Polk Township

Polk Township

The first man to locate in Polk township was Joseph Elliott. He came out in 1810 and stopped in a sort of pole pen with his family a few months, when he abandoned his claim, which was taken up by Samuel Gray in 181 1. He was quite a distanee from any other settlement and fearing he might be killed by roving bands of Indians who were skulking around, went back to Kentucky, but returned again with his family in 181 2, when he contined to reside here until his death.

George Preston and Thomas Elowers came in 181 3. The latter settled on top of the knobs near the point still known as "Flower's Gap," through which most all the teaming was done from central and northern Washington county to the Falls. A man named Giles, a hermit, located on the knobs about 181 5. He lived in a bark and brush wigwam very near the county line. He was very exclusive, sought communication with no one. He would absent himself from his wigwam for several days at a time and then suddenly make his api>earance again. Strange stories were told regarding his former life. Some concluded he was .an ex-pirate, but nothing that he could be induced to tell revealed anything of his early history. He lived mostly by hunting and fishing. After remaining thus secluded for a number of years he suddenly disappeared and nothing more was ever heard of him. For a long time the spot was said to be haunted. The only thing Giles ever told was that he had at one time served under Napoleon.

After 1812 the settlement of the county was rapid. Jedediah Carter settled on section 19, in 1S14, and Jacob Bierley on section 31, a year later. In 1816 John and Jacob Tash settled on Blue river near where Pekin now is. Isaac Davis settled where old Pekin was laid out. Previous to 1817 the following settlers came in : Ransem Dudley stopped on the upper part of Bine ri\er; Richard Morris on a quarter adjoining Dudley's; Allen Peeler on section 10: John A. Hurst settled near I'lower's Gap: Fred Sonders on section 18; James Wilson on section 7; John Lockenour on the northwest quarter section of the township; John Skelton on section 7; Leonard Sides

The Tashs and the Elrods have been prominent people in the township ever since its first settlement. They were both from North Carolina. Jacob Tash came to the county in 1816. He died in 1881, aged ninety-one. He had numerous descendants. At his death his offspring then living consisted of seven children, fifty-four grandchildren, who, together with great-grandchildren and their progeny numbered one thousand one hundred and thirtyfive descendants. Tash voted for every Democratic candidate for president from James Monroe down to and including General Hancock.

A Pioneer Woman

Probably the oldest li\'ing settler of Washington county at the present time (1916) is Elizabeth (.Sides) Lockenour, of Franklin township. She was born in what is now Polk township, January 31. 1818, only two miles from the spot where she has made her home for more than three-quarters of a century. Her parents came to the county in 1816, from North Carolina. She was married to Amos Lockenour on February i, 1838. At the age of ten years she attended a school taught by John Daly in a log cabm on what is known as the Laban Stewart place." She attended three sessions of winter school, completing her elementary education in the old Webster "spelling book." Her childhood home, like almost every one in that early day, was a sort of general manufacturing establishment, arranged in accordance with the natural law of necessity and demand. They all possessed the necessary implements to work up the flax and wool into homespun, which all then wore.

.\s to such events as occurred under her personal observation from seventy-five to ninety years ago Mrs. Lockenour is more accurately versed than any other individual living in the county. She is said not to have missed a single meal for more than se\enty-five years. She enjo_\'s nothing better than to spend an occasional hour with friends rehearsing incidents that happened in her girlhood days, when improved farms were few and far between and when bear, deer, tnrke\' and wohes still were numerous in the land. She tells how, when still a small girl, she was out digging ginseng and discovered and cai^ured ;i little f;iwn, only a few da\s old. which she c;trricd home and rai-cd ;is a bou-^eliold pet. She tells nian\ -stories of how the used to Iimw 1 about their cibiti of nights and of their depredatii-^iis u]ion the --heeiifoM. She .il-o telK of an exciting incident when -i huge bear was chased by hunters and dogs through their front yard and captured only a short distance from their home. How her father used to shoot deer and wild turkey most any day around the edge of the clearing, the choicest bits of the meat being dried for future use. Mrs. Lockenour joined the Baptist church early in life at old Elam. This church was finally dissolved and most of the members united with the old Zoar church, which also was finally disbanded.

The last wild deer to be killed in the county was shot on February 5, 1873, in Polk township. Another was killed the fall preceding in the White river hills in Jefi:erson township. These were undoubtedly the last of their race.

Up to 1820 everybody had to go a long distance to mill. That year Fred Lowe built a horse mill and did a thriving business. It consisted of a huge cog wheel, some twelve feet in diameter, mounted on a shaft somewhat higher than a man's head, and to this shaft was attached a sweep to which the horse was hitched. The large wheel worked in a small cog pinion which was attached to the buhr that did the grinding. Ransom Dudley afterward purchased this mill and ran it for several years. There was a stump mill erected a mile south of Boston, built about 1825, which was kept in repair and operated up to 1900, possibly the only one of its kind in existence at that date in the whole country.

John Souders built a saw- and grist-mill on Blue river about 1832. It was afterward owned and operated by William Jackson and Harris Carter. It was operated up to 1850 or thereabouts when a freshet washed the dam out and it was never replaced. Joel Wilson built a saw-mill well up the ri\er about 1835, which was operated twenty-five years. In 1820 John Skelton opened the only tan-yard that was ever in the township, which he operated a few years and abandoned. Paul Acres had a distillery between 1830-35 on section 22. Jedediah Carter had one on his farm about 1830. Richard Morris had one near Pekin as early as 1820. Joel Wilson was the first man to operate a "ground-hog" threshing machine in the township, about 1833. All there was to the separator was a cylinder made out of a log about two feet in diameter and two and one-half feet^long with spikes made by the blacksmith driven into it for teeth. It was considered a grand improvement over the flail.

about 1830, in a little log house on section 14, on Blue river. People those days had little money, most of the bartering being done with jjelts and bacon. Harris Carter had a store as earh- as 1835 on the farm in later years 'owned by Eli Elrod. John Motsinger owned a store a short distance east of Farabee, which he operated for several years up to the close of the Civil War. Joel Wil.son had one about the same time near Zoar church. Butler \\'}:,tt had a store and operated the Blue River postoffice, in the east end of the ^ownship, for a number of years. After the building of the railroad through the township, in 1850, the country stores gave way to those started at Pekin and Farabee.

Town Of Old Pekin

Pekin was laid out in what is now Pulk township, near the Mutton fork of Blue river, in section 30, November 15, 1831, by Christian Bixler. It was not surveyed until October, 1837, when John I. Morrison laid off one hundred and sixty-seven lots. It was a stopping point for stages where passengers were halted for meals and where horses were exchanged. Among the first merchants weie Gabriel Peavler. D. W. Bierly and J. F. Persise. The latter kept the first ta\ern which he operated until the railroad was finished tn Salem, when he moved to Salem. George M. Johnson kept a store in Old Pekin for quite a while in later years. In an early day large ([uantities of liquor were sold here, two saloons were operated and did a thriving business. When the railroad was built the station was established north of the river on account of its being level land, there being considerable grade in the track at the old town, which gradually went down and by act of the county commissioners in 1854 the town was declared vacant.

A general store is now run by Johnson & Sons at Old Pekin. O. I.. Cauble runs the grist-mill just west of the old town. C. P.. Wyatt has a general store at Blue River ; George W' ilson at Shiloh ; G. W. Jackson at Daisv Hill and J. D. Bowman at Bowman.

Eakly Teachers

The first teacher in the township was a Mr. Cooper. How well or how long he taught there are no means of knowing. .\11 schools then were made up bv subscription and teachers were hired by the patrons, so there were no records kept concerning school affairs. Xext in order was John Elliott. He was pronounced a good man as well as teacher and was regu- larly employed in different parts of the township for a number of years. Larkin Packwood was remembered as a very early teacher. Dempsey Trowbridge labored hard in the school room and was long remembered by early pupils. Daniel Sullivan taught several winters and Edward Langdon had a reputation as a good teacher that extended outside the township.