Athens Township (part 4 of 21)

The first school house on the town plat was a small brick building, which stood about where Grosvenor & Dana*s law office now is - just east of the Presbyterian church. This has long since disappeared. It was built about 1806 or '7. Capt. David Pratt taught here for several years. Some of the best remembered among his successors are Mrs. Sarah Foster ("Grandma Foster"), Miss Sallie Jewett, the Rev. James McAboy, the Rev. Mr. McDill, Mrs. Burton, Prof. Andrews, L. D. Shepherd, Mr. Sears, Mr. Blake, the Rev. Joseph Marvin, the Rev. Charles Townsend, Samuel Marsh, Miss Haft, and James D. Johnson. About twelve years ago, the union school system, so successful every where, was adopted in Athens, since when the public school has taken a respectable rank. About eight thousand dollars was raised by taxation, and ^ convenient and spacious school building erected. Thf site is a commanding one ; the building, of brick, 19 sixty-five feet front by seventy-one deep, and throe stories in hight; the first and second stories e^ch thirteen feet high, and the third story eighteen feet. The ground ^nd second floor are each divided into four class rooms, two twenty-two by twenty-eight feet, ^d two twenty-seven by twenty-eight feet, and the third floor furnishes a hall sixty-two by fifty-six feeL Mr. L. R. Jarvis superintended the stone work, Mr. J. B. Paul, the brick work, and Mr. William Shaffer^ the wood work. Mr. Cyrus Grant was the first super^- ihtendent of this school, and was succeeded by Mr. J. K. Mower, and Miss Eunice Rice. Thp Rev. Mr. Travis followed, then Mr. Doan, the Rev. John Pratt, the Rev. W. H. Scott, Captain Charles Barker, and Mr. Goodspeed, the present superintendent. The institution is well sustained and growing in usefulness.

The establishment of the Methodist church, here, antedates that of any other religious society. Three quarters of a century ago, this denomination had already developed that spirit of energy and religious enterprise, which has not only made it the pioneer church, and forerunner of other denominations, but has caused it to become the most powerful church Organization in America. We have quoted elsewhere, from the Rev. Mr. Quinn, an account of a missionary tour, which he made up the Hockhocking valley in 1800, when he preached at Athens. The Methodists have had a society here from that time, and during the early as well as later years of their church history here, have numbered among their preachers some very able, earnest, and useful men. In 1805, the Rev. Jacob Young preached on this circuit. The Rev. Geo. C. Light preached here about the same time. In 1806, Peter Cartwright, who afterward became celebrated in the church, visited Athens and Alexander townships, preaching and forming societies. About 1815, the Rev. Thomas Morris (now Bishop Morris), was on this circuit, and preached statedly at Athens. Among the early Methodist preachers here were the Rev. Cornelius Springer, the Rev. Daniel Limerick, the Rev. Curtis Goddard, the Rev. Abraham Lippett, the Rev.

John Ferree, the Rev. Abraham Baker, the Rev. Henry S. Fernandez, the Rev. Absalom Fox, the Rev. Asa Stroud, and the Rev. Robert O. Spencer - some of them being on the Muskingum and some on the Athens circuit.

During the early years of this century, the Methodists held their meetings at different houses, but in 1812 or '13, they built a brick church on the lot now owned and occupied by Prof. W. H. Young, and in 1825, they erected a brick parsonage adjoining. The church building, having been used as such nearly thirty years, fell into decay, and was then used for some years as a foundery; it has now disappeared. The parsonage forms a part of Prof. Young's present house. The present Methodist church was built in 1837. It is to be regretted that a continuous sketch of the Methodist society at Athens can not be furnished; its early establishment and long career of usefulness entitle it to a more extended history than we are able to offer.

The First Presbyterian Society of Athens was organized in the autumn of 1809 by the Rev. Jacob Lindley. The original members of the organization were but nine in number, viz: Joshua Wyatt and wife, Josiah Coe, Arthur Coates, Dr. Eliphaz Perkins, Alvan Bingham, Mrs. Sally Foster and the Rev. Jacob

Lindley and wife. Public service was held for a time in the little brick school house which stood just east of the present site of the Presbyterian church, and afterward in the court house until the year 1828, when the present brick church was built. In 1815, the church numbered forty-seven members, and a revival that year added forty- three. In the year 1820, there were fiftysix added to the church, and the whole number of church members at that time was 177.

In 1827, steps were taken for the full organization and incorporation of the society. The following document, though incomplete and without date, possesses some interest as illustrating one step in the history of the church. The original paper, in the hand-writing of Joseph B. Miles, is yellow, time-worn, and mutilated - the last page with the signatures being lost.

"We, the undersigned, taking into consideration the great importance of religious and moral instruction, and believing that the regular and stated preaching of the gospel is necessary for the promotion of these virtues ; and as it is ordained of God that they who preach the gospel, shall live by the gospel, and *the laboror is worthy of his hire,' and in order to obtain the same, we who receive spiritual food ought to contribute of our earthly substance, as God shall enable us, to those who dispense to us the bread of life, and in order the more effectually to promote these objects, do enter into the following articles of association.

There shall be a meeting of this society on the first Monday of May, annually, for the purpose of electing the officers of the society, amending or adding to the articles of association and doing such other business as may be necessary for the society to transact.

The officers of this society, shall consist of three trustees, a clerk, and collector, who shall also be treasurer, to hold their offices for one year, and until others are chosen in their places^ to be chosen by a majority of voters present.

It shall be the duty of the trustees to hire preaching, either by the week, month, or year, as they may think best, to be paid in the kind, and to the amount of subscriptions, to settle with the persons employed ; also, to solicit subscriptions, receive donations or contributions, for the purposes of defraying the expenses of preaching, and to give public notice of the annual meetings of the society. Said trustees shall meet on their own adjournment, from time to time, as they may think best for the benefit of the society.

It shall be the duty of the clerk to keep a fair record of the doings of the society, and a fair list of the subscribers' names, with the amount subscribed, and the time of subscribing, and to make out a list of subscriptions to the collector.

It shall be the duty of the collector to collect and receive all moneys or other property due the society by subscription or otherwise, and to pay out the same by order of the trustees, which order shall be signed by the chairman of the trustees.

No person shall have a vote to control the funds of this society after it is organized, unless they shall subscribe something towards the support of preaching, and no member shall be eligible to office until after he shall have subscribed.

On the death, removal, w resignation of any of the officers of the society, it shall be the duty of the trustees to appoint a person or persons to fill the place, until the next annual election.

It shall be in the power of any three subscribers to call a meeting of the society at any time when they may think necessary by giving written notice in three public places in the town of Athens, setting forth the objects of said meeting, and having it proclaimed on the Sabbath before said meeting in the congregation.

Should the funds of the society be deemed sufficient at any time to settle a regular preacher of the gospel, by themselves, or with the joint subscriptions of the adjoining settlements, and the society should deem it necessary, it shall be the duty of the trustees in such case, to invite preachers as candidates, but no preacher shall be regularly settled without the consent of twoaa6 Tfiwn and Township of Athens.

The society shall have power to dismiss any officer of the society for misconduct, by a vote of a majority of the members present, at a meeting of the society.

Owing to the scarcity of money, any of the kinds of country produce are to be received in payment of subscriptions, named in the thirteenth article of this association, the prices of such articles to be fixed by the trustees of the society, on or before the first of November, annually, and any payment made by the subscribers to the person employed to preach, and his receipt produced to the collector, shall be a sufficient voucher for the amount on his subscription.

All subscriptions shall be specified in dollars and cents, and we do hereby agree to pay the several amounts annexed to our names for the above purpose, in cash, or wheat, flour, rye, oats, corn, beef, pork, flax, wool, or country liaen, at the prices affixed."

Though among the earliest religious societies organized in the state, this church was not incorporated till 1828. The act, passed February 7th of that year, names as the incorporators, Columbus Bierce, Isaac Taylor, Joseph B. Miles, Charles Shipman, Francis Beardsley, Samuel Miller, Eben Foster, John Perkins, Hull Foster, John Gillmore, and Cephas Carpenter, and Messrs. MU«, Bioree, Taylor, Beardsley, and

CjKxpetiter, were constituted trustees of the church, to icfc as such till the first annual meeting. The Rer. JaLorob Lindley acted as moderator of the session and pa-^stor until about 1828, since when, fifteen ministers ha^^^^e served the church either as stated supply or as pm^tors, among whom will be recognized the names of wtm^FiBit very devout and able men. The entire list in the of time is as follows: form. In those days, the pulpit being at the front end of the church, the congregation faced about on taking their seats. Thus, facing toward the preacher and the pulpit, they looked also toward the front doors, out of which, as they stood open in fine summer weather, the juveniles could gaze longingly and hear the lowing of the cattle, and watch the entrance of the sabbath-breaking bees, "forever going and coming;" or curiously speculate about the wicked, solitary horseback traveler who, with dusty portmanteau, pursuing his journey through the village, just then passed the church. But ^^ tempora mutantur et nos mutamur cum illisy The times are changed, and we with them. The old pastors are gone; the gray heads of twenty-five years ago have many of them been laid in their last sleep, and the active men of the church then, are the gray heads now. The little boys, whose will then was "the wind's will," and whose thoughts were " long, long thoughts,*' are in turn, become the active men of the present day. It is their children now who are looking at the green hills, listening to the humming bees and thinking strange, mysterious thoughts. Happy children if their childhood be as serene as their fathers' was - if their sabbaths be as quiet and their surroundings as healthful as were those of the old village church.

For considerably more than half a century after Athens was settled, the dead were buried in the old grave yard northwest of town, which was set apart for that use by the trustees of the university in i8o6. The place never was ornamented to any extent, and for many years past only a few forest trees have given it their grateful shade. Here, a little apart from their surviving friends, rest the fathers of the village.

The swallow twittering from the straw-built shed. The cock's shrill clarion or the echoing horn No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed.'*

In January, 1864, the citizens of Athens feeling the need of a more beautiful burying ground, organized the Athens Cemetery Association, with a capital stock of $4,cxx), divided into shares of $100, which was incorporated under a general law of the state. An eligible site was selected west of the town, and a purchase made of twelve acres, which has since been tastefully laid off into winding walks and drives, and handsomely ornamented with shrubbery. Some appropriate and costly monuments already adorn the new cemetery, which is a place of pleasant resort for the residents of Athens, and is a credit to the town. The organization is officered as follows: Calvary Morris, president, H. J. Topky, secretary, A. B. Walker,

The citizens of Alexander township have recently begun a similar improvement by the addition of several acres to their former burying ground at the Cumberland Presbyterian church, near Hcbbardsville. The addition is neatly laid off into lots with avenues and walks, and ornamented with shrubbery. It is to be hoped these examples will be followed by other towns and townships in the county. The appropriate burial of the dead and proper care for their resting place by the living, is a mark of christian civilization, and the universal attention now given to the subject in this country, indicates a pleasing change in public sentiment. Beautiful cemeteries are scattered over the country, some of them very celebrated, and soon no enterprising town will be without one. Lucretius says of th^ earth -

The parent all, she is also the common sepulchre. Let our burial places, therefore, be beautified with the "greenery of nature," and let the adornments of art be added to please the senses and soothe the feelings of the living.

1 815, by A. G. Brown. The Mirror was political and literary in its character, printed once a week on paper of super-royal size (sixteen pages about nine by five inches to each number), and continued through five years. It was printed on a wooden press with a stone bed, and required foxxr pu/Is to each sheet.

Several copies of the old Mirror^ running from January to May, 1829, are before us, and furnish some ititeresting bits of local history. Each number contains the advertisements of Joseph B. Miles, Ebenezer Currier, and Thomas Brice, offering their " complete and extensive assortments of goods for sale low for cash, or in exchange for wheat, rye, corn, pork, butter, feathers, rags, calf and deer skins, fur skins, buck horns, ginseng, bees wax, etc."

In February, 1829, the publisher announces that ** all who wish to see a fifth volume of the Mirror published, are desired to send in their names before the ist day of May, next;'* and earnestly solicits increased patronage. In the issue of February 21, 1829, the editor apologizes for being delayed beyond the usual time for publication, by stating that ^'a young man in our employ unluckily received a severe hurt while skating on the ice.*' Probably that young man was John Brough, afterwards governor of Ohio, etc., who was then employed in the office.

the subject, January 22, 1829, by the Rev. Robt. G. Wilson, is published in full in the Mirror. A society was formed, of which Dr. Wilson was president, the Rev. John Spaulding vice president, and Professor Joseph Dana secretary, and a pledge was kept at the Mirror office for signatures. The constitution of the society, printed in the Mirror^ is accompanied by the following note: ^'It is understood that merchants and others having contracts or quantities of spirits now on hand, shall have reasonable time to close and dispose of the same on becoming members." The movement was pushed with great earnestness and success by the good men who inaugurated it, and doubtless there was sufficient need of reform. Some of the seed sown fell on good ground in Ames township, and blossomed forth into the following unique advertisement, which appeared in the Mirror of April 25, 1829:

"SAMUEL L. MOHLER, of Ames township, having been for sixteen years in the constant habit of drinking^ and getting drunk on an average, as often as once a month, has resolved to refrain entirely from the practice in future ; and as a test of his sincerity, he offers to pledge the new wood work to a good wagon, against any property of equal value, that he will refrain from drinking ardent spirits longer than any other man who has been in the habit, an equal, or half the length of time \

We are not able to state whether this interesting challenge was ever accepted or not; perhaps Mr. Mohler's virtuous resolve went toward improving that nameless place which is said to be '* paved with good intentions; '' we can not tell.

A committee consisting of Thomas Brice, John Gilmore, Amos Crippen, and Norman Root, appointed to settle the accounts of the town of Athens for the year ending February 18, 1829, publish an itemized report, showing the total receipts to have been one hundred and seventy-three dollars and twenty-three cents, and total expenditures one hundred and twelve dollars and ninety-four cents.

The Mirror was succeeded in 1830 by The IV es tern Spectatory edited and published by Isaac Maxon, who came from Marietta in 1825, bringing young John Brough as a type-setter. The paper continued under Mr. Maxon's management for six years. In 1836 it was bought by Mr. Abram Van Vorhes, who changed the name to the Hocking Valley Gazette and Athens Messenger. Under this name Mr. Van Vorhes edited and published the paper for several years, enlarging it to imperial size, printing it with new press and type, and otherwise greatly improving it.

by Mr. Nelson H, Van Vorhcs, and afterward by him and his brother, Mr. A, J, Van Vorhes. In the spring of 1854, N. H, Van Vorhes retired from the paper, which continued in the hands of his brother until October i, 1855, when the establishment was purchased by the late Mr, George Walsh, who only retained control one year, when it was once more sold to N. H. Van Vorhes.

Mr. Van Vorhes edited and published the paper till January, 1861; Mr. T. F. Wildes, from January, 1 861, till September, 1862; Mr. Jesse Van Law, from September, 1862, till November, 1865; Mr. J. W. Stinchcomb, from November, 1865, till November, 1866; Mr. J. R. S. Bond, from November, 1866, till March, 1868, and Mr. C. £. M. Jennings, from that till the present time.

For about a year and a half after the organization of the county, the court was held in a room, rented for that purpose, of Leonard Jewett and Silas Bingham. In 1807-8, a hewed log court house was erected, very near the spot where the present one stands, in which the courts were held for about ten years. This temple of justice must have been a pretty substantial structure, if its chimney described in the following extract from the records of the county commissioners may be taken as a *' specimen brick:"

SeftimbH- 7, 1807. The commissioners proceeded to adopt the following plan for a chimney in the court house in the town of Athens, to wit : The foundation to be laid with stone, one foot below the surface, the remainder to be of brick, to be well laid in good lime mortar ; one fire place below and two above - ^the fire place below to be four feet clear in the back, twenty-two inches deep, and five feet four inches wide in front, to be secured by a bar of iron the size of a common flat bar, and secured with a sufficient bolt let into the discharging piece - ^the bolt to be secured by a fore lock and key, the bolt about one foot and five or six inches in length, and the discharging piece six inches thick. The fire places above to be each eighteen inches back, and built proportionably with the rest of the chimney, which is to be raised three feet above the top of the building ; the upper fire places to be well coated, and the whole to be completed, including the hearths, in a workmanlike manner, on or before the 20th day of November next ; which (contract) being put up at public sale, was struck off at teventy-eight dollars.''

The resources of the settlement being very limited, this same building was used also for a school house, and meeting house. In the records of the county commissioners we find the following entry :

^December 7, 181 1. - Resolved^ by the commissioners, that from and after this date, the court house in the town of Athens shall not be used as a school house or a meeting house, unless the inhabitants of said town shall agree to furnish, for the use of the court, during the time of its session, a sufficient quantity of fire wood, ready cut, fit for the fire ; also to keep the house in as good repair as it now is, and keep the same well swept during the sitting of the court ; and that the clerk notify the inhabitants as aforesaid, by advertisement posted on the court house door/'

Perhaps the school teacher was careless about shutting the door at night, and probably school boys, in those days, like other boys before and since, were not scrupulous about keeping the floor clean ; for the next entry on the subject is as follows:

^^June 2, i8i2. - ^Thc board appointed Ebenezer Currier a committee to see, on condition the court house is used as a school house, that the door of said house be kept shut whenever the house is not occupied, every night, and that it be kept clean ; also, that a sufficient quantity of fire wood be constantly kept for the court and commissioners, and that the house be left in as good repair as when entered upon."

^' That the court house shall be no longer used as a school house, and that Henry Bartlett be a committee to take care of the same, and have said house repaired by the ist of January

^^ June 8, 1 8 14, it was Ordered^ that the north and east sides of lots Nos. 35 and 37, on which the court house and jail now stand, be fenced with good, sawed, white oak palings, of five feet in length, the posts to be of black locust, four by five inches square, and six and a half feet long, the rails of good white oak, and the panels ten feet long, with a small gate before the present court house door, and a gate of ten feet wide near the north east corner, fronting the east/'

Caleb Merrit and Joseph B, Miles were appointed a committee to carry the above resolution into effect. The old hewed log court house was the one in use while Thomas Ewing was attending college at Athens, and he was, doubtless, a frequent visitor here. Here he probably gained his first familiarity with judicial proceedings, and acquired his earliest knowledge of the workings of the law. The practitioners at the Athens bar of that day, if they noticed an unsophisticated youth, on a back seat, intently listening to their professional efforts, little imagined that that youth would live to become one of the greatest expounders of the law our country has yet produced, and to ornament some of the highest positions in the land.

Proposals for a new court house (the one now in use) must have been published in the spring or early summer of 18 14, for in the proceedings of the meeting of the county commissioners, held August i, of that year, present, Asahel Cooley, Caleb Merrit, and Robert Linzee, it is entered:

*' Proceeded to sell, to the lowest bidder, certain articles, agreeable to advertisement, to be furnished for the erecting of a court house, viz : to Ebenezer Currier, twelve hundred feet of black walnut boards, one and one-fourth inches thick ; one hundred feet of poplar boards, one an<) one-half inches thick, and five hundred feet, ditto, one and one-fourth inches thick - to be delivered on the court house lot, piled up properly for drying, and to be delivered on or before the ist day of January next. To Edmund Dorr, twenty perch of rough stone, for the foundation - ^to be laid, according to advertisement, before the 15th day of November next."

^' November i6, 1814. - Ordered^ that the wall for the foundation of the court house be six inches thicker than described heretofore, and that the same be laid in mortar of lime and coarse sand, and that such further compensation be allowed to Edmund Dorr, contractor for the same, as masons shall adjudge."

^'^ December 6, 18 14. - Order ed^ that the clerk notify, by advertisement, set up in three public places in Athens, the furnishing of three ranges of cut stone, two feet wide and nine inches thick, to be well laid in lime mortar ; also the furnishing of one hundred thousand good merchantable brick, to be delivered on the court house lot by the ist day of August next. Proposals will be received by the commissioners, in writing, at their meeting, on the second Monday in January next/'

" February I, 1815. - The commissioners met for the purpose of consulting as to the practicability of proceeding in building the court house/*

^^ jfpril 10, 1815. - *The commissioners met for the purpose of contracting for the furnishing of cut stone for the court house ; also of one hundred thousand brick for the same. After having received the proposals of Elijah Hatch, Esq., and Edmund Dorr, for furnishing brick, and of William Dorr, William Alcock, and Jonathan Amlin, for furnishing and laying cut and hewed stone," the board adjourned till next day.

** Tuesday^ April 1 1. - Proceeded to receive bonds of William Alcock and Jonathan Amlin for the stone work, and agreed with them for the sum of three hundred dollars, payable October 1st, next. Proceeded also to take bonds from Edmund Dorr, for the furnishing of one hundred thousand brick for the court house ; amount of said contract, six hundred dollars, in county orders, on the completion of the contract."

June 7, 1 8 1 5, the clerk was directed to advertise for materials, and making doors and window frames; also for sleq)ers, joists, and rafters, and for framing timber for floor, laying the brick, etc.

^^July 17, 1815. - The commissioners proceeded to contract as follows : with John Havner, for laying up the brick walls of court house, five hundred dollars ; with Abel Stedman, furnishing timber, framing cupola, etc., two hundred and seventy-four dollars \ and with Elijah Hatch, for shingles, sixty-seven dollars."

^^ September 5, 1815. - Agreed with John Porter, he being the lowest bidder, for the following jobs of work, viz : putting a cornice round the court house, at fifty cents per foot; also boarding the roof of the same, for the sum of twelve dollars ; and shingling the same at the rate of one dollar and twenty-five cents per thousand, and at one dollar for each hip."

^^ September 6j 1815. - ^Thc board appointed James GiUmore superintendent, to oversee and superintend the building of the court house, and to call on Charles Shipman and J. B. Miles to assist him at any time when required.*'

*' September 26. - Resolved by the board, that the sum of four hundred dollars be borrowed from the Bank of Marietu, for the purpose of paying for the stone work on the court house, including window sills, etc., and for the purpose of purchasing nails ; and that an order issue for the said amount, payable to Asahel Cooley, and that the same be sent by William Skinner, and deposited in the Bank of Marietta, for the purpose of obtaining the sum aforesaid."

^^ September 27. - Busy in making arrangements for the building of the court house, and making proposals to the trustees of the Ohio university for the loan of one thousand dollars."

^^ Friday^ 29. - Resolvedy That Robert Linzee and James Giltmore be a committee to examine the mason work of the court house, when finished, and receive the same, and also to ascertain the number of brick in said building."

^^ Wednesday^ December 6, 18 1 5. - Resolvedy by the commissioners of the county of Athens, That^ in consideration of a subscription by sundry individuals, viz: Josiah Coe, Cephas Carpenter, Mary Ann Ackley, Lydia Ackley, James Gillmore, Jacob Dumbaugh, John Johnstone, Enos Thompson, David Pratt, Daniel Stewart, Joseph B. Miles, Henry Bartlett, Robert Linzee, Charles Shipman, Ebenezer Currier, Eliphaz Perkins, Chauncey F. Perkins, Alvan Bingham, Amos Crippen, John

Porter, James J. Fuller, James Session, Silas Bingham, John White, Abel Stedman, Eliphaz Perkins, jun., S. S. Johnstone, John Havner, Thomas Armstrong, Seth Child^ Asahel Cooley, Thomas McClelland, and Arthur Coates, amounting to $506, to be paid into the county treasury to assist in building the court house in said county, and this day presented by a committee appointed for that purpose by the subscribers ; the commissioners do agree that the subscribers and their associates have the privilege of holding meetings for religious purposes, on the Sabbath and other days, for eight years from the first day of January, 18 16, when it shall not interfere with the county business, upon condition that $500 of the above-named subscription be paid to Henry Bartlett on or before the first day of March next ; and that each subscriber, on his paying the sum subscribed by him, shall receive a receipt for the same, to be refunded in eight years, without interest ; and provided further, that if the said sum of $500 is not paid in by the time specified, then it shall be optional with the commissioners to refund the money or continue the privilege, and if they should not continue the privilege, then the money is to be refunded. And it is also understood that the aforesaid sum of $500 be appropriated for finishing the lower room of the court house, if the whole of said sum be necessary. The following form of receipt shall be given by Henry Bartlett, clerk of the commissioners, for the purposes refunded to the said A. B., or his heirs or assigns, at the end of eight years from the first day of January, 18 16, out of the county treasury, without interest.'

^^ January 6, 18 16. - It is agreed by the commissioners and Joseph B. Miles, that the said Miles furnish the glass and oil for the court house, and that, after deducting the amount of said Miles's subscription from the articles, the balance be paid him, on delivery thereof.

Same day, - " Agreed with John Walker for making the sash for the lower and upper rooms of the court house, priming the same, and setting the glass, and fitting the sash in the frames, at ten cents per light - materials to be furnished by the commissioners. Also, agreed with John Walker for laying the lower floor, at $4 50 per square. The above contracts to be completed by May i, 18 16.

" Agreed with John Porter for finishing the upper part of the cupola, from the cornice up (including cornice), putting up rafters, boarding and shingling roof, putting on timber, with a ball agreeable to a plan this day exhibited, to be completed by May 1st, 181 7. Also agreed with John Porter, finishing and building the stairs for the sum of $60 ; the banisters to be mortised into the hand-rails and string board, and completed in a workmanlike manner.

Same date. - '^ Whereas, Robert Linzee and Asahel Cooley, have loaned of the corporation of the Ohio university, the sum of $1,000 for the use and benefit of the county of Athens, in building the court house \ therefore, be it resolved^ that so much of the tax of this present year be appropriated for the benefit of said Linzee and Cooley, as will satisfy said sum and interest.''

Same date. - ^^ Resolved^ That James Gillmore and Henry Bartlett^ be a committee to receive bonds of the several contractors on the court house, and that the said Gillmore and Bartlett, be a committee to dispose of the $1,000 borrowed by Asahel Cooley and Robert Linzee, for the use and benefit of Athens county, which sum said committee are directed to apportion among the different contractors who have heretofore filled their contracts on said building in proportion to their claims, after deducting therefrom six per cent."

** June 13, 1 8 16. - Agreed with John Walker, for completing the following jobs or parcels of work : finishing the judges* seats in the court house agreeably to the plan, twenty panels in front, with bed moulding and capping for a cornice ; five panels on each side of the bar, nine in front j two sheriffs' boxes ; two tables for the bar, and clerk's seat, agreeably to the plan ; after finishing thereof, the same to be adjudged by Messrs. Corp and Shipman, and the price determined by them \ also agreed with same for making, finishing, and hanging the three outside doors of the court house, and casing the jambs."

^*'June 25, 181 7. - Resolvedy That the superintending committee be authorized to employ John Bowman to paint the roof, cupola, etc., of the court house."

The foregoing extracts from the old county records include nearly every entry relating to the court house, and quite fully present the history of its erection. The building was about completed during the autumn of 1 817, and has been in continuous use ever since. It has undergone changes and repairs both inside and outside, but much of the original work still remains - an evidence of the honesty and fidelity with which the mechanics of those days labored. It is an antiquated and most unornamental building, and must ere long give way to a finer structure; but, perhaps, the walls of its successor will never echo the voices of greater men or better lawyers than have plead within the old court house.

The first resident lawyer in Athens was Artemus Sawyer, a young man of high literary and scholastic attainments, who arrived in i8o8. In 18 10, he wa3 appointed prosecuting attorney, and acted as such for a few years, until he fell an early victim to habits of intemperance. E. B. Merwin, of Lancaster, acted as prosecutor before Sawyer, and was one of the principal practitioners of this period at the Athens court. Gen. Philemon Beecheir, and Wm. W. Irwin, of Lancaster, were also regular attendants. William Woodbridge, of Marietta, practiced here until his removal to Michigan, where he became governor, senator, etc. The Hon. Thomas Ewing attended the courts in Athens county very constantly for several years, after his admission to the bar, as did also the late Samuel F. Vinton, who took up his residence in Gallipolis about 1817. Mr. Vinton represented this district in Congress for twenty-two years. Gen. Goddard, of Zanesville, also practiced here for several years, commencing about 1818. The Hon. Henry Stanbery came in a little later, but practiced for several years in the Athens courts, and his maiden speech was delivered in the present court house.* Messrs. Hocking H. Hunter, Brazee, and Nash must also be added to the great lawyers who practiced here. Gen. D wight Jarvis, who resided and practiced here about five years.

* Mr. Sunbery, in response to an inquiry addressed to him by the writer, touching the correctness of the tradition that his <« maiden speech " was delivered here, replied :

<< The 'tradition* is correct. I wai admitted to the bar at Gallipolis, in May, 1824, and made my first jury speech at Athens in the following June. The case was of a character (in bastartfy) and the evidence to broad as not to admit of publication. It involved some nice questions as to the period of gestation, etc. , with which, of coarse, I was not at all familiar ; so that I can very truly say that this was my ' first great cause least understood.* I did, however, succeed in making one point which had a telling effect on the jury. The defense was mainly placed on an attempt to impeach the veracity of the mother of the children (for they were twins) j I appeared for the mother, and the was the only witaess t» fix the paternity of the boys on the defendant.

from 1825 to 1830, was the second resident lawyer, not reckoning Joseph Dana, then a professor in the university, who though never fairly engaged in the practice, attended to a few cases, at intervals, when not occupied with teaching. At a somewhat later period, the late Judge Arius Nye, of Marietta, was among the most constant and faithful attendants, from abroad, at the Athens bar. Since about 1832, there has been no lack of resident lawyers (some of them of marked ability), and the attendance from abroad has been less frequent; in fact, of late years, non-resident lawyers are seldom seen here. The resident lawyers at the present time are Messrs. Grosvenor & Dana, Messrs. de Steiguer & Jewett, Messrs. Browns & Wildes, Messrs. Golden & Townsend, and Robert E. Constable.

I arpied to the jury that oar case was sustained by three witnesses. The counsel for the defease promptly contradicted this assertion, appealing to the jury that the mother vsi our only witness. I replied that it was true that the mother was the only witnesswho had testified under oath, but that her testimony was fiilly corroborated by that of the twins themselves - calling the attention of the jury to certain points of resemblance which they bore to the defendant, and quoting the well known line, ' O, holy nature thou dost never plead in vain.* So it turned out in this instance, for the silent testimony of the twins carried the case.**

A history of Athens county would be very incomplete without a biographical noticei of the father and projector of the Ohio university - an institution that has done so much to shape and influence the history of this community. Though never a resident of the county, perhaps no one person has exerted a more deep and lasting influence on its welfare than Dr. Manasseh Cutler. He was the son of Hezekiah Cutler, who came from a thorough Puritan stock, and was born at Killingly, Connecticut, May 3, 1742. He graduated at Yale college, at the age of twenty-three, studied theology at Dedham, with the Rev. Thomas Balch, and having settled in the ministry at Ipswich, Massachusetts, in 1771, soon became known for ability and learning. A minister by profession, he was also an ardent votary of science, in some of whose walks he became very eminent. In 1766, he married Mary Balch, daughter of his preceptor in theology, and to them were born seven children, viz : Ephraim, Jervis,

Mary, Charles, Lavinia, Elizabeth, and Temple. Of these only three, Ephraim, Jervis, and Charles ever came to Ohio. Dr. Cutler was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1781, of the Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, in 1783; an honorary member of the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1784; received the degree of LL. D. from Yale college in 1789; was elected a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society in 1792, and was a representative in congress in 1800 and 1802. He was also active as president of a bible society in Massachusetts, and was a member of various other scientific bodies than those above named. He was a chaplain in the American army during the revolutionary war, and in one engagement took such an active and gallant part, that the colonel of his regiment presented him with a fine horse captured from the enemy.

On the formation of the Ohio Company in 1787, Dr. Cutler soon became a controlling spirit in that enterprise. In an original memorandum of his, now before us, referring to the origin of the company, etc., he says :

^^ At this meeting * by y' desire of Major Sargent, I attended. I had suiFered exceedingly in y« war, and after it was over, by paper money and y' high price of articles of living. My salary small and family large, for several years I thought y* people had not done me justice, and I meditated leaving them. Purchasing lands in a new country appeared to be y« only thing I could do to secure a living to myself, and family in that unsettled state of public affiiirs. I had long before entertained an high opinion of y' lands in y* western country, which was a particular inducement to attend this meeting. The representations and plans of y' country gave me a still more favorable idea, and I determined to join y' association, but without y' most distant thought of taking an active part/'

A few days later, he was ^chosen a director, and appointed as their agent to proceed to New York and negotiate with the congress then sitting there, for a purchase of western lands. From the very interesting journal kept by Dr. Cutler during this trip, we have quoted at some length. He conducted this negotiation with great skill and entire success. He insisted that there should be an appropriation of land in the company's purchase for the endowment of a university^ and this feature was part of the contract with congress. Thus, the Ohio university is undoubtedly indebted to Dr. Cutler for its existence, and he was in later years very active in furthering its sound organization. He also originated the idea of a donation of land in each township, for educational and religious purposes, and made it a part of the contract with congress that two sections in each township should be reserved as school and ministerial lands.

In the summer of 1788, in order to attend a meeting of the directors of the Ohio Company, and to examine into the condition and prospects of the colony. Dr.

Cutler made a trip to Marietta, where he spent a short time, and became thoroughly acquainted with the nature of the country and wants of the settlers. His versatile talents and unusual business qualifications made his services to the company of great value, and for many years he continued to exercise a controlling influence in this great enterprise. During all this time he did not cease his labors as a minister of the gospel^ nor his scientific investigations, particularly his botanical pursuits, in which branch of science he was very eminent.

The latter years of his life were spent peacefully in Massachusetts. He ofliciated as pastor of one church at Hamilton in that state, for nearly fifty years, and died in 1820.

EUphaz PerkinSy son of John Perkins, a leading citizen of Norwich, Connecticut, was born at that place, August 25, 1753. Deprived of his fiither at an early age, he was nevertheless enabled, through the exertions of his mother, to obtain a liberal education. Soon after leaving college, Mr. Perkins married Lydia Fitch^ daughter of Dr. Jabez Fitch, of Canterbury, Connecticut, and engaged for a time in the mercantile business in that town. Subsequently he engaged in the same business in New Haven ; having, however, an inclination to professional pursuits, he finally entered on the study of medicine with his father-in-law, and this was his vocation during the rest of his life. The times being hard, and his family increasing, Dr. Perkins decided to remove to a new country, and, in the spring of 1789, leaving his family in Connecticut, he started for Marietta. On his arrival here he found a number of persons firom Clarksburg, Virginia, engaged in laying out a road between that place and Marietta. At their urgent solicitation he returned with them to Clarksburg, where he practiced medicine for nearly two years. The Indian war began about this time, and Dr. Perkins witnessed some terrible scenes of border war- &re. In one instance the savages killed and scalped a femily near where the Doctor was passing the night. One member of the family, a girl about fourteen years old, was scalped and left for dead in the fence corner. Dr. Perkins found her the next morning, still alive, took her under his care, and with good treatment and *n elastic constitution, she was finally restored to health. In the autumn of 1790, Dr. Perkins returned to Connecticut and rejoined his family, whom he had not «card from, nor they from him, for nearly two years. *^uring the next few years, he lived part of the time in Connecticut, and part of the time in Vermont, and Practiced his profession. He finally decided to remove *^*8 family to the northwest, and they set out for Mari-

^t^on the third of June, 1799. ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^"^® -^cn children, the eldest of whom, then a young lady ^f fifteen (afterwards Mrs. David Pratt, of Athens), a journal of their trip to Marietta, which is now l^rforc us. She says :

^^ Mother had a pleasant, easy-going horse, so that she could, whenever she choose, relieve herself from the tiresome motion of the wagon by riding on horseback. The first Sabbath was spent at Brandon, Vermont. It being a rainy day^ we did not attend church, but spent the day within doors. The second Sabbath was passed at Williamstown, Massachusetts, where we heard an excellent sermon from mother's brother, the Rev. Ebenezer Fitch. The third Sabbath, we were at Salisbury, Con* necticut, where we were hospitably and kindly entertained by friends of the name of Chittenden. Here we also spent Monday in order to recruit our provision chest, which we did abundantly with bread, pies, cakes, etc., through the kind assistance of our friends. The next week brought us into Pennsylvania. At sunset on Saturday evening, we passed through Reading, intending to go a little into the country where we could find pasture for the team. About eleven o'clock we came to a large stone house with a sign for entertainment, where we were admitted. The next day was the Sabbath, and before evening, mother gave birth to twin daughters. We remained here three weeks, when, the babes being healthy, and mother's health better than before, we resumed our journey. But now sickness began to prevail among the rest of the family, probably owing to the hot weather, bad water, and the abundance of fruit which was then ripe and very inviting to children, and doubtless, indulged in too freely by them. The people, at that time, along the mountains, were not very friendly to strangers, especially if they had sickness among them, fearing some contagious disease. Many of them were Dutch, and either did not, or pretended not to understand English, so that it was often with difficulty we found a place to lodge in. Several of the children were obliged to be placed on beds in the wagon, the motion of which, soon became so painful to them, as to make it necessary to suspend traveling for a time. A shelter was necessary. At last, with great difficulty, we found a hut that had been a blacksmith's shop, with a blacksmith's fire-place in it. There was no floor, but the shelter was better than nothing.

Here we remained ten days before the sick were so far recovered as to be able to bear the jolting of the wagon. We then traveled slowly, about six or seven miles a day, till we reached McKeesport on the Monongahela river. Here we were going to take a flat-boat and pursue our journey immediately by water, but some of the children who had been sick took a relapse, and we were detained several weeks. By this time the river was so low as to make navigation dangerous, yet, as we were all so anxious to reach Marietta before cold weather, it was determined to try it. Father procured a flat-boat of the largest and strongest sort, took in two men for rowers, and having placed the family and eiFects on board, with provisions for the voyage, we set out on the first of November, 1799. Owing to the extreme lowness of the water, we were three days in reaching Pittsburg - only about twelve miles. When we got into the Ohio river, it was very little better. At the end of the first day's travel, about three miles below Pittsburg, our boat fastened on the rocks, swung round, and seemed in imminent danger of being broken in pieces. At length, by great exertions, it was freed from the rocks and got to shore. The children were now so frightened they could not be persuaded to enter the boat again, nor were our parents much less alarmed. A consultation was held, but what could they do ? On both sides of the river stretched an unbroken wilderness. The team had previously been sent on by land in charge of the two oldest boys. There were two horses on the boat belonging to the rowers ; these father agreed to take and endeavor, without road or compass, to cross the country by land with the family and meet the boat at Wheeling. Taking all of us and the two horses out would somewhat lighten the load, and the men thought they could get on with the boat. Mother was placed on one horse and I on the other, each of us with one child in her lap and one on the horse behind her. Father took one of the babes in his arms, which he carried walking all the way to'Wheeling, and the rest of the children walked beside him. In this way we traveled about a week through the forest, sometimes finding little paths, and sometimes no trace at ail. There were a few settlers through this region, and we were so fortunate as to find some sort of shelter every night. At last we reached Wheeling. The boat had not yet arrived, but reached there two days later. We all entered the boat once more, and having now more water^we floated along somewhat more easily. After another week of tedious travel, we landed at Marietta on the i8th of November, 1799. But our troubles were not ended. It was impossible to get a comfortable house, and for nearly two months we occupied one not at all fit for winter. One of the children was taken with bilious colic, and his life was despaired of for several weeks. About the last of December we got into a more comfortable house, and just then mother was seized with a nervous fever. Father doctored her and was assisted by other good physicians, but without avail. After a few days of painful sickness, her toils and trials were ended by death. Father was very much crushed by this affliction, and could hardly bear up. In the spring of 1 800 father was invited by some gentlemen from the Athens settlement, on the Hockhocking, to settle there. He accepted the invitation and spent the summer practicing over a large extent of sparsely populated country. Having decided to locate at Athens, he procured a house, the best the place could aiFord, a log cabin with one room, one window, and one door. There was a spring of excellent water near the house, and a shed for horse and cow. Being unable to go for the family himself, he employed a trusty person to escort us through the wilderness from Marietta to Athens. Our goods were sent in a small boat down the Ohio, and up the Hockhocking. Only five of us went over at this time, the other four children being left temporarily with friends in Marietta. I rode on one horse with the babe in my lap, and one of the little girls behind me, and two of the boys rode another horse, the guide walked before and led the way. 3^ ^5

At last we reached Athens in safety. We were well pleased with our new home, and rejoiced to be with father again, who was not less glad to see us once more. Here we enjoyed peace and happiness. The first settlers here were generally poor, and father found it easier to earn money than to collect it. If the people had not money to pay with, he never distressed them. We suiFered many privations ; most of our bread had to be prepared from grain ground on hand mills, or horse mills, or pounded in a mortar, dug out of a large stump, with a spring pole fastened to an iron wedge for a pestle, A hand mill was something like a large coiFee mill listened to the side of the house or to a tree close by.

In 1803, father married Miss Catherine Greene, a sister of Mr, Griffin Greene, a prominent citizen of Marietta. Her mother, an aged and pious lady, became an inmate of our £imily at this time. She died in 1807, in her ninetieth year, and was the first person buried in the old grave-yard north of town.''

Dr. Perkins was a man of much culture and refined manners, and, being a skillful physician, his arrival in the community was hailed with general joy. His professional skill, gentle manners, and quiet christian deportment gained him immediate popularity and influence which he was prompt to exert in every good cause. He labored to establish and sustain common schools in the county, and was an ardent friend of and liberal contributor to the Ohio university, of which institution he was one of the first trustees, and for many years treasurer. He was post master at Athens for abobt seventeen years, and county treasurer for many years. His descendants are widely scattered. His sons, Chauncey and Jabez, studied medicine with their father at Athens. Jabez died January 12th, 1843, having never married. Dr. Chauncey Perkins lives in Erie county, Pennsylvania. Eliphaz was a mechanic in early life, but studied for the ministry and preached for several years before his death; his descendants arc in Kansas. John, another son of Dr. Perkins, is well known in Athens, where he has lived nearly seventy years. Henry, another son, graduated at the Ohio university, and in theology at Princeton, New Jersey. He has been pastor of a Presbyterian church at Allentown, New Jersey, over thirty years. One of Dr. Perkins' daughters was married to Captain David Pratt, of Athens; another to Mr. Isaac Taylor, long known as a hotel keeper in this town ; another to Dr. Medbury, formerly a physician here; another to Dr. Wm. Thompson, of Richmond, Ohio. Seven of Dr. Perkins' descendants have been ministers of the gospel, and six the wives of ministers ; he died at Athens, April 29th, 1828.

The Rev. Jacob Lindley^ seventh son of Demas Lindley, one of the early settlers of Washington county, Pennsylvania, was born in that county, June 13, 1774. At the age of eighteen he was sent to Jefferson college, Pennsylvania, and from there went to Princeton, New Jersey, where he graduated in 1798. After a course of theological study he was licensed to preach by the "Washington Presbytery," and in 1803, he removed to Ohio, settling first at Beverly, on the Muskingum. Having been selected by the first board of trustees of the Ohio university to organize and conduct that institution, he removed to Athens in 1808, and opened the academy there. For several years he had entire charge of the infant college, which he conducted with distinguished ability and success. He was the prime mover in securing the erection of the college buildings, and also in founding the Presbyterian church at Athens. He labored assiduously here for about twenty years, during part of which time he was the only Presbyterian minister in this portion of the state. He returned in 1829 to Pennsylvania, where he spent the rest of his life, and died at the residence of his son, Dr. Lieutellus Lindley, in Connellsville, Pennsylvania, January 29th, 1857.

Dr. Lindley was no common man, but an earnest thinker and conscientious worker. The leading trait in his character was an inflexible and unswerving devotion to moral principle. His whole life was a continuous effort to promote the moral welfare of others. He was of an amiable disposition, possessed an eminent degree of sound common sense, and an unerring judgment of men. His kindness of heart and known purity of life and conduct gave him great influence with all classes during his long residence at Athens. One who knew him well says : "I have seen him go into a crowd of rough backwoodsmen and hunters, who used to meet at the village tavern every Saturday, and settle and control them in their quarrels and fights, as no other man in that community could." His control of the students under his charge was equally extraor- dinary, and was always marked not less by gentleness of manner than by firmness of purpose. He led a laborious life at Athens, and his works live after him.

John Brown, well known in southern Ohio '^General Brown/V son of Captain Benjamin Browi^ one of the pioneers of Ames, was born in Rowe, Massachusetts, December i, 1785. In 1787, his father's family moved to Hartford, Washington county, New York, and in 1796, with several other families seeking homes in the west, came to the Forks of Yoh, on the Monongahela, three miles above Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Here they remained till February, 1797, building a boat during the winter, in which they completed their journey and arrived at Marietta, February II, 1797. Of the twenty-three persons of various ages who descended the river in this boat, there are but four now living, viz : Samuel and John Brown, Mrs. Aphia Hamilton, and Mrs. Phebe Sprague. As elsewhere stated. Captain Brown's family came out to Ames township in the spring of 1799, moving their household effects by canoes down the Ohio, and up the Hockhocking and Federal creek - the members of the family not required to work the canoes, coming across the country.

In 181 1, Mr. Brown married Sophia Walker, daugh-^ ter of Dr. Ezra Walker, and continued to live in Ames township till 18 17, when he removed to the town of Athens, where he still resides. On coming to Athens, he kept a. public, house one year at the Zadoc Foster house (on the south end of the lot now owned and occupied by Judge Barker), when he bought the corner property in front of the university, and built and kept the'* Brown House/* so long known to the public, and so kindly remembered by his hosts of friends. He kept this house till December, 1 865, a period of fortystren years.

In 1808, Mr. Brown was elected captaih in the m3itia^ and was subsequently made major and colonel, and in 1-817 was elected brigadier general. He was county auditor from 1822 to 1827, and has been treasurer of the Ohio university from 1824 ta the present time. He was also mayor of Athens for several years, and corona for two terms. He is, in every good sense, one of the vill^e fathers who has ''come down to us from a former generation.'* Possessed of sound judgment, a kind heart, sterling integrity, and unfa^ing^ humor. General Brown has for fifty years had the respect and affectionate regard of this community. His genial wit still oft enlivens the social circle, and his venerable form is recognized with pleasure by all, on the streets of the town where he has lived so long and where, without an enemy in the world, he is cheerfully approaching the end of his journey. He reared here a family of six sons and two daughters ; four of the sons graduated at the Ohio university, and three survive, viz: Oscar W., Wm. Loring, and Ai^hibald Douglas; the latter is cashier of a bank in Pomeroy, Ohio. One of the daughters, Mrs. Hannah Pratt, lives in Illinois, and the other, Mrs. Lucy Hey, in Cincinnati, Ohio.

A. G. Browny son of Captain Benjamin Brown, was born April i6th, 1798, near Waterford, in Washington county, Ohio, and has lived in Athens county since he was one year old. His youth was passed in working on his father's htm (in Ames township), and in assiduous study and preparation for college. In due time he became a student at the Ohio university, and graduated there in 1822. From 1824 to 1825, he was preceptor in the academical department of the university. In 1825 he began the publication of the Athens Mirror, the first paper printed in the county, and continued as its editor and publisher for five years. From 1827 to 1833, he was county recorder, which office he again filled from 1836 to 1841, when he began the practice of law in Athens. In 1841 he became a member of the board of trustees of the university, which position he still holds. He was a delegate to the convention.which formed the present constitution of Ohio, and was for two years president judge of the Athens district. For many years past he has practiced law in Athens. Judge Brown came to Athens county when nearly the whole of its area was an unbroken forest and to the town of Athens when it was a mere cluster of log cabins. The personal friend and associate of the leading men of the community who assisted in building up society here, most of whom have passed away, he has witnessed the steady development of the county during considerably more than half a century. Looking bacic over its whole history to a period before it was organized, he may very truthfully say :

Judge Brown's sons, Henry T. Brown, an active lawyer and business man, and Louis W. Brown, for many years clerk of the county, are natives of Athens, and well known in the community.

John Perkins^ son of Dr. Eliphaz Perkins, was born in Leicester, Vermont, in 1791, and came to the town of Athens with his father's family in the year i8oo. His father located at Athens on account of the prospective establishment of the Ohio university here, and since that time two of his sons, five grandsons and two great-grandsons have graduated at this institution. Mr. Perkins has lived in Athens nearly seventy years, and was post master here for about twenty-two years. He has been engaged in mercantile pursuits during a large part of his life, and is known in the county as a most upright man and a good citizen. Though nearly eighty years old, his firm step and clear mind bespeak a temperate life and approving conscience.

Henry Bartlett^ the son of Captain William Bartlett, was born at Beverly, Massachusetts, February 3, 1771* His &ther was a seafaring man, and received, it is believed, the first commission that was issued to engage in privateering, during the revolutionary struggle, in which he rendered conspicuous service. In 1785, Captain Bartlett removed with his family to Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, and settled near the Forks of Yoh, where he lived till his death in 1794. Whije living in Westmoreland county, Henry Bartlett married Miss Betsey Corey, and in 1796, brought his young family to the northwestern territory and settled the next year at Athens. During his youth, Mr. Bartlett enjoyed pretty good educational advant^es, and after his arrival at Athens was soon recognized as one of the readiest and most accurate clerks and business men in the community. Previous to the organization of the county, he taught school several quarters in the surrounding neighborhoods. Soon after the organization of the county in 1 805, he was appointed by the county commissioners as clerk of the board and of the county courts, which position he held, discharging die duties with great fidelity for thirty years. He cea^d to be derk in 1836, and from that time till his death, acted as a justice of the peace in Athens. He was also for many years secretary and auditor of the Ohio univ^sity. He died September 9th, 1850. Esquire Bartlett was a man of great purity of character, thoroughly judicial mind and excellent capacity for businesa. During his early residence here, he adapted himself with admirable facility to pioneer life, and to the changing circumstances of the times, and was for many years almost indispensable in the management of county affairs. He possessed a fine quality of wit and humor, which he was fond of exercising, thou^ always without oiiense to others, and which made him one of the most popular as he was one of the most highly respected men in the county. His family consisted of two sons and ten daughters, of whom nine daughters are living.

Robert Lha^ee^ a native of western Pennsylvania, came to this county in 1801, and settled on a farm two miles below the town of Athens, on the " River road," where he lived nearly thirty years. Mr. Linzee was a leading man in the early history of the county. He was^ the 4rst ^herifF of the county and held the office Several years; was a member of the state l^slature several terms, a trustee of the Ohio university and associate judge of the court of common pleas. In 1830 he removed to Mercer county, Ohio, where he died in 1850.

Mr. Linzee occupied a prominent place in county affairs during his residence here, and in private life was an amiable and interesting man. His name is still kindly remembered by those who were acquainted with

John Johnson^ settled in Athens with his family as early as 1805. One of his daughters was married in 1807 to Robert Linzee, and another, about the same time, to Jacob Dombaugh, who was an active man, and at an early day kept public house where the Brown House is now situated. A son of John Johnson's, Samuel, married a daughter of Abel Glazier, of Ames. In 1 8 15 Mr. Johnson and Mr. Glazier carried the mail, as sub-contractors, between Marietta and Chillicothe, when there were but two post offices on the route, viz., at Athens and Adelphi, Ross county.

Capt. Philip M. Starr ^ a native of Middletown, Connecticut, came to the town of Athens in 1801, where for several years he followed the mercantile business. Later he located on a rich and valuable farm on the river three miles below Athens where he died in 1857. Capt. Starr was a very active business man, and of more than average mental culture. He had considerable means when he came to the county, and though never in public life he was a man of influence among the early settlers. He devoted the latter part of his life to horticulture and fruit growing, in which he was notably successful.

leading citizen of Athens, was born in Rutland, Massachusetts, June li, 1781. In 1791 he removed to the northwestern territory with his parents, who settled at Belpre, in Washington county. Here he lived till he was twenty-seven years old. In 1808 Mr. Miles came to Athens and began business as a merchant. In January, 1809, he married Miss Elizabeth Buckingham, of Carthage township. He lived in Athens for thirty-five years, during which period he was prominent in all social, religious and business movements here. He engaged extensively in the mercantile and milling business, and was universally respected as an upright man and exemplary christian. In 1843 ^^ removed with his family to Washington, Tazewell county, Illinois, where he died September i8th, i860. His first wife died in Athens in 1821. By his first marriage Mr. Miles had six children - Catherine B., who married Mr. C. Dart and died in Houston, Texas, in February 1866; Lucy W., who married Mr. L. A. Alderson and died in Greenbriar county, Virginia, in 1832; Belinda C, who married Mr. Jared Sperry and now lives in Mt. Vernon, Ohio; Pamelia B., who died before marriage at Havana, Cuba ; Elizabeth B., who was married in Natchez and died there of yellow fever in September, 1837 ; and Benjamin £., who now resides in Washington, Illinois. Mr. Miles married for his second wife Miss Elizabeth Fulton. Their children were Martha M., James H.,

Daniel L., Joseph B., Mary F., William R., and Sarah J. ' Mary, Martha and Joseph live in Washington, Illinois, James in Chicago, and Sarah J. (Mrs. Robert Wilson) in Farmington, Iowa. William R. died young; and Daniel L., who was lieutenant-colonel of the Forty-seventh Illinois Volunteers, during the war of the rebellion, was killed in a skirmish near Farmington, Tennessee, in May, 1862. Mr. Miles's second mfe died in 1862.

Jonathan H^ilkins^ one of the earliest inhabitants of Athens, was a maa of very considerable learning, and for some time taught a pioneer school. Of his son, Timothy Wilkins, the following reminiscence is fur* nished by Dr. C. F. Perkins; it is hardly less strange than the history immortalized by Tennyson in ** Enoch Arden."

Mr. Wilkins was skillful and enterprising in business, but, through no fault of his own> became embarrassed, was hard pressed by creditors, and pursued by writs. In those days, when a man could be imprisoned for a debt of ten dollars, to izil in business was an awful thing. Wilkins was not dishonest, but had a heart to pay if he could. He battled bravely with his misfortunes for a considerable period, but with poor success. One day in the year 1829, full of despair, he came from his home west of town, across the Hockhocking, and having transacted some business with the county clerk, went out, and was supposed to have returned home. The next morning it became known that he was not at his house. Inquiry and search being made, the boat in which he usually crossed the river was seen floating bottom upward, and his hat was also found swimming down the stream. Mr. Wilkins was a popular man in the community; news of his loss soon spread, the people gathered from every quarter and measures were taken to recover the body. The river was dragged, a cannon was fired over the water, and other means resorted to, but to no purpose; the body was not found. The excellent Mrs. Wilkins put on mourning, and friends remembered the departed for a time with affectionate regret. As time sped, the sad incident was forgotten, and Timothy Wilkins passed out of mind. His wife, faithful for a time to his memory, had for years been the wedded partner of another, and a little family was growing up around the remarried woman and her second husband, Mr. Goodrich, himself a well known and worthy citizen.

In 1834, a vague rumor - an undefined whisper from the distant southwest - circulated through the settlement that Mr. Wilkins yet survived. Soon more positive assertions were made, and finally it was said that the missing man was alive and on his way home. At last a neighbor received a letter from Wilkins, announcing his approach; fearing to shock his wife by a sudden appearance, he had himself originated the rumors of safety, and now announced that he would soon be in Athens. He knew of his wife's second marriage, and in friendly spirit proposed to meet her and Mr. Goodrich. Much excitement and distress ensued. Mr. Willcins arrived; there was a cordial meeting and strange interview among the parties most concerned. The conference was friendly and satisfactory. Messrs. Willcins and Goodrich honestly left to the wife of their rivalship the final choice of her companion, and she selected her first love, to the great grief, but with the full acquiescence of her second. The reunited pair bade adieu to their friends, and together set out for the distant south.

Mr. Willcins' disappearance was a ruse to escape his creditors. He went to New Orleans, engaged successfully in boating, accumulated money enough to pay off all his debts, which he honorably did, and returned to claim his beloved.

John Gillmore^ was born in Washington county. New York, December 25, 1786. Soon afterward his father's family removed to Rutland, Vermont, whence they .emigrated in 18 13 to Ohio. They were accompanied by Cephas Carpenter, a relative by marriage, and all settled in Athens. The father, James Gillmore, was the first elder in the Presbyterian church formed here about the time of his arrival, and was an excellent man ; he died July 25, 1827. John Gillmore held sev- eral minor local offices, and served with credit two terms in the state legislature. In 1836 he removed with his family to Illinois, and finally settled at Rock Island, where he died, July 9th, 1859. The Gillmores are remembered as one of the most substantial families of the town during their long residence here. One of the daughters of Mr. James Gillmore, A^n Eliza, married the Rev. S. S. Miles (brother of Mr. Joseph B. Miles), who now lives in Geneseo, Illinois.

Archibald B. fFalker, son of Dr. Ezra Walker, was born in East Poultney, Vermont, October 15th, i8cx5, and came to Ames township with his father's family when ten years old. In 1825 he married Lucy W., daughter of Judge Silvanus Ames, and in 1826 they removed to the town of Athens, where they have since resided continuously, and reared a family of two sons and four daughters. Soon after coming to Athens, Mr. talker, having formed a partnership with his brotherin-law, James J. Fuller, engaged for a few years in the cattle-driving and pork-packing business. In 1839 they commenced the manufacture of salt at the old furnace, opposite Chauncey, afterward owned by Judge Pruden, and soon after they bored the wells and erected the furnaces now owned by M. M. Greene & Co., at Salina. For a period of twenty years the firm name of Fuller & Walker was well and favorably known in the valley. The partnership was dissolved in 1853. Since that time, Mr. Walker has not engaged in active business on his own account. During his long residence in the county, he has always been one of the most prompt to embrace, and ardent in the support of every useful local enterprise. At home and abroad, in personal intercourse and through the press, he has ever been ready and efficient in advocating the development of the county, and presenting her claims. He was one of the original friends, and for several years a director of the Marietta & Cincinnati railroad, and an early and strenuous advocate for the construction of the Hockhocking Valley railroad, which is now building under the energetic control of younger men, and which he is likely to live to see finished.

Having been through his whole life scrupulously faithful and exact in the discharge of every duty, public and private, Mr. Walker is peacefully completing the last stage of a long and worthy career in the very spot where he began it. If his part has been acted on a comparatively narrow st^e, it has nevertheless, been well acted - "there all the honor lies." Happy in the respect of his neighbors and the affection of children and grand-children, he possesses, in the words of Shakapeare: county, Massachusetts. He studied medicine and surgery at the Boston Medical college, and received a diploma from that institution in 1792. In 1796 he married Miss Mary Porter, of Rutledge, Massachusetts. After this he served four years as assistant surgeon in the New York hospital. In 1802 he removed from New York to Washington county, Ohio, and in 1804 ^^'5 ^o ^^ town of Athens, and occupied a house built by Captain Silas Bingham, on the lot now owned and occupied by Mr. George W. Norris. In 1806 he was elected to the state senate, which position he held till 181 1. When hostilities began in 1 812, he was commissioned as surgeon in the army of the northwest, under Harrison, and was assigned to duty on the staff of General Tupper. At the close of the war he returned to Athens and resumed the practice of medicine with success. In 18 16, while performing a surgical operation, he received poisonous matter into a small wound on his hand, the absorption of which produced violent inflammation and sudden death; he died May 13, 1 8 16. Dr. Jewett was a gentleman of fine intelligence and professional ability, and there are those living who still cherish his memory as one of the leaders among the early citizens of the county.

Four of his sons survive ; three of them, Joseph, Leonard, and Leonidas Jewett, live in the vicinity of Athens, and one resides in Oregon. Leonidas was

Leonidas Jewett, jr., son of the last named, a lawyer of promise, is settled at Athens, where he was bom. During the late war of the rebellion, he served three years with credit as adjutant of the Sixty*first Ohio regiment.

Calvary Morris'^ was born near Charleston, West Virginia, in 1798, and spent his youth in the Kanawha valley, laboring on a farm, and battling with the hard* ships of pioneer life. In 181 8 he married the eldest daughter of Dr. Leonard Jewett, of Athens, and in the spring of 18 19, located permanently in that town. " Finding myself," says Mr. Morris, "a stranger in a strange land, and obliged to make provision for the support of my family, my first step was to rent five acres of ground, upon which to raise a crop of corn. While cultivating that ground, during the summer of 1 8 19, the Rev. Jacob Lindley (then acting president of the Ohio university) came to me and said that a school teacher was much needed in our town, and proposed that I undertake it. I informed him that I was not at all qualified - that reading, writing, spelling, and a limited knowledge of arithmetic was the extent of my education. He said that the wants of the community required that arithmetic, geography, and English grammar be taught in the school, and, 'now,' said he, ^I will tdl you what to do. I have the books and you have biains; take my books, go ta studying, and recite to me every day for three weeks^. and by that time I will have a school made up for ^yoixy you wHl then find no difficulty in keeping ahead of your scholars so as to give satisfaction^ in teaching,' and no* one will ever suspect your present lack of qtialificationau' I consetited,^ went ta work, and at the end of three weeks went into the school. I taught and studied during the da^y and cultivated mj corn-field part of the time by moonlight, and if there was ever any complaint of my lack of qualifications as a teacher, it never came to my knowledge;''

In 1823, Mr. Morris was elected sheriflF of Adiens county, and re-elected by an almost unanimous vote in 1825. la 1827, at the close of his term as sheriff, he was elected to the lower branch ot the state l^slature, and re-elected in 1828. In 1829, he was elected to the state senate, and re-elected in 1833. In 1835, when the project of the Hocking canal was being warmly agitated, Mr. Morris was elected again to the popular branch of the assembly from Athens and Hocking counties as the avowed friend of that measure, and in the belief that he was the best man to engineer it through. To his adroit management and indefatigable efforts, the measure was mainly indebted for success, as he had to overcome the almost unanimous opposition of both branches of the legislature and the whole board of canal commissioners.

He had the pleasure of seeing the bill triumphantly passed a few days before the close of the session, and on his return home his constituents tendered him a public dinner.

In 1843 he retired from public life and engaged, to some extent, in wool growing and in the introduction of fine-wooled sheep into the county, in which business he rendered great service to the farming community.

In 1847 ^^ removed to Cincinnati and engaged in mercantile pursuits, which finally proving unfortunate, he returned to Athens in 1854, and in 1855 was elected probate judge of the county, which ofiice he still holds.

Few men, if any, now living in the county, have filled. a larger part in its ofiicial history than Judge Morris, and, during his varied services, he has discharged every trust with honor and fidelity. His public life lay chiefly in the better days of the republic, and of our politics, and, from his present standpoint, secure in the confidence and respect of all his neighbors, he has the rare and happy fortune of being able to review his whole career without shame and without remorse.

Judge Morris is a brother of the Reverend Bishop Morris of the M. E. church. William D. Morris, of Illinois, and Levi Morris, of Louisiana, are the other surviving brothers.

Capt, Isaac Barkery came from New Bedford, Massachusetts, to the northwestern territory in the autumn of 1788. For several years he lived in the Belpre settlement on the Ohio river, about fifteen miles from Marietta, and his name is preserved as one of the heads of families who, in the year 1792, took refuge in the block house called ^^ Farmers' Castle," where he and his family remained till the violence of the Indian war was spent. In 1798 he removed with his family of five sons and three daughters to Athens township, and settled near the village of Athens, where he passed the remainder of his life. Capt. Barker was a sea-lfaring man in early life, being supercargo and captain of an East India vessel, and, during the revolutionary war, took an active part in the privateering service. His sons were Michael, Isaac, Joseph, William, and Timothy.

Michael Barker^ son of Capt. Isaac Barker, born in 1776 at New Bedford, Massachusetts, came with his father's family to Marietta in the autumn of 1788. During the Indian war, from 1792 to 1795, while they lived in Farmers' Castle at Belpre, Michael served as a scout or spy against the Indians in a company raised under the authority of the Ohio Company. He came to Athens county and settled near the town of Athens in April, 1798, where he spent the rest of his life. He married a daughter of Wm. Harper, who was county treasurer from 4809 ^^ 181 1« Mr. Barker was for many years a constable tn Athens township, and held other local offices. He was a man of scmpulous exactxiess in his dealii^s, and of much firnmess and decisioB 4>f character* He died June loth,

Isaac Barhtj Jr. (son of Capt. Isaac Barker), long known in Athens county as Judge Barker, was born in Massachusetts, February lytk, 1779- H*e remembers 1^8 father setting out with his ^untly for the northwestern territory, from New Bedford, Massachusetts, in 178ft* They had one wagon drawn hy two oooen and a horse^ and were accoix^uuiied on the journey by Capt. Dana and his family, also emigrating to the west. Their journey was not marked by any ^s^dal incidents. At one stage Capt. Barker's oxen Siavij^ become footsore, he exchanged them with a Dutch tavern keeper wha*e they stopped for a fresh yoke. The next morning the boys started on early with the team, the father remaining behind a Uttle while. They had not gone fsar before they came to a very bad placse in the road, ot«er which the oxen refused to go. After working with them for some time the boys suddenly thought it was because the Dutch oxen could not und^^tand English that they were so stubborn ; one of them accordingly went back for the Dutchman, who soon arrived, and, by dint of considerable hard swearing at the oxen, in good Dutch, got the team over. The emigrants traveled by land to Sum^ tiU'b feny on the Yooghiogheny, where they procured Jccd boats and condnued their journey by water to '^Marietta. Captain Baricer's family spent several xnonths in the fiunily of Paul Fearing, at Marietta, and removed thence early in 1790 to Belpre, where he Mt- ^tled on a one-hundred-acre dbnation lot. They had liard work to get along here, especially for the first year ^M* two. Mr. Barker says corn was four dollars a bushel snd none to be had at that. They lived for one year fedmost solely on -corn bread and wild meat. ^^One *^art of cracked corn," he says, ^' was the daily aUow- *«noe for our family oi eleven. The children used to Atand by looking wistfully while their mother baked the duly loaf, and, having received their share, would hoard it carefully, nibbliivg it like mice during the day.'* They lived in a block house, or garrison, some four or five years^ during the Indian war. At this time, says Mr. Barker, ^'I was a pretty ftmart boy and able to handle a gun, and while father and my older brother worked in the field I stood guard with the rifle. Every evening we barred up the door before sundown. In the morning we would open it an hour or so after sunrise, look carefully about, and, if no signs of Indians appeared, brother Michael would go out (the door being instantly barred behind him), and scout around a little." Several men and one or two whole families were killed in that neighborhood by the Indians during these years. Mr. Barker recollects the massacre of the

Armstrong ifamily just across the river from where they lived, the killing of Benoni Hurlbut, the chase of Waldo Putnam and a man by the name of Bradford, by the Indians, and the killing of Jonas Davis. Tliis Mr. Davis was engaged to be married to one of Mr. Bar* ker*s sisters. One cold day during the war, seeing an old skiff lodged on the ice some distance up the river, he ventured out to get some nails out of her - ^they being very scarce. He never returned. Being missed, after several hours, and search made, he was found dead, stripped, and scalped on the ice. Though a mere boy during the war. Judge Barker received at its close one hundred acres of land as a bounty from the Ohio Company - Gen. Putnam saying that he had done a man's work and was entitled to a man's pay. He used frequently to stand guard at the garrison. Capt. Barker s family came to Athens in 1798, poling their goods up the Hockhocking in a light flat boat. These boats were built with a '^running board" along each side ; a man on each side, furnished with a long pole with a pointed iron socket at the end, would plant it firmly in the bottom at the bow, and then with the upper end against his shoulder would run to the other end of the boat, propelling her by that means. After coming to Athens they lived a year at the point close by Harper's Ferry. Judge Barker tended this ferry for a while, and married Christiana, a daughter of Mr. Harper. At this time they got their milling from

Capt. Devol's floating mill, some five miles up the Muskingum. It took four days to go and come, and Mr. Barker has himself more than once made this long trip to mill, going down the Hocking and up the Ohio in a pirogue and back by the same means, camping out over night.

Moses Hewitt and his family lived a short distance up Margaret*s creek. In the year 1800 some thirty or forty Indians came in on Factory run, and three of them came over to Mr. Hewitt's house. They were somewhat in liquor, and Mrs. Hewitt in alarm sent hastily for her husband, who was a short distance from the house. When Mr. Hewitt came he ordered them in their own language (he had been a captive among them several years before), to "go away." They refused and were insulting, whereupon, Mr. Hewitt flew at the drunken ones and knocked one into the fireplace and another headlong out of the door. Mr. Barker was in the house and saw all this. A large athletic Indian, who seemed entirely sober, then grappled with Mr. Hewitt, and, after a violent struggle, threw him on the floor. Mrs. Hewitt and Mr. Barker, excited and alarmed, were about to pull the Indian oflF, when Hewitt, who was a noted fighter, told them to stand oflF and let him alone. The fight continued, and Hewitt very soon managed to get his thumb into the Indian's eye, and the Indian's thumb into his mouth, when the latter screamed lustily and begged till Mr.

Hewitt released him. The moment he was on his feet, the Indian ran to the door, and, patting his hand to his mouth, gare a regular war whoop, loud and long con^ tinned, and then ran away. Mr. Hewitt himself was now alarmed, thinking that the Indians would come over in the night and kill his ifamily. Accordingly he requested Garner Bobo, a man named Cutter, and Mr. Barker, to stay in the house over night while he took his wife and the children some distance across the river. Mr. Barker saya, ^^We had but one gun among ua-^ Bobo had that. I was armed with a heavy clothespounder, and Cutter had a conchshell which he was to blow for help in case of great danger. Thus aocoutered we barred the door and prepared to pass the night. We took turns sleeping and watching, and the night passed without any alarm. About daylight I, being on watch, saw some three or four figures gliding about the house and thought the redskins were after us now, sure enough. I woke Bobo who had his gun ready in a minute, and we were preparing for a fight or a siege when we heard a loud laugh outside, and looking out saw Hewitt and two or three others coming up to the house. They had come over to scare us. We saw nothing more of the Indians, and I think this ?7as the last considerable party of them seen in this part of the country."

by the name of King, with his iamily^ from the mouth of the Hockhocking river to the falls near Logan, and then dragging thdr boat around the falls, continued to within eight miles of Lancaster, the place of destination.

The to^R^ plat of Athens was very heavily timbered at that time, and the few cabins that stood here were widely separated. Mr. Barker^ though not a great hunter, killed great numbers of deer and turkeys here^ abouts. He remembers the following incident :

Chris. Stevens, who lived back of the college green, and a German named Heck, were hunting one day and treed a bear in a large poplar not fiu- from Stevens' house. The bear climbed nearly to the top of the tree» which was very tall. They had but one gun between them and Stevens was to shoot. He had leveled his gun, taken aim, and sighted a long time ; Heck stood -a little off waiting for him to fire, when, his patience exhausted, he asked, ^^ Why don't you shoot?" Stevens, who was a kind-hearted man, deliberately lowered his gun and said, ^^ I can't bear to see the poor hing fall so far I "

Old Capt. Barker's first cabin stood about where Joseph Herrold's house now stands. He afterward built a log house near the river, south of John White's present residence. Judge Barker's first cabin was about one hundred yards west of his father's first house, and he afterward built a two story hewed log house on the river bank just at the turn of the road, which was standing a few years since and occupied by the Beveridge family. In 18 15 Judge Barker moved to the town plat and took the " Dunbaugh House," which stood where the " Brown House" now stands, and which had been kept for a few years by one Jacob Dunbaugh. Mn Barker kept tavern here till 1 8 1 8, when he bought the lot where he now resides. There was a hewed log house on this lot, and he kept tavern in this while his brick house was building, and till it was finished in 1823, and then in his present dwelling till about 1830.

During his residence here, Mr. Barker has held the offices of county sheriflF, county treasurer, collector of rents for the university, and was judge of the court of common pleas for about ten years. He has lived for nearly three score years and ten in the town of Athens, where he is passing the evening of his days in quiet serenity. Though now eighty-nine years old, he devoted a part of every day during this season (1868), to working in his garden - his favorite employment - and is in possession of all his faculties.

Abel Stedman^ son of Judge Alexander Stedman, wa born at Newbridge, Vermont, February 26, 1785, and came to the town of Athens in i8o2. In 18 11 he married Miss Sally Foster. In 1812 he enlisted in the

XJnited States service, and on the march from Sandusky ^o Chillicothe he marched next in the ranks to Thomas Oorwin. Returning to Athens he -ngaged in his trade CDf house carpenter, and passed the rest of his days liere. He was a man of active temperament and untiring industry, a professing christian and full of good ^v^orks. He died December 20, 1859.

Zadoc Foster^ a native of Massachusetts, moved with Inis family to the northwestern territory in 1796. He crame, like many others of that time, with an ox team as far as Olean point, on the Allegheny river, and thence proceeded by raft down the Ohio to Marietta, in the autumn of 1796. Remaining that winter in the stockade, he made a settlement in the spring at Belpre, s^nd remained there till he came to Athens in 1809. iDuring his residence at the Belpre settlement Indians '^^ere frequently seen, but had ceased to be considered dangerous, while the game was so abundant that deers ^nd turkeys were sometimes shot, from the door of the crabin in which he lived.