OLD SETTLERS.
 

     While there may have been now and then a settler to be found within the limits of Jackson County previous to the year 1800, the actual settlement of the county commenced about that time.  When the scarcity of salt became a burden to the people, then the salt works of Indian tradition became a veritable fact, and Jackson County received her first immigration from the temporary salt boilers of Marietta and Washington County in the latter years of the eighteenth century.  At the time when the savage foe had been driven from her border and the white pioneer's ax was heard to echo in its forests, Jackson County had not come into existence, and at that time, 1800, of the four counties, Scioto, Gallia, Athens and Ross, from whose territory Jackson County was formed, Ross County alone had an existence.  Those that first made their homes here came principally from West Virginia as now known, yet Pennsylvania contributed quite a number.  A few also came from Wales, who were followed later by quite a number of their fellow country men.
     Quite a large number of settlers came in, and the first decade of the nineteenth century showed such an influx of settlers that, even in the year 1810, the people began to talk fo a separate county organization.  There were almost too many even at that date to enumerate, but we give a few of the most prominent names - men who figured at that early day more or less in municipal affairs:

OLD SETTLER SKETCHES
p. 469

     David Mitchell. - Among those who came to make this their permanent home was the Hon. David Mitchell, who early settled on the salt reservation, where he followed his trade, blacksmithing, and administered to the wants of his neighboring friends in this line.  He settled here in 1808 and remained a resident until his death.  He was born and reared in Kentucky but moved from Dayton, Ohio, to this place, and at the time was newly married.  His wife died in Jackson also.  He was an industrious man, close observer, and at all times willing to assist in the general improvement of the county.  His desire to read and the faculty he had for remembering, coupled with his sound judgment, placed him well up in the scales of honor, intelligence and popularity, and he was elected and served two terms in the State Legislature.  His political

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affiliations were in behalf of the Whit party, to which he ever adhered. ~ pg. 469

     Hon. John James - was born in Connecticut, and on reaching the age of sixteen went to Reading, Penn., and the following year came to Marietta, Ohio, where he volunteered in the Indian war and served until its close in 1795.  After receiving his discharge he made his home at Parkersburg until 1800.  While there he was married to Miss Nancy Cook.  He lived for a while on an island on the Ohio River, known as James Island, but in the spring of 1807 came to what is now Jackson County, settling on the Salt Reservation, with which he had became acquainted, having been over it during his service in the Indian war.  Having been burned out on James Island, his means on arrival here were limited, but his will power and good right arm soon placed before him a good log house for himself and family.  His first business venture was the opening of a tavern on the old Chillicothe and Gillipolis road, which he kept until the year 1819, when he sold out, crossed the creek and located near the then embryo village of Jackson.  From this date on he followed farming and stock-trading until his death, which occurred about the middle of the present century, after a long and eventful life as a pioneer and frontier woodsman of Jackson County.  He was six feet two inches in height, 225 pounds in weight, and was very strong, active and wiry.  At the time of the war of 1812 he volunteered and marched to Fort Meigs under General Roop.  He was a zealous worker in the Methodist Episcopal church and did much to build it up, but later in his life he became a member of the Methodist Protestant church.    In this he took a decided part which evinced all of his good faith.  He donated a lot on which to erect a house of worship, west of the present Gibson House.  His wife belonged to the same church, and most of the children.  He was a man who at all times kept himself posted on the questions of the day and of the Government, and in consequence of these possessions he was chosen to represent his district in the State Senate in an early day. ~ pg. 470

     John D. James, a pioneer of Jackson County, Ohio, is a son of Hon. John James, mentioned above.  He is the fifth of the family and was born on James Islands, in the Ohio River, Mar. 23, 1806, but since 1807, has lived in Jackson County, Ohio.  He has lived to see the county grow from a dense forest to a populated and well-improved country, which he was in part instrumental in bringing about.  He had the advantages of only the meager educational facilities of that early day, and started in life for himself by opening a store in Jackson.  This he did not continue long, but gave his attention to his farm and stock-raising.  In 1832 he was married to Miss Sarah, daughter of Hon. David Mitchell, by whom he had thirteen children.  Mrs. James was born on the present site of Jackson in 1814. ~ pg. 470

     Judge Hugh Poor was born of German parentage, in the State of North Carolina, and remained there until he reached man's estate.  He then went to Virginia where he married Miss Martha Hutchins, and soon after came to Ohio, settling near the hamlet of Vinton, Gallia County, in the year 1804, and in 1811 settled in Bloomfield Township in this county.  He was a hard-working and honorable man, and was one of the first Associate Judges of the Common Pleas Court of the county.  He was successful in business, but lost largely at one time from over-confidence in his fellowmen.  He, however, was fast recovering when he died, in the year 1829.  He was for fourteen years Associate Judge, from the organization of the county was an upright, honest and honorable man, and a prominent citizen until his death, at which time he was the candidate of his party for Representative.  His wife survived him till 1860.  She died in Jay

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County, Ind.  They had eleven children.  His father lived to the age of 104 years, and died at his old home near Vinton, Ohio. ~ pg. 470

     Emanuel Traxler, who became somewhat noted in the early days of Jackson County, was from Virginia, and first settled on the site of the present city of Portsmouth in 1796, but Henry Massie getting the advantage of him he was compelled to give up his claim.  He first came to Jackson in 1812, and finally settled here the following year and was one of the first three County Judges of Jackson County, an honest and energetic man, a millwright by profession, and an honored citizen during life. ~ pg. 471

     John Stephenson. - This was another of the early pioneers of Jackson County, coming in the year 1814, at the age of twenty years.  He died June 5, 1861.  He was born in South Carolina, Sept. 11, 1792, but was with his father for a few years, a resident of Cabell County, Va., from which place they came to Jackson County.  Young Stephenson soon became prominent from his superior natural abilities and genial ways.  He was first elected to the office of Justice of the Peace, which he held for years; was Mayor of Jackson; was elected to the office of County Auditor for a number of years, and was at his death Recorder of the county.  He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, an honored and honorable citizen. ~ pg. 471

     Peter Seel. - On Friday, Feb. 21, 1868, Peter Seel, an old pioneer, died at his residence in Jefferson Township, in Jackson County.  He was quite healthy until a week before his death.  Mr. Seel was over eighty-four years old, and his wife, who survived him, was over eighty-one.  They had lived together as husband and wife for more than sixty years, and their descendants numbered nearly 140 persons.  Mr. Seel was the first white man who settled in Jefferson Township.  His cabin was a few rods west of the present residence of John Phillips, near the railroad, a mile east of Gallia Station.  This was in the year 1814.  The county of Jackson was not organized until two years after, and the township was not named, but was known as township No. 5, range NO. 18, Ross County.  The nearest neighbor Mr. Seel then had was Lewis Adkims, who lived four miles from him, on the farm now owned by Joseph F. Cackley, one mile northeast from Oak Hill.  His next nearest neighbor was John Clingman, where Webster is now located, in Scioto County, and ten miles from where Mr. Seel settled in Jefferson Township, the following were all or nearly all the families residing in the township: Joseph Phillips, Abner Phillips, Robert Massey, Moses Massey, George Crump, Teter Null, Jesse Kelley, Solomon Mackley, John Mackley, John Walton, James Kelley, Dr. Gabriel McNeel, Joel Arthur, William H. C. Jenkins, Amos Jenkins, Enoch Ewing, John White, John Horton, Matt Farley, John Farley, Thomas Farley, and perhaps two or three others.  Mr. Seel Paid the first tax ever paid in Jefferson Township, being the sum of 75 cents.  Mr. Seel was a native of Germany and came to this county when a youth.  He never cold speak the English language plainly.  He never could speak the English language plainly.  He could talk fluently, but retained the German brogue.  Mr. Seel possessed a large amount of sterling good sense, and a considerable fund of native wit.  He was a patriot.  He loved Germany, and he loved the United States, and he loved the United States, and he loved Jefferson Township.  Some thirty years before his death he was converted, and joined the church of the United Brethren, and remained a worthy member until his death.  He was strictly an honest man, and hated trickery or dishonesty of any kind. - pg. 471

     George L. Crookham was born of English parents in Pennsylvania, in the year 1779, and came to Jackson, Ohio about the year 1802, when the county was a wilderness, and where he engaged in making salt, at which business he continued until about 1812.  During

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this time he was addicted to drinking intoxicating liquors, and it is said that nothing less than a pint of whisky sufficed him for a single drink.  In after years he became a great advocate of the temperance movement in all its phases, and, as he never did anything by halves, he became radical o the subject of temperance, and advocated the principles of total abstinence and entire prohibition.  He was also an ardent and uncompromising anti-slavery man and ministered to the wants of many a poor run-away slave.  One of his buildings, containing a rare collection of plants, insects, minerals, relics, and curiosities, which he had spent many years in acquiring, was burned by some incendiary, who, probably in a spirit of revenge, resented his anti-slavery principles.  To be a temperance man and an anti-slavery man in those days required an unusual amount of courage, and brought persecution, denunciation and social ostracism, which few men cared to encounter.  His physical proportions were immense.  He weight not less than 350 pounds; was not tall, but broad, thick-set, fleshy, and somewhat ungraceful in his locomotion.  He was rather a gourmand than an epicure.  He was required a great deal of substantial food, and for some years before he died ate but one meal a day, and that at noon, but that was a dinner that might have satisfied half a dozen common men.  In his boyhood he attended school but little, and had few opportunities for acquiring an education.  His remarkable scholastic acquirements were the result of private study under many difficulties.  He was eminently what is called a self-made man, and his peculiar traits of character were so marked and unique that he stood out as a prominent future, and attracted the notice of the public to a remarkable degree. After leaving the salt business, he bought a farm about a mile and a half from Jackson, and he began teaching school, which he continued for about thirty years, and as a teacher he was very successful.  In the sciences he seemed at home.  He excelled in the higher mathematics, was a great naturalist, historian and grammarian - in short he seemed to grasp any and every subject as by intuition.  He solved the most difficult problems in mathematics with an ease and rapidity that seemed astonishing and marvelous.  His memory was equally as great as his reasoning powers, and so he became "a walking encyclopedia," being regarded as a standard authority, from which there could be no appeal.  Many of the oldest citizens of Jackson were his pupils, and they will readily testify that this sketch is not overdrawn.  He had sixteen children, thirteen of whom lived to maturity, and several of whom attained wealth and prominence.  For several years after he ceased teaching, he continued to reside on his farm, engaged in study and intellectual pursuits.  After his wife died he lived with a daughter until his death, Feb. 28, 1857, aged seventy-seven years, three months and ten days.  He was a politician rather than a partisan - first a Whig and then an Abolitionist.  He cared more for principles than for candidates.  He never sought an office and never held one.  Withal he was a good Christian and church member, fair and honorable in all his dealings.
     In his manners he was without polish - a diamond in the rough.  In expression he was plain, blunt, and abrupt, not sour nor surly; a good talker, not boastful, but always interesting and instructive; radical in sentiment; terribly in earnest and withering in denunciation.  Many anecdotes are told concerning him.  An example in algebra, which had proved too hard for a senior class in college, was solved by him in five minutes, while sitting on a woodpile.  On going to Chillicothe for a certificate to teach, the examiners handed him a newspaper upside down, which he held in that position and read with the same ease that an experienced printer would have read it under similar circumstances.  One of

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his pupils having been nominated for the office of county surveyor, and the qualifications of the candidate being doubted, the old man said; "What! he not qualified?  Why, he was one of my pupils; my best boy; he has not been sitting at the feet of Gamaliel for nothing.  I'll stand sponsor for him."  This, of course, removed all doubt, and the old man's confidence in the ability of his pupil was fully justified.  In order to encourage his pupils and to signify his approbation, he would often place his hand upon their hands as if granting a benediction.  Sometimes his hand was heavy and the pressure great, but the pupils would bear it bravely because of the commendations which he never failed to bestow.  He had his playful moods, and generally was pleasant and genial, seeming to enjoy himself and to be at peace with all the world, but when he became aroused and indignant at some great wrong, his wrath was like that of an avenging angel, and terrible in its manifestations.  Yet he was kind and just and free from malice and revenge.  He cared little for dress or fashion.  Independent in his principles, he pleased himself, and did nothing in order to court or enlist public or popular favor.  Such men are never duplicated.  There could be but one Crookham.  No mere sketch can do anything like justice to his memory; a volume would be required for that purpose.  The old man sleeps in peace and in the midst of the very surroundings where his triumphs were achieved.

SOME OTHER PROMINENT MEN.

     Among the old settlers and among the first resident physicians of the county was Dr. Gabriel McNeel, who was a resident of the county at the time of its organization.  He lived in Madison Township, not far from the present town of Oak Hill.  He was considered an eminent man in his day as a physician, which reputation he achieved by a large and successful practice.  He was also the first Surveyor of Johnson County, and surveyed the south half of the town of Jackson.  He died much regretted in the year 1848.
     Not all of the old settlers of Jackson County can be remembered, but a large number can.  There was Judge Wm. Salter, of Plymouth, and ex-Governor Joseph Vance, who worked at the salt works in this county, in 1803; and some years later were Moses Kelley, Solomon Mackley and others, in the southern part of the county.  Jesse Rees, from whom Rees Ridge takes its name, was also a pioneer and lived in Jefferson Township.
     The first grist mill built in the county was a corn-mill on the Black Fork of Symmes Creek built during the year 1808 by Daniel Faulkner and was on the land since owned by Thomas A. Albans.
     Abraham Welch and William Warth were salt boilers as early as 1806 and settled on the Salt Reservation.  Welch, however, opened up a tavern and kept a bar.  He removed from the county in 1818.  Warth removed to the Kanawha Salt Works about 1812 and followed the same business there.
     Jackson County, like man ___ers, had in that early day the draw-back of non-resident land holders.  Speculation was rife, and it often happened some of the most eligible sites for towns and farms were in the hands of those non- residents, who cared nothing for progress only so far as it advanced the value of their lands.  There were in 1821, 104 non-resident holders of land in the county.  There was, however, enough land to give farms to all who might come.  Still the main settlement was on the Salt Reservation and in the southern part of the county at first, and quite a hamlet had squatted on section 29, township 7, of range 18.  This was the village of Jackson and Lick Township.  The village, however, was not laid out until 1819, but Jan. 14, 1817, the Legislature passed an act to sell the section on which Jackson was located.

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EARLY PREACHERS OF JACKSON COUNTY.

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COTTON.

     In early years cotton was grown in Ohio, immigrants from Virginia and others of the Southern States cultivating it for quite a number of years; still the article did not prove remunerative, the seasons proving too short to properly mature the crop, but more or less was raised, as above stated, for the family use of the planter.

ITEMS OF INTEREST.

     The witchcraft superstition had a pretty strong hold in Jackson County for a few years in early days, and some persons were declared under the "spell."
     The Welsh came to the county in 1835

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and purchased largely of Government land, besides a considerable quantity from private hands.  They have proved energetic, prudent and honorable citizens.  They are among the most substantial citizens of the county.
     The Salt Cave, near the Salt Lick Furnace, was the cave discovered Aug. 31, 1854.
     A spasmodic attempt to clean out the Old Salt Well, some half a mile below the town of Jackson, and start up the works again, was attempted in July, 1855, but it did not amount to anything.
     The first daily line of stages was started from Jackson to Byer's Station, on the Cincinnati & Marietta Railroad, July, 1855.  This gave a daily line from Cincinnati.  A French, proprietor.
     The first telegraph line was projected in June, 1855.
     The first railroad completed to Jackson was the Scioto & Hocking Valley Railroad, now Portsmouth Branch of the Cincinnati, Baltimore & Washington Railroad, which was completed from Portsmouth to Jackson in August, 1853.
     McCoy and Wilson were murdered in October, 1858.  Addison Kernan was arrested for the murder of Wilson.
     The first steam engine used in Jackson Township was purchased by Wm. Trago, Sr., and brought to the county in the year 1840.  This engine ran a grist-mill, carding machine and lath factory.  The first in the county was in 1836.  owned by the Jackson Furnace Co.  The first telegraph line connecting Hamden and Jackson commenced work May 28, 1866, the citizens subscribing to build the line.
     The mail route between Sinking Springs, in Highland County, to Jackson, via Piketon, was opened July 1, 1839.
     The "Isham House" was sold in May, 1854, by Mr. C. Isham to John French for the sum of $7,500.
     During the oil excitement of 1864 and 1865 they got up a stock company under the name of the "Jackson Petroleum and Salt Company."  Capital stock $15,000, to be organized when $5,000 was paid in.  It was organized and the following permanent officers elected the first year:
     President, W. K. Hastings; Vice-President J. H. Bunn; Trustee, Levi Dungan; Directors, Green Thompson, Andrew Long, Isaac Stevison, Peter Pickerel, J. M. G. Smith.
     The last wolf killing in Jackson County was by Cory Boyd in 1834.  The last wolf seen in the county was in the fall or winter of 1836.
     On Friday, May 11, 1883, John W. Jackson, a boy of twenty-one years of age, was hanged in the court-house yard for the murder of an old man, Sam'l. L. Hull, for money.  This is the first man ever hanged in Jackson County.
     On the night of April 28, 1883, Wm. and Luke Jones, brothers, killed a man by the name of Anderson Lackey, an old and respected farmer, living six miles south of Jackson.  Connected with them and witness to the murder was Laban Stephens.  They all have had their trial at this writing, Oct. 1, 1883.  The Jones brothers were found guilty and sentenced to be hanged Nov. 16, 1883.  Stephens will have another trial in November.  There is no doubt that the Jones brothers will meet their just deserts and that Stephens, although not striking the deadly blow or shooting, was accessory thereto, and if not hanged will serve the State many years n the penitentiary.
     Dec. 5, 1880, Peter Becker killed James Brady in a drunken spree.  He was convicted Mar. 5, 1881, and sent to State's prison for life.
     An old-time murder which created some excitement was the killing the Thomas Hinsilwood, by Philip and Martin Zomes and a man named Flannegan, Sept. 7, 1864.  No account of a trial is on record.

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     Nov. 14, 1873, an old lady by the name of Anna C. Tilton shot and killed Wm. Franklin Johnson, a boy about ten years of age, on his return from school.  She had been considerably worried, on account of trespasses, and had threatened to shoot any one coming on her premises.  The boy was not, however, trespassing, and the case was proven one of willful murder, but being a woman, and nearly seventy years of age, the jury mercifully brought in a verdict of manslaughter.  She was sentenced Mar. 8, 1874, to hard labor in the penitentiary for three years.  The judge was much affected, but being a plain case, he did his duty, leaning, however, on the side of mercy.  She served her time and was discharged.
     The Jackson County Teachers' Association was organized in the summer of 1866, and continued its annual sessions for many years.
     The court-house clock was purchased and put in place in 1868, and for fifteen years has kept excellent time.
     It cost $500, and $150 to put it up and start it to running.  It costs $50 per year to have it wound and taken care of.
     The frame and movement weigh 400 pounds.  The pendulum is forty feet long, and weights sixty pounds.  The striking part is so geared that it is impossible to strike wrong.  The movement is geared for four dials, and the clock runs eight days without winding.
     There were in Jackson County, in 1881, 475 persons living over seventy years of age.  This number, by townships, was divided as follows:  Hamilton, 14; Scioto, 22; Washington, 22; Jefferson, 42; Franklin, 43; Madison, 57; Liberty, 47; Jackson, 40; Lick, 84; Bloomfield, 42; Milton, 62.
     The cost of assessing Jackson County in 1883 was as follows, by townships, with assessors names; Lick, 1st Precinct, Thomas Rogers, 33 days, $66; Liberty, Henry Coen, 42 days, $84; Oak Hill, G. B. Warren, 27 days, $54; Jefferson, John Morris, 28 days, $56; Milton, 1st Precinct, James A. Strong, 38 days, $76; 2d Precinct, S. H. Kinnison, 40 days, $80; Jackson, R. A. Fouty, 34 days, $86; Washington, J. L. Goodrich, 25 days, $50; Hamilton, Gary Jenkins, 25 days, $50; Franklin, W. H. Brunton, 37 days, $75; Coal, Samuel Pugh, 49 days, $98; Scioto, John Aten, 38 days, $76; Madison, E. E. Evans, 30 days, $60; Bloomfield, Benj. Callaghan, 32 days, $64. 
     The debt of Jackson County, July 1, 1883, was $20,000, being for the new jail and sheriff's residence.
     The city debt of Jackson was $12,000, being for the second fine public school building.  This was the amount due Oct. 1, 1883.
     The county rate of taxation for 1883 was 67 cents on the $100 valuation.  In addition to this there is a State tax and the several townships have a small tax which varies from year to year.
     The births in Jackson County for ten years, from 1873 to 1882 inclusive, numbered 6,328, and the deaths during the same period were 2,342.  This left births over deaths for the ten years, 3,986.  The gain in population in the county, in the decade between 1870 and 1880, was 1,927, or over 2,000 less than the natural increase.

OFFICERS OF JACKSON COUNTY FROM ITS ORGANIZATION TO THE PRESENT TIME.

COMMISSIONERS.

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AUDITORS.

TREASURERS.

RECORDERS.

PROBATE JUDGES.

SURVEYORS.

SHERIFFS.

PROSECUTING ATTORNEYS.

CLERK OF COURTS.

JUDGES.

POPULATION OF JACKSON COUNTY BY TOWNSHIPS FROM 1840.

     Population in 1820, 3,746; in 1830, 5,941.  Square miles, 410.