Morrow County, Ohio - Chapter 2, 1880 (part 2 of 2)

There are a large number of stories related in regard to his habits, which we reprint from " Howe's Historical Collections of Ohio," and " Norton's History of Knox County." For a time, it is said, Johnny Appleseed wore an old military ehapeau, which some officer had given him, and thus accoutered he came suddenly upon a Dutchman, who had just moved into the country. The sides were ripped, and the loose ends flopping in the wind, made it seem a thing of evil. Decked with this fantastic head-gear, Johnny came noiselessly upon the pioneer, and, without uttering a word, thrust his face, completely covered with a wilderness of black hair, out of which peered the unnatural light of his dark eyes, into the astonished man's presence. The backwoodsman, suddenly confronted by such an apparition, would not have been more disconcerted had he met a painted savage in the act of appropriating his hair, and he never ceased to relate what a scare he got from Johnny, standing with bare feet and " one tarn muscle-shell cocked on his head." His tenderness for all of " God's creatures " was proverbial, and many incidents in this connection are related. In the " Historical Collections of Ohio " is found the following : " On one cool-, autumnal night, while lying by his camp-fire in the woods, he observed that the mosquitoes flew in the blaze and were burnt. Johnny, who wore on his head a tin utensil, which answered both as cap and mush-pot, filled it with water and quenched the fire, and afterward remarked, ' God forbid that I should build a fire for my comfort, that should be the means of destroying any of His creatures.' Another time, he made his camp-fire at the end of a hollow log in which he intended to pass the night, but finding it occupied by a bear and her cubs, he removed his fire to the other end, and slept on the snow in the open air rather than to disturb the bear. On one occasion, while on a prairie, a rattlesnake attacked him. Some time after, a friend inquired of him about the matter. He drew a long, sigh and replied, ' Poor fellow ! he only just touched me, when I, in an ungodly passion, put heel of my scythe upon him and went home. Some time after, I went there for my scythe, and there lay the poor fellow dead.' " He was a zealous Christian, and was always to be found where religious services were held, if in the neighborhood. ' At one time, when he was at Mansfield, an itinerant preacher held an out-door service and Johnny was enjoying the sermon, lying on his back upon a piece of timber. The minister was describing the Christian's way of trial, on his journey to the better land, and had described the tedious journey of a barefooted man through the wilderness. Pausing in his description of such physical difficulties, he cried out, in an elevated tone, " Where is the barefooted Christian traveling to heaven ?" Throwing his feet high in the air, Johnny responded, " Here he is !" It was not quite what the speaker expected, but the audience, doubtless, recognized the fitness of the response.

Speaking of his bare feet, it is related that by constant exposure, and the roughness of his way through the wilderness, his feet became incredibly tough and insensible to cold. At one time, he attempted to cross Lake Erie barefooted on the ice in company with another man. Night overtook them before they had completed the journey, and, in the bitter coldness of the night, his companion froze to death. Johnny, by rolling violently about the ice, kept warm, and in after times appeared none the worse for this trying adventure. In the early part of the war of 1812, he was very active in Richland and Knox Counties, carrying the news of approaching danger to the whites settled along the river courses in these counties. He did not seem to have any fear of personal violence to himself, and often in the dead of night a settler would arouse his neighbors with the announcement that Johnny Appleseed had brought news of the approach of danger. His word was never doubted, and no further confirmation of the tidings was asked. It was he that brought the news of the Seymour and Copus massacres to the startled settlements in Perry and Franklin Townships, and later the alarm of the murder of Jones at Mansfield. He was faithful to his trusts, and his word was as good as his bond. Norton, in his History of Knox County, relates that, "in 1819, Isaiah Roberts, then on his way so Missouri, finding no boat at Zanesville ready to start on the trip down the river, footed it to Marietta, and on the road met Johnny Appleseed, who promised to call at his father's in Knox County, and tell him when he parted with him, etc. Shortly afterward, Johnny made his appearance one night about dark, and was cheerfully received. He then had on an old tattered coat and slouch hat, with hair and beard uncut and uncombed, and barefooted. After eating some supper, he espied a copy of Ballou on the Atonement, which he took and read for some time by candle light, thinking at first it was good Swedenborg doctrine, and desired to take it with him, but after reading further, and finding the kind of doctrine it inculcated, he threw it down, expressing his disappointiuent, and in a few moments after stretched himself out and went to sleep." About 1830, he left this region and went to the newer portion of the West. "The last time he was in this country," says Norton, " He took Joseph Mahaffey aside, and pointed out to him two lots of land at the lower end of Main street, Mount Vernon, west side, about where Morey's soap factory was carried on, which he said belonged to him, and some time he might come back to them. The tail-race of the Clinton Mill Company passed along there, and some of the ground has since been washed away by the water, and upon another portion stands the Mount Vernon Woolen Factory building." In the same work, it is said that the Rev. John Mitchell, when traveling on the Plymouth circuit in 1837, met Johnny wending his way along the road on foot and in his shirt sleeves. He told him then he was living " out West." The latest account we find of this character, so intimately associated with the early history of this region, dates in the fall of 1843. He was then on his way from the Iowa prairies going to Philadelphia to attend a Swedenborg convention. He stopped all night with old aci|uaintances in Whiteside County, HI. Since then, he has been lost to sight, but his memory will linger in the hearts of the present generation for years to come, and their children will learn to revere the decaying monuments of his industry as the memorials of one whose mind, though unbalanced, swayed to the brighter side of human nature.

In the curreiil number of St. Nl holas (.Tune) we find the following; tribute to his character and work, written by Lydia Maria Child, which we copy in full :

Poor Johnny was bended well-nigh double With yeiirs of toil, and care, and trouble ; But his large old heart still felt the need Of doing for others some kindly deed.

Sometimes an Indian of sturdy limb Came striding along and walked with him ; And he who had food shared with the other, As if he had met a hungry brother.

When the Indian saw how the bag was filled, And looked at the holes the white man drilled, He thought to himself 'twas a silly plan To be planting seeds for some future man.

Sometimes a log cabin came in view. Where .Johnny was sure to find jobs to do. By which he gained stores of bread and meat. And welcome rest for his weary feet.

He had full many a story to tell. And goodly hymns that he sung right well ; He tossed up the babies, and joined the boys In many a game full of fun and noise.

And he seemed so hearty, in work or play. Men, women and boys all urged him to stuy ; But he always said, "I have something to do. And I must go on to carry it through."

The boys who were sure to follow him round, Soon found what it was he put in the ground : And so, as time passed and he traveled on, Ev'ry one called him, "Old Apple-seed John. '

Whenever he'd used the whole of his store, He went into cities and worked for more ; Then he marched back to the wilds again, And planted seed on the hillside and plain. In cities, some said the old man was crazy ; While others said he was only lazy; But he took no notice of gibes and jeers, He knew he was working for future years. He knew that trees would soon abound Where once a tree could not have been found : That flick' ring play of light and shade Would dance and glimmer along the glade ; That blossoming sprays would form fair bowers, And sprinkle tlie grass with rosy showers ; And the little seeds his hands had spread Would become ripe apples when he was dead. So he kept on traveling far and wide. Till his old limbs failed him, and he died. He said at the last, " 'Tis a comfort to feel [deal." I've done good in the world, though not a great Weary travelers, journeying West, In the shade of his trees find pleasant rest ; And they often start with glad surprise. At the rosy fruit that round them lies. And if they inquire whence came such trees, Where not a bough once swayed in the breeze. The answer still comes, as they travel on, "These trees were planted by Apple-seed John." The formation of a county as late as 1848 was a matter that attracted considerable attention in professional and business circles, and a tide of immigration set in toward the county seat, bringing an influx of strangers that made the little town of Mount Gilead take on a considerable importance in its own estimation. Among the first to take possession of the land thus opened was John W. Dumble. He came from Marion Village, bringing with him an old Foster hand press and the appurtenances of a printing office. The new county was Democratic by a large majority, and the Democratic Messenger soon dispensed the word of political promise to the faithful, from a home institution. It is not known whether the proprietor of the new paper had formerly conducted a paper or not, but he published the Messenger with fair satisfaction for some years, and was one of the best writers the paper ever had. He was prominent in public enterprises, and was among the first to put the Fair Association on its feet. He was succeeded in the sanctum by George A. Sharpe, and at his death a few years later, his son, George S., took up the editorial pen. During the administration of the Sharpes, father and son, politics changed, and what was once a firm Democratic county, rebelling at the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, went over to the enemy. The younger Sharpe was perhaps not well suited to the profession of journalism, and under the adverse political fortune the paper went down. The county was then for some time without an exponent of Democracy, when Reuben Riblet resuscitated the Messenger under the name of the Union Register. He sold the paper in a short time to William H. Rhodes, who was too dissipated to make the paper a success. Not only did the paper miss success, but it came near a second extinction. At this juncture. Judge Judson A. Bebee came to its support. He was an ardent Democrat, and felt that the party, while not in the ascendant, was sufficiently vigorous to demand an organ, and through his influence sixteen or twenty of the prominent members of that party formed a stock company and revived the drooping Register. Judge Beebe acted as editor, and at the same time continued to attend to his practice at the bar. The result was a confirmation of the old proverb, "An' two ride a horse, one must ride behind," and finding that one must be neglected, he declined to serve longer as editor. Through his influence, C. M. Kenton undertook the duties of editor, Mr. Beebe lending such assistance as the duties of his profession would allow. This, however, proved unsatisfactory, and the company, becoming tired of an enterprise that not only failed to pay dividends, but, owing to the inevitable expense of that way of conducting the paper, failed to pay expenses, became desirous of getting rid of the establishment. Through Mr. Beebe's eff"orts, the Hon. H. S. Prophet was induced to take the paper ofi" the company's hands, the price being regulated more by the desire of the stockholders to get rid of the burden than by the purchaser's desire to buy it. Mr. Prophet was more successful in the management of the concern, and for six years made the paper of some power in Democratic councils, and paid expenses. His chosen profession, however, was the law, and he soon began to look about for some one to relieve him of his newspaper work. Samuel Shaffer, now of the Ohio State Journal, undertook the task, leasing the office for one year, but he became satisfied at the end of his term that he was unequal to the occasion, and retired, paying one hundred dollars for his experience. C. S. & W. G. Beebe succeeded Shaffer, the former leaving the office in a few months to give his whole attention to the practice of law. With such a history it could hardly be expected that a paper would be successful, and when the present proprietor assumed control, the paper had barely five hundred subscribers. Confidence in the office had been destroyed, and it failed to get the support of its own party, while the paper, printed on the same old hand-press, and with largely old material, was too forlorn an object to make friends. With commendable perseverance, Mr. Beebe addressed his energies to building up the character of the paper, a task that he has accomplished with so much success as to command not only the support of his political friends, but many subscriptions from his Republican acquaintances. Under his administration the office has been completely remodeled. New type has been added, the paper enlarged, and new improved presses supplied. The old hand-press was taken out and its place supplied by a new " Walkup press" in 1876. This press was a new invention, made at Lima, and did not prove a success. In an issue of the Register in July of that year, the editor rises to explain, as follows: "Type and everything but the new paper power-press were in readiness for us to issue the paper at the regular time. Saturday evening the press came, and as soon as possible it was put in what was supposed to be in running order. The outside forms were placed upon the machine after one day's delay, and by the time three quires of paper had been run through in a rough style, the manufacturer, Mr. Walkup, who was here in person, discovered a deficiency in the cylinder of the press which caused a great wrinkling in the printed sheets. So the press was stopped, the forms removed, and the cylinder, weighing near three hundred pounds, taken from its position and shipped to the machine-shops at Galion for perfecting. Thus we were 'put out on the home stretch.' " The press proved a failure, and a Cincinnati press was substituted. The office of the Register, in the Post Office building, is now one of the most attractive offices in the central part of the State. The machinery is all kept neatly covered with dust blankets, the material is neatly stowed away in convenient and sightly cabinets, and everything exhibits a well-to-do air o^ neatness and convenience. The Register is an eightcolumn folio, with a circulation put by the proprietor at eleven hundred, and sustains a good reputation as a lively local newspaper.

Following closely upon the establishment of the Messenger came the Whig Sentinel. David Watt was originally from Carrol ton, Carroll Co., Ohio. During the struggle for the erection of the new county, he was introduced to the Mount Gilead lobby as the proper man for them to employ in their behalf, and he was engaged. The end justified the choice. He was the main prop of their declining cause, and was largely instrumental at the last in plucking victory out of the jaws of defeat. After the struggle was over, he decided to throw in his interest with the new county, and in the latter part of 1848, established the Sentinel. He conducted the paper about three years, when William P. Dumble bought the office. Mr. Dumble was a brother of the proprietor of the Democratic cotemporary, and it is said that the discussions between the two papers were not the less " spicy " from the fact the rival editors were brothers. They were naturally fitted for the literary management of a paper, but both failed in a financial way. In 1855, J. W. Griffith came to Mount Gilead, and three years late bought the paper, and has since conducted it with credit to the county and profit to himself. Mr. GriflSth is a native of Pennsylvania, and early learned the printer's trade. A short time previous to his coming to Mount Gilead, he came from his native State to Shelby, to assist his uncle, who then had an eating house in that town. Disliking the business, he went to Mansfield to find a situation at the case, in one of the offices at that place. There was no vacancy, but, just before he called, a compositor who had formerly been employed in the office of the Sentinel, received a dispatch to the eflfect that one of the hands was sick, and asking him to come right over. The compositor was glad to delegate this duty to Griffith, who, coming to the office, has stayed ever since. The paper, owing to the frequent illness of the editor and proprietor, had greatly degenerated, and was financially on its " last legs," and in 1858, Griffith bought the office on long time, paying the advance money from his accumulations since coming to the office. The paper was known then as the Mount Gilead Sentinel, the Whig having been dropped with the party in 1854. Since then, the paper has been in the hands of one man, and its progress has been a steady rise, until now it commands the hearty suppport of two-thirds of the newspaper readers of Morrow County. When the present proprietor took the office, it was a seven column folio, 27x35 inches, set in small pica, brevier and nonpareil type, and commanded the halfhearted support of 350 subscribers. In two years, notwithstanding the discouraging effect of the June frost in 1858, he had increased the circulation to 600 subscribers. In 1860, the paper came out in new dress, and with its name changed from " Mount Gilead" to ^^ Morrow Sentinel^ In March, 1866, the first jobber ever in the town was added to the Sentinel office, in the shape of a quartomedium nonpareil. In the following July, the paper was enlarged from seven to eight columns, provided with a new dress and a Cincinnati cylinder newspaper press, bought to accommodate the growing circulation, and in 1874, a half-medium Gordon " jobber " made the facilities for doing job work second to none. This steady application to business, and the quiet, regular issue of each edition, though affording the historian less material for his purpose, has raised the office from issuing a paltry edition, crudely printed on a Washington hand-press, to the present establishment, where there are but two articles to represent the old office. The office is over the store of Talmadge's hardware store, in a room it has occupied for some eight years. The weekly edition reaches 1,250 and still receives additions. The current edition is the first number of the thirty- third volume, and in it the editor takes occasion to say :

" The issue of last week rounded to its close the thirty-second volume of the Sentinel, and on the threshold of the new year it is befitting that we should look back with our readers over the checkered path we have trod together. Thirtytwo years ! Could the Sentinel speak and tell us of the changes it has witnessed, the trials passed, the triumphs achieved, the friends it has seen pass away, or grown gray as it has grown strong, how the tale would enthrall our breathless attention ! But thirty-two is not the age of gushing confession, and we cannot expect to hear of its early loves and disappointments, the frolics and vicissitudes of its youth. A generation has passed since its birth, and while its servants and friends have grown older and fonder of the ease earned by a life of toil, it has just arrived at maturity and ' rejoices like a strong man to run a race.'

" In public life, what revolutions it has seen ! Parties have fulfilled their mission and passed away like autumn leaves ; the cause of freedom, rising in the cloud of ' free soil ' not larger than a man's hand, has spanned the heavens, and equal rights, casting its shadow over a weary land, has delivered that which was holy from the dogs, and set the oppressed free. The public life of the last thirty-two years has been eventful, charged with potencies for weal or woe to the nation, and the Sentinel, in its place and way, has borne its part without v^avering and without regret ; and standing; now on the eve of another conflict between the old elements of antagonism, it draws fresh inspiration from this birthday retrospection, and renews its faith in the policy of honesty, liberty, and equal rights before the law and at the ballotbox.

" The Senfmel tinds another source of congratulation in the fact that its labors have not been without their reward. Its circle of friends have enlarged with every added year, and as these friendships have ripened they have grown more intimate and personal. Though sometimes divided as to means, there has been no division as to sentiment or ends. It is in such an union that strength abides, and glad in the bright auspices of the coming year, the Sentinel sends its response to the happy congratulations of all."'

" The Cardington Independent has had a checkered career. It was established in 1856, by Messrs. Hastings & Nichols, under the name of the Cardington Flag. They published it a little less than a year, when they sold it to Charles Maxwell. Under his proprietorship, the name was changed to the Morrow County Herald, It then passed into the hands of James St. John ; from him it passed to W. I. Lattridge. In 1863, it was suspended for several months, and in December of that year, it was revived by W. F. and F. L. Wallace. After passing through several hands, it again suspended in 1866, and the material was sold to A. M.Smith and R. M. Weamer, for $300. In the meanwhile, the name had been changed to the Cardington Reville. This name was changed to the Republican by the last purchasers, who conducted the paper for some time. In 1872, it passed from hand to hand in rapid succession, making ten changes in that year. It finally lodged in the hands of Stephen Brown. Esq., who changed the name to the Cardington Independent, and in 1876, sold it to W. L. Ensign, the present editor and proprietor. It is not surprising that a paper should lose character with such a history. The ablest editor and the shrewdest manager in the world would find the task of making such a paper ' pay ' an impossibility." In the hands of Mr. Ensign, however, the paper is recovering lost ground, and is beginning to prove valuable property. It is independent in politics, but its columns are principally devoted to local news.