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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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PETER VANOSTRAND, SEN., in
the autumn of 1815, made a land office entry of the southeast
quarter of section 35, Clearcreek Township. In the spring
of 1816, a part of the family removed to the land, erected a
cabin, partially cleared a small tract and planted in corn and
potatoes.
On the 14th July, 1817, Peter Vanostrand, Sen.,
died - leaving a wife and eleven children, (one of them,
however, a daughter, having remained in Pennsylvania.)
Among the sons was Peter Vanostrand, Jr., the present
owner and occupant of the land above described, and who, at the
time of his father's death, was ten years of age.
About 1820, the first school-house in the southern
portion of the township was erected on the southern line of the
land of Abram Huffman The house was of hewn logs,
18 by 20 feet, cabin roof, puncheon floor, puncheon tables and
puncheon seats. The only light was admitted by throwing
out a log on two sides of the building, and using paper,
saturated with grease, as a substitute for window glass.
The facilities for heating the house were limited to fires made
in a fireplace such as were in general use in the cabins of
those days, and afforded in cold weather insufficient heat to
admit of practice in writing, as the ink would almost freeze in
the pen in the process of transferring it from the inkstand to
the paper. The first teacher was Robert Nelson, of
Milton Township, who continued in that capacity two or three
years. Among the first scholars were the children of
Abraham Huffman, Isaac Van Meter, Peter Vanostrand, Sen., Robert
Ralston, Andrew Stevenson, Mrs. Treckle, and David
McKinney.
Mr. Vanostrand's only neighbors in his part of the
township, when he first removed to it, were Abram Huffman
and Isaac Van Meter.
As evidence of the privations
endured by many in the early settlement, Mr. Vanostrand
mentions the case of a worthy family who came to the country
destitute of either provisions or money, who subsisted a greater
portion of one season upon pumpkins alone - commencing their use
as food while the vegetable was yet unripened. The family
would perhaps have suffered death by starvation, had it not been
for the friendly aid afforded them by neighbors, after learning
their situation.
Every house in Clearcreek, as was the case in other
townships in the early settlement, manufactured the wearing
apparel for its own household. The males were dressed in
buckskin and domestic linen; and the women and children were
also dressed in fabrics the product of their own fields and
households.
There were no woolen goods, as sheep would be devoured
by the wolves; and after the wolves had so far disappeared as to
invite the introduction of sheep, the climate and wild food were
discovered to be unfavorable to their life and 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 165 |
Montgomery Twp. -
DANIEL VANTILBURG
emigrated from
Jefferson County to his present residence, in Montgomery
Township, in the autumn of 1816. His nearest neighbors
then were Daniel Carter, John Owens, William Montgomery,
and Joseph and David Markley - the three latter
constituting the then population of Uniontown. He entered
the quarter upon which he now resides in 1812, and his patent,
signed by James Madison, President, and Edward Tiffin,
Commissioner of the General Land Office, bears date 14th
January, 1814.
He remained at Cuppy's (now Boyer's) mill
the night prior to the burning of Mr. Cuppy's house, by
Indians, and aided Mr. Cuppy in burying and otherwise
secreting his goods.
Henry Vantilburg, (brother of Daniel,)
and who resides on the farm directly east, removed to his place
about 1820 or 1821.
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 214 |
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