Ashland County, Ohio - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 2 of those read), 1863

FIrTY-THREE years have elapsed since the first white settlement was commenced within what is now the organized territory of Ashland County. What changes have been wrought within that half century! The first pioneer found the country without church, school, market, road, merchant, mechanic, or cultivated acre - if we except a few spots that may have been marked by the rude efforts at tillage by the Indian. Savage beasts and uncivilized men were in deadly conflict throughout the domain of the wilderness. Except when winter withdrew them to their caverns, the earth teemed with venomous and loathsome reptiles. The country was utterly desti- tute of any of the moral or material resources that bear relation to civilized life. Such, in brief, was its condition when that band of moral heroes, the Pioneers, entered the country and grappled with privations and dangers altogether unknown to the generation who now occupy this country, and even to the experience of those who have of late years undertaken the subjugation of the forests west of this. There exists no analogy between the habits and modes of life of those who were backwoodsmen at the commencement of the present century, and those who have peopled the new States and Territories of the West. Here, until the opening of an _ Atlantic. market by the completion of the New York and Erie Canal, in 1825, there had been no sale of produce except for neighborhood consumption; while westward of this, during the last ten or fifteen years particularly, artificial communications, by means of canals, turnpikes, or railroads, have advanced, almost part passu, with the van of the immigrating column, and agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, with all the happiness they bestow, have been enjoyed, with the exception of brief delays, by the first populations of the new States and Territories. Steam, as an agent of transit alone, has wrought a wonderful revolution in accelerating the distribution of population and wealth. The pioneers of Ashland County made their way hither from their former Eastern homes by the tedious process of horse and ox teams, and some even on foot, occupying weeks in their journeys. They were the manufacturers of almost everything they used, including their farming implements and the fabrics with which they were clothed. Their food, also, as well as their raiment, was the exclusive production of their own farms. There were no importations of goods. Their modes of life, created by their necessities and their isolation, made them a race sui generis. The world will "ne'er look upon their like again."

Different has it been with those who first settled the States and Territories north and west of us. Themselves and families, stocks of clothing, farming implements, merchandise, and abundant supplies of provisions, embracing even the luxuries of life, have - been conveyed from tramontane homes to within a stone's throw of their places of destination in the "far West," by means of the modern facilities which steam employs on natural and artificial channels, performing, in a single day, a distance which, fifty years since, would have occupied nearly or quite a month to accomplish. These transportations, too, were conducted on'a scale of cost corresponding in reduced amount with the difference in time employed. Thus, comparatively, has time and space and expense been equally annihilated by the magical improvements of the utilitarian era which has had its dawn since the first white settler commenced his improvement of the soil within our limits. Had anything essential to comfort been forgotten by the pioneer family of the country west of us, commerce met them almost at the doorway of their cabin and supplied the needful commodity. The privations of the pioneer life as it formerly existed, the occidental adventurer may have heard of or read of, but it is a matter altogether outside of his own experience. Pioneer life in the States and Territories west, as

There is much embraced in the personal history of the pioneers that may not interest the general reader. The office of the author, in this department, has been little else than that of. amanuensis and compiler - some of the narratives being from the manuscript as furnished by the narrator 'himself, without any attempt at revision by the editor. If the matter under this head is sometimes found-wanting in symmetry, and if repetitions occur, or if statements touching the same events are occasionally found in conflict, in unimportant details, it must be borne in mind that they are simply reminiscences, unaided, in most instances, by memoranda or other record. All efforts at-adornment of these narratives, however, would only impair their value. They are the most attractive in their simplest form.

We confess to a feeling of veneration for the characters of those men who penetrated the wilderness and inaugurated civilization and its train of blessings in a region where savages and wild beasts had maintained undisputed empire. The scenes through which they passed are suggestive of rich fields for the genius of the poet and painter, and fields that it is hoped may be hereafter occupied. Would not that, reader, furnish a night-scene for an artist, where our friend, Elias Ford, was reposing, 'one eye open," in his little three-sided cabin - his faithful dog, "who could do everything except talk," posted as sentinel between his "open front" and the fire which always blazed at night a few feet distant from his hammock - his trusty rifle supported by his left arm - the reptiles coiled upon the ground beneath him - the hordes of ravenous wolves, attracted by the venison, the savor of which, during the process of cooking the supper for himself and dog, had impregnated the atmosphere around, stimulating their voracious appetites to a point of uncontrollable fury, - would not this, and many kindred scenes described in these pages, constitute material worthy the genius of the best painter?

No country settled at and prior to the date of the portion which now forms the State of Ohio, ever had but one race of pioneers - the men who penetrated the wilderness, endured all the hardships incident to its subjugation, and transmitted to their successors the comforts and conveniences of a high civilization. When this class of: men pass off a given spot, they disappear for all time: the country which was first redeemed by them will know them nor their like no more forever. To record the stories of the adventures and sufferings - the joys and sorrows - of the pioneers who yet survive in' Ashland County, was the chief object in producing this volume. It is a work which, had it been commenced earlier, would have been more satisfactorily prosecuted; while, had it been postponed to a much later period, the grave would have closed over the last of the pioneers, and anything like a faithful history of their times could not have been produced. The present and rising generation may derive an instructive moral lesson, by contrasting the privations and discomforts which beset the first settlers with the circumstances which surround themselves. Such contrast should inspire the latter with feelings of gratitude for the blessings which they enjoy, and should stifle that disposition to complain, which has become almost as chronic with us as it was with the ancient people who were fed with bread from heaven.

In the SOCIAL customs of our times, it may be doubted whether we have made improvement upon those of our ancestors. A contemporary gives this brief and faithful contrast between those of the old and latter days: -

"In days of yore friends and neighbors could meet together to enjoy themselves, and with hearty good will enter into the spirit of social amusements. The old and young could then spend evening after evening around the firesides with pleasure and profit. There was a geniality of manners then, and a corresponding depth of soul, to which modern society is unaccustomed. Parties were not so fashionable then as now, but the old-fashioned social reunions were vastly better than the more gaudy and soulless assemblies of the present day. Our ancestors did not make a special invitation the only pass to their dwellings, and they entertained those who called upon them with a hospitality which has nearly become obsolete. Modern social intercourse is for the most part hollow and heartless. Most of those who give parties do so for the sake of making a vulgar display, to excite the envy and admiration of their silly companions. During the week preceding the giving of a party, the hostess is continually fretting at the trouble she is undergoing, to meet what she supposes her. circle demand of her.

"The evening of the party arrives, and she must be extremely polite to those she dislikes, and maintain for hours an appearance of cordiality, while her guests are enjoying the entertainment prepared at vast expense, and secretly ridiculing the vanity and ostentation that have provided the repast. Such is too often the substitute for the informal gatherings which were a feature in the days of our grandfathers. They did not feel obliged to spend a thousand dollars for an evening's entertainment for fear they might be outdone by their neighbors. Guests did not assemble then to criticise the decorations, furniture, manner, and table of those who invited them. They were sensible people, and visited each other to enjoy themselves and promote the enjoyment of those around them. Perhaps it may be said that our ancestors were not refined like their descendants of the present day. If they had been, in the sense in which the word is now understood, this generation would have been more hollow and heartless than it now is. They had clear heads and warm hearts; they believed in the earnestness of life and in the power of human sympathies. They would have tolerated in their descendants with an ill grace the utter disregard of the duties of life which now prevails, and the socalled accomplishments, which are designed to cover up the faults and follies of modern society, would have received no favor at their hands. They taught their children to be useful, and always insisted that the useful should be a foundation for the ornamental. We have reversed all this, and everything like a true social development has gone out of date. Why may not the middle classes of the present day, who make vain attempts to rival the show and heartlessness of the wealthy, perceive that by the cultivation of real social feelings they can produce a state of society among their own circles which would be of immense advantage to themselves, their children, and their neighbors? Let the more sensible of them establish a new order of things, open their houses after the fashion in the olden time, and they can soon turn

The simple tastes, habits, and wants of the pioneers may excite the patronizing sympathy of the parvenu of our day... We may ignore our obligations to the pioneer race, and congratulate ourselves that our lot has been cast in a more advanced era of mental and moral culture. We may pride ourselves upon the developments which have been made in science and art, and that owr standard of civilization is immeasurably in advance of that of our fathers. But in all these assumptions are we not, as we are in many other things that belong to our generation, "too fast?" If the people of the "olden time" had less for costly apparel and ostentatious display, they had also more for offices of charity and benevolence. If they had not the trappings and splendors of wealth, they had at least no infirmaries and no paupers - very few lawyers, and very little use for jails. The type of the Christianity of that period will not suffer by a comparison with that of our own day. The command to "Love thy neighbor as thyself" was then more faithfully observed than now. The vain and thoughtless may jeer at their unpretending manners, customs, and costumes; but in all the elements of true manhood and true womanhood, it may be safely averred that they were more than the peers of the generation that now occupy their places. Has it never occurred to you, reader, that we may be largely indebted to the characteristics of our pioneer fathers for that vigor and valor which have stimulated their descendants to go forth and fight our country's battles? That race have left their impress upon our times in more ways than one. Rude and illiterate, comparatively, they may have been; but they were undoubtedly men of strong minds in strong bodies - made so, albeit, by their compulsory self-denial and their very privations and toil. It was the mission of many of them to aid in the formation of our noble commonwealth, and wisely and well was that mission performed. Had their descendants been faithful to their teachings, there would have been harmony now where violence and discord reign. In those days our mountains and our valleys could say, "We nurse a race who ne'er hath bowed the knee to aught but God." They were the men to-found and maintain an empire. They realized the beau ideal of the poet : -

The "Pioneer Times" have the greenest spot in the memories of those who lived in them. Their practices of selfdenial - -their very privations and sufferings - are consecrated things in the memory.

A few years ago, one who had witnessed all the stages of our material development - the gradual redemption from our wilderness condition to our recent full estate of national prosperity - and having himself, by years of industry and economy, gathered about him all the comforts and luxuries of modern life, had an irrepressible longing to be among the men and scenes of by-gone days. He would again become a pioneer in a new country. He sighed par-

He could not, of course, hope to realize those halcyon days except in a new country. He therefore again, old as he was, resolved to sacrifice the comforts and luxuries of his Ashland County home - the results of the toil of his own hands - and seek a new one in the West. With this view, he traveled over Iowa, Minnesota, etc. There he found the wilderness, true enough, but he could: not find tHE MEN. The old race was not there. He discovered an utter absence of all the types and shadows of the Pioneer Times with which he had been familiar in his early manhood. Instead of the matron and maiden decked in home-made tow-cloth and linsey-woolsey, he found hoops, silks, satins, and an exuberance of vanity and. pretension. In place of the large-hearted humanity of the days of yore, he found selfishness, and a race for accumulation even more intensified than had developed itself in the modern times among ourselves. Far beyond the rising tide of population, he found the locomotive and its "train" of vice and social demoralization. Our friend returned home, well persuaded that no condition of society now exists upon the face of the globe that affords a parallel to the times for which he sighed and with which he was once familiar.

The last eighteen months have been peculiarly destructive of life among the aged. Twenty-two, at least, of the pioneers of the county have within that time been gathered to their fathers. The last will soon disappear from among us. May the present generation, who should be in the enjoyment of the fruits of the valor and toil of their predecessors, ever nourish a grateful sense of their obligations, and never omit opportunity. to offer kindly ministrations to those who survive, and smooth their pathway to the tomb. May -no neglects furnish occasion for a future poet to write of the last of the pioneers, in the spirit of Scott touching the last of the minstrels : - "The last of all the bards was he,