History of Franklin County [Ohio]: a collection of reminiscences of the early settlement of the county; with biographical sketches, and a complete history of the county to the present time

Front matter

Class Jljfi3__ Book •£?Ml

AMERICAN ELOQUENCE:

A COLLECTION OF

Preface

It is tlie design of this Work to preserve for the people of Franklin County an imperishable record of its early history — now existing only in the memory of the more aged settlers, and in scattering and detached papers and records, which are every year wasting away.

To write the history of a single county, may to some appear like a very small business ; while to others it is considered very desirable that some one should do so in every county. How else are the names and memory of our early settlers and friends to be preserved? And who is there that would not be pleased to look back, or to have his children look back, upon some record of his early days, and of departed friends? And how else should strangers, settling among us, so readily obtain a knowledge of our institutions and public characters, as by some such local publication ?

It has been the writer's object in this compilation, to give a correct statement of all events worthy of remem-

IV PREFACE.

brance, with their proper dates, so as to form a book of ready reference, such as will be convenient and interesting to all residents of the county. For this purpose, he has relied upon public records and documents, where they could be obtained ; and in all other cases, upon the best information that could be derived from early and intelligent settlers of the city and county, aided by his own personal knowledge*

It is but a little over sixty years since the first settlement was commenced — more than two-thirds of that time the writer has been a resident of the county. Over twenty years ago, while on terms of intimacy and daily intercourse with some of the very first settlers, he compiled a small pamphlet entitled "Franklin County Register," a few copies of which were printed; and which may be considered as the basis of this work. In that way he obtained and preserved the recollections of those pioneer friends.

And now, as some of the matter contained in these pages has heretofore appeared in different prints, to avoid the charge of plagiarism, it is but necessary to say, that when Mr. Wheeler published his map of Franklin County, in 1842, he accompanied it with a very small pamphlet, historical and descriptive of the county, which was taken wholly from the Franklin County Register, without giving credit ; and when Mr. Howe published

PREFACE. V

his " Historical Collections of Ohio," in 1847, he copied from Wheeler's pamphlet, and gave credit to it. It may not be amiss, also, to add that the " Brief History of Columbus," accompanying Mr. Armstrong's '' Columbus Business Directory," published in 1843, was also prepared by the writer hereof, which may be an apology for the free use of it in this work.

To suppose that this publication contains no errors or omissions, would be folly in the extreme. But the writer has labored assiduously to have it as free from errors as possible. And to those who have kindly rendered him assistance in the collection of facts, he tenders his grateful acknowledgments.

W. T. MARTIN.

Columbus, May, 1858.

HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY.

Chapter I

FROM THE FIRST SETTLEMENT UNTIL THE ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY, IN 1S03.

The first settlement of the territory now composing the county of Franklin, was commenced in the year 1797, while we were yet under the Territorial Government, and in the County of Ross.

In the year 1796, or early in '97, Lucas Sullivan t, from Kentucky, then a young man, with his corps of chain-carriers, markers, etc., engaged in the surveying of lands and locating warrants, in the Virginia Military District, west of the Scioto ; and in the month of August, 1797, he laid out the town of Franklinton. To encourage the settlement of the place, he appropriated the lots on a certain street, which he named " Gift street," as donations to such as would improve them and become actual settlers thereon. The settlement of the town was soon commenced. Among the first set-

A HISTORY OF

tiers, were Joseph Dixon, George Skidmore, John Brickell,* Robert Armstrong, Jeremiah Armstrong,* William Domigan, James Marshal, the Deardurfs, the McElvains, the Sells, John Lisle and family, William Fleming, Jacob Grubb, Jacob Overdier, Arthur O'Harra, Joseph Foos, John Blair and John Dill, the latter from York County, Pennsylvania.

About the year 1801, Mr. Sullivant having married, settled in his new town ; and soon after, Lyne Starling and Robert Russell, and about the same time, Colonel Robert Culbertson, from Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, arrived, with his numerous family of sons, sons-in-law and daughters, both married and unmarried. He was a man of some wealth and distinction, and the first year after his arrival, he was elected a Representative to the General Assembly for the County of Ross.

At the first settlement of the county the Indians were numerous, but friendly, it being some two or three years after Wayne's Treaty ; they were principally of the Wyandot tribe, some Dela wares, and a fevv Mingoes. In front of where the Penitentiary now stands, they had an encampment, with their usual wigwams ; another on the west bank of the Scioto, near where the Harrisburg bridge is now erected over the river; and they had

* See Chaps. IX and X, for narrative of Brickell's and Armstrong's captivity.

for years raised corn in what was afterward known as Sullivant's Prairie. There was also another encampment of this kind two or three miles further down the river.

Agreeably to tradition, about the time Lord Dunmore's army was in Pickaway County, prior to the treaty at which Logan's celebrated speech was delivered, a party from Dunmore's army pursued and overtook a party of Indians at, or near, this second named encampment, and a skirmish ensued in which the Indians were defeated, with the loss of two or three men and a squaw. It is said that Captain Minter, afterward of Delaware County, and also jNIr. John Huffman, formerly of Franklin County, were of the pursuing party.*

Next, after the settlement at Franklinton, was a few families on Darby, near w^here Mr. SuUivant laid out his town of North Liberty, and a scattering settlement along Alum Creek. This was probably about the summer of 1799. Among the first settlers on Alum Creek, were Messrs. Turner, Nelson, Hamilton, Agler and Reed.

* lu '•'■ Howe's Historical Collections" an account is given of this skirmish somewhat variant from this, in which he says : — " One of the whites saw two squaws secrete themselves in a large hollow tree ; and when the action was over, they drew them out, and carried them captive to Virginia. This tree (he says) was alive, and standing on the west bank of the Scioto, as late as 1845." All a mistake.

About the same time improvements were made near the mouth of Gahannah (formerly called Big Belly) ; and the settlements thus gradually extended along the principal water-courses. In the meantime, Franklinton was the point to which emigrants first repaired to spend some months, or perhaps years, prior to their permanent location.

In 1803, a settlement was commenced gbout where the town of Worthington now stands, by a company, said to number forty families, from Connecticut and Massachusetts, known by the name of the " Scioto Company^'' under the agency of Colonel James Kilbourne, who had the preceding ^^ear explored the country, and selected this situation for them. They purchased here half a township, or eight thousand acres of land, all in one body,'-' upon which, in May, 1804, Colonel Kilbourne, as agent for the company, laid out the town of Worthington ; and in August, 1801, the whole half township being handsomely laid out into farm lots, and a plat thereof recorded, they, by deed of partition, divided the same amongst themselves, and so dissolved the company. The parties and signers to this deed of partition, Avere James Allen, David Bristol, Samuel Beach, Alexander Morrison, Ebenezer Street, Azariah Pinney, Abner P.

* They also purchased tvro quarter townships unconnected with this.

Pinney, Levi Pinney, Ezra Griswold, Moses Andrews, John Topping, Josiali Topping, Nathan Stewart, John Gould, James Kilbourne, Jedediah Norton, Russel Atwater, Ichabod Plum, Jeremiah Curtis, Jonas Stanbery, Lemuel G. Humphrey, Ambrose Cox, Joel Mills, Glass Cochran, Alexander Morrison, jr., Thomas T. Phelps, Levi Buttles, Levi Hays, Job Case, Roswell Wilcox, William Thompson, Samuel Sloper, Nathaniel Little, Lemuel Kilbourn, Israel P. Case, Abner Pinney, and William Yining.

For several years there was no mill nor considerable settlement nearer than the vicinity of Chillicothe. In Franklinton, the people constructed a kind of hand-mill, upon which they generally ground their corn; some pounded it, or boiled it, and occasionally a trip was made to the Chillicothe mill. About the year 1799 or 1800, Robert Balentine erected a poor kind of mill on the run near Gay street, on the Columbus plat ; and, near the same time, Mr. John D. Rush erected an inferior mill on the Scioto, a short distance above Franklinton. They were, however, both poor concerns, and soon fell to ruins. A horse-mill was then resorted to, and kept up for some time ; but the first mill of any considerable advantage to the county, was erected by Colonel Kilbourne, near Worthington, about the year 1805.

b HISTORYOF

About tlie same time, Carpenter's mill, on Whetstone, in what is now Delaware County, and D^^er's, on Darby, w^ere erected.

About one year probably after the first settlement of Franklinton, a Mr. James Scott opened the first small store in the place, which added much to the convenience of the settlers. And as early as 1803, Ave find that our old and respected townsman, Robert Russell, Esq., w^as engaged in merchandizing in Franklinton.

During the first years of the settlement it was extremely sickly — perhaps as much so as any part of the State. For a few of the first years, the fever and ague prevailed so generally in the fall seasons as to totally discourage many of the settlers ; so that they would, during the prevalence of the disease, frequently resolve to abandon the country and remove back to the old settlements. But on the return of health; the prospective advantages of the country ; the noble crops of corn and vegetables ; the fine range for stock, and the abundance of wild game, deer, turkeys, etc., with which the country abounded — all conspired to reanimate them, and encourage them to remain another year. And so on, year after year, many of the first settlers were held in conflict of mind, unable to determine whether to remain or abandon the country ; until the enlargement of their improvements or possessions, the increasing conveniences and improvements of the country, together with the foct that the seasons had become more healthy, determined them generally to remain. Although sickness was so general, deaths were comparatively few, the disease of the country being principally ague — or so it was called. There was the shaking ague, and what is now familiarly termed chills and fever, which was then called the dumb agiie.

Chapter II

FROM THE ORGANIZATION OF TOE COUNTY UNTIL THE LAYING OUT OF COLUMBUS IN 1812.

Organization of County and Boundaries — Division into four Townships — U. S. M. Lands — V. M. Lands — Refugee Lands — Congress Lands — First Post Route and Mail Carrier — Col. McElvain's Letter — First Court House and Jail — Court Journal — First Election in the County and Poll Book — Delaware County erected in 1808 — Dates, etc., of the present Townships — Further Extracts from Court Journal — Execution of Leatherlips.

In 1803, {he County of Franklin was stricken off from Ross, and organized. The act creating the new county, was passed March 30th, 1803, to commence and take effect from and after the 30th of April, 1803. The bounds are described as follows : " Beginning on the western boundary of the twentieth range of townships east of the Scioto River, at the corner of sections Nos. 24 and 25 in the 9th township of the 21st range, surveyed by John Matthews, thence west until it intersects the eastern boundary line of Greene County, thence north with said line until it intersects the State line, thence eastwardly with the said line to the north-west corner of Fairfield County, thence with the Avestern boundary line of Fairfield to the point of beginning." That is, bounded on the east by nearly our present line, south by a line near the middle of what is now Pickaway County, on the west by Greene County, and on the north by Lake Erie. The creation of the county of Delaware in 1808, reduced our northern boundary to its present line ; the creation of the county of Pickaway in 1810, reduced our southern boundary to its present limits; the creation of Madison in 1810, and of Union in 1820, reduced our western limits to the boundaries represented by Wheeler's County Map, published in 1842 ; but subsequently, b}'- an act of the Legislature passed the 4th of March, 1845, our western boundary was changed by making Darb}^ Creek the line from the north-west corner of Brown to the north line of Pleasant Township, as represented by Foote's Map of 1856 ; and by an act passed the 27th of January, 1857, entitled "An act to annex a part of Licking County to the County of Franklin," there were nine half sections taken from the sonth-west corner of Licking, and attached to Franklin. This occasions the jog in the eastern line of Truro Township, as represented on the maps. Then at the session of 1850-51, a range of sections, being a strip one mile in width and six miles in length, including the town of Winchester, was taken from Fairfield County and attached to the east side of Madison township, in Franklin County, as represented on Foote's Map. The county is now in nearly a square form, and is twenty-two and a half miles in extent north and south, and would probably average a trifle over that from east to west.

There are four several denominations of land in this county. They are designated the United States Military Lands, Virginia Military Lands, Refugee Lands, and Congress Lands. The townships of Plain, Jefferson, Mifflin, Blendon, Sharon, Clinton and Perry, are within the United States Military District ; the townships of Montgomery and Truro, in the Refugee tract ; the townships of Hamilton and Madison, in the Congress Lands, so called; and all the other townships (west of the Scioto) are in the Virginia Military District. The United States Military Lands, are so called from the circumstance of their having been appropriated by an act of Congress in 1796, to satisfy certain claims of the officers and soldiers of the Revolutionary War. These lands were surveyed by Government into townships of five miles srjuare, and then into quarter townships of two and a half miles square, containing four thousand acres each. Some of the quarter townships, however, were subsequently divided into lots of one hundred acres each, for the accommodation of those soldiers holding one hundred acre w^arrants. The fourth, or south-east quarter, of Plain Township, and a strip in Perry Township, bordering on the river, are thus hiid out into one hundred acre lots. And again, after satisfying the claims for which these four thousand acre tracts were designed, there appears to have been a surplus of land, which w^as then laid out by Government into sections of six hundred and forty acres, and sub-divided into quarter sections of one hundred and sixty acres, and disposed of as other Congress lands. Of this description are quarters one and two (or north half) of Plain Township. These original surveyed townships of live miles square, when divided into quarters, are numbered thus, (the top being considered north,) and are most properly designated as first quarter, second quarter, etc., in township No. — , range — , but sometimes in conveyances, they are called sections, and very commonly so in conversation, as the Rathhone section, the Stevenson section, the Bricn section, etc., which in the minds of some may create confusion, as a section, in Congress Lands, is well known to contain six hundred and forty acres, wdiile one of these quarter townships (or sections, if we so call them,) contains four thousand acres.

The Virginia Military District in Ohio, comprises the lands between the Scioto and Little Miami Rivers ; and when the State of Virginia, in 1783, ceded to the United

2 1

States all her right of soil and jurisdiction to all the

tract of country she then claimed north-west of the Ohio

River, it Avas provided that the " Virginia troops of the

Continental establishment " should be paid their legal

bounties from these lands. The patent to the soldier or

purchaser of these lands, as well as of all other Ohio

lands, is derived from the General Government. This

District is not surveyed into ranges and townships, or

any regular form, and hence the irregularity in the

shapes of the townships, as established by the county

commissioners, for civil purposes ; but any individual

holding a Virginia Military Land Warrant, might locate

it wherever he desired, within the district, and in such

shape as he pleased, wherever the land had not been

previously located. In consequence of this want of

regular original survej^s, and the irregularities w^ith

which many locations were made, and the consequent

interference and encroachment of some locations upon

others, fir more uncertainty and litigation has arisen

relative to lines and titles in this district, than in any of

the regularly surveyed districts. In conveyancing, the

lands in this district are not designated by section or

range, but as being within Original Survey iV'o. — .

The Refugee Tract, (of which Montgomery and Truro Townships are a part,) is a narrow strip of country four and a half miles broad from north to south, and extending eastward from the Scioto River forty-eiglit miles. This tract was so called, from the circumstance that it was appropriated by Congress for the benefit of certain individuals from Canada and Nova Scotia, who espoused the cause of the American Colonies in the Revolutionary War. The lands in this tract were originally surveyed for Government into sections of six hundred and forty acres each, and numbered, by John Matthews and Ebenezer Buckingham, of Muskingum County, in 1799, but was subsequently divided into half sections, by Elnathan Scofield, of Fairfield County, in 1801, and re-numbered, and patents issued to the claimants for hajf sections, by these latter numbers. After satisfying all these refugee claims, the balance of these lands w^ere sold as other Congress Lands, by the original numbers. Hence, in conveyances, they are sometimes designated as part of section No. — , (giving the number,) sometimes as part of half section No. — , (an entirely different number,) and sometimes both numberings are given in the same conveyance.

The Congress Lands (of which Hamilton and Madison Townships are a part) are so called, because they have not been set apart for any particular purpose, and they are sold to purchasers by the immediate officers of Government, pursuant to the laws of Congress. These lands were surveyed by Government into townships of

six miles square, and then divided into sections of one mile square each, containing six hundred and forty acres, and then again these sections were subdivided into quarter sections or lots, of one hundred and sixty acres each. Although the territory is thus surve3^ed into townships, (so called,) yet in the formation of townships for civil or governmental purposes, the County Commissioners are not governed by these surveys, further than in their opinion public convenience may require. Hence, the organized civil townships are in many cases quite different in boundaries from the original surveyed townships, as in the two townships of Hamilton and Madison, the southern limits of each of which extend two miles, that is, two tiers of sections, farther south than the original surveyed townships of which they are principally composed. These townships were originally surveyed into sections, by Matthews and Buckingham, in 1799.

Prior to 1820, the government price of the public land was two dollars per acre, in jjayments. Since then, it has been established at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, payable on the entry of the land.

For seven or eight j^ears after the first settlement of Franklinton, there was no post office nearer than Chillicothe, and when other opportunities did not offer, the people of the village would occasionally raise by contribution the means, and employ a man to go to the post office, (45 miles,) to carr^^ letters to be mailed for their distant friends, and to bring back such letters or papers as might be in the office for any of the Franklintonians. Col. Andrew McElvain, now of Logan County, Illinois, but for many years a prominent citizen of this county, was, when but a boy, the first mail carrier between Chillicothe and Franklinton. The following interesting letter from the Colonel, is written with a clear recollection on that subject, and it also covers nearly the whole ground of the first settlement of the county. It is dated " West Point Grove, Logan County, Illinois, Nov. 30, 1856." He says:

"I emigrated with my father to Ohio (from Kentucky) in the spring of 1797. We remained at Chillicothe that summer. The fall or winter of 1797-8, a family by the name of Dixon, was the first white family settled at Franklinton, then called the Forks of Scioto. That winter several others arrived there — Armstrongs, Skidmores, Deardurfs, Dunkin, Stokes and Balentine ; early in the spring, McElvains, Hunters, Stevens, Browns, Cowgills, and Benjamin White. The first meal-making establishment in Franklinton, was erected by Samuel McElvain — that was a hominy block — a hole burned in a stump, with a sweep so fixed that two men could pound corn into meal ; the sifter was a deer skin stretched over a hoop, with small holes made therein by a small hot iron ; and that block mill supplied the first settlement of Franklin County. Our family helped to raise the first corn raised in the county by the whites. Next was a hand mill erected by Rogers. The first water mill was erected by Robert Balentine, on a small stream near Hayden's Factory, on the town plat of Columbus. There was also a small distillery erected near Ridgway's Foundry, by one White, where the first rot-gut whiskey was distilled. The same Benjamin

White was the first appointed sheriff of said county. Afterward, a man by the name of Rush, erected a mill on the Scioto, below the present dam of the Sullivant Mill. The salt used by the village, was manufactured at a salt spring three or four miles below the village — perhaps on the White farm — and I think Deardurf was the salt maker — but not proving profitable, it was soon abandoned. In the summer of 1805, the first mail contract was taken by Adam Hosac — he being Contractor and Postmaster. The route then was on the west side of the Scioto. A weekly mail left Franklinton each Friday, stayed over night at Markly's Mill, on Darby Creek, next day made Chillicothe, and returned to Thompson's, on Deer Creek, thence home on Sunday. When the route was first established, there was no post office between Franklinton and Chillicothe, but during the first winter, there was one established at Westfall, now in Pickaway County, afterward one at Markly's Mill, about that time changed to Hall's Mill. I was the first appointed carrier, and did carry the first mail to Franklinton, and M'as employed in that business about one year, during the winter and spring having twice to swim Darby and Deer Creek, carrying the small mail

bag on my shoulders I commenced carrying the mail at

thirteen years old. There was not a house but William Brown's, on Big Run, between Franklinton and Darby, and but a cabin at Westfall and Deer Creek, to Chillicothe. It was rather a lonesome route for a boy. . . There was no regular mail to Worthington, but their mail matter was taken up by a young man employed as clerk in a store — I think Mr. Matthews. Truly yours,

"W. T. Maktix, Esq. A. McELVAIN."

By an act passed April 16, 1803, it was made the duty of the Associate Judges to lay out their counties into townships, and perform various other duties that are now performed by the County Commissioners, and to appoint certain officers that are now elected by the people. The records of these proceedings, on a few unbound sheets of paper, now thrown aside with the rubbish of the office, are in the handwriting of Lucas SuUivant ; and being interesting as part of our early history, are therefore copied verbatim.

The regular courts for several years were held in hired rooms, until the Franklinton Court House was erected, in 1807-8 — Lucas Sullivant, contractor. A jail was sooner provided, as will be seen by the following minutes. The first jail was a small log building near where Captain White now lives. It was a temporary concern, and remained but a few years. About the same time that the court house was erected, a new brick jail- was also erected, a few rods north-east from the court house — Arthur O'Harra, contractor. These buildings remained in use until the county seat was removed to Columbus, in 1824. The court house is still standing, and used for a school house.

" COURT JOURNAL.

" At a meeting of the Associate Judges of the Court of Common Pleas, of Franklin County, at the temporary Seat of Justice of said county, in Franklinton, on Tuesday, the 10th day of May, 1803, — present, the Hon. John Dill, Chief Judge, David Jamison, and Joseph Foos, Esqrs., Associate Judges of the court aforesaid. Who, Laving taken their official seats, were attended by Lucas Sullivant, Clerk of the said Court of Common Pleas, and they then proceeded to lay off the said County of Franklin into townships, as required by an act of the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, entitled ' An act to reo-ulate the election of Justices of the Peace, and for other purposes,' in the following manner, to wit :

" Ordered, that all that part of Franklin County contained within the following limits, to wit : Beginning at the forks of Darby Creek, that is, at the junction of what is called Treacles Creek with Darby Creek, running thence south to the line between the counties of Ross and Franklin ; thence east with said line until it intersects the Scioto Eiver ; thence up the same till it comes to a point one mile, on a straight line, above the mouth of Roaring Run ; and from thence to the point of beginning, do make and constitute the first township in Franklin County, and be called Franklin Township.

" Ordered, that all that tract or part of Franklin County contained within the following limits and boundaries, to wit : Beginning on the west bank of the Scioto River, one mile, on a direct line, above the mouth of Roaring Run ; from thence, on a direct line, to the junction of Treacles Creek with Darby Creek, which is frequently called the forks of Darby ; thence south unto the line between the counties of Ross and Franklin; thence west with said line until it intersects the county line of Greene ; thence with the last mentioned line north, and from the point of beginning, up the Scioto to the northern boundaries of Franklin County, do make and constitute the second township in said county, and be called Darby Township.

" Ordered, that all that tract or part of Franklin County contained in the following meets and boundaries, to wit : Beginning on the east bank of the Scioto River, at the point where the sectional line between the sections number eight and seventeen, in township four, and range twenty-two intersects the Scioto River ; thence east with the said sectional line until it intersects the line between the counties of Fairfield and Franklin ; thence south with the same to the line between the counties of Ross and Franklin ; thence west with the same until it intersects the Scioto River ; thence up the river to the point of beginning, to make and constitute the third township in Franklin County, and be called Harrison Township.

" Ordered, that all that part of Franklin County contained within the following limits and boundaries, to wit : Beginning on the east bank of the Scioto River, at the intersection of the sectional line between the sections number eight and seventeen, in the fourth township and twenty-second range ; running thence with the said sectional line east, to the line between the counties of Fairfield and Franklin : thence north with said line, and from the point of beginning, with the Scioto, to the northerly boundary of Franklin County, do constitute and make the fourth Township in Franklin County, and be called Liberty Township.

" Ordered, that in Franklin Township there be elected two Justices of the Peace, and that the electors hold their election for that purpose at the temporary place of holding courts for the county of Franklin, in Franklinton, on the twenty-first day of June next, as provided by law.

" Ordered, that in Darby Township .there be elected one Justice of the Peace, and that the electors in said township hold their election for that purpose at the house of David Mitchell, in said township, on the twenty-first day of June nest, as provided by law.