HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, OHIO - 579
CHAPTER XLII.
SALEM TOWNSHIP.
The Four Watersheds—Mt. Pisgah—Anthony’s Rock—A Township Rich in Soil and Coal—Singular Nalural Water Works—Why Called Salem—Establishment—First Officers—How Salem was Settled—The First Family—From Youghiogheny to Marietta—A Crude Shelter Improvements—The First Birth—The First Bereavement and Burial —Neighbors Arrive—The First "Hired Man "—A Poorly Furnished House—The Namesake of Noble County—A Colony leaves Salem— The First Colored Man—Beginning of Settlement Near Bonn—Other Settlers—Schools—Old Log School-houses—Wages of Old Time Teachers—Orthodox Text Books—Frame Buildings Erected—The First Cellar—Mills— Prehistoric Stone Cutters—Tanneries—Stores - A Temperance Society in 1822—Salem Obtains a Post Office—Physicians—The Oldest Church—A Temperance Plank in its Platform— Religious History—Odd Fellowship—Cemeteries—The Oldest—The Good Hope Cemetery—Other Graveyards—The Villages of Salem, Warner, and Bonn—An Attempt to Introduce the Manufacture of Silk.
Tins is the fourth township in the eighth range. It is in the shape of a parallelogram, six miles from east to west, and nearly five and a half miles from north to south, with the exception that a tract four miles east and west by a mile and a third from north to south is missing from the northwest corner. This space is occupied by the southern part of Aurelius township. The rest of the north boundary is Noble county, which also bounds the township for a half a mile on the east. For the rest, Liberty township lies to the east, Fearing and over half of Muskingum on the south, and Adams on the west.
The hills, though numerous here, are not so abrupt as those farther north. About a half mile east of Bear creek, the ridge or watershed between that stream and Duck creek enters and extends through the township nearly due north.
Passing through the southeast corner of Aurelius another ridge enters, separating the east and west forks of Duck creek.
In the northeast part, to the east of the East fork of Duck creek another watershed enters, extending approximately in a southwesterly direction and ending not far east of Salem village. A fourth dividing ridge controls the drainage of the southeastern part of the township in respect to the claims of Pawpaw and Duck creek.
It will be seen from this that with the single exception of Pawpaw valley, the drainage of the township is toward the south. All Salem belongs to the Duck creek basin, except a narrow north and south strip in the western part.
The rains that fall in this tract are carried to the Muskingum by Bear creek, which rises about a mile west of what is known as the Good Hope church, and flows south in an unusually, for this region, straightforward course, until it leaves the township, when it immediately turns west and finds the Muskingum.
Not so easily described is the course of Duck creek, for it waddles through the township in a most incomprehensible manner. The west branch crosses the Ludlow line about half way between the east and west boundaries of the township. It leaves the township, after being joined by the west fork, at a point due south. Its first large bend is a mile south of where it enters—thence it
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flows a little south of east, or as far as the "forks," a mile east of Salem village. The east fork enters in the north bounday, bisects the northern extension of the township, then flows southwesterly to the junction of the streams. The combined waters immediately proceed to form the first, or upper ox-bow, almost enclosing a triangle of land extending to the south a mile, and there, having a breadth of over half a mile, while the northern neck is not wider than thirty rods. To advance this short distance, the "stream goes about two miles. Turning, it flows south, parallel to the last mile of its former course, and when two miles away, it forms the second ox-bow, which is a narrow peninsula extending half a mile northwest. In three more marked bends, this meanderer leaves the township. From the right, the west fork receives the contents of Buell's run, whose waters are mostly from Aurelius township. The east branch is recruited by three runs, draining the northern extension, and the crooked Pawpaw creek, which enters the township a mile and a half north of the southeast corner, and flows west, then nearly north to Salem village.
At the first ox-bow are the sharply defined bluffs known as Mount Pisgah—a favorite resort for pioneers, and easily accessible by railroads. A couple of depressions in the rock resembling footprints are pointed out, doubtless to the great edification of the children at the Sunday-school picnics, as the place "where Moses stood, to view the landscape o'er."
The only other topographical feature that has received a name is "Anthony's Rock," on Pawpaw creek—a favorite resort for the pioneer, Anthony Perkins, in his hunting days. The soil is much richer than would appear to one used to the broad stretches of bottom land in some other parts of Ohio. It is largely made up of limestone of great fertilizing power, and on the ridges can produce many bushels of wheat per acre. Elsewhere, the land is very good corn land. Here, as in other places in the county, are many orchards, especially of apple and peach trees.
The native forests are of oak, chestnut, and kindred trees, sugar maple, walnut, beech, buckeye and the like. So far as known, Salem township is the richest in the county in coal, One seam is generally found roofed with a heavy sandstone, from which it derives its name. This deposit is undoubtedly the most extensive formation of coal in the county. On Bear creek it is thickest toward the north, having been mined when it was as thick as five feet. The coal in the Bowen mine, farther south, is three and a half feet thick. It was sent, as fast as mined, to the Muskingum, by means of a road up the creek, built for that purpose. But the best development of this seam is on Duck creek, especially in the hills bordering the East fork, and in different places between the two forks.
The limestone seam, or lower Salem coal, corresponds with the Pittsburgh seam. It appears in the lower course of Bear creek; on Duck creek, directly across the ridge and up that stream and the East fork; for miles along Pawpaw creek; in places along Coal run, a branch of the latter stream; near the village of Salem; and near the south line of the township on Moses Blake's farm, where it appears as cannel.* This seam thins to the north and disappears.
Oil has not been found in remunerative quantities at its present price. Several wells have been dug, however, along the East fork of Duck creek and along Pawpaw. In the upper end of Salem village, on the right bank of Duck creek, Mr. John Kiggens was sinking a well in October, 188o, and struck at the depth of six hundred and eighty-four feet, a vein of mineral water, which gives rise to some striking phenomena. Under the impulses of gas, it boils over the top about once every hour, and at irregular intervals, averaging forty-eight hours, perhaps, the impulsive force of the gas throws a vertical stream a hundred and fifty feet above the mouth of the well. This display excites considerable interest in the neighborhood and regularly attracts its quota of spectators at times when the "blast is expected. This great supply of gas indicates the presence of petroleum somewhere in the neighborhood. The water has a strong odor, and tastes much like brine, although it is reported that no salt can be obtained from it by boiling. Many believe it to be of great medicinal virtue.
ESTABLISHMENT.
Salem was originally a part of Adams. But the following petition was handed in to the court of quarter sessions, part of whose business it was to establish townships:
To the Honorable Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace for the County of Washington:
GENTLEMEN: Your petitioners, the inhabitants of Duck Creek, beg your honors to take into consideration the local situation they are in from other settlements, and whereas, your honors at your last session in March did at that time form the different settlements into towns. and at the same time put us, the inhabitants of Duck Creek, into an association with the inhabitants of Virgin Bottom, Rainbow, Cattle Creek, and Bear Creek (into one town called by the name of Adams), whose situation is inconvenient for us to associate with as respects a town by reason of the inconvenience of passing the hills and ridges where it is not practicable to make roads to pass from Duck Creek to Muskingum at the same time, our numbers are almost if not quite equal to some of the other towns already laid out by your Honors being in number on Duck Creeek thirty-four families and upwards of sixty men capable of bearing arms.
For this and other good motives, your petitioners request your Honors wourd take the matter into consideration, and make a division in the town of Adams west by a division line between the waters of Duck Creek and Muskingum, and as far south as Shephard's old mills, so called, as far as your Honors in their wisdom shall judge best.
We also would inform that the peopre on Duck creek did on the second day of May last, make choice of us, the subscribers, to prefer a petition to your Honors for the above mentioned purposes.
DUCK CREEK, June 3,1797.
[Signed],
Levi Chapman,
James Amlin,
John Amlin,
Jonathan Amlin,
John Amlin, sr.,
Conrad Rightner,
Joel Tuttle,
Joseph Chapman,
John Campbell,
Daniel Bradstreet,
Jonathan Delong,
Patrick Campbell,
Samuel Fulton,
Robert Campbell,'"
Samuel Nash,
Daniel Campbell,
Robert Colewell,
Ebenezer Tolman,
Seth Tolman,
Uriah Wheeler,
Benjamin Tolman,
Amos Porter,
Samuel Amlin,
Amos Porter, jr.
*Compiled from E. B. Andrews in Ohio geological report.
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[Indorsed).
Petition from the inhabitants of Duck Creek relative to a division of the township, received June, 1797,
By the Court ordered on file.
Salem bounded north on the northern boundary line of the county, east on the west boundary line of the seventh range, south on Marietta township, and west on a line whrch shalt be parallel to, and one mile east of the western boundary of the eighth range.
CAPTAIN NASH, assessor.
LEVI CHAPMAN, constable.
These last two names are the appointment of the court, and hence were the first officers of the township.
The word Salem in this document is probably a memorandum of the christening. Many of the first settlers were from near Salem, Massachusetts, which sufficiently accounts for the name.
In the journal of the above court appears this entry, dated the first Tuesday of December, 1797:
The court proceeded to establish a new township by the name of Salem. Samuel Nash appointed assessor for said township of Salem.
The first changes in the boundary of this township were made March 8, 1808, when Fearing was established, thus cutting away over three miles from the south end of the township, in compensation the commissioners on the same day:
Ordered that the west range of sections in township four in eighth range formerly belonging to Adams, be attached to the town of Salem.
In December, 1818, when Aurelius township was established, sections Nos. 25, 26 and 27, add fractional sections Nos. 34, 35 and 36 were excepted from that township, they being reserved for Salem.
In the June session, 1842, the commissioners:
Resolved, That section twenty-seven and fractional section thirty-four in township five, range eight, heretofore belonging to township Salem, is hereby annexed to Aurelius.
It will be seen that these changes leave Salem its present size and shape.
The township officers in the territorial days, before 1802, were appointed by the court of quarter sessions. The two officers first appointed we have noticed. In March, 1798, they were: Ephraim True, Amos Porter, jr., overseers of the Poor; Levi Chapman, constable; Richard Maxon, Ebenezer Tullman, supervisors of highways; Andrew Gaylor, Dudley Davies, fence viewers. On the second Tuesday of May, 1800, the officers were: Allen Putam, constable, via Henry Maxon, resigned; Samuel Nash, Joel Tuttle, and John Amlin, supervisors of the highway; Dudley Davis, Andrew Galor, Seth Tolman, fence viewers; Ephraim True, Amos Porter, jr., Joseph Chapman, committee of freeholders; Ephraim True, Amos Porter, overseers of the poor. The present township officers are: Joseph Elliott, John Thomas, Chatles Schrumm, trustees; Walter Thomas, clerk; Theobald Young, treasurer; C. J. Pfaff, assessor; William J. Sprout, Pemberton Palmer, justices of the peace. Township elections were formerly held in an old log church, hereafter to be mentioned.
The first elections for representative to general assembly were: first—William R. Putnam, thirty-two; Griffin Greene, two; Elijah Backus, thirty; second—in October, 1802—William Rufus Putnam, thirty-eight; Ephraim Cutler, thirty-eight; Griffin Greene, one; William Wells, one. In 1880 Garfield electors received one hundred and eighty-nine votes; Hancock electors, one hundred and ninety-nine.
The population of the township in 1840 was eight hundred and eighty-one; in 1860, one thousand five hundred and twenty-seven; in 1870, one thousand six hundred and ten, which, added to one hundred and eighty-seven in Salem village, makes one thousand seven hundred and ninety seven; in 1880 it was one thousand six hundred and thirty-eight.
SETTLEMENT.
The first family that settled in what is now Salem township is supposed to have been that of Amos Porter. As a biographical sketch of the family is given elsewhere in this work, it will not be necessary to make further mention of them in this place.
Soon after the arrival of the Porters came Samuel Nash and Jonathan Delong. Captain Nash established himself on lot No. 18, just above Salem village on Duck creek. His farm included the site of Salem village. He was, as has been seen, the first assessor of the township. His children were David, Chester, one daughter, who afterwards became Mrs. Fuller, and two or three other girls. A number of years before 1816, he sold his farm and moved away.
Jonathan Delong first settled on Pawpaw about a mile and a half from its mouth. He sold this farm to Samuel Fulton and moved on Duck creek, on the north side of the lower "ox bow." He was a very shrewd man, and one of the foremost in the neighborhood. His children were: Isaac, who died at Macksburg, Jonathan, David, James, Chauncey, Mary, and Lydia. He died in Salem, and was buried on his own farm.
Ebenezer, Seth, and Benjamin Tolman came at this period, and entered the adjoining lots, nine, six, and twelve, above Samuel Nash. They were also from Massachusetts. Ebenezer and Benjamin, soon after, moved down to the forks of the creek, and afterwards up the West fork. Benjamin Tolman and his wife, Elizabeth, had the following children: Jerusha, who married John True, an early school teacher, Eben, Chester, Joel, Nancy, and Urania. Seth Tolman's wife was a Miss Reed. His children were: George, Silas, James, Ora, and several daughters. Just before Benjamin settled on the West fork of Duck creek, he and his brother Seth went to Urbana, whence Seth went to Iowa, and remained there until his death.
The father of Benjamin and Seth Tolman started with them from the east, but while on the road he, from some cause, fell before a moving wagon, which crushed the life from him.
Then came to the settlement Mr. McCune, and made his home at the mouth of Pawpaw creek. His children were Mary, Hannah, and one other. Mr. McCune was a day laborer, and found employment among the neighboring farmers. He left the settlement about 1809.
Samuel Fulton bought the place of Mr. DeLong when a man of, perhaps, forty-five years. About the same time he married Louisa Jackson. He had a family of five or six children.
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Dudley Davis was a soldier of the Revolution who came with a comrade, Levi .Dains. He built his house on the right bank of Duck creek, in the first bend below the lower ox-bow, and entered lot number sixty-two. He afterwards removed to Noble county. Mention of him may be found in the history of Aurelius township, in connection with Indian run. He was a justice of the peace, and had the honor of performing the marriage ceremony for each one of his seven or eight children.
John Noble was another of this community, living on the south side of the lower ox-bow. He soon moved up to a settlement in the county that now bears his name.
In these times, too, there was living in the neighborhood one named Ogle. He lived two miles south of the forks, in a hollow, named, at that time, after him, and remarkable for its low temperature. Ogle's children were George, William, and James. The father died in the settlement, and the children moved northward to the Caldwell settlement, where James acquired . quite a fortune. In this connection it may be remarked that very many from Salem settlement, about the year 1810, went to the Caldwell settlement, forming a nucleus about which has clustered the present people and improvements of Noble county.
Other settlers who were present when the township was established were Robert Campbell and Robert Colewell, or Caldwell.
Campbell took up his abode near where Salem village is, on the other side of the creek. One of his children was Patrick Campbell, whose name occurs elsewhere in the county history.
Caldwell, as the name has since become, soon made a part of the north settlement just referred to, and from his family the city in Noble county gets its name.
Richard Fisher, a mulatto, was in the settlement before October, 1801. He lived on the West fork of Duck creek. The course of true love between himself and his wife did not run smooth. Separations frequently occurred, and after each one they considered it necessary to be re-united by a justice, thus keeping 'Squire Porter in steady and light employment.
By the beginning of 1798 Anthony Perkins had moved into lot No. 116, just south of the present village of Bonn. Three years later, William Perkins moved into the adjoining farm where his son Ezra now lives. He died in 1816, aged about fifty-five. His wife, Elizabeth Oatly, died in 1816, being in the neighborhood of fifty-three years of age.
The children of Ezra Perkins are Percival, Asa, Augustus, Ezra, Osborne, Mrs. Doane, Mrs. Thomas, at Salem village, and Mrs. Bennett, of Louisville, Kentucky.
In 1808 Ephraim True moved from what is now Fearing township to the farm in Salem township which is now occupied by his son Moses. Ephraim True was born in Salisbury, Massachusetts, in 1756. He came west first in 1789 and again in 1796. In 1807 or 1808 he married Betsy Amlin, whose father settled about the same time as Mr. True did. Both men were in the Revolutionary war.
Moses True, Ephraim's son, was born in 1810 in the township, and has spent his seventy years in the old place. He was married in 1836 to Mehitabel Alden. Of their seven children, five are living: Melvin C., Wilbur L, Hiram. Abbie L, and Julia. All but one live in the county and that one lives in Monroe county. Moses True has held various offices in the township.
Melvin C. True married Mixenda Hovey in 1867. Three children have been born to them—Eugenie Mabel, Annie G., and Clarke E. Mr. M. C. True served as sergeant in the army in the Thirty-sixth Ohio volunteer infantry during the civil war, and was lieutenant colonel of the militia regiment organized in Salem since the war.
By this time the settlers were so numerous that it would occupy beyond the limits alotted to mention them in detail. A few, only, of the many representative ones will be noticed.
The first one to settle in Salem, on Bear creek, was David Jackson, who married Sarah Morris and, about 1807, located near the stream opposite where is now the Good Hope church. The children of this pioneer couple were Hugh, David, Robert, Mary, Rebecca, Margaret (now at Harrietville), Ruhama, Jane, Nancy, Sally, Betsy (now at Newport), and Phoebe. All are dead but three. Jane married Joseph Reed in 1817, and moved to Caldwell, Noble county, but returned in 1836 to near Schrumm's mill, West fork of Duck creek. She is now living in Salem village, an aged lady of eighty-four years, and the mother of six sons and five daughters.
Daniel Ward came to Ohio in 1808, and lived the greater part of his life in Salem township, arriving about 1810.
Benjamin Gould came to the settlement from Massachusetts, where he was born in 1767, October 3rd. He came to Washington county, Marietta township, in 1808. Thence he removed to Salem township in 1813. He died in 1849. His son, Ephraim Gould, was born in 1805, in Massachusetts, and still lives at the well known Gould place with his daughter, Miss Annie Gould. His connection with the old temperance society and the Methodist church on his place is given elsewhere.
Isaiah Hallett was a settler in 1813, coming with his family from Kennebec county, Maine, where he was born. He is said to have made the first pegged shoe made in Washington county. He had seven childrenRuthey, Orrellane, Solomon, Isaiah, Isaac, Hannah, and Zenas. Solomon, Hannah, Isaac, and Zenas are living.
Orrellane Hallett was born in Maine in 1807, and came to Washington county with his father in 1813. In 1851 he" married Lucy L Blake. They had seven children—Mary A., Lynda, Angenora, Corwin, Cynthia, Howard, and Anna. All but Corwin are living, Lynda in Kansas, Cynthia in Noble county, and the rest in Washington county. Captain Howard Hallett served three years in the Twenty-fifth Ohio volunteer infantry, and is now captain of the Salem guards.
In 1770 the pioneer, Simeon Blake, was born. He came to Adams township first, and died in Noble county in 1833. By 1801 he had moved into what is now Fearing township, on the farm now occupied by John Flan-
HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, OHIO - 583
ders. He served as captain of the militia. His wife, Lavina Peck, was born in Connecticut, and died in 1843. Of the children, two are living—Simeon, in Illinois, and Matilda. Simeon Blake, jr., grandson of the pioneer, and son of Benjamin Blake, was born January 18, 1822. He married Mary J. Cunningham in 1840, and has had eight children, three of whom are living—Susan, Jane, and Edward. His second wife, Diana Morgan, he married in 1875. He is a general farmer in Salem township.
John McGee was an early settler who came with his wife, Mary Higgins, in 1814, and built his house on the east bank of Duck creek, west of Amos Porter's. He was born in 1790 and died in 1861. His wife, though born in 1795, is still living in the place and is the mother of Joseph, Ann Eliza, Rebecca, Henry H., Diantha, Sarah, Sophia, Julia, Martha, John, Clark, Barker, Mary, and Francis. Her father and mother were Joseph and Mary Higgins, who settled on the L0,1e:ivrivfer.
A man by the name of Babson (Oliver Wharff) settled in Aurelius at first, and afterwards removed to Salem. He was born in 1795, in Gloucester, Massachusetts, from whence he emigrated. His marriage to Nancy Marr occurred in 1818. He has three sons and six daughters: John and Oliver, who live in Athens county; Albert, yet in Salem; and Sarah Ann, Mary, Betsy, Lydia, and Francis. Mary died in Iowa; the rest are living. (Samuel Babson was Oliver Wharff’s step-father)
Lot Hull came to Salem township about the year 1819. Of his children, John and Darius are in Illinois, L R, and Charlotte Kelly are in Salem township.
Henry Schofield has been in the township since 1824. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1809, his father being William Schofield.
Richard Doane came to the county in 1807. He was born about 1765 and died in 1823. His wife was Anna Post, who died in her seventieth year in 1846. They were married about 1798. They came first to Noble county from Cincinnati, where both were born. Richard Doane enlisted in the Revolutionary war when only sixteen years old. His children were Curtis, Lyman, Ashael, Anna, Philo, Joshua, Linda, Diana, Richard, William, and Lydia.
Curtis Doane married Esther Chapman, in 1825. The children are Richard, David C., E. P., J, M., A. S., E. T., H. P., and L C., all in Washington county. Curtis died in 1880.
E. P. Doane was born in 1832, and married Mary A. Babson, in 1859. His children are Curtis and Preston. He is a carpenter and undertaker by trade.
S. C. Doane was born in 1846 and married Pauline Fuller, of. Marietta, in 1876. They have one child, Guy Frederick. Mr. Doane is a farmer and lives on the old homestead.
H. C. Hovey, another one who has passed the limit of three score and ten, is living in Salem township, having been born in New York in 1797. He married Clarissa Stanley, and his children, Benjamin, Simon and Lucy, are now in Illinois; Mary and Lucinda are in Kansas, and G. S. and Mixenda C. are in Salem. G. S. Hovey married Mary A. Hallett. Their three children are Judson H., Grace R., and Alice E., who married Jacob
Matz of Salem township. Although he did not come into what is now Salem until 1830, Mr. H. C. Hovey is really a much older resident, as he moved first into Fearing in 1818, at the age of twenty-one. His mother was born in 1761, and died in 1858. He married Clarissa Stanley in November, 1822. His wife was born in 1803, in Fearing. His father, Thomas Stanley, died there in 1816.
John R. Hardy came to the State about 1830, and settled first on the Western Reserve. He was born in Maine in 1812, commenced the practice of medicine in 1846. In 1831 he married Julia M. Goodrich. Three children were born to them—M. V., Susan C., and Andrew J. Susan is Mrs. P. Palmer; M. V. has chosen the profession of his father, and has been engaged in it since 1853. In 1854 he married Adaline Collins and now has three children: John C., who is a practicing physician, Ella F., and Edward. John R. was married the second time, in 1840, and has had two children—James M. and Josephine. The latter is dead. James M. was born in 1844, was three years in the Seventh Ohio cavalry, in which he was corporal, and was married to Miss Mary E. Miller in 1872, by whom he had three children —Eva May, Maurice Luther, and Arthur Garfield, the latter born in 1880.
Joseph Palmer came to Washington, Ohio, as early as 1818. He was born in 1815 in New Hampshire. In 1837 he married Matilda Ward, and by her had three children, the youngest being dead. His daughter married Jacob Flanders and now lives in Kansas; Milo L. lives at Whipple, married to Mary J. Flanders since 1861. Both his children, Edward W. and Dudley R., are living. Mr. Joseph Palmer was justice of the peace twenty-four years. Miles L. served two years and ten months in the Seventh Ohio cavalry. Mrs. Joseph Palmer died in 1861, aged forty-five years.
Thomas Bay was born in Germany in 1797; emigrated to Philadelphia in 1835, moved to Pittsburgh in 1836, and to this county in 1837, settling in Salem township on a farm. He now lives in Marietta. He married Miss S. Gruisharber, born in Germany in 1804, and by her has had six children, of whom four survive, viz: Thomas, in Salem township; Jacob, in Lowell; Samuel, on the old Salem homestead, and William Lewis.
George Stanley, another settler of the township, has now a representative descendant by the name of W. W. Stanley, who married Ida Babson in 1876. He served in the army in the Twelfth Ohio volunteer infantry, and was wounded at South Mountain in the arm.
Willard Twiggs was born in 1836 in Salem township. In 1865 he was married to Jane Blake. Soon after his marriage he removed to Salem village, where he now resides. Mr. and Mrs. Twiggs have two children. Mr. Twiggs is an artist by profession. He has been constable for the last fifteen or twenty years.
David W. Schofield was born in the township in 1832. In 1856 he married Miss Drucilla Marshall, a native of Virginia, There have been born to them three children, two of whom are now living; the oldest, Lilly M., married G. W. Stanley; the name of the other is Mary E.
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Since 1865 Mr. Schofield has been a merchant at Warren. Previously he was engineer on Ohio, Mississippi and Red river steamboats. During the war he was in the service of the Government.
In 1806 Asa Doane came to the county and took up his residence in Fearing. He was born in 1802 in Saybrook, Connecticut, whence he came to this county. In 1825 he married Sarah Stanley. He had five children, four of whom are now living: Emily, William A., Harriet A., and Armarilla G. Asa Doane first settled at Stanleyville and afterwards returned to Salem, where he now lives. By patient and honest toil he has become owner of a farm of one hundred and twenty-seven acres near Salem village.
William A. Doane was born in 1832 on the farm where he now lives. In 1855 he married Annie Palmer, by whom he has had thirteen children, ten of whom are now living.
In 1836 Jacob Lauer came to the county from Germany. His wife's name was Barbara, and she was the mother of seven children, viz: Jacob, now living in Salem township; Theobald, Daniel, Phoebe Hahn, in Tuscarawas county; and Catharine, Margaret, and John, who are dead.
Daniel Lauer and his wife, Catharine, had five children—all living. His second wife was Mary Kilthary.
George P. Lauer, born in 1796, died in 1869, tame from Bavaria to Ohio and made his home in Salem township in 1840. His wife, Margaret, lived from 1791 to 1875. His children were as follows: Jacob, Margaret, who is the wife of John Gearhart, of Muskingum township; and Elizabeth, who married Lewis Plaff, and moved to Missouri, where both died. Jacob lives in Salem township. George Lauer was a member of the council, and acted as clerk for a village in Rhinephalz, Bavaria. Jacob Lauer's children are as follows: George, Jacob, Daniel, William (now in Nebraska), Lewis (now in Nebraska), Christopher, Magdalene, and Mary. Jacob Lauer married Catharine Close in January, 1847, has been elected to different township offices, and still lives on the old homestead. His son George keeps a dry goods and grocery store in Salem village. His father founded this business under the name of J. Lauer & Son in 1868.
L Haas, born in Bavaria in 1789, came to Salem township in 1840 from Pennsylvania, where he had been four years. He was one of Napoleon's soldiers for four years, and engaged in the battles at Moscow and Waterloo. In 1809 he married Sophia Lorentz, in Bavaria. His children are Mrs. Elizabeth Trapp, of Lowell; Matthias Haas, of Warner; Christina, who is unmarried, and Valentine, of Salem township. The latter married Joanna M. Boger in 1842, and has these children, all living: Charles, Wallace, Jacob, William, Elizabeth, and Rosa,
William Kelly came to the county in 1824 from Pennsylvania, and settled first in Fearing township. He was born in 1788, and died in 1870. His wife's name was Elizabeth Scott, and their children were called John, William, and Margaret. William Kelly, jr., is the representative of the family in Salem. He married Charlotte Hall in 1842, and has had eleven children. Eight are living : Lucy, Calvin, William R., Mary J., Elizabeth, Clara, John, and Charles.
Franz Reiss, born in Germany in 1793, emigrated to this county in 1835, and two years later, in the spring of 1837, came to Salem township, this county, where he resided until his death in October, 1840. He was married in 1815 to Susan Wendell, and had a family of five boys and six girls. Peter, the second child, was born in Bavaria, Germany, in 1817; came to Salem township with his father in 1837, and in 1849 settled in Adams, where he has since resided. In September, 1843, he was married to Christena, daughter of Henry Mattern. She is also a native of Germany, born in 1822. Mr. Reiss was formerly in the mercantile business in Lowell, but is now proprietor of a tannery in that place.
Henry Mattern emigrated to this country from Germany, where he was born in 1790, and settled in this township, where he resided until his death in 1860. He was the father of four children—George, Christina, Madeline, and Philip, all living but Madeline.
David Hunter, born in Pennsylvania in 1801, settled in Salem township, this county, in 1841, and died in Marietta in 1856. By his wife, Elizabeth Mellen, he had seven children, of whom five survive, viz.: John in Illinois; Samuel, and David, Lavine and Amanda are in West Virginia. Samuel Hunter was born in Pennsylvania in 1833; married Ellen Ritchie, who was born in 1832. Their three children are dead. They have an adopted son, Emerson Burnett Hunter. Mr. Hunter has a farm of sixty-seven acres in Newport township, where he resides.
William Best, born in Bavaria in aor, emigrated to Washington county, Ohio, in 1840, and located in Salem township. In 1824 he married Catharine Burkey, who died in 1832. Two of the four children are living— William and George C. The latler, born ir. 1825, married Hannah Snyder, by whom he has had seven children, all living. In 1865 he engaged in the grocery business in Marietta, in which business he is still engaged.
One of the natives of the township is Mr. Samuel Bay, who was born in 1844, and married Henrietta M. Conrad, by whom he has three children—Mary C., Henry, and Louis William. He has a farm in Salem township, and makes a specialty of stock-raising and stock-dealing. He has been supervisor two or three terms, and is a member of the order of Odd Fellows. Paul Smith came to the county in 1845 with his son J. L., who was born in Bavaria, Germany, in 1835. Paul had four other children—Eva B., in Noble county; J. J., in Quincy, Illinois; Katy and Michael, in Salem township.
William Thomas came from Wales originally, and emigrated from Pennsylvania to Ohio in 1848. He was born in 1810, and is therefore now seventy-one years.of age, Besides serving the township in various official capacities, he has been county commissioner several terms. The children of himself and his wife, who was Eliza Ruse, are Walter, Margaret, Ruse (Reese), David, John,
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Jane, Mary and William. Ruse married Angenora Babson in 1866, and has two children, Freddie K. and William W. He has been township clerk, and is now postmaster at Lower Salem. He was in the Third Ohio volunteer infantry over three years, and is a merchant.
In 1849 Pemberton Palmer moved into Salem township from Fearing, where he had been living since he was three years old. He was born in Liberty township in 1827. In 1852 he married Susan C. Hardy. Three boys and three girls were the remainder of the family. One died. Moses and John married respectively Matilda and Catherine Beck. Julia is Mrs. William Wolfert. Clarence and Maud are still at home. Pemberton Palmer has served the 'county as commissioner, has taken great interest in agricultural societies, attending fairs in many places, and is prominently connected with the county board of agriculture.
John A. Palmer was born October 12, 1829, and died March 26, 1863. In 1856 he married Margaret A. McAfee. Two children were the result of this union—Eva, who died in 1863; and Ida, who was born in 1861.
Frederick Boye came to Salem at the close of the year 1849. He was born in the kingdom of Hanover, June 1796, and his death occurred March 27, 1878. The maiden name of his wife was Christina Belmann, and their children are F. W. and Theodore, at Cincinnati ; Philip and Almer, in Salem township; Ernest, in Salem township; August, farming in Colorado; and Bertha, married to David Thomas.
Joseph Elliot was another accession to the township in 1850. He was born in 1835, in Morgan county, Ohio. He is a stock dealer and farmer, and has held several local offices. The name of his wife was Susan Blake, whom he married in 1858. His children are Mary E., who is now at home, and Charles E., who died in infancy. His parents, John and Mary, came from the State of Pennsylvania.
John Haskins was born in 1809. He married Mehitabel Littlefield, by whom he had six children, Joanna, Roswell, David, Lydia, John, and Sarah. Joanna is in Liberty township, Roswell in Salem, Lydia in Noble county, David in Salem, John in Salem, and Sarah is dead.
David Haskins married Mary Sutton. They have three children, who live at home—Victoria, Oscar, and Eunice.
Jacob Matz sr., a native of Germany, came to Salem from Pennsylvania in 1855. He married Catharine Kilzer, and their children are Carrie, who married 0. J. Pfaff, of Salem; Catharine, who is unmarried; George, the husband of Elizabeth Stom, of Salem; Jacob, jr., who married, in 1878, Alice Hovey; Henry, who died young; Emma, wife of Frederick Feldner; and Elizabeth, widow of Matthew Haas.
Thomas Mathews came to Noble county from Maryland about 1828. He was married to Maria Magruder about 1822. They had six 'children, five of whom are living. Mrs. Mathews died in 1875. Mr. Mathews is now in Louisiana. Their son, William P., born in 1823, moved into Salem township, Washington county, in 1839.
He married Jerusha True in 1845. They have one child living, Allen, a young man of twenty-two years. Mr. Mathews has a farmer and is engaged principally in shipping stock.
German Hall was born in 1805. His wife, Edith Chandler, was born in 1812. They were married in 1830. Their children are: Phoebe, in Indiana; W. D.. in Salem; Nancy, in Salem; Elizabeth, in Warner; Norman, dead; Mary, in Iowa; Eunice, in Salem; James A., in Salem township; Rebecca, in Iowa; and Lydia J., in Macksburgh. German Hall died in Salem township in 1863. He was a farmer and was several times called upon to serve the township in an official capacity. His son, James Hall, was married to Jane Longfellow in 1869, and their offspring are Minnie, Edith, Blanche, and Ara.
George Kilzer is a native of Germany, born in 1820, who arrived in Salem in 1858, in which township he has been engaged in running a steam-mill. His wife's name was Catharine Burkhard. His sister, Mrs. Matz is also in the township. A brother is in Columbus, and a brother and sister are in Noble county.
David Feldner was born July 5, 1837. His parents came from Germany. In 1862 he married Rebecca Elliott, who was born in Morgan county, Ohio, July 26, 1842. Their only child, Charles H., is now eighteen years old. Mr. Feldner has a farm in Salem township and pays especial attention to stock-raising and shipping.
Daniel G. Stanley came to Marietta from Massachusetts when a small boy. He was born May 4, 1785, and his wife, Rosella Pulnam, was born two years later. They were married December 27, 1807. They had the following children: Anna, Lot Putnam, James, Thomas, Lydia Porter, Rosella, Daniel G., Mary Augusta, and Augustus Little, who died in the shipwreck of the General Warren, at the mouth of the Columbia. Lot P. was killed in the Confederate army in the seven days' fight about Richmond. All but James are dead.
James Stanley was born in 1813, in Washington county. He was married in 1837 to Grace Racer. They have had six children: Susannah, Benjamin, Thomas J., Charles W., Joseph L, and James H. Thomas J. was killed at Cloyd's Mountain, May 9, 1864, aged twenty-two; C. W. and J. H. are living. The former is a merchant in Salem village, and the latter a farmer in the township. Mr. Stanley served through the civil war, coming out as captain.
Moses Blake was born October 30, 1820, in Fearing township, whither his parents had come from Maine. He lived in Fearing township until about 1849, when he moved to the farm in Salem township now occupied by his son Benjamin. Mr. Blake married Martha J. Chapman in 1845. They had five children: Hannah D., born July 22, 1847; Benjamin, born January 14, 1851; George, born December 1, 1852; John, born June 1, 1856; and Charles, born December 27, 1860. George is a merchant in Salem village; John has a farm in the township, and makes a specialty of thoroughbred Devon cattle; Charles owns a farm adjoining the old homestead; Benjamin owns the old home farm, where he lives, pay-
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ing most of his attention to sheep-raising, making a specialty of thoroughbred sheep; Hannah D. is dead.
EARLY EVENTS.
The earliest residents of the township being mostly from New England, and especially from Massachusetts, schools were no doubt established at a very early date, in fact, the oldest ones now living remember log schoolhouses in different localities, but do riot know who first taught in them, or when they were built. It is known that John True kept a school in Salem about the year 1807. His salary would hardly be satisfactory to the school teacher of to-day. It was ten hard (and hard- earned) dollars every month. With this he was expected to feed and clothe himself and lay by the rest for the proverbial rainy day.
About 1813, in the summer, Rebecca Perkins, a young lady of twenty or twenty-one, taught a school in the house of -Amos Porter, jr.; she was a daughter of Hannah Perkins and a niece of Anthony Perkins.
A log school-house stood on the Magee place at a very early date. Probably the first teacher in it was Barton Wells, who taught there one summer. The second school-house was built on the opposite side of the little run that traverses the farm. This was one of the houses in which John True taught. These schools were attended by the neighborhood children that have been mentioned iii the preceeding pages. The text books were Testament and the spelling book. The "Bible in the schools" was a question not mooted at that time.
It is not known just .when or by whom the custom Of building their dwellings from logs was broken in upon, but it is known that the frame house of Seth Tolman was standing at a very early date, and that Squire Ira Hill built a frame house very early. The house of Amos Porter, jr., in which Rebecca Perkins held her school, was also a frame. It was situated over a cellar dug in A hill—this being probably the first cellar in the township.
At the beginning of the War of 1812, the Porter brothers determined to introduce frame barns instead of the old log structures. At the barn raising at Amos Porter's,a recruting officer appeared upon the scene from Marietta. The men in those days were brave and quick in their decisions, so in an amazingly short time, six men who had gone to the place with the expectation of merely aiding a neighbor in the peaceful construction of a shelter, enrolled their names and devoted themselves to the aid of the Nation, the destruction of her foes, the strengthening of the great shelter of government. These men were Amri Sutton, Thomas Taylor, Hugh Jackson, James Walker, "Doc" DeLong, and one whose name was forgotten. The latter alone was killed. The term of enlistment was three years.
In those early and unartificial times, every one was direct in his dealings with others, free in his opinions, rough and practical in his jokes. Yet neighbors were bound strong in friendship, and, as one who lived there recently remarked, "It seemed as if neighbors thought more of each other then, than kinsefolk do now." This is not to be wondered at, for though human nature
changes as little, perhaps, as anything else, yet the lonesomeness of the surroundings, the scarcity of help, a common lot of hardships and danger, bound stronger than ties of blood alone. As an illustration of the broad, rough ways, though occurring later than the earlier days of the settlement, old residents will remember the trick played on John Mead, about 1825. At one of these "mutual aid societies," a barn raising or similar assembly. They were gathering the briars away from some patch of ground, and quite a heap had been collected at the foot of a hilL John with many others was proceeding toward the heap, arms full of the prickly things and grasping them with gingerly embrace. John himself had ducked somebody in the creek sometime before and somebody was going to get even. Suddenly Mr. Mead was tripped up and forward upon his burden that felt anything but a bed of roses. As he rolled permiscuously down the hill, others paved the way with their thorny bundles, and so, betimes, he plunged into the great brush heap below. Some thoughtless one set fire to it. In an instant the mass was ablaze, and John was dragged out by one leg as a brand from the burning, his clothes hanging in strips. The only complete covering he had was the scratches of briars. But he took it good naturedly after all, so it is said, which is the most marvelous part of the story.
Considering that the whole business of these early communities was to produce grain, a comparatively useless article until taken to mill and ground, it is not strange that the few mills then in existence were so crowded with work.
At first the inhabitants of Salem went down Duck creek to mills near Marietta, or over to the Muskingum by horse-paths, or, later, to Dr. Regnier's mills in Aurelius; and many a trip did the farmer make after his pulverized grist only to find it lying where he left it with many unground grists ahead of him yet. As one who knew by experience remarked, "It seemed as if I went a hundred miles after one grist." In such cases the ingenuity of the housewife would be sorely taxed to get up a meal without meal, and contrive to appease the appetites of the young and growing "flower of the family" when the bottom of the flour barrel had been reached long ago. It was not until near 1820 that Elisha Allen erected a mill in the township, on Duck creek, below the lower ox-bow. This was the first. He had built a sawmill at the same place a short time before.
Shortly after Thomas Porter constructed a horse-mill that helped to meet the wants of the community.
The first steam saw-mill was built by S. N. Merriam on upper ox-bow in 1831, followed by his steam grist-mill in 1832. He hired John Magee to get out the millstones. Mr. Magee went south of the upper ox-bow and worked out a stone that lay under a layer a foot thick. It is said that above the quarry grew an oak tree perhaps eighteen inches in diameter. Altogether it is quite reasonable to suppose that no human hand had touched the stone for centuries upon centuries. Yet he found that a line had been chiseled across it and wedges inserted, but failed to split the rock since they were working across the grain. The unknown workmen, or workman,
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had knocked out all the wedges but one, which the rock had held too tightly, and there was the wedge, just such a short iron instrument as quarrymen use to-day. Mr. Magee cut out the stone, leaving the wedge in it, and there it staid in the upper mill-stone of Merriam's mill, a sight for the curious. The stones were afterward removed and placed in a mill near the mouth of Bear creek, and the mill being disused and dismantled they probably lie there to-day. Now who made that iron wedge? Does it prove that the "stone age" is more ancient than has been supposed, or that rock can be deposited much faster than geology has allowed?
Another mill was built by William Mackintosh in 1836 or 1837. This was on the site occupied by Boye's mill to-day.
The first tannery in the township was the enterprise of Thomas Gilkerson, and was carried onas early, probably, as 1813; certainly before 1816. The enterprise was brought to a conclusion by the removal of himself and wife, who was Sarah DeLong, to the Caldwell settlement.
In 1820 Thomas Porter built a tannery about a hundred yards below the residence of Almer Porter. In the fall of 1832 he set in operation another on the hill south of Salem village.
Before Mr. Merriam built his mill, he kept a store, probably about the year 1829. At about the same time, part of Elisha Allen's mill was utilized for mercantile purposes, but whether Meriam's or the store in Allen's mill was the first in the township, is unsettled. The probability is in favor of the latter.
In 1832 or 1833 Daniel Hill kept a store about a mile and a half from Salem, on the Aurelius road. He resorted to the store of William Mackintosh, at Macksburgh for his stock.
The first Sunday-schools in the place were held by Daniel J. Stanley, in a school-house, and by William Porter, John Magee, and the Goulds, about 1825.
Very near the year 1822 arose what was a very remarkable organization for the times when everybody drank "good whiskey," and considered it a necessity at the social and industrial merrymaking and assemblies. It is claimed that this organization in question was the first temperance society in the west. The honor of its establishment belongs to Ephriam Gould, then a youth of seventeen years, and his brother Dennis, nineteen years old. While working in the field the idea occurred to Ephraim that whiskey was doing more harm than good, and that a society that would induce people to do without it would be a benefit. Together with Dennis, then fresh from Lane seminary, and full of the ardor of reform, he arranged a pledge that they called "teetotal"— thus divorcing it completely from the old Washingtonian movement. The first members were the immediate members of the family, and by means similar to those now in use, such as home-made speeches, persuasion, and the like, others were induced to sign, until the list comprised the great part of the community. Mr. Ephraim Gould, for one, has kept his vow in all its strictures, ever since.
In a few years after this, the first post office was granted to the township. Daniel J. Stanley was the first postmaster, and held his office about 1827. Before that, the people in the northern part of the township went to Macksburgh for their mail.
For many years after the settlement, the people of Salem were obliged to send to Marietta for their medical attendance. In this way Drs. Hildreth and Regnier were well known to all. It was not till about 1837 or 1838 that a physician established an office among the Salem people. This was Dr. William Hield. Since then, there have been at various times, Dr. Owens, Dr. Stone, Dr. Rose, Dr. Bishop, Dr. Samuel McGeary, Dr. Blackledge, and Dr. J. R. Hardy, who began his practice in 1848. At present there are Drs. J. M. Hardy, M. V. Hardy, and G. W. Blake.
CHURCHES.
Salem township is remarkable for the number of its churches. The first one organized was the old Presbyterian church. It started in Fearing township. Members were the Stanleys, Chapmans, William Perkins (who was a deacon), Messrs. Fulton, Davis, Linn, Swan, and others. From a sketch, drawn from the records by Mrs. George Hovey, it appears that the first meeting recorded was on April 25, 181o. James Amlin and Jesse Baldwin were declared elders. May 6, 181o, the first session convened at the house of Rev. James Cunningham. The first death in the church was that of Mrs. McMillen, in Fearing, May 22, 1812. The first meeting of the session in Salem was October 22, 1812, when the following joined: Amos Porter, Eleanor Waterman, and Mrs. Lydia Gould. In about 1830 the building now standing at Salem village was erected, the second one in the township. The ministers who served the church and presided at sessions at various times are Revs. James Cunningham, Ebenezer Everett, John Hunt, John Pitkin, Jacob Little, Tyler Thatcher, Luke De Witt, L. G. Bingham, N. H. Allen, M. J. Hickok, Samuel Dunham, Thomas Wicks, Bennett Roberts, N. C. Coffin, R. Tenney, and G. V. Fry, who was a Congregationalist minister and remained until 1861. The early elders were James Amlin, Jesse Baldwin, Amos Porter, William Perkins, Daniel G. Stanley, and Elisha Allen. In 1834 the records bear a resolution that no one shall be admitted to the church who will not abstain from the use of ardent spirits as a beverage. In 1845 the church had seventy-two members. Two new places of worship were organized, one in Harrietsville, and one in Bonn. Since 1861 no record has been kept and no pastor has been in charge. "Only a few members remain, like sheep without a shepherd, and the old house of worship, the second one built in Salem, yet stands a monument of what once was but now is not."
About 1810 a series of meetings were held in a schoolhouse at the forks of Duck creek, and at other places, under the auspices of the Freewill Baptist denomination. The services were by David Wells, who would come over from the Muskingum, where he lived. These meetings ceased in two or three years, without any organization being effected.
Methodist meetings were held in the neighborhood from
588 - HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, OHIO.
time immemorial to the oldest inhabitants. The earliest remembered preacher was a local exhorter known as Father Goss, who lived in the Chapman settlement, in Fearing township, and came to the Salem settlement to preach every two weeks. These meetings were held in the house of some settler, oftenest at the residence of Amos and Simon Porter.
Some time before 1815 a Methodist church was organized in the school-house at Salem. One of the earliest preachers of this church was Elder Young. The original membership comprised Simon Porter and wife, John True and wife, Ebenezer Tolman and his mother, the two Amos Porters, and Margaret Hale. Their first building was on the site occupied by the present one in Salem village. Moses True constructed it in 1836. The new building was dedicated in 1873 by Rev. McCormick, the present preacher.
Of late years a disagreement occurred in the congregation, and the Protestant Methodist church was established. In the summer of 1878 their place of worship was completed, not far from the other church building. The land on which it stands was given by H. Magee. Messrs. Simeon Blake, Joseph Elliott, David Feldner, M. D. Morse, and H. Magee, were some of the members and had the church building constructed.
The Mount Ephraim Methodist church, whose building is some two miles above Salem, dates from the earliest times when meetings were held from house to house in the neighborhood; and in the absence of any regular preacher, the farmers took turns at reading discourses from a book of Erskine's sermons, which one of the neighbors possessed. In 1846 the little association felt able to afford a building which was erected on land given by Ephraim Gould. In 1873 the present building was finished, and the old one is now used as a stable near by.
A Baptist church, of long standing in the township, is the Good Hope church, situated on the ridge west of Duck creek. On the eleventh day of October, 1835,' various persons in the community met at the house of Deacon Hugh Wilson and organized this church. The chairman of the meeting was Elder Jacob Drake, and Enoch Rector was clerk. The members that joined the church were James Bell, Calvin Crawford, Hugh Wilson, Eli Vaughn, William Wharf, Lucy Driskill, Elizabeth Driskill, Eleanor Bell, Maria Bell, F. Congleton, Nancy Culver, sr., Nancy Culver, jr., Mary Crawford, Harriet Reacher, Mary Wilson, Margaret Jackson, Electa Vaughn, Sarah Babson, Deborah Wharf, Esther Still, Eleanor Stewart, Nancy Wharff, and Mary Spears—twenty-three in all.
The first pastor was Elder Levi Culver, who was chosen for that place in October, 1835, the same month in which the church was organized, and who held it until his death, December 17, 1835. The next pastor was Enoch Rector. Since these two, Benjamin Blake, D. G. Hanley (supply), Henry Billings, J. C. Skinner, W. E. Mathuss (supply), Henry Lyon, John Ables, J. H. Barker, E. W. Daniels, E. Adkins, W. A. Blake (missionary), J. S. Covert, William McPeak, J. C.
Richardson, and H. M. Prince, have acted at various times as pastors. In 1874 we find that the church had been disbanded and reorganized. In 1872 the total membership was one hundred and thirteen. In 1874 twenty-seven members were enrolled. The present number of members is fifty-two.
The first house of worship was built in 1836 of logs. In 1851 it was superseded by a frame church building, which is the one now in use.
The Bonn German Methodist church was organized in 1840 by Rev. Koaneke. The first regular minisler was Rev. J. Miller. The first members were Henry Otton, Mr. Barand, Jacob Schlohn, P. Bahrenburg, I. Mier, and I. Bakehaus. Two years after the organization, a house of worship was erected. This was replaced in 1872 by a new building. About 1852 a parsonage was built, and the first one to make use of this was a man by the name of Jahraus. This, too, was, in turn, thought too old for use, and in 1874 a new parsonage was built. Before the meeting-house was built meetings were held in private houses—principally at the residence of. I. Bakehaus.
The Disciple church at Bonn was organized about 1852 at a meeting in the school-house. The first preacher was J. J. M. Dickey; then followed Elders Hughes, Solomon Devoir, and J. M. Harvey. Services were discontinued about 1858. The first members were 1Villiam Sprout and wife, Hill and wife Julinda Kidd, A. Zollars and wife, J. Zollars and wife, Thomas Farley and wife, and Captain Collins. They had no church building, but met from house to house.
The next Disciple church started at Warner in 1872, under the charge of J. M. Harvey, though services had been held for some time just before. The original members were William J. Sprout, William Sherfick, Isaac Hill, and their wives, Julinda Kidd and Malin Martin. The Elders, from Mr. Harvey to the present, have been John Moody, Nathan Moody, Joseph M. Thomas; irregular supply, 0. W. Kyle and Mr. Cox. At present the church has no regular elder. In 1876 the present edifice at Warner station was constructed.
At a meeting in the public school-house in Salem village, December 13, 1859, the Universalist church of the township was organized. The pastor was J. W. McMaster, who has remained in charge ever since. The first members were William Thomas, Eliza Thomas, Jewett Palmer, sr., Jewett Palmer, jr., John A. Palmer, Thomas Williams, Mrs. Mary Williams, Henry Schofield, Mrs. Sarah Schofield, Dr. Ernest Lintner, Mrs. Caroline Lintner, Mrs. Sarah Williams, Mrs. Anna Doane, Mrs. Mary Chapman, Miss Jane Thomas, Miss Ellen Crawford, Miss Julia Wiley, and Robert Fulton. The first officers were Jewett Palmer, sr., moderator; Jewett Palmer. jr., clerk; Thomas Williams, Dr. Lintner, Robert Fulton, trustees; William Thomas, John A. Palmer, stewards. J. W. McMaster preached monthly a year before the church was organized in the Salem school-house. The church building now in use a mile north of Salem was dedicated in 1863.
In the western part of the township is a German Lutheran church, which was organized about 1859. The
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first minister was named Juergen. The first members were Theobald Jung, Theobald Schramm, Theobald Boesshar, Jacob Boesshar, Adam Baltz, Jacob Baltz, Jacob Molz, Jacob Pfaff, Peter Pfaff, Wilhelm Wagner, their wives, John Schramm, and Michael Feldner. The preachers since have been Daniel Hirsch, Revs. Boedenshatz, Esschenfeld, Trapp, and Engelhardt. The church building has been in existence since the organization.
The Corinth church is in the southeast part of the township near Bonn. Its membership formerly belonged to and attended a church which met further up Pawpaw, in Liberly township. In 186o, however, they began to hold meetings in their own neighborhood, there listening to the preaching of Henry Lyon and W. A. Blake. In 1863 this part of the old church was organized separately and held meetings in a school-house on the farm of John Fulton. In 1876 a building that had till then been standing near Pawpaw creek in Liberty township was moved to the neighborhood, in which the meetings of this church have since been held. The original members of the church are George Twiggs and wife, Almund Cluss, John Fulton, Jane Haskins, and Joanna Fulton. At the first regular meeting as the Corinth church, Andrew Twiggs, Mrs. Fulton, Margaret Fulton, and Cornelia Twiggs became members. In 1870 and 1872 the church had fifty members, which number diminished to fifteen in 1880. Since the pastors mentioned there have been placed over the flock from time to time the following ministers: John Ables, William McPeak, J. D. Riley, G. F. Dix, and H. M. Prince.
The Baptist church of Lower Salem was organized under the leadership of Rev. J. D. Riley, August 26, 1877, with seventeen members. At first they worshipped in the old Presbyterian church building. A new frame building was put up in Salem village in the winter of 188o-81 and dedicated in the latter year. The church has now twenty-eight members.
The only secret society of any permanence in the township is the Odd Fellow lodge at Salem. Its origin was in this wise: In April, 1859, William Thomas, John A. Palmer, Pemberton Palmer, William A. Doan and Walter Thomas met at the house of John A. Palmer, to organize, if possible, a lodge. Their endeavor was successful, for in May lhe charter was made out, in July the meeting was held at the "Valley House," and thus began the Palmer Lodge, No. 351. The first officers of the Lodge were William Thomas, noble grand; John A. Palmer, vice-grand; P. Palmer, recording secretary; William A. Doan, treasurer. The present officers are August Decker, noble grand; Jonas Neun, vice-grand; Evan Williams, recording secretary; W. W. Stanley, permanent secretary; Daniel Lauer, treasurer. The meetings are held once a week in Blake's store, in Salem.
Scme time ago Margaret Palmer, Anna a an, and Mrs. William Thomas organized as Daughters of Rebecca.
Mention has been made of the Amos Porter cemetery as the first in the township. It stands on a high hill back of the Salem school-house and contains the graves of many fathers and mothers of the community. Here we find represented the Stanleys, the Trues, the Tolman, the Porters, the Pettys, Armstrongs, and others.
Another comparatively old burying-ground is the cemetery on Bear Creek ridge near the Good Hope church. Here lies Elder Levi Culver, the first one buried in it, whose slone bears the record, "Died December 17, 1835 in his sixtieth year." Here also are the remains of members of the first families in the neighborhood—Hugh Wilson, who settled in 1819, some of the Hutchesons, Felix Mayer, who died aged one hundred and seven years. Representatives are here of the Bells, Simons, Montgomerys, Carlins, Hayts, Dixons, Halls, and others.
A visitor at Orgilleas Doan's by the name of William McBane, died in 1823 and Mr. Doan came to Mr. Gould to arrange a place of burial. A spot was selected near where a barn of Mr. Kilmer's stands. In a fs:w days Mr. Doan was seized with the same disease and died. The burying place was afterwards changed to where it now is, near the church. Here lie buried the dead of the Goulds, Hoveys, Halletts, Hills, Doans, Aldens, Trues, and also Rev. Denton Watkins.
About 1839, Henry Whittock gave a half acre to the township for a burying-ground. It is located near the Universalist church. On one stone is the inscription, "Henry B., son of S. and M. Whittock, died June 20, 1839, aged twelve years, one month and four days," being the first person interred in this yard.
The last cemetery in the township is on a hill west of Warner station. The first one buried there was Frederick Feldner, who was killed by a boiler explosion about four years ago.
The graveyard at the Bonn German Methodist church dates from 1842, when a child of Henry Bahrenburg was buried in it, the first.
Salem is the largest village in the township. It was laid out by James Slanley in 1850. The occasion was the building of a plank road from Marietta to the place, and it was thought that this advantage would make the place quite a fair sized town. The resident stockholders in this enterprise were William Thomas, Madison R. Morse, H. McGee, and Moses True. A toll-house was built at the terminus, and was the first building in the village. But the road did not pay, the boards were allowed to rot, while the village that it started kept on to its present size. The first house, except the toll-house, was built by Benjamin Hovey and is now occupied by a saloon.
Though a small place at present, of less than three hundred population, it can boast of quite a number of business houses. It contains a hotel, livery stable, gristmill, saw- and planing-mill, a tannery, six grocery and dry goods stores, a tobacco packing house, two carriage shops, three blacksmith shops, two shoe stores, one harness shop, a cigar factory, and four churches. A two- story brick school building was erected eight years ago, at a cost of over three thousand dollars. The first teachers were W. R. and Talma Goddard. The present are Mr. C. E. Bailey, principal, and Miss Mary Ames.
Warner village, a station on lhe Cleveland & Marietta railroad, and named in honor of General A. J. Warner, was laid out by P. and E. Boye in about 1873. It now has a store, harness shop, blacksmith shop, cooper shop, shoe
590 - HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, OHIO.
shop, a church and two hotels. The store was begun in August, 1871, and is therefore the first enterprise in the village. It was kept formerly in the railroad depot.
Bonn is the oldest of the three towns and is in the southeastern part of the township. Mr. Nahum Ward owned land at the place and by his characteristic and energetic endeavors induced a considerable emigration to the locality, principally of Germans, in whose honor the town was called Bonn, from the town of that name on the Rhine.
Bonn was laid out near 1835. It will be remembered that Mr. Ward expected to introduce the manufacture of silk to the place and for that purpose planted a grove of white mulberry trees, bought spinning machinery and introduced workmen. But the enterprise failed and Bonn was left to the fate of an inland agricultural village. The first store in the place was by Rufus Payne who began to carry on the business about the time the town was platted. The place now contains a store, carpenter shop, blacksmith shop and shoe shop.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
PORTER FAMILY.
The Porter family, of Salem township, came from Danvers, Massachusetts.• Amos Porter, the head of the family, was born in Danvers, November 24, 1742, and married in 1764, Anne Bradstreet, of Topsfield. This couple, Amos Porter and Anna Bradstreet, were descended respectively from John Porter and Governor Simon Bradstreet.
John Porter was born in England, in 1596. It is nor known just when he arrived in the Massachusetts colony, but he was there as early as 1635. Settled first at Hingham, but soon removed to Salem. At the time of his death, in 1676, he was the largest landholder in Salem. He was a man of energy and influence, well known in the colony, and held many official positions. His wife's name was Mary —, and they had eight children. The record of descent to Amos Porter is as follows: John Porter and Mary — , Joseph Porter and Ann Hathorne, Joseph Porter and Mary , Joseph Porter and Mary , Amos Porter and Anne Brad street.
Governor Simon Bradstreet, son of a nonconforming minister, was born at Horbling, England, in March, 1603; spent one year at Emanuel college, Cambridge; came to Massachusetts with Winthrop, Dudley, and other distinguished persons in the Arbella, in 1630. Was chosen
an assistant in the government of the colony before leaving England, and annually reelected for fifty years; was afterwards deputy governor and governor. He married Anne Dudley, daughter of Thomas Dudley, first deputy governor of the colony, who was never out of the magistracy, and most of the time deputy governor or governor until his death, in 1653. The record of descent to Anne Bradstreet runs thus: Simon Bradstreet and Anne Dudley, John Bradstreet and Sarah Perkins, Simon Bradstreet and Elizabeth Capen, Simon Bradstreet and Anne Flint, Amos Porter and Anne Bradstreet.
The children of Amos Porter and Anne Bradstreet. all born in Massachusetts, were: Lydia, born March 20, 1765; Anna, born December 6, 1766; Amos, born February 20, 1769; Jonathan, born June 6, 1771; Srmon, born November 18, 1779. Lydia died in Danvers at the age of ten; Anna married Allen Putnam.
The parents, with their son-in-law and three sons, came to Ohio in the spring of 1795. Mr. Putnam settled on a farm in Fearing township, not far from Stanleyville. Mr. Porter and his sons settled in Salem township, just" below the present village of Salem, pushing much farther into the wilderness in that direction than any previous settlers.
Amos Porter, jr., purchased a farm on the same side of the creek that the village is, and extending from the village to near the West fork of the stream. Amos Porter, sr., and his sons Jonathan and Simon took a farm directly across the creek from that of Amos Porter, jr.
Amos Porter, sr., died in 1807; Jonathan shortly afterward, leaving the farm to Simon, who also had the care of his mother until her death, several years later.
On these farms these two brothers lived the remainder of their days, Simon dying March 1o, 1843, aged sixty-three, and Amos dying November 28, 1861, aged ninety-two.
Men of integrity, industry, and sobriety and of simple habits, they became well-to-do farmers, lived quiet but useful lives, were prominent in church and township affairs, and rendered valuable assistance to later settlers and to the poor generally. It is believed that among their descendants not one has become a drunkard or even a tippler.
Amos was for some years an elder in the Presbyterian church of Fearing and Salem, of which his mother and brother Jonathan were members. But the church being without a pastor for several years, and possibly for other reasons, he changed his church relations, uniting with the Methodists, with whom he continued to the time of his death.
Simon was the chosen leader of the Methodist society in Salem nearly all the time from its organization to the time of his death. His home was the chief stopping place for the Methodist ministers. The door-string always out, was especially so when ministers were about, and on occasions of quarterly meetings. Methodist preachers in those days were fond of, and needed good horses, and, to this end, they wanted them well cared for; and they soon learned that "Father Porter" or "Uncle Simon " (as more commonly called) would not only look well to their own comfort, but equally well to the condition of their horses.
The term "Uncle Simon" was so common, so well nigh universal, that the younger children scarcely knew their father had any other name, as the following incident will show. "Uncle Simon," busy at work, and wanting
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more nails than he had, called upon his little boy to make his first trip to a neighboring store about a mile off to get a few pounds. The little fellow having received his instructions, set out for the store. Arrived there, he announced that "Father wants some nails." Looking at the lad, the storekeeper asked "Who is your father?" "Uncle Simon," was the ready response.
Amos was one of the number that landed at Marietta April 7, 1788, and the last survivor of that famous band. The return trip to Boston, at the end of two years, was made all the way on foot. He married for his first wife, Sabra Tolman. She was the mother of all his children. For his second wife he married Mrs. Sally (Perkins) Sutton. His children were: Amos, William, Samuel, Thomas, Rufus, Hiram, Lydia, Jerusha and Almer. Amos died in early manhood, unmarried. Rufus and Hiram died in childhood. William married three times: First, Mary Sutton; second, Polly Stanley, and third, Mrs. Betsey (Fowler) Tolman. He had ten children. He and six of his children removed to southern Illinois, where he died. Samuel married Mary Palmer; he had three children, and died in Salem. Thomas married: first, Rhoda Sulton, and second, Polly Stille, and had six children. The children are all dead, except Mrs. Joseph Cox, of Lowell. He is living at Belpre, and has been a man of remarkable physicial strength and activity, and was a noted conductor on the "Underground Railway" in years gone by. Lydia married Mr. S. N. Merriam, of Lowell, this county, where they now reside, a well preserved, aged couple, who have passed their "Golden Wedding " by several years, but are remarkably youthful for persons of their ages, and are still actively engaged in their usual pursuils,—he, at the age of eighty-two, conducting a general merchandise store, and she, at the age of seventy-five, doing all their household duties with that punctilious care which has ever characterized her.
Jerusha married Mr. Davis, and had three children. She has long been a widow. It is supposed she is still living in the west.
Almer, an invalid for some years, lives on a part of the old homestead in Salem. He married Mary Babson. They have six children.
Simon, son of Amos, sr., married Elizabeth Stille. Their children were: Hiram,. Lois, Anne Bradstreet, Mary Vincent, Irum, Rulh, Simon Sworinstead and Cyrus Fox. No death occurred in this family for thirty-six years, viz: From January 9, 1807, to January 29, 1843. Hiram died in infancy. Cyrus died in early manhood unmarried. Anne never married. Lois married Ephraim Gould, had ten children, and died October 23, 1859. One son, Jasper Porter, graduated at Alleghany college, Pennsylvania, and was for a time principal of Marietta high school. He married Mary Taylor, of Lee, Massachusetts. One daughter, Mary Melissa, married Rev. Mr. Brady, who left the ministry to help put down the Rebellion. Mary married Madison R. Morse, had nine children, and died September 29, 1863. At one time her husband and five of her sons were in the Union army. Her oldest son Wallace was killed before Lynchburgh. Irum married Elizabeth True. Their two children died in infancy. He died in Minnesota June 1, 1872.
Ruth married Dr. William Heald, had one son, and died November 26, 1843.
Simon S., the only member of the family now living, married Euretta S. Hill. They have three children: Ida Precia, Mary Waldena and Edwin Horace.
Beside several years' teaching in district and select schools in this county and Crawford county, Pennsylvania, Mr. Porter has been principal of the Washington Street grammar school, Marietta, eighteen years, and entered upon the duties of that position in January, 1864. In March, 1864, he resigned on account of ill health. In the spring of 1865 he was chosen a member of the board of education, in which capacity he served until 1873, when he was reelected to his former position in the schools, which place he still holds. It will thus be seen that he has been connected with the public schools of Marietta as teacher or member of the board of education for the past twenty-seven years, with but one year's exception.
FAMILY OF IRA HILL.
Among the early families of Salem township was that of Ira Hill, esq. Mr. Hill came to Ohio from Vermont, but was born in Goshen, Litchfield county, Connecticut. He was the son of Zenas and Kezia Hill (probably cousins.) His grand parents were Ebenezer Hill and Martha Dibble, the former born at Guilford, Connecticut, November 23, 1687, and the latter at Hartford, November 13, 1697.
Ira Hill married Esther Post, of Norwich, Connecticut, February 2, 1786. Their children were: Ira, Harry, Sally, Urania, Speedy, Guy and Dan. These were all born in New England except Dan, who was born in Salem, January 31, 1803.
The family arrived in Marietta in the year 1800, and after remaining a while in Marietta, settled on a farm in Salem, about one mile north of Salem village.
Mr. Hill came west, thinking a change of climate might improve his health; and he seems to have realized the object of his search, for he lived to the ripe old age of four-score and six, dying October 13, 1841. Mild and amiable in disposition, frank, honest and upright in his intercourse with others, he was not only respected, but trusted and honored by the community.
His wife was a woman of rare social qualities, and of great courage, energy and endurance. She lived to the age of ninety-two, dying August 15, 1851.
The parents and most of the children were members of the Presbyterian church of Fearing and Salem. The boys were fond of military displays, and figured somewhat prominently in the musters and drills of those early times. Harry became a colonel, Ira a major, and Guy and Dan were musicians.
Ira Hill, jr., married Wealthy Little, of Newport, in 1816, and, in 1819, settled on a farm in Newport, next above the late Joseph Barker's. Here he lived until his
592 - HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, OHIO.
death in 1866. He was a deacon in the Baptist church, a prominent member of that denomination, and widely known in other denominations as a zealous Christian worker. He was a genial companion, a most liberal giver for religious purposes, and a man of the highest integrity. His children were: Luther, Ira, Emily, Cynthia, Mary, Charles, Hervey and Judson.
Luther, a graduate of Marietta college, class of 1842, and of Newton theological seminary, Massachusetts, is a Baptist minister in Maine. Ira is a farmer in Iowa. Emily (Mrs. Charles Fuller) removed to Iowa some years since, and died there. Cynthia, an intelligent and deeply religious maiden lady, resides near her father's farm, in Newport. Mary is the worthy wife of Mr. Adams, an Iowa farmer. Charles and Judson died in early manhood at their father's. (Charles was preparing for the ministry at the time of his death ) Hervey, who lived on the homestead, died soon after his father, leaving the farm to his widow and children, who still occupy it.
Colonel Harry Hill married Mrs. Jerusha (Chapman) Doan, of Salem. They lived for a time in Salem, then removed to Lancaster, Ohio, where he died. Their children were: Jerusha, Louisa, Harry and Abigail. Jerusha married Mr. Prindle, a farmer. They live in Wisconsin. Louisa died in infancy. Harry is a farmer near Lancaster. Abbie is Mrs. Major Carey, Aberdeen, Ohio. Sally and Guy never married, living and dying at the old home in Salem. Speedy died in infancy in Vermont. Urania married James Stanley, of Fealing. They had nine children: Urania, Laura, Lucy, Cynthia, James, Caroline, Diantha, Cleinent and Paul. Urania, James and Clement went to Wisconsin, married and settled at Necedah, Juneau county. (Urania is Mrs. Harry Smith.) Laura married James Ewing, of Salem. Lucy is Mrs. James Calland, of Noble county. She resides near Summerfield. Cynthia married Isaac T. Lund, a successful farmer of Aurelius, aclive in township affairs, and a noted abolitionist in times when it required backbone to avow such sentiments. Caroline is Mrs. Daniel Morgan, of Salem. Diantha died in early womanhood, and Paul while yet a youth.
Dan, the youngest of the family, married Mary Merriam, daughter of Reuben Merriam and Mary Noyes, who came from Troy, New York, to Lowell, in az& He remained on the farm in Salem, and, beside carrying on the farm, engaged in merchandizing, first with William McIntosh, afterward alone, and for many years conducted an extensive and profitable business. He was a keen observer of men and nature, and a man of excellent judgment. His counsel and sympalhy were extensively sought in times of trouble and distress, and his kind, sympathetic nature extended to all a helping hand. He was active in the formation of the first temperance society west of the Alleghanies, and drafted its pledge. Deprived by death of his beloved wife, on whom he greatly relied, not only for the management of the household but also in business matters, he nevertheless succeeded in rearing his family of six children, watching over them with 4 father's care and a mother's tenderness. His children were: Edwin, Euretta, Archibald, Oladine, Deming,
Esther and Erwin. Edwin died in infancy. Euretta is 1 Mrs. S. S. Porter, Marietta. Archibald is a merchant in Columbus, Ohio. Oladine is the wife of S. B. Hildreth, a well-off farmer near Marietta. Deming is a farmer in California. Esther is the wife of J. A. Woods, superintendent of schools and farmer, Clarinda, Iowa. Erwin is a farmer near Marietta.