Ashland City (part 10 of 57)

At the beginning of the assault Kate fainted. When she regained consciousness she realized that Ruffner had been killed, and, seeing them assault her aged parents, she again fell in a swoon, unconsciousness kindly veiling from her sight the horrible spectacle. I, too, would fain turn a page rather than further prolong this story of blood, but history is remorseless and must be written whether its narration brings smiles or tears.

When Kate recovered and realized the awful butchery that had been committed, her grief gave vent in heart piercing shrieks and lamentations whose intensity should have reached the calloused hearts of even those inhuman savages. But instead she was ordered by her relentless foes to give them her father's money and the valuables of the family, and as she complied with their demand, her bethrothal ring was rudely taken from her finger. But they did not then spare her life, for Kanotche, raising his tomahawk, buried it in her brains, and she fell upon the hearth, mingling her life's blood with that of her parents.

The account of this tra'gedy was given some time later by Kanotche himself while he was confined as a prisoner in the jail at New Philadelphia.

The principal motive which led to the murder of the Zeimers was that of robbery, as they were regarded as quite wealthy and were known to possess considerable money.

When Philip returned with his party, nature had already thrown her sable mantle of night over the valley. Except for the occasional hooting of an owl there was almost death-like stillness. No breath of wind stirred the leaves of the forest, and the stars shown with a pale, flickering light.

As the party neared the cabin no light was seen and all was qniet and still within. After a consultation, Mr. Copus advanced alone to the rear of the house and tried to peer through its four-light window, but nothing could be seen in the darkness within. He then cautiously crept upon his hands and knees around to the front of the building, and finding the door ajar, endeavored to push it further open, but found something against it like a body, on the inside. He then placed his hands through the opening of the door and found that the floor was covered with blood.

Returning to the party, he thought it best not to tell Philip what he had discovered, fearing that the Indians might still be in the house waiting the son's return. Enjoining silence he led them quietly away, and when at a safe distance, told them he feared the family had been taken prisoners, and that they had better go to the blockhouse for assistance.

Philip's anxiety for the safety of the family made him want to rush recklessly inside the house to learn their fate, but his friends restrained him and the weary, groping walk through the darkness to the blockhouse was commenced. A halt was made at a Mr. Hill's, where the town of Lucas now stands, and upon the break of day they proceeded to the Behm blockhouse on the Rocky Fork, where the first settlement in the county was made, and there got a detachment of troops and some settlers, who accompanied them back to the Zeimer cabin, where they found the dead and mutilated body of the brave Ruffner in the yard, and those of the family inside the house.

The grief of Philip was so great that many of the strong men present were moved to tears by witnessing his sorrow. Father, mother and sister all gone, and he left alone ! Would that he had shared their fate with them, was his wish. Kind friends tried to console him, while others dug graves and performed the last office that the living can do for the dead. They then returned to the blockhouse.

Philip gave his service to his country during the remainder of the war. Several years later he sold the farm to a Mr. Culler, whose descendants own it today, and upon the site of the ill-fated cabin a monument now stands, erected to the memory of the Zeimer family and Martin Ruffner who fell in their defense.

The Indians who committed these crimes were stragglers from the Greentown tribe, who returned for rapine and murder. Of the five who constituted the party, Ruffner killed two, whose bodies were carried away, as was the custom among the Indians, and the three survivors were afterward captured about five miles below New Philadelphia, on what is now called Fern Island, a picnic resort on the C., L. & W. railway, near the Royal Clay works. The exciting and sensational events which followed their capture will be given later on.

Kate Zeimer was described by the writer's father, who lived a few miles further down the valley and often saw her, as being a beautiful girl, a brunette, rather stout in build, and of a cheerful disposition. She was engaged to be married to a man who lived near her former home in the east.

The month of September is regarded by many as being the most charming of the year. The hazy halo of the atmosphere with its languorous warmth are conducive to day dreaming. And there were days of dreaming, no doubt, for the beautiful Kate whose betrothed lover was soon to come to claim her as his bride. Days of roaming in the leafy forest or rowing upon the crystal lake; days of watching the crimson sunset shining redly through the darkness of the branches and glittering away as golden threads to a paradise too sweet to name ; days when love seemed to fill the air and make music sweet in the rustle of the leaves; days when Kate wondered vaguely whether she was not dreaming happy dreams, dreams too enhancing to last, and they were for instead of bridal robe, the winding sheet was soon to be her habiliment.

The news of the murder of the Zeimer family caused the settlers to go to the blockhouse for safety, and nearly every cabin was left tenantless, and the country was filled with alarm, and not without cause, for other deeds of blood were soon to follow.

Pursuit And Capture

The massacre at the Zeimer cabin aroused the feelings of the people, not only in Richland, but in other counties, almost to frenzy and companies were organized at Wooster, New Philadelphia and other places to protect the settlers.

Of the five Indians who committed the Zeimer-Ruffner murders, two had been killed by the heroic Ru finer in his defence of the Zeimer family ere he himself fell in the murderous assault of the savages. Some weeks later the three surviving Indians of that murderous gang, after having been seen lurking near Odell's lake, were captured at Fern Island, five miles down the Tuscarawas river from New Philadelphia.

The Tuscarawas is, perhaps, the most poem-inspiring river in the state. It courses through one of Ohio's most fertile valleys with an ease and grandeur that is both restful and inspiring. As rays of light shine upon its dark waters they reflect emerald tints as though the bottom was paved with precious stones.

But the Indians had not sought that locality for its romantic beauty, nor because the waters of the Tuscarawas were wont to dazzle one with their diamond-like gleams, but for the protection the dense forests of that secluded isle would give them. The mark of Cain was upon them and the avenging Nemesis was following their trail. In that forest-embowered isle stood armies of ferns with nodding plumes and crimson falchions and among these the tired savages lay down to sleep.

Captain McConnel, hearing that Indians were upon the Island, marched his company over the "Plains" and when the destination was reached he left his men on the bank and swam his horse across the eastern branch of the river and, surprising the redskins, took them prisoners. On reaching the company with his prisoners, some of the men suggested that the Indians should be put to death. "Not until they have a trial according to law," said the captain. The prisoners were then marched up past the old site of Shoenbrun, to New Philadelphia and there incarcerated in jail.

When the news of this capture reached Wooster the excitement there became intense and Captain Mullen marched his company to New Philadelphia to take summary vengeance upon the captives.

Henry Laffer, then sheriff of Tuscarawas county, called upon the citizens tor turn out and protect the prisoners, which they refused to do. John C. Wright, an attorney from Steubenville, was in town, and volunteered his services to the sheriff. Mr. Wright was afterwards the judge of the court of that circuit. Captain McConnel, Sheriff Laffer and Mr. Wright pleaded with the attacking party for the lives of the Indians and declared if the prisoners were molested it would be after they had walked over their dead bodies.

The .attack was finally abandoned and the company returned to Wooster. While in jail there, Kanotche made a confession to the sheriff, detailing the Zeimer-Ruffner murder, and the part he tooPin the same, admitting that he had killed Kate and that the principal motive for the crime was robbery. The other prisoners did not confess and Kanotche refused to either implicate or exonerate them.

The Indians were kept in jail until Governor Meigs arrived in New Philadelphia, when they were turned over to the military authorities and were conducted by Lieutenant Shane of the regular army to the western part of the state, where, under the terms of a cartel, they, as prisoners of war, were released, the charge of murder not being placed against them.

While enroute, Lieutenant Shane, with his troops and prisoners, stopped over night at Newark, where an attempt was made by two recruits to buy drugs to poison the Indians, which shows the deep-seated feeling then existing against them on account of the atrocities and murders they had committed.

Returning again to the Blackfork settlement, to the locality where James Copus lived, on the east side of the stream, about midway between Mifflin and the old Indian village of Greentown, we are upon the memorable grounds where the sanguinary conflict took place between a large patty of attacking Indians and Mr. Copus and a " corporal's guard" of soldiers. As we look about the place the various scenes of that bloody battle come up from the history of the past like a panoramic view before us. But few can walk indifferent and unmoved over fields of bloodshed and strife and the lapse of time only serves to enhance the memories of other years. And these are heightened by the thought that the relatives of many of our neighbors and friends shared in those conflicts.

Of the old-time families and their descendants- of that historic neighborhood, the names of the following are recalled: Solomon Vail, William Kuntz, G. H.

Mowry, A. Bowen, Samuel Wilson, Mr. Syler, Manuel Charles, George Bittinger, Philip Culler, Sebastian Culler, Mrs. Martha King, Harrison Hoover, W. Milligan, John Simpson, Simon Whitemyer, Mrs. Barrick, Curt Greenewald, William Lattimer, Mr. Giffen, Mrs. Harland and A. Milligan, the latter owning and residing on the Copus place.

The name Zeimer was pronouunced by the Pennsylvania German settlers something like Zemer, and McGaw, in his romance, changed it to Seymour. The government deed was to Philip Zeimer and when the land was transferred to Mr. Culler, the deed was signed by Philip Zeimer and Elizabeth Zeimer, his wife.

Philip Zeimer married a Pickaway county woman soon after the close of the war, and the deed for the land in Richland (now Ashland) county, was executed May 1, 1815, before Thomas Mace, a justice of the peace in Pickaway county.

Captain James Cunningham, who had charge of the troops at the burial of the Zeimers, dispatched couriers in all directions to inform the settlers of what had occurred and to advise them to go to the blockhouses for protection. Captain Cunningham took in situations intuitively and was prompt and intrepid in action. He was the son of an Irishman who served in the Revolutionary war and helped to consecrate the battle field of Brandywine with his blood.

While our German citizens are no less brave and might more tenaciously hold a fort or endure a siege, the Irish have that dash and daring which wins applause and their bravery is equaled only by their chivalry. Moore, the great Irish poet, paid a deserved tribute to the honor of Erin 's sons in his ballad, which is as immortal as it is beautiful :

All the settlers of the Blackfork, James Copus and family included, had taken refuge in the blockhouses. But Mr. Copus soon became restless of confinement in the Beam blockhouse and wanted to return home. He believed the Indians were all gone, but if any were lurking around, he felt confident they would do them no harm as he was their friend. When he stated that he intended to return to his cabin Captain Martin, the commandant at the blockhouse, protested against him taking such a step and told him he would endanger the lives of himself and family by doing so. Mr. Copus was a man of decided opinions and on the morning of the fourth day after the Zeimer murder, started with his wife and seven children to their forest home, a detail of nine soldiers going with them. Captain Martin, who was going out with a scouting party, promised to call and spend the night there. Finding no trace of the Indians and reconnoitermg farther than they had intended to go, they did not get to the Copus home until noon the next day, too late to avert the fate that had fallen upon that household.

When the Copus party had arrived at the cabin they found things undisturbed, with the stock grazing in the fields. The soldiers indulged in athletic sports during the day and, seeing no signs of Indians, felt no uneasiness for the safety of the family. However, Sarah, the twelve year old daughter of Mr. Copus, going into the field for potatoes for dinner, saw some Indians lurking there. This she did not tell, knowing her father did not believe they were near and, being a very strict man, would punish her for trying to raise an alarm.

As evening drew near, the sun gave a strange, weird aspect to the sky that seemed ominous of ill. Its rays melted into a transparent sheen that stretched over both hill and valley, casting a foreboding aspect upon the earth, which was remembered and commented upon in after years by those who witnessed the phenomenon.

Mr. Copus became apprehensive of danger and insisted upon the soldiers sleeping within the cabin, but, the night beiri£ warm, they preferred the barn, a few rods distant, but promised to come to the cabin at the morning's dawn.

As the night advanced, Mr. Copus ' fears increased and the intervening hours were weary, sleepless, restless ones, and he told his family of his forebodings of dangers. Except the barking of the dogs, silence reigned without, but the death angel hovered over the valley.

Historical Sketch Of The Life And Work Of

Upon the occasion of the unveiling of the monument erected to the memory of Johnny Appleseed, in the Sherman-IIeineman park at Mansfield, Ohio, November 9, 1900, A. J. Baughman, secretary of the Richland County Historical Society, and the author of this work, gave an address on the work, life and death of John Chapman, commonly called "Johnny Appleseed."

John Chapman was born at Springfield, Massachusetts, in the year 1775. Of his early life but little is known, as he was reticent about himself, but his half-sister who came west at a later period stated that Johnny had, when a boy shown a fondness for natural scenery and often wandered from home in quest of plants and flowers and that he liked to listen to the birds singing and to gaze at the stars. Chapman's passion for planting apple seeds and cultivating nurseries caused him to be called "Appleseed John," which was finally changed to "Johnny Appleseed," and by that name he was called and known everywhere.

The year Chapman came to Ohio has been variously stated, but to say it was one hundred years ago would not be far from the mark. An uncle of the late Rosella Rice lived in Jefferson county when Chapman made his first advent in Ohio and one day saw a queer looking craft coming down the Ohio river above Steubenville. It consisted of two canoes lashed together, and its crew was one man - an angular, oddly dressed person - and when he landed he said his name was Chapman, and that his cargo consisted of sacks of apple seeds and that he intended to plant nurseries.

Chapman's first nursery was planted nine miles below Steubenville, up a narrow valley, from the Ohio river, at Brilliant, formerly called Lagrange, opposite Wellsburg, West Virginia. After planting a number of nurseries along the river front, he extended his work into the interior of the state - into Richland county - where he made his home for many years. He was enterprising in his way and planted nurseries in a number of counties, which required him to travel hundreds of miles to visit and cultivate them yearly, as was his custom. His usual price for a tree was a "tip penny-bit," but if the settler hadn't money, Johnny would either give him credit or take old clothes for pay. He generally located his nurseries along streams, planted his seeds, surrounded the patch with a brush fence, and when the pioneers came, Johnny had young fruit trees ready for them. He extended his operations to the Maumee country and finally into Indiana, where the last years of his life were spent. He revisited Richland county the last time in 1843, and called at my father's, but as I was only five years old at the time I do not remember him.

My parents, (in about 1827-35), planted two orchards with trees they bought of Johnny, and he often called at their house, as he was a frequent caller at the homes of the settlers. My mother's father, Captain James Cunningham, settled in Richland county in 1808, and was acquainted with Johnny for many years, and I often heard him tell, in his Irish-witty way, many amusing anecdotes and incidents of Johnny's life and of his peculiar and eccentric ways.

Chapman was fairly educated, well read and was polite and attentive in manner and was chaste in conversation. His face was pleasant in expression, and he was kind and generous in disposition. His nature was a deeply religious one, and his life was blameless among his fellow men. He regarded comfort more than style and thought it wrong to spend money for clothing to make a fine appearance. He usually wore a broad-brimmed hat. He went barefooted, not only in the summer, but often in cold weather, and a coffee sack, with neck and armholes cut in it, was worn as a coat. He was about five feet nine inches in height, rather spare in build but was large boned and sinewy. His eyes were blue, but darkened with animation.

For a number of years Johnny lived in a little cabin near Perrysville (then in Richland county), but later he made his home in Mansfield with his halfsister, a Mrs. Broome, who lived on the Leesville road (now West Fourth street) near the present residence of R. G. Hancock. The parents of George C. Wise then lived near what is now the corner of West Fourth street and Penn avenue and the Broome and Wise families were friends and neighbors. George C. Wise Hiram R. Smith, Mrs. J. H. Cook and others remember "Johnny Appleseed" quite well. Mrs. Cook was, perhaps, better acquainted with "Johnny" than any other living person today, for the Wiler House was often his stopping place. The homes of Judge Parker, Mr. Newman and others were ever open to receive "Johnny" as a guest.

But the man who best understood this peculiar character was the late Dr. William Bushnell, father of our respected fellow townsman, the Hon. M. B.

Bushnell, the donor of this beautiful commemorative monument, and by whose kindness and liberality we are here today. With Dr. Bushnell 's scholastic attainments and intuitive knowledge of character he was enabled to know and appreciate Chapman's learning and the noble traits of his head and heart.

When upon his journeys Chapman usually camped out. He never killed anything, not even for the purpose of obtaining food. He carried a kit of cooking utensils with him, among which was a mush pan, which he sometimes wore as a hat. When he called at a house, his custom was to lie upon the floor with his kit for a pillow and after conversing with the family a short time, .would then read from a Swendenborgian book or tract, and proceed to explain and extol the religious views he so zealously believed, and whose teachings he so faithfully carried out in his everyday life and conversation. His mission was one of peace and good will and he never carried a weapon, not even for self defense. The Indians regarded him as a great ''Medicine Man," and his life seemed to be a charmed one, as neither savage man nor wild beast would harm him.

Chapman was not a medicant. He was never in indigent circumstances, for he sold thousands of nursery trees every year. Had he been avaricious, his estate, instead of being worth a few thousand might have been tens of thousands at his death.

"Johnny Appleseed's" name was John Chapman - not Jonathan - and this is attested by the muniments of his estate, and also from the fact that he had a half-brother (a deaf mute) whose Christian name was Jonathan.

Chapman never married and rumor said that a love affair in the old Bay state was the cause of his living the life of a celibate and recluse. Johnny himself never explained why he led such a singular life except to remark that he had a mission, which was understood to be to plant nurseries and to make converts to the doctrines taught by Emanuel Swendenborg. He died at the home of William Worth in St. Joseph township, Allen county, Indiana, March 11, 1847, and was buried in David Archer's graveyard a few miles north of Fort Wayne, near the foot of a natural mound. His name is engraved as a senotaph upon one of the monuments erected in Mifflin township, Ashland county, this state, to the memory of the pioneers. Those monuments were unveiled with imposing ceremonies in the presence of over six thousand people September 15, 1882, the seventieth anniversary of the Copus tragedy.

During the war of 1812 Chapman often warned the settlers of approaching danger. The following incident is given : When the news spread that Levi

Jones had been killed by the Indians and that Wallace Reed and others had probably met the same fate, excitement ran high and the few families which comprised the population of Mansfield sought the protection of the blockhouse, situated on the public square, as it was supposed the savages were coming in force from the north to overrun the country and to murder the settlers.

There were no troops at the blockhouse at the time and as an attack was considered imminent, a consultation was held and it was decided to send a messenger to Captain Douglas, at Mt. Vernon, for assistance. But who would undertake the hazardous journey? It was evening, and the rays of the sunset had faded away and the stars were beginning to shine in the darkening sky, and the trip of thirty miles must be made in the night over a new cut road

A volunteer was asked for and a tall, lank man said demurely: "I'll go. " He was bareheaded, barefooted and was unarmed. His manner was meek and you had to look the second time into his clear, blue eyes to fully fathom the courage and determination shown in their depths. There was an expression in his countenance such as limners try to portray in their pictures of saints. It is scarcely necessary to state that the volunteer was "Johnny Appleseed" for many of you have heard your fathers tell how unostentatiously "Johnny" stood as "a watchman on the walls of Jezreel, " to guard and protect the settlers from their savage foes.

The journey to Mt. Vernon was a sort of a Paul Revere mission. Unlike Paul's, "Johnny's" was made on foot, barefooted, over a rough road, but one that in time led to fame.

"Johnny" would rap on the doors of the few cabins along the route, warn the settlers of the impending danger and advise them to flee to the blockhouse. Upon arriving at Mt. Vernon, he aroused the garrison and informed the commandant of his mission. Surely, figuratively speaking, for so expeditiously was the trip made that at sunrise the next morning troops from Mt. Vernon arrived at the Mansfield blockhouse, accompanied by "Johnny" who had made the round trip of sixty miles between sunset and sunrise.

About a week before Chapman's death, while at Fort Wayne, he heard that cattle- had broken into his nursery in St. Joseph and were destroying his trees, and he started on foot to look after his property. The distance was about twenty miles and the fatigue and exposure of the journey were too much for his physical condition, then enfeebled by age; and at the eventide he applied at the home of a Mr. Worth for lodging for the night. Mr. Worth was a native Buckeye and had lived in Richland county when a boy and when he learned that his oddly dressed caller was "Johnny Appleseed" gave him a cordial welcome. "Johnny" declined going to the supper table, but partook of a bowl of bread and milk.

The day had been cold and raw with occasional flurries of snow, but in the evening the clouds cleared away and the sun shone warm and bright as it sank in the western sky. "Johnny" noticed this beautiful sunset, an augury of the spring and flowers so soon to come, and sat on the doorstep and gazed with wistful eyes toward the west. Perhaps this herald of the springtime, the season in which nature is resurrected from the death of winter, caused him to look with prophetic eyes to the future and contemplate that glorious event of which Christ is the resurrection and the life. Upon reentering the house, he declined the bed offered him for the night, preferring a quilt and pillow on the floor, but asked permission to hold family worship and read, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven," "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God, ' ' etc.

History Of -Ashland County

remembered by that family. He prayed for all sorts and conditions of men; that the way of righteousness might be made clear unto them and that saving grace might be freely given to all nations. He asked that the Holy Spirit might guide and govern all who profess and call themselves Christians and that all those who were afflicted in mind, body or estate, might be comforted and relieved, and that all might at last come to the knowledge of the truth and in the world to come have happiness and everlasting life. Not only the words of prayer, but the pathos of his voice made a deep impression upon those present.

In the morning Chapman was found in a high state of fever, pneumonia having developed during the night, and the physician called said he was beyond medical aid, but inquired particularly about his religious belief, and remarked that he had never seen a dying man so perfectly calm, for upon his wan face there was an expression of happiness and upon his pale lips there was a smile of joy, as though he was communing with loved ones who had come to meet and comfort him and to soothe his weary spirit in his dying moments. And as his eyes shone with the beautiful light supernal, God touched him with His finger and beckoned him home.

Thus ended the life of the man who was not only a hero, but a benefactor as well ; and his spirit is now at rest in the Paradise of the Redeemed, and in the fullness of time, clothed again in the old body made anew, will enter into the Father's house in which there are many mansions. In the words of his own faith, his bruised feet will be healed, and he shall walk on the gold-paved streets of the New Jerusalem of which he so eloquently preached. It has been very appropriately said that although years have come and gone since his death, the memory of his good deeds live anew every springtime in the beauty and fragrance of the blossoms of the apple trees he loved so well.

"Johnny Appleseed's" death was in harmony with his unostentatious blameless life. It is often remarked, "How beautiful is the Christian life;" yea, but far more beautiful is the Christian's death, when "the fashion of his countenance is altered," as he passes from the life here to the life beyond.

What changes have taken place in the years that have intervened between the "Johnny Appleseed" period and that of today! It has been said that the lamp of civilization far surpasses that of Aladdin's. Westward the star of empire took its way and changed the forests into fields of grain and the waste places into gardens of flowers, and towns and cities have been built with marvelous handiwork. But in this march of progress, the struggles and hardships of the early settlers must not be forgotten. Let us not only record the history but the legends of the pioneer period; garner its facts and its fictions; its tales and traditions and collect even the crumbs that fall from the table of the feast.

Today, the events which stirred the souls and tried the courage of the pioneers seem to come out of the dim past and glide as panoramic views before me. A number of the actors in those scenes were of my "kith and kin" who have long since crossed "over the river" in their journey to the land where Enoch and Elijah are pioneers, while I am left to exclaim :

While the scenes of those pioneer days are vivid to us on history's page, future generations may look upon them as the phantasmagoria of a dream.

At seventy-two years of age, forty-six of which had been devoted to his self-imposed mission, John Chapman ripened into death as naturally and as beautifully as the apple seeds of his planting had grown into trees, had budded into blossoms and ripened into fruit. The monument which is now to be unveiled is a flitting memorial to the man in whom there dwelt a comprehensive love that reached downward to the lowest forms of life and upward to the throne of the Divine.

At the close of Mr. Baughman 's address, the monument was unveiled, after which a quartet sang "Onward and Upward." The exercises closed with the singing of "America."

An Estate Of Johnny Appleseed

Alexander Finley, in his lifetime, sold to John Chapman what is estimated to be three acres, in the southeast corner of the southwest quarter of section 26, being in the quarter originally entered by said Finley, and which is now owned by A. J. Young, and forms part of the little town of Lake Fork. This land was deeded to Chapman by Finley, but the deed was lost, though recorded, and the tract never transferred on the auditor 's books. For some time the land was in the possession of the Finley heirs by whom the taxes were regularly paid. Later a Mr. Young came into possession of the property, and some contension arose later about the ownership of the same. Chapman had made slight improvements and had started a small nursery.

The Murder Of Thomas Urie

In 1816 Mr. Urie and his brother Thomas were on a hunting excursion through the eastern part of Ohio, and established their camp between New Philadelphia and Cadiz. The brothers, in pursuit of their game, had become separated during the day. Thomas had succeeded in killing a bear, the skin of which he was conveying, toward evening, to the camp, which he had nearly reached. Solomon was also making his way in the direction of the camp, driving before him his horses, which had been belled and spancelled. When within hearing distance of the camp, his ears were greeted with a sound similar to that of a double crack of rifles, or of the falling of two trees. Knowing that hostile Indians were in their neighborhood, as they had unmistakable evidence during the night before, he considered it prudent to lead his horses and reach his camp by another route. On approaching, he discovered two Indians in his camp, plundering it of its contents, while a third stood upon the outside as sentinel. He raised his rifle with the intention of shooting the Indian on the outside; but before he could fire, his brother's dog commenced barking and his position and attitude were discovered by his enemy.

In the rear of Solomon was a swamp, but comprehending that it would be an unsafe retreat, he boldly pushed forward to the assault of the sentinel. The latter ran, dodging behind trees, with the view of protecting himself and gaining an opportunity for shooting his antagonist. Mr. Urie pressed forward, and in his course discovered the dead body of his brother. The three Indians pursued him about three miles to the brink of a precipice, down which, without a moment's hesitation, he descended; and, on reaching solid ground, discovered that the breech of his rifle was broken - the trigger of the lock, however, being uninjured. The Indians, on reaching the margin of the precipice, were so appalled at the height that they gave up the pursuit. Mr. Urie continued his journey, in the direction of the Ohio river, five miles, when he came to an encampment which, much to his agreeable surprise, contained, among its inmates, several of the Brady's and other Pennsylvania friends. He remained during the night, with his friends, and on the following morning the entire party returned with him to the late camp of himself and brother, and found the body of the latter covered with the skin of the bear he had killed on the day previous. One of his legs wTas stripped of its "leggin" and moccasin, and on the posterior part of his neck was a cross, indicating that this mode of warfare against the whites was to be continued. His body had been pierced by two bullets, doubtless fired by the rifles the sound of which Solomon had heard the evening before. The body was deposited in a grave made with wooden shovels, and in a coffin made of puncheons. The Indians had taken their two horses, forty deer, ten bear, and ten beaver skins, together with their entire stock of provisions and traps. Mr. Solomon Urie offered his friends the full property of which he had been despoiled, and an equal amount in addition, if they would aid him in their pursuit and infliction of summary punishment upon the murderers of his brother. They regarded the undertaking, however, as too hazardous, and declined the offer of Mr. Urie.

During the war of 1812, Mr. Urie and his son Samuel served in the army as volunteers, and in the fall of 1815 removed to land in Orange township, and upon which land he had previously made some improvements. His family, at this time, consisted of his wife and the following named children: Samuel,

Mr. Urie brought with him to the country a couple of dogs, one of which, taking a dislike to the "home of his adoption," made his way back to the old homestead, in Washington county, Pennsylvania, a distance of about one hundred and forty miles. This journey he performed, traversing the wilderness and swimming the rivers, in less than twenty-four hours.

A Band Of Outlaws

In the year 1825, a band of outlaws, locally called land pirates, under the leadership of John Driskel, made their principal headquarters in Green township, upon the farm later owned by John Taylor. They were the terror of the good people of Green and neighborhood, as they had previously been of the inhabitants of Columbiana and Wayne counties, where they had formerly resided, and where they had committed extensive depredations. While in the first named county, the elder Driskel had an encounter with one of the Poe family, resulting in the loss of the tip of his nose, which added to his naturally repulsive features, gave him a marked and hideous countenance. - During his residence in Wayne county, but while the other families connected with the gang, hereafter mentioned, were living in Green township, he had been sentenced to the penitentiary, and effected his . escape. A reward was offered for his recapture and return. His confederates were numerous, and scattered over a large district of territory; but John Driskel, his son Pearson, and his son-in-law Reeson Brawdy, and Aaron Brawdy, were among the most desperate; and they (when not professionally engaged) and their families made their headquarters on the place above mentioned.

Their principal crimes were horse stealing, incendiarism, and burglaries. They were men of great physical strength and brutal courage, and never omitted an opportunity to exercise these qualities. The boldness and frequency of their depredations had aroused intense indignation among the people of the neighborhood, and organized efforts were made to detect the haunts and effect a capture of the leaders. Among those most active and vigilant in securing this object were Jonathan Coulter and William Irvin, the former being generally engaged when one of the gang would be arrested, in prosecuting for the state, and the latter being constable of the township. The outlaws had offered, alternately, violent threats and large bribes in money to these and other like adversaries to secure their neutrality; but their firm resistance of all corrupt offers to compound felony, and their inflexible determination to either bring the culprits to justice or rid the country of their presence, brought upon them the concentrated malice of the entire gang, and a war of extermination became necessary to the security of life and property in the settlement.

The barns of Coulter and Irvin were fired during the fall of the year 1829, consuming several horses and large stocks of grain, hay, etc., and requiring all tjie energies of Mr. Coulter and family to prevent the flames from communicating with their house. Suspicions led to the arrest of Pearson Driskel, who was tried and sentenced to the penitentiary for the crime ; although in the progress of his trial it appeared that he was only a particeps criminis, having employed a fellow known as ' ' Crop-eared Brawdy ' ' to accomplish the incendiary work.

Efforts were, some years later, made to arrest the elder Driskel, who, having effected his escape from the penitentiary, had been discovered, one December evening, near dark, by John Kidwell, in Mohican township, making his way, stealthily, on horseback, through the woods, in the direction of the dwellings of his son and son-in-law. The younger Driskel in the mean time had served his term in the penitentiary, and was at home. Kidwell, anticipating the destination of the old man, immediately set out on foot through the woods to communicate his discovery to the immediate neighbors of the outlaws. A force of five resolute men were assembled and proceeded to the suspected houses, which they reached at a late hour of the night and after a careful reconnissance of the premises discovered a new saddle hanging under the portico of young Driskel's cabin. This indicated that the fugitive was at that house, and three of the party led by Thomas W. Coulter opened the door and entered. They went to the fire place, and stirring the coals produced a light in the room. The inmates of the house had been in a profound slumber up to that time, and were awakened by the movements of the Coulter party. Their cries at once aroused the old man Driskel, who, springing from his bed, bowie knife in hand, stooped down and also seized his rifle, threatening with death every intruder who did not instantly leave the house. His order was instantly obeyed, the three men retreated and closed the door after them. Driskel stormed terribly and swore that he would not be taken alive, that he would rather be shot down at his home than to be returned to the penitentiary, and that he would sell his life as dearly .as possible.

It was a very cold night, and the party on the outside, suffering from the inclemency of the weather, determined to bring the scene to a close and told Driskel that they would give him five minutes in which to make his selection of surrender or death. He had several times tried to escape through the door, but confronted the officials. During these efforts to escape he had thrust his gun and arm through an opening in the doorway, when William Irvin seized the opportunity to deal a heavy blow with a club upon his exposed arm, which for the time paralyzed it. Four of the five men were armed with flintlock muskets, these being the best firearm in common use in those days, and the other had a pistol. Old Driskel was a little ahead of the times. He owned a pick-lock gun, percussion caps were not known in this country then, but old Driskel 's nice gun had what were called "percussion grains." These grains were about the size of a pin's head, and the pick striking down on one was what exploded the powder. The old man had his gun raised to fire at Mr. Rice, who was standing in front of the partly open door, when his son Pearson slipped his hand between his gun and the pick, thereby preventing the discharge of the gun, but receiving a wound upon his own hand. He once snapped his gun within four feet of the breast of David Ayres, and the latter aimed a pistol at the body of the culprit, but his weapon also missed fire. The five minutes having expired, the order to fire was given, and the result was four "snaps" and one "flash." Ayre's pistol was a crack one, and in a few minutes its load was accidentally discharged. To obtain a better sight on the old man, the party began to push out the "chinking" between the logs for the purpose of securing portholes for the muzzles of their guns, when the criminal yielded to the entreaties of his family, and announced his willingness to surrender. The men then entered the house and secured the limbs of the prisoner with a rope, committed him to the charge of two strong men, brothers, named Peterson, who, on the same morning, left with their charge for Columbus. Arriving at Sunbury, Delaware county, Driskel managed to make his escape, and thus terminated the career in Ohio of one of the greatest desperadoes' that ever cursed this community. Driskel 's family and confederates soon joined him in the west, where they continued their vocation of crime for some years. Later John Driskel, his son William and another of the gang were captured by a band of "Regulators" in northern Illinois, and were immediately shot. The body of David Driskel, the youngest son, was soon afterwards found hanging upon a tree.

This gang was composed in part of some of the settlers and of some from a distance. Their depredations alarmed the neighborhood and gave rise to the formation of the "Black Cane" company.

the various neighborhoods wherein the land pirates had committed depredations and thefts. Each member of the Black Cane company carried a black cane. The canes were made of crab-apple or black haw wood, the bark being peeled off and the canes burned black, after which they were oiled and polished to give them a glossy appearance. By vigorous and vigilant work the company succeeded in clearing the country of the land pirates and peace and security reigned until about 1833 when similar services were again in need to clear the country of a band of counterfeiters.

The Steingraver Case

The first murder trial in Ashland county was that of Charles Steingraver, charged with the murder of Clarinda Yantilburg, a blind girl, aged ten years and two months. Steingraver was in the employ of Mr. Yantilburg as a farm hand, and on the 4th of July, 1851, the Yantilburg family went to Perrysburg, Ashland county, to attend a Sunday school celebration, leaving Steingraver and the blind girl at home. It was alleged that the killing was done in an attempt to commit a rape. Steingraver, however, claimed his innocence to the last.

At the September term of court, 1851, the grand jury found a "true bill," the seventh and eighth counts charged the accused with murder in the first degree, by averring that he killed the deceased purposely and of deliberate and premeditated malice. The trial attracted a great deal of attention and aroused the morbid curiosity of the people to an unusual extent.

B. W. Kellogg, the prosecuting attorney, was assisted in the case by the Hon. Isaac J. Allen, who afterwards attained distinction as a journalist and diplomat. The accused was defended by John S. Fulton, of Ashland, and Jacob Brinkerhoff, of Mansfield. Mr. Brinkerhoff, as a member of congress from this district, was the author of the Wilmot Proviso and later served as a judge of the supreme court of Ohio. He was a first cousin of General R.

The jurors in the said case were John McCormick, Ephraim C. Marks, Samuel White, Henry Demit, Isaac Hatch, Jacob Johnson, Jacob Bucher, Elisha Barnes, George Stott, Samuel Harman, James L. Drake, John Harman, who being duly impaneled and severally sworn to well and truly try and true deliverance make between the state of Ohio and the said Charles Steingraver, and a true verdict give according to the evidence, having heard the evidence adduced, the arguments of counsel and the charge of the court, upon their oaths aforesaid did find that Charles Steingraver was guilty of murder in the first degree, as charged in the indictment.

On the Monday following, before the full bench, Steingraver 's attorneys made a motion for a new trial, which was over-ruled, whereupon the court sentenced Steingraver to be hanged on Friday, the 30th day of January, 1852, between the hours of twelve o'clock meridian, and two o'clock post-meridian, and that in case the sheriff of the county, by reason of his absence or inability to perform the execution, then for the coroner to take the said Steingraver to

The court decreed that in the meantime between the date of sentence and the time of execution that said Steingraver be confined in the jail of the county in charge of the sheriff.

Execution Of Charles Steingraver

The execution of Charles Steingraver took place on Friday, the 30th day of January, 1852, as ordered and directed by the court. Early in the morning immense numbers of the people were collecting from every section of the country some from a great distance, and directing their course to the execution ground, which was guarded by the military, who were called out for the purpose of suppressing any disturbance which might occur to mar the proceedings, or hinder the law from being peaceably enforced. By eleven o'clock a. m. there had congregated, it is supposed, from eight to twelve thousand persons; and we are sorry to state, that many of this immense assemblage gave evident signs of intoxication. It might therefore be submitted whether executing the extreme penalty of the law in this manner brings about the desired reform, viz., of suppressing the awful crime of murder.

Steingraver was led from his cell precisely at twelve o'clock, accompanied by the sheriff and five ministers. He marched from his place of confinement to the gallows under the solemn and impressive notes of the "Dead March" which were calculated to soften the most obdurate and hardened, and impress suitable reflections for the solemnities of death. He shed not a tear - he moved along with a firm and unfaltering step - ascended the scaffold with as little apparent regard for his hard fate as the ox for the slaughter.

His long white robe was calculated to rouse solemn reflections about the destiny of man and his long home, when he returns to his mother earth, and lies mouldering in the dust, wrapped in the slumbers of death - dreamless and quiet.

While religious exercises were taking place on the scaffold, his bearing was firm and unmoved. He knelt and listened to several appropriate and powerful prayers both in German and English, and not until the last prayer was being offered was he seen to shed a tear. He then wept - was much affected; but again braced up, rose with a firmness ill befitting his situation, and requested the sheriff to announce, as his dying words, that he was not guilty of the crime imputed to him. He then requested that the people be exhorted, in German and English, to avoid sins that were calculated to lead them into vice and eventually to ruin.

He then took his parting leave of the officers and ministers present on the scaffold - submitted calmly to have his arms and feet pinioned - the cap drawn over his head and face - the rope placed around his neck, and drawn up in order to launch him into eternity. The sheriff called out, nineteen minutes till the time expires - ten minutes - five minutes - one minute, during which announcements, he stood like a statue - unshuddering - unmoved, save to incline his head a little to the right. A moment before he was precipitated from the scaffold, the sheriff, approaching him, pressed the question, " Steingraver, are you innocent of the crime of murder as charged against you?" with apparent earnestness he replied, "Sheriff, I am innocent." It was now just fifteen minutes past one o'clock. A moment, and his guilty or guiltless soul was thrust into another world to meet its Creator ; a few spasmodic shrugs of his body and limbs and all was over. He hung suspended by his neck about an hour; was then pronounced dead by the medical men present; his body taken down and placed in a coffin and in something over half an hour it was transferred to an obscure place in the Ashland cemetery, and there interred.

During these proceedings the people behaved with decorum, the best of order prevailing throughout, except when the body was precipitated from the scaffold and for a short time became invisible to the crowd. Order, however, was soon restored, and the people quietly dispersed.

The Thornton Pool Case

The second murder trial in Ashland county was that of Thornton Pool, charged with the killing of Noah Mock, at the town of Orange, on December 17, 1853. The tragedy had its origin in the matter of seven cents that had been used at a raffle. The money belonged to Mock but had been appropriated by Pool, and in the controversy growing out of the affair, Pool stabbed Mock fatally. The case was tried at the March term of court, 1854. Alexander Porter was the prosecuting attorney, and Fulton, McCombs and Given were the attorneys for the defense.

The trial resulted in a verdict of murder in the second degree, and the sentence of the court was, that Thornton Pool be taken hence by the sheriff to the county jail and from there thence within sixty days from the rising of the court be taken by the sheriff to the Ohio penitentiary, there to remain in confinement and to be kept at hard labor for a period of ten years.

One of Ashland county's most atrocious murders was that of Harry Williams which occurred at Polk at about three o'clock on the morning of March 25, 1883, and for which William II. Gribben and George A. Horn were executed upon the scaffold. The murder was the result of a quarrel and was committed when the parties were in a state of intoxication. There had been bad feeling between the parties for some time and meeting at West Salem, Saturday evening, March 24. taunting words passed between the parties and the murder resulted after they had reached their home town of Polk. We quote from Judge Jabez Dickey's charge to the jury at the close of the trial.

"The indictment charges in substance, that William Henry Gribben, on the twenty-fifth day of March, 1883, at the county of Ashland and State of Ohio, unlawfully, willfully, purposely and feloniously, and of deliberate and premeditated malice did make an assault on one Henry Williams, by striking him in the head with a certain stone and a certain axe, with the intent then and there, him the said Henry Williams, unlawful^, willfully, purposely and feloniously and of deliberate and premeditated malice to kill and murder. And by reason of the blows so struck, with the stone and axe, certain mortal wounds were inflicted in and upon the head of him the said Henry Williams, and of which mortal wounds he, then and there, instantly died. And that the said William Henry Gribben, by the means and in the manner aforesaid, unlawfully, wilfully and feloniously and of deliberate and premeditated malice, him, the said Henry Williams, did kill and murder.

' ' The indictment will be before you and you will look to it for a more particular statement of the charge. While the indictment charges the prisoner jointly with one George Andrew Horn, you will treat it as though it was against the defendant, William Henry Gribben, alone; each defendant being entitled to a separate trial. "

On the day of the execution a crowd of about eight thousand persons assembled in and around the courthouse grounds. A militia company was present to preserve order.

There was much fear that the enclosure would be torn down which was not at all lessened by the three or four shots which were fired. It was a time of suspense and horror to those inside the enclosure. They could not see what was going on outside and had to depend on their ears for information.

There were plenty of men who would have followed a leader right against the militia. The crowd was massed at the south end of the courtyard, and made most of their demonstration on that side. As the time of the execution approached the crowd grew bolder, and several attempts were made to tear down the fence, but the soldiers stood firm. The police were utterly unable to control the crowd. Several times they attempted to make arrests, but their prisoners were taken from them before they could hardly move. During the attacks on the fence a stone was thrown by some one in the crowd which struck one of the militia men on the head.

Some one took one of the bayonets from the rifle of one of the militia and threw it back towards the soldiers. It struck one man and disabled him from active service. Had the execution been an hour later there would have been bloodshed for each moment the crowd grew bolder. The entrance gate was on this side and was doubly guarded; as those who had tickets to witness the execution were admitted loud and derisive cries went up from the enraged crowd and loud and deep were the curses heaped upon the sheriff for admitting so many, yet calling out the military to keep the execution from being private.

The crowd was led by a tall farmer to whom the guns of the militia had no terror. He and several others turned their attention to the woodhouse, and part of the side was soon torn off, but the gap was filled with four soldiers. The former, nothing daunted, grabbed the guns by the bayonets and some one in the rear struck one of the guard with a stone.

The sheriff hurried Gribben on to the trap doors and the ropes were quickly adjusted by Sheriff Brown around Horn 's neck and by Ex-Sheriff Gay of Mansfield around Gribbens.

There was a delay of a few seconds and then the voice of the minister was heard in prayer. He had uttered but a few words when Sheriff Gates sprung the trap and the bodies were precipitated downwards to death. Both men were killed instantly; there was a few spasmodic jerks of the muscles and all was over.

The trap fell precisely at ten thirty a. m. The bodies were both pronounced dead in twenty minutes. Both their necks were broken by the fall.

It was a perfect execution and there was not one mistake made unless in view of the excited, yelling crowd there was some little hurry in the final preparation of the men.

The scene on the scaffold was one of confusion and disorder made so by the crowds who would listen to no reason or argument. It was almost impossible to make out what Gribben said so loud was the noise.

The Polk company was placed at one of the most exposed points, but every man stood to his post. Theirs was a most trying position because they were personally acquainted with a large number of those who were trying to get in. Several of them were struck with stones and clubs, but fortunately none seriously hurt. They will make good witnesses before the grand jury.

The Stein-Porter Tragedy

The most importnt case investigated by the grand jury of Ashland county at the October (1908) term of common pleas court, was the Stein-Porter tragedy at Loudon ville, which occurred Friday afternoon, August 14, 1908. The following is taken from one of the local papers :

"A wave of horror passed over Ashland county when the awful news was told and it became known that Miss Hester Porter, a highly respected lady of that town had been mysteriously shot twice in the back of the head and instantly killed and that Morris B. Stein, a prominent young business man of Des Moines, Iowa, had also been shot and killed, at Miss Porter's home in Loudonville. Since that terrible event there has been a great deal said and printed in the newspapers over the state, also at Des Moines, Iowa, where young Stein resided. Many were of the firm belief that it was a case of double murder ; while others were inclined to the belief that it was a case of murder and suicide - that either Stein shot Miss Porter and then himself or vice versa. At all events, the double tragedy has been a mystery, for the solution of which Prosecutor Frey has been diligently working since it happened. The prosecutor has been of the firm belief that Mrs. Mary Bayard, a sister of Miss Porter, and her daughter, Mrs. Morris B. Stein, wife of the dead young man, both of Des Moines, and who were visiting at Loudonville at the time of the tragedy, knew more about the affair than they testified to at the inquest held by Coroner Ash at Loudonville the day following the killing.

There was considerable interest manifested in what action the grand jury would take in this Stein-Porter case. The jury took up the case on Wednesday afternoon and heard the testimony of fourteen witnesses. It is understood that the jurors took five or six ballots, including two Friday morning, and each time the vote stood eleven for indictment for murder against Mrs. Bayard and daughter, Mrs. Stein, and four against an indictment. It is also stated that some of the jurors got into a very heated argument while in session this morning and for a time it looked as though there would be trouble among them.

The grand jurors also reported that they complied with the court's instructions and examined the county jail, etc., and that everything was found in proper condition as required by the statutes."

The June Frost Of 1859

On Sunday morning, June 5, a great sheet of frost covered the hills and valleys in this part of Ohio, and was particularly severe in Ashland county. The spring season of that year compared somewhat with that of 1816, in which year there were frosts every month in the year. The frosts of 1816, although severe did not do as much damage as that of 1859. A writer to the State Commissioner of Statistics states: That after February in 1859, the weather had some extraordinary changes. Part of March and the first part of April, the season was very favorable and appearances promised one of the best of harvests. The fall grain looked more healthy than usual until the 4th of June, when after a rain, it clouded up and flakes of snow were seen flying in the air. On the morning of the 5th there was more than a common frost - it was a severe freeze. Ice had been formed from one-half to five-eights in thickness. Everything froze of the plant kind. Wheat and rye froze in the blossom, corn in the stock, potatoes and other vines to the ground. Some of the corn recovered, but the greater part of it did not. The weather was changeable, the greater part of the time cold, and on the morning of the Fourth of July there was another frost which froze the corn on flat and swampy land the second time.

On August the lltli and on the 28th there were frosts. Also in May and September there were light frosts, and on October 9th there was a heavy frost, which froze the corn fodder and soft corn. After that the weather was more favorable for the remainder of the autumn.

Another report to the state commissioner gives the following account of frost disasters of that and other years : In 1834 destructive frosts took place in May, as late as from the 13th to the 18th, six mornings in succession, destroying all the fruit and much corn and wheat. But the wheat was then in blossom, and in a great measure recovered by pushing up new stocks from the uninjured roots, and produced a, small crop. The corn was replanted, and warm rains succeeding, the farmer was blessed with a fair return for his labor by the kindness of Him who has said "Seedtime and harvest shall not fail." Even so in the year 1859, where the fields were immediately replanted as late as the 10th of June. The crop of corn was fairly good. The damage by the frost was a serious loss as the previous year had been unfruitful.

While the climate of Ashland county does not differ generally from that of its neighboring counties, yet an incident was related by the Rev. Seamans, at a meeting of the Ashland County Historical Society that is out of the ordinary, which is this : That upon one season back in the pioneer days snow fell on the 6th day of June to the depth of six inches, and that the young robins were frozen to death in their nests ; another statement was that in 1823 frost destroyed all the corn in the month of August, but it resprouted and produced quite a crop.

We turn from events of a more general character to enter into detail and specific account of the organization and settlement of the townships.

Montgomery township was surveyed by Jonathan Cox, in 1807, and the same year the survey was platted and certified to Jarad Mansfield, surveyor general of the United States. The township was organized by the commissioners of Richland county in 1816. Prior to that time Vermillion and Montgomery each elected one justice of the peace and acted as one township. The pioneers of Montgomery, at the period of its organization, are believed to have been Robert Newell, Daniel Carter, Jacob Fry, Benjamin Cuppy, Henry Baughman, Samuel Burns, Daniel Mickey, Solomon Urie, Samuel Urie, Jacob Figley, William Montgomery, Jacob Crouse, James Kuykendall, Joseph Markley, John McNaull, Michael Springer, John Springer, Henry Springer, Daniel and Henry Vautilburg, and probably a few others not now remembered. The first justice of the peace was Robert Newell, who was succeeded by Daniel Carter, Sr.

The date of the settlement of Montgomery township may be said to have commenced about the year 1818, the settlers prior to that time being very few in number. From 1818 until about 1821, the township had received considerable accessions to its population. Squire Newell was the largest landholder, he being the owner of one thousand acres; the next largest was a Mr. Lanterman, of Trumbull county, who was the owner of about nine hundred acres, embracing what was later known as the 4 4 Tunker Settlement. " Under the laws of congress in force at that time, no one could enter less than a quarter section, and very few of the original settlers entered more than that quantity. These quarters were often divided and sometimes subdivided by the original purchasers, and sold to other settlers, which had a strong tendency to promote the density of the

In the southern part of Montgomery township was the well known Wyandot trail which in 1761 was followed by Rogers and his rangers in their route to the forks of the Muskingum on their return to Fort DuQuesne. It was also the route of General Beall on his expedition to Sandusky. This trail passes into Milton township and then into Richland county.

Montgomery, lying back from the principal streams, was not settled as early as the other parts of the county, as no settlers were found within its limits until several years after the settlement at Greentown. It was mid-winter when the first settler arrived and his shelter until his cabin was built was an open-ended tent. He cut and hauled the logs for his cabin as quickly as possible, but could not raise it without help, and had to travel sixteen miles through the forest to get the fourth man for that purpose. This cabin was one mile northeast of the present town of Ashland.

These pioneers were brave men with a determined purpose to thus settle in the dense woods, in January with no shelter from the cold, the snow, the wolves, the bears, etc., but a tent.

But after the war of 1812, the county and township began to fill up quite rapidly and their pioneer history is much the same as has been written of the pioneers in other townships. As soon as the settlers could get a clearing about their cabins, and provide for their immediate wants, they began to plan about schools and churches.

"Old Hopewell" was the first erected here. It was called "Old" from the fact that later there was another of the same name erected in the town of Ashland. The old church was erected of logs, a mile west of Ashland, in 1819, by the Presbyterians.

Lake township was surveyed in 1807, and was organized on the 5th day of September, 1814, as it now is, except that a part or the whole of Washington township, Holmes county, was then included within its borders and so remained until the erection of Holmes county in January, 1824.

There is no town in Lake township. By the operation of the act of 1846, erecting Ashland county, Lake, which had already been shorn of its full proportions, by the erection of Holmes county, became further reduced, and has now a smaller area than township organization in the county, except Mifflin. It is sometimes called ' ' Little Lake, ' ' yet, notwithstanding its decimation of territory, the census report shows that it has increased in population favorably with the mill, it may be a matter of interest to state that it was erected by Nathan G. Odell, in the spring of 1812. Mr. Odell entered the tract upon which the mill is located in April, 1810, and at once commenced his improvement, and in March, 1811, removed his family to the place. He was the first white settler within the limits of what is now Clinton township, Wayne county. He died in Michigan, in 1833, at the age of sixty-seven. The building was originally constructed of hewn logs.

In December, 1807, Joshua Oram, and family, immigrated to Fairfield county, Ohio, from the state of Maryland. In November, 1811, the family removed to Lake township, and entered and commenced improvement upon a quarter which, by subsequent divisions, became a part of the township of Clinton. In the fall of 1812, the family of Mr. Oram, with several others, established a fort near the southern line of Lake township, where they remained about three months. In 1815 his father sold the farm he originally purchased, and entered the northeast and southeast quarters of section 15, Lake township, and immediately commenced improvement upon the former quarter. After residing upon this land about three years, he sold to Asahel Webster, and removed to the southeast quarter, which he improved and made his residence until his decease, which occurred on the 27th day of August, 1831.

When his father commenced his residence in Lake, there was not a white family residing within the limits of what now forms the township. When he raised his second cabin, in 1815, he traveled a circuit of ten miles to gather the necessary force of men for the purpose.

The supplies of breadstuffs were obtained from Knox county, which was then considered the "Egypt" of the country, where the corn purchased was ground at Shrimplin's Mill, and was brought home on packhorses during the winter season, and on canoes when the streams were navigable. After the neighborhood began to raise its own supplies of corn, it was prepared for converting into bread by breaking up into wooden mortars, an article which belonged to nearly every cabin, and which was regarded as an indispensable machine in the domestic economy. The mills were so remote that many families subsisted for months, upon this domestic meal.

The Presbyterians and German Lutherans were the first church organizations in the religious field in Lake township ; the Presbyterians having an organization there as early as 1826, other denominations coming later.

Mohican township was surveyed in 1807 by Jonathan Cox. On the 11th of April, 1812, the commissioners of Wayne county divided the county into four townships - the western part, including what are now Jackson, Perry, Mohican and Lake, and part of Washington in Holmes county, and the west half of what are now Clinton, Plain, Chester and Congress in Wayne county, and organized this territory as one township, under the name of Mohican. Thus Mohican township once embraced an area equal in extent to one-half of that which now constitutes Ashland county. Mohican was among the first settled and the first organized of any of the townships which now compose Ashland county. The population of Mohican township in 1820 was six hundred and thirty-two; in 1830, one thousand three hundred and sixteen; in 1860, one thousand seven hundred and twelve.

Thomas Eagle arrived in the township of Mohican on the 2d day of May, 1809, having succeeded the family of Alexander Finley a few weeks. His family then consisted of his wife and daughter Amelia. He first opened a small farm on the land now owned and occupied by Henry Treace. In the early part of the war, he, together with several of his neighbors, removed their families to the fort, at Wooster, as security against attacks by Indians.

Alexander Finley was the first white settler in Mohican township. Within a few weeks, however, other persons, namely, William and Thomas Eagle, Benjamin Bunn, and John Shinnebarger, all having families, settled in the neighborhood. The year following, (1810) Amos Norris, Vachel Metcalf, William Bryan, Thomas Newman, and James Slater, with their several families, removed to the township.

The Indians in the neighborhood at -this time were an intermixture of several tribes, the Mohegans, Delawares, Wyandottes, Shawnees, Chickasaws, and one or two who claimed to be of the Cherokee tribe. They were friendly and harmless, until the war of 1812 commenced, when the main body of them disappeared, and most of them, it is supposed, became attached to the British service.

The first year or two after Mr. Finley came to the country, he obtained his supplies of flour and corn meal from Shrimplin's mill, below Mt. Vernon. This journey to the mill was performed in canoes or pirogues, down the Lake Fork and Mohican, and up Owl creek, and occupied about three days for the trip. These vessels would carry from twenty to fifty bushels of corn meal.

The forests at this period were destitute of underbrush or small timber, but were covered with sedge grass, pea vines, and weeds, which afforded excellent pasture from early spring until about August. The sedge grass, when cut in July, or earlier, afforded very nutritous and palatable food for horses and cattle during the winter. Very little iron was used in those days. The wooden "mould board" plow and wooden and brush harrows were generally in use twelve or fifteen years after Air. Finley came to the country ; and many continued their use several years afterward.

The clothing of the men was buckskin and flax linen. The women were clothed in a fabric made of raw cotton and flax linen. Handkerchiefs, headdresses, and apfons were made, by the thrifty housewives, of raw cotton. The price of calico (being from fifty to seventy-five cents per yard) placed it without the means of any but very few to purchase. An excellent and industrious girl, as late as 1822 or 1823, toiled faithfully six weeks for six yards of calico, which, in those primitive days, before the era of hoops, was deemed sufficient for a dress. The lady who appeared in the first calico dress, attracted, it may be supposed, considerable attention in "the settlement." Window glass was not in use until some years after the war of 1812, oiled paper being employed as a substitute.

When Air. Hootman came to the township the major part of the village of Jeromeville was covered with fallen timber and hazel bush. The improvements on the farms then settled were small, being log cabins surrounded by a few acres of partly cleared land. The roads were new and unimproved, and many of them little more than bridle-paths. The prices of produce in 1828-29 were, as I recollect distinctly: wheat, twenty-five cents; pork, one dollar and fifty cents per hundred weight; corn, eighteen cents; salt, five dollars per barrel; coffee, fifty cents per pound ; tea, fifty cents per quarter ; butter, six cents ; eggs, nothing; iron, twelve and one-half cents per pound. The usual and best market place was Portland, (now Sandusky City). Twenty to thirty bushels wheat, a big load for two and four horses, ten days of travel if the roads were good, two weeks if not good. Massillon became a market town. The opening of the Ohio canal run the price of wheat up at once to forty cents, then fifty, and then our farmers at that time were satisfied, and expressed the wish that the price would continue at that as they then could make money. Our nearest gristmill was an old concern known as Goudy's Mill, southeast of Hayesville, with one run of stone, old niggerhead or boulder stone at that. Another was Smith 's Mill, below Mohicanville. In the winter, when those small streams were frozen, we went to the Clearfork to Manner's Mill. Sometimes we had to go to Owl Creek, in Knox county.

There were the remains of no less than five ancient fortifications in Mohican township; the embankments very regular and very distinctly defined, until cultivation has nearly destroyed their original features. Three are near Jeromeville, and two near the junction of the Muddy and Jerome Forks. They embraced areas averaging about one and a half acres. A mound near the old Indian village, bearing unmistakable evidence, after excavation, of its being a work of art and upon which trees, the growth of centuries, were standing, was also in existence.

The following chronological memoranda of events of interest that have occurred in past years, furnished by Judge Ingmand, will be found of general and local interest:

November 13, 1833. Lights were seen falling on the early morning of this day, (three or four hours before daybreak,) having the appearance of showers of stars.

June 21, 1834. A terrific storm passed over Jeromeville and a district of country west, which appeared to have its most violent force between the latter place and the vicinity of the farm upon which the County Infirmary is now situated, prostrating in its pathway forest trees and fences, unroofing buildings, removing them from their foundations, etc.

1835. The summer remarkably wet, bottom lands much overflown, and too wet for tillage. Hay crop badly damaged, and cattle died the following winter in consequence of eating it. A comet appeared during the fall of the same year. November 11, a severe storm, which did much damage to Buffalo and other ports on the American side, and to the shipping on the lakes.

To those familiar with the days of log cabins, the phrase so often used, "the latch string is out," is clearly understood.. This latch or fastening was made of wood, and in order to enable those from without to enter the dwelling, a small string was attached to the latch, (which was always on the inside) and passed through the door to the outside, and hence, to prevent the entrance of any person, the inmates would pull in the latch string, so that when it was not seen on the outside of the door, it was evidence that no one could be admitted. One window was usually all that was considered necessary in a log cabin. This was made by cutting out one log, some two feet in length, and then closing up by putting in small sticks, in the form of sash, and pasting greased paper over them to cause it to admit the light more readily.

As stoves were almost unknown in those days, a fireplace was used instead thereof. These were made by cutting out a hole in one end of the building, in some cases large enough to pass a two-horse wagon through the cavity. On the outside of the house, and connected with this, the chimney was built of wood and mortar, sometimes lined on the inside with stone and mortar, immediately adjoining the fireplace. In front of the fireplace was a large space left in the floor, called the hearth, which was usually covered with flat stone, and hence the old phrase ' ' hearth-stone. 5 '

As the wants of the people of that day were few, and easily satisfied, the log cabin usually contained but one room, which served as kitchen, dining room, bed room, sitting room and parlor.

Upon land in Mohican township was a prairie, which appeared originally to have been a crust of vegetable matter overlying a sheet of water. As it was evidently land of great fertility, if the water under it could be withdrawn, efforts were made thoroughly to drain it. Ditches were made, in some places, to the depth of six feet, and considerable quantities of cedar trees, some of them twelve and eighteen inches in diameter, were found imbedded in the earth. What length of time they had occupied the position in which they were found is, of course, unknown, but they appeared as free from any evidence of decay as they would have shown on the day they perished. What is remarkable is that no cedars were ever found by the early settlers, growing in that vicinity. The inference is that a cedar swamp once covered the ground, and a tornado may have violently uprooted them, thus breaking the crust and burying them beneath the surface. Swamp flag and wild grass, very little decayed, were also found at the depth of from five to six feet.. Skeletons of buffalo and elk were also discovered, some of them of immense size. The head and horns of one elk found partly imbedded were of such dimensions that, placing the points of the horns upon the ground, two men on each side supporting them in an upright position. William Eagle, a man whose height was nearly six feet, would pass under them erect.

In the early settlement of the country there was no law providing for com mon schools - no tax levied or other funds provided for payment of teachers. Hence all buildings for the use of common schools consisted of some old evacu-

During the war of 1812, there were three blockhouses erected in Mohican township, one on the town plat of Jeromeville, a few rods north of the present gristmill; one near the Mohican creek, abotit four miles south of Jeromeville, on land later owned by Henry Treace; and one about a mile farther down the creek.

To these houses all the neighborhood would run for safety whenever the alarm was given, and not unfrequently they would have to remain there for several days and nights, with but little to eat or drink. Sometimes some trivial circumstance would cause an alarm, and the whole neighborhood would gather into the blockhouse, and, after remaining there perhaps a day and night, the mistake would be found out, and all would return to their homes again.

Clear Creek township was surveyed in 1807, by Mansfield Ludlow, but the date of its organization as a township cannot be ascertained by either township or county records. However, it is known that the population of the township in 1820 was three hundred and nine. The number had increased to one thousand three hundred and twenty-seven in 1860. When the first settlers came to this township they found the land covered with a dense forest, and had hard labor in clearing and improving their farms. The first list of township officers on record were those of 1862, to-wit: trustees, A. F. Shaw, John Bryte, and E. T. Garrett; clerk, M. C. Percival; assessor, John Gibson; treasurer, David Stem; constables, John Swineford and John Neff..

The town of Savannah being pleasantly situated and on a leading road it was a place of considerable business for a number of years, and during the period of the evolution of counties it was a prominent candidate for the seat of justice for a new county. Savannah was laid out December 25th, 1818, and was named Vermillion, although the place was locally known as Haney town, for the Rev. James Haney, an early resident of the place, and who had served several terms in the legislature as a representative from Ashland county. Rev. Haney was a man of good sense as well as of fine sentiment, and in a letter to a friend, speaking of the prosperous condition of the township, the result of the labors of the pioneers, also looked forward with an interest somewhat tinged with melancholy from the past to the future and expressed the inquiry as to whether succeeding generations would be informed of the names even, of those who had cleared the forest in fields and first cultivated the same. He recalled the lines of Henry Kirk White, that -

The selection of Ashland as the county-seat of the new county of Ashland gave a back-set to Savannah and the business of the town began to decline, but its downward course was checked by the erection of the Savannah Academy in 1858.

The first instance in which the population of the village of Savannah was taken separately from that of the township of Clear Creek was in 1860. It then contained three hundred and thirty-six inhabitants.

A Presbyterian church was organized in Savannah in 1833. This church was an offshoot from the Hopewell church of Ashland. A Free Presbyterian church was organized in Savannah in 1851, with F. M. Finney, minister. The United Presbyterian church was organized there in June, 1858, by combining members of what was before known as the Associate and the Associate Reform Presbyterian churches, with J. W. Ashenhurst as pastor. The Associate Reform Congregation of Savannah was organized in September, 1831, by the late Rev. James Johnson, of Mansfield. The first house of worship in Savannah was built in 1834. A Disciple church was organized in the township in the year 1830. The denomination which was then known as the Disciples is now called " Christians,' ' but the proper denominational name for this sect of people is "The Church of the Disciples of Christ."

In 1822 the only mill in the township was a horsemill, built and owned by Thomas Ford. The first sawmill in the township was erected by Joseph Davis on the Clear Creek in 1822. In 1824 John Hendricks built a frame gristmill on the Vermillion, a short distance below the mouth of the Clear Creek. In 1827 John and Thomas Haney erected a gristmill on Mulhollen's run, a short distance south of the town. Prior to the erection of gristmills in Clear Creek township, the pioneers had to take their grists to Odell's in Wayne county - a distance of from thirty to thiry-five miles.

The first election in the township was held at the house of John Freeborn. The first physician in the township was Dr. Cliff. Prior to that the nearest physician was at Ashland.

The cabin of Thomas Ford was a prominent place of holding religious meetings in pioneer times in Clear Creek township. Men and women traveled often six or eight miles on foot, through the woods, at night they lighted their pathways by torches of hickory bark, to enable them to attend the services. In 1830, a church building was put up, known as "Ford's Meeting House." This meeting house was considered the best structure devoted to religious services in that part of the county. The four quarterly meetings of the circuit of the Methodist Episcopal church - Mansfield being included in the circuit - were held in this church for several years. The first religious service held in Ford's Meeting House was the funeral of Thomas Ford, who died October 10, 1830, aged fifty-seven years. His was the first interment in the graveyard adjoining the church.

Sayaxxah Academy, S A Vax X Ah

In about 1820, the first schoolhouse in the southern part of the township was built on the line of the land of Abraham Huffman. The house was of hewn logs, eighteen by twenty feet, cabin roof, puncheon floor, puncheon tables and puncheon seats. It had greased paper windows, and the facilities for heating were limited to fires made in a fireplace such as were in general use in the cabins of those days, and afforded in cold weather insufficient heat to admit of practice in writing, as the ink would almost freeze in the pen in the process of transferring it from the inkstand to the paper. The first teacher was Robert Nelson, of Milton township, who continued in that capacity two or three years.

As evidence of the privations endured by many in the early settlement, Mr. Vanostrand mentions the case of a worthy family who came to the country destitute of either provisions or money, who subsisted a greater portion of one season upon pumpkins alone - commencing their use as food while the vegetable was yet unripened. The family would perhaps have suffered death by starvation, had it not been for the friendly aid afforded them by the neighbors, after learning their situation.

Every house in Clear Creek, as was the case in other townships in the early settlement, manufactured the wearing apparel for its own household. The males were dressed in buckskin and domestic linen; and the women and children were also dressed in fabrics the product of their own fields and households.

There were no woolen goods, as sheep would be devoured by the wolves ; and after the wolves had so far disappeared as to invite the introduction of sheep, the climate and wild food were discovered to be unfavorable to their life and health.

Jacob Myers immigrated to Clear Creek township, April 23,1829. His native state was Pennsylvania, Green county, where he was ordained as a clergyman of the Baptist church. He purchased and entered the land which forms the tract upon which he has since resided, on sections 3 and 4, Clear Creek township.

Among the pioneer families of Clear Creek township, the following names are recalled: Elias Ford, Peter Yannostrand, William Shaw, James Haney, John Freeborn, David Burns, John Richards, Thomas Ford, Abraham Claberg and John Bryte.. Elias Ford came to Clear Creek township in 1819, and the Fords have been numerous and prominent in the township ever since. One of the number, Thomas H., became lieutenant governor of Ohio and was later a Colonel in the Union army in the war of the Rebellion.

David Bryte settled in Clear Creek township in 1821. He later located in Mansfield, where he served as deputy sheriff for two terms and in 1840 was elected sheriff of Richland county. He died in 1872.

Communications From Rev. John Haney

Under date of November 10, 1861, the Rev. John Haney wrote the following communication from Lansing, Iowa, to Editor Knapp, of Ashland. Mr. Haney writes as follows :

"In compliance with your request, I will state that the settlement of what is now Clear Creek township, Ashland county, commenced in the spring of eighteen hundred and fifteen (1815). In the winter preceding the Rev. James Haney, (my father) John and Richard Freeborn and William Shaw built a small keelboat in Cross Creek township, Washington county, Pennsylvania, and hauled it a distance of twelve miles to the Ohio river. On the evening of the 10th of March of that year, Richard Freeborn, William Shaw, Daniel Devlin, my father and myself embarked on the boat which we had freighted with our goods, provisions, etc., from Wellsburg, Virginia, to the nearest navigable point on the Muskingum waters, thence to our destination. John Freeborn went by land with our horses and cattle. On reaching the mouth of the Muskingum we met unusually high water, which retarded our progress and made the labor of propelling our keelboat very severe. Daniel Devlin and I were then only sixteen years of age each. After many adventures and perils, we arrived at a place called Finley's bridge, about five miles south of Jeromeville, on the 26th of April, where we met our horses and pack saddles. On the evening of the 29th, we encamped on the ground now known as the old grave yard, on the line between Clear Creek and Orange townships, one and a half miles southeast of Savannah. The names of the parties there encamped were John Freeborn, Richard Freeborn, his wife Elizabeth and infant daughter Mary, William Shaw, his wife and daughters Eleaner and Jane, small children, Rev. James Haney, his sons John and Thomas and daughter Mary, aged respectively sixteen, fourteen, and twelve at that time. The balance of the family came out in the fall.

"The entire range of surveyed townships from the north to the south side of Richland county, in which Clear Creek was situated, constituted but one organized township, at first named Vermillion. The date of the organization of Clear Creek township I do not distinctly recollect. It was either John or Richard Freeborn who personally applied for the organization and gave the name. It was the name given by the Messrs. Freeborn to the principal creek in the township when they first saw it in the summer of 1814, and they gave the township the same name. I do not recollect who were the first officers of the township, but I do remember that, for several years the officers served without pay. Robert McBeth was the first justice of the peace.

"I am unable to recall the years that my father represented Richland county in the Ohio legislature. It was, however, during the period that the state organized its canal system.

"My impression is that Mrs. Elliott taught the first school in the township at her own house. I think the first religious meeting was held at father 's house, three-fourths of a mile east of Savannah. At any rate, Rev. James Haney preached the first sermon ever preached in the township. For sometime after the commencement of the settlement of the country, religious meetings were held at private houses. If I am not mistaken, the first religious society was formed at Mr. Thomas Ford's and the first administration of the sacrament took place there. The precise time when and where the first church building was erected, I do not recollect.

"The village of Savannah was laid out in the winter of 1818, by myself. It was first called Yermillion. The first man who settled in the town was Joseph Fast. The first schoolhouse was a small log building erected on the northeast corner of the town plat. Jacob McLain was the first brickmaker and hatter in the town. Garnett Whitelock was the first blacksmith. Joseph Davis built the first sawmill on Clear creek, one and a half miles west of Savannah.

"John and Richard Freeborn planted the first apple seeds, which furnished the trees for several of the oldest orchards in the township. Thomas Ford erected the first horsemill for grinding grain in the township.

"The Indians hunted for several years after the first settlers came. They were principally Delawares and Wyandots. Game was plenty for several years after the first settlements were made. The wild pasture was good at first. Horses and cattle did well, but sheep were unhealthy until the country was improved.

"The streams had more water in then than now. The general health was pretty good, considering that the climate was damper than at present. The principal diseases were intermittent fevers and rheumatism. The social condition of the first settlers was good. Their common wants brought them in contact favorable to the cultivation of the social virtues. Few of the settlers did more toward improving the country than Abraham Huffman. He was a man of great industry and energy, always ready to administer to the wants of the needy. His uncompromising hostility to what he considered wrong, sometimes caused him trouble that many others could have avoided.

Mr. S. Parmele, one of the party which surveyed Sullivan township gave the following account of the survey and early settlement of the township: