Richland County, Ohio - The whole text, 1908 (part 1 of 16)

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Standing upon the threshold of another century in the history of Mansfield, a retrospective glance at the progress made in Richland county in the hundred years past, reveals achievements of which the first settlers never dreamed. We are blessed with natural resources, with a healthful climate and a fertile soil, which, combined with the industry and activity of an enterprising people, made our success and prosperity go steadily forward. It is a surprising fact this beautiful city of Mansfield - Richland's county seat - with a population of nearly twenty-five thousand - less than a century ago had neither habitation nor name, and its site was a part of that vast, unexplored territory, whose western boundary was supposed to be lost in the golden twilight of the setting sun, and whose wild domain seemed destined to remain forever hushed in the silence of its solitude, save when awakened here and there by the dismal howl of the wolf, or the fearful whoop of the savage.

Into the depth of the vast forest came the Richland county pioneers, and their advent marked a period in American history of absorbing interest alike to old and young. It is proper that it should be so. These hardy piopeers coupled virtue with courage, humanity and love of country with the stern duties and hard battles of frontier life, and the example of their lives not only interests but strengthens our faith and admiration in human courage and unselfish purpose.

A large portion of the first settlers of Richland county came from Pennsylvania, but no matter where they came from, they were a superior class of men who first traversed our hills and valleys by dimly marked and winding paths. The first settlements were largely made along the branches of the Mohican. None can now correctly imagine nor portray the features of this wild country at the time the first cabins were built. Then there were dangers to be encountered and numerous difficulties to overcome. The gigantic forest had to be cleared, and the work was so enormous that only the strongest, the bravest and the most courageous dared to attempt to accomplish it. But the pioneers transformed the dense woodlands into fertile fields, and made the waste places blossom as the rose.

It required men of thought, enterprise, resolution and strong purpose, to break up the old associations of life and brave the hardships and priva- tions of a new settlement in the wild woods of the West. Such qualities the early settlers of Richland county possessed. They were men of intelligence and strength who led the way over the Alleghenies to the borders of our beautiful streams. And they were neither ignorant nor uncultured, for they had been brought up in a land of schools and churches.

In these hundred years the county.has truly undergone a very marvelous charge, for instead of it being the home of savages, it ix now occupied by intelligent, energetic, peaceful, civilized men and women, who have founded institutions of learning, built villages and magnificent cities.

As the roads were mere bridle paths, the people walked or rode on horseback. The cabins were built of logs, and the first ones had greased paper window panes. The chimneys were on the outside and were made of sticks and mortar. The floors were of puncheon. The fireplaces were large enough for "back-logs" and "fore-sticks." Very few families had clocks. They guessed the hour of noon, or ascertained it by the creeping of the sunlight up to the "noon mark" drawn upon the floor. The furniture of a cabin was usually a few chairs, a plain table and a bedstead. The bedsteads were made by poles being crossed and stuck into the wall at one end and resting on Y sticks at the other end. A little later came the trundle-bed. which was low and was pushed beneath the other bed during the day. There were no carpets upon these cabin floors, and a set of dishes consisted of six plates and six cups and saucers, and happy was the housewife who possessed these luxuries. for many families had only a few pewter plates which they brought with them. The cooking utensils were a teakettle, an iron pot and a skillet, also brought from the other side of the mountains upon the backs of horses. They grew gourds and hard-shell squashes.from which they made bowls and dippers. Salt had to be brought from the East until a road was opened to the lake, and the supply often became exhausted. and its scarcity was 2 great privation to the first settlers.

"Johnny cake" was the principal form of bread for breakfast and pone for dinner. with wild game, hominy, and honey. while the standard dish for supper was mush and milk. Log-rollings. house-raisings, and woodchoppings were big occasions then, and dinner: of "'pot-pie' were served. Corn-huskings were also great events, and nearly all the pioneer gatherings would wind up with a dance after supper. in which all present joined. In the absence of a fiddle, the music was furnished by some one whistling or blowing on a leaf.

For lighting purposes there was the "lard lamp." and later the "tallow dip." The Bible and the almanac, with perchance a book or two brought with them from their former home. often constituted the reading matter of a family. If the fire went out upon the hearth, it was rekindled by striking flint. or by.a coal from a neighbor's hearth. which gave rise to the old saving, "Did you come for fire?"

The method of milling in those times was to balance two or three bushels of grain on the back of a horse and then mount a boy upon it, who had to wait at the mill for his turn and return home with the grist.

Farm labor has been rendered easier and more agreeable by the use of machinery and improved implements. Grain which was once sown from bags swung from the farmers' shoulders, is now drilled in by machinery. With sickle or cradle the farmer once cut his ripened grain, and raked and bound it by hand. Now farmers ride on the cushioned seats of reapers and binders, watching the waving grain cut and gathered up by well-adjusted attachments. Even the clatter of the flail has been hushed by the rattling thresher, which not only separates the seeds, but bags them for the market.

In the early days a tavern was a prominent factor in a community, and they were interspersed here and there along the roads leading to the lake. It was a place where every traveler who came along sought rest and refreshments for himself and his tired horse. The taverns were also the stopping places of the freight wagons and the stage coaches, and the arrival and departure of these were great events in the life of the rural communities. These taverns had large fireplaces, which in winter were kept well filled with wood. and they were of sufficient capacity to heat and light the house. There was no market for timber in those days of clearing the forest, and the only cost of fuel was the cutting of the wood. Around these great fireplaces the travelers gathered, and their conversation gave the settlers glimpses of other parts of the country of which they knew little, and at bed-time the weary sojourners would spread their blankets near the blazing fire and retire to rest and sleep. But the tavern with its old-fashioned life has gone with the stage. The Mansfield hotels of today - the Vonhof and the Southern - with their conveniences and fine equipments, are like royal palaces when contrasted with the little log cabin in which Captain James Cunningham boarded the surveyors who platted the town of Mansfield, in June, 1808.

A century ago. Abraham Baughman and John Davis came to the Blackfork valley. They were the first white settlers there, and located near the Indian village of Greentown. which in the first formation of counties was in Richland. The writer's father, Jacob Baughman, then a boy in his teens, would walk to Wooster - a distance of thirty miles - once a month for their mail, that being the nearest postoffice. The first mail brought to Mansfield was by carriers, on foot, once a week, and was distributed from a log in the public square - now our beautiful Central park. At the present, thirty-three mails are received daily at our city postoffice and delivered at the homes of not only the residents of Mansfield, but are carried by the Rural Free Delivery svstem to the farmers of the county. A i

The spinning wheels of the pioneer period, what few are yet left, are cherished as heirlooms by their fortunate possessors. There was the large wheel for wool and the small one for flax. Flax was a necessity. A clearing was made in the winter and in the spring the flax seed was sown, which grew and was harvested. It was spread on the ground to receive the autumnal rains and early frost, which was necessary to prepare it for the breaking. the scutching, and the hackling. The tow was then separated from the flax and both were in readiness for the spinning. The hum of the spinning wheel and the reel was the piano music of the pioneer home; and, when echoed by the loom with its quick-moving shuttle, furnished the tow cloth and the linen so useful in those early times, when calico was a dollar a yard, and money was very scarce. The wool and the linen and cotton used for clothing had to be colored by the housewife to suit the tastes of the family. The dyes usually used were copperas, butternut, madder, and walnut. But the men, clad in linsey-woolsev or tow pants and home-made linen shirts, laid broad and deep the foundations of social, moral, industrial, and religious life, which have been preserved by their descendants as a priceless inheritance.

An affectionate veneration should be manifested for the pioneer women, who shrank from no dangers, shunned no hardships, endured great privations, and in their homes cultivated social and domestic virtues. These strong and brave mothers, who toiled by their husbands' sides in life's hot noon, and went hand in hand with them down the dusky slope of the evening of an eventful, busy life, have, like their companions. folded their arms to rest.

A just meed of praise should be given the pioneer preachers, who amid all difficulties, dangers, and hardships, ministered to the early settlers of the county, and materially aided in laving the moral sentiment, which has broadened and deepened with the advancing vears. It was a labor of love to them, and they endured privations that few of today know anything about. The oratory and eloquence of these preachers made many converts, and much could be written favorably about them, many of whom were scholarly men. They appealed to the holiest and most sacred impulses of the heart, and wove the loveliness of their teachings into the lives of their hearers.

In the long ago, places for religious worship were few. and campmeetings were frequently held, and were very popular. At these meetings. hymns of sincere praise were sung, and never could they have sounded more expressive and sacred than upon these open-air occasions.

And mention of the singing schools of that period must not be omitted. as they were important factors in the musical education and social enjoyment of the people. Singing schools were held at intervals in every school house, and the "'singing master" was a weighty personage in a community.

The first schoolhouse built in Mansfield was a frame building. paid for by subscription, and cost two hundred dollars. It was situate on East Fourth street near the big spring. This was in 1818. What a change between then and now. Mansfield now has ten school buildings. containing two hundred and ten rooms, with a valuation of $449,310.

Life was all real to the people of the backwoods one hundred years ago. The world moved slowly then and the people were not made world weary by the rush of affairs and the killing pace for supremacy in the race for wealth. But the ring of the woodman's axe in time gave place to the hum of machinery. The log cabins of our forefathers have vanished into the storied vears, and stately mansions have risen in their places. The log

Richland county has achieved much, accomplished much. In times of peace she has contributed her share of the honored statesmen of the country; in times of war, her sons have shown their patriotism and valor upon many a hard-fought field of battle. In the professions, in the arts, and in the sciences, many Riehland county boys have attained distinction and honor.

Ohio-Michigan Boundary Line Dispute

The valiant sons of Richland county offered their services to Governor Lucas in 1835-6, in the then threatened war between Ohio and Michigan over the boundary line question. The story of that Ohio-Michigan boundary line controversy may seem to the generation of today more like a legendary tale, than as a true chapter of American history, that it is. It is but another verification of the oft-quoted remark that truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction deals with the imaginary things of life, truth with its stern realities.

The controversy and threatened war was the result of a boundary line dispute between the two states in 1835-36. The immediate cause of the trouble was a lack of information about the geography of the country when the line between Ohio and Michigan was defined by congress. This was called the Fulton line. The authorities of Ohio, on ascertaining the uncertainty of their northern boundary, asked for a survey which was granted in 1812. but could not be made on account of the hostilities of the Indians. Later the line was run to include the present boundary of Ohio, and was called the Harris line, and ran eight or ten miles north of the Fulton line.

The trouble over the boundary began when Ohio commenced to construct the Ohio & Erie canal from Cincinnati to Lake Erie - a waterway of two hundred and forty-seven miles in length, with Toledo as its lake terminus. Michigan wanted Toledo within its territory because it was not only the terminus of the canal but also the mouth of the "Miami River of the North," as the Maumee river was then called. Ohio put up a fight for the Harris line, because the canal being a state institution had to have its terminal within the state. According to the Fulton survey, Toledo was in Michigan, but by the Harris line it was in Ohio. The citizens of Toledo were anxious to secure the lake terminus of the canal, and therefore were in favor of the Harris line, and petitioned Governor Lucas to extend the jurisdiction - of Ohio to the Harris line. The governor sent a special message to the legis- - lature, which resulted in an act passed February, 1836. pee a commission to run and re-mark the Harris line.

In the meantime the legislature of Michigan passed an act Betas "that if any person shall exercise or attempt to exercise any official functions, or shall officiate in any official way within the limits of the territory of Michigan, except by virtue of a commission from the United 'States government or the territory of Michigan, he shall be fined not exceeding one thou-° sand dollars, or imprisoned not exceeding five years, and any person: residing within the territory who accepts a position of trust or authority other.'than

Governor Lucas decided to march on Toledo, despite the consequences; but ere he mobilized his troops, the Hon. Richard Rusk, of Philadelphia, and Colonel Howard, of Baltimore, arrived fromm Washington as commissioner: from the president to stop all warlike preparations between the states. At a conference with both governors, a proposition was submitted, permitting the Ohio officials to re-mark the Harris line, but to this proposition Michigan would not agree. This created intense excitement throughout Ohio. and aroused the Buckeves to such an extent that they clamored for war at once. The legislature was convened in special session and three hundred thousand dollars appropriated to carry into effect all laws relating to the northern boundary, and the governor was authorized to borrow three hundred thousand dollars more for the same purpose. Governor Lucas at once ascertained the strength of each division of the Ohio militia and was informed that ten thousand men were ready to march at once to the disputed territory. Michigan was equally aroused and dared Ohio to come. Several persons were arrested for accepting commissions from the Ohio authorities. and in turn. Michiganders were arrested for attempting to exercise official power in Ohio. Thus the disputed territory was kept in a continual turmoil with constant fights against the authorities of both Ohio and Michigan.

Hiram R. Smith was deputy postmaster at Mansfield for eight yeir- - fron: 1829 to 1837. The postoffice was in McFall's store. where Mr. Smith was emploved. The postoffice duties devolved largely upon Mr. Smith, as Mr. McFall, the postmaster, gave his attention chiefly to the mercantile trade. At that time there were only four stores in Mansfield and all carried general stocks. They were: Sturges. Bowman's. McComb's and MecFall's. Being thus employed, Mr. Smith had excellent opportunities of hearing Ohio and Michigan war talk, and he savs the feeling ran high.

At that time Richland county had a regiment of state militia, known as the First Brigade of the Eleventh Division of Ohio Militia. The field and staff officers were: Colonel, Samuel G. Wolfe: lieutenant colonel. John Murray: major, George Urie: adjutant. William Stevens: surgeon. Dr. William Bushnell.

The regiment was composed of eight companies. The men were well equipped and with their burnished rifles and gav uniforms made a fine display on parade. The officers attracted much attention in consequence of their large size and military hearing. The regimental officers were superbly mounted, and their horses were richly caparisoned.

It seems in place here to mention those officers who are remembered. Surgeon Bushnell was the father of M. B. Bushnell. Captain E. Chew was of Blooming Grove township, and afterward became an associate judge of the court of common pleas of Richland county.

__ Captain Martin was of Millshborough. Springfield township. William Davis. a brother of Henry P. Davis, of this citv, was a member of Captain Martin's company.

Missouri in 1847, where he was killed by the guerrillas in 1861, for being a Union man. The guerrillas made a raid on the little town of Florence, where they gathered up several Union men, and taking them upon the street, ordered them to kneel and be shot. They all kneeled except Captain Baughman, who refused, saying that he would only kneel to his God. At that the rebels opened fire upon the squad, killing each person thereof.

Colonel John Murray was treasurer of Richland county in 1837-41. He died in Missouri in 1858. Upon the resignation of William Stevens, the late Hon. John Sherman became adjutant of the regiment.

When Governor Lucas called for troops the Richland county boys responded promptly, as they have done in every war, but ere the time-came for their departure, their marching orders were countermanded. Ohio had gained a legal point in the controversy to which Michigan acquiesced, pending the action of congress. The legislature of Ohio had created the county of Lucas, with Toledo as the county seat, and Governor Lucas ordered court to be held there on the first day of September, 1836, and appointed a judge and officers for the same. These with a posse of twenty-six men quietly entered Toledo under cover of night and formally opened court in a schoolhouse of the village at 3 o'clock a. m. There was no business on the docket, but a legal point had been gained - an Ohio court had been held within the limits of the disputed territory. which -technically gave Ohio control over the same and caused Michigan to suspend hostilities, pending the action of congress. Three months later congress convened and made a final settlement of the trouble. by giving Ohio the disputed strip of land and recompensing Michigan for the same, by giving her the peninsula between Lake Superior and Lake Michigan.

The Ancestry Of The Ohioan

A. M. Courtenay, D. D., in an address at Zanesville gave an interesting account of the ancestry of the Ohioan, from which, in part, this resume is taken. At a notable assembly in one of Ohio's Universities, the Rev. Bishop paid tribute to the greatness of the state, which he ascribed to its New England origin. This he did without qualification, as a compliment, in a confidence as naive and undoubting as emphatic. No axiom could be carved in harder outline. He evidently believed that Ohio was, in the major part, peopled from New England. and that if there were among its settlers a few stragglers from less favored regions, they were obscure, insignificant, and soon dominated by the persuasive Yankee notions.

We have also been told by others that Ohio was settled by Pennsylvanians - Pennsylvania Dutch. in local vernacular. The latter claim, is not so generally held as is the former. We have been accustomed to hear and read assertions from our Down-East brethren to the effect that everything good and great in our civilization comes from Plymouth Rock.

vigor and moral value of the Pilgrims. The contribution by New England to the growth of the American Republic is a fact so far beyond dispute that her sons supererogate in constant affirmation. We all cheerfully admit that that our Yankee brother has enriched the National life with every good element - except modesty. Yet he had no option on all the virtues and valors.

A few "first things" may here be stated and considered: The first legislative assembly of white men on the American continent was at Jamestown, Virginia; the first ordinance of religious liberty was in Maryland; the first declaration of independence was made at Mecklenburg, in the Carolinas; the first tea thrown overboard was from the "Peggy Stewart." in Annapolis harbor; the first steamboat floated on the Potomac. and the first railroad was at Baltimore. Of course, this only means that each section of the country may have an Oliver to the others' Roland. In the case of Ohio, one may enter a bill of exceptions, to-wit, that the marvelous development of this most typical of American states is due, not alone. nor even chiefly, to its New England blood, but to that mingling of vital currents which has made strong the heart of the Commonwealth.

After the Indians had suffered defeat at the battle of Fallen Timbers. in 1794, they never rallied, and Ohio was thus left comparatively free for the settlement of the white man, and thus the new Canaan which had long lured the tribes of our Israel, as an exceedingly good land were open in part to settlement, vet the white man was withheld for some vears later from entering and possessing it by fear of the "sons of Anak." When, however, the sword of the Lord and of General Wayne hewed the way, population poured into the land like floods, gathering to and radiating from different centers.

Despite, however, minor differences, which entered into the settlement of the state, Ohio has attained social solidarity. and uniformity of educational system, of legal procedure, of political aspiration. through the weaving process of ceaseless interchange of business. literary and religious interests. This has tended to the obliteration of individuality in the sections, but marks of the original variations distinguish each: for example, Southern Ohio from Northern, as clearly as the New England of today from those Commonwealths known formerly as the Border States.

-It is the mingling of these diverse elements into a new compound which has enriched Ohio. And it is to be noted that here first occurred the blend of native blood, which has since continued throughout the West. Up to the close of the eighteenth century the colonies on the Atlantic coast were separate. Their people mingled little. They were as diverse as the English, Scotch, Dutch and Irish. But from all of them poured streams of people into that fair land which lies between Lake Erie and the Ohio river, and the children of the Puritan and Cavalier. Hollander and Huguenot, Teuton and Scotch-Irish, married and begot a new race.

No one section can claim a monopoly or even a controlling interest in Ohio's greatness. This is the more apparent when we examine the scroll of her famous men. It will be found that they have arisen from all quarters and conditions. Of te thirty-three governors of Ohio. up to 1890, twelve came from the South, twelve from New England, three from Pennsylvania and six were born in Ohio of Scotch-Irish ancestry. Further, it can not be established that any section produced the great men of any particular profession or pursuit, which disproves Howell's generalization that "The South gave Ohio perhaps her foremost place in war and politics: but her enlightenment in other things was from the North."

Rawlinson has claimed "that it is admitted by ethnologists that the mingled races are superior to the pure ones." This is perhaps true with the qualification that the law acts within the limits of a similar origin, as in the case of the Greeks, the Romans, the British, and above all the Americans. Thus Tennyson sings, "Saxon and Norman and Dane are we." and he might have added, Celt and Gaul, French, Huguenot and German. One of our own poets recited, on the Nation's century, these elements of our new type: Scottish thrift, Irish humor, German steadfastness, Scandinavian patience and English moral worth. ;

A writer has put the case thus: "Southern men of the old regime were not given to the writing of books," and when the man of New England strove forward, pen in hand, and nominated himself custodian of our National archives and began to compile the record nobody seriously contested the office. Thus it happened that New England got handsome treatment in our National histories. She deserved good treatment. Her record is one of glory. No patriotic American would detract from her merit, but her history is not the history of the whole country, and it may be added that her point of view is not the only vision for estimate.

In the early settlement of Richland county different parts were settled by people from certain places in the East, for instance the Big Hill locality in Weller township was settled principally by English people: the southwestern part of Jefferson township was settled by Yankees from Maine; a certain locality in Washington township and another in Sharon were settled by Germans. But those distinctions are now matters of the past and we have but one people, one country, under one flag.

The Original Man From Ohio

For the past fifteen years many expeditions and elaborate investigations in various parts of the world have been made in search of possible or probable proof of the location of the cradle or birthplace of the human race. From reports made of such expeditions and investigations of the problem of how the red man got here (.A\merica) and where he came from are elaborately treated of. A brief resume of the conclusions arrived at in these reports appeared recently in the Cosmopolitan magazine. The result is, says the magazine writer, "that the evidence shows that the first American was not an Asiatic emigrant," and that from the study of both ethnological and archaeological conditions in Northwestern America and in Northeastern Asia, it seems most probable that man did not come from Asia, but that he crossed over into Asia from America. We can not even give a resume of the facts and reasons put forth by the distinguished scholars whe for vears have giver.

their time and thought to this intensely interesting question. Can only state that their conclusions are a reversal of the theory, so universally accepted heretofore, that Asia was the birth place of the race that later found its way into the American Continent. Granted that the original American was 'native and to the manor born," and not an importation. the logic is that, barring the ice man, who may or not have existed first. the Mound Builder was the first to put in an appearance, at least so far as any remaining evidences show. It is generally conceded that the Mound Builder. whether the ancestor of the Indian or of a distinct race, antedated the Indians. so-called. In other words, whoever he was and whatever his antecedentx were. he, the Mound Builder, was the oldest inhabitant, and may be called the original American. The Mound Builders' domain was largely in the territory now called Ohio, and some of their works are within the limits of Richland county. May not then Ohio and possibly Richland county have heen the Mound Builders' primitive birth place as well as his habitat. May not the original Adam and Eve along the banks of one of Ohio's rivers, rather than on the banks of the Euphrates, had their Eden.

The Rev. Landon West. a prominent and widely known minister of the Baptist church, has given much study and thought to the Serpent Mound in Adams county, Ohio, and advances the theory that. it marks the site of the Garden of Eden, and with this a number of the "higher critics." the Egyptologists and Biblical students agree. Thev state that nowhere doe: the Bible claim that the Garden of Eden was in -\sia. as has been generally believed. The Rey. Mr. West believes that the Serpent Mound is purely symbolical and has no significance relative to the religion or worship of any race of men, but that it was intended to teach the fall of man and the consequences of sin in the Garden of Edei.

Topography And Geology Of Richenad Counpfy State Report

Richland county is situated on the highest part of the divide between the waters of Lake Erie and the Ohio river. The surface on the north is comparatively level, but rises toward the south to the height. in places. of nearly one thousand feet above the lake. In the southeast part of the county there are chains of high hills, separated by narrow valleys, and exhibiting almost. a mountainous character. The Black Fork of Mohican river. rising in the north part of the county, and passing through the townships of Blooming Grove, Franklin, Weller, Mifflin, and Monroe, and thence into Ashland county, flows in a deep channel which connects on the north with the channels of drainage into the lake. <A similar channel. having a similar northern connection, passes as little west of Mansfield. and. now filled with silt and eravel, forms the bed of Owl creek. Between these vallevs the hills rise in irregular chains, often quite abruptly, and in the southern and southwestern parts of the county to an elevation of from two hundred to five hundred feet above the vallevs. In Jefferson township a long "chestnut ridge." traversed by the road leading west from Independence. reachez an elevation of four hundred and fifty feet above the railroad at Independence. On my table of elevations this railroad station is given as six hundred and fifty-nine feet, but I suspect this to be excessive. If correct, the elevation of the ridge is ten hundred and fiftv-nine feet above the lake, and it is one of the highest points in the state. Two and a half miles northeast of Bellville, and near the north line of Jefferson township, the hills reach an elevation of nine hundred and fifty-two feet above the lake. About two miles north, and on the direct road to Mansfield, the surface rises rapidly to an elevation of nine hundred and twelve feet, and at three and a half miles the summit between Bellville and Mansfield is nine hundred and thirty-two feet above the lake. or three hundred and seventy feet above Mansfield.* The descent from the top of this divide is much more gradual to the north than to the south, a characteristic of all parts of the watershed in this neighborhood; and one to which reference will be subsequently made when a few of the more prominent features of the surface geology of the neighboring counties are grouped together. The highest points to the north and towards Mansfield were. by the barometer, three hundred and twenty feet. three hundred feet. one hundred and ninety feet, ete., above Mansfield. About seven miles west of Mansfield, and near the western line of the county. is an isolated knob which is designated by residents in the vicinity as the highest land in the county and state. It is, however, by the barometer only two hundred and forty feet above Mansfield, or eight hundred and thirty-two feet above the lake, while two and a half miles further east the surface rises by a more gentle inclination thirty feet higher.

Soil

The soil over the greater part of Richland county rests upon the unmodified Drift clays, and takes its general character from them. It contains a large quantity of lime, derived mainly from the corniferous limestone, fragments of which are everywhere mingled with the Drift. The clay in the soil is also modified and tempered by the debris of the local rocks, which is largely mingled with the Drift, and is mostly silicious. This character, combined with a high elevation and thorough surface drainage, furnishes 1 soil which renders the name of the county appropriate, and secures a great variety of agricultural products.

While all parts of the county are well adapted to grazing, the land is specially fitted for the growth of wheat and other cereals, and to the production of fruit. The profusion of rock fragments in the Drift render the soil pervious to water, and prevents washing, even in the steepest hills.

In the southeastern part of the county the higher hills are, in places, capped with a coarse ferruginous conglomerate, and are so covered with its debris as not to be susceptible of tillage. Nature has designated a use to which these sand-rock hills should be appropriated, as they are generally a are ee i i Atlantic & Great Western railcag Rey Speed! and enone ets othe rae amie, Miah atead hundred and ninety-two feet; part of the difference being due to the different elevations of the localities passed by the railroads in the town. - J. S. N.

covered with a dense second-growth of chestnut. This timber prefers a soil filled with fragments of sand-rock, and the second growth is almost as valuable as red cedar for fence posts and other similar uses. If upon all similar ~ rocky hills the inferior kinds of timber and the useless undergrowth were cut away, and the growth of the chestnut encouraged, these now worthless hill-tops would yield an annual harvest scarcely less valuable than that of the most fertile valleys. On the north side of the divide the slopes of the hills are covered by the debris of the local rocks, and the soil is much less productive.

There have been reports of the finding of coal in Richland county; the specimens exhibited consist of flat pieces of carbonaceous matter minutely fissured; and the fissures are filled with thin plates of sulphate of Baryta. The Huron shale is the great oil producing rock of Ohio and Pennsylvania. The slow distribution of the bituminous matter in it has resulted in the production of gas and petroleum, which along the outcrop of the strata have steadily escaped. The petroleum flowing into a fissure in the rocks where it was retained, parted with its volatile matter, leaving a residuum of asphaltum, which by continued desiccation became minutely cracked and the fissures gradually filled with Barite, which led many to suppose that this formation indicated coal beds.

Gold

One of the most interesting surface deposits of the county. and one intimately connected with the discussion of the Drift, is the gold found about Bellville and other places in the southern part of Richland county. The origin of the gold has been attributed to an ancient Drift agency which brought in the pebbles of the Waverly Conglomerate: but I am quite confident that it should be referred to the surface Drift. and was brought in by the same agency that transported the granitic pebbles and bowlders. If referred to the Waverly Conglomerate, it should be found at the base of this deposit. It is, in fact, found most abundantly about on the level of its upper surface, and in perceptible quantities on the slopes of the hills fifty to one hundred feet above it. If it came from the Waverly Conglomerate. it should be most abundant where the quartz pebbles of this Conglomerate are the most numerous, while at Bellville and the immediate neighborhood. this Waverly rock is comparatively free from pebbles. The gold is found in minute flakes, associated with black sand (magnetic iron ore). small garnets, and fragments of quartz. It is most abundant at the bottom of gorges opening to the south, rising rather rapidly toward the north, terminating in various branches which start from the top of the hills two or three hundred feet high. On the table land above, large quartz bowlders are occasionally seen. and angular fragments of quartz are abundantly obtained in washing for gold. Pieces of native copper are also found. some of them of considerable size, occasionally copper ore, and very rarely minute quantities of native silver. In the stone quarry near Bellville an angular and partially decomposed fragment of quartz was picked up. containing what the miners call 'wire gold" interlaced through it. It had evidently fallen from the gravel bed at the top of the quarry, which contained quartz fragments, mingled with the other erratics. The most plausible theory of the origin of the gold is, that the transporting agencies which brought in and deposited the surface Drift, passed over veins of gold-bearing quartz which were crushed, broken up, and transported with the other foreign material, and scattered along a line extending through Richland, Knox, and Licking counties. Over what is now the southern slope of the divide between the waters of the lake and the Ohio, a thick deposit of Drift has been washed away, the fragments of quartz broken up and disintegrated, the gold of the Drift concentrated probably a hundred thousand fold, so that in these protected coves the "color" of gold can be obtained from almost every panful of earth. The first discovery of this fact caused much local excitement, and experienced miners and others prospected the whole region, in the confident expectation that these indications would lead to rich placer mining. One returned California miner spent the whole of one summer and fall in prospecting, a part of the time with one, and the rest with three hired assistants. The gross amount of gold obtained was between twenty-five and thirty dollars. In the richest localities about one dollar per day can be obtained by steady work. As no gold-bearing rocks are to be found in the state, the occurrence of gold here can have only a scientific interest connected with the theories of the Drift.

Iron Ore

The rocks of Richland county include a few deposits of iron ore, but generally of little value, and the surface accumulations of this mineral are rare.

The Bentley Lake

The Bentley Lake is in Mifflin township, seven miles east of Mansfield, a little south of what is called the north Mifflin road. This lake has been called by different names, locally, but the "Bentley"? Lake seems to be the more appropriate name from the fact that General Robert Bentley, a pioneer settler of Mifflin township, owned land adjacent to the lake where he erected the first brick country residence in the county. General Bentley was a state senator and was an associate judge of the court of common pleas from 1821 to 1828. He was also a major general of the Ohio State Militia. General Bentley did not make the lake, but having lived in that locality so long is entitled to the honor of its name. The lake is about a mile west of the Blackfork and was formerly a swamp with a little pond of water in the center. In 1821, Jonas Ballvet entered the northwest quarter of section 15 (Miffin township). and thinking to change the swamp into a productive field, "Uncle Jonas" as Mr. Ballyet was-familiarly called, cut a ditch from the swamp to the Blackfork, with the view of draining the low land into tillable fields. His theory seemed quite plausible, but he was later confronted with a condition he had not anticipated. The ditch was opened on the 25th dav of July, 1846. and was of sufficient depth to lower the surface of the little pond about eight feet, which was the amount of "fall" between the swamp and the Blackfork. On the day following the greater part of the level land surrounding the pond, comprising about six acres, was engulfed - sank out of sight - leaving only the tops of the highest trees, with which the land had been covered, visible. In time the tree tops also disappeared. It was the opinion that the lake was of greater size beneath than was apparent on the surface of the land and that lowering the water by means of the ditch caused the ground to break off from the rim of hills and sink into the fathomless water.

This sinking caused the earth to vibrate somewhat like an earthquake, and alarmed the people of that vicinity, some thinking the "end world," and the people prayed as they had never prayed before.

As this incident occurred during the Millerism period, some people were more prone to attribute the trembling and jar to heavenly than to earthly causes, for although there may not have been a Millerite in that neighborhood, vet the doctrine and teachings of the Rey. Williain Miller had been so universally disseminated and propagated that they doubtles< influenced many unconsciously. The time set by Miller for the end of the world, or as he put it, the second coming of Christ. was the year 1845. as he interpreted the prophecies, but as the expected event did not occur as 'predicted other dates were given later, and the people were admonished to say not in their hearts, "My Lord delayeth His coming." The digging of this ditch outlet to the lake was a losing business for "Uncle Jonas." for instead of reclaiming land he had six acres engulfed, timber and all. A few years later, there was another sinking of land, the rim around the water caving in, increasing the lake to its present size of about nine acres. but as the low land has now all been engulfed, no apprehension is felt that any similar occurrence will take place in the future, and that no subterranean lake exists beneath the hills. Prior to this land-sinking episode. catfish. sunfish and other varieties abounded in the lake in great quantities. but they are not so abundant there now. The water of the lake when viewed as a body is an ocean green in tint of coloring, vet when dipped up seems pure and clear. The lake is circular in form and in its hill-framed setting is one of the most beautiful of the many attractive places in Richland county.

The lake is said to be bottomless, but the statement is doubtless made without authority. However, the lake is of great depth and in the various soundings bottom has been found at different depths. but seventy feet is given as the average, while at other places bottom could not be found even with a longer line. At the southeast is a gentle slope of ground studded with trees, making a shady grove in summer, from whose retreat one could imagine some Highland maid might appear and -

The Bentley lake is not only beautiful in sunshine but is interesting in storms, when the thunder's deep reverberations roll like billows over its waters. And after the storms. the rainbow sheds its luster upon the placid surface, no artist can sketch its beauty, while in the back-ground of the picture may be read by faith the eternal promise that the earth shall not again be destroyed by water.

There are traditions that are not historically correct. For years past it has been generally believed in these parts that Lyons' Falls were named for the old Indian chieftain, Tom Lyons. It may seem like uncalled for iconoclasm to dispel belief in such a mythical personage as Lily Pipe. or to rob Lyons' Falls of Indian traditions. But history should be accurately given; and its correct narration is more instructive than the erroneous one, and can be as entertainingly told as though its warp was woven with the woof of fiction.

Lyons' Falls are situated in Ashland county, about fifteen miles southeast of Mansfield. There are two falls, and the place, which has been a noted picnic resort for many years, is wild in its primitive forest and grand in its rugged picturesqueness. During the past summer a party of ladies and gentlemen. whose names are conspicuous on the list of Mansfield's *400." took a day's outing at these falls, and a grave was pointed out to them as that of "the noted Lyons;' and lke many others they inferred that the Lyon= buried there was the notorious Indian chieftain of that name. Upon their return to Mansfield they told entertainingly of the wooded hills and sylvan dells. of the overhanging rocks and of the eighty-foot leap of the waters from the edge of the precipice to the basin at the bottom of the chasm. casting its spray into the cool grottos which the hand of nature chiseled out of the everlasting rocks. .\nd the further fact that the party had seen the grave of a great warrior lent additional interest to the story and to the locality.

With such allurements it was not long until another detachment of the "400" also visited these noted falls, and the gentlemen of the party fired volleys over the grave. danced a war dance and gave Indian funeral whoops and came home satisfied that they had held suitable commemorative ceremony over the earthly resting place of the body of an Indian chieftain!

Tom Lyons, the Indian. who took a prominent part in the Wyoming massacre (1778). and was afterward a notorious character in the early historv of Richland county, was killed by a young man named Joe Haynes. to avenge the murder of a kinsman, and he buried the old chief in Leedy's swamp in the southern part of Jefferson township. The Lyons buried at the falls was Paul Lyons, a white man. He was not a hermit. as one tradition states, for he took to himself a wife, who bore him a son, and he did not particularly shun his neighbors, although he did not admit them into his confidence. What Paul Lyons' object and motives were for leaving the civilization of the East and seeking a home amid the rocks and hills of that wild and uninhabited part of the country are matters only of conjecture, for he never gave his antecedents, and refused to explain or to give reasons for hiding himself awav in the forest and leading such a retired life. He had 'squatted' on land too rough to till. and he never attempted to clear off the timber nor to cultivate the rocky soil. He simply built a cabin amid the trees and passed his time principally in hunting and fishing; but, as the country became settled around him and farmers needed help to harvest their crops, he often assisted them in such work. He never made any exhibition of money, yet always paid cash for what he bought. He has been described as a large man; and that he had ability and education is shown by the statement of a lady now living, who says that he was an intelligent and entertaining conversationalist and that at the funeral of a neighbor he read a chapter and sang a hymn, and that it was the best reading and singing she ever heard.

About 1856 Lyons, while assisting in hauling logs, met with an accident which resulted in his death, and he was buried upon the hill, between the two waterfalls. The late Rosella Rice had a headboard, painted and lettered, put up at the grave, but visitors shot at the board for a target until it was riddled into slivers by bullets, and later the body was exhumed and the skeleton mounted by a physician. A slight depression in the ground is now the only sign showing where the body had been interred.

Lyons' wife was not an intellectual woman, and it is said that she was sent away and died in an asylum. It is also reported that the boy was taken to an eleemosynary institution after his father's death. and that when he grew to manhood he went West and prospered.

The most noted personage for many years in the region of the falls was Lewis M. Lusk, who in his time played the fiddle for hundreds of dances. In past seasons there were dancing floors at the falls, and Tusk furnished the music with his "fiddle and his bow," while the dancers kept step to its enlivening strains. He is now deceased; but tourists will long remember seeing him sitting in the door or in the yard of his cabin. playing his fiddle, while the ripples of the waters of the Mohican seemed to echo the refrain of the music as the current of the stream swept around its graceful bend in front of the humble dwelling, the rugged rocks forming a rustic background to the picture framed by the encircling hills, all combining to impress the passers-by with the thoughts how sweet is music, how dear is home and how inspiring is all the handiwork of the Creator.

Petersburg Lakes

The Petersburg lakes are situate eight miles east of Mansfield. within the original limits of Richland county. The lakes are three in number, forming a chain from north to south, a short distance east of the Blackfork river. The upper lake is the smallest, having an area of only about ten acres and is locally called Mud lake. The middle lake is called Bell lake, and has an area of about thirty acres. The lower lake is locally called "Culler's," and has an area of about sixty acres, and is a half mile or more in length. There is a surface connection between the lakes, and it is supposed there is also a subterranean connection. There is an outlet from the lower lake into the Blackfork, which sluggishly courses along a short distance to the west. The lower Jake has a depth of from fiftv to one hundred feet. The lakes are fed subterraneously from the Mifflin hill on the east, and the waters are clear and cold. The lakes are noted for their abundance of fish and the iocality for its myriads of mosquitoes.

Interlaken, Switzerland, is not a large town, it is said, "unless you count the mountains," and Mifflin is a small village unless you count the lakes that lie between the town and the Blackfork. The lakes are evidently counted - figuratively - and have aided in making Mifflin the noted village it is today.

These Petersburg lakes are in the valley which might be termed an oblong basin, and the greater part of their environments are uncleared, marshy grounds, too wet for cultivation. The hig lake is a clear, beautiful sheet of water, but the forest surroundings impart a feeling of loneliness, that causes one to exclaim:

However. with suitable buildings and other improvements, the lakes might be made a desirable summer resort. In this Blackfork region there may yet be developed a more lucrative industry than a summer resort. Ore mines may he opened there. When General Hedges made a survey of that locality in 1807, he was embarrassed over the variations of his compass. In order to attest the accuracy of the survey the lines were re-run, but still the variations existed. The General then thought the chaining might be imperfect, and had the lines surveved for the third time, with the same results. In 1808, Jonathan Cox. when surveying in that locality found similar conditions there, and the consensus of opinion was that magnetic ores in the earth influenced the needle.

But the only ore as yet discovered in that locality is "bog ore," in the vicinity of the lakes. Bog iron ore is a mineral of variable composition and is found in alluvial soils, in bogs and lakes. There may, however, be other ore in that locality which, if unearthed. would add another page to that storied valley and material wealth to its people.

The little village that was founded on the hillside about a mile east of the lakes was during the earlier part of its existence called Petersburg, but for a number of vears it has been called Mifflin. The names, however, are used interchangeably and the same is true of the names of the lake.

Moravians Passed Through Mansfield

The march of the Moravian missionaries and their converts through Richland county in 1781, in their exodus from Gnadenhutten to the Sandusky country, deserves more than a passing mention. The exodus started from Gnadenhutten on September 10, 1781, and proceeded down the Tuscarawas river to Coshocton, thence up the Walhonding and the Blackfork to Richland county. Upon leaving the Blackfork near its junction with the Rockyfork, the party came up the latter stream to the "'Big Spring," famous in history, where Mansfield now stands. From Mansfield the party proceeded

The trip is described in part by Mary Heckelwelder, as follows: 'Our journey was exceedingly tedious and dangerous; some of the canoes sunk when on the river and those who were in them lost all their provisions and everything they had saved. Those who went by land drove the cattle - a pretty large herd. The savages drove us along, the missionaries and their families usually in the midst, surrounded by their Indian converts. The roads were exceedingly bad, leading through a continuation of swamps. We went by land through Coshocton to the Walhonding. and then partly by water and partly by land yntil the end of the journey."

To understand the cause of that Moravian exodus from the fertile valley of the Tuscarawas to the Sandusky plains requires a knowledge of the antecedent history of that peculiar people. The Moravian denomination had its origin in Europe and antedates the Reformation by about sixty years. They call themselves neither Calvinites nor Arminians. They profess to adhere to the Augsburg confession of faith, which was the occasion of a separation between Martin Luther and the party who called themselves the Evangelical Reform church. The Moravians have always been imbued with a missionary spirit, which caused them to send missionaries to all parts of the earth. Their first attempt at missionary work in America, was made in Georgia in 17382, and after seven years labor there, they succeeded in making themselves so obnoxious to the people that they were driven out of the state. They next located in Pennsylvania and in several places in New York and Connecticut, where their work was confined principally among the Indians. among whom they made some alleged "converts" to the Christian faith. But thev were soon accused of numerous offenses and a number of them were arrested, some of whom were sent to prison. Ministers of different denominations preached loud and long against them. Their villages were burnt and thev were driven from place to place.

In 1761. Moravian missionaries began the visionary task of trying to convert the Indians in Ohio. They established three stations in the Tuscarawas valley. in what is now Tuscarawas county. These were named Shoenbrun. Salem and Gnadenhutten. These villages were situated about midway between the white settlements on the upper Ohio river and the warlike Indian tribes on the Sandusky. The work seemed to prosper for a while, but trouble soon came to the Moravians there as it had elsewhere. In the great conflict between civilization and barbarism, the Moravians claimed to be neutral. And in the war of the Revolution, they also wanted to remain neutral, claiming that they declined to take the part of either the colonies or Great Britain. Neutrality has no place in war. The shibboleth of the North during the Civil war was, "He who is not for the Union, is against it." Neutrality was tolerated neither in the North nor in the South during the war of the Rebellion. And dt was not countenanced in the Tuscarawas valley with the Moravians. : raids was found in the cabins of the "converted" Indians. The presence of the stolen property would be explained by the statement that it was brought there by "bad" Indians. This occurred so frequently that there had to be a limit put to the business. Not only theft, but murder was charged against the Moravian converts, which in turn they would try to charge against "bad" Indians. It is not likely that the alleged converts were guilty of all of these charges, and no one would believe for a moment that the crimes committed were sanctioned by the missionaries. The Rev. Frederick Post, Rev. John Heckelwelder, Rev. David Zeisberger and others were men whose devotion to the missionary cause was attested by the hardships they endured and the dangers they encountered, and their Christian characters were above reproach. But an Indian is of another race, is a savage and can never be civilized. No moral suasion can induce an Indian to honor his treaties, either as a policy or a principle; he regards theft as a legitimate way of acquiring property. and repays friendship with treachery and forbearance with midnight murder. Unlike the people of other races. he spares neither age, sex nor infaney in his cruel warfare, and delights in making horrid tortures the prelude to the death of his prisoners. His seeming patriotism, in fighting for the soil. is merely a selfish consideration for its value as a hunting ground.

The situation was a triangular one. and the so-called converted Indians were between two fires. Finally matters got so strenuous that the missionaries and their Indian followers, were ordered to leave, and made their exodus to the Sandusky country as before stated. The missionaries were taken to Detroit. but the Indians remained upon the Plains, where they fared badlv during the winter. which doubtless gave them a keener relish for rapine and robbery upon their return to the Tuscarawas. The latter part of February, 1782, a party of the Moravian Indians were permitted to return to the Gnadenhutten settlement to gather the corn thev had left standing in the fields the previous autumn. They had been back at Gnadenhutten only a short time until a series of outrages - of plunder and murder - again occurred, as had been the case before their exodus. A white woman and her child were murdered at the outskirts of the Gnadenhutten settlement. and when the white settlers viewed the mangled remains. their fury knew no bounds. The atrocities were again charged by the Moravian Indians against their unconverted brethren, who in turn charged the crimes upon the "converts." In referring to this people the so-called Indian converts are called Moravians in history. The settlers considered that the ties of consanguinity naturally caused even the so-called converted Indians to incline their neutrality towards their red kinsmen. The settlers accused them of having stolen property from the people of the frontier and with having massacred many of the settlers. They were accused of sympathy with the British and of treachery to the Americans. The crisis came at last and a military force under Colonel Williamson was sent out against the Moravian villages, and the atrocious tragedy of March 8. 1813, followed.

before and seven times after the Gnadenhutten tragedy is evidence that they were undesirable residents or sojourners in at least thirty-three localities.

The burning of Colonel Crawford three months later has been attributed by some to the Gnadenhutten massacre. But those who seek to thus explain the Indians' motive for the burning of Colonel Crawford evidently failed to recall the facts that the burning of white men at the stake had bemh a favorite pastime with the Indians for more than a century at least before the Gnadenhutten tragedy.

Tradition states that James Smith was the first white man to "set foot" on the land now embraced in Richland county. That was in the year 1750, a short time before General Braddock's defeat. Smith was taken prisoner by the Indians at his home near Bedford, Pa. He was brought to Ohio, to the Indian village of Tullihas, which was situated on the Mohican river about twenty miles above Coshocton, where he was adopted into a tribe. Smith remained with the Indians about four vears, and frequently hunted game along the upper branches of the Mohican river. According to his journal, his first trip through what is now Richland county was made in 1755. He hunted game where Mansfield now stands, and bivouacked near the Big spring.

The next white men who came this way were Moravian missionaries, who frequently passed through here as they journeyed to and fro between Gnadenhutten and the Wyandot country, their route passing through Helltown, but after its evacuation in 1782, the route was changed via Greentown. The route was known as the Sandusky trail. and passed through Mansfield.

The first white woman to pass through the county was Mary Heckelwelder, supposed to be the first white female child born in Ohio. She was a daughter of Heckelwelder, the missionary of Gnadenhutten.

Thomas Green, a white man for whom Greentown was named. came to Helltown, below Newville, soon after the Wyoming massacre (1778), in which he had taken a bloody part. This renegade was the founder of Greentown, and it is supposed he was buried in the old Indian cemetery there. For thirty years Greentown was an important Indian village on the Pittsburg-Sandusky trail, and during that period many white captives were brought through Greentown, and halting there for the night and coming this way - where Mansfield now stands - when the journey to the Sandusky country was resumed.

Christian Fast, when a boy of 16, was captured by the Delawares and adopted into their tribe. Fast was at Tymochtee when Colonel Crawford was burned, in 1782, and was within hearing of his cries. During his captivity, Fast passed through what is now Richland and Ashland counties, in going from the Wyandot to the Mohican and became so favorably impressed with the country that years after his escape from the Indians, he left his Pennsy lvania home and came back to Ohio and settled in Ashland county in 1815, where he passed the remainder of his life.

After the Greenville treaty (1795) comparative peace prevailed, but no settlement was made here until after the county had been surveyed and the land put on the market. But in the interim, white men frequently visited these parts on hunting and trapping expeditions, and a number of those transient persons afterwards became permanent settlers here.

Briefly, the land upon which Mansfield stands was frequently trodden by the feet of white men before a permanent settlement was made within our borders.

In The Long Ago

In the early settlement of the county the first work of a newcomer was to select a location, then to cut poles or logs suitable to build a cabin for his family. The dimensions of the structure were according to the number in his family. The windows of the cabin were made by sawing out two or three feet of the logs and putting in upright pieces as window checks or frames, and to these were pasted oiled paper, as window glass could not then be obtained. This paper would admit considerable light and resisted rain tolerably well.

After the houxe was completed, the next thing in order was to clear off a piece of ground for a corn and potato patch. New ground was usually plowed with a shovel-plow, on account of roots, and the harness for the horses was often made, in part, of leather-wood bark. Corn was ground on a hand mill or pounded in a mortar or hominy block. It was then sieved, and the meal or finer portion was used for bread and the coarser for hominy. The meat used by the pioneers was of venison, bear and wild turkey, as it was difficult to raise hogs or sheep on account of the wolves and bears. Wolf scalps were worth four to six dollars apiece, which made wolf hunting a profitable business.

Many incidents might be enumerated to show that the paths of the pioneers were not strewn with roses, and that many of the comforts which they enjoyed later in life were obtained by persevering exertions, industry, and economy on their part, and the people of today can form but an imperfect idea of the privations and hardships endured by the pioneers of Richland county. <A neighbor at a distance of ten miles in those days was considered near enough for all social purposes.

The pioneers were a generous, warm-hearted and benevolent people. Although they did not want to see the game driven away bv a too rapid settlement of the country, vet when a new settler came they extended him a cordial welcome. There was social equality then - distinction in society came later.

People went miles to assist in house and barn raisings and in log-rollings, while the men were doing this work the women were doing quilting or sewing bountiful meals were served at these gatherings. chicken pot-pie being the principal part of the bill of fare. These pot-pies were usually cooked in big iron kettles out of doors. After the day's work was done, the evening was passed in social amusement - dancing being quite popular. If they had no fiddler, music waz: furnished by some one singing or whistling "dancing tunes."

Weddings were the great occasions of those days and brought old and voung together, the festivities lasting two days. The wedding ceremony took place at the home of the bride. and the second day was the "infair" at the home of the groom.

Although there were many dangers and great privations in pioneer life, there was happiness, also. In later years, the early settlers often referred to that period as "happy days of primtive simplicity."

The pioneers would take hickory bark torches and go miles to call upon a neighbor and enjoy a winter evening in cracking nuts and telling stories. ending with refreshments being served in the form of a hot supper. Cooking utensils were few, and a pot or kettle often had to be used for several purposes in the preparation of a meal.

In olden times the rich and the poor dressed much alike. the men generally wore hunting skirts and buckskin pants; the women wore dresses made of linen and flannel goods. spun and woven by their own hands.

The school houses were in keeping with the cabins and the times, and the pedagogues who instructed the youths in the mysteries of the three R's - "readin', 'ritin' an' 'rithmetic.'"' as the London Alderman put it, was called "master." The scholar whose ''ciphering" included the "rule of three'' was considered well advanced.

There were "puncheon'"' bench seats and wooden pins were put in the logs at the side of the room, and upon these a board was placed for writing desks and the preparatory course in writing was to make "pot-hooks" and "hangers." There were no classes except in spelling. as there was no uniformity in the books used. Thev pronounced svllables then. and when they had learned to read, could read anything.

The scholars, old and young. went bare-footed in warm weather. and so did the teacher. The school-master carried a long hickory rod as an insignia of his position with which he often enforced his authority. for the pioneer did not believe in spoiling the child by sparing the rod.

While the old-time schools may be looked back to as inferior to those of today, yet they were the schools in which our Calhouns. our Clays, and our Websters were educated.

Times change and we change with them. but the fount of childhood is perennially fresh, and there are little sunburnt. rosy-cheeked boys and girls who now fill our better appointed school rooms. as the children of the past did in their day and generation.

Religious services were frequently held at the homes of the settlers. even after houses for public worship had been erected. In the summer time the "threshing floors' of barns were often used as '"meeting houses" for Sunday preaching. Camp meetings were also features of that period. The most noted camp ground, perhaps, in the county, was near the Easterly church, in Worthington township, on the road leading from Bellville to Newville. The camp meetings were usually held by the Albrights and the United Brethren.

The Christians, or Disciples, also held camp meetings, one of the first and largest of which was at the big spring, near the old site of the Bartley . mill on the road leading from Mansfield to Washington village. one of the fruits which is the Ceserea congregation. Elder McVay was the principal preacher at that convocation.

Religious services were often held at the homes of the pioneers, as there were but few church buildings at that time. Meetings at the home of my parents are remembered. one of which is particularly recalled. The service began by those congregated singing that matchless lyric:

I remember sitting between my parents, and hearing my mother's sweet soprano voice and my father's sympathetic tenor as they joined in the singing. In the simplicity of my childhood. in the fullness of my youthful faith, the service made a deep impression upon my mind and is. now a hallowed memory.

Incidents Of Pioneer Times

Abraham Baughman, pioneer of the Blackfork valley. bought a calf of an Indian, paying the price the savage asked. A vear later an additional sum of money was demanded by the Indian because the calf had grown larger, which amount was paid to avoid trouble, but the next year another supplemental sum was demanded, and was paid under protest. To prevent the heifer from still getting bigger, it was slaughtered for beef. as the owner did not want to pay for its growth every vear.

One evening when Pioneer Baughman and wife were at a neighbor's, two Indians called at the Baughman cabin and finding the boys - Jacob and George - in bed, ordered them to get up and give them something to eat. After they had partaken of a luncheon, the Indians ordered Jacob, the older boy, to go to the "still house" (as distilleries were then called) and get them whisky, and they held George as a hostage, threatening to scalp him if Jacob delayed or gave the alarm. For the want of a more suitable vessel, Jacob took his mother's tea canister to carry the whisky in and made the trip to the still house and return as expeditiously as possible. Upon Jacob'= return, the Indians cautiously smelled of the whisky and detecting a peculiar odor - the odor of the tea - suspicioned that the whisky was poisoned. Acting upon this suspicion, the Indians became enraged and flourished their tomahawk= and scalping knives about the bovs' heads in a lively manner. They then made the boys drink of it and waited to see the "poison" take effect. But as no bad symptoms were noticed, the Indians accepted the tea explanation and proceeded to drink the whisky themselves, and were howling drunk when Baughman and his wife returned.

In 1811, Sylvester Fisher entered a tract of land in Green township, later known as the Carey farm. Fisher and wife had a large family of children Fisher was a kind husband and father and was industrious in his way, but could not make ends meet financially. He could not make the twenty dollars annual payment on the school land he had entered, and concluded he would rather give it up than to be thrown out. He therefore took the first offer which was made and sold out to William Taylor for one hundred pounds of iron, but when he came to sell the iron he could get only ten centx a pound for it. The money came good, but soon dwindled away, and the wife took in spinning to help make a living. They finally traded their feather bed for a cow, that the children might have milk. But the cow died within a week, and when Fisher went to take off the hide, he found a wolf making a meal on the carcass. He shot the wolf and got four dollars cash for its scalp, so luck came out of misfortune and good luck it seemed to be, for he was more prosperous thereafter.

Of late a number of persons of middle age have asked me if I ever saw a real Indian with his Indian dress on - the buckskin pants, moccasins and hunting skirt. This to me seems strange, for all this was so real to me, for the time was when I saw many of them to one white person. It was a daily occurrence for the Indians to pass through the woods, singly and in droves. and at other times all ages and sizes of them. some on foot and some on ponies. They were friendly and harmless, and I will relate one of my earliest recollections. It was in the spring of 1824. just at the last of sugar ' making. A large sugar tree stood close to father's cabin, which had been tapped, and father took his ax to chop that tree down. I followed him out and stood as close as he would allow, and when the tree started to fall he took 'my hand and led me back out of danger. Just as the tree fell an Indian came out of the wood from the direction that the tree fell with a deer carcass on his back. He laid the carcass on the newly cut stump and wanted to trade it for cornmeal. Father shook his head "no" and said it cost too much to get corn meal. He had just packed a sack of corn on his horse to Bellville to get it ground and packed it back home, as they used to say. The Indian kept bantering to make the trade, and finally offered to take two double handsful of corn meal for the deer carcass.

he told mother that the Indian had offered to trade the deer for two double handsful of corn meal. Mother said he had better do it, as they needed the meat, so father went to the door and motioned to the Indian to come in. The Indian had a small sack made of buckskin, and he held the sack while father measured the meal and poured it into the sack. After he had put in the two double handsful he run his fingers down in the meal and took up a little more, probably a couple of spoonsful, and threw it in he sack. The Indian seemed much pleased with this extra measure, and took off his cap and nodded his head, and said, 'hah, hah," which in his language no doubt meant "thank you." :

This brings to my mind the terrible times they had in those days to get milling done. I remember my father going to Bellville to mill once, there being no mill any nearer, starting on Monday and did not get back until the next Sunday afternoon.

Shortly after this a horse mill was built by Samuel Rogers, on the farm now occupied by Norris Latimer, but the mill was such a hard running machine that it was very hard on the teams. No man in this day would take a grist for the grinding as it was done there. There is no improvement in this country that is as great an advantage to the people as_ this one thing. It is now no trouble to get milling done.

The Rey. James Rowland, an early-day pastor of the First Presbyterian church, commenced his pastorate here in 1820, and continued half a century. In writing of those early times, he said:

"Mansfield, in 1820, numbered about two or three hundred inhabitants. At that time. about the center of the public square, there was an edifice about twenty by thirty feet in breadth and length, and two stories in height. The stairway leading to the entrance of the second story was outside the building on the north side. The lower story was divided into three compartments. The west half was used for a jailer's residence, the south half of the east side as a cell where criminals were confined. The building was unpainted inside and out. The edifice served for various purposes. People of all denominations except the Methodist (who had a small frame church in the northeast part of the city as early as 1820) worshiped in the upper story. There, too, the county courts were held, and the public meetings generally. On the east and west sides of this room were fireplaces, and a stove near the center; and often, in the coldest weather, by reason of the flues drawing downward, instead of upward, the fuel had to be carried out, or the fire quenched or the inmates suffocated by smoke. In that room I preached every alternate Sabbath for two or three years and, sometimes while trying to preach, I saw the moisture of my breadth as it was congealed in passing off in the cold air. At such time in that sanctuary, it may well be imagined that both hearers and minister were sensible to their need of a good share of internal heat, to enable them to withstand the external cold.

"The history of my ministerial life, with little alteration, can be used as the history of every other clergyman in this county and state in its infancy or first settlement. As ministers, we had to suffer privation, and endure hardships and exposures - the common lot of all the pioneers of new settle- ments; and yet we had our comforts and consolations then. Sweets and bitters were commingled in our paths. The flock vielded little fleece then, but much affection for and devotion to the great Shepherd. and much confidence in and attachment to the under shepherd. Indeed, ministers then were more highly valued than when they became more plentiful. Like commodities in general, they appeared to become cheaper as the supply increased. After a lapse of over fifty years, it now fills my heart with a melancholy pleasure when I recall to mind the kind greeting by which I was welcomed at the appointed place of preaching for the evening or night, after riding six or eight miles or more on a cold wintry day. The place of worship was a log cabin. The people of the neighborhood collected. The proprietor of the house piled on fuel like a log heap in the broad and deep fireplace; public worship was attended to; the people dispersed: the brands in the fireplace were thrown together, supper was prepared and served: the substantials of life were partaken of, the family altar surrounded. Afterwards, another log heap was built in the fireplace. the only plan for keeping a log cabin warmer inside than outside in a cold night. We then retired to rest, not in separate rooms, but beds, enclosed by quilts suspended to the joists, and there sleep was as sound, comfortable and refreshing as in a palace. The next morning we arose happy and ready for the work of the day."

The following interesting sketch of pioneer life is from the pen of William Walters, and was published in the Mansfield News, August 23. 1902: Away back in the olden time when Indians were prowling around. when wolves and bears made their lairs in the forests that covered the ground. then the white men came, with courage bold. tackled the forest and braved the cold. They scalped the wolves for the offered bounty: Thev improved this beautiful land of Richland county. Along with the tide which never falters. There came a family by the name of Walters.

Time passed; population increased; a county seat was platted and built up, which is now the beautiful city of Mansfield. A courthouse was built. The music of the woodman's ax demonstrated that prosperity certainly was at hand. About four miles northwest of the courthouse was a beautiful spring of clear water - the source of the Rocky Fork branch of the Mohican river. To utilize the sparkling water of this beautiful spring a Mr. "Eleck" Welch built a flouring mill there, which was known as "Welch's mill," or the "spring mills." Even now the waters of that lovely spring. like a silver cord running through meadows green, are meandering on their course still.

But he is dead who built the mill! By the way. from the courthouse to this mill is an elevated ground called Vanhorn's hill. About the vear 1827, my father, John Walters, settled on a one hundred and sixty acre piece of land, two and one-half miles northwest of the courthouse not far from this

Vanhorn's hill. The soil was rich and the timber of good variety and quality - elm. beech. hard maple, oak, walnut and butternut, buckeye, cucumber and wild cherry. .

Nature. in this primeval. lovely forest, was beautifully manifested by her prolific fruits and many kinds of wild flowers. There was an abundance of beechnuts, chestnuts and acorns. When the pioneers first settled on their land in the woods, it was evident that grain could not be cultivated until the timber was cleared off and the ground prepared, which required from one to two years' time.

The first two or three years after settling in the woods they had no corn with which to fatten their hogs. But they worried not for that. Their hogs fattened on acorns and beechnuts, without expense to their owners. They could feast almost every day of the year on fat pork, venison and wild turkey. There were plenty of walnuts, hickory nuts and butternuts. Along the streams of water were beautiful flowers. The tall and graceful purple green of the meadow, the golden rod and horse mint and quite 4 variety of finer flowers abounded.

The higher landscape was made to appear beautifully grand with the hard maple. dogwood and ivy, sumach, sassafras and other beautiful leaves, gorgeous colored in the sere.

Just seventy-five years ago my father settled on his one hundred and sixty acres of land northwest of Vanhorn's hill in the beautiful forest of Richland county. 'Twas early in the spring of the vear, the right season for making the maple sugar. Mv father and mother were the only members.of the family at that time. They erected a sort of dwelling known in those days as a "sugar camp."

The "sugar camp''was about twelve by fifteen feet, built up of small logs. The roof of clap-boards sloping all one way and over, jutting out in the front far enough to cover two rows of large kettles. The camp was enclosed only at the ends and back, the front next to the kettles was left open. This camp was made as comfortable as possible under the circumstances, to be used as their only dwelling until after the sugar-making season was over, by filling the spaces between the logs with moss and leaves to keep out the wind and snow.

The arrangements in front for boiling the sap were two rows of kettles, four in each row. The kettles were pending from poles which rested on posts, two at each end. In the eight kettles about twenty barrels of sap could be boiled down into svrup in twenty-four hours. Twenty barrels of sap would make about one hundred pounds of sugar. It would be worth from eight to twelve cents a pound, according to grade.

In this rude dwelling no wooden floor waz necessary. Mother Earth was good enough to be used as floor. No fancy bedstead, but for a substitute four small posts were driven in the ground, upon which were placed poles for the rails, and elm bark took the place of rope for cording, upon which the bed was made. No stove nor fire chimney: their meals were cooked over a fire made on the ground. This temporary dwelling was kitchen, dining room, bedroom and parlor. The wind blew the snow in over their beds. To keep from freezing they covered their heads.

In a few months after the sugar-making season was over, a new log cabin was ready for them to move into, which, although only a log cabin, with its "clap-board" door and "puncheon" floor, very primitive in style, made a much more comfortable and convenient home than the "sugar camp," which they were about to vacate, and in which they spent some happy days.

As the new comers began settling in and around, forming neighborhoods in this part of the country, they all enjoyed helping each other. Even as much so as if'they were all members of the same family. Whenever a new comer with a family came into the vicinity. the neighbors turned out and built a log cabin for him gratuitously. In a few week: time the newlyarrived family would be living in and enjoying the log-cabin home in the wilderness, as were their neighbors who came before them.

It became a custom that when the men of the vicinity came together to. put up a cabin for a ''new comer," that the women, too, would volunteer to get up a good dinner and supper for the "raisers." Suppers good enough for a king! Dinners good enough for a queen! Delicious pot-pies of pork. venison, chicken, or wild turkey, with all the other good things which those pioneer women were so well qualified to prepare in good style.

The raising of the cabin was commenced early in the day and finished to the roof by supper time. The roof, puncheon floor, door, windows. chinking, and chimneys were done afterwards by only two or three men. The cabin being raised ready for the roof, was considered a good day's work for twenty or thirty men. When the logs were all up and it being announced that supper was ready, the men would take the proprietor on the shoulders of some of the stronger ones and carry him around the cabin, in glee and hurrahs and shouts of joyous laughter, in congratulating the new comer for his successful "raising," after which thev all repaired to the place where the good supper had been prepared for them, all steaming and warm from the hot fire made on the ground in Indian style: which supper they enjoyed as one of the best feasts in their lives, joking and jesting and trying to see who could tell the best story. In that way they used to enjoy themselves at the log cabin "raisings'' in the days of the early settlements. They seemed to be more contented nnd happy than we who are now reaping the fruits of their labors. Their lands were densely timbered. which timber had to be cleared off before they could raise their crops. The timber was then chopped down and cut up into logs twelve to fifteen feet long, ready for rolling into log heaps so that they could be burned. When burned, the ashes were gathered up to be sold. to be made into potash.

Whenever a neighbor had a few acres of his timber cut up into rolling lengths, ready for heaping, and the brush heaps burned, then he would have a "rolling" party, and the men would have a jolly time in making those log heaps. Two men would be captains, take sides, choose their men, divide the ground and run a race to see which side would get done first. All things being ready, the "rolling" commenced. Pell mell! Hurrah and every fellow pitched into the work with. all his might and strength to see which side would get through first. Which ever side got through first, their captain would be carried upon the shoulders of two men amidst the company with their cheers and shouts of applause. In this way five or six acres in one day would be rolled ready for burning. At these rollings every man but the captain carried a handspike. The captains carried a balance pole, or fulerum; planned the heaps and gave command. When quitting time came they went as usual to the good supper which was prepared for them by those good pioneer women.

In course of time and by much practice these pioneers became very expert choppers. There was a man living two miles north of the courthouse on a farm known as the Dr. Miller farm; by the name of Mullen, who had a bet of fifty dollars with another man that he could move more wood than the other from sun-up to sun-down, in the month of June, when the days were about fourteen hours long. Both men were strong, athletic men and expert choppers, having been choppers of cord wood for the charcoal pits at Pittsburg, Pa. The wood had to be four feet long. The day was set for the chopping to be done. Men were selected to split the wood, all of which was to be chopped out of straight body timber. Other men were selected to cord up the same wood and three judges were chosen. The wood was to be honestly split and honestly corded, and the judges to be impartial. The timber to be chopped was selected by the two parties themselves, out of the best chopping timber they could find, such as red beech, wild cherry, red elm, maple, etc. The trees were cut down and marked off into the proper lengths of four feet, including half of the carf, all ready to commence on. On the day appointed, early in the morning before sun-rise, all were on the ground ready for business, and many spectators were there also.

Just as the sun began to show its first rays of light above the horizon. both men were ready and commenced the work of chopping. It was to be a long, hard day's work and the spectators anxiously watched the progress.

Mr. Mullen': wife had cakes and: hot coffee ready all the time for her husband to partake of at any time he could snatch a bite, which kept him in strength to endure through the whole day, and by so doing, he lost no time. But the other man chopped until noon, then ate a hearty dinner, then chopped until sun-down and then ate a hearty supper; then went to bed. But he never again got out of that bed alive. He died from the. effects of that hard day': work.

Mr. Mullen did not go to bed, nor sleep at all, but walked the floor all night. He got along all right and also won the fifty dollars. The man that died chopped thirteen cords. Mr. Mullen thirteen and a half. I have known men who could chop. split, and cord up four cords on a June day of fourteen hours. And that was a big day's work, for it took as much, if not more, time to split and rack up, than to do the chopping. There were some fine men among these old pioneers seventy-five vears ago.

My father was a good chopper and one of the most enterprising of the pioneers in his neighborhood. * * * In twenty years he had one hundred acres of his timbered land cleared and made into a good farm. It was nicely arranged as to convenience for stock. A good frame house and a frame barn forty by seventy-two feet was built.

He was in good circumstances and prepared to live comfortably and enjoy life the balance of his days. * * * Seventyfive years have passed away. My father and mother, too, have left their homes on earth and are now enjoying their new home in the mansions of heaven.

This Mr. Bigelow had a beautiful daughter who married a half-breed Indian chief. His name was Armstrong. This Mr. Armstrong entertained strangers and travelers, who, in passing their country, wished to put up over night with him. He was a very clever, sociable and affable gentleman and the writer has been entertained and has partaken of his hospitality more than once. I think it was about 1844 that the government bought their lands. They migrated far to the west.

When these Indians left their beautiful hunting grounds for regions beyond the Mississippi, Mrs. Armstrong, the Indian chief's wife, too, went along with them. She said "she would rather lve with the Indians than with the white people." The Indians thought so much of her that they called her their queen. and they did all they could to make her enjoy her life and be happy.

In the course of time, Mr. Armstrong, the chief. had business at Washington. for his tribe. While here, he visited the Rev. Mr. Bigelow. his father-in-law. at Mansfield. He took sick and died there. But his wife. the "white queen." never returned. saving that "she would rather live with the Indians." But white men bought the land and improved it.

Reminiscences Of A Minister

The Rev. Charles Ashton, for many years a resident of this county. but later of Guthrie Center, Iowa, gives the following reminiscences of Franklin and Weller townships:

Late in the winter of 1840 and 1841 the two brothers, George and Samuel Leiter, then ministering to the congregation in that old church, started a protracted meeting therein. That locality was aflame with revival influence that winter. The Rey. John Quigley had gracious revivals at Franklin and Milton. John Boyce, then an aged man living at the ''Five Corners," a man of limited education, but of strong common sense, then making no religious profession. but a reader of his Bible, was gloriously converted while tramping out wheat in his barn. His conversion resulted in the establishment of a Baptist congregation in that neighborhood and the building of the Baptist church there. The Baptists in that locality having previously worshiped at Windsor, where a Baptist church was previously built, and then had a man by the name of Taylor as its pastor.

We have distinct recollection of the religious services in that locality that winter. We attended the meetings at Franklin, Milton, Windsor, and the Leiter meetings in the Zeiter church. My father, mother, older brother and myself were among the number uniting that winter with the Franklin church. That winter the Washingtonian movement was active in the country, and two of the original Baltimore Washingtonians held a temperance meeting in the Milton church. Many signed their pledge and the total abstinence movement received a grand impulse in that neighborhood. Whisky was banished from many farm houses, in which it had long been a a common drink. The old Gongwer and McBride distilleries lost patrons to the gain of sobriety, morals and happiness of the community.