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OHIO GENEALOGY EXPRESS
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WELCOME TO
ROSS COUNTY, OHIO |
UNION TOWNSHIP
Ross Co., Ohio
Source: A Standard
history of Ross County, Ohio; an authentic narrative of the
past, with particular attention to the modern era in the commercial,
industrial, civic and social development - Chicago: Lewis Pub.
Co., 1917
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One of the
largest and best improved townships in Ross County, Union
extends from its northern limits almost to its center, a few
miles west of Chillicothe. While there is some poor
land, most of it is of an excellent quality, and the bottom
lands along the Scioto River, Paint and Deer Creeks, are in
fertility and productiveness unsurpassed. The township
contains numerous streams, and the surface is generally
quite uneven. The Scioto flows along its entire
eastern border, and the north fork of Paint Creek forms, for
the most part is southern boundary. Deer Creek, a
large branch of the Scioto, flows in an easterly direction
through the northern portion of the township and divides it
into what is called North Union and South Union.
Yellow Bud, a stream of considerable magnitude and also a
tributary of the Scioto, flows through a small portion of
the northern part of the township. South Union is
watered by Dry Run, a small branch of the Scioto, and
several branches of the north fork of Paint Creek.
The first settlers found the township covered with a
heavy growth of timber, to clear it of which, and fit the
land for cultivation, involved an immense amount of labor.
The varieties consisted principally of walnut, hickory,
sugar-maple, burr-oak, butternut, cherry and elm, which were
found on the bottom lands, while on the uplands the oak
generally prevailed.
Precisely at what date the settlement of the territory
embraced within the present limits of Union Township was
commenced, or who should be accorded the honor of making it,
it is impossible now to say. It is quite probable that
the first settlement was made in 1796, as some of those who
came in with General Massie, in the spring of that year,
shortly afterward selected their lands in this township and
settled upon them. Among these were the McCoys
- Joseph, Thomas, and John. They
were natives of Pennsylvania, but emigrated from Kentucky to
Ohio. Joseph McCoy, after remaining a short
time at the "station," settled on the farm afterward owned
by his grandson, James B. McCoy. A few years
after his settlement he erected the hewed log house, which
was long occupied as a dwelling, nearly opposite the brick
residence of James B. McCoy. The house
was a two-story structure, with a fireplace below and above.
The chinking was done with genuine plaster, and not with
mud, as was common, and the logs were whitewashed. It
was considered, in its day, a fine residence, being a great
improvement over the ordinary rough log cabin. While
stopping at the station, his wife was taken ill and died.
She was buried about where the depot now stands, and is said
to have been the first person interred in Chillicothe.
Mr. McCoy subsequently married again. He died
in 1811, aged about forty years, and is buried in the
graveyard of Union Church, of which he was a prominent
member, being one of its first elders.
Thomas and John McCoy, built their cabins
in Chillicothe soon after the town was laid out, that of
John McCoy being the first structure erected in the
place. Thomas remained there until the spring
of 1797, when he moved into Union. He bought 300 acres
in the Obadiah Smith survey. In 1808 he erected
the substantial brick house subsequently occupied by
Moses Stitt, his grandson. The brick were burned
upon the place, and the nails used in its construction were
brought the Kentucky on pack-horses. He died in
February, 1852, aged nearly eighty-two years. He had a
large family of children, but none of them is now living.
John McCoy first made a settlement at the mouth of
Paint Creek, where he remained for a few years, when,
because of the unhealthfulness of the bottoms, he decided to
remove to a higher location. He came to Union, and
settled upon the hill where his descendants afterwards
lived, and died in the year 1844, in the seventy-third year
of his age.
There were few permanent settlers in Union, earlier
than John Rodgers. He was born in Loudoun
County, Virginia, in 1777, and when ten years of age went to
Kentucky. At the age of nineteen - in 1797 - he
emigrated to the Scioto Valley with his uncle Benjamin
Rodgers, and has often said that he was here three
months without seeing a white woman. He located land
in the vicinity of where the Slate mills now are, on the
north fork of Paint, built a shanty and kept bachelor's
hall. About two years afterward he brought out his
father and the rest of the family. His father,
William Rodgers, afterward resided on the place and kept
tavern for many years. John Rodgers was married
December 31, 1799, to Mary, daughter of Joshua
Clark, and in the spring following settled in Union,
during the previous winter having erected the house which
was continuously occupied for about a century. Mr.
Rodgers assisted at the raising of the first cabin in
Chillicothe, and brought the first cattle into Ross County,
driving them from Kentucky. His wife died in 1860, and
a few years afterward, having lost his sight, he took up his
residence with his daughter, Mrs. Beard. He
died in 1866, at the age of nearly eighty-nine years, having
raised a family of eleven children.
Gen. James Manary, a native of Pennsylvania,
moved out from Kentucky in 1796. He brought his family
on horseback, his wife carrying a four weeks' old babe in
her lap. General Manary had visited the country
a few years before, having accompanied Massie in his
surveying operations. He was an expert hunter, and to
him was assigned the duty of providing the party with game.
He received from Colonel Massie 100 acres of land,
which he located on the north fork of Paint Creek, in Union
Township. Here he settled with his family and resided
until his death. He was a general in the War of 1812,
and subsequently was elected to the Legislature.
One of the prominent pioneers of Union was Col.
James Dunlap, son of Alexander Dunlap, who
purchased land in the township in 1796. Colonel
Dunlap was a native of Virginia, born in 17968, and
removed to Union, settling on the land his father had
previously bought. He erected the brick house later
occupied by Richard Marzluff, prior to 1815, and
resided there at the time of his death, which took place in
1821. He was a member of the Legislature at an early
date, and was once a candidate for governor of the state.
He had a family of three children, viz: Peggy, who
became the wife of Alexander McCoy; Nancy, who
married John Mace, and Alexander, who went to
Tennessee.
Alexander Robertson moved to Chillicothe from
Augusta County, Virginia, in the fall of 1798. In the
following spring he located on the farm which he leased from
George Haynes. In 1803 he settled and afterwards
lived where his son, Capt. James Robertson, afterward
resided. He died in 1840.
Michael Beaver, Sr.,
migrated with his family from Virginia to Ross County, in
1796, but remained only two years, when he returned to
Kentucky on account of malaria and other unsanitary
drawbacks of the new country; but in 1800 he returned and
bought 1,100 acres in the Chilton survey, on Deer Creek.
He was a soldier of the Revolutionary War, and his son,
Michael, of the War of 1812
William, Anthony, Samuel, Jeremiah and Robert
Smith, all brothers, came out with Colonel Massie
in 1796. William and Samuel afterwards
settled in Union, on the river, but finally moved to
Pickaway County. Samuel Smith was, without
doubt, the first magistrate in Ross County.
Joshua Robinson came out with Col. Nathaniel
Massie and party in the spring of 1795. The party
proceeded on their journey without molestation until their
arrival a short distance below the falls of Paint Creek,
when they came in contact with some Indians who had encamped
at Reeves crossing, near where the Town of Bainbridge
now is. A fight ensued in which Joshua Robinson
was shot through the body and died in a few minutes.
His brother, William Robinson, who was also in this
fight, moved to Ross County in 1800 and settled on the land
which he had previously purchased of Colonel Massie,
comprising some 640 acres in South Union. His cabin
was among the first erected in the vicinity. When war
was declared in 1812, he promptly volunteered, although
exempt from duty by reason of his age. He died at the
age of seventy years.
John Robinson on the death of his father was
adopted by his uncle, William, with whom he lived
until he was of age. He served in the War of 1812 as
corporal in Capt. Alexander Manary's company.
After the close of the war he settled on the farm of which
he lived until his death which had nearly concluded the
century mark.
In the spring of 1800 Henry and Thomas Bowdle
and Thomas Withgott moved in from Dorchester
County, Maryland. James Sisk and family came at
the same time, or shortly afterward. They all located
temporarily in Chillicothe, while they selected their homes
in the woods. The same season they cleared off a small
piece of land on the farm on which Withgott afterward
settled, and planted it to corn. They would walk out
to their work every morning, and home at evenings, a
distance of eight or nine miles, and picking their way
through the forest by means of blazed trees. Henry
Bowdle and his sons purchased the Jones survey of
1,000 acres, and built his cabin on the farm which became
the family homestead. He died in 1829.
Isaac Cook, born in Connecticut in 1768,
emigrated to Chillicothe from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in
1798. He was the agent of General Nevil for the
sale of his land, and after living for two years across the
river from Chillicothe, he took up his residence in Nevil's
survey, in Union Township, erecting his house where his son,
William, afterward lived. Judge Cook was
a man of character, ability and influence. He was an
associate judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Ross County
for twenty-seven years, being first appointed in 1803 to
fill the vacancy caused by the death of Felix Renick.
He was also a member of the Legislature for several terms.
He died in 1842.
Thomas Hicks was also a prominent settler in
this neighborhood. He emigrated to this county from
Maryland in 1802.
John Winders and family settled on Dry Run in
1800; also his brother, James, about the same time.
John Winders moved from Pennsylvania to "high bank
prairie" in 1796, and remained there four years, when he
located in Union. Levi Warner came out with the
family and subsequently married a daughter and settled on
part of his father-in-law's farm. These families were
Quakers, and soon after their settlement others of the same
sect moved in - the Crispins, Websters and
Fergusons. Soon after Winders arrived, a
Friend's society was formed, and a log meeting house erected
on his land a short distance north of Mr. Warner's
residence. They also established a school and built a
schoolhouse on the same lot. Nothing is now left of
the buildings, but their site is marked by the little
burying ground in which their dead were deposited.
David Augustus was an early pioneer of Union,
emigrating from Delaware before 1800. He settled where
Martin Briggs afterward resided, and died there in
1842, aged nearly eighty years.
Thomas Earl, Sr., settled about 1800 on the farm
now occupied by Curtis Kinneman.
James Armstrong, from Kentucky, settled about
the same time where his son-in-law, William Bostwick,
subsequently lived. He was associate judge for a
number of years. He died in 1843, aged seventy-one.
Levi Hurst and family, in company with his
brother-in-law, Samuel Badley, and Robert
McCollister and family, emigrated to Ross County from
Maryland in 1801. Mr. Hurst was induced to go
West by the migration of his Methodist friends, the
Bowdles, Withgotts and Sisks, during the
previous year. The party left Dorchester County,
Maryland, in April, traveling with three or four carts which
were driven by two horses driven tandem, until they arrived
at Wheeling. There Mr. Hurst purchased a flat-boat, on
which the company and their effects floated down to
Portsmouth, except the horses, which Badley and a couple of
lads brought through by land. At Portsmouth horses and
carts were again brought into use and in nine days the
travelers reached Chillicothe, arriving in the month of
June. Mr. Hurst moved to Union in September following,
purchasing the Governor Worthington a farm in the Morgan
survey. The hewed log house which he built in 1804, he
occupied until his death. He was born in 1770, and
died in 1860. Their married life had extended over a
period of seventy years. They were the parents of
fourteen children, of whom they reared ten.
Col. John Evans and Anthony Simms Davenport
were among the earliest settlers of North Union, and both of
them owned a large amount of land in the vicinity of where
Yellow Bud was afterward platted. Col. Evans
was born in Baltimore County, Maryland, in 1766, and
migrated to Ross County about the year 1800. He was a
surveyor, a man of energy and enterprise, and became
wealthy. He died in 1841 in his seventy-sixth year.
Hezekiah and Isaiah Ingham came out from
Berks County, Pennsylvania, in 1810. They were
industrious, energetic young men, and Hezekiah was a
practical paper manufacturer, having served an
apprenticeship in the business in Pennsylvania.
David Crouse had in process of construction at the time
of their arrival a flouring-mill, on Kinnickinnick Creek, in
Green Township. The Messrs. Ingham leased the
property for seven years, and finished the building, which
they converted into a paper-mill. At the expiration of
their lease, about 1818, they came to Union and subsequently
engaged in a like enterprise in that township.
Hezekiah Ingham was married to Nancy Justus, a
daughter of the early settlers of Green Township. He
died in 1863. His sons, William and James,
became proprietors of the paper-mill in Chillicothe.
Isaiah Ingham died in 1867.
The first schoolhouse in South Union was built about
the year 1800, on land which afterward became the farm of
Joseph Clark. It was a log structure with puncheon
floor, and a roof of clapboards with weight-poles laid
across to keep them in place. The windows were made by
cutting out a log for several feet on each side of the house
and putting in greased paper in the opening. One end
of the house was almost entirely occupied by the fireplace.
The seats consisted of split slabs supported by wooden pins.
In this manner the schoolhouses were built for a number of
years.
About 1816 a school was opened in a log cabin about a
mile north of where Andersonville was afterward platted, the
teacher being a man by the name of Perkins.
Later it was held in a schoolhouse on the Ingham farm
east of the village. A hewed log house was erected a
short distance above Andersonville in 1823, and was used
until the brick house in the village was erected. A
schoolhouse was built at an early date near where the Union
Church now stands, and another (about 1815) where the upper
part of the basin now is. Mr. Young and Mr.
Lowery were the first teachers. One of the
earliest schools was opened on the farm of Thomas Withgott
in which Charles McCrea was one of the first teachers.
The first burials were made in private burying-grounds,
which have not, except in a few cases, when maintained.
The Bowdle burial-ground is the oldest regular burial
place in the township, being laid out soon after 1800.
The first person buried there was Mary Sisk, the
first wife of James Sisk, the date of which event was
February 2, 1801.
In the Union Church burying-ground the oldest
inscription the writer noticed was the one recording the
death of Joseph McCoy, who died in 1811.
In the canal days there were a
number of towns, or stations, along that waterway in Union
Township. The two best known were Yellow Bud and
Andersonville.
Yellow Bud, situated on the stream of the same name,
had its origin in the erection of a grist mill, soon
after 1800, by Francis Baylis Nichols. In
the fall of 1835 a distillery was built by a company
composed of Joshua Clark, of Lancaster, Ohio, and
others, and a pork-packing business established.
Merchandising was also carried on. It was laid out as
a village by Isaiah Ingham, John Boggs, and Samuel
G. Lutz, in 1845. A postoffice was established
with Washington Delaplane is postmaster in 1845 or
1846. A dry-dock, for the construction and repair of
canal boats, was built at Yellow Bud about the year 1837, by
William Thompson, the first one of the southern division
of the Ohio canal. The town collapsed with the exit of
the canal period.
Andersonville, six miles north of Chillicothe, took its
name fromMahlon Anderson, who formerly owned the land
on which it is situated, and who opened the first store
there. The land was afterwards purchased by Major
and Lorenzo Dunlap, who platted the town in 1851, and
recorded their plat under the name of Lewisville, out of
compliment to their surveyor, Col. Lewis Sifford.
A post-office was established in February, 1873, with
John Bridges as postmaster. The name of the
post-office was Andersonville and the town was generally so
called.
Andersonville must not be confounded with the old
station on the Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad, which is
still in evidence as Anderson and is wedged in between the
present Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton and the Baltimore &
Ohio Southwestern lines. |
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NOTES:
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