Newcastle Township

New Castle Township

ATEW CASTLE was one of the townships or- -LM ganized before the county was organized. It is understood to have been named after New Castle in Delaware. It lies in the extreme western part of the county, touching Knox county. Tiverton township, which forms the northwestern corner of the county lies just north of it. Jefferson township bounds it on the east and Perry on the south.

The Walhonding or White Woman river is formed in the northwesterii part of the township by the junction of the Mohican river and Owl creek, the former flowing south from Tiverton township, the latter in a southeasterly direction from Knox county; thence the river flows eastwardly by a winding course and enters Jeflerson township. The valley of Owl creek is wide and fertile; that of the Mohican, though this is a larger stream, is considerably narrower, containing little bottom lands. The other streams are unimportant. One called Laurel run enters the river from the south close to the junction of its two branches. Another named Dutch run enters it in the eastern part of the township from the north. The surface from the river rises for a mile or two to the south and there forms a water shed, the land further south being drained by streamlets flowing in an opposite direction, Tomica creek in the southwestern part of the township is the njost noticeable of these. It flows in a southwesterly direction into Knox county. The land in the southern half of the township is generally rolling, in some places gently undulating, and furnishes an excellent location for farming purposes, the soil being rich and productive. North of the river the surface is broken and hilly and the soil of a fair quality.

A tradition exists that a large elm tree, standing about a mile up Owl creek, or Kokosing river, commemorates a tragedy which occurred, here towards the close of the last century. Some half a dozen Indians had stolen horses near the Ohio river, and had fled with them in this direction. A squad of white men pursued them, and,, when near the forks of the Walhonding, the bells fastened to the horses were heard tinkling in the valley. The horges had been turned out to graze for the first time, while the red-skinned marauderswere on the bottoms shooting squirrels for supper. It was growing late and the whites decided to defer the attack until daybreak that none of the thieves might escape them through th'e darkness. They accordingly fell back and at nightfall surrounded the Indians encamped under the elm. At first dawn the Indians commenced preparations for continuing the journey. One big Indian came and stood immediately over the captain, crouched under the bank. Another Indian started toward a tree behind which a white man was concealed. He saw him and started back' in affright. The next instant a bullet ,went crashing through his brain. This was the signal for a, general volley from the whites, and all tht savages fell except two, who dashed into the stream arid, when they had reached the opposite side in safety, hurled back a token of defiance. Guided by the sound, several parting shots were fired after them and one of the two was killed. The sole survivor concealed his body in a hollow tree, where he was afterward found and hastened on to Upper Sandusky.

New Castle township afiords some of the finest scenery in the county. The valley of the Walhonding is here narrowest and most picturesque. Tall bluffs descend almost precipitously in some places to the water's edge on either side. The eteep accli-vities are covered, for the most part, with trees of a forest growth, interspersed here and there with clusters of pine and spruce ; or these are scattered along singly in places, and again in waving rows among the hillside oaks, while further below are seen the rugged and bleached skeletons of the sycamore. South of the village of New Castle a short distance, is a beautiful cascade in little Laurel run, which falls headlong over the rocks a distance of forty feet. On the ridge road leading from New Castle to Coshocton, a mile or so from the village, a view is obtained which commands a sweep of the country for miles around. Away in the distance the White Woman is seen bending in graceful curves and fringed with wooded hillsides. The scene is exhilirating, and a sniff of the almost mountain breeze here is likewise truly bracing.

A noteworthy ancient mound stands near the forks of (the Walhonding, just above the village of Walhonding. It is a conspicuous conical elevation in the meadow near the road, having a height of perhaps fifteen feet and a diameter 100 feet. Large trees growing upon it attest its antiquity. Mr. Peter Neff made a partial examination of it several years ago, by digging a transverse trench into it some distance. He discovered the remains of several skeletons.

In the map of Bouquet's expedition to Coshoc- , ton, in 1764, against the Indians, drawn by Mr. Hutching, who accompanied General Bouquet, and published in Dr. Hildreth's Early History of Ohio, an Indian village marked Owl's Town, is located in the forks of the Walhonding, close to their junction. It was doubtless named from Owl, an Indian chief, whose name is also perpetuated by one of the branches of the Walhonding.

Nine years before this, or in 1755, Colonel James Smith, a citizen of Pennsylvania, was surprised near Bedford, in that State, and taken prisoner, by two Delaware Indians. "He was lodged at Fort DuQuesne at the time of Braddock's defeat, and witnessed barbarities practiced upon prisoners taken in that battle, having himself to run the gauntlet, and submit to tortures more cruel than death itself. He was then taken to an Indian town called Tullihas, on the White Woman, about twenty miles above the forks, inhabited by Delawares and Mohicans, where he remained several months, and underwent the ceremony of being made an Indian." His account of it and other ceremonies are graphically written and illustrate the manners and customs of the inhabitants of this territory 125 years ago. If the distance be accurately stated, this village must have been located in New Castle township. The details of his captivity appear in another chapter.

Indians frequently encamped in the township subsequent to the coming of the first settlersi and previous to the war of 1812, the most friendly relations existed between them. The children of the pioneers frequently visited the Indians in their wigwams, were kindly received, and given pieces of "jerked" meat and other little presents. But when the tocsin of war sounded and 'rumors came to the ears of the settlers that the savages had taken up the tomahawk and the war-knife, all this was changed; and deadly fear took the place of the previous confidence and repose. The Indians no longer smoked the pipe of peace, but either deserted the neighborhood entirely or skulked suspiciously from place to place through the country, holding no communication whatever with their white neighbors.

Mrs. Matthew Stuart, an aged lady of seventysix years, the daughter of Robert Giffen, now living in Bethlehem township with her daughter, Mrs. Denmari, recalls the incident of her meeting two of the savages once after the war had been opened. She was sent for the cows one morning some distance from her father's cabin, and upon reaching a ravine, was met by two Indians whose appearance was made hideous by a liberal application of war-paint. The one cheek of each brave was striped with broad streaks of deep red, which so changed their features for the worse that she' was unable to recognize them. The sight of them frightened her greatly, for she had just been listening to stories of their atrocities, but putting on a look of indifference, she walked by them as unconcernedly as possible, and, happily, was not molested.

While Mr. Giffen was serving in the army at Mansfield, one of his children, Robert, fell sick and continued to grow worse till there was no longer any hope of his recovery. Mrs. Giffen wished her husband to see his son before he died, and resolved to go for him. Starting early one morning af3 o'clock, armed only with a butcher knife, she performed the perilous journey to 3Iansfield in safety, and prevailed on Captain Williams to grant her husband a leave of absence.

So hear was this township to the seat of war that it was deemed prudent by the early settlers to provide some means of protection against attacks of savages, and a block-house was accordingly built during the tirst stages of the conflict. It stood in the northwestern corner of the GiflFen section, on the farm now owned by Daniel Mc- Kee, about two rods west of his present residence and within two rods of the adjacent spring, on a spot of ground which had been a camping place for the Indians. The fortification was stoutly built of logs, and in size was about twenty-four feet square. About six feet from the ground, the walls were projected outward several feet, to prevent scaling by an attacking enemy. Portholes about four or six inches square, were maiie on every side, and withal the building was capable of withstanding a vigorous siege, but fortunately the protection it guaranteed never became necessary. It was afterwards converted into a cabin and occupied as such many years.

Close to the site of this block-house, and covering a patch of ground perhaps seventy-five feet square, was an apple nursery of Johnny Appleseed's own raising, planted at a very early day. A number of the early settlers in this vicinity provided themselves with fruit trees from this nursery. One of them, David John, about 1808, transplanted a number of the young trees to his farm, now owned by Joshua Clark. The orchard stood along the road just south of Mr. Clark's stone residence. A single survivor of this early orchard remains, and it is in the last Stages of decay. Two large branches were taken down by storm last summer, leaving but one limb now on the tree. Apart from the interest which attaches to it from its association with Johnny Appleseed, the tree is a remarkable one, measuring, as it does, ten feet two inches in circumference, a foot or two from the ground. It has been a prolific bearer of as fine natural fruit as can well be found, and grafts have been taken from it several times. One year Mr. Clark picked from a portion of the tree eighty-four bushels of apples, and from a careful estimation he believes that it bore that year at least 140 bushels. The foliage of the tree in its prime, shaded a spot of ground forty- ' four feet in diameter.

Thomas Butler was probably the pioneer settler in this township. He was a Virginian;, moved with his family to Muskingum county, settling in the vicinity of the present village of Dresden, one spring, when there were but two cabins in Zanesville. He set about preparing himself a house in the wilderness ; but the climate did not agree with him. He was seized with ague, and returned to Virginia, in the autumn Of the same year. The next spring, his restless, adventurous spirit led him to again tempt the wilds of the then far west, and he crossed the mountains again, this time taking up his abode within the present limits of Coshocton county, about two miles north of the forks of the Muskingum, half a mile west of Canal Lewisville. He had cleared a cornfield, of eight or ten acres - the first improvement in the vicinity - and remained three years ; then removed to the hoilse he occupied during the remaining years of his life, in the upper Walhonding valley. The farm is situated in the extreme easterp part of New Castle township, just south of the river. The exact date of his arrival here is uncertain, but it was at least four or five years prior to the emigration of Robert Gitfin.

The military section upon which he located - the northeastern quarter of the township - bebelonged to George Suckleyi an eastern man, who sold it to settlers, in tracts to suit the purchaser, through his agent, James Dunlap, living near Utica.

A few reminiscences of this, the earliest settler in this- township, would not be inappropriate. His grandfather had been shot and killed by Indians close to his cabin, in Virginia, while he was making a garden fence, and his grandmother, with her youngest child, James, then seven years old, captured. Another son, Joseph, Thomas Butler's father, who had been recently married, was out in the fields at work, at the time of his father's untimely death, and his newlymade wife, who was at the house at the time, avoided captivity, or perhaps death, by fleeing to her husband, narrowly escaping from a pursuing Indian. Mrs. Butler effected her escape the second night after she was taken prisoner. The little boy, James, remained in captivity with the Indians eighteen months, and was exchanged, at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, his brother Joseph, Thomas' father, going for him there.

While Mr. Butler was living at the forks of the Muskingum, one winter morning he took down his rifle, whistled his dog, and went out to look for a deer. A thin bed of snow covered the ground, and the trail of several deer was soon discovered, leading down the river. Following it up as rapidly as possible, he came to a dense thicket of considerable extent, through, which the deer tracks led. Letting the dog follow the track, lie passed around, and on reaching the othei: side beheld evidences of larger game, the tracks of a -panther following the path of the deer. Sending the dog on ahead, he himself followed as fast as Tie could, and upon going some distance came upon the dog, lying upon its back with feet pointing skyward, and apparently lifeless. Mr. Butler -continued cautiously in pursuit along the upper bank of the river, and after walking about onefourth of a mile he saw the panther in the lower "bottom lands, about fifty yards away. Raising his rifle, he fired and wounded the animal, but not mortally. It ran off' and concealed itself among the top branches of a tree that had blown down the summer before, the dead leaves completely hiding it from sight on every side. The Iiunter dared not approach within reach of its deadly spring, and after waiting in vain for the animal to appear, seeing that he could do nothing, Mr. Butler concluded to abandon the game and return home. Taking a shorter route than that by which he came, he was surprised to meet Iiis dog staggering feebly in the same direction. Upon his arrival he found his brother Benjamin at the house, and they decided to return and terminate the career of the panther if possible. Mounting their horses, they called the dogs, two belonging to his brother and another one to Thomas, and soon reached the fallen tree. The panther was no longer here, but had taken refuge in a thicket not far away. The dogs soon drove it from this, and it ran up a large tree, from which

Mr. Butler was not a soldier in the war of 1812, but sent as a substitute James Biggs, who was killed at Upper Sandusky, while in service, by a large limb falling upon him from a tree which several soldiers were engaged in felling. His son, James Butler, was in the service. His father, Joseph, and two brothers, Isaac and Joseph, settled in Jefferson township a few years after he came to this township. Another brother, Benjamin, after living a short time in Coshocton county, moved to Knox county, where he assisted, in 1805, in the laying out of. Mount Vernon. Few, if any, families have given character to the upper Walhonding valley to so great a degree as the Butlers. Felix Butler, a son of Thomas, still lives, at the age of seventy-one years, just across the line in Knox county.

Another prominent pioneer settler was Robert Giffen, who owned the southwestern quarter of the township, a 4,000 acre military tract. The first owner of this section was Cairnon Medwell; after several transfers, it came into Giffen's possession. He emigrated to it, about 1808, from St, Clairsville. His daughter, Mrs. Stuart, recollects well the journey here. The household goods were sent from St. Clairsville in a pirogue down the Ohio river to Marietta, thence up the Muskingum river to the forks of the Walhonding, while the family, consisting of father, mother and four children, came overland. They had but three horses among them, and would alternately ride and walk. Mr. Giffen was originally from Virginia, but, prior to 1802, he had moved to Belmont county and erected a set of mills on Short creek, near St. Clairsville. Mrs. Stuart does not recollect that any settlers were living on her father's section at the time of his arrival, but very soon after they began to come in. Mr. Giffen disposed of a considerable amount of land to different settlers, taking in full or partial payment any kind of work which they could do for him. Among these early purchasers were Martin Cox, John Ely, David and Thomas John, Timothy Hawkins, Matthew Duncan, John- Wolfe and JamQS Pigman. About 1812, Mr. Giffen represented the district, to which his county belonged, in the State legislature. The State capital, where the legislature convened at that time, was Chillicothe, and Mr. Griffen made the journey there on horseback. The session lasted about three months, during which time there was no vacation. He also served in the war of 1812, in Captain Williams' company. The first cabin he built stood about a mile northwest from the present .village of New Castle ; about three years later he erected another on the site of the village and moved into it. He was a millwright by trade and desirous of obtaining a good mill site, something not to be found on his own section. This fact led him to remove to Knox county, in 1814, where he engaged in milling many years.

David and Thomas John, two brothers, were New Jersey. When they emigrated to Ohio, they stopped a year or two in Belmont county, then about 1807 or 1808, moved out to Giflfen section. They purchased land in the southwestern part of the section, now owned and occupied by Joshua Clark, and paid for it in part by clearing other land tor Mr. Giffen. David John was the only man in the township, it is said, except Philip Morgan, of a considerable later date, who abstained entirely from the use of whisky. Thomas John was a soldier in the war of 1812. Each built a large, comfortable stone house for himself in the early part of their career here. Timothy Hawkins, the brother-in-law of David, came here from New Jersey about the time the Johns did.

Martin and David Cox came several years later. Martin lived on the Hammel place, about a mile southeast from New Castle. He ke^t a postoffice for a number of years at Cox Cross Roads, a little farther north. He afterward moved to Sandusky, where he died. David moved to Knox county several years after he came here. Another brother, Michael, resided in Perry township. '

Matthew Duncan, from Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, emigrated about 1808, to the southwestern part of the Giffen section, on the place now owned by Mr. L. Lawrence. He distinguished himself in early times by building a large store house, the first of the kind erected in the township.

John Ely' purchased from Mr. Giffen the land which the village of New Castle now occupies. He raised a numerous family, and afterward removed to Richland county.

David Melick, who hailed from a region called, Turkey Foot, in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, was another early settler of this section. Having a great aversion to the river he settled in the extreme southwestern corner of the township. John Wolfe, also from Pennsylvania, settled in the same neighborhood, on the farm now occupied by George Knight.

The congress land, which constit^ites the southeastern quarter of the township, was surveyed into half sections, of 320 acres each, by Silas Bent, Jr.,, in 1803. Unlike congress land in many other townships this was settled in an early day. In 1810, Joseph Severns, emigrating from Bucks county, Pennsylvania, entered land in sections 11 and 20. Hisfirst cabin was built on the ridge in the northwest quarter of section 20. He died in 1857, being above eighty years of age. His oldest son, Samuel, is still living in the southern part of the township. He served in the war of 1812 and is probably the oldest person in the township, having reached his eighty-sixth birthday on the 17th day of October, 1880.

The Merediths also lived in this part of the township. They were Virginians and came here as early as the Severns, perhaps several years earlier. Those of the family who lived in New Castle township were' Isaac, Job and Obed. Isaac and Obed served in the war of 1812, Isaac as captain of a company which he raised in this part of the county. He entered the northwest quarter of section 22, and served the township many years as justice of the peace. Obed occupied the southeast quarter of section 21, the extreme southeastern corner of the township. Job lived on the Staats place on Giffen's section. He afterward moved to Indiana and died there. The Merediths were one of the best known and esteemed families in the township.

William Hull settled on the northeast quarter of section 18 ; also entered the southeast quarter of section 13. He died about 1814. Thomas Horton, a son-in-law to Thomas Butler, settled in the northwest quarter of section 12.

The northwestern quarter of the township forms a military section, which was granted April 3, 1800, to James Taylor, George Gillespy, -" practitioner of physic," and Joseph Strong, also a physician, all of Philadelphia. Some tw:o years later Taylor purchased the interests of his two partners for 11,200, Pennsylvania "currency. In 1805 he sold the greater part of the section, 8,272 acres, to Eli Nichols.

'Squire Humphrey, who came into possession of the remaining 728 acres of the section, the part lying east of the Mohican, was one of the earliest and best known of the township pioneers. He was a Rhode Islander and emigrated prior to the war of 1812. A man of considerable lea,rning and intelligence, he wielded a large influence for good ; was a representative to the State legislature in 1814, and for many years a justice of the peace. Other early settlers on this section were John Woods, an individual who had a great desire to preach the gospel, and sometimes attempted it, though from all accounts, with ill success ; a German called Conkle, whose petulent temper made him the object of sundry pranks of the mischievous backwoods urchins; Joe Beckwith and John Titus, Conkle's sons-in-law; Jacob Cokenour, Moses Byrum and George Spurgeon. . Byrum's father (also several other persons) was buried on the big mound near the forks of the Walhonding. Most of these settlers were Virginians, and all were either leasers or squatters.

Eli Nichols, who owned the greater part of this section, was for many years, ending with his death, the largest land owner in the county. He settled upon his section about 1836, coming from St. Clairsville, Ohio, and was for forty years, up to the event of his death, well-known throughout the coifnty. " His death occurred at his home, after an illness of only two days. ' His age was seventy-two years. His wife preceded him to the grave but a few months. His interest in education, and especially his attachment to the public school system, was often avowed. He was born and reared in the Qua;ker church, but in after years disavowed the religious principles of that body, and repudiated the Bible as an infallible book. In early manhood, he took an active part in the operations of the colonization society, but soon abandoned it, and henceforward gloried in being an ' abolitionist.' His gentleness of nature made him patient amid whatever reproach he encountered in this, as in other lines of thought and action ; and it is claimed for him that, what-, ever his antipathy to the system of slavery, and his sympathy with the oppressed, he was always wonderfully lenient toward the slave holder. In his later years he became much interested in ' spiritualism,' and much of his time in his declining years was given to the study of this, and he became a full believer in it, continuing in this faith unto the last of earth."

His son Lloyd now has possession of this large tract of land, and continues to be, as his father was before him, the most extensive land holder in the county.

The streams of New Castle township, except the Walhonding and its two branches. Owl creek and Mohican river, are small and afford but a limited supply of water power. No mill is known to have been built across the river on either of its two tributaries, consequently the early milling operations in the township, prior to the building of the canal, must have been limited in point of power if not in number.

About 1815, Samuel Parquhar built a saw-mill on Tomica run, close to the Knox county line. After it had been running six or seven years, the dam was swept 'away during a freshet. In 1834, Joshua Clark built another saw-mill in the same place. Some twenty years later, he moved it farther up the creek, close to his residence, and, run it here some six or seven years. During all this time the mill was run steadily and a good business done, as much as sixteen hundred feet of lumber being sawed a day. Then as the volume of water was insufficient to keep it going, he removed it.

Three-quarters of a mile farther up the creek, Joseph Mills erected a saw-mill about 1830. After several years it came into the hands of his son, Samuel, who has been operating it ever since.

A little grist and saw-mill stands on C. H. Meredith's place in the southeastern corner of the township. It has been running about twenty-five years.

One attempt was made to construct a dam across the river close to the village of Walhonding, by Walter Parmer, but it was unsuccessful. The dam was partly built, heavy timbers being sunk to the rock-bed, which were to be firmly bolted together with immense rods of iron, when financial embarrassments and the projection of

This same individual acquired quite a notori- by attempting to utilize the same water re- 3)eatedly in running a mill. He erected a sawmill at the mouth of Dutch run, about two miles below Walhonding, and to the machinery, set in motion by the water power, he attached a pump, the purpose of which was to pump the water back into the race. Notwithstanding this " freak," Mr. T^urner was an intelligent Englishman. He possessed considerable means, and figured quite prominently in the affairs of the township forty years ago. He was an extensive land owner, dealt largely in stock, expended his money lavishly, made extensive improvements which the condition of his property at that time did not warrant,

place. It was a little copper affair, set up 'by Joe Meredith, and operated a few years only. The grain for this still was mashed at a mill over the line in Knox county. The "California" distillery was an institution located about a mile and a half east of New Castle, operated by Daniel Berry and John Lewis. It was started about 1840,

;and kept up five or six years. During this time it did an extensive business in the manufacture of whisky. A steam saw-mill was also located here.

John R. Gamble owned a still house in the northwestern part of the township which, during a brief career, produced large quantities of the popular beverage.

About twenty years ago a great many oil leases were taken on ground in New Castle township in the vicinity of Walhonding, the " signs " indicating its existence here. A number of wells were

: sunk but no oil of consequence was found. Two wells, sunk by Peter Neff of Cincinnati, about a mile above the village, however, produced an immense outflow of gas, which at the time was re-

-conceived the idea of utilizing this gas in the manufacture of lampblack, and erected works for this purpose. The experiment was successful and the works have been in operation ever since.

Several thousand gas jets are kept burning constantly, night and day, and a very superior article is produced in considerable quantities. Mr. Neff, it is understood, contemplates making extensions to the works soon.

A wooden bridge was built across the river at Walhonding about 1854. It got out of shape, was regarded by many as insecure, and was rebuilt in 1860. Again giving way, it was superceded by an iron bridge in 1872. Some of the material of the old bridge was used in the masonry of the new. A mistake in dimensions was made, increasing the expense of the masonry, which (almost wholly for labor) cost some $1,200. The masons were Buchanan Brothers and N.' W. Buxton. The superstructure was furnished by the Coshocton Iron and Steel Works, and cost $7,844. The ice, in the winter of 1874, carried away a pier and two spans of this bridge. The latter were replaced by the Cincinnati Bridge Co. (of which for a time the Coshocton Iron and Steel Works was a partner), in 1875.

An iron bridge was built over the Mohican, a little above Walhonding, in 1871. N. W. Buxton constructed the piers and abutments for $4,465, and the Massillon Iron Bridge Co. furnished the superstructure for $5,070.

The Walhonding canal enters the township from Jefferson, and closely follows the northern bank of the river in all its meanderings to the forks, then up the eastern side of the Mohican valley into Tiverton township.

A school-house was built in the eastern part of the township, south of the river, about 1812, but before it had been used for school purposes, it was accidentally burned by a company of soldiers, who, returning to Cadiz from the Western frontier, encamped in it one night. It was not rebuilt. About ten years later, however, another one was built in the same vicinity, on J. M. Rodger's farm, near where the present school-building stands. Isaac Richardson was the first teacher* He had a rough set of pupils to manage, who required and received frequent and vigorous applications of the rod.

A school-house was built about a half mile west of New Castle, as early as 1812, perhaps earlier, by Robert GifFen and his neighbors. It was a large log house, and seems to have been well attended. Mrs. Stuart states that as many as forty pupils attended school here at one time, before her father moved to Knox county, 1814. Rev. James Pigman, a noted Methodist preacher, taught the first school.

Only one church exists in an active working state in the township at the present time. This is the Methodist Episcopal church, located in the village of New Castle. It was organized prior to . the year 1840 ; how long before is unknown, as none of the first members are now connected with the church, and no records, if in existence at all, are accessible. - Among the early leading members, were Lyman Shaffer, Azuriah Fobes and Philip Morgan. The early meetings were held in barns, school-houses or wherever a place of suitable size could be procured. About 1840, a frame church was built, which stood about twenty years, then in 1859 or 1860, the congregation erected its present church edifice, a large and substantial frame, comfortably furnished within and surmounted by a bell. The nnembership aggregates about sixty-five. The church is served during the present year by Rev. Philip Kelser, who also has charge of congregations at East Union, Mohawk Village and Cullison's Ridge. A Sunday-school in a good, healthy condition, is superintended by F. M. Buxton.

An Episcopal congregation formerly existed in New Castle. It was organized about 1851, by Prof. George Dennison of Gambler College. The active co-operators in maintaining its existence, were B. S. Lee, John Green and George Mc- Daniel. A building was erected soon after the organization of the church. The pulpit was supplied wholly by ministers from Gambler college, Prof. Blake having charge after Prof. Dennison. It's small membership became reduced by removals without compensating accessions, and about 1860, it disappeared, as an organization. The building remains, and is used as a warehouse.

ridge. The society was formed, and the church building erected, about the year 1840. John Grove, whp came from near Pittsburgh, Pennvania, about 1814, and settled on the southeast quarter of section 19, near where the church wasafterward built; James Cox, David Morrison,. Thomas Kincaid and Robert Copeland, were chief among its supporters. Rev. David Rice was the officiating minister at the organization. About 1865, the light of the church was extii;- guished, caused by the death and removal of members, leaving an inadequate number tomaintain the church.

New Castle was probably the second town laid" out in Coshocton county, Coshocton being the first. It was laid out in 1808, by Robert Giffen^ but did not thrive, for some reasons, remaining almost a nonentity for more than a score of years. The residence of Mr. Gifien, a comfortable log cabin, was located here, in 1811, and soon after, the land upon which the village was platted was sold to John Ely, who kept a tavern here for several years. In 1830, John Clark laid out a village adjacent to the old plat, and called it West Liberty. Determined to make the village a success, he himself erected four or five dwelling, houses, one of them a brick. Several years later,, he sold the town to George McDaniel, who made an addition, and changed the name again to New Castle.

The village is pleasantly situated on high, rolling ground, and contains about 250 inhabitants- George Lawrence sold the first goods here, about 1832. Three years later, Shaflfer & Ringwald owned a store, and before 1835 Calvin Hill was running a good hotel. Years before this, about 1820, Joseph Butler was the proprietor of a public-house. A pottery was formerly very successfully and extensively carried on here by the - Riches and their successors, Collins, Butler andothers, ejfcellent materials being found in the vicinity. It ceased manufacturing several years ago. Another pottery on a somewhat smaller scale, was started about ten years ago, by Henry Lewis. It is still in operation. The wares are disposed of principally at Mount Vernon, Coshocton and intermediate points.

There are in the village at present, three stores where a general supply of goods are kept, owned by Cochran & McKee, E. H. Cochi;an, and William Butler. Thomas Hull sells hardware and groceries ; two blacksmith, one wagon, and one harness shop are also found, and the traveler has his choice of two hotels.

Dr. Samuel McElwee, a native of New Jersey, has practiced medicine in the village and vicinity since 1849. He has recently associated with him Dr. John Snider, a young physician. Other physicians, who by a long residence were identified with New Castle, were Drs. Willetts and Barger ; the latter was killed by the explosion of a boiler of a steamboat at Louisville, Kentucky, while on a trip to the West, in 1843.

The schobl building is a large, neat-appearing, two-story brick, which has been in service for more than twenty years. Messrs. W. T. Knight and A. L. Smith are the present teachers.

The village is the home of one of the professors of the occult sciences, William Gorham, who claims to be able to discover hidden things, whether of the past or the future, and has sometimes created a sensation in the classic Owl creek valley.

Walhonding was platted in the summer of 1841, its proprietors being William K. Johnson, G. W. Sullivan and T. S. Humrickhouse. It is situated on the north side of the Walhonding river, and doubtless owes its existence to the building of the Walhonding canal, which passes through it. The land upon which it is situated is rough, a fact which may have had an influence in keeping the population down to about eighty souls. The village had in its youth visions of a glorious future, and came very near realizing them, that is to say, a bill before the State legislature about 1847, for the creation of a new county, to comprise parts of Coshocton, Knox, Holmes, Muskingum and Licking counties, in which proposed new county Walhonding would have been centrally located, failed in passing by a single vote.

blacksmith shops and one small foundry, which is owned by Edward Dorsey. George Humrickhouse was the first store-keeper, James Gamble the first postmaster.

The main business of the village is done at Joseph S. McVey's flouring-mill, the water power for which is supplied by the canal. The mill was built shortly after the canal was constructed, by Albert and John Collins and James Gamble. In 1844, it was sold to J. S. McVey and Edwin Lewis. The distillery which was formerly connected with the mill was abandoned in 1845, and the grist-mill which had hitherto done only custom work was enlarged, and the proprietors now began to manufacture and ship flour extensively. In 1850, Mr. Lewis died of cholera at New Castle, and since then Mr. McVey has had sole ownership of the mill. He has since considerably enlarged the building, so that now a large amount of wheat can be stored in the building. It is forty feet long by thirty-six wide, five stories high, and with its four run of buhrs has a capacity of seventy-five or eighty barrels of flour per day.

A small Methodist Episcopal society existed here several years ago, and steps were taken to erect a building. When it was partially built the society perished, and it is unlikely the building will be finished.

Mount Airy was the title very appropriately bestowed upon a little village that stood on an elevated ridge of ground in the extreme southwestern corner of the township. It was laid out in 1816, by Elijah Dillon. David. Melick resided on the site of the village before this date. He subsequently sold out to a Mr. Tilton. A schoolhouse was built here as early as 1820. Mrs. Kezia Alsach, the wife of a Methodist local preacher, was probably the first teacher. She was succeeded by Arthur Scott, from Washington coun- . ty, Pennsylvania, a better educated man than most people at that time. The village may have contained as many as twenty, houses, including one blacksmith and one shoe shop. It is uncertain whether a store was kept here. It has long since come to naught, having been vacated, except several lots, twenty years ago.