Canton Township (part 2 of 62)

Prior to 1812 Indians were numerous in Lexington townshij). The forests were alive with game and the streams were well filled with fish, and as it is a well known fact that the red man throng and linger where game abounds they were naturally loth to give up this paradise, h'rom the earliest settlement of the townshi]) until the war the conduct of the Indians towaril the whites was very ])acific, tliere l^eing no savage brutality on their part in the township to record. Another feature whicli attracted the Indians to Lexington townshi]) was the large groves of sugar trees peculiar to the township, from which they obtained their supply of sweets. The chief encampment of the tribe found in this county was four miles south of New Philadelphia. However in 1813 the savage warwhoop was raised against the whites, many of whom left the township through fear; but Commodore Perry's quietus against the unnatural and barbarous coalition formed by England against Americans was far-reaching in its effect and the Indians withdrew to new or unoccupied hunting grounds, so that after 181 3 only an occasional Indian was seen in the township.

The first grist-mill in Lexington township was south of the town of Lexington, and was built by Aaron Stratton. Subsequently a sawmill was built in conjunction. This mill was located on the bank of Mahoning river. The next mill built in the township was erected by Byran T'.lliott, on Deer creek, about a mile west of Limaville, and in 1818 a grist and sawmill of some greater pretensions was built on the Mahoning river at Williamsport by Johnson & Pennock. The first sawed lumber commanded a value equal to twenty-five cents per hundred feet from 1815 to 1820. Prior to 18] 2 there was no necessity for sawed lumber in the township. Tlie floors of the cabins were made of ])uncheons, their roofs were covered with clapboards, rived from straight-grained oak timber, their sides of round logs, their doors of hea\'y clapboards and swung on wooden hinges ; their window consisted of a couple of feet cut from one of the side logs and the hole covered with greased pajjcr. The chimney and fireplace was a magnificent aft'air, the latter often occupying the entire end of the cabin, and the base of it was built of "niggerhead" stones or "bog-ore" and the balance of the chimney above the contact of the fire was built on the outside of the cabin, of cross-sticks and tempered clay. These cabins were of one room, and were one story high and a "loft." The furniture consisted of a rude table and stools of primitive style. In some cases there were two doors in the same cabin directly opposite and in such cases logs ten feet long and eighteen inches in diameter were drawn by a horse into the cabin antl then rolled into the capacious fireplace. A few green logs of this size, when fairly ablaze, would bid defiance to the most rigorous weather. The form of architecture just descriljed was improved upon and was follrnxed b\' what is termed the hewed log house. The logs were flattened on both sides, the joists were hewed, the flooring sawed, and the buildings were mostly two stories high. The roofs were made of rived, and often shaved, oak siiingles, fastened to the sheeting with nails, costing twenty-five cents per pound. The windows, which were generally few in number, consisted of a four-light sash window, made to hold eight-by-ten glass ; the crevices between the logs were filled by juggles, and then neatly plastered on the inside and outside with well-tempered yellow clay. The outside ponderous chimney of the round-log cabin was moved to the inside of the hewed log house. "The differences being so great between the surroundings of life in Lexington township then and what they are today, many might conclude that those old veterans of pioneer life had deprivations and hardships without any interims of pleasure. Such a conclusion is very wide of the mark ; they had their recreations and festivals. The brain power and moral tension for wealth was not so great then, and more frequenti)' relaxed than it is today. * * * The pioneers, outside of superior social enjoyment common among the early .settlers, enjoyed a delirious pleasure when, with their sinewy arms, they grappled witli tlie ferocious bear. Thev felt a wild enjoyment when the lleeting stag fell dead in his lightning com'se, through the agency of their unerring rifles. This exhilarating and nianl}- sport may be startling to the pampered, effeminate sons of luxury. Those iron-armed, resolute settlers may have been unlearned in books, but they were wise and ennobled from an admitted converse \\\i\\ nature, when her grandeur was undefaced bv man's spoiling art."

The town of Lexington was platted and surveyed in 1807, and was named after that historic event which inaugurated the American war for independence. Williamsport was not laid out for twenty years thereafter, and then was suburban to Lexington. Freedom followed in twenty-one years and Mount Union in twenty-three years. As near as can be ascertained, the first Methodist society was formed in the \illage of Lexington in 1819, and consisted of six members, under the leadership of Thomas Wood. In the autumn of that year Lexington became a regular preaching place, being connected with what was called Mahoning circuit, with Calvin Ruttor arid John Stewart pastors. The society at first worshipped in private dwellings and later in a schoolhouse. but in 1827 the [Methodists of the township erected a hou.se devoted to religious worship. Other denominations have gained strong foothold in the township and Alliance now contains some of the strongest congregations in the state of Ohio, the ^lethodist church being particularly strong. In all respects Lexington township is the equal of an\' other in the county. Her people have always evinced a spirit of enterprise and progress and the position she now holds among her sister townships is due largely to the industr\- and perseverance of the ancestors. In no part of Stark county has the march of civilization left plainer or broader traces than in this section.

Alliance

Alliance, in the northeastern part of the county, is a flourishing and active city of 8,974 inhabitants. It is eighteen miles from the county seat, and commands an extensive trade in the counties of Stark, Columbiana, Portage and Carroll. It was laid out in 1851 at the junction of the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad with the Cleveland & Pittsburg Railroad. It is fifty-seven miles southeast of Cleveland, and eighty-two miles west of Pittsburg. The Lake Erie, iVlliance & Southern and the Alliance & Northern railroads also give the town other connections northward and southward, and are a great help in bringing trade. It was incorporated as a village in 1854. It has three banks, two newspapers, daily and weekly, a goodly number of churches, and machine shops and mills.

For long years Alliance was more of a railway center than now, as of late more trains are run through, and hence there is not so much changing of locomotives and repairing required there. Even yet, however, there are several hundred railroad employes kept busy, and all this is an important factor for Alliance and her prosperity. Machine shops, factories and mills have also been a feature in the history of Alliance, and the Morgan Engineering Works are celebrated as being one of the best of the kind in the country. This establishment has done, of late years, much heavy work for the United States go\-ernment, the latest being a complicated carriage for a monster gun for one of the war vessels.

Besides twelve churches, the city has fine public school buildngs, wth a corps of capable teachers, and a school system second to none in the county. The Alliance public schools have an enviable record for good discipline and thorough instruction. Many of their pupils have gone out to live useful lives.

Old Lasdmarks

transact successtui Ijusiiiess. and rellect credit upon tlie sclionls in wliicli they were eilucated. During tlie past five years more tlian one-tliird of tlie graduates of the liigh school have attended the various departments of Mount Union College, while many ha\'e gone to other institutions. Those who have not entered higher institutions of learning have entered upon useful and profitable industries and occupations.

The course of study in the grades below the high school is practical, up-to-date, and as far advanced as any in the state. The high school has two solid three-year courses - Latin and science. These are sufficiently comprehensive to give those contemplating them a very good start in life.

The six brick huildngs are well fitted with the necessary appliances for good work. Good janitors take care of the buildings and grounds, and competent teachers attend to the intellectual and niorcd culture of the children. In one respect, at least, the schools of .\lliance probably differ from those of other cities of the same or larger size: that is. in having such a large proportion of male teachers. Each building has a man as principal, and in the entire corps of thirty-six instructors eleven are men.

Alount I'nion College is also located here, two miles from the railway crossing, and is connected with the town by electric cars. This institution has been, and is yet. largely attended, and it has exerted a wholesome educational and moral infleunce. The Museum of Art and Science is of great value and is of great attraction. Mount L nion College is the onlv institution of its kind in the country. The institution has done much towards building up Alliance, drawing people there for educational purposes, and. of course, a go(«l class of substantial people

The citizens of Alliance are distinguished for their enteriirise and public s])irit. .\11 this is evidenced in electric lit;ht plants, thai furnish light to the citizens and power for the street " cars : her ga.s works also are first-class : her Memorial hail, the first story of which is iKCupied I by the postoftice, is a creditable edifice, and her well-paved streets speak for themselves and | the town.

(_)ne of the most notable structures in Alliance is the \ia(luct, near the railway crossing. It was built by the railway companies and the county at a cost of al)out twentv-live thonsand dollars, of which tlie count\- paid seventeen thousand dollars. It is some twehe iiundred feet in length, including the approaches, the bridge ])art bein.g about half the length. This part extends oxer the Fort \\'a\ne and Cle\eland (Jt I'ittsburg railways. This structure became more and more a necessity as population and business increased.

Within the limits of .\lliance are embraced the earl\- \-illages of I'reedom and W'illiamsport on the north on opposite sides of the Mahoning river, and Mount L'nion on the south, .\lliance has no com])eting town on the east nearer than Salem, fourteen miles distant, and none on the west nearer than Canton, eighteen miles distant. It will be seen the town is fax'orably located for trade, and the fine stores and other establishments gi\'e evidence of business. The l)locks, dwellings .and other edifices also indicate thrift.

Plain Towxship

The first man who settled in Plain township was Henry Friday. He was a Hessian, taken prisoner at the battle of Trenton and iiamlcd. There was at that time a strong reproach attached to a Hessian. It was not only l)ecause they sold themsehes to an unrighteous cause, but it was generally beliex'ed they brought with them to this country the Hessian fly, which has so ravaged tiie wheat crop for many years. It was. if possible, to get rid of the prejudice against him that b'riday determined to leave Pennsylvania and seek a home in the wilds of the west. He had a wife and three children. ^^'ith an old horse and rickety cart, in which were packed his "traps and calamities," he worked his wa\' over the .Mleghanies, through Pittsburgh (then about one-third the present size of Canton), by the scattered settlements along Beaver and across an unbroken wilderness to the southeast quarter of section 30, where he "squatted." This was early in the summer of 1805. He cleared a small patch, w liich he planted in corn and potatoes, and until the crop matured the family lived upon wild meat and berries. His special business was that of a well digger, an.d until he obtained employment in this line he would cut grass in w hat was then known as the "Wild Meadows," located in the southwestern section of the township, for which he found ready sale to emigrants. a man of some natural abilitv.

he was of low instincts, inclined to tlrink. and horribly profane. He must ha\-e lixxd like a digger Indian, for it is said that in a year in v.-hich the locusts appeared he had a pie made of them, wliich he ate. and in speaking of it would remark: "Es its der beshta poy es mer moclie kon." Friday remained in the township fi\-e or si.\ years, then bought a piece of lanil in Jackson township, upon which he moved and there died. He was the chief man in procuring signers to a petition to the comity commissioners for a road from Canton to Cliippewa. which in after years was known as "I'ridav's road."

Hugh Cunningham, an Irishman, came the same summer and settled on the northeastern (|uarter of section 34, which he had previouslv purchased of the goverinnent. These two families were the only white inhabitants in the township during the winter of 1803-6. Mrs. Cunningham was confined in the summer of 1806 with a female child, whicli was the first birth in the townshi]). The child lived but a few days. Cunningham sold out in 181 i and removed to "Killbuck Bottoms" in Wayne county. When the war of 1812 broke out. he became alarmed from fear of an attack l)v the Indians, and hastily abandoning his improvement, returned with his family to his brother. David Cunm'ngham. then a citizen of Plain township. \\'hen the draft followed, he became so terror stricken that to escape it he shot himself in the foot.

(ieorge Harter left Center county. Pennsylvania, in 1803. with a family of seven for Ohio. On the way out they heard so manv horrible stories about tlie iuflian atrncities that when they reached Beaver, where Mr. Harter had an uncle living, Mrs. Harter was bitterly o]5[)osed to going farther. As the uncle had a vacant cabin on his place, it was decided that the family remain a year at Beaver. Meanwhile, George Harter and his brother John, Henr)- Afyers and George Wertenlierger came out to Stark coimt\', made selections of land.

and eacli built a cabin, Geurge Harter on section 178, John Harter on section 10, Henry Myers in Lake township and Wertenberger in Nimishillen. They assisted each other in the construction of the cabins, and on their completion all returned to Beaver.

Early in the spring of 1806 the family of George Harter started from Beaver in a sixhorse wagon for their new home in Ohio. A daughter, then in her ninth }'ear, later Mrs. Jehu Grubb. had in after years a very distinct recollection of the journey out; of seeing the men at work digging the race for Slusser's mill, as they crossed Nimishillen: of her great disappointment at the size of Canton, expecting to see it as large as Pittsburg-, when it contained only three cabins, all told. From Canton to their new home, a distance o"f four miles, a roatl had to be cut, most oi the way through an unloroken forest. They brought with them from Beaver two cows and a sow with eight pigs. The sow was kept in a pen for a short tinie, and then a bell was put on her and she was let run to hunt her fond. She bad not gone far from the cabin w ben the family heard her squeal. Suspecting the trou1)le, ]\Jr. Hnrter snatched up his rifle, which was always kept loaded, and made haste toward the locality from Axbence the sound crmie, on his way, ramming down a second bullet. He had not proceeded far when he discovered a huge bear draging the sow by the back of the neck through the bushes. The sound of his approach attracted the attention of the bear, who dropped the sow and stood up on his hind legs and looked directly at Harter. He took deliberate aim at the chest of the bear and fired. The bear fell o\-er, but Harter was suspicious that he might not be dead, and knowing that it would be dangerou.« to come within his reach if he was only wounded, he reloaded his rifle, and approaching the animal within a few rods, took deliberate aim and gave him another shot in the head, when the bear turned over, gave a feeble kick and was dead. The family were much annoyed by bears and wol\-es. They carried off all of the eight pigs but two, and these were saved by being kept closely housed. Harter constructed a trap in which he caught a num])er of bears and wolves, and once a turkey buzzard. \\'hen a wolf was entrapped there was such an incessant howling that the household could have but little sleep the balance of the night.

The first year Mr. Harter came he raised a few acres of corn, some potatoes and garden truck. The seed was brought from Beaver. During the summer they would cut bay in the Wild Meadows, after standing in the water knee deep; drag it out to dry ground, and when ]iroperly cured stack it up, and in the winter take it home on sleds.

Jacob IxiUtzenheiser. with a wife and six children from Westmoreland county. Pennsyl- \ania. came in May. 1806. They brought all their worldly goods in a cart drawn by two horses, hitched tandem, and on two pack horses. The use of packsaddles for the transportation of goods was very common at that day. Two axemen led the way much of the distance from Beaver, cutting a road through the woods. On their arrival in Plain township they stopped with Hugh Cu.nningJiam until a shelter was constructed for the family on the southeast quarter of section 34. In the fall of that year a daughter was born to Mrs. Loutzenheiser, named Sarah, \\ho married John Wea\'er. Father Loutzenheiser died in 18 10. The .same year, Aberham Van ]\Ieter, with means furnished by Wells, the owner of the land, erected a sawmill, with chopping stones attached, on the west branch of the Nimishillen. There was a sort of bolting arrangement connected with it, which was turned by hand. This was the first superstructure of the kind in the county. The next summer there came a great freshet and swept it away, and it was not rebuilt.

to Ohio was quite strong in 1806. During that year there settled in Plain township, beside those already mentioned, Valentine Weaver, Peter Dickerhoof and George Bossier, who were brothers-in-law; Jacob Shinnaberger, George Hantz, George Miller, Simon Essig, Henry Warner, John and David Eby, Concord Rufifner, Christopher Palmer, George, Jacob and Christian Werstler, and their father, Henry Werstler. who was a widower and made his home with his sons. He entered sections 13 and 14 and the patent deed, bearing date October 8, T805, with the bold autograph of Thomas Jefferson, then president of the United States, is still in existence. The question has often been asked why our pioneer settlers made choice of land in the rough, heavily timbered parts, rather than in the plains. Por many years after the land was in market those in search of homes would pass the plains and select, in preference, timbered lands west of the Tuscarawas river. It was on account of springs of running water, which were considered a great acquisition and were much souglit after; besides, timber for rails, building and fuel was regarded a sine qua non : so much so, that an investment in prairie or plain land would have been considered very foolish. When Andrew Meyer purchased, in 1816, the large tract of plain land northwest of Canton it was freely commented upon as an injudicious investment. Since under cultivation, the differaice in favor of plains land in the yield of staple products is universally conceded.

The lands entered by Weaver and Hantz in sections 28 and 19 were notoriously rough, heavily timbered and rocky. The work of clearing was very laborious. Weaver came with seven children, the three eldest lieing girls. The}- had to do the of men and proved themselves equal to the anergency. They felled trees, cut saw logs, split rails made fences, plowed, sowed, reaped and threshed. Nancy married Philip Slusser; Elizabeth Jacob Essig, and

Magdalena, Henry Miller. Nancy died early without oiTspring, but the other two lived to a good old age, and each reared a large family. Betsy Dickerhoof, daughter of Peter Dickerhoof, his eldest born, was also one of the muscular women of the day. In opening the road now between Berlin aiid Greentown, it is said she cut down more trees than any man employed on the work. It is said she took a contract to clear ten acres of ground for her brother-in-law, John Wise, and completed ihe contract satisfactorily.

There was a portion of the Eby tract in section 24 .sparsely timbered - had evidently been a swale. A large area was soon made ready for planting, and after a crop of corn was cut up was sown in wheat. The yield was large and as the influx of emigrants created a demand foi- bread-stuff the surplus was readily sold. It proved to be what is called "sick wheat." Every one who ate of the bread made of the flour of this wheat was taken immediately after with sickness of the stomach and excessive \omiting. As soon as the stomach was emptied they were relieved and no serious consequences followed. Stock of no kind would eat the wheat, nor would dogs touch the bread. Subsequently crops were alike tainted, but not to so great an extent, and finally it disappeared.

The Ebys came from W^ashington coumy, Pennsylvania, were both single and kept "bachelors' hall," spending their first winter at their home in Pennsylvania. One bright Sabbath morning Da\id I'.bv heard a distant soi' * chopping. Satislietl that it was not an and curious to know who was his ne: bor, he started on the hunt, taking witl. axe with which to blaze the trees, that \ be able to find his way back. He '' about a mile when he came upoi Metz, father of Dr. Metz, who ha' tract of clearing on land owned Werstlers. Pie had a rude sh

Mild was doing liis own liousekeeping-. After an excliange of salutations, Metz prop<jsed tliat they make a call upon their next nearest neighbor. Aberiiam Bair, another bachelor, who had commenced clearing on the southeast (juarter of section lo, and who was living in the same style. To this Eby readily assented, and on their arrival at the cabin of Bair, they found him in 'led. They soon had him out. and together these three men spent most of the Sunday. Imagine the subjects of con\ersation that interested those men at that time!

In a few years afterward. Aberham Bair n^arried Elizabeth Harter. daughter of George Harter, of \\hom an incident is related worthy of being commemorated. She was not yet fifxn when her father sent her to Slusser"s mill vith a grist of two bags of wheat, one containng three bushels and the other two and onelalf. She rode on the smaller bag and the i.rger one was carried on a packsaddle on anjther horse which she led. The grist was not doiie until late in the day, and after passing through Canton on her return home, she (juickened her pace in order that she might reach home before dark, as a portion of the route was only a bridle path and when she could not see her way it would be next to impossible to prevent the o\ erhanging branches of the trees from raking oft the bag from the horse she le('. She had not proceeded far at this increased speed, when the horse she led, being a racker, threw off his bag. Here was a dilemma. Several miles from home, darkness fast ai>n--nching. ruid no helj) near. She undertook e the l)ag. She could get it on her , but had not strength sufiicient to over tlie horse. She worked at it until xhausted. then in utter despair ga\-e it \as about lo return to Canton, when ''-icker came along and replacetl it. .\s dark lie advised her not to underme that night, but stop at his did. Her mother was much distressed at her absence, and thinking she was lost in the woods, blew the horn half the night in order to direct her. She returned wUh the grist early in the morning, to the delight of the whole family. During the first year after her inarriage it was her custom immediately after breakfast to set her dishes aside, go with her husband to the clearing and assist him in rolling logs and burning brush. At noon she would set a cold lunch, using the breakfast dishes unwashed. .\.fter dinner they were again set aside, and she would return to the "new ground" and work until dark. Supper was prepared by the light of the fire, using the same unwashed pewter dishes, and after the evening meal the ilish washing was done for the day. No one who was ever acquainted with her would for a moment believe that this habit arose from a want of cleanliness or neatness. .\t that time more important work occujjied her time.

.Abram Ste\ens hatl enlisted with Aaron Burr in his expedition to the southwest, and embarked with a company from Pittsburgh on a flat l)oat down the Ohio ri\er for the place of rendezvous. He became dissatisfied with the prospects ahead and at Steubenville abantloned the enterprise. Working his way eaiSt, he came to Canton in the fall of 1807, and was induced to take up a school for the settlers of Plain. A log structure was erected on the fanu of James Gaff, northwest quarter of section 34. and in the winter following the first school in the township was taught. AuKjng the scholars were several grown-up \dung men. It wjs a custom with them to carry their rifies to and from school as a means of protection, as well as to kill game.

.Among those who came in 1807. and before the war of 1S12. were James (jafif. Da\id Brady, Adam Rodocker. Leonard W'illiman, Samuel Bair, John Holtz. George Beard, James Harry, Valentine Speelman, Jacob Hosier, Jacob Sell. Peter Tro.xel, George Williams,

Plaijl township was organized in 1809. The first election was held on the first Monday in April, at the house of George Harter. The offiicers elected, had jurisdction ox-er Jackson. Lawrence, as far as Tuscarawas river, Franklin and Green, now a part of Summit county. These townships were yet without ci\il organization. The first volume of the township record has been lost or mislaid, and it cannot be ascertained who were tiie first officers elected, but it is known tiiat the first justices were James Ga.fi and George Wyke; Abraham Van Meter, clerk ; Jacob \\'arsheler, treasurer, and Henry Friday, constable. There was considerable Irouljle to get a second constable. Several different persons were elected or appointed, but rather than serve paid the fine of two dollars. At lengih John Eby acceirted, and during his term of office but one summons was .ser\ed. While Stark county was yet under the jurisdiction of Columbiana it was divided into two townships. Canton and Lake. James F. Leonard and Loutzenheizer were commissioned as justices of the peace. At the same time, David Bachtel was constable. The first marriage in the township was Catharine Harter to David Clay in 1810.

Three soldiers of the Revolution ended their days in P'lain. John Keefer, uncle of Solomon Sell, enlisted in Pennsylvania, participated in the battles of Princeton, Brandywine, Germantown and Mommouth, died in 1834, and is Iniried at Zion church. Moses Xelson died about 1840. and is buried in the Weaver graveyard. Christopher Burget died at the infirmary. The following residents of Plain were soldiers in the war of 1S12 : David Shook, Jacob Essig, Adam Essig, Abraham B:iir. John Siiinnaberger. John Holtz and Jehu Grubb. Jacob ,vssig was the last to answer the roll call on -rth.

The first mill in the township was built by George Adam Rex in 181 1. A few years afterward, it was purchased by John Shorl) f(ir hh son-in-law . Paid Ryder. Ryder died and the widow married Jacob Hostetter, who ran the mill for a number of years. The mills of Henr\- Everhard, David Wise, Conrad Ruf¥er and John Trump were all built betw-een 1812-14.

A store was started at the Rex mill at an early day by Abraham Holm and his son Jacob, who did the business. It proved a failure pecuniarily. The first tan yard in the township was carried on by Holm on the southwest quarter of section 10.

The predominant religious faith of the early settlers was Lutheran and German Reformed. A joint organization of the twi) denominations was formed in 18 14. and a log church erected on ground donated Ijy Henry \Varstler, from which it took the name of Henry churcii. Henry Warstler was taken sick and died while the building was being rai.sed and was the third person buried on that ground. \';i - iSiie<'', man afterward gave one-half a<~^ much to the church. The first burial who owned a tached to the church was a ^.ih Bull, from Swinehart in 1808. Religious .servi- j inch ternately held by Rev. Benjamin liui gVcuidman Reformed, and Rev. Anthony Widying in cran. For the go\ernment of the two ed to a constitution was framed June 24, 18141 designed by members of both denominainson The following are the .signatures to the oAh in document, all written in German : C'lracter Warstler, George W'ertenberger, \\g to Holtz. Jacob Warstler, Peter Tro.xel.AI man Miller, Christopher Hennig, Xichcirable and der. Christian Beard, John H enterprise Schneider. Mathias Bovver. Mic'is probably John Ringer. John Holm, John E'locaied here Stickler, George Smith, Conrad.smouth, New tonius Weyer, Christian ^isiness. sailing- Werner, Adam Essig. Jacot He ownerl Jacob Essig. Michael Holtz. Jr.. <jie town n:i '

Ienr\- W'arstler, Jacob Lour, George Greasein ir, I'liilip Hollenbach, Adam Schmith. These signers have all passed away, but the descendants of many of them still remain here. After the erection of Snyder's church, live miles north, many of the Reformed members left.

The proprietor of New Berlin, the only town in the township, was John Hower. The plat was surveyed by Samuel Beachtel, February 18, 183 1. An addition was laid out in 1836 by Peter Shick and William Grim. A postoffice was established soon after the town was laid out, anil Alathias Sherrick appointed postmaster. He started the first tavCTn. Peter Schick had the first store, which was in 1838.

Before the completion of the Ohio canal there was no market fur produce short of Cleveland. The price of wheat would scarcely pay the cost of hauling". Solomon Sell had a lot of his wheat ground into tlour and took a load to Cleveland, for which he obtained one barrel -f salt an'l side of sole leather. With the '' ' ' lid better, receiving in addition

for some time after, "his time Jacoli Homman, who lived not sec iQ_ had several hundred bushels the loft of his cabin. He was break- - ., preparatory to sowing it in wheat on '^*'-" sultry day in June. The ground was *'and stony and it was with difficulty he eep the point o:' the plow to its place. 1 then a root would strike him on the 1 aggravate his perturbed feelings. After T "-s' thumping among the stumps and mckuled it wouldn't pay, so he delitched his horses, put them in the 't into the hou.se. Mrs. Homman vool. He sat down, gathered ' I comn"ienced picking it without ' Surpriseil at his strange conred why he was not at his work. '^e promptly replied : "W'arum sut ich mich ploga by dara grossa hits? Hob ich net ma as dri hunnert bushel vatza now ufm spicher, os ich nix defor greaga con? Was soil ich mit maner du?" He put out no wheat that year. His neighbor, George Hantz, pursued the same course one season, when he had sufficient on hand to last him over the year.

The history of the township would be incomplete without mention being made of Jacob Gaskins, a colored man, generally known among the settlers as "Schwartz Jake." He was born in Shenandoah valley, \'irginia, of sla\c parents, but manumitted at the age of twenty-one, and came to Plain township in 1 81 7. He commenced an improvement on a section of land belonging to John Haines, of which he had a lease of five years. At the exl)iration of that time, with what he made and the sale of a little property owned in Pennsylvania, he purchased twenty-five acres. Without any capital except the natural endowment of industry and economy, he accumulated a large property, and although he confided too much in the representations of white men, in going security and making unprofitable investments, his estate at his decease was valued at over twenty thousand dollars. He had great muscular power and the tales told of his feats of strength are truly marvelous. He was always an important adjunct at "raisings" and "huskings." At the time of his coming into the state there was a law in force requiring black men to give a bond with apjjrovecl security for good behavior and that he would not become a county charge. His bondsman was Jacob Funk, a church member and a man of peace. At a "raising" Jacob S. Palmer, a stout man and somewhat given to display of physical strength, undertook to make a butt of Gaskins. The latter finally lost his temper and appealed to his bondsman, who was jjresent. to give him permission to thrash Palmer. Tliis l)eing refused. Palmer became overbearing. Meanwhile hunk left the ground when Gaskins. unable to hear it longer, picke

Perry township and Massillon have long been prominent in this section, and in all tliat merits attention are not falling away in any respect. At a niceiing of the county commissioners December 7, 1813, it was ordered that township 10, range 9, be known as Perry, no doubt in honor of the hero of the hour, Oliver Hazard Perry, who commanded the American fleet on Lake Erie and had gained the victory over the British fleet on the loth of September previous. An election was also ordered for the selection of township officers, on the last Saturday of February, 1814, at the house of Samuel Patton in Kendall. The election was no doubt held, but the names of those elected are not given in any history of Stark county.

Among the residents of the southern part of the township at this time were such familiar names as Bahney, Wagoner, Stump, Jacoby, Shorb, McCaughy. Miller, Ritten ; and in Kendall and the immediate neighborhood were William Henry, Thomas Rotch, Coffen, Skinner, Wales, Chidester, Bowman, Chapman, Allen and Captain Mayhew Folger, who kept one of the hotels in Massillon. The village of Kendal], now the fourth ward of Massillon, was laid out in 181 1, by Thomas Rotch, one of the most prominent of the early settlers. He and his wife were Quakers or Friends, from Massachusetts. Arvine Wales and Charles K. Skinner came with Mr. and Mrs. Rotch, and they utilized the Sippo creek, liy building a woolen factory and a sawmill. No doubt these establishments were useful in their day. The war of 1812-14 with Great Britain interfered with the settlement of Ohio and for a time paralyzed business.

A weaver named Moses McCammon worked in the Rotch factory for several years, about 1820, till lie removed to his farm in Wayne county, where he died some years ago at an advanced age. Mr. McCammon was Scotch-Irish and was something of a poet. For several years, some forty years ago, some of his poems were published in the Stark County Democrat. They were mostly in the Scottish dialect and some of them were quite creditable. On publishing the flrst poem he sent, he was highly pleased and so wTOte, saying it was the first instance where one of his Scottish productions had been correctly published. He visited the editor of the paper once, remaining over Sunday. On indulging in a dish of ice cream in the evening, the old man, then over seventy, said he had never tasted the article before. Mr. Rotch died in 1823, aged seventy-six years, and his widow survived him less than two years, leaving a bequest that founded the well-known institution, the Charity Rotch School, that has done much good. One of the early settlers who owned a farm near Massillon, was Hezekiah Bull, from Hartford, Connecticut. Mr. Bull was a stanch follower of Jefferson, as were a son and grandson also. All have departed, the first dying in 1820, and the family afterwards removed to Loudonville, where lived and died the two descendants referred to. The son and grandson served in the legislature of Ohio, both in the senate. They were men of character and both men of reading. In referring to Perry township and Massillon, the man of all others who deserves honorable and prominent mention for business enterprise and energy in the early days is probably Captain James Duncan. He located here in 1 81 4. having come from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where he had done business, sailing a vessel in the merchant service. He owned the Estramadura farm, south of the town, and the land now occupied by the town of Massil-

Ion, which was laid out in 1825-26. Mr. Duncan soon had a tiouring-niill, sawmill and distillery in operation, and about 1820 loaded a flat boat with flour, whiskey, potatoes, bacon, etc., and when the river was at flood the loaded boat started from near where the stone bridge now is and reached Cincinnati in safety, where he made a good sale. This success induced other similar trips, all, however, less profitable. Mr. Duncan also had a dry goods store, and was a member of the firm of C. K. Skinner & Company, in a woolen manufactory. In January, 1826, at the brick residence of Mr. Duncan, the only one at that time in the place, were let forty-four sections of the Ohio canal, extending from Summit lake to just below Massillon. Mr. Duncan's influence had much to do in having the canal located on the east of the river, and he it was who named the town Massillon, after the celebrated French pulpit orator who died in 1742.

The first orchard planted in Perry township was on the south side of the Canton and Massillon road, on the Daum farm, and it is said was planted by Jonathan Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed, a nickname given him from his going through the country and inquiring at each house for apple seeds in order to plant orchards. In the latter years of his life he was a resident of Richmond county. One of the episodes in the history of Perry township was the Kendall community, organized in 1826. The purpose was social reform, on the plan of the celebrated Robert Owen. This community bought of the Rotch estate, in 1830, two thousand one hundred and thirteen acres of land, improved and unimproved, for twenty thousand dollars. The original meml:)ers were residents of Stark and Portage counties, and were joined by some two dozen others, in 1827, from the state of New York. The community socn dissolved, as times were hard, employment scarce, and they were unable to meet their payments for the land. Robert Owen was truly a philanthropist, and under his management of co-operation and benevolence at New Lanark, in Scotland, his plan proved a great success. He encouraged education and good habits in old and young ; had the company build comfortable buildings for their eniployes, convenient to the factory, provided library and lecture rooms, and aided materially in educating the children, dried up by this means all the drinking shops in New Lanark, and so promoted the comfort and happiness of the two or three thousand inhabitants of the place. His plan extended to giving to every employe an interest in the business, so that, after giving a low interest to the capital, a sliare of the residue was laid aside for the benefit of the workmen, in case of depression or stagnation of business. Under such management the establishment at New Lanark was the most prosperous of any in Great Britain.

Robert Owen was a philanthropist, and his theory was that ''man is the creature of circumstances over which he has no control whatever; that he cannot say who shall be his parents, what his country, iiis politics or his religious creed; and, therefore, his character is formed for him, not by him; that property is very unequally divided, and the tendency is to make the rich richer and the poor poorer; that those who produced the wealth enjoyed but little of it, and that those that produced nothing had too much for their own good; that the producing classes, if properly educated, could ea.<^ily .«hape things so as to secure to each !iis proper share." After the completion of the canal the development of this region moved on with rapid strides, and many well remember the long strings of farm wagons loaded with wheat that used to crowd the streets of Massillon. These came from far and near.

served as township officers. The development of the township from 1820 to 1830 was phenomenal. The Ohio canal was made, beingopened to Massillon in 1828. About this time Massillon was started, anil made rapid progress, soon becoming an important business point, especially in buying wheat. This again brought dealers in goods and uihtv things, as well as shops, and of course, population. The township generally profited by this activity and enterprise, and the excellent land soon advanced in value. They tell of a jjioneer named Metcalf, who came in 1810, but after a few years sold out and left, saying : "'This country is too thickly settled ; i must go where I cannot see the smoke of my neighbor's chimney, nor hear his dog bark."

Among the early settlers were those who were experts with the rifle and were fond of hunting. Four Castleman brothers were distinguished in this line, and many deer, bears and wolves and other animals they brought down. One of them killed the last wolf, north of Massillon. To show the low price of land. Robert H. Folger, Esq., relates that his father, Captain ^Mayhew Folger, in 1824, sold one thousand acres of "plain" land south of Massillon for four dollars and twenty-five cents an acre, and took his pay in cloth made at Steubenville, in Dickinson & Wells" factory, the former being the purchaser. Doctor William Gardner seems to have been the first physician, 1814, coming from the state of New York. He afterwards located in Canton, and died in 1833. About the close of the war of 181 2, provisions were scarce, and Charles K. Skinner and two other men built a boat and brought several loads of corn from Coshocton, which sold readily for two dollars a bushel. On one of their trips, when coming up, their boat struck on the Cedar Ripple, below where Massillon now is, and they came near losing boat and cargo. The first religious society west of Canton, 181 3, was the Society of Friends, at Kendall. Their monthly meeting was at Marlboro; quarterly meetings at Salem, and yearly meeting at Mount Pleasant, Jefferson county. The leading citizens thereabouts were members, and their influence was all for good. Their meeting house was also used for a school. Following them soon were the Methodists. The circuit at first, November, 18 10, extended frorn Coshocton to New Portage along the Tuscaraw^as river. The first return, November, 181 1, was seventy-seven members, but they increased from year to year. The Ohio conference was formed in 1812; prior to that Ohio belonged to the western conference. The Presbyterian people did not organize a church until after Massillon was begun. A postoffice was established at Kendall soon after the village was laid out, by Thomas Rotch, in 181 1, and he was appointed postmaster. At his death, in 1823, Matthew Macy succeeded and continued till 1829, when it was discontinued, as Massillon was the point. In this then new country tanneries were numerous, and there was one at Kendall, carried on by Thomas Williams. Of course other mechanical pursuits were represented, even to the man who made the spinning-wheel, which was an important necessity. At first there was a ferry at Massillon over the Tuscarawas river, but soon a toll-bridge was built. Judge W'illiam Henry being the principal owner. The Judge had a store on the west side of the river, in his brick house, in which his family also lived. .\fter the war of 1812 the emigration w^est was great, for Wayne as well as Stark was being settled. People became tired of paying toll, and at last a free bridge was built at another part of the river. A while after its erection an attempt was made to destroy it l)y cutting away its principal supports at the east end, Ijut it was repaired and served the public for many years until a new bridge was built on Main street, as it now runs.

The first justice of the peace was Francis Smith, who followed blacksmithing. His successor was Captain Nathaniel Ray, who had been a seafaring man, and who, after some vears, returned to Nantucket, and to the sea. Other settlers were from New England and had been seafaring men, among them Captain Mayhew Folger and James Duncan. Thomas Rotch, William Henry and Gilbertharp Earle had their stores, the last gentleman living for a time at Canton. He was from New Jersey. Social intercourse was cultivated by these people and their congenial neighbors, and it may be known that schools and education were not neglected. Tiie first school in Perry township is said to have been taught by William Mott, and he was soon followed by Cyrus Spink, who afterwards became a prominent citizen of Wooster and served in congress. Esquire Folger tells of a teacher who on consulting his father. Captain Folger, at Kendall, was given pen and ink and paper and told to draw up a subscription paper, and he, the captain, would subscribe. About half the words being misspelled, the captain called his attention thereto, when the teacher coolly replied, "Spelling isn't very essential." In 1825 the general assembly passed a school law imposing a tax of one-half of one mill on the property of the state, for the support of schools. One of the active supporters of the act was the lawyer member from Stark, James W. Lathrop. \\"hen running for re-election this was brought against him, but did not defeat himi though iiis majority was reduced. Some of the people said: "'People don't want so much learning." While serving as a member in 1828, Mr. Lathrop took ill and died in Columbus, where his remains rested until in 1873, when Samuel C. Bowman, a member of the house, offered and got a resolution through the' general assembly to have the remains brought to Canton, and this was accordingly done, Ellis N. Johnson, colleague of Mr. Bowman, Arvine C. Wales, of the senate, and Fred Blenkner, third assistant

Let it be remembered that only since the union school system was adopted have our public schools fully commanded and held the field. Prior to this select schools and academies and seminaries were quite common, for there was a necessity for such schools. The public schools were not kept over three or four months a year for a long time. Then a three months summer school by a female came to be the fashion, till now, for many years past, we have, throughout the state, eight to ten months' schooling. In fact, the system has been systematized and has become a calling and a profession. In this respect Ohio is one of the states of the world. Thomas Rotch, it is claimed, is entitled to the distinction of being the first to bring Spanish Merino sheep into this part of the state. They were driven from Hartford. Connecticut. Shortly afterward William R. Dickinson and Bezaleel Wells, of Steubenville, had a flock of these sheep in Perry township .also. Mr. Dickinson owned the Estramadura farm, a mile or so south of Massillon. and about 1820, in a covered cart, sent his celebrated ram "Bolivar" to Baltimore under the care of his shepherd, and at the exhibition of fine-wooled sheep from all parts of the United States Perry township took the prize.

The letting of the work of the Ohio canal took place in 1826, and this was an era in the history of Perry township, and indeed in this region. The work began at once, and it ga\e employment to the farmers and their teams and caused money to circulate. It must not be forgotten that there was great stagnation of business and scarcity of money for a time after the war of 1812. and also alxjut 1821 to 1824.

Richville is a village laid out by John Hauk in 1836, south of the center of the township, on the road running from Canton to Navarre, .some six miles from the former. It never came to lie mucl; of a \-illage : a score or two of houses, and a church and school house, with a useful shop or two tor local wants, made up the hamlet. Perry township has furnished some worthy citizens for official positions. David \\'elker, who lived on his farm lying between ilassillon and Richville, was appointed associate common pleas judge by the legislature some time in the 'thirties. Thomas Blackbiu'n, who resided in Massillon, was for many years a justice of the peace, and was elected to the legislature as a Jackson Democrat in 1828. The Stumps were among the early settlers, their farms being near Richville. Levi, whose father Frederick settled there in the early days, was born in 1825. Frederick Stump entered his land at Steubenville in 1806, and removed his family upon it in April, 1808, when there were but three families in the township. Indians were plenty, but peaceable, and wild animals not a few. Mr. Stump's first barrel of flour cost eighteen dollars, and the first barrel of salt twenty-two dollars, and both were brought up the Muskingum and Tuscarawas in canoes. Mr. Stump thijught times were better when he could take a four-horse load of wheat to Cle\'eland and trade it for one side of sole leather and a barrel of salt "even up." Levi Stump was one of the first horticulturists in the country, and a most intelligent and successful fruit, grape and berry grower. He was one of the leading men in organizing the Stark County Horticultural Society. He died years ago. aged about sixty years.

On the Estramadura place south of Massillon, the state has erected insane as)'lum buildings, which accommodate over six hundred patients. No more beautiful site could have been selected.

Th.e Tuscarawas rix-er runs through the township, ranging about one mile from the west line. Though not far from its source in Summit, the soutlieastern part of Medina county, especially at times. The south part of Summit, the southeraslern part of Medina county.

and the northeastern part of Wayne, beside the western part of Stark, all contribute to swell its waters. In additon to this considerable area, the river in its course south keeps increasing its volume by branch streams of some size, so that, with the Walhonding at Coshocton, it makes a large river of the Muskingum, navigable to Zanesville, some thirty miles below, for steamboats.

Perry township is on the west side of the county, within one township of the Waxne county line. Jackson on the north; Canton east; Bethlehem south, and Tuscarawas township west, are Perry's surroundings.

Marlboro township includes an area of thirty-six square miles of territory in the northeastern part of Stark county, with boundaries as follows : Lexington township on the east. Lake on the west, Nimishillen on the south, and the county of Portage on the north. Unlike many sections of the county, this township is comparatively level, indeed quite flat in tlje northeastern and southeastern parts, and when first seen by white men the surface was largely covered by water, a fact which interfered \-ery materially with its development. The marshes and swamps which exerywhere abounded were not regarded with favor by the homeseeker, and many years elapsed ere they were cleared of the dense growth, drained and fitted for tillage. Extensive drainage systems were in due season inaugurated and carried to successful completion, and in this way many hundred acres of valuable land were reclaimed, the soil of these redeemed portions being deep, rich and at this time by far the most producti\-e in the township. The townsliip it situated on the Ohio water shed, a portion of its \\<Uer flowing northward into Lake Erie, and another portion tending a sonthwesterlj- direction to the Ohio river. The only stream of any importance is Deer creek, which flows throngh the northern part, although in early times, before artificial drainage was resorted to, there were a number of tributaries of this creek, which during certain seasons of the year becatne raging torrents, overflowing the country for many miles on either side. Some of the swamps in the northern part of the township are drained by irregular inlets of Congress lake, while the greater jjortion of tiie southern part is drained by Ximishillin creek. Until sluices were dug through varif'.us parts of the townsliij) there was not sufficient drainage for successful cultivation, but where this enterprise was accoml)lished the lands contiguous thereto were largely purchased and iniprmed. the soil, as already indicated, being of a su])erior quality and well adapted to all the grain, fruit and vegetable crops grown in this latitude. Notwithstanding all the labor expended in reclaiming the lands of this township, there are still considerable areas difficult to till, though of recent years many attempts have been made, with more or less fortunate results, to reduce these \o\\ grounds to cultivation.

Marlboro was originallv included in Lexington townshi]^. ibe two being created as a ci\il division in 1816, at the March term <>f the commissioners' court. In June, 1821. the township of Lexington was divided and the twentieth civil townshi]) created froiu the western part and named Marlboro, election of officers for the same having been held on August 25 of the ensuing year. Some doubts as to the legality of the order of 1821, creating ^L'lrlboro, liaving subse(|uentlv arisen, the board of commissioners, in ]\ larch, 1828, ordered that the twentieth original sur\'eyed townshij) in the seventh ransfe be stricken off and divided from township 10, in range 6, and that said township be reorganized under lliQ name i>f Marlboro, and an election be held at the same place as before. Since 1823 no further changes in the boundaries of Marlboro have been made, and from that day to the present it has remained as described in tiic initial paragraph of this article.

The original price of land in what is now Marlboro township was fixed by the government at tv.-o dollars ])er acre, but later was reduced to one and a ((uarter dollars, the change giving rise to considerable confusinn and no little trouble. The lirst entries were made in 1810, during which time the following persons obtained ])atents for lands in \-arious ])arts of the township, namely: S. D. Cape, Peter Baum, D. Markley, Mahlon W'ileman. R. P.eeson, John Da\id Brown, W. Copeland, P. Baum. J. Enlow, J. Snyder, B. Hanna, Da\'id. Jolmsiin, .\1, Houser. J. Heiser. \\ illiam Hover, Nathan Haycock, Philip Hollingbaugh, C. Hoover, Abraham Harmony, Jacob Mclntifer, C. Karkley. John Miller, James McGier, Christian Palmer, Idiiali Price, C. I'"<iutz. .\. Wileman, Jacob W'ileman and Samuel Winger, some of whom nio\ed to these lands and made improvements, the majority, bo\ve\er. liaxing been mere residents, who niade entries largely for the ]>'.n-pose of speculation. Settlers came in from time to time, some staying for only a brief period, others remaining and becoming ])ermanent residents, .\ccording to the most reliable information obtained there were living within the present bouufls of the township, as earlv as ]8.?o, the following land holders, and their families: Jerub Baldwin, \\". Beeson, Conrad Brombaugb, W. Cozens, James Enslow, Elisha Everett. C Houser. Nancy Harpely. Amos Holloway. P. Hollobaugh. E. Johnson, [osejih Brown, Peter Baum, John Brown, Da\id Brown, Isaac Elliott, Timothy (iruell. Daniel Houser. W. Hoover, John I lamlin. Nathan Havcock, Martin Houser and others wliose names liave been forgotten. From that time on the influx of settlers was more rapid, the following having made their appearance during the next eight or ten years, to wit: William Pennock, Iware Scate, Martin Brantingham, I\I. \'auglm, John Hardy, R. B. Wells, S. Welsli, J. Shaw, Robert Hamilton, Xathan Price, Amos Coates, Abraham Troxweil, John Lyman, Thomas Crockett, J. Taylor, A. Niswonger, H. Niswonger, Jacob Harper. E. Brooke, W. Hatclier, Peter Lilly, David Thomas. PL Siiaffer, Samuel \\ eary. John Shillenbarger. Kohn Wliilestone, Ninirod Smith. J. Replogle. Jonathan Nees, Jacob Xees. iNl. Young. D. Kieser. Jacob Lnmel. Eh Shriver. Mr. Logue, A. Shri\er. Paulus, Mr. Rodabush, the Seagley family, Joel Blair, W. Allman, (.'hristian Beard and otiiers whose arrival antedates perliaps tlie year 1830.

The first jiermanent settler appears to lia\e been ]Mahon W ileman, who came as early as 1805. and located in section 1. his father accompanying him and remaining until the spring of the following year. W'ileman erected a small log cabin in which he lived alone during the year 1895-6. clearing the meanwhile a respectable portion of his land and living the contented life of a pioneer. Physicalh- he was a man of heroic mold and undaunted courage. though peaceable in his relations with his neighbors who came in later. ha\ing been a member of the S(icietv of hriends and noted for his piety and good works. He was joined in the spring of 1806 by his father. Abraham Wileman and family, the latter settling in section _\^. wliere his death subsequently occurred at the advanced age of ninety-nine years, perhaps the oldest man that e\'er lived in the township. The Wilemans were true types of the strong, daring pioneers of the period in whicli they lived, both being noted hunters, and their adventures if narrated in detail would make a \olume of thrilling interest. Tlic\' were also pronounced in their opjiosition to human slaver}- and during the days of the "underground railway" their houses afforded a safe refuge to many rvuia\yay bondmen, whom they assisted on the way to freedom across the Canadian borders.

It is generally conceded that the second permanent resident of Marlboro was a man by the name of Timothy Gruel, who settled as early as the spring of 1807, in section 24, wdiere, with the assistance of the ^^'ilemans, he built a rude log cabin, into which his family was at once UKned. in August following the family's arrival Mrs. Gruel gave birth to a daughter, Elizabeth, the hrst white child born within the present limits of the township.

During the Avar of 1812, and for several }ears thereafter, settlers came in rapidly and it was not long until the best land in the townshi]) was taken ui). Others who had previously entered choice lands held them in hopes of olitaining good prices and in this way retarded to a considerable extent the development of the country, not finding at once ready purchasers, as they had anticipated. In due time, however, these lands were disposed of and improxed, and with the continued influx of population pioneer conditions changed, industries of \arious kinds suitable to the necessities of the people sprang up in different parts of the country, and an era of prosperity, prophetic of the advanced civilization of the present day, was inaugurated.

The pioneer was the peculiar product of the country and age in which he lived, and his experiences were strikingly similar in all parts of the great west, his vicissitudes and hardships particularly fitting him for the w'ork of laying the deep and firm foundation upon wdiich their descendants and successors ha\'e so successfully I)uilded and upon which the present ])rosperity of the commonwealth rests.

tried to locate it, but all their attempts proved futile. How the report originated is not known, but that it was widely circulated and gained credence, even among conservative people, is one of the strange facts for which it is exceedingly difficult to account. It is said that squirrels became so numerous in Stark county during the years 1824-5 as to become a pest, in consequence of which .systematic hunts were instituted to effect their destruction. In one of these hunts nearly two thousand of the little animals were killed, a good natured rivalry having existed among the hunters as to who could produce the greatest number of scalps at the close of the day, one party, a Mr. Grant, of Lexington, carrying off the palm with over two hundred to his credit. For a number of years the pioneers of Marlboro were obliged to go long distances to procure flour and meal and what few groceries they needed, these trips being invariably made on horseback and covering a period of from two days to a week. In the meantime perhaps the family would l)e without bread, and it was no uncommon thing for the household to be minus the staff of life for weeks at a time, especially of winter seasons, when it was well nigh impossible to travel through the deep forests in the absence of roads. vVikl game, however, was plentiful and easily procured, but even the choicest of these meals would pall upon the appetite, when eaten without bread or some kind) of vegetables, which too frequently were unknown during the seasons of extreme hardship. In due time, however, mills were erected near at hand, but not in this tov\-nship. The lirst grist mill in Marlboro was built al)Out 1846 by Pete Barlow & Company. It was a two-and-a -half-story structure, about forty by sixty feet in area, and for a numlier of years was operated day and niglit in order to supply the constant demand for its product. It was supplied with good machinery, made an excellent grade of flour, did both custom and merchant work, and was in successful operation for about twenty years. Later a second flouring-mill was started in Marlboro, but being an inferior affair, it soon ceased operation for lack of patronage.

As early, perhaps, as the year 181 6 Abraham Wileman built a sawmill on his farm in section 23 which doubtless was the first industry of the kind in the township. It stood near a small creek, which supplied the motive power, and the machinery was of the most primitive pattern ; nevertheless it was highly prized by the early settlers for many miles around and for a number of years furnished them what lumber they needed. The second industry of this kind was erected a little later by William Pennock, and about the year 1825 Benjamin Elliott built a sawmill a short distance west of the village of Marlboro, both being well patronized in their day.

Exum Johnston, about 1825. or i)erhai)s a year or two later, located a small lumlier mill one and a half miles northeast of Marlboro, which did a profitable business while in operation, and about 1830 one Elisha Butler built a sawmill on the old Whittaker farm, the growing demand for lumber ju.stifying these enter- ])rises. Another mill for the manufacture of lumber was built near Marlboro in the early 'thirties by Jacob Wirtz, which, like those already alluded to, answered well the purposes for which intended and no doubt returned the proprietor a respectable revenue. Jacob Wood owned and operated a mill north of the village in an early day. as did also Joseph Taylor .and Cliarles Shiron, and a Mr. Keiser engaged in the manufacture of lumber a little later in the western part of the township. Still later anotlier lumber mill was built in the western part by a Mr. Eby, \\ho operated it for some years with encouraging success, and in 1843 a steam mill was built in the town of Marllxiro by Allman & Ellison, who did a large and lucrative business, the enterprise having been one of the largest and most important of the kind in the county at that time. Other lumber mills have l5een run from time to time by different parties, among the leading being those operated by Lewis & Waistler, at New Baltimore, Pennock & Mason, D. Harmony & Company and others, the majority successful in the main and creditable to the neighborhood in which situated.

Another industry worthy of note was a distillery erected in the western part of the township in 1820 by Jacob Nees. It was a primitive aft'air, intended to supply a unisersal demand which at that time prevailed not only in that neighborhood, but throughout the entire state of Ohio It was supplied with one small copper still, and the output amounting to ril)out twenty gallons of rather inferior quality of whiskey per day, was largely purchased and consumed by the people of the locality. After twelve years, during certain seasons of which it was not in operation, the distillery fell into disuse and was abandoned. Later Jacob Hoag built a distillery on a more extensive scale than the former, its capacity amounting to about one Ijarrel of whiskey per day; the less said about the quality the better for the reputation of the proprietor. It was in operation about ten years, then fell into disuse and since its existence terminated no other attempts have been made to manufacture whiskey in the township of Marl-

The history of the village of New Baltimore dates from 1831, on August 26th of which year it was surveyed by John Whitacre, county survev<ir, for Levi Haines, proprietor. The original plat, consisting of eighteen lots, lies in the west half, northeast quarter of section 4, but to this several additions have since been made. The first merchant was Samuel Hatcher, who engaged in business in 1832, and in addition to selling goods, also opened a tavern, \\hich appears to have been well patronized by the traveling public. Taylor & Warner were engaged in general merchandizing for some years, as was also Asa Raw son, the latter a justice of the peace. Among others were Hatcher & Ellison, John Criss, Ellison & Shaw, Band & Capple, Jacob Bair and Abner Taylor & Son. An a.shery was built in the village about 1846 by a firm known as Prouty & Company, and continued in operation about four years, during which time a large quantity of potash was manufactured and shipped to the different markets of the country. Some time in the late 'thirties, or early in the 'forties, one Thomas Burns began the manufacture of hats at this point. He obtained wool from the neighboring farmers and is said to have made an excellent quality of headgear, but whether or not he realized liberal financial rewards from his enterprise is not known. Among the early industries of the village was a harness and saddlery shop conducted by Benjamin Curstetter, another being a small foundry, the name of the proprietor unknown. A. T. Cole afterwards purchased the latter property, and it has been in possession of himself and family until the present time. There have been manufactured at the foundry plowshares, grates and many other articles, the enterprise in the main being successful and adding much to the character of the place as an important industrial center. Other industries flourished in the village from time to time, a number of reputable physicians have practiced their professions here, churches and schools have been well supported, and the population, though small, has always been distinguished for intelligence, thrift and high mo'ral character.

The land upon which the thriving town of Marlborough stands was originally owned by Moses Pennock, William Pennock, Denny Johnson and Samuel Ellison. In November, 1827, these gentlemen secured the services of a surveyor who laid out the original plat, consisting of twenty-four lots, six of which were on the land of each proprietor, an open space 1)eing left for a public square. A number of ad-

\\ illi;'.ni Pennock's residence, erected before the \illage was i)latted, was the first biu'lding; on the present town site, the second being that of William Paxon ; William Gruel built the third, and the improvements of Israel White and James Shinn were, perhaps, the fourth and fifth. The first store, opened by Mr. Paxon with a general stock of goods, representing a capital of about fifteen hundred dollars, was well patronized and he continued business eight or ten years with marked success. About the year 1834 a second store was started by Caleb .\twater. who a little later sold out to James Shinn, by whom the establishment was conducted until 1S44. when financial reverses forced him out of business.

The first industry of any importance in Marlborough was a foundry built in 1850 by .\mos Walton & Company. The structure was frame, the main part two stories high, thirty by fifty feet in rear, with several additional moulding rooms, and the whole supplied with the best machinery and appliances at that time ])rocurable. The company made a specialty of steam engines, to be used in saw and gristmills, turning out during the first few years twelve or fifteen a year, the demand for this product far exceeding the supply. The enter- ])rise was conducted with encouraging success for about eight or ten years, the engines being shipped to all parts of Ohio, also to other states.

A second foundry for the manufacture of engines was started about 1855 by Mitchener & Dntton. l)ul after running one year was destroyed by fire and never rebuilt. Prior to i860 the Doering brothers erected a woodenware factory, which was in operation three or four years, the ])rinci])al outjjut being shovel liandles. fork handles, hoe handles and like articles, large (|uanties of which were made and sliipi^ed to the different i};iarkets. A. C. Sti\cr. aljout the vear

1871, engaged in the manufacturing of carriages, building a factory which turned out as high as one hundred vehicles a year. The business lasted for some time, but by reason of too much competition was finally discontinued and the building devoted to other purposes. One of the earliest of Marlborough's industrial enterprises, an establishment for the carding of wool and cloth pressing, was started by Moses Pennock shortly after the platting of the town, and continued !))- him for about twenty-four years, when it was purchased by Peter and George Wise, who in turn disposed of it to Eli Hoo\er. The last named proprietor, after operating it a short time at a loss, discontinued the business, and no attemi)t was ever made to revi\e it. George Beggs built a distillery near the town a mimber of years ago. and for some time manufactured grape w'ine and apple jack, which gained a high re))- utation.

In 1874 Barley. Taylor & Crocker began a general fruit-packing business in Marlborou.gh, which rapidly grew into an enterprise of large and far-reaching magnitude. Two thousand and four hunrlred cans were packed the first year, but within a comparatively short time this number increased to an annual out])ut of o\er two hundred and fifty thousand, in addition to wliich the com])an_v also canned maple syrup in large <|uantities during tlie spring seasons. A branch canner\- was subsequently established at New Baltimore, and also one at Timaville.

It is generall\- conceded that the first school in this town,^li.ip was taught in the Quaker settlement, west of the village of Marlborough, but at what date is not kn<jw^n. though it must have been as early as 1820. The building in which this and subse(|uent terms were taught was a rude log structure, which disap])eared alx^ut the year i8_'^i. Another earlv school building stood about a i|uarter mile south of Baltimore, and a third in the southeast corner of the town- ship. Schools were also taught in jjrivate dwellings, all by subscription, and a number of years elapsed before a general system of public education was adopted and good buildings erected in the different districts. The first school in the town of Marlborough was taught about 1832 in a building used for the two-fold purpose of education and religious worship. Later this house was replaced b\' a frame building, which in due course of time was abantloned and a large, low frame structure built. About fifty-eight years ago a select school or seminary was started in the \iilage. by William McClain. who with two or three assistants conducted the institution for a miml)er of years with a large measure of success. Levi llains was one of the first teachers in the village, Init liy reason of illness he did not finish the term, being succeeded by Mrs. Emily Roseter. Excellent schools are now maintained thrnughout the township, and a system of grading dbtains, which has made the educational system of Marlborough one of the best in the county. The pioneers of Marlboro tciwnship were a religions people and churches of dift'erent names and orders were estal)lished in different parts of the country in an early day. The Society of Friends built a house of worship east of Marlborough prior to 1820. a log structure in which the congregation continued to assemble at regular intervals until aliout the year 1840, when by reason of the division of the church into the Orthodox and Hicksite branches, the local society decided to separate. Phis action delayed for a luimber of rears the erection of a new liouse of worship, but a substantial structure was finallv built. Soon after the Otiakers' first church was built, the (iernian Lutheran and ( lermau Reformers erected a log structure to which they gave the name of St. Peter's church, and which was used by the two denominations until about the year 1876, when another edifice was constructed. Prior to 1845 '"-^^^ Methodists held jjublic worship in school houses and private dwellings, but in or about that year they built a neat temple of worship in Marllwrough. The Christians or Disciples' ciiurch. in the town, was erected at a later date, and the L'nited Brethren many years ago organized a society and built a house in the southern part of the township, known as the "Chapel."' The township has lieen well supplied with churches since the earliest settlement, and today a number of denominations are re]iresented, all in llourishing condition, with creditable houses of worship.

Bethlehem Townshh'

The Indian cajjital of Tuscarawas at tlie old Lidian crossing place, above b'ort Laurens, the ])ost mission, and Calhoun's trading house, have already been described and their history given as far as known, in other articles, and need not here be repeated. Those places were all located at and near the mouth of Sandy, and included in the original boundaries of Bethlehem township.

Richard Carter, a Quaker briend. and Joshua Comly, a brother-in-law of Carter, settled at the mouth of Sandy at an early day. Elizabeth Hines, whose maiden name was Zinsser, stated in later years that the Musser family came to Laurenville, opposite to Fort Laurens, in 1807, and that Richard Carter was then living at the mouth of Sandy. Carter was a bachelor, and his two sisters, Sally and Maria Carter, two pleasant young ladies, kept house for him. A trading house had been built upon the ground previously occupied by ?klr. Post's mission, liy John i'"leming, a nuilatto from Canada, and a man named Armstrong, who had been captured when he was but fourteen years of age by the Indians, and grew up to manhood among them, ac(|uiring their tastes, habits and modes of life. His father found him and tried to pir'suade him to return with him to his home m western Pennsylvania, hut it was in vain, his nature having been entirely recast in the Indian mould. He said he would not work, and returned to the Indians. Richard Carter got possession of the trading house after Fleming left and kept up a brisk trade with tlie Indians. The friendly treatment of W'illiam Penn and his Quaker friends had so far won the confidence of the Indian tribes generally that they \vere classed as a distinct race. Beaver Plat said, "When an Irishman fills my powder horn he fills it about half full ; an American fills it a little higher ; but a Quaker fills it up full." The same generous and Christian treatment would have secured the same confidence to the Irishman and the American. But the country has reaped the harvest of a bad seeding with the Indians. Richard Carter went to \Vheeling for supplies and left Elizabeth Cline (then Musser), aged fifteen, and her brother in charge of the trading house. The youngfellow was fond of the hunt and left his sister two days alone with the Indians. She said she was not afraid unless they got fire w-ater, but an Indian came along who was on. a "bust," took a butcher knife, cut the string of the window shutter and proceeded to throw out the furs and skins, and completely emptied the post. Mrs. Cline knew there was no use to oppose him, but a squaw came along and persuaded the Indian away, and returned and put things to rights.

Mrs. Comly, the wife of Joshua Comly, took the fever at the mouth of Sandy and died. She left her heart-stricken husband with the care of four .small children. This was perhaps the first death among the settlers. Mrs. Comly was buried on the Stump farm. Mrs. Elizabeth Cline (then Musser") kept house for Mr. Comly imtil he was able to make further provisions.

house stood by the house of John P. Bordner. A canoe had been tied at the bank of the river and the water had risen during the night so a~ to leave only the untied end of the canoe upon the surface. Abraham Vant and his father, Philip Yant, managed, by swimming and diving, to untie the canoe and run it on the porch of the house. The inmates had retreated to the second story and they were carried out and taken to another house until the flood abated. Richard Carter owned over five hundred acres of land and traded the land to George Brantingham, another Quaker friend from England, for city property in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and removed there about 18 16.

The village of Bethlehem was laid out by Jonathan \\'. Condy in 1806. Mr. Condy and Alartin Brinton. a brother-in-law, were lawyers from the city of Philadelphia. They located large tracts of land in Bethlehem township. Mr. Condy was accompanied by the Rev. Richard S. Goe. Religiously they had embraced the tenets of Emanuel Swedenhorg. Their project was to establish a religious society, moulded after the Moravian Society at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, after which the town was named. Mr. Condy w^as a man of enterprise and integrity : he built a sawmill on the stream east of the village, and contracted the building of a grist mill ; the latter, however, was abandoned. He erected a store house on the northwest corner of Market and Second street, which was occupied by James Clingle. This was the first dry-goods store in the village. It was afterwards occupied by Mr. Goe as a store, and was torn down many years since. For various reasons Mr. Condy's expectations were not realized. He returned to Philadelphia until after the location of the Ohio canal, when he came to see his landed interests. On riding across a corduroy bridge, his horse w^as attacked by a yellow. jacket and became frantic, throwing Mr. Condy. breaking his left shoulder and otherwise seriously injuring him. From these in-

Prior to 1815 Bethlehem and Pike were inckided in Canton township, but in 181 5 and 1816 Pii<e and Bethlehem held elections jointly, as elsewhere referred to in the sketch on Pike. Bethlehem township was incorporated on the I2th of December, 1816, and an election held in April. 1817. Baltzer Koonts was the first justice of the peace. The first couple married in the township was Aquila Carr and his w'ife Nelly, whose maiden name is forgotten, the ceremony being performed by 'Squire Koonts. Adam Grounds, the father of Jacob Grounds, came to Bethlehem in 1806 or 1807. The first three barrels of salt were brought into the township by Mr. Carr, who brought it up the Cuyahoga river in a canoe, hauled the canoe across the portage south of Akron to the Tuscarawas, and floated it down to Bethlehem. He sold one barrel to Godfrey Huff at the mouth of Oneley creek. Mr. Grounds got one barrel, and the other he secreted in the woods to keep the Indians from finding it. The salt was sold at twenty-fi\-e dollars per barrel. Init Mr. Carr said he would haul no more at that price.

Jacob Grounds taught the first school at Bethleliem, and was clerk of the first election held at Canton. James Gafif made the ballot box, for which he i"eceived fifty cents.

The first public house for entertainment was kept by Jolm Shalter, on the southwest corner of Market and Third streets. The first entries of land were made by Brinton and Condy, Richard Carter, Nicholas Stump, Ebenezer Allman, Harman Vandorston, Mathia.s Shepler, Charles Linerode and others.

After the location of the Ohio canal, Navarre was laid out by James Duncan. Raffensperger and Chapman afterwards laid out Rochester. These three villages have since been incorporated under the name of Navarre. It became a place of immense trade in wheat and dry goods. The principal merchants were Daniel and Harman Alman, Hill & Company, John Chapman & Rafifensperger, Charles Poe & Company, Wirt & Burgent. The leading export was wheat, which, before the opening of the Ohio canal, did not bring thirty cents in cash. For some years this sudden impulse of trade went on in a torrent, results quite satisfactory Avere realized, and handsome fortunes made. Its infiuence upon the country was seen and felt in the enhanced value of real estate, the taste of buildings and all kinds of improvements. This season of prosperity was followed by the stringency and reverses of 1837 to 1840. Fortunes that had been gathered in the years of prosperity were more quickly swept away. And the failures in the mercantile circles were as common then as at the present. Trade, like the ocean, seems to be the subject to ebbs and flows. Much of the money made in wheat raising remained in the hands of the purchaser. All the original firms largely engaged in the produce trade failed, but the farmers did not. They jogged on, slowly and more surely, some wiser than before. Every generation learns this truth : that dealing in large sums begets recklessness and extravagance. Quickly made is quickly spent.

Soon after Navarre was laid out. James Duncan built a mill and connected with it a store. The Ohio canal supplied the water power, procured from the state. The mill did a prosperous business and was a great advantage to the place and surrounding country. Soon after Rochester was laid out. James Sproul built a steam mill.

Among the early settlers none were more conspicuous than Mathias Shepler, Nicolas Stump and Ebenezer Allman. Mr. Shepler was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, November 11, 1790. His first wife was Elizabeth Retan. He came to Bethlehem township in an early day, was for many years a justice of the peace, and several times a member of the legislature, both tiie iioiise and senate, serxed one term in congress and tilled various minor offices, in all of which stations he retained the confidence of the people as a moral, upriglit man. and faithfully discharged the various duties assigned him. Mr. Shepler was married three times; his first wife died while yet young. He was then married to Elizabeth Bechtel, who died in 1837. His last marriage was with Sarah Linerade. the widow of Otho Linerade. and daughter of John Sherman. Mr. Shepler died in April, 1863, a member of the United Brethren church, and his remains were interred in the Sheplar burying ground, on the farm where he formerly resided.

Nicholas and Frederick Stump came from Chambersburg, l-'ranklin C()unty, Pennsylvania, in 1808. Most of the goods belonging to Nicholas were lost crossing the Nimishillen. Frederick Stump settled in Perry township, on the farm later occupied by his son, Levi Stump. Nicholas Stump settled on the northwest quarter of section 10, later owned by Henry Myers. Nicholas Stump was elected se\eral terms to the office of county commissioner.

Ebenezer Allman came from Bentleysville, Washington county, Pennsylvania, in i860. His sons, George and William, were out a year previous; they settled on the northeast quarter of section 4, later occupied by Mrs. Eve Allman, a daughter of Frederick Stump and the widow of Barney Allman. Carroll Allman was killed by the falling of a tree, in his seventeenth year, and was the first death in the family. Jane was married to George Klingle, the first dry goods merchant in Bethlehem ; Sarah, another daughter, was married to Jerry Stuts. The family consisted of seven sons and two daughters. Ebenezer Allman died in 1828, aged sixty-four: Agnes, bis wife, died in i83(), aged sixty-six.

built al)Out 1810. Jacob Grounds was appointed in putting up the building. The next was the Salem church, known as the Sherman church, built and occupied jointly by the Lutheran and (Jcrman Reformed tlenominations. Rev. iAnthony W'ezer, of Canton, was the Lutheran pastor of both these churches. Rev. Benjamin Foust was the pastor of the German [Reformed society. Salem church was built in 1 81 8. Rev. Wezer served the congregation for many years. Eventually the house, a large two-story log building, was sold and torn down. The Lutherans built a neat frame church in 1 87 1. Previous to the building of Salem church. Mr. W'ezer held religious services at the house of John Sherman, who donated the ground for the church and the burying ground. L'pon one of these occasions the writer, then a fiveyear-old, attended with his parents, mixing in the crowd. After the services he was separated from his mother and ran around crying. Mary Bachtel, then a young lady, afterward the AVidow Grove, spoke quite soothingly \.o him. took him l)y the hand, and found his mother. This was a trivial circumstance, \et a real act of kindness I shall ne\er forget.

The first Methodist society was organized by Rev. Walter Athey and Curtiss Goddard. at the bouse of Ebenezer Allman in 181 5. Mr. Allman was leader of the class. The members of the society were Ebenezer .\llman. Agnes Allman, Abraham and Mary Phillips, Mrs. Elizabeth Sheplar, wife of Mathias Sheplar, Samuel and Sophia Miller, Captain John and Ellen Brown. John Alexander and Henr\- Coder. Regular preaching was continued at the house of Mr. .oilman until 1835. when the church was built in Bethlehem. John Brown was not satisfied as a member of the Methodist church, and in after years he connecetd himself with the Catholics, and died in that faith. He is Ijuried in the Catholic burying ground at Navarre.

ty, Pennsylvania, to Betlilehem township in the fall of 1812. He stopped at the house of Nicholas Stump, who went w'ith him and showed him the northeast and southeast quarters of section 24, then vacant. He went to Steuhenville and located the one quarter, returned to his home, seven miles from Pittsburg, near the Monongahela river, worked at the shoe bench until the spring of 1814, when he came out and located the other quarter. He built a shant}', or camp, of butternut poles, stayed three months, and cleared a held, planting it in garden vegetables, corn and potatoes. While at work in the wild woods his supplies of bread were procured from the settlers, the wild turkey supplied him w'ith eggs, and his rifle abundantly supplied him with venison and turkey. He returned in July and started for his new home about the first of September, arri\ing at the cabin cm the 19th of September, ] 8 1 4.

The family consisted of Philip Yant, Sr., Philip Yant, Jr., Abraham and Catherine Yant and Abraham's three children, Anthony, Magdalene and a baby sixteen months old. The moving party were on the road two weeks with wagon anil horses. The sea.son was remarkably wet. The little hut, which had a fire l)lace in the projecting corner, contained room for kitchen purpo.ses, a bed, and the dear old "trundle bed." The rest of the family slept in the covered wagon. A cabin house was soon jnit up with the log-fire chimney, puncheon floor and clapboard roof. The farm in its natural state was heavily timbered with oak trees of immense size on the hill slopes and the bottoms were covered with sugar maple, beech and hickory. It was hard labor and a slow process to clear up a farm, but by perseverance, working late and early, an eight or ten-?cre field was added to the opening. Labor w^is clieap and the best of choppers could be hired for eight or ten dollars per month.

The sugar season afforded the greatest enjoyment and the hardest labor of any part of the year. While camping out and running the sugar camp, day and night was full of fun and excitement, through slush, snow and rain. The exposure was not considered dangerous. Half a dozen different camps within a neighboring distance of each other afforded a vast amount of social enjoyment for the young folks. The log cabin pioneers, with all their hardships and simple, rough fare, were more healthy and enjoyed social life to a greater degree than falls to the lot of their refined and weakly descendants.

Abraham Yant became a minister of the German Baptist denomination. The last few years of his life were spent in the gospel ministry. He died in January, 1842, aged si.xtyone years, while his widow, Catherine Yant, survived him many years.

Game was abundant, deer being so numerous that they were hardly ever out of sight for a da}'. Bears were not so plenty, but they were frec|uently met with. On one occasion John Swank \\e<:t through the woods to George Kuhn"s, and on the way treed four cub bears on a dogwood sapling. He made strings of some tow he bad in his pOcket, climbed the sapling and secured the cubs by tying two together. \Vben lie came to the ground the noi.se of the cubs attracted the mother, whij rushed at him with her jaws wide open. He droppeil the cubs on the side of a large fallen tree and jum])ed upon it. The bear came up on the op- [josite side, but did not attack him. He broke off a dead limb and frightened her off, and after following her a short distance, he returned and caught the cubs, made his escape and brought them Jiome. Swank ])arted with two of the cubs and kept two. They grew finely : the bears and a pet pig slept in the shelter of a hollow sycamore that had been sawed oft' and placed for the purpose. One rainy night, after washing day, when a grapevine full of clothes had been left out. the bears put their natural instinct to work, and, taking llie ck:)thes, proceeded to the woods and climbed a large red-oak tree, the top of wliich parted into three branches, where they made a nest of clothes and laid snugly down. After many conjectures and a protracted search, the white clothes were seen and soon the whole mystery was solved. The question was, how to get the clothes. This could only be done by chopping the tree. \Vhen the bears became sensible of the situation, they coolly ran out on a limb, rolled up in a ball, dropped to the ground and scampered off home. They afforded abundance of amusement, and in our evening visits they would \vaylay us in the dark; in the chase the hindmost was sure to be caught by the foot in the paws of the bears; fright and screams availed nothing, but we were never hurt. Abraham Kant had a large strong, active greyhound, whose name was Beaver. Swank's children came on an evening visit, one of the bears accompanying them. Beaver was frantic with rage at the bear, but would not take hold of him. The bear took up a tall sugar tree, sat among its branches and growled. When the children left he came down and took to the fence, and the dog followed, making a fearful noise and threatening mortal combat, but would not come in leach of the bear's paws.

George Brantingham, a Quaker b'riencl, his wife Phcebe, and Sarah Bolton, an unmarried sister of Mrs. Brantingham, with four children, came to the mouth of Sandy in the spring of 1816. Mr. Brantingham traded city property in Philadelphia to Richard Carter for a tract of land, and settled upon it. The Brantingham children were Joseph, Hannah, George and Sarah. The children, like their father. were full of life, and soon exchanged their city ways for the more free and active enjoyments of the backwoods. The Yant and Brantingham families became much attached to each other, and were life-long friends, notwithstanding their different relis'ious views. When Abraham

In 1819 Mr. Brantingham laid out the town of Calcutta, had a sale of lots, and Ixiilt a warehouse on the bank of the river. Several flat bottom boats were loaded here for the southern trade, the cargoes consisting of flour, whiskey, bacon and pottery ware, the latter being manufactured at Canton. A store was also established and continued for several years by Frederick C. Phersich, a German.

Calcutta was considered the head of navigation on the Tuscarawas. The river, except at a high stage of water, proved to be unsafe and a number of shipwrecks, w'ith loss of cargo, put an end to the New Orleans trade upon the Tuscarawas. The last flat boat that passed down the river was about 1822, or a year later. As the leading idea of building up a town of some conmiercial importance was directly connected with this trade, the prospects of the future city of Calcutta were abandoned with it and the town plat was vacated.