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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 -

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N OP Q R S T U V W XYZ

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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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