Paint Township

Paint Township

This is the extreme southeastern sub-division of Wayne county and was organized March 5, 1816. It derives its name from the fact that a spring existed in its territory, the water of which resembled red paint and imparted its peculiar color to the earth and other objects it chanced to touch. According to the 1900 United States census, the township contained a population of one thousand two hundred and six. .There are now two town plats within Paint township. Mount Eaton and West Lebanon.

The first person to settle within the limits of Paint township was Michael Waxier, who emigrated from Harrison county in 1810. He was a true backwoods character, dressed in buckskin breeches, hunting shirt and moccasins, and usually armed with his scalping knife, tomahawk and rifle. As the brave are generally generous, even so was he who had the honor of first breaking soil in this goodly part of Wayne county. He frequently hunted with old Chief Lyon and Bill Harrison. It is told of Mr. Waxier that he encamped one night wdiere Winesburg is now located and barely escaped destruction from a gang of angry wolves wfliich attacked him, and to wfliich he offered a stout resistance until morning, having, in the meantime, killed several, and in true Indian style, scalped them.

The next settlers in Paint township w'ere James Sullivan, John Sprague, David Endsley, Xathan Peticord. James Galbraith, Ah'lliam Vaughan, Elijah Carr. Samuel Shull, Frederick Shull and Jacob Beals.

The first election held in the towmship was in 1816, and Frederick Shull and Jacob Beals were the candidates for the office of justice of the peace. Not many votes w*ere cast and the result w'as a tie, wfliereupon the aspirants cast lots, and Beals was the wanner, hence became the first justice of his towmship. He held the position twelve years.

Houmarcl, a native of Switzerland, and was among the very first emigrants to pass through the locks on the great Erie canal at Lockport. The family passed through Cleveland, Ohio, when there were but about fifty houses there, arriving in Sugarcreek township September 2, 1825. He was seventeen weeks in coming from Switzerland. At Cleveland he bought a yoke of oxen for thirty-six .dollars which he hitched to a wagon and in that way came to Wayne county. He remained at the Sonneberg colony a month and settled in Paint township in May, 1826. He was a cutler by trade, and made many curious firearms and tools. His house has been thus described : "The original dimensions of it were twenty by thirty feet, and it was constructed of logs, not hewed until after the house was erected. It was composed of two rooms, the second one on the east side being nearly square, and without being filled or mudded. Here his family, consisting of wife and child, passed the winter of 1826 and '27. This cabin was without a floor, the fireplace was in the center of the room, and as companions of his ' family, the cow and calf were wintered in the same room, the cabin beinghouse and stable both. The milk was kept in white walnut troughs, strained through old garments and cloths and the churn was made of a hollow cherry tree, with a board nailed on at the bottom.''

Joseph Perrott was the second Frenchman to locate in Paint township, coming in 1829, and Emanuel Nicolet came in 1830. In 1834 immigration set in in earnest.

Mount Eaton

Mount Eaton, formerly styled Paintville, was platted as early as 1813 by William Vaughn and James Galbraith. Elijah Carr is supposed to have erected the first building in the place, and Samuel Shull kept the first tavern. The^ earliest minister to proclaim the gospel at this point was Archibald Hanna, ra Presbyterian, who conducted religious services for a number of years in a tent in the big woods.

In 1829 the name Mount Eaton took the place of former Paintville. The first incorporation election of Mount Eaton was held April 4, 1870, when three trustees were elected as follows: J. B. Westcott, James Huston

Mount Eaton had a fire company organized as early as 1861. In 1823 James Morrow operated a carding mill by horse power in Paintville. In 1827 an iron foundry was in operation there, the same being run by W'eed Si Jones. In 1827-8 Joseph H. W'hite pulflished the Aufi-Masoiiic Mirror, a weekly newspaper, which soon languished for lack of support. In 1831 the first steam grist mill at Mount Eaton was placed in running order by accident John Murphy was suddenly killed by being scalded, John Mc- Donald was mangled, and Jeremiah Nelson and James Bradley were injured and only survived a few days. One of the boilers was hurled fifty yards up the hillside, splitting a sawlog in its course.

Cholera made its dread appearance at Mt. Eaton in 1833, the disease having been brought there by a Frenchman named Benedict Brownstine, who, with his family, were emigrants who had a dead child - a cholera victim - with them when they arrived. The disorder soon became malignant in its form. David Boyd, an intoxicated man, strutted up to the wagon to see how a cholera victim looked, and, being attacked, died the same day before sundown. In a month twenty-six persons died of the scourge. It made its appearance about the middle of August. Doctors Hall and Barber did all in their power to stay its spread, but for all that every one in ten of the population died. The last victim was James Galbraith. Many of the citizens fled from the village during the epidemic.

The factors going toward making up the present business of Mount Eaton are as follows, the same having been furnished in October, 1909. General merchandise, A. N. Roth, E. F. Graber ; hardware, S. A. Schlafly ; boots, shoes and rubbers, William Willard; C. N. Clark, physician and surgeon.

West Lebanon is situated in the extreme northeast part of the township, three miles northeast from Mount Eaton. It was platted in 1833 by Philip Groff and Rev. William S. Butt. Frederick Bysell . it is believed, built the first house, run the first hotel and was postmaster. Another theory is that Isaac Stine built the first cabin and that the first postmaster was Adam Zaring. One of the founders of this place, Philip Groff, was a native of West Lebanon, Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, and in memory of his native town called this village by that name.

jMichael Hawn, a Revolutionary soldier, born in 1741, died in 1844, aged one hundred and three years, and is buried in the Lutheran graveyard at West Lebanon.