SALEM TOWNSHIP

Source:
History of Monroe County, Ohio
- Illustrated -
A Condensed History of the County;
Biographical Sketches: General Statistics; Miscellaneous Matters &c.
Publ. H. H. Hardesty & Co, Publishers
Chicago and Toledo
1882

Page 212      This township was organized July 19, 1815, and if, in giving its history, more space is allotted to it than to other townships, it must be remembered that larger and more numerous early settlements were made in it than in any other part of the county, though not at an earlier date.  This was, probably, owing to the fact that Sunfish creek is the largest stream emptying into Ohio river within the county's limits, and therefore furnished greater attractions to settlers.  Below the mouth of Opossum creek an improvement was made by Cornelius Vandevanter prior to 1802.  John Vandevanter and the Hurds made improvements about the same time on the farm now owned by Vachel Gamble;  Thomas Howell on the farm now owned by Levi Baldwin; and a few years later Francis Martin made an improvement about a mile up the creek.  His son, John Martin, Esq., still lives a mile or two below its mouth.  William McLain, an old pensioner, Aaron Howell and Martin Bougner, made improvements farther up the creek.      About 1798-9, James Henthorn settled at the mouth of Sunfish creek.  He moved from the old fort on Wheeling creek.  His sons were James, John, Henry, William and Adam, and his daughters Ann and Mary.  He made his improvement where Clarington now stands.  Charles Atkinson at the same time cleared some fifteen acres on what is now the W. H. Mallory farm.  In 1802, Alexander Newlen cleared ten acres on the Joel Yost farm, and a Mr. Gordon settled opposite the mouth of Fish creek.  Soon after, improvements were made by Elisha Johnston, opposite Fish Creek Island; by James Scott near the Joel Yost farm; by Robert Baldwin, on the James Walton farm; and by Jonathan Rutter where the town of Walton now stands.  William Powell settled at the point at the mouth of Sunfish, and kept the ferry.  The following persons settled along the valley of the creek in the order of time their names are given:  John Vandevanter, Peter Vandevanter, Jonathan Rutter, Andrew McKee, William McCoy, Joseph Blare, Matthew Brown, Richard Cain, and Samuel D. Buskirk.  David Howell, Reuben Redman and Reuben Sturgeon lived on the hills near the mouth of the creek.  Others of the first settlers were the Bowen, Roby, Twible, Preble, Gilmore, Davis, Ross, Watson, Jones and Kyger families.  These large and early settlements furnished settlers for many other parts of the county, and especially farther up the creek and on Will's creek.      It might be properly said that most of the first settlers were squatters; that is, a family moved into the county and settled on Congress land, and, when the head of the family found himself able, he would enter the land upon which he had squatted or settled.  It was considered a very mean trick, in those days, for another person to "enter-out" a squatter who was doing his best to raise the means to pay for the house he was making for himself and family; and scarcely any one would do it without the consent of the squatter, who was frequently paid for the improvements he had made, when he found he was unable to enter the land himself.  At the time those early settlements were made, the Indians were, as a general thing, peaceable.      A correspondent writes: "One Sunday in the summer of 1891, a bear was seen swimming the river opposite Sunfish.  William Henthorn and John Gilmore, both nearly young men, concluded to capture it.  They got into a John-boat and rowed out to meet it, intending to halter it with a chain and tow it to shore.  As Henthorn was about throwing the chain over the bear's head, it put its paws on the side of the boat and deliberately crawled in.  No sooner was it in than the boys were out and swam to shore.  The bear took a seat on the seat-board and quite contentedly floated down the river.  William's uncle, John Henthorn, and a Mr. Twible hastened down the river, and on a hurriedly constructed raft, paddled out into the river and shot it.  For a long time afterward when these young men felt disposed to do any bragging, their companions would tell them they had better capture another bear.  That was sufficient."      Dr. N. E. Henthorn, recently deceased, in a letter to John B. Noll, Esq., says:  "In 1831, I was returning home from Cincinnati by land, and stopped over night in the town of Reading, twelve miles from the city, at Jackson's tavern.  When the landlord ascertained where I was from, he said his father and an old Indian would like to talk with me.  I went to their room and Mr. Jackson, sen., said he knew my grandfather at the old block-house at Wheeling; that at the time Boggs was killed at Boggs' Island, the Indians were pursued by the whites, and that he (Jackson,) wounded this Indian, and when about to kill him with his tomahawk, the Indian told him he was the medicine man of the tribe, and if he would spare his life he would cure a cancer on his (Jackson's) nose, which he did; that the Indian had lived with him ever since, and was with him in the war of 1812, under General Harrison.  The Indian told me that the Indian name of Sunfish creek was Buckchitawa, and Opossum creek was, in the Indian tongue, Eagle creek.  He further told me of the killing of a big Indian at Buckchitawa, about the time of the settlement at Marietta.  The Indians had a white prisoner whom they forced to decoy boats to the shore.  A small boat was descending the river containing white people, when this prisoner was placed under the bank to tell those in the boat that he had escaped captivity, and to come to the shore and tae him in.  The Indians were concealed, but the big Indian stuck his head out from behind a large tree, when it was pierced by a bullet from the gun of the steersman of the boat.  The Indians cried out Wetzel, Wetzel, and fled.  This was the last ever seen of the prisoner.  The Indians returned next day and buried the big Indian, who, he said, was twenty inches taller than he was, and he was a tall man.      "When Chester Bishop was digging a cellar for Asabel Booth, at Clarington, many years ago, he came across a skeleton, the bones of which were removed carefully by Dr. Richard Kirkpatrick, and from his measurement the height of the man when living would have been 8 feet and 5 inches.  It is probable that these were the bones of the big Indian of whom the Indian at Jackson's told me.  He further told me that there was lead on Eagle, Buckchitawa and Captina creeks, but the veins were thin.."      Some twenty years ago an image of hard grey stone was found in front of Clarington, where the river bank had caved in.  The body was that of a wild animal, something like a lion, with a human head and face.  It stood on a stone pedestal, about 8 by 10 inches, and was 8 inches in height, and smoothly finished.      The township contains about 28 square miles or sections, seven of which, along the river, are fractional, and is formed of parts of original townships 2 and 3, of range 3, and townships 3 and 4, of range 4.  The township is bounded on the east by the Ohio river, on the south by Ohio township, on the west by Green and Adams townships, and on the north by Switzerland township.  Sunfish creek passes through the township from west to east, emptying into the Ohio river at Clarington.  The principal branches of this creek in the township are Negro run on the north and Fish-pot run on the south side of the stream.  Opossum creek, which empties into the Ohio two or three miles below Clarington, drains the southern part of the township.      The farm where the village of Clarington is now situated, was willed by James Henthorn to his son William, and by him sold to David Pierson, who, in 1822, laid out the town and called it after his daughter Clarinda, now the wife of Thomas Ford, of Woodsfield.  Elam Patterson and David Pierson kept the first store, about the year 1815.  The first and only postoffice in the township was established in 1824 at Clarington - Asahel Booth, postmaster, and, for many years, was known by the name of "Sunfish."      The population of the town in 1880, was 915; of the town and township, 2,377.  Clarington is the most extensive business point on the Ohio side of the river between Bellaire and Marietta.  Daily communication is had with Wheeling, by steamboat.      The first church in the township was built by the Baptists, in 1820, on Opossum creek, about one mile from its mouth.  Rev. Joseph Junior Smith, a pious, zealous and somewhat eccentric minister, officiated at this and all the other churches of that denomination in the county, for many years.  His eccentricities led him to be very hostile to other denominations, and especially to Methodists.  The congregations to which he ministered were scattered over a large territory.  At one time, in making his rounds, the back of his horse became very sore, and he was told by a friend that if he would get a wolf's skin and put it under the saddle it would cure it.  He replied:  "I don't know where to get one unless I skin a Methodist preacher."      The Methodists had preaching as early as 1802, and continuously on, but built no church until one in 1842, at Clarington.  The Christians built their church, in 1841, at Clarington, but many years before held service in various places in the township.      The first mill in the township was built by Jonathan Rutter and John Vandevanter about 1805-6, on Sunfish creek, about 200 yards below where is now the old Jones mill.  The mill stones were of blue rock from the adjacent cliffs.  A few years later John Jones built his mill on its present site, and used burrs brought from Cheat Mountain by John Henthorn.      Mitchell Atkinson taught the first school in a cabin on the farm of his brother, Charles Atkinson, in 1804, or'5.  He soon after moved to Seneca township and taught the first school there.  The first school house was built in 1815, two and a half miles up the creek on the lands of Daniel Kyger, now owned by Wm. Cochran.  The name of the first teacher is unknown; the second was Robert F. Naylor.  The second school house was on the Walton farm, two miles up the river from the mouth of Sunfish.  The first teacher was a Mr. Littlefield.  The school houses were of the class hereinbefore described.      The school statistics, for Salem township, for the year ending August, 31, 1881, are as follows:  Total school money received within the year $5,207.71.  Amount paid teachers within the year, $2,404.50.  Fuel and other contingent expenses, $348.88.  Balance on hand Sept. 1, 1881, $2,454. 33.  No. of sub-districts, 10.  No. of school houses, 10.  Total value of school property, $7,000.  No. of teachers necessary to supply schools, 10.  Average wages of teachers per month, $29.00.  No. of different pupils enrolled within the year, 381.      The school statistics of Clarington for the same time, are as follows:  Total school moneys received, $2,137.74.  Amount paid teachers, 1,015.  Fuel, etc., $237.53.  Balance on hand Sept. 1, 1881, $885.21.  No. of school houses, 1.  No. of rooms, 3.  Value of school property, $6,000.  No. of teachers, 4.  Average wages of teachers, $31.00.  High school, $55.  No. of different pupils enrolled, 190.      The first marriage in the township was that of James Henthorn, junior, and Nancy Boman, or Bowen, in the Spring of 1800.  Wm. Henthorn married Susan Parrott, of the opposite side of the river, in 1807; and the records of Belmont county show that John Preble and Susan Archer, were married Dec. 3, 1804, by David Ruble, justice of the peace.  The writer has no information as to the birth of the first child in the township.      Of the first person buried in the township the following facts have been gleaned: Mr. Goodhue, a few years ago, in excavating a barn cellar, disinterred the remains of a woman.  Inquiry was set on foot as to whose they were.  Research brought to light that about the time of the first settlements, a family by the name of Grimes, who were moving farther west, between Ward's run and the gravel plane.  During their stay a daughter took sick and died, and was buried in the woods on the level above.  This was about seventy-seven years ago.  On this same gravel plane are three small mounds, evidently the burial place of a race of people now extinct.  These ancient and simple relicts of the dead are in striking contrast with the beautiful cemetery, within a few yards, dotted with finely chiseled monuments to the memories of those resting beneath.      The records of Belmont county show that between 1803 and 1808, John Vandevanter was paid $3.00 for a panther scalp, and Charles Atkinson, David Bowen, James Archer and Seth Ward were paid for wolf scalps.      The present Justices of the Peace for the township are: Michael Boughner, R. E. Tilford and J. W. McKimmie; and the present mayor of Clarington, R. E. Tilford.  Number of pounds of cheese manufactured in the township in 1881, 88,910.

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