Jefferson Township (part 5 of 7)

Samuel Poppelton, Sr., was one of the Green Mountain Boys, who fought with Col. Ethan Allen. Heclaimed the honor of haying placed the American flag on the walls of Fort Ticonderoga, at its surrender, with his own hands, and heard the historic words : " By the authority of Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress," uttered at that time, he being Color Sergeant. He died about 1842, in the ninety-ninth year of his age. He is buried south of Bellville. Frosts and storms have robbed his old sandstone of its inscription.

This history is particularly indebted to Mr. Reuben Evarts for this chapter. The official records of the township are all destroyed, of proceedings previous to 1850 ; what is inserted regarding early elections and officers, was obtained from other sources.

John Leedy

Mavison Townsnip - Irs Formation, Paysicat Features AND PopuLaTioN - SurveY - HARLY SerrLeRs - M ans- FIELD - Irs Location AND Survey - EstTaBLisHED on Rocky Fork - Name - Firsr SerrLers - First CaBin - First Wuite Caitp - Pionrer Marrers - A Numper or First Tuings - Gen. Crooks - THE Brock Housrs - Joun M. May - Tue Sruroes Firm - Inpians - Wuar Rev. JAMES ROWLAND AND OTHER Pronerrs Say - Earty Horers, Erc.

territory at present embraced in Richland County. It was named after President Madison, and was then under the jurisdiction of Knox County. In 1812, it was divided, Greene being created from its eastern part. A third division occurred August 9, 1814, leaving Madison the northwestern township in the county, } best material. It was largely Pennsylvania with a territory eighteen miles square. Thus | German - either Lutheran or Reformed - and it remained until 1816, when it was reduced to } Pennsylvania Calvinistic Scotch-Irish. The its present dimensions - six miles square in the } former was the better judge of the qualities of center of the county. It is generally rolling, | the soil, and the more careful and skillful cultiand in places even hilly, but there are noj vator of it. But in pnblic spirit, and in approminent landmarks. North of the city of} preciation of the importance of private and Mansfield, there is a ridge whose general course | public education, the Scotch-Irish were supeis northwest and southeast, over which the At- } rior. In the intermingling of the two elements, lantic & Great Western Railway passes, suffi- | enterprise and conservatism, materialism and ciently elevated to divide the waters of Black | idealism were happily balanced and blended ; Fork and Rocky Fork; the grade along the | and it would be hard to find a more desirable road being about fifty feet to the mile over} population than this combination furnished. this ridge. The tributaries of these two streams | To these have been added, in minor proporcarry off the water; and in addition to these, | tions, the more cosmopolitan elements of the numerous and beautiful springs burst from the } Marylander, the Jerseyman and New-Yorker, ground in different parts of the township. One | with now and then a Yankee, with his native of these, on Fourth street, probably had an in- }| acuteness, smartness, pushing enterprise and fluence in determining thé location of Mans-} passion for progress and improvement; and field. Two others, the Laird and John's | notwithstanding his ever-present assumption, Springs which will receive more particular} that whatever there is good in America came mention in the history of the water-works, | over in the Mayflower, has made himself a valnow furnish the city with pure spring water. | uable and valued ingredient in the population Another of importance is located in the south- | of the township. The presence of the German eastern part of the township, on Rocky Fork, } element was influential in bringing in large where the first settlement was made, and others of more or less importance in various places. It was once densely covered with every species of hard-wood, and its agricultural resources are fully equal to those of any other in the county.

numbers of European Germans, with their ins defatigable industry and marvelous economy and thrift; their passionate desire for the ownership of real estate enough to absolve them from the payment of rent; their skill in mechanics, agriculture and horticulture; their universal instruction in the primary departments of letters They have proved themselves the best of citizens, the friends of common schools, of the Republic, of Such a foundaand science.

civilization, of law and order. tion readily explains the marvelous beauty and solidity of the superstructure that in so few years has attained such vast proportions.

The history of the city and township is so interwoven that it cannot be written separately. They have run together in the race of progress, and whatever has been the measure of success, it belongs equally to both. It may, or may not be new to a majority of its citizens, to hear that Mansfield was not born on its present location. It first saw the light on the southwest quarter of Section 25, about three miles southeast of its present location, on Rocky Fork, at what was Beam's, afterward Campbell's and now Goudy's mill. As this location and its first settlers are fully described in another chapter, it will not be dwelt upon here.

(ren. James Hedges was the pioneer of the township. He was here as a Government Surveyor in 1806, a year before the first settlement The is a well-known and honored one, is interwoyen in the warp and woof of Mansfield history, and still stands high in the roll of its honored citizens. Hedges was accompanied by Maxfield Ludlow and Jonathan Cox. names are not given, drew their lines through the woods, and rolled themselves in their blankets by their camp-fires, before any white man built his cabin within the limits of the township.

eastern boundaries, and to the banks of any stream that may cross them; for the Indian trails were generally along the streams, except where they diverged to some prominent spring, or to cross from one stream to another. These trails were the highways of the wilderness, and were generally followed by the advancing pioneers. True to this principle, the first settlement is found on Rocky Fork as above de- ° scribed. Here Jacob Newman was induced by his friend and kinsman, James Hedges, to build the first cabin, the first, not only in the township, but in the county also. It came very near being the first in the future city, for it was built near the boundary line of the town that was then staked out. These pioneers knew that a new county would soon be created here, and determined to profit by it. They thought if they laid out a town on the Rocky Fork, near that beautiful spring, and induced settlers to come in, it would grow up into a city and become the county seat. They laid out the future city, but it never went any farther at that place. It was not platted or recorded, and no settlements made within its limits. For some reason it was abandoned, and the present site determined upon. What their reasons were is a matter of uncertainty, but it is conjectured that the "big spring" on Fourth street had some influence; that Gen. Hedges had, probaably, some intimations as to the future boundaries of the new county, and thought this would be a central location ; and Doctor Bushnell says a very potent reason was in the fact that Mr. Hedges had entered for himself the section upon which the city now stands, and wanted the new city located upon it, and that he actually paid these early settlers $1,500 in silver as an inducement. However this may be, their city on Rocky Fork was abandoned ; they came up that stream and laid out the present city on the 11th day of June, 1808. The men who thus established the foundation of this monument to their memories, were Joseph Larwill, of Wooster. James Hedges and Jacob Newman. They agreed to name the new town Mansfield, after the then Surveyor General of the United States, Col. Jared Mansfield, under whose instructions Hedges and his companions were working. Col. Jared Mansfield was born in | New Haven. Conn.. in the year 1759, and during his lifetime occupied various prominent and responsible positions under the United States» Government. Yale College in 1777, and taught school, first in New Haven and afterward in Philadelphia. Becoming known to Mr. Jefferson, he received the appointment of Professor of Natural Philosophy at the Military Academy at West Point. The publication of his mathematical and physical essays, about this time, enhanced his reputation, and he took a high stand among the scientific men of the nation. He was appointed Surveyor General about the year 1803, an office before held by Gen. Rufus Putnam. Col. Mansfield subsequently resumed the Professorship of Natural Philosophy at the Military Academy, where he continued until a few years before his death, when he retired to Cincinnati, and subsequently died while on a visit to his native city, February 3. 1830. aged seventy-one years. He was a near relative of the now venerable author and scholar. . D. Mansfield, who resides near Cincinnati.

The original plat of the city was a square, of which the public square was the center. It extended north one block beyond Fourth street ; south across Ritter's Run, one block beyond First street; east one block beyond Water street, and west one block beyond Mulberry. It was mainly on the southeast quarter of Section 21, the south side, however, extending a little more than a square into the southwest quarter of Section 22. Since that time, it has extended over the entire section (21), and into all the adjoining sections, its growth having been mainly westand north. James Hedges entered the two quarter-sections upon which the town was plat-

New towns, in those days, did not spring into life as rapidly as in these days of steam and electricity. It is a common thing now to build a new town in a few days or weeks, make and lose fortunes on it, abandon it, and start another at some distant point on a new railroad, with, perhaps. the same result. But, in those days of stage-coaches and Pennsylvania " schooners," with their four yoke of cattle, things moved correspondingly slow. People were not whirled through the world on "lightning expresses," or

The future city was not an exception in this particular. So far as can be ascertained, but one actual settler was obtained in 1808. This was Samuel Martin, who came from New: Lisbon. This is about all that is known of him. He built the first cabin ; such, at least, is the testimony of many of the oldest settlers, though, like every other matter depending on the memory of the "oldest inhabitant," it is contradicted. yet the weight of testimony is in his favor. The question as to where that first cabin was built, is one more difficult of solution. Itis one upon which, one would think, those who were here first could hardly be mistaken ; but it must be considered that their attention was not called to this matter for years afterward, and being considered (if considered at all) a small matter, it passed from their minds entirely. Looking back afterward, through the mist of half a century, with its changes, the exact spot might not be so readily determined. It remains to give the evidence, pro and con, and form a judgment accordingly.

Mr. C. 8S. Coffinberry, writing from Constantine, Mich., under date of February 17, 1873, says: "The first house built in the town of Mansfield was built by George Coffinberry, in 1809, in the month of August in that year, on the site now occupied by the North American Hotel, at the southwest corner of the public square. The building was a small log cabin." The above is, an extract. The writer must be mistaken, for there is much evidence that the first cabin was not built in 1809, but 1808, and not on the North American corner, and, as before stated, not by George Coffinberry. Mansfield H. Gilkison. who is now living in Mansfield, and who was born in this cabin (the one referred to in the above extract), says it was built in 1810, and was the second cabin in the town.

Mrs. Elizabeth Baughman, who is still living, and who is the daughter of Capt. James Cunningham, one of the earliest pioneers in the county, in a letter to the Shield and Banner, in 1873, says: "A log cabin was afterward erected on the present site of Mansfield. It stood, I think, near where Mr. Keating now lives, at the northeast corner of the park, and a man (whose name I have forgotten) moved into it; but, for selling whisky to the Indians, in violation of law - a Congressional act. I suppose - he had é * One of the proprietors of the then contemplated town of Mansfield, got father to consent to move into the cabin to board the coming surveying party, and entertain persons who might come to buy town lots, etc. * * * The day following, they removed to the cabin spoken of, which was, as father always claimed, the first house built in Mansfield, and the only one here at that time."

According, then, to Mrs. Baughman's recollection, the first cabin was built on the northeast corner of the public square, where stands the old brick dwelling-house belonging to the Hedges family. Mrs. Baughman, however, did not live with her father at the time he occupied this dwelling, for she says in the same letter : "My father was married to Margarett Myers, his present widow, in 1808, and came to this country soon afterward; but I remained with my grandfather, Michael Stateler, until 1819, then came to this county, where I have since had my home." It must be considered that James Cunningham, her father, moved into that house in October, 1809, and moved out during the next year; so that he only occupied it a short time ; and if his information was given to his daughter years afterward, he might have been mistaken, or she might have misunderstood him.

That she was mistaken seems evident from | the following, taken from the lips of James Cunningham himself, and written down at the time by Rev. James McGaw : "In October of the same year (1809), he (James Cunningham), moved into the only log cabin then standing in Mansfield, which had been built some months previously by one Samuel Martin. This cabin stood on the corner lot of E. P. Sturges - Lot No. 97." It would seem as if the statement of Mr. Cunningham, which was written down in his presence, and must, therefore, have been carefully given, ought to be conclusive. He was a very early settler, was well" known to all the pioneers, and a very intelligent man. He was afterward a Captain in the army. :

The following is an extract from a letter of Margarett Cunningham, wife of James Cunningham, dated January 31, 1873: "August 23, 1809, we had a daughter born to us in the town of Mansfield, when there was but one log cabin in the place, built by a Mr. Martin for a boarding-house. Mr. Martin lived in this cabin but a short time, and left abruptly, having sold whisky to the Indians, contrary to law. Some one threatened to prosecute him for the offense, and he left."

From this extract is ascertained what became of the first actual settler in the town, and the builder of the first cabin. He was evidently a trader; whether he kept anything more than whisky is not told; but he might be called the first merchant in Mansfield ; and this first cabin was also the first boarding-house, the first store and the first dwelling.

" My sister, Matilda Cunningham, was born in the town of Mansfield, in a house built by a Mr. Martin, near the corner of the square nearest the big spring." a road between Canton and Wooster. I was employed by Joseph Larwill. of Wooster, when the town of Mansfield was run off into lots; I was engaged in cutting the logs for the first cabin that was built in Mansfield, it being built for one Martin, who had removed from New Lisbon to this place. lot now owned by E. P. Sturges." This testimony of one who cut the logs and assisted in building the house. agrees with that of Capt. James Cunningham, who lived in it after its first tenant, Martin, moved out. There is much other conflicting testimony regarding this matter, which. could space be allowed for its admis- |

1808, Joseph Larwill having pitched his tent above the " big spring" and opened the sale on that day. It is not stated whether any lots were sold. but probably a few were. as it is found that purchasers came from " Knox, Columbiana, Stark, and other partially settled counties." Among the first settlers in the new town were George Coffinberry, Winn Winship, Rolin Weldon, J. C. Gilkison, John Wal- lace, Joseph Middleton, James Cunningham | and Andrew Pierce. These arrived, some with their families, mostly in the year 1809, and all came to stay. George Coffinberry built the seeond cabin, on the North American corner. Gen. Harrison stopped at this tavern, on, his way' to

James Hedges was engaged. Winn Winship, who was a single man, built the first frame house | in the town, across the street from the cabin of George Coffinberry, on the corner where the Farmer's Bank was, for some time, located. He was one of the most important of these early settlers, being Postmaster at that time, and not only the first Postmaster in Mansfield, but the first Postmaster in Richland County ; and was also Register and Receiver of Virginia Military School lands, having been appointed to that office by the Legislature of Virginia, some two years before. He is thus described, in a letter written by Mrs. Margarett Cunningham, in 1873: "This Winn Winship was a singular little man, short, round face, dark complexion, very talkative, wore a cue, quite a fop, was not' very particular what he ate so that he got milk, and after we discharged him, he went to Mr. Coffinberry's to board. He used to $end little George Coffinberry down to our house, every day, with a great tin quart cup, for milk, with | a silver sixpence always in the cup." He seems to have been a little out of place in this wild region, and had a repugnance to boarding or living with other people, and in a log house ; so he built a neat two-story frame, and lived by himself. Tbe lumber for this house was hewed and split out, saw-mills being rather scarce. He was afterward appointed Clerk of the court, by the first Judges in the county, Thomas Coulter, Peter Kenny and Hugh Mc- Cluer. -

Rolin Weldon came from Delaware, built a cabin, and started the first blacksmith-shop in the town, on the McFall corner, the northwest corner of Third and Main streets. This is, however, disputed by M. H. Gilkison, who says the first blacksmith was John Fogelsong, who built a shop in the alley connecting Main and Walnut, below the Wiler House. Mr. Winship and Levi Jones boarded with Weldon for atime. Jones was afterward killed by the Indians, a full account of this being given in |

John Wallace remained in town but a short time. He bought and cleared up a farm two miles east, which has since been known as the Wallace farm. J.C. Gilkison was a printer, and started the first printing office. He was also an officer of the militia. He married a daughter of George Coffinberry, and lived for some time in the Coffinberry house on the North American corner, where his son, Mansfield H. Gilkison, who is still living, was born. This son was the first white male child born in the town or county,

Much controversy has arisen in regard to the first child born in Mansfield. The friends of Matilda Cunningham, of whom many are yet living, claim that honor for her; while Mansfield H. Gilkison and his friends are equally first." That he was the first ma/e child does not admit of question; whether he was the first child, each one must judge for himself after reading the testimony. The statements are so conflicting, and the time so far back, that the truth is hard to find.

fortunate moment, at a pioneer meeting, a new claimant suddenly appeared, and created some feeling among the pioneers and those interested. The following extracts from letters, and

Mansfield was Mansfield H. Gilkison, who is still living and with us to-day. He was born February 2, 1811, in the building on the North American corner. His father was John C. Gilkison, and his mother a daughter of George Cof-

The controversy began in 1869. It seems, therefore, that, seventeen years afterward, Gen. Brinkerhoff had not been convinced that he was in error regarding this matter. Mansfield H. Gilkison gives his understanding of this in the following words, an extract from his letter to the Shield and Banner in 1873: "They did so (speaking of Hedges and Newman) and entered three, if not more, quarter-sections of land from the Government, one of which Gen. James Hedges selected as his own farm, Jacob Newman taking a quarter-section for his farm, and upon the third quarter-section they laid off the present town of Mansfield. A short time after this, a portion of Mr. Newman's family came out, and occupied the cabin on this farm of Mr. Jacob Newman's, immediately south of Mansfield.* out and found their way to the Newman cabin : as yet, upon the site of Mansfield, no cabin had been erected. In this cabin, it is claimed, Matilda Cunningham was born. If-this be true, then it is not possible for her to have been born in Mansfield at all. I think, in the fall of 1810, a cabin was erected where the North American now stands, by George Coffinberry, my mother's father, and in this cabin I was born, the 2d day of February, 1811, being the first white child born within the limits of the present town of Mansfield. Gen. James Hedges requested of my parents the privilege of naming the child, saying he would deed to me a town lot, to which request they acceded, and he named me for the town and himself, Mansfield Hedges Gilkison, and deeded to me .

the lot, according to his promise; and I have recently been informed by H. C. Hedges, Hsq., his nephew, that it was Gen. Hedges' intention to have it made a matter of record. But it seemed he had forgotten to do so. At that time, Gen. Hedges was a single man - in fact, I believe he never was married - and boarded at the Newman cabin, and it would seem strange that my parents and Gen. Hedges could be so much mistaken, considering the sparsity of the population and the fact that such an event was not of such frequent occurrence as to escape their memories."

The following extract is from a letter of C.S. Coffinberry, of Constantine, Mich., a son of George Coffinberry, and is dated February 17, 1873 : "I notice in the Shield and Banner a note of Thomas B. Andrews addressed to you (R. Brinkerhoff), giving the date of the birth of | the three daughters of Mrs. Cunningham, with the further statement of Mrs. Cunningham that Matilda was born in the town of Mansfield, in the first house built in the town, there being no other house in the town when they moved into it. Myr. Andrews further states, that Mrs. Cunningham informed him that she was at the house of Jacob Newman, which was the only house in Mansfield at the time. * * * The first house built in the town of Mansfield was built by George Coffinberry in 1809, in the month of August of that year, on the site now occupied by the North American Hotel, at the southwest corner of the public square. The building was a small log cabin, and was never occupied by any other family. It was occupied by Mr. Coffinberry until he pulled it down to make place for a frame building. On the 23d of August, 1809, the date of the birth of Matilda Cunningham, this house was the only one in the town of Mansfield, and had not been erected over six days. The house of Jacob Newman, erected and occupied by him, was not within the original plat of the town of Mansfield, and was not erected for some consider- able time after that of Mr. Coffinberry's, I think during the winter of 1809. Mansfield Hedges Gilkison was the first white child born in the town of Mansfield. This fact was well known to all the first settlers in the town - the Weldons, the Hedges, the Laflands, the Newmans, and others. If Henry Newman and John Newman still survive, they will bear me out in this statement.. If Matilda Cunningham was born August 23, 1809, she was not born in Mansfield, for the house of George Coffinberry, my father, was then the only house in Mansfield, which was a thick and heavy forest."

Evidence he has already been given to show that Mr. Coffinberry must have been mistaken regarding the first cabin, and, if so mistaken, it impairs his evidence in this letter.

The following is from Robert Cairns, who is still living in Mansfield : " My father and mother moved to the town of Mansfield in the fall of 1813, and I have frequently seen them point out M. H. Gilkison, and say that he was the first child born in Mansfield. I further state, that I was long and intimately acquainted with Gen. James Hedges, one of the proprietors of the town, and frequently have had conversation with him, in which he stated to me, in speaking of the early settlers of the town of Mansfield, that Mansfield Hedges Gilkison was the first white child born in the town. He also stated to me that he had the privilege of naming said M. H. Gilkison, and for the privilege of doing so, agreed to give him a deed for a town lot, which - he has done. * * * Mr. Andrews, in his statement, says that Matilda Cunningham stated to him, that she was born in the cabin-house of Jacob Newman, and the only house in the town. Now, if her statement be correct, in - whose house she was born, I boldly assert, without fear of contradiction, that Matilda Cunningham was not born in Mansfield at all. I now

The following is from James Cunningham, father of Matilda Cunningham. It was taken down in writing by the Rey. James McGaw, in a conversation with Mr. Cunningham. ' Capt. James Cunningham was born in the State of Maryland, and, in 1776, emigrated with his father to Westmoreland County, Penn., and afterward to Monongalia County, Va., where the father died. In 1804, James emigrated to Licking County, Ohio, and from there to Richland in 1809, in the month of May, and landed on the Black Fork of the Mohican, where he found Samuel Lewis, Henry McCart, Mr. Shaeffer and Andrew Craig, who had landed there only a few weeks before him. After landing, he put out a crop of corn, then went back, brought out his wife, and put her down in the woods alongside of a camp fire, and commenced building a shanty over her head. This he completed in about three days, having in his employ three hands. In the following August, his wife gave birth to a daughter, being the first white child born in Richland County. In October of the same year, he moved into the only log cabin then standing in Mansfield, which had been built some months previously by one Samuel Martin. This cabin stood on the corner lot of K. P. Sturges."

The following two letters are given as much for their historical interest, as for their bearing on this case. The first, written by Henry Newman, ason of Jacob Newman, is dated March, 1873: "TI think it to be an unmixed truth, that Mansfield Hedges Gilkison was the first child, as the truth and veracity of the very early pioneers of Mansfield and vicinity cannot be lace, George Coffinberry, Rolin Weldon, Michael Newman, James McCluer (one of the first Associate Judges), Capt. David Newal and John Chapman, the last better known as Johnny Appleseed, and others I could mention - all respectable first-class pioneers, settlers in Mans- They could not have been mistaken with regard to the fact, that Mansfield H. Gilkison was the first white child born in the town of Mansfield. I pronounce all the abovenamed gentlemen (now deceased), in their day, men of truth and veracity, and that judgment will be affirmed by many yet living in Mansfield and vicinity. , I-have heard most, if not all of them, speak of the fact that Mansfield H. Gilkison was the first white child born in Mansfield. How is it possible those first pioneers could be mistaken? How is it "that I never heard the first intimation to the contrary until lately, and yet lived in Mansfield and the county of Richland over forty years? * * * The venerable old lady, and others who advocate as a fact that Matilda Cunningham was born in Mansfield, in the cabin built by Jacob Newman, or built by a Mr. Martin, are most certainly mistaken. * * * JT never knew but one My. Martin in Mansfield, and he was a contractor under Gen. Crooks, in the war of 1812-13, and had his headquarters during the winter in Mansfield. The cabin spoken of, which they claim Martin built, was close to and north of where the Sturges Block now stands. When I first came to Mansfield, Joseph Middleton and wife lived in that cabin; after they left it, the cabin became a trading-shop for Lewis Jones, who kept groceries and whisky, and dealt out the same to whites and Indians. * * * Our family was frequently annoyed by drunken Indians, from the effects of the whisky sold them by Jones. This was yet while we lived on the farm, sold to Beam jin 1810 or 1811."

Henry Newman, and fully agree with him in all | the statements made by him. I came to Mansfield in 1814; made the acquaintance of Gen. James Hedges; afterward was married to his brother, my late husband, Ellzey Hedges. and, during all their subsequent lives, always under-

The following extract from the report of a "Pioneer Committee " is signed by R. Brinkerhoff, Henry Hedges and R.'C. Smith. "Said comiittee further find that Margaret Cunningham, of Worthington Township, is entitled to the chair, she haying settled in Mansfield, in said county of Richland, May 1, 1808." They must haye meant 1809,as the town was not laid out May, 1808. The following letter is from Thomas B. Andrews, dated February 3, 1873: "On the 31st day of January, 1873, I visited Mrs. Margaret Cunningham for the purpose of ascertaining from the family record, the true age of Matilda Cunningham, said to be the first white child born in the county of Richland, and in the town of Mansfield.

"J found the record well written, in a plain, legible hand, in a large family Bible. The first entry is the birth of Elizabeth Cunningham in 1805. The second is Matilda Cunningham, born August 23, 1809. he third is Mary Cunningham, born November 16, 1810. |

"Mrs. Cunningham says that Matilda Cun- | ningham was born in the town of Mansfield. in the first house built in the town, there being no other house in the town when they moved into it, and where the first child was born."

This evidence, coming from the mother, herself, would seem to be conclusive, though it must be remembered this testimony was taken about sixty-four years after the event happened; however, much of the testimony on both sides is open to the same criticism. This testimony,

* And in that same cabin, on the 23d day of August, 1809, my half-sister, Matilda, was born. My father remained there only about a year, then removed to the Greentown settlement on As Mrs. Baughman is. bebelieved to be in error in regard to the location of the first cabin, so she may be in error in regard to Matilda being born in that cabin. She was not. as before stated, living with her father at thetime. Mrs. Baughman in the same letter further says: "I have often heard father say that Mansfield H. Gilkison was the first white male child born in Mansfield. In fact it is of the male children that mention is generally made. For instance, we read that ' George W. Cass was the first white male child born in the: city of Allegheny.' Had father remained permanently in town. or had the child been a boy, the fact, no doubt, would have been better. remembered. The first settlers have nearly all been called to their heavenly homes, and it seems very reasonable to me that their descendants - whose honesty I do not question - in speaking of the matter have learned to say the 'first child' instead of the 'first male child." The following extract is from a letter to Mr. Andrews in 1873, signed by nine old citizens of Worthington Township. "* We have been neighbors, and have known James Cunningham and- Margaret Cunningham, of Worthington Township. Richland County, for the thirty-five or forty years last past, and we have heard them both tell at different times, that their daughter Matilda was the first white child born in the county ot Richland, and in the town of Mansfield. We never heard this disputed until 1869 at the county fair at Mansfield, when and where

The following interesting extract. regarding this and other matters, is from the pen of Mrs. Margaret Cunningham, the mother of Matilda, written in 1873 :

"My husband and myself came to Mansfield in May, 1809.* August 23, 1809, we had a daughter born to us in the town of Mansfield, when there was but one log cabin in the place, | built by a Mr. Martin for a boarding-house. Mr. Martin lived in this cabin but a short time, | and left abruptly, having sold whisky to the Indians contrary to law. * * * As soonas he left, Mr. Jacob Newman, living near, or at what was more recently called Beam's or Campbell's Mill, came with his team and moved us from where we lived on a piece of land about one or two miles below said mill, belonging to my uncle, Henry Myers, to the aforesaid house, for the purpose of boarding those that might attend the sale of the school lands and town lots. Winn Winship, Mr. Wallace and a Mr. Pierce boarded with us. Pierce was the crier of the sale. Winn Winship boarded with us until Mr. Coffinberry came out and built a house, I think, on the angling corner of the | square from our house. We used water from the big spring (our house was up the hill from the spring, on or near the corner of the square nearest the spring. * * * My. Coffinberry and a Mr. Bryson built their houses about the same time. These are the three houses said to | be here at the time the father and mother of | M. H. Gilkison came (as claimed by Mrs. Gilkison in an interview I had with her at the county fair in 1869) to Mansfield." | That portion of Nancy Shively's letter relat- | ing to this matter was quoted in the evidefice | regarding the first cabin. The venerablé Mar- | garet Cunningham, above quoted, died on the

In a letter printed in the Ohio Liberal in July, 1873, M. H. Gilkison says: "I was born on the lot on which now stands the building known as the American Hotel, in the year 1811, on the 2d day of February, being the first male child born in the county, so far as known."

It will be seen by the above extract that Mr. Gilkison, in the last letter written by him regarding this matter, does not claim to be the first child, but the first ma/e child, born in the county. There is no dispute as to his being the first male child.

It is hardly necessary to continue this evidence further, the most essential parts on each side having been given. It may not lead the searcher after the truth any nearer to it, and is not likely, in the least, to change the opinions of the friends of the " first child."

The following extracts regarding the early history of Mansfield were collected and published many years ago by Gen. R. Brinkerhoff. Any history of the town would be incomplete without them. They are believed to be authentic, as much of the information was gathered more than twenty years ago, when very many more of the early settlers were living than at the present time. Pioneer life in Mansfield did not differ from the same in other places. It was a rough, hard life, but had its bright and shady sides, the same as that of to-day.

The first marriage in the township was that of John Pugh and Fanny Murphy, daughter of Asa Murphy, one of the earliest of the pioneers of Richland County, and, probably, the first hotel-keeper in Mansfield, as he built the first log house, on the site of the Wiler House, and started a "tavern." in those days were sustained by voluntary contributions. The teacher drew up an article, and stated the conditions upon which he would teach by the quarter, per scholar. of the term, he would present the article to each subscriber and receive his pay.

Coffinberry, and the first process issued by him was against his brother George, for chopping on the Sabbath. This was the first introduction of Sabbath-keeping in Mansfield. Prior to that, the day had been set apart for hunting, fishing, shooting at a mark and pitching quoits. A Methodist society was organized about this time, which will be noticed hereafter. Much drinking was indulged in by the early settlers, or some of them. In those days, they had not learned to adulterate their liquors, and, although their whisky caused drunkenness, it did not poison, as is the case at present. The settlers on a certain occasion assembled together, and enacted a law, that any man who should get drunk should dig up a stump on the street or public square. The result was that, in a short time, the town was clear of stumps. One mornmg after the passage of the law, a man by the name of Henry T. Bell was observed working at a stump on the square, and was asked if he was drunk. He replied that he was not drunk, but expected to be before night, and wanted to pay in advance.

For grain and grinding the settlers all went to Fredericktown and Mount Vernon, and horses and oxen were the only means of transportation.* It took two days or more to make the trip, the only stopping-place being at James McCluer's on the Clear Fork, near Bellville. This James McCluer was one of the first Associate Judges of the Court of Common Pleas of the county.

This differs from the recollection of Henry Newman, who thinks the first deaths were John Coffinberry, son of George Coffinberry, aged seven or eight years, and an infant child of John C. Gilkison. They died in 1810 or 1811.

The first saw-mill was built by Clement and Robert Pollock ; it was a tramp-wheel mill, propelled by three yoke of oxen, and was located' a short distance south of the Presbyterian church ; the first carding-mill was built by Robert Pollock, and was propelled by horsepower. If Samuel Martin may be considered the first merchant, Levi Jones was the second ;,. he succeeded Martin in the little cabin on the northwest corner of the square - the first cabin. Jones brought his goods from Canton, Stark County, in wagons, and dealt principally in whisky, tobacco and groceries. 'The currency was silver; gold or paper being seldom seen. Coffee was worth 50 cents a pound, and corn 124 cents a bushel.

At the first election, there were not enough - electors to fill the offices - some held two. The first road was opened from Mansfield to Wooster; the next, to Mount Vernon. In 1812, a mail route was established between Mount Vernon 4nd the Huron River, passing through Mansfield. The mail was carried by one Lewis Facer, on horseback. He made the round trip in four days, Mansfield being the stoppingplace for two nights.

The first post office was established on a large white-oak log that lay between the two block-houses, on the public square. Here the pioneers gathered to meet the mail-carrier, get their letters and hear the news. If one of them was so fortunate as to get a newspaper, he immediately read it aloud to all. his ueighbors, generally from the top of the log or a stump. : When Samuel Hill and Rolin Weldon came, in 1810, they cut a road from the Indian village of Greentown to Mansfield. The first doctor was Royal VY. Powers. came

He 1815, tore down that immortal first cabin and erected a frame building, about 18x26 Here he swung his shingle, kept a few drugs and _ practiced medicine. Powers afterward settled in the vicinity of New Haven, Huron County, and he and his brother David laid out that place. His sister was the wife of Millard Fillmore.

with 2,000 men, encamped within the city limits, and assisted the new settlement very materially by clearing off about fifty acres of land. They remained until January, and were encamped first on the east side of the square ; but the ground becoming too muddy, they removed to the west side, where they cleared off a new camp.

During this winter, a windstorm blew down a tree near where the old court house stood. killing two men belonging to the army. It has been erroneously stated that Maj. Wilson was one of the men thus killed. Henry Newman says that Maj. Wilson died of disease in his father's cabin, and was buried with the honors of war. Mr. Newman describes the funeral, and says Maj. Wilson's father afterward sent money to his mother (his father, Jacob, being then dead), to pay the expenses of his sickness.

Mr. Weldon, who was one of the earliest settlers, says, regarding these early times: " John Wallace and I went out one day to hunt bees, about a mile north of Mansfield. On the hill, near the Platt farm, we came on a den of yelrattlesnakes. We commenced shooting them, and continued to do so until our ammunition failed. The balance of into a hollow log, and we clubs. When we had finished our work, we piled up and counted the dead reptiles, which were 121, all told. One of them had two heads and three eyes. This one we brought to Mansfield and gave to Dr. Bradley. * * * He put it in alcohol and kept it several years."

Rattlesnakes were numerous and among the most disagreeable enemies of the pioneers. They. were frequently found in their cabins and even in their beds.

Not more than eight or ten families arrived in Mansfield before' the war of 1812, and during that war, few, if any, came. Some time during the war, or shortly after, the Coftinberry cabin, on the North American corner, was taken down and a frame building erected;-which was occupied by Samuel Williams as a tavern. He kept a good house for those days and did a lively business. People were coming constantly, to look at and locate lands. This hotel was afterward moyed to the southwest corner of Mulberry and West Market streets, and thence, some years ago, to the southeast corner of Mulberry and Second streets, where it still remains, and is occupied by Dr. Mera as a dwelling. Henry Roop was the next landlord after Williams on that corner, and laid the foundation of the present building.

When the war of 1812 was declared, the settlers, fearing a general Indian massacre, began the erection of block-houses for their protection. The first was erected at Beam's mill, on the Rocky Fork, where the first settlement was made. 'Two others were erected on the public square in Mansfield. The first was erected by a company of soldiers, under a Capt. Shaeffer, from Fairfield County. It stood nearly in the center of the west side of the square. The second was built by a company commanded by Col. Charles Williams, of Coshocton. Its location was a little south of and near the site of the old court house.

In 1815, John M. May, the first lawyer, settled in the new town. He was born in Conway, Hampshire Co., Mass.; moved to Washington County, N. Y., and came to Marietta in 1811; thence to Lancaster, Ohio, where he studied When admitted to the bar, he came directly to Mansfield, where he continued to reside until his death, in 1869. His son, Manuel, is his successor in his practice. There were about a dozen families in town when he came. On the east side of the square, a little north of the present Methodist Church, was a little dwelling-house, owned and occupied by James Moore, then Deputy Sheriff of the county. James McCluer, one of the' Judges, lived on the northwest corner of Main and Fourth streets. There was a hewed-log house pied as a clwelling. Andrew Coffinberry lived on the southeast corner of Hast Diamond and Fourth streets; Samuel Carrothers* and family, on the northwest corner, and a little below, on East Diamond, lived David Stevens. John C. Gilkison7 lived on Main street, a little north of the Wiler House. Rolin Weldon lived on Fourth street, west of Main. John Garrison lived on the present site of the opera building, and, a few years afterward, opened a store. Joseph Cairns had a rough-log house on the McFall corner, and, soon after, went into the mercantile business. The block-house, on the west side of the square, was used, in 1816, for a school, taught by Miss Eliza Wolf. Many of the original forest trees were standing in the square at that time.

The first lawyer who came after Mr. May was Asa Grimes, father of A. L. Grimes. He only lived a few months after his arrival. The next lawyers were Col. William Cotgrave and Wilson

Elliott, who came in 1816. A few years after, James Purdy, Jacob Parker and James Stewart came. The first law student admitted to the bar was Andrew Coffinberry, who studied with Mr. May. In those days, lawyers traveled with the court from county to county. Among those from abroad who attended the courts at Mansfield were William Stansberry,* of Newark ; Hosmer Curtis and Samuel Mott, of Mount Vernon, and Charles T. Sherman, of Lancaster. Curtis was the first Prosecuting Attorney, and was followed by Mr. May in 1816.

In 1815, K. P. Sturges came from Fairfield, Conn., and opened a little store in a log cabin, directly opposite the present site of the Wiler House. Soon after, he bought out Dr. Powers; and that corner, where the first cabin was erected, has ever since been known as the "Sturges corner.' A Mr. Buckingham Sherwood came with him. They soon did a thriving business. The next year (1816), they enlarged their storeroom, and continued doing business together until 1823, when EK. P. Sturges' brother, Edward Sturges, Sr., came, bought out Mr. Sherwood, and the firm became E. P. & E. Sturges. Mr. Sherwood went to Newark. The Sturges firm continued to do a profitable business, made money rapidly, and became wealthy. In 1862, K. P. Sturges died, the firm was dissolved, H. H. Sturges stepping in and continuing the business. It soon became the wholesale dry-goods house of Sturges, Wood & Witter. K. Sturges, Sr., engaged in banking and various financial enterprises, and in 1869 engaged in the wholesale grocery business with his son, E. P. Sturges, with whom he continued until his death, in September, 1878.

Indians were quite numerous around Mansfield, in its early life, but not hostile until the war of 1812. They frequently came into the village for traffic, bringing game, furs; berries, ete. Huckleberries and cranberries were very plenty in Ashiand County, and the New Haven marshes, as they still continue to be. The Indians usually came in companies, and when in liquor, as was usually the case before leaving. were very noisy and troublesome. Their custom, however, was to appoint two or three of their number to keep sober while the others were drunk. The squaws, too, would take' away and secrete the knives and tomahawks of those who appeared to be getting dangerous. In these drunken frolics their yells could be heard for miles. The yell of an Indian is peculiar to itself, and cannot be exactly imitated by a white man. It has a shrill and metallic ring about it, that is wholly unlike any other sound, and could be recognized anywhere. and at any time. The amusements common among the settlers were feats of strength, running, jumping, wrestling, pitching quoits, playing ball, and fist fighting. The crowning day was muster day, as "fun" would be plenty. A great deal of, whisky would be drank. and the " more fights the more fun." Different sections of the county seemed to be arrayed against each other, as is the case in all early settlements. The Black Forkers were always boasting their superiority over the Clear Forkers, and whenever these two factions met there was sure to be a fight, especially when whisky was plenty. The Clear Forkers were happy whenever they were fortunate eneugh to "clean out" the Black Forkers, and vice versa.

On one occasion, when Joseph Cairns kept a small store on the McFall corner, an old Indian chief, by the name of Mooney, threw his tomahawk, from Miller's corner, at Cairns. It stuck fast in the door frame, within a few inches of Cairns' head.

The first brick house in Mansfield was built on the site of the Opera House Block. It was first occupied by Clem. Pollock, a wheelwright by trade, and a son-in-law of Judge McCluer.

frame buildings, and one brick house on the lot where H. R. Smith's store yet remains. H. R. Smith's Opera Block now occupies the site of that brick house, or nearly so. It did not stand on the street, but back some distance. The second brick house was the Hedges dwelling, on the northeast corner of the square, still standing, and the third was down on East Market street - it is also standing. There was no building bordering on the east side of the public square. except a round-log cabin used as a butcher's shop, and standing where now stands the brick building of KE. Hedges, Esq. The ereatest number of houses and shanties were on West Diamond street, and the next greatest number on Kast Diamond street. There was a log house on part of the present site of the Wiler House, kept by the jovial and enterprising John Wiler, for his own benefit and that of the emigrants, to this county and further west. There were two dry-goods stores; one on the northeast corner of the square, kept by Sturges & Sherwood, and one a little further north, by Robert McComb. In 1821, there was but one physician, A. G. Miller, until, I think, about the close of that year, when his brother, G. B. Miller, came to this place. They were associated in practice, and were highly esteemed as citizens and physicians."

He thus describes the old court house: "In 1820, about the center of the public square, a little south from where the present court house stands, there was an edifice about 30x20 feet, and two storiesin height. The lowerstory was constructed of hewed logs, that had been originally used in another part of the town for a block-house. The second, or upper story, was frame work, and the house was weather-boarded on all sides, both above and below. The stairway leading to the entrance of the second story, was outside the building, on the north side, and the building was not painted either inside or out. This edifice served for various purposes, and was a kind of an omnium gatherum (this last word is not to be found in any ancient Latin dictionary). People of all denominations, except the Methodists, who had a small frame church in the northeast part of the village as early as 1820, worshiped in the upper story. There, too, the county courts were held, and public meetings generally. On the east and west sides of this room were fireplaces, and a stoye right in the center, and often in the coldest weather. by reason of the flues drawing downward instead of upward, the fuel had to be carried out or the fire quenched. or the inmates suffered by smoke. In that room. I preached every alternate Sabbath for two or three years. The Judge's bench was on a.slight elevation aboye the floor, and the fixtures in front of it. and the appearance around the bar, were in perfect harmony with the appearance of the room and house. The lower story was divided into three apartments ; the west half being used as a jailer's residence. and the south apartment of the east half as a cell - a close, tight place - where criminals were confined, and were said to suffer considerably sometimes by the rats; the north part of the east half was a place of confinement for persecuted debtors." Mr. Henry Newman, still living at Bryan, Ohio, adds the following regarding this: " The hewed-log block-house was built in the fall of 1813, about three rods east of the main street; in the direction of the old court house. The logs that formed the under story were dovetailed; the under and upper floor laid. with hewed logs. the, war, composed the first jail ; the upper story projected eight inches on every side, and was large enough for a court house for the county. It had one twelve-light window, 8x10 glass, on the gable end (north end), and port-holes above and below." It may be added that the lower part of this edifice was of double logs, with a space between filled with stones; at least such is the evidence of several old settlers, though Judge David McCullouh, still living on Hast Market street. and who came in 1822, thinks this a mistake. He says the logs were nicely hewn, and laid very closely together, but the wall was not double. Mr. Rowland says maple sugar was from + to 6 cents per pound ; land from $2 to $6 per acre; wheat 374 cents per bushel, _and wood from 75 cents to $1 per cord.

Mrs. Mariah H. Smith, still living in a log house (weatherboarded over), on South Main street, came to town in 1823, and moved shortly afterward into that same house. She says the old original Wiler House was moved up on South Kast-Diamond street, where it still remains. ; There was a small block-house at that time on South Main street, on the south side of the run, where Roop's, and afterward Ritter's, tanyard was located. Jacob Newman's cabin was further up the hillside, where Mrs. Ritter now. lives. Andrew S. Newman, son of Jacob Newman, the first settler in Richland County, died January 31, 1872. He was born in Richland County in 1811, and always resided in Mansfield. She remembers attending the Methodist Church on Water street, near the big spring, and that she went througli the hazel brush to get to it. There was a carding-mill where the waterworks are now located, which carded the wool that was spun and woven into cloth by the settlers for their clothing.

Mrs. Elizabeth Grant, formerly Carothers, who still lives on Fourth street, came in 1815. _Her statement is interesting, but ag it is a repe- not given fully. She says that on the southwest corner of West Market and Mulberry streets was a pottery, where crocks, etc., were made, kept by a man 'named Locke, an uncle of " Petroleum V. Nasby." She has now in her possession some of his pottery ; she has alsoa small tub made by the first cooper - a Mr. Maxwell, town, and, in some respects, a remarkable one. , They are all now living except Rebecca, who died in November, 1879, and with this exception, and that of the father and mother, no death has occurred in the family for seventyfour years. These children were born very near each other, the youngest being now sixty, and the oldest seventy-one.

Mr. James Purdy, still living on West Market street in the eighty-seventh year of his age, and in full possession of his mental faculties, came to Mansfield in 1823. He was born in Hopewell, York Co., Penn., July 24, 1793. The following are a few of his personal recollections. He has always been prominent in the town and city, and, in the active period of his life, identified with its material growth and prosperity : "When Gen. Hedges laid out the town, he donated a square of ground on each corner of his plat for public purposes. This square was equal to three lots. The one on the southwest corner (where the First Ward Schoolhouse is now located) was donated to the Presbyterians for a graveyard. This graveyard was abandoned many years ago, most of those buried having been removed to, and reburied in, the present cemetery. The square on the southeast corner was donated to the town for a graveyard; and those on the northeast and northwest corners, for school purposes. One of the first schoolhouses was erected on one of these - the one on the northeast corner, where the soap works now stand. At that time, Robert MecUombs* kept a store on the southwest corner of Third and Main; Hugh McFall opposite, on the northwest corner; a Mr. Ewing, opposite the North American, and Sturges and Sherwood on the Sturges corner. There were three hotels - the Wiler House, the Williams House (on the site of the North American) and a small

*Robert McCombs was born February 17, 1797,in Washington Co., Penn., and came to Mansfield in 1817, engaging in the mercantile business. Retiring from this business in 1842, he became interested in railroads, and was a Director of the Sandusky, Mansfield & Newark Railroad until his death, April 20, 1865.

"Tn 1816, a bank was started opposite the North American on Main street. It was called a bank, but never hail a charter, and closed up in a few months, but lasted long enough to ruin most of its stockholders. The next bank was started in 1846, by Messrs. Patterson & Co., on the west side of the square, on the spot where the Farmer's Bank is now located. It did business a good many years, but was not permanent. The first permanent bank was started by Mr. Purdy himself, in 1847. The lawyers were May, Coffinberry, Purdy and Burr. May had a little 8x10 frame office on the southwest corner of Market street and the public square. There was quite a frog pond in front of his office. It was called Lake May. It was occupied extensively by. frogs in summer, and used by the boys in the winter for a skating-rink.

"James Moore was Sheriff, and also a Cap- | tain of militia. Harry Wilcox was Sheriff after Moore. The doctors were Bradley, R. V. Powers, two brothers by the name of Miller, and Dr. Sweney, before 'the arrival of Dr. William Bushnell in 1828. Ellzey Hedges was Justice of the Peace. :

"There were two tanneries, one kept by John Pugh, on Main street just below the site of the City Mill, and the other by Edward Grant, on the run, west side of South Main street. Three hatters were here - John Mann, the first one, on Main below the Wiler House; Nattie Bryan, in the hollow on South Main, and Henry Bell, near the southwest corner of the square. The cabinet-makers were James Smart, a little below the Wiler House; Jacob Lindley, on the northwest corner of West Market and Walnut, where the Baptist Church now stands; and Samuel Wolf, on the southeast corner of West Market and Mulberry, where Mr. John Wood's dwelling stands. Lindley afterward, about 1830, built a brick tavern on his lot and called it the Mansion House, kept by himself. In the winter of 1827-28, there were 270 people, men, women and children, in the town, by actnal enumeration.

"The early settlers were without transportation for their grain, part of which was worked up into whisky by a few small distilleries, and sent by way of Sandusky to Detroit, and sold to the Indians to assist in their civilization. Furs, pelts, gentian, smoked venison hams and rags were taken in trade by Mansfield merchants and sent to Pittsburgh in four-horse wagons. Jerry Jaques, Jim Downs, Tom Cantwell, Sam and John -Creigh were the teamsters in those days." Mr. Purdy gives much other valuable history, which will be found elsewhere in its appropriate place.

Mansfield H. Gilkison is responsible for a few items following: Stephen Curran went out one day, near the spring, to make clapboards, and, while he was at work, left his dinner on a stump. Happening to look in the direction of the stump during his labor, he saw a large black bear helping himself to his dinner. Curran, finding he could not scare bruin away by yelling at him, attacked him with his ax. The bear showed fight, but Curran was also plucky, and finally the bear beat a retreat ; but ran directly toward the public square, where he was overtaken by Curran, who seized him by the tail. The Irishman had, in the mean time, been making considerable noise, and quite a crowd had collected. The bear whirled rapidly about, Curran holding to the tail for some time, until, hig hold slipping, he was thrown several feet away, and, notwithstanding the crowd, or, very likely, because of it, the bear ran away down the ravine behind the North American, and escaped.

He says the first show in town was that of a lion, exhibited in a barn on the alley in rear of the former location of the Farmer's Bank, opposite the North American. He thinks the first sermon was preached by the Rev. Van Eman, a

Presbyterian, on South Main street, where the Lexington road forks. He spoke in the open air, and stood on a platform made entirely of round logs. Other logs were lying about for the use of the audience. Jacob Lindley was first Mayor, and John G. Peterson first Marshal of the town.

At a Methodist Episcopal Conference, held in Mansfield in 1872, the famous old Methodist circuit rider, Mr. Harry 0. Sheldon, was present, and made the statement that he assisted in organizing the first temperance society in Ohio. It was organized in the old log court house on the square, and himself and Rey. James Rowland, then hiving, were the only surviving members of that society. He also stated that he organized the first Sabbath school ever held in Mansfield. He was at that time (1872), editor of the Oberlin New Era. He must have followed very closely the Rev. William James (not Jones), whe was the first Methodist preacher, and, very likely, the first preacher of any denomination in Mansfield. It cannot be certainly ascertained whether it was -James or Van Eman, the Presbyterian preacher. James was gored by a bull belonging to himself, and killed.

Hotel-keeping seems to have been the principal business in those early days. "Abont every other cabin was used at one time or another for a "tavern." A great many people were coming and going, looking at and entering lands, surveying, etc, and nearly all the earliest settlers became tavern-keepers." Mr. John Wiler, who is still living, was among the first of these. He came to Mansfield in 1819, a single man. He understood baking and brewing, and rented of a Mr. Styers, who-lived in the country, near town, the log building then standing on the site of the Wiler House, probably the same building erected by Murphy. Here he started a bakeshop, and after a time started a brewery, or a small establishment down on the flat, which he called the " Devil's Teapot," where he manufact; ured ale or beer, and perhaps spirits, and kept a saloon in addition to his bakery. He soon did a good business and made money. He was a hearty, go-ahead, jovial fellow, and those who indulged in the "ardent" (and there were few who did not in those days) liked to patronize Wiler, partly on account of his genial disposition and partly because he always laid a nicely sugared cake on top of each glass as he handed it out. He was thrifty and paid Mr. Styers the rent promptly. After a time, he concluded he could make more money by keeping a hotel in addition to his

The very excellent hotel, now known as the St. James, also has something of a history. Samuel Bukias, before mentioned as the first tinner, had his shop on that corner. He owned two small frame houses then, standing together, in one of which he lived. These caught fire and burned down. During this fire, Mrs. Bukias escaped from the burning buildings and ran through the crowd to the Wiler House ; then, remembering her baby, ran back, caught it up, wrapping it im her apron, and again pushed her way through the crowd to the Wiler. Being greatly excited, she had dropped the babe in the street, and one day, when Wiler went to pay his rent, he asked ike Styers for one of That gentleman brought out his oldest daughter, arrangements were soon made, and in a short time the Wiler House This lady proved to be The marriage took Mr. Styers assisted the young came into existence. one of the best of wives. place in 1819. couple by presenting them with the property, and in a short time the enterprising and industrious Wiler added to it, and in 1831 built a two-story brick, which is yet a part of the Wiler House. Additions have appeared from time to time until the building reached its present grand proportions. It has been well managed, always considered a first-class house, and so remains at present.

James Hotel

into the house. Almost frantic, she ran back again | and found it in the street, unhurt, among the tramping, rush and confusion of the excited crowd. Bukias afterward died, and his widow married a man named Felix Leiter, who started the first hotel there in 1830 or 1831. The building was frame, and was 'also destroyed by fire. In 1844, a Mr. Teegarden built a small brick hotel there, which he called the Teegarden House, the beginning of the present structure. It has changed hands and names many times, being called for a long time the Weldon House, Mr. James Weldon, son of Rolin Weldon, being its owner and proprietor. He died February 20,1872. He came to Mansfield in 1810, when he was six years of age, remaining here until his death. He learned the blacksmith's trade with his father, and afterward dealt largely in stock with John U. Tanner. In early days, he made sugar every where the Mennonite Church now stands. From the public square to the creek on the east, was, at that time, one of the finest sugar-tree groves in all this region. Old settlers remember the wooden bowl which he always kept well filled with sugar, free to allcomers. After the return of Goy. Bartley from Congress, he and Weldon engaged in the dry-goods business together. He was in the mercantile business nearly forty years. The St. James has been remodeled and added to from time to time. About 1860, it was purchased by its present owner and proprietor, Mr. Lewis Vonhoff, and some time after its name changed to St. James. It is first class in every particular.

The Phoenix Hotel, which occupied the corner of North Park and East Diamond streets, was one of the oldest in the city. It was destroyed by fire on the night of November 23, 1866, some of its inmates barely escaping with their lives. years before it was destroyed, but had, just be-

Hedges, and generally been made over into storerooms and offices. After its destruction, Mr. Hedges built a brick block on its site, which was also destroyed by fire soon after its completion, and in 1872 he erected the present substantial and roomy structure.

The old Mansion House was among the earliest hotels. It occupied the corner of West Market and Walnut streets - was erected and kept by Jacob Lindley, the first Mayor of the town. The Baptists purchased it, pulled it down, and erected the present substantial church.

Among the later buildings. for hotel purposes, is the Atlantic House, foot of Main street, erected in 1864, by the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad Company, and was opened for business in January, 1865, by C. C. Townley, its first proprietor. Four years after, in 1869, Barnard Wolf erected a fine brick hotel, on the corner of Kast Diamond and Fourth, which he called the Barnard House. It is brick, four stories, and will accommodate about 150 guests. It now bears the name of the Sherman House. In addition to these, there are the juropean, Tremont, North American, and several other hotels, of more or less importance. Next to the Wiler, the North American stands without a rival in age. It is a question which is the older of these two, but the probability is, the first "tavern" stood on the site of the North American. This building has been added to, from time to time, until it is quite spacious. About 1873, it was purchased by Mr. Jabez Cook (since deceased) and Mr. Rit- These gentlemen remodeled and rebuilt it in its present shape.' It is still an excellent hotel, kept, at present, by Homer Wright. | Mr. Ritter, one of the owners of it, and his brother, came to this country in 1818, landing at Baltimore. William died, November 8, 1873. aged sixty-one; Joseph lived nearly a year longer, dying October 20, 1874, aged seventynine. They came from Brakerl, Westphalia, Germany. Joseph worked at his trade (tanner), | in Baltimore, until 1822, when he removed to Canton, Ohio. and from there to Mansfield, in 1833.

Chapter Xlviii The City Churches

- proud of its churches, and of the interest | religious meetings in Madison Township was taken in religious matters. There are sixteen | Rev. Bowman, a pioneer missionary. The churches in the city; they are generally plain | neighbors met at my father's cabin, three miles and substantial, but some of them are spacious | down the Rocky Fork from Mansfield; in all and beautiful. The Congregational Church, on | there were about eight or ten hearers, including West Market street, is justly celebrated for its | work-hands. The place is now better known as beauty and finish. If churches are an indica- | Beam's Mill. The second preacher in Madison tion of civilization, this city can justly feel that | Township was Rev. George Van Eman, a Presshe stands in the front rank. byterian. He collected a congregation in 1814 In 1815, the village of Mansfield consisted | or 1815, in Mansfield, and served the people of twenty-two houses and two block-houses. | until Rev. James Rowland came; and, about That year the Rev. George Van Eman, | the same time, Rev. William James came. The the first Presbyterian minister here, began | Rev. Charles Waddle, and the Rev. Somerville, his labors. The services were held in the upper | of the Methodist Church, came to Mansfield in room of the block-house, on the square, which | 1816. About the same time, or soon after, the was then used as a court house. The following | first Methodist Church was built, a little southextract is from an address of Rev. 8. W. Miller, | east of the Big Spring; and, shortly after, the published in 1876. He says, referring to Rev. | Presbyterians built a church on the hill on East Van Eman: "He was certainly the first Pres- | Diamond street, where the new church now byterian minister, and, in all probability, the | stands." It will be observed that the above first minister of any denomination who preached | statement is clear on two points: first, that the in Mansfield." Mr. John Weldon says: "I Rev. Bowman was the first minister who think Dr. James (evidently referring to William | preached in the township; and, second, that James, the well-known pioneer Methodist), was | the Rev. George Van Eman was the first minthe first preacher that settled in Mansfield. He | ister who preached in the town of Mansfield. was a Methodist, and built a log house on the | There is abundant testimony that Mr. Van corner of Third and Water streets." On the | Eman was preaching here in the fall of 1815. other hand, the following positive statement is | The First Presbyterian Church of Mansfield preserved, made in 1838, by Henry Newman, | was organized some time in the year 1816, by who is still at Bryan, Ohio, in full possession of | James Scott and George Van Eman, who were directed to do so by the old Presbytery of Laneaster. At the organization, there were six male members and seven female. Two Elders were elected - George Coffinberry and Richard Hoy, the former of whom had been an Elder before coming to Mansfield; the latter had been a member of the Associate Presbyterian Church. In 1820, when the Associate Presbyterian Church was organized in Mansfield, he transferred his membership thereto, and was at once intrusted with the same important office. In 1817, G. Berryhill, Mathias Day, and Noah B. Cook, were elected and ordained Ruling Elders.

Mathias Day, Sr., was born in Chatham, N. J., in 1791, and came to Mansfield in 1816. He was a master carpenter, and superintended the erection of nearly all the early buildings in Mansfield. In 1817, he married Sophia Grimes, who then held the office of County Recorder. After their marriage, the office was transferred to Mr. Day, who held it fourteen years. He

Mr. Van Eman was installed by the Presbytery of Lancaster. The exact date is unknown, but it was prior to October, 1817, the date of the erection of the Presbytery of Richland by the Synod of Ohio. Mr. Van Eman applied for a dissolution of the pastoral relation in May, 1820, but was not dismissed until August the same year. There was no church edifice in his time, the services being sometimes held in private houses, but generally in the court house. In his report to the Presbytery in April, 1818, he says: " Mansfield Church consisted of fortyfive members, April 1, 1817. Since added, on examination, fifteen; on certificate, ten ; total now in communion, seventy." In 1867, he writes to Mr. Davis: " When I came to Mansfield, there were about ten communicants ; when I left, about forty." request of the church, then consisting of about twenty-five members, the Presbytery appointed him stated supply for one-half of his time for one year, the church promising him $200 on subscription, at the same time allowing him onehalf his time for supplying other churches contiguous to Mansfield. He was ordained June 26, 1821, and installed April 8, 1823. During - his pastorate, which continued over seventeen years, being from April, 1821, until November 25, 1838, one-half his time for seven years, and the whole of his time afterward, he preached within the bounds of this church. thirteen hundred and seventy sermons ; baptized forty-eight adults, and three hundred and thirty-two infants ; solemnized two hundred and fifty-seven marriages, and received into the communion of the church, on examination and profession of faith, two hundred and twenty-two, and on certificate one hundred and fifty-seven. After the dissolution of the pastoral relation, in 1838, Mr. Rowland continued as stated supply until April following ; and also supplied the pulpit at subsequent times, as occasion required, living among them until his death in 1872, as a prudent and loving father and friend. Sometime during the early part of his ministry, a frame church was erected on the spot where the present edifice stands.

Mr. Rowland was succeeded in April, 1839, - by Alexander M. Cowan. His was a stormy pastorate, and was terminated in August, 1842. In the autumn of 1840, a second Presbyterian Church was organized, as the result of a long and bitter controversy between two factions. The church was about equally divided, and the - fire only burned higher and waxed hotter by virtue of the oil that the Presbytery poured upon it, until; for the sake of peace, a second organization was granted. This organization erected and occupied the building on Mulberry street, now used by the Roman Catholics as a school. Of that church, Mr. Rowland was stated supply for a time, and, after him, the Rev.

F. A. Shearer. who was installed in November. 1843, and continued to hold that relation until the two churches were re-united by act of the Presbytery, in 1846. After Myr. Cowan, the pulpit was supplied for a longer or shorter time in succession, by 8S. M. Templeton, in 1842 ; Evan Eyans, in 1843; W. C. Kniffin, in 1844 ; T. F. McGill, in 1845; James W. Dickey, in 1847; J. E. Marquis, in 1854; J. W. McGregor, in 1857. The latter resigned in October of the same year, and was succeeded by J. R. Burgett. His labors, though brief, were greatly blest to the church, lifting them to new life and yigor; and the months of January and Februruary of the following year were made memorable by the addition of seventy-five new members. The people said, * Let us arise and build."

The corner-stone of the present church edifice was laid on the 17th of September, 1858, and the first service held in the basement February 25, 1859, Rey. John Loyd preaching on the occasion. Mr. Burgett was followed. in November, 1859, by Henry R. Wilson, D. D., who continued until September. 1860, when Mr. Rowland again officiated until March, 1861. At this time, Rey. George Morris received a unanimous call, and occupied the pulpit until November, 1863. During Mr. Morris' time, the audience chamber of the new church was occupied for the first time, dedicatory services being held August 20, 1862. the congregation having worshiped several years in the basement. Following Mr. Morris, came Thomas K. Dayis, who was installed September 21,1865. He remained until January 1, 1867, when he resigned, and, in the following May. David Hall, of Brady's Bend, Penn., became Pastor. Dtfring his pastorate of six years and eight months, much good was accomplished, and 181 members added to the church. He was a man of great ability and energy, and much beloved by his

During the five years ending April 30, 1879, 175 persons were added to the church, 95 on examination and profession of faith, and 80 by certificate from other churches ; $19,388 has been contributed, being an average of $3,879 annually, distributed as follows, viz., $2,179 to the missionary work of the church at large, and $17,219 to the work of the church at home. During the past year, the ladies have refitted the interior of the church, the expense being about $1,600, making it in beauty and comfort second to none in the city. Rev. Miller resigned

The officers of the church are: Ruling Elders, Joseph Smart, Thomas McBride, J. J. King, John Simpson, Ph. D., L. J. Bonar and William McCoy; Trustees - Thomas McBride, J. J. King, E. J. Forney, Joseph Hedges and A. C. Patterson.

The Presbyterian Sabbath School was the first organized in Mansfield, and is therefore the pioneer. The exact date of its organization cannot be ascertained, but it was between the years 1816 and 1819. It was organized where the first meetings of the Presbyterian Church were held, in the block-house on the square. The Presbyterians claim to have organized this school, but it was attended for some years by Christians of other denominations. Scholars were then too few to divide up, and all worked came to Mansfield in 1817, and it is supposed he was the first Superintendent. When Mr. James Purdy came in 1823, he was elected Superintendent. At that time, there were no Sunday-school books, the Bible and hymn-book only being used. It was the only school of this kind until

1826, when the Methodists felt strong enough to have one of their The Presbyterian school was continued without interruption in the old frame church, on the corner where the present church stands, until 1857. when the frame building was taken away to make room for building the new church, and the Sabbath school was held for awhile in the Episcopal Church and in the old Baptist Church, on East Third street. About this time, there being some division in the church, the school was discontinued for a short time. In October, 1857, it was again organized, and a Mr. Furgeson elected Superintendent, followed shortly by a Mr. King. It was held in Melodeon Hall, but soon removed to Sturges Hall. Here it continued until the lecture-room of the present church was completed. In 1861, Hon. William Johnson was Superintendent. He was followed by Mr. Vance; the Pastor, Thomas K. Davis, and Mr. Crawford Spear. Mr. Vance was re-elected in 1865, and served until some time in 1866, when L. J. Bonar, the present Superintendent, was elected. Mr. Bonar has filled the important position long and faithfully, and the school has greatly prospered and grown under his judicious management. He entered upon the work with great zeal, which has not flagged for a moment. Not only has the school been kept in a prosperous condition, but other schools have grown out, and are considered part, of it. In 1869, a school was started at Canton, China, through Miss Hattie Noyes. The collections of this school were sent out to Canton, and were used in sustaining the branch Sunday school, with a membership of twentyfive girls. In the summer of 1865, the Union Colored Sunday School, of Mansfield, was organized, mainly through Mr. Bonar's efforts. Its meetings were held on Sabbath afternoons, and Mr. Bonar was for some time its Superintendent. This was an undertaking of much difficulty, as many of the members, having been recently freed from slavery, were unable to read. A night school was established, in which these people were first taught the rudiments of the English language. Mr. Isaac Pleasants, a colored man, was afterward elected Superintendent, and the school was continued some years under his charge, when it was placed under the care of the Young Men's Christian Association. In the fall of 1869, a, Sunday school was organized in John's Addition, under the auspices of the Presbyterian Sunday School. Its first meeting was at the house of Mr. A. W. Lobach, there being no church in that part of the city. By permission of the Board of Education, it was held for some time at the schoolhouse. Mr. Bonar was Superintendent of this Sunday school until 1870,

The organization of the Congregational Church of Mansfield was first agitated in 1833. In the autumn of that year, James B. Walker, then a layman, happened in Mansfield on business, and was requested, by Mathias Day, Sr., and others, to draft a paper, containing the reasons for and articles to the organization of a new ecclesiastical society. This paper contained, in part, the following : "Resolved, That we will form ourselves into a new ecclesiastical society, whose object shall be to employ an evangelical minister, of thé Pres- |, byterian or Congregational denomination, and to use all other means to promote the influence! of the Gospel in the town and county of which we are residents."

To the articles of association were appended the following names: Thomas Smith, Thomas Taylor, Daniel Cook, Williamson Carothers, Samuel Smith, William Maxwell, Thomas Smith, A. Sutherland, Luther Cook. Robert Bowland, Robert McComb, E. P. Sturges, Jedediah Smith, Edward Sturges, J. M. May, Jacob Parker, M. Douglas, Jr., Edwin Grant, David Wise, John Walker and Robert Lowry.

In 1835, this association resolved to have a church building, and formed a meeting-house association, of which Thomas Smith was President; E. P. Sturges, Treasurer; Williamson Carothers, William Maxwell, C. L. Avery, C. T. Sherman and Robert McComb, Directors. They proceeded to purchase four acres of ground, on West Market street, upon which they erected a substantial brick building, with basement for lecture and Sabbath-school purposes. April 3, of the same year, the Congregational Church of Mansfield was organized, by the Rey. E. Judson and Rev. Enoch Conger, members of the Presbytery of Huron, Ohio. They made the following minute of the organization: " We, the undersigned, being present at Mansfield, Richland Co., Ohio, on the 3d day of April, A. D. 1835, as missionaries of the American Home Missionary Society, proceeded, in compliance with their request, to organize the persons whose names follow, into a Congregational Church of the Lord Jesus Christ: George L. Hovey, Elizabeth Hovey, Sarah G. Nelson, Belinda Curtis, Jerusha M. Sturges, James Loughridge, John KE. Palmer, Edwin Grant, Mariah B. Sutherland, John Walker, Sarah Hoy and Nancy Smith."

Thus, in brief, was founded the church, which has made for itself a history, has become an ornament and honor to the city, and whose channel of usefulness is broadening and deepening with each succeeding year.

Shortly after building the church, a comfortable frame parsonage was erected on the same lot. During the first year, more than forty members were added to the church, most of whom had counseled its organization, and part of whom joined by letter from other churches. Thomas Smith, Daniel Cook, William Maxwell, John K. Palmer and Mathias Day were chosen Deacons. The following are the names of the Pastors: Seth Waldo, from August, 1835, to

August, 1836; Theodore Keep, from October, 1836, to May, 1837; Leonard Parker, from November, 1837, to September, 1840. Rey. Parker was succeeded by John Keep, who labored during a portion of the year 1842, and was succeeded by James B. Walker, who remained four years. George M. Maxwell was in charge from 1846 to 1850, when Mr. Walker was recalled, and remained several years. During his absence in HKurope, in 1854, Rev. Mr. Ely, of Rochester, N. Y., occupied the pulpit. Following Mr. Walker, were W. W. Woodworth, Starr H. Nichols, J. G. W. Cowles, J. E. Twitchell, E. B. Fairfield and S. B. Bell. The latter was not installed, but supplied the pulpit for eighteen months. é

During Mr. Fairfield's pastorate, occurred some of the most important events in the history of the church, by which it gained a national - reputation. The Pastor's stand regarding the troubles of Plymouth pulpit is well known to the reading world. On the 18th of August, 1870, the old church, around which clustered many tender memories, was destroyed by fire. This fire seemed almost to have been a providential occurrence. The old church was somewhat dilapidated ; seemed, as it were, to have outlived its usefulness; was not up to the requirements of the time, or the needs of the congregation, and yet was too good to abandon. Some of the members were in favor of building new, but many yet clung to the old; the fire came to end this controversy. Subscription papers were immediately circulated, money pledged both inside and outside the organization, and, in the course of time, the present magnificent edifice was an accomplished fact. Mr. Fairfield was an incessant worker in the building of this church. It was dedicated June 8, 1873, and is a building of which the entire city is justly proud. One thing only remained to mar the pleasure and dampen the hopes which the building of this church brought with it; a debt of $40,000 hung like a pall over it; and, when the panic of 1873 burst suddenly upon the country, no midnight storm-cloud, hanging continually above its graceful steeple, could have been more depressing in its influence. Five years passed under this cloud - years of alternate hope and despair ; and, meanwhile, Mr. Fairfield and Mr. Bell had retired, and the Rey. Frank Russell, the present Pastor, was installed May 15, 1878. The church had been somewhat divided by internal dissensions, which seriously impaired its progress and usefulness. Earnest efforts were at once inaugurated to remove the one great cause of trouble. A correspondence was opened with Mr. Kimball, of Chicago, the celebrated church-debt Extinguisher; his services secured, and, on the 29th of September, 1878, he made his appearance in the pulpit of the church, in his favorite role. In one week from that day the entire amount had been pledged; the pall was lifted, and the church stood in the sunlight of freedom. Mr. Kimball started the ball rolling, and it was kept rolling through the heroic efforts of a few influential members, until the end was reached.

At this date, these subscriptions are being rapidly and promptly paid (good times having returned), and the future outlook for the church is as bright as its friends could wish.

The church has shown its enterprise by bringing the telephone into practical use within the last few months. To enable invalid members to enjoy divine service at their homes, a Blake transmitter is neatly attached near the platform occupied by the minister. Invisible wires reach out to the residences of those desiring telephonic connection, where, by applying a Bell receiver, every word uttered by the Pastor, as well as the vocal and instrumental music, is distinctly heard. It is believed this church enjoys the distinction of being the first to successfully apply electrical science in this manner.

when the first was issued, but the second one made its appearance in 1851, when the Rey. J. B. Walker was Pastor. There were 95 members at that time. A third manual appeared in 1856, while it was still in charge of Mr. Walker. The membership had increased to 289. In 1869, a fourth manual was brought out by the Pastor, Rev. J. E. Twitchell. The membership was 384. <A fifth is now in course of preparation by Rey. Frank Russell, and-promises to be more complete than any yet issued. It will contain a complete digest of all matters pertaining to the church, and will make a valuable book for study and reference. The present membership of the church is 557.

In 1852, the Congregational Church of Marietta issued a call for a general conference of the Congregational churches of the State. This Conference was held here on the 23d of June of that year, during the pastorate of Mr. Walker. He was Moderator of the conference. Fortythree churches were represented by 73 delegates. It was ascertained that there were 33 English and 12 Welsh churches in the State, with a membership of 2,515. Since that first conference, it has continued to meet regularly on the first Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in May of each year. At present, it is composed of 14 local conferences, representing 229 churches in the State, with 170 ministers and a membership of 23,392. These churches report 26,690 pupils in their Sabbath schools. The Central North (local) Conference, with which it is connected, was also organized in this church.

One of the most active and efficient organiizations-in this church is the Ladies' Aid Society. During all the struggle for the building and payment of the debt, it has distinguished itself for zeal, carefulness of management and wisdom of expedients. $19,000 during ten years, and, at the meetings for raising funds for the payment of the debt,

A Sabbath school has been connected with the church since its organization, and is now strong in numbers, with an efficient and active corps of .teachers. H. L. Reed is Superintendent.

The Associate Church was called the Associate Congregation of Mansfield, and was organized in 1826 by the Rev. John Walker, of Harrison County, Ohio. The Finneys were prominent and influential in the organization. Before the erection of the church, meetings were held in the upper story of the old court house, as was the case with other early religious societies. Rev. Samuel Hindman was _ installed Pastor at the organization, and continued until 1841, when he resigned. During his pastorate, a pleasant lot was purchased on West Market street and the frame church erected, which is yet standing. It was built in about 1834. The early members were John, James and William Finney, Samuel Craig and Mathew Morrow - the latter doing the carpenter-work. :

In 1843, Rev. J. L. McLean was settled Pastor, and continued until 1853. In 1854, Rev. D. W. Collins was installed, and continued until the union of this church with the Associate Reformed, in 1858, at which date the number of members was fifty-two.

The union left a few members in this church, who would not go into the union. They: remained as a church, but have not been able to support a regular Pastor. Services are still held, however, about once a month. There is no Sabbath school connected with the church.