Thacker and family, Rev. Josiah Foster, Peter Johnson, and all the other Methodists in the towship. In 1810, a society was formed at once on the arrival of' the preacher, Rev. James Dixon, and amid all the changes it has remained. The. few Methodists on the East side of the river at Kendal, came into this TUSCARAWAS TOWNSHIP - 519 township for worship, until in 1824, when the Pittsburgh Conference was erected, and Canton circuit was organized in 1824. In f 1816, the Hackett brothers, their mother and sister, came into the township, but one of whom, Andrew, remains. He now, at the age of seventy-six, lives in the city of Massillon, having lived in this and Perry Township sixty-six years. The brothers were John, William, Reese, Andrew, Christian, David and Simon. Their father, Andrew, came into the township in 1811, from Fayette County, Penn., and brought a wagon- load of the household goods of his father-in-law, Christian Bates, who moved into the township. He then returned to Pennsylvania and came to Ohio again in 1812, and died in 1814. Christian Bates died in the township, leaving two sons, Adam and Andrew, who may be classed among the first of the township’s settlers. The sturdy Dutch settlers from Pennsylvania were generally, in their religious connections, German Reformed and Lutheran ; and in neighborhoods where neither were able to erect a church edifice, the two would join hands and erect a building, and worship in it on alternate Sabbaths, until each congregation was able to build for itself. In 1819, George Krider came into the township, bringing with him a family. He, too, was from Pennsylvania, and with his family contributed largely to the development of the township as tillers of the soil and mechanics. Samuel Krider, a son, has been twice a member of the House of Representatives, in the General Assembly of Ohio, and is now a. Justice of the Peace. Tuscarawas was not behind in the elements of advancing civilization. It had the first distillery west of Canton in which whisky was made, Col. Isaac Taylor being the proprietor. He was Colonel of one of the regiments in the Third Brigade and Sixth Division of Ohio Militia, and as such was distinguished, for in those days a Colonel " on the peace establishment " was regarded as a man of parts. The militia system sank into discredit, and the Colonel ran the distillery until it ran him so nearly into the ground that he disposed of it. It ran through successive ownerships until it fell into the hands of Elder Frederick Freeman, who distilled whisky during the week and preached Baptism by immersion, for the remission of sins, on Sunday. There are a few yet living in the township who have drank of his whisky and listened to his preaching. The distillery finally ran down before the enlightened progress of better ideas. Among the earnest men, and who were among the first to open up the forest on the west side of the county, was Stephen Harris. While it is a matter of doubt whether it was Stephen Harris or the brothers John and Robert Worden who were the first to make a permanent settlement on the west side of the river, it is certain that on the reducing of the townships of Tuscarawas and Lawrence to their proper limits, Mr. Harris was in Lawrence and the Wordens were in Tuscarawas. It is equally certain that they were all within the territory known as the New Purchase, in 1807, which was before the organization of the county. Mr. Harris was born in Elizabethtown, N. 3., August 21, 1780. His paternal ancestry was English, and his mother a Scotch woman, a relation of Gavin Hamilton, of Mauchline. the friend and patron of Robert Burns, the Ayr- shire plowman, and the same family as Alex ander Hamilton, who fell in the duel at Wee- hawken, N. J., in 1804, with Aaron Burr, and whose father emigrated to the island of Nevis, in the West Indies. She (his mother) was a woman of fine physique and appearance, and rare mental gifts, though in humble life, and engrossed in the care of rearing twelve children. Soon after the close of the Revolutionary war, his father, who served as a soldier in that struggle for the vindication of the rights of man, moved with his young family, Stephen being but six years of age; to Washington County, Penn., where the subject of this sketch worked on a farm until he was twenty-one. He then worked for himself in various pursuits, sometimes as a farm hand, sometimes as a boatman on the Ohio River, and for some time was engaged in the ginseng trade, at Maysville, Ky., in which he saved money enough to enter a considerable body of land in the vicinity of Lawrence station, on the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway, in the now township of Lawrence, being the northwestern township in Stark County, which entry was made at the land office, at Steubenville. When Mr. Harris arrived at the spot, where is now the city of Canton, and county seat of this county, on his way to his new home, there were but three or four cabins to mark 520 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY. the spot. Where now stands the flourishing city of Massillon, was an impassable swamp. About 100 rods northeast of the present village of Lawrence, he commenced a "clearing." The first winter he had no feed for his cows and young cattle, but subsisted them upon browse; he would cut the young linden, sometimes called basswood, tree, and soft maples, and the cattle would follow him as he went with his ax on his shoulder on a cold morning, on his way to the woods, waiting and watching for their provender, rushing for the tree-top as soon as it fell. He was civil to the Indians, of whom there were many, and, of course, received civility in return. In the winter of 1812, this region was visited by an earthquake. Newman's Creek, so named for Jacob Newman, a pioneer government surveyor, was covered with thick ice. Mr. Harris was awakened from his sleep late one night by a crashing noise rapidly approaching from the east ; it was the breaking of the ice, occasioned by a swift passing wave, which flew by Mr. Harris, cabin, which stood on the bank of the creek, and was lost in the distance on its western course in a moment, the rocking of the cabin and crashing of the ice, producing fear, which vanished with the cause of it, and all was quiet. After clearing and improving the farm first entered, Mr. Harris sold it at an advanced price, and purchased a half section of land in the northwestern corner of this township, which he improved and owned until near the close of his life. It is believed that he built the first brick house in the county west of the Tuscarawas River. This farm was, and is, famous for the fertility of its soil, good crops and excellent fruit, and in this connection it should be said that it was owned and worked by one of the most scientific and practical farmers of his day. The unwritten law of those days was to keep open house, or, to use a modern expression, the latch-string hung outside," With Mr. Harris, the " latch-string not only hung outside," but the front door was open, and, as Massillon and Canton grew into notoriety, the residents of those villages always found a warm welcome at Mr. Harris, delightful home. The visitors were the pioneers of Canton and Perry Townships, as Mr. Harris was of Lawrence and Tuscarawas, and when they met, they delighted to discuss the history of the perils and privations through which each had passed in the acquisi tion of a new home. Those meetings established a friendship that was only severed by death. Those hardy pioneers are all gone, but not forgotten. Mr. Harris died at the age of eighty-two, while temporarily residing with his daughter, Mrs. William Finley, in Chippewa Township, Wayne Co., Ohio: Mrs. Finley was the mother of Hon. Ebenezer B. Finley, member of Congress from the Bucyrus District,. Ohio. Intellectually, Mr. Harris was far above the average of men who aspire to distinction in the learned professions. He was a man of fine physique and wonderful strength. He wore a number eight hat, and had a head that phrenologists pronounced a model. As were most of the pioneer settlers of this township, Mr. Harris was of limited education, but by patient study he has stored his mind with choice history, English literature, especially the English poets, and science, and under such mental discipline, notwithstanding his life of toil, achieved the distinction of being considered a most agreeable gentleman in the social circle, and one whose colloquial talents were of a high order. - He and his wife, Sibyl Clark, were the par- ents of twelve children, ten of whom lived to be married. Two of his sons have been members of the Legislature, a third is a successful practicing lawyer. at Bucyrus, Ohio, where he was for some years a partner of the late Hon. Josiah Scott, formerly a Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio. Of his grandsons, two are prac- ticing law in the city of Philadelphia ; one in Bucyrus, Ohio ; one in Chicago, and at present a member of the Legislature of Illinois ; and one great-grandson, a member of the bar at Cleveland, Ohio. Mr. Harris was uncle and guardian of Rev. William L. Harris, D. D., Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, who made his home for some time in his uncle's family, and taught school in the McFarland District in 1845, near Lawrence. He (Stephen Harris) was a brother of Hon. John Harris, of whom mention is made in the " Sketches of the Bench and Bar of Stark County," and who, from his long and active life, is necessarily mentioned in Canton, Perry, Tuscarawas and Lawrence history. On one occasion the writer remembers hearing Mr. Harris say, " I propose to settle my estate myself," and it is believed that at his SUGAR CREEK TOWNSHIP - 521 death he owed no man anything, and had disposed of his estate among his heirs, so that the intervention of an executor or administrator was not necessary. Of course such a man commanded the respect and esteem of his neighbors and while good and useful men are remembered, his name will fill a place on the historic page with that of the Pioneers, who, amid toil and hardship, made “The wilderness blossom as the rose." The pioneer settlers of this township were men of the class of Mr. Harris ; they aimed to do right in all the relations of life, and the truth of history would not be vindicated without according to them due prominence. They were downright, manly, earnest and sincere. The result of their labors is eulogy enough ; their story is told in these sketches exactly as it was. Of the thirty-six sections of land of which the township is composed, almost every quarter section is of a most excellent quality ; the surface produces cereals of every description, while building stone, limestone and mineral coal are found in exhaustless quantities, as the Warmington, Grove Coal Company, Pigeon Run and Massillon City Coal Companies attest, by the trains of cars daily loaded at and from their mines with the far-famed Massillon coal, the equal of which, nor the exhaustless quantities of which, are found elsewhere in the Tuscarawas Valley. Seventy-one years have gone by since the people of the township were organized into a political community, and it is safe to say, that for steady progress since that organization, Tuscarawas Township is the peer of any township in this great county. To attempt to enumerate its representative men now would be an effort that could not readily be accomplished. Suffice it then to say that Tuscara was Township has kept pace in the march of improvement with any township in the great county of which she is a member. Her motto is : " No steps backward." CHAPTER XXV.* SUGAR CREEK TOWNSHIP—PHYSICAL FEATURES— LANDHOLDERS OF 1828— FIRST SETTLEMENT AND ACCOMPANYING INCIDENTS—INDUSTRIAL GROWTH—PLATTING OF VILLAGES — EDUCATIONAL AND RELIGIOUS GROWTH AND INFLUENCES. THE people of to-day cannot realize the extreme hardships encountered by the early settler. It is no trouble, while enjoying a sumptuous repast, or while occupying at full length the sofa in a palace parlor, to bring the picture of early trials before the gaze ; but the mental and physical sufferings of the pioneers are beyond conjecture, and can only be realized by participation. To be with but little food, and that of the coarsest and meanest quality ; to suffer continually from exposure to the inclement weather ; to be half-clothed ; to be denied all the ennobling influences of refined society ; to be compelled by the relentless force of necessity to work beyond your strength—all these were the common lot of the pioneer. It is a peculiar paradox in human conduct, to note that the old settler loves to recall the trials of early years. Should he not rather love to banish from his mind the recollection of events which occasioned him so much suffering ? No, he loves to dream of the past ; loves to live over again his early experiences. Ask an old settler, and, strange as it may seem, he will tell you he enjoyed life amid the dangers and privations of the backwoods. This can only be accounted for by saying that the mobile characteristic of human nature to adapt itself to any and all surroundings, rendered the life of th e pioneer contented and happy. Sugar Creek Township, which takes its name from the stream which drains the greater portion, is one of the best in the county. This is true not only of the natural features, but of the character of the people within its limits. From its earliest years, the township has been full of push and pluck and precocity. During the early stages of the last war, it furnished more volunteers than any other country portion of the county of the same limit. The character of the citizens for intelligence, morality, industry and enterprise, is second to no other part of Stark County. When the county was first * Contributed by W. A. Goodspeed. 522 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY organized, in 1809, Sugar Creek was attached to Canton Township, and remained thus until March 4, 1816, when the following action was taken by the County Commissioners : "Ordered, That that part of Range 10 in Stark County which lies south of Township 12 in said range, be and the same is hereby erected into a separate township by the name of Sugar Creek." The election of the first officers was announced to be held at the residence of Adam Grounds, o k the first Monday in April and notices of this election were posted up at Adam Grounds', Joseph Poyser's and Fisher's Mill. The following is a list of the land-holders in 1827, the greater number of whom resided in the township.: Christian Ackerman, William Agler, William Baker, George Baker, Jedediah Brewster, James •Benford, John Balterley, BenfordRose, Peter Beck, John Byall, Abraham Beals, John Bash, Benjamin Carr, Joshua Carr, Eman uel Crossland, George Crossland, Jacob Cron- inger Benjamin Croninger, inger, Croninger, J. W. Condy, James Clark, George Canfield, Isaac Charlton' Thomas Collins, Charlton, ton, Collins,Davis, John Doll, Israel Doty, Gotleib Dogaley, John Everly, Susanna Everett, John Everett, Andrew Fetro, Preserved Fish, Henry Fisher, Jacob Fisher, Adam Fisher, John Freese, Abraham Friebley, Jacob Grounds, James Gaff, George Gilbert, Michael Hoffacre, William Hall, William Hunter, John Hammond, John Hollinger, John Hager, Henry Hess, William Jones, Jacob Kyle, George Klingle, James Kilgore; James Kerr, Benjamin Kerr; Jacob Kline, Jacob Klinefelter, John Mason, Jacob Miller, Samuel Miller, William Nichols, Patrick Nelson, John Oberlin, George Pfouter, Gabriel Putnam, John Putnam, John Poyster, Richard Pinkerton, John Parker, ehiel Rose, Jacob Reed, . Henry Ritter, Daniel Ritter, Thomas Rotch, Charity Rotch, Jacob Rider, Peter Reed, George Robinson, Robert Reed, Henry Ragnet, Charles Slutz, George Sleighter, Christian Smith, Christian Shrock, Jacob Shetler, John Shetler, Frederick Stump, Adam Spohr, Christopher Sees, Jacob Swaley, John Shaeffer, William Smoyer, Peter Stroyer, Jacob Stover, George Shott, Isaac Teeple, Christopher Teeple, Abraham Troxal, Peter Weimer, Gabriel Weimer, John Walter, Arvine Wales, Jonathan Winter, David Weimer, Jacob Warshler, George Welty, John Weimer, Peter Weimer, Phillip Welty, Valentine Wagoner, Jcob Wyant, Henry Wyant, Lewis Willard, Henry Willard and Abraham Walter. In addition to these, there were a number of prominent early settlers whose names do not appear in the abo've list. A few of the abovest settlers who first came in, became dissatisfied with their surroundings, and like a certain class of politicians, wanted a " change." These men added their mite to the early improvement of Sugar Creek, and were undoubtedly the means of attracting settlers to their vicinity, according to the rule that " birds of a feather flock together." It is said upon authority not to be doubted, that Jacob Grounds, who arrived in the township in 1808, was the first permanent settler. This well known settler had an unusual education for a back-woodsman, and during his long and eventful life was prominently connected with all public improvements. He came to the township immediately after it was surveyed, and, selecting a fine tract of land covered with a magnificent growth of sugar-maple trees (the Trilby farm) cut and prepared logs for a rude dwelling. The next thing was to secure assistance to raise the building. Families at Kendal, Canton and New Philadelphia were notified, two men responding from the former place, five from the next and three from the latter, the man from Canton being the County Treasurer and the one from New Philadelphia being a lawyer. Here in this rude log dwelling, surrounded by the untouched forest and a great variety of wild and savage animals, the Grounds family lived-in solitude for eighteen' long months. They were dreary ones to the family, who were accustomed to better things in the Eastern States but they bore the trials and dangers without complaint, though many times they pressed upon them like the sphere of Atlas. At that time bears were quite numerous, occasionally dangerous, and often troublesome. They were not troubled with conscientious scruples, like a certain ecclesiastical sect, as regards the eating of swine's flesh. On the contrary they lost no opportunity of filling themselves to the muzzle-with flesh of the genus Sus. Even as early as 1808, quite a number of swine ran wild in the woods, and ten years later they had become very numerous. They required no care from the settlers, as they could sustain themselves the year round on the enormous quantities of " mast " that strewed SUGAR CREEK TOWNSHIP - 523 the ground at all seasons. They became very fat during the fall of the year, often attaining a weight of .500 pounds. They were very wild and were about as difficult to kill as deer. Disputes about the ownership of swine were of frequent occurrence. Litters of pigs were raised in the depths of the woods, and were very likely not seen by the owners until they were half-grown. Extensive systems of earmarking were devised and adopted, though this did not wholly avoid angry contentions and occasional primitive law-suits. Stories told about the swine and vouched for by the early settlers are hard to believe. It is related by Mr. Agler, of Beach City, whose father was one 9f the earliest settlers, that William Smoyer, an eccentric old bachelor, who owned a large number of swine, assisted one day by Henry Wyant, another 'early settler, went into the woods to shoot several of his fattest swine. Perhaps Mr. Agler's father accompanied them. As they approached, quite a large herd of swine, with bristles erect and mouths open,. made for the settlers, who immediately took to their heels. After running around until they were tired out, and finding that the swine were more determined than ever to tear them in pieces, they finally treed to escape the savage animals. This had to be done quickly and the guns were necessarily dropped. Here the men were compelled to remain, perched in the trees like owls, and no doubt looking owlish and feeling the same, until the morning, not daring to venture down amid the surging animals, that seemed possessed of the same spirit that once took refuge in ancestral swine in ancient times. The hog is an animal that is all appetite," says Josh Billings ; and this fact no doubt prompted them to leave the settlers for their feeding grounds about breakfast time. The guns were found tramped and bitten and considerably injured. The sequel does not show .whether the settlers obtained the desired swine on that occasion. Probably not, as soon afterward a large pen was built and a bait of corn placed therein, so that, by means of a trap, the pen could be closed at will. In this manner, after a little patient waiting, swine were caged and then shot. It is said that the tusks of many swine of the masculine gender were six inches long, and the snouts, when thus armed, were frightful looking implements of destruction (if the figure may be allowed). So far as known, the second settler in the township was Joshua Carr, who located in the northern part in 1810. He built a rough cabin, which was erected by settlers in neighboring townships, and into which his family immediately moved. Until about the year 1815, the settlers came in very slowly ; but by about 1823 almost or quite all the land in the township had been entered, largely by the men whose names appear above. Samuel Hale arrived in the township soon after Carr, the same year, and within the next four or five years, there appeared Andrew Fetro, David, Peter and John Weimer, John and Gabriel Putnam, Joseph Payser, Jedediah and Calvin Brewster, John Mason, Jacob Reed, Michael Hoffacre, Abraham Beals, John Byall, Benjamin and Aquila Carr, Michael Douds, Patrick Pelson, and several others, whose names are unfortunately forgotten. Calvin Brewster was elected Justice of the Peace at the first township election, and Joseph Payser, Sr., Constable. Soon the township was dotted with log cabins, set in small clearings in the woods. Roads were mere paths through the thickets and forests, and during the wet seasons of the year were bottomless, or nearly so ; they wound around from cabin to cabin on the higher ridges, and rude log bridges were built across the smaller streams. At last, county roads were surveyed and fitted up for public travel, and after many years the township was crossed with a network of highways that served the purpose of veins and arteries in commercial life. Barbara Poyser, daughter of Joseph, died during the summer of 1812, and was buried on the Poyser farm. This was the first death in the township. The first marriage was that of John Reed, son of Jacob, to Mary Poyser, on the 13th of April, 1813, William Henry, Esq., .performing the ceremony. The newly wedded couple a short time afterward moved to Canton, where their lives were passed. The husband died in 1871, aged eighty-three years. The first birth was that of Jacob Poyser, in 1813. The first military training was that of a company of militia, of which John Byall' was Captain.. The parade or muster was at the residence of Jacob Reed, and being the first was greatly enjoyed by the settlers. Many tales are told of the schemes and contrivances to get along in early years. Henry Wyant and William Agler each owned an ox. 524 - HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY. A yoke was made by the two men, and the oxen were hitched together, and for a number of years this team answered all purposes for both families. A large tree was cut down, and out of this were sawed four large solid wheels. These were furnished with openings in the center, through which the heavy axles passed, and tires of strong bark were fastened on the outer edge. The front axle was provided with a strong tongue ; the hind wheels and fore wheels were coupled together ; and upon this rude structure was placed a rough wagon bed. This was the wagon owned in partnership by the two men. This is only one of many instances of a similar kind, Often the families suffered extremely on account of insufficient food or clothing. Sometimes they were compelled to live on a solitary article of food for weeks together. This seems a dreadful hardship, in view of the fact that the system requires a change of diet comparatively often. Physiologists teach that three kinds of food are necessary to sustain life ; i. e., albuminoids, fats and sugars. If either of these three be withheld from the diet, suffering, or even death, may follow. There is seen a gradual wasting away of the system, although the appetite continues good. This truth can be realized by attempting to make one or more meals on one article of food. It is why we don't relish bread without butter, or something answering the same purpose in the system. Potatoes are almost impalatable without grease. The latter alone would be worse. The system, through the medium of the appetite, demands these primary food elements in some form or other. The settlers would often have no bread of any kind for weeks at a time, and, when it did come, so great was the hunger of the family for it, that the whole grist was devoured within a few days, and the semi-starving process was repeated. If your boy cries and says : " Ma, I want some butter on my bread," do not repel him, and at the same time tell him that the bread is all right without the butter. His appetite and system contradict you in language easily read, and not easily mistaken. It may be seen from this that the settlers were constantly violating physiological laws. that in time would result disastrously to their systems. Mr. Agler says he has seen his mother time and again pound the corn that furnished the cake that was baked in the ashes of the fireplace, and that was their only article of food for the meal. This was often rendered necessary, especially at certain seasons of the year, on account of the inability of reaching some mill, where flour or meal could be obtained. The streams were different in early years from what they are at present. The water was twice as slow in running off then, having the effect of doubling the size of all streams. There were no bridges, as the floods swept away these frail structures of the pioneers. On these occasions the roads through the woods apparently drained all the land within several rods of then, on either side. A new track could not be made without cutting down many trees and clearing away large quantities of underbrush. Thus it was that settlers were obliged to do without flour, meal and other supplies until the roads became passable, which was often after months had elapsed, during which time the families subsisted as best they could. But little difficulty was experienced in getting an abundance of meat. Venison could be obtained in abundance as late as 1820, and, to some extent, ten or fifteen years later. But the flesh of the deer was too dry without additional grease. This was obtained from the swine. Every family usually had on hand an ample supply of bacon and smoked hams. Indeed, it is said that the settlers' diet consisted chiefly of pork, potatoes and corn-bread. No danger of starving on that diet. Judging from the physical appearance of the settlers, the conclusion is inevitable that enormous quantities of the above articles were consumed by the pioneers of Sugar Creek Township. The earliest settlers frequently enjoyed the privilege of eating a delicious piece of bear steak. Although this meat is said to have a peculiar flavor, it is also said to be excellent. Adventures with bears and other wild animals are narrated. Among the noted hunters were Henry Willard and Daniel Truby. These men are said to have killed large numbers of bears. It is stated that Truby, on one occasion, killed four bears in almost as many minutes. He was a " dead shot," and was able to cock his rifle, raise it to his eye, take aim, and fire, in one motion. He apparently used his mouth for a bullet-pouch, as whenever he wanted a bullet it was obtained from that locality. It is stated that he was hunting one day on Sugar Creek, and, while walking along with ear and eye on the alert to