Lynchburg Covered Bridge

Tradition has It thnt Thomas Johns was the first to settle within the present bounds of Clark township. He is said to have located on the Bast fork, about three miles southenHt of the present site of Martinsville. Nothing about the place of bis birth or of the date of his settlement can be ascertained. However, it Is known that Isaac Miller settled about three miles east of Martinsville. The story is told that Mr. Miller, needing a hoe. Journeyed sixteen miles on foot through the forests to New Market In Highland county to make his purchase. Joseph McKibben also settled about the same time In the same neighborhood. In 1806. John Wright came from North Carolina, bought the present site of Martinsville, for two dollars an acre, and settled there. He was mainly Instrumental in the laylng-out of that village and erected the first bouse within Its limits. A daughter of bis was the first person to be Interred In the Friend's graveyard at Martinsville. By the year 1808, Samuel McCulloch had settled on East fork, four miles southeast of Martinsville, and Isaac Van Meter and John Jones near the present site of Lynchburg.

Passage source: The History of Clinton County, Ohio : Containing a History of the County; Its Townships, Cities, Towns ... General and Local Statistics; Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men; History of the Northwest Territory; History of Ohio .., published 1915.

In the first days of the settlement the meal for bread for tbe community was ground on a hand-mill owned by Joseph Moon. Sr. A short time afterwards. Isaac Nordyke built a borse-mlll five or six miles away from the Martinsville settlement. The next opportunities were to take two or three bushels of grnln on horseback to the mill on Cowan's creek or the East fork. When the water was too low for these mills to operate, a Journey of three or four days was required to reach the mills on the Miami. The first mill to be built within tbe confines of the township was a saw and grist-mill built by William Leagitt on the East fork, followed by Isaac Jones, near Lynchburg, and the third was built by Aaron Ruse on the same stream, between Leagitt's and Jones'. William Patterson built tbe fourth mill in tbe township on tbe East fork of Todd's fork, half a mile northwest of Martinsville. A cardlng-mlll. run by oxen on an Inclined wheel, was built about 1827. by Christopher Hiatt. John Lytle later erected another cardingmachine near tbe present site of Martinsville, as did also Curtis Jackson. The first mill within tbe township to use steam power was built about a mile west of that town In 1833 or 1834. Isaac Pidgeon applied steam to a carding and fulling machine, to which he attached apparatus for grinding corn a short time later. Two other steam-mills were built later - one known as Kester's. about two miles northeast of Martinsville, which was removed several years later to Farmer's Station: the other, in Martinsville, built with money raised by subscription for that purpose. The mill was built and operated for a while by Angus McCoy and Daniel Carey. This mill was destroyed by fire about the year 1860, while owned by Jehu Darls. who erected another building.

Passage source: The History of Clinton County, Ohio : Containing a History of the County; Its Townships, Cities, Towns ... General and Local Statistics; Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men; History of the Northwest Territory; History of Ohio .., published 1915.

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 Clark Township - 7,004 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.