Ashland County, Ohio - The whole text, 1909 (part 2 of 26)

A second grade of log cabin, built later, was quite an improvement on the first, being made of hewn logs with sawed lumber for doors and window frames and floors. Glass also took the place of paper windows of the old cabin; nails were also sparingly used in these better cabins. It was sometimes built near the old one and connected with it by a covered porch. When nails were first used, for a few years a pound of them was exchanged for a bushel of wheat. They were a precious article, and were made by hand on a blacksmith's anvil, out of odds and ends of old wornout sickles, scythes, broken clevis-pins, links of chains, broken horseshoes, etc., all welded together to eke out the nail-rods from which they were forged. The first cabins were often erected, ready for occupation, in a single day. In an emergency, the pioneers collected together, often going eight or ten miles to a eabin-raising, and, in the great woods where not a tree had been felled or a stone turned, began with dawn the erection of a cabin. Three or four wise builders would set the cornerstones, lay with the square and level the first round of logs; two men with axes would cut the trees and logs; one with his team of oxen, a ''lizzard'' and a log-chain would ''snake'' them in; two more, with axes, cross-cut saw and frow, would make the clapboards; two more, with axes, cross-cut saw and broad-axe would hew out the puncheons and flatten the upper side of the sleepers and joists. Four skillful axemen would carry up the corners, and the remainder, with skids and forks or handspikes, would roll up the logs. As soon as the joists were laid on, the cross-cut saw was brought from the woods, and the two men went to work cutting out the door and chimney place; and while the corner men were building up the attic and putting on the roof, the carpenters and masons of the day were putting down the puncheons, laying the hearth and building the chimney. high enough to keep out the beasts, wild or tame. In one corner, at a distance of six feet from one wall and four from the other, the bedpost was placed - only one being needed. A hole was bored in the puncheon floor for the purpose of setting this post in, which was usually a stick with a crotch or fork in the upper end; or, if an augur is not at hand, a hole is cut in the puncheon floor, and the fork sharpened and driven into the ground beneath; rails were laid from this fork to the wall, and, usually, nice, straight, hickory poles formed the bottom, upon which straw or leaves were | placed and the blanket put on. This made a comfortable spring bed, and was easily changed and kept clean. Often the chinking and daubing of the walls, putting in windows and hanging the door were left until fall or some leisure time after the corn crop and the eontents of the truck patch were secured. Often the pioneers did not erect a cabin at all until a crop was secured - living, meanwhile, in their covered wagons, and cooking beside a log in the open air, or erecting a ''pole eabin,'' or ''brush cabin,'' mere temporary affairs, to shelter the family until time could be had for erecting a permanent one. | The saving of the crop was of more importance during the summer season than shelter ; but when the first frost came, a sure indication of approaching winter, active preparations were made for the permanent cabin, and the work was: pushed forward until a snug cabin stood in the midst of the forest, with a clearing around it, made principally by cutting down trees for the building. Every erack was chinked and daubed, and when completed, and a fire of hickory logs in the great fireplace, the cold did not seriously disturb the inmates. The heavy door was hung on wooden hinges, and all that was necessary to lock it at night was to pull the latch-string inside, and the strong wooden latch against wild animals and storms. | But the lateh-string was seldom pulled in, for it was a serious offense for the Indians to not find the string out.. The writer's mother frequently told of awakening at night and seeing Indians sitting before the blazing fire, or at the cupboard eating a lunch, and that she could not sleep again until after they had taken their leave. Many of these pioneer cabins had no loft or second floor, but when this was added it was used as a sleeping room for the vounger members of the family.

\ What to eat, drink and wear, were questions not, perhaps, diffieult of solution in those days. The forest was full of game, the streams full of fish, and wild fruits were abundant. To get bread required both patience and labor ; the staff of life was one the articles that must be earned ''by the sweat of the brow;'' it could not be gathered from the bushes, fished from the streams. or brought down with the rifle. Every backwoodsman once a year added oe, clearing, at least, a "truck pateh.'' This was the hope and stay of the family; the receptacle of corn, beans, melons, potatoes, squashes, pumpkins, turnips, ete.. Sein rol ee aecett een e s planted in May brought roasting ears and succotash in August. Potatoes came with corn, and the cellar, built in the side of a eon- venient hill, and filled with the contents of the truck patch, secured the family against want. When the corn grew too hard for roasting ears, and was yet too soft to grind in the mill, it was reduced to meal by a grater, and whether stirred into mush or baked into johnnycake, it made, for people with keen appetites and good stomachs, excellent food. Place before one of those brawny backwoodsmen a square foot of johnnycake and a venison steak broiled on hickory coals, and no art of civilization could produce a more satisfactory meal.

Next to the grater comes the hominy block, an article in common use among the pioneers. It consisted simply of a block of wood - a section of a tree, perhaps - with a hole burned, or dug, into it a foot deep, in which corn was pulveried with a pestle. Sometimes this block was inside the cabin, where it served as a seat ; sometimes a convenient stump in front of the cabin door was prepared for, and made one of the best of hominy blocks.

Hominy blocks did not last long, for mills came quite early and superseded them, yet these mills were often so far apart that in stormy weather, or for want. of transportation, the pioneer was compelled to resort to his hominy block, or go without bread. In winter, the mills were frozen up nearly all the time, and when a thaw came and the ice broke, if the mill was not swept away entirely by the floods, it was so thronged with pioneers, each with his sack of corn, that some of them were often compelled to camp out near the mill and wait several days for their turn. When the grist was ground, if they were so fortunate as to possess an ox, a horse, or mule, for the purpose of transportation, they were happy. It was not unusual to go from ten to twenty miles to mill, through the pathless, unbroken forest, and to be benighted on the journey, and chased, or treed by wolves. A majority of the pioneers, however, settled in the vicinity of a stream, upon which mills were rapidly erected. These mills were very primitive affairs - mere ''eorn crackers'' - but they were an improvement on the hominy block. They merely ground the corn, the pioneer must do his own bolting. A wire sieve was then one of the most important articles of household furniture. - It always hung in its place, on a wooden peg, just under the ladder that reached to the loft. The meal was sifted and the finest used for bread. - How delicious was that ''Indian pone,'' baked in a large deep skillet, which was placed upon coals raked from the fireplace to the hearth. Fresh coals were continually placed under it and upon the iron lid until the loaf, five or six inches thick, was done through. This was a different thing from johnnycake; it was better, and could not always be had, for to make it good, a little wheat flour was needed, and wheat flour was a precious thing in those very early days.

A road cut through the forest to the mill, and a wagon for hauling the grist, - were great advantages, the latter especially was often a seven day's wonder to the children of a neighborhood, and the happy owner of one often did, for years, the milling for a whole neighborhood. - About once a month this good neighbor, who was in exceptionally good circumstances, because able to own a wagon, would go about through the neighborhood, gather up the grists and take them to mill, often spending several days in the operation, and never thinking of chareing for his time and trouble.

'Cooking, in pioneer times, was an interesting operation. The trammel and hooks were found among the well-to-do families, as time progressed. - Previous to this, the lug-pole, across the inside of the chimney, about even with the chamber floor, answered for a trammel. A chain was suspended from it, and hooks were attached, and from this hung the mush-pot or teakettle. If a chain was not available, a wooden hook was in reach of the humblest and poorest. When a meal was not in preparation, and the hook was endangered by fire, it was shoved aside to one end of the lug-pole for safety. Iron ware was very scarce in those days. Instances are related where the one pot served at a meal to boil water for mint tea or crust coffee, to bake the bread, boil the potatoes, and fry the meat. By fine management this was accomplished. Frequently the kettle had no lid, and a flat stone, heated, and handled with the tongs, was used instead of one, when a loaf or pone or pumpkin pie was baked. A shortcake could be baked by heating the kettle moderately, putting in the cake, and tipping it up sidewise before the glowing fire. Bannock, or boardcake, was made by mixing the cornmeal up with warm water, a pinch of salt and a trifle of lard, into a thick dough, spreading it on a clean, sweet-smelling clapboard, patting it with the cleanest of hands, and standing it slanting before the fire, propped into the right position by a flatiron behind it. Baked hastily, this made a delicious cake, sweet and nutty and fresh, and the pretty stamp of the mother's dear, unselfish, loving fingers was plainly detected in the crisp crust.

'Kicking frolies'' were in vogue in those early times. This was after wool was more plenty, and it was carded, spun and wove into cloth. Half a dozen young men, and an equal number of young women (for the ''fun of the thing'' it was always necessary to preserve a balance of this kind), were invited to the kicking frolic. The cabin floor was cleared for action and a half dozen chairs, or stools, placed in a cirele in the center and connected by a eord to prevent recoil. On these the six young men seated themselves with boots and stockings off, and pants rolled up to the knee. Just think of making love in that shape! The cloth was placed in the center, wet with soap suds, and then the kicking commenced by measured steps, driving the bundle of cloth round and round the elderly lady with gourd in hand pouring on more soap suds, and every Rie and then, with spectacles on nose and yard stick in hand, measuring the goods until they were shrunk to the desired width, and then calling the lads to a dead halt. Then, while the lads put on hose and boots, the lasses, with sleeves rolled up above the elbow, rung out the cloth and put it on the garden fence to dry. When this was done, the cabin floor was again cleared and the supper spread, after which, with their numbers increased somewhat, perhaps, they danced the happy hours of the night away until midnight, to the musie of a violin and the commands of some amateur cotillion caller, and were ready to attend another such frolic the following night.

The costume of the woman deserves a passing notice. The pioneers proper of course, brought with them something to wear like that in use where they oe from; but this could not last always, and new apparel, such as the new counter afforded, had to be provided. Besides, the little girls sprang up into womanhood with the rapidity of the native butterweed, and they must be made both decent and attractive, and what is more, they were willing to aid in makine themselves so. The flax patch, therefore, became a thing of as prime mane as the truck patch. ;

Clothes for Sunday wear were made of linen copperas and white checked or striped and when bleached was very pretty. Very few could afford to wear it made all of flax; for every day wear, the warp was of flax and the filling tow. What was known as linsey-woolsey was wool and cotton mixed in the weaving, the chain being cotton and the filling wool. The dye stuff in those days was within the reach of all - butternut or walnut hulls colored brown; oak bark and copperas dyed black; hickory bark or the blossoms of golden rod colored yellow; madder, red; indigo, blue; green was obtained by first coloring yellow, and then dipping it into the blue dye. Stocking yarn was dyed black, brown or blue. If the clothes of the pioneers were poor, they made up. in brain and heart.

Hunting occupied a portion of the time of the pioneers. Nearly all were good hunters, and not a few lived almost entirely for a few years on the results of the chase. The woods supplied them with the greater amount of their subsistence, and often the whole of it; it was no uncommon thing for families to ive several months without a mouthful of bread of any kind. It frequently happened that the family went without breakfast until it could be obtained from the woods.

The fall and early part of winter was the season for hunting deer, and the whole of the winter, including part of the spring, for bears and furbearing animals. It was a customary saying that fur was good during every month in the name of which the letter r occurred.

As soon as the leaves were pretty well down, and the weather became rainy, accompanied with light snow, the pioneer hunter, who had probably worked pretty faithfully on his clearing during the summer, began to feel uneasy about his eabin home; he longed to be off hunting in the great woods. His cabin was too warm; his feather-bed too soft; his mind was wholly occupied with the camp and the chase. Hunting was not a mere ramble in pursuit of game, in which there was nothing of skill and calculation; on the contrary, the hunter, before setting out in the morning, was informed by the state of the weather in what situation he might reasonably expect to find his game; whether on the bottoms, on the hillsides or hilltops. In stormy weather the deer always seek the most sheltered places, and the leeward sides of the hills; in rainy weather, when there was not much wind, they kept in the open woods, on high ground. - In the early morning, if pleasant, they were abroad, feeding in edges of the prairie swamp ; at noon they were hiding in the thickets. In every situation, it was requisite for the hunter to ascertain the course of the wind, so as to get to leeward of the game; this he often ascertained by placing his finger in his mouth, holding it there until it became warm, then holding it above his head, and the side that first cooled indicated the direction of the wind.

These hunters needed no compass; the trees, the sun and stars took its place. The bark of an aged tree is much thicker and rougher on the north side than on the south; and the same may be said of the moss; it is much thicker and stronger. on the north than the south side of the tree; hence he could walk freely and carelessly through the woods and always strike the exact point intended, while any but a woodsman would become bewildered and lost.

The Early Settlers

The early settlers of this region were largely from Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, with quite a ''sprinkling"' from the New England states. They were generally revolutionary stock, and this may be the reason why Ohio has taken such a prominent position in the nation, politically and socially. The sub-stratum of its population was composed of Revolutionary - s whose seven years of struggle and privation had made them men - giants they might be called. From such stock and from veterans of the War of 1812, the people of this county largely trace their ancestry. It was fortunate for Ohio that her territory was upon the frontier at the close of the Revolution. The old soldiers, without money, but with land warrants in their pockets, sought the wilderness beyond the Ohio for their future homes. This state caught the larger share of these most desirable emigrants, for the reason that it was the most. promising territory then open to settlement in the west. A treaty with the Indians had been made by the government which opened the larger part of the state to white settlement and a considerable portion of the state was especially reserved for the soldiers, and was known as United States military lands. These lands amounted to two million six hundred and fifty thousand acres.

The War of 1812 checked immigration somewhat, but after it ended the tide began to flow in greater volume than ever. The passage of troops during the war had served to make new roads and widen the old ones, and the war also introduced to the new country hundreds of men who would not otherwise have known its beauty and advantages, and who when at lbetry to do so, returned and settled in it. The country no doubt settled far more rapidly than it would have done had there been no War of 1812.

Where no roads existed numerous ''blazed'' trails led off through the woods in every direction to the cabin of the solitary settler. The most important of the early roads in this section was the one leading north to the lake. This was the great outlet for grain and other produce. Freight wagons did most of the carrying trade for the country. The merchant who wished to purchase goods in the east sent his order and received his goods by these wagons, and in order to pay for the same often intrusted large sums of money to the teamsters. ~The products of the country, received by the merchant in exchange for goods, consisting mostly of wheat, whiskey, furs, ete., were also shipped by these wagons, going, generally, to the lake, where they were sold or shipped on a vessel for some point east, and months would often elapse before returns could be received.

Another source of outlet for the produce of the country was by the watercourses, which were then untrammelled by mills or bridges; and, by reason of the swampy condition of the country and consequent abundance of water, were navigable for small boats to points which would seem incredible at this time. Flat-boats were built, carrying from twenty to fifty tons. These were loaded with pork, flour, whiskey, the products of the chase, ete., and taken down the Mohican to the Muskingum to the Ohio and Mississippi river to New Orleans, where the cargoes were disposed of, after which the shippers returned home by way of New York city.

The fact that Perrysville was on the old surrey maps as Freeport was owing to the fact that flatboats were built there, loaded and floated for the markets at New Orleans. The Blackfork was a larger stream then than it is uow making the town of Perrysville quite a town for flatboats. Larger boats however, were built at Loudonville, one of which left there with a cargo of sixty tons. The tonnage of the flatboats differed, usually ranging from twenty tons upward.

About forty years elapsed from the time of the first settlement of Ashlan«. county before these means of transportation were superseded by that great civilizer - the railroad.

The products of the country, for want of a market brought very low prices, the average for wheat being thirty-five cents per bushel; oats twelve cents; corn twenty cents; whiskey fifteen cents per gallon; pork one dollar and fifty cents per hundred weight; cows eight to ten dollars each, and horses from thirty to forty dollars each. Coffee brought from seventy-five cents to one dollar per pound; salt from four to six dollars per barrel; calicoes from fifty cents to one dollar per yard, etc. Money was the exception, traffic and trade the rule. The great wagons carried the produce to Portland (now Sandusky city) and returned with salt, fish, ete.

Cabins for the purpose of trade and traffic sprang up all along the new roads, and were occupied by some pioneer family, who procured a living partly by hunting, partly by working the ''truck patch,'' partly by trading whiskey, tobacco, knives, blankets, tomahawks and trinkets with the Indians and settlers, and as travel on the roads increased, by keeping travellers over night, finally converted the cabin into a tavern. Frequently these taverns were the means of starting a town, which grew and prospered, or became extinct, according to circumstances. Establishing a town was like investing in a lottery ticket, which might draw a prize or a blank.

Settlements And Improvements

The spring of 1812 saw the tide of emigration on the increase. At that period a war was impending between Great Britain and the United States. This checked the influx of the pioneers, for it was evident the Indians of the northwest would be invited to assist the enemy. In fact, it had been observed for nearly two years, that the Greentown and Jerometown or Mohican Johnstown Indians had been in the habit of making frequent visits to Upper Sandusky, and always returned with new blankets, tomabawks and ammunition in abundance. Indeed, it was suspected that British agents were busily at work sowing the seeds of disaffection among the northern Ohio Indians.

These settlers: commenced improvements along the Black fork, the Clear fork, and the Rocky fork of the Mohican, each erecting a small cabin, and elearing a few acres of ground for corn. The majority of these settlers were of German descent, and had come directly from the western counties of Pennsylvania. Virginia, Maryland and the eastern part of Ohio; and had found the way al ? oS ? . to their new homes up the branches of the Mohican, and by Indian trails.

These settlers erected new homes along the Blackfork; Alexander Finley and Thomas Eagle, James Loudon Priest, Nathan Odell, Joshua Oram, Benjamin Emmons, John Baptiste Jerome, Ezra Warner, Elisha Chileoat, Benjamin Bunn, James Conley, Amos Norris, William Metcalf, John Newell, Westel Ridgely, Vatchell Metcalf, Josiah Crawford, and John Shinnabarger. The Odells, Orams, Priests and Metcalfs, settled in the present limits of Lake township. Mr. Emmons settled in Perry, and Mr. Warner in the lower part of Vermillion. These settlers were mostly from the border states, and from Jefferson county, Ohio. They had found their way to their new homes like the settlers on the Blackfork, and commenced the erection of cabins, and clearings, in the same way. Corn was generally purchased and ground, the first year, in Knox county; and the new settlers either packed it on horses, or descended the Mohican in canoes, and transported it in that way. The hominy block was in universal requisition among the early settlers; and jonacake, or journey-cake, pork, and wild game.

Surrounded by dangers and enured to hardships, the pioneer learned to think for themselves, and acquired courage to accomplish the task they had undertaken. It was no place for faint hearts or irresolution. Their limited means, dangers, and dependence upon each other, had the effect to cement the . friendship.

At that time two shillings a day, and twenty-five cents a hundred for cutting and splitting twelve foot rails, in trade, was the customary price. He often traveled five miles on foot, to help roll logs or raise a cabin, and was really glad to assist in this manner all new settlers. There were no improved roads; all was new, and no road fund to repair highways. The willing hands and stout arms of the resolute pioneer had it all to do, and right cheerfully did they perform the task.

At the time of the first settlement on the Blackfork there was not a white man in Montgomery, Milton, Clear Creek, Orange, Jackson, and the three northern townships. The number of the cabins in the lower part of Vermillion, in Lake and Perry, as well as all over Mohican, was rapidly on the increase; and the prospect for a large influx of settlers in 1812 was fair. The pioneers were keenly alive to their interests, and traveled far and near to aid each other in raising cabins, felling the forest, rolling logs and fencing new fields. | Many hardships were encountered the first year or two, by reason of unripe grain, and the great distance to be traveled in reaching mills. Still, those difficulties were met with fortitude and soon overcome.

In the early settlement of the territory now constituting Ashland county, the system of education adopted by the pioneers were very ineffective. The schools of that period were supported almost exclusively by individual subscriptions, the only aid being a nominal sum received in each township, from leases on section 16. Teachers were employed for low wages, or it would have been impossible for the sparse settlers to have maintained or supported any schools. At first, a few pupils were collected in a cabin of one of the pioneers, for instruction, by a volunteer teacher, deemed capable of imparting a knowledge of the elementary branches.

Atom Am The Narrows

The course of instruction in those days was generally limited to elementary branches, such as spelling, reading, writing, arithmetic, to the rule of three.

The earlier teachers were from Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland and the New England states. Sometimes an educated Irishman sought and obtained employment as a teacher. In a general way, good order, in school hours, was rigidly enforced; and if a ready compliance, on the part of the pupil, was not yielded an application of birch readily induced the recreant scholar to comply. The theory of moral suasion was not so popular then as now. The commands of the teacher were obeyed, much as those of the military officer, where no argument, as to the right or wrong of a command, is permitted.

The forest abounded in an abundance of game, and these early pioneers could easily supply their families with a sufficient quantity of flesh, though salt to cure and preserve it was a rare article.

Making sugar was rare sport for the young people. Small camp houses of poles were erected and covered with clapboards or bark, and a furnace of stones, cemented with yellow clay, and sufficiently long to receive eight or ten large iron kettles, in which the sugar water was speedily evaporated, and prepared for granulation. When large iron kettles could not be obtained, iron pots, brass kettles and other cooking utensils were brought into requisition. |The large iron kettles were generally purchased at Zanesville, Pittsburg, and Portland. Large troughs, dug-outs of white ash, holding two or three hogsheads, were made for the surplus water in a good run. The usual mode of tapping, sugar trees being abundant, was to notch, and bore a hole so as to intersect the inner part of the notch, which sloped down and back, so as to fit in a spile of elder or alder to convey the water into a trough or other vessel. The troughs were generally made of black and white ash, dug out, and would hold two or three gallons each. It was not uncommon for a pioneer to tap from three hundred to six hundred trees, and make from one thousand to one thousand five

Settling In The Wilderness

The following is taken from statements made to Dr. P. Il. Clark by the late Daniel Carter. Mr. Carter says: 'My father settled in the wilderness one mile northeast of where Ashland

(being born May 23, 1802) just the age for such events as then ocveurred to make a deep and lasting impression on my memory. My father's place was six miles bevond the then frontier settler. That spring Benjamin Cuppy, Jacob Fry, Mrs. Save and family and Stephen Trickel moved into the neighborhood, all built cabins, cleared Jand. planted corn and potatoes and all went well The Indjans were livmg at their villages, Jerometown and Sometimes there were forty or Father for some time. Greentown and came frequently to our house. fifty of them at a time, but they were always peaceable and friendly. and mother always tried to treat them kindly; fed them when they came hungry, lodged them as best they could, w hich had its effect when they made their raid on the frontiers. The British were trying to influence all the tribes of Indians to join them and fight the Americans. A chief of some tribe visited Chief Pipe at Jerometown and Armstrong, the chief of Greentown, and used his best endeavors to persuade them to join the British in the war against America. The Indians agreed to call a council and decide on the course they would pursue. The council was held and they decided to remain neutral. I was sent to Odell's mill with a sack of corn and had to go through Jerometown as there was no other trail. When I returned in the evening they were holding their war dance. They wanted me to stay and see the performance. I hitched my horse and staid till the dance was over, then rode home, a distance of nine miles through the wilderness, arriving at home about two o'clock in the morning.

'This chief visited all the states and territories. Where he could get their consent to join the British he would give them a red stick in token of blood. Consequently he was known as the chief red-stick. This council at Jerometown was held about the last of June, 1812. But after Hull's surrender August 16, 1812, the government thought best to remove them; not so much for fear of their making trouble, but to keep them from harboring unfriendly Indians.

'When Captain Douglas informed them that he came with orders to remove them they. were much excited and would not consent to go. Captain Douglas called on Mr. Copus to go with him and use his influence to obtain their consent. Mr. Copus replied that he and the Indians were on friendly terms and they would not think it kind in him to persuade them to leave against their wills. But Douglas threatened to arrest him as a traitor if he refused. He consented on condition that their town and property should be respected. As they could not talk with them Mr. Copus was prevailed upon to go as an interpreter. He told them that if they would consent to go their property should be taken care of and that the offieer had authorized him to say so, on the strength of this promise they reluctantly consented to go. They packed up what they could take with them and started. They had not gone more than two miles when looking back they saw their village on fire, some of Douglas' soldiers having lingered behind and applied the fatal toreh.

"They were greatly excited in viewing the smoky ruins of their village and property when they had the pledge of soldiers and friends that their property should be taken eare of. They were removed immediately after Hull's surrender and taken to Urbana. They were not kept very long for they had asked the privilege of going to their friends at or near Sandusky, on the pledges that they were to remain peaceable and quiet they were permitted to go. On the 10th of September, 1812, a band of about forty-five of them returned, no doubt, with the intention of avenging the wrongs done them, and at this time Martin Ruffner, Fredrick Zeimer, his wife and daughter Kate were inhumanly murdered in cold blood. Five days after this, on the 15th, oceurred the massacre of James Copus and three soldiers.

"Immediately after the attack and repulse at the Copus place, they came over into the Jerome Fork valley and burned Robert Newell's house, situated three and a half miles southeast of the present site of the village of Ashland. Previous to these Indian raids Captain Murray came with a company of soldiers to where Jeromeville now stands, as a guard to the frontier settlers and built a blockhouse. When we got the news of the Zeimer family murder, all excepting father's family fled to the blockhouse. In about five days after the Copus family were attacked the news reached Captain Murray, when he immediately dispatched thirty soldiers for our relief. The news came to Captain Murray the morning after the Copus murder. At the same time Absolom Newell volunteered to go on foot to give us notice to flee, but when he got in sight of his father's house in flames, he ran back to the blockhouse. Father had just got in with his horses from the woods. David Noggle mounted a horse, took his rifle and rode as fast as he could to give us notice to flee to the blockhouse. Father and Noggle threw the harness on the horses and hitched to the wagon while mother and us boys threw some bedding in the wagon and tumbled in. Father with gun in hand mounted one of the horses and drove as fast ag he could while Noggle on horseback rode ahead.

""When the Indians were told that they had to leave they told father to remain right where he was, that they would not harm him, that he had been their friend, and had always used them well. Their passing within eighty yards of the house when we were there on their revenging raid shows that they had kept their pledge in good faith. In about a week father with a guard of soldiers returned for the balance of our goods. JI went along with them. We counted the tracks of thirty-seven Indians who had passed through our corn field going in. the direction of Cuppy's which indicated a loss of eight killed and wounded at the Copus battle. They had passed before we left and before soldiers got there. The soldiers found Cuppy's house on fire and saw the Indians run out of the corn field into the woods and a little further up found Fry's house on fire. I have no doubt that had Newell, Cuppy and Fry been at home they would all have been murdered, as it was known that they had not treated the Indians well. Newell, although a good neighbor, would not allow the Indians around him, neither would he feed or harbor them, but drove them away when they came about his premises. Cuppy, when they came hungry and asked for anything to eat, would order them away without giving them a bite. Fry, although a preacher, would not allow them around him.

''After getting the balance of his goods father concluded to go back to Canton; got as far as Massillon and met William Rhodes, an old acquaintance, who invited him to come and stay with him as he had an empty house and could give us work to do so that we could earn ourselves a living, where we remained until about the 10th of February, 1813. As there was no disturbance along the frontier we found our corn all standing in the field excepting what the turkeys had eaten. We then opened our sugar camp and commenced making sugar when the news came that the Indians had made their appearance at Colonel Colyer's about four miles below the blockhouse. | We had almost two kettles of syrup almost ready to sugar when we received the news to flee. We set the kettles off the fire, covered them and fled to the blockhouse about the 5th of March. Colonel Colyer was living on the Muddy Fork of the Mohican. Three Indians nade their. appearance at the coor and asked for something to eat. Colyer told them that if they would give up their guns and tomahawks to him that he would give them something to eat. They handed him their guns and tomahawks, when he set them back in the house where he could stand between them and their guns and told Mrs. Colyer to set on the table what meat and bread she had, calculating that when they got seated at the table that he would arrange to shoot two of them at one shot and kill the other with the breech of his gun. Mrs. Colyer was a weak woman and was nearly scared to death, and when he raised his gun Mrs. Colyer sereamed, fainted and fell to the floor. This alarmed the Indians; they sprang to their feet, held up their hands and begged him not to shoot as they were friendly Indians and meant no harm; that they were on their way to their friends in Goshen, in the Tuscarawas valley. Colyer told them to go out and come around to the window, and if they would promise to go off he would hand out their guns and tomahawks and what they were to eat: Colyer then raised his wife and put her on the bed, then took out the flints from the guns threw out the priming, plugged the vents and handed them out together with their food and told them to leave and not be seen again around there or they would be killed. . Colyer and his wife started to the eagle blovkhouse as soon as the Indians were out of sight. Colonel James Colyer was astout, resolute man, who scarcely knew fear by that name unless the odds were too great.

'All around and about the blockhouse took shelter. There were eight families in all who took shelter at the Jerome blockhouse. We were almost without food or raiment. There were about fifteen acres belonging to Mr. Carr and Warner of Cleveland. We all joined in plowing, planting and working that to corn and potatoes. Some worked while others were posted as sentinels. In this way we got some corn and potatoes and in the spring of 1814 we all left the blockhouse. Some of these families had sold their lands and began again in the woods.

'As I had frequently seen Captain Pipe, chief of the Jerometown Indians, perhaps it would not be amiss to give a short description of him. He was about six feet in height, straight and well proportioned, rather round features, slightly pale face with a grave countenance and to appearance was about fifty years of age and I should judge had perhaps one-fourth white blood in his veins.

"T have also seen Armstrong, the chief of the Greentown Indians, and think he had a mixture of white blood in him. I will give the location of those towns for the satisfaction of those who were not here until the last traces of them were wiped out.

''Jerometown was situated one and one-fourth miles a little southwest from Jeromeville, on the state road from Wooster to Mansfield. Greentown was in the Black Fork valley about five miles southeast of Petersburg.

"'IT saw Captain Lyon, one of the Jerometown Indians shortly after the war was over. He knew me and asked if we had seen them when they went up to burn Cuppy and Fry's houses. J answered 'no.' He then asked if we had seen their tracks in the corn field? I replied 'yes.' He then said, 'we saw you and would have gone to the house and got something to eat but we were afraid you would be frightened ; we did not wish to scare your?

Stage Lines, Taverns And Flatboats

Before taking up the history of townships, there are matters of a general character that should be given a separate chapter, and one of these is the state and other leading roads of the county and the travel and traffic over them.

no roads within its borders, except the Crawford route (if that could be called a road) and some blazed trails. The first road that could be called by that "name was from Wooster by way of Greentown to the Newman settlement. thence to Mansfield. The next road was from Mt. Vernon north through the MeCluer settlement (Bellville) to Mansfield and on to Huron on Lake Erie. History states that a road from Wooster to Mansfield was opened in 1810. Some claim it was at an earlier day. Beall's trail opened up the country in northwest Ohio in 1812, and General Crook's army opened a road from Mansfield west to Upper Sandusky the same year. The road from Mansfield to Ashland was cut through the forest in 1813, at a cost of nine dollars per mile. One of the most important and most used of the early roads was the one from Mt. Vernon through Mansfield to Lake Erie. This later became a state road, and the greatest stage and freight route between central Ohio and Lake Erie. Portland (now called Sandusky) was the great mart upon the lake for Ohio trade and traffic.

From Mansfield the state road ran directly north to Brubaker's creek, thence to the northwest through Ganges to Planktown, where it struck the Beall trail - the stage road running through Ashland to Tiffin. From Planktown there were two roads to the lake, one through Paris (now called Plymouth) to Sandusky, the other north to Huron.

Prior to the opening of the New York and Erie canal there was but little market for the farm products of this part of Ohio. Wheat sold at twenty-five cents a bushel, with other cereals proportionately low - too low to pay for transportation. The principal commodities at that time for shipment were ginseng, beeswax, feathers and maple sugar. Merchants then bought their goods in the eastern cities, usually in Baltimore, and the same were hauled through to Ohio in wagons. The wagons then used were generally of the style called ''Pennsylvania wagons'' or freighters. These wagons had long, deep beds, set on wooden bolsters without springs. Wooden bows surmounted the beds, and these were covered with canvas. The bed of the Pennsylvania wagon was a frame work mortized together, the slats both horizontal and perpendicular, conformed in curve to their respective body pieces and made the top of the bed longer than the bottom and curved upward. The poles of these wagons were known as "¢stiff-tongue'' and were not supported by neck yokes, as the Ashland county wagons are today. The poles were used to guide the wagon and to hold the same back when going down hill, for which purposes breast-chains were attached from the hames to the end of the pole. Teams of from four to six horses were attached to these wagons and the driver used but a single line in driving them. The line was attached to the bridle rein of the near lead horse, and might be called the signal rein, for whenever the driver wanted the team to turn to the left, he called ont ''haw,'' and gist on the line, and if he wanted the team to turn to the right, he called out ''gee,'' and gave the line two or three jerks. A trained leader obeyed these signals. There was a saddle on the near wheelhorse and the driver could ride or walk at will. The route of these freighters was along the National road, after it was completed, and it took weeks to make the trip from the seaboard to Ohio. The first transportation line established through Mansfield was by Barney & Marsh, and its purpose was to carry freight between Mt. Vernon and intermediate points to the lake. After a lake market had been made by the opening of the Erie canal many farmers hauled their own products to the lake, and after harvest as high as two hundred teams have been known to pass through Mansfield in one day, hauling grain from the central part of the state to Huron and Sandusky.

The old Portage road deserves special mention. It was cut through the wilderness in 1812, by General Harrison's army. This road enters Worthington township in the south part of Richland county, and runs diagonally through the same from the southwest to the northeast and crosses Gold Run valley in the vicinity of the Butler oil region, thence through to Bunker Hill, the Davis settlement and Ashland county, to its terminal at Old Portage on the Western Reserve. It was called the ''Portage'' road from the fact that it terminated at Portage, on the divide between the Tuscarawas and Cuyahoga rivers. Old Portage, on the Cuyahoga side of the divide, was an old trading post for both whites and Indians, and in the war of 1812, it was a rendezvous for troops. New Portage, on the Tuscarawas side of the divide, was in the vicinity of the present town of Barberton.

The old Portage path, between the Tuscarawas and Cuyahoga rivers, in Summit county, was one of the most important trails for its length (eight miles) in the state. This path was defined as a portion of the western boundary of the United States in the treaties of Fort McIntosh, in 1785, and Fort Harmar, in 1789, and thus this Portage path became a noted land mark, and when General Harrison opened a military road across Ohio from the southwest to the northeast it took its name Portage road from the Portage path.

Since the opening of the Portage road no other period of equal length in the world's history is fraught with so many marvelous, industrial and scientifie achievements as are crowded into the years since this part of Ohio was settled. Railroads have been made since then to span the continent; wires have been strung to carry tidings of the world's affairs around the earth and under the waters of the sea; the human voice to steal swiftly over the mountains and across the plains to convey to distant ears messages of comfort and of love. and the dark places of the earth have been made luminious by electric lights and trolley cars are being propelled by electricity along our roads and through our streets.

Tn referring to the early transportation facilities, it should here be stated that flatboats were built at different times at Perrysville and Loudonville and sent down the Mohican to the Ohio river and thence to New Orleans. where the cargoes found a money market. The volume of water in the streams of the county at that time was larger than it is now. There were no dams in the

Mohican nor its tributaries at that time. One or more flatboats were built at Newville, loaded and sent down to the Cresent city. One boat built at Loudonville carried a cargo of fifty tons. How to get grain and other products to market was a perplexing question with the pioneers. To relieve the situation, the National road was built and canals were made. As early as 1816, the Hon. Jeremiah Morrow was placed at the head of a committee of the United States senate, to whom was referred so much of the president's message as related to roads and canals, and on the 6th of February of that year, he presented a report recommending a general system of internal improvements. When Mr. Morrow's term in the senate expired, in 1819, he declined a reelection and returned to private life. But public sentiment was against his retirement and he was appointed a canal commissioner in 1820 and again in 1822. Having, however, been elected governor in this latter year, he declined to act. as commissioner. But during the four years he occupied the gubernatorial chair, he was industriously encouraging the construction of roads and promoting the great enterprise of connecting the Ohio river with Lake Erie by means of a canal - the success of which had a remarkable influence over the future character of the population of Ohio, and of advancing the grade of the state in the Union.

The two laws of 1821 and 1825 for the construction of the Ohio and Erie canal were secured by a coalition of the ''school party'' and the ''eanal party'' as certain factions in the Ohio legislature were then called, and neither of which could secure an enactment without the aid of the other. The school party wanted a free school system and the eanal party wanted canals constructed as waterways for commerce. The two parties worked together and won both schools and eanals.

On the 4th of July. 1825, ground was broken for the Ohio and Erie canal by DeWitt Clinton, then governor of New York, and Governor Morrow of Ohio. But it required years of work hefore the eanal was ready for business. The first. passenger packet to reach Massillon was on August 21, 1828, and it was ealled the ''Monticello.'' The completion of the eanal was hailed with great joy by the people, especially by the farming community, for with its opening the price of wheat advanced from twenty-five cents to seventy-five cents a bushel. | The canal extends from Cleveland on the lake to Portsmouth on the Ohio river, a distanve-of three hundred and six miles.

In 1842 the Walhonding canal was projected, which was to extend from Coshoeton up the Mohican to Ganges, Richland county, but at that time the building of railroads began and the eanal was never finished farther than to Rochester, a distance of twenty-five miles. The legislature had previously passed a law declaring the Blackfork of the Mohican a navigable stream up as far as Ganges.

This reference to the Ohio and Erie canal is given to show the great value of the canal, as it opened nearer and competitive markets for farm products. IIlad the eanal been completed to Ganges and the old conditions continued Yanees would have been the metropolis of the part of Ohio lying between the ccHivide"' and Lake Erie. Doubtless large warehouses would have been erected at Ganges and the water power of the Blaekfork been utilized to operate mills and factories, and by the schemes for new counties prevalent at that time, Richland would probably have been divided from east to west instead of from north to south, and Ganges would probably have been the county seat of a new county to the north, but things went the other way, and Ganges barely holds its place on the map today. And pleasure seekers and other transient persons hurrying through the old village today neither know nor care about the history of the little place that was named after the famons river of the Hindus,

The people of today doubtless know very little of the blockhouses of the pioneer period. They were usually constructed of hewn logs, closely fitted together, were two stories high, the length and width of the building being about twenty feet. The logs resting on each other, prevented balls from the enemies guns from entering cracks or crevices, which would otherwise have been between the logs. The doors were made of thick planks or puncheons, hung on strong hinges and bolted on the inside. A door was sufficiently thick to prevent ordinary musket balls from passing through it. The first story of these blockhouses was generally about eight or nine feet high. Sometimes the floor consisted of well packed earth. The second story projected over the lower story about three feet on the sides and end. This over-jet rested upon logs or joists, which were allowed to project over the lower story. The second story was about seven or eight feet high, and was perforated by numerous port-holes, pointing in every direction, so as to guard against the approach of an enemy. The floor of this story was thick and strong, and had port-holes pointing downward, so that if an enemy came under the projection, to set fire to the building, he could be shot from above. There were also port-holes in the lower story, from which the savages could be seen and cut off before they reached the building. The roof was of clapboards, supported by logs. These bloeckhouses were generally erected in an open space upon some slight elevation of ground, so as to prevent the approach of the savages without being seen by the inmates. Another point to be considered in the location of a blockhouse, was to be near a.spring of water. The blockhouse at Jeromeville had a well of water within it. In such a blockhouse, twenty or thirty families could be accommodated, by spreading their beds upon the floors. During the day the inmates could pass in and out most of the time and attend to their duties without being molested by the Indians; their raids being only semi-oceasionally and very unexpectedly. Dr. Hill says in his history that there were only two blockhouses in the county which were surrounded by stockades.

Life in blockhouses was extremely irksome and monotonous, and the inmates were always pleased when assured they could return to their deserted cabins with safety.

Seek Refuge In The Blockhouses

The pioneers along the different branches of the Mohican creek were almost panic-stricken upon hearing of the murders of Martin Ruffner and the Zeimer family by the Indians, and immediately sought refuge in the blockhouses.

Pack-horses, wagons and carts were in demand - in fact, every means of conveyance was put into speedy requisition; and such articles of bedding and wearing apparel as could not be dispensed with, were put in packs and conveyed along with the fugitives. As near as can be remembered, the following families fled to Clinton: Ebenezer Rice and family, Joseph Jones and family, Calvin Hill and family, Moses Adzit and family, Abraham Baughman and family, Allen Oliver and family, and J. L. Hill and family. There were in all about thirty persors, and they made their way, as rapidly as possible, along the paths leading through the forests to the village of Clinton, near the present site of Mt. Vernon, then a sort of depot for supplies for the army.

The upper settlement on the Blackfork hastened to the blockhouse on the Clearfork, owned by Samuel Lewis. At that time, some twenty or thirty soldiers, under Lieutenant Barkdall, were there as a guard. Those seeking refuge there were Peter Kinney and family, James Cunningham and family, Andrew Craig and family, David Davis and family, John Davis, William Slater and family, John Wilson and family, Peter Zimmerman and family, Harvey ITill and family, Henry McCart and family, and Henry Nail and family. Most of these families made a temporary stay at the blockhouse, returning to their cabins frequently, during the fall months, to keep watch over such household goods as were left in them, and to take care of their abandoned stock.

The next day after the flight to the Lewis blockhouse, Harvey Till and John Coulter, who aided the fugitives in driving along most of their cattle, returned ; and by the aid of the Tannahills and others, whose names are not now remembered, the roof of the cabin of Thomas Coulter was thrown off, and a second story put on, and the cabin thereby became ''Coulter's blockhouse.'' The Coulter cabin was perhaps sixteen or eighteen feet, built for their first dwelling in the fall of 1810, the overjutting part being put on as referred to above. - It stood at the base of a bold bluff, on the bank of the Blackfork, near where the mill-dam now is, about half a mile southeast of the village of Perryville, and furnished a safe retreat for the neighbors of Mr. Coulter, when endangered by the savages. As soon as this blockhouse was completed, the following persons occupied it: Thomas Coulter and family, Allen Oliver and family, Melzer Tannahill and family, Jeremiah Conine and family, and George Crawford and family. When the foregoing families had gathered in, Thomas Coulter and Biarvey Hill volunteered to go to Wooster, through the forest, to secure soldiers to defend the settlement against Indian incursions. They succeeded in obtaining a guard of eleven soldiers, nnder the command of Lieutenant Winterringer, of the Tuscarawas militia, of the army of General Beall, then collecting at Wooster, for an expedition to Upper Sandusky. The guard accompanied them home, and in the daytime skirmished about the hills, and up and down the valleys for Indian signs, and then stood guard at night to prevent an attack by the Indians.

While a resident of the blockhouse, the wife of Jeremiah Conine died and was buried in the cemetery at Perryville. She was the second person interred in that ground, the first being Mr. Samuel Hill who died the preceding June.

The settlers along the Jeromefork and its branches were also greatly excited and alarmed over the murder of Ruffner and the Zeimers. Thomas Eagle hastened to Wooster for assistance. The blockhouse at Wooster, then a mere village, was under the command of Captain Stidger, whose company constituted a part of the army of General Beall. The company of Captain Nicholas Murray, composed of about sixty soldiers, immediately hastened to the relief of the Jerome settlement.

A blockhouse was erected by his men, a short distance northeast of the present site of the mill, on a gentle rise of ground, where the settlers commenced at once to concentrate. Mr. Eagle also conducted a guard of eight or ten men to protect a small blockhouse or cabin at the Finley and Collyer settlement, about five miles down the Jeromefork, near where Tylertown now. stands.

In the meantime, Robert Newell and family, George Eckley and family, Jonathan Palmer and family, James Wallace and family, Christopher Trickle and family, James Bryan and family, Ezra Warner and family, and David Noggle and others, not now remembered, gathered at the new blockhouse. The families of Benjamin Cuppy and Jacob Fry did not remain at the fort, but passed on east. It was noticed, when all had gathered in, that Daniel Carter and family were missing. Much uneasiness was evinced concerning the safety of Mr. Carter and family. He resided up the stream, about nine miles from the blockhouse, and one mile northeast of the present site of Ashland. Absolom Newell, the eldest son of Robert Newell, volunteered to go and inform Mr. Carter and family of the danger that threatened them. Being an active young man, he soon reached the cabin of his father, some five miles up the Jeromefork which he found almost consumed by fire. Supposing Indians had set it on fire and were concealed in the vicinity, he hastened back and related the circumstance to the company at the blockhouse. David Noggle, a warm friend of Mr. Carter, at once offered to undertake the hazardous task of reaching him on horseback. Thirty soldiers were detailed for the expedition. Mr. Noggle and the soldiers followed a trail cut through the forest by Mr. Carter when he removed his family to his new cabin, which passed south of Newell's, thence over lands more recently owned by Mr. Smucker, Samuel Swinford, and the late farm of Daniel Carter, Jr., and so on to his cabin. Mr. Noggle reached the cabin sometime before the soldiers and found Mr. Carter at work with his team, alli safe. From circumstances afterwards developed, it appears that a body of Indians had that very morning passed through the cornfield near the cabin, but had offered no harm to Mr. Carter and his family.

Mr. Carter hastily placed such clothing and bedding on his wagon as he could conveniently remove, and taking his family, accompanied Mr. Noggle. They had gone but a-short distance when they met the guard. The soldiers continued in the direction of the deserted cabins of Cuppy and Fry, and on approaching the former, found it yet burning, and some of the soldiers discovered the rear guard of the Indians skulking in a cornfield. On looking towards the cabin of Mr. Fry, a half-mile west, they could see the smoke ascending from it. They then turned about, and retraced their steps to the blockhouse at Jerome's place, where Mr. Carter and family had arrived a short time before. Mr. Carter and family did not remain at the blockhouse; but passed on through Wooster to New Philadelphia, Tuscarawas county, where he and his family remained until February, 1813.

The band of Indians that burned the cabins of Newell, Cuppy and Fry was undoubtedly the same that the day before made assault on the Copus cabin.

At this time there were six or eight families in the Vachel-Metealf settlement, some two and a half miles southeast of the fort on Jerome's place, among whom were those of William Bryan, James Conley, Elisha Chilcote, Benjamin Bunn, James Slater and James Bryan. These met and constructed a fort two stories high, the walls of the second story projecting beyond the first on all sides. The floor and sides of the second story were pierced with port-holes. The pioneers with ox teams, axes and strong arms soon erected the fort. The lower story had strong doors securely fastened, and were occupied by the women and children, while the men with their rifles occupied the second story in hours of danger and alarm. A patch of ground was cleared around the fort and enclosed by a palisade twelve feet high, with a strong gate, which enclosed about one fourth of an acre, and all the families of the neighborhood gathered into this fort, while their horses and cattle were placed within the palisade. The settlers remained in this fort during the winter of 1812-13, and a part of the summer of 1813, while cultivating, by occasional visits, small patches of corn and vegetables with pickets to prevent surprise by the Indians.

Hill's History of Ashland county says that the Priest fort was erected near the banks of the Mohican, not far from the point where the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad crosses that stream at Loudonville. The fort was surrounded by a picket of heavy split timber about twelve feet high and enclosed about one-fourth acre of ground. It had a strong gate hung on wooden hinges. In cases of necessity the horses and cattle were brought within the enclosure.

Adventures And Life In The Blockhouses

General Crook's command, which passed through the southern part of Ashland county and moved to the northwest in the fall of 1812, saw very hard service after leaving Upper Sandusky. The command was ordered to Fort Meigs, with an artillery train and stores, which were dragged through the rain and mud by the soldiers. The command endured great hardships and suffered severe exposures, part of the time wading through mud and water two or three feet deep and being compelled to cut brush and logs to lift them above the water when they encaraped at night. General Winchester had advanced with his army, about one thousand strong, to within eighteen miles of Malden, where he was surprised by General Proctor, with his British and Indians, and a battle ensuing on the twenty-second of January, 1813, Winchester was defeated with great slaughter. The loss of the Americans was about four hundred in wounded, killed and missing, being fully one-third of all the force engaged in the battle! General Winchester was taken prisoner in the commencement of the engagement; and many of his soldiers, after having surrendered, were butchered by the savages in the most wanton manner, without the interference of the British commander to prevent it. This misfortune disconcerted all the plans of General Harrison for the spring campaign; and compeiled him to fall back to Fort Meigs, until the troops ordered into the field by Governor Meigs, should arrive. While these bloody scenes were transpiring, the people of Richland, Wayne, Knox and what is now Ashland counties were again compelled to seek safety in the blockhouses, not knowing what moment the infuriated savages, led on by Tecumseh, might appear in their midst. Along the Blackfork and Clearfork the fugitives that found safety at Clinton, the fall before, had returned to their homes in the vicinity of Coulter's blockhouse and that of Samuel Lewis, on the Clearfork; though they had spent most of the winter at their own cabins. Their corn crops, though small, had been secured and safely stored; their cattle and swine were under their control. The mills in Knox county, and below Wooster, had been visited and a stock of corn meal laid in for the winter, so that they had an abundance of cornbread and meat; and by the aid of hominyblocks, there was no imminent danger of starvation, though the situation was rather exciting.

Along the Jeromefork, the majority of the fugitives remained in the blockhouses during the winter. In the fall of 1812, when Captain Nicholas Murray, with a company of sixty men, was ordered by General Beall to advance to Jerome's place, to build a blockhouse, just after he had crossed the Killbuck, he met the fugitive families of John Carr, Christopher Trickle, Matthew Wilhams, Robert Newell, Ezra Warner, Daniel Carter, Jacob Fry, and Benjamin Cuppy. Captain Murray offered all these families protection, and they all returned with him to Jerome's place, except Mr. Carter and family, who continued their flight to New Philadelphia, Tuscarawas county. These families remained in and around the blockhouse all winter. About the middle of February, 1813, Daniel Carter and family returned from New Philadelphia, and again occupied his old cabin, one mile northeast of the present site of Ashland, where he found everything as he had left it the fall before. His corn was yet standing in the field undisturbed, except what had been devoured by deer, wild turkeys and small animals.

''About the first of March, 1813, in the morning four strange Indians appeared at the'cabin of James Collyer, then residing about two miles above the junction of the Jerome and Muddy forks of Mohican, a short distance from Findley's bridge, and asked for something to eat. They appeared to be well armed, and his suspicions were excited. There had not been an Indian seen in that neighborhood for several months, the last of the Mohican John Indians having been sent away by order of General Beall, when he cut his trail the fall before. Putting on an air of confidence and calmness, he invited them into his cabin, entering which, they leaned their guns against the wall near the door, and were seated. Mr. Collyer told his wife, who was much alarmed, to set some cold victuals on the table for them to eat. She did so putting on a lot of meat, cornbread and such other articles as she had at hand. Mr. Collyer motioned for them to sit down and eat. They went to the table and were seated, and began to eat heartily of the food. While they were eating Collyer moved cautiously to the point where he kept his gun, which was always loaded, and securing it, placed himself, unobserved, between the Indians and the door, and carefully raising his gun so as to get a range on two of them, prepared to fire, seeing which, Mrs. Collyer shrieked out, and fainting, fell to the floor. This alarmed the Indians, and they sprang to their feet; but seeing the threatening attitude of Collyer, raised their hands and begged him to spare their lives, saying, 'me Goshen Injun, me no harm you.' Thereupon Collyer withheld his fire, still keeping his gun pointed at them - his intention having been after killing or wounding two of them at the table, to club it over the other two, and thus secure them all - he being a powerful man and having had a good deal of experience as a hunter, and in Indian warfare. They continued to protest their innocence of any intended harm to him or his family, when he told them he would spare them on condition of retiring from the cabin and leaving their guns within, when he would remove the flints and priming, and hand them the balance of the food on the table, out at the window, when they should immediately leave the neighborhood and never return again. They accepted these conditions, and retired at once from the cabin. After securing the door, Mr. Collyer placed his wife on a bed, and proceeded to remove the priming and flints from the guns of the Indians, and having done which, he passed them out at a small window; after doing so, he handed them the balance of the food, and they disappeared in the forest. After waiting until he was satisfied they were gone and were not intending to attack him, he took his wife and such valuables as he possessed and hastened to the 'Eagle' blockhouse, a strong cabin prepared by Thomas Eagle for himself and neighbors.''

The news of this exploit soon reached the blockhouse at Jerome's place, and word of it being sent to Daniel Carter, he again took leave of his cabin, never to return to it, for he was compelled to remain at the blockhouse until the spring of 1814. A few days after this, a number of Indians appeared in view of Eagle fort, and made some hostile demonstrations, but owing to the strength of Eagle's force, they retired in the direction of Jerome's place, killing a number of hogs on their way, and finally disappeared from the neighborhood without doing further mischief. This added to the excitement produced by Winchester's defeat, the particulars of which were now understood at the blockhouse.

On the approach of the season for planting corn, a few fields were put out by the pioneers of the blockhouse. John Carr had about twenty acres cleared ; Ezra Warner had about the same number of acres ready; and Jerome had some thirty acres, on the bottom beyond the blockhouse. Mr. Carter had four or five acres near the old Indian village, across the Jerome fork. These fields were plowed, and the planting was done, by the residents of the blockhouse, as a community. While part of them planted and cultivated the corn, during the summer, the others patroled the forests in the vicinity of the fort, to prevent surprise and capture by the Indians. When the corn had become sufficiently matured for use, the same vigilance prevailed in and about the neighborhood, to prevent surprise. When the crop was gathered it proved to be quite large.

The summer months in this way seemed to pass slowly. The inmates could rarely get news from the frontiers. The defense of Fort Meigs by General Harrison, and his victory of the 5th of May, 1818, sent joy to the blockhouse along both forks of the Mohican. Harrison and his army had endured, in the most heroic manner, the fierce assault and cannonading of the British army, and finally compelled them to march down the Maumee river. In August, the monotony of the blockhouse was again removed by the reception of the intelligence of the splendid defence of Fort Stevenson (Lower Sandusky) by the heroic Major Crogham and his men. The signal repulse of the British under Proctor, and their hasty retreat from the locality, gave renewed hope and confidence. On the tenth of September, Commodore Perry captured the whole British fleet on Lake Erie, and by that great achievement the territory of Michigan passed into the possession of the American forces.

In the month of June, Mrs. Anna Carter, the wife of Daniel Carter, and his son James, a lad of six years of age, died in the blockhouse at Jerome place, and were buried in the Carr cemetery near the fort. In September, Christopher Trickle also died in the blockhouse, and was buried in the same cemetery. These deaths were occasioned from malaria and want of proper medical attendance, there being no physician within the present limits of the county, at that time.

Upon the recurrence of autumn, the pioneers along the Black fork, the Cedar fork, the Lake fork and the Jerome fork, busied themselves in storing their meagre crops for winter. Stibbs' mill, and one or two other mills on the Vernon river, each running one set of buhrs, some of which were ''nigger head,'' were visited by pioneers with pack horses and small canoes, loaded with shelled corn, to be converted into meal. Their food consisted of cornbread, johnnycake, mush and milk, potatoes, vegetables, and principally wild meat, cattle and swine being very scarce. ''Store tea'' arid coffee, were exceedingly rare and very costly. 'Store goods'' were a thing of note; and the calicoes of that day were a luxury few could afford. Homespun and wove linseywoolsey, and fiax or linen garments were the best to be seen; and many a daring, whole-souled pioneer felt proud, clothed in such garments. Salt and flour were luxuries that few could use profusely. Salt was purchased at Zanesville and Pittsburg, and from its price had to be used-sparingly. Ammunition, such as lead and powder, was obtained from the supplies furnished the soldiers left to guard the blockhouses. So far, then, as food was concerned, the inmates of the blockhouses 'fared sumptuously'' - to use an expression of an old gentleman who was quartered in one about two years. Nothing happened in the fall of 1813 to materially disturb the quiet of the pioneers of this region.

The Early Mills

The first settlers of Ashland county experienced many privations and inconveniences. A majority of the first settlers were in moderate circumstances i: and had to depend upon their own strong arms and the smiles of Providence for subsistence. Their food was exceedingly plain, and their habits industrious and economical. Their clothing was generally of the most primitive character, and spun and woven by the faithful pioneer mothers.

From 1809 to 1813 there were but two grist mills within a radius of some thirty-five miles. These mills were owned by Messrs. Shrimplin and Stibbs, and were of hewed logs and quite primitive in appearance. The former was located on Owl creek, some distance below Mt. Vernon. This mill could be reached by descending the branches of Mohican to the Walhonding, and ascending Owl creek or by Indian paths through the forest. By either route it took several days. Stibbs' mill, near Wooster, was less distant, and could be reached by wagon or bridle paths. | Packhorses, ridden by small boys, generally made the trip to Stibbs' in from two to three days, depending upon the throng for their grist. These settlements being somewhat earlier in their improvements, generally had surplus corn crops, and were able to supply the new settlers on the branches of the Mohicar.

What was known as the ''horsemill'' was erected in many parts of the county. They were rude affairs, and the machinery was somewhat complicated. They were propelled by horse power, somewhat like a cider mill. Many produced very good meal and flour, and generally had hand-bolts. A description of their machinery would occupy more space than can be allotted in these notes. They were in very general use for a period of about fifteen years. The buhrs of the horsemills were made, inostly of boulders or ''niggerheads'' and fitted and secured much like the buhrs now in use in the water and steam grist mills.

An ingenious coffee-mill was invented in the days of the early settlement of the county, and it was known as the handmill. They were made from a large boulder, much after the fashion of the coffee mills of today. A hopper was drilled in a niggerhead - stone - and made in the shape of an inverted cone; a cylinder of the same material, exactly fitting the hopper, perforated through the venter by a shaft, and also regularly grooved, was placed therein, on a pivot, and propelled by the aid of a lever, by one or two hands, as necessity required. The meal was received in a box below, and sifted by hand. It operated much like the modern coffee mills, and was a great improvement to the former way of putting the coffee in a strong cloth and pounding it fine.

'"'The numerous small streams throughout the county, during the earlier settlement, furnished valuable mill sites; and a great number of enterprising pioneers erected small grist and sawmills upon them. Before the removal of the heavy forests that covered most of the county, sufficient water was obtained to propel one or two sets of buhrs, in the smaller mills, the major part of the year; but since the forests have been cut away, the water produced by heavy showers 1s rapidly conveyed by brooks and small streams to the larger ones, while the moisture left on the surface soon evaporates; the result being, that nearly all the smaller mills were compelled to suspend work three-fourths of the year. The consequence is, that while, in our earlier history, every little stream had 'a grist sawmill, the number has eradually diminished, until there are not over a dozen good mills left, and these are chiefly propelled by steam.

'It is generally conceded that the first grist mill within the present limits of Ashland county, was erected by Benjamin Cuppy, on a small stream one and a half miles northeast of Ashland, on what is now the Orange road, in March, 1816. It had one run of stones, and ground very slowly, not exceeding four bushels of corn per day. It long since has disappeared.

'About four weeks after the completion of the Cuppy mill, Martin Mason finished a small watermill upon the present site of Samuel Leidigh's mill, on the Troy road, four miles north of Ashland. It had one run of hardhead stones. It was of hewn logs. It was a convenient neighborhood mill for many years, and did fair work.

'"About the year 1817, John Raver put up a small grist and sawmill on a run about one-fourth of a mile northeast of the present site of Rowsburgh, in Perry township. It run about one-third of the time, had an under-shot wheel and one set of stones and a hand-bolt. It stood several years, and was replaced by a mili built some years later.

'Turing the fall of 1817, it is believed that Constance Lake, of Jeromesville, erected a small log gristmill, where what is known as Goudy's mill, was subsequently built. The Goudy mill was accidentally burned about 1850. It had sustained a good reputation, and was a great loss to the community. It was not rebuilt, and the site is abandoned.

''Conrad Kline, about the year 1819, built a small horsemill one and a half miles northeast of Ashland, near the late residence of John Mason. It was constructed in the usual form of such mills, had one run of stones and a hand bolt. It made good meal and flour. It long since tumbled into ruins.

'* Jabez Smith, in 1820, erected a sawmill and gristmill half a mile south of the present site of Mohieanville, in Lake township. He sold it to R. F. Chandler, who kept the mill moving until the spring of 1875, when it accidentally burned. - It was long a convenience to the farming community, and its destruction was much regretted.

"Robert Crawford, a rugged, enterprising pioneer, put up a large and expensive horsemill on the present land of Albert Tilton, in the southeast part of Orange township, in 1820-21. It had one run of stones, a fine bolt, and did a large business for those times. It was finally abandoned about the vear 1837.

'"About the year 1823 Thomas Ford put up a small horsemill near what is now known as Ford's meetinghouse, in Clear Creek township. It was a neighborhood null, and did some business for a munber of years. - It has long since given way to the march of improvement.

"It is beheved that Oliver Sloan put a saw and _ gristmill two miles southeast of Hayesville, about the year 1830. It had one run of stones and a bolt, and did a good deal of neighborhood work. It was conducted, for some years, by a Mr. Vangilder. - It is now in ruins.

'John Hendricks built a watermill on Vermillion creek, about one mile west of Savannah, in 1823. It had one run of stones, and a bolt, and did some business. Ile subsequently sold to the late Joseph Roop, who caused a deep diteh, at heavy expense, to be dug from the lower lake, in the hope of increasing

Jeromeville Mills Jeromeville Bridge

'""Conrad Kline erected a small gristmill, about two miles east of Ashland, at the foot of Roseberry hill, in Montgomery township, in 1825. It did some business, and was carried on some eight or ten years, when it was abandoned.

""John Haney built a small horsemill, on a run east of the village of Savannah, in Clear Creek township, in 1825. It was chiefly used for chopping, in connection with a distillery. It stood but a few years, and went to ruin.

"David Weitzel erected a small saw and gristmill on the present site of the Ashland woolenmills, about the year 1825. It had a pair of coffeemill stones and was used chiefly for chop work. It had also a hand bolt. It subsequently became the property of the late John Jacobs, and was by him considerably improved. It was superseded by the large brick flouringmill now owned by John Damp & Company. This mill is propelled exclusively by steam, and its work has long been classed among the finest in the county. It has a fine run of stones and can produce seventy-five barrels of flour per day.

'"'Andrew Newman built what is now known as the Hershey mill, on the Blackfork, two and one-half miles northwest of the village of Mifflin, in the year 1820. It is regarded as one of the best of its kind. It is chiefly a neighborhood mill, does fine work, and is run by water. It is now owned by Stamern Brothers.

''Silas Longworthy built a small watermill three miles southeast of the village of Mifflin, on the Blackfork,; in 1825, and sold to John Hewhey, he to Charles Lewis, and he to Daniel Kauffman. _ It was carried on until 1845, when Daniel Kauffman, a skilful millwright, tore it down and erected a valuable mill which he sold to John Charles. It is propelled exclusively by water, and is regarded as one of the best in the county. It has a sawmill attached.

''Jonathan Harvout built a small horsemill, about one mile northwest of Ashland, on lands recently owned by James Wells, about the year 1830. - It had a brief career, and was used mostly as a chopmill by the farmers.

'" Joseph Sellers put up a small watermill, on Clear Creck, two miles west of Savannah. in 1830. It struggled along a few vears and went down.

"Colonel John Murray erected, for himself, a grist and sawmill, on Mohican creek, one and a half miles north of Orange, in 1831. - It did considerable business in wet seasons, but finally became of little value, because of a want of water.

"George McCartney constructed a small watermill in connection with a carding machine - on lands since owned by the late Samuel Urie, in Milton township, in 1830. It had insufficient power, and the enterprise failed and brought disaster upon its owner.

'William Goudy and sons put up the present large gristmill at Jeromesville, about the year 1836. It passed through many hands. and is vet regarded as a valuable property. It has fine water power. It has a good sawmill connected with it.

'Armstrong Meanor erected a small gristmill three miles north of Loudonville: on the Havesville road, pear a small stream, about the year 1831. It was

'About the same time (1831), Mr. Newman built a gristmill three miles northeast of Hayesville, on a small stream in the Finley settlement. It was carried on for many years, and did a prosperous business. A new mill, not known as Smith's mill, was erected in the neighborhood some twenty years since, and the old mill is going to decay.

"Jacob Mason built a small undershot mill about four miles north of Ashland, on Leidigh's run, in 1831. It was used principally as a chopmill for a distillery. It has long since disappeared. |

"Daniel Beach built a sawmill in 1824, and a gristmill on Vermillion river one tnile north of Ruggles corners, in 1832. It run to about 1858, and is now in ruins. It passed through four or five hands.

"Daniel Carter, Jr., put up a watermill two miles east of Ashland, near the Wooster road, in 1832. It did a fair business eighteen or twenty years. It is now in ruins.

'The Loudonville mill - a frame - two runs of stones, was built by Alexander Skinner in 1818; Caleb Chapel was carpenter and first miller. He died in 1821, and T. J. Bull became the owner of the mill; he sold to Thomas Carlisle; and in 1835 the mill became the property of Gray & Freeman, of Cleveland. They run it until 1845; then it passed into the hands of James Christmas and John C. Larwill, and in 1861, A. A. Taylor, who erected a new mill.''

Haney and Smith, from Rochester, New York, put up a large flouring mill on the Lakefork, three miles southeast of Mohicanville, in 1836. It had fine water power and did a thriving business.

Thomas Stringer erected a large gristmill on the Blackfork below Perrysville in 1839. He owned it but a short time. It had a stirring career and passed through many hands.

References are frequently made to the distilleries of the olden time, from which it might be inferred that the pioneers were noted for intemperance, but such is not the fact. Chopmills and distilleries were then considered necessities. There was a surplus of corn and of rye, while there was neither a purchaser nor a market for them. Transportation by wagon to the eastern markets was attended with much expense. The only way surplus corn and rye could be made available was to convert them into whiskey, which could be exchanged for groceries and other goods. The result was that many distilleries were erected, which since our improved modes of transportation -have long since gone out of commission. But whiskey is still an ''institution,'' nevertheless. It pays an enormous revenue, and is feared alike by moralists and politicians. It has been said that ''the mills of the gods grind slow but execedingly fine.'? But

Reminiscence Of Pioneer Times

In those early days when mills were distant, the pioneers often pounded corm in a hominy block. When sifted, the finest meal made bread, the next mush and the third grade was grits, or hominy. These, with butter and milk, constituted a large part of the daily food. The mush made by the pioneer women was remembered by the pioneer boys long after they became men as the best they had ever eaten, and it was a compliment to their wives if they said they made as good mush as their mothers had.

An Ashland county farmer gave an interesting account, a few years before his death, of the conditions that prevailed in his part of the county in the '40s. He said: ''I had to go as far as forty-five miles to the city of Akron to get a grist of flour. The home mills were run by water then, but owning to drought we were compelled to go elsewhere. We would drive mostly with oxen. I remember one night when I came to Huron with a load of wheat on my way to Milan, here all hauled their wheat at that time, I stopped at Ruggles' Corners. There were two hotels there, and I counted one hundred teams, all headed for Milan with wheat. I will never forget the time I walked to Savannah, a distance of four miles, through the mud, and carried butter and eggs, which I sold at the store at five cents a pound for butter and three cents a dozen for eggs.''

The late Francis Graham, father of Mrs. J. H. Black, of south Main street, Mansfield, in giving reminiscences of pioneer life, a few years before his death, stated that he located at Ashland, then called Uniontown, in 1821, and engaged in the mercantile business. | Uniontown then contained about fourteen or fifteen houses. The prices quoted by Mr. Graham were, no doubt, the same at Mansfield that they were at Uniontown. The products of the country brought low prices at that time, from the fact that there was no market or demand for them beyond home consumption. It was difficult for people to get money to pay their taxes. Wheat was twenty-five cents a bushel, oats from twelve to fifteen cents, and corn from fifteen to twenty cents. Butter from five to six cents a pound, and eggs from four to five cents a dozen. Maple sugar was an important article of trade in Ashland county, not from the high prices it commanded, for it only brought from five to six cents a pound, but from the large quantity made, some ''camps'' making a yield of from fifteen hundred to twenty-five hundred pounds a season. One season Mr. Graham bought maple sugar that filled forty-two barrels, of about two hundred and fifty pounds to the barrel. About the year 1825 John Stewart, for many years surveyor of Richland county, built a flouring mill on Bentley's Run, a branch of the Rockyfork, three miles southeast of Mansfield. Mr. Stewart advertised that he would pay thirty-one and one-fourth cents cash per bushel for good merchantable wheat delivered at his mill. The farmers for twenty-five miles around hauled their wheat to this mill, pleased with the idea they could sell it for cash. Money continned scarce until after the opening of the New York and Erie canal, after which produce of all kinds gradually advanced in price and the volume of currency increased. . Swindling, theft or robbery was of rare occurrence in northern Ohio at that time, Mr. Graham stated.

Wolves were both numerous and troublesome when Ashland county was first settled, and the pioneers had to put their sheep and hogs in enclosures at night to protect them. When driven by hunger the wolves would sometimes succeed in getting inside of these enclosures and kill pigs and sheep. Upon such oceasions they usually gorged themselves to such an extent that they could not get out of the pen as easily as they had entered, and were killed the next morning by the proprietor.

Of the wolf stories told the following are given: A farmer was riding along a path one evening and when nearing his home discovered in the gloaming a pack of wolves ahead of him. One broke from the pack and jumped at his horse's head. The frightened animal sprang so suddenly to one side that the farmer was unhorsed and falling to the ground was at once attacked by the wolf. His half wolf-dog came to his rescue and attacked the wolf with such ferocity that it turned from him to defend itself and ere the pack could come to its relief, the farmer had taken refuge in a tree, where he remained until the wolves had left. The horse did not wait to see the program through, and the. dog put in his appearance at home the next day and his looks indicated that his fight had not been a ''glove contest.''

Hogs in those days ran at large and in the fall they fattened on chestnuts and acorns, then so plentiful in the forest. And one day as the farmers were making hay a wolf chased a pig into the meadow. It was followed by the drove of hogs, which came to the relief of the pig, and, catching the wolf, tore it into shreds in a few moments.

Although those old stage days are numbered with the past, many things connected with that period are interesting to the people of today. The stage was the only public mode of travel then, and stage drivers were important personages in their time and were character readers of both men and horses. They were terse and sententious in expression upon lines of their duties and could be entertainingly loquacious in narrating events of the past and in giving the history of the country through which their line passed. They would talk to their horses, which, as a rule, intelligently obeyed the orders given them.

A story is told of a stage driver who had inherited a farm, bade good-bye to the hardships of the road and settled down to the pleasures of sheltered prosperity. After enjoying the seclusion and quietude of the farm for a week, he went out to the road to see the stage pass. The driver gave him a salute, and, snapping his whip, the horses started ahead on the gallop, the coach bounded on and disappeared. The farmer felt lonely, and as he leisurely walked back over the fields to his new home, he formed the resolution to again go on the road. Accordingly he packed his carpet bag, went to the nearest stage office, reentered the service, and two days later drove down the same road on the same coach, snapping his whip and waving a good-bye to his farm. He had one week of farm life, and that was enough for him. He preferred the excitement of the road and liked to be in close touch with the living, moving world. He left a record of having driven one hundred and thirty-five thousand miles during his stage service - more than five times round the globe.

When stages were relegated to the past in England, stage men refused to realize the fact that their occupation was gone. This was not the case in

America, where, with Yankee shrewdness, they adjusted themselves early in the day to altered conditions and obtained employment with the railroad companies, and many were advanced in position, and finally obtained wealth. American stagedrivers accepted the railroad and profited by it, and we should accept the improved utilities of our generation.