HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY - 397

HISTORY OF THE TOWNSHIPS.

CHAPTER XLIII.

BENNINGTON TOWNSHIP.

ORGANIZATION AND LOCATION-TOPOGRAPHY-TIMBER-SOIL-INDIANS-WHITE SETTLERS-APPLETON AND THE COOK SETTLEMENT--GENERAL ROSECRANZ AS A CLERK-LOCK-MILLS-SCHOOL-HOUSES-CHURCHES.

BENNINGTON township was organized in 18 15. It is situated on the northern borders of

Licking county, bounded on the east by Burlington township, on the west by Hartford, on the south by Liberty, and on the north by Knox county.

The general face of the township is level or gently undulating, and it is well watered by North fork of Licking and its tributaries. The North fork rises partly in the northwest corner of this township, and passing a short distance through the northern part, enters Knox county about the center of the northern line of this township, re-entering the township again and passing across the northeast corner. The largest stream in the township which, however, is not large-is the Otter fork, a tributary of the North fork. It passes across the township from west to east, near its center,. pass ing across part of Burlington township, and entering the North fork near the village of Homer. The Lake fork, another tributary of the North fork, rises in the southern and western parts of this township, and running eastwardly, passes across the southern portion of this and Burlington townships, entering the North fork in Washington township about half way between Utica and St. Louisville. Upon a tributary of Lake fork, Indian run, is situated the village of Appleton. The tributaries of this stream water all the southern part of the township. Many beautiful springs are located in this township, but it is not so prolific in that respect as townships further east, notably Fallsburgh and Eden.

This is essentially a township of farmers, there being no railroad, telegraph, turnpike, or canal within its limits; and but one small town.

When the first settlers entered the township, they found it heavily timbered with many varieties of hard wood, such as usually grow on the uplands. The different families of oak were largely predominant, though beech, sugar, and other hard woods were plenty. The undergrowth was hazel, paw-paw, hackberry, and, in minor proportions, spicewood, sassafras and other varieties. The settlers in nearly every part of it found it necessary to clear away this timber in order to make room for their cabins. This fine timber has been largely cleared away, and beautiful, well-fenced farms occupy its place.- The soil is fertile, well tilled and as productive as any in the county.

Bennington presents few traces of the Mound Builders, and those not remarkable. The Indians seem to have left few traces or reminiscences of their occupation. Few, or perhaps, no people now living in the township remember seeing them, and they probably had no permanent camp within its limits, at least in historic times. A very small camp, not however permanent, once had an existence on Indian run, near its junction with the Lake fork. It disappeared shortly after the first settlement, but probably gave name to that stream. The first. white settler in the township was

398 - HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY.

Henry Iles, who settled there in the spring of 1809. He was from Rockingham county, Virginia. John Dripps and Isaac Vanausdel followed him in 1810, locating near the North fork. John Trout, in the same or next year, located on Otter fork, where also Peter Staymates settled soon after. Settlers continued to come in year after year, generally from Pennsylvania and Virginia, until the principal part of the territory of the township was settled. It was divided into ordinary sized farms, and nearly all the township occupied, by 1835.

The "Cook settlement" was established in the vicinity of the present village of Appleton, sometime after the close of the war of 1812, by Titus Knox and Captain Cook, and served as a nucleus for immigrants to the southern portion of the township. The Van Fossens, Jesse Smith, Jacob Clem, the Wrights, Sangers, Carvers, McClintocks, Fishburns, and Trouts were among the names of those familiarly known as early settlers.

In August, 1832, Titus Knox and Carey Mead laid out the village of Appleton, and named it in honor of Appleton Downer, a lawyer of Zanesville, who had been a large land owner in the township. It is handsomely situated in a beautiful country, near the southern borders of the township, but it never attained to the proportions of a town of one hundred inhabitants, and has been on the decline in later years.

Carey Meade built the first house in Appleton, and there is something of a romantic history connected with it. Mr. Meade had a pretty daughter who married a man named Delong, from the east, and Mr. Meade erected this house for a storeroom, with the expectation that his son-in-law would bring on a stock of goods and become the first merchant of the future city. For reasons very well understood this expectation was not realized, and thus the storeroom-a frame structure, one and a half stories in height-stood empty for a time, and was the only building on the town plat when Mr. Gideon Long and family came to the place, April 3, 1833. Mr. Long moved into this empty store room and occupied it some years. While he was yet living in it Mr. David Messenger, yet living, a resident of Utica, and now a very aged man, came to Appleton, or the site of it, Tented the front part of this building, and opened the first store in the place. Mr. Long, in order to encourage enterprise and assist in building up the town squeezed his family into the single back room of this storehouse. He had, since his advent in the place, been using the upper room of this building for a cabinet shop. A pair of stairs went up on the outside of the building, and here he made tables, coffins, and other necessaries of life and death; and for himself a precarious living. Mr. Messenger must have expected to transact a large business, as he brought on a large stock of goods, for those days, and two clerks. Had the wolves and bears been his customers he would, no doubt, have done a large business, but as the purchasing settlers were few and far between, the two clerks seemed superfluous.

These two clerks took boarding and lodging in the family of Mr. Long in that single back room of the store building. One of these clerks was Mr. Franklin Bryant, who, after clerking some tine for Mr. Messenger, bought the store himself and conducted it several years. He built the second frame house in town, which is yet standing, and is occupied as a dwelling by Dr. Austin. Not being able to fill up that little back room entirely, with his family and two clerks, Mr. Long took in another entire family-Mr. William Van Fossen, wife and one child. Mr. Van Fossen had made up his mind to settle here, and to accommodate him while his cabin was in course of construction Mr. Long admitted' the family as boarders.

The other young gentleman clerk, who was a boarder in this large family with limited quarters, was usually called "Billy," and as he had very little clerking to do, spent most of the time in the woods hunting. Mrs. Long says "he was a good boy-a jolly, whole-souled fellow as ever lived." His last name was Rosecranz, and he afterward became Major General William S. Rosecranz, the hero of Stone River, and the gallant but unfortunate . commander of the Union forces at the great and bloody battle of Chickamauga. "Billy" Rosecranz remained here as a clerk six months, and many times declared his intention of becoming a soldier, and was sent to West Point soon after leaving this place. His father was at that time a resident of Homer, in the adjoining township, and a merchant and farmer.

HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY. - 399

This old store room is yet standing, and is part of the present store building of Mr. B. G. Hoover.

The Van Fossen cabin was probably the second or third cabin in the town.

The first school-house in this neighborhood, a log building, was erected some years before Appleton was laid out, and was located where Mr. Bigler now lives. Joseph Kerr taught school here fifty-five years ago, and was probably the first teacher in this part of the township. The second schoolhouse was a frame building and stood above Mr. Barrick's house on Harry Ashley's farm. The third and present house-a good frame building was erected about 1870. All the children of school age in town attend school here; they number fifty or sixty.

The first blacksmith shop in Appleton was erected by Mr. Snyder, who soon moved away, and Mr. John Copper occupied the shop and became the permanent blacksmith. The old store building has always been occupied for that purpose, having changed hands many times, and been added to. In addition to Mr. Hoover's store, Mr. W. T. Moorehead keeps a small stock of goods at present, and Franklin Myers a small grocery. Besides this mercantile business, there are two wagon shops, two blacksmith shops, two shoe shops, two hotels, and Gideon Long (Mr. Long and wife are both yet living) still carries on cabinet making. The village is a pleasant one, the society good, the people being much interested in both religious and secular education.

The village of Lock is located on the northern line of this township;-but the--larger part of it is in Knox county, the post office and store being in that county. It is probable that Gideon Long was the first post master in Appleton and retained the office many years; it is now kept by Thomas Morehead.

The first water-mill in this township-or mill of any kind-was erected by Jesse VanFossen, about a half mile above Appleton, on Indian run. It was a saw-mill only. John Denty, yet living a mile above Appleton, erected the second mill, at the junction of Indian run and Lake fork. This mill was both a grist and saw-mill in an early day, though at present only a saw-mill, driven by steam power. It is the only mill now in the township., In the old log school-house, before mentioned as standing on the place where Mr. Bigler now lives, was organized in 1828, what was probably, the first religious society in the township. They call themselves Christians, but are generally better known as New Lights.

The well known pioneer preacher, Rev. Isaac N. Walters, was instrumental in establishing this church, and was assisted in the organization by. Rev. Daniel Long and Rev Matthew Gardner. A number of the old settlers accepted the new doctrine, among whom were Jesse VanFossen and wife, Catharine; John Helphrey; Jesse Lake and wife, Elizabeth; Daniel Helphrey and wife, Mr. McNett and wife, and others. The old schoolhouse answered the purposes of this society several years; but in 1834, their numbers having increased somewhat by new additions to the "Cook settlement," they were enabled to erect a frame church building; this was dedicated August 16, 1835, Rev. I. N. Walters preaching the dedicatory sermon. This church building is yet standing, and is used by the organization of Grangers as a place of meeting. .

The second and present church was erected in 1875, being dedicated February 11, 1876; the sermon on this occasion being preached by Elder Enos Peters, the present pastor.

The present condition of this church is a healthy one, the membership being about seventy-five. The Sunday-school was organized about 1840, and has been kept up since during the summer months of each year. Its present membership is probably fifty or more.

The Methodists early organized a society in the township, though no regular class was formed, so far as can be ascertained, prior to 1840. Methodist preachers were among the first religious teachers to enter the township, preaching in the cabins of the settlers and in the school-houses. In January, 1840, a class was organized by Rev. Wesley Clark, at the house of John Denty, who is still a resident of the township. The members of this class were George Iles, John Denty, David Weyant, A. C. Barber, Frederick Iles, Jonathan Clayton, Noah Southard, Edward Conner, and some others. The above

400 - HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY.

members were appointed a committee to purchase land and erect a church building.

The site for this building was selected near the center of the township, on the Hartford and Homer road, and near the Otter Fork of Licking. The road from Appleton to Lock also crosses the above road at this church.

The first building erected, known as "Bennington Chapel," was a small, though substantial frame, and, as the work was largely voluntary, and the material, in part, contributed, it only cost about three hundred dollars. During the last year (1880) this building has been enlarged, repaired and finished in good style. Mr. George Iles died a few years ago, leaving a sum of money, the interest of which was to be used in keeping up the church building, and in beautifying the cemetery grounds adjoining.

No regular preaching is now held in this church. A Sunday-school had an existence here at one time, but it is no longer kept up. Both members of the church and pupils in the school, have generally transferred their allegiance to other churches, mostly, perhaps, to the other Methodist churches, of which there are two in the township.

These two churches were organized and the buildings erected about the same time-in the year 1850. One of these, "Lambert's Chapel," is located in the eastern part of the township, a little north of Lake fork, on the farm of Calvin Stout.

Among the originators of this organization were Jacob Lambert, Elias Kettle, John Denty and wife, William and Elizabeth Denty, Josiah Shipley and wife, Richard Wells and some others. Prior to the erection of the church, meetings were generally held at the house of Jacob Lambert. The present membership is forty or fifty, and a large and active Sunday-school is kept up. The third Methodist Episcopal church in the township is located in Appleton.

Rev. Lemuel Yarnell was influential in this organization, and the first members were Louis Evans, Aaron Shaffer, John Denty, A. C. Barber, Nathan Bigley, David Miller, Martin Light, Richard Wells, and some others. These gentlemen were chosen as a committee to select a site and erect a church building. Rev. Yarnell carried around a subscription paper and obtained money enough to erect a small frame building on the site of the present church. It was erected and dedicated in 1851. Rev. G. G. West, the pastor in charge, preaching the dedicatory sermon. After several years the old building becoming too small to accommodate the people who gathered there, it was taken away and the present frame building erected. The membership of this church is at present about forty.

The organization of the Sabbath-school is probably coeval with that of the church, and has been kept up in the summer time since; the membership being now about forty or fifty.

Just prior to the late war a church was organized in the northeastern part of the township, mainly through the influence and personal exertions of the Halls-Gideon Hall and his son John. A small number of Christians were living in this neighborhood, and felt themselves able to sustain a church. Among the members of the first organization were Gideon Hall and wife, John Hall and wife, John Hilburn and wife, Jacob Rowe and wife, and some others. The church languished during the war, and very nearly went out of existence; but in later years it has revived, and now services are held with considerable regularity, though it is not yet a strong church.

A Sunday-school was organized ten or twelve years ago, and has been kept up with considerable regularity, numbering, at present, twenty-five or thirty members.

This township also contains a Congregational church, located in the village of Lock. The. date of its organization has not been ascertained, but the church is, at present, in a flourishing condition. Messrs. John Dripps, James Sanger, Jesse Smith and Judge John Van Fossen, are remembered as among the most active and best known of the early politicians of this township, the latter serving some years as an associate judge of the common pleas court.

Bennington occupies an interior and somewhat isolated position, which may have been instrumental in reducing its population, which for many years was on the decline.

HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY - 401

CHAPTER XLIV.

BOWLING GREEN TOWNSHIP.

ORGANIZATION-ANCIENT WORKS-INDIANS-AGRICULTURE AND TOPOGRAPHY- FIRST SETTLERS AND SETTLEMENTS THE NATIONAL ROAD THE STAGES AND PONY EXPRESS LINE-THE VILLAGES ON THE ROAD-RELIGIOUS MATTERS-THE :METHODIST CHURCH OF LINNVILLE THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF BROWNSVILLE-THE PROTESTANT METHODIST CHURCH OF BROWNSVILLE- CATHOLIC CHURCH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF BROWNSVILLE-BAPTIST CHURCH-THE UNITED BRETHREN AND CHRISTIAN UNION CHURCHES-PIONEER PREACHERS JUSTICES OF THE PEACE-POST OFFICES AND POSTMASTERS- POPULATION-VOTE-PROMINENT MEN.

"The foot of the reaper moved slow on the lawn,

And the sickle cut down the yellow corn;

The mower sung loud by the meadow side,

Where the mists of the evening were spreading wide;

And the voice of the herdsman came up the lea,

And the dance went round by the greenwood tree."

-Longfellow.

BOWLING GREEN township was organized in 1808. It is eight miles long from east to west, and two and a half miles wide, lying wholly within the Refugee tract. Perry county is on the south; Muskingum on the east, Hopewell and Franklin townships on the north, and Licking on the west.

The Mound Builders left a few-samples of their works within its limits; enough to indicate that it was once the home of the lost race. There is a stone mound two and a half miles southeast of Linnville, of medium size, and one earth mound near it, both being near the center of the township, east and west. There is also a mound at Amsterdam of no very great--dimensions; and an earth mound on the farm of John Hamilton, adjoining Brownsville on the northeast, of oblong form, eighty-five yards in circumference at its base and fifteen feet high.

The township has no authentic Indian history, but there is plenty of evidence that the Indians roamed freely over it in the pre-historic times, and probably had a more or less permanent occupancy of it. Tradition and the general belief locate the red man on all sides of it, and without doubt it was used extensively as a hunting ground by the Delawares and other nations and tribes that once held undisputed possession here.

Agriculturally and topographically considered the township is rolling, or somewhat hilly, although it has some level or bottom lands, very fertile, particularly along the little streams which flow through it, southwardly, towards Jonathan's creek, or the Moxahala, as the Indians called it, whose tributaries they are. It was originally well timbered, the growth being principally oak, hickory and walnut. It is generally fertile, producing corn and the cereals and grass bountifully. There is little, if any, land in the township that is not tillable. All the rain that falls upon its surface flows into the Muskingum river through the Moxahala.

The first settlement of Bowling Green township was made in 1802, at what is called "Little Bowling Green," about a mile south of Linnville, on a tributary of Jonathan's creek, by some frontiersmen from Western Virginia, whose names were Michael Thorn, Frederick Myers, and Henry Neff.

John Harris and Andrew Myers, also Virginians, settled herein 1803, and William Harris, Moses Meeks, Adam and John Myers, and Charles Howard 1804. The latter was a school-teacher by profession, and taught the first school in the township.

Those who came after 1804, were Edward Taylor, William Taylor, Joseph Taylor, Jacob Storts, Henry Alexander, John Berry, Joseph McMullin, Rev. Levi Shinn, Nathan Shipps, Elijah Nichols, George Moyer, James Clark, Robert Orr, Landon Warfield, William Chapman, Samuel Parr, Henry Bickell, Alexander McClelland, Walter Roberts, John Weedman, Mr. Mervin, Willis Lake, sr.,

402 - HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY.

Jacob and Adam Brown, and John Dickinson. Mr. William Harris came to this township in 1804, and, though he lived a while in Franklin township, probably resided more years in this township than any other person.

Mr. Solomon Myers was the son of Andrew Myers, one of the immigrants of 1803, and was brought to the "Little Bowling Green" from near Morgantown, Monongalia county, western Virginia, where he was born in 1788.

Settlers continued to flock into the township rapidly, locating themselves in different neighborhoods, so that when the county was organized in 1808, it was deemed advisable by the county commissioners to organize the people of these several settlements into a separate township.

It was the fourth township organized in order of time, and the second after the county was organized-Hanover, only, preceding it. Licking and Granville had been some time organized as townships in Fairfield county.

The little prairie a mile south of Linnville was called "Little Bowling Green," from its resemblance to the Bowling Green on the Licking, four miles below Newark. It gave name to the stream running through it, and thus, also, furnished a name, ultimately, for the township.

Samuel Parr, and many other settlers who came to this township before the year 1815, were from the State of Pennsylvania., mostly from Fayette county.

The National road runs through the township from east to west along the northern boundary. It was surveyed, located and constructed between the years 1825 to 1833. The towns of Brownsville and Linnville were laid out soon after the final location of the road; the former by Adam Brown, who named it after himself, and the latter by Samuel Parr, who named it after Adam Linn, who was then about to establish himself there as its first merchant. Brownsville grew rapidly at first, but has been about stationary in later years. It is a post town of about four hundred and fifty inhabitants. Linnville is a post town of about one hundred inhabitants.

Amsterdam, half of which is in Bowling Green township, was also brought into existence after the location and during the construction of the National road, Abraham Boring and George Barnes being its proprietors.

The National road for twenty years attracted much travel to it, both of emigrants and general travelers, which gave the villages located upon it an appearance of considerable life and thrift. Regular lines of daily four-horse stages were run in those days, and sometimes they had an additional opposition line, carrying on a very vigorous competition with the regular mail line, which added greatly to the liveliness of. the villages along the road. A daily "Pony Express line," also passed over the National road during a portion of the years 1836 and 1837, which, for the time being, increased the excitement and the interest in the villages along the road, and tended to vary the monotony of village life. This pony express was established by Hon. Amos Kendall, the energetic postmaster general, for the purpose of carrying valuable letters, drafts, small packages and important newspaper slips. Its speed was more than ten miles per hour, being twice that of the mail stage; the schedule time from Zanesville to Columbus (fifty-four miles) being five hours, and the postage on matter carried by it was enormously high. Mr. Smucker remembers receiving a newspaper slip, brought by it, containing President VanBuren's inaugural address, in March, 1837, on which the postage was seventy-five cents. Such a paper by regular mail would cost two cents. The express ponies were ridden by boys, and put through on a fast gallop, or "half-run," the relays being five miles apart. The small saddle-bags which contained the express matter were fastened to the saddle, and, at the end of each run, the saddle and bags were almost instantly transferred from the exhausted, foaming pony, to a fresh one, the rider mounted upon him, and rode away at full speed, with a delay of not more than a minute. The stations in Licking county were Brownsville, Linnvilie, Etniers, Luray, and Etna.

A former citizen of Newark, H. S. Manon, and a Mr. Jones, were pony express contractors from Zanesville to Columbus, and Mr. A. B. Dumm, of Newark, then a lad living in Brownsville, rode from Zanesville to Etniers, near Jacksontown. He said that he once, in an emergency, rode from Zanesville to Columbus in three hours and forty-five

HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY. - 403

minutes, the rider from Etniers to Columbus being sick. Once when behind time he rode from Etniers to Zanesville (twenty-six miles) in less than an hour and a half. There were five relays of horses on his .route. The enterprise proving unprofitable, was abandoned in 1837. A short time before the Union and Central Pacific railroads were constructed, the pony express was used with success in carrying the mail from the States across the plains and over the mountains to California; and even yet, where the railroad has not penetrated, these pony express lines are used with much benefit and profit, in the western territories and States.

Old settlers look back with a sigh of regret at those stage-coach days, which have passed away forever. When the railroads came into use emigrants, travelers and four-horse coaches, abandoned the pike, and the little towns along the road became dull and ceased to grow.

The first religious society organized in Bowling Green township was effected by the Methodists about sixty years ago, at the house of Samuel Parr. Revs. Jesse Stoneman and Levi Shinn preached occasionally, before the organization of this society, at the house of Mr. James Clarke, who lived in the southern part of the township, where, also, a class was formed at an early day. Revs. Asa Shinn, Robert Manley, Ralph Lotspeitch and James Quinn are believed to have preached at Mr. Clarke's in early times. In 1807 Rev. Jesse Stoneman preached a funeral discourse in Bowling Green probably the first funeral sermon preached in the township.

In 1821 the society formed at the house of Mr, Parr, made an effort to build a hewed log--church; which, however, was never completed, and. little, at all, used as a church. About the year 1832 this society erected a small but neat. frame church in Linnville, which, after a number of years, they sold to the Catholics. In the year 1839 they erected, on a lot adjoining Linnville, the frame structure they yet occupy. The .membership is half a hundred or more, and a live Sabbath-school is connected with the church

The Methodist Episcopal church in Brownsville is one of the earlier societies. It was first organized in 1816 at the residence of Widow Dickinson, one and a half miles north of Brownsville, in Hopewell township, by Rev. James Quinn, where, in 1818, they built a hewed log church which they occupied until 1830, when the society was transferred to Brownsville, where they erected a small, brick church. This church was occupied until about thirty-five years ago, when the society erected a large, fine frame edifice, yet occupied. The membership numbers something less than one hundred; and the same may be said of the active and flourishing Sabbath-school.

The Protestant Methodist church, of Brownsville, was organized about 1830, and soon there after built a small frame church. In 1847 they erected a still larger church edifice, which is still occupied. It has very generally been a flourishing and influential church. A large and active Sunday-school is connected with it, and the membership of the church. is something less than one hundred.

About 1840 the Roman Catholics organized a church in Linnville, and bought the small edifice recently vacated by the Methodist society, who had just completed their new church west of and adjoining the town. This Catholic society, after some years, was dissolved, and the church diverted from sacred to secular uses.

The Presbyterian church in Brownsville was organized by Rev. W. M. Robinson, in 1845, with eleven members. The present church edifice, a good brick building, was erected in 1846.Robert Hamilton and William Black were first elders.

Mr. Robinson continued preaching several years in this church. At first there were but three or four Presbyterian families, and he received, at this place, less than fifty dollars a year support,. yet it soon became more encouraging, and before he resigned the charge in 1855, he received three hundred dollars per annum from this congregation which had increased to eighty-four members. Mr. Robinson was succeeded by Revs. W. B. Tidball, H. R. Peairs, Alexander R. Hamilton, L. B. W. Shryock, M. M. Travis, Mr. White, and others. A Sabbath-school has been connected with the church since its organization.

There is a Baptist church about half a mile east, of Linnville, erected in 1848,. which is part of or, an appendage to the Friendship, or Old School Baptist, church at Hog run, in Licking

404 - HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY.

township, whose history is given in the history of that township.

The United Brethren have a small church in Amsterdam, which stands on the line between Franklin and this township. The society is small, many of the members having united with the society at Jacksontown.

The Christian Union denomination organized a society in 1865, holding its meeting in a schoolhouse in Linnville. The ministers have been Revs. A. S. Biddison, William Henslee, Benjamin Green and Mr. Underwood. They sustain a Sabbath school and pulpit ministrations, with a good degree of regularity. Isaac Orr, James Brown, James Lamp, John P. Switzer, George Clark and John Dusthimer, were among the original members of this church.

In addition to the pioneer preachers of Bowling Green already named, are the following: Revs. J. W. Patterson, Jacob Young, Charles Waddle, Mr. McElroy, Abner Goff, Jacob Myers, Joseph Carper, Martin Fate, Mr. McCracken, W. B. Evans, C. Springer, George Brown, George Debolt, James Hooper, Jacob Hooper, Samuel Hamilton, Leroy Swormsted and J. Gilruth.

The early-time justices of the peace in this township, were Moses Meeks, Adam Winegardner, John Bartholomew, Alexander Morrison, William Taylor, Charles Bradford, Joseph McMullen, William Armstrong, Samuel Parr and Baltus Emory, who served about in the order named.

The township is divided into six school districts, each having a good school building. It is also united with Franklin township in a fractional district.

There are but two post offices in the township Brownsville and Linnville. The office in each place was established about fifty-years ago, and the postmasters were as follows, about in the order named: Brownsville--Moses Brotherlin, John F. Bane, George H. Hood, John Oldham, John F. Bane, Alexander Flowers, O. M. Hamilton, John Oldham, George L. Buckingham, O. M. Hamilton, C. A. Roberts, C. F. Prior and John H. Bell, the present incumbent. Linnville-Adam Linn, William Tracy, William Orr, David Gilland, Thomas Lonon, David Harris, Summerfield Tippett, D. C. Harris and W. C. Orr. The number of inhabitants in this township in 1830, was 1,768; in 1840, 1,464; in 1850, 1,538; in 1860, 1,213; in 1880, 926.

The large population in 1830 was owing to the fact that many families, who were then engaged in the construction of the National road, had but a temporary residence, and were gone when the census of 1840 was taken; however it will be seen there has been a gradual falling off in population at every census, in which fact lies food for thought.

The township vote in presidential elections has been as follows: In 1856, for James Buchanan, 145; for J. C. Fremont, 106; Milliard Filmore, 2. In 1860, Stephen A. Douglas, 138; Abraham Lincoln, 90; J. C. Breckenridge, 15; John Bell, 2. In 1864, George B. McClellan, 147; Abraham Lincoln, 66. In 1868, Horatio Seymour, 162; General Grant, 80. In 1876, Samuel J. Tilden, 164; R. B. Hayes, 69. The totals were, 253, 245, 213; 242, 233

John Yontz and Dr. Walter B. Morris, were among the most conspicuous and influential politicians in the township, and both attained to the distinction of representatives in the State legislature-the former in 1835-'36-'37 ; and the latter in 1839-40- '41. They were not early settlers and did not remain in the county many years. The former was identified with the opposition stage interest, which kept up such a lively competition with the regular Neil and Moore Ohio mail stage company, for quite a length of time on the National road. His gentlemanly bearing, fine address, remarkable sauvity of manners, affable deportment, and attractive presence, made him exceedingly popular, and gave him great power over his fellows. He died two years ago in California. Dr. Morris moved to Missouri. Bowling Green has, also, furnished a representative in the legislature in the person of William Parr, a native of the township.

A good degree of thrift and prosperity, the result of industry and frugality, have marked the history of the people- of Bowling Green township. Their schools and churches, as will be seen, are numerous and well sustained, and the people could not well fail to reach the average standard, in the practice of the higher virtues and Christian graces.

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CHAPTER XLV.

BURLINGTON TOWNSHIP.

ORGANIZATION AND LOCATION-ORIGIN OF THE NAME-TOPOGRAPHY-WORKS OF THE MOUND BUILDERS-PRE-HISTORIC REMAINS-THE BURLINGTON STORM-THE PIONEERS-HOMER-THE CHURCHES-NOTABLE PEOPLE.

THIS township was organized in 1817. It lies on the northern border, adjoining Knox county, between Bennington on the west, Washington on the east, and McKean on the south.

It is said that Colonel Wait Wright treated the "boys" to two gallons of whiskey for the privilege of naming the township, and thereupon called it after his native place in Vermont.

It is well watered-Otter creek and the North fork, about equal in size, uniting a little above the residence of Justus Taylor, near the village of Homer, the latter taking an easterly course to Washington township. Lake fork rises in Bennington and flows east nearly through the center of Burlington. The surface is gently undulating, except in the district known as "Egypt," in the southeast, which is somewhat hilly. The Soil of the larger portion partakes of yellow clay, and is adapted to the growth of wheat and other small grains, which, taken in connection with the alluvial, corn producing bottom land, skirting the streams, creates that variety of soil calculated to invite the agriculturalist. No portion of it is so broken as to prevent cultivation. Within the limits of Burlington are, or were, seven or more of those mysterious mounds for which the county is noted, and which continue to puzzle the antiquarian. One is on the farm formerly owned by Robert Fulton, one mile west of Homer; another on the farm owned by the heirs of John Butcher; and two on the farm formerly owned by Robert Hunter. Mr. Hunter is dead, and the farm is now owned by Jacob Yocum. There were three mounds here, but one of them was plowed away and leveled in the preparation of the ground upon which to build the house, so that two only remain upon this place. Under the center of one of these was discovered, some years since, a circular building of stone, about ten feet in diameter and three feet in height, regularly built, dome shaped, and having on the top as a keystone a large stone familiarly known as a "nigger head." Much curiosity was excited as to its contents, but when opened it was found to contain nothing of value. There is another mound on the farm formerly owned by McKnight, one mile west of Utica, which is eight or ten feet in height and twenty-five or thirty feet in diameter at the base. The farm upon which it is located is now owned by James. Hanger; but the largest and most entire is at the village of Homer, on the farm and close to the residence of Edwin Williams, esq.; this has recently been measured and found to be about thirty rods in circumference at the base, and nearly thirty feet in height, having, as is usual, a hollow place at the summit, about twenty-five feet across. Perhaps fifty years ago, a party of five or six settlers agreed to examine this mound in search of curiosities. They dug down about fifteen feet, but found nothing of value.

A mound of ordinary size not long ago had an existence on the farm of Mr. Woodruff, three fourths of a mile west of Homer. This mound has been graded down, but near it yet remains the depression or "sink" from which it is believed the dirt was taken for this mound. This place is overgrown with bushes, and is sometimes filled with water.

The soil in the vicinity of Homer seems to have been favorable for the works of the Mound Builders, being somewhat sandy.

In 1824, near an old fort, the outlines of which are still visible, on the bank of the creek adjoining

406 - HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY.

the Homer cemetery, a very large human skeleton was found. It is stated that the jaw-bone would go over the face of the largest man present, with two hands placed between. This might have been some pre-historical Indian chief, and if he wielded influence and power in proportion to his size, he was a mighty man among the red men.

In 1815, while digging a mill-race on the western line of the township, some enormous bones were unearthed; among others, a rib over five feet .in length; another bone as large around as a wagon hub, and a tooth two and one-half inches broad, one and a half inches thick, and five or six inches in length, doubtless the remains of some antediluvian animal Mr. William Spencer, speaking in 1876, of the earthwork last mentioned, says it is on the farm of Mr. Joseph Conard, and is a regular circle about eighty-five feet in diameter, with the ditch on the inside of the embankment. It is only twelve or fifteen inches in height, with a gate, or entrance, twelve feet wide, facing the east. The mound in the center of this embankment is at least thirty feet in diameter, thirty inches high, and seems to have always been higher than the circular wall. A few oak trees stand on the embankment, from eighteen inches to two and a half feet in diameter. No other works are connected with this, so far as can be seen. This earthwork evidently belongs to the same class of works as the "Old Port" near Newark, and known as "Sacred Inclosures."

One of the most important events in the history of this county was the occurrence of what is known as "The Burlington Storm." ' Its effects were more severely felt in this township than any other, hence its name; and its history may properly be written here. It occurred on the eighteenth of May, 1825; and was one of the most violent tornadoes ever known in Ohio. The following description of it is from "Howe's Historical Collections," and the account is believed to be authentic.

"It commenced between the hours of one and two P. M., in the southeast part of Delaware county. After passing a few miles upon the surface of the ground, in an easterly direction, it appeared to rise so high from the earth that the tallest trees were not affected. It then again descended to the earth, and with greatly increased violence and force, proceeded through the townships of Bennington and Burlington, in Licking county, then passed into Knox, and thence into Coshocton county.

"It crossed the road from Newark to Mt. Vernon, a short distance above Utica, where its violence was such as to prostrate early all the trees, large and small, that stood in its track, which was several hundred yards wide. Its general course was a little north of east. For force and violence of wind this storm has rarely been surpassed in any country in the same latitude. Forests and orchards were completely uprooted and leveled; buildings blown down, scattered in every direction, and carried by the force of the mind many miles distant; cattle were taken from the ground and carried one hundred rods or more. The creek, which had been swollen by recent rains, had but little water in its bed after the storm passed. The roads and fields recently plowed were quite muddy from recent rains; but, after the storm passed by, both roads and fields were clean and dry. Its track through Licking county was from one-third to three-fifths of a mile wide, but became wider as it advanced to the eastward. Those who were so fortunate as to be witnesses of its progress, without being victims of its fury, represent the appearance of fragments of trees, buildings and limbs, high in the air, to resemble large numbers of birds, such as buzzards and ravens.

"The ground also seemed to tremble, as is asserted by many credible persons, who were at the time a mile from the track of the tornado. The roar of the wind, the trembling of the ground, and the crash of falling timbers and buildings, are represented by all who were witnesses as being peculiarly dreadful."

Colonel Wright, and others who witnessed its progress, think it advanced at the rate of a mile per minute, and did not last more than a minute and a half or two minutes. The cloud was exceedingly black, and sometimes bore hard upon the ground, and at others seemed to rise a little above the surface. One peculiarity was that the fallen timber lay in every direction, so that the course of the storm could' not be determined from the position of the fallen trees.

Many incidents are related by the inhabitants, calculated to illustrate the power and terrors of the storm. A chain, three or four feet long, of the size of a plow-chain, was taken from the ground near the house of John McClintock, carried about half a mile, and lodged in the top of a sugar-tree stub about twenty-five feet from the ground.'

An ox belonging to Colonel Wait Wright, was carried about eighty rods, and left unhurt, although surrounded by fallen timber so that it required several hours chopping to release him. A cow, also, was taken from the same field, carried about forty rods, and lodged in the top of a tree, which was blown down, and when found, was dead, and about eight feet from the ground. Whether the cow was blown against the tree-top after it fell, or

HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY. - 407

was lodged in it before, could not be determined. A heavy ox-cart was taken from the yard of Colonel Wright, carried about forty rods, and struck the ground with such force as to break the axle, and entirely demolish one wheel.

A son of Colonel Wright, upwards of fourteen years of age, was standing in the house, holding the door. The house which was built of logs, was torn to pieces, and the lad thrown with such violence across the room as to kill him instantly. A coat hanging in the same room, was found the following November in Coshocton county, more than forty miles distant, and was afterward brought to Burlington and identified by Colonel Wright's family. Other articles, such as shingles, pieces of timber and furniture, were carried twenty and thirty miles. Miss Sarah Robb, about twelve years of age, was taken from her father's house, and carried some distance. She could not tell how far; but when consciousness returned, found herself about forty rods from the house, and walking toward it. She was much bruised, but not very greatly injured. The family of a Mr. Vance, on seeing the storm approaching, fled from the house to the orchard adjoining. The upper part of the house was blown off and through the orchard, the lower part remaining. Two sons of Mr. Vance were killed, one immediately, and the other died in a day or two from wounds; these and the son of Colonel Wright were all the lives known to have been lost in the storm. A house built of large logs, in which was a family, and which a number of workmen had entered for shelter from the storm, was raised up on one side, and rolled off the spot where it stood, without injuring any one. A yoke of oxen belonging to William H. Cooley, were standing in the field, and after the storm, were found completely enclosed and covered with fallen timber, so that they were not released until the next day, but were not essentially injured.

A black walnut tree, two and a half feet in diameter, which had lain on the ground many years, and become embedded in the earth to nearly one-half its size, was taken from its bed, carried across the creek, and left about thirty rods from its former location.

A crockery crate, in which several fowls were confined, was carried by the wind several miles, and, strange to relate, with its contents set down without injury.

Instances could be multiplied, but it is unnecessary; the evidence is clear that it was one of the most violent storms on record.

The first settlers in the township, as nearly as can now be ascertained, were James Dunlap, Cornelius Vanausdal, Henry Oldacre, Nathan Conard, John Johnson, Jonathan Beaty, Hugh McKindley, Adam Patterson, John Dixon and Thomas Dixon in 1806; David Wallace, J. Helphry, Jesse Van Fossen, John Chonner, James Butcher, James Dickey and Jesse Smith in 1808; George McCrary, Timothy Chapman, James, John and Abner McLain, Thomas Scott and Henry McKindley about 1810; and a little later Wait Wright, Samuel Edmon, Adam Patterson, Van Simmons, Thomas Bare and Ezra Mead.

In 1806 the wolves and bears were in the majority.

In 1810 the settlers erected a block-house as a defence against the Indians. It was on "Indian path," near the Dunlap residence, on the road from Utica to Johnstown.

John Chonner built the first mill in the township and taught the first Sabbath school, and was a leading citizen.

The village of Homer was originally called Burlington; but when the post office was established it was found necessary to change its name, and the present name was chosen. It was laid out by John Chonner in 1816, and now contains about three hundred inhabitants; has a large school-house, three churches, two dry goods stores, kept by S. L. Blue and Elmer Scott, two hotels, two blacksmith shops, one wagon shot), one cabinet shop, and the usual number of mechanical establishments.

The Congregational church (now Presbyterian) was organized May 5, 1828, by Rev. Jacob Little, of Granville. The examining committee were Deacon Amass Howe, of Granville,. Deacon Orin Barnes, of St. Albans, Deacon Eliseus Fowler, of Hartford, and Samuel W. Rose, of Granville, a licentiate of Lancaster presbytery, who was its first minister. They have a good membership, a flourishing Sabbath-school, and a neat, commodious house of worship. This church is not strong, the present membership being twenty or more. Their

408 - HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY.

first church building stood where the Union schoolhouse now stands. It was then Old School Presbyterian. Subsequently it united with the new school, and they erected the present building.

The Baptist church edifice was finished July 9, 1832, and dedicated July 21, 1832, by Rev. Owen Owens. They formerly had a large membership, but many families have removed, and their places have not been filled; they are now comparatively few in number. The original members of this church organization were John Esthell, Titus Knox, Benjamin Warner, Lewis Hatch, Mabel Thrall, Mariah Smith, Mary Woods, Ruth Warner, Mary Emerson, Mary Pugh, Susannah Hatch, Peggy A. Knox, Elizabeth Galer, Peter Galer, Leonard Woods, Barbara Wheeler, Jacob Galer, Daniel Galer, Eliza Hard, Mary Esthell, Ann Tellis, Elizabeth Tellis, Elizabeth Warner, Howard Phillips, Elizabeth Phillips, and David Brown. The first church building was erected soon after the church was organized. It was a frame building, and was occasionally added to and repaired. It is yet standing, and is used for a carpenter shop. The present building, a frame, was erected about thirty years ago. It has recently been repaired and painted. Services are held here every two weeks. The membership is about thirty three. This is what is known as New School Baptist, which admits the Sunday school as part of their religious worship. A school of this kind was early established, and is yet maintained.

The Methodists held their early meetings in the cabins of the members, and afterward in the log school-houses that began, soon after the first settlement, to spring up here and there all over the country. Their first church edifice in this township was erected about 1834, and cost about one thousand dollars. This building was in use nearly thirty-five years. The congregation began the erection of the present church in 1868, and it was dedicated June 25, 1871, by Rev. M. Collyer. It is a substantial structure, large, handsome, will finished, and furnished in the most approved modern style, and cost about twenty-five hundred dollars. They have a membership of seventy-five, a good Sabbath-school, numbering one hundred pupils, and the church is in a prosperous condition.

For many years the preachers to this class were the itinerant ministers sent out by the church conference, who had regular preaching places in various parts of this and other counties. Among the original members of the class were Thomas Callihan, Benjamin Belt, David Weiant, Solomon Wheeler, Nathan Conard, Isaac Vanosdoll, David Watson, Henry Overholt, and James Houck.

Homer was the native place of Major General William S. Rosecranz, his father residing here as farmer, merchant and tavern keeper. It is also the home of the venerable William Knowles, a poet of considerable ability.

HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY - 409

CHAPTER XLVI.

EDEN TOWNSHIP..

LOCATION-MOUND BUILDERS AND INDIANS-TOPOGRAPHY-NATURAL SCENERY- PICTURE ROCKS-RAIN ROCK-HUNTING GROUND-ORGANIZATION-THE PIONEERS- MILLS-FIRST ROAD-COAL-VILLAGES-FIRST SCHOOLS--CHURCHES

"Rugged as Time's early dawn,

Rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun."

EDEN township lies in the northeastern part of the county and is essentially a township of farmers, there being no town within its limits. It is well watered by the Rocky fork and its tributaries, the main body of which stream passes diagonally across the township from north to south, near its center.

If any works of the Mound Builders existed in this township, they have almost, if not entirely, disappeared. The soil was not well adapted to the erection of their works, being composed of rocks and clay. This mysterious people clung closely, it appears, to sandy, loamy soil, in the erection of their works.

No Indian history has been handed down, but tradition has it that the Indians encamped on the Bowling Green used this as a hunting ground.

The face of the country is broken and hilly, in some places assuming the dignity and grandeur of mountains; the valleys are generally narrow and very fertile. In its primitive state the oak predominated in the-forest, considerable chestnut was also found, and the valley s were occupied .by sugar and shell-bark hickory; and the entire township was covered with fruits, flowering shrubs, and trees of smaller growth. The abundance of fruits, nuts, and wild game, made it desirable hunting ground, and rendered it comparatively easy for the pioneers to support their families until the forest should be cleared away.

There are a great number of springs in every direction, bursting from the, hillsides, and the water flowing from these form a network of small streams; these form the creeks which, after flowing in tortuous courses through narrow valleys find their outlet in the wild and pretty Rocky fork. Long run, one of the* larger tributaries of the Rocky fork in this township, rises in its northeastern corner, and flowing south along its eastern border, joins the Rocky fork in the northern part of Mary Ann township. Lost run rises in the southwestern part of this township, several branches of it uniting near the United Brethren church, and flowing south in Mary Ann township. A high range of hills passes across the township from northwest to southeast in its western part, dividing the waters of the Rocky fork from those of Lost run and the North fork of Licking. The springs before mentioned are more numerous in this township than in any other in the county, with the possible exception of Fallsbury.

The natural scenery is picturesque, and in many places on the Rocky fork approaches the sublime. About one mile north of the south line of Eden, on either side of the road, like two grim sentinels, stand the "Picture rocks," in the midst of scenery so wild and rugged as to attract pleasure parties from Newark and other places.

Rocky fork is appropriately named. Exclusive of the regular mountain ranges, scenery so wild and rugged will seldom be found. All along this stream through Mary Ann and Eden, in every successive mile, the beholder is filled with wonder and amazement at the new and varied phases of Nature's face. Coming up from the south along this stream,. over a narrow, winding mountain road, these Picture rocks seem, as it were, to be the "cap sheaf" of all the rugged beauty below; yet this mountainous scenery continues through the entire township along this stream. Turning to the right - a little south of Picture rocks, a narrow, winding by-road leads over the hills of Long run,

410 - HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY.

and in a short time "Rain rock" is reached. This is a spot of much natural beauty. Nothing of special importance is observed from the roadway, which passes directly over the top of Rain rock. Descending into a gloomy gorge, filled with trees and flowering shrubs, with huge sand-rocks piled promiscuously about on the hill-sides, a place that can only be reached by a footman, the Rain rocks and their accompaniments come into view. This is merely a huge, seamed sand rock that juts from the hill-side, over which the road passes, extending into the gorge thirty or forty feet, its under surface, so much of it as can be seen, being about one hundred feet long by thirty or forty feet wide. This surface appears elevated, at the highest part, some twenty feet or. more above the surface of the ground beneath, but sloping slightly until it rests upon a solid wall of sand rock that supports it. It forms a gloomy, cavernous-looking excavation, and a shelter where a hundred people or more might escape from a storm. In various places through the crevices of this rock-roof, clear, sparkling spring water issues, and keeps up an incessant dropping, year after year, upon the sand beneath, hence the name Rain rock. In winter this dropping water forms icicles, often reaching from the ground to the surface of the rock, making very beautiful pyramids of ice.

This is also a pleasure resort. Pleasure parties from Newark and other places sometimes camp out here for days, and ramble about among these picturesque hills. Meetings of various kinds are also held here, and rude plank seats are here arranged for the accommodation of an audience in front of which, and at a little distance from Rain rock, is a flat rock, four or five feet high, and ten or twelve feet in diameter across the top, with a smooth surface, known as "Pulpit rock," upon which the speaker stands, and upon which several chairs may be placed for the accommodation o distinguished visitors. In rear of the "Audience room" and fronting Pulpit rock, is a huge mass o perpendicular rocks. These are "rent and riven" as by thunder bolts; the interstices being filled wit laurel bushes, and the edges rimmed with ferns causing this mass of rocks, during the proper season, to look like an immense flower-pot. It is altogether a very pretty and healthful resort.

In its primitive condition, before the heavy hand of man was laid upon its timber and soil, this township must have been a perfect Garden of Eden for the hunter both red and white. Game of every description was plenty and continued to be plenty long after it was driven out of the more desirable parts of the county. Wild animals found a sure and safe retreat among these hills and rocks.

The township was organized in 1822, out of territory originally included in Mary Ann.

The pioneers were William Shannon, Jesse Oldaker and Ebenezer Brown, who settled in the west half of the township in the spring of 1813. Shannon came from Franklin county Pennsylvania; Oldaker from the Shenandoah Valley, and Brown from Washington county, Pennsylvania. These formed the nucleus of what is now Eden township. They were soon followed by Homeward Mariott, William Mitchell, Aaron Brown, Robert McLaughlin, James Starrett, Rev. James Cunningham, James Porter, Charles McFadden, Elisha McFadden, James W. Colville, Jordan Hall, David Moats and W. Henthorn.

The erection of a grist mill-on the upper waters of the Rocky fork, by Ebenezer Brown, at a very early period, soon followed by the erection of another one mile below, by Honorable William Mitchell, were noteworthy events, and contributed largely to the comfort and convenience of the early settlers of Eden, Mary Ann, and portions of Knox county. The Mitchell mill is yet running, having changed hands several times. It is now owned by John Stevenson. Quite a number of mills, both saw- and grist-mills, have been erected at various places along the Rocky fork, in this township; few are now, however, in running order. This stream furnished very good mill-power, and seldom went dry, as it is fed largely by springs.

About 1854, a woollen factory was erected by Walter B. Finney, about a mile below the Mitchell mill. It was in operation about seven years when it was destroyed by fire. Mr. Finney, who is yet ' living, also erected a saw-mill. in connection with his woollen factory, which is yet running. A mill also had an existence in an early day near the - Long Run post office, in the eastern part of the township, but its wheels have not been turning for some years.

HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY - 411

The first road through this township was, probably, the old State road, now known as the Martinsburgh and Newark road, which passes across the township from north to .south on the west side of the Rocky fork, and was much used in early days by travelers from Newark to Mt. Vernon, Martinsburgh and points further north.

Coal crops out in places among the hills in the vicinity of Rocky fork, but has not yet been found in workable veins.

It has been stated that there were no villages in this township, and this is, probably, the case, though some attempts have been made in this direction.

James Shannon undertook to build a town in the northwestern part of the township, on the Rocky fork, in the vicinity of a very small lake, about 1856. He erected a store-room, put in ,a stock of goods, and called the place Oberlin. Attempts were also made to get a regular post office, but without success, though letters are left at the store for people in that neighborhood. This store has been conducted at different times by different parties, but during the past year (1880) it was destroyed by fire. A new building, however, has been erected and the store continued. In addition to this, there is a blacksmith shop, kept by John Hughes, and three or four dwellings. There was also a store on the farm of Elzey Dush about twenty years ago, in the eastern part of the township. There is also a cluster of houses here-three or four.

The second regular post office in the township was established in 1858, by James W. Colville, who was the first postmaster. It was kept in his dwelling house, where it is yet kept, his son being the present postmaster. This is the Long Run office. There is no town there-nothing but Mr. Colville's residence, the church, and ruins of the old mill.

Probably the first school taught in this township was by James Cunningham, near the north line of the township, a short distance from Oberlin, in an old deserted building that had been erected for a. tannery. The first school-house erected in the township was probably the one-that stood near the Rocky-fork, about a mile southeast of Oberlin. It was a rude, round log building, and James Cunningham kept the first school in it. The township is now dotted over with school-houses, the people having learned that in these and the churches lie the only hope of the Republic.

Eden has furnished to the county two surveyors, William Anderson and James R Anderson, a commissioner, Jordan Hall, and a representative, William Mitchell.

There are four churches in this township, two United Brethren, one Disciple and one Protestant Methodist.

The-Disciple church was organized in 1829, and was the first church organization of that society in Licking county. It was organized in the log school-house known as the "Henthorn school house," situated about four miles south of where, in 1834, a fine frame church edifice was erected on the farm of Benjamin Bell, in Knox county. The church was erected on the line between Knox and Licking counties.

The first disciple preaching in the county was by Elder James Porter at this place in 1829, by whom, also, this congregation was organized. He was also its first elder, and for some time its ablest and almost only public advocate. He resided in the vicinity, and perhaps to him more than to any other man, the organization is indebted for its origin, advancement, and present standing and influence in the community. The members of its first organization were James Porter and wife, Benjamin Bell, sr., and wife, Elizabeth Bell (wife of Samuel Bell), Stephen Harris and wife, Isaac Henthorn and wife, and Elisha Stout.

About 1830 a public discussion took place in a log barn belonging to Jesse Oldacre, between Rev. James Gilruth, of the Methodist Episcopal church, and elder James Porter, on behalf of the Disciples. After this discussion, which seemed to arouse much interest, the congregation grew rapidly in numbers, and subsequently under the ministerial labors of such evangelists as James Porter, John Secrist, John Reed, Reuben Davis, John Sargent, James Mitchell, Jesse B. Ferguson, Arthur Critchfield, James J. Moss, Dr. William Hayes, David G. Mitchel, J. H. Jones, Isaiah Jones, Andrew Burns, Abner Lemert, Benjamin Bell, jr., David Sharpless, David Weaver, Jonas Hartzel, Ziba Brown, and many others, members were added until the membership reached more than one hundred and fifty.

412 - HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY.

Benjamin Bell, jr., upon whom as teacher and elder, rested for ten or twelve years the almost exclusive control of the church, deserves much credit for his efficiency and faithfulness.

In 1873 this society erected a church in the western part of the township, called Eden chapel. The building is a very good one, and the society strong in numbers and active. They also maintain an active Sabbath-school. On the opposite side of the road' from this church is the old burying ground, upon which was erected one of the first churches in the county, but which has gone out of existence, this Disciple church taking its place. The United Brethren are strong in this township, keeping up two churches, and near this place one of their first societies was organized, in the cabin of one of the members. This organization of United Brethren, however, never obtained a firm hold here, but by the help of the few Methodists in the neighborhood, erected in an early day, a log church, used occasionally by both denominations, when they were able to secure a minister. The United Brethren organization did not probably continue here more than six or seven years; they were not able to support a minister, and when the Pleasant Valley church was organized, in the southern part of the township, they attended there and gave the old log up entirely to the Methodists. The most influential members in the Methodist Episcopal organization were the Oldacres, two or three families of whom resided in that vicinity. Jesse Oldacre was prominent and influential in establishing the church and keeping it up, hence it soon came to be known as the "Oldacre church." The principal members of the original organization of this Methodist class were Jesse Oldacre and wife, William Shannon and wife, William Oldacre and wife, H. B. Oldacre and wife and Margaret Wilkins. After the death of Jesse Oldacre and the removal of others of the member from the neighborhood, the church languished.

The old log church building was probably erected about 1848, or before. As before stated the Disciple church has taken the place, in this neighbor hood, of the other two denominations.

The Pleasant Valley United Brethren church located in the southern part of the township o the old State road, now the Newark and Martinsburgh road, on the head-waters of Lost Run, and is one of the oldest churches in the county; having been organized about 1820, or before. Rev. Joshua Montgomery was probably instrumental in the organization of this church, and was, probably, its first minister. As no records were kept for many of its earlier years, it is hard to get correct data as to its earliest history; but prior to the erection of the church building, the members probably held their meetings at the cabin of John Neighbarger, who was one of its earliest and most prominent members. William Shannon and wife also belonged to this church in its earlier years. The old log church built fifty years ago, or more, was known as the "Montgomery chapel," and answered all purposes of a church for forty years, or more. The present neat frame building was erected about 1869. The present membership of this church is about forty.

The Sunday-school was organized at an early day, and has been maintained with considerable regularity, now numbering forty or fifty members.

In later years, about 1855, a second United Brethren church was organized in this township, called "Edwards' meeting-house." John Edwards, the Phillipses and some others were the principal movers in its establishment. The church, a frame building, was erected about 1856, in the eastern part of the township, on Long run, on Mr. Edwards' farm, and is frequently called the Long Run church. Preaching and a Sunday-school are maintained with considerable regularity.

The Protestant Methodist church located in the southern part of the township, a ,mile or more northeast of the United Brethren church, was organized about 1857. Stephen Miles, deceased, was the founder of this church. He and his brother William, Washington Holten, Jacob Sousland and some. others were the first members of this organization. They held their meetings at first in the school-house, but erected the present church building in 1858. Rev. Hoagland was - probably their first minister: This is now a strong, - active church, with a membership of fifty or more.

Ten years after the erection of the church, a s Sabbath-school was organized, and is maintained n with considerable success, the average. attendance - being forty or fifty.

HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY. - 413

This township is, at this time, divided into farms of ordinary size; is pretty well cleared and fenced, though much of its surface, especially along the Rocky Fork, will probably never be made capable of cultivation. Much of its primitive beauty and grandeur will remain while time lasts, to delight the eye of the traveler.

CHAPTER XLVII.

ETNA TOWNSHIP.

LOCATION-TOPOGRAPHY-FIRST SETTLERS AND SETTLEMENTS-ORGANIZATION- TOWNSHIP OFFICERS-ETNA-WAGRAM THE. CHURCHES

ETNA township is located in the southwestern corner of the county, and wholly in what was known as the "Refugee Lands."

This is a township of good farming land, and is drained by the tributaries of the South fork of Licking and of the Scioto river. The former stream passes across the northeast corner and sends its branches through the eastern part of the township, nearly to its center. The western part. is well watered by the head-waters of Black Lick creek and Sycamore creek, the latter passing entirely across the township, flowing south into the Little Walnut, whose waters join with those of the Scioto a few miles above Circleville. The tributaries of the Black Lick in this township bear to the southeast, and the waters find their way through the Big Walnut to the Scioto. Beyond the town of ,Etna is a ridge passing diagonally across the township from northwest to southeast, dividing the waters of the Scioto and Licking.

There are no railroads in the township, but the National road passes through it from east to west, and upon this are located two towns-Wagram and Etna-within the township limits.

This territory, lying as it did far from the usual route of pioneer travel, was not settled until 1815. About that date John Williams settled on what has since been known as the Matthews farm. Several families of the Nelsons; John Crouch; Jacob, Peter and George Houser; Messrs. Parkinson, Bergman, Heffner, Denison, Gary, Drake, and John and David Herron, all began clearing the land before 1816. Isaac Essex was a settler of 1816.

Settlers continued to come in slowly until 1833, when the township was organized-being the last township organized in the county-and the first election held at the house of John Henthorn, in Etna, June 22d of that year. R. O. Baldwin, John Nelson and Benjamin Grable were elected the first trustees; John Henthorn, clerk; N. R. Usher, treasurer; William Smith. and George Wells, constables; Richard Lamson, George Wells, William Moore and Hiram Sinsabaugh, supervisors; Thomas M. Donahue and Isaac Essex, overseers of the poor, and Henry Spangler, Jonathan Grable and Dennis Smoke, fence viewers. These were all prominent and influential men in the township during their lives.

As originally laid out, Etna was nine and a half miles long from east to west-and two and a half miles wide; but some time after 1850, one-half mile was taken off the east end and added to Harrison township.

By the township records, it appears that the trustees divided the township into five school districts, and into four road districts, March 3, 1834 At that time the United States government was constructing the National road. John Henthom was then acting justice of the peace; Ambrose Meeker, Benjamin Grable and Jonathan Glendenning, township trustees; Robert Clum, clerk; Tracy Scott, treasurer, and Henry Niswander, Hiram Buell and John Murphy fence viewers

414 - HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY.

Buell was a doctor, and "Jack" Murphy was a "man-of-wars-man" and a noted character in his day.

Continuing the examination of the township records, the following entry is found

" May 30, 1834.

"We, the trustees of Etna township, found a vacancy in the office of overseer of the poor of said township; have met, and do appoint Thomas Marshall to fill said vacancy.

Given under our hands the day and year above written.

BENJAMIN GRABLE.

AMBROSE MEEKER,

Trustees.

Served by reading.

Fees, ten cents.

JOHN SNIDER, Constable.

June 5, 1834.

The charges of Constable Snider, compared with those of the present day, are somewhat astonishing.

"September 22nd, the trustees met at the office of John Henthorn to appoint a constable to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of John Snider, and the doctor, Hiram Buell, received the appointment.

'November 11th of the same year, Moses Cheney was appointed constable as successor to Dr. Buell, who, through sickness or inability, was unable to perform the duties of the office.

"On the sixth of April, 1835, the following civil officers were elected in this township: Henry Spangler, Richard Lamson and Benjamin Grable, trustees; Robert Clum, clerk; Tracy Scott, treasurer; Moses Cheney and Thomas H. Stewart, constables. The supervisors were, No. 1, Adam Egolf; No. 2, Basil Brown; NO. 3, Moses Cheney; NO. 4, Richard Lamson; No. 5. Henry Niswander. The overseers of the poor were John Henthorn and Thomas Marshall, and the fence viewers were. William Mitchell, jr., George Maxfield and Jacob Shaff."

Richard Lamson was commissioned a justice of the peace, October 19, 1835, which office he held, in connection with that of postmaster, with credit to himself and the community, until the infirmities of age obliged him to relinquish them; probably about 1848.

The town of Carthage-since called Etna-was laid out by Lyman Terrell, its original proprietor, in 1832. The National road was then in process of construction, and it was laid out upon its proposed line, it being finished to this point in 1833-4. Like many other towns laid out upon this great thoroughfare it had "great expectations," which, however, as in the case of most other towns upon the road, were not realized. Settlers followed the line of the road rapidly, and soon filled up the towns and townships along the line. It required a large amount of money to build the road, and no inconsiderable portion of this was spent among the inhabitants, and was considered almost a Godsend, that article being extremely scarce in those days.

Great impetus was given to building in the small towns, and from the fact that it was supposed that travel would immediately become so great as to require unlimited accommodations, in Etna nearly every other house was designed for a "tavern." It was expected much would be realized from the sale of lots, etc., the desire for money-making and speculation being ` about the same as that created by the new railroads of the present day.

In 1834 this little town was visited by the cholera, which made sad havoc, nearly or quite depopulating the place. Among its victims were Daniel Warner, who was then keeping store; O. R. Baldwin, also a merchant; Dr. Buell, Mr. Smith, and others. The towns along this road, on account of the great travel by all classes, nations, and conditions of people, were more liable to be visited by contagious diseases than those away from the line of the road. Etna received another terrible visitation in 1845, at this time from the small-pox, the treatment of which, at that time, was not as well understood as at the present day. Much suffering and a number of deaths resulted. It was much to the credit of Jacob Shaff and Henry Warner that they exerted themselves with considerable success in relieving this suffering.

The coming of the railroad stopped the growth of Etna and all other towns along the National road. It now has something less than three hundred inhabitants.

Wagram, first called Cumberland, was laid out by Jerry Armstrong about the same time Etna came into existence, or a little before. He tried hard to make something out of it by leading roads from many directions into it, but failed. A few dwellings, a store and post office, were about the sum of what was accomplished toward building a town.

A respectful deference has always been paid to the subject of religion; harmony and good will always existing between the different denominations, and reasonable support given to each. In fact, the township, for its size, is better supplied with churches than most others in the county'

HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY. - 415

there being five at present within its limits, viz.: Methodist Episcopal, United Brethren, Disciple, Reformed, and Albright.

The Methodists were the earliest to hold services in this township, as in most other townships in the county. It is believed that the first religious services in the township were held by this denomination in the cabin of Mr. Jacob Conine, about 1819 or 1820. A society was organized here, which continued its meetings, mostly in Mr. Conine's cabin, until Etna was laid out in 1832, when the meeting place was transferred to the schoolhouse in that place. Mr. Conine's cabin stood near to and on the south side of the South fork of Licking, and in the northern part of the township.

Among the first members of this organization were Thomas Donahue, Esquire Swain, Jacob Conine, wife and daughter, Sarah Herron, and a few others. From this small beginning sprang the present Methodist church of Etna village. The old frame church in the village, in which meeting were held more than thirty-five years, was erected about 1835, or not long, at least, after the town was laid out. The present church, a fine brick edifice, was erected in 1871, and cost about seven thousand five hundred dollars. At present the membership of this church is about thirty-five. Mr. Jacob F. Conine thus writes regarding this church. He probably refers to the first organization in the town of Etna.

"The Methodist Episcopal church must have had a society formed here as early as 1830. I find minutes of a first organization in July 13, 1836, when Thomas Donahue, Jonathan Gmble, and Edward Brown, a majority of the old board present, and Uriah Heath, jr., preacher, bang present by appoint-merit of the preacher in charge. At this meeting John D. Shank, David Anderson, Lyman Terrel, Amos Hart, and Edwin Adams, were nominated and approved trustees of the Methodist Episcopal meeting house lot; and Dr. David Anderson was appointed as secretary to the board, or recording trustee. At the same meeting Thomas Donahue, Lyman Terrel, and Amos Hart were appointed a building committee. On the eleventh of July following, at a meeting of the trustees it was moved and seconded, 'That any two of the trustees of this meeting-house shall have power to grant the liberty of the house to any minister of the gospel, of good and regular standing in his own church, who holds to the divinity of Jesus Christ and the direct influence of the Holy Spirit, and only to the commonly received Bible as the revelation of God, and who believes in future rewards and punishments, at such time as there is no Methodist appointment.' Lyman Terrel was the author of this resolution, and it was carried by a unanimous vote."

The first Sabbath-school in Etna was a union school, organized in Etna village. Children of all denominations attended it, but, about 1841, the Methodists organized a school of their own, which has been continued ever since. This school is active and vigorous at present, with a membership of fifty or more.

Although there is no Presbyterian church in this township, Presbyterianism had a start here soon after Etna was laid out. Rev. Timothy W. Howe, who was for many years a resident of this township, in his paper upon the Presbyterian churches in this part of the county, thus writes of early Presbyterianism in this township:

"Rev. C. Putnam, of jersey, preached in Carthage (Etna), November 18, 1832, in a hewed log house a few rods north of the village. This was unquestionably the first sermon by a Presbyterian to Etna. Rev. Jacob Tuttle came from New Jersey in 1832, and commenced preaching in Lima, Harrison and Etna in the spring of 1833, and continued to do so more or less regularly until the spring of 1837. He was highly esteemed, and his memory is cherished by his neighbors and friends.

"From Mr. Putnam's diary, I learn that March 10, 1833, he preached at Lima in the morning and at Etna in the evening. Again, September m, 1834, Mr. Putnam attended the funeral of Messrs. Daniel Warner and Oliver K. Baldwin, in Etna, of the firm of Warner, Baldwin & Co., who died the day previous within twelve hours of each other, and were buned at the same lime.

"Another note, under date of January 26, 1835, says: 'Funeral at Etna of Freeman Howe; aged twenty-four; sick nine days; friends all in New Hampshire. His made the twenty-seventh grave in a yard where there were only three graves before the burial of Messrs. Warner and Baldwin, in September previous.' That was the year iii which the cholera swept off so many in Etna.

"October 14, 1838, Rev. T. W. Howe commenced his labors in the South Fork church. No house of worship was owned by the Presbyterians at that time; only one family connected with the Presbyterian church at that time lived in a frame dwelling house; the others lived in cabins. The meetings were held the first year in the Methodist Episcopal church in Etna, in the frame school-house at the northwest corner of Kirkersville, and at the log school-house near Mr. S. D. Alward's. After the first year in Etna, Presbyterians used the house built by the United Brethren, because the Presbyterians assisted them in building it. For eleven years it was thus occupied every other Sabbath in the afternoon. .

"The Presbyterians and United Brethren in Christ, in 1842, formed a union Sabbath-school in Etna. The first year that school averaged seventy-five pupils . the year round. The school continued in a very prosperous state for nine years, while the Presbyterians preached in the United Brethren church. This school is still sustained."

Presbyterians, however, did not get a sufficient hold in Etna to enable them to. erect a church or continue their organization within its limits. Gen-

416 - HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY.

erally, the few Presbyterians followed Mr. Howe over to the South. Fork church. Mr. Howe is still living in Pataskala, having retired from ministerial labor. He is much respected by the community.

The United Brethren church, of which Mr. Howe speaks, is located in Etna. It is a frame building and was erected in 1838, by the united efforts of the United Brethren and Presbyterians. The latter, however, owned no share in it, but had the use of it by contract when not in use by the United Brethren. Rev. David Edwards was probably the first minister to preach in this church for the United Brethren, and Samuel Hively, Daniel Snyder, and James and Ebenezer Drake and their mother, Mrs. Drake, were among the first members of this church.

The Sunday-school in this church, as mentioned by Mr. Howe, was organized in 1842, and still continues in a prosperous condition.

The Reformed church of Etna is located on what is known as the "Basil road," in the southern part of the township, about three miles southwest of Kirkersville, and the same distance southeast of Etna village.

Prior to 1834, the few members of this denomination, mostly Germans, held meetings in their houses, but sometime during that year, the Rev. David Wise came into .the neighborhood, and, assisted by Jacob Reef, Jacob Shearer, David Keller and a few others, organized a church. Jacob Reef and Jacob Shearer were the first elders. In the fall of this year the society erected a log church upon the site of the present building, and the dedicatory sermon was preached by Mr. Wise, who continued as pastor of this church until 1854. The old church was taken away end the present comfortable building erected in 1869. The present membership of this society is about seventy. The Sunday-school was organized in 1840, and i yet sustained, with a membership of forty-five.

Near the above church is located the Albright or "The Emanuel Church of the Evangelic Order.' This church was organized in 1875, by Rev. S E. Rife, in a school-house on the same road upon which the church building stands. The following are among the original members of this organization: John Hoffer and wife, John N. Born and wife, Samuel Ammon and wife, Miss Susan Ammon and Miss Pauline Ammon, Jacob Scheidger and wife, Father Switzer, Mrs. Phipps and two daughters, and a few others. Prior to the erection of the church, meetings were held in the Rees school-house every four weeks. The present excellent church edifice was erected during the summer and fall of 1875, at a cost of two thousand dollars; and was dedicated by Bishop Yost, November 21, 1875. Rev. Rife continued to hold services until the spring of 1877, when he was succeeded by Rev. Mr. Hankey, who, in turn, was succeeded, in 1879, by the present pastor, Rev. Mohn. The present membership of this church is about fifty-four. The Sunday-school was organized in the spring of 1876, with about seventy pupils. It has been continued since, and now averages about seventy members. Jacob Smoke is superintendent.

The Campbellite or Disciple church is located on what is called York street, two-and-a-half miles east of Kirkersville, near the northern line of the township, on the South fork. In May, 1853, the congregation was organized by William Hayes and John C. Winter; it consisted of sixteen members, who met every Sabbath in the "Pine schoolhouse," on York street. The members of this organization were Jacob and Eliza Winter, Abraham and Jane Morrow, Jacob and Isabella Stoolfire, Noah and Mary Morrow, Nathan and Mary McVay, John and Eliza Crow, Daniel Stoolfire, Catharine McVay, Elizabeth Hoyt and Hannah Crow. The officers chosen for this organization were Jacob Winter and Abraham Morrow, elders; Jacob Stoolfire and Noah Morrow, deacons, and, April 15, 1854, Nathan McVay, Jacob Stoolfire and David Stoolfire, trustees. The present church edifice was erected in the spring of 1855, and in September of the same year the building was dedicated by Alexander Campbell.

The first preaching in this vicinity by a Disciple ' was by the Rev. A. E. Myers, a graduate of Betheny college, Virginia, in August, 1852. The present membership of this church is about sixty-five. The society supports an active Sunday-school, with a membership, at present, of fifty-five.

HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY - 417

CHAPTER XLVIII.

FALLSBURY TOWNSHIP.

LOCATION-STREAMS, TIMBER AND SOIL-TOPOGRAPHY-" RENT ROCKS "- PRIMITIVE CONDITION-MOUND BUILDERS AND INDIANS-FIRST SETTLERS AND SETTLEMENTS-FIRST TOWNSHIP OFFICERS-PROMINENT POLITICIANS- FALLSBURY- POSTMASTERS-MILLS-CHURCHES.

THIS township is situated in the northeastern part of the county, and is composed, principally, of rough, hilly, almost mountainous land, which is less productive perhaps than any other in the county, not excepting even the lands of Eden. It is very well adapted to pasturage and grazing, and there are a few narrow valleys where the soil is deep and rich; but it is an exceedingly rough township, comparatively little first-class farming land within its limits, and much of it cannot be cultivated at all, being covered with immovable rocks. The different varieties of oak have always been the prevailing timber. It is watered by the Wakatomika and its tributaries in its northern and eastern part, and Painter's run, a tributary of the Rocky fork, in its western part. The Wakatomika, which empties into the Muskingum at Dresden, is the principal stream, and affords some water power, which has been used to a limited extent, several mill privileges having been improved upon it within the limits of Fallsbury.

The region of the Wakatomika rivals that of the Rocky fork in the picturesqueness and beauty of its scenery, wildness and rugged, mountainous aspect of its general surface. .The traveler along the narrow, winding road that skirts the stream will be filled with wonder and admiration at the great upheaval that has apparently taken place in this region. All along the stream the hills are elevated almost to the. altitude of mountains, and immense rocks lie piled in every conceivable direction upon their surfaces, and protrude in every conceivable manner from their sides. At a point not far from Grigg's mill is a place of especial interest called "Rent Rocks." It would seem as if an immense rock had been thrown down with such force as to break it in several pieces. These pieces are lying at various distances from each other; some of them far enough apart to admit the passage of a pedestrian or even an equestrian. They are of immense size, and from their appearance and position have evidently, at some period of time formed one solid rock. There are many other places of especial interest along this stream.

In its primitive condition this was an excellent locality for the hunter and trapper, and game continued to be plenty here after it had disappeared from the valleys, where 'the settlements first occurred. Fallsbury retained its primitive appearance longer than most other parts of the county, and, in fact, in many parts yet has the appearance of a new country; being in places heavily timbered, and having many log cabins yet within its limits used as dwellings.

Few, if any, traces of the Mound Builders remain in this township; and it is probable that few of their works were erected here.

No special Indian history has been preserved, though the first settlers found them occupying this territory. Mr. John Evans, whose father brought him to the Wakatomika, a few miles below the Fallsburgh line in 1808, remembers that for several years his playmates were Shawanee Indian boys. There was an encampment of these Indians on Shawanee run,. which empties into the Licking, and no doubt they used all the country around, including this township, for their hunting ground.

David Bright was the first settler, building his cabin, in 1818, in the woods upon land since owned by Mrs. Botts. It was among the last settled sections of the county, from the fact of its

418 - HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY.

being away from the regular routes of travel and the undesirable quality of the land. The settlers that immediately succeeded Bright were Hezekiah Blount, William Wilson, Paul, William and James Van Winkle. Settlers continued to come in rapidly after the first settlement. The census of 185o shows a population of over twelve hundred; since that, however, it has steadily declined for some reason. Probably but little more than half of this population remains. Most of these settlers were from Virginia.

The township was organized in 1826, and the first election was held at the house of Samuel Varner. William Wilson was elected justice of the peace, and continued to hold the office fifteen years. Joseph Frost was the second, and William V. Hall the third. Minor McQueen, Levi Baughman, Lofland Hall, Dawson McQueen, James Colville, John Frampton, William Hall and others were later magistrates of this township.

The first trustees were Samuel Varner, William Wilson and Joseph Frost; first constable, William Hall; first clerk, Samuel Varner. John Evans was the second constable.

The township has no very extensively traveled thoroughfare, no turnpike, canal, telegraph or railroad, and nothing to attract emigrants, but in educational, moral and religious matters, it is fully up to the average.

Noah Reed, Silas Bland, Moses Priest and Minor McQueen are now remembered as among the most prominent and active politicians of the earlier days of Fallsburgh. Mr. Reed was elected to the legislature in 1849.

Silas Bland was a son of the Mr. Bland who removed from Pendleton county, Virginia, to the .mouth of Licking in 1798, and who, with Hughes and Ratliff, pursued and shot the Indians who had stolen their horses. Silas was born in the sugar camp, and rocked in a sugar trough. He subsequently removed to Perry township.

Fallsbury is a small post-town, situated near the center of the township. It was laid out on lands belonging to Silas Bland. This land was first settled by Thomas Meeks and one or two of the McQueens. Minor McQueen was from Virginia, and purchased about two hundred acre of land in the vicinity of the present village Fallsbury was never laid out; it grew, or seemed to grow naturally, like a mushroom. No especial reason can be given why the town should exist at all, or should have made a start in its present location, except, perhaps, that a few unimportant roads seemed to converge rather irregularly in that vicinity, and it was about the center of a settlement. John Arnold built the first house; he was a farmer. The second house was built by Jesse Riley. These were both log dwellings, and the latter is yet standing. They were built about 1835 or 1840. Thomas Meeks erected the first blacksmith shop, soon after these cabins were built. George came a little later and started a saloon and grocery, the first mercantile business in the town. He erected a small frame building for a store room, afterward used as a shoe shop. The place never supported more than one store at a time until within the last, ten years, when there have been taco the greater portion of the time.

Messrs. Robinson, Shake, and Christopher Johnson are now the store keepers. C: Hull now keeps a wagon shop, and there are two blacksmith shops and a few other small establishments of various kinds. Messrs. Thomas Holmes & Sons conduct a general workshop, where articles of various kinds requiring mechanical skill are manufactured. They are also the owners of a steam engine, which furnishes the power for a planing-mill, saw-mill and grist-mill, the latter grinding only corn, however. Their business was started about 1869. There are three doctors; about 'twenty dwellings, and perhaps one hundred people in the place. The village has rather a dilapidated, tumble-down look, as if it was not overwhelmed with thrift, and the fact that it is built on very rough ground does not add to its appearance.

Doctor Gilbert was probably the first postmaster here, and was followed by a Mr. Balcom, who in turn was succeeded by Mr. T. Fisk. J. W. Tilton was the next and Mr. Hickumbottom held the office prior to the appointment of the present postmaster, L. H. Robison.,

Probably the first of the many mills erected on the Wakatomika in this township was by Hezekiah Blount, in what is now known as "Egypt". This mill has changed owners frequently and been rebuilt, but is yet in operation and owned by Mr.

HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY. - 419

Garrison Frampton, and is known far and near as "Frampton's Mill." A saw-mill has been connected with it since.it was first erected, which was fifty-five or sixty years ago.

The second mill on this stream, known as "Gregg's mill," and owned by William Gregg, was built about 184o, by Henry Crabbs and William Garner. Only a sawmill was erected here at first, but a few years later the grist-mill was added. These two with the Holmes' mill at Fallsbury, are probably the only mills in the township now in operation.

A very early school-house, and probably the first in the township, was erected in the Van Winkle. settlement, not far -from the village of Fallsbury..

One of the first religious organizations in this township was, probably, the Old School Baptist. Miner McQueen was a member of this denomination, and soon gathered around him a few settlers who were of his way of thinking, and they held religious meetings in his house, himself preforming the duties of pastor. Mr. Christopher Coffman also preached occasionally for these people.

The organization of the society was effected about 1832, and Miner McQueen, Christopher Coffman, John Fry and wife, Mrs. Buck, Mrs. Varner, Mrs. John Porter and a few others were the original members of this organization. In the old graveyard near Fallsbury yet stands an old, squatty, hewed-log building, the first, and, indeed, the only church erected by this society. It was, probably, built about 1835. Services are yet regularly held in this building. The society is a weak one, probably, not numbering over a dozen members at present.

During the war a great many new church organizations sprang up all over the country, in consequence of a difference of political opinion, and the strife and feeling engendered by the great Rebellion. These organizations called themselves "Christian Union," and the members were generally members of that portion of the Democratic party, who did not believe in the prosecution of the war for the Union. They were generally members of other churches, who left those churches, because the prayers for the President of the United States and the success of the Union army grated harshly upon their ears.

Such a church sprang up in Fallsbury. A Mr. George Higgins was the leader and principal organizer. This society was organized at the schoolhouse, and the principal members, George Higgins, Gideon McQueen and wife, William Booth and wife, Obediah Baufman, Thomas Gorley, Alice Gilbreath, John Reed, Henry Wilson, Lewis Baughman, Catharine Mossholder, Susan Scott, Ann Scott, Levi Priest and wife, Alexander Smith and Leonard Billman.

This organization purchased a dwelling house, and fitted it up for -a church building, and George Higgins and Rev. Atherton were the principal ministers. Soon after the war ended, the church ended, and has not, for some years, been known among the churches of Fallsbury.

The third church organized in Fallsbury, was the Disciple. This congregation was organized the third Sunday in March, 1869, and during the same and the following year, erected a church building in the village. David D. Mitchel, Mr. White and J. A. Walters were their first preachers; John Howell, elder; Samuel Hupp, clerk, and William Scott, John Howell and Jacob Booth, trustees. The organization consisted of twenty-five members or snore; it now has a membership of forty-four.

The Sabbath-school was organized in 1875, the average attendance being now about twenty.

Outside the village of Fallsbury, there are two churches within the limits of the township-both Methodist Episcopal.

One, the Pleasant Valley church, is located on the Zanesville and Mount Vernon road, about one mile southeast of Fallsbury. This church was organized at the house of Noah Reed, about 1836. Messrs. Noah Reed and George Gardner were the principal movers in the organization; and the original members were Noah Reed and wife, George Gardner and wife, Silas Bland and wife, John Tilton and wife, Aaron Decker, and William Beckham and wife.

Their first church building, a log, was erected about one mile south of the present building, in 1837 ; the second and present building, a frame, was erected about 1857, and cost about one thou sand dollars. Their first 'regular minister was Rev. Bell, of the Northern Ohio conference.

At present this is a large active congregation,

420 - HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY.

which has a membership of about one hundred..

The Sunday-school was organized the year after the church edifice was erected (1838), and has been well sustained, six months in the year, to the present time, and now numbers forty or fifty members.

The other church in this township, also a Methodist Episcopal, was organized about the same time as the Pleasant Valley. It is known as the "Goshen" church, and is located in what is known as Egypt, in the valley of the Wapitomika.

John Painter was one of the prominent members of this organization, and the society was probably first organized at his house. Garrison Frampton was also a prominent mover in this organization and a class leader. John Rogers, John Frost and

Edward Bishop were also among the original members. Silas Bland who lived at that time in the neighborhood of Gregg's mill, was also much interested in this church, and gave the ground upon which their first church building was erected. This first building was a frame, and was built about 1855. Some years afterwards, this same building was moved several miles to its present location in the eastern edge of the township, where it was repaired and built over into the present church, in 1880, costing as it stands about nine hundred dollars.

The present membership is probably fifty or more. The organization of the Sunday-school was coeval with that of the church, and is yet maintained.

CHAPTER XLIX.

FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP.

MOUND BUILDERS WORKS--SURVEY-TOPOGRAPHY-SETTLERS AND SETTLEMENTS- CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PEOPLE PUBLIC OFFICIALS MINERAL DEPOSITS-SCHOOLS-CHURCHES AND RELIGIOUS MATTERS-A PIONEER CAMP MEETING.

"Is this the land our fathers loved,

The freedom which they toiled to win?

Is this the soil whereon they moved?

Are these the graves they slumber in?

Are we the sons by whom are borne

The mantles which the dead have worn?"

-Whittier.

THIS township abounded in works erected by the Mound . Builders. Few sections of the extensive territory in which these works are located are more prolific than this township. It seems to have been a Mound Builders' paradise. If these silent monuments of a lost race could but talk, what treasures would they reveal. How insignificant man appears standing mute and dumb beside these works; what a lesson they teach of man's ignorance, and how all his boasted knowledge and power vanish, as in their presence he is dumb and helpless as a child. They are here, his practical sense tells him that, but little else does he know of them.

Among the most elaborate and extensive of these works were those on the high hill, the most elevated ground in the vicinity, a short distance north of Amsterdam, near to, and in a northeasterly direction from Fairmount church in Licking township. These consisted of a circular wall or embankment, now only a few feet high, enclosing an area of about eight acres. On the outside of this wall is a ditch eight or ten feet in width, which was made by throwing the earth out to make the embarkment. These works have been plowed over many times, and are gradually disappearing. Within this enclosure there stood, near its center, and within one hundred feet of each other, three mounds, two being of stone. One of the stone mounds had a diameter at the base of forty-five feet, and the other two mounds of thirty feet; all were about twenty-five feet in height. The two stone mounds were removed many years ago by

HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY. - 421

Mr. John Cover, who found in the large one some skeletons within three feet of the surface of the ground, which must have belonged to persons of very large size. The stone in these mounds were not of large size, and the earth, after. their removal, was very black, and gave indications of the presence of fire before and soon after the commencement of the mounds; perhaps upon the first layer of stone, or more likely, upon altars which had been erected, and upon which sacrifices had been offered as an act of worship, as was the practice of some ancient nations.

By no means the most insignificant of the works of the Mound Builders in Franklin township, is the large stone mound half a mile south of the center of the township. Its diameter at the base was originally about forty feet, but it is much more now, as an attempt made many years ago to open it and get down into the middle, resulted in greatly reducing its height (probably about twenty feet), and adding to its diameter by throwing the stone down upon all sides of it. The earth was not reached in the middle, but the height of the mound was reduced about ten feet. The late Judge Elnathan Schofield, of Lancaster, who was government surveyor during one of the earlier years of the present century, and as such run the section lines here, one of which crossed this mound, made an entry upon his field notes, after designating its locality, pronouncing it "a singular pile of stone."

He probably understood little at that early day about the works of the Mound Builders, particularly their stone works.

Probably the "Tippett" mound has attracted as much attention as any other in Franklin township. It is situated a few hundred yards east of the road leading from Newark to Linnville, in full view of it, near the former residence of Mr. James Tippett. This mound was seventy-five feet in diameter, and twenty-one feet high. It was opened several years since, and a stone whistle and quite a number of human skeletons exhumed. Two remarkably well preserved crania were taken out, in connection with skeletons, at twenty feet from the top, and just above the level of the land around the base of the mound. The mound was composed of layers of earth, charcoal, ashes and human skeletons. This mound was opened with great care by the Messrs. Tippett, and was one of the most symmetrical and interesting of its class.

There is a fort of low banks near the center of the township, in part on the farm of P. F. Coulter, nearly a mile. east of the Tippett mound, and about the same distance northeasterly from the celebrated stone mound.

There is also a stone mound near the Madison township line, half a mile or more from Clay Lick; and also one on the farm of A. Inlow, neither of which is of large size. There are also earth mounds of greater or less magnitude on the farms of H. Trout, D. Moore, J. Smith, J. Brownfield, Mr. Handly's "spring farm," and also one near Hopewell township line east of lands of Mr. A. Ballou, besides a few others not mentioned.

There is very little, if any, reliable Indian history in any way identified with the territory embraced within Franklin township.

This township was composed entirely of United States military lands, sometimes called "Army lands," and was part of the extensive tract dedicated by the Government to the payment of the officers and soldiers of the Revolution. Congress, by an act passed June 1, 1796, authorized the survey into ranges and townships, of this tract, and Franklin township appears on the plat of 'the original survey as in the first tier of townships in the eleventh range.

The surveys into ranges and townships took place soon after authority was granted by Congress, and it was to these surveying parties that Elias Hughes, John Stadden, and perhaps others of the earliest pioneers of this county, were attached. The surveys into smaller tracts than townships were made at subsequent, but not remote periods.

The township is watered by Hog run and Swamp run, the latter heading here, .and emptying into Hog run in Licking township.; also by Little Clay lick, which heads in Hopewell township and flows through the corner of Franklin; and by Big Clay lick, which has its source near the line of Hopewell, running about five miles through Franklin. The bottom lands along these streams are very fertile, and the lands generally, though some what hilly, are productive, there being little if any

422 - HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY.

waste land in the township. Corn, the cereals, and grasses, all grow well.

The townships around Franklin were all settled before it, except Hopewell-Madison in 1798, Licking in 1801, Bowling Green in 1802, and Newark, which corners with it, in 1800. The first settlers within the territory which now constitutes Franklin township were George Ernst, John and Jacob Switzer, who came in the spring of 1805, the first-named from the Shenandoah valley, and the two latter from the "Glades," in Pennsylvania. Mr. John Feasel came in the autumn of the same year, also from the Shenandoah valley. John Siglar came to Licking township in 1805, from Maryland, and on the first day of March, 1807, moved into this township. His son, William, then a mere lad, accompanied him. In 1808 Mr. John Hull joined these pioneers, who were further reinforced in 1809 by Mr. Hugh Scott, Rev. J. W. Patterson, Isaiah Hoskinson, and a Mr. Dustheimer. A Mr. Fulton came, meanwhile, who taught the first school in the township, in a building within the circle of this first settlement.

Mrs. Motherspaw, daughter of the pioneer, John Feasel, had the longest residence in this township, having been brought here in 1805 ; and Mr. William Siglar, the next longest, or since 1807.

Mr. John Wilkin, Michael Fry, as well as Uriah Hull and a few others, settled in this township in and before the year 1812, when the township was organized and named, in honor of the great American philosopher, Benjamin Franklin,

Isaiah Hoskinson, sr., and Moses Sutton, sr., were elected the first justices of the peace.

Franklin township has not now, and never had, a village in it, except the minature town of Amsterdam. It has no stores, no post offices, no grogshops, no manufactories. The people are almost wholly given to agriculture, and to the quiet, honest, successful pursuit of their avocation, and have attained to a good degree of equality in pecuniary circumstances. The people are sober, industrious, frugal, hospitable, and give no countenance or encouragement to vagabonds, demagogues, busy-bodies in other people's matters, to the idle, or lazy, to loafers, vagrants, horse-jockies or speculators, professional office-seekers, note-shavers, whiskey-drinkers, nor, indeed, any who are engaged- in vicious and demoralizing pursuits. It is literally and preeminently a rural township, in which the rural virtues prevail. During the seventy-five years that have elapsed since the first settlement of the township, they have had only four county officers. The late Henry Burner was county commissioner, Mr. Anthony Pitzer county surveyor, Stephen Hoskinson commissioner, and Benjamin Brownfield a member of the legislature. The township has probably furnished as few representatives for the State prison as for the State legislature. The National road runs along the southern boundary of Franklin, being mainly in Bowling Green, but in several places running a little into Franklin, as at Amsterdam, and for some distance east of it. The Flint ridge slopes off nearly a mile from Hopewell into Franklin, striking it near the middle of its eastern boundary, making that portion of the township, to the extent of a mile in width, unusually hilly, or somewhat mountainous in its aspects and scenery. Little has ever been done in the way of attempts to turn to practical account the mineral deposits of this township. One such effort was made about fifty years ago by Mr. Hugh Scott, one of the early and enterprising pioneers of the township, who discovered, upon his land, a deposit of iron ore, which he mined, and marketed by hauling it to the Granville furnace. It was understood generally, to have been attended with rather ill success, but whether the enterprise terminated because of the distance between the ore and the furnace, and consequent expense of getting it to market, or whether the deposit was worked out and the supply ceased, or for other reasons is not remembered. If, therefore, the township has any mineral wealth, it is, as yet, undeveloped.

Schools were early organized, and educational matters in the township have kept pace with those of other townships in the county. It is divided into six school districts in which good-houses are erected. There is also one fractional district in the southern part.

The first religious society started in the township was the Methodist society, which now worships in Ellis chapel. It was organized at the house of John Siglar, in 1809, or a year later,

HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY. - 423

possibly. The first church edifice they erected was a hewed log building in 1818, on the site of the present building, which superseded it in 1851.

Among the early time ministers of the society were Ralph Lotspeitch, James Quinn, Jesse Stoneman, Levi Shinn, brother to Asa, Isaac Quinn, David Young, Michael Ellis, Charles Waddle, Mr. McElroy, Noah Fidlar, Martin Fate, John McMahon, C. Springer, Alexander McCracken, Leroy Swormsted, and Jacob Young.

The Lutherans organized the second church in Franklin township. This is the pioneer Lutheran church in Licking county, and the Rev. Andrew Henkle, Rev. Peter Schmucker, Rev. Charles Henkle, and Rev. Amos Bartholomew, were the pioneer Lutheran preachers. The first named organized the Lutheran church in this township, in the autumn of 1817, having previously visited and preached to the people in that neighborhood a few times. The settlers were, for the most part, from the Shenandoah valley, Virginia, and had been trained in the Lutheran faith and doctrines.

George Ernst, Daniel Motherspaw, John Feasel, Henry Burner, Jacob Wilkins, Jacob Row, the family of John Wilkin deceased, and a few others, with the families of the foregoing, patronized the enterprise of Mr. Henkle, and soon after the organization: of the society they erected a hewed-log structure of small dimensions, which answered the double purpose of church and school-house. Rev. Andrew Henkle's father, Rev. Paul Henkle, a well known Lutheran minister in the Shenandoah valley, and the successor of the distinguished Rev. General Peter Muhlenberg, of revolutionary fame and memory, had been the religious instructor of some of these families, and of their fathers and mothers. They, therefore, readily and joyfully embraced the opportunity presented of having the Gospel preached to them statedly, by a minister of their own faith, and that, too, by the son of the pastor of their parents. Sometime previous Rev. Andrew Henkle had taken charge of the Lutheran church in Somerset, Perry county, and while living there, he, in 1817, organized this church in Franklin, and immediately thereafter was elected pastor, and remained such until 1824, when he resigned.

After his resignation the church remained without a settled minister r about two years, but its pulpit was supplied with considerable regularity by Rev. Peter Schmucker, of Newark, then engaged in secular pursuits, but who answered the calls for ministerial services on the Sabbath; and by Rev. Charles Henkle, of Somerset, a brother of Andrew, who bad, at that time, charge of some churches in Perry county.

The Shenandoah valley was very prolific in Lutherans and Lutheran ministers. Rev. Peter Muhlenberg was, until 1776, the principal Lutheran minister in that valley, and was, moreover, the son of the founder of the Lutheran church in the United States. In 1776, soon after Lord Dunmore's treachery to the colony of Virginia became manifest, being then in charge of the Lutheran church at Woodstock, he abandoned his pulpit and took the field as a regimental officer of the Virginia line.

Rev. Paul Henkle, father of Andrew and Charles, entered the Shenandoah valley before the close of the last century, and preached there many years. He reached a great age, and continued his ministrations in the pulpit to near the close of his life. He had a large family of sons, all of whom, probably, entered the Lutheran ministry in the Shenandoah valley, except one. Those now remembered were David, Paul, Andrew, Charles and Ambrose, making, with the father, six in all.

The father of Rev. Peter Schmucker emigrated to this country, and settled in the Shenandoah valley near the commencement of the present century. Three of his sons, George, Nicholas and Peter, there entered the Lutheran ministry.

Nicholas ministered to the same congregation, and from the same pulpit, for a generation at least, which Rev. Peter Mublenberg had left when he entered the army. The two brothers of Nicholas also preached in the different Lutheran churches of the valley. Rev. S. S. Schmucker and hi s son, Rev. S. M. Schmucker, who were son and grandson of George; and Rev. George Schmucker, son of Nicholas, also making six in all, had each charge of Lutheran churches in the valley, which, in the aggregate, ran through a period of many years.

Ministrations from these Shenandoah valley preachers to these Shenandoah valley Christian emigrants of Franklin township, often brought

424 - HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY.

vivid impressions of old-time religious services to their minds, and could not well have been otherwise than mutually interesting. Their voices and the voices of those bearing their names, had been heard by these people long before, and here they felt that they were not strangers. '

In the fall of 1826, Rev. Amos Bartholomew was called to the church as its pastor, and remained about eleven years. After remaining vacant about a year, Rev. J. Manning became regular pastor, in which capacity he served the church nearly eight years; meanwhile the church edifice, commenced during the pastorate of Mr. Bartholomew, was completed, and has since been occupied. It is neat and commodious. After remaining vacant two years, Rev. Mr. Richart became pastor, and remained two years. He was succeeded in a short time by Rev. G. W. Shafer, who continued the settled minister several years. After the resignation of Mr. Shafer, the pulpit was supplied about one year by Rev. D. F. Phillips, and then by Rev. William M. Gilbreath for two years. The latter was succeeded by his brother, Rev. J. L. Gilbreath, in 1854.

The church enjoys a moderate degree of prosperity. It sustains a prayer meeting, and has connected with it a flourishing Sabbath-school.

The first elders of this church were Daniel Motherspaw and George Ernst.

The third, last formed, and only other religious society in this township, is the Christian Union church, organized during the progress of the late Rebellion. It was composed, principally, of those Methodists who held their membership at Ellis chapel, in Franklin, and at Spencer chapel, in Hopewell townships, who did not approve of the attitude of the Methodist Episcopal church on slavery, the war, and collateral questions, or who disapproved of the introduction of those secular matters into the pulpit.

Some of those who actively participated in the establishment of this church, were William Henslee, William Rutledge, John Cochran, Daniel Loughman, Zachariah Rutledge, David Wolf, John Wolf, John Snelling, Samuel Lampton, and William D. Rutledge..

They erected a neat, substantial church near the township line between Franklin and Hopewell. A Sabbath school is connected with the church. Revs. Benjamin Green and W. Henslee for some years after the organization of the church occupied its pulpit.

In this connection it will be interesting to religious people in the township to know what Mr. Isaac Smucker says in his "Recollections of 1825," regarding the first camp meeting he ever attended, and which was in this township:

"A few days after my arrival here, in 1825, I attended a camp meeting held in Franklin township, not far from the large stone mound, some eight miles from Newark. The meeting was held in a pleasant and somewhat romantic locality, near the western termination of the Flint ridge. The weather was delightful, the preaching good, and the surrounding and incidents of the meeting had a flavor of freshness and novelty about them that rendered the occasion one decidedly enjoyable.

"A tall, slender, erect, long-visaged, grave old man, with elongated hair, that had passed into the last stage of silver-grey hue, occupied himself conspicuously as chief singer of the occasion-the venerable leader in the musical department of the devotional exercises. His name was Siglar, I understood, and he sung with spirit, energy and much power of voice. The great congregation joined him and they made the welkin ring sonorously while singing those fine old Methodist camp meeting hymns. The multitude gathered for worship from all the regions round about in these ancient groves, were greatly moved, yea! thrilled by the inspiring notes of the melodious minstrelsy. The reverberations of those sacred songs, as sung by a thousand voices in the spirited, natural, unartistic style of our primitive settlers, in those grand old woods, gave zest to the enjoyment of the interesting occasion, and the scenes and incidents thereof are numbered among the memories to be cherished in the hereafter.

" Rev. Zerah H. Coston was the only preacher present whose ' name I now remember. I had heard him preach a sermon a short time before, in front of the old jail, for the benefit of Peter Dimond, then under sentence of death. I think, however, that judge Fidlar, whom I heard perform a similar 'service for Dimond, was also present, though I am not certain. This was my first appearance at a Methodist camp meeting, but not my last. 1 attended one held near Chatham, nearly fifty years ago, where I heard Rev. L. L. Hamlin preach his celebrated sermon from the text "Ye are my witnesses saith the I lord ! ' I had heard him preach it once before, and it was worth repeating. Few men had a more attractive style of pulpit oratory than he. I also attended one on the Flint ridge, more than forty-five years ago, conducted by our well known pioneer veteran, the Rev. C. Springer, and another a few years later, held near Elizabethtown, under the same management.

I have attended others later, and I confess to a partiality by way of variety, for the old style of camp meeting oratory-the pulpit in the wilderness, as we had it in the days of " Auld lang syne."

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CHAPTER L.

GRANVILLE TOWNSHIP.

CHARACTER OF THE SETTLEMENT-ORGANIZATION-TOPOGRAPHY-INDIANS- ANCIENT WORKS-THE FIRST SETTLEMENT JONES, THE FORDS AND BENJAMIN-MEETING WITH ISAAC STADDEN IN RAMP CREEK VALLEY-A DISCREPANCY IN DATES-FIRST CABINS-WELSH HILLS SETTLERS-FIRST BIRTH AND DEATH-A SKETCH OF JONES LIFE CANE PRESENTATION-SETTLERS OF 1803 AND 1804-COMING OF THE GRANVILLE COLONY-ITS ORIGIN-ORGANIZATION IN GRANVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS-PURCHASE OF LAND IN OHIO-THE ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION AND SUBSCRIBERS THERETO-THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES- CHARACTER OF THE COLONISTS-GENERAL AUGUSTINE MUNSON; SOMETHING OF HIS LIFE AND MATTERS CONNECTED THEREWITH-ARRIVAL OF THE COLONY IN OHIO-THEIR FIRST RELIGIOUS SERVICE-AMOUNT, LOCATION AND SURVEY OF THE LAND-LOCATION OF THE VILLAGE-PUBLIC SALE OF THE LAND-FIRST CHURCH AND SCHOOL-HOUSE-THE CHURCH ORGANIZATION OF THE COLONISTS

OTHER CHURCHES IN THE TOWNSHIP.

THIS township is second in the county in population, wealth and influence. It was fortunate in being peopled from the start with first-class settlers-people of intelligence, thrift and energy. I They were from New England and a province in Old England-Wales. The former were shrewd, pushing, enterprising, money-making; and both were honest, industrious, religious. Both came in oganized communities, determined to establish permanent, prosperous and happy homes in the far west. The combination of the various elements of which these communities . were composed, was a most fortunate one, and probably a more desirable population could not be found in the State or United States than they furnished to Granville township. With this foundation to build upon, is it any wonder the superstructure is sold, beautiful, attractive, and destined to have a history of continually increasing importance, and an influence for good that will extend its boundary- continually as the years go by?

The township was organized in 1807, out of the west half of Licking township, Fairfield county. The .latter township then embraced all of what is now Licking county, except the Refugee lands. This being cut in two in the center, the west half was named Granville, and was, therefore, the. second township organized in this territory.

The soil of the northern half is not especially attractive, being composed of hills or table lands and is clayey, but produces wheat and all the small grains in abundance. It was .all heavily timbered with the different varieties of oak and other hard woods that flourish on the uplands. This part of the township seems to have been very attractive to the Welsh people, by whom it was mainly settled, probably from the fact that it was, at an early day, far more healthy than the miasmatic bottoms of Raccoon and Licking. Since the county has been cleared, cultivated and settled, these bottoms are as healthy as the "Welsh Hills," and far more productive. There is, however, a good deal of rich bottom land in the township along the Raccoon fork and its tributaries. The peculiar blending of hill and valley in this beautiful region attracted the

New England pioneers, who also dreaded the ague and malaria of the broader and more swampy bottoms of Licking, and yet desired bottom land for farming purposes. There is a gentle terraced in cline down the Raccoon from Granville to Newark. This stream of clear, beautiful water passes across the township a little south of its center, tumbling over a rocky and gravelly bed, and is the only stream of consequence within the township limits.

An Indian trail branched from the main trail near Newark, and passed across the township up the Raccoon valley to the Wyandot village near Johnstown.. Unfortunately no Indian history has been preserved in connection with this township and this is the case, also, with most other town-

426 - HISTORY OF LICKING COUNTY.

ships in the county-though there is no doubt that this territory, especially the valley of the Raccoon, was extensively used by them as a hunting ground. No permanent Indian camps appear to have had an existence here, unless prior to historic times.

The works of the Mound Builders in this township are very numerous and interesting; indeed, in number and varied character are scarcely excelled by those of Newark township. The Raccoon valley and contiguous territory constitute, probably, the most interesting territory in the State, or even in the United States for the antiquarian. Mounds of different sizes and heights, earthworks of every kind known to the historian exist here in great numbers. Numbers yet to be seen and traced may almost be counted by the hundred, while many, very many, have disappeared entirely, by the ravages of time and the plow, and live only in the memory of the oldest inhabitants. No particular care seems to be taken to preserve these mounds and works. Wherever they are in the way of the tiller of the soil, they are ruthlessly plowed down or dug away. They are disappearing with comparative rapidity, and very soon, with few exceptions, will live only in history. Occcasionally they are erected upon high peaks, or places inaccessible to the plow and cultivator, and in such places are, of course, in the best state of preservation. The traveler between Newark and Granville will observe many of these mounds, a few yet pretty well preserved, even on the extensive and rich bottoms of the Raccoon; but the better preserved works, and those probably the most interesting, are located upon the hills that shut in the valley. Captain M. M. Munson, who occupies a beautiful farm in the midst of these mounds, and who has made them something of a study, is confident that around the great Alligator mound, located not far from his house, is a complete system of mounds and earthworks that point to it as a common center. How-ver this may be, there is certainly a large circle of works in this vicinity, extending several miles in every direction, and seemingly connected with ea