CHANGE SINCE PIONEER DAYS - MEN AND WOMEN TOGETHER - OLD ROADS - IMMIGRATION FROM 1830 TO 1848 - TALES OF PIONEERS - ROSS N. MATEER, MT. GILEAD PIONEER - THE REMARKABLE RINEHART FAMILY - "FROM FIRST TO LAST"  (BY MRS. MARTHA M. HARLAN) - INDIANS AND A SCALPINGKNIFE - FIRST WHITE SETTLERS - THE LEGISLATIVE STRUGGLES - PROGRESS - "IN THE LONG AGO" (BY CAPT. L. N. CUNARD) - MT. GILEAD IN FEBRUARY, 1848 - MT. GILEAD'S DAY OF DAYS - THE BOYS OF MORROW COUNTY - FIRST NEWSPAPERS - EXCITING FINANCIAL EPISODE - GODFATHER OF MT. GILEAD - A MEMORY PRODIGY - MRS. SMITH DEMUTH'S RECOLLECTIONS

     It is an interesting study to trace a country's history from its beginning and follow society in its formative state and note its material developments and scienetific achievements.  It took George Washington eight days to journey from Washington to New York to be inaugurated president of the United States.  The same distance can now be traveled in less than eight hours.
     The pioneer period is an epoch of the past.  Although Morrow was not a pioneer county, its first settlers have nearly all passed away.  It may have been difficult for some of them to accept and become reconciled to the changes that were brought about in their day and generation - at the change that has stamped its seal upon the wilderness whose winding paths they had known so well and had so often trodden.  Many of the early settles lived to see Morrow county lay off its primeval wilderness and the beauty and grandeur of the forest until the land bloomed like unto the garden of the gods.
     The pioneer times are frequently spoken of as "the good old days."  An old gentleman sentimentally referred to those days, had his remarks taken too seriously by a bystander, who understood him as wishing for a return of the things and conditions of the past.  The bystander said:  "Times change.  Don't let us fall behind the procession, rather let us be thankful for the better

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conditions of our day and generation."  He further said that the luxuries and comforts of today make us lack nothing.  Would you go back to the period when the family surrounded the pot of mush and helped themselves from it, a morsel at a time?
     Before Morrow had an organization as a county, we had our second war with Great Britain, and the question has been asked, "Did that war advance or retard the settlement of the country?"  those have read history to but little purpose who have not learned that are advances civilization.  The fighting instincts of human nature have brought about more important results than have any other one force.
     Homer, the earliest of the great poets, began his Iliad by invoking the muse to sing of martial exploits, and expressed his faith in war as a means of progress.  The spirit then displayed was not materially different from that which the patriots of colonial times manifested, which culminated in the War of the Revolution and the achievement of American independence.  The same impelling tendency was seen in the heroic events of the war of 1812, and also in our war with Mexico, as well as in our recent civil strife.  The records of the "dull, piping times of peace" do not show the advance of civilization as do the annals of war.
     How beautiful has been the result of the labors of the settlers.  But that golden era of the first settlement has passed away and taken in its wake the old men and women whose like we shall never seen again.  But we rejoice to know that the glory of one age is not dimmed by the age succeeding it.

CHANGES SINCE PIONEER DAYS.

     To give more fully the changes that have taken place:  The spinning-wheel of the pioneer days is now known only as a relic in a museum, or an antique ornament in a parlor.  The loom is no longer used in private houses; the piano has taken its place.  The low price of stockings has banished knitting, except for ornamental purposes.  Water is forced into our houses through pipes and is carried out by gravity; while gas, manufactured or natural, as a fuel, heats our houses from cellar to attic, which makes the keeping of a fire a small matter.  In cities or towns bakers relieve the housekeeper of bread-making, and thus at every point the burdens of life are less strenuous and more bearable.
     The work of the farmer which was so laborious in pioneer times is daily becoming lighter and can now be comparatively easy

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if he profits by the advancements made in that pursuit.  Now machinery does the hardest part of the work.  The machines sow, cultivate, cut, bind, thresh, winnow and carry the grain.  They cut, rake, load, mow and dry the hay.  They husk, shell and clean the corn.  They cut and split the wood.  They do all the hardest of the work.

MEN AND WOMEN TOGETHER.

     The first settlers found Morrow county thickly covered with a heavy growth of timber, and the land shielded from the rays of the sun by dense forest foliage.  To erect a home here, and put the land in a state of cultivation, taxed the powers of the pioneers to their utmost.  It was for a while a struggle for subsistence and everything they did was in the way of improvement.  This was practically true for twenty years.  An average of five years was consumed before the frontier farmer could be relied upon to furnish the support for himself and family, without game and wild fruit and buying corn from his neighbors.  After the erection of a cabin, from five to ten acres of timber was felled and the trees cut into suitable lengths for rolling into piles for burning.
     And an affectionate veneration should be manifested for the pioneer women who shrank from no dangers, shunned no hardships, endured great privations, and in their homes cultivated social and domestic virtues.  These strong and brave mothers, who toiled by their husbands' sides in life's hot noon, and went hand in hand with them down the dusky slope of the evening of an eventful, busy life, have like their companions, fold their arms to rest.
     And the men clad in linsey-woolsey or tow pants and home-made linen shirts laid broad and deep the foundations of social, moral, industrious and religious life, which have been preserved by their descendants as a priceless inheritance.
     A just meed of praise should be given the pioneer preachers, who amide all difficulties, dangers and hardships, ministered to the early settlers of Morrow county, and materially aided in laying the moral sentiments which have broadened and deepened with the advancing years.  It was a labor of love to them, and they endured privations that few of today know anything about.  The oratory and eloquence of these preachers made many converts, and much could be written favorable about them, many of whom were scholarly men.  They appealed to the holiest and most sacred im-

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pulses of the heart and wove the loveliness of their teachings into the lives of their hearers.

OLD ROADS

     The old State road, passing northeast and southwest through Sparta, was laid out a number of years before the war of 1812.  Its course was form Mansfield, via Fredericktown and Sunbury, to Columbus.  The second road was the Mount Vernon and Delaware road, laid out about 1811.  In 1814, the New Haven and Johnstown road, passing north and south through Bloomfield, was projected.  In 1816, the Quakers in Chester township cut out a road through Bloomfield to a small settlement near Mount Liberty.
     Previous to 1825, nearly all the roads were merely blazed.  The State road from Delaware to Mansfield was surveyed in 1812, but had been established some time previous.  This was followed by one in 1817, beginning at the Indian boundary line at what is now called Shaw Town, and extending south so as to intersect the former at what is now "Bartlett's Corners."  The first bridge was the one across the Whetstone, near Westfield, built of poles, in 1835, and was followed by one two miles further north ; each has been superseded by several in the meantime, and now there is a substantial covered frame structure at each of these points.  The State road was a mail route from Delaware to Mansfield as far back as 1820.

IMMIGRATION FROM 1830 TO 1848.

     From 1830 to the formation of Morrow county in 1848, immigration came into the new county more rapidly and nearly all the vacant land was soon taken.  Some of the old settlers sold out to the newcomers, and farms were opened and put under cultivation, new and better buildings erected, the roads improved and new ones laid out and opened, bridges and mills built and the whole county improved in many respects.  In the early settlement the country presented a new and wild appearance.  The deep and thick woods abounded with underbrush and rank vegetation and wild game.  Game was early in great abundance, as were also wolves and bears.
     The formation of Ohio as a state had opened up a vast amount of land to the enterprising pioneer.  The reports concerning the beauty and resources of the country, and the fertility of its soil,

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thus brought to the attention of those who began to feel crowded in the older communities, stimulated their natural curiosity, and gave rise to a wide-spread emigration movement, which was then called the "Ohio fever."  The "new purchase" added a fresh impetus to this movement, the effects of which seemed to have become universal.  Songs descriptive of the pleasures and advantages to be found in Ohio were sung at the entertainments of the young.  The chorus of one of these sons was:

     The roads consisted of trails, through mud and in some places underbrushed, and in others only blazed - with no bridges crossways.  In passing from one neighborhood to another, or from one settlement to another, persons were guided by the blazed trees.

LOG CABINS AND TAVERNS.

     The buildings were rude log cabins in the very early settlement of the county.  They were generally fourteen by sixteen feet, covered with clapboards held on by the weight-poles placed on each tier, a ridge pole in the center.  The floors were made of puncheon, split out of logs, and roughly hewn with a broad-ax.  The windows ere square or long holes, made by sawing through one or two of the logs; slats were nailed across, and the orifice made into a window by covering it with paper, which was pasted over.  The chamber or "loft" was reached by a ladder form the outside, or if the family could spare the room for it the ladder was placed inside, or if necessary the upper floor was reached by a stout row of pegs being driven into the wall, which could be climbed with agility.  The fireplace occupied the greater part of one end of the cabin.  Sometimes it had "wings" that came in reach of the hand.  In the more modern cabins jams were built on the hearth.  The trammel and hooks were found among the well-to-do families, as time progressed previous to this, the lug-pole across the inside of the chimney, answered for a trammel.  A chain was suspended from it, and hooks were attached, and from this hung the mush pot or teakettle.  If a chain was not available a wooden hook was within the reach of the humblest and poorest.  When a meal was not in preparation, and the hook was endangered by the

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fire, it was pushed to one end of the lugpole for safety.  Iron was very scarce in those days.  Instances are related where one pot served at a meal to boil water in for mint tea or crust coffee, to bake the bread, boil the potatoes and cook the meat.  By good management this could be accomplished.  Johnny cake was made by mixing the corn meal up with warm water; adding a pinch of salt and a trifle of lard and working all into a thick dough; placing it on a clean board; patting it into shape, and standing it slanting before the fire,  propped into the right position by placing a flat-iron behind it.  When baked this made a delicious cake, sweet and fresh, with the stamp of a mother's dear, unselfish, loving fingers plainly detected in the crisp crust.  There was little in the way of ornaments in the homes of the pioneers.  Very few families had clocks.  They guessed the hour of noon, or ascertained it by the creeping of the sunlight up to the "noon mark" drawn upon the floor.  The furniture of a cabin was usually a few chairs, a plain table and a bedstead.  The bedsteads were made by poles being crossed and stuck into the wall at one end and resting on Y sticks at the other end.  A little later came the "trundle-bed which was low and was pushed beneath the other bed when not in use.  There were no carpets upon these cabin floors, and a set of dishes usually consisted of six plates and six cups and saucers, and happy was the housewife who possessed these luxuries, for many families had only a few pewter plates which they had brought with them.  The cooking utensils were a teakettle, an iron pot and a skillet.  They grew gourdes and hard shell squashes, from which they made bowls and dippers.  Salt had to be brought from the east in the very early settlement, and later, when a road was opened from the lake and the supply often became exhausted, and its scarcity was a great privation to the pioneers.
     "Johnny cake" was the principal form of bread for breakfast, and pone for dinner, with wild game, hominy and honey, while the standard dish for supper was mush and milk.  Log-rollings, house-raisings and wood-choppings were big occasions then, and dinners of pot-pie were served.  Corn huskings were also great events, and nearly all the pioneer gatherings would wind up with a dance after supper, in which all present joined.  In the absence of a fiddler, the music was furnished by some one whistling or blowing upon a leaf.
     For lighting purposes there was the "lard lamp" and later the "tallow dip."  The bible and an almanac, with perchance a

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book or two brought with them from their former home, often constituted the reading matter of a family.  If the fire went out upon the hearth it was rekindled by striking flint, or by a coal from a neighbor's hearth, which gave rise to the old saying, "Did you come for fire?"

     The spinning wheels of the pioneer period, what few there are left, are cherished as heirlooms by their fortunate possessors.  There was the large wheel for wool and the small one for flax.  The hum of the spinning wheel and the reel was the piano music of the pioneer home; and, when echoed by the loom with its quick-moving shuttle, furnished the cloth and linen so useful in those early times when calico was a dollar a yard and money was very scarce.
     In the early days a tavern was a prominent factor in a community, and they were interspersed here and there along the roads leading to the lake.  It was a place where every traveler who came along sought rest and refreshments for himself and his tired horse.  Taverns were also the stopping places of the freight wagons and stage coaches, and the arrival and departure of these were great events in the life of the early communities.  These taverns had large fireplaces, which in winter were kept well filled with wood, and they were of sufficient capacity to heat and light the house.  There was no market for wood in those days of clearing the forests, and the only cost of fuel was the cutting of the wood.  Around these great fireplaces the travelers gathered, and their conversation gave the settlers glimpses of other parts of the country, of which they knew little, and at bedtime the weary sojourners would spread their blankets near the blazing fire and retire to rest and sleep.  But the tavern with its old fashioned life has gone with the stage.
     Neighbors were very friendly and sociable in the early settlement of what is now Gilead township, running together and eating together without any ceremony.  Social gatherings and bees and frolics were common for special purposes and on particular occasions.  The mode of living was coarse and plain - eating corn bread, potatoes, cabbage, pumpkins and turnips, wide hog, deer,

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ground hog, raccoon, squirrels, wild turkey and pheasants.  The wearing apparel was home made - manufactured by the women mostly from flax for summer, and from flax and cotton, and wool and cotton for winter.  Wool was scarce; for it was difficult to keep sheep on account of the wolves.  Shoes and moccasins were made of the tanned skins of ground hogs; and men's clothes were frequently made of dressed deer skin and caps of coon skin.  The primitive cabin was in many cases built without nails or glass or any article of hardware.  An ax, "frow," saw and auger were the only tools necessary to build a cabin.  The component parts were round and straight logs, clapboards, eave-bearers, weight poles.

PICTURE
OLD FASHIONED WAY OF MAKING CLOTH.

split sticks and mud for the chimney and for chinking and daubing, a spacious fireplace to take in a big back-log, puncheon floor, ladder for the loft, greased paper for the windows, door made of clapboards and an open porch with various useful articles hanging round.  After awhile some progress was made in building better houses, in the use of nails, glass, hewed logs, shingles, boards, lime, stone and brick.  The great idea and aim of a new settler was to make a clearing for the raising of some crops to support the family.  This one thing must be done - the heavy forests of timber must, by some means, be cleared away, and this was a Herculeon task;

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but by patient, persevering labor it was done; the openings were made by the ax, handspike and fire, and by means of the maul and wedge the cleared spot was fenced in.
     Walker Lyon and family came all the way from Connecticut, to what is now South Bloomfield township in one wagon drawn by two yoke of oxen with a horse, ridden by one of the party, on the lead.  They were forty days on the road, and, when their destination was reached, freezing cold weather had set in.  It was too cold to mix mortar, so the chinks in their hastily erected cabin were filled with moss gathered from far and near in the woods.  One of the first settlers brought with him an ash board, which was honored with the central place in the only door of his cabin, and, when neighbors were present, this was pointed to with infinite pride, by the owner.  Augustus and Giles Swetland came to years in advance of their father and the balance of the family.  They erected a small log cabin, and began to clear the land their father had previously purchased. 
     The abundance of game in Chester township, while at first a great advantage to the settlement, soon proved not an inconsiderable burden, and hunting became necessary for defense against their depredations.  Wolves were found especially troublesome, and the utmost care had to be taken to guard against their constant attacks.  Mr. Shur was for some time unable to provide a door to his cabin, and used a blanket as a temporary barrier.  This proved insufficient to keep the wolves at bay, and he was obliged to build fires before his door to feel at all secure.  Stock of all kinds was in more or less danger.  Henry George brought a few sheep into the settlement, and built a high pen to guard them at night, but his care was unavailing.  Although they were guarded by day and folded at night, the wolves finally took them all.  They would steal upon the flock in the daytime, within fifty feet of the house, and make away with one of the sheep.  Yearling cattle were frequently destroyed by falling in with a pack of these voracious animals, and even grown animals and horses were sometimes attacked, and more or less injured by them.  Soon after the coming of the Shur family, a cow was killed by these animals near his cabin, and was partly eaten when discovered.
     One of the greatest inconveniences from which Morrow county settlers suffered was the want of mills, especially for grinding corn and wheat.  The first thought of the pioneer, after building a cabin, was to clear a piece of ground and put in a crop of corn, which, owing to its stumpy condition, must needs be cultivated

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almost entirely with a hoe.  The first fruit of this was "roasting-ears," and a little later, as the grains hardened, they were reduced to meal by a grater.  Next, the hominy block was called into use.  This consisted of a piece of wood, usually beech, about three feet long and eighteen inches in diameter, on the end of which was laid a bed of coals, and when this was charred sufficiently it was scraped and the same thing was repeated until a concave excavation was secured.  Into this the corn was poured, and, with a hand pestle, the work of making meal and hominy was accomplished.  An improvement on this was a sweep, not unlike the well sweep even now sometimes seen, into one end of which an upright piece was mortised, and into the end of this an iron piece was inserted, and this contrivance was usually operated by two persons.  From the Indian meal was made "pone," which was baked in an iron oven on the hearth; "Johnny-cake," baked on a board, or "hoe-cake," in which dough was wrapped in leaves and baked in ashes.
     Mr. Patton raised a pair of steers from the cows he brought with him to Morrow county - waiting till they were grown - employing his time in clearing his land and fencing it.  His cabin was built near a spring, and at one time his wife went after a pail of water, was lost in the woods, and, after wandering round for some time, was at length led home by the cries of her infant child.  Later, Joseph Patton and his sisters were left by their father to finish hoeing a patch of corn.  This kept them busily employed till after dark, when at length they were started by the howling of wolves not far away, which was responded to by two other packs of those savage beasts in opposite directions.  They heard the tramping of their feet, and not unfrequently saw their eyes glistening through the dark - their incessant howlings making the woods hideous the while.  Their father heard those frightful howls, rushed into his cabin, seized his gun, and hastened out to the rescue of his children thus exposed to danger, firing as he went.  He was just in time.  They were hardly rescued - had hardly reached a place of safety - ere they heard the wolves howling their disappointment.
     On another occasion, when Joseph Patton and his father were working in the woods, they saw, not far away, a huge drove of wild hogs approaching.  They had only time to climb into some trees when the swine scented them, and rushed madly to their place of refuge.  They tore the bark off these trees with their tusks, and tore down all the bushes and saplings in the near vicinity, apparently maddened with disappointment in not securing their prey.

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     David Anderson failed to get his cows up one night, and went in search of them the next morning, when he found them mired in a swamp, where they had furnished a midnight repast for the wolves.   Many others lost stock under similar circumstances.  Children returning late from school were chased by them.
     Deer, wild turkeys and wolves were every-day nights.  Small herds of deer, scared by wolves, would come out of the woods, leap the fences and go scampering across the clearings.  Often the settler, upon rising in the morning, would find a heard pasturing on his wheat field, seeming to love the rich herbage.  In herds of six or eight, they were often seen sporting in the woods, leaping back and forth over fallen trees like children on a play ground.  There were many brackish springs scattered about, which the deer frequented, and which were often watched by the hunter during the night.
     The winter of 1812-13 was severe on deer, however, contributing largely to drive them out of the county.  A heavy fall of snow came early in the winter, and successive thaws and freezings had formed a crust of considerable thickness.  The deer found it difficult to obtain a living, and were so poor that they were unfit to eat, and their skins were too poor for tanning.  This fact did not prevent their being a tempting bait for the wolves, which killed hundreds of them that winter.  The light footed wolf found the crust an excellent path, while the deer, in its frantic efforts to escape from the ferocious pack, broke through at every step, lacerating its legs, and finally wearied out, falling an easy prey to its pursuers.

ROSS N. MATEER, MT. GILEAD PIONEER.

     Ross N. Mateer, who was the first child baptized in the Presbyterian church of Mt. Gilead, spent his entire life of seventy-nine years in Morrow county, with the exception of a few years preceding his death at Toledo, Ohio on the 26th of September, 1910.  His remains were taken to his native place and buried at River Cliff.  The deceased was born in the little village of Whetstone, Marion county, Ohio, Aug. 31, 1831.  The name of the village was changed to that of Mt. Gilead by an act of the legislature in 1833, when the subject of this sketch was two years old.  He was a son of Wm. N. and Elizabeth Porter Mateer, who came from Adams county, Pennsylvania, to Mt. Gilead in 1830.  Many of the early settlers were from Pennsylvania.  His father was one of the first

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school teachers in Mt. Gilead.  His father and mother were charter members of the Presbyterian church organized in Mt. Gilead, Nov. 2, 1831.  The house where this church was organized is still standing and in good repair, occupied by Mrs. Heck.  The subject of this sketch was born in a cabin house that stood just east of Mrs. Heck's; it stood on the ground where Arthur Mann now lives.  Ten days after the organization of this church at a meeting three infants were baptized, the first of whom was R. N. Mateer.  He united with the church on examination at the age of eighteen years, under the ministry of Rev. James Brown, who was a active of Scotland, but received his education in this country.  He died while serving his church; his remains have been resting for many ears in the old graveyard.  R. N. Mateer was a member of this  church almost a lifetime.   He was one of the deacons for years before his removal to Toledo.  His father moved on the farm two and one half miles east of Mt. Gilead where the late John Mateer's family now lives.  He died soon after, leaving the mother with a family of four children, John P., Ross N., Matilda (wife of J. W. Cook) and a half brother, James McMullin.  They have now all passed away.  Being deprived of his father at the early age of six years he endured the hardships incident to farm life in the then new county.  His boyhood was spent in such conditions as characterized the early settlers in those frontier times, with limited educational and religious privileges.  He worked on the farm until about sixteen years of age and attended the district school as he had opportunity.  When seventeen years old the news came to Mt. Gilead that the bill erecting Morrow county passed the legislature on Feb. 24, 1848.  The news was brought on horseback from Columbus to Mt. Gilead.  Morrow county is the youngest county in the state.  He attended the celebration and barbeque.  The old Presbyterian church that stood in the old graveyard in the southeast part of town, was selected as the place for the free dinner, where a whole ox was roasted.  There were loads of enables and many partook of the hospitality of the people.  In politics he was a Republican, and for many years before his removal to Toledo was the oldest native in the place.  When nineteen years of age he went to Delaware county, near Old Eden, to work for John Black at wagon making.  While living here he married Mary Redman, Apr. 14, 1853.  Her married life was short; she died, leaving one child, Florence E., who died Nov. 17, 1862.  On Sept. 4, 1856, he married Emeline Breese; to this union were born six children; Charles, died in in-

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fancy; Gertrude E., wife of Rev. Will C. Miles, died Jan. 15, 1892.  Four children are still living: Mary E., wife of G. W. Fluckey; Lemuel R., of Girard, O., Margaret B. and Ralph V.  They all, except Lemuel, live in Toledo.  In 1860 he bought a farm which is part of the farm where the Morrow county infirmary is now.  He was living there when the Civil war broke out.  In August, 1862, he enlisted in Company E, One Hundred and Twenty-first O. V. I.  While the regiment was at Franklin, Tennessee, he was taken sick with Typhoid pneumonia, which very nearly cost him his life.., from the effects of which he has suffered all his life.  In June, 1863, he was honorably discharged.  Soon after returning home he sold his farm, not being able to work it, and moved to Mt. Gilead.  He secured one of the Star mail routes, running from Mt. Gilead to Johnsville, which he followed for sixteen years.  Afterwards he went in the meat market with his brother-in-law, L. H. Breese, which business he followed for twenty years.  About seven and a half years ago they moved to Toledo, where Mr. Breese still resides.

THE REMARKABLE RINEHART FAMILY.

    The following from the Mt. Gilead Sentinel of December 26, 1907, is still pertinent and furnishes a remarkable instance of family fecundity and longevity:  It does not fall to the lot of many mothers to rear to manhood and womanhood a family of fifteen children, and in her old age to have all but two of them living so near to their birthplace and to her lifelong home as to be in a position to render her the care and attention which is one of the debts youth owes to age.  Such, however, is the happy experience of Mrs. Margaretta Rinehart, widow of Michael Rinehart, who resides near Williamsport, Congress township in this county.  Only once did the sorrow of losing a child come into the life of Mrs. Rinehart, her first born son having been taken by death in his infancy.  Of the fifteen other children born to Mrs. Rinehart, all are living, twelve of these residing in Morrow county in the immediate vicinity of the home farm, one daughter living in Galion, another daughter in Jewel county, Kansas, and a son in San Francisco, California.
     Almost thirty-three years ago the entire family, for the father was then living, had their pictures taken, the photograph having been made by E. J. Potter, of Mansfield.  The taking fo the picture of a family group is not unusual and many people follow the practice of having a group picture taken at regular intervals, but it is

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the rule, rather than the exception, that in the later pictures there is a gradual dwindling of numbers, even where the family is much smaller than in the present instance.  Ten years ago the Rhinehart family, still with the fifteen children, again went to the Potter studio, and posed for another picture.  In this picture the father was absent, he having died in 1880.  But even with this break in the family the incident was considered unusual in view, of the fact that all fifteen of the children had passed safely through the interval of more than twenty years, and were so situated as to be able to get together for the making of another group picture.  But unusual as this may have been considered, Mr. Potter was still more surprised a short time ago when an aged lady and fifteen younger men and women again came into his studio and informed him that they wanted to have another group picture taken.  It was the same Mrs. Rinehart, who had again gathered her flock together and brought them to the photographer who had taken the picture of thirty-three years ago.
     In the fall of 1910 was held a reunion of the family at the old homestead which was taken up by the grandfather of these children when he came to Ohio from Pennsylvania in 1836.  Mrs. Rinehart has fifty-eight grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
     The late Michael B. Rhinehart, the father of these fifteen children, was born in York county, Pennsylvania, Apr. 11, 1824, and came to Ohio with his parents at the age of twelve years, his father locating in Perry township, Morrow county, on a farm three miles east of Williamsport.  Mrs. Rinehart, whose maiden name was Margaretta Elizabeth Baker was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, July 13, 1834, and came to Ohio at the age of three years,  her parents locating on a farm a mile and a half southeast of North Woodbury.  She was united in Marriage to Mr. Rinehart, June 13, 1852.  All of the children were born on the old Rinehart, June 13, 1852.  All of the children were born on the old Rinehart homestead, the oldest of the fifteen, a daughter, having been born Aug. 22, 1854.  All of the children are married except one son, Jacob, who is also the only son who does not reside, in Morrow county, he being located in San Francisco.
     Of the fifteen children name are sons, they being Levi, George, Charles, Amos, Silas, Adam, Jacob, Arthur, and John.  The six daughters are: Mrs. Almeda Fringer, of Jewell county, Kansas; Mrs. Ella Dukeman, of Galion; Mrs. Louisa Corwin, Mrs. Caroline Stull, Mrs. Susanne Grogg and Mrs. Sarah Feigley, of Morrow county.

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FROM FIRST TO LAST.

Paper by Mrs. Martha Mosher Harlan, read before the Twentieth Century Club of Mt. Glead.

     We have read that "the earliest history of Morrow county, in common with that of the state, is veiled in mystery, and what share it had in the prehistoric times can only be guessed."  It is generally believed that Morrow county was the scene of the busy activities of the Mound Builders.  The traces of their occupation are abundant in all sections of the county.  During the centuries when the Indians had dominion in this country the mounds of the Mound Builders were left undisturbed.  They had no tradition of a preceding race, and, unvexed by the goading of inquiring science, left these relics of a curious people undisturbed until the white man wrought the mighty change.  Three of these works have been found at, or near, Chesterville.  A mound located near the old school-house was plowed down in 1837, and scraped into a hole from which it was undoubtedly thrown.  In 1839, when the hotel was built in Chesterville, a mound near by furnished the material for the brick.  In digging it away, a large human skelton was found.  Some trinkets were also found in the mound, but no accurate description of them can be had.  Other mounds are found in the townships of Troy, Canaan, Washington and Lincoln, which many believe contain valuable relics if investigated.

INDIANS AND A SCALPING KNIFE.

     Historians fail to tell us when the Indians first came to Morrow county.  There is no record of there ever being an Indian village in this county.  It was a rich hunting ground, and the Indians had resorted here from the earliest recollections, but had found a home in the surrounding counties.  They continued to come here in quest of game to be found in the woods as late as 1819.  A hunting party for some years kept a permanent camp in Lincoln township, the members coming and going as their fancy moved them.  My father has a "scalping knife" in his possession that belonged to his grandfather, Asa Mosher, one of the first settlers in this part of the county.  Tradition says that Tom Lyon, a Delaware Indian chief, traded the knife to Asa Mosher for two bushels of meal, and assured him that it had "scalped heaps of white men."

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FIRST WHITE SETTLERS

     It is believed that the first white settler in this county was Even Holt, who came to Chester in 1807.  Cyrus Benedict, was in Peru township in 1809.  The Shaw settlement in Westfield township dates back to 1808.  Cardington, then known as Morven township, was not settled until 1821, and the first settlemenet in Gilead township was in 1817.  My great-grandfather, Asa Mosher, came from Granville, Washington county, New York, in 1816, to look up a location and selected a large tract of land south of where Mt. Gilead now stands, and in 1818 he moved his family from New York and settled on that part of section 14, Gilead township, lying  west of the Quakerdom road.  From family records and deeds, we learn that Jonathan Wood, my great-great-grandfather on the other side of my father's family, came from Plattsburg, Clinton county, New York in 1816, and fist settled in Peru township in the Quaker settlement year Cyrus Benedict.  But when Asa Mosher moved here, in 1818, the Jonathan Wood family concluded to settle near them, adn those two families, with the family of Peleg Rogers, also from New York, entered all the land of section 14, and laid the foundation of another Quaker settlement.  A few years later, Asa Mosher's son married Jonathan Wood's grand-daughter and became my grandfather and grandmother.  A portion of the land entered by Asa Mosher and Jonathan Wood has been owned by their descendants ever since.
     Asa Mosher built the first grist mill and saw mill in this part of the county; the mill was built in 1819 on the spot where Uncle Gideon Mosher's barn is now located near the covered bridge between Mt. Gilead and Cardington.  This mill was built before the land was surveyed and opened for settlement, but after the survey in 1822 Asa Mosher secured the deed and patent for the land from the government.
     Friendsborough was the first village or town to be laid out in the township.  It was surveyed and laid out in town lots by Colonel Kilbourn, in 1822, near the Asa Mosher mill.  The town was never built up, as Asa Mosher owned the larer share of the land, and bought the other lots to make a farm for his son Robert, my grandfather, whom he wanted to live near enough to run the mill.  For a number of years the township elections were held at or near the Mosher mill.  It is now believed that Friensborough would have been the county seat of Morrow county had it been built up, for, being centrally located between Cardington and Mt.

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Gilead, it would probably have united the power and population of both the rival villages.

THE LEGISLATIVE STRUGGLE

     The history of the bitter fight in the legislature among the contending factions over the formation of the new county afterwards called Morrow, and the work of the lobbyists at that time, reads very much like the columns of our daily papers of today, and we cannot but wonder if those "good old times" we hear so much about really were so much better than the present time.
     The organization of Marion county, in 1824, and the establishment of the county seat at Marion, was the first cause of the project to erect a new county out of the territory which is now known as morrow county.  Mt. Gilead was laid out in the same year and formed a nucleus about which the discontent with the location of the seat of justice gathered.  Some of the more radical ones said at once that a new county would be formed to accommodate the large population which was situated in the outlying corner of the four counties (Marion, Knox, Richland and Delaware), but it was some twenty-one years before this project bore the fruit of the fact, and then not without a struggle that consumed the energies of the whole community, the time for years of its best citizens, and not inconsiderable sum of money for that time.
     The early history of this struggle is but imperfectly known and we have but vague traditions from which to glean information in regard to this interesting eent.  It appears that the early efforts to form the county were confined principally to gathering petitions, setting forth the case of the petitioners, and asking the legislature for the obvious relief.  Unfortunately for the early success of the project, there were a number of conflicting interests to be conciliated.  The movement to erect a county out of the out-lying portions of Marion, Knox, Richland and Delaware counties, with Mt. Gilead as the county seat, was strongly opposed by several factions.  The Richland county people, save the few to be especially favored by the change, were strongly opposed to giving up so much of their territory.  The necessity for the erection of a new county was generally conceded and the contest turned on the question of the location of the county seat.  The Chester claim proposed to erect a county, with Chesterville near the central point for the count_ seat.  The Bennington claim made Marengo the central point, and ran its lines about it, taking territory from Knox, Lick- 

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ing, Delaware and Marion counties.  The Gilead, Chester and Bennington "claims" had their hired lobbyists to press their claims upon the attention of legislators during the sessions of the legislature.  History tells us that "on Dec. 13, 1847, the legislature.  History tells us that "on Dec. 13, 1847, the house committees is informed that Gilead, at least, if not Bennington, is moving heaven and earth to accomplish her purpose, having all the doorkeepers and clerks in both branches, and many others employed in her behalf."  The above was evidently written by a "Chester lobbyist."  Bennington finally withdrew from the contest in favor of Gilead, and for several weeks it was hard to tell which would win, Chester or Gilead.  It became generally understood that the session of the legislature of 1848 would bring the matter to an issue, and most strenuous efforts were made on all hands to place their claims in the most favorable light.  The Gilead claim had changed in name from Ontario to Gilead, and then to Marshall, to conciliate the various prejudices.  It is said that a senator from the town of Morrow, Warren county, in the southern part of the state, who had been instructed to vote against Marshall county, said that if the Gilead people would change the name to Morrow, after the ex-governor of that name, he could vot_ for it.  This was accordingly done and one more vote was gained for Gilead.  The bill was finally passed Feb. 24, 1848, and Morrow county was erected by barely enough votes to insure success.

PROGRESS.

     The infant county has been of slow growth, in regard to population, for since 1860 each census has given Morrow county about one thousand less population than the preceding one.  In 1850 and 1860 our population was over 20,000; in 1880 a little over 19,000; in 1890, 18,120; and in 1900, 17,879.  The reason for the decrease is supposed to be because of the unpopularity of large families of children, and we are supposed to make up in quality record as history makers.  Our schools and churches are among the best, and in most of the reform movements Morrow county takes a leading part.
     The story of the "underground railway" and the anti-slavery movement generally, is interwoven in the history of our county, and with our record in the temperance cause we are all familiar.
     Is it any wonder that the "makers" of Morrow county look upon the work of the hands and pronounce it "good?"

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IN THE LONG AGO.
Contributed by Captain L. M. Cunard.

     Sixty-three years!   How long it would appear looking forward, yet how short the time seems which has been measured off and tumbled into eternity since Morrow county was erected.  The writer was then a boy of thirteen yeas old; he now has grandchildren thirty years old.
     Let some one - any one who may read these lines - make a list of the men now living in Gilead township, who voted at the election for county officials on the first Monday of April, 1848.  "Our fathers, where are they?"  They sleep.  If I mistake not, Morrow is the state's baby county, though Ashland and Vinton are less than a half dozen years here seniors.
     The bill erecting Morrow county finally passed the legislature Feb. 24, 1848.  On the following day Governor William Bebb appointed Richard House, E. B. Kinsell and S. T. Cunard associate judges, and affixing Ohio's seal to their commissions as such, gave Morrow county her initial send off.  In April following, William Geller was elected treasurer, H. F. Randolph auditor, W. S. Clements clerk, and William Hanna, J. T. Creigh and John Doty county commissioners.  At the general election following in October the same officials were reelected, with Ross Burns as sheriff and William Dolin county surveyor.

MT. GILEAD IN FEBRUARY, 1848.

     Perhaps nothing would more interest the present generation of our county's inhabitants than some reminiscences of the exciting events which occurred in the village of Mt. Gilead at the time of which I write, Feb. 24 to 28, 1848.  At that date the population of Mt. Gilead was less than 550 souls.  There were three hotels in the village:  The "Our Hotel," kept by David Patterson on the southeast corner of the south public square; the "Van Arnim" hotel, kept by a Mr. Van Armin, which stood on the west side of the south square, north of Marion street, and the "Palo Alto House," kept by Lovel B. Harris, which stood where the Kandy Kitchen now stands.  Trimble's store, House's store and James Shaw's store were all on Main street.  Rigdon's blacksmith shop stood on the spot now occupied by the W. & M. hardware store.  E. R. Falley had a harness shop in one of the rooms in the

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building now owned by M. S. Merritt, where the big watch is, the second story of which, as it stands now, then being on a level with Main street; also Colwell's drug store and tin shop, C. K. Lindsey's dry goods store and William Graves' harness shop.  Back on East Marion street were Charles Breese's blacksmith and wagon shop, Addelsperger's cooper shop, and Cooper & Sackett's old wool carding machine.  C. K. Lindsey as postmaster.
     The news of the passage of the bill was brought to South Woodbury from Columbus by the late Geo. N. Clark, he arriving on horseback about 10 a. m. the 25th.  He immediately dispatched a messenger to Mt. Gilead with the news, on a fresh horse.
     This messenger, a young Mr. Davidson, overtook the late Dr. Pennock some three miles north of South Woodbury, and the doctor, in the exuberance of his joy, started his horse on a gallop for the new county seat, arriving in advance of Clark's messenger by nearly half an hour.
     There was a weekly mail between Mt. Gilead and Columbus; a "star route" between Mt. Gilead and what is now Old Eden, over which a "mail boy" rode with the "mail bags" on Friday of each week; post offices at Wood's corners in Lincoln township, South Woodbury and Stantontown in Peru township; from Eden to Delaware the mail was carried on the stage which run from Sunbury to Columbus.

MT. GILEAD'S "DAY OF DAYS."

     Immediately preparations were begun for a big celebration and barbecue.  The old Presbyterian church, which stood beside the "grave yard" just east of Dr. Tucker's was selected as the place for the "free dinner."  John Weaver furnished a fat steer, which was roasted for the occasion.  There were wagon loads of "grub" given by the farmers living around Mt. Gilead, whose farms were advanced in value 200 per cent, by being suddenly placed so near a prospective city.  The work of preparing the banquet and high jingo jollification was so systematized that not a jar or miscarriage occurred.  On the day of the jubilee at least two thousand voters from the surrounding townships partook of the town's hospitality.  the late Charles Bird was "carver-in-chief."  He had a corn knife two feet long and ground very sharp for the occasion.  He was assisted by Elzy Barton, Henry Snyder, and many others whose names I cannot just now recall.  I think that Elias Cooper was "chief ox roaster."  That was the day of days from Mt. Gilead.

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and a pen description of teh wild rejoicing of its hardy citizens on that day could not be given.
     The "lobby" was honored by being placed in a wagon arranged for the occasion, drawn by four horses, driven by Harry Rigour.  This wagon was followed by another four-in-hand driven by Jim Colwell containing the "New County Glee Club."
     The "Lobby" consisted of William Geller, David Watt, Sam Kelley, C. K. Lindsey, S. T. Cunard, A. M. Fisher, an attorney, Dr. McWright, who was Marion county's representative in the legislature, and others whose names I do not now recall.  These were the gentlemen who managed the Columbus end of the business.  At the Mt. Gilead end were the men who attended to the "ways and means" busines, among whom were J. S. Trimble, Richard House, D. S. Talmage, Smith Thomas, David Patterson, Saul Geller, Charles Bird, Henry Snyder, Joe Rigour, Charles Breese, and a score or more of others who held meetings every night in the week for the purpose of devising ways and means to raise the "sinews of war."
     This was the "lobby," and its support, the glee club consisted of Wm. Donaldson, Jos. Rigour, Ethan Van Arnim, Bob Murdick, Jas. Colwell, David Patterson, John Giles, Ely Steltz, John Lindsey, Anthony Raymond and Wash McCall.

THE BOYS OF MORROW COUNTY.

     I can remember but a very few couplets of the songs the glee club sang that day.  It is to be regretted that they are lost to posterity; I think there were three, however.  Her is the first stanza of one:

     Another stanza was as follows:

     It was understood at the time that William Donaldson was the

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the song writer for the occasion.  Those songs were sung and resung, over and over, in every part of the village by that wagon load of Mt. Gilead's stalwart young men, and while they were singing Geo. N. Clark's Woodbury cannon was belching for the tiding of great joy from the spot where Mr. Boyle's house now stands.  The jam of humanity over at the old Presbyterian church were the barbecue was in progress from noon till three o'clock was simply indescribable.  However, everybody was finally fed, and not near all the provisions consumed.  One remarkable thing about that gathering was that no person was in the least angered during the day.  Everybody was hilarious and remaind in a good humor.  One commendable thing about that jubilee was that there were no speeches delivered to the crowd.  The men whose labor and patience culminated in the erection of this county were great workers; men of action.
     The day's jubilee closed with a dance at "Our Hotel," at which our townsman, Hurd Payne, served as general utility boy, and his mother served as keeper of the ladies' wraps.  To give my readers an idea of the enthusiasm with which the women of Mt. Gilead entered into the spirit of the hour let me here state that a lady.  Mrs. Smith Thomas, roasted fourteen ducks and baked bread enough to fill a two-bushel basket, and placed all at the disposal of the committee on rations.
     This is but a sample of the all-pervading spirit which, like that at pentecost, came down on all alike, old and young, male and female, and seemed for the time being, to make all of one kin.

FIRST NEWSPAPERS.

     The county seat was not long without newspapers.  John Dumble issued The Democratic Messenger, Vol. 1, No. 1, I think, in May, 1848, known in this day as the Union Register.  His printing office was the first floor of a building which stood about where the "Bee Hive" store is now located.  The ground floor of his office, though, was about where the second story of the present brick building now is.
     The writer, then a barefoot boy, saw the first Democratic Messenger printed.  That old hand printing press was the most awe inspiring sight he had ever beheld.  I stood with a kind of reverence in the presence of John B. Dumble, who was a very dark complexioned, short, heavy set, black haired, black eyed man.

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     In that paper was an advertisement of the old "carding machine," which closed with his request:

     David Watt started the Whig Sentinel and I think is issued the first number in July 1848.  The Sentinel printing office was over Judge Richard House's store, where Theo. Brown's photograph gallery now is.  The writer was a bred and born Whig, and as soon as the Whig Sentinel was started he would steal up into that office every week, when, as a kind of market boy, he was sent to town with butter and eggs; four cents a pound for butter and two cents a dozen for eggs, the current price in summer.
     In the Sentinel office of the Friday following the presidential election in '48 was a crowd of Whigs wild with joy over the election of General Taylor for president.  Ben Peirson, a Baptist preacher, was a sort of leader.  Charles Breese was almost crazed with joy over the defeat of Lewis Cass, the Democratic candidate for president.  Of all the crowd I remember seeing there, I think no one is living.  This was the first election in which the telegraph had been brought into requisition in furnishing election returns and Columbus was the nearest telegraph office, but the news had reached Mt. Gilead from there by messenger.
     David Watt wrote:  "Thanks to Samuel Finley Breeze Morse for the magnetic telegraph by which we are enabled to inform our readers that General Taylor is elected president."
     These words are printed in what, I think, the printers call display type.  The letters were so large that the sentence occupied the half of a page of the paper.  Everybody in that crowd seemed happy, even the boy who is now writing this.  We verily believed the country was saved, for we had heard Tom Corwin declare that the Democratic party, if not defeated, would destroy the government.
     Ben Peirson succeeded C. K. Lindsey as postmaster and moved the post office from Lindsey's dry goods store into a room which is now over the frame part of James & Strubble's stove and tinware store.  In those days subscribers whose post office address was in the town where the paper was published, called at the printing office for their paper, as it was not distributed as now through the post office.

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     The county offices were located in a long, frame, two-story house, which stood on the two lots where the court house now stands.  This property was owned by Elzy Barton and J. M. Talmage.  Court was held in the Baptist church, on the northeast corner of the south square.

EXCITING FINANCIAL EPISODE.

     Under the act erecting the county and locating the seat of justice at Mt. Gilead, the citizens of Gilead township were required to contribute $7,000 for public buildings, and they were required to make this amount good within two years, otherwise the location of the public buildings was to be submitted to a popular vote.  Upon the settlement of this part of the new county business, there might be a great many surmises indulged in.  Already about $12,000 had been expended by the managers of the new county enterprize, besides their time; and now, sixty-three years later, reversing the order and reasoning back from effect, or result, to cause, I conclude that it was arranged in Columbus about the month of February, sixty-three years ago, that a sacrifice should be offered, and that after all, the expense of securing the passage of the act erecting the county should be borne by the tax payers of the county, and the big hearted Dr. Geller was then and there chosen, and, by his consent, was prepared for the altar of sacrifice.  He was elected county treasurer by 800, and handsome majority.  Two years later our townsman, Smith Thomas, a Whig, was elected by 53 majority.  Soon Dr. Geller's shortage was discovered.  The commissioners appointed Ross Burns, whose term as sheriff had just expired, to take charge of the treasurer's office until Mr. Thomas qualified, July 1st, following.  Geller left, and by a strange fatality his bond could not be found, his bondsmen were saved, and twenty years later by a joint resolution of the general assembly of Ohio, the attorney general, Judge West, was authorized to compromise the state's claim against Geller and release him from all liability for criminal prosecution.  The matter was settled by Geller's agent, the late Judge Cunard, by the payment to the state of $6,000.  And so ended what was once a very exciting episode in our county's history.

GODFATHER OF MT. GILEAD.

     Let me close by saying to the readers, when you are passing through any of the "old grave yards" in the vicinity of Mt. Gilead,

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stop and read the inscription on that "old grave stone," look at the figure of the "weeping willow," and remember it was carved there by the chisel of Jonathan Wilson and his "hired hand." a Mr. Fishback; remember the work was done in a little log shop on the spot where the brick building now stands in which is located the residence of Dr. Pugh, and reflect, that seventy-eight years ago, the little hamlet, called "Whetstone," was named Mt. Gilead, by an old bachelor, Daniel James, after a little village situated on the "Kotocktin" mountain in Loudon county, Virginia.  He was a great-uncle of our honored townsman, Dr. A. D. Jones, and sold "goods and notions" for the village "storekeeper," Mr. Roy, whose store was located where Dr. Tucker's residence now stands.  

THE MEMORY PRODIGY OF MORROW COUNTY.

     One of the most extraordinary cases of memory united to power of arithmetical calculation was that of Daniel McCartney who resided the greater part of his life in Morrow county.  The following letter and newspaper articles will explain.  The latter was written by Joseph Morris, of the Society of Friends.
     "For many years," writes Friend Morris, "I was well acquainted with Daniel McCartney; he has also been at my house.  The first time that I remember to have seen this extraordinary man and was introduced to Daniel McCartney, and was informed of his remarkable memory and that he could call to mind all that he bad seen for twenty years.  'Yes,' said he, 'longer than that.'
     "I told him that my wife and I were united in marriage on the 27th of the eleventh month, 1828, nearly twenty years ago.  'Please tell me what was the day of the week?'  I noticed a thoughtful expression come over his countenance, and then almost immediately the reply came.  'Thursday; you Friends call it fifth day.'  I asked him to tell how the weather was on that day.  He said it was dark and a little stormy, which was the case.  He laughed and said we killed a beef that day.
     "I asked him if he remembered what they had on the table for dinner.  He said he did, and mentioned among other things, butter, but said he did not eat butter, for he was not fond of it.  After other times and on other occasions I have heard him answer questions without once giving evidence of being mistaken.  I would further add he was a worthy and consistent man, I am directed by J. D. Cox, of Cincinnati, ex-governor of Ohio, to write to thee on this occasion."

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     From the Cardington Independent "Daniel McCartney died on the 15th of November, 1887, in Muscatine, Iowa, being a little over seventy years old.  In view of the claims of Mr. McCartney and his friends as to his ability to remember the occurrences of each day since he was a boy of ten years, I feel that something more than a passing notice is required.  He removed with his father and mother, Robert and Lydia McCartney, when he was sixteen years old, from Washington county, Pennsylvania, and settled in Washington township, Morrow county, Ohio.
     "After living here two years the family went to live in Cardington, the same county, where the father, Robert McCartney, died soon after, leaving his son Daniel to be supported by his relatives, who lived in various parts of the county.  His inability to support himself was caused by his defective vision, and although his sight became so much improved as to enable him to learn to read when he was about forty-two years old, yet it was with such great difficulty that his acquisitions can be said in no way to be due to his reading.
      "I will give a few extracts from the Journal of Speculative Philosophy, written by our state superintendent, in which he speaks of three severe examinations he gave Mr. McCartney.  In the first he gave him twenty-four dates belonging to nineteen different years.  He gave the days of the week correctly in an average of four seconds, with a description of the weather with the associating circumstances.  In the second examination he was given thirty-one dates in twenty-nine different years, for which he gave the days of the week, the weather and associating circumstances.  The average time for giving the day of the week was five seconds.  In the third examination he repeated the fifty-five dates previously given, to which he gave the same days of the week, the same description of the weather and the same associating circumstances, in some cases adding others.
     "That the reader may more clearly understand what has just been written, I will give Mr. McCartney's answer to a question of my own: 'Wife and I were married on the 28th day of January, 1836, give the day of the week, the kind of weather, etc?"  He gave answer in a few seconds.  'You were married on Thursday, there was snow on the ground, good sleighing and not very cold; father and I were hauling hay; a sole came off the sled, we had to throw the hay off, put a new sole on the sled and load up again before we could go.
     "Meeting Mr. McCartney perhaps a dozen of years afterwards.

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I said to him, you told me the kind of a day I was married on.  I looked him in the eye, which was the same as saying, 'If your memory is as good as you claim you can repeat what you said on the former occasion.'  He replied instantly, 'yes, it was on the 28th day of January, 1836,' and repeated the same story of his father and himself hauling hay, etc.  My wife asked, 'What kind of a day was the 16th of February, 1837?'  He instantly threw up his hands and exclaimed, 'Oh, how it snowed!' which we knew to be true.  At the same time I read (perhaps half a  dozen) passages from the Bible, taken at random.  Their exact location, book, chapter and verse were immediately given.
     "I then gave him a number of mathematical problems, such as multiply 86 by 392; what is the cub root of 357,911, etc.; to all of which he gave answers obtained mentally, and all were correctly given.  I will give a few extracts from a committee's report of the result of an examination held in Columbus, Mar. 29, 1871, which was sufficient to shake the scepticism as to the correctness of Mr. McCartney's claims.  The Hon. E. E. White conducted the arithmetical examinations, Rev. Phillips the Biblical examination, and T. C. Mendenhall, of the Columbus High School, attested the accuracy of answers as to the days of the weeks.
     "One of the arithmetical questions asked was: 'What is the cube root of 4,741,625?' to which a correct mental answer was given in a few seconds.  Another problem was 'increase 89 to the sixth power;' he gave the answer obtained mentally in ten minutes, 496,984,290,961.  The committee concluded their report in these words: 'Mr. McCartney's experiences seem to be ready to appear before him at his bidding in all their original distinctness, which shows clearly that among the prodigies of memory recorded in history in the front rank must be placed Daniel McCartney.'
     "From the Cleveland Leader of Apr. 19, 1871, I give the following extract:  'The exhibition was a most full and unanswerable argument in support of the claim that Daniel McCartney has no peer; his peculiar gifts are more varied and wonderful than any other.'  I knew of several attempts to exhibit Mr. McCartney to the public, all of which proved to be failures as far as money-making was concerned.  The last attempt I knew of was made by a prominent citizen of our own county in the year 1871.  When my opinion as to the success of the enterprise was asked, I told the agent that it would be a failure, not from any defects of McCartney in heart or mind, but because the capital he intended to invest was intellectual (the powers of soul) and not physical.  I said, 'If you

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were showing the double-headed baby the public would be charmed at the sight.  No one would be so poor as not to be willing to give his fifty cents.  But his prominent traits are those of the mind, which soared so far above the majority of the public as to be lost to their view.'
     "How very few people there are who can realize the powers of a mind that can solve an arithmetical problem in the cube root mentally in a few seconds.  Or how few are there who could realize the powers of memory by which Mr. McCartney could summon every prominent act of his life into his presence with all their original distinctness; or how very few there are who could tell whether the statements made by him were true or false.  No one could tell unless he had kept a record of the occurrences of days and dates for the last fifty or sixty years.  Such a record has been kept by many of our citizens, to whom the majority must look for a knowledge of the facts.  In early life Mr. McCartney made a profession of religion by uniting with the Methodist Episcopal church, and remained a worthy, consistent member to the close of his life."

MRS. SMITH DEMUTH'S RECOLLECTIONS.

     Below is given a brief history of Morrow county as written by Mrs. Smith DeMuth, whose grandparents were pioneer settlers.  the paper was read at a meeting of the Current Topics Club and printed in the Morrow County Independent.
     "The historian of Morrow county is handicapped by the fact that its history proper only extends back to 1848, when it was formed from Delaware, Marion, Richland and Knox counties.  It was named after Jeremiah Morrow of Warren county, who was governor of Ohio from 1822 to 1826.  The area is about four hundred and fifty square miles and the population is 17,879.  In 1850 it was 23,350, a loss of 5,457 since that time.  Sixty years ago large families were the rule and were considered a blessing; today it is the reverse.
     "Morrow county lies just south of the summit that divides the waters of the lake and the Ohio river.  The most of the surface is level and average fall is less than one inch to the hundred feet.  It was first settled immediately after the war of 1812, the settlers coming principally from the south and east, and a grand race of people they were.  It was a case of the survival of the fittest.  The beautiful farms that cover our fair county comprise one of the

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heritages they left us, monuments that will commemorate their work better than marble or bronze.  We little know the hardships they endured.  They came into dense forests, cleared away a few trees, with those trees erected a cabin, and then felled a few more trees each season, clearing alittle more ground and raising a little more grain.
     "My grandfather White, who lived in Bennington township, has stood on the porch, or 'stoop,' as they then called it, of his cabin, and shot deer and wild turkey.  My grandfather Horr, who some of you knew, helped raise the first log cabin built in cardington.  He rode up here from Bennington, worked all day and rode home at night, a ride of more than eighteen miles.  He received for his day's labor a three gallon iron kettle, which my mother now has.  My grandmother was terribly pleased with the kettle, which she could hang on the crane in the fireplace and cook many a good dinner in.  The cabin was erected for John Shunk, who started a little store in it.  The cabin now stands on the banks of the race and is used for a stable.
     "Morrow county produces all the staples that are raised in the middle west.  The first grist mill was erected by Asa Mosher, half way between Mt. Gilead and Cardington.  The old timbers were still visible a few years ago.  Previous to the building of the canals and railroads the only market was the lake, which furnished employment for a great many teamsters.  My grandfather Horr used to take a load of wheat to Sandusky, bringing back salt and tea and coffee, the neighbors coming for miles to get these luxuries.  It generally took him two to three weeks to make the trip.  This of course was in the summer time, as in the winter the roads were almost impassable.
     "Morrow county is noted for its thrift and the intelligence of its citizens.  It has produced such men as Calvin S. Brice, Gen. John Beatty and Albert P. Morehouse, afterwards governor of Missouri; also Daniel McCartney, the man of wonderful memory, who could tell what kind of a day it was for twenty or thirty years back.  The wonderful double babies were born in Morrow county, one of the most wonderful curiosities of the world.  I was fortunate enough when a young girl to see these babies.  They were being exhibited in Newark, where we then lived and my mother was a schoolmate of the mother of them.  They lived to be about nine months old.
     "Morrow county is blessed with good water and grass, and in some places has fine stone quarries.  It has an abundance of

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churches and school houses, and it is a question of but a short time till she will have good roads and rank as the fairest county in the state.  There are many societies and clubs, but only one of any particular note, namely the Current Topic Club of Cardington.
     "Morrow county, politically, is known as the 'crank county' on account of its independent voters.  Every new political fad finds a lodgment in the county.  I have lived in this county a good many years, find it a fine place in which to live, and think that one could go far and fare worse."

END OF CHAPTER VI