Richland Township (part 2 of 3)

Fairfield In The Rebellion Of 1861

Sixteen years have been registered on Time's scroll since the patriotism of this great nation was aroused by the lightning's flash, anouncing that Fort Sumpter had been fired upon by the Confederate guns. It is difficult, at this somewhat distant period, to chronicle with specific minuteness the full extent of the part Fairfield County took in the four years' war that followed. Her soldiers were so widely distributed, and so variously; her officers passed through so many promotions; so many were consigned to southern graves from the fields of carnage; the hospitals and southern prisons; that nothing short of a thorough canvass of the rolls could show it all. It is a work of altogether too great a magnitude for our plan. While P record the names and ranks of the officers, to the "extent that existing facilities allow, I would be glad to register the names of every volunteer from the county, because every one that went out deserves equal mention. This will not be compatible with a three-hundred page county history. It may be that some omissions may occur of names even of officers. Should this be found to be so, the only apology the author can offer is, that he has accomplished all that his possibilities have permitted. To Colonel J. M. Connel, Capt. Geo. Blaire, Capt. J. M. Sutphen, Gen. N. Schleich and others; and to " Ohio in the War," by Reid, I am indebted for valuable aid in the war record of Fairfield County.

During the progressof the war, according to the best estimates attainable from available data, there were in the field from this county, including drafted men and hundred-day men, about the aggregate of three thousand soldiers. Two drafts were made for small numbers, but the drafted men, with few exceptions, it is believed, subsequently volunteered into the regular volunteer service. And moreover, the townships acted with a surprising promptness in filling their respective quotas by a liberal system of hiring recruits by voluntary contributions of money. Large sums were contributed for this purpose. At one time, viz. : in August, 1862, the county had sent out two hundred men in excess of her quota.

Within twenty-four hours after the President's call for. 75,000 volunteers, on the 15th of April, 1861, one company from Lancaster was on its way to the seat of war, commanded by Captain, J. A. Stafford. Seventeen days afterwards, viz.: on the 2nd daj' of May, two other comjianies were organized under Captains J. W. Stinchomb and Henry H. Giesy. On the 23d two other companies were accepted - Captains C. D. Clark and

Michaels. As early as the 20th of September of the same season, there were eight full companies in the field from the county, all for three years' service. In all, Fairfield had in the war, including two full companies of cavalry, seventeen companies, not including volunteers who were sent to regiments beyond the county, and drafted men.

It is proper here to remark, that the citizens of this county, from the inception to the close of the war, contributed freely and liberally, clothing, provisions, medicines and other requirements for the sanitary supplies. At once, it "may be said, that it is probably not presuming too much to say, that perhaps no county in Ohio presents a fairer war record than Fairfield.

Company A - Captain, J. A. Stafford ; 1st Lieutenant, Thos. M. Hunter; 2nd Lieutenant, Ezra Rickets; 101 strong. This company was assigned to the 1st 0. V. I., Colonel Alex. M. McCook. After the mustering out in August the company was reorganized for the three years' service; Stafford, Captain ; E. T. Hooker, 1st Lieutenant; J. M. Wiley, 2nd Lieutenant. In February, 1862, Stafford was promoted to the rank of Major, and First Lieutenant Hooker to the captaincy ; H. FuUerton, pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Lancaster, Chaplain. Benj. F. Smith went out a« Colonel of the regiment.

The 17th 0. V. I. was organized at Camp Anderson, on the Fairfield Fair-ground?. The county furnished two companies to this regiment. Captains, H. H. Giesy and J. W. Stinchomb; 1st Lieutenants, A. Ogden, John Wiseman ; 2nd Lieutenants, Leo Noles, J. C. Watson. This regiment reorganized for the three years' service in August, 1861, with J. M. Connell for its Colonel. To this three years' regiment Fairfield furnished five companies; Captains, B. F. Butterfield, J. W. Stinchomb, Ezra Rickets, A. Ogden, Daniel M. Rea; 1st Lieutenants, Benjamin Showers, A. P. Ashbrook, Irwin Linn, Wm. Cook, 0. W. Brown; 2nd Lieutenants, Henry Arney, Daniel Sullivan, Seth Collins, 0. B. Brandt, Theodore Michaels ; Chaplain, A. F. FuUerton.

Sixty-First 0. V. L - This regiment first formed at Lancaster, and used the starch factory building for a barracks. It contained one Fairfield company. Captain, Daniel Schleich ; 1st Lieutenant, George J. Wygnm ; 2d Lieutenant, Edward Hay. Newton Schleich, of Lancaster, was its first Colonel. The regiment was subsequently, in April, 1862, re-organized at Camp Chase, when Colonel Schleich was, I believe, assigned to another regiment, and was subsequently promoted to the rank of Brigadier General.

One Hundred and Twenty-Third 0. V. I. - To this regiment Henry B. Hunter, of Lancaster, was assigned as Lieutenant- Colonel. No company from the county.

One Hundred and Seventy-Eighth 0. V. I. - Colonel, J. A. Stafiford. One company from Fairfield. Captain, Charles Cravinor ; 1st Lieutenant, Patrick McGrew ; 2d Lieutenant,. . John Sears, of Lancaster.

Cavalry

There were two companies of cavalry from Fairfield in the service. The first went into the first regiment of Ohio Cavalry, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Valentine Cupp, of Walnut Township. Of this company, Lafayette Pickering was Captain ; Peter B. Cool, 1st Lieutenant ; Joseph Pierce, 2nd Lieutenant.

The second company served in the 11th Regiment of Ohio Cavalry, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel W. 0. Collins. Its Captain was John Van Pearce, of Lancaster; 1st Lieutenant, Thomas P. Clark ; 2d Lieutenant, John Reeves.

The foregoing is a condensed history of Fairfield County in the Southern Rebellion, which began in April, 1861, and terminated with the surrender of General Lee in the spring of 1865, and is as complete, perhaps, as a mere county history demands. As remarked in the outset, omissions may have occurred that should have found mention. Such omissions, if any, have not been intentional, but rather from the inability of the compiler to trace the diffusion of all of Fairfield's men. Errors may also have crept in, but for which the author is not responsible, since he has followed carefully the records and personal statements of parties interviewed. In the main, however, the record of Fairfield in the rebellion will be found correct. It is to be borne in mind that a history of the war has not been intended, but only Fairfield County in it. There were many deaths, and promotions, and resignations, continually occurring, which would be quite too voluminous for the author to collect. All this belongs rather to the history of the rebellion, and can be found in the rosters of "Ohio in the War, " by Reid, to which please refer - the war of 1861-1865.

Among those promoted and serving as Captains and Lieutenants at dififerent times, I notice the following names, additional to those already mentioned, which were personally known to me.

An Incident

Colonel Council, in command of the Seventeenth Regiment, was ordered to defend a ford on the Cumberland river, at a place known as Mill Springs. When some two or three miles from the rebel position, he took with him ten men, in addition to Captain Ezra Rickets and Lieutenant Sifer, and advanced on a reconnoitering expedition. He stationed his men as pickets, who, becoming alarmed, fled back to camp. The Colonel advanced alone to an eminence in front of the enemy's camp, where, at a bend in the road, he suddenly encountered a band of mounted rebels, not exceeding thirty yards ofiF. They suddenly dashed toward him, unslung their carbines, and shouted the challenge. The Colonel put spurs to his horse, and fled under the harmless fire of his pursuers; but unfortunately, the animal stumbled and fell, leaving his rider stunned upon the road. In this perilous dilemma. Captain Rickets, being attracted by the firing and the challenge, dashed up, and dismounting, assisted the Colonel on his horse, and instantly turning, discharged his revolvers at the advancing enemy, dashed on foot into the thick woods, and both reached the camp in safety.

Bands In The Rebellion

During the progress of the war of 1861-1865, there were two full bands from Fairfield County in the field. The members of the 17th Regiment Band - the second one here mentioned - were, I believe, entirely citizens of this county. In the Brigade Band - the first in order - there are a few names from other counties. The following letter from Capt. Wolfe, has been kindly furnished me by him, and is complete :

The band was mustered out in May, 1862, by order of the War Department, immediately after which it was mustered into Gen. Hugh Ewing's Brigade, as Brigade Band. During the operations about Vicksburg. Miss., the band became disabled by death and sickness, and was again discharged by special order from the War Department, in May, 1863. After this the band was reorganized as Post Band at Camp Chase, where it remained till the close of the war, and was finally mustered out on the 4th of February, 1865.

Seventeenth Regiment Band

The members of this band were entirely, or nearly so, from about Lancaster. They were attached to the 17th 0. V. I., and served in the Army of the Tennessee. For information concerning this band, I am indebted to Robert Gates, of Lancaster. The following are the names of the members:

Robert Gates re-enlisted in the Second Heavy Artillery, on the 8th of August, 1862, and served till August 7th, 1865, and was mustered out at Columbus, Ohio, August 27th, 1865.

George Blaire was, subsequent to the mustering out of the band, commissioned as Lieutenant, and was taken prisoner and held in Libby prison at Richmond, Va., during most of a year.

There were three deaths of members of this band during their term of service, viz. : Jacob Lehman died on the 19th of December, 1861 ; Thomas Pugh died on the 8th of January, J862, and Mr. Beall died on the 3d of February, 1862.

There were likewise two deaths in Mr. Wolfe's band, during their term of service, viz. : H. Huff and J. Huff, both dying in the month of April, 1863.

Hocking Valley Horticultural Society

This society was organized in Lancaster on the 18th of February, 1865. Its object, as set forth in its preamble, was the general promotion of the floral and horticultural interests, or an improved system of gardening. The call for the initial meeting, which took place on the 26th day of January, 1865, was signed by the following names :

John A. Fetters, F. J. Boving, Charles Dunbar, John C. Boving, J. C. Kinkead, Ambrose Bender, John D. Martin, John Gravit, H. V. Weakley, John S. Snyder, S. A. Griswold and John Clark.

Officers of the Society. - The officers of the first permanent organization of the sbciety were, Joseph C. Kinkead, President; R. J. Black and F. J. Boving, Vice-Presidents; J. D. Martin, Treasurer ; J. C. Weaver, Librarian ; J. C. McCracken, Recording Secretary ; J. A. Fetters, Corresponding Secretary.

The above officers were all living in March, 1877, except J. C. Weaver, Librarian, who died in February, ultimo; and John C. McCracken, Recording Secretary, who died a few months since in the West.

Ten of this number have deceased previous to the first of March, 1877, as follows : H. V. Weakley, John C. McCracken, Emanuel Fetters, T. 0. Edwards, Henry Borchers, John C. Rainey, J. C. Weaver, E. E. Meason, Salem Wolfe and Daniel Ream.

The society holds bi-monthly meetings in Lancaster, viz. : on the second and fourth Saturday's of each month. It pays premiums on best samples of products, which premiums are awarded by special committees. Fruit-growing is a special feature of attention by the society. The meetings of the society are characterized, after business, by a free interchange of opinions, theories and experiences, and thus individual discoveries and improvements become the common property of the society, and of the community by publication, March, 1877.

Political

Previous to the year 1832, the elective franchise was exercised in Fairfield County, as in all other parts of the country, by the prerogative of each elector in casting his ballot for the best men to carry out the best measures for the common weal, according to the voter's best judgment. In other words, political party lines had not yet been established. There were, however, differences of opinion as to the safest and best forms of government, and these differences of opinion were mainly between the National Republicans, strictly, on the one hand, and on the other, those who favored the doctrines promulgated by Alexander Hamilton and others, which contemplated a stronger central power in the Constitution and Laws. This was denominated the Federal Party. It is not necessary here to enter into a history of the Hartford Convention, or the principles proposed there. They met with little favor, and amounted to nothing as against American Republicanism. The Federal Party nevertheless had sufficient potency to create more or less agitation in the political afiairs of the country for a great many years.

As early as 1828, grave national questions began to agitate the country, among which were the policy, or otherwise, of an American National Bank; a high tarifif for the protection of American industries; the improvement, at the National expense, of the rivers and harbors within the United States, etc., etc. The great question of State Sovereignty had ceased to be an absorbing theme since the adoption by "the States of the Federal Constitution. The abolition of " African ^slavery in the States was at that time no more than beginning to incubate, and had scarcely made even a riffle on the surface of the affairs of the country. The agitation of the question was about equally contemned by all, but especially the churches, if the Quakers and Scotch Presbyterians be excepted. Among the other churches only individual exceptions existed. But in 1832 these questions of policy took form, and rove the masses in two distinct political parties of very nearly equal balance. One division of the people supported Andrew Jackson for the Presidency in that year, and assumed the name of the Democratic Party. The other division adhered to Adams and Clay, and denominated themselves the Whig Party. The Jackson, or Democratic Party, was dominant in Fairfield County, and has ever since, with two exceptions, maintained a majority of the popular vote, ranging from eight or ten to sixteen or eighteen hundred. The two exceptions referred to, were in the years 1843 and 1854. In 1843 the question of "hards" and "softs" came up on the currency question, the latter carrying the county by a decisive majority, and electing to the Legislature one Democrat and one Whig, irrespective of old party lines. This was for some reason denominated the "Cork-Leg Party." In 1854, what was equally oddly named the " Know-Nothing Party, " for the time submerged all other parties and elected their entire ticket in the county by respectable majorities. But in the following year the Democratic Party re-established its lines, which are still maintained.

The Whig Party, respectable in members, and in the ability and intelligence of its leaders, nevertheless remained in the minority during its existence, unless the two years spoken of might be claimed as Whig victories. The Whigs, in 1843, were the acknowledged Soft Money Party, and probably unanimously voted the Cork-Leg ticket. And so in 1854, they nearly all went into the Know-Nothing organization, which, with a portion of the Democratic party, secured the triumph of that ticket, and electing men from both the old parties. In 1856, the Philadelphia Convention to form a Presidential ticket for that year - a Convention composed of old line Whigs and -Know-Nothings - organized the Republican Party, and upon its platform a majority of the Whigs of the county took posi- tion, together with more or less Democrats, constituting the Republican Party of Fairfield County. This party maintains about the same numerical comparison with the Democratic Party that the Whigs previous to 1854 did - the number of Democrats coming into it being about equal to the number of Whigs going over to the Democrats. The Whig Party, therefore, is to be regarded as having been disbanded in the early part of 185-1.

Religious

The histories of all the religious societies and church organizations within Fairfield County, will be found in the following pages, as complete as it has been possible to make them. Some of the church records I found very defective ; in other instances none could be found. It has been m}' aim to go back to the very first nuclei of the societies, at the beginning of the settlements at the ending of the last and commencement of the present century. If I have failed, in some cases, it has been because no information at all could be obtained. Much of what I have collected has been from the personal statements of oldest citizens, and slight errors may, therefore, have crept in, since I find all do not remember things alike. As a whole, however, the history may be accepted as entirely correct in the main. To ministers and laymen of the various churches, I acknowledge my obligations for the courtesy they have shown in afibrding me important aid.

Methodist Episcopal Church

The first Methodist Society in Fairfield County was formed in the year 1799. The little band seems to have been formed into a class under the management and advice of one Edward Teel, who had previously been a class-leader in Baltimore County, Maryland. Its place of meeting was at the cabin of Mr. Teel, three miles east of Lancaster, and, I believe, on Zane's trace. The names of the members when the society was first formed, and at the time when first visited by Rev. James Quinn, then a young Methodist preacher, were Ed- ward Teel and wife, Jesse Spurgeon and wife, Ishmael Dew and wife, Nimrod Bright and wife, and Elijah Spurgeon and wife - in all, ten. The first quarterly-meeting ever held in the county was at the house of John Murphy, at which were present Bishop Asbury and Daniel Hitt, the latter a Presiding Elder in Baltimore Conference.

It is believed that the first class formed in Lancaster was in 1812. Its membership at first was : Jacob D. Betrick and wife, Peter Reeber, Sarah Reeber, Christian Weaver, Elizabeth Weaver, George Canode, Mary Canode, and Thomas Orr and wife - ten in all. The first place provided for public worship in Lancaster was erected in 1816. It was a small frame edifice, and stood on the site where the present brick church building now stands, on the hill. Rev. Jas. Quinn preached the first sermon in it from a carpenter's bench. Lancaster then belonged to the Hockhocking circuit. In 1801, Joseph Chenowith was the preacher in charge on the circuit, and returned at the close of the year 366 members. This seems wonderful, when it is remembered that emigration to the Hocking Valley first began in 1798, only three years previous. In 1802, Nathaniel B. Mills supplied the circuit, and in 1803 and 1804 James Quinn, assisted the latter year by Joseph Williams.

Between 1811 and 1830, the church had so extended that several circuits had been formed, Fairfield circuit being one of them. At the close of this period of nineteen years, the membership of Fairfield circuit was 1,276. During the nine succeeding years, Lancaster was made a half station, with a few appointments in the country, and the following preachers tilled the station : Zachariah Connell, William Young, John Ferree, Edward D. Roe, William H. Lowder, Levi White, W. T. Snow, John G. Bruce, Charles Swain, William T. Hand, Charles R. Baldwin, John Reed and Charles R. Lowell. The present brick church was built in 1838 and 1839.

In 1840, Lancaster made was a station, since which time the following preachers have filled it : In 1840, Henry Baker, one year; in 1841, Wm. R. Anderson, one year ; in 1842, Wm. P. Strickland, two years ; in 1844, R. S. Foster, two years; in 1846, M. Dustin, one year; in 1847, Granville Moody, two years; in 1849, William Sutherland, one year ; in 1850, Moses Smith,

The following paper, prepared and kindly furnished me by the Rev. Mr. Stanley, pastor of Lancaster Church in 1876, shows the operations of the Methodist itinerancy within Fairfield County and adjacent territory, for seventy-six years, beginning with 1800 :

"1800 - The first Methodist society was formed in Fairfield County in 1800. The circuit was called Muskingum and Hocking. Preachers : Jesse Stoneman and James Quinn. It was in Baltimore Conference.

1831 - (Fairfield Circuit was divided this year into two parts, Lancaster and Rushville). Lancaster District was formed in 1819. The following have been the Presiding Elders :

Protestant Methodist Church

A Protestant Methodist Church was organized in Lancaster a little previous to the year 1840, and continued its existence a number of years. During its existence it had a respectable membership and a regular succession of pastors. It also owned a commodious church edifice on Chestnut street. The society has now been disbanded a numuer of years, and the building has passed into the hands of the Regular Baptists, and is their present place of worship. The constituent members have deceased and moved away, and there are no records to be found from which to obtain a history of the organization.

Regular Baptist Church

The Regular Baptist Church was organized in Lancaster in 1817, by Rev. George Debott, who was its first pastor. The constituent members were six, viz.: Isaac Church and wife, James Lowrey and wife, Stephen Whittlesey and Anna Bruen. The last-named died recently at the great age of 106 years. The other five are deceased. Mr. Debott also lived to a very advanced age. Rev. William White, father of thelate Dr. James White, of Lancaster, succeeded Mr. Debott as pastor, and continued in that relation for many years. Rev. Samuel Carpenter was the next pastor ; he began his labors in that relation in 1829, which was only broken off by his death, which took place in the summer of 1870. The maximum number of the membership at any given time was about fifty, though much of the time it was below that. The present membership, in 1876, is stated at twenty, and the present pastor is the Rev. William Fisher.

Very soon after the organization, the members built a frame church edifice on Chestnut street, south of the Talmadge House, which they occupied until it was consumed by fire, in about the year 1864. The ground was subsequently sold for

-There are at this time four other churches of this denomination within the county, some of which are said to have been organized previous to that of Lancaster, especially the one at Thornville.

Walnut Creek Regular Baptist Church was constituted on Saturday before the second Sunday in January, 1816, with eleven members. Beyond this there are no accessible records from which further particulars can be obtained.

This church was organized in 1842, with a constituent membership of twelve persons. Very soon after the organization, they erected a fine brick church building on the west side of North Columbus street, on the corner of Columbus and Mulberry streets. Within the thirty-four years of its existence it has, with the exception of a very brief period, been regularly supplied with stated pastors. The following are the names of the pastors, in the order of their succession :

Pleasant Run Raptist Church

Alfred Mesnard has kindly furnished me the original and continuous books of record of the Pleasant Run Regular Baptist Church, of which he is the present Secretary. It will be seen by the following extract from the first page, that the church was first constituted in the year 1806 : with choosing our Moderator, Martin Coffman. Third - we also chose Samuel Comer for our Clerk ; so ending our meeting with praise and thanksgiving.

Then follows the minutes of succeeding business meetings, occurring in May, June, July, August, September, Octobpr, and so on, at which Lewis Bites acted mostly as Moderator, and Samuel Comer as Clerk, with occasionally Martin Coffman as Moderator, on up to August, 1809, at which time- the church had a membership of ninety, whose names here follow precisely in the order of the record. Rev. Lewis Sites, sr., was the first pastor of the Pleasant Run Church. The names of the members are copied literally as they stand on the twentyfirst page of the first church book of records, which leaves it difiicult to understand why the interruption occurs at the number 50 :

Names Of The Members Of Pleasant Run Church

The omission of number 33 in the list, reduces the number to 89, by supplying the numbers 72, 76, 77 and 78 with names, which we are allowed to think were not remembered. The record literally quoted, is a relic as well as history, and on that account valuable.

So far as is known, not one of the above persons is living today. Pleasant Run Church is a living church at this time, with a few less than one hundred members. The congregation has continued its place of worship from the first, viz, : in April, 1806, up to the present spring of 1877, on the same spot where it began, which is a short distance north of Strickler's Cross-roads, in the north-east corner of Pleasant Township. They have a commodious church edifice, sometimes spoken of as Strickler's Church, and sometimes as the Baptist Church, though the title they assume is that of the Pleasant Run Church.

It is a- melancholy thought, that the ninety persons once composing that body, so full of life, and love, and Christian zeal, and filling their places in all of life's afifairs, are no more. Their voices are all silent, and their forms have disappeared. They have passed to their reward in the better land.

Presbyterian Church

A Presbyterian Church was organized in Lancaster at a very early day. The Rev. John Wright settled here in the year 1801, and continued pastor of the church up to 1835, when he was succeeded by Rev. William Cox.

They held their meetings in the old Court-house during a number of years, when they built a small brick church, or chapel, on the lot where the present church stands. I have not been able to ascertain the date of the building of this little chapel, but the best recollections fix it a little prior to the year 1820. In 1835, Mr. Wright left Lancaster and settled in Indiana, at which time William Cox became the settled pastor of the Presbyterian Church, and remained until 1854, when he accepted a call to the Church of Piqua, in Miami County, at which place he closed his life a fe^y years subsequently, and was interred in the cemetery east of Lancaster. The present church edifice was erected in 1835. Below is given the succession of pastors from 1801 to 1876:

- Rev. John Wright from 1801 to 1835 ; Rev. William Cox from 1836 to 1854 ; succeeding him were Rev. J. M. Lowry, Rev. Robert Galbraith, Rev. Webster, Rev. George FuUerton, Rev. Word.en, Rev. Muse, Rev. Snodgrass, and the Rev. J. R. Boyd, who is the present pastor. Besides these there were several supplies who remained short periods, whose names I have not the means of finding out. The present communion is about two hundred persons. There is likewise a full Sabbath-School that meets every week.

The following incident is deemed worthy of mention here, because it took place on the lot *iow owned by the Presbyterians, and also because it belongs to the history of Lancaster. The occurrence took place some time previous to the building of the little brick chapel. It has been related to me by Dr. Charles Shawk, who as a boy was an eye-witness, and by others. There are probably many persons living who can recall the affair. I give it in substance as narrated by the Doctor.

Peter Reeber owned the grounds, and had in operation on them a horse-power mill, in which corn, wheat, and other grain was ground. He also had a log barn, that stood nearly on the site of the present church, but a little more up the hill. On one Sunday the barn was struck by lightning and set on fire. The citizens rushed from all directions and began the work of trying to put out the fire. The wells in the vicinity were soon exhausted, when a bucket-line was formed to a pond of water near by, and the muddy water passed up, by which the flames were at last extinguished, and the build- ing partially saved. Two oxen in the barn at the time were killed by the lightning. In the management of the bucketline, Thomas Ewing and Adam Weaver fell out, and came to blows, so tradition says.

It is to be borne in mind that personal notes and references in this work are limited to pioneers. The following items are relics of the early days, and will be of interest to Presbyterians and others, as mementos, but especially the descendants of first settlers about Lancaster. Mr. Joseph Work, of Ireland, was an early settler, and a first member of the Presbyterian Church of Lancaster. Robert, John and Henry Work, of this vicinity, are his sons. Mr. Work came to the United States about the year 1792:

Certificate. - That Joseph Work, from the Kingdom of Ireland, has lived from his infancy within the bounds of this congregation, always maintaining a fair moral character ; has been admitted to Church privileges in said congregation, and may safely be admitted to Christian Society where in providence his lot may be cast.

John Wright

Receipt. - Received of Joseph Work, one of the collectors for Hocking Congregation, fourteen dollars and fifty cents, in part of my first year's salary. JOHN WRIGHT.

Presbyterian Church At West Rushville

Rush Creek Presbyterian Church was organized A.D. 1806, by Rev. John Wright. The ruling Elders were Wm. Larrimer and Wm. Trimble. Mr. Wright continued to be pastor of the church at Rush Creek for about twenty-seven years. Rev. James Anderson succeeded him, and remained about twenty years. This brings the history of the church down to about the year 1853, when Rev. J. Milligen becanfe pa^ tor. At this time Fielding Alford, David Abright, DY. Davis and Wm Thompson were Elders. Rev. Milligen was succeeded by Rev. J.

M. Drake, and he by Eev. H. R. Peairs. This was in 1863. In 1866, Eev. C. C. B. Duncan came, and was succeeded in 1871 by Eev. J. L. Gourley; and in 1874, the present minister. L. D. Smith, took charge, with Elders David Abright, D. Y. Davis, Edward Johnson, John W. J)ilger, E. Kagey and Wm. Clenaghan.

The present membership of the church is 120. Our church buildinff is a frame, and was erected about twenty-two years ago, and is the third erected since the organization of the society.

The Bethel Church

Four miles south-east of Bremen, was organized in 1832, by Rev. Francis Bartlett. In 1852, Rev. J.Milligen was pastor of Bethel Church, and Isaac Larimer, John. Sherwood, Aaron Work, Geo. McCandlish and James Black were its ruling Elders. Rev. J. M. Drake took charge of the church in 1858, and was followed by Rev. H. R. Peairs; and again, in 1866, Rev. C. C. B. Duncan assumed the pastorate. In 1872, Rev. J. L. Gourley took charge, and in 1874, Rev. L. D. Smith, who is its present pastor, in 1877. Its present membership is 60.

Presbyterian Church At Bremen

The Bremen Church was organized on the 21st of October, 1844, by a committee of Licking Presbytery, consisting of Rev. Jacob Little, Rev. H. Boutelle and Rev. A. Duncan. The first pastor mentioned was Rev. J. Schlosser. The first elders were Daniel Rodahafer, John Ashbaugh and Wm. Rowles. Their reported number of members in 1856, was fifty-seven communicants. In this year, Mr. Schlosser's connection with the church ceased, when he was succeeded by Rev. Thomas Griffith. In 1859, the Rev. S. J. Humphrey took charge. In 1865, Rev. C. C. Hart, of Logan, supplied the congregation. The Elders then were John Ashbaugh and J. Leib. In 1870, Rev. W. A. Galbraith was preaching there. In 1871, Rev. J. L. Gourley was the supply; and his connection ceased as pastor in April, 1873. In November, 1874, the church employed the Rev. L. D. Smith, of West Rushville, to give them one-fourth of his time, and he was still supplying the congregation in July, 1877. The number of communicants in January, 18/6, was forty-two.

The Presbyterians also have societies at Aiftanda, Lithopolis and Greencastle, with regular pastors, but up to the time of going to press they have failed to return specific statements.

The Greenfield Presbyterian Church, four miles from Lancaster, on the Carroll road, has been supplied since its first organization by the Rev. J. R. Boyd, of Lancaster Church.

F.Piscopal Parish Of St. John Letter Of Wm. J. Eeece

Dr. H. Soott : The Protestant Episcopal Parish of St. John was organized in Lancaster during the Year of Grace 1835, and the Rev. Sherlock A. Bronson was its first rector. The present church building was erected during the influential rectorship of the Rev. Alvah Guion.

The prominent active laymen who co-operated with him, were Messrs Henry Stanberry, John T. Brazee, Daniel SifFord, John Reeber, Daniel Kutz and Wm. P. Creed, Esqs. When the church was completed, these gentlemen assumed and paid oif the then existing debts, and it was thfen consecrated by the late Rev. Bishop McElvain.

After Mr. Guion, the following clergymen were rectors, in the order in which their names are^ here written, viz.: Rev. Messrs. Daniel Risser, J. M. *C. Bonte, Frederick Grey, Henry D. Lathrop, E. Owen Simpson, Wm. Brittain, John Scott, A. S. Gorrell and Edward B. Cartmell, who resigned his clerical position in the church October, 1875, to accept that of Principal in the Ijancaster High School.

This church was organized in Lancaster at a very early period in this century. Rev. Mr, Steck was its first pastor, and continued in that relation for a great many years, and was succeeded by Rev. J. Wagenhals ; at least his succession is the information given to the writer. No records are known to be in existence, and I can neither fix the exact year of the first formation of the Society, nor the number and names of the constituent members. The ground was deeded to the church by Jacob Beck, the elder, first member.

The Society subsequently built a two-story log church edifice on the site of their present brick building, somjtimes spoken of as the Canal Church. Subsequently this log structure was removed, and a two-story brick substituted. This was destroyed by fire in 1846. This church was incorporated by act of the Legislature in 1840. The names of the incorporators were : Henry Arnold, Geo. W. Bantler, Christian Baesster, Christian Baughman, Henry Orman, Philip Bope and Coonrod Crumley.

After the burning of the brick church in 1846, the- GTerman members purchased the ground and built the present church building. The ministers who have filled the pulpit since the retirement of Rev. John Wagenhals were : Rev. H. Burcher, Rev. Leon Hart, Rev. Speilman and Rev. Mechling, present pastor. Present membership, 600.

First English Lutheran Church Op Lancaster

The first English Lutheran Church of Lancaster was organized as a distinctive congregation, in the year 1843, with a constituent membership of about twenty persons. The organization was effected by the withdrawal of the English members from the parent church of St. Peter's, in part. For about three years after the separation, the two societies continued to worship in the same house. After the building was burned, in 1846, the English, having sold out their interest to the Germans, purchased ground on Columbus street, and erected upon it the same church edifice in which they, now meet. The house was built in 1846. The succession of pastors, from 1843 to 1876, has been as follows :

Rev. John McCron, one year ; Rev. Charles F. Shaefifer, three years ; Rev. A. J. Weddle, three years ; Rev. L. Kizer, one year; Rev. J. Hamilton, two years; Rev. J. F. Reindmond, seven years; Rev. Samuel Sprecher, two years; Rev. N. J. Knisely, two years ; Rev. Charles Steck, one year ; Rev. John B. Helwig, four years ; Rev. John O. Hough, one year ; Rev. G. W. Halderman, six years.

The membership in 1876 is computed at about two hundred persons, there remaining in the body about half a dozen of the original members. The foregoing statements have been furnished me by the present pastor, Rev. G. W. Halderman.

German Reform Church

I am indebted to the courtesy of Mr. Emanuel Giesy, for the following synopsis of the history of the German Reform Church in Lancaster, which he obtained from the church records. I insert his letter entire :

De. H. Scott: The following notes may be of use to you, as in reply to your request. The German Reform Church of Lancaster was organized by the Rev. George Wise, about the first of October, 1816, with twenty members, and he continued to be its pastor up to the year 1838. During that time he also preached to other congregations in Ross, Pickaway, Hocking, Perry, Licking and Franklin counties.

In March, 1818, the congregation purchased a lot in Carpenter's Addition, on Columhus street, and built a house of worship, which was first used as a school-house, but was, in 1832, dedicated to the service of God as a house of worship. In this house the congregation continued to worship until 1845, in which year their new church on Chestnut street being completed, they moved into it. Mr. Wise was succeeded by the Rev. Henry Willard, who filled the pulpit six years, and .was succeeded by Rev. Jesse Steiner. He was succeeded by Eev. Jeremiah Good, who served the congregation three years ; and was succeeded by Eev. Henry BrinkerhofF, serving the congregation two years; and was succeeded by Rev. John Rike, who died in the midst with his armor fully polished. Mr. Rike was succeeded by Rev. P. D. Schory ; and he by Rev. G. W. Meckling, who was succeeded by Eev. H. Hock man. After him came Rev. John Swander, who was followed by Rev. L. Strassman; and on the first of April, 1872, the Rev. Wm. Hale, the present pastor, settled in the congregation. The name of the church edifice was, shortly after the coming of Mr. Hale, changed to Grace Reform Church. The present membership is 225.

The first German Evangelical Lutharan congregation of unaltered Ogsburg confession was organized in Lancaster, 0., on January 31st, 1849, the constituent members being twelve in number Rev. F. W. Richman was the first pastor. Succeeding him have been the following ministers, in the order in which their names occur. The dates refer to the year when each pastor took charge :

This church was constituted by withdrawing members from St. Peters' Lutheran Church, in the year 1849. The primary object of the withdrawal, as set forth, was, to institute purely German services. Immediately after the separation, the members of Immanuel's Church purchased a lot on Cliestnut street, between Broad and High streets, and proceeded forthwith to erect a church building, which being completed, was dedicated as a house of worship in 1852.

This organization recognizes a voting qualification, viz. : only male members of the age of twenty-one years and upwards exercise that franchise. Of these, there are in the congregation seventy. The communing members of the congregation, in 1876, upon the return of Rev. Mr. Frank, numbered two

Catholic Church Letter Of Hon. P. B. Ewing

" In 1864 the new church, the large and elegant edifice now occupied by the congregation, was completed. In the same year the old brick church was remodeled for use as a parochial school.

" A small frame building for a pastoral residence was built in 1844, adjoining the old brick church. This building was removed to the eastern side of the church property, and a substantial brick addition made thereto in 1868, making the present pastoral residence.

"Until 18.39 the congregation was under the care of the Dominican Fathers of St. Joseph's, Perry County. In that year the Rev. J. M. Young was sent by the Bishop of Cincinnati, and remained in charge for fifteen years, until 1854. when he was promoted to the new See of Erie. He was succeeded here by the Rev. Henry Lange, who remained for ten years, and until his death early in 1864. Rev. J. W. Brumraer was temporarily in charge for a few months, and was succeeded in August by Rev. Bernard Evers, who, on account of failing health, returned to Cincinnati in the early part of the next year, where he died soon after.

" Rev. Dr. Daniel O'Regan came in May, 1865, and was here something more than two years, when ill-health compelled him to relinquish labor. He joined his family in Dubuque, Iowa, and died there.

" The next in order was Rev. F. J. Rudolph, who remained from July, 1867, until May, 1868, when, on the division of the Diocese of Cincinnati, he preferred to retire to that part of it remaining under the Archbishop of Cincinnati.

"Rev. Louis Decailly came in 1868, and remained until the early part of 1874, when he was transferred to Newark, and was succeeded here by Rev. N. E. Pilger. Father Pilger remained only a few months, when he was transferred to Delaware, and Rev. J. B. Schmidt took charge of the congregation, where he still remains.

" In June, 1875, Rev. Gabriel Volkert was assigned as assistant pastor, and served until his death here in September of the same year, when Rev. F. J. Campbell was appointed to the place.

" The Parochial School has an average attendance of two hundred and twenty, who are instructed by a corps of four Dominican Sisters, and one male teacher for the large boys.

"The St. Mary's congregation, aggregating about sixteen hundred souls, numbers 260 families, with an annual average of fifteen marriages and seventy-five baptisms.

"Missions. - As the Lancaster congregation Increased in numbers, it was found desirable to establish three mission churches in the southern part of the county. Afterwards a resident priest was assigned to their exclusive care.

"At the 'Sacred Heart' Chapel, near Bremen, there are twenty-eight families; at 'St. Joseph's,' near Sugar Grove, there are thirty-two families ; and forty families at the chapel of ' Our Lady of Good Hope,' in the south-eastern corner of the county."

Omish Mennonite Church

To Joseph Kurtz, of Pleasant TownsMp, I am indebted for valuable aid in collecting notes of hi.story of this religious denomination in Fairfield County, sometimes improperly called the "Ormish Church."

Simon Menno was a Catholic priest of Switzerland, where he was born in the town of Friesland, in Mitmarsum, in the year 1495. At the breaking out of the reformation of the sixteenth century, he dissented from the Catholic church, and became the compeer of Luther, Malangthon, Zwinglius, and others, in carrying on that great work. He soon secured a numerous constituency, among whom, of his immediate disciples, were also many learned and influential men. Hence the denomination known as Mennonites.

Jacob Amen

Jacob Amen was also a native of Switzerland, and a zealous preacher of the Mennonite doctrine. He flourished during the seventeenth century. He was not the founder of a sect, strictly, though he taught some views differing with Simon Meno, therebj' securing personal followers. This was the origin of the Omish, or Amish Church, the name deriving from Jacob Amen ; and in the United States the title they assume is that of Omish Mennonite. They maintain a distinct church organization, nevertheless. In 1848, there were estimated to be in the United States one hundred and twenty-five thousand Mennonites, including the adherents of Jacob Amen.

The Omish Mennonite Order have some distinctive views and practices that merit special mention. They administer baptism by pouring. They hold war to be forbidden by the authority of Christ. They pay no fixed salaries to their preachers. They will not take an oath, nor resist force by force. They do not allow one of their members to become a public charge, but provide for the poor within the church. Any member in regular standing has the right to speak in the public congregation, and expound the Scriptures. In gen- eral doctrine, such as the incarnation, the atonement, the trinity, and regeneration hy the new, or spiritual birth, they are accredited as being orthodox. Their public worship is conducted similar to all other orthodox denominations of the Evangelical branches of the Christian Church.

The Ornish Mennonite Church took its origin in Fairfield County in 1834. The*pTincipal settlement of them has been in Pleasant and Berne townships. In former years they were more numerous than at present, their numbers having diminished chiefly by moving away. They have at present no church building, but hold their meetings in private houses.

Within the history of the church in Fairfield County, the following preachers have resided among them : David Zook, Bishop ; Jonathan Zook, Jacob Hartzler, Rev. Gingrich, David Hartzler. Joseph Yoder and Solomon Stutzman. At present. May, 1877, Jonathan Zook is their preacher.

They assume the plain, or Quaker garb, and are everywhere recognized by their dress. Their intercourse is at all times friendly and assuring ; and in their dealings they are faithful, and, as a rule, strictly reliable. This is a cardinal part of their religion. Sober and temperate in their lives, they command the confidence and respect of the community. As a rule, they are industrious and frugal, and it would be very rare to find an idler among that people, commonly spoken of as the " Ormish. " By common reputation, the Omish women have acquired the reputation of being very superior buttei'- makers. And such is their known faithfulness, that the word of an Ormish man is always current in all his contracts.

The denomination commonly spoken of as "Albrights," but properly the Evangelical Association, had its beginning as a distinctive church organization first in the State of Pennsylvania, about the year 1800. The first members were called "Albrecht's Leute" (Albright people), after Jacob Albright, the founder of the church. Mr. Albright was converted in 1790, and during the succeeding ten years preached and exhorted more or less until, about 1800, he had a great many followers, when he founded a society with the above title. At first the membership was confined to the Germans, because all their services were held in that language.

In doctrine and creed the " Association " is Armenian and Evangelical. Their itenerancy and forms of government, as likewise their modes of worship, are very much like the Methodists. From their organization, and during their weakness in numerical force, they suffered the usual persecutions of new sects, until now, in 1877, they have acquired a strengtli and popularity that places them among the leading Protestant denominations of the world.

The following letter, kindly prepared for me by Rev. Andrew , Swartz, furnishes the history of the Evangelical Association in Fairfield County :

In the year A. D. 1816, the first missionary visited this county, viz. : Frederick Shower, father of the Shower brothers who are now doing a successful business in the shoe and boot trade in Lancaster.

He commenced operations on Big Rush Creek, among the Swartz and Einsel families. An organization was soon formed in that neighborhood, followed by others in Greenfield and Liberty townships. After a few years the first circuit was formed, bearing the name of Lancaster Circuit, but embracing portions of Fairfield, Hocking, Boss, Pickaway and Franklin counties.

For a number of years the meetings of the society were held principally in private houses. The first church edifice of the denomination in this county was erected on the land of Mr. John Bright, on Poplar Creek, Liberty Township, about the year 1830. For the first forty years of her labors among our population, her exercises were conducted almost exclusively in the German language, and as a consequence her increase in membership was not as rapid as might have been expected, had the religious exercises been conducted in the language of our country.

About twenty years ago the Pennsylvania element of our church, which formed the basis of the several societies in the county, waked up to the importance of saving the youth for the church of their choice, and yielded their own preference in language for the benefit of their children. The growth and development of the denomination has been more rapid since said change was efiected. Old societies have been strengthened, and a number of new ones formed. The denomination now numbers fifteen societies in Fairfield County, each one having their own house of worship; and there are now five resident pastors in the

The denomination has its strongest hold in Liberty Township, where, in the last two years, over eight thousand dollars have been raised for new church edifices.

There is a Sabbath -School in connection with almost every society, into which schools nearly one thousand children and youth are gathered every Sabbath. By this it will be seen, that the Evangelical Association has a bright future in Old Fairfield. That she may live and prosper, and be made a great blessing to our population for all time, is the. earnest wish, sincere desire, and fervent prayer of the writer.

Bunker Church

I obtain the following history of the Dunker denomination of Christians in Fairfield County from John Hunsacker, of Rush Creek Township, he having been a preacher and bishop in the order for many years. The society at one time numbered about one hundred members, but at present, viz. ; in May, 1877, their number is reduced to about seventy, chiefly by emigration. They have three church buildings - one, a mile and a quarter south of Bremen; one, eight miles south-west of Bremen; and one on Durbin Run, five miles south-west from Bremen. The title they assume is, the " Brethren Church" the name Dunker, or Tunker, having been applied to them derisively, as will presently be seen. There is no other society of the Brethren in Fairfield County besides that on Rush Creek and the Raccoon.

They have been styled " Die Tceufer" or Baptists, the German words. Die Tceufer, meaning to dip, because they baptize by dipping, or plunging under the water. The ordinance is administered by the candidate kneeling in the water, while the administrator plunges the body forward, head foremost, three times, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost ; hence Tosufer, or dipper. For the same reason they have sometimes been called tumblers.

The origin of the order was in Germany, soon after the beginning of the great reformation; and from their mode of baptism they were sometimes called German Baptists. Their first emigration to America was in the fall of 1819, when about twenty families came over and landed first in Philadelphia.

The denomination has peculiarities that deserve special mention. First, their genc-al doctrines are Armenian. They have no written or published creed, -but take their title from Matt, xxiii, 8 - " One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren." Their dress is the plain Quaker garb. They likewise use a plain and unostentatious form of speech. They will neither take an oath nor go to war. They do not go to law, nor take interest for money loaned. [This rule has been modified so that sometimes now they take lawful interest, but never from their poorer brethren. - Ed.J The men commonly wear their beards long. They celebrate the Lord's Supper with love-feast, washing of feet, kiss of charity and the right-hand

In referring to this denomination, the Rev. E. Winchester, English Missionary, says : " They are industrious, sober, temperate, kind, charitable people, envying not the great, nor despising the mean. They read much ; they sing and pray much ; they are constant attendants upon the worship of God. Their dwelling-houses are all houses of prayer. They walk in the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly, both in public and private. They bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The law of kindness is in their mouths ; no sourness nor morosenesa disgraces their religion; and whatsoever they believe their Savior commands, they practice, without inquiring jor regarding what others do." It is their custom, and they hold it a religious duty, at their big meetings, to spread a large table and feed the " multitude."

The first establishment of the Dunker, or Brethren denomination, in Fairfield County, was about the year 1809, on Rush Creek and the Raccoon in the eastern part ; and the number of the constituent members was about twenty-five. The following are the names of the principal members at that time : Casper Hufibrd and wife; Isaac Beery and wife; John Beery and wife; Henry Beery and wife; Solomon HuSbrd and wife; Daniel Hartsough and wife ; George Bright and wife ; Frederick Friezner and wife ; Jacob Hunsaker and wife; Abraham Beery and wife; Jacob Stoner and wife; John Miricle and wife; Abraham Huflford and wife ; Sally Hartsough; and per-, haps a few others not remembered.

Their first preachers were (they do not use the prefix Rev.) : Elijah Schofield and Jacob Staley. Sometime after the organization, George Bright and Isaac Beery were chosen as their paeachers ; and, subsequently, Daniel Snider often came from Perry County and preached for them.

In 1938, Philip Stoneburner was established in the church, and continued to preach about ten years, and was succeeded by John Hunsacker, who continued until 1857, when he was ordained Bishop, and continued until 1871. Joseph Hendricks was chosen preacher in 1851, and ordained in 1857. Between 1871 and 1877, Daniel Hartsough, Michael Moore, Abraham

"The German Baptists, or Brethren (Dunkers), have dispersed themselves almost through every State in the Union, more or less, but they are most numerous in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio and Indiana. It would be difficult to give a regular statistical account of these people, as -they make it no part of their duty to keep an exact account of the number of their communicants. * * None of their ministers receive any pecuniary compensation for any services they perform pertaining to the ministry. * * Their ministers will not perform the rites of marriage if there are lawful impediments against it in the parties. "

Probate Judges

The office of Probate Judge, in Ohio, was created in 1852 by the provisions of the new State Constitution adopted in that year. The functions of this Court were previously performed by the Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, and by the Associate Judges. Marriage licenses, previous to the Constitution of 1852, were issued by the Clerk of the Court.

The first Probate Judge elected was Joel Rodibaugh, in 1852. Before his term expired he resigned, and Jesse Leohner was appointed to serve out the time. In 1854, Virgil E. Shaw was elected, and held the office three years. In 1857, Jesse Loehner was elected, and re-elected the two succeeding terms, serving, in all, nine years, or up to 1866. In 1866, Abram Seifert was elected, and re-elected in 1868, bringing the time up to 1872, when Wm. T. Rigley was elected - and again in 1875 - and is the present incumbent. The term of the office, as fixed by the Constitution, is three years.

Clerks Of Court Of Common Pleas

Hugh Boyl was appointed Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas for Fairfield County at its first session in 1803, and served uninterruptedly until about 1833, when Dr. M. Z. Kreider was appointed in his place, who served up to 1842. Joel Rodibaugh was then appointed, and held the office until the adoption of the new Constitution, in 1852. By the provisions of the new Constitution, the Clerkship became an elective office, and Martin Cagy was first elected, and served the first Constitutional term of three years. John Radibaugh succeeded him, serving also three years. John C. Rainey was next elected for the two succeeding terms, aggregating six years. After him Jesse Vandemark held the office six years, followed by Chas. F. Rainey six years, his second term expiring in February, 1876. In October, 1875, George Grabill was elected, assuming his office upon the expiration of Mr. C. F. Rainey's second term, in February, 1876.

Among those known to have served as Sherifis of Fairfield County previous to 1820, is George Sanderson and William Crook, but whose term of office, or the exact date, I have been unable to fix.

The office of County Treasurer, properly, was created by law in 1828. Previous to that time, tax collectors were appointed by the County Commissioners, viz. : from 1802 to 1827. During that time of twenty-five years, the taxes were so collected and paid over to the treasurers, who, I believe, were also appointed, but I have been able to learn only two or three of their names from tradition, the only source of information in the absence of records. Since 1828, the list of County Treasurers for Fairfield County stands as follows :

When Jacob Beck went out of office, in 1837, and when his settlements with the Commissioners and the State had been completed, he found he had on hand a surplus sum of between four and five hundred dollars. His accounts were all closed, and the question was, where did the money belong ? He insisted it belonged to the State. His political adversaries wanted to charge him with irregularity. It subsequently turned out that the State Auditor had erroneously transferred that amount from Muskingum to Fairfield County school fund.

County Surveyors

Previous to the year 1823, there does not seem to have been any legally constituted Surveyors for the County of Fairfield. Since that time the following men have served as County Surveyors, in the order and time below :

The foregoing record of Probate Judges, Clerks of the Court, and County Surveyors, is completed up to the year 1876. In compiling the succession of other county officers I have experienced difficulties, some of which, after much labor and patient research, I am compelled to regard as insurmountable. The files of the Ohio Eagle between 1810 and 1838 are wanting. From them we could have shown the annual and biennial election of officers. In the Gazette office the files are still more incomplete. The Court-house records are so voluminous and miscellaneously disposed, as to render the research too onerous to be undertaken clear through the seventy'-six years of the civil historj"- of Fairfield County. I am, nevertheless, under great obligations to the county officers for their kindness in affording me help in the prosecution of my researches during the last year, by which I have obtained valuable information. The files of the Eagle from 1838 down, are complete, with the exception of one volume and a few mutilations. Following are the dates of the election of the respective officers, which I have no doubt are entirely correct:

County Auditors

After the most thorough search through the Court-house records, I have been unable to go behind 1820 in the list of Fairfield County Auditors, as follows :

Prosecuting Attorneys County Recorders

Hugh Boyl, Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, did the recording of the County, in connection with the County Clerkship, up to about 1830, as is supposed, when Wm. Gruber was appointed, and after him Henry Miers. These latter two men filled up the interregnum between Hugh Boyl and Mr. King,,

Judges Of Courts Of Common Pleas

Alexander H. Keith was Judge of Common Pleas for Fairfield County from about 1837 to 1850. Henry C. Whitman succeeded him, and remained on the bench until about 1860 or 1861, when he resigned, arid P. B. Ewing was appointed to fill out his time. In 1862, Philadelphus Van Trump was elected, serving until his election to Congress in 1867, when Silas H. Wright was chosen, and has continued up to this time.

Judges Swan and Grimpky preceded Judge Keith, but their time I have not the means of fixing definitely. In a former chapter we have given several of the early Judges of the Common Pleas, beginning with Judge Wyley Silliman, who opened the first Common Pleas in Fairfield in the year 1803. Following him was Judge Belt, and then Robert F. Slaughter, who was on the bench a number of years.

A Band Of Horse-Thieves, And How They Were Broken Up

The following statement, in substance, has been given me by more than one of the older citizens, and is therefore probably correct in its main features, as I find only slight discrepancies by the different narrators :

The time of the occurrence was not far from 1820 - perhaps a little later. There was a band of horse-thieves and counterfiters infesting the southern portion of Fairfield County, and the country below. Possibly some of them lived in surrounding counties ; but, be that as it may have been, their place of rendezvous was ascertained to be three or four miles south, or south-west of Lancaster, in what is commonly known a'S " Sleepy Hollow." The number of the thieves was not exactly known, but it came to be understood that six or eight of them were in the habit of meeting at a house in Sleepy Hollow. They were rough and desperate characters, and their leader,

Several attempts to make arrests and break up the lodge had been unsuccessful, the villains defying all law and all the posse that had undertaken their capture. Thomas Ewing was the Prosecuting Attorney for the county at the time of the final descent upon their den, and upon report being made that they could not be taken, he said the conclave must be broken up, and asked that he might be deputized as special constable for the occasion. His request was granted, and having, by some method, best known to himself, learned the night and place of their meeting, he proceeded to select and orgariize his posse comitatus, composed in part of the following names : Nathaniel Red, Christian Neibling, Adam Weaver, Christian King, David Reece and Elenathan Schofield. At a suitable hour, when the darkness of night had " in her sombre mantle all things clad," the company, equipped with ropes and other implements that might be needed in the execution of their mission, mounted their horses and proceeded down through the hills in the direction of the cabin where they expected to find their birds.

Having arrived in the vicinity of the lodge, they halted under the cover of a thicket, and began the reconnoiter. They soon found that they were on the right track, and having matured their plans, they surrounded the house silently, and bursting the door, rushed in without giving a moment's time to extinguish lights or attempt escape. The thieves were holding their conclave in the second story, and instantly each deputy attacked his man, Mr. Ewing selecting the leader as the most powerful man of them all. Within a very brief space of time every man of the robbers was securely bound, with a single exception - Mr. Schofield's adversary was about proving too much for him, which fact coming to Mr. Ewing's notice, he at once went to his assistance. While the tying of this last man was in progress, the leader, who had regained his feet, threw himself backwards through the window, bound as he was, and, strange to say, actually succeeded in making good his escape. It was a fearful risk, but he did it, and was never subsequently heard tell of. It was supposed that he was assisted by the women below. The balance of the robbers were taken to town and lodged in jail, and subsequently, I believe, every one sent to the Penitentiary.

I have given this story as it has been given to me. It maybe relied on as true; at least in outline and in the principal facts. The men selected by Mr. Ewing as his posse were all men of herculean strength and undaunted courage; but to himself, undoubtedly, belonged the credit of the success of the enterprise, and of the clearing of the country of the bandits.

Hocking Canal History

The response of Major B. W. Carlisle to the toast, " The Hocking Canal, " given at the Hocking Sentinel anniversary, held at the Remple House, in Logan, on the 26th of April, 1877, is of such value as a part of the history of Fairfield County, that I here insert it entire. Also the letter of Gen. Thomas Ewing, addressed, on the same occasion :

Response Of Mr. Carlisle

" In response to the sentiment assigned us, we beg to indulge while we review in abstract, and briefly, the history and reminiscences of the Hocking Canal. Its history, though brief, and to some probably monotonous and uninteresting, is fraught with facts important to, and well remembered by the pioneers of the Hockhocking. We call upon you friends who have lived for two and a half or threescore years in this beautiful valley of ' milk and honey, ' to return with us upon the wings of memory and hear again the shouts of joy echoing through the length and breadth of this valley, as we heard them in the earliest days of our settlement.

" The first part of the Hocking Canal was built by the Lancaster Lateral Canal Company, from Lancaster to Carroll, there forming a junction with the Ohio Canal. The Lancaster Lateral Canal was put under contract in 1832, by Samuel F. McCracken, .Jacob Greene, E. Schofield, Benjamin Connell, and others, with F. A. Foster as Secretary. This piece of canal, known as the 'Side Cut,' was completed, and the first boats towed into Lancaster on the 4th day of July, in 1835, or 1886, amidst the booming of cannons, beating of drums, and the wafting to the breeze of flags and banners, and being witnessed by some ten thousand of Fairfield's yeomanry, who were assembled at the Cold Spring Hill, near Lancaster, where there was a roasted ox and a free dinner served ; and after which the Greenes, Bill Furguson, and others, indulged in the popular exercise of fisticuffs.

" Up to this period (1836), our farmers usually got from 25 to 40 cents for wheat, but many of them became rich from prices received for their surplus products afterward. Lancaster was then one of the large commercial cities of the country, getting all the grain from most parts of the county, as well as from parts of Perry, Hocking and Pickaway counties. There were nine dry goods stores, all doing a large business.

" In March, 1838, an act was passed by the Legislature of the State, authorizing the then Commissioners to purchase the Side Cut from its owners. On April 6th, 1838, a committee was appointed to confer with the Lancaster Company and negotiate terms; and on the 22d of December, 1838, a contract was matured for the same, at a cost of $61,241.04. " The Hocking Canal was projected and put under contract by the Board of Public Works, in 1836, that Board having just been made to substitute the Canal Commissioner of the State. Sixteen and one-half miles, being from Lancaster to Bowner's Lock, was put under contract in 1837, and to be completed in 1839. And that portion from Bowner's Lock to Nelsonville, being sixteen and one-half miles, was put under contract in October, 1837, and to be completed in 1839, but was not completed until 1840. In September of this year the first boats loaded -with coal came out of the Hocking, and served as a curiosity to most of the upper valley citizens, who had never seen stone-coal. In 1841, the canal was completed to Monday Creek, being forty-four miles from Carroll ; and from Monday Creek to Athens completed and boats running through in 1841.

"To the opening of this canal, Lancaster, Logan, Nelsonville and Athens owe their principal prosperity, in affording an opening for the importation of their goods, and the exportation of their grain, pork, lumber, salt and various minerals of the Hocking Valley. Hemmed in as you were by towering hills, your agricultural wealth was unobserved, your mineral wealth unknown. To the Hocking Canal you owe your introduction to the world without. Through the medium of the canal, a market was brought near, and the latent wealth of your hills was then developed, and the beautiful hills of the Hockhocking became the 'hub" of the mineral wealth of Ohio.

" By the introduction of this old water-horse (the canal), the longhidden treasures of mineral wealth of this valley were brought into notice and general use ; manufactories built up in all the contiguous towns and territories, thus affording employment to a large and needy class of mechanics, and the employment of an equal number of laborers in penetrating the bowels of the earth for fuel, and the employment of horses, boats and men, to ship the fuel all along the line of our canals, and enriching pnany of the citizens of the Hocking Valley.

" Allow me to say, in conclusion, that although the iron-horse moves majestically along the valley, bearing the greater share of your trade, yet the old water-horse still lives and possesses a large amount of vitality, and is therefore not yet ready to be turned out to die, as some would have him. And if any inanimate object were capable of awakening in the human breast sentiments of gratitude and esteem, these, the citi-- zens of the Hocking Valley owe to the canal."

Letter Of General Ewing

Eds. Sentinel - Gentlemen : But for unexpected business calling me elsewhere, I would' have attended the anniversary banquet to-night, to join your other friends in bragging of the success and promise of the Sentinel, and of the wonderful region, in the development of which it has had, and will yet have, an important part. We who were born in the Hocking Valley always knew, and "the rest of mankind" are fast finding out, that it is one of the choicest regions ever fashioned by the Almighty for the abode of man. Kich, healthful and beautiful, she

Yet she attracts us more by what she is than what she is soon to be - for all men love to be associated with the birth of great events and industries. The most western out line of the Apalachian basin, this coal and iron region, began six years ago to furnish light, heat and power, to the cities and towns of the great agricultural plain of the North-west ; and now it is about to become, not only their coal-yard, but their work-shop. The hard times, by means of which the usurers are crushing and robbing the industrial classes, have only demonstrated its unequaled capabilities for making cheap iron ; and great industries perishing elsewhere, are being transplanted here, where even the blight of forced resumption can't kill them.

It needs no seer to predict, that before the editors of the Sentinel shall have grown grey in the cause of Democracy and the country, every hill-top of this region will be teeming with husbandmen, every depth with diggers of coals and ores ; while the clang and roar of mills and furnaces will make each valley resonant - a busy hive, which, in time, as my father long ago predicted, will surpass in numbers and prosperous industry any equal space on earth.

Thomas Ewing Typhoid Epidemic

The oldest citizens of Lancaster describe a typhoid epidemic that prevailed in the village in the fall of the year 1823. Its ravages are believed not to have been exceeded on the continent at any age, or by any visitation of epidemic disease, not even excepting the cholera. No'direct or remote cause could be assigned. It prevailed largely among the prominent and better conditioned citizens. It is spoken of as having decimated the town, which means one death out of every ten citizens. One gentleman thinks the mortality exceeded even that proportion. If one should inspect the grave-stones of the old grave-yards in the vicinity of Lancaster, he would be surprised at the number of stones bearing date of 1823, most of the occupants having fell by the epidemic of that year. No similar disease and mortality has subsequently visited the place. It is said that some portion of the time there were not well persons enough to nurse the sick and bury the dead.

Governors of Ohio from Fairfield County, from the organization of the State up to 1876. - William Medill was elected Lieutenant Governor of Ohio in the fall of 1851. His term began in January, 1852. He was Acting-Governor the latter part of

Judges of the Supreme Court under the Constitution of 1802. - William W. Irvin, of Lancaster, was appointed to the Supreme Bench in the early years of the State, but the exact year does not appear upon the records.

Charles R. Sherman, of Lancaster, was also on the bench. He was appointed to fill the place of John McLain, of Warren County, who resigned on the llth of January, 1823. Mr. Sherman was Judge at the time of his death, at Lebanon, in 1829.

Hocking H. Hunter was elected to the Supreme Judgeship for the District of Ohio, under the Constitution of 1851, but resigned before taking his seat.

U. S. Senators. - Thomas Ewing was first elected to the Senate of the United States to fill the place made vacant by the resignation of Thomas Corwin, in 1831, and served till 1837. He was again Senator from 1850 to 1851.

Members of Congress. - The following are the men who have been elected to the Lower House of Congress from Fairfield since the admission of the State into the Union, in 1802:

Officers of the year 1876. - State Senate, Robert E. Reece (District) ; Representative, Adam Seifert; Judge of Common Pleas, Silas H. Wright; Probate Judge, Wm. L. Bigby; Clerk of Court, Geo. W. Grabill ; Auditor, John C. Hite ; Treasurer, Gilbert ShaefFer ; Recorder, Timothy Fishbaugh ; Sheriff, Wm. Bush; Prosecuting Attorney, John Reeves; Commissioners, Thomas Barr, Caleb Moore and William Fink.

John Beasley (this seat was contested and given to .Joseph Darlington early in the session), Joseph Buell, William Buchanan, Nathaniel Massie, Abraham Claypool, Francis Dunlavy, Jeremiah Morrow, John Paul, Daniel Symmes, Samuel Hunting, Zenan Kimberly, Razaliel Wells, William Vance.

In the month of December, 1803, Fairfield County contained, by official report, 1,051 free white male inhabitants over the age of 21 years. (The word "free" was used because at that time there were in the county redemptionists - persons who had been sold to service to jiay their passage from the old country). In 1807 it contained 2,166 free white males above the age of 21 years.

1826 - This year there were four candidates who were voted for, as follows, in Fairfield - Allen Trimble, 2,609; John Bigger, 6; Alexander Campbell, 14; and Benjamin Tappin, 2.

1832 - This year we give the votes cast in Fairfield for President of the United States, thus : Andrew Jackson received 2,648 votes ; Henry Clay received 1,274 ; Mr. Wirt, Anti-Mason candidate, received 2 votes.

1856 - This year the vote for Attoi ney General is given : Christopher P. Wolcott (Rep.), 1,631; Samuel M. Hart (Dem.), 3,095 ; John M. Bush (Know-Nothing), 581.

1870 - In 1870, the candidates for Governor in Ohio, were Rutherford B. Hayes (Rep), and George H. Pendleton (Dem.) Hayes received in Fairfield County 2,144 votes; and Pendleton 3,831 votes.

Nationality

The German element of nationality predominates in Fairfield County. The first emigrants were largely from Pennsjdvania, especially in and near Lancaster. These almost entirely spoke the German language ; and some of the first schools were purely in that language. Subsequently, the county became the center of immigration from the Fatherland, including Swiss and Hollanders, so that probably to-day every provincialism of the Teutonic language is spoken within the limits of Fairfield County.

Next to Pennsylvania, Virginia and Kentucky contributed to the early settlement of the county. A few came from the more southern States, and afterward Maryland supplied many good citizens. There is, perhaps, not one of the original States that is not represented - New England, probably, furnishing the fewest number. And there is, perhaps, no civilized trans-Atlantic country that is not represented here, and whose language is not spoken.

From the following tables a very just estimate may be formed of the average births and deaths in a given population within a given time. The figures are obtained from the Assessors' returns for the spring of 1877, and including one year :

And Fourteen Years Ago

To Judge G. W. Leith, of Nevada, Wyandot County, Ohio, I am indebted for the following passage from the life and highly romantic career of his grandfather, John Leith. The narration concerns so intimately the history of Fairfield County, that it deserves a place. It will be seen that it will not do to say that the Marietta and Hocking scouts, previous to the beginning of the nineteenth century, were the first white men that ever trod the Valley of the Hockhocking.

" John Leith was born in the city of Leith, Scotland. His parents being of the Huguenots who emigrated to South Carolina near the middle of the eighteenth century, where they died soon after, he was left without relatives. He was put to learn the tailoring business, but soon became dissatisfied and ran away. At Little York, Pennsylvania, he hired with an Indian trader, and went with him to Fort Pitt (Pittsburg). Soon after, together, they .took a stock of suitable goods and started west, and in due time arrived at the Valley of the Hocking and opened a trade with the Delawares and Wyandots, on the very spot where Lancaster now stands, and it is thought near the foot of Mount Pleasant.

" He had not been there long when he felt a strong desire to return to South Carolina, and resolved to do so; and when he had made his determination known to his employer, the latter proposed to him that he wished to go to Fort Pitt to dispose of the large stock of furs and skins he had on hand, and that if he (Leith) would remain and take care of the stores until he returned, he would send him under the guidance of an Indian back to Carolina by a near route. This was agreed to, and the trader took his departure.

"He had not been long gone when the Indians informed Leith that the whites were marching on them in force to destroy them, and that he must be adopted and go with them, or die. He was adopted, and the remnant of the goods was parceled out among the tribe, and they left for the north.

"He was a captive among the Indians twenty-nine years. He married a white captive girl, by the nameof Sallie Lowry; and in 1791, with his wife and two children, made his escape, and succeeded in reaching Pittsburg, closely pursued by his captors. There was >a sister of his wife, also a captive, who was subsequently married to the father of the late Thomas McNaughten, of Walnut Township.

"About the year 1810, John Leith moved into Walnut Township, of this county, where he died about the year 1837, and was buried in the Methodist grave-yard at New Salem. His son, who was the father of Judge Leith, of Wyandot, as well as the Judge, were, I believe, citizens for a time of Walnut Township.

"The occurrence of the traffic with the Indians at Mount Pleasant, was in 1763, just one hundred and fourteen years ago, and thirty-five years before Joseph Hunter built the first cabin on the Hockhocking."

The townships assessed for taxation in 1806, and which have already been incorporated into this volume, were Hocking, Berne, Bloom, Clear Creek, Greenfield, Licking, Amanda, Pleasant, Clinton, Thorn and Richland. There were several other townships belonging to the county at that time that do not seem to have been taxed ; at least the County records show no evidence that they were. Among these were Salt Creek, Jackson, Falls and Redding, none of which were stricken off previous to 1806. Licking County was the first border county to be organized, which took place in 1808. Pickaway and Hocking were incorporated a little later, and Perry in 1817. This took off several townships, which contracted Fairfield County to pretty near its .present bounds.

It seems a little strange, however, that Rush Creek Town- " ship does not appear among the assessed townships for that year, for it was organized in 1804. There were two purposes contemplated in transcribing the names of the tax-payers into this history by townships : first, to exhibit the financial condition of the county in its incipient state; but especially to show who were the early settlers, and in what townships and neighborhoods they settled. Rush Creek was one of the earliest settled townships in the county, and has always been, and is now, within the present Fairfield County. It is, moreover, among the wealthiest and most populous townships in the county. The second end, however, viz. : to give reference to the names and location of early settlers, will be found to be accomplished if the reader will search the alphabetical lists in Berne, Pleasant and Richland, where he will find all, or most of the names of the early settlers of the territory constituting the present Rush Creek Township, which goes to show that that township was made up from these three townships. Here we are obliged to leave the matter without further explanation.

Land Tax

- In addition to the chattel tax of 1806, mentioned in the assessments already given, a land tax was assessed and collected in the same year, amounting to about nine hundred and fifty dollars ($950), which, added to the chattel-tax, as before, aggregates the sum of about two thousand dollars ($2,000). -A further evidence that Rush Creek had not yet been separated from the other townships as a distinct municipalitJ^ is found in the fact that the land assessments were made on the same townships, numbering eleven.

Philip Binninger

In noticing the business men and industries of Lancaster in the year 1876, by a strange inadvertence the establishment of Mr. Binninger was omitted among the list of jewelers and Avatch dealers. His business place is on the north side of Main street, opposite the Hocking Valley National Bank.

Winchester

At my strong solicitation, Judge Chaney consented to give me the following ^atement of his private and public life. He remarked that he had often been asked for similar statements, and that he had concluded now, in view of the near approach of the close of his very long and somewhat eventful life, and because he was pleased with the plan and design of the history of Fairfield County, to give me the statement, especially as I assured him that his numerous and life-long friends asked for it.

Statement

" I was born in Washington County, Maryland, on the 12th day of January, 1790. At the age of four years, and at the beginning of my recollections, my father removed to and settled in Bedford County, Pennsylvania. When I was fourteen years old, my father died. The family then consisted of my mother, three sisters, one brother and myself. Three or four months subsequent to my father's death, my brother died. The death of my father left the family very poor. He was a generous man, and underwrote his friends, who were unfortunate, until he lost his farm, which was a good one, and nearly all his loose property. From my fourteenth to my twentieth year the care of the family devolved almost entirely on myself.

" In the fall of the year 1810, I came west to Fairfield County, Ohio, stopping first on the spot where the village of Waterloo now stands, on the Ohio canal. I did not remain there long, but went over into Pickaway County, where I stayed until the fall of 1812, when my health having become poor, I returned to Bedford County, Pennsylvania.

" In the fall of 1815, my health having been restored, I again came west and settled in Bloom Township, near its northern border, in the same community where I have resided up to this time ; my present home being in the village of Canal Winchester, which was a few years since struck off into Franklin County with a tier of sections, the Fairfield line skirting the east border of the village.

" In the fall of 1816, 1 married Mary Ann Lafere, of Bloom Township, and went to housekeeping in a log-cabin fourteen feet square. Its floor was made of rough puncheons split out of forest trees. It had a clapboard roof and clapboard loft, was one low story high, had a stick and mud chimney, wide open fireplace with the primitive back wal],'jams and hearth. It was a very rude and humble home, but we were as happy as kings. Our living was that of the frontier settlers. We worked hard and were poor ; but did not doubt the future, for our aims were set. We intended to live correct and honorable lives, and take the chances of the coming years. There were wolves and wild turkeys in great abundance, and now and then a bear. There were hawks of a great many varieties, which have nearly entirely disappeared ; and the owls were hooting about the woods all the time. The whole country was new and wild. The little farms were small, and fenced in with rails; and the dwelling-houses were log-cabins; and the stables and barns were built of logs.

"At the time of my settlement in Bloom Township, the price of a day's work was a bushel of wheat, or two bushels of corn. Cash was seldom paid for work, and when it was, twenty-five cents a day was the wages. Almost everything was paid for with trade. A few things had to be paid in cash. The taxes were cash; andcoflfee and a few other commodities commanded cash when anybody could get it to pay with. Our markets, whatever they amounted to, were at Lancaster and Franklinton. The little mills of the settlements sometimes went dry, and we had to go all the way to Chillicothe or Zanesville to get our grain ground. The streams were not bridged, and in the muddy seasons of the year the roads were sometimes desperate. I made rails for fifty cents a hundred, and cut cordwood for twenty-five cents a cord.

"Our schools were the primitive schools of the early West. After the passage of the first Ohio School Law, we built a little log school-house at the cornerings of sections 1, 2, 11 and 12. We obtained a lease of the land for that purpose for thirty years. The log school-house stood a great many years, when it was removed, and a brick built on the same ground, which is still standing.

'- We accepted the situation, and struggled on to better times and better life. There were no inducements to change our habitation. Ohio was rapidly filling up, and with every revolving year conditions were improving. Markets were improving, and by slow degrees we began to have better roads. Rough bridges began to be constructed over the smaller streams. The first bridges were made of logs cut from the forests for sills and hutments, and the top, or plaitform, was made of slabs split from sections of trees, and generally hewed to a level, on the upper side, with the broad-ax, ,or leveled down with the foot-adz. These were the first or primitive bridges ; but after saw-mills became plenty, oak planks of the thickness of one and a half or two inches were used for the platform.

There was another method of bridging the low, marshy, or swamp lands. These were called ' pole bridges,' or ' corduroy bridges.' They were common all over the West. The following was the manner of constructing them : Poles or logs were cut from the woods, of the length of ten or twelve feet, and laid down side by side across the road for the distance to be corduroyed. Then on top of this ground-structure was placed a foot or more of earth dug up along the sides, if it were not under water, or hauled in on wagons. This bed of earth filled the space between the logs or poles, and when sufiiciently packed made a passably good road. And it was a part of the work of the Supervisor to repair these roads by adding additional earth when the logs, became too much exposed by wearing or the washing rains.

a condition of nature. We therefore concluded to remain in Bloom Township ; for, however much we might have desired to re-cross the mountains back to my native and older State, we were too poor to do so.

" At the time of my settlement here, I mention the following names, who, with their families, were my predecessors in Bloom, and my neighbors : Abram Piummer, Henry Tumlinson, Henry Dove, Chaney Rickets, Charles Rickets, Rev. Geo. Bennadum, Rev. Elijah Spurgeon, Isaac Meason, Martin Feltner, the Courtrights, Zebulon Lee, Dorsey Meason, Henry Himebaugh, Major Bright, the Glicks, and the Alspaughs.

"In Violet Township I mention: Abram Pickering, Jacob Pickering, Samuel McCoUum, George Wells, George Long, Jonathan Looker, Mordecai Fishbaugh, the Cramers and the Kraners, the Donaldsons, Frederick Bauer. All the foregoing, and others, were residing here in 1812. Not over two or three of them are living now.

" In the early years of my residence in Bloom Township, I bought a mill on Spring Run, near me (Spring Run is fed by three or four springs), where for several years I run a gristmill, a saw-mill, and a distillery, which enabled me to form the acquaintance of a pretty wide circle of citizens.

" At the time of my settlement, the Lutherans and German Reforms were the principal religious denominations of the neighborhood. The Betzer Church was their place of meeting in common. The church is situated four miles north-east of Lithopolis. There was also a church south of Lithopolis, known as the Glick Church. Both are still meeting places.

" I was elected Justice of the Peace in 1821, 1824, and in 1827, serving in all three terms, or nine years. I served as Township Trustee twenty-three years. In the Ohio Militia, old system, I served at various times as Major, Colonel, and Paymaster.

" In the years 1828, 1829, and 1830, 1 was elected to the Legislature as Representative of Fairfield County. In the spring of 1831, the Legislature elected me as one of the Associate Judges of Fairfield County.

" In the fall of 1832 I was elected to the Lower House of Congress, from the district composed of Fairfield, Perry, Morgan and Hockiag counties. Was re-elected from the same district in 1834, and in 1836. In 1842 I was again returned to the Ohio Legislature, Lower House, and was at that session elected Speaker. In 1844 I was elected to the Ohio Senate, the term being two years ; and again in 1855 returned to the Lower House.

" In 1832 my friends placed my name on the Presidential electoral ticket, and I had the honor of helping to make Andrew Jackson President of the United otates. In 1851 I was a member of the Constitutional Convention that framed the present Constitution of the State of Ohio. I am now within a few days of the close of my eighty-eighth year, and in the enjoyment of good health."

From the friends and long acquaintances of Judge Chaney, I have received the information, that never once during his public life did he solicit office. But, when placed in nomination by his political friends, he entered into the spirit of the canvass, and helped the ticket through.

In parting with the venerable Judge, as he grasped my hand cordially, he remarked, whiie his voice swelled up in volume and animation, that, whatever his life laaaj' have been, there was one thing that he was proud of, and that was the good opinions of his neighbors and constituents. That good opinion has been merited. And how blessed it would .be, if every one could say at the close of life, that he, or she, was proud of the good opinions or their acquaintances.

Statement Op B. W. Carlisle

The following is, in substance, the statement of B. W. Carlisle, in regard to his mother and others of the first emigrants into the Hocking Valley :

" Mrs. Sarah Carlisle was a resident of Greenfield Township for the full period of sixty-four years, ending with her death on the 14th of January, 1866, at the residence of her son. She was one of the pioneer mothers of this county. She, with her father's family, in true pioneer fashion, came with wagons, rifle-guns and trusty dogs, passing through where the city of Lancaster now stands, when nothing was there but an un-

This was in 1799. Across the prairie, near the present residence of Mr. Mithoff, was a small encampment of Indians. "Her father, John Edwards, located on Buckskin, westof Chillicothe, in that year, where she underwent the hardships and enjoyed the novelties of pioneer life, until the fall of 1802, when she was married to James Wilson, brother of old Colonel Robert and Nathaniel Wilson, formerly residents of Hocking Township. " She moved with her husband oh the farm now owiled by her son, B. W. Carlisle, in Greenfield Township, the same j^ear of her marriage. In 1807, she was left a widow by the death of Mr. Wilson.

" Subsequently, she was united in marriage to Thomas Carlisle, on the 23d day of January, 1813, with whom she lived umtil the fall of 1844, when she was again left a widow by the death of her second husband. "

Mrs. Sarah Carlisle descended from Scotch parentage, who were Presbyterians, she herself uniting with that church in Lancaster soon after her first marriage, Rev. John Wright being pastor.

Mrs. Margaret Ewing, late of Pleasant Township, and mother of Thomas E., William and James Ewing, was Mrs. Carlisle's sister. She, also, with her husband, were among the earliest settlers of Fairfield County.

Mrs. Carlisle was fond of dwelling on the scenes and incidents of the pioneer age, and had a fund of highly interesting anecdotes and amusing incidents to narrate. Among her early acquaintances of the new settlement, she often spoke of the following persons: the Whites, the Coateses, the Bradshaws, the Wilsons, the Stewarts, the Lackeys, the Greens, the BiggerstafiFs, the Builderbacks, the Burtons, George Sanderson, and numerous others.

Mrs. Carlisle saw Lancaster spring from the wild woods,, where the white man never trod before. She spoke of the first two cabins she remembered - one near the present steam-mill at the foot of Chestnut (Jail) street, the other near a spring at the foot of what is now Wheeling street, on the canal. She lived to see Lancaster a flourishing city of over five thousand inhabitants. Like most of the women of frontier life, she was an expert horseback rider. She often rode from her home in