HISTORY OF HOCKING COUNTY, OHIO

Source: 
History of Hocking Valley, Ohio -
Published Chicago: by Inter-State Publishing Co.
1883

CHAPTER XXIX.
HISTORY OF HOCKING COUNTY -
THE HOCKING VALLEY - THE WHITE MAN'S ADVENT AND RED MAN'S EXIT.
Pgs. 813 - 834

[PORTRAIT OF FERDINAND L. REMPEL]

THOSE WHO LED the VAN of CIVILIZATION - THE FIRST PIONEERS -
THE COUNTY ORGANIZATION ACT - EARLY RECORDS - EAGLE AND SALT CREEK -
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' FIRST MEETING - FIRST GRAND JURY -
GREEN AND LAUREL - TOWNSHIPS ORGANIZED AND NUMBERED -
ITEMS - FALLS, GORE AND JACKSON - MARION - BENTON - JAIL AND COURT-HOUSE -
MINERAL TALK - PROGRESS - POPULATION 1840 - TAXATION -
EXTRACTION FROM SENTINEL, 1842 - SOMETHING OF EARLY DAYS -
SOMETHING ABOUT A NAME - TOPOGRAPHY - METES AND BOUNDS

THOSE WHO LED THE VAN OF CIVILIZATION

     When the first white man trod the soil of Hocking, it was as an armed foe of the then possessors of the soil.  This was the march of Governor Dunmore in his war against the Indians of 1774.  His line of March led him over part of the soil of this county.  On his return it seems that some of his men deserted, and established themselves as squatter sovereigns of the soil.  The Indians complained of this in later years, and a treaty was held in abeyance for nearly a year until the squatters were driven from the land.  It cannot be positively told whether any of these men were located within the limits of Hocking County as now formed, but Athens County was known to have had a few, and relics of their abode have been found.  The treaty of Lord Dunmore with the indians proved a temporary affair, for after the war of the Revolution was closed Dunmore's work had to be done over again, and the same means used.   When peace found a home on the soil of the Northwest Territory, it did not take long to people it with a race of hardy pioneers, whose courage nothing could daunt, whose energies never relaxed, whose labor and endurance caused the wilderness to disappear, and prosperity to drape the fields with promises of a golden harvest.  It is not necessary here to repeat the advent, purchase and settlement of the Ohio Company; that has been fully recorded

[Pg. 814]
in the preceding pages.  What is to be given here is the history of Hocking when the first permanent white settler chose the beautiful valley of the Hocking as his home.

THE FIRST PIONEER.

     CHRISTIAN WESTENHAVER, a resident of Maryland, left his home in that State in 1796, with the intention of finding a home within the limits of the Northwest Territory.  Wintering at Fort Belpre, he, in the spring of 1797, removed his family to the Little Hocking and not being suited, the following year, 1798, he settled in the county on Oldtown Creek, on land subsequently owned by Homer Wright.  The old log cabin - or remnants of it - was still standing as late as 1870.  In a short tiem a house was reared, and in the meantime his family followed him in a canoe, worming themselves up the Hocking River.  His stock of provisions was small, but game was plenty, which drove the haggard face of starvation far into the backgrounds.  Mr. Westenhaver was a type of the early pioneer, strong, rugged and enduring, and for twenty-two years lived the life of an upright man, and a neighbor whose services were ever at the command of those who needed them.  He died on his farm in 1830.
     Mr. Westenhaver settled on his place in March, 1798, and he was followed the next two months by John Pence and Conrad Brian, brothers-in-law, locating their families in a log cabin where Andrew Kern’s house now stands.  They entered two eighty-acre lots east of the town, not far from Westenhaver’s, on section 12, and on land now within the limits of the city of Logan.  John Pence took the lower eighty acres, since known as Braggtown, and Conrad Brian the upper eighty acres, erecting his cabin on the ground afterward occupied by Dr. Bishop, since deceased.  This land included the lower part of the town, from Goose Creek to the Rochester Corner.  A few years later this tract so pleased the eye of Thomas Worthington that he gave Brian $1,000 for it.  Worthington a few years afterward, in 1814, became Governor of the State.

     JOHN PENCE lived to the age of sixty-eight yeas, and proved himself an honorable man and kind neighbor.  He left a family of twelve children.  His third and fourth, Joseph and Rebecca, were the first white children born in Hocking County.  His brother-in-law, Conrad Brian, lived to the age of eighty years, dying in 1856.

[Pg. 815]
on his farm, a large one purchased with the money arising from his sale to Governor Worthington of his first eighty acres.
     Pence and Brian were followed in a very short time by several pioneers, which formed quite a neighborhood.  They were Israel Francois and family, Jacob Fruheart and family, Michael Beard, Patrick Beard, two daughters and a granddaughter.  They made quite an opening on the river, since known as the Iles farm, raising quite a crop of corn and vegetables, especially potatoes.  This constituted the population of Hocking County up to the following spring, 1799, which made the county's population at that date twenty-two, being nine men, five married women, three young women and eight children.  In this latter year came William Brian, John Kent and Watts, also two families locating near Scotch Creek.  In 1800 several families came in, dotting here and there, making an opening for more permanent settlers.  In 1801 two families located near the falls, clearing quite a spot directly on top of the high land west of McCarthy's house.
     Between the years of 1802 and 1805 large numbers of floating emigrants flocked in.  Some made permanent establishments; many others after squatting down and making small openings became dissatisfied and left the diggings.  Subsequent to 1805 came in a family by the name of Myers, locating and clearing quite a portion of the land now known as the Stiers farm, at the same time the Young and Smith families, also Moses Starr, entering a farming tract about four miles east of Logan, then a dense wilderness.  Three years later, in 1808, Benj. Biddle and family located on part of the land since owned by John Westenhaver.  He was one of the prominent citizens of that early day; was one of the Associate Judges, and his son, Judge Biddle, of Indiana, occupied a proud position on the bench of that State.  Judge Benj. Biddle died at his residence and was buried near the home on the river, and on a spot he loved so well, since marked by a handsome monument, the act of his son.  There was a steady influx of settlers to nearly all parts of the county, especially up and down the valley of the Hocking and on Raccoon Creek.  In the years from 1809 to 1814 quite a number of new settlers arrived.  Henry O’Neill and his two sons, James and Thomas, came in the spring of 1810.  They settled on southeast quarter section 25, on the south lank of Raccoon Creek.  They found pioneer life full of incidents, for wild game and snakes were plentiful.  Henry O’Neill was a Justice of the Peace of Starr Township.  James Lee settled in the

[Pg. 816]
same township in 1816, and Jos. Ludlow in 1817.  The Wrights, Pattons, Smiths, Dysons, Youngs and Moores came during the years between 1809 and 1811, and they were followed a few years later by the Joneses, Wallaces, Peters, Lanes, and Bowens.  These all settled in the county up to and within the year 1815.  George Ballou settled on Laurel Creek in 1807, but little was known of him as be left in 1808 or 1809.  Samuel Friend, John Morse, and George White settled in the year 1808; they settled also on Laurel Creek, on sections 22 and 23, of what is now Perry Township.  There was a German settlement up the river in 1815 or 1816, among whom were Benj. Beougher, Abraham Pitcher, Andrew Crockett and others.  The two brothers Koons and a man by the name of Smith settled in 1812, on sections 21 and 22, followed in the same neighborhood by Geo. Kinzer, Josiah Cantrel, John Fox and others, which was the nucleus of the founding of Gibisonville some years later. It was about this time that a few venturesome spirits settled on the banks of Queer Creek, around which linger, even to this day, wild legends of Indian deviltry, the belief in the existence of silver and lead, and, as tradition states, the veritable “road to hell.”  Back many years before this David Dratcher used to preach in all this section of country.  The first heard of him was in 1808 or 1809, but he was a pioneer preacher, if not the pioneer in that work in the county.  Christian Eby settled on the very ground now occupied by Bloomingville, and he had within reasonable distances for neighbors George Starkey and Moses Dolson.  Then over on Monday Creek a settlement was made in 1814, the noted Dew farm being settled in that year.

     CHRISTIAN BEERY settled section 7 on Rush Creek, now within Marion Township, in 1808; in 1809 came George Engle and some others, and in 1810-'11 Abraham and George Beery and Jacob Miller, while in 1813 came Jacob Good.  They formed a neighborhood, all settling on the banks of Rush Creek on sections 6, 7 and 8.  These pioneers and many others, who will be found mentioned in the township history embodied in this work, have verified their faith in Hocking County, for they lived and died here  and their descendants are true to their native heath.  Hocking County can claim, without discussion, a greater love from her sons and daughters than any other county in the State.  This steady settlement caused the county to have in the year 1820 a population of 2,080 souls.  The progress of the pioneer was measurably slow, for outside their own wants there was little market for sur-

[Pg. 817]
plus stock and produce.  This want of a market was a serious drawback to the rapid development of the country.  In good weather work had to be done, and in bad the roads were such as to make long hauls impossible.  Home prices, therefore, were merely nominal.  Wheat was sold at 37½ cents per bushel, and corn at 12½ cents.  Horses could be purchased from $20 to $40, cows ranged all the way from $7.50 to $12.50, while a fair yoke of oxen brought from $20 to $25.  These, too, were in most cases barter prices, for money was a scarce article.  Anything and everything that had an intrinsic value was received and paid out.
     In the meantime while the county was settling up in all sections Logan, which had been platted by Governor Worthington, was growing and prospering.  A Mr. Mullenhour had started a tavern and a kind of a store, the former the first in the county.  In 1817 came John Jonas, William Wallace and Gasham Peters.  Jonas put up a small tenement on Gimbel's site.  Wallace erected a small log cabin, now covered with the weather-boards, property of James Brown, deceased.  In this or Peters’s establishment the first County Court was held.  In the same summer of 1817 came Robert Long, first brick-maker, R. Spencer, Abner Hitchcock and Andrew Stewart, clearing small spots of trees and underbrush and putting up some log tenements.  In the same season, 1817, came Dutton Lane, the first gunsmith, and subsequently appointed first Postmaster, and among others came also Meade Bowen, Esq., the first cabinet and house joiner.  Mr. Bowen was born in the State of Maryland, 1782, and located in Logan in his twenty-fifth year.  But the history of the rise and progress of Logan will be found in a separate chapter.
     In the year 1818 the County of Hocking was organized, and subsequently Logan became the seat of justice, and in the fall of 1818 the first court was held in one of the two small buildings spoken of heretofore.  Judge Wilson was the first presiding officer; Benjamin Biddle, Thomas Pullen and Abraham Peters were appointed first Associate Judges; Joseph Westenhaver, first Sheriff, and William Wallace, first Clerk.
     The following is the act creating the county of Hocking:
An Act to erect the county of Hocking and to attach part of the county of Ross to the county of Jackson.
     SECTION 1.  Be it enacted, etc., That all those parts of the counties of Ross, Athens and Fairfield as are comprised in the following bounds, to-wit:  Beginning at the northeast quarter of section twen-

[Pg. 818]

[Pg. 819]

EARLY RECORDS.

     The first deed recorded is in Book A, Folio 1, and is from John and Phoebe Pence to Robert Long.  It conveyed one acre of land for and in the consideration of $20, and was dated Apr. 15, 1818.  Dutton Lane placed it upon record.  This gentleman was also the first Justice of the Peace for the township, and had something like two cases a year.

[Pg. 820]

     The first marriage of record reads as follows.
STATE OF OHIO,
 HOCKING COUNTY.}ss.
     I hereby certify that on the 4th day of May, A. D. 1818, I joined together in the holy state of matrimony Thomas O'Neil and Nancy Lee, of lawful age.
[SEAL.]  Given under my hand and seal this 9th day of May, A. D. 1818.     
                                                               DUTTON LANE, J. P.

     This was not the first marriage in the county, however.  A brother of the above James O'Neil, was married several years before the organization of the county, and several others are memtioned inthe township histories.  This being the first of record it is given, and the following, which wa the second one placed on the book, was by 'Squire Lane also, who married Benjamin Stimson and Eve Matthias Dec. 16, 1818, and Samuel Fetherolf, J. P., united David Strawser and Rhoda Starkey, Dec. 22, 1818.

EAGLE AND SALT CREEK.

[Pg. 821]

PROCEEDINGS FIRST REGULAR MEETING.

GRAND JURY.

[Pg. 822]

ROADS AND TOWNSHIPS

Pg. 823]

GREEN AND LAUREL.

[Pg. 824]
at what was then called the paper-mill.  The township was to be called Good Hope.
     John Brown was County Treasurer in the year 1824.

TOWNSHIPS NUMBERED.

     The County Commissioners seemed to have divided their time between laying out roads and changing township liens, and in mixing up congressional townships and ranges as to make it almost impossible to find out just where the lines of a municipal township were to be found.  At the June term, 1825, being the regular term, the Commissioners set to work to overhaul the entire municipal divisions of the county, arrange their boundaries and give them numbers as well as names.

TOWNSHIP AND RANGE LINES

     This action of the County Commissioners makes it necessary to more clearly understand them - that the incongruity of the congressional township lines of the State and that of the Ohio Purchase should be explained.  From the north and south line of the Ohio Company's purchase west, the congressional townships are regular, but crossing that line the congressional township changes, and even the Ohio Company failed to run theirs the same; its first tier of congressional townships, on the west side, being one number more and different from the one adjoining.  There will be found that the State congressional township 12 is opposite township 14 of the Ohio Purchase, and the next township east, in the purchase, is No. 13; then it seems to run regular enough for two ranges when it again changes, and the Ohio Purchase is in very bad shape.  This was caused by making the Ohio River its base line and numbering accordingly, starting at every range as No. 1.  The river running northwest, cut then number of townships down from fifteen to seven; that is, range 17 had fifteen congressional townships, while range 13 had but seven, and they also numbered their sections from the southeast corner f their township instead of the northeast.  Dr. Cutler, General Putnam and their followers seemed to have had level heads upon the subject of education a trifle superior to some of a later day, but their surveying parties were indifferent as to whether they could square the circle, or that a triangle was not just as good as a right angle for a base line.  The congressional townships of the Ohio Purchase

[Pg. 825]
are a curiosity from their inconsistency in numbering.  This will explain the position of the different townships as named and numbered by the County Commissioners at their June term, June 7, 1825.

NO. 1. FALLS TOWNSHIP.

     "Ordered, That congressional townships 13 and 14 and one tier of sections in township 115, on the east side, all in range 17, form the township of Fall, and be known as No. 1."

NO. 2. GREEN TOWNSHIP

     "Ordered, That township 13 and so much of township 14 as lies in Hocking County, all in range 16, shall form the township of Green and be known as No. 2."

NO. 3. STARR TOWNSHIP

     "Ordered, That so much of townships 11 and 12, of range 16, as lie in Hocking County shall e Starr Township, and known as No. 3."

NO. 4. SWAN TOWNSHIP

     "Ordered, That township 12, of range 17, be known by the name of Swan and be numbered 4."

NO. 5.  EAGLE TOWNSHIP.

     "Ordered, That township 10, of ranges 18 and 19, be called Eagle township, and be known as No. 5."

NO. 6.  SALT CREEK TOWNSHIP

     "Ordered, That township 11, and so much of township 12, of range 19, as lies in Hocking County, and township 11, in range 18, shall from Salt Creek Township and be numbered 6."

NO. 7.  LAUREL TOWNSHIP.

     "Ordered, That township 12, of range 18, shall be Laurel Township, and be known as No. 7."

NO. 8.  GOOD HOPE TOWNSHIP.

     "Ordered, That so much of township 13, of range 18, and township 15, of range 17, as lie in Hocking County, excepting one tier of sections on the east side of township 15, shall form Good Hope Township, and be numbered 8."

[Pg. 826]

ITEMIZED.

     The election of Daniel Harsh, as County Collector this year, 1826, was the first time this office was made elective.
     Washington Township was organized June 5, 1826, and was township 13, of range 17, which was taken off of Falls.  This was No. 9, but nothing was said about the number.
     The first brick house, probably, in Hocking County was that of Abraham Bitcher, was elected in 1825; that is to say, at the June term of the court, 1826, Mr. Bitcher got $750 for the use of this brick house as a court-house three times, which is the only record of a brick house in the county up to that time.
     Then Jacob Myers, who was the fortunate possessor of a stallion, for breeding purposes, was equally unfortunate in not having a license.  The matter was compromized by Jacob leaving $20 in the county treasury for incidental expenses.
     The three per cent. fund in 1826 was appropriated by the Commissioners for the purpose of building a bridge across the Hocking River at the Falls, which was let to Demascus Weyman for the sum of $794, the following year, Nov. 3, 1827, and accepted as finished by the Commissioners at the June session, 1829.
     The clerk of the court, Dec. 3, 1827, asked the County Commissioners to pay him some Court fees which certain defendants were unable to pay.  The Commissioners respectfully declined, not considering it a lawful account.
     The total receipts for the fiscal year, ending June 1, 1830, was $1,010.39 9-10, and the amount paid out $910.95 6-10.  This left a balance in favor of the county, of receipts over expenditures, of $99.44 3-10.
     Mr. A. G. Bright was appointed Assessor in 1828 and Treasurer in 1829.

FALLS-GORE AND JACKSON.

     The inhabitants of Falls-Gore petitioned to have them transferred from Green Township to Falls, which was done Mar. 4, 1828.  Logan, as a voting precinct, was much nearer to them than in Green, and so they wanted to be changed, as they were compelled to come to the county seat on business.

DECEMBER 6, 1831,

is the date on which Jackson Township became an independent municipality.  It is composed of township 10, range 18, and named

[Pg. 827]
after General Andrew Jackson, and the first election was held at the house of Frederick Garrick, Dec. 24, 1831.

NO. 11.  MARION TOWNSHIP

     It was nearly a year from the above day that Marion Township came into existence, as follows:
     "Ordered, That the petition of the inhabitants of that part of Good Hope and Falls townships lying in congressional township 15, of range 17, in Hocking County, be made a separate township, to be called Marion, and known as No. 11."
     The election was ordered held at the house of Frederick Cowick on the 29th day of December, 1832.
     The State road from Logan to Thornville, Perry County, was opened Dec. 2, 1833.  In 1834 six sections of Eagle Township, being from No. 1 to 6, inclusive, in township 10 or range 19, were taken from Eagle and added to salt Creek Township, where they still remain, giving that town forty-two sections of land, being those six sections over a congressional township.  There was little to interest the people in the proceedings of the Commissioners for many years.  It was on Dec. 5, 1836, that

BENTON TOWNSHIP.

had a local habitation and a name, having been organized that day in the following words:
     "Ordered, That the petition of the inhabitants of township 11 of range 18 be granted, and that in compliance therewith that said township be set off from Salt Creek and be made a separate township, by the name of Benton, and known as No. 12."

JAIL AND COURT-HOUSE

     The Old jail and the old court-house were getting to be both insecure and dilapidated, and it was decided to erect new ones.  The first move was for a county jail, which it was decided to build by the County Commissioners at their meeting in May.  May 3, 1837, the Commissioners contracted with Wm. Montgomery for the erection and completion of a county jail building for the sum of $2,118.  Mr. Montgomery gave a guarantee bond of $4,000, signed by C. W. James, Thomas Worthington, F. B. Drake, James Jones, R. Green and Elijah James as securities.  He completed the building the same year.  The court-house was not

[Pg. 828]
put under contract until Mar. 4, 1839, nearly two yeas after.  Wm. Montgomery also secured this contract, the consideration being $8,800.  The contract called for a building modeled after the county court-house of Portage County and a bond was exacted for a faithful performance of contract in the sum of $10,000.  Upon this paper the following names appeared as securities, to wit: James Jones, George Bright, Jno. B. Zimmerman, Chas. W. James and Frederick Mullenhour.  The County Commissioners who let the contract were Robert McBroom, Madison Lemon, and W. H. Dunkle.  The building was finished the following year, 1841, and accepted by the Commissioners.  It is still standing and occupied by the officials of the county.  This building and the jail, like the completion of the Hocking Canal, seemed to open a new era in the county's history, and a step forward in advanced progress.  The next step was the starting of a newspaper, which was to become permanent the following year, but ere that point is reached there are matters of some importance to be recorded.

SOME MINERAL TALK.

[Pg. 829]

[Pg. 830]

[Pg. 831]

[Pg. 832]

[Pg. 833]

[Pg. 824]

< CLICK HERE to RETURN to TABLE OF CONTENTS >