The States who owned western unappropriated lands, with a single exception, redeemed their respective pledges by ceding them to the United States. The State of Virginia, in March, 1786, ceded the right of soil and jurisdiction to the district of country embraced in her charter, situated to the northwest of the Ohio River. In September, 1786, the State of Connecticut also ceded her claim of soil and jurisdiction to the district of the country within the limits of her charter, situated west of a line, beginning at the completion of the forty-first degree point of north latitude, one hundred aud twenty miles west of the western boundary of Pennsylvania, and from thence by a liue drawn north parallel to and one hundred and twenty miles west of said line of Pennsylvania, and to continue north until it came to forty-two degrees and two minutes north latitude. The State of Connecticut, on the 30th of May, 1801, also ceded her jurisdictional claims to all that territory called the " Western Reserve of Connecticut." The States of New York and Massachusetts also ceded all their claims.

The above were not the ouly claims which had to be made prior to the commencement of settlements within the limits of Ohio. Numerous tribes of Indian savages, by virtue of prior possession, asserted their respective claims, which also had to be extinguished. A treaty for this purpose was accordingly made at Fort Stanwix, October 27th, 1784, with the sachems and warriors of the Mohawks, Onondagas, Senecas, Cayugas, Oneidas, and Tuscaroras, by the third article of which treaty the said Six Nations ceded to the United States all claims to the country west of a line extending along the west boundary of Pennsylvania, from the mouth of the Oyounayea to the Ohio River.

Washington County was formed July 27th, 1788, by proclamation of Governor St. Clair, being the first county formed within the limits of Ohio. Its original boundaries were as follows: beginning on the bank of the Ohio River, where the western boundary line of Pennsylvania crosses it, and running with that line to Lake Erie; thence along the southern shore of said lake to the mouth of Cuyahoga River; thence up the said river to the portage between it and the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum; thence down that branch to the forks at the crossing place above Fort Laurens; thence with a line to be drawn westerly to the portage on that branch of the Big Miami, on which the fort stood that was taken by the French in 1752, until it meets the road from the lower Shawnee Town to Sandusky; thence south to the Scioto River, and thence with that river to the mouth, and thence up the Ohio River to the place of beginning.

Hamilton was the second county established in the Northwest Territory; it was formed January 2d, 1790, by proclamation of Governor St. Clair, and named from General Alexander Hamilton. Its original boundaries were thus defined: beginning on the Ohio River at the confluence of the Little Miami, and down the said Ohio to the mouth of the Big Miami, and up said Miami to the standing stone forks or branch of said river, and thence with a line to be drawn0 due east to the Little Miami, and down said Little Miami River to the place of beginning.

Wayne County was established by proclamation of General St. Clair, August 15th, 1796, and was the third county formed in the Northwest Territory. Its original limits were very extensive, aud were thus defined in the act creating it: beginning at the mouth of Cuyahoga River upon Lake Erie, and with the said river to the portage between it and the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum; thence down the said branch to the forks at the crossing place above Fort Laurens; thence by a west line to the east boundary of Hamilton County, which is a due north line from the lower Shawnee Town upon the Scioto River; thence by a line west-northerly to the south part of portage between the Miamis of Ohio and the St. Mary's Rivers; thence by a line also west-northerly to the southwestern part of the portage between the Wabash and Miamis of Lake Erie, where Fort Wayne now stands; thence by a line west-northerly to the south part of Lake Michigan ; thence along the western shores of the same to the northwest part thereof, including lands upon the streams emptying into said lake; thence by a due north line to the territorial boundary in Lake Superior, and with the said boundary through Lakes Huron, St. Clair, and Erie to the mouth of Cuyahoga River, the place of beginning. These limits embrace what are now parts of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and all of Michigan, and the towns or Ohio City, Chicago, St. Mary's, Mackinaw, etc. Since then States aud counties have been organized out of this territory.

It will be observed in the Virginia Military Districts in Ohio, which comprise the lands between the Scioto and Little Miami Rivers, that when the State of Virginia, in 1803, ceded to the United States all her right of soil aud jurisdiction to all the tract of country she then claimed northwest of the Ohio River, it was provided that the Virginia troops of the Continental establishment should be paid their legal bounties from these lands (and here it may not be amiss to define these land denominations). The United States Military Lands were so called from the fact that they ere appropriated by an act of Congress, in 1796, to satisfy certain claims of the officers and soldiers of the Revolution. The patent to the soldiers or purchasers of these lands, as well as of all other Ohio lands, is derived from the general government. This district was not surveyed into ranges and townships, or any regular form, and hence the irregularity in the shape of the townships as established by the county commissioners for civil purposes; any individual holding a. Virginia Military Land warrant might locate it wherever he desired within the district, and in such shape as he pleased, wherever the land had not been previously located.

In consequence of a want of regularity in the original surveys, the carelessness with which many locations were made, and the consequent interference aud encroachments of some locations upon others, far more uncertainty and litigation has arisen relative to lines and titles in this district than in all the regularly surveyed districts. The lauds in this district are not designated by sections or ranges, but are shown by original surveys and the numbers thereon, as will be observed by turning to the township maps which accompany this work.

The first settlement within the Virginia military tract, and the only one between the Scioto and Little Miami, until after the treaty of Greenville, in 1795, was made at Manchester by the then colonel, late General Nathaniel Massie.

Massie, in the winter of the year 1790, determined to make a settlement in it, that he might be in the midst of his surveying operations and secure his party from danger and exposure. In order to effect this he gave general notice in Kentucky of his intention, and offered each of the Bret twenty-five families, as a donation, one in-lot, one out-lot, and one hundred acres of land, provided they would settle in a town which he intended to lay off at his settlement. His proffered terms were soon closed in with, and upwards of thirty families joined him. After various consultations with his friends, the Ohio River bottom land, opposite the lower end of the Three Islands, was selected as the most eligible spot. Thus was the first settlement in the Virginia Military District and the fourth settlement in the bounds of the State of Ohio effected.

MARION COUNTY.

Evidence of the occupation of this region before the appearance of the red man aud the white race is to be found in almost every part of the county. In removing the gravel bluffs, which are qnite numerous and deep, for the repair of roads, and in excavating cellars, hundreds of human skeletons, some of giant form, with fine specimens of ancient pottery, and other curious relics have been found. These sand and gravel bluff's appear in almost every part of the county, resembling small islands, and covered by timber, mostly young oak. Many stone axes, fleshes, spear-heads and arrow points of flint, stone beads, And pick-shaped implements, including perforated tubes and fiat, neatly polished plates of a greenish-gray species of slate, have been ploughed up by the farmers along the Olentangy and the Scioto. The earthworks, such as entrenchments and mounds, owing to the level nature of the surface, no doubt, and the fact that the gravel knolls were utilized by the early occupants as burial sites and places of observation, are not numerous. It seems quite clear that the first race must have been somewhat advanced in the art of self-defense and agriculture, and resided in villages, as is attested by the relies left in situ. A citizen of Marion estimates that thousands of human bodies were interred in the gravel knolls throughout the county, and gives the opinion that if every white inhabitant of the county were deceased and deposited in a similar manner, human skeletons would not be more numerous than when the primitive races bid adieu to the plains of Marion, Crawford, and Wyandot !

It is a matter of speculation whether the ancient Eries first succeeded the so-called Mound Builders. If Indian tradition can be relied on, the Eries were a very numerous and powerful people, and according to the Jesuit Fathers, resided in intrenched or stockaded villages called "castles." They were evidently far in advance of the modern red man in the art of self-defense and in the cultivation of the soil. They inhabited a large part of northern Pennsylvania and Ohio, and gave name to the beautiful lake north of us—Erie. They must have been quite numerous along the great streams aud upon the rich alluvial bottoms and valleys as the sites of their ancieut villages and remnants of stockaded entrenchments fully attest. 'they fell before the powerful confederacy of the Five Nations or Iroquois, about the year 1655. The whole natiou seems to have been exterminated or incorporated with their conquerors. While the stone axes, hammers, mortars, and finer relics, made of the beautiful grayish, variegated slate found scattered all over northern Ohio, have been attributed to the mechanism and genius of the "Mound Builders," we have a suspicion they were really the work of the Eries ; for the modern Sioux, the Chippawa, aud some of the Hudson Bay tribes make stone axes, pipes, and ornamental implements fully as beautiful and as highly finished as those found in Ohio.

The date of the arrival of the Wyandots aud Ottawas in Ohio cannot be fixed with entire certainty, but is supposed to have been some time between 1700 and 1725, After the fall of the. Eries in 1655, the Iroquois made a raid upon those nations then residing in the vicinity of Lake Huron. After a severe struggle the Iroquois compelled the Wyandots and Ottawas to seek an asylum among the friendly nations of the upper lakes, where they are supposed to have remained about seventy or eighty years, and then gradually returned to the vicinity of what is now Detroit, Michigan, and subsequently passed around the head of Lake Erie and took possession of a greater part of northern and central Ohio. During the colonial period they often came into contact with the border settlers of Pennsylvania and Virginia. The seat of the Hurons or Wyandots was upon the Sandusky plains aud along that stream. They sold their reservation adjoining Marion County, and were removed to the Indian territory, southwest of Missouri, in 1842-3. From 1820 to the time of their removal, Marion was visited thousands of times by the chiefs and leading hunters of the Wyandot nation for the purpose of disposing of paltry and furs in exchange for tobacco, ammunition, clothing, and other articles of prime necessity. The pioneers of Mariou County speak very kindly or the Wyandots, as a people, and give them a high character for integrity, fidelity, and intelligence. The Chief, Crane, Summundewat, Rohnyenness, the Walkers, Garretts, Armstrongs, and others are well remembered.

A remnant of the Delawares, or Lenni Lenapes, had a reservation on the north side of Marion of three miles square. The Lenapes, or Delawares, emigrated from the region of Philadelphia, Pa., to the Wyoming Valley, and thence to the Tuscarawas, Ohio, some time before the commencement of the Revolutionary War. In 1781 the Moravian converts, including Heckawelda and other missionary teachers, were forcibly compelled, by the elder Captain Pipe and Half-king, to abandon their homes on the Tuscarawas and remove to the Sandusky region, soon after which a large number returned to gather and remove their corn-crops, when they were surprised by Williamson and his rangers, captured, and murdered in cold

102 - HISTORICAL SKETCH OF MARION COUNTY, OHIO

blood! The next year Williamson and Crawford organized a new expedition to follow the Indians to Sandusky. The expedition proved disastrous. Crawford was defeated and captured by the Delaware., and mercilessly burned, after the custom of the Delawares, and the larger part of his army perished on the Sandusky plains. After this tragedy, a part of the Delawares located on the Blackfork of Mohican, in what is now Ashland County, and established the village of Greentown, and a portion joined the Mohican village, on what is now the Jerome fork of Mohican. In 1812, after the declaration of war between Great Britain and the United States, as a matter of precaution, these Indians, who had professed to be friendly, were removed to the vicinity of Urbane, where they could be prevented from taking part in the war. Notwithstanding military vigilance, a part of them escaped and returned and assassinated the family of Frederick Zimmer, Martin Ruffner, and subsequently attacked the cabin of James Copes, killing him and surprising and killing some four scouts near his spring. Alter the close of the war these Delawares were permitted by the military authorities to settle among the friendly Wyandots, upon the Sandusky, until 1817, when a treaty was concluded at the foot of the Maumee Rapids, September 29th, at which General Lewis Cass and Governor Duncan M'Arthur were Commissioners on the part of the United States, and granted to the Delaware Indians a reservation of three miles square in what is now Grand Prairie and Salt Rock in Marion, and Antrim and Pitt townships in Crawford and Wyandot counties. The reservation was equally divided among the following persons: Captain Pipe, Teshanau or James Armstrong, Mahantoo or John Armstrong, Sanondoyeasquaw or Silas Armstrong, Teorow or Black Raccoon, Iawdorotiwatis-lie or Billy Montour, Buck Wheat, William Dowdee, Thomas Lyons, Jonacake, Captain Wolf, Isaac and John Hill, Tisba-ta-hoomes or widow Armstrong, Ayenucere, Hoomaurou or John Ming, and Yoh-do-rast. Thomas Armstrong had been the chief at Greentown upon the Blackfork, but deceased during, or just before, the close of the war, and had been succeeded by Captain Pipe and Silas Armstrong as half chiefs.

Thomas Lyons became somewhat famous in Ashland County before and after the war. He is as well remembered as many of the old pioneers, and many amusing anecdotes are yet related concerning his achievements. Captain George Beckley, of Caledonia, Marion County, states that his father's family arrived in November, 1821, and having located in the vicinity of the ancient trail, leading from Sandusky to Owl Creek, was visited by Hundreds of Wyandots and Delawares annually during the hunting season. His father having resided in Dauphin Comity, Pennsylvania, and being able to converse fluently in the German language, was soon visited by Tom Lyons the old Delaware, and a warm friends sprang up between them. Whom spoke German, and was pleased to meet another Dutchman. The interview is thus related by Captain Beckley:

"Early on the morning after our arrival at our new home I took my rifle and started to view the surroundings along the Indian trail. I had gone but a short way (where Uriah Hipsher's field now is) until I found plenty of shellbark hickory trees and the ground under them well bestrewed with nuts. I sat my gun against a tree and commenced gathering the nuts. Just imagine my surprise when the first object I beheld on looking up was an Indian standing between myself and my gun; and I had heard and rend so many terrible narratives of savage atrocities that it made my blood curdle. But to my great joy he extended to me his hand, which I grasped with the usual salutations. He spoke good English, wore a pair of blue broadcloth leggins with red listing about an inch wide on the outside of each, and tied with garters; a neat blanket wrapped around him, secured with a bet, and his head dress wits a small red shawl folded and tied around his bend with the corners hanging down his buck, leaving the crown of his head uncovered, and a neat pair of buckskin moccasins on his feet. I afterwards learned that his name was Ditta Wawney. 1 shouldered my gun and returned with him to the cabin, he continuing on his way towards Owl Creek.

But a day or two after that we espied another, an old Indian, riding around a large oak tree near the cabin, who was very attentively looking at the top of this tree, saying there had been honey bees in that tree. He came to the house, dismounted, took his saddle, blankets, and other lading off, and hoppled his pony by tying his fore legs together so near that he could not step more than a few inches at a step. We invited him into the new cabin, but I suppose he would have walked right in if he had not been invited. He was a great talker; could speak English or German. lie said be was a hundred and sixty-five years old. Be that as it may, he was an old man and had seen sights. He soon discovered that my father was a German. He accordingly asked bin where he hailed from. My father said from Pennsylvania. 'Oh, me all over Pennsylvania, Susquehanna, Lavatarra, Schuylkill, Lehigh, and Delaware rivers.' Then my father told him he was from Lebanon, formerly Lancaster County. Then our guest mentioned the names of several of the small villages, as Reading, Cootstown, Harrisburg, and even the names of severai of the early settlers) of that locality with whom my father was well acqnainted. He had much to say about Wyoming. He said, 'Me fought hard at Wyomee.' He had much to say about General Wayne. He said his father was a chief of the Delaware Nation ; that his father, the chief, Bent him with some other Indians to General Wayne's headquarters: General Wayne asked what my name is; me say me got no white man name; then General Wayne says I give yon a name; I call yon Thomas Lyons; and that is the way I got my name. General Wayne give a cost—a nice coat; a general's coat—Oh! very good man, General Wayne, very good man' very good man!' He afterwards often visited the old Dutchman, as be called him.

"A few anecdotes about our venerable hero, Tom Lyons, might be interesting to some of your young readers. He was a notable personage all over this part of the State at that time, both among the pale-faces and Indians. He had his friends and hie enemies, and the way he made many enemies was in relating incidents of the wars through which he had passed. He once told Joseph Riley of his valor in some of the massacres on the Delaware River. Then said Mr. Riley to him,' Did yon know Tom Quick, on the Delaware River?' Evidently the old Indian was offended when be was asked that question, as he sat mute and motionless as a statue, and there the conversation ended.

"This Tom Quick bed several relatives killed by the Indians, for which his vengeance never slumber, and when he had grown up to manhood he took the war-path after them, and woe be to the Indiana when Tom was fairly on his track. He was about, an equal to the Wetsels and Poes on the Ohio River.

"At other times when he related his war stories, as old heroes are apt to do, he would bring down upon himself the ire and indignation of those who heard him. They would in return mete out to him rough words. Then he would tell them how the women and children would cry (mimicking them) when they were in the net of slaughtering them. These were current reports about him and were generally believed to be true, but he never talked in that way at our house; perhaps because we never gave him any offence. He, with his son George Lyons and Jerry Killback, were encamped one winter for a few weeks east of Whetstone, on the land now owned by Jacob Single. The old man was very sick. After he was able to walk over to Mr. Parcel's he went there occasionally. He told them he had been very sick, very sick—no devil come yet.'

The question has often been asked, ' What became of old Tom Lyons?' It has been asserted that he died a natural death at Pipestown, on the Delaware Reservation. Again, it has been stated that he was shot by some white hunter because he exhibited a string containing ninety-nine human longest! The better belief is that 'old Tom' was shot in his wigwam, near Fort Ball, by two hunters from Delaware County, whose names were well known to old citizens of Marion. He is believed to have been over one hundred years old at his death, which occurred about 1824. Poor old Tom left many friends in Ashland County.

"Captain Pipe, Jr , formerly lived at Greentown, and is believed to have been the son of 'old Captain Pipe,' who burned poor Col. William Crawford in 1782 on the Tymochtee. He was not no well known to the people of Marion. He occasionally called with his people to trade with the early merchants. He was a small, rather spare man, and taciturn in disposition. Upon the authority of William Walker we are enabled to state that he never married. He removed west with his people and died on their Reservation in 1839 or '40. Among his own people he was reputed to be a great 'medicine man.' Ruben Drake, who lived in Grand Prairie Township, had two children bitten by a rattlesnake, one of whom died. Having heard of Captain Pipe's reputation as a 'medicine man' he sent for him to come and cure the other child. Pipe is said to have been somewhat under the influence of bad whiskey at the time, and refused at first to go; but being strongly urged, finally visited the cabin of Mr. Drake. Upon his arrival he looked at the child, which was in great pain, exclaiming, 'great pain, very sick.' He then started he could not do anything for half an hour, and laid down by the cradle and snored soundly for some time, then arose and called for milk, which was furnished, when he pounded some roots, which he had brought with him, and poured the milk over them and gave the child a portion to drink, and applied a lot more, in the nature of a poultice, to the place bitten, and rocked the child some time in its cradle, when it fell into a slumber and soon began to sweat freely; and upon seeing this effect of his remedy the Captain said, ' I get well;' and the child was out of danger in a short space of time!"

Capt. Berkley continues: " We were visited by quite a number of Delawares and Wyandots, from Pipetown and Upper Sandusky. They usually passed by this place going from their towns on their Reservations to Killbuck Creek in Wayne Co. and other parts of their old hunting grounds. A few of their names were: Jonacake, Standstone, Dowdee, Moonice, White Eyes, etc. When they came to a white man's cabin they expected to receive the hospitality of its inmates; if they did not they were much offended. They would say, ' Very bad man, very bad man.' They would never accept a bed to sleep upon; all we had to do was to have a good back stick on and a few extra pieces of wood, especially in cold weather, for them to put on the fire when needed. They usually carry their blankets, and would spread them on the floor before the fire, and give us no further trouble; and they would often leave us a saddle of venison or some other commodity that they had to spare. We have seen as many as twenty or thirty in a caravan pass by here, with their hunting material and equipage packed on their ponies, all in single file, on their old Sandusky and Pipetown trail.

" At one time a party of them were encamped over on Shaw Creek where one of their squaws died; her friends wishing to take her home for burial, took the corpse, laid it on a gentle pony, with her head hanging down on one side and her feet on the other, tied her securely to the pack saddle, and in that way carried her to the place of burial.

"If we would meet a half dozen or more of them together it was seldom that we could induce more than one of them to say one word in English. One of them would do all the talking or interpret for the others. Why they did so I could not say. Tommy Vanhorn once related an amusing incident. He had been imbibing a little, and on his way home met one of those Indians who could not utter one word of English, but used the pantomimic language instead—that of gestures or motion*. But it so happened that whilst they were thus conveying their thoughts to each other, Tommy stepped around to windward of the red man, or the red man got to leeward of Tommy, and his olfactories not being at fault, inhaled the odor of Tommy's breath. He straightened up, looked Tommy square in the face, and lo! Mr. Indian's colloquial powers were now complete, saying in as good English as Lord Mansfield ever could have uttered: ' Where yon get whiskey?'"

In point of notoriety Billy Dowdee was nearly equal to Tom Lyons. Captain Beckley relates the following occurrence as given by Benjamin Sharrock, now well advanced in years, and formerly a citizen of Marion County :

"About the year 1821 or 1822 there were several Indians who frequently camped and hunted on the waters of the West and Middle Forks of the Whetstone, to wit: Captain Dowdee, his son Tom, and Captain Dowdee's son-in-law, Nickels (the bad Indian) the subject of this narrative. He was regarded as a dangerous man among his own companions. He had become embittered against Benjamin Sharrock, his brother Everard Sharrock and Jacob Stateler, who, with his three sons, Andrew, James, and John (the two latter were twin brothers), lived in a cabin on or near the land now owned by George Diegle, Esq., in Tully Township. The Dowdees had frequently shared the hospitalities of our cabin, and we regarded them as peaceable and well disposed citizens,.

Mr. Sharrock, in relating his difficulty with this had Indian, says: 'This Indian, Nickels, had been skulking around and watching my house, trying to get a chalice to shoot me. I have seen him dodge from tree to tree when trying to get a shot at me. He also made threats of killing my stock. About this time he and the two Dowdees were encamped on the boundary north of where Iberia now is. Mr. Catrell, my brother and myself held a consultation, whereupon we resolved that this state of things should no longer be tolerated, and the next morning was the time agreed upon to bring this matter to the test. They were to be at my house fully armed for any emergency. They were promptly on time, and as Catrell had no gun, he took my tomahawk, sheath-knife, etc.

"' In this plight we went directly to their camp, called Tom Dowdee out anti ordered him to take those coon skins out of "them" frames. (They are stretched in frames to dry and keep them in shape.) We next went to the tent of Tom's father, old Captain Dowdee, told him how Nickels had been watching my house, and that he threatened to kill me and my stock. I told him to call Nickels out, but he would not leave his hut. We told them we would not endure such treatment any longer, and that we had come to settle it right there and there, and were ready to fight it out, The Dowdees seemed to be peaceably inclined, and as Nickels did not show himself, the natter was dropped for a short time. Some time after this, as I was returning from Wooster, where I had been to enter a piece of land, I saw quite a number of moccasin tracks in the snow near Hosford's. I thought there would be trouble, as it appeared from the tracks that there were about thirty persons, and by the way they had tumbled about concluded that they were on a big drunk. I followed their tracks from Hosford's down the road leading to our cabin. They had not proceeded far before they left their tracks in the avow somewhat besprinkled with blood. I afterward learned that Tom Dowdee had stabbed another Indian, inflicting two dangerous wounds. They were camped north of my house on the land now owned by James Dunlap. The excitement among the settlers now became intense, and soon a number of us repaired to their camp, but we had not been there long before Tom Dowdee rushed upon me and grasped me by the collar, perhaps intending to retaliate for the visit we had made to their camp a few days before. I was not slow in returning the compliment by taking him by the throat; au my arms being the longest, I could cagily hold him at bay. At this moment we saw an Indian boy loading a gun. I told Dowdee several times to let me alone, but he still persisted in fighting me; I then attempted to give him a severe thrust with my gun barrel ; he sprang and grasped the gun which the buy had just loaded, when several of the squaws also grasped it to prevent him from shooting me. All this time I kept my rifle up with a steady aim upon the Indian, ready to fire before he should be able to fire at me. At this crisis Joel Lovesick interfered, and the Indians allowed him to take possession of the gun, so the quarrel was then settled without bloodshed. But what grieves me to this day is that Bashford and Loverick both knew that my rifle was. not primed all the time I was aiming it at the Indian, and they did not tell me. The next day I was out in the woods with my gun, and came upon Dowdee before he discovered me. He had no gun with him, and he begged and implored me not to kill him, promising over and over that if it

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF MARION COUNTY, OHIO. - 103

would not he would never molest me, but would he my fast friend as long as he lived. I gladly agreed to his proposal, and to his credit, be it said, I never saw him after that time but that he met me with the kindest greetings.

"'About the same time some of the Indians told Stateler, "Nickels bad Indian, by and by he go to Stony Creek, before he go he say he kill Stateler And two Shurrocks, and we 'fraid that big fight. We want white man to kill Nickels, then Indian say Nickels gone to Stony Creek."

"'We never saw Nickels after about that time, lint did not know at what moment he wonld come down upon us. I often asked the Indians whether they knew where Nickels was, and they nsually replied that he had gone to Stony Creek. We had often seen n gun in the settlement, first owned by one then by another, that I believed was Nickels' gun. Jake Stateler often stayed with us for several weeks at a time, and many times when we spoke about those Indians, Jake would say: "Nickels will never do you any harm," bnt made no further disclosures until a long while after when the subject again came up he said:

" Ben, Nickels will never hurt you nor your brother." "How do you know, Uncle Jake?"

"1 know very well how I know, Uncle Ben. Did you never know what beeame of Nickels?"

"No, Jake, I never knew what became of him any more than what the Indians told me, that he had gone to Stony Creek."

" I thought my boys had told you long ago, as they always thought so much of you. I will then tell you how 1 know what became of Nickels. After he was about ready to start for Stony Creek he had only one more job to do before he could leave Pipetown, and that was to kill Stateler, and you an I your brother if possible. No sooner had Nickels left Pipetown than the Indians sent another Indian by a different route to give us notice of his coming, and of his intentions, desiring us to kill him and they would say be hail gone to Stony Creek. The messenger arrived in time, and departed. I loaded my rifle, pnt it in good order and went up to Coss cabin to watch the Pipetown trail, on which I expected him to conie. I did not wait long before I saw him coming, and stepping behind a tree, closely watched his movements. After lie had come within easy range of my rifle, he stopped and commenced looking all around, which enabled me to take a steady aim at him ; I fired, he sprang several feet from the ground with a terrific scream and fell dead, and that was the last of ' Bad Indian.' We took his gun, shot-pouch, tommyhawk, Butcher knife, etc., and laid them by a log, and buried him under the roots of a large tree that had been blown down near the foot of the bluff bank of the Whetstone, nearly opposite the old Coss cabin. Now, Uncle Ben, that is the reason why I know Nickels will never do you or me or your brother any harm." "

Solomon Jonacake, the husband of Sally Williams, was well known to the pioneers of Marion. He lived at Pipetown and had formerly resided at Greentown, Ashland County. He was a well developed, good-natured, friendly hunter, and often visited the settlers in Marion, Richland, and Ashland counties, while encamped in those religions. t was customary for Sally and the children to accompany him on his hunting excursions. He usually constructed a neat bark wigwam to protect his squaw and children from the storms and exposures of the forest, while he ranged the woods in search of game. He some-times exchanged venison for side pork with the pioneers, and frequently met parties who had a cnriosity to see Sally, who was a quarter-blood, and his children. Sally was regarded as a very apt housekeeper, and preferred, as far as possible, to imitate the whites. Her mother was a Castleman, captured in girlhood, upon the banks of the Ohio, in the eastern part of the State, some time after the close of the Revolution. Jena-cake went west with his people, where his family grew up, and three of his grandsons volunteered and served in the company of Captain Duff in an Indian company, enlisted near Wyandotte, Kansas, during the war of the rebellion.

By a treaty concluded at Little Sandusky, August 3d, 1829, John M'Elvain being United States Commissioner, the Delawares ceded their reservation in Marion, Crawford, and Wyandot counties to the United States for $3000, and were conducted, as is believed, by Joseph Chaffee, to a new reservation in what is now the State of Kansas. Their journey was across Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri to their new home, where most of the old people have since gone to the happy land of the Great Spirit.

Marion County was included in the northwest part of the State of Ohio, purchased by the government of the Wyandot tribe about 1817, and brought to market in 1821, and organized as a county by the legislature March 1st, 1824, and named after General Francis Marion of South Carolina,a distinguished partisan officer of the Revolution. Its settlement for the first six or eight years was not rapid, because of the prevalence of malarial sickness at that time, not only in this, but generally in all the counties throughout the same section of the State. Immigration gradually increased, the settlers coming not from any particular section of country or State but from all parts of the New England and Middle States,–Virginia, Kentucky, Maryland, etc., and a considerable number from Germany, England, Ireland, mid Scotland. The south half of the county is occupied in farms of moderate size, having originally been covered by timber. The north half being principally prairie, was purchased in good part in large tracts, and kept for grazing purposes, but is of late years being divided into smaller tracts for cultivation. The malarial sickness prevailing at its first settlement, such as agues and bilious fevers, has measurably disappeared since the county has become more densely settled and improved by ditching. The territory of which the county was formerly constructed was known as being "Treaty Land," from the fact that it lay north of the old boundary established by the treaty made at Greenville in 1795, between General Anthony Wayne and the Indian tribes; but by subsequent treaties purchased, while they were assigned smaller reservations, which they afterwards sold to the United States and removed west to the Missouri. The plains and forests of Marion were a favorite resort for the Wyandots and Delawares as a hunting site. Game of all kinds, especially deer, was exceedingly plentiful in the lower prairies that skirted the timber lends, at the organization of the county. The county being naturally divided into two distinct portions—wood tracts and plains—the southern and western portion was an almost unbroken wilderness, abounding in grand and stately forest trees of the most valuable varieties. Walnut was so common that rails were made of it exclusively in many sections. Immense groves of sugar-maple were here and there found, furnishing ample stores of sugar and syrup for the early pioneers. Wild fruits abounded in plentiful profusion, amid in the summer season the hum of myriads of bees could he heard gathering their stores of wild honey. Honey was so plentiful that it could be secured almost by wagon loads, so numerous and large were the swarms of wild bees. The flowers of the prairie blooming in rank luxuriance, furnished a wide range for the little bee. At the same time, the grasses grew from four to six feet in height, often higher than a horse. If it had not been for the autumnal fevers such a land would have been regarded as the most desirable spot in Ohio. As it was it attracted both hunter and pioneer, and hence the first settlers were a few traders and hunters who illegally squatted upon the Indian domain, the first dating back from the beginning of the century.

There are so many disputes relative to who was the first white child born within the county limits we imagine it were best to leave this vexations question in its present unsettled condition. The first pioneer in Marion County was undoubtedly Ebenezer Roseberry, from New Orleans, who settled in Grand Prairie Township in 1812.

TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY.

Marion County embraces about 425 square miles of land, and lies on the broad water-shed between the Ohio River and Lake Erie, about fifty miles south of the west end of that lake. It is immediately south of Wyandot and Crawford counties. It has Morrow on the east, Delaware and Union on the south, and Hardin on the west contains no large rivers. The Scioto, which enters it from the west, is the largest, and leaves it just below Middletown, now called Prospect, in a southerly course. The Little Scioto traverses the county about midway, joining the Scioto at Berwick (Green Camp). The Whetstone or Olentangee also crosses it in the eastern tier of townships in a southerly direction. The waters of the Tymochtee and Little Sandusky take their rise in the northwestern portion of the county, and find their way to Lake Erie.

Much of the county is flat and has a black prairie soil, especially in the townships of Bowling Green, Big Island, Salt Rock, Grand Prairie, Scott, Claridon, and the western part of Marion. The streams that eross these prairie-like tracts are het four to six feet below the level of the land, and in time of freshet inundate considerable area. There are, however, sudden changes in the character of the surface, even in the midst of the prairies. Mounds of the unmodified hard pan still project above the general surface. These have a rolling contour. and an ashen clayey soil. They are generally covered with forest, while the prairies are treeless. The remaining portions of the county, namely the townships of Grand, the northern portion of Montgomery, Green Camp, Pleasant, Richland, Tully, and the eastern portion of Marion are on the old drift surface, and have, with an undulating or rolling outline, a soil of brown or ashen clay, containing pebbles and bowlders. The geological range of Marion County is from the Niagara to the Waverly, being greater than that of any other comity in the State. It contains a depth of about 780 feet of the above groups.

The Niagara limestone, the lowest in the scale, is found in the northwestern part of the county, and is followed toward the east by the higher members in the order given, the general dip of the whole being in that direction. The water-lime, 100 feet thick, occupies the most of the townships of Salt Rock, Big Island, Greencamp, Montgomery, and Prospect, and all of Bowling Green. The lower coniferous, 150 feet thick, strikes across the western side of Grand Prairie and Marion townships, touching Pleasant and Prospect townships east of the Scioto River. The upper coniferous, 50 feet thick, underlies the remainder of Grand Prairie, Marion, Pleasant, and Prospect townships, and the eastern portions of Scott, Claridon, Richland, and Waldo. The Hamilton limestone, 20 feet thick, occupies a narrow belt just on the east of the upper coniferous. The black slate or Huron shale, 250 feet thick, underlies the eastern portions of Waldo, Richland, Claridon, and most of Tully townships. The Waverly sandstone, 140 feet thick, is found only in the eastern part of Tally Township, Of these the Oriskany sandstone, 20 feet thick, and the lower coniferous limestone, have not been seen in outcrop in the county owing to the unbroken mask of the drift deposits, and the other formations offer very meager opportunities for learning there characters. It is only by tracing their lines of outcrop from other counties where they afford better facilities for observation, that their presence and their contents in Marion County can be ascertained by the geologist.

The water-lime is only seen in the bed of Scioto at Middletown, near the southern border of the county. The surfaces of the bed are diversified with mud bituminous films. It is a handsome and useful building, material comparing favorably With the upper coniferous limestone for all uses.

At Marion the upper coniferous limestone is extensively wrought, there being a fine quarry near John Ballentine's, and one four and a half miles south of Marion, in Pleasant Township, where large quantities of lime are burned and shipped.

The Hamilton group is founded in the bed of the Olentangee one mile below Waldo, and is a very hard blue, pyritferous limestone, and furnishes a very valuable building stone for cellars, etc.

The Huron shale or black-slate is also found in the bed of the Olentangee or Whetstone. It is thin and brittle, and contains large quantities of concretionary black limestone.

The Waverly sandstone is quarried in limited quantities It underlies the black slate, and is in the east part of Tully Township.

The drift is very extensive in Marion County. At Middletown the contents of a gravel bank were noticed to contain a great many large fragments from the water-lime, so arranged as to indicate not only the agency of water in rapid currents but the direction of its flow. Some of these pieces of limestone were as much as two feet across. but usually not over two inches in thickness, and but slightly worn. They lay in the midst of gravel which had a stratification dipping rapidley toward the south. It would seen as if the water, precipitated in cascades down the southern slop of the glacier, bringing slope such dislodged portions of the drift as fell into the current, sought to arrange the obstructions to its flow so as to offer the least resistance. These gravel beds are being utilized by the farmers in the construction and repair of highways about Berwick are found an unusual number of bowlders as large as six feet in diameter. They seem to have been much worn and must have been embraced in the drift. At Waldo the drift is seen to consist, along the river bank of twenty five feet hardpan. Brown color prevails downward about fifteen feet; blue below that depth, soon becoming sandy, furnishing water. In other places within a half mile the top of the drift is gravel and sand, with only a thin covering of hardpan. only a thin co

Gravel is found in the southern part of the county and is extensively employed upon the roads. and bricks, is abundant throughout the county. Stone taken from the varions quarries in the upper coniferous formation serves for all purposes of building. It may be employed in the most massive as well as in all ordinary structures, having resistance sufficient to withstand any pressure. It is of a light blue or gray color, and when arranged properly in a building with stone of a lighter shade, it produces a fine architectural effect. In the city of Marion it is employed in the county jail and numerous stores. Its dark shade produces in a building the finest esthetic effect of strength, age, it especially adapted to Gothic structures.

REMINISCENCES OF EARLY SETTLEMENT

Daniel S. Drake says his father, Captain William S. Drake came to Marlborough, now Waldo Township, Marion County in the year 1807, and entered 160 acres of land at two dollars and fifty cents per acre, paying one-third down and the balance in one and two year payments. He and his son Uriah cleared a small patch the first year and put in a crop of corn and pumpkins, and potatoes. He then returned to New York for his family, leaving Uriah to cultivate the crop. He returned in1808 with a family consisting of his wife and seven children. They traveled the entire distance in an old rickety two-horse wagon drawn by two poor plugs of horses. The amount of of horses. cash left on their arrival was twenty--five

The Indians were very numerous at that time, and inclined to be hostile to the white settlers. This was fostered by British spies and traders until war was finally declared in 1812. Apprehending hostilities, Governor Meigs appointed William S. Drake Indian Agent of the following tribes: Delawares, Wyandots, Potawatomiee, and Senecas, then residing in the northwest part of Ohio. He made his headquarters at what was then known as "Negrotown," now in Wyandot County. As soon as war was declared the Indians became very uneasy They were uncertain about what to do. The Canadians were using all their arts to induce them to join the British, while Governor Meigs desired to have them remain neutral or join the forces of the United States. The Governor Meigs ordered Captain Drake to remove the Indians to a place called Zanesfield, in what is now Logan County. This occurred in 1811. The Indians met him in counsel concerning the matter, and sat in deep consultation about forty hours without leaving their seats! They finally agreed to go, and in two hours were on their way. They numbered about six hundred. They remand at Zanes-

104 - HISTORICAL SKETCH OF MARION COUNTY, OHIO.

field a few months, but becoming dissatisfied, returned to Upper Sandusky. A chief by the name of Zarbe or Crane seemed to have great influence among the Wyandotte He was regarded as being friendly to the United States. After their return the Governor appointed two Commissioners, Solomon Smith and Moses Byxby, of Delaware, to meet the head chiefs at Upper Sandusky to obtain a grant for a new road from Lower Sandusky to the old Greenville boundary line, the south line of Marion County and Waldo Township. The chiefs granted the request, and the road was to be sixty feet wide. The Governor then appointed three Commissioners—Bell, Bare, and Van Cleat—to run and open the road. The chain carriers and blazers were Capt. William S. Drake, Major John Bush, and Jacob Foose. This road passed through what is now Marion City, about where Hon. John Bartram now resides, in a north-westerly direction. Upon the return of the Commissioners an incident somewhat memorable occurred. The Commissioners encamped in what is now the south part of the city of Marion and dined on salt bacon and other food, but had no water to quench thirst or moisten the food. About eleven o'clock at uight Jacob Foose declared he was thirsty and could stand it no louger. Ile thereupon arose, took an axe and made a wooden shovel, and approaching a moist place commenced to dig well, declaring that he wonld "dig down to a very hot country or find water." He dug down about four feet and plenty of water oozed into the well. This well was found by the thirsty army of General Harrison, aud was used for many years by emigrauts as a watering place, and in honor of Mr. Foose called ever afterwards "Jacob's Well."

In 1811, Uriah Drake raised a crop of corn at Lower Sandusky, the present site of Fremont, for Major Butler of Delaware, and on his return when two miles north of what is now Tiffin, was shot by hostile Iudians. The home of Captain W. S. Drake was ou the Greenville boundary, aud just south of the Indian line.

In the spring of 1812, William S. Drake was drafted into the United States service. Beiug a captain at the time, he retained his office until the expiration of his commission. He was ordered to match to Fort Finley, which was constructed under his direction.. On his way, the memorable surprise, called "Drake's Defeat," took place. The story is thus related. The company passed out of Delaware County, over the Greenville treaty line, aud stopped the first night at a point about four miles south of what is now Marion. After posting sentinels, and agreeing npon a plau of battle in case of attack at night, the men lay down to rest. Tim captain, who was considerable of n wag, wished to test the courage of his men; so, alter the men had been, sleeping some time, slipped out of camp by the sentinels into the woods, and, firing off his gun, hastened into camp screaming, "Indians! Indians!" Great alarm and confusion immediately followed ! The most discreet and courageous tried to form for a fight, as agreed. while the timid ran away, depending more upon the power of their legs than upon their weapons of defence. The officers tried to rally the man, but the confusion was so great that every attempt only aggravated the alarm. Finally the captain seeing the consternation, And impending disgrace of his company, proclaimed the hoax aud ordered a halt, but the officers by this time seemed to be as badly frightened as the men, and con every sound into Indian yells and the sanguinary wars, whoop, and the louder the captain shouted the faster they ran. The first lieutenant continued until he reached what was called the Radnor Settlement, about daylight. The people, roused hurriedly from their slumber. and horrified at the report, supposing the whole company to have been massacred, began a general and rapid flight. Each conveyed the tidings to his neighbor, and just after sunrise they came trading through Delaware on horseback, many in wagons, and some on foot, presenting all those grotesque appearances that frontier settlers naturally would, supposing the Indians close in their rear. Many anecdotes are told, amusing now to us who cannot realize their feelings, that exhibit the varied hues of courage and repletion characterizing different persons, and also show that there is no difference between real and supposed danger, and yet those actuated by the latter seldom receive the sympathy of their fellows. One family, named Penry, drove so fast that they bounced a little boy, two or three years old, out of the wagon, near Delaware, and did not miss him until they had gone five or six miles on their way to Worthington, and then upon consultation concluded it was too late to recover him amid such imminent danger, and so yielded him up as a painful sacrifice! But the little fellow found protection from others, and is now supposed to be alive. One woman, in the confusion of hurrying off, forgot her babe till after starting, and ran back to get it, but being peculiarly absentminded, she caught up a stick of wood from the chimney corner. and hastened off, leaving her child again quietly sleeping in the cradle! A large portion of the people tied to Worthington and Franklinton, and some to Chillicothe. In Delaware, the men who could be spared front conveying away their fun lies, or who had none, rallied for defence, and sent scouts to Norton to reconnoiter, where they found the people quietly engaged in their ordinary avocations, having received a message from the captain ; but it was too late to recall his indiscretion and save the other settlements from precipitate flight. It is proper to remark, that subsequent explanations show, that the first lieutenant, who was supposed to have fled through cowardice, had only obeyed a previous arrangement, that if attacked in the night by Indians, he should return to the settlements to put the people on their guard. Captain Drake often admitted the folly of having given the false alarm; but was equally explicit in stating, that it was merely given to test his men, without a suspicion that it might produce a paula. The next morning, after having rallied his scattered men and reduced their ranks to order, the captain continued his march to the site selected for Fort Finley. While his company was quartered there, Fort Meigs was besieged by the British and Indians. He could hear the roar of the cannon, and judged a severe battle was taking place. He became very uneasy as to the result, and called for two volunteers to approach the feet and learn the cause of the cannonading. Orderly Sergeant McCalley and James Shaffer, the fifer, offered to go. They jumped into a canoe, or "dug-out," and descended the river. When they arrived in sight of the fort the British fired on them; but they rowed rapidly along, hoisting a flag of truce, and entered the fort. They carried a letter to General Harrison from Drake, and desired to return, but were detained because the woods were full of Indians and British. The next day a force was sent out to scour the woods in search of the enemy. McCalley accompanied the force, and was wounded in the ankle and fell, and while expecting to lose his scalp, a mounted Kentuckian rode up and offered his horse, sod assisted him to mount. By this meaus he reached the fort, and lived to return home, and afterwards drew a pension of eighteen dollars a year, as long as he lived.

In the absence of the captain, his family took shelter of nights in Fort Morrow, which was situated in what is now the south part of Waldo Township, or what is known as the old Wyatt farm. There were about two acres of land inclosed by a stockade of split logs, or puncheons, about fifteen or six-teen feet high, and made sharp on top so as to prevent the enemy from climbing over. There were two block houses in-side, one in the southwest and one in the northeast corner. The second story of these block-houses projected over some four or five feet, all around the lower story. There were two cannon port-holes on a side in the lower and one in the upper story, and rifle port-holes every few feet in both stories. The lower story was about twenty-five feet square. They have long since been torn down, and the site is now used for plow lands. There was also a brick house in this fort known as the old "Wyatt tavern." It was abont twenty-two by thirty-six feet, two stories high. There was also a good well of water, affordiug plenty for the inmates.

While Captain Drake was in the service, eight or ten drunken Indians came to his honse and demanded that oue of his sons, a young boy, should drum for them, which he refused to do because it was Sunday, and it would rouse the neighbors. They seized him aud set him in the centre of the room, and began a war dance. They hopped and skipped, and yelled, flourishing their tomahawks and scalping knives around his head, and once or twice seized his hair as if they intended to scalp him! Mrs. Drake hurried the other children to the woods, there being snow on the ground, fearing they would all be killed, after which she got a hand-spike, or wooden poker from the fire-place, and ordered the Indians to leave. They left the house, and she then blew the dinner-horn to alarm the neighborhood, which served to increase the fears of the children, who hastened to the nearest cabin and related what was occurring. Two mcn, with guns, hastcued to the rescue, but ou their arrival were happy to learn the Indians had fled, and no one injured.

During the war of 1812 Gen. Harrison marched his army through what is now the city of Marion, and encamped at what was then called "Jacob's Well," which was located on the east aide of what is now Main Street, between Canal Street and the foot of the hill. The direction his army went from here was a little northwest. Of course there were uo cabins in this region at that time, and the thought of there ever being so flourishing a town in that locality never entered the mind of the hero of the war.

TOWNSHIP AND VILLAGE ORGANIZATION.

Marion County is composed of the following townships: Waldo, Richland, Claridon, Tully, Scott, Grand Paririe, Marion, Pleasant, Prospect, Green Camp, Salt Rock, Grand, Montgomery, and Bowling Green.

Among the first settlers in what is now Marion, were John and Ebenezer Ballantine. The "Land Sales" were held in August, 1820, and the Ballantines came in the fall of the same year. At that time Chandler lived in one of the cabins on the lot where Eber Baker afterwards kept tavern, and Edmund Hanford lived in the other. These cabins were built by Chandler. A man named Wright, and John Chandler eacd had a cabin within the present corporation limits.

The site of Marion, except the awake along Canal Street, was covered with timber up to the time the county seat was fixed here. Deer were plenty, and so were wild hogs so that no one had need suffer for want of meat.

The Holmes family came here in 1831, also the Berrys the same year. The latter family owned one hundred and sixty acres immediately south of the town plat, embracing what used to be called "Berry Hill" but more recently call "Gospel Hill."

` The village of Marion was laid out by Eber Baker and Alexander Holmes. Baker arrived March 4, 1823, and the plat was acknowledged April 8d of the same year. Mr. Baker lived to see the village he laid out become a place of 2500 inhabitants with a large trade, and with two important railroads running through it.

In 1822 the question of locating the county of Marion began to be agitated. The legislature appointed Commissioners to select a suitable site for the county seat of the newly created county, whose boundaries had been named and defined as early as 1820. Of course there were many rival claims for the location. Eber Baker requested attention to be paid his pretensions, and the desirability of his land. The commissioners visited several localities, and finally concluded to report in favor of the locality of Marion. In law, the town had thus been created; in fact, there was a deserted log cabin and a patch of ground—perhaps five or six acres that had been occupied by a squatter; the rest was in a state of nature! At this time Samuel Holmes seems to have been a practical surveyor, and was employed by Mr. Baker to survey the village plat, when he gave the county the inclosure now occupied by the court-house, a lot for jail purposes, building thereon a substantial hewed log jail of two rooms; the lot where Kerr House stands, and the one north of it; four lots for church, and four for school-house purposes, and also a tract for cemetery purposes. When the question of the selection of as the selection of seat of justice had been finally determined, an old citizen (William Caldwell) who seems to have been present, thus describes the scene that followed:

"When we first came to Marion there was but one family living where the town plat now is; that was Alexander Berry. He had a large family, principally boys, Abraham and Samuel being the two eldest. Mr. Berry lived near to Jacob's Well a place which had acquired a classic notoriety in those days as it was the stopping place for all weary travelers. We stopped there for water for ourselves and teams, and at that time made the acquaintance of Mr. Berry, and afterwards his son Samuel worked for my father.

"After the land was surveyed, Marion Township was organized, and the first election for township officers was held at my father's house, and Elias Murry and David Tipton were elected justices of the peace. There were not to exceed twenty voters in the township at that time, and we still remained attached to Delaware County until Marion County was organized. Some two years afterwards, when commissioners were appointed by the legislature to locate the county seat and came on for that purpose, their attention was called to, and they were very politely invited to visit, several locations, prominent which were among Marion, Claridon, on the Whetstone, and my father place on the Rocky Fork, when the interested parties of each place seemed to vie with each other in doing honors, and in giving receptions to the honorable board of commissioners, and other visitors, by sumptuous entertainments, which were accepted by them very gracefully. After viewing the several respective localities, they finally stuck the stake at Marion. Then the enthusiasm of the good people of that place knew no bounds and they got up an impromptu jollification; and not having any artillery at hand, they improvised a substitute by boring holes with a two-inch auger in several large oak trees, and putting in charges of powder, the same as in blasting rocks, which exploded with a terrific effect, and reduced some of the trees to fragments.

"The next thing in order was the organization of Marion County. The first county officers were Major Busby for Clerk; Col. Gordon, Auditor; Adam Uncapher, Treasurer; E. Crosby, Sheriff, and Daniel D. Tompkins for Coroner, who afterward succeeded to the office of Sheriff (by the death of E. Crosby and was re-elected again.

"The first representative to the legislature from this district which was composed of Marion, Crawford, Seneca, Sandusky counties, was Elias Murry, of Marion, and his successor was Jeremiah Everett, of Sandusky County, and his successor was J. Flellman, of Marion, who died before the legislature convened, and Eber Baker, of Marion, was elected to fill the vacancy."

At the first settlement of the town people experienced great difficulty in getting grinding done. There were water mills in Cardington and Delaware; but when water was low, the trouble began. To remedy this, as much as possible, Eber Baker built a horse-mill, aud this mill was resorted to at times of low water by people from Hancock, Crawford, and other counties. Mr. Baker also built the first schoolhouse. It was built of brick and was used iu early days by the different religious denominations for holding their services in. It was also used for the courthouse till the time, or near the time, the present courthouse was built. The first church was erected by the Methodists, and the next by the Presbyterians. The former was built of stone, and the latter of brick.

The first tavern in Marion was on the lot occupied by ----- Chandler above referred to. There was a double log cabin on the lot when the town was laid out, which had been built by Chandler. In 1822, Eber Baker built a one-and-a-half story hewed log-house in front of the double cabin, and this was the first house erected after the town was laid out. It was about twenty feet square. Mr. Baker started a hotel in this building but his accommodations proving too limited, ln 1823 he erected a frame addition. This addition was twenty feet square and his hotel was now quite a large one for the times. The boards of this building were sawn out with a whip-saw by Mr. Baker's sons, Lincoln and Charles, excepting the clapboards outside, which were split aud shaved. The next hotel here

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF MARION COUNTY, OHIO. - 105

was started by a Mr. Hoddy, in a hewed log-house, about one mile north of the courthouse. About the same time Squire hotel at the corner of Main and South streets. next built a large brick tavern on the west side of Main Street,, south of where the C. C. C. and I. Railroad now crosses it. This building was used for a number of years by John Merrill for a tailor-shop, and by Curley Drake for a chair-shop, till the old house was ready to tumble down. It disappeared long ago. Mr.. Tootle built a two-story frame hotel at the northeast corner of Main and South streets. Was called for many years the " Catchall." It was torn down 1852.

William and James Holmes erected a brick building on Main Street next north of where Campbell's block now stands. The original building was only eighteen feet deep, and forms part of the present structure.

Elisha Crosby started the first dry-goods store on the original town plot. It was situated at the corner of Main and South Street, which locality at one time became the business center of town. William and James Holmes had n small a small stock in a cabin. John and Ebenezer Ballantine store about two miles north of town.

B. H. Williams, Esq., thus describes Marion in 1825: 'My father removed his family from his farm, one mile east of Waldo to the village of Marion, November 25th, 1825. At that date there wetre living on the original town plot seventeen families to wit; Eber Baker, George Baker, Benjamin Davis, David Tipton, Jr.,

Dr. George Holloway, Z. Higgins, John Baker, John O'Harra, James Withrow, Samuel Fish, Mrs. Dr. Miller, Col. H. Gorton, A. C. Priest, Reuben Smith, Elder Bradford, James Jenkin, and Dr. Simon A. Couch.

"There were three hotels in full blast, and Eber Baker also kept a kind of aristocratic house, where all the judged, lawyers etc., stopped, but at that time had not hung out a shingle. You will see that hotel business must have been good, fourth of the population were engaged in it. The those days were six and a as about one-fourth of the population werte engaged in it. The hotel rates in those days were six and a fourth cents for lodging and a half cents for feeding a horse, and eighteen and three fourth cents for a meal of victuals, and to movers there was a large discount made from these rates. We had three stores kept by Crosby & Co., W. & J. H. Holmes, and a Mr. Will. Two blacksmith shops; one by Henry Peters, in rt of the town, the other by Benjamin Williams at the south end of Main Street. A horse-mill, George Baker, proprietor. This mill was a great institution. He could grind four bushels of corn per hour."at this time allowed the miller toll at the rate of very four bushels of corn, and one out of every f wheat. This Mr. Baker considered too much, but one out of every six bushels of corn, and one eight bushels of wheat.

"We had one tan-yard, run by A. C. Priest: one shoe-shop, J.L. Withrow, proprietor ; one chair and bedstead-shop, run by John O'Harra, which, if my memory serves me correctly, were all the manufacturing establishments Marion had in 1825. We had two doctors, Dr. George Holloway and Dr. Simon A.Couch; one lawyer, Charles L. Dealt; one minister, Elder ne jail, and at times it was pretty well filled."

Became a necessity, in spite of the good character inhabitants of the village and county, and Eber once more called upon for aid. He built the jail lot now used for that purpose. The following is the Commissioners' Journal, to wit:

Thursday, June 10th, 1824. "Resolved, that there he erected on lot No. 10, in the town of Marion, Marion County, Ohio, a log jail, after the following plan to wit: The logs sixteen by fourteen feet. Two stories high, seven feet between floors, of square timber laid close together. The walls in the lower story sixteen inches thick, in the upper story twelve inches thick; two window's in the lower store opposite each other, one foot high, two feet wide, with strong iron grates set perpendicular in the center of the logs not more than three inches from each other; two windows sin the upper story eighteen inches square, with iron grates set in the same manner as in the lower story. The sills halved together and sunk six inches in the ground. The lower floor laid with hewed timber a foot thick, with shoulders in the sills of two inches. The middle floor laid with hewed timber a foot thick in a rabbet of five inches; the third floor laid as the first floor. The wall plates and end girders framed together on the upper floor. The roof put on with rafters and lap shingles, the gable ends studded and weather-boarded. One door in each story made double of of oak plank one inch and a half thick, lined with sheet-iron in the middle, two feet in width, sufficiently ironed and spiked with a good substantial lock on each, the lower also with a strong bar of iron, and a padlock. pointed with lime and sand, the corners handsomely cut down, a pair of Millers' stairs on the outside to the upper door, the whole to be finished and completed in a handsome, workmanlike¬ manner."

This building cost the county nothing. Eber Baker built it at his own expense, and presented it to the county.

The first physician was Dr. Couch. He came to Marion, but as there was no place he could get for an office, Eber Baker set his sons Lincoln and Charles to work, a tree was out down on a lot where Dennigs & Ditche's grocery recently was, the whip-saw was set to work, and in a very few days an office was finished and the doctor was ready for practice.

The following is the record of the first courts in Marion County:

The State of Ohio, Marion County, ss.

At a special session, before William Holmes, Jacob Idleman and David H. Beardsley, Associate. Judges of the Court of Common Pleas at Marion, in county aforesaid, on the seventh day of May, A. D. 1824-ordered, that George H. Busby be appointed Clerk pro tern-pore of the Court of Common Pleas of said county.

Ordered, that George H.. Busby he appointed Recorder of said eounty of Marion until the next Court of Common Pleas holden in said county. The court adjourned until to-morrow at eight o'clock.

The court met pursuant to adjournment. Present to-day the same as yesterday. May 8th, A. D. 1824.

Ordered, that Milo D. Pettibone be appointed Prosecuting Attorney for said county of Marion.

Ordered, that the Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas of said county be elected at next October election, and that William M. Holmes, Gideon J. Messenger, and George H. Busby be considered as candidates for said office.

The court adjourned without day0.

Judges of the Court of Com'n Pleas

WILLIAM HOLMES,

JACOB IDLEMAN,

D. H. BEARDSLEY,.

The first regular term of Common Pleas Court was held September, 1824.

Ebenezer Lane, President, and William Holmes, Jacob Idleman and David H. Beardsley, Associates. (Ebenezer Lane was at one time on the Supreme Bench of Ohio.)

The first case on the docket of Marion County is the "State vs. Eber Baker." The following is the indictment and record of the case:

"State of Ohio, Marion County, Conrt of Common Pleas of the term of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-four.

Marion County, ss. The Grand Jurors of the State of Ohio, empaneled and sworn, to inquire of crimes and offences committed within the body of Marion County, in the name and by the authority of the State of Ohio aforesaid, upon their oaths present, that Eber Baker, late of the county of Marion aforesaid, on the 15th day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-four, with force and arms at Centre Township, in the county of Marion afore-said, and within the jurisdiction of this court, did sell spirituous liquors by less quantity than one quart, to wit, one pint of whiskey to one David A. Town, to he drunk at the place where sold, to wit, at the house of said Eber Baker, n said township, without being duly authorized, eontrary to the form of statute in such case made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the State of Ohio.

M. D. PETTIBONE, Prosecuting Att'y.

STATE OF OHIO

vs. Indictment for selling Spirituous Liquors. EBER BAKER.

This day came the prosecutor in behalf of the State, and the defendant being arraigned plead guilty to the indictment. Whereupon it is considered by the court that he pay a fine of one dollar, together with the costs of prosecution, taxed to . dollars and cents."

The County Commissioners held their first session on the seventh day of ne., 1824. The first business was the hearing of road petitions. When the Board adjourned, it was to meet next (lay at " snnrise "—about 4-30 A. M. at that season of the year.

In 1825 the Prosecuting Attorney was allowed a salary of forty dollars for the year. The Clerk and Sheriff thirty-five dollars each.

The first duplicate of the comity will illustrate the wonderful changes that have taken place in fifty years.

Evcn as late as 1827, the total tax levies were but $2703.80. James Taylor was the heaviest tax-payer, paying upon more than ten thonsand acres of land. His tax was $155.84, a truly enormous amount in those days. The town lots, now occnpied by the Masonic Block, Kerr House, and prominent business houses of Marion, were valued at from five to fifteen dollars, exclusive of buildings.

The valuation of real and personal property in the corporation at present is about $2,200,000, which is very low, there being nearly three times that amount here. Financially the place is in good condition, no heavy or important failures having taken place here for years past. Marion has four banks, all good, reliable institutions, named as follows: the Farmers' Bank, the Marion Deposit Bank, the Marion County Bank, and Fahey's Bank.

The first banking done in Marion Connty was in 1840, by J. S. Reed & Co. As an adjunct of their mercantile business, this firm opened a banking department, receiving deposits, buying notes, loaning money, and selling exchange. In a few years the business grew so as to require a home of its own, and a regular office was opened. The present Marion County

Bank is a reorganization ofthe firm, and has a paid-up capital of $100,000, with a large surplus and outside means ready to supplement capital as demands for money may indicate. The Farmers' Bank was organized in 1869, and succeeded The First National Bank of Marion, which was organized in 1863, when the Bank of Marion wound up. The Bank of Marion was organized under tile free banking law of Ohio in 1851. Prior to 1840 the entire money business of the county was done at Columbus, Delaware, and other adjoining places. Now Marion has a larger actual capital in its banks than any of its neighbor county towns, and is entirely independent in money matters. Large amounts are constantly on loan in Union, Hardin, Wyandot, Crawford, and Marion counties. Almost ally reasonable amount of money can be raised in Marion, at short call, on good-security. Except one suspension some twenty years ago, which entailed no real loss to any one, the banks in Marion have stood sound and firm, enjoying the entire confidence of the people. They are owned and managed by actual money lenders, who lending their own means are not liable to be shut up by every panic. No interest is paid by any Marion bank upon deposits. Any good man, wth good paper, can at all times get the money for his paper at it uniform rate without being shaved. The banks are all unincorporated private organizations, there being no national bank, or other incorporated institutions in the county. The county and village municipal treasuries are also always in sound condition, carrying in the opinion of many entirely too large balances of money on hand. The same sound, conservative condition characterizes the merchants, traders, and farmers of the county. Failures are rare, and success and thrift the rule among them.

Marion has n population of about 4,000, and embraces territory one and a half miles square. t is quite a railroad point, being crossed by three important lines, viz , the Atlantic and Great Western, the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis, and the Columbus and Toledo railroads.

There are eight large dry-goods stores, about twenty grocery and provision stores, five extensive clothing establishments, three drng-stores, several shoe stores, two large jewelry stores, numerous millinery and notion stores, several extensive hard-ware and stove establishments, two harness and saddle manufactures, three hotels, several restaurants, bakeries, confectioneries, etc., etc.; a large machine shop and rake factory, an extensive foundry and iron works, planing mills, carriage and wagon manufactures, mechanic-shops of all kinds, furniture factories, lumber yards, flour mill, grain elevator, etc.

Many of the business rooms are large and commodious, running back the full depth of the lot (165 feet) to an alley, the buildings being very substantial, and of modern style of architecture. The court-house is located on a beautiful site, but the building is old and not up to the times. A new court house is in contemplation, and part of the money raised for its erection. The new jail, now being built, a view of which appears in another part of this volume, will be an ornament to the town.

There are nine churches edifices belonging to the following societies, to wit, Presbyterian, Methodist Episcopal. German Methodist, United Brethren, Free Will Baptist. Episcopalian, Lutheran, Roman Catholic, and African Methodist.

There is an organization of the Christian Church, but as yet they have no house of worship.

A large four-story brick school-honse at present accommodates the children of the whole town who attend public schools. The Catholics have a fine large school building of their own, at which their children are educated.

There are two large printing offices, well fitted up for job work, each issuing a large weekly newspaper, viz., THE MARION DEMOCRATIC MIRROR, and THE MARION INDEPENDENT. The INDEPENDENT IS the successor of the original anti-Democratic paper published in Marion County. The first paper, THE PEOPLES' ADVOCATE AND MARION AND SANDUSKY ADVERTISER, published by Leonard H Cowles and Jason Case, though not political, was run by Whigs. It started October 8th, 1828, and ceased to exist March 9th, 1830. THE MARION PHOENIX was also run by Whigs, Messrs. H. D. Little and Wm.. F. Stanton. Stanton left the firm July 29th, 1830, and Little retained the office, acting in the capacity of editor, compositor and "devil," doing the entire work of the office himself. He met with but little support from the Jackson element in the county because of his Whig principles and his support of Henry Clay.

Saturday, May 21st, 1831, the PHOENIX wound up its career. The Whigs were not strong enough to sustain it.

In the regular line of succession came the MARION OBSERVER, published by Wm. Milliken, who at this data (March 14th, 1878), is editor of the FAYETTE (O.) HERALD. The first copy of the OBSERVER was issued July 4th, 1832. After issuing sixteen numbers, Milliken changed its name to the WESTERN GALAXY, esteeming the latter the prettiest name. April 1st, 1835, he again changed it o the WESTERN GALAXY And MARION FREE PRESS. This paper was Whig politically. It ceased to exist January 1st, 1837.

After the retirement of Milliken, Alexander and George prung commenced the publication of a Whig paper, under the name of the MARION WHIG, we believe, but that name was afterward changed to THE VISITOR. There are no files of that paper now accessible, hence the exact date of commencement and ending of Messrs. Sprung's paper cannot be given. How-ever, it was run several years and was the legitimate successor p align="center">106 - HISTORICAL SKETCH OF MARION COUNTY, OHIO.

of the preceding Whig paper. The VISITOR having retired, T. P. Wallace commenced the publication of the BUCKEYE EAGLE, May 22d, 1844. Mr. Wallace being quite young then, employed S. A. Griswold, now of the LANCASTER (O.) GAZETTE, for editor, and that arrangement continued till May 19th, 1847. when Mr. Griswold took charge of the EAGLE, and run it till May 17th, 1850, when H. Haldeman took possession of the office. He continued to run the paper till July 20th, 1854, when the Messrs. Appleton came. December 30th, 1854, under the charge of J. N. Appleton, the paper came out as the INDEPENDENT AMERICAN, and was so run till March 21st, 1856, when J. W. Dumble bought the office, and the name MARION EAGLE was given to the paper. It was run by J. W. Dnmble till September 7th, 1857, then by J. W. and S. R. Dumble, afterward by Dumble & Co. April 3d, 1862, the name was changed to the MARION COUNTY UNIONIST, which name was retained until December 18th, 1862. January 18th, 1863, Geo. Crawford bought the office, changed the name to THE MARION INDEPENDENT, retaining sole control till January 20th, 1866, when Saml. R. Dumble purchased a half interest, and the firm name was changed to George Crawford & Co. The office and paper have been run under that name ever since. It will be observed that the office, with broken links it is true, dates back Almost fifty years—back to the days of infancy of the town and county of Marion. From a sheet 20 x 25, the paper has grown to a sheet 30 x 44 inches in size. It is on a firm basis with good machinery, good patronage, and feels none the worse for its half century of life already passed.

The MARION DEMOCRATIC MIRROR is a large, handsomely printed newspaper, Democratic in principle, is printed from a well organized office, supplied with all the conveniences, including steam-power, of a first-clues country printing establishment This paper was first issued June 4th, 1842. William Robins was editor and J. It. Knapp publisher, under firm name of Robins & Knapp. From its establishment until 1850, the paper underwent many changes, which are not at hand, and struggled along, as papers in those early days were subjected to many hardships. Sometime prior to 1850, the exact date the writer of this is unable to ascertain, the editorial management and proprietorship of the MIRROR came under control of J. R. Knapp, Jr. January 1st, 1851, B. F. Warner became publisher; and during the years 1851-2-3, T. O. Thompson, A. R. Scott, end Thompson & Nugenbeel successively appeared as publishers. During these years, J. R. Knapp, Jr. was the recognized editor. July 29th, 1853, the office was purchased by Philip Dombaugh, who continued in the ownership of the same until 1857. During this time Knapp was editor for a while, and part of the time Dombaugh was editor and publisher, and for a short time the office was rented to S. C. Nicholas. January 1st, 1857, Dombaugh disposed bf the office to John W. Dumble. The paper, during the ownership of Mr. Dumble, for a brief time, was published by T. J. & A. .J. Crawford, and subsequently by the "Mirror Company.' In July, 1857. Adison Osborne assumed editorial control, and continued in that capacity until February 11th, 1858, when J. R. Knapp, Jr., associated himself with J. W. Dumble in the editorial and proprietorship of the paper and office. Subsequently. October 14th, 1858., A. Osborne and W. IL Thomas assumed full management of the office, with Osborne as editor. June 2d. 1859. the office was purchased by Thomas H. Hodder, who had editorial control of the paper until October 1st. 1870. Early in the ownership of the office by Hodder, Mr. Thomas continued as a partner until June 20th, 1860. when the name of Thomas was dropped, and that of G. W. Spooner appeared as a partner with Hodder. The partnership between Hodder and Spooner continued until November 14th, 1861, when the office passed into the hands of a receiver. A. Osborne was first appointed as receiver, and subsequently Geo. H. Busby was appointed in Osborne's place. The controversy, however, terminated in Mr. Hodder becoming sole possessor, and continued as such until 1870.

On the 1st of October, 1870, the office was purchased by James K. Newcomer, who associated with him Guy Webber. At once steps were taken to place the office and paper under improvements by adding material and enlarging the paper. In 1872, the first power or cylinder press in the county was added to this office. In August. 1873, J. H. Willeston purchased the interest of G. Webber, and continued a partner with New-comer until August, 1876, when he sold his interest to G. B. Christian. In January, 1874, steam was added to the office, and the office placed upon a solid and firm basis, with extensive advantages for job printing, etc. The MIRROR, at this time, April, 1878, is pleasantly located in Masonic Block, surrounded with all the conveniences of a first-class country office. The MIRROR is now published by James K. Newcomer and Geo. B. Christian, as proprietors, the former devoting his en-tire attention to the editorial and business management of the paper and the office, as he has done since his connection with the office in 1870.

The MIRROR is a recognized party paper, of the straightest sect. having the confidence and support of the Democratic party of the county, and is liberally patronized by the business men of the town in which it is published.

Very few that were citizens of Marion when it was first laid out are now living, and none are in any regular business in the town.

The oldest business house that is still operating without change of firm, is that of Magruder's Novelty Works. These works were established in 1854 by T. J. Magruder, who in 1853 started a small shop in Toledo, in company with Wm. Rutan, of Bellefontaine. But, not being able to secure a room in the business portion of the city, and Rutan's principal business being in Bellefontaine, they concluded to accept an offer made them to come to Marion, as a matter of convenience in passing back and forth. They adjusted their affairs in Toledo, and within a few weeks shipped their stock of many new and beautiful styles of saddles to Marion, where they opened up during the last days of December, and commenced business on Monday, January 2d, 1854, making sale of the first set of harness to Jacob Kise, Sr., payable, one-half in firewood, balance in cash. At the close of the year, Magruder bought Rutan's interest, and has since then run the works alone, adding many new and valuable improvements to the business, some of which are extensively used by the trade at large. Among these improvements are the " Magruder Pad Trimmings," first manufactured by P. Hayden & Son, Columbus, O., then by Samuel E. Tompkins & Co., Sing Sing, N. Y., and now by the Sargeant Manufacturing Company, Newark, N. J. The " Magruder Military" and Kilgore (Mullet Head and Somerset Saddle Trees have proven a success, and are still gaining favor, and for which Mr. Magruder received a diploma from the Ohio State Board of Agriculture in 1866.

Mr. Magruder's taste has not been confined to the Saddlery business wholly. He has fitted up a comfortable home for his family, a view of which is found in another part of this work. On his grounds once stood one of the first cabins built in the county. The spot is marked by a circular dower bed, as shown in the picture.

The Huber Manufacturing Company was " planted" in 1868, by Mr. E. hinter, who came to Marion in that year, and rented the use of machines from Knable, Zook & Co., at twenty-five cents per hour, and in that way commenced the manufacture of the celebrated Huber Rakes, the manufacture of which has increased from year to year, from a few dozen in 1866, to seven thousand in 1877.

It was organized on its present basis, January 11th, 1875, by the consolidation of the firms of Huber, Gun & Co. and the Marion Machine Works. The latter company having been organized in 1868, by F. P. Leffner, of Marion, and William Holmes, of Galion. The company is now (1878) manufacturing a a special line of Farm Engines, Revolving and Box Steel Road Scrapers, and Horse Rakes, besides doing a general line of Engines, Machine and Millwork, and the most extensive Planing Mill business ever carried on in this vicinity.

Thus by strict attention to business and carefully guarding the interest of all with whom they have come in contact, the managers have increased the business of the company from the labor of one man, on a single machine (the use of which was rented), the materials having been hauled in on a farmer's wagon, and the product being sold to a few neighbors, until now their shops cover two entire blocks. The machinery is run by a forty horse-power engine, and the employes number over eighty. They receive more than a hundred car-loads of material which is mauufectured into their various lines of goods, and are shipped to all parts of the United States, and also to Europe.

The Scrapers, Rakes and Engines manufactured by this company, are in special demand in all parts of the country.

The first Methodist Episcopal class in Marion County was organized by Rev. Steward, a local minister from Radnor, Delaware County, about April 20th, 1820, at Judge Idleman's house, and consisted of eight members, to wit: Jacob Idleman and wife, Christian Staley and wife, their two sons and two daughters.

In 1822 the class was merged in the Delaware circuit, in charge of Rev. Bacon, who was succeeded in 1823 by Rev. Roe. In 1824, Rev. Erastus Felton was sent to the circuit, who, after visiting end preaching a few times at Marion. in 1825 organized the first class in the village. The members were John Ashbaugh and wife, Benj Williams. wife and two daughters, Henry Peters, and a few others whose names are forgotten. Subsequently the names of T. J. Anderson and wife, Andrew Kinnear and family, and Horace Strong and family were added to the class. Henry Peters had charge of the first Sunday School, and also taught one of the classes, of which Mrs. Dr. Fisher is now the only surviving member. The late Judge Bowen assisted in superintending the school. Henry Peters lives in Upper Sandusky, to which place he has taken his membership.

The Marion Circuit was formed in the fall of 1826. embracing Little Sandusky, Bucyrus. Caledonia, Rawl's Corners and Idlemans, with Rev. James (ninth in charge, who was succeeded by Rev. Stoddard. I n 1831, Rev. A. M. Loraine commenced and partly finished the first Methodist meeting-house in Marion. It was completed in 1833, and occupied till 1844, when they moved into the basement of the new Centenary M. E. Church, which was soon after completed under the auspices of Rev. Henry E. Filcher, who was the first minister sent to Marion after it was made a station, and under whose ministry a grand revival was experienced, and many added to the church.

In 1852 the R. and I. R. R. was located and built in front of the Centenary Church (now pert of the planing mill of the Huber Manufacturing Co.), causing such inconvenience and disturbance that a new location was necessary and in 1854, in change of Rev. Jas. F. Kennedy, the present M. E. Church was erected on Centre St., and dedicated in Decr., by Bishop Ames.

After the dedication a series of meetings were continued Rev. Kennedy, resulting in the greatest revival in the Methodist of the church in Marion. During this and the following year (1855) the Sunday School received a grand impetus for good. The Scripture Lessons began to he more thoroughly taught and studied—the singing was made livelier—an unusual interest became manifested, and the attendance increased, so than soon this became the banner school of the district.

When the first two companies were raised in Marion on the call for volunteers in April, 1861, a farewell service was held in this church, at which time stirring addresses were made by both male and female citizens, and each volunteer, wearing as yet only a rosette to designate him as such, was presented by the Sunday School Superintendent with a copy of the New Testament. In two instances, the entire classes, with the teachers, had volunteered, and the fact was there fully denomination that a Methodist Sunday School was a good place to secure recruits for the Union Army.

The Free Will Baptist Church of Marion, 0, was organized in the year 1821, by Revs. David Dudley and Saml. Bradford The stated meetings of the church were held in the school house on West St., in Marion, and occasionally in the home of Mr. Salmon, who lived on " Rocky Fork" on the Bucyrus road.

A general revival of religion, enjoyed in all parts of the country in 1825, added quite a number to the church, and ii 1828 the membership numbered twenty-eight.

In 1827, Rev. Geo. W. Baker was converted and united with the church, and soon began to preach, though attended with opposition and great pecuniary sacrifice. For many years he declined ordination. His labors were abundantly blessed of God, in the conversion of many persons, a large number of whom desired baptism at his hands, and after urgent entreaty he finally consented, and was ordained in 1837. After preaching for a time in Marion, he moved to Licking County, O., and preached there a few years. During his absence, the church being without regular preaching, and having no house of worship, came very near losing its visibility, many also having died or removed

In 1841, Rev. Isaac Dotson visited the place and gathered up the fragments, numbering ten or twelve persons, and commenced a series of meetings in Jacob Ulsh's new barn, about a mile southeast of the village. An extensive revival followed, adding to the church till it numbered ninety. He became pastor of the church, and continued so for a few years.

In 1842 a church edifice was built. A majority of the members living outside, it was built on the Claridon road, about three-fourths of a mile southeast of the village.

This was a serious mistake. There were, at that time, several lots in town reserved for church buildings. Had the house been built on one of those lots, and the church had proper care, it would doubtless have grown with the town and been one of the largest churches in the place.

For a few years Ile town people attended the church in the country, bet when pavements, and other houses of worship were built, hilt few, except members, continued to do so, and some of them joined churches in the village

In the course of passing years the mistake of building so far away began to be realized, and an effort was made to move the church into town. It was at last accomplished. mostly through the personal labor of Rev. Geo. W. Baker, who had returned, end with his son, Rev. O. E. Baker, who had the church under his care for several years. Many members were so much opposed to its removal, that they dissolved their connection with the church, and owing to the inability of the remaining few to purchase a more favorable location, it was put on a narrow cross street.

Severe trials overtook the church, reducing its numbers till in 1857 there were only twenty members, and they were very much discouraged. During this year Her. S. D. Bates became its pastor. The circumstances and surroundings gave bet little hope of success. The first year's labor, however, resulted in restoring confidence. The second year, the citizens very generously assisted the members in repairs, which much brightened the prospects, increased the congregation, leading also to the organization of a Sunday School, though it numbered only seven at first.

Successive years of labor, under many difficulties, gradually built up the church in numbers and efficiency.

In 1865, a site was secured on Centre Street, one block east of the Court House, upon which a house of worship was built, in the course of three years, costing $16,000, more than one-half of which was contributed by citizens outside of the membership and congregation. The inside material of the old church fitted up the basement of the new, while the old building was sold and fitted up for a residence.

The United Brethren Church was organized in 1837, by a small society in a private house, the home of Mr. Gruber, two miles east of Marion. This society gradually increased in membership till 1848, when quite a number of the members, who resided in and near Marion, organized a class within the incorporated limits of Marion, and worshiped in a private dwelling.

In 1850 this sect accepted of a previously specified proposition made by the proprietor of the village of Marion, viz., that any denomination first occupying lot No. 120, with a

HISTORICAL SKETCH .OF MARION COUNTY, OHIO.- 107

they traveled a good deal. Mr. Mann's family consists of himself, wife and four boys, Gideon, William, George, Henry, and four daughters, Henrietta, Anne, Isabel, and Clara.

DANIEL NORRIS, born in Portsmouth, Ohio, March 22, 1808, came with his father's family (James Norris), and settled seven miles north of Delaware in 1814. lie subsequently removed to Waldo, and thence to Cardington, and to Marion in 1866. He and his Etther often visited and traded with the Delaware, and Wyandot, their reserves. Their road was by the old Harrison .roil, "asset' hit rouge' what is now Marion. He formed an intimate acquaiutnnc with the late William Walker, since chief or governor of the W vandots, on their reserve in Kansas. He resided a few years after leaving Waldo at Cardington, where he acted as justice of the peace and mayor of the town. His family consists of himself, wife and one son, C. Ii. Norris, an attorney-at-law, and one daughter, Josephine, wife of Dr. John Christian.

Judge S. S. BENNETT was born in Massachusetts, January 9, 1791, came to Delaware County, Ohio, January, 1816, and located at the village of Berkshire- lie resided there until to married, which was in 1828, and located in Marion, and still resides in his old homestead. 13cing a true New England maim, he has been able to adjust himself to all exigencies; has been a merchant, stock dealer, farmer, and general business man. He was appointed Associate if edge for Marion in 1812, served a short time and resigned. He never sought office, preferring to remain in private life. But six or eight of those who preceded him as pioneers are now alive. Of these lie remembers Judge Bartram, Dr. Holloway, Kennedy, the Bakers, George Clark, and old Mr. I3arnctk His family consists of himself and lady, and daughter Eleanor, wife of Dr. Timothy B. Fisher, and Harriet, wife of Frankin I. Reed. All reside in Marion.

JONAS BALLENTINE was born in Rensselaer County, New York, and carne to Commies, Ohio, in 1818, and Marion in the fall of 1820, end settled two and a half miles northwest of what is now the city of Marion, on limestone ridge, where he continued to reside about thirty-eight years. He then purchased another farm two miles cast of the former one, where he remained until 1864, when he located at his present residence in the northeast part of the city. He has been an active farmer almost continuously for a period of fifty-eight years. He has never sought office of any kind. He says the old trail, alluded to by Mr. Mann, ran about one mile west of Marion in a southeast direction. He thinks he was among the earliest settlers in the township. Mr. Barnett having coot in the spring of 1830, while he banded him Octola-r. Ile and his brother Ebenezer came down the Allegheny and Ohio rivers to Wheeling, Va., in a skiff from Olean, and thence in one of Richard B. ,Johnston's old coaches from Wheeling to Lancaster, Ohio, and footed it to Columbus. His father had been a revolutionary soldier, and owned three hundred acres of beach land in the county of Delaware, which he and his brother expected to improve; but when they reflected upon the labor, concluded to try the plains of M:urion instead. His brother (Reif in 1823. Mr, Ballantine has been three times married, and is now ill comfortable circumstances.

Maj, Thomas Reynolds is a native of Virginia, and emigrated with his father's family to the State of Ohio. and located a short time ie Delaware County ten 1817. His father removed to Missouri in 1818, where he died, He then returned to Delaware County about 1820, and upon the erection of Union County, from territory of Dela were, was appointed Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas at Milford, and, upon the removal of the county scat to Marysville, resigned and returned to Delaware, where he was appointed Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, Supreme Clerk and County Recorder for seven years, and reappointed and served until 1832, when he had the misfortune to lose his wife and several members of his family by sickness, when he partially retired from business, since which time he has regarded Delaware and Marion counties as his home. It is proper to observe that Mr. Reynolds opened the court docket of Marion for Major Busby, the fist clerk. His birthday anniversary occurred March 7th, 1878, when he was eighty years of age.

Col. W. W. Concklin was born in New York December 14, 1799, and came to Marion County, Ohio, in August, 1822, and located, being one of the earliest citizens of the county. He resides in Marion, where he has been long engaged in merchandising, banking and agriculture, and owns n very large tract of line land, which is in a high state of culture. He is well preserved for a man of his age, possessing an elastic step and a clear head. His ancestors were of English descent, and originally settled on the east end of Long Island in 1664. The Coneklins of New York and elsewhere are believed to be descendants of the some Long Island families.

WILLIAM READS, Born in 1605. Son of William Reads and Lucy Henage. Sailed from Gravesend, Kent County, England, in the good ship " Assurance de Lo," Isaac Bromwell and George Persey, officers, in 1635. Settled in Weymouth, Mass., and was made a freemen September 2, 1635. Bought a house and land of Zachary Bicknell for Ł7 138. 4d. in 1636. Was one of the first settlers in Weymouth, as it was made a plantation in May, 1635, with Rev, Mr. Hall as pastor, and twenty-one families of settlers. Was representative in 1636 and 1638.

Among the oldest men in the county we find Jonas Rime, now In his ninety-sixth year Born in Middleboro, Mass., and a lineal descendant from the original Puritans. William heed, from Gravesend, England, had several sons, two of whom took a liking to Esther, daughter of Mary Cook, one of the " May Flower Pilgrims." As Esther could marry bet one, she chose William In place of James, and Mr. Reed, the subject of this sketch, being descended from James, missed the May Flower genealogy. Mr. Reed married a direct descendant of Deacon Captain Smithe, who, according to Cotton Mather's Magnolia " died of a pestilent witchcraft " at Hadley, Mass. He. Mather relates, with much detail, " the devilish bewitchment' — how the ministers gathered and preached, and exhorted and prayed over the sick man ; how he groaned and suffered-probably at the protracted exercises; how the young men stoned the witch's home; how the sick deacon slept Roundly while the windows and doors were smashing—a sure proof, says Dr. Mather, that the devil was disturbed in his spells; and how at last the good deacon tuned to the wall and died; and how strange muttering and yells were heard from the witch's wicked house, at the moment the godly deacon died!

Mr. Reed's childhood was passed among the actors in revolutionary scenes, and he remembers when the disbanded soldiers of the Revolution still wore their quaint old uniforms. He resides now, and has for a number of years, with his son, James S. Reed, who hail lived nearly forty years in Marion, engaged in mercantile and banking business.

EDER BAKER was born in the State of Maine, and emigrated with his family to Newark, Ohio, in 1815, and from thence to what is the present site of Marion, in 1821, and found Alexander Berry and William Holmes on or near the present plat. Mr. Baker and an elder sou, Geo. W., sawed the timber (whip-saw) for the first lumber for doors, flooring, and window casing, and rived the weather-boarding and dressed it with a drawing--knife, for the first cabin in what is now Marion. The following year he laid out his land in lots, and thus Marion began. He soon after erected a horse-mill, built the first jail and school-house. His route from Newark was by Granville, Sunbury, Delaware, and Harrison's military road. He found between Delaware and what is now Marlon the families of Judge William S. Drake, Wyatt, Brundige, Hoop. Kepner, Berry, aril a few others. He purchased a supply of flour at Newark before leaving, and afterwards attended mills on the Whetstone until he erected a horse-mill at Marion, in 1826, which was resorted to in dry times by people from quite a distance. The Idaho! were very productive when brought under culture, and there was no scarcity of corn. Fruits were generally plenty in the older settlements of Delaware County, Red the plains abounded in wild game and escaped hoes, se that all hail plenty to eat. They were soon visited by the Delaware Indians, and the Baker boys amused themselves by wrestling with their red visitors. They well remember Jonacake, Powder, Tom Lyons, Capt. Pipe, Jr., and others. They state that Joseph Chaffee, of Upper Sandusky, conducted the Delawares to their new home in the west. They relate that a leading Indian having died on the reserve about the year 1824, Dr. Hid Ines concluded to quietly resurrect the body for dissection and the skeleton. Having done so in the night season, he rode it vain able horse to bring in the body ; but having been discovered while in the act of lifting the body up before him on the horse, was compelled to flee. The Indians gave pursuit He put his horse on the run and distanced his pursuers to Marion, and concealed the body. His horse was so heated by the race, that he was afterwards nearly worthless, and went blind. The Inclines finally came into the village in search of the body, and appeared very angry. They carne to the office of Dr. Couch, who invited them in, and let them make n search, at the same time giving then some silver change, when they retired. Other places were examined, but Dr. Holmes had safely concealed the body. They stayed around for some twenty-four or thirty hours, and after having been generously (?) feel by the citizens retired to the reserve, not to return. At that time Drs. ILtI-loway, Manning, Musser, and Holmes are believed to have resided in the village.

Mr. Baker died in 1864, aged about 84 years, his wife having died in 1843, aged 64 years. His three sons are still dicing in Marion. Geo. W.. is 74 years of age, Charles 73, Lincoln 68.

The Bakers trace their ancestry back to England, in 1635, when Francis Baker Came over in the Planter, at the age of 24, from Great Stalbons, Hertfordshire, and settled in Yarmouth, Mass.

Judge JONAS BARTRAM, of Marion, was born June 12th, 1804, in Redding, Fairfield County, Connecticut, and came to Marion County, Ohio, Nov. 20th, 1827, and located in brashness. When he arrived, he is of opinion the following persons had precede] him to that locality a few years: John Ballantine, Geo. H. Busby and wife, Nathan Peters, Calvin Barnett, George W., Charles, and Lincoln Baker, and Mrs. Mehitable Sergeant, all of whom still survive. At that time the village contained but few inhabitants. The Judge married Miss Jane Hopkins Sept. 25th, 1827, in Pickaway township, Pickaway County, just prior to having located permanently in Marion.

At the time of his location, the Delawares from the reserve, which was in Grand Prairie township, Marion County, and Antrim township, Wyandot County, often visited the village to sell paltry, furs, and venison, and purchase such articles as

108 - HISTORICAL SKETCH OF MARION COUNTY. OHIO

were needed by them. He got acquainted with Capt. Pipe, Jr., who often visited the little stores of Marion to trade. Is not certain now whether he was married, but recollects he had a young squaw called his daughter (perhaps adopted). Silas Armstrong, Delaware, and he were half chiefs in lieu of the old chief of Greentown, Thomas Armstrong, who was then, dead. Has often met Dowdee, Jonacake, and Billy Montour. These Indians, at that time, were generally harmless, and ranged over the south part of the county in pursuit of deer and other game. Thinks Tom Lyon was assassinated in his wigwam near Fort Seneca, in 1823 or 4. He was found dead in his hut, and the rumor was that old Paul Butler, of Delaware, and another hunter from the same locality, did the job. Lyon was a very old man, thought to be over one hundred years of age. The Delawares went west in 1829; thinks they were conducted across Indiana and Illinois to Kansas, possibly by Joseph Chaffee (who married Isaac Walker's widow) in behalf of the government. Judge Bartram began office as township clerk of Marion, in 1831. He was elected Justice of the Peace in 1832, and re-elected in 1835 and 1838. He was appointed postmaster by P. M. O. McClean, in 1833, and resigned in 1835, in consequence of in health. He served as Assistant Auditor from 1835 to 1838. He was again appointed post-master in 1838, and served until 1841. He then served as commissioner to fill a vacancy one year, and was made Fund Commissioner for Marion County, and states that the United States lost nothing by the transactions or this county, for every dollar was paid back when needed. In 1840, he was appointed Associate Judge, and served seven years. About the same time he entered into the dry goods business, and continued in the same until about 1846, and then reviewed his legal studies, and was admitted to the bar and appointed prosecuting attorney, and served three years. From this period he bat remained in the practice of law. In 1860, he was elected Representative, and served one term. In 1870 he was elected Senator, and served one full term. His has been a busy life. lie has lost none of his habits of application. The question of preserving the pioneer memories of his county meets his hearty concurrence, and no citizen of Marion is capable of furnishing more information than he. His family consists of himself and lady, and a son, Semi H.

ROBT. KERR, Esq., familiarly known as "Bob Kerr," was born in Mifflin Comity, Pa., October 27th, 1807, and came to Knox County, Ohio, when but six years old. His father, James Kerr, was born in Franklin County, Pa. He married Betsey Arbuckle, and raised a family consisting of five boys and two girls, the subject of this sketch being the third chill. Robert had but little school education ; in fact, less than six months altogether. His father was poor, and the boys were obliged to put in all their time at work. When eighteen years of age, Robert left home to learn the tanner's trade, at which he worked two years and five months. He then hired to Brow & McCracken, at three shillings per day, to drive hogs to Baltimore. We will now give his future in his own words. He says: " It took fifty days to go through, owing to the mud. I returned from that trip with one dollar and fifty cents in my pocket. This I paid over to my brother on a debt, and still owed him it dollar and a half'. I then hired to Orange Hollister, at eleven doilars a month, for three mouths in the spring. In the harvest field I got fifty cents a day to reap, and one dollar n day for cradling. I then went to cutting cord wood at twenty cents a cord, and clearing land at from two dollars and a half to three dollars per acre, according to the hardness of the timber. This was in Knox County, Ohio.

" In this way I made enough money to pay thirty'-two dollars on eighty acres of land, in Marion, now Crawford County, which I had bought at a dollar find a quarter an acre. This was in 1827. After paying for this land, I entered into a contract to cut and deliver in Upper Sandusky one hundred cords of wood, at three shillings a cord, and had a distance of two miles to haul. While I was working at this Joh, an Indian came along one day and said, You clear this P' I said ' Yes I' he says,' If Indian have to clear that land or die, Indian the first.'

"In 1829 or 1830, I cleared the timber from forty acres of land, upon which a part of Upper Sandusky now stands, for one hundred and thirty-nine dollars. After that I worked for the half-Indian chiefs, Garrett and Walker, clearing thirty acres of land for seventy dollars, and making rails for fifty cents a hundred. Have made rails for thirty-three and a third cents a hundred, and made money at that. About 1832, I bought eighty acres of laud of John Addy, for two hundred dollars. On the 29th day of August, 1833, I married Miss Matilda Swiggart. Her setting out was a cow, it hog, a bee gum, and a bed. This was our start. I put up a log cabin on my first purchase, and we went to housekeeping. I then bought sixty acres of Murphy, adjoining the piece I lived on, and paid him one hundred and fifty-six dollars, cash down. A year or two after that, I bought eighty acres of Benj. Walker, for two hundred and two dollars and a half. My next purchase was one hundred and sixty acres, for one thousand dollars. When I bought eighty acres for eight hundred dollars. After that I bought five hundred acres, for which I paid six thousand two hundred and fifty dollars. The next purchase I made was two hundred and fifty acres for twenty-eight hundred dollars. Then eighty more for eight hundred dollars, eighty for nine hundred and eighty dollars, and three hundred and sixty for fifteen hundred dollars. Then I bought eighty acres more for eight hundred dollars. Next I bought four hundred and forty acres for thirteen thousand dollars, cash, and four hundred and forty more for twelve housand four hundred dollars. After that I purchased three hundred and twenty acres for ten thousand dollars, cash down. All this land I still own, besides a number of houses and lots in other places. I have two in Colmnbtm, worth four thousand dollars, and the hotel in Marion, which bears my name, I Kerr House,' This cost me fifty-five thousand dollars. I own property in Kansas City, worth six thousand dollars, and one hundred and twenty acres in Gage County, Nebraska, worth fifteen hundred dollars. Also, a house and lot in Nevada, Wyandot County, O., worth two thousand dollars.

"I have fifty thousand dollars paid up stock in the Farmers' Bank of Marion, fifty-one thousand in the Deposit Bank of Nevada, Wyandot County, and eleven thousand four hundred and fifty dollars in the Hocking Valley Railroad.

"What I have lost and given away in the last twenty or twenty-five years amounts to over seventy-five thousand dollars

" I have been a dealer in stock for the last forty years. At one time I had eight thousand five hundred sheep."

Mr. Kerr is well known through Ohio and adjoining States as an extensive live stock dealer, and is not confined to any one kind, but invests in whatever his judgment tells him will pay best. When he sees money in sheep, he buys sheep, and when cattle seems to he best, he invests in cattle. He is an excellent judge, and his investments generally prove profit-able. He is well known for his square dealing, and prides himself upon living up to his contracts.

His has been a busy life—at first full of hardships and we can only hope his declining years may he full of rest, and that he may peacefully enjoy the fruits of half a century of toil.

BOWLING GREEN TOWNSHIP.

What is now known as Bowling Green was part of Grand township, at the organization of Marion County. In 1832, when Montgomery township was organized, it included Bowling Green. The organization of this township as it now exists, took place March 5th, 1838.

The first white man who settled in Bowling Green, though not permanently, was Moses Dudley. He and Major Wm. La Rue, raised the first crop of corn ever raised by white men in this township. This cornfield was on the farm now owned by I. F. Guthery, Esq. Jesse Bell was the first resident land owner, and settled on the east bank of Rush Creek, in Feb. 1831 ; though there had been two or three cabins erected temporarily in the " Wind Fall" one or two years previous.

" The Wind Fall " is the name given to a tract of land swept by a tornado in 1823 or 1824. This tornado took its rise in Logan County, southwest of Bellefontaine, passed over that village, destroying a part of the buildings in the northern portion of the town, and carrying bits of shingles and pieces of clothing as far as the plains in Big Island township. It entered Marion County about three miles south of La Rue, following the direction of Rush Creek, crossed the Scioto about a mile below Longacre's mill, and spent its fury in the woods of Big Island township. The timber was broken and scattered in every direction along its track, which varied from one-fourth to three-fourths of a mile in width. This strip of country grew up in weeds and brush, which was burned off in the fall of 1829. It was a custom of the Indians to burn the woods over yearly for convenience in hunting, and when the fire swept through the"Wind Fall," it consumed the fallen timber, brush, weeds and grass, and left the ground in a condition that by digging with hoes among the few remaining logs, considerable corn was raised. In the spring of 1829, Moses Dudley, and others, from Big Island, went there and planted about twenty acres in corn, without plowing or fencing, and this crop grew without cultivation.

In the fall. when the corn was ripe, Maj. La. Rue and A. Brian measured half an acre, and from that they husked forty-four bushels. Moses Dudley sold his surplus to Bennett A Hardy, of Marion, for 6 1/4 cents per bushel, and they sold it to Maj. La Rue for 14 cents per bushel, delivered—something over 900 bushels in the lot. Shutes sold La Rue 700 bushels, and he sold or traded 200 of it to Mr. Dick for a horse. Hatch's got destroyed; only saving enough to get a chest. This crop was raised without cultivation, and as a consequence a rush was made for Bowling Green township by settlers. Several "squatters" came in in the fall of 1829 and winter of 1830; some of whom became permanent settlers. Among the pioneers were Benjamin Sager, Wm. Graham, David Harriman, John Burnet, Edward Williams. Aaron Bell, Thos. Walling, John Walling, Elisha Daniels, Thos. Andrews, Jotham Johnson, William Price, Joseph Guthery, John D. Guthery, I. F. Guthery, David and John Hockenberry, and Thomas Parr, who officiated in having the township organized and gave it the name of Bowling Green, in honor of a township of that name in Licking County, Ohio, from which he had come. He also laid out a town in the centre of the township, and named it Holmesville. This place improved considerably, having at one time a tavern, a dry goods store, two or three groceries, a post-office, a blacksmith shop, a wagon shop, etc. When the C. C. C. & I. R. R. was located, it passed through the northern part of the township, and La Rue was laid out on the east bank of the Scioto River, which entirely killed Holmesville, and that town is lost sight of, the landn being now occupied by I. F. Guthery, Esq., for a residence and farming purposes.

The above-named Thos. Parr also erected a "horse mill," which was of great value to the settlers, as previous to this they had to go twenty or thirty miles to get grinding done.

The first election in the township was held at Mr. Parr's house, in the spring of 1838, at which time Mr. Parr was elected township treasurer. Silas H. Cleaveland was elected township clerk. The first justice of the peace elected after the 'organization of the township, was Joe. Guthery, Esq., father of John D. and Isaac F. Gallery, who was commissioned May 14th, 1839. Wm. Graham, who resided in the township, was commissioned as justice of the peace, April 13th, 1886, having been elected before Bowling Green was set off from Montgomery.

The first school was taught by P. Lampheare, in a rude cabin in the south part of the township. This structure was built of logs and lighted by paper windows, formed by taking a log out of two sides of the building, and covering the openings with paper, pasted upon bars or sticks. placed in these openings for that purpose. The "house" was warmed from a large wood and dirt fire-place, built in one end of the structure. Soon after its organization, the township was divided into three school districts, which were furnished with the same kind of buildings as above described. These have since been superseded by eight fine frame houses. There is but one meeting-house in the township, though there has been church services ever since its first settlement ; at first in private houses, afterwards at the different school-houses.

The land is generally level and is well watered, the soil being a rich black loam.

Among the pioneers of this township still living, is JONATHAN BELL, Who Was born Nov. 1st, 1826, in Union County, Ohio, about five miles east of Marysville, and moved with his father and family to what is now Bowling Green township, Marion County, O., in February, 1831, being the first resident land owner therein. They located near the Union County line, on the east hank of Rush Creek, and in sight of where Indians were camped ; having to open the road for nearly two miles from where there was a settlement of six families in Union County. These were the nearest white neighbors, some of whom had settled there two years previous. At the time of Mr. Bell's arrival in this locality, hears were seen occasionally, and wolves and deer were abundant. The latter were frequently found in herds of from fifteen to twenty.

Mr. Bell experienced the hardships usual to pioneer life, and can relate many incidents of trial and privation, of which we of the present day know nothing. Ile has lived to see the country changed from a vast wilderness to fine cultivated fields, dotted with comfortable farm-houses, with convenient roads, numerous towns and villages, etc.

In 1847, Mr. Bell was married to Sarah Harraman. They have raised a family of seven children, and still live in sight of the spot where his father settled when he first came to the township in 1831. He has filled most nil the responsible township offices, serving as clerk and trustee for several years. Has assessed the township three times, served as justice of the peace for twelve years, and is now serving his sixth years as Director of the County Infirmary.

MONTGOMERY TOWNSHIP.

Daniel Markley built the first cabin in what is now Montgomery Township, about the year 1820. It was located on the Scioto River, at the crossing of the trail from Mechanicsburg to Upper Sandusky. He kept a sort of wilderness entertainment house for those who passed that way, this being the only traveled trail for twenty or thirty miles up or down the river. Ile vacated about 1824, and the cabin was destroyed by fire during the burning of the woods—the place afterwards being known as the site of " Danny's Cabin."

The next cabin built was by Samuel Franklin, at what was Cochranton. He was "entered out" by Wm. Cochran about 1823, went to Salt Rock township, but in 1831 returned and settled on Section 2.

In 1824, Colonel Wm. Cochran, from Ross County, settled at Cochranton. A post-office was established at his house, the mail being carried from Marion to Bellefontaine on horse-back. This place is now called "Scott Town," but the post-office still retains the name of Cochranton. The colonel was a worthy specimen of frontiersman. He could crack a joke or tell a story with fluency sufficient to attract attention in almost any company. He was an active church member, taking part in all the services, but would not hesitate to kill a deer, even on the Sabbath day, if one came within gunshot of his cabin. The colonel was a good neighbor, the frugal and industrious always finding him a friend in need. He and his family left about 1836 or 1838.McMurray Johnson settled about 1826 on section 2. He died eighteen years ago at the advanced age of seventy-four years. Mr. Crandal settled on section 17 in 1825 or 1826, and died previous to 1831. His widow and family remained several years, but finally moved West. Maj. William Ls Rue settled on the Scioto River, where the village of La Rue now stands, in 1825. His nearest neighbors, excepting the Crandal family, were six miles off till about 1831. In the fall of

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF MARION COUNTY, OHIO. - 109

that year and the winter following quite a number of settlers came in. John Tucker, Jerry Junes, William Besey, James Ramey, James Smith, and Mr. Wright, settled above La Rue. William J. Virden. Samuel Franklin, J. M. Johnson, and A. Brian, near Tymochtee Creek. In June, 1832 Montgomery township was organized. including what is now Bowling Green township. At a special election, Jerry Jones, A. Brian, and McMurray Johnson were elected Trustees, William La Rue Clerk, and J. Tucker Supervisor. The supervisor called out his hands in the fall. They came from the Scioto settlement to the road on the north line of the township, being the only road in the township. They put in their two days' work, returned, and in the afternoon opened four miles of new road from Brian's to their own settlement. This is a specimen of the go-ahead in those days.

About 1833 or '34 the State road from Marion to Lima was laid out. Quite a number settled on the route. J. T. Harvey, H. Corn, J. Owens, L. Louderback, A. Dudley, J. and C. Wallis, H. Hinkle, P. Fleming, John Clark, J. Anderson, C. Conklin, William H. Davis, three of the Carters, J. King, J. B. Richards, J. Thompson, --- Whalen, A. Virden. The following settled below La Rue: William Little, M. Van Fleet, Dickason, A. Johnson, V. Dutton, .J. T. Walker, Wm. McNeal. Jos. Sturges, -- Clayton, Russell Carey, W. W. Carey, and Wingate Carey, J. Elland, and J. Lint. These compose most of the settlers of that time. The first justice of the peace elected was Colonel Cochran, and William H. Davis was the second. Joseph Sturges and L. Ramonse erected a water-mill on the Scioto just south of the present site of New Bloomington. This mill was of the primitive style, consisting of one run, of corn burrs set on a puncheon floor platform, and was roofed with clapboards, laid across poles set on sticks planted in the ground. About 1839 this mill and power were purchased by Daniel Longacre, who erected a frame 25 by 40, three stories high, with two run of burrs, a huller, belts, etc, into which he afterwards put a carding machine, but did not keep it many years. In 1839 Joseph E. Fouk started a grocery in the second story of this mill, his principal customers being Thomas Parr and -- Guthery. This grocery was kept for about eighteen months. Shortly after it disappeared, Charles Rosette started a general store in an old horse near said mill. He was succeeded by Joseph E. Fouk, who sold to John and Isaac Guthery, they after a time, selling to other parties, who removed the stock to the present site of La Rue, and started the first store ever kept in that vicinity. It was in 1840 that the carding machine was put into the mill. This was afterwards soil to J. E. Fouk, who removed it to Little Sandusky, and started the first carding mill in Crawford County, and the first in the territory now comprising Wyandot reality

The Longacre mill was known awl attended by persons from all sections, including the neighboring counties It was a famous place for holding large political meetings in those days. After passing through, various goods in eighteen years, the foundations became impaired by high water, and the mill went down, the timber being removed by John Dodd.

The village of La Rue is thus described by Joshua Copeland. M.D. :

La Rue is situated in the southwest corner of the township on the Scioto River. Where the village stands, was. in 1851 the centre of Mr. La Rue's farm, through which the Bellfontaine and Indiana Railroad was located. William La Rue, the proprietor of the town, was born in Washington County Ohio, December 22, 1799. In the fall of 1823, he moved to Marion County, Ohio, and in the spring of 1823 moved to where he now lives, and built a house in the woods, where the village of La Rue now stands. He was possessed of but little means. barely able to enter about seventy acres of land; however, by hard work and good economy, lie in the course of a very few years owned three hundred acres together.

At that time hat are now Montgomery, Grand, and Bowling Green township, was known as Grand township and perhaps not more than half a dozen families lived within the bounds of this territory. For some time the place of holding elections was at Marseilles, now in Wyandot County. Up to 1852, this township was settled very slowly, but is now quite well settled, and is one of the best townships in the county.

It 1851, after the railroad was located through Mr. La Rue's farm, He laid out on the east bank of the Scioto a town, and at the suggestion of the people named it La Rue. This town plot embraced the best improvement he had made.

When I came here in May, 1852, but three or four houses were completed; the hotel was up and inclosed and full of boarders, railroad hands, etc. Many of them had to be content with a bed on the floor. Good lands surrounded the newly laid out village, but the settlement was thin for a few years.

When I came the grading of the railroad had commenced. Richard Wilson seemed to be running this part of the matter. The village commenced its growth, grew up with the country around substantially. The business men who started with the place, have nearly all disappeared. Some have died, some failed, and others moved to other parts. Three physicians started with the place, viz: Patten, Olds, and Copeland—and before long Dr. Wilkins came in—in course of three or four years only 'one remained. Dr. Lee came in and later still Dr. A. W. Disney, who remained here until his death in 1876. At present, and for a few years past, we have had Drs. Delong,

Mouser, Scott, and Copeland. We have two first-class stores of long standing. kept by H. S. Lucas & Co., and Hopkins & Leonard, situated in the brick block on High Street, a large And creditable block, 80 x 130 feet, containing six rooms below and as many above—also drug store, by W. Y. Campbell, and grocery in this block. On the same street, two hardware stores, and heir other groceries, livery stable, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, and the. Catholic churches, Union school-house, the two hotels, saddle and harness shop, and two millinery shops, a large warehouse, etc. It will be seen that High Street is the point in La Rue. We have a flouring and saw-mill, planing mill. four blacksmith shops, two furniture shops, etc., two wagon and carriage shops, fur shoe shops. and one tailor shop, on other streets. We also have a weekly paper, the "News." The proprietors, Messrs. Fleming & Tritt, are persevering and highly esteemed young men.

The population of La Rue now is 900. When I say 900 I mean 900. The township is well settled up, and well improved, and the population made up generally of industrious, prudent citizens.

Land rates at from forty to fifty dollars per acre. William La Rue, the proprietor of La Rue, is still living here at his old home. There is still room for more industrious men here, and we are glad to see such coming.

Bloomington was surveyed and platted, March 22d, 1856, the proprietors being Armstrong Smallwood, W. W. Carey, C. A. Darlington, and Wingate Carey, each laying out ten lots on his own corner. The name of the railroad station was Carey's. Soon after a post office was established by the name of New Bloomington.

In the spring of 1865, Dr. A. W. Buell came to this county, and purchased forty-five acres of land, including the west half of Bloomington and Carey Station, except two lots before sold off. Upon this half of the village was one small, cheap plank house, and an old log cabin. Upon the northeast quarter was a small plank house, and upon the southeast quarter was a warehouse and three small frame dwellings.

Dr. Buell immediately laid out and recorded a new village, which he called New Bloomington, the same name as the post-office. Numerous additions were made, and the old town of Bloomington was re-platted and re-numbered, and added to it. The name Carey's station was also done away with, and the present flourishing village of New Bloomington stands forth as the result of the enterprise and energy of its founder. When Dr. Buell came there were no stores in the place—one inferior and very hard saloon was all the trading house of any kind. There were no mechanics, and no prospect of the village ever growing, but the Dr. threw open his lands, began to sell or trade lots on any side or corner, and built houses in any part that would sell. Improvement was soon noticed, business Sprang up, and the population increased till now it has several hundred inhabitants. It was long since incorporated, and contains a jail. a nice church, a fine union school-house, stores of every kind, mills, warehouse, mechanics' shop:. etc. etc. It has good streets and nice plank walk-, and is a thriving place.

GRAND TOWNSHIP.

This township was organized June 7th, 1821, and extended across the entire western side of the county. In 1832, Montgomery township way struck oft, and included what is now Bowling Green.

Among the early settlers within the present limits of Grand township. was Enoch Clark, who settled in 1820. C'hampness Terry and family, from Virginia, came in 1831, and settled on the farm where he still resides. Thos. J. Terry was then a child. Others who came in at an early tiny, were Edward, Thomas and Joseph Rubens, Chas. Merriman, Hugh Long, Jacob Seaborn, Gilbert Olney and his son, Benjamin, Elisha Davis, Walter Davis, P. Seaman, Geo. Barnes, John Lindsay, Thos. Lapham. Geo. Gray, and David Stiverson.

At an election held June 26th, 1824. Win. Cochran was elected justice of the peace, receiving twelve votes. Subsequently at the State election, Oct. 12th, 1824, Jeremiah Morrow¬ received thirteen votes for Governor, and Allen Trimble six.

Grand is the smallest township in the county, and has no village. It is well watered, and is quite productive, raising wheat, corn, oats, and clover in abundance. There are several artesian wells in the northeast part, from which the water rises to the height of three to seven feet above the surface. Several quarries of good building stone are found in this town. ship.

GEORGE GRAY was born in Essex Co., State of Delaware, on the 18th day of May, 1801. His father, Frazier Gray, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, referred to in another part of this article. George worked on a farm with his father until he was seventeen years of age, when he went to learn the carpenter and joiner trade. He worked three years. and was then married to Miss Jane Barr, on the 13th day of February, 1827. Has raised a family of seven children, live are still living. After his marriage, Mr. Gray worked for two years in a shipyard near home. He emigrated to this State with his brother, Rev. David Gray, May 20th, 1829, his brother stopping at Zanesville, O., and George coming to Salt Rock township, in this county, where he worked at his trade for a while, as mechanics were very much needed at the time.

In 1835, he was elected by the legislature as Associate Judge of Marion County, and served seven years. In 1860, was elected Probate judge of Marion County. and re-elected in 1863. Was elected Mayor of the City of Marion, which office lie soon afterwards resigned.

He was elected Justice of the peace for Montgomery town-ship, and in 1858 was appointed post-master at Cochranton P. 0. (Scott Town). Of the many offices of honor and trust which he held, the last was justice of the peace of Grand township, where he still lives. He is now past seventy-two years of age, having been an active man all his life, loved and respected by all who know him.

FRAZIER GRAY. In the Union graveyard at Scott Town, there stands a stone over the remains of Frazier Gray, a soldier of the Revolution. Mr. Gray enlisted in the Delaware Continentals, and served as one of the " Blue Hen's Chickens" until the conclusion of the war. He returned to Delaware with his disbanded comrades, and resided there until 1839, when he joined his sons, George and Samuel, in this county. He died in 1819, aged about eighty-nine years.

Mr. Gray was with his regiment on the Hudson at the time Major Andr'e was captured, and was one of the soldiers who guarded him while in confinement, and stood near the willows when the Major was hung. He related the occurrence from a soldier's point of view, about as follows : Andr'e was well and neatly dressed, was polite and courteous in his min eves, never betraying the least emotion, and when on the scaffold he made a beautiful speech, full of loyalty to his king, and denying any intention of enacting the role of a spy. He claimed that Melee the circumstances he ought not to lie hung, lint if death was inevitable, a soldier's death by shooting should be ordered, As his last appeal met with no response, He turned to the officer near him, and with smiles on his face, signified his reclines to die in any way for his king and country.

Mr. Gray knew and had conversed with Washington. One incident he related was this: A few of the " Blue Hen's Chickens," Mr. Gray among the number, had leave to go out of the lines, chest nutting, on Sunday. While so engaged, Washington and his orderly rode near them, and called Mr. Gray to him. " What are you doing; here?" said the General. "Gathering

some nuts, sir," replied Mr. Gray, " by permission." " It is right then, but remember green chestnuts are very unwholesome. Be careful and not eat too many, for we can not spare any Delaware men," and with a regular military salute the General rode away.

The old veteran died suddenly, without pain, free from all diseases, of old age. He passel through the Revolution with-out a wound, and returned to his old house in good health and with pure morals.

SALT ROCK TOWNSHIP.

The following sketch was contributed by a former citizen: Ebenezer Roseberry was the first settler. Other pioneers were Daniel Swaggart, William Woolsey. John Wilson, and Platt Brush, all of whom came prior to or about I820.

The township got its name as follows: the above mentioned pioneers were together, and, as usual, Roseberry spiced the occasion with a hunting story, never allowing one to be incomplete, with his abundant natural store of material. It run about thus: "I had shot and wounded the largest buck I ever saw, not so seriously, however, hut that he could get. over the tall grass pretty rapidly on three legs. In the pursuit I stumbled and fell over what I supposed to be a rock; but it looked so white I turned and broke off a piece, which 1 declare was pure salt."

In the laugh that followed, Platt Brush said, "That will do. Salt Rock shall be the name of the township."

The first merchant, Ora Bellis, from New York. located in 1819, and died the same year, being the first death.

, The first birth was that of Rosanna Bowser, in 1820. Her father, a few daps after, was at the first election in the township, and his vote was challenged on account of minority. He could not testify to his age, but "thought he was entitled to vote, for he had a wile and baby." This election was held at Eb. Roseberry's, near the present site of Amos Taylor's residence. Roseberry kept an entertainment house, being the first and last for over fifty years. Other early settlers were Hugh B. Smith, Isaac Woods, John McElvey, George King, and Mahlon Marsh.

John Green was the first justice of the pence. — Bradley was the first State senator. Win. Brown was the first surveyor, also the first representative. The first school was taught at John Green's in 1823. The first hunting hounds were brought from Virginia, in 1826, by Robert Martin and his sons.

Eb. Roseberry's death and burial is a historical reminiscence, and the subject of several Reticles heretofore published, the first by Dr. Fletcher, in 1846, entitled," The Drunkard's Wake." The principals attending this wake were John Green, presiding officer, Henry Bowser, head cook—these two, being selected and duly appointed by Roseberry before he died to act in the ceremonies to follow—Sam Green, Charles Best, Bill Sims, and several others. The entertainment, as Roseberry directed, was to continue till the contents of a whiskey barrel were exhausted. It was a carousal probably never equaled ; it lasted four days, Roseberry, the corpse, being raised to his feet and

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF MARION COUNTY, OHIO - 110

the glass put to his cold lips, to take his unlighted turn with his comrades.

A combat between two Indian ohlefe, near Carpenter's Cross Roads, was witnessed by a settler, unbeknown to them, and is thus described; "They met, dismounted, and immediately rushed into deadly strife, one with a tomahawk, and the other with a long butcher knife. They fought like madmen, and dealt stroke after stroke, and cut after cut, till both fell to the ground exhausted. One soon recovered, took the tomahawk of the other and threw it into the bushes, then staggering to Ids pony remounted and went out of sight, dripping with blood. The eye-witness of this terrible hand to hand combat went to the nearest house and reported it, and accompanied by the writer, then n boy seven years old, returned to the scene of encounter. The wounded Indian bad recovered, so that, with a little help, he was soon on his pony, wending his way back to his tribe. The wild grass was stained with blood marking the track of the struggle.

Little Sandusky Creek, a sinuous stream, meanders across the township, and along its banks are many springs, in early days the haunt of wild animate, and the scene of many huntlng adventures, whites and Indians often joining in the wild sport. Near the banks of this stream are the remains of extensive wigwams. The plan seems much like the Pawnee houses though, before the ground was disturbed, some two years since, the tracings of a large amphitheater were quite perfect. Near by, on the table-land, is an oblong circle around the highest point in the vicinity, inclosed by a ditch five hundred and fifty paces in length. The break, or passage way in the ditch is on the southwest and northeast, in a direct line with the fallen buildings. Two wells are distinctly, visible on the southeast. Oak trees are standing in the ditch to mark the passing of hundreds of years. In the immediate vicinity, as tile trees were cut down a few years since, axe marks were found in several trees, plain and :perfect as though made by a recent hand, though over a hundred years bad covered up the scars.

The foot-prints of the mound-builders were left to an interesting extent in the northeast part of the township. in the vicinity of Morraltown is a circular mound several feet high, and in the days of the early settlers quite prominent, with a hickory tree upon its apex. The tree is now gone, but the ground has never been disturbed, and its tracings are' still distinct. One mile from this are other curiosities, undisturbed till two years ago. showing that this section has been the home of those of an unknown past.

One mile northwest of these ancient mounds, on the edge of the prairie, and near a large pond, as the sod was turned over for the first time n few years since, lead bullets were discovered in the furrow, and boys found them by the pocketful. They were near or quite an ounce in weight. Being six or eight inches under the surface shows they were not of recent deposit.

As a matter of history, "Goose Pond" should not be omitted, though now extinct. As late as forty years ago it was known to sportsmen in every city west of the Alleghenies. Its area was about fifty acres, and at times, in the spring and fall, the noise was annoying for miles around, from the squawking of geese and ducks coming and going constantly. The present generation can scarcely imagine the immense numbers of migratory birds that made "Goose Pond" their halfway stopping place, between the lakes of the North and the bayous of the South. In earliest days here, there were no shot-guns; the flint-luck ride was all the sportsman carried, and I have known the discharge of one bullet to kill five geese.

This pond, as a pond, is no more. Drainage has dried it up, and the husbandman reaps a rich reward annually from the rich alluvial, accumulated in centuries gone by.

Salt Rock is all in what is known as the Sandusky Plains, and is very level. A number of artesian wells have been sunk to the depth of thirty or forty feet, and now from three to ten feet above the surface, furnishing an abundant supply of water for stock.

Morral was laid out a few years ago, on the line of the Columbus and Toledo Railroad, on the lands of Samuel Morral, Sr., and now has three stores, a hotel, post-office, and depot.

BIG ISLAND TOWNSHIP.

This township was first settled by Jacob Croy and Joshua Cope, who settled, or "squatted," before the land came into market, Jacob Dickerson, Samuel Jones, William Britton, Alexander Britton, Dr. Alason Newton, and Hezekiah Gorton. Others came in about the same time, among whom were Leonard Metz, Newton Messenger, Col. Everett Messenger, Portius Wheeler, David Thompson, Elder David Dudley, Mr. South-wick, and Caleb Johnson. Mrs. Col. Messenger, Johnson's daughter, is the oldest resident now living in the township. flee parents moved in when she was but five months old ; and as she is now fifty-seven years of age, it makes the date of their arrival about 1821. She tells of an Indian funeral that took place near their residence. The corpse was that of a squaw, who was held in high esteem among the Indians, and believed by them to be more than ordinarily "good," for they would speak of her as "she good squaw." They constructed a sort of bier out of poles and brush placed thereon, upon which the corpse was deposited covered `with shawls and blankets, and in this manner carried to Upper Sandusky for burial. Among the "squatter sovereigns 'of this. township were a widow Nevil and her two bachelor sons, William and John, who settled about a mile from the "chope" of Neville Run in 1821. They were "entered out by Mr. Day in 1825 or 1826, and then squatted on the smith part of section 2. They made their living by hunting,—farming as little as possible. It is said the game was not thinned out much by them, for they were not "mighty hunters." They left Marion County in 1835, going northwest through the Black Swamp, cutting their way as they went, and late in the fell arrived at the St. Joe settlement in Indiana.

The early settlers experienced great difficulty in getting their grain ground into meal or flour. In a dry time they had to go to Mt. Vernon, or to King's Creek, on or near Darby Plains. When the corn hardened sufficiently in the fall, meal was often made by means of a grater. Any person skilled in the use of the rifle could always keep the family supplied with deer and turkey meat. Caleb Johnson erected the first grist mill in the township. It stood near his residence on the Radnor road leading from Upper Sandusky to Delaware. It was what was known as a horse-mill, the power being furnished by four horses, or a team of horses and a yoke of oxen, working on a tread-wheel The carpenter work of this mill was executed by John Fluellen as head workman, with several others assisting.

The first election in Big Island township was held at Caleb Johnson's residence, where Col. Messenger now lives. The two political parties were known as "Coheas and Yankees." Mr. Johnson was a " Yankee."

Fever and ague was a prevailing affliction, and to such an extent did this exist that oftentimes there were not enough well ones to take care of the sick. Dr. Norton was the only practising physician, and under his wise and careful treatment his patients generally recovered.

These pioneers were not without their meetings of worship. Elder Dudley, a pious and good man, was their preacher, and it was thought no hardship to go a mile or more on foot to attend evening meetings, using hickory bark for torches to light their way hack.

At an election held June 5th, 1824, Joshua Cope was elected justice of the peace, receiving twenty-four votes, his opponent receiving thirteen. In the fall of the same year, at the State election, Big Island township polled thirty-nine votes, four-teen for Morrow and twenty-five for Trimble, candidates for Governor.

The village of Big island was laid out March 12th, 1829, by Alson Norton. In 1831 it had three stores, with quite a run of trade from the west part of the comity, but the springing up of other villages took the trade elsewhere

GREEN CAMP TOWNSHIP.

Daniel Markley was one of the first settlers in this township. His cabin was located near the old Block House in the northeast part of the township. He went further up the Scioto for a while, but after a few years returned to Green Camp and died there some twenty-five years ago.

Alexander Porter settled in this township in 1819, before the land was surveyed or ready for sale. The same year a man named Wicks "squatted" on land now owned by the Johnson heirs. This land was entered by Levi Hammond about 1820 or 1821. A man, named James Owen, located a little further south about the same time. In 1820 John Ashbaugh entered the Block House tract. Among others, who came within a vear or two, were Andrew Sullivan, David A. Town, James Murphy, Levi Perry, Ebenezer Perry, and George Wright. Wright was a silversmith, who had left his wife—an Indian woman—and was engaged in selling trinkets to the Indians. At his death he left his personal property to his children, but his real estate he left to the township for school purposes, and this was sold, a vote being first taken. John Logue, Alexander Jenkins, and John Straw were squatters in 1820, but never bought or entered any land in the township. William Humphreys and Samuel Powell were early settlers.

During the war of 1812, a company of men under Captain Green encamped on the river within the township limits, from which circumstance it derived its name.

At an election held May 11th, 1824, for justice of the peace, Joseph Boyd received eleven votes, Samuel Fish seventeen. At the State election, in the fall of that year, this township cast seven votes for Trimble and three for Morrow. The township was organized June 8, 1824.

Mr. J. F. Sifritt says: "My recollection does not extend as far back as some, perhaps, yet being the oldest native of this township now living in it, I send you the following. When my father, John Sifritt, settled in this township in 1836, there was living here a colony of Germane, who had emigrated to this country four years previous, and purchased a tract of land four miles west of the Scioto River, and settled on it. They opened a wide street through the entire tract, and built their houses on either side, extending for about one mile. They built a corn mill with twenty-four inch burrs, which was turned by hand. In 1838 they got what is known as milk sickness, and several died. The remainder sold their land and moved away, some to Hancock County, Ohio, others to Missouri.

In 1837, as Mr. John Beem was returning home through the woods, from a visit to one of his neighbors, a violent storm came up suddenly, and not being able to reach home ahead of it he inept Into a hollow log which lay near the path. Soon after the wind blew a large tree across the log he had entered, making him a prisoner, but late in the afternoon it neighbor, happening to pass by, heard his cries, and getting an axe chopped him out.

The first school taught in District No 5, was in the winter of 1838-9. It was commenced in one of the houses vacated by the Germans, but in a short time the house caught fire and burned down. Mr. Adam Imbody had lately built an addition to his house, but had not yet occupied it, so he gave the school permission to occupy it. But a disturbance soon arose, and it again became necessary to remove, which was done, to a house 12 by 14 feet, in which my mother had kept her loom when weaving. Here the term was finished. The next winter the directors secured another house, which was used for several years. It was built of round logs, with clapboard roof, the boards being held in place by poles laid across the building on top of them. The floor was made of puncheons, mule by splitting large logs into slabs about three inches thick with one side hewed smooth. The seats were made of Lynn logs, split apart and legs put in them. The cracks between the logs were filled with clay taken from under the floor, and as the clay washed out each year and had to be replaced, it soon made quite a hole under the floor. The room was lighted by greased paper windows. About one-half of one end of the building was occupied by the fire-place, the back wall and jambs of which were made of stones, and the chimney of sticks and mud.

For many years the practice was followed of barring the teacher out, on the day before Christmas, until he would agree to treat the school on apples and cider. On that morning the scholars would get to the school-house before daylight, and, by piling the benches against the door, would have it securely fastened when the teacher arrived. In the winter of 1842 a young man, named Cyrus Carter, taught the school In District No. 5, and, when the time arrived, he was barred out according to custom. But, thinking to outwit the school, he climbed on to the roof, and removing the boards made an opening, through which he dropped to the floor. However, he had no sooner landed than the large girls of the school caught him, and raising one of the puncheons put him in the hole underneath the floor, where they kept him until he agreed to treat the school.

For several years wolves were very troublesome to settlers who owned sheep. They have killed sheep within six rode of our house. The last black bear seen in this section was killed by James Chard, near the southwest corner of the township.

It was customary in the spring for farmers to mark the eare of their hogs and turn them into the woods, where they would soon become wild as deers. When snow fell the following fall, they would generally be found in some hollow log. After fastening them in, teams would be brought, then they would be chopped out, tied and hauled home."

Berwick was laid out by David Beach. August 14th, 1838. It is now incorporated and called Green Camp.

PROSPECT TOWNSHIP.

Ezra Markley, from Penna., was the first settler. Thomas Pugh, from Wales, came next. These came prior to 1819. Robert Cratty was the third settler, and is still living. Others that came soon after were Philip Lawrence, James Thomas, Evan Evans, John Bowen, Thomas Adams, D. Landers, John Randall, John and Isaac Martin, Thomas Phillips, and John Wynne.

Henry Hain says: "My father came to Marion County in June, 1830, and commenced housekeeping in a small log cabin, near Locust Grove Church, on the Delaware pike. The cabin being very small and the family large, we hadn't sufficient room to set a table. We brought a large chest with us from Pennsylvania, say five feet long and thirty inches square, which answered for our table. In this cabin one of my sisters was married, and the wedding dinner was eaten off said chest.

" Money was very scarce, and no furniture to be had without money, so we were obliged to manufacture our own. A bed-stead was constructed in this manner: At a proper distance from the corner of the house bore a hole in the logs on either aide, about two feet from the floor, into these holes insert two saplings, and where they would cross set up another stick for a post, into which stick the other end of these saplings—then lay clapboards across, to answer for bed cords; on top of this the bedding was thrown, and there we would sleep. When I say we, I mean the people in general, at that early day.

"When the corn got too hard, in the fall, for roasting ears, we would take part of an old tin pail, and with a nail punch it full of holes; then fasten it on a clapboard in the shape of a horse-radish grater, and on this rude article we would grate the corn for mush and pone. When the corn got hard enough to grind, we would take a sackful, on a horse, and go through the woods and across the prairies, to where the road from Marion to Claridon crosses the old mud pike, where a man by the name of Olds had a horse-mill, built entirely out of round hickory logs, and when the mill was running it would shake, so that it was in danger of falling down. Mr. Olds was his own carpenter, blacksmith, miller and millwright, and had scarcely any tools to work with, save a hammer, an axe, and woods, from a visit to one of his neighbors, a violent storm came up suddenly, add not being able to roach home ahead of it, he crept Into a hollow log which lay near the path. Soon after the wind blew a largo tree across the log he had entered, making him a prisoner. but late in the afternoon a neighbor, happening to paw by, heard his cries, and getting an axe chopped him out.

The first school taught In District No 5, was in the winter of 1838-9. It was commenced in one of the house vacated by the Germans, but in a short time the house caught fire and burned down. Mr. Adam Imbody had lately built an addition to his house, but had not yet occupied it, so he gave the school permission to occupy it. But a disturbance soon arose, and it again became necessary to remove, which was done, to a house 19 by 14 feet, in which my mother had kept her loom when weaving. Here the term was finished. The next winter the directors secured another house, which was used for several years. It was built of round logs, with clapboard roof, the boards being held in place by polo laid across the building on top of them. The floor was made of puncheons, mule by splitting large logs into slabs about three inches thick with one side hewed smooth. The seats were made of Lynn logs, split apart and legs put in them. The cracks between the logs were filled with clay taken from under the floor, and as the clay washed out each year and had to he replaced, it soon made quite a hole under the floor. The room was lighted by greased paper windows. About one-half of one end of the building was occupied by the fire-place, the back wall and jambs of which were made of stones, and the chimney of sticks and mud.

For many years the practice was followed of barring the teacher out, on the day before Christmas, until he would agree to treat the school on apples and eider. On that morning the scholars would get to the school-house before daylight, and, by piling the benches against the door, would have it securely fastened when the teacher arrived. In the winter of 1842 a young man, named Cyrus Carter, taught the school in District No. 5, and, when the time arrived, he was barred out according to custom. But, thinking to outwit the school, he climbed on to the roof, and removing the boards name an opening, through which he dropped to the floor. However, he had no sooner landed than the large girls of the school caught him, and raising one of the puncheons put him in the hole underneath the floor, where they kept him until he agreed to treat the school.

For several years wolves were very troublesome to settlers who owned sheep. They have killed sheep within six rode of our house. The last black bear seen in this section was killed by James Chard, near the southwest corner of the township.

It was customary in the spring for farmers to mark the ears of their hogs and turn them into the woods, where they world soon become wild as deers. When snow fell the following fall, they would generally be found in some hollow log. After fastening them teams would be brought, then they would be chopped out, tied and hauled home."

Berwick was laid out by David Beach, August 14th, 1838. It is now incorporated and called Green Camp.

PROSPECT TOWNSHIP.

Ezra Markley, from Penna., was the first settler. Thomas Pugh, from Wales, came next. These came prior to 1819. Robert Cratty was the third settler, and is still living. Others that came soon after were Philip Lawrence, James Thomas, Evan Evans, John Bowen, Thomas Adams, D. Landers, John Randall, John and Isaac Martin, Thomas Phillips, and John Wynne.

Henry Hain says: "My father came to Marion County in June, 1830, and commenced housekeeping in a small log cabin, near Locust Grove Church, on the Delaware pike. The cabin being very small and the family large, we hadn't sufficient room to set a table. We brought a large cheat with us from Pennsylvania, say live feet long and thirty inches square, which answered for our table. In this cabin one of my sisters was married, and the wedding dinner was eaten off said chest.

" Money was very scarce, and no furniture to be had without money, so we were obliged to manufacture our own. A bed-stead was constructed in this manner: At a proper distance from the corner of the house bore a hole in the logs on either side, about two feet from the floor, into these holes insert two saplings, and where they would cross set up another stick for a post, into which stick the other end of these saplings—then lay clapboards across, to answer for bed cords; on top of this the bedding was thrown, and there we would sleep. When I say we, I mean the people in general, at that early day.

" When the corn got too hard, in the fall, for roasting ears, we would take part of an old tin pail, and with a nail punch it full of holes; then fasten It on a clapboard in the shape of a horse-radish grater, and on this rude article we would grate the corn for mush and pone. When the corn got hard enough to grind, we would take a sackful, on a horse, and go through the woods and across the prairies, to where the road from Marion to Claridon crosses the old mud pike, where a man by the name of Olds had a horse-mill, built entirely out of round hickory logs, and when the mill was running it would shake, so that it was in danger of falling down. Mr. Olds was his own carpenter, blacksmith, miller and millwright, and had scarcely any tools to work with, save a hammer, an axe, and

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF MARION COUNTY, OHIO - 111

an augur. In many places the master wheel was tied together with chains and hickory withes and when starting the mill in the morning Of at noun, he would stand under the master wheel with a handspike and drive the cogs back or in. Once while thus engaged, the spike caught in the trundle head and knocked him down, and for some time his family supposed he was (lead.

"The building in which my father first settled was a small shop, large enough to put three beds constructed as above described, and permit the door to swing, so we put that number of beds into it. The cracks between the logs were not daubed, and as a great deal of snow fell that winter, which was a very cold one, we would frequently fled two inches of snow on our beds in the morning. Such were some of the experiences of pioneer life."

Prospect township was organized in 1840. Its surface is generally level or gently rolling. It has an excellent sandy soil. The Scioto River passes through from north to south, near the centre, and affords a splendid mill site at Prospect village. This village was originally called Middletown, and was laid out Dec. 25th, 1835, by Christian Gast. The first school-house and the first church in the township were built in Middletown, by Mr. Gast and Mr. Cratty.

After the advent of the Columbus and Toledo Railroad a few years ago, numerous additions were made to the town, and it is now quite a business point, having a number of good s ores of various kinds, a large grist mill, a commodious warehouse, an excellent hotel near the depot, and numerous mechanics' nice' shops.

John Quincy Roads, a prominent citizen of this township, was born in Licking Co., O., Aug. 17th, 1828. At the age of seven years his mother died, and he was taken by his uncle and kept at school until be was twelve years old. He was then sent to a higher school, where he finished his education at the age of nineteen. In 1847, he spent some months traveling in Canada, Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Sept. 20th, 1849, he was married to Margaret Ann Arnold, who was born Aug. 6th, 1828, in Fauquhier County, Va. She came with her parents to Knox Co., Ohio, in 1831. In 1837, they moved to Licking Co., O., where she lived till her marriage in 1847, she attended the Presbyterian Seminary at Granville, Ohio. Elder Jas. Harvey, a Baptist minister, performed the marriage ceremony.'

Mr. Roads came to Marion Co. Oct. 18th, 1819, to look up a location. He purchased the land on which they have resided ever since. On the 14th of Nov. 1849, with his wife and household goods. he arrived at the "old cabin in the woods " It 'looked dismal and dreary compared with what they had been used to having and seeing, but God gave them courage and blessed the labor of their hands. With but a few acres cleared at first, in a few years they had one hundred and twenty acres of green forest cleared up. Comfortable dwellings and barns were built, and they now live quietly and pleasantly, spending their time as husbandman and domestic duties require. For twenty years sheep have been their favorite stock and the source of their income.

Robert Cratty, the subject of this sketch, was born near Chambersburg, Pa., Aug. 24th, 1784, and is now over ninety-three years of age, yet in remarkably good health and vigor.

He is descended from a family noted for their longevity ; his mother having to be nearly ninety-three years old, and her mother lacked but four months of being one hundred at the time of her death.

When Mr. Cratty was but two years old, his parents moved to Westmoreland Co., Pa. From there to Butler Co., Pa, where they resided about twenty years. Mr. Cratty next lived in Beaver Co., Pa., for four or five years, then came to this State, locating near Ostrander, Delaware Co., in 1811. He settled upon his present location in 1820. He built hie cabin in the fall of 1819, but did not move in until the following spring. This cabin was tweeted in one day. Men came eighteen miles to help build it. They made the clapboards, put it up and went home the same night. At the lime of Mr. Cratty's arrival this section was a dense woods. The nearest neighbors were Ezra Markley, who lived about two miles away, and Thomas Pugh, about a mile and n half.

Indians were plenty, but peaceable and friendly. They camped in the woods round about, while hunting, and would call at the white men's houses nearly every day to get pro-visions. Deer were very plenty, and Mr. Cratty says he could get one in an hour's time most any day. They used also to have plenty of bear meat. The fat when rendered made excellent lard.

On the 3d of March, 1820, Mr. Cratty planted eight acres of corn, from which he gathered an excellent crop.

Mr. Cratty's first wife died this same year. Her maiden name was Elizabeth English. They were married Dec. 27th, 1803, and had ten children. At the time of her death, seven of them were living, the oldest daughter being then but thirteen years old. She did most of the work and looked after the younger members of the family. Two of these children are still living, Robert Cratty, Jr., in Marion, and Eliza Clay, at Centreville.

In Sept. 1821, Mr. Cratty was married to Ellen Porter She became the mother of twelve children, five of whom are still living—one being in Arkansas, one in Hocking Co., O., and the others in this county. She died in 1844.

In October, 1845, Mr. Cratty was again married, to Sarah Burrill (widow). She died in 1859, leaving no children by Mr. Cratty.

His present wife, to whom he was married July 23d, 1861, was bore April 3rd, 1797, and is now over eighty-one years of age. She enjoys good health, and attends to household duties without fatigue. Her maiden name was Sarah Wyatt. She was married Sept. 1830, to Elder Marcus Kilbourn, who died Sept. 1836. She is a native of Conesteo. Steuben Co., New York, and came to Cleveland, Ohio, June 25th, 1797 ; her father's being one of the first live families that settled there.

Mr. Cratty's family have quite a war record. His father was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. Himself in the war of 1812, and four of his sons served their country in the war of the Rebellion.

He was second lieutenant in Col. Miller's Regiment, Penns. Militia, in the war of 1812, acting as ensign, and stationed at Erie, Pa.

Mr. Cratty has never taken an active part in politics, nor held any office. He it a member of the Presbyterian Church, and in early days was Superintendent of the Sabbath school at Prospect. Himself and Christian Gast built the first school house there. The house in which he at present resides he built in 1839. Around the old familiar hearth, he loves to tell of by gone days, and relates many incidents of pioneer life, some of which are embodied in another part of this work.

But few of the early residents of this county yet linger with us; they too most soon pass away, find in coming years the records of this volume will be perused with curiosity and eagerness, to ascertain the names and deeds of its pioneers ; among them none will have a fairer name than the subject of this sketch.