Thornport, Ohio

Thornport was laid out, a large hotel] and warehouse were speedily constructed, and quite a little town sprung up as if by magic, Phings went on swimmingly for a season, and the strange craft plied regularly between Thornport and the Feeder, on the Ohio and Erie Canal, carrying out the surplus grain products of the township and returning with salt, groceries, hardware, dry goods, and other commodities. But just as the only ''seaport" of Perry promised to be a substantial success, if not a' beauty and a joy forever," the wicked floods of adversity poured in and ateheed all the rising hopes of promise. One day as a canalboat was being towed in slowly through the delightful, placid waters, and all earth and sky apparently as lovely and serene as the blue waters of the lake itself, a storm suddenly loomed up in the northwestern sky, and almost in a twinkling rain descended in torrents, forked lightnings flashed, and the thunder rolled and jarred until even the big catfish at the bottom of the lake were stunned. Worse than all for the hardy seafarers, the winds blew a fearful hurricane, the waves of the agitated lake tossed and rolled around as fearful as the waters of the Atlantic in mid ocean. There could be but one result. The frail fleet was not prepared to weather such a gale, and the whole concern was wrecked, the boatmen thankful that they had escaped a watery grave. It is

Passage source: 1883 History Perry County, Ohio, published 1883.

Swartz, Georce W., grocer; post office, Thornville, Ohio; born 1828, in Reading township, Perry county, Ohio; ason of John Swartz, whose wife's maiden name was Susan Jordan, both natives of Rocking- ham SERN Virginia. One brother, John, lived in Jacksontown, Ohio. Another, David, resides in Wyandot county, Ohio; post office, Fowler's Station. A sister, now Mrs. Sarah, wife of John Shook, post office, Little Sandusky, Ohio, was first the wife of E. Bowers, of the One Hundred and Twenty-sixth O. V. I., Sixth Army Corps, who was lost in service. Father Swartz died in his sixty-third year, but Mother Swartz is still living, near the age of seventy, with her daughter, Mrs, Shook. George W. Swartz first married Matilda, daughter of William Clumb, in 1849. By this marriage he became the father of Margaret, 'wife of Jefferson Cover, of Thorn, and Sarah J., wife of John Clark, Junction met Ohio, a son of Allen Clark, near there; a third daughter is Miss Susan, at home. After the death of his first wife, he was married to Miss Josephine Highland, of Mercer county, Ohio, and by this marriage there is one son, Morris Swartz. About six years after his last marriage, he became blind, in the fall of 1867. Ilis service in the army had much to do with his misfortune. He was finally placed on the pension rolls, and in 1868, he, with only $2.20 in cash, began business in Thornport, as a grocer and retailer of liquors, and has provided himself with a neat home, and lives in comfort. His head is twenty-four inches; weight, two hundred and twenty pounds; and height, five feet nine inches in stockings. Heisa grandson of Phenus Swartz, a native of Germany, and inherits a conk shell that called to dinner prior to the Revolution. This grandfather served this country in the Revolution, and died near Wooster, Ohio, thirty-five or forty years since. His maternal grandfather, Adam Jordan, was also a fifer in the Revolutionary War, and drew pension ; his widow drew afterwards, and after her marriage to a second husband. An uncle, Silas Swartz, served in the Mexican War, from the State of Illinois. An uncle, Andrew Swartz, of Stark, Illinois, is still living. ;

Passage source: 1883 History Perry County, Ohio, published 1883.

'Mrs. White died, and her remains were interred by her kindred who were buried in the M. E. Cemetery at Thornville. When her distinguished husband died, his remains were brought from Newark and laid by her side. The long funeral procession that wound around the mar- 'n of the Reservoir, and up the Thornville hill, was the grandest pageant of the kind that, up to that time at least, had ever been witnessed in the county. White's political friends fairly, worshiped him, and his olitical foes hated and dreaded him. But all political asperities were laid aside, when the grim messenger came and took the gifted young orator and statesman beyond the reach of partisan warfare and political 'honors. It is worthy a note, that the remains of the great Whig ora-: tor came to rest in a town and township so overwhelmingly opposed to him in politics. But the grave banished all resentments, and the ashes of the distinguished statesman sleep quietly beneath the plain, white marble stone, which stands at the highest point in the cemetery, adjacent to the M. E. Church. In addition to name, date of birth and death, the stone is inscribed with the following simple but impressive sentence: 'We all must tread the road to death." Thornport was laid out by W. W. Talbott, in 1839. A large hotel, warehouse and other buildings, were erected; but when the ' Licking Summit Reservoir improvement'? went down, they all went to decay, and the place became a mere fishing point. Upon the completion of. the Newark, Somerset and Straitsville Railroad,in 1871, the town brightened up again, and quite a number of new houses has been built. The population by the census of 1880, was one hundred and _ twentyfive. It is a station on the Newark, Somerset and Straitsville Railroad, and is also situated along side of the Reservoir.

Passage source: 1883 History Perry County, Ohio, published 1883.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Thorn Township - it names this place 2 more 2 times.