Guernsey County, Ohio - Chapter 31, 1911

Chapter 31

Spencer is the extreme southwestern township in Guernsey county. It was organized in [819, having been taken from the west end of what was then Buffalo township. It- first election for township officers was held in March, that year. It i- bounded by Noble and Muskingum counties and bj Westland and Jackson, with a portion of Valley townships. It contains about twenty-nine sections of land. It is exceptionally well watered by numerous small streams and many pure springs are found gushing out here and there along the rugged hillsides. Its chief commercial point is Cumberland City, "ii the Cumberland branch of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad. The for the mosl part, enterprising, thrifty people, who have descended from old families who settled there at a very early day and have grown up and assisted in developing the county to its present state of perfection. Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania all sent forth many of their sons and daughters to effect this settlement in the wilds of Guernsey county. They came ahead of railroads, pikes, mails or milling facilities, and really "they huilded better than they knew." With none too rich a soil, and far from markets, they sit to work, with the true -] >i ri t of frontiersmen, to hew and to dig out their Own fortunes. Money has not been made easily here, hut the present generation are the better for having been reared in a country where money wis not plentiful, as they now know the real value of a dollar and make the best possible use of it. Good homes, of refinement and culture, are to

Pioneer Names

Perhaps no better account of the first settlement of this part of Guernsey county can he had than to give a list of citizens who in 1N70 had reached

From these persons have grown up many of the present day families who now carry on the affairs of Spencer township, with honor and credit to themselves and their ancestors.

Vincent Cockins was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, in 1802 and married in 1835 and settled in Spencer township, where they reared ten children. Some of these children bore arms in the Union cause during the Civil war.

Jacob Hulin was also a native of Pennsylvania, born in Fayette county in 1780. He moved to Wills township, this county, and five years later removed to a farm tract - the present site of Cumberland - and raised corn where now stands the city. He died in 1847 on n's farm, three miles to the north of Cumberland, to which he had moved.

John M. Frazier was born in Loudoun county, Virginia, in 1S17 and accompanied his parents to Muskingum county, Ohio, where he married and resided many years. One of his sons, Martin L., was born in 1844 and when seventeen years old came to Guernsey county and married Mary L. St. Clair. After living two years in Muskingum county they moved to Spencer township, this county, and became permanent and useful citizens.

Hugh Moore, father of James A. Moore, was born in Greene county. Pennsylvania. In 1836, he moved to Opossum creek, three miles from Senecaville. Two years later he moved to Center township; still later he lived in Belmont county, where he and his wife died. The son. James A., moved to Spencer township in 1842.

James White was born in Pennsylvania in 1825 and moved, to Spencer township in 1848. He reared eleven children. In his early days he taught school.

Thomas Bay, Jr.. came here with his father, Thomas Bay, Sr., from Washington county. Pennsylvania, in 1812, and entered a large tract of land in the vicinity of present Cumberland. He was born in 1782 and died in 1859.

sylvania, and came to * »lii< » with hi- father, when ten years of age. He married and settled in Cumberland until iS;vs. when he removed to Washington county, Ohio. He was an overseer at the building of the lock in the Muskingum river.

The first man to hold land title in this township was a Mr. May, w li< - entered eighty acre- on the Covert farm about 1806, made small improvements, and died soon thereafter. This was long known as the '".May'- deadening." In [808 Esquire Lattey claimed land later owned by McClcary. but he sold to Mr. Lewis in 1813. lie was the first justice of the peace in this part of Guernsey county. Mr. Wolfe was a squatter and cleared a field at the east end of Cumberland in 1809. Finley Collins entered an eighty-acre tract just ea-t from Cumberland at the same date and sold to Thomas Bay in 1 S 1 _- . The first permanent settler was Thomas Bay, of Pennsylvania, who settled on the present site of Cumberland in [812, purchasing a large tract of land near there. lie and his sons entered the wild, dense forests and SOOn erected a commodious cabin home and, with ax and mattock in hand. began to clear up their lands. Then Wheeling and Pittsburg were but small villages. However, these places and Zanesville afforded a ready market for the maple syrup made by these Guernsey county settlers, who in some instances made enough in this way to enter their lands.

The second permanent settler was Eli Bingham, of Vermont, who located adjoining Mr. Bay's land in [813. He was full of Yankee thrift and ingenuity and erected the first brick residence in his part of the country: the same was standing in t8O0 ami may be now.

In 1 Si 4 came Thomas X. Muzzy, who also claimed land next to Mr. Bay's. He came from Boston and not only improved his lands, but soon set about constructing a mill for grinding grain and sawing lumber. He it was who taught the first school and the first Sunday school class in bis neighborhood. He also laid the foundation for the first church and organized the first temperance society in his beautiful little valley. He was in the war of [8l2, and in 1848, the date of the first survey of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad, volunteered to make a survey from Wheeling to Zanesville through Cumberland, and came near locating that road up his valley. He came from Spencer, Massachusetts, and hence named the township after his old home. In 1882 Mr. Bingham was the oldest resident in his township.

The Town Of Cumberland

Cumberland, the third town in point of commercial importance in Guernsey county, was platted April 24. 1828, on section 32, township 9, range 10, by James Bay. It is an incorporated place and full of the hest business enterprise. Its railroads are the Baltimore & Ohio (Eastern Ohio division) and the Ohio River and Western line from Zanesville to Bellaire. The excellent high school building now in use was erected in 1892; it is a two-story, six-room brick building.

The churches of the town are the Buffalo Presbyterian, Cumberland Presbyterian, Methodist Episcopal and African Methodist. At one time a Baptist church was sustained here, but has now been abandoned. The civic societies of Cumberland are the Masons, Odd Fellows, Maccabees, United Mechanics and Grand Army of the Republic. The Eastern Star and Rebekah degrees of the Masonic and Odd Fellows orders are also represented.

Of the Cumberland postoffice it may be stated that the date of its institution is not certain, but probably this office was established about 1830. The following have served as postmasters, with others whose names have been lost sight of with the passing years : D. W. Forsythe. William Howe, Samuel Connor. J- C. McClashen, T. G. McCortle, W. M. Crozier, present incumbent.

There are now seven rural routes diverging out from Cumberland, of about twenty-four miles each. The first was established September 2, 1901. The Cumberland office was made a third class office in 1908. It has remained in its present quarters since 1902. There are five mails received daily. The first mail was brought here by an old Cambridge pioneer, George Green, who ran a stage line. The present annual receipts of the Cumberland postoffice is $2,500.

Business Factors Of I9Io

Newspaper - The Echo, W. < Nichols. Photograph Gallery - J. C. Crumbaker. Stock Dealer - Spooner & McCracken. Shoemaker - Elza Johnson. Wool Buyers - The St. Clair Company.