Vermillion Township (part 6 of 6)

One of the greatest disadvantages with which the early settlers had to contend was, that of educating their children. There was no school for some time after the town was incorporated; and the great cause of education was greatly neglected. At length, the people of the village and the neighboring country, seeing the necessity of establishing a school in their midst, convened together for the purpose of taking the matter into consideration. They soon came to the conclusion to build a school-house, and to procure a teacher who was worthy and capable of imparting instruction to the rising generation. A subscription was raised for the purpose of building it, and it was not long before it was entirely completed. It was made of planks, stood upright, and weather-boarded on the outside; it had a shingle roof, then a great rarity. It occupied a very conspicuous place, on the Public Square, and was about 18 feet long and 14 feet wide, with a door in front, and three windows on each side of the room. A large fireplace occupied one end of the room, and benches were placed along the sides. Taking all things into consideration, it was quite a respectable looking building, and served for many years as a public building for almost every purpose - for holding meetings, both religious and political. The system of public schools not being established, the schools were all raised by subscription, and were seldom in session more than three months out of the year.

In October, 1834, there was a printing office established in the place. The paper to be printed was the " Mohican Advocate and Hanover Journal." The proprietor was Mr. Rogers, but, owing partly to mismanagement and partly for the want of patronage, it proved a failure; and, after issuing six numbers, suspended operations.

The facilities for sending and receiving the news of the day was very limited; letters and newspapers were seldom received. The mail was carried for many years on horseback, and when the first stagecoach made its appearance it was an object of wonder to the people in general. The day of its arrival was always looked forward to with joy and expectation; and the anxious people would gather in groups around the country inn, to await its arrival, and scrutinize the. passengers.

Jacob Stichler

Jacob Stichler immigrated to Hanover Township, from Stark County, Ohio, in the fall of 1829. He died in January, 1848, at the age of seventy years.

Henry, son of Jacob Stichler, is the only surviving member of his father's family, and now occupies the place originally entered by his father.

Philip Thuma Chapter Xiil

SURVEYED in 1807, by Jonathan Cox. On the 5th of September, 1814, (Oliver Jones, Jonathan Butler, and Benjamin Miller, Commissioners of Wayne County,) Lake was organized as it now is, except that a part or the whole of Washington Township, Holmes County, was included. Holmes County was erected since, (January 20, 1824.) At that time Coshocton and Wayne joined.

There are no towns in Lake Township. By the operation of the act of 1846 erecting Ashland County, Lake, which had already been shorn of its full proportions by the erection of Holmes County, became yet farther reduced, and has now a smaller area than any township organization in the county except Mifflin. It is known as "Little Lake;" yet, notwith- standing its decimation of territory, the census of 1860 exhibits a respectable gain, as compared with the decennial period immediately preceding, while other townships in the county show a falling off in population during the same space of time.

As many references are made in the memoranda of the early settlers to this mill, it may be a matter of interest to state that it was erected by Nathan G. Odell, in the spring of 1812. Mr. Odell entered the tract upon which the mill is located in April, 1810, and at once commenced his improvement, and in March, 1811, removed his family to the place. He was the first white settler within the limits of what is now Clinton township, Wayne County. He died in Michigan, in 1833, at the age of sixty-seven. His son, L. D. Odell, Esq., is now the owner and occupant of a part of the land originally entered by his father, but the mill is owned by Joseph Newkirk.

The building was originally constructed of hewn logs, and raised by the aid of friendly Indians, then inhabiting the neighborhood, and without whose aid it could not have been erected.

George Bender immigrated to Lake Township in 1828, and purchased the land now occupied by his .s0n, Martin Bender. He continued his residence upon this land until his death, which occurred in June, 1859.

Jacob Emrick

Jacob Emrick entered the southeast quarter of section 3, Lake Township, at the land-office at Wooster, in 1830, after the government had reduced their lands to $1:25 per acre. The whole farm is upland, and at the time of its purchase Mr. Emrick's neighbors regarded his investment a very unwise one; but his efforts at cultivation, after clearing a few acres, proved successful, and he was among the first who demonstrated the fertility of the hills, and showed that, for wheat growing purposes, they were really superior to the bottom lands, while for all other crops, excepting corn, they were not inferior to the valleys.

John Emrick

John Emrick removed to Lake Township from Somerset County, Pennsylvania, in September, 1822, his father, Andrew Emrick, having entered for him the northeast quarter of section 9, and the southeast quarter of section 4, the preceding year. At the date of his removal hither, his family consisted of his wife and the following children, namely: John, Jacob, Drusilla, Mary, Andrew Christiana, George, and Rebecca.

Mr. Emrick died in July, 1847, aged sixty-six years. John and George are residents of Indiana; Jacob is a resident of Lake Township; Drusilla is the wife of William North, of Vermillion Township; Mary is the wife of George Connell, of Lake Township; Andrew died in Van Wert County, in 1856; Christiana married Simon Tapper, with whom she resides in Vermil-

John Ewalt

John Ewalt, an emigrant from Pennsylvania, removed with his family to Lake Township in the year 1820, and entered the land now owned by Morgan Workman. Hedied in 1847, at the age of sixty-three. William D. Ewalt, of Green township, is the only son of the deceased now residing in Ashland County.

George Marks

George Marks removed to Lake Township from Washington County, Pennsylvania, in June, 1819. 'His family then consisted of his wife and four children, namely: Mary, Ephraim, William, and George.

The citizens then residing in Lake Township, according to his best recollection, were Wm. Green, Wm. Greenlee, Asahel Webster, Joshua Oram, Jabez Smith, James Loudon Priest, and John Wetherbee.

Mary married Benjamin Finley, and died in 1854; Ephraim is a resident of Loudonville; William died in 1842, and George, as before stated, resides with his younger brother upon the old homestead.

The first sale of lots in Loudonville was made on the 14th of September, 1814. The land upon which the town is situated was originally entered by James Loudon Priest, who subsequently sold an undivided interest to Stephen Butler, and they jointly executed titles to purchasers.

Elijah Oram

In December, 1807, his father, Joshua Oram, and family, immigrated to Fairfield County, Ohio, from the State of Maryland. "In November, 1811, the family removed to Lake Township, and entered and commenced improvement upon a quarter which, by subsequent divisions, became a part of the Township of Clinton. In the fall of 1812, the family of Mr. Oram, with several others, established a fort near the southern line of Lake Township, where they remained about three months. In 1815 his father sold the farm he originally purchased, and entered the northeast and southeast quarters of section 15, Lake Township, and immediately commenced improvement upon the former quarter. After residing upon this land about three years, he sold to Asahel Webster, and removed to the southeast quarter, which he improved and made his residence until his decease, which occurred on the 27th day of August, 1831. Elijah Oram, Esq., is the present owner of three-fourths of this old homestead quarter, and of eighty acres adjoining.

When his father commenced his residence in Lake, there was not a white family residing within the limits of what now forms the township. When he raised his second cabin, in 1815, he traveled a circuit of ten miles to gather the necessary force of men for the purpose.

The supplies of breadstuffs were obtained from Knox County, which was then considered the "Egypt" of the country, where the corn purchased was ground at Shrimplin's Mill, and was brought home on packhorses during the winter season, and on canoes when the streams were navigable. After the neighborhood began to raise its own supplies of corn, it was prepared for converting into bread by breaking up in wooden mortars, an article which belonged to nearly every cabin, and which was regarded as an indispensable machine in the domestic economy. The mills were so remote that several families subsisted many years almost exclusively upon this domestic flour.

John Wetherbee

John Wetherbee emigrated from Pennsylvania to Lake Township in 1817. Tis family consisted of his wife and nine children, the only surviving one of whom, now a resident of Ashland County, is Justus Wetherbee, Esq., of Mohican Township.

In 1846 Mr. Wetherbee removed to Green Township, and on the 25th of December, 1853, died at the residence of his son-in-law, James Aylesworth, of Wayne County, at the age of seventy-seven years.

Presbyterian

Lake Fork was recognized as a congregation by Presbytery, April 11, 1826; and from this date till about 1829, it was supplied by a part of the ministerial labors of the Rev. Samuel Baldridge. The act of Presbytery for its organization as a church passed April 15, 1831, and it was organized in 1832.

German Lutheran Church German Reformed

1860, have occupied the Presbyterian Church building. Rev. J. J. Excell is the pastor; Elders - John Bender and Jonas Hay; Deacons - Milton Newkirk and Zachariah Durham.

Election Of April, 1838

Clerk, Lemuel Chapman - Trustees, John Emrick, Sparks Burd, and Benjamin Leyde - Treasurer, John C. Young - Constables, William Wicoff and Jacob Smith.

ELECTION OF APRIL, 1839. Clerk, Isaac Bennett - Trustees, Sparks Burd, John Rhamey, and John Emrick - Treasurer, John OC. Young. ELECTION OF APRIL, 1840. Clerk, John Aughey - Trustees, John Emrick, George Marks, and Elijah Oram - Treasurer, John C. Young. ELECTION OF APRIL, 1841.

ELECTION OF APRIL, 1844. Clerk, Clark Cornell - Trustees, William Wicoff, John Hannan, and John Rainey - Zreasurer, George Marks - Assessor, Robert Davis.

Clerk, Clark Cornell - Trustees, John Rainey, Wm. Wicoff, and John Hannan - Treasurer, George Marks - Assessor, Elijah Oram - Constables, William Metcalf and Charles Yetter.

Election Of April, 1846

ELECTION OF APRIL, 1846. Clerk, Joshua Oram - Trustees, William Wicoff, John Hannan, and Nathaniel Sheldon - Treasurer, George Marks - Assessor, Elijah Oram - Constables, Milton Newkirk and William Metcalf.

1838. Martin Wolf, elected. 1838. William Wicoff, elected. 1841. Robert C. Naylor, elected. 1841 William Wicoff, re-elected. 1844. Henry Maurer, elected. 1844. William Wicoff, re-elected. 1847. Martin Wolf, elected. 1847. William Wicoff, re-elected.

Chapter Xiv

SurvEYED in 1807, by Jonathan Cox. On the 11th of April, 1812, the Commissioners of Wayne County, namely: James Morgan, John Carr, and Jacob Foulks, divided the county into four townships - the western part, including what are now Jackson, Perry, Mohican, and Lake, and part of Washington, in Holmes County; and the west half of what are now Clinton, Plain, Chester, and Congress, in Wayne County, and organized this territory as one township, under the name of Montcan. Thus is Mohican the "mother of" townships; and once embraced an area fully equal in extent to one-half of that which now constitutes Ashland County.

There are few townships in the county the early settlement of which contains material of more historical value than Mohican. It was among the first settled and the first organized of any of the townships which now compose Ashland County. Portions of it possessed historic interest near a century before an attempt at settlement by the whites was made, as

Names of Heads of Families in Kilbuck Township, being the Territory which now forms Wayne, and part of Holmes County, and the Townships of Mohican, Lake, Perry, and Jackson, in Ashland County, as returned by the Census taker in the year 1810.

|| The chief of the land pirates, whose crimes in the Township of Green and neighborhood are elsewhere noticed. He resided upon the Blackleyville Prairie at the time this census was taken.

The total population of all ages and sexes was three hundred and thirty-two. Wooster was made the seat of justice in 1811. Previously the whole county, as before explained, was called Kilbuck Township.

A memorandum, furnished by Judge Ingmand, says that of the seventy-six voters whose names appear in the above list, only ten are now residents of the township; forty-three are known to be dead; thirteen are known to be living elsewhere; ten are either deceased or residing in other States, or other counties in Ohio. Those marked with an asterisk (*) are known to be dead.

Alexander Finley, in his lifetime, sold to Jonathan Chapman what is estimated to be three acres, in the southeast corner of the southwest quarter of section 26 - being in the quarter originally entered by said Finley, and which is now owned by A. J. Young, and forms part of the little town of Lake Fork. This land was deeded to Chapman by Finley, but the deed was lost, though recorded, and the tract never transferred on the auditor's books. The taxes have regularly been paid, by Finley's heirs, when in their possession, and by the present owner, Mr. Young, since the farm came into his ownership. Recently, other parties, after fruitless efforts to buy of the heirs of Finley, have taken possession of the disputed tract, and assumed ownership by virtue of such possession. Chapman had made slight improvement, and started a small nursery.

Lake Fork Chapel

The Methodist Episcopal denomination have a church of this name, situated on the east side of the Jerome Fork, within a few rods of the county line, and half a mile east of Lake Fork Post-office. The building, which is a frame, was erected in 1858, and is 28 by 34 feet. The congregation had previously worshiped in the school-house, near Lake Fork. Rev. Mr. Starr and Rev. Mr. Wilcox supply the pulpit for the current year. Mark Wilson is steward and class-leader. There are twenty members.

United Brethren

This denomination have a church organization and building, three-fourths of a mile north of Lake Fork. There are twenty members. Rev. Mr. Price has charge of the congregation. S. A. Taylor is steward of the church. The building was erected in 1857, and is 30 by 38 feet. It is known as the Fairview Chapel.

The same denomination also have a church on the east line of the township, known as the "Oak Grove Meeting-House," under the charge of the clergyman above named. The building is 26 by 30, and was erected in 1858. There are fifty members belonging to the church. Solomon Kahl is the steward.