HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY. - 267

CHAPTER XXVII.

(RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE)

PIONEER TIMES.

W here the Pioneers Came From-Their Condition and Char-

acter-What They Lived On-The "Truck Patch"-Hominy

Blocks-Mills-Cooking-Cultivation of Domestic Animals

-Wild Turkeys-Whisky-Superstitions-Dress of the Men-

The Flax Wheel and Loom-More About Clothing-"Kick-

ing Frolics"-Dress of the Women-White Kid Slippers-

Dyeing-Fourth of July and Militia Musters-Cabins and

Their Construction-Furniture of the Cabins-Hoosier

Poem--Early Land Laws-Tomahawk Rights-Hunting-

Early Weddings-Dancing and " House Warming," School-

ing, School Teachers, etc.-Spelling Schools-Conclusion.

PIONEER days for Coshocton county and the State of Ohio are gone forever; the wolf, bear, deer, Indian, and all associations and reminiscences of those " good old days " have long since faded from sight, if not from memory, and the pioneers, most of them, are gone, too-

"How few, all weak and withered of their force,

Wait on the verge of dark eternity. "

It remains to write their history, and the history of the times in which they lived, as of another race of beings; and, if possible, to impress the best of it upon the character of the present and future generations; for it is a history worthy of imitation and preservation. A study of the characteristics of the pioneer fathers and mothers is calculated to ennoble the mind and strengthen the hand for the battle of life.

It would require a volume to tell of their habits and customs; of their. trapping and hunting ; of their solitary lives in the great woods, surrounded by wild animals and wilder men; of their dress,

manners, and peculiar ways ; of their cabins and furniture ; of the long winter evenings by the logheap fire upon which

"We piled, with care, our nightly stack

Of wood against the chimney-back-

The oaken log, green, huge, and thick,

"And on its top the stout back-stick;

The knotty fore-stick laid apart,

And filled between with curious art

The ragged brush; then hovering near

We watch the first red blaze appear,

Heard the sharp crackle, caught the gleam

On Whitewashed wall and sagging beam,

Until the old rude-furnished room

Burst flower-like into rosy bloom."

268 - HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

It was a free, happy, independent life; full of hardships, indeed, but sweetened with innocence and peace; with alternations of labor, pleasure and rest.

The pioneers of Coshocton were largely from New England, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland, who sought to better their condition by making permanent homes in the wilderness west of the Ohio river. They carne largely on foot over the Allegheny mountains, many of them having a single horse and wagon, or a two-horse wagon, in which their worldly possessions were j carried, and in which the very old or very young, only, were allowed to ride. Many of them were poor, and, like Jack in the story, "came to seek their fortunes." A few came with ox teams; some with horses, two, three or four of them ; some in two-wheeled carts, while others packed all their worldly possessions on a couple of old "critters." Instances are related of a bag on top, or mugged down in among the bundles, made somewhat after the fashion of a double knapsack, and a couple of babies poked their little bronzed faces out of the slits in this novel conveyance, and rode along like little "possums."

From fifteen to fifty-five days were required in making the toilsome journey to the far West, by the first pioneers. Streams had to be forded frequently. It was not unusual for a team to give out on the way and cause a delay of a fortnight or a month to one of the families. The joy was very great when the team hove in sight and the family rejoined the party who had found "the end of the road," or stopped until the men looked for a suitable location.

When once settled and the cabin erected, it was not only• a home and shelter for the pioneer and his family, but for every stranger who passed that way, " without money and without price." The' latch string was always out, for these pioneers were great hearted people, and no man, be he white, black or red, was turned away empty. Their cabins, often not more than fifteen or twenty feet square, made of rough beech logs, with the bark still adhering to them, were frequently occupied by a dozen, or even a score, of people for the night, and no complaints made for want of room ; genuine hospitality always finds room enough, and never apologizes for lack of more; and when breakfast time came, there was no apology for the scarcity of knives, forks and spoons, for "fingers were made before any of these." The fare was homely, but generally abundant. What to eat, drink and wear, were questions not, perhaps, difficult of solution in those days. The first was the easiest to solve. The deer, the bear, the wild turkey, the rabbit,, the squirrel, all started up and said, or seemed to say, " eat me." These had been prepared for the red men of the forest, and were equally abundant for the pioneer. The forest was full of game, the streams full of fish, and wild fruits were abundant. To get bread required both patience and labor; the staff of life was one of the articles that must be earned "by the sweat of the brow;" it could not be gathered from the bushes, fished from the streams, or brought down with the rifle. Every backwoodsman once a year added to his clearing, at least, a ° truck patch." This was the hope and stay of the family; the receptacle of corn, beans, melons, potatoes, squashes, pumpkins, turnips, etc., each variety more perfectly developed and delicious, because it grew in virgin soil. The corn and beans planted in May brought roasting ears and succotash in August. Potatoes came with corn, and the cellar, built in the side of a convenient hill, and filled with the contents of the truck patch, secured the family against want. When the corn grew too hard for roasting ears, and was yet too soft 'to grind in the mill, it was reduced to meal by a grater, and whether stirred into mush or baked into johnnycake, it t made, for people with keen appetites and good stomachs, excellent food. Place before one of those brawny backwoodsmen a square foot of johnnycake and a venison steak broiled on hickory coals, and no art of civilization could produce a mare satisfactory meal.

Next to the grater comes the hominy block, an article in common use among the pioneers. It consisted simply of a block of wood-a section of a tree, perhaps-with a hole burned, or dug, into it a foot deep, in which corn was pulverized with a pestle. Sometimes this block was inside the ! cabin, where it served as a seat for the bashful young buckskinned backwoodsman while "sparking" his girl; sometimes a convenient stump in front of the cabin door was prepared for, and

HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY. - 269

made one of the best of hominy blocks. When pigs began to be raised, the natural relation between pork and beaten corn suggested the grand old idea of "hog and hominy."

Hominy blocks did not last long, for mills came quite early and superseded them, yet these mills I were often so far apart that in stormy weather, or for want of transportation, the pioneer was compelled to resort to his hominy block, or go without bread. In winter, the mills were frozen up nearly all tire time, and when a thaw came and the ice broke, if the mill was not swept away entirely by the floods, it was so thronged with pioneers, each with his sack of corn, that some of them were often compelled to camp out near the mill and wait several days for their turn. When the grist was ground, if they were so fortunate as to possess an ox, a horse, or mule, for the purpose of transportation, they were happy. It was not unusual to go from ten to twenty miles to mill, through the pathless, unbroken forest, and to be benighted on the journey, and chased, or treed by wolves. A majority of the pioneers, however, settled in the vicinity of a stream, upon which mills were rapidly erected. These mills were very primitive affairs-mere "corn crackers " but they were an improvement on the hominy block. They merely ground the corn, the pioneer must do his own bolting. A wire sieve was then one of the most important articles of household furniture. It always hung in its place, on a wooden peg, just under the ladder that reached to the loft. The meal was sifted and the finest used for bread. How delicious was that "Indian pons," baked in a large deep skillet, which was placed upon coals raked from the fire-place to the hearth. Fresh coals were continually placed under it and upon the iron lid until the loaf, five or six inches thick, was done through. This was a different thing from johnnycake; it was better, and could not always be had, for to make it good, a little wheat flour was needed, and wheat flour was a precious thing in those very early days.

A road cut through the forest to the mill, and a wagon for hauling the grist, were great advantages, the latter"especially was often a seven days' wonder to the children of a neighborhood, and the happy owner of one often did, for years, the milling for a whole neighborhood. About once a month this good neighbor, who was in exceptionally good circumstances, because able to own a wagon, would go about through the neighborhood, gather up the grists and take them to mill, often spending several days in the operation, and never thinking of charging for his time and trouble.

Cooking, in pioneer times, was an interesting operation.

The trammel and hooks were found among the well-to-do families, as time progressed. Previous to this, the lug-pole, across the inside of- the chimney, about even with the chamber floor, answered for a trammel. A chain was suspended from it, and hooks were attached, and from this hung the mush-pot or tea-kettle. If a chain was not available, a wooden hook was in reach of the humblest and poorest. When a meal was not in preparation, and the hook was endangered by tire, it was shoved aside to one end of the lug-pole for safety. Iron ware was very scarce in those days. Instances are related where the one pot served at a meal to boil water for mint tea or crust coffee, to bake the bread, boil the potatoes, and fry the meat. By fine management this was accomplished. Frequently the kettle had no lid, and a flat stone, heated, and handled with the tongs, was used instead of one, when a loaf or pons or pumpkin pie was baked. A shortcake could be baked by heating the kettle moderately, putting in the cake, and tipping it up side wise before the glowing fire. Bannock, or boardcake, was made by mixing the corn-meal up with warm water, a pinch of salt and a trifle of lard, into a thick dough, spreading it on a clean, sweet-smelling clapboard, patting it with the cleanest of hands, and standing it slanting before the fire, propped into the right position by a flat-iron behind it. Baked hastily, thin made a delicious cake, sweet and nutty and fresh, and the pretty stamp of the mother's dear, unselfish, loving fingers was plainly detected in the crisp crust.

The cultivation of domestic animals, both beasts and fowls, for the purpose of food, began early. Cows for milk, butter, beef, and leather, and swine for pork were bred, ear marked-and turned into the woods to browse. "Root hog or die," was the law for rnan and beast, but the woods were prolific and the hogs grew fat. The

270 - HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

young pigs were exceptionally a sweet morsel for the bear. Bruin always singled out these young animals in preference to any other meat; but the pigs were often successfully defended by the older hogs, who, upon the least signs of distress from one of their number, would go boldly to the rescue, and fiercely attack the foe, however formidable; often the pig was released and bruin, or the panther, compelled to ascend a tree for safety. The boys often found wild turkeys' nests in the woods, and would bring home the eggs, and place them, to be hatched, under a trusty old hen, in an outside chimney corner, where they could assist the hen in defending the eggs and brood from the opossum or hawk. A flock of turkeys sometimes originated in this way, but more often, as they grew to maturity, they would fly away into the woods and never reappear. This grandest of birds is identical in civilized and savage life, and is the peculiar production of America. The wild ones were always a dark brown, like the leaves of their native woods, but when tamed, or "civil ized," the diversity of color becomes endless.

When cornbread and milk were eaten for breakfast, hog and hominy for dinner and mush and milk for supper, there was little room for tea and coffee; and at a time when one bushel of wheat for a pound of coffee and four bushels for a pound of tea, where considered a fair exchange, but little of these very expensive articles was used.

Nest to water, the drink of the pioneers was whisky-copper-still rye whisky. Everybody drank it. It was supposed to be indispensable to health, to strength and endurance during the labors of the day, and to sleep at night. It was as supposed to be absolutely indispensable to warmth and animation in cold, chilly winter weather. It was the sacrament of friendship and hospitality; it was in universal use; yet there was probably less drunkenness in those days than at present. The whisky was absolutely pure; it was no drugged, doctored and poisoned as it is to-day and, although enough of it would bring drunken ness, it did not bring delirium tremens, or leave the system prostrated, and the victim with a head ache upon "sobering up" It was the first thin in demand as an article of commerce. Stills for its manufacture sprang up everywhere, all along the streams. Pioneers soon found a market a these stills for their corn, hence corn became the great crop, and whisky the great article of commerce. It was the only thing that would bring money, and money they must have to pay taxes. Whisky could be purchased for twelve or fifteen cents per gallon and paid for in corn, and the barrel of whisky in the cellar, was as common as the barrel of cider was later. The whisky that was not consumed at home wars shipped on flat-boats or pirogues on the Muskingum, Ohio and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans and sold for Spanish gold. One of the first rebellions against the Government of the United States, commonly called the whisky insurrection, had its growth out of the hardships of the Scotch-Irish of Western Pennsylvania, who in the mother country had learned to love whisky and hate gaugers; and this population gave tone and character to the first settlers of Eastern Ohio. There was this apology for the production of whisky that it was the only means of disposing of surplus crops, or bringing money into the country.

The hardy pioneers, after disposing of their cargo of whisky in New Orleans, would often set out on foot for home, a distance of say fifteen hundred miles. Think of it, ye who ride in palace coaches at the rate of forty miles an hour while reclining in cushioned seats, smoking your cigar, and reading in your morning paper of the happenings of yesterday in Europe and America. While apologizing somewhat for those whisky days, it may be well to say that whisky was not probably of any special benefit, was not to be compared to the pure water of their springs, and that too many of the pioneers drank too much of it, and that too often it made their eyes and hoses red, their children ragged and their wives wretched, as it does to-day. In every neighborhood there were a few families who had brought with them the superstitions t of their forefathers, and the result was that some poor man or woman was reputed to be a witch. Not much proof was required. If a woman had very black eyes, or stepped stealthily, or spoke in a low tone of voice, and the gossips said she was g in league with the prince of the black art, it did r not take long to fasten the reputation upon her, and the ignorant looked with awe and fear upon the poor hunted, watched creature. And so they

HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY. - 271

greased their broom handles, and laid dead snakes head foremost in the paths, and hung horseshoes ever the cabin doors, and were careful to spit in the fire, and not to hook over their heft shoulders when they passed the abode of the doomed one. But sometimes her wrath fell upon them, and the oxen would lie down in the furrow, and no power could move them, not even hot coals, nor boiling soapsuds when poured upon them. One time, when the family of a poor man rose early in the morning, one of the oxen hay still and slept heavily and breathed noisily. On examination it was discovered that he had been witch-ridden; his sides were black and blue from the kicking heels that had urged him on to his best paces, and the corners of his mouth were torn from cruel bits guided by jerking hands. People who were objects of the witch's spite found a brood of downy young chicks in their chests, and piles of sprawling kittens under the half bushel; and they overheard deep, cavernous voices, and fine piping ones, in conclave at midnight up in the air and the tree-tops, and under the dead heaves and beside the chimney ; and tracks, with a cloven foot among them, were discernible. Think of the misery of a poor creature reputed to be a witch, met in her own lowly cabin by a weeping mother beseeching her to remove the spell of incantation that her sick child might recover! No denial of the absurd charge could avail her ; no sympathy offered was accepted ; and the foolish mother could do no more than return home, burn some woolen rags to impregnate the out-door air, stand the child on its head while she could count fifty backward, grease its spine with the oil of some wild animal, cut the tip hairs off the tail of a black cat and bind them on the forehead of the persecuted one, while she repeated a certain sentence in the Lord's Prayer. Then, in her own language, " If the child died, why, it jes' died ; and if it lived, it lived."

A superstitious old man was often found who could divine secrets, tell fortunes, fortell events, find the places where money was buried, cur wens by words, blow the fire out of burns, mum ble over felons and catarrhs, remove warts, and with his mineral ball search out where stole goods were hidden. The "mineral ball " to whit the superstitious ascribed such marvelous power was no less than one of those hairy calculi found in the stomachs of cattle, a ball formed compactly of the hair which collects on the tongue of the animal while licking itself. This man, one of the class whose taint infects every neighborhood, could not from any consideration be prevailed upon to heave a graveyard first of all, °` Why, drat it! " he would say,"it's sure and sartin death; never knowed a fellow to leave the graveyard fast, but what he'd be the next unplanted there!" When an old neighbor of his died suddenly, this man said, with his thumbs hooked in his trousers' pockets restfully : "Why, drat him, he might a know'd more'n to leave the graveyard fust man As soon as I seed him do, it, I says to myself, says !, `Dan you're a goner; you're done for ; they'll tuck you under next time, an' nobody but your booby of a self to blame for it! "'

On the frontier, and particularly among those who were much in the habit of hunting and going on scouts and campaigns, the dress of the men was partly Indian and partly that of civilized nations. The hunting shirt was universally worn. This was a kind of a loose frock reaching half way down the thighs, with large sleeves, open at the front, and so large as to lap over a foot or more when belted. The cape was large and sometimes fringed with a raveled piece of cloth of a different color from that of the hunting shirt itself. The bosom of the hunting shirt served as a pocket to hold bread, cakes, jerk, tow for wiping the gunbarrel, or any other necessary article for the hunter or warrior. The belt, which was always tied behind, answered several purposes besides that of holding the dress together. In cold weather the mittens and sometimes the bullet-bag occupied the front part of it. To the right side was suspended the tomahawk, and to the heft the scalping-knife in its leathern sheath.

The hunting shirt was generally made of linsey, sometimes of coarse linen or deer skins. These last were very cold and uncomfortable in wet weather. A pair of drawers, or breeches, and leggins were the dress for the thighs, a pair of moccasins answered for the-feet: These were nmade of dressed deer skin, and were mostly of a single piece, with a gathering seam on the top of the foot and another from the bottom of the heel,

272 - HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

without gather:, as high or a little higher than the ankle joint. Flaps were left on each side to reach some distance up the legs. These were nicely adapted to the ankles and lower part of the leg by thongs of deer skin, so that no dust, gravel or snow could get within the moccasins. In cold weather the moccasins were stuffed with deer's hair or dry leaves to keep the feet warm, but in wet weather it was usually said that wearing them was °' a decent way of going barefooted ; " and such was the fact, owing to the spongy texture of the leather of which they were made. Owing to this defective covering for the feet more than to any other circumstance, the greater number of the hunters and warriors were often afflicted with rheumatism in their limbs. Of this disease they were all apprehensive in cold and wet weather, and therefore always slept with their feet to the fire to prevent or cure it as well as they could. This practice, unquestionably, had a very salutary effect, and prevented many of them from becoming. confirmed cripples in early life. In the latter years of the Indian war the young men became more enamored of the Indian dress. The drawers were laid aside and the leggins made longer, so as to reach the upper part of the thigh. The Indian breech-cloth was adopted. This wars a piece of linen or cloth nearly a yard long and eight or nine inches broad; it passed under the belt before and behind, leaving the end for flaps hanging before and behind over the belt. The flaps were sometimes ornamented with some coarse kind of embroidery work. To the belt were also secured the strings to which the leggins were attached when this belt, as was often the case, passed over the hunting shirt, the upper part of the thighs and part of the hips were naked.

Sometimes, in winter, a waistcoat of the skin of a panther, wildcat or spotted fawn was worn. In summer, when it could be had, linen was made up into wearing apparel. The flax was grown in the summer, scotched in the fall, and during the long winter evenings was heard the buzz of the little flax-wheel, which had a place in every cabin. Even those who are not pioneers can remember this flax-wheel, for it was in use as late as 1800, or later. It stood in a corner, generally ready for use by having a large bundle of flax wrapped around its forked stick, a thread reaching to the spindle, and a little gourd filled with water hanging conveniently at the bottom of the flax-stick, and whenever the good pioneer mother had a little spare time from cooking for a dozen work hands, caring for a dozen children, milking a dozen cows, and taking care of the milk and butter, besides doing all the housework and keeping everything clean and neat as a pin, she would sit down to this wheel and with foot on the treadle, and nimble fingers, pile thread upon thread on the spindle, to be reeled off on a wooden reel that counted every yard with a snap, and then it was ready for the great loom that occupied the loft. This loom was a wonder-it would be a wonder to-day, with its great beams, larger than any beams they put in the houses of to-day-its treadles, its shuttles, etc. Day after day could be heard the pounding of that loom, the treadles went up and down, the shuttles flew swiftly from one hand to another through the labyrinth of warp, and yard after yard of cloth rolled upon the great roller. And then this cloth was to be cut into little and big clothes and made up with the needle; and, remember, this and a great deal more than any one can think of was to be gone through with every year. Wool went through about the same operation, only it was spun on the "large wheel, colored with butternut bark and other things, but woven on the loom and made up for winter clothing.

Judge William Johnson, in an address at a pioneer meeting, says regarding this matter of clothing

But innovations were soon made. My father had brought out a huge trunk full of coarse broadcloth, and this tempted the young men to have coats to be married in. They would bargain with my father for the cloth and trimmings, and with my mother for making the coat, and pay both bills by grubbing, making rails or clearing land. It may seem odd at this day that a woman of small stature, besides doing her own house-work, should make 200 rails a day with her needle and shears, and find time for reading and mental culture every day.. I never think of my mother's tailoring skill, without being reminded of one instance. A young man had purchased the cloth for his wedding coat, and, as a measure I of economy, employed one Nancy Clark to make it up. Nancy was an expert on hunting-shirts,

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buckskin breeches and "rich," but had never cut a coat, so my mother cut out the coat, Nancy ! made it up. but on the eve of the wedding, when tried on, instead of allowing his arms to hang gracefully by his side, as became a bride-groom, it turned him into a spread eagle with arena extended upward. The wedding day was at hand, and, in his perplexity, he brought the coat to my mother to diagnose its disorder, and, if possible, administer the proper remedies. She found there was nothing more serious than that Nancy had sewed the right sleeve in the left side, and the left sleeve in the right, and put them upside down. As luxury and extravagance in dress increased, an old tailor, with shears, goose and sleeve-board, began to "whip the cat" around the neighborhood, and my mother's occupation except m her own family, was gone. The custom of whipping the cat, both for tailors and shoemakers, was in vogue many years after, and, like the schoolmaster boarding around, had this advantage, that if they received poor pay for their work, they were fed and lodged while they were about it.

But the material for winter clothing was hard to get. As the woolen goods wore out, my father bought six sheep to commence with, and within the first week the wolves chased the old dog under the cabin floor, and killed two of them within a few yards of the cabin door. On account of the scarcity of wool, many a night I sat up until midnight, with a pair of hand-cards, mixing wool with rabbit's fur, and carding them together, while my mother spun and knit them into mittens and stockings for her children to wear to school.

"Kicking frolics" were in vogue in those early times. This was after wool was more plenty, and it was carded, spun and wove into cloth. Half a dozen young men, and an equal number of young women (for the "fun of the thing" it was always necessary to preserve a balance of this kind), were invited to the kicking frolic. The cabin floor was cleared for action and half a dozen chairs, or stools, placed in a circle in the centre and connected by a cord to prevent recoil. On these the six young men seated themselves with boots and stocking off, and pants rolled up above the knee. Just think of making love in that shape! The cloth was placed in the center, wet with soap suds, and then the kicking commenced by measured steps, driving the bundle of cloth round and round, the elderly lady with gourd in hand pouring on more soap suds, and every now and then, with spectacles on nose and yard-stick in hand measuring the goods until they were shrunk the desired width, and then calling the lads to dead halt. Then, while the lads put on hose and boots, the lasses, with sleeves rolled up above; the elbow, rung out the cloth and put it on the garden fence to dry. When this was done, the cabin floor was again cleared and the supper spread, after which, with their numbers increased somewhat, perhaps, they danced the happy hours of the night away until midnight, to the music of a violin and the commands of some amateur cotillion caller, and were ready to attend another such frolic the following night.

The costume of the woman deserves a passing notice. The pioneers proper, of course, brought with them something to wear like that in use where they came from; but this could not last always, and new apparel, such as the new country afforded, had to be provided. Besides, the little girls sprang up into womanhood with the rapidity of the native butterweed, and they must be made both decent and attractive, and what is more, they were willing to aid in making themselves so. The flax patch, therefore, became a thing of as prime necessity as the truck patch. On the aide next to the woods the flax grew tall, slender and delicate, and was carefully pulled by the girls, and kept by itself, to make finery of. The stronger growth did well enough for clothing for the men, and warp for the linsey-wolsey, and everyday dresses for the women, but for Sundays, when everbody went to "meeting," the girls, especially, wanted something nice, just as they do to-day. This fine flax, therefore, was carefully pulled ,carefully rotted, carefully broken, carefully scutched, carefully heckled, carefully spun, carefully dyed in divers colors, and carefully woven in cross-barred figures, tastefully diversified, straining a point to get turkey-red enough to put a single thread between the duller colors, to mark their outline like the circle around a dove's eye. Of such goods the rustic beauty made her Sunday gown, and then with her vandyke of snow-white homespun linen, her snow-white home-knit stockings, and possibly white kid slippers, she was a sight for sore eyes and often for sore hearts. No paint or arsenic was needed, for active exercise in the open air, under a sun-bonnet, or a broad-brimmed hat, to made by her mother out of rye straw, gave her a cheek an honest, healthful glow, and to her eyes

274 - HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

the brightness and the beauty of the fawn's. Possibly those white kid slippers have caused a nod of skepticism. This is the way it was done Her brother, or lover, shot six fine squirrels; she tanned the skins herself in a sugar-trough, and had them done up, at a considerable expense and trouble, to wear on Sundays and state occasions. Possibly it may be wondered how the slippers would look after walking five or ten miles through the mud to church, as was frequently done. There were ways of doing these things that were only whispered among the girls, but have leaked out and the same process was indulged in more or less by young men, who were fortunate enough to own a pair of fine boots-and that was to wear the everyday shoes or boots, or go barefoot to within a few rods of the "meeting-house," and then step into the woods and take the wraps from the • precious shoes and put them on. Linen for Sunday clothes was made of copperas and was white, checked or striped, and when bleached was very pretty and soft. For very choice wear it was all flax ; for every day or second best, the warp was flax and the filling tow. Linsey-woolsey, or linsey, was wool and cotton, very much the same as water-proof or repellant is now, only that it was harsh and not finished. Dyestuffs in early times were in reach of all-butternut or walnut hulls colored brown ; oak bark with copperas dyed black; hickory bark or the blossoms of the goldenrod made yellow ; madder, red ; and indigo, blue ; green was obtained by first coloring yellow, and then dipping into blue dye. Stocking yarn was dyed black, brown or blue ; and, for very choice stockings, strips of corn husks were lapped tightly in two or three places around a skein of yarn, and dyed blue. When the husks were removed, whitish spots were found, and the rare "clouded" yarn was the result. The little tub of blue dye, with its close fitting cover, stood in the warm corner in every well regulated household, and it made a very convenient seat, and the cover was always worn smooth. Many a lad inclined to matrimony has sneaked slyly along and seated himself on the dye-tub as soon as the old folks retired. When carding machines came and lessened the labor of the toiling women, one of the first indications of anything as fine as "store clothes" was the soft, pressed flannel, grand enough for any uncommon occasion, called "London brown." The folds lay in it, and it shone to eyes accustomed to look upon nothing finer than home-made barred flannel, like lustrous satin. It smelt of the shop, however; the odor of dye-stuff and grease and gummy machinery clung to it for a long while About this time a better quality of men's wearing apparel appeared in the same wonderful color of London brown ; and, to young men coming of age, who had been indentured boys, the beautiful "freedom suit" was valued higher than the horse, saddle and bridle.

It is just barely possible there is a lady in today's society, who, with five pound of colored hemp on the back of her head and thirty-five yards of silk velvet in her train, would be uncharitable enough to laugh at these pioneer mothers and daughters; ii so, those whose opinions are worth anything fully understand that there was more work and worth, more value to the world and the community in which she lived, in the little finger of one of these pioneers than in the whole body, train, hair and all, of the aforesaid `°lady:" By the testimony of all history, luxury tends to degeneracy. If the clothes of the pioneers were poor, they made up in brain and heart. The tables are turned-the vacuum of brain and heart is filled with fine clothes. Let it be remembered that the solidity and value of this beautiful structure called society, lies in the foundation in the pioneer fathers and mothers, and it is only because of this solid foundation that the structure is able to stand at all.

The great days among the pioneers were the Fourth of July and those upon which the militia assembled for muster. These were the holidays, when the people ceased from labor and turned out en masse, and when plenty of fun and whisky were expected. The place of assembling was generally in some clearing near some "tavern," the landlady of which had the reputation of be ing a good cook. There was plenty of drumming, filing and noise, and somebody was always found who could readily perform the duties of president of the meeting; somebody who could read the toasts, and somebody who had been under Harrison or Van Rensselaer as orderly sergeant, to act as marshal. Plenty of men were

HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY. - 275

ready to read that wonderful document, the " Declaration," for among the settlers were not only many excellent scholars and gentlemen, but here and there could be found a veritable graduate of Yale college. When no minister was present to act as chaplain, a good pious man was called to that post. If the meeting did not end with a grand ring fight, the people went home disappointed.

The houses or huts, in which these pioneers lived have been often described; their form and proportions, and general appearance have been repeatedly impressed upon the mind of the student of history. They were built of round logs with the bark on, and side chimneys of mud and sticks, puncheon floors, clapboard roof, with and without a loft or second floor, and all put together without a nail or particle of iron from top to bot tom. These buildings stood many a year after the original inhabitants moved into better quarters. They served for stables, sheep-pens, hay houses, pig-pens, smith-shops, hen-houses, loom shops, school-houses, etc.. Some of them are yet standing in this county, and occupied, to some extent, in some portions of the county as dwellings. A specimen of one of these appears in the upper right hand corner of the accompanying cut.

A second grade of log cabin, built later, was quite an improvement on the first, being made of hewn logs, with sawed lumber for door and window frames and floors. Glass also took the place of paper windows of the old cabin; nails were also sparingly used in these better cabins. It was sometimes built near the old one and connected with it by a covered porch, as shown in the cut. When nails were first used, for a few years a pound of them was exchanged for a bushel of wheat. They were a precious article, and were made by hand on a blacksmith's anvil, out of odds and ends of old worn-out sickles, scythes, broken elevis-pins, links of chains, broken horseshoes, etc., all welded together to eke out the nail-rods from which they were forged. The first cabins were often erected, ready for occupation, in a single day. In an emergency, the pioneers collected together, often going eight or ten miles to a cabin-raising, and, in the great woods where not a tree had been felled or a stone turned, begin with dawn the erection of a cabin. Three or four wise builders would set the corner-atones, lay with the square and level the first round of logs; two men with axes would cut the trees and logs; one with his team of oxen, a "lizard " and a log chain would "snake " them in ; two more, with axes, cross-cut saw and frow, would make the clapboards ; two more, with axes, cross-cut saw and broad-axe would hew out the puncheons and flatten the upper side of the sleepers and joists. Four skillful axe-men would carry up the corners, and the remainder, with skids and forks or handspikes, would roll up the logs. As soon as the joists were laid on, the crosscut saw was brought from the woods, and the two men went do work cutting out the door and chimney place `. and while the corner men were building up the attic and putting on the roof, the carpenters and masons of the day were putting down the puncheons, laying the hearth and building the chimney high enough to keep out the beasts, wild or tame. In one corner, at a distance of six feet from one wall and four from the other, the bed post was placed-only one being needed. A hole was bored in the puncheon floor for the purpose of setting this post in, which was usually a stick with a crotch or fork in the upper end ; or, if an augur is not at hand, a hole is cut in the puncheon floor, and the fork sharpened and driven into the ground beneath ; rails were laid from this fork to the wall, and, usually, nice, straight, hickory poles formed the bottom, upon which straw or leaves were placed and the blanket put on. This made a comfortable spring bed, and was easily changed and kept clean. Often the chinking and daubing of the walls, putting in windows and hanging the door were left until fall or some leisure time after the corn crop and the contents of the truck patch were secured. Often the pioneers did not erect a cabin at all until a crop was secured-living, meanwhile, in their covered wagons, and cooking beside a log in the open air, or erecting a " pole cabin," or "brush cabin," mere temporary affairs, to shelter the family until time could be had for erecting a permanent one. The saving of the crop was of more importance during, the summer season than shelter; but when the first frost came, a sure indication of approaching winter, active preparations were

276 - HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

made for the permanent cabin. and the work was pushed forward until a snug cabin stood in the midst of the forest, with a clearing around it, made principally by cutting down the trees for the building. Every crack was chinked and daubed with. ordinary clay mixed with water, and when completed, and a fire of hickory logs in the great fire-place, no amount of cold could seriously disturb the inmates. The heavy door was hung on wooden hinges, and all that was necessary to lock it at night was to pull the latch-string inside, and the strong wooden latch held it fast against wild animals and storms. Thieves there were none, and even had there been, there was nothing in the but of a settler to tempt their cupidity. Mary of these cabins had no loft or second floor, but when this was added it was used as a sleeping room for the younger members of the family, and a general store-room for the household goods, and often for the corn crop and contents of the truck patch.

Regarding the future of these cabins, Judge Johnson says:

The furniture of the backwoods matched the architecture well. There were a few quaint specimens of cabinet work dragged into the wilderness, but these were sporadic and not common. I can best describe it by what I saw in my father's house. First of all a table had to be improvised, and there was no cabinet-maker to make it, and no lumber to make it of. Our floor was laid with broad chestnut puncheons, well and smoothly hewn, for the obsolete art of hewing timber was then in its prime. Father took one of these puncheons, two feet and a half broad, putting two narrow ones in its place, bared four large augur holes and put in four legs, or round poles with the bark on. On this hospitable board many a wholesome meal was spread, and many an honest man, and many a way worn stranger, ate his fill and was grateful.

On great occasions, when an extension table was needed, the door was lifted off its hinges and added to the puncheon. What we sat upon first I cannot conjecture; but I remember well when my father loaded his horses down with wheat and corn and crossed the country a distance o eight or ten miles, and brought home, in ex change, a set of oak splint-bottomed chairs, some of which are intact to this day. Huge band boxes, made of blue ash bark, supplied the plat of bureaus and wardrobes; and a large tea chest cut in two, and hung by strings in the corners with the hollow sides outward, constituted the book-cases. A respectable old bedstead, still in the family, was lugged across from Red Stone. An old turner and wheelwright added at trundle-bed, and the rest were hewn and whittled out according to the fashion of the times, to serve their day quid be supplanted by others as the civilization of the country advanced.

But the grand flourish of furniture was the dresser. Here were spread out in grand display pewter dishes, pewter plates, pewter basins and pewter spoons, scoured as bright as silver.

Money was scarce, but our fathers learned to live without it. All was barter. The preacher's stipend, the lawyer's fee, the schoolmaster's salary, the workman's wages, the shoemakers account, the tailor's bill, were all paid in barter have seen my father, when he had a surplus of grain and a deficit of pigs, fill two sacks of corn, and on the backs of two horses carry it to a distant part of the neighborhood and exchange it for four shoats, and in each sack thrust one shoat tail foremost and another head foremost, tie up the mouths of the sack, mount them on horseback, rip a hole in the seam of the sack for each snout to stick out, and bring them home to be fattened for next year's pork. Here was a currency a denomination of greenbacks which neither required the pen of the chancellor of the exchequer to make it legal tender, nor the judgment of the chief justice to declare it constitutional. The laity of necessity governs in every case, and wise men may fret every hair off their heads without changing the results.

The following poem, originally published in the Cincinnati Chronicle in 1833, portrays so graphically life in a log cabin that it is eminently worthy of preservation. Although written by a '° Hoosier," and intended to portray Hoosier life, it applies equally well to log cabin life everywhere

Suppose, in riding through the west,

A stranger found a " Hoosier's nest,"

In other words a buckeye cabin

Just big enough to hold Queen Mab in ;

Its situation low but airy,

Was on the borders of a prairie.

And fearing he might be benighted,

He hailed the house and then alighted..

The " Hoosier" met him at the door,

Their salutations soon were o'er;

He took the stranger's horse aside

And to a sturdy sapling tied,

Then having stripped the saddle off,

He fed him in a sugar-trough.

The stranger stooped to enter in,

The entrance closing with a pin,

And manifests a strong desire

To seat himself by the log-heap fire,

Where half a dozen Hoosieroons,

PAGE 277 PICTURE FARM RESIDENCE OF SAUL MILLER, KEENE TOWNSHIP

PAGE 278 - BLANK

HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY. - 279

With mush and milk, tin-cups and spoons,

White heads, bare feet, and dirty faces,

Seemed much inclined to keep their places,

But madam anxious to display

Her rough and undisputed sway,

Her offspring to the ladder led

And cuffed the youngsters up to bed,

Invited shortly, to partake

Of venison, milk and johnnycake,

The stranger made a hearty meal,

And glances round the room would steal.

One side was lined with divers garments,

The other spread with skins of ' varments ;'

Dried pumpkins overhead were strung,

Where venison hams in plenty hung;

Two rifles were placed above the door,

Three dogs lay stretched upon the floor-

In short, the domicil waa rife

With specimens of Hoosier life.

The host, who centered his affections

On game, and range and quarter sections,

Discoursed his weary guest for hours,

Till Somnus' ever potent powers

Of sublunary cares bereft 'em.

No matter how the story ended

The application I intended

Is from the famous Scottish poet,

Who seemed to feel as we as know it,

That " buirdly chiels and clever hizzies

Are bred in sic a way as this is."

The early land laws of Western Pennsylvania and Virginia allowed to each settler four hundred acres of land, and no more, as a "settlement right;" and as the first settlers of this and adjoining counties were largely from those States, they were, of course, governed largely by the habits, customs and laws of those States in the absence of any of these on this side of the river ; therefore many of the first settlers seemed to regard this amount of the surface of the earth as allotted by Divine Providence for one family, and believed that any attempt to get more would be sinful. Most of them, therefore, contented themselves with that amount-although they might have evaded the law, which allowed but one settlement right to any one individual, by taking out title papers in other than their own names, to be afterward transferred to them as if by purchase. Some few indeed, pursued this course, but it was generally held in detestation.

Owing to the equal distribution of real property divided by the land laws, and the sterling integrity of the forefathers in the observance of them; there were few, if any, districts of "sold land," as it was called, that is large tracts of land in the hands of individuals or companies, who neither sold nor improved them, as was the case in Lower Canada and some parts of Pennsyl-

280 - HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

vania. True, large tracts of land were purchased by companies, but this was done almost always for the purpose of establishing a settlement.

The earliest settlers had become so accustomed to "getting land for taking it up," that for a long time it was believed that the lands on the west side of the Ohio would ultimately be disposed of in this way; hence almost the whole tract of country between the Ohio and Muskingum rivers was parceled out in what was familiarly known as"tomahawk rights;" that is, the pioneer, upon finding a suitable location, would cut his name with his hatchet or knife upon the trunk of a large tree, and thus lay claim to four hundred acres of land about that spot. Some of them were not satisfied with a single four hundred acre tract, but laid claim in this way to a number of tracts of the best land, and thus, in imagination, were as "wealthy as a South Sea dream." Some of these land jobbers did not content themselves with marking trees at the usual height, but climbed the large beech trees and cut their names in the bark from twenty to forty feet from the ground. To enable them to identify those trees at a future period, they made marks on other trees around for references.

Nor was it an easy matter to dispossess these squatters; their claim was generally respected by the settlers, and these rights were often bought and sold, those who subsequently desired these lands for permanent settlement preferred to purchase the " tomahawk right'' rather than enter into quarrels with those who made them.

Hunting occupied a large portion of the time of the pioneers. Nearly all were good hunters, and not a few lived almost entirely for many years on the results of the chase. The woods supplied them with the greater amount of their subsistence, and often the whole of it ; it was no uncommon thing for families to live several months without a mouthful of bread of any kind. It frequently happened that the family went without breakfast until it could be obtained from the woods.

The fall and early part of winter was the season for hunting deer, and the whole of the winter, including part of the spring, for bears and fur bearing animals. It was a customary saying that fur was good during every month in the name of which the letter occurred.

As soon as the leaves were pretty well down, and the weather became rainy, accompanied with light snow, the pioneer hunter, who had probably worked pretty faithfully on his clearing during the summer, began to feel uneasy about his cabin home; he longed to be off hunting in the great woods. His cabin was too warm ;his feather-bed too soft ; his mind was wholly occupied with the camp and the chase. Hunting was not a mere ramble in pursuit of game, in which there was nothing of skill and calculation; on the contrary, the hunter, before setting out in the morning, was informed by the state of the weather in what situation he might reasonably expect to find his game; whether on the bottoms, on the hillsides or hilltops. In stormy weather the deer always seek the most sheltered places, and the leeward sides of the hills; in rainy weather, when there was not much wind, they kept in the open woods, on high ground. In the early morning, if pleasant, they were abroad, feeding in edges of the prairie or swamp; at noon they were hiding in the thickets. In every situation, it was requisite for the hunter to ascertain the course of the wind, so as to get to leeward of the game; this he often ascertained by placing his finger in his mouth, holding it there until it became warm, then holding it above his head, and the side that first cooled indicated the direction of the wind.

These hunters needed no compass ; the trees, the sun and stars took its place. The bark of an aged tree is much thicker and rougher on the north side than on the south; and the same may be said of the moss; it is much thicker and stronger on the north than the south side of the tree ; hence he could walk freely and carelessly through the woods and always strike the exact point intended, while any but a woodsman would become bewildered and lost.

The whole business of the hunter consisted of a succession of intrigues. From morning till night he was on the alert to gain the wind of his game and make his approach without being discovered. If he succeeded in killing a deer, he skinned it, hung it up out of reach of wolves, and immediately resumed the chase until evening, when he bent his course toward the camp, where

HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY. - 281

he cooked and ate his supper with a keen relish with his fellow-hunters, after which came the pipe and the rehearsal of the adventures of the day. The spike buck, the two and three pronged buck, the doe and barren doe, figured through their anecdotes with great advantage.

A wedding among the pioneers was a most wonderful event, not only to the parties immediately interested, but to the whole neighborhood. People generally married young in those days. There was no distinction of rank and very little of fortune. A family establishment cost little labor and nothing else. A wedding was about the only gathering at which the guest was not required to assist in reaping, log-rolling, building a cabin or some other manual labor.

On the morning of the wedding day the groom and his attendants assembled at the house of his father, for the purpose of reaching the house of his bride by noon, the usual time for celebrating the nuptials, and which, for certain reasons, must take place before dinner. The people assembled from great distances, on foot and on horseback, and all dressed in the somewhat fantastic toggery of the backwoods. The dinner was generally a substantial one of beef, pork, fowl, venison and bear meat. roasted and boiled, with plenty of potatoes, cabbage and other vegetables.

After dinner the dancing commenced and generally lasted until the next morning. The figures of the dances were three or four-handed reels, or square sets and jig,. The commencement was always a square four, followed by what was called "jigging it off;" that is, two of the four would begin a jig, followed by the other couple. The jig was often accompanied by what was called "cutting out;" that is, when either of the parties became tired of the dance, on intimation the place was supplied by some one of the company without any interruption to the dance; in this way the dance was often continued until the musician was heartily tired of the situation. Toward the latter part of the night, if any of the company, through weariness, attempted to conceal themselves for the purpose of sleeping, they were brought out, paraded on the floor, and the fiddle ordered to play, " We'll all hang out till morning. about nine o'clock a deputation of young ladies stole off the bride, and put her to bed, after which a deputation of young men, in like manner, stole off the groom and placed him snugly beside his bride. If the couple were not subsequently disturbed during the night it was a miracle. Generally, in the small hours of the night, "Black Betty" (the bottle) was sent up to them, or carried up by an interested delegation, together with as much bread, beef, pork, cabbage, etc., as would suffice a dozen hungry men, and they were compelled to eat and drink until they would hold no more.

In later years, if there was an older unmarried brother of the bride present, he was certain to be compelled "to dance in the hog-trough." This somewhat humiliating operation was inflicted upon him as a lesson to bachelors. Sometimes he would submit quietly, cheerfully, and grace-fully, marching to the pig-pen and dancing his jig in the trough from which the swine devoured the off-fallings of the cabin table; at other times he would escape from his assailants and seek safety in flight, and if fleet on foot, sometimes escaped; but if overtaken, he would not unfrequently fight with great desperation, and it often required considerable force to accomplish the desired object.

The feasting and dancing often lasted several days, during which there was much drinking, carousing, and not unfrequently, fighting.

After the wedding the next duty of the neighbors was to erect a cabin for the young couple, and dedicate it by a "house warming" before they were allowed to move into it. This house warming consisted of a twenty-four hours' dance and carousal in the new cabin. This ended the ceremony, except that not half of it has been told, and thereafter the couple were considered married, according to the laws and usages, of y society.

At a little later time, say from 1820 to 1840, the pioneers were living a little easier. Their farms were partially cleared, many of them - were living in hewed log houses and many in frame, and even brick houses. Most of them had barns and innumerable outhouses. They generally had cattle, horses, sheep, hogs and ' poultry, and were living in comparative comfort. Their neighbors were near, and always dear. r Their schools and churches had improved some-

282 - HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

what, yet even at this late day• there were hundreds of log school-houses and churches. About three months in a year was all the schooling a farmer's boy could get. He was sadly needed at home from the age of five years, to ho all sorts of chores and work on the farm. He was wanted to drive the cows to water and to pasture ; to feed the pigs and chickens and gather the eggs. His duties in the summer were multifarious; the men were at work in the field harvesting, and generally worked from early morning until late at night, and the boys were depended on to "ho the chores;" hence it was impossible to spare them to attend school in summer. There was no school in spring and fall. In winter they were given three months' schooling-a very poor article of schooling, too, generally. Their books were generally anything they happened to have about the house, and even as late as 1850, there was no system in the purchase of school books. Mr. Smucker, of Newark, Ohio, says his first reading books at school were Patrick Gass Journal of the Lewis and Clark expedition to the mouth of the Columbia river in 1804-5-6; and Weem's Life of Washington. Parents purchased for their children whatever book pleased their fancy, or whatever the children desired them to purchase. A geography was a geography, and a grammar a grammar, regardless of who was the author. This great confusion in school books made trouble for the teacher, but that was of small moment. He was hired and paid to teach whatever branches, out of whatever books the parents thought were best. The branches generally taught in the early schools, however, were reading, writing, spelling and arithmetic, and, later; geography and grammar. Boys attending school but three months in a year made but little progress. They began at the beginning of their books every winter, and went as far as they could in three months; then forgot it all during the nine months out of school, commencing again the next winter just where they commenced the previous one. In this way they went over and over the same lessons every• year under different teachers (for many of the teachers only taught one term in a place), often getting no further in arithmetic than "vulgar fractions"or the"rule of three," and in their old Webster's spelling books the first class probably got as far as "antiscorbutic" and may be through; while the second class would get as far as " cessation," and the third class probably not through "baker," certainly not beyond "amity." There were always three or four classes in spelling, and this exercise was the last before school was dismissed in the evening. Their old books were conned over year after year, until they were worn out and the children grew up to manhood and womanhood, and never knew, and perhaps ho not know to this hay, what was in the back part of them. This was the kind of a start many a great man had. These schools can not be despised when it is remembered that the greatest and best of the nation, including such men as Abraham Lincoln, Edwin M. Stanton and Stephen A. Douglas, were among the boys who attended them.

There was always much competition in the spelling classes as to who should get the "head mark." In the later schools it was the custom that the best speller might stand at the head until he missed, when the one who spelled the word correctly should take his place, and he then stood next to the head; but they did things differently in the earlier schools; the head of the class once gained and held until the last spelling at night, the head mark was received and the lucky scholar then took his place at the foot of the class, to again work his way gradually to the head. These classes sometimes contained thirty or forty scholars, and it was something of an undertaking to get from the foot to the head. Spelling-schools were the beauty and glory of school-days. The scholars were always coaxing the tea^her to appoint a night for a spelling-school, and were usually gratified one or two nights in a month or oftener. A night was chosen when the moon shone, and the sleighing was good, and then the entire neighborhood and perhaps the adjoining neighborhood would turn out to the spelling school ; whole families came on the great two horse sled, including the old lady and gentleman, all the children, little and big ; even the baby and the hogs came. Schools in adjoining districts sent their best spellers to try and carry off the honors. The old log school house was crowded, and the great box stove, cast at the Mary Ann furnace, in Diary Ann township, Licking county, and

HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY. - 283

which stood in the center of the room on a box of bricks, was red hot, and kept so during the entire evening. Two good spellers were designated by the teacher to choose sides, and everybody was chosen in one class or the other; then the spelling began, the \voids being given out by the teacher, first to one class and then to the other, beginning at the head. A tally sheet was carefully kept to see who missed the most words. After recess the "spelling down" was indulged in ; the two classes stood lip, and whenever a word was missed the speller sat down, and the one who stood up after all had been spelled down, was the hero or heroine of the hour, and always chosen first in future contests.

A year means a hundred-fold more now than formerly. History is made rapidly in these days. The red men's trail across the valley, and over the hills, and along the river's bank, could be traced by the fewest number in this day; their favorite haunts and play grounds are shorn of their primal charms in the sweeping aside of the grand old woodland. The cattle upon a thousand hills roam over the land that they loved, and quench their thirst in the brooks and pools, that long time ago mirrored their dusky features. The plowman with stolid face upturns in the brown furrow the relic that their fingers deftly fashioned, and the mattock and scraper bring forth to the glare of day and the gaze of the curious, the crumbling brown bones of the chieftain and his squaw; and the contents of the Indian's grave, the moldering clay, Will live anew in a pavement to be trodden under the foot of men.

"Trough the land where we for ages

Laid our bravest, dearest dead,

Grinds the savage white man's plowshare,

Grinding sire's bones for bread."

Ah, these old Indian graves on breezy knolls and reedy river banks-who knows but the sit was selected by the sleepers therein ; who knows but they dreamed in their moody moments that the tide of civilization was slowly coming nears and nearer, to crowd aside their people and in trude upon, anti finally possess their vast an beautiful hunting grounds?

It is hard to be reconciled to this natural order of things ; to see the pioneers passing away ; 'see them stand leaning on their staves, dim-eyed, and with white locks tossed in the winds, dazed at the change that has stamped its neat upon the wilderness whose winding paths they once knew so well. They beheld it slowly laying off its primeval wildness and beauty, and grandeur of woods and waters, until now it blooms like unto the garden of the gods. How beautiful the labors of their hands! How much we owe them! But the olden time is passing away and bearing on its bosom the dear old men and women whose "like we ne'er shall see again." The glory of one age is not dimmed in the golden glory of the age succeeding it; and none more than the pioneers of Coshocton county can comprehend its growth and its change, or more fully appreciate the sad words of the poet when he sang in mournful strain-

And city lots are staked for sale,

Above old Indian groves.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE CANALS.

A Great work-Celebration of the Opening of the Ohio Canal

at Licking summit-Work on the Canal-First Boat - Wal-

honding Canal-Length, Capacity and Business of the Canals.

"We make of Nature's giant powers

The slaves of human art." -Whittier.

A LARGE majority of the people of Ohio know but little at present about the great Ohio canal, and the interest taken in it at the commencement of the work. It was considered one of the greatest undertakings of the age, and, indeed, was the beginning of that grand series of internal improvements which has greatly assisted in placing Ohio among the foremost States of the Union. The following history of this great work is taken mostly from the writings of Col. John Noble, one of the contractors in the work, and from those of William Wing, Esq., deceased. Mr. Wing was also a contractor on the canal, and died in Columbus, Ohio, February 13, 1878, in his seventy-ninth year. He was well versed d in the pioneer history of Central Ohio, and has left behind him writings of much historical value.

Before the building of the canal this county had no outlet for produce, except by wagons to

284 - HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

the lake, or by boat down the Muskingum river, and thence to New Orleans. The country was full of produce for which there was no market. Ham was worth three cents per pound ; eggs, four cents per dozen; flour, one dollar per hundred; whisky, twelve and a half cents per gallon, and other things proportionately cheap.

The commissioners appointed by the legislature to carry on the work appointed Judge D. S. Bates, an experienced engineer of the State of New York, and in their wisdom, made "Licking Summit," in Licking county, the place of beginning. They then gave notice to all concerned throughout Ohio and the adjoining States, that a commencement of the excavation would be made on the fourth of July, 1825.

Samuel Forrer, of Dayton, was appointed principal acting engineer ; John Forrer, local engineer on the Summit, and the latter immediately prepared a few rods of ground, where the line of the canal would pass through a field, for the public demonstration.

The invited guests included many of the notables of the State and nation, among whom were Governor De Witt Clinton, of New York; Messrs. Rathburn and Lord; General Edward King, of Chillicothe; General Sanderson, of Lancaster; Governor Morrow, of this State; Ex-Governor Worthington ; Hon. Thomas Ewing, who was the orator of the day, and many others. Governor Clinton was expected to throw out the first spade ful of earth. This gentleman had proven himself the great friend of internal improvements, having been the principal promoter in the building of the Erie canal in his own State.

A correspondence between the leading friends of the enterprise resulted in the appointment of a committee to carry out the wishes of the commissioners. This committee consisted of Judge Wilson and Alexander Holmes, of Licking, and Judge Elanthan Schofield, one of the earliest surveyors in this section, and John Noble, of Fairfield county. This committee, at their first meeting, engaged Gottleib Steinman, a hotel keeper of Lancaster, to furnish a dinner, upon the ground, for the invited guests; and as many more as would pay for a dinner ticket, at one dollar and fifty cents a ticket. This proved to be a losing busi ness for Steinman. It happened to be wet two or three clays before the fourth, and as there were no houses near the site of the entertainment, rough booths were constructed in the woods; tables and seats were made of plank, hauled from saw-mills at a considerable distance from the place. All the fancy part of the dinner, including pastry, etc., was prepared at Lancaster, eighteen miles south. The entire preparation was made under the most unfavorable circumstances. The roasts and broils were prepared on the ground. The fourth opened fine and clear ; the dinner was good, and enjoyed by all that partook; but of the thousands who attended, many prepared for the emergency by bringing a hamper of provisions with them.

The ceremonies began according to programme. Governor Clinton received the spade, thrust it into the soil, and raised the first spadeful of earth, amid the most enthusiastic cheers of the assembled thousands.

This earth was placed in what they called a canal wheelbarrow, and the spade was passed to Governor Morrow, a statesman and a farmer. He sank it to its full depth, and raised the second spadeful. Then commenced a strife as to who should raise the next. Captain Ned King, commanding the infantry company present from Chillicothe, raised the third ; then some of the guests of Governor Clinton's company threw in some dirt, and the wheelbarrow being full, Captain King wheeled it to the bank. It is impossible to describe the scene of excitement and confusion that accompanied this ceremony. The people shouted themselves hoarse. The feeling was so great that tears fell from many eyes.

The stand for the speaking was in the woods. The crowd was so great that one company of cavalry was formed in a hollow square around the back and sides of the stand. The flies, after three days' rain, were so troublesome that the horses kept up a constant stamping, much to the annoyance of the crowd. Caleb Atwater, the noted geologist, was present, and made the following remark afterward at Lancaster: "I suppose it was all right to have the horses in front of the speaker's stand, for they can not read, and we can."

Governor Clinton and friends, Governor Morrow, Messrs. Rathburn and Lord, with many

HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY. - 285

others, were invited to Lancaster, where they were handsomely entertained by the citizens. Rathburn and Lord were the men who negotiated the loan of four hundred thousand dollars for Ohio; and the Lancaster bank was the first to make terms with the fund commissioners to receive and disburse the money.

The wages for work on the canal were eight dollars for twenty-six working days, or thirty and three-fourth cents per day, from sunrise to sunset. The hands were fed well, lodged in shanties, and received their regular "jiggers" of whisky the first four months.

Micajah T. Williams and Alfred Kelley were the acting commissioners, and proved themselves faithful public servants. They were often pass ing up and down the line, and saw the evil effects of the "jigger" of whisky. They left notice at each contract station that they would not pay estimates monthly if the contractors furnished whisky on the work-an order that caused much grumbling among a certain class of the men, but it was promptly obeyed by the contractors. A jigger was small, not a jilt in measure, but fifty or silty men taking four of these per day-at sunrise, at ten o'clock, at noon, at four o'clock, and before supper-would exhaust a barrel of whisky in four or five days. Men from Fairfield, Hocking, Gallic and Meigs counties, and all the country around, came to work on the canal. Farmers and their sons wanted to earn this amount of wages, as it was cash-a very scarce article-cud they must have it to pay taxes and other cash expenses.

Before the canal was finished south of the Summit, the north end from Dresden to Cleveland was in operation; and wheat sold on the canal at seventy-five cents per bushel. Corn rose in proportion, and the enemies of the canal, all of whom were large land holders, or large tax payers, began to open their eyes. One of these, a Mr. Shoemaker, of Pickaway county, below Farlton, was a rich land owner, and bad opposed the building of the canal, as it would increase his tax and then be a failure. This gentleman, for such he was, said that his bays; with one yoke of oxen and farm cart, hauled potatoes to Circleville and sold them for forty cents per bushel until they b more money than sufficed to pay all his taxes for a year. This was an article for which, before this, there was no market, and be was now a convert to improvement. Wheat rained from twenty-five cents to one dollar per bushel before the canal was finished.

The contracts for building the canal were made soon after breaking the ground at Licking Summit. The first embraced all the section from the point of breaking ground, south, including the embankment of the Licking Summit reservoir to the deep cut, so called, and there was one section at the south end of the cut let about this time to Colonel Noble. At these lettings, statements were posted up for the information of bidders, of the quantity and different kinds of work in each section, and also their estimates of the value of doing the same. Bidders from New York were present, and obtained some of the heaviest jobs-as the reservoir job, and some others The price of excavation and embankment was from nine to thirteen cents per cubic yard; grubbing and clearing, per chain, two to ten dollars, according to circumstances. But little masonry was let in this division; and the work here was let about ten per cent below the engineer's estimates. Colonel Noble probably took his contract on the engineer's estimates, as it was deemed necessary that section should be finished, in order to afford drainage when the deep cut should be put under contract. It is said that the colonel was at considerable expense in procuring machinery to pull down the large elm trees, of which there were many on the section, and that the attempt to get them out that way was not a success. His contract, therefore, did not prove a profitable one.

The next letting at Newark included the deep cut, so called, and the South Fork feeder. The length of this cut was about three miles. At the deepest place it was about thirty-four feet, descending gradually in either direction to about eight feet at either end, so that it would average about twenty-four feet the whole length. It was divided into two sections, and the whole was let at fifteen cents per cubic yard; the north half to Scoville, Hathaway & Co , of New York, and the a south half to Osborn, Rathburn & Co., of Columbus. The first named party sub-let their job to Hampson & Parkinson, of Muskingum county, who carried it on for a time and abandoned it at

286 - HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

very considerable loss, it is said. The other party, under the firm name of Osborn, Williams &. Co., prosecuted their work to final completion, and undertook the unfinished part of the north section ; but they obtained, at different times, of the commissioners, an advance on the price originally agreed upon, so that at the close they were paid about thirty cents a yard for the work. Probably the average was twenty-five cents per yard cost to the State.

It is somewhat singular, that on the highest part of the cut there was a swamp of a few acres, where the water stood in the spring of the year, and as it was raised by heavy rains, the waters flowed from the swamp north to the waters of the Licking, and south to the tributaries of the Scioto.

The next work was also let at Newark. It commenced at the north end of Licking Summit, thence northward to Nashport, including all the heavy work, and the dam at the lower end of the Licking Narrows. The letting embraced some twelve to fifteen locks, two aqueducts and culverts, with the usual excavation and embankment. The masonry of the locks was bid in at from two dollars to two dollars and' fifty cents per perch of sixteen and one-half cubic feet, which included a lock finished, except the excavation of the pit and embankment around the lock. The other masonry was let at proportionate rates, and the other work went very low. There was great competition.

The next letting was at Irville, in Muskingum county; commencing at the north end of the above described work, extending north to Roscoe upon which there was considerable heavy work let at about the same rates as above, competition being no less.

The next work was let at Lancaster, comment ing at the south end of Colonel Noble's job, thence southward to Circleville. This included some heavy work, also. There were some twenty or twenty-five locks, a few culverts and aqueducts, dam at Bloomfield, and about the usual amount of earth work. All were let at low prices ; the first six locks south of Licking Summit at three dollars and fifteen cents per perch ; the face stone was hauled from the neighborhood of Lancaster an average distance of eight miles. Lower down about Carrot, Lockport and Winchester, the locks were about two dollars and fifty cents a perch. The light locks,. just above the junction of the main canal with the Columbus feeder, were let at three dollars and twenty-five cents a perch.

At these prices it required the closest economy to do the work without loss. Some of the jobs awarded were abandoned and afterwards re-let at better prices. The price of labor was very low. Wages did not rise above ten dollars per month for four or five years. There was no "eight hour system ; " the men worked all day. Very few Irish or other foreigners had arrived at that tune, and the work was mostly done by native Americans.

It was a great undertaking for the State to build the canal, and although its working has never paid the interest on its cost, yet, it has, without doubt, paid for itself many times over by the increased health it brought to the State, and the great increase in values of every marketable thing, covering a large extent of country.

That part of the canal lying in Coshocton county was built in 1827-30. Among the chief contractors were the following citizens of the county, viz: Thomas Johnson, William Renfrew, Matthew Stewart, Solomon Vail, A. Ferguson, Ephraim Thayer and A. G. Wood.

A sad incident in the construction of the canal was the death of Judge Brown, a citizen of Coshocton, who had a contract, and was killed while superintending his work by a falling rock. An amusing incident was the exploit of one of the M--e girls, who was employed as cook for a gang of hands. Picking up the rifle of one of the boys who was preparing for a Sunday hunt, she declared she would shoot a man on the other side of the river, who was only an old bachelor, and, therefore, as she alleged, of very little use, and so saying she fired, and actually hit the crown of the man's hat.

The first boat-the "Monticello " arrived from Cleveland August 21, 1830. She remained several days at the point of the hill above the aqueduct, attracting wonder-stricken visitors in multitudes from this and even adjoining counties.

The Walhonding canal was commenced in 1836, and finished in 1842. In the engineering corps were William H. Price, Charles J. Ward, John Waddle, Jacob Blickensderfer, Henry Fields and

HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY. - 287

Sylvester Medbery. Several of the gentlemen named above as contractors on the Ohio Canal were also connected with this. In addition to these were John Frew, S. Moffit, Isaac Means, John Crowley, W. K. Johnson and others. This canal lies wholly within the county, extending from Roscoe to Rochester, twenty-five miles. It cost $607,268.99, or an average of $24,290.76 per mile.

The first superintendent of the Ohio canal, residing at Roscoe, was S. R. Hosmer, now of Zanesville. Alonzo Ransom, James Hay, John Mirise, James Carnes and William E. Mead also held this office. The first collector, was Jacob Welsh, from Boston, Massachusetts, who (and also John M. Sweeny) had been in the engineering corps under Leander Ransom. At his death, E. Bennett was appointed. The following persons have held that position, viz : John D. Patton (now of Washington City), Houston Hay (of Coshocton), Chauncey Bassett (now in IIlinois), William M. Green (ex-postmaster of Dayton), C .H. Johnson (of Coshocton), James Gamble (deceased, of Walhonding), and Foght Burt (now in Illinois).

The Superintendents of the Walhonding canal were Langdon Hogle, John Perry, William E. Mead and Charles H. Johnson.

The first canal-boat launched in the county was called the '° Renfrew," in honor of James Renfrew, a merchant of Coshocton. It was built by Thomas Butler Lewis, an old Ohio keel-boatman.

It was intended to have the Walhonding canal extended to the northwestern part of the State, but there was already (1842) much talk of speedier mode of conveyance. The work been very expansive, and the members of the legislature from districts where canals were no regarded as practicable, were indisposed to con time the appropriations.

The "Grand Canal," as it was first called, passes entirely across the State, connecting the waters of Lake Erie with those of the Ohio river. It is three hundred and six miles long, exclusive of the lateral canal to Columbus, eleven miles, and the Dresden side cut, together with slack-water navigation to Zanesville, seventeen miles more making in all three hundred and thirty-four miles, including its various windings. It commences at Cleveland and passes up the Cuyahoga river to the Old Portage, between it and the Tuscarawas river; by the city of Akron, and over to the Tuscarawas, down whose valley it follows to Massillon, Dover, New Philadelphia, Newcomerstown, Caldersburgh, Coshocton and Dresden; where it leaves the Tuscarawas, or rather the Muskingum, as the river is called below Coshocton, and takes a southwesterly direction, passing Nashport, and striking the Licking river just beyond the eastern line of Licking county, passing up that river to Newark; thence up the south fork to Hebron, Deep Cut, Baltimore, and Carrol, reaching the Scioto : fiver just within the limits of Pickaway county, eleven miles south of Columbus. From this point it follows the Scioto valley to the Ohio river, passing the towns of Bloomfield, Circleville, Westfall, Chillicothe and Piketon to Portsmouth. It is owned and controlled by the State, and is under the immediate supervision of the board of public works, who appoint all its officers, and have entire charge of all its affairs. It is divided into three divisions, each of which is in charge of a chief engineer, who looks after repairs and other matters, and makes a yearly report to the board. Collectors are stationed at various places along the canal, whose business is to collect tolls and water rent. A specified amount of toll is paid by those who run the boats, both upon the boat and cargo, the rate depending upon the value or quality of the cargo. It varies from two or three mills to two or three cents per mile. The boats are owned by private individuals, who have the use of the canal by a paying the tolls. Before the days of railroads, these boats did a through business, and some of them were "passenger packets," which were lightly and neatly built, and arranged for carrying passengers; and made much quicker time than the freight boats. Since the advent of railroads, however, this class of boats has, of course, disappeared, and those caring freight now do only a local business, the railroads doing all through business. The boats will carry from fifty to eighty tons, and draw from two to three feet of water. Their principal business now is to transport coal, wheat, building stone, and any freight that does not require quick transportation.

In 1861 the canal was leased to a company for

288 - HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

ten years, and at the end of that time the lease was renewed for ten years, but the company abandoned the lease in 1878, the State taking possession again in May, 1879. For several years prior to leasing it, the canal had been a heavy yearly expense to the State, the receipts falling much below the expenditures; since taking possession again in 1879, however, the receipts have largely exceeded the expenditures, and the State, probably for the first time in the history of this enterprise, is now making money out of it.

CHAPTER XXIX.

RAILROADS.

River Transportation - The Pan Handle - Extracts from

Hunt's History and the Zanesville Courier.

FOLLOWING the canal came that great civilizer, the railroad, as a means of transportation. Prior to either canal or railroad, steamboats and small boats and scows were used in business operations on the river. Steamboats occasionally came up to Coshocton. The original proprietors of the town designated certain lots on the river bank as °` warehouse lots," looking to shipments by river. By act of the legislature, the Muskingum, Walhonding, and Tuscarawas rivers, and Killbuck, Mohican, and Wills creeks, within Coshocton county, have been declared "navigable streams."

They have not, however, on that part within Coshocton county, been much disturbed by "prows" for many years.

In 1875, a little steamboat was built at Jacobsport by Mr. Parker, proprietor of the mill, and was running as a pleasure and burden boat for short distances on Wills creek.

The Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St. Louis railroad is the only railroad now in complete running order through the county. It is familiarly known as the " Pan Handle route " so called from the narrow neck, or section, of West Virginia extending up and along the Ohio river, across which the Pittsburgh and Stubenville road (being a part of this line) passes. The road runs in an eastwardly direction from Columbus to Pittsburgh, one hundred and ninety-three miles, and is the shortest and most direct line between these two cities. That part of the road lying in Ohio is one hundred and fifty miles long, from Stubenville.

The Steubenville and Indiana Railroad Company was chartered February 24,1848, and under its charter and amendments thereto, commenced work in November, 1851, on the eastern division, opening the road for traffic from Steubenville to Newark, via Coshocton, in April, 1855. This line, with a branch from the main line to Cadiz, eight miles in length, constituted the road of the Steubenville and Indiana Railroad Company.

HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY. - 289

The delay in building the road from Steubenville to Pittsburgh, the want of proper connections east or west, and the unfinished and poorly equipped condition of the road, gave insufficient earnings to pay interest and current expenses; the company became greatly embarrassed and fell in arrears to laborers, and for supplies, and was annoyed and perplexed with suits and judgments which it was unable to fund or pay, and finally proceedings were commenced in the Court of Common Pleas, of Harrison county, Ohio, for the foreclosure of mortgages and sale of the road, and Thomas L. Jewett was appointed receiver, on the second day of September, 1859. On the first day of October, 1864, the receiver, on behalf of the company, purchased an undivided half of that part of the Central Ohio between Newark and Columbus, for seven hundred and seventy-five. thousand dollars, thus giving the company an independent outlet and direct communication with railroads running west from Columbus.

Meantime the work on the Steubenville and Pittsburgh road was rapidly pushed forward to completion, and on the first of October, 1865, the receiver concluded an arrangement with the lessees of that road for opening the whole line from Columbus to Pittsburgh. The road received the name of Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St. Louis, and December 28, 1867, it was reorganized under the name of Pan Handle. Upon completion, it was leased to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, by which it is now operated. The construction and equipment of this road cost, in round numbers, twenty million dollars.

The following regarding this road is from Mr Hunt's history of this county:

"The road was originally planned to go fro Coshocton up the Walhonding valley, talon much the same direction as was once propose for the Walhonding canal, and striking for Northern Indiana and Chicago; but the movement of another company anticipated part of this plan and the road was built to Newark. A few individual subscriptions of stock were made, but most of the stock, afterward in the possession of individuals, came through the contractors to whom it had been given for work, or was given to the holders of it for the right of way, etc.

" The county, in 1850, took $100,000 of the stock of the company, and the townships along the line of the road (except Oxford), $80,000 more, viz: Lafayette, $20,000; Tuscarawas, $30;000; Franklin, $15,000, and Virginia, $15,000, for all of which bonds were issue. Subsequently, in the processes of consolidation and extension, nearly one-half of this stock was relinquished, and townships. No dividend has ever been paid on it, and it is all regarded as practically lost. The road paid into the county treasury, as taxes for 1875, the sum of $5,573.63.

The citizens now readily recalled as haying contracts for building the road are Samuel Brown (since removed to Illinois), John Few, J. W. Rue, John Ninian and George Ross. Neither these nor any other citizens specially connected with the building of the road, reaped much benefit from it, but many have gained immensely, and the general advancement of the county through it, has in amount exceeded many times over all that was ever invested in it. Until comparatively recent years, one of the board of directors was taken from Coshocton county. Wm. K. Johnson served m that capacity from the inception of the road until his death, and was succeeded by his brother, Joseph K. Johnson, now of New York city.

In 1872, a railroad was located (as a branch of the Cleveland, Mt. Vernon and Columbus Railroad) through Clark, Bethlehem, Jefferson, Bedford and Washington townships, and some work was done on it. But "the panic" of 1873 prevented any further progress for some three years. At this writing fresh efforts are being made to complete the work

The Massillon and Coshocton Railroad, branching from the Cleveland, Tuscarawas Valley and Wheeling Railroad near Massillon (Beach city), and running to Coshocton, was located in 1875, and by the hearty assistance of parties along the line, under the direction of R. B. Dennis, W. L. Holden, and others interested in the C , T. V. & W. R. R., and also in coal-fields near Coshocton, is at this writing being rapidly constructed. A. H. Slayton, J. C. Fisher, F. T. Spangler and J. C. Pomrene, of Coshocton, have been actively and officially connected with this enterprise. Several other railroads have been projected, notably one from Liberty, in Guernsey county to Coshocton, d and thence up the Walhonding valley (a part substantially of T. S. Humrickhouse's protected "Lake Michigan and Tidewater" Railroad); but up to this writing no effective measures have been taken in relation to them:

The first agent of the S. & I. Railroad at Coshocton was John Frew."

None of the above mentioned roads have been n finished.

The branch of the Cleveland, Mount Vernon and Columbus road was graded as far as Tunnel

290 - HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

Hill, where it ended and remains unfinished. The immense coal fields of the county require, and will ultimately have, additional transportation.

The following regarding prospective railroads in this county is clipped from the Zanesville Courier of a recent date:

Messrs. R. B. Dennis and W. L. Holden, of tire Cleveland, Canton, Coshocton and Straitsville Railway (Connotton Valley), and Messrs. D. B. Linn and J. P. Egan, returned to the city Thursday from a tour of observation to Otsego and Coshocton, in the interests of the above named railway company. The party passed over the entire route and minutely examined the country, with a view to determining the feasibility of extending the railroad from Otsego to Zanesville.

It should be observed that Mr. Dennis came here by direction of the directors of the Cleveland, Canton, Coshocton and Straitsville Railway Company, to examine the route personally, and to report his observation to the board at their next meeting, to be held in Canton next week. Both of the visiting gentlemen are now satisfied, as we are informed, that the route is not only feasible, but that the territory lying between the Pan Handle on the north, and the B, & O. Railway on the south, can be divided about the center by the proposed new narrow gauge, and that the country through which the road would pass will furnish a large amount of local traffic.

The gap between the head waters of Salt creek and the White Eyes branch of Wills creek is not a formidable obstacle, and can easily be traversed. It is fair to infer from all the circumstances connected with the inspection, that the report of Messrs. Dennis and Holden will be favorable to the construction of the road.

The line is already under contract as far south as Coshocton, and gentlemen who have opportunities of knowing whereof they affirm, seem to be confident that the extension to Zanesville will be made this summer.

CHAPTER XXX.

AGRICULTURE. *

Agricultural Features of the County-Present Condition

Crops-Corn, wheat, etc.-Fruit Culture-Stock Raising

Sheep-Cattle-Hogs-Horses-County Agricultural Society.

THE topographical features of Coshocton county are so diversified by hill and valley as to afford a pleasing variance in agricultural pursuits

* Compiled chiefly from Hunt's Historical Collections and the Agricultural Report.

throughout the county. By the junction of the Walhonding and Tuscarawas rivers, forming the Muskingum, three broad and beautiful valleys are formed, radiating in different directions from the county seat. The valleys of Wills creek and the Killbuck are scarcely less marked, and these five, together with many others, of greater or less scope, threading the county in all directions, present an abundance of rich, sandy, fertile bottom lands, well adapted to the growing of corn, wheat, potatoes and kindred crops. The rolling or hill lands are more adapted to growing wheat and grass. The western hart of the county is composed chiefly of limestone lands; the eastern part is more of a sandy nature. The northern part of the county, between the Tuscarawas and Walhonding rivers, is rolling and well adapted for grass and growing of sheep. Water is abundant throughout the entire county. It is often asserted that the soils are becoming exhausted, but this is only partially true. The bottom lands, owing to the false notion that they need no return for the generous crops annually removed, are, as a general thing, less productive than when first brought under cultivation, but the rich clay lands are constantly improving. For this there are two reasons. In the first place, all good farmers understand that these lands will not produce grain from year to year without some return being made for the crops removed. The general practice here is a rotation of products, such as corn, oats, wheat and clover, followed sometimes with meadow or pasture. Besides the direct benefit from the clover and grass as fertilizers, the condition of these clay soils is greatly ameliorated by this thorough cultivation. Deep plowing and exposure of the subsoil to the frosts of winter, the cultivation of corn in the summer and the thorough preparation of the soil by the network of clover roots will accomplish a great work in the improvement of these stiff clays. The "plain" lands, which were regarded as valueless by the early settlers, under careful cultivation have been made to yield constant and abundant harvests.

The material prosperity of the farmers is amply attested by the erection of handsome brick and frame dwellings and large and commodious barns throughout the county. Particularly has

HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY. - 291

this been noticeable within the last few yearn. The log cabin in many localities is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. The maximum number of cultivators of the soil was probably reached in 1850. From that year to 1870 there was a decrease in the population of the county, owing to the fact that many of the well-to-do farmers of small tracts sold their possessions to more wealthy neighbors and moved away. These wealthy farmers, in a number of cases, own from five hundred to a thousand or more acres, and by their successive purchases have partially depopulated some districts. The most extensive landholder at present is Lloyd Nichols, of Newcastle township, who has in his possession 3,212 acres in that township. It is a gratifying fact that, from 1870 to 1880, there was an increase of population in eighteen of the twenty-two townships in this county. This in increase is due chiefly to the growth of the agricultural regions, as only in one or two instances can it be ascribed to villages.

The land appraisers for 1880 returned a total acreage in the county of 352,249, valued at $7,670; 694, an acreage value of $21.77 per acre. The buildings were rated at $709,981. Of the land, 166,229 acres are reported arable, 89,438 in meadow or pasture, and 96,582 as uncultivated or wild land. The principal timber of practical use is white oak-the most useful for all purposes where large lumber is needed. Besides, there are black and red oak, poplar, walnut, hickory, ash and chestnut-all in sufficient quantities to supply the wants of the people. The timber in this county is being rapidly exhausted, there being portable saw-mills used in localities where timber is abundant, manufacturing our best timber into lumber, which is used in building post and rail fences in place of decaying rail fences. The effects of the rapid exhaustion of timber is shown by a wine action of the farmers in planting hedge fences. There is a large growth of young chestnut trees on the hill-sides and on the uncultivated portions of the farms, which are very thrifty and produce fine crops of chestnuts. It is estimated that this county produced, in 1879, twenty thousand bushels of chestnuts, which were sold as low as one dollar per bushel. The farms are as yet generally enclosed by rail fences. Many of the farmers, however, are renewing their fences with posts and boards. The osage hedge fence and the barbed wire fence have both been introduced and are meeting with some favor.

Corn has always been regarded as the principal crop. More acres of it have been planted and more bushels gathered than of any other. In 1857 when the cultivation of this crop reached its maximum, when there was much discouragement in relation to the growing of wheat in consequence of the pests to which it had been for a succession of years subjected, and when the sheep interest had not yet become so great, there were more than a million and a half bushels of corn raised. The principal kind is the yellow gord seed. In 1878 there were 35,655 acres planted, and 1,242,284 bushels produced; in 1879, 33,373 acres planted, and 937,546 bushels raised. White corn is grown in small quantities. Scarcely enough pop or sweet corn is raised to supply home demand.

The wheat crop in Coshocton county has always ranked next to corn in amount and value. The period of its most successful cultivation may be set down at from 1835 to 1850. The largest crop ever secured was in 1846. The roads to the canal warehouses and mills were often studded thickly for many rods with wagons waiting their turn to unload. In 1850 there was a larger acreage than in 1846, but the yield was not so great. In 1862 a half million bushels was reported as the yield. About 1850 the Hessian fly made its appearance; it was succeeded by the weevil; then there was serious trouble about winter freezing, and for twenty years this interest was much depressed. About 1870 farmers began to take good heart again, and, in 1874, there was a magnificent crop. The crop of 1875 was very seriously effected by an unusually rainy season lust at the harvest time. The last three harvests have been unusually large, that of 1879 surpassing corn in acreage and value. In 1878 there were 28,533 acres sown, and 440,376 bushels produced; in 1879, 41,395 acres sown, and 517,937 bushels produced. There is a diversity of opinion as to the variety best adapted to this soil. The principal varieties grown are the Mediterranean, Fultz, Clawson and White Wheat. The Clawson wheat is sown by many of the farmers and gives a good yield, and seems to be a hardy winter wheat.

292 - HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

In earlier days the average yield was quite up to eighteen or twenty bushels per acre, but of late years thirteen to fifteen is regarded as good. At the county fair for 1878, there was one entry of field crop of Wheat eighteen and one half acres which produced forty-five and one-third bushel per acre, by weight. In the days of high prices during the war, three dollars and twenty-five cents per bushel was paid for good wheat; the lowest price within the memory of early settlers was twenty-five cents.

Rye has never been cultivated to any great extent, but much more was raised in earlier days than now. In 1867 the largest acreage for a number of years was put in-4,700 acres. It is now almost wholly abandoned, being neither very productive or very profitable. In 1878, 604 acres were sown and 6,634 bushels gathered ; the next year there were 169 acres sown and 1,816 bushels produced.

In 1862 the barley crop was reported at 3,000, and has never been much above that. It has now practically ceased, there being, in 1879, only four acres returned with a yield of fifty bushels.

Oats is produced in considerable quantities. The principal variety grown is known as side oats. It is of good quality and yields an average crop. In 1878, 11,009 acres were sown, yielding 333,480 bushels; in 1879 the acreage fell to 8,770 acres with a yield of 236,695 bushels.

Three hundred and thirty-nine acres of buckwheat were raised in 1878, yielding 2,377 bushels ; in 1879, 460 acres produced 4,855 bushels.

The principal varieties of potatoes grown are the White and Red Peachblow and Early and Late Rose. The best for early use in quality and quantity is the Early Rose. For late use the White Peachblow seems to lead. The Colorado beetle has been its principal enemy for a few years, but, in spite of its ravages, good crops are produced. In 1878, 806 acres yielded 57,116 bushels, and in 1879, 920 acres produced 73,160 bushels.

Flax, in early days, received considerable attention. During the war, when cotton goods rose so in value, renewed interest was manifested in this crop. In 1862, sixty acres were planted. It may be said that none is now grown. For 1879 a solitary one-half acre was returned as the extent of its production in this county. The opinion j prevails among the farmer: that it impoverishes the land and renders it worthless for growing other crops.

Broom corn has never been much cultivated in the county. Sorghum was a considerable item in war times. Three hundred and eighty-five acres of it were grown in 1862, and more still later. It is confined to small lots, chiefly for home use. In 1878, 186 acres were planted, which produced 1,397 pounds of sugar and 11,282 gallons of syrup. In 1879, the acreage fell to 99 acres, producing 62 pounds of sugar and 6,481 gallons of syrup.

In early times all, or nearly all, the sugar consumed in the county was of home manufacture -maple sugar. For many years it continued to be a leading product. As late as 1865 there were reported as produced in the county 4,000 pounds of sugar and 3,000 gallons of syrup. In 1879, 1,637 pounds of sugar and 926 gallons of syrup were reported. This amount was greatly diminished in 1880, then reaching only 408 pounds of sugar and 322 gallons of syrup.

A considerable amount of tobacco has been raised in Coshocton county. More than forty years ago there was the " tobacco fever." The farmers all went to raising it; the supply exceeded the demand, and there was considerable disgust, In 1858 there were only two and one-half acres raised. During the war there was a temporary extension of this interest, but not a very wide one. It is now grown only in small lots for home use. In 1879, 5 3/4 acres were raised.

There have been several efforts in the manufacture of cheese, but they have not been long persisted in, nor very satisfactory. The most notable cheese factory was one set up about 1866, in Clark township. The farmers became tired of the constant and regular effort in the matter of furnishing milk, competition was heavy, and the factory, after running seven or eight years, was closed. There were, in 1878, 1,325 pounds of cheese produced in this county and in 1879, 790 pounds. The aggregate amount of butter annually made, for the last twenty-five years, has somewhat exceeded half a million pounds. In 1879, 665,990 pounds were produced.

Coshocton is among the best bee counties in the

HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY. - 293

State. In 1878 it contained 4,114 hives, which produced 49,791 pounds of honey.

In 1868, an average year, 30 000 tons of hay were produced. During the last several years, owing to dry weather, etc., this crop has been short. In 1879, 20,950 acres of meadow produced but 22,684 tong of hay. The average and yield was about the same for 1878. In this latter year, 3,469 acres of clover were sown ; from it 3,129 tons of hay were produced, 2.621 bushels of seed, and 144 acres were plowed under for manure. The acreage was somewhat larger, but the yield considerably smaller in 1879.

The first nurseryman in Coshocton county was doubtless the eccentric, self-denying "Johnny Appleseed," an account of whom is given in another chapter of this work. The first orchards were for the most part, if not entirely, from seed ling trees. Top grafting upon these was afterward resorted to in a small degree, but without materially changing the general character of the fruit, except in a few instances. Some of the early settlers, coming in from Maryland and Virginia, brought with them sprouts from the orchards of their home regions, and these, of course, contained these varieties. Some of these still have a place in the orchards of the descendants of those who brought them.

In 1832, Joshua B. Hart, of Tiverton township, had a bearing orchard of grafted fruit, consist ing of the kinds brought out by the Ohio Company when they settled at Marietta. Mr. Hart propagated some by grafting, but could not sell his trees and quit in a short time.

Joseph F. Munro had a large orchard planted for him by old John Mathews, also of the Marietta sorts. The Robinsons had a few trees of the same.

William Miskimen, on Wills creek, practiced grafting in a small way, and had bearing apple trees of the kinds common in western Pennsylvania.

George Henderson had a bearing orchard of apples and practiced grafting in a small way. His orchard was on White Eyes, and consisted of Western Pennsylvania fruit.

Old Mr. McFertridge had planted an orchard, not yet then in bearing. He brought his tree from Steubenville, and they were of the kind grown in the Kneisley nurseries.

A nurseryman of Fairfield county, about 1830-31, brought by canal a large lot of grafted apple bees, but found no sale for them for orchard planting, and traded or in some way disposed of them to Nathan Spencer of Bethlehem township, who planted them in a kind of nursery, and sold them to John Frew. Eighty of them were planted by T. S. Humrickhouse in an orchard on Mill creek in the fall of 1833.

John Elliott planted an orchard of the same kind on his farm in Bethlehem township. Every tree of this lot was true to name and the whole selection proved most admirable.

Richard Wood, of Bedford township; practiced grafting to a small extent and had an orchard. Wishing to plant two or three apple orchards, and not being able to find all the kinds he wanted in any one nursery, T. S. Humrickhouse, about 1835, commenced making a collection and grafting in nursery. He took from'" all the orchards above mentioned all the varieties they contained, and added from a distance all the kinds he could hear of that gave promise of being valuable, and has continued that sort of work to this day. His nursery, the only one in this county, is situated on the south outlots of Coshocton. When James Matthews was in congress he procured most of the native and many foreign varieties, and they were thoroughly tried. Most of the foreign and many of the native were discarded. Both Mr. Matthews and Mr. Humrickhouse about 1840 gave considerable attention to pears, peaches, plums and grapes, introducing many fine varieties.

About 1838, Robert Seevers started a nursery at West Carlisle, and many of the orchards in the western townships were stocked by him.

Kellis Hord started one near Bakersville. Others in different parts of the county tried the business, but few of them continued long in it.

Traveling grafters, between 1840 and 1850, abounded in the county, but have not left very distinct traces.

For the last twenty-five years very heavy importations of fruit trees have been made. In one year the sales of tree peddlers reached nearly $8,000. A large proportion of the trees died, and

294 - HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

many of the varieties which were most highly commended, proved really very inferior. Notwithstanding, however, large and prolific orchards may now be found in all parts of the county. The total acreage of orchards in 1878 was 6,344, yielding that year 446,918 bushels of apples.

Probably the largest peach orchard ever set out in the county was planted by Joseph K. Johnson, on his place about a mile east of Coshocton. It consisted of eighty some acres. The growing of peaches is extensively cultivated, which is most marked, perhaps, in Washington township, where large, fine orchards of this fruit may be seen on almost every farm. In 1878 there were produced in this county 69,860 bushels of peaches. This yield field was excelled by only two counties in the State, Muskingum and Columbiana. In the same year 373 bushels of pears were produced.

Grape culture has never been very considerable in this county. In 1855 J. K. Johnson planted quite a large vineyard on his place, one mile east of Coshocton, and for a few years thereafter a considerable quantity of wine was made under his direction. he most of this was used by sick friends, of whom there proved to be a good many, and for church purposes. Some years subsequently, J. B. Elliott and F. Seward established a vineyard in Keene township, but the operation was not accounted a large success. In 1878 there were twenty-five acres in vineyard reported, producing 9,148 pounds of grapes and 177 gallons of wine. Several years ago the manufacture of wine for home consumption was begun by a few of the German farmers in Franklin, Linton, Crawford and other townships. It has since been steadily increasing among them, and bids fair to develop into a quite noticeable production.

There is a gratifying increase in the interest taken in the raising of live stock of all kinds The choicest blood and most carefully bred horses and cattle are to be found, while hogs and sheep of the finest stock are in abundance.

The first Merino sheep of thorough blood brought into this county were bought by Major Robinson and Major Simmons from old Seth Adams, who, as partner or agent of General Humphries, brought to the Muskingum valley some of General Humphries' importation from Spain, and had them in Muskingum county, near Dresden, as early as 1812. They were not cared for, and no trace of them is left. Fine-wooled sheep of uncertain and mixed blood were gradually introduced by farmers from eastern counties and Western Pennsylvania, between 1830 and 1836 or 1837, when Beaver and Bowman brought out from Washington county, Pennsylvania, about 2,000, and placed them on Bowman's section, adjoining Coshocton. This movement proved a failure, most of the sheep dying the next spring, and the remainder being disposed of and scattered so as to leave no trace.

About 1842, S. T. Thompson and one or two of his neighbors brought from Washington county, Pennsylvania, a few sheep and founded flocks. These were the first really good Merinos that have left their mark and still exist.

William Renfrew, sr., soon after brought out from the same county a few good black-tops and a few lighter colored, which he bred separately, and the descendants of which still remain. In 1846, or thereabouts, William Batchelor and George Wolf brought out a few sheep obtained from Gen. Harmon in the State of New York; they were selected by Mr. Batchelor, and, compared with what were here before, were heavier-wooled and stronger sheep. They did well.

In 1850, Howe and Batchelor brought out from Vermont a French ram, of thorough Merino blood, which had been imported from France by S. W. Jewett, from the government flock at Rambouillet. After trial, they rejected him and disposed of his increase. They then, in connection with T. S. Humrickhouse, brought out some thirty head of Humphries' Atwood sheep, obtained from Edwin Hammond, of Addison county, Vermont: These are the kind now recognized on all hands as the best, and an improvement over other fine-wooled sheep. They have been added to from time to time by Mr. Batchelor and others.

In 1834, Isaac Maynard emigrated from England and settled in this county. He brought with him a small flock of Southdowns and a few Lincolnshires. The Lincolnshires were entirely lost, and most of the Southdowns. In 1842, or thereabouts, William Henderson, Dr. Edmund Cone and James Miskimen furnished old Mr. Bache with money to go to England and bring

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back with him some sheep. 'He brought back quite a cumber of Ellman Southdowns and a few Leicestershires, or, as sometimes called, Dishleys or Bakewells, which were divided among the owners. The Leicestershires soon disappeared, but the Southdowns are the source of most of the Southdowns now in the county. They have been added to by Bluck and others, who purchased rams at different times from, various sources. The Cotswolds have been of late tried by various parties-those of Judge Thornhill, William Hanlon, Robert Moore and J. W. Dwyer having attracted much attention and commendation.

In the times of high prices during the war, one dollar and five cents per pound was paid for a few choice fleeces. Many were sold at one dollar per pound-one fleece bringing twenty-two dollars and fifty cents. When prices fell after the war, and the condition of things was unsatisfactory otherwise as to the profitableness of sheep raising, thousands of the poorest sheep were killed and fed to hogs, the pelts selling for about as much as the live sheep.

A Coshocton County Wool-growers' Association was organized about 1864. In February, 1876, the National Merino Sheep Breeders' Association was organized at Coshocton, in a meeting attended by delegates from Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Missouri and other States.

Coshocton is one of the foremost sheep counties in the State. In the value of its sheep, in 1879, it stood sixth on the list, and in point of number, 126,000, was tenth. In 1878, 490,076 pounds of wool were shorn.

In comparatively early times, John Miskimen, Judge Robinson and Daniel Miller brought some fine cattle into the county. More than thirty years ago, Frank McGuire and George Wolf bought some superior stock in this line from E. P. Prentice, of Albany, New York, and afterward some from D. D. Campbell, of Schenectady, New York. About 1851, Arnold Medberry and Samuel Rrown made purchase of some very fine cattle from Dr. Watts, of Chillicothe. In 1855, Thomas Darling imported a lot from Kentucky, and not long thereafter Samuel Moore, Frank McGuire and T. S. Humrickhouse became prominently connected with the same line of work. John G. Stewart, a few years ago, exhibited a very superior herd. J. W. Dwyer has, of late, also interested himself greatly, especially in the Jerseys and Alderneys. The number of cattle in the county in 1879 was 21,737, valued at $299,141.

The hogs of the earlier day in Coshocton county were all that could be made by an abundance of corn and little care; but the original stock not being very good, and little effort being made to improve it, long snouts and blue skins were the rule. The McGuires and the Wolfs were about the first to give attention to improved breeds. Afterward the Lennons, the Burrells, and Matthew Johnson interested themselves in the same line. G. W. Silliman; after his visit to Europe, took an interest in the Berkshires, and brought into the county some of that breed. The Chester Whites beams and continued great favorites. The Leicestershires have found many approvers, and are favorites with many. The Poland Chinas, too, of late have been introduced, and are being well received.

There were in the county in 1879, 23,265 hogs, having a valuation of $48,612.

"Blooded" horses have, from the first, received a good deal of attention in Coshocton county. Old Colonel Williams and his compeers had the Virginia notions about these things. The race course was not then, as now, circular and level and rolled, but they had one, from the earliest days down. There was one on the Butler place, up the Walhonding. The road to Lewisville had been used. But the favorite track for years was on what is now Fifth street, in Coshocton, along which two parallel, narrow tracks were cleared. Tests of speed were there made, not witnessed by elegantly-dressed ladies and gentlemen, such as now-a-days throng the county fair grounds, but .the "homespun " crowd. It is claimed that if the associations of the place were less refined, the honesty was not less than now. They meant square business or simple fun in those days, and were severe on " jockeying." Neither did they then sell pools.

Among those actively interested in this line, the following may be named : One of the Butlers in New Castle township had charge of two horses, brought in before 1812, belonging to Peter Casey, one of the first associate judges of the county. They were called " Whistle Jacket" and

296 - HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY.

" High-flyer." Colonel Williams of Coshocton, brought in from Virginia a horse, long famed in this region, called " Medley." Robert Farwell brought from New England to Keene township, "Sir Archie." Joseph W. Rue, about 1830, introduced "John of Jersey " and " Patrick Richards," colts by a horse entered for a race against "Eclipse," the famous trotter on Long Island course, but withdrawn on account of lameness. Matthew Stewart is remembered in connection with "Hickory." Lewis Rice and John Johnson had a horse called "Premium," and A. G. Wood, one called "Sir Charles." Samuel Baker's horse was " Snow Ball:' In 1866, D. L. Triplett and William Bachelor brought from Kentucky "Abdallah," who met the sad fate of being burned to death in a stable, consumed in the fall of 1869. The County Horse Fair Association was organized in 1866. In 1879, there were 7,609 horses reported in this county, valued at $382,836.

As early as 1835, the County Commissioners, under provisions of law, directed a call to be issued for a meeting, looking to the formation of a County Agricultural Society. But nothing effective was done under that call, or in any other way, for many years. About 1850 the matter was taken up by some of the progressive farmers, chiefly in the eastern part of the county, among whom were Colonel C. F. Sangster, Dr. Heslip Williams, Dr. E. Cone, Judge James M. Burt, John Davis and others, and determined efforts accomplished the organization

The first fair under the auspices of the society was held at Jacobsport, in 1850. Then, for several years thereafter, they were held in the public square at Coshocton Temporary stalls and sheds were enclosed each year, for the stock on exhibition, and the race course was just east of Fifth street and south of Main From the first, there was a choice selection of stock and a gradual increase in other lines. The Elliotts and John Davis soon had good displays of agricultural implements. The farmers' wives and daughters also interested themselves in the fair and materially assisted in its success.

The fair of 1856 was not remarkable for display, but the talk among farmers and stock breeders had its effect in awakening interest, and then settled the matter of continuing these annual gatherings. That year an arrangement was made with John Burt for leasing, for a term of years, his land (since laid off in lots) extending east from Seventh street to the foot of the bluff, and from Main street to the south side of Hiram Beall's property. This tract contained about nine acres. It was properly fenced, buildings and stalls were erected on it, and the fair of 1857 held there. By 1865 these grounds became insufficient, and in that year the society purchased from Mr. S. H. Lee twenty acres, about four hundred yards east of the Burt tract and north of Main street, and proceeded to fit up more extensive and, as was supposed, more permanent buildings. The amount paid for the grounds was $3,200. To assist the society in purchasing these grounds, the county commissioner agreed to donate $500, and to loan the society $500 more, to be repaid out of the receipts, whenever the commissioners should require. It is understood that this was repaid when the grounds were sold by the society. In November, 1872, the present grounds, lying a quarter of a mile south of the Burt fair grounds, were purchased from J. W. Dwyer. The old fair grounds, in December, 1872, were subdivided into lots and most of them sold, but a number of them, steadily increasing in value, remain in the possession of the society. The new grounds contain thirty-four and fifty eight one-hundredths acres, and the cost of them was $10,488. For improvements on the new grounds, about $6,000 have been expended. A large grove was a chief attraction in the purchase, and access to water was made more convenient, the grounds lying on a lower level than the old ones. About $4,000 of the cost of the grounds had been paid by 1876, and the debt has since been considerably reduced. In 1879, the cash value of the real estate of the society, and improvements, was $22,000. The amount received that year, for gate and entrance fees, was $3,448.70; from other sources, $300. The amount paid in premiums was $1,575; for real estate, buildings and permanent improvements, $431.65; for current expenses, other than improvements, $1,157.18. The amount in the-treasury, at the preceding report., was $2,147.31; at this report, $2,732.18. As this showing indicates, the financial condition of the society is excellent.

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For a number of yearn the expenses of the society, including the premiums, were defrayed by annual fees paid by the members. Under the present constitution any one may become a member by the payment of an annual fee of one dollar. About 300 members are now enrolled. The officers consist of a president, vice president, and board of twelve directors, elected by the members, and a secretary and treasurer, elected by the directors. The society has of late years experimented in the cultivation of wheat on the grounds, which has created quite an interest among the farmers.

There has been a diversity of opinion among the people, as well as members of the society and directors, as to the propriety of continuing premiums for speed horses, but the prevailing sentiment appears to be in favor of their continuance.

The presidents of the society nave been, C. F. Sangster, E. Cone, William P. Wheeler, Thomas S. Humrickhouse, James M. Burt, Heslip Williams, John Miskimen, William Hanlon, J. S. Elliott, J. C. Campbell and Lewis Demoss.

The present vice president is J. P. Burt, succeeding H. McFadden

The secretaries have been, James M. Burt, Samuel Ketchum, John Humrickhouse, Thomas Campbell, C. H. Johnson, W. R. Forker, L. L. Cantwell, David Lanning, George Miller and Lloyd Pocock.

Treasurers, William K. Johnson, Matthew Johnston, John A. Hanlon and Joseph L. Rue.

In the board of managers, or directors, as it now is, besides the above, the following have served : A. D. Denman, Thomas Darling, Francis McGuire, William Renfrew, Samuel Moore, James E. Robinson, D. L Triplett, Frank Stafford, J. M. Smith, E L. Robinson, Joseph Dickenson, Francis Wolf, Adam Piffer, John Mulligan, George Factor, Peter Stevenson, J. M. Denman, William McCoy, B. C. Blackburn, Seth Christy, William Hesket, Hugh McFadden, Saul Miller, S. C. Burrell, John Hogle, Philip Moore, G. W. Wolf, Marion Darling, Alexander Dinsmore, Thomas McConnell, Wellington Darling, E. J. Pocock, T. H. Burrell, John M. Adams, John Waggoner, Samuel Gardiner, J. H. Carr, Joseph W. Dwyer, Calvin Boyd, Joseph Love, M. L. Morris, Henry King, William Porteus, G. G.

Andrews, William H. McGiffen, William Morrison, W. W. Bostwick, John Richeson, Thomas M. Wiggins, Thomas Marshall, B. F. Ricketts, John A. McClure, John Lennon, Joseph H. Hay, R. A. Given, A. J. Randles, Joseph Burrell and C. C. Eckert.

The last named twelve constitute the present board.

CHAPTER XXXI

COUNTY BUILDINGS AND OFFICERS.

First Jail-First Court House-The Present Court House

Other Public Buildings-List of County Officers-Commis-

sioners-Auditors-Clerks-Treasurer~-Recorders-Sher-

iffs-Prosecuting Attorneys-Surveyors-Coroners-Infirm-

ary Directors-Representatives-Congressmen, etc.

THE first measure taken by the county commissioners, l