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CHAPTER XIV
WINCHESTER TOWNSHIP
p. 492
This is the
northwestern township of Adams County. It borders
Jackson Township, Brown County, on the west, and Concord
township, Highland County, on the north. It is one
of the more recently formed township of the county,
having been organized Jan. 2, 1838, from territory four
by six miles, off the west side of Scott, and a strip
two by four miles of the north end of Wayne Township.
It contains something more than thirty-two square miles
or about 20,000 acres of land.
Surface.
The western part of the township is undulating, with low
marshy areas at the head of the small streams whose
waters reach the North Fork of Eagle Creek to the
southwest or one of the forks of Ohio Brush Creek that
flow across the northern portion of the township to the
eastward.
The eastern part of the township is more hilly and the
land rougher, than the western portion. The soil
in the western part is chiefly the white clay, or
boulder drift. These clay soils are rich in all
the material of vegetable growth except organic matter,
which being supplied by intelligent drop rotation, will
gradually improve in productiveness. On the other
hand, where the virgin soil has been sapped of its
organic matter and not restored by intelligent
cultivation, the lands have become cold and barren.
It is remarkable that in traveling along the highways
through this section, an observer will see on the one
side fine fields of corn, oats, wheat, or grass, the
products of intelligent farming; and on the other dreary
fields of running-briers, poverty grass, and sedge, the
harvest of ignorance and sloth.
The eastern part of the township along the numerous
small streams and creeks possesses a good limestone soil
- the uplands, however, are the yellow and white boulder
clays. Under proper care and cultivation the
uplands of this township would afford abundant pasturage
for large flocks of sheep and herds of cattle.
While the valleys would grow fine crops of clover, corn,
wheat and tobacco.
Springs and Water Courses.
Every portion of Winchester Township affords fine
springs of pure limestone water. These springs are
found at the heads and along the courses of the numerous
small creeks that flow through the township. Just
below the site of every pioneer cabin in this township
is a fine spring of water. These are factors
which, when properly utilized, will make the township a
grand pasturage area.
Page 493 -
Three branches of the West Fork of Ohio Brush Creek
traverse this township. From the northwest flows
Little West Fork; from the west, arising in Eagle
township, in Brown County, flows West Fork proper; and
from the southwest flows Elk Run, a wicked, rapid
stream, in whose waters many a life has gone out in
attempting to ford it when swollen. These three
creeks unite on the eastern border of the township and
form what is known as West Fork of Ohio Brush Creek, one
of the most beautiful streams in the State. These
streams have cut deep channels through the blue
limestone underlying the surface, and in the deep pools
along their courses, sheltered in these shelving layers
of limestone, are found the gamest black bass that ever
spun the reel of a sportsman's rod.
Early Settlers.
Among
the first early settlers in what is now Winchester
Township was Joel Bailey. As early as 1799
he had come to Adams County and was one of the first
court constables when Washington, at the mouth of Ohio
Brush Creek, was the seat of justice in the county.
He afterwards, perhaps about 1805, settled on what is
now the Roush farm at the junction of the Buck
Run and Seaman pikes east of Winchester. Here he
built a stillhouse and a horse mill. He reared a
numerous family, descendants of which are scattered from
the Alleghenies to the Pacific coast.
John McIntyre, Andrew Clemmer and Israel
Rhodes were early settlers on lands about one and a
half miles south of Winchester.
Early Schools.
It is
said that the first schoolhouse in this township was a
log structure which stood near the present cemetery at
Winchester. Richard Cross, a relative of
the Alexander family, which settled about 1805 in
that portion of Adams County now included in Eagle
Township in Brown County, was the first teacher.
When Joel Bailey resided near Elk Run his older
children attended a school held in a little log cabin on
the old Aid farm in the eastern portion of
Jackson Township, Brown County. This was about the
year 1811. Spencer Records was one of my
first schoolmasters in the township.
Churches.
The churches in the township are Calvary M. P. Church in
the Kennedy neighborhood in the northeast part of the
township, and Centenary M. E. Church about three miles
north of the village of Winchester. In the village
of Winchester, Methodist Episcopal, Presbyterian, and
Baptist organizations are maintained. Of these
latter the M. E. Church was organized in 1830 and the
Baptist in 1831. In 1887 the Presbyterians erected
a very handsome frame church at a cost of five thousand
dollars. The Baptist organization was formed at
the house of Spencer Records on West Fork, on the
farm now owned by George Baker, in 1813.
Elder Charles B. Smith was the first pastor, and had
charge of the congregation until about the year 1820.
Archaeology.
In the northern part of the township are a number of
small mounds, the work of the pre-historic inhabitants
of this region. Some of the larger ones have been
partially explored by treasure-hunters but without
success, only some fragments of human skeletons, and
trifling trinkets of stone and shells having been found.
Page 494 -
Mills.
The first mill
in the township is said to have been erected in 1809 on
the site of Winchester by Richard Cross. It
was an old fashioned clumsy horse ill. About this
date Spencer Records, who then resided on the
farm now owned by George Baker, built a mill on
Brush Creek near where the county line between Adams and
Brown Counties crosses that creek. It was a
treadmill. Afterwards Records built a
"tub-wheel" mill on the site of what was later known as
the old McCormick mill now in Eagle Township,
Brown County. This mill was patronized for miles
about as being the best mill in that region at that
time. It had but one pair of buhrs, and Records
dressed the stones himself from a kind of quartz found
in the Sunfish hills.
In 1820, Ezra Sparks owned the treadmill where
Winchester now stands. About this date Joseph
Marlatt erected a water mill on Brush Creek at the
mouth of Horner's Run, and a little later Stephen
Tolle built one on Elk Run.
The first sawmill was built by Joel Baily on Elk
Run in 1820.
SOME REMINISCENCES.
"Abolitionists Mobbed."
In Howe's History of Ohio there appears some
"reminiscences" of "Abolition Mobs," written by R. C.
Rankin, of Ripley, Ohio. The scene of one of
those "terrible" mobs is laid in a grove near
Winchester.
Being interested in this matter of recording "pioneer
scenes and incidents" the writer was greatly surprised
to learn of this "scoop" having been made by a rival
chronicler in the vicinity of the writer's own "vine and
figtree. With a view of gathering some additional
facts relative to the matter, the writer sought among
others an interview with Mr. O. R. Smith, or "Reece"
Smith, as he is familiarily known, to
nearly every person in Adams County. Mr.
Smith has resided in Winchester from his boyhood to
the present day, and knows personally more of the
history of the village and township of Winchester,
perhaps, than any other person living. He is a prominent
Mason, a Methodist, and a substantial business man.
Referring to the "mobbing" of Rev. John Rankin
at Winchester as recited in the volume above named,
Mr. Smith said: "I remember the incident as
well as if it had occurred yesterday. It was in
1837, or perhaps 1838. Rev. John Rankin,
Rev. Dyer Burgess, a gentleman named Weed,
and John Mahan and some of the Hugginses
from the neighborhood of Sardinia had announced an
Abolition meeting to be held here in town (Winchester),
but from some cause they were not permitted to speak in
any of the churches, and so were obliged to hold their
meeting in the grove out near where Dr. Noble's
residence now stands. There were in Winchester at
that time a few sympathizers with the movement among
whom I may mention Dr. A. C. Lewis, Milton Colter
and Rev. Hiram Burnett, a Baptist minister.
But the majority of our citizens looked upon the
movement at that time with disfavor, yet they made no
attempt at its suppression. It was a matter in
which men took sides in argument, which sometimes ended
in bad feeling, as so often do political wrangles.
Page 495 -
On this occasion there were a great many people in town
from the surrounding country and as usual in those days
there was some drunkenness and a great deal of loud and
boisterous talk, but not at the place of meeting.
William Stockwell, an old sea captain and author
of "Stockwell's Narratives," who then lived on
Brush Creek near McCormick's mill, and some
others, with a fife and drum corps, marched about the
streets; and I remember that while here in town John
Boone Fenton, Barney Mullen and Andrew Swearengen
were about to get into an encounter with James
Huggins and some of his friends, but they were kept
apart by old Joel Bailey and others with cooler
heads. There were no clubs or canes drawn a the
meeting, and no personal encounters during its progress.
I remember that Robert Patton was present, but he
neither threw nor had he occasion to throw anyone off
the speakers' stand.
The story in Howe's History is purely a fiction
of the imagination. I might add that the opponents
to the Abolition movement were not confined to any one
political party - they were in the ranks of both
Democrats and Whigs. Barney Mullen and
Andrew Swearenger before mentioned were Democrats,
while John Boone Fenton and Captain Stockwell
were Whigs."
Morgan's Raid.
General Morgan
and his staff arrived in Winchester about nine o'clock
in the morning, and took up their headquarters in the
hotel then kept by Nicholas Bunn on Main Street.
There were no telegraph lines nor railroads in Adams
County. The people depended upon the mails for
their news from the outside world. The Cincinnati
newspapers were carried from Maysville and Ripley on the
Ohio River by the way of Cherry Fork and Winchester
through to Hillsboro in Highland County.
General Morgan was anxious to see the Cincinnati
newspapers, and remained in Winchester until four
o'clock in the afternoon in order to capture the mail
when it arrived. Becoming impatient he sent a
detail of soldiers to meet the carrier, Gibson Paul,
who was relieved of the pouches near the old Howard
Alexander farm on the Cherry Fork pike.
Old Johny Frow was then postmaster and when
Morgan's men took obliging postmaster hurried
thither with the keys and proffered his assistance in
opening the pouches and assorting the mail.
General Morgan was staggered at the proposition for
the moment, but quickly recovering himself, he replied
that he would "assist the obliging postmaster
downstairs," if he did not betake himself that way at
once. The General assorted the mail himself.
After scanning the dispatched in the latest newspapers,
General Morgan rode out to the old cemetery and
delivered an address to his men there in camp, in which
he advised them o their perilous situation. They
then began to prepare in great haste for a renewal of
the march, and left in great excitement, taking the
Grace's Run route for Harshaville, Wheat Ridge,
Dunkinsville and Locust Grove near where the army
encamped that night. In the hurry and excitement
an officer left his horse saddled and holstered in
Bunn's stable.
Page 496 -
The Escape of Captain Hines.
The following from Anna Meek McKee,
of Chillicothe, graphically describes the exciting
scenes in Winchester during the stay of the famous
cavalry commander and his "raiders." Capt.
Hines was under guard in the house of Norvalle
Osburn and made his escape from there. He
was directed to the cellar under the house of Hiram
Israel De Bruin where a portion of the wall was
taken out through the opening in which Hines
crawled back under the kitchen floor. The wall was
then carefully replaced, and Hines remained under
the floor until after the departure of Morgan and
his men. Then he was helped from his place of
hiding as related below by Mrs. McKee:
"The summer of '63 I spent in Winchester, Adams County,
Ohio, with my grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. H. I. De
Bruin. when we learned that General Morgan
had crossed the river and was in Ohio the consternation
was terrible. On the morning of July 15, I think
it was Monday, a rumor of his coming into Winchester was
spread abroad, and before we could gather our wits he
was in the town about 8 o'clock A. M. The whole
army came and most of it stayed all day. Morgan
with his body guard rode up to the old Sparks
(then Bunn's) tavern and took possession of it.
The men began to raid and rifle the homes and stores.
A number of men called at the home of I. H. De Bruin,
who was in the army, and asked his wife for the key to
the dry goods store which had been locked on hearing the
news of their coming into town. Mrs. De Bruin
promptly gave them the key, and after being in the store
a short time they locked it up and returned the key, and
paid in confederate money for what they had taken saying
to her that the store would not be disturbed again,
which proved to be true. (It was thought by some
that such was the case because they must have found in
his desk evidence of the fact the the
proprietor was a Free Mason and that over the store was
the Masonic Lodge Room, General Morgan himself
being a Mason.) Not so with the store directly
across the way, for they rifled it of everything, and
what they could not carry away, they tried to destroy,
tying their horses's and mules' tails and mains with
ribbons and destroying many things before our eyes,
scattering pins, needles and small things over the floor
of the store and in the street. Never will I
forget what a sight that store was, belonging to Mr.
Dick Thompson.
"One of the chaplains,
Charles Price, of Nicholasville, Kentucky, spent
quite a while on the piazza of my grandfather's home.
He came to ask some questions about Hillsboro, knowing
that they were not far from that town, especially of
Dr. Samuel Steel, who was the Prebyterian
minister in Hillsboro, who many said favored in looks
H. I. De Bruin, and we thought he was under the same
impression for he came up asking if we knew Rev.
Samuel Steel. My grandfather referred him to
me as being a resident of Hillsboro. He was a
relative of Dr. Steel's wife and I had a pleasant
chat with him because he knew many in Hillsboro who had
visited in Kentucky. He was very interesting and
very courteous.
"At three o'clock P. M. a great stir and commotion
occurred on Main Street where the house of H. I. De
Bruin stood just a half block from where they had
entered the town, and here they had in a carriage a
prisoner, Captain Hines, of Winchester, Ky.
The commotion was caused by the escape of this prisoner.
They rode up and down this street swear-
Page 497 -
ing that they would burn to the ground the house in
which he might be concealed. We were all
unconcerned and innocent when, had the fact be known,
our horrified faces might have told the secret, for my
dear grandmother, then sitting on the piazza as calm as
any of us, had secreted him. He had run into the
back part of Mr. Jerome De Bruin's home, who
lived just south of grandfather's, and Jerome had
brought him to grandfather's house, and had quietly
taken grandmother back to him. Oh, what a woman
was she! I can hear her yet saying to the
prisoner, 'Are you deceiving me?' and his reply, 'God
knows I am not, for His sake protect me." And she
who had given three of her sons to her country was brave
enough to protect him. He was hidden in such a
place that he could hear all of the soldiers' ravings
over his loss.
"About four o'clock the raiders began to leave the
town, and it did not take long for all to get out, they
seemed to be in a hurry. General Basil Duke,
of Confederate fame was with them. I remember him
well. After they had gone, Captain Hines
was brought from his hiding place, and after having his
supper was sent out north of town where some militia
from Hillsboro were stopping.
That same evening word came of Hobson's approach
with his seven thousand men. the night was spent
in preparing sandwiches and other things for his great
army which began to arrive early the next morning.
Only the General and his staff stopped for a few hours,
he having his headquarters in the best rooms of the
De Bruin home. The army passed on in pursuit
of Morgan, but not before they had a cup of
coffee and a sandwich, which most of them took while on
their horses, and they were a tired looking set.
Captain Hines was brought in to see General
Hobson who gave him a pass to Hillsboro and a horse
to ride there and a pass to return to his home. He
was wounded and a home on a furlough and this was how he
came to be captured. He went to Hillsboro and
spent a night at the home of Judge W. M. Meek
before going on his journey home.
"After General Hobson and his staff had dined
and he had finished his official business, they followed
after the army. There was no time lost.
Expedition seemed to be his watchword. All the
time lost. Expedition seemed to be his watchword.
All the time I was almost paralyzed with fear, but I
have always been glad for the personal experiences of
those memorable days."
Public Schools.
The school
enumeration outside the village of Winchester is 297.
The average wages paid teaches is thirty dollars per
month. There are six subdistricts and each is
provided with a frame schoolhouse twenty-four by thirty
feet, one story high. The surroundings of these
"colleges of the people" are uninviting. The
play-grounds are bare of shade trees or ornamental
shrubs, and present a picture of neglect.
In the village of Winchester there is a graded school
attended by the pupils of school age within the special
district. The present school building is a plain
brick structure with four rooms and was erected in1871.
The estimated value of buildings, grounds, furniture and
apparatus is $2,000. The school term is seen
months; the principal receives sixty dollars per month
and the under teachers from thirty to forty dollars each
per month. The school enumeration is 232.
This special district was organized in 1865.
Page 498 -
The Winchester Fair.
The independent
Agricultural and Mechanical Association of Adams, Brown,
and Highland Counties, was organized under the laws of
the State in 1859. The first fair was held Oct. 2,
3, 4, and 5, 1860. Moses Patterson was the
first President and I. H. DeBruin, Secretary. The
grounds of hte Association occupied a beautiful tract of
twenty acres south of the village about one-half mile.
From its organization until about the year 1882
this was one of the most popular fairs in southern Ohio.
From 6,000 to 10,000 persons attended here annually, and
the Association paid dividends of from ten to twenty per
cent to stockholders. But from bad management
about the date last above mentioned at the attendance
began to grow smaller each succeeding year until 1897,
when exhibitions ceased to be held. In 1899, the
grounds were disposed of by the stockholders, and will
be subdivided into lots for building purposes.
Postoffices.
There are but
two postoffices in the township, Emerald, and
Winchester, formerly called Scott.
EMERALD - Is situated in the northern part of the
township and was established in 1868. Sanford
Burba was the first postmaster.
SCOTT POSTOFFICE was established in 1820 and Judge
Joseph Eyler was the first postmaster. On the
first day of April, 1880, the name was changed to
Winchester. It is a money order office.
The Cincinnati, Portsmouth and
Virginia Railroad.
The first
railroad built in Adams County, the present C. P. & V.
was a narrow gauge from Batavia Junction, called the
Cincinnati and Eastern. The first passenger train
entered Winchester, Aug. 7, 1877. It was an
excursion train of flat cars, and carried a motley crowd
of enthusiasts from along the line to the terminus of
the road. Here the train was engulfed on its
arrival in a struggling mass of humanity seeking a first
view of a locomotive and train of cars.
The Village of Winchester.
was laid out Nov. 8, 1815, by Joseph
Darlinton, and named by him for Winchester,
Virginia, near which he was born and reared to man's
estate. The original plat contained seventy lots.
Afterwards Joel Bailey laid off an addition of
eighty-two lots, known as south Winchester. The
village was incorporated in 1865 and has about 800
inhabitants. Joseph Eyler kept the first
hotel on the northwest corner of South Street.
James and Joseph Baily opened the first store in a
log building that stood on lot forty-four, in 1819.
Dr. A. C. Lewis was the first resident physician.
The first tannery in the village was owned by Joseph
Eylar; and the first oil mill was built by "Levi
Sparks in 1830. Moses Patterson
operated a carding mill and a steam flouring mill from
1851 to 1863. These together with the tannery
adjoining were burned in the fall of that year.
R. A. McMillan is the proprietor of a fine
roller mill in the village at this time. The
village contains two hotels, three dry goods stores,
three
Page 499
drug stores, two family groceries, and one
sawmill. The Masons, Odd Fellows and Knights of
Pythias each maintain lodges. The Winchester Bank
was organized in 1885 with Hon. L. J. Fenton as
cashier.
In the present year, 1900, the citizens seem to have
awakened somewhat from a lethargy of the "Sleepy Hollow"
sort, and with some enterprising "newcomers," such as
Messrs. Mecklin, McMillan and others, have succeeded
in building in the town a bent wood works, canning
factory, and a shoe factory.
SHARON WICK'S NOTE: Some of the surnames
are spelled different ways in this book ie. Eyler /
Eylar and Bailey / Baily for examples. |
