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SALT CREEK
SALT CREEK TOWNSHIP
* PHYSICAL
FEATURES
* GAME
* SETTLEMENT - Includes lots of short
biogrphies
* EARLY SCHOOLS
* CHURCH HISTORY
* FIRST FRAME BUILDING
* MILLS
* POST OFFICE
*
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Town number
eleven, in range number twenty (Salt Creek), lies east of the
township of Pickaway, and is bounded on the north by Fairfield
county, on the east by Hocking county, and on the south by Ross
County. It is one of the best improved townships in Pickaway
county, and its appearance evinces the industry, thrift and
increasing wealth of the inhabitants.
PHYSICAL FEATURES
GAME.
SETTLEMENT.
Prior to the actual settlement of the
township, most of the sections along Salt creek were occupied by
"squatters," who began to come in about the year 1797 or 1798.
Some of them had made extensive clearings, and a few, after the land
came into market, purchased farms and settled upon them. One
of these was Alexander BERRY, who bought one hundred and
twenty-seven acres in section number twenty. Afterwards he
entered the southwest quarter of section fifteen, where he remained
until 1820, when he sold to Jacob MARKEL and removed to
Marion county.
Another squatter was John MAY, who lived on land
in section twenty-six.
CONRAD
KLINE was one of the earliest squatters, first locating on
Plum run. He afterward entered a quarter secton on Moccason
creek, in section one, and lived there until his death. He was
a soldier of the Revolution.
MATTHIAS
HEDGES moved in at a very early date, probably before 1800.
He located in section twenty-five, where he lived until 1803, moving
then to Fairfield county, where he died.
An early
squatter on the place now owned by SAMUEL STROUS
was HENRY REICHELDERFER, at the advanced age
of ninety-nine years and nine months.
CHRISTOPHER
(or CHRISTIAN) MYERS and family moved in from Pennsylvania as
early as 1800. His log cabin stood on the brow of the hill
just west of MR. BALLARD's residence, in Tarlton,
and was the first building in that portion of the township.
MYERS subsequently moved about a mile southwest of Tarlton,
where he resided until his death.
JACOB
SAYLOR, sr., abut the same time, settled on Scippo creek, in
section six, and George PONTIOUS, a son-in-law of MYERS,
on section four, a mile west of the present village of Tarlton.
He was twice married and had three children.
The first man who entered land
in Salt Creek township was JOHN SHOEMAKER.
He came from Berks county, Pennsylvania, in the spring of 1801, and
at the sale of government land in May, of that year, made an entry
of land, after which he returned to Pennsylvania. The first
patent was issued to him. The old document is now in the
possession of Samuel LUTZ, who owns a part of the land for
which the patent was given. It bears date April 20, 1802, and
is signed by Thomas JEFFERSON, president of the United
States, and James MADISON, secretary of State.
SHOEMAKER subsequently entered a large amount of land in
Pickaway and Fairfield counties. He did not visit Ohio again,
after his return to Pennsylvania, until 1806, when he moved out with
his family.
The brothers,
JACOB and JOHN LUTZ, with their families and their mother,
Elizabeth, came from Northumberland (now Union) county,
Pennsylvania, in 1802. They made the journey in two
canvas-covered wagons, each drawn by a four horse team, and arrived
in Salt Creek on the fifteenth day of October. Jacob LUTZ
purchased of John SHOEMAKER, in section twenty-six, four
hundred and sixteen acres, paying therefor six dollars per acre.
From sixty to seventy acres had been cleared in different portions
of the purchase, and there were upon it two cabins, occupied by the
squatters, BERRY and MAY. Mr. LUTZ and
family took possession of the BERRY cabin, where they spent
the following winter. Subsequently he located on the site of
the present residence of John KARSCHNER, a building a one and
a half story hewed-log house. In 1811 he erected, in the same
place, a frame house, which he occupied until his death, in 1824.
JACOB
LUTZ, was born in 1762, and married Elizabeth DEMUTH
in 1788, who survived him many years. They had five sons -
Samuel, Jacob D., John D., Joseph, and Peter - all now
dead but Samuel, who, at the age of nearly ninety-one years,
is as clear-headed and almost as smart, physically, as ever.
The son Joseph was drowned in Salt creek, about the first of
March, 1805, falling into the stream while crossing on a log on his
return from school, just above the present cattle bridge, near
Mr. DUNKEL's. His brothers, Jacob, and John,
were present, but were unable to render any assistance, the water
being so turbulent.
JOHN
LUTZ settled on Moccason creek, in section thirteen, moving
into a cabin which had been previously occupied by Stephen JULIAN.
He afterwards built a large frame dwelling on the same site, and
also a large frame barn, but nothing of them now remains. He
erected here, in 1804, the first saw-mill inthe township. His
death took place in 1833.
In 1803 ABRAHAM
MONETT came in and entered section number thirty-four, on
which he resided until his death.
WILLIAM
STUMPF came from Berks county, Pennsylvania, in the fall of
1801, and entered section number twenty-four. He returned to
Pennsylvania, and remained until 1803, when he came out and made a
settlement. He married Elizabeth REICHELDERFER, in
1819, and located in the northwest part of section twenty-five, a
portion of which he purchased of George DUNKEL. He was
largely engaged in the business of buying and selling cattle;
driving stock cattle over the mountains. Several of his
children now reside in the township. The family of his son,
Charles, occupies the old homestead.
In the summer of 1803,
GEORGE DUNKEL
and wife arrived from Berks county, Pennsylvania, and settled on
section twenty-five, near the Hocking county line. In 1806, he
sold a part of the section to William STUMPF, He and
STUMPF afterwards built a saw-mill on Salt creek, a few rods
above the bridge near Adelphi and DUNKEL moved there.
He afterwards resided in Laurelville, and operated the ills there,
which had been erected by Jacob STROUS and Adam DEFENBAUGH,
but finally returned to Salt creek, and occupied, until his death,
the farm now occupied by his son, John. He was the
father of ten children, six of whom are living. Kelson
lives near Kingston, Ross county; Mary, wife of Solomon
RIEGEL, of this township; Hannah, widow of J.
SCHLOTMAN, also of this township; John on the homestead;
Susan, wife of John HORN, in Findlay, Ohio, and
Abigail, wife of Conrad ETT, in Walnut township.
The son, George DUNKEL, deceased, was for many years one of
the enterprising and prominent men of the township.
JACOB
SHOEMAKER, in 1803, settled on section eighteen, the whole of
which he owned. After the death of his first wife, he again
married, and, subsequently, moved to Circleville. He was
associate judge of Pickaway county for a number of years. The
old homestead was the permanent residence of his son, Charles
SHOEMAKER, who died in 1878.
CONRAD
BRAUCHER entered section thirty-five, and settled upon it in
1895. He built a grist-mill in the west part of the section,
the necessary power for which he obtained by digging a ditch from
Bull run to Pike Hole run. BRANCHER died in 1822, and
left, at his death, a large family surviving him.
CHRISTOPHER
HOLDERMAN, came from Chester county, Pennsylvania, with his
family of wife and three daughters, in June, 1805. He bought
and settled upon a farm of two hundred and four acres, in the north
part, section thirty-four, called the "MONNETT section."
In 1823, he moved to the place now occupied by his son, George
HOLDERMAN. He died, Feb. 22, 1838, aged nearly sixty-four,
and his wife in 1856, aged seventy-six. They raised fourteen
children - seven boys and seven girls - and eight are now living.
George HOLDERMAN, who occupies the homestead,, was born Dec.
20, 1812, and married Mary JONES, and was born Jan. 25, 1817.
Mr. and Mrs. HOLDERMAN have five children living and one
deceased.
JOHN
SHOEMAKER, previously mentioned, after his return to Berks
county, married Elizabeth HUY, from near Reading,
Pennsylvania, and moved out in 1806. He made his location in
section three, half a mile south of Tarlton, his son, Joseph
SHOEMAKER, now occupying a part of the farm. Afterwards,
he bought the land on which Tarlton now stands, of Newell, after
which he lived where WILEY'S hotel now stands. He was
out for a brief period in the war of 1812, during which he was taken
sick, and came home and died soon after. Mr. SHOEMAKER
subsequently became the wife of Dr. Otis BALLARD, by whom she
had two children. There were two sons and a daughter by the
first marriage. The daughter married Dr. William B. HAWKS,
and resides in Columbus, and the sons, Joseph and Isaac,
live at Tarlton.
SAMUEL
LYBRAND moved in with his family soon after Mr. SHOEMAKER,
and settled at Newellstown (now Tarlton). Two daughters of the
family are now living in Tarlton.
JOHN
BURNS and family came from Kentucky to Ohio in 1797, and
settled in Colerain township, Ross county. His son, Joseph
BURNS, and step-son, Samuel FOWLER, had come out a year
or so before. John BURNS soon removed to Salt Creek
township, Pickaway county, locating where Abram HEFFNER now
lives, and died there in 1823. He had a family of ten
children, of whom John BURNS, now living in Salt Creek, at
the age of eighty-seven or eighty-eight, is the sole survivor.
The house of the family was once destroyed by fire, burning up the
family record, and his exact age cannot be known. He married
Sarah Queen, who died in 1865. They had but one child -
Margaret, wife of Jacob HEFFNER. Mr. BURNS was a
soldier in the war of 1812.
JOSEPH
SCHOOTS, one of the earliest of the pioneers, settled on the
northwest quarter of section thirty-three. He emigrated from
Virginia and died on his original location at an advance age.
He was a substantial and worthy citizen.
BENJAMIN
KEPNER and HENRY MATHIAS were among the
earliest of the settlers of Scippo creek. They settled in
section six.
JOHN JUDY
and family, of Berks county, Pennsylvania, settled in section
twenty-eight, on what is known as the RHODES farm, in the
fall of 1805. While residing there three of the family died -
the mother and two sons - and the remnant of the family moved to the
southeast quarter of section twelve. The father died here, and
his son, Peter, bought the place and occupied it until a few
years since, when he sold the most of it to his son, J. B. JUDY,
retaining about thirty acres on the east end of the farm, where he
recently died, aged eighty-four. He was the father of ten
children, as follows, mentioned in the order of their birth:
Caroline (widow of Jacob WOLF), lives in Fairfield
county; Diana (Mrs. William H. HART), lives in Fairfield
county; Diana (Mrs. William H. HART), lives in Hocking
county; Elizabeth (Mrs. John WANN), in Salt Creek; Mary
(afterwards MRs. Cyrus W. HUSTON), is dead; John B.
married Margaret Ann GOUGAR, and resides on the homestead;
Henry and Catherine (Mrs. Henry GEARHART), in Fairfield county;
Sarah (unmarried), lives with her mother; Barbara (Mrs.
Cornelius MORE), lives in Franklin county; and William on
the old homestead.
JOHN REICHELDERFER and family, and his son John
and family, came to Salt Creek from Berks county, Pennsylvania, in
1806. The two families moved into a cabin which stood where
the brick residence of George S. HOSLER stands.
John, Jr., and family shortly afterwards moved on to the farm
now owned by Augustus ROSE.
The two oldest daughters of John REICHELDERFER,
sr., (Catharine and Barbara) were the wives respectively
of Conrad BRANCHER and Jacob SPANGLER. The
former came to Salt Creek with her husband in 1805, as before
mentioned, and the latter year or two after the rest of the family,
and settled with her husband on section number nine. The other
daughters, who married after they came here, were: Mary, wife
of Jacob STROUS; Elizabeth, wife of William STUMPF,
and Susan, wife of Samuel FETEROLPH.
HENRY REICHELDERFER
SAMUEL NOBLE
JOHN HARMON and wife,
HENRY WISSLER*
The same year ABRAM
DREISBACH and family
HENRY DRUM and family of wife
and six children
ABRAHAM HEFFNER
NICHOLAS WHITESEL and
family
[ PICTURE OF RESIDENCE OF GEO. S. HOSLER ]
ABRAHAM
HEFFNER
In 1808 DAVID FOUST
JACOB FOUST
ANDREW FOUST
In 1811, MARTIN, JOHN,
GEORGE, SAMUEL, BENJAMIN, HENRY, JONATHAN, and JONAS DRIESBACH,
brothers
PETER SPYKER and family
JACOB SAYLER
GODFREY CREAMER and family
ANDREW DeLONG
came from Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, and arrived in Colerain
township, Ross county, July 4, 1830, where his brother, Jacob
DeLONG, then lived. The same fall he moved to Salt Creek
and settled in section thirty-five, where his son, Isaac DeLONG,
now lives. He died there in 1841, but his widow is still
living in Colerain, having reached the age of ninety-five years of
July 12, 1879. They had eleven children, six now living,
namely, Mrs. Rebecca ROOSE (widow), in Tarlton; Isaac,
who married, Dec. 17, 1841, Catharine HAYNES, of Salt Creek
Township[, Hocking county, and has four children living and two
dead; Mrs. Catharine WIGGINS, in Colerain; Caroline,
wife of Samuel BETZER, in Colerain; and Amelia, widow
of Erastus REYNOLDS, in Hallsville, Colerain township.
Mrs. DeLONG has in her possession a flint-lock double
barreled rifle, made in Berks county, Pennsylvania, in 1812.
GEORGE RIEGEL, with his
family,
PETER FREDERICK, now
living with his son William in this township, was born Aug.
6, 1801. His father, Jacob FREDERICK, was a pioneer of
Greene township, Ross county, where he settled in 1804, removing
from Buffalo Alley, Pennsylvania. Peter FREDERICK,
married, Apr. 11, 1825, Catherine ZIMMERMAN, who died
Sept. 1, 1867. He has two children living and two dead.
EARLY SCHOOLS.
In regard to the early schools of Salt
Creek, the writer has been unable to obtain exact information.
A school-house, probably the first in the township, was built in
1803 or 1804, on the southwest quarter of section twenty-four.
About the same time, in Tarlton, a rude log structure was erected
near the site of the present Methodist Episcopal church. The
first term of school in this house was kept by a man by the name of
MITCHELL.
The first school in the southwest part of the
township was kept in a log school-house, on the farm of Joseph
SCHOOTS, in section thirty-three. One of the early
teachers there was Timothy BEACH.
CHURCH HISTORY.
JERUSALEM CHURCH.
THE DREISBACH UNITED BRETHREN CHURCH.
THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH AT TARLTON.
ENGLISH EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH.
THE OAK GROVE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
THE CUMBERLAND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
THE EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION.
FIRST FRAME BUILDING.
The first frame building erected in
the township was the dwelling of John Shoemaker, in Tarlton,
now standing in the southwest part of the village, but originally
near the location of the present residence of Mr. Ballard.
The raising of the frame of the building was an event of such
importance as to call out all the men for miles around.
MILLS.
The first saw-mill in Salt Creek township
was built by John LUTZ, on Moccason creek, in section
thirteen. The earliest on Salt creek were those of DUNKEL
and STUMPF, near Adelphi, and the REICHELDERFERS'
(John and Christian), near the present residence of
Mr. HOSLER.
The early settlers obtained their grinding at CROUSE's
mill, in the vicinity of Chillicothe. The mill was a small
affair, and considerable time would be consumed in making a trip to
the mill. At a later date the settlers got their grist ground
at VanGUNDY's mill, on the Kinnickkinnik.
The grist-mill, in this township, was built by Jacob
STROUS, on Salt creek, in 1820, where the mill of David H.
STROUS now stands. The original now stands a few rods west
of its former location, and is used by Mr. STROUS, as a
general workshop. The present grist-mill was erected by
Jacob STROUS, in 1831. The saw-mill was built in 1825, and
the carding machine in 1844. These works are all run by water
power.
The following is contributed by William W. JULIAN,
of Tarlton:
In the year 1810 or 1811 Abraham BARNET
erected a saw-mill on salt creek, at Tarlton. This saw-mill
was a simple design, being driven by the common flutter wheel, and
was thus run until about the year 1815. The property was then
purchased by George Wolf, who improved the
MORE TO BE TRANSCRIBED.....PAGE 256
POST-OFFICE.
[ PICTURE OF BALLARD & RESIDENCE.]
SAMUEL LUTZ.
[ PICTURE OF SOL. D. RIEGLE RESIDENCE ]
[ PICTURE OF H. D. RIEGEL RESIDENCE & FACTORY ]
[ PICTURE OF GEO. DRESBACH & FARM ]
THE DRESBACH FAMILY.
[ PICTURE OF MOWERYS AND RESIDENCE ]
[ PICTURE OF MILL AND PROPERTY OF D. STROUS ]
THE STROUS FAMILY
JOHN MOWERY
THE RIEGEL FAMILY
JOSEPH SHOEMAKER
[ PICTURE OF JOSEPH SHOEMAKER RESIDENCE ]
[ PICTURE OF RESIDENCE, NURSERY AND APIARY OF
SAMUEL D. RIEGEL ]
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