Hocking Township

Hocking Township

In this township Lancaster is situated, near its northern and eastern borders. Its name derives from the Hockhocking river, which flows past its western and southern limits. The history of Lancaster is a large part of the history of Hocking ' Township. And the history of the first settlements of the county would, in a general way, be the history of all frontier life seventy years ago.

Within this township^ and in near proximity to Lancaster, are inexhaustible ledges of the fines sand-stone in the world - sufficient in quantity to build a hundred cities. It will be remembered this township was the theatre of the Wyandot and Delaware Indians when the valley was first penetrated by the white race. But now not the slightest trace of that swarthy race which once made these hills echo with their wild and discordant shouts, remains ; not a mark to show they were ever here. And the pale faces are gone too, and their foot-prints are nearly faded out; that is, the first comers. Their forms have dissolved away, and their voices are all hushed forevermore.

The first settlers of Hocking township have been mentioned elsewhere, when speaking of the first settlers of Fairfield county, and it is needless to recapitulate.

Outside of Lancaster, there is but one village in the township - the village of Hamburg; five miles to the south-west. It is a place of a few families, and has a little trade.

Hocking, perhaps more than any township in the countj-, presents more mementoes of the frontier age in the form of remnants of old log-cabins and the like. At present it is the chief grape-growing township of the county. The hills for a few miles south are, to a large extent, covered with the vine in healthy conditions of culture. The State Farm is in Hocking township.

oldest inhabitants, that' some of the arts of the red man in extracting healing virtues from wild plants have been diffused and are not lost.

Source changes here: from History of Fairfield County, Ohio, and Representative Citizens, by Miller, Charles Christian, published 1912; 729 words in this source stream.

Hocking Township

Hocking township is bounded on the north by Greenfield, on the east by Berne, on the south by Madison and on the west by Amanda. The northwestern part of the township is somewhat undulating and rich in soil, but the whole of the southeastern portion is made np of hills and \alleys with a shallow, sandy soil. On the ridges of the hills there will scarcely anything grow except ferns, mountain laurel and a few hardy shrubs.

In the extreme southeastern part of this township is the State Reform Farm for boys. It contains 1,210 acres and for the most part poor land, but the scenery from the ele\ation upon which tlie buildings are placed is most beautiful. The site for this farm was originally owned by Mr. Reber who used it for raising tobacco, but Henry Myers owned it at the time the State bought it (1857) for $13 an acre. A description of the Reform Farm or Boys' Industrial School will be found in Chapter 15.

Just north of the State Reform Farm is a natural curiosity which is visited by hundreds of sightseers every year. It is a large rock - an acre in area, - and is situated on the summit of the old Stump Hill. The hill is near the old Lancaster and State Farm pike and just south of the Uhl farm; the hill is about 150 feet high. The rock on this hill is from 45 to 75 feet high and it is called Christmas Rock or River Rock. There is. an interesting legend which tells how, at the time of the great earthquake at the crucifixion of Christ, this rock was cleft. The rock has been cleft, from end to end and from top to bottom, laterally and lengthwise into fissures - some of them one foot wide, others four or five feet wide, but in all cases they rise perpendicularly from 40 to 70 feet in height, some of them from end to end being 300 feet. From the top of this rock there is the finest view to be seen for miles, with the valleys and hills and fertile fields lying about, and Lancaster six miles away.

settlers in the county. Among these may be mentioned Joseph Hunter, the Greens, Shaffers, Spurgeons, Woodrings, Reeces, Wilson, Converse and others. Some of these were early on the ground - those coming from the east, loading their goods in flat boats at Pittsburg, floating down the Ohio to the mouth of the Hocking and from there taking their goods by canoe uji the Hocking to New Lancaster as Lancaster was first called.

Capt. Joseph Hunter, father of Hocking H. Hunter, was the first settler of Hocking township. He came from Kentucky and settled on Zane's Trace, where Hunter's Settlement afterwards was. He came in 1798 and for a time was the only white man in the county. Hocking H. Hunter was born August i, 1801, and is claimed to be the first white child born in the county: other authorities say Delilah Shaffer was born in 1800.

Samuel Coates, Jr. was postmaster in 1800, the mail coming once a week via Zane's Trace from Wheeling to Maysville, and here we see the changes 100 years have wrought. The rural routes from Lancaster bring practically every farmer in Hocking township his mail every day. There are only two small villages in the township : Del Mount, a station on the Cincinnati and Muskingum Valley R. R. ; and Hamburg in the southern part of the township.

In an early day Hamburg was a stopping place on Zane's Trace. It was laid out by William Medill about 1812. During Gen. Harrison's time, he and other noted passengers frequently stopped here.

The churches of the township are (1912) : The Hamburg English Lutheran (no pastor for several years) ; the Brick Lutheran, Rev. A. Kohler (of Sugar Grove) ; Trinity Evangelical Lutheran, Rev. Geo. Dittmar ;

And Representative Citizens

The following are the township officers : Trustees, Henry M. Jackson, Pres. ; Charles M. Smith, Frank Erick, clerk ; C. D. Hoffman, treasurer. T. G. Rufif. Justice of the Peace, John Lysinger; constables, Dill Lysinger, and George C. Gettz ; ditch supervisor, John C. Ritchie; board of education: Noah Dickson, Pres. ; Ed. M. Walter, Vice Pres. ; J. T. Darling, S. J. McAuliffe and Will S. Crumley.