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BIOGRAPHIES
 Source:
A History of the Pioneer and Modern Times of Ashland
County
from The Earliest to the Present Date
by H. S. Knapp
Publ.
Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co.
- 1863 -
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Vermillion Twp. -
JOHN FARVER immigrated to Vermillion Township, with his
wife and two children, on the 29th of April, 1817, and commenced
improvement on his present farm, being the west half of the
northeast quarter of section 2. Mr. Farver's whole
moneyed resources, when he settled in the county, amounted to
twelve dollars. His first stock of corn was purchased on
Owl Creek at fifty cents per bushel. Four days were
occupied in the journey to and from Owl Creek, and a team of
three horses labored hard to drag fifteen bushels of corn over
the roads in their then condition.
His first crop of wheat, raised in 1817, he commenced
harvesting on the twentieth of August. The wheat was none
too ripe. Corn, pumpkins, and all other crops were
proportionately late. Mr. Farver has this day (14th
of July, 1862,) reached his seventy-sixth birthday, and enjoys
moderate health.
Source: A History of the Pioneer and Modern Times of Ashland
County from The Earliest to the Present Date, by H. S. Knapp, Publ.
Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. - 1863 - Page 279 |
JACOB FAST,
an emigrant from Green County, Pennsylvania, settled upon the
farm he has since owned and occupied in Orange Township, in
April, 1817 - being the southeast half of the southwest quarter
of section 21. His family, at this date, consisted of his
wife, son Martin M. daughter, Mary, and son Eli
R. Fast.
Source: A History of the Pioneer and Modern Times of Ashland
County from The Earliest to the Present Date, by H. S. Knapp, Publ.
Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. - 1863 - Page 510 |
WILLIAM
FAST, in company with his eldest brother, Martin,
(late of Jackson Township,) visited the country with a view of
selecting and entering land for their father, Christian Fast,
Sr., in the fall of 1814. The families were yet
residents of Green County, Pennsylvania. While viewing the
country, they made their home with the family of Jacob Mason
- being the farm now owned by Henry Myers.
Source: A History of the Pioneer and Modern Times of Ashland
County from The Earliest to the Present Date, by H. S. Knapp, Publ.
Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. - 1863 - Page 506 |
NICHOLAS
FAST, in May, 1815, having previously entered at the Land
Office, at Canton, the quarter section in Orange Township upon
which Abram C. Fast now resides, emigrated from
Pennsylvania to said place with his family, consisting then of
his wife and three sons, namely, Christian, Henry, and
John B.
In 1823 he sold this place to his cousin, Joseph
Fast, the father of the present owner and occupant.
Subsequently he removed to Elyria, where he remained one year;
and, in 1832, purchased of Mr. Sage the three hundred and
twenty-five acres, upon a part of which now resides Jesse
Simmons, in Troy Township. Abut seven years since he
became the owner of the seventy acres adjoining Troy Centre,
upon which he has since resided.
In the spring of 185 he embarked with his family,
household furniture, provisions, etc., on a keel-boat, at the
mouth of Cheat River, where that stream enters the Monongahela,
and proceeded down the latter to the Ohio; thence up the
Muskingum, White Woman, Mohican, and Jerome Fork, to Findley's
Landing, five miles below Jeromeville. In addition to his
own family, above named, his brothers, William and
David Fast, and brother-in-law, Henry Hampton, and his
wife, were also of the party.
The stock, in charge of his father, Christian
Fast, Sr., and brothers, Christian, Jr., Francis, George,
and John, were driven to the land of Christian Fast,
Sr., in Orange Township.
The portion of the families who adopted the river route
had a long and hazardous passage - being seven weeks and three
days on the water - their delays and dangers being in
consequence of the high stage of the water. When they
reached the mouth of the Muskingum, that river was so swollen,
the current so strong, and the "drift-wood," which covered
nearly its whole surface, offered such obstructions, that in the
effort to make their way against these obstacles, they only
made, during one afternoon and part of a night, about one mile.
On the next day they ascended about fifty rods higher to a
house, the lower part of which was submerged, and here they
continued during the remainder of that day and the whole of the
following night. On several succeeding days their boat
passed over fields and orchards and through the woods.
The parts of families who had traveled overland were
three weeks in advance of those who had taken the river route,
and suffered much anxiety of mind regarding the safety of their
friends union, however, in May, 1815, on the land of
Christian Fast, Sr., in Orange Township. Here rude
cabins and camps were hastily constructed, and the work of
improvement commenced with vigor.
Mr. Fast believes that his was the second white
family that settled in Troy Township - the name of the first not
being recollected by him. He is now seventy-five years of
age, and suffering much on account of physical infirmities.
Source: A History of the Pioneer and Modern Times of Ashland
County from The Earliest to the Present Date, by H. S. Knapp, Publ.
Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. - 1863 - Page 510 |
JOHN
FINGER emigrated from Frederick County, Maryland, to
Orange Township, in May, 1829. His father had, five years
previously, purchased of John Bishop the eighty acres
upon which he at present resides.
Source: A History of the Pioneer and Modern Times of Ashland
County from The Earliest to the Present Date, by H. S. Knapp, Publ.
Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. - 1863 - Page 511 |
Lake Twp. -
ALEXANDER FINLEY removed from the
place now occupied by the town of Mt. Vernon, Knox County, to
the farm in Mohican Township, upon which Tylertown (Lake Fort
Post-office) is now situated, Apr. 17, 1809. His family
then consisted of his wife and the following named children:
James, Benjamin, John, and Hannah.
At the time Mr. Finley settled in Mohican
Township, himself and family were the only white inhabitants
within the limits of the territory that now constitutes the
County of Ashland.
At this date, also, there was only one family
within the town of Wooster. The name of the head of this
family was Benjamin Miller. William and
Joseph Larwill, whose names are honorably connected with the
history and development of Wayne County, were then young men,
and boarders in the family of Mr. Miller. This
family were the nearest neighbors of Mr. Finley at the
time of his settlement in Mohican Township. Within a few
weeks, however, other persons, namely, William and
Thomas EAgle, Benjamin Bunn, and John Shinnebarger,
all having families, settled in the neighborhood. The year
following, (1810,) Amos Norris, Vachel Metcalf,
William Bryan, Thomas Newman, and James Slater, with
their several families, removed to the township.
The Indians in the neighborhood at this time were an
intermixture of several tribes - the Mohicans, Delawares,
Wyandottes, Shawnees, Chickasaws, and one or two who claimed to
be of the Cherokee tribe. They were friendly and harmless,
until the war of 1812 commenced, when the main body of them
disappeared, and most of them, it is supposed, became attached
to the British service.
The first year or two after Mr. Finley came to
the country, he obtained his supplies of flour and corn meal
from Shrimplin's mill, below Mt. Vernon. This
journey to the mill was performed in canoes or pirogues,
down the Lake Fork and Mohican, and up Owl Creek, and occupied
about three days for the trip. These vessels would carry
from twenty to fifty bushels of corn meal.
The forests at this period were destitute of under
brush or small timber, but were covered with sedge-grass,
pea-vines, and weeds, which afforded excellent pasture from
early spring until about August. The sedge-grace, when cut
in July, or earlier, afforded very nutritious and palatable food
for horses and cattle during the winter. Very little iron
was used in those days. The wooden "mould board" plow and
wooden and brush harrows were generally in use twelve or fifteen
years after Mr. Finley came to the country; and
many continued their use several years afterward.
Ladies and gentlemen, when they clothed their feet
at all, dressed them in moccasins. Mr. John Finley
well remembers the first pair of boots he ever saw - they being
a coarse article, purchased by his father, of John Fox,
in 1820 or 1821 - price, eight dollars. Leather,
therefore, was not in use until many years after the settlement
of the country.
The clothing of the men was buckskin and flax linen.
The women were clothed in fabric made of raw cotton and flax
linen. Handkerchiefs, head-dresses, and aprons were made,
by the thrifty house-wives, of raw cotton. The price of
calico (being from fifty to seventy-five cents per yard) placed
it without the means of any but very few to purchase. An
excellent and industrious girl, as late as 1822 or 1823, toiled
faithfully six weeks for six yards of calico, which, in those
primitive days, before the era of hoops, was deemed sufficient
for a dress. The lady who appeared in the first calico
dress, attracted, it may be supposed, considerable attention in
"the settlement," and was regarded as much of an aristocrat.
Window glass was not in use until some years after the
war - oiled paper being employed as a substitute.
The first buggy, with elliptic springs, (being an open
one,) within the recollection of Mr. John Finley, amazed
the good people who attended the Lake Fork Presbyterian Church,
on a Sunday, about the year 1835. After intermission, the
novel vehicle attracted general attention, and when the owner,
in answer to a question, gave the name of "buggy," as the one
that properly described his carriage, his interrogator concluded
that he was disposed to "poke fun" at him, and this opinion was
generally adopted by the indignant crow. Two horse lumber
wagons were introduced about twenty years after the first
settlement of the township.
From the date of the arrival of Mr. Finley,
until four or five years after the close of the war, there was a
good demand and good prices for all the productions of the farm.
Wheat was, however, little grown. The staples of the farm,
consisted mainly of corn, hogs, and cattle.
Alexander Finley died December, 1825, aged
fifty-five years.
Source: A History of the Pioneer and Modern Times of Ashland
County from The Earliest to the Present Date, by H. S. Knapp, Publ.
Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. - 1863 - Page 409 |
Vermillion Twp. -
ROBERT FINLEY -
The family of this gentleman was the second that located in
Vermillion Township. In the early part of April, 1811, he
established himself upon the northeast quarter of section 12,
said land being now owned by Alexander Nelson, Adam Baum,
and Thomas Crone. The family of George Eckley
had preceded that of Mr. Finley to the township only
about two weeks. Mr. Finley died upon the farm
above mentioned on the 4th of July, 1825, at the age of
sixty-five.
Eli, (son of the above named), now the oldest
resident of Vermillion, (and whose marriage was the second that
was solemnized in the township,) is the only surviving member of
his father's family.
Source: A History of the Pioneer and Modern Times of Ashland
County from The Earliest to the Present Date, by H. S. Knapp, Publ.
Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. - 1863 - Page 279 |
PHILIP
FLUKE emigrated from Bedford County, Pennsylvania, in
1816, and on the twenty-first of October, of that year, removed
to the house of Martin Hester. His family consisted
of his wife and sons, Henry, Lewis, Samuel, and Philip.
He had two years previously purchased of William Bryan
the southeast quarter of section 15, and upon his place he
proceeded at once to erect a cabin for his family. On
account of inclement weather, he only succeeded in raising his
cabin on the third day. Upon the farm above mentioned he
yet resides.
Life in the New Country...
Although Mr. Fluke had previously resided in
an old settled country, he recurs to his experience in the
wilderness of Orange Township as embracing the happiest period
of his life. The health of himself and his family, with
the exception of ague attacks during the first year, was good.
He realized from his first year's tillage sufficient wheat and
corn to subsist his family and stock, and to supply, to a
limited extent, new neighbors that come in. Prosperity
attended all his efforts, and the accumulations of this world's
goods, and the exchange of his old cabin home for the fine brick
dwelling in which he has for many years resided, has not,
according to his own testimony, added to his stock of happiness.
Source: A History of the Pioneer and Modern Times of Ashland
County from The Earliest to the Present Date, by H. S. Knapp, Publ.
Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. - 1863 - Page 511 |
ELIAS FORD
emigrated from Jefferson County, Ohio, to the land upon which
Thomas Griffith now resides, being the northeast quarter of
section 22, Clearcreek Township, which place he reached on the
22d of April, 1819. Mr. Ford at this time was
twenty years of age. He had accompanies his father,
Thos. Ford, and made the journey in a one-horse wagon,
containing, besides themselves, some tools, such as axes, saws,
etc., together with necessary provisions. Until they had
reached the house of Jacob Young, about two miles east of
north of Uniontown, they had found a tolerably well-defined
road; but from Mr. Young's to the place above designated,
the wilderness was unbroken, and they were compelled to make
their own road as they proceeded.
Arriving at his future home, his first business was to
erect a place of shelter. This was very soon completed,
and is here described: It was a cabin of about five feet in
height at the greatest distance between the ground and the roof,
six feet on the ground, and a bark shed roof, and open front.
In the center was suspended, by bark ropes connecting with the
rafters, his bed, about midway between the ground and the roof.
Immediately in front of his cabin a fire burned constantly at
nights, for the purpose of frightening off the wolves, with
which the forest seemed alive, and for driving away the almost
equally annoying pest, the musquitoes. His bark cot
was thus suspended to protect himself against the "massasaugers,"
or black rattlesnakes, which were very numerous in the vicinity,
and would frequently creep in and occupy the ground floor of his
cabin. Having once retired to his bed, which, more than
his house, might be called "his castle," he would not dare leave
it until daylight on the following morning appeared, as, if he
quit his lodging-place, his first foot-fall might be upon one of
those venomous reptiles. His only companions at night were
his ever-faithful dog, his gun, tomahawk, and hunting-knife—the
former being a large yellow bull-dog, named "Colonel," and his
remarkable saga city, prowess, and fidelity, challenged the
warmest affection of his master, and of all who knew the
"Colonel" and appreciated the noble qualities of an animal which
is sometimes endowed with almost reasoning powers. The
"Colonel," at nights, occupied the open door-way in front of the
cabin, and the loaded rifle had its constant place by Mr.
Ford's left shoulder, whether sleeping or waking, ready
for instant use.
His father, in the mean time, had made his home, while
he remained in the country, which, at this time,
was about two weeks, at the house of his son-in-law, Thomas
McConnell, of Orange Township. Within sight of
Mr. Ford's cabin were six Indian camps. His
first acquaintance with the occupants of these camps occurred on
the morning after his arrival at his "home" before described.
Walking out from his camp, accompanied by "Colonel," and being
fully accoutered, he reached the brow of a hill, and discovered
in the vale below him about thirty or forty Indians reclining
upon the ground, with their rifles by their sides, and their
knives and tomahawks in their belts. This was a more
formidable array of Indians than he had ever before seen, and he
paused to solve in his own mind the question as to whether their
"intents were wicked or charitable." This question, much
to his relief, was not long in being determined—for, very soon
his presence was discovered by one of the Indians, who gave a
slight ejaculation of surprise, followed by the salutation "Co-hou-joh?"
which subsequently, on learning something of their language, he
understood to mean, "How do you do, sir?" The entire body
at once rose to their feet, and, with the breech of their guns
directed toward Mr. Ford, in token of their
friendly disposition, they ascended the hill to the place where
he stood, and gathering about him, opened a conversation.
The first inquiry was, "You white man?"
"Yes."
"Where you live?"
Mr. Ford pointed in the direction of his cabin.
"Oh, yes! me see your fire last night."
From this favorable introduction until the close of
their trapping season, and their departure from the vicinity,
Mr. Ford and his red neighbors were on terms of the most
cordial friendship.
Some time after the circumstance above related, a party
undertook a hunting excursion to the Black River country,
consisting of Mr. Ford, Adam Smith,
William Freeman, Vincent Goldsmith,
and his son, Nicholas, (the latter, however, not being a
hunter, but attending the party as their cook and campkeeper.)
The party were provided each with a horse and a sufficient
quantity of flour, salt, cooking utensils, etc. On the
evening of the first day they had reached their hunting ground,
erected a camphouse, and placed bells and spancels upon their
horses. Having concluded these preparations, the next
business of the hunters was to go forth and kill meat for their
supper and breakfast. After traveling about a half mile,
Mr. Ford shot a deer, which, continuing on its
course, ran to within a few rods of the camp and fell dead.
By the time he had returned, the animal was dressed ready for
broiling.
All the party who had thus gone out for game, except
the above named William Freeman, returned in good
time. As the hours passed, and this companion, who was
among the best and most courageous hunters of the party, failed
to appear, they began to feel uneasy regarding his safety.
About midnight, how ever, much to their relief, he returned, and
gave this explanation of his adventures: It appears that,
at a distance of about five or six miles from the camp, he had
been attacked, a short time after nightfall, by a pack of
wolves, and his only safety was in climbing a tree. This
tree the beasts would surround, making the wilderness echo with
their howls, and tearing up the earth with their feet, while
Mr. Freeman would load from his place in the tree and
fire into their midst. After awhile they retreated, when
he descended to the ground, and proceeding rapidly on his way,
he was again attacked, and again secured him self in the
branches of another tree. After several successive attacks
and escapes in the way described, he finally, about midnight,
was enabled to reach his friends at the camp.
On the second day the company started out on the chase,
and two of the hunters fell in with a band of Indians. The
latter expressed to these their indignation that white men
should trespass upon what they claimed as exclusively their
hunting grounds, and threatened, unless the white men would
break up their camp and depart from the country, to kill their
horses and destroy their other property. This so terrified
the white men whom they addressed, that they forthwith returned
to the camp, saddled the whole troop of horses, and taking with
them the entire camp equipage, set out for home, without waiting
to communicate with Messrs. Ford and Freeman,
who were pursuing their hunting in another direction. When
the two latter returned in the evening, they found their horses
gone, their camp deserted, and destitute even of provisions and
cooking utensils, save only a little sack of flour and a tin
cup, which, in their fright and flight, their late associates
had inadvertently left behind them. Ford and
Freeman had returned with appetites sharpened by a
protracted chase and a long fast, and here they found themselves
with abundance of game, a little flour, but no vessel in which
to cook the latter. After deliberating some time upon
their situation, Mr. Freeman proposed to Mr.
Ford that if he would procure water they would speedily
have bread. The latter at once betook himself to the
river, and, on his return with his cup filled, he found that his
comrade in the mean time had cast his flour on the inside of a
fresh deer-skin, and requested Mr. Ford to pour on
the water. This was done, and the unleavened and unsalted
paste was very soon prepared for baking—the venison roasting on
a forked stick, and the "bread," if such it might be named,
baking amid the embers of the fire. The only difficulty
encountered in the eating of the fresh bread was, that when they
came to use it, they found a rather too liberal seasoning of
hair, which cemented it so closely as to require much exercise
of the teeth to masticate. Supper, however, like the one
described, was enjoyed as few indeed who reside in palaces and
are clad in purple and fine linen enjoy their food; and the
hunters wrapped their blankets around them and committed
themselves to refreshing sleep and pleasant dreams.
On the next morning, unawed by the threats of Indians
or the desertion of their colleagues, they resolved to pursue
their hunting. Accordingly, after their breakfast, they
resumed the chase; frequently, during the day, meeting with
Indians, and as frequently receiving their warnings and menaces
against themselves and all white "trespassers" upon their
grounds. Late in the evening, on returning in search of
his camp, accompanied by his canine friend, "Colonel," Mr.
Ford found himself suddenly assailed and surrounded by a
pack of Indian dogs, sufficient in number to overwhelm him.
While he, by the vigorous use of his gun as a club, and
"Colonel," by the judicious use of his teeth, were keeping this
dog army at bay, three Indians were discovered rapidly nearing
them with their drawn knives, but whether to aid the dogs in
their murderous demonstrations, or whether as a relief force for
Mr. Ford, was a matter of doubt with him for a
moment. This doubt, however, was removed on approach of the
Indians, who immediately fell upon their own dogs, and aided
Mr. Ford and "Colonel" in driving them away, and thus
closing the contest. The Indians then greeted Mr.
Ford in a very friendly pantomime, (they being unable to
talk English, and he not then being enabled to understand or
speak their language,) and inferring that he was in search of
his camp, they indicated by motions and signs, which he could
not fail to understand, the direction and distance to his
quarters. On reaching here, he found his now only
remaining comrade awaiting his arrival. A supper of the
same material that had made their bill of fare of the night
before was prepared, and eaten with the same hearty relish.
On the morning following, they sought a new hunting
ground on Buck Creek; but here, also, they found Indians very
abundant and equally as ill disposed as those they had met
before; and after spending another day in this neighborhood they
returned home.
The Indians whom Mr. Ford first met in
the vicinity of his cabin, and the first interview with whom has
been before detailed, formed almost exclusively his only human
companions during their stay, which was about three months.
He mingled with them trustingly in all their sports of shooting,
wrestling, smoking, etc., and, with a single exception, his
intercourse with them, as before remarked, was of the most
friendly and unreserved character.
This single exception occurred after he had been upon
his place about three months. On an evening, about
nightfall, he discovered an old Indian erecting a temporary
wigwam about thirty rods distant from his cabin. The
circumstance excited no particular curiosity or uneasiness; but
on the next morning, Mr. Ford concluded to pay his
new neighbor a friendly visit; and proceeding to put this
resolve into execution, he went forward, unarmed, to meet the
Indian at his wigwam. Advancing up to the old man, Mr.
Ford saluted him respectfully, and engaged in a
commonplace conversation; in the course of which he casually
inquired of the Indian whether he had been engaged in the then
recent war between this country and Great Britain? and on being
answered affirmatively, further inquired an which side he had
fought. This last branch of the inquiry appeared to arouse
unaccountably all the savage nature of the Indian, for,
springing to his feet, and grasping his knife, he exclaimed,
"You talk like a fool!" and, advancing toward Mr. Ford,
he brandished his knife as though it was his fixed purpose of
killing him on the instant. Fortunately for Mr.
Ford, convenient to him was an ironwood club, about two feet
in length, which he seized, and warned the Indian that if he
moved forward another inch, he would dash his brains upon the
ground. This caused the Indian to pause, but his teeth
were clenched, and his features were writhing with malignant
passion. Mr. Ford, retaining his club, and
convulsed with a degree of passion at the indignity he had
suffered, which almost blinded him, made his way to his cabin,
and hastily arming himself with his gun, tomahawk, and knife,
and followed by Colonel, made for the Indian's quarters with
more than his wonted pace.
The Indian, on seeing Mr. Ford thus armed
appear, seized his rifle, buckled on his side weapons, and, with
an unearthly "yell," betook himself to the woods. His
flight was almost like that of an arrow; and this was the last
that he ever saw or heard of that Indian; and after his paroxysm
of passion had abated, he congratulated himself, as he has ever
since done when his mind has recurred to the matter, that the
old Indian thus escaped by declining to "stand fire"
While the white inhabitants were yet few in number, the
neighborhood was thrown into a high state of excitement by the
following occurrence: Sarah, aged about eighteen,
daughter of Thomas Brink, which family then
resided on the farm now occupied by Thomas Wright,
in the southern part of the town ship, undertook, one winter
evening, an errand to the house of Nathaniel Bailey,
situated about a mile distant; and on her return home became
lost, and wandered about three days and nights in the woods.
On the morning following her loss, the whole neighborhood was
out in search of her; but as the weather was intensely cold,
after the second day's exploration all hope of finding her alive
was abandoned—it being supposed that she must have perished, and
that her body had been devoured by the wolves. This
theory, however, proved erroneous, for the morning of the fourth
day found her yet alive, though her limbs were frozen, and she
was nearly famished; but her senses were not so far gone by the
agony she had suffered and was yet suffering, as to disable her
from detecting the voice of a dog, and, following the sound, it
led her to an Indian camp near the western shore of the lower
Vermillion Lake. The Indians took her into their cabin,
where every attention and kindness were shown her, and, to their
skill and care, she was indebted, under Providence, for
salvation from the most fearful of deaths, and for restoration
to her friends. She has for many years been a resident of
Illinois, and, except being crippled for life in consequence of
the loss, by freezing, of nearly all the toes from both feet,
she was, very recently, in the enjoyment of ordinary health.
In closing his statement of experience with the
Indians, Mr. Ford says that their worst vice was their
inclination to dissipation. It is the old story. They had
learned the vices, and had disregarded the virtues, of the
civilization of the superior race. They were not devoid of
honor, and invariably manifested gratitude for favors received.
He mentions an incident illustrative of a certain devotional
manifestation which had often been remarked by others, familiar
with their character. Meeting with a couple of Indians
while on a hunting tour, he offered each of them a corn cake.
They received it at his hands, and immediately dropping upon
their knees, their bodies erect, their eyes tightly closed, and
their faces turned upward, they silently eat their food; thus
acknowledging their obligation to the Great Spirit for the
nourishment which he had provided for their bodies.
After about three months experience of forest life,
Mr. Ford, one evening, was agreeably surprised at the
appearance of his father, who had become anxious regarding his
son's welfare, and from whom, on account of the absence of mail
facilities, he had received no tidings, and who had resolved to
remove his whole family West. Concluding his visit in
about three days, the father took leave of his son, and returned
for his family in Jefferson County. Mr. Ford
continued his improvements, fencing two fields of ten acres
each, conveying the rails, as he was without a team, upon his
shoulder to their places in the fence. He also erected a
more commodious cabin for the family—to raise which, within a
circuit of six miles, he procured a force of four men. In
November, 1819, his parents and seven brothers and sisters,
namely, Elijah, Belinda, Elizabeth,
Rebecca, Susannah, Thomas H., and John,
made their appearance, and established their home in the cabin
he had erected. Here the family continued unbroken, until
about the second year, when Belinda became the wife of
George Beymer. Soon after, Elias married
Miss Elizabeth Parks, of Jefferson County, and
purchased and removed to the quarter section now owned by
Daniel Huffman.
At the date of Mr. Ford's arrival, there
was neither a church nor school building in the township.
The cabin of his father, Thomas Ford, was a
prominent place for public worship during a period of about
eleven years. The pioneers, particularly of this
neighborhood, were very regular attendants upon all religious
meetings—men and women traveling, often, six and eight miles, on
foot, through the woods, at nights, lighting their pathway by
torches of hickory bark, to attend religious meetings. In
the spring of 1830, the present church building, known as
"Ford's Meeting House," was commenced, the contractor and
builder being Robert McMurray, Esq., now of Ashland.
When completed, late in the fall of 1830, it was beyond question
the best structure devoted to religious purposes in this section
of country ; as will be inferred from the fact, among others,
that the four annual quarterly meetings of the circuit of the
Methodist Episcopal Church (Mansfield being included in the
circuit) were held in this church for several years. The
building will seat about four hundred persons.
On the 10th October, 1830, at ten o'clock ten minutes,
in the evening, Thomas Ford departed this life,
aged fifty-seven years. The first religious meeting held
in " Ford's Meeting House," was called there to participate in
the services attending his funeral. The sermon on the occasion
was preached by Rev. Elmer Yocum. His
body was the first that was buried in the graveyard adjoining
the church.
Mr. Elias Ford was married on the
9th September, 1821, and in December of the same year commenced
housekeeping in a hewn log building which he had previously
erected on the northwest quarter of section 22, (and which
building is yet standing on the farm of Daniel Huffman,
a few rods north of Ford's Meeting House.) On the
day that he and his wife removed into it, the snow covered the
earth to the depth of three or four inches,—the building was
without chimney, door, window, furniture, or floor. The
spaces between the logs were also open. On the first day,
however, with the aid of his brother-in-law, Robert
Parks, he had hewn puncheons and laid down a floor; and on
the day following he completed his household furniture, which
embraced a puncheon table, three puncheon seats, and two
bedsteads—the latter being made by boring holes in the log walls
and inserting therein one end of the head and footrails, the
other ends meeting and being sustained by a single post.
Such was the only furniture he had in use during the first three
years of his housekeeping. At the end of the first week he
had substituted a wooden for his blanket door, "chinked" the
spaces between the logs, and placed clap-boards on the "loft."
The winter was so far advanced that he could not make mortar to
fill the yet open spaces before the next season. His
chimney was also built the summer following. Severe and
constant toil was a matter of necessity; and food adequate to
sustain lives subject to such privation and exposure, was very
difficult to be obtained, about the time to which we are now
referring. The nearest localities where the neighbor hood
could supply itself with breadstuffs, were at points from ten to
twenty miles distant, and even at those places the only supplies
of the kind which could be purchased was frost-bitten corn,
which sold for one dollar per bushel. The general food of
the country consisted of corn "pone" for bread, venison and
other wild meat, and spicewood tea for table drinks.
In the spring of 1822, Mr. Ford had purchased three
bushels of frost-bitten corn meal, which, he supposed, would be
sufficient, by the practice of some self-denial, to sustain him
until he could realize something from the ripening of a small
piece of rye which he then had growing. This meal,
however, as a matter of economy, and in order to lengthen out
its days, was baked and eaten without subjecting it to the usual
process of sifting—as he well knew that, if his little stock
should become exhausted before his rye harvest, he would not be
enabled to obtain any more supplies. The little sack of
corn and the growing field of rye were watched with intense
solicitude. A short time before the latter was ready for
the sickle, he was called upon by two neighbors who informed him
that their families were entirely out of breadstuffs, and
appealing to him for relief in their extremity. Mr.
Ford produced his sack of corn meal, poured its contents
upon his puncheon table, and with his broad hand divided it into
as near three equal parts as he could, and his neighbors
gratefully received each his third of the precious staff of
life, and the other third was carefully returned to his own
sack. When the little field of rye, which was the only one
in the neighborhood, was harvested, it was found scarcely
adequate to supply himself and neighbors, although it was the
only grain of any kind then immediately attainable; and it was
consumed with out having been ground—the grain being boiled and
eaten with milk, or undergoing another cooking process by
frying. This was the most trying season, since the
settlement of the township, among the pioneers,— the succeeding
harvests being generally abundant, and affording reasonable
supplies of materials for bread.
The life, services, and remarkable sagacity of the dog
"Colonel," through all the adventures of his master, whose life
he had more than once saved—fool hardy as these adventures may
appear to this generation —would constitute a chapter of greater
interest than any mere creation of fancy could inspire. We
will confine ourselves, however, to his "last battle," and to
the causes which produced his death. Robert McBeth, Esq.,
was the owner of a lot of wild hogs, whose fastnesses had been
for a long time in the wilderness, and that had defied all the
efforts he could command to kill or capture them. He
finally applied to James Burns and Mr.
Ford, (and to "Colonel" through his master,) to secure for
him, "dead or alive," his fugitive swine. The trio
undertook the task; "Colonel" was put upon their track, and,
overtaking and encountering a large hog, he received a stroke
from the point of his enormous tusk, nearly severing his jugular
vein. Mr. Ford, on reaching the scene of
conflict, shot the hog, and, discovering the situation of
Colonel, covered his wound and body with snow, to arrest the
flow of blood, and sped home for the proper material to close
the vein, and for a horse to convey the wounded dog home.
On returning, he found his faithful friend yet alive—stitched,
as well as he could, his wound, and, with the aid of Mr.
Burns, placed the dog's body before him on the horse;
but, before he reached his house, the ever-present companion of
his joys and sorrows of wilderness life had breathed his last in
his arms. His body received that decent burial to which
affection, in view of long and tried service, entitled him.
In 1845, Mr. Ford purchased the farm upon
which he has since resided—being the southeast quarter of
section 27.
Source: A History of the Pioneer and Modern Times of Ashland
County from The Earliest to the Present Date, by H. S. Knapp,
Publ. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. - 1863 - Page 137 |
Clearcreek Twp. -
JOHN FREEBORN,
an immigrant from Washington County, Pennsylvania, in company
with his brother, Richard Freeborn, (now a
resident of Minnesota,) visited the country which subsequently
was organized as Clearcreek Township, and entered at the Land
Office in Canton, the southeast quarter of section 10, of said
township, in the fall of 1814. Richard entered the
northwest quarter of the same section at the same time.
Having selected and contracted for their land, they immediately
returned to Pennsylvania. His brother Richard, and
brothers-in-law, Rev. James Haney and William
Shaw, (who were all neighbors in Pennsylvania,) visited
the country in the spring of the following year (1815) and
entered lands—Mr. Haney the three quarters, upon a
part of which is now the town of Savannah; and Mr.
Shaw the quarter section upon which his descendants now
reside; and Richard Freeborn entered a quarter
section, in the name of his brother John, on the west
line of Orange Township, and about one mile east of Savannah.
In the spring of 1815, the four families above named
took leave of their Pennsylvania home—one party, consisting of
Richard Freeborn, William Shaw, and
James Haney, and his son John, embarking,
with their family supplies of provisions and farming utensils,
on board a keel boat at Charleston, (now Wellsburg,) Virginia,
and proceeded down the Ohio to the mouth of the Muskingum;
thence up that river and its tributaries to a point on the
Jerome Fork of the Mohican, about five miles below Jeromeville,
where they disembarked, sold their boat for one hundred bushels
of corn and for the service of bringing up from the Salt Works
on the Muskingum a portion of their freight, which they had been
compelled to leave there for the purpose of lightening their
boat. Having landed their cargo on the banks of the Jerome
Fork, they transported a portion of it on pack horses from that
point to the house of Jacob Young, in Orange
Township, about two miles east of north of Uniontown, where they
were joined by the party which had arrived at Mr.
Young's overland.
This latter party consisted of the women and children,
under the charge of John Freeborn. The
journey was accomplished on horseback—nine head of horses and
other live stock being in the train. This portion of the
families having arrived at Mr. Young's, and
hearing no tidings of their friends who had taken the river
route, and having exhausted their stock of provisions, John
Freeborn and two boys set out with their nine horses in
hopes of meeting their friends at Finley's Landing, (above
described as being five miles below Jeromeville.) Not
meeting them here, Mr. Freeborn put the horses in
charge of the two boys, and, constructing with the aid of an axe
and auger a rude raft, and using an inverted sugar trough for a
seat, placed his saddle-bags under him, wrote his name in his
pocket-book, that his body might be identified in case of loss,
and with his oar, launched his frail craft upon the turbulent
and rapid flood. The third day found him upon the
Muskingum, where, meeting a keel-boat coming up, he was informed
by those in charge of it that his friends were at the Salt
Works, a few miles below. Arriving at the point
designated, he found the party utterly discouraged, having been
worn down in the labor of pushing their overburdened boat
against the adverse current, and making preparations to leave it
and their cargo, until the waters, which were unusually high,
had subsided, and take such provisions as they could pack upon
their backs and make their way, as best they could, on foot, to
rejoin their friends. John Freeborn
remonstrated against the plan they had adopted—representing to
them that the families at Mr. Young's would be
without provisions; and, with the reinforcement which his
energies would give them, they would be enabled to get the boat,
with part of its freight, up the river. His counsel was
finally accepted; and, leaving about half their cargo at the
Salt Works, they were enabled to join the boys with their horses
on about the fifth day. Here, in an out-house, on the
banks of the Jerome Fork, they deposited the
greater part of their freight, and with a portion of it packed
upon their horses, they made their way, as before stated, to
Mr. Young's, where they met their families. The
hospitality and kindness evinced by Mr. Young and
family to those thus providentially cast upon them are referred
to in terms of the warmest eulogy by Mr. and
Mrs. John Freeborn. It was such offices of good
neighborhood and charity as marked the intercourse of the early
times.
From Mr. Young's the entire party
proceeded to the quarter section on the border of Orange and
Clearcreek, and encamped upon the ground now occupied as a
graveyard, on the northwest corner of the quarter which had been
entered by Richard, for his brother, John
Freeborn. Here they pitched their tents, and here, in
a pelting rain, which continued unremittingly, they spent the
first night in the vicinity of their future homes. On the
following morning the heads of the several families proceeded to
select places upon the lands of which they were owners, for the
erection of cabins. Within a day or two three cabins were
constructed, in one of which the families of John and
Richard found shelter, and in the others the families of
James Haney and William Shaw.
On the place in Orange Township, John and
Richard, by their joint labors, aided by three hands,
partially cleared and planted in corn six acres of land.
During the same fall, John sold this land to his
father, William Freeborn, who, in the mean time,
had followed his sons, and who died the same year he removed to
his new home, and whose body was buried upon that part of his
land upon which his children and kindred during their first
night in the wilderness had encamped, and which afterward formed
the nucleus of the present burial ground one mile east of
Savannah.
In the spring of 1818, John and Richard
removed to the lands they had severally purchased, in Clearcreek
Township, and erected cabins, and engaged in other improvements.
At this date, Clearcreek Township was not organized, but the
territory was attached to Montgomery Township for civil
purposes. The first year the whole neighborhood were
required to perform road labor on one of the roads east of
Uniontown, more than eight miles distant from many of the
inhabitants.
The nearest church was the Old Hopewell, west of
Uniontown, and Mr. Freeborn has no recollection of
any school-house in the country prior to the one erected in the
village of Vermillion.
When Mr. Freeborn immigrated to the country his
family consisted of his wife and one young daughter— the latter
having since married Joseph McCutchen, Esq.
Mr. Freeborn is eighty-two years of age,
and in the enjoyment, at this time, (October, 1861,) of
excellent health for one of his years.
Source: A History of the Pioneer and Modern Times of Ashland
County from The Earliest to the Present Date, by H. S. Knapp,
Publ. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. - 1863 - Page 151 |
Perry Twp. -
CONRAD
FRIDLINE emigrated from Pennsylvania to Perry Township,
during the spring of 1821. His family consisted of his
wife and two children, David and Ludwig. He
purchased of David Smith the land upon which he has since
resided.
Source: A History of the Pioneer and Modern Times of Ashland
County from The Earliest to the Present Date, by H. S. Knapp, Publ.
Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. - 1863 - Page
461 |
JOHN FRY
emigrated from Franklin County, Pennsylvania, to Plain Township,
Wayne County, in Mary, 1824. He removed to the southeast
quarter of section 16, Perry Township, in April, 1826; which
tract, when it came into market, was purchased by his family,
and is now occupied by his widow and son, Andrew J. Fry.
He resided upon this place until his death, which occurred on
June 10th, 1827. The widow and two sons, Rev. Jacob Fry
and Rev. Andrew J. Fry, are the only survivors of his
family.
Source: A History of the Pioneer and Modern Times of Ashland
County from The Earliest to the Present Date, by H. S. Knapp, Publ.
Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. - 1863 - Page
461 |
|
