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OHIO GENEALOGY EXPRESS
A Part of Genealogy
Express
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Ashland County, Ohio
History & Genealogy
Clear Creek Township
(Transcribed by Sharon Wick) |
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| Clear Creek Township
is located along the west border of Ashland County, Ohio, and from
left to right is the first of the second tier of townships in the
northern end of the county. Its location in relation to some of
Ohio's large cities is about eighty miles northeast of Columbus, the
State's Capital, a similar distance southeast of Toledo, and about
fifty miles southwest of Cleveland. It lay as a speck within the
great Northwest Territory set apart by Congress in 1787. The
intrusion of the white man, his eagerness to become possessor of the
territory, and consequent treaties with the Indians had forced upon
Congress a system of survey and the establishment of land offices
where white settlers might purchase lands of their choice. The
nearest land office to the Township in question was at Canton, Ohio,
some sixty miles distant. Later, another was established at
Wooster, about twenty-five miles southeast of Clear Creek Township. |
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* Sprott's Hill - In the
northeast quarter of Section 35, there is an elevation of land known
as Sprott's Hill, being so named because of its location on the farm
first settled by Captain Thomas Sprott, in 1823, when he, his four
daughters, and three of his four sons immigrated to Clear Creek
Township from Beaver Co., Pennsylvania, where Mrs. Sprott died in
1821. Thomas Sprott was a noted brave and very active scout,
serving under the celebrated Brady in Indian Wars on the Frontier.
When he came to Clear Creek Township he erected his home a few hundred
yards southwest of the hill which bears his name. The hill is
supposed to have originated as a terminal moraine during the glacial
period. It covers an area of about five acres and is over ninety
feet high. On its comparatively flat surface, nearly thirty feet
apart were two Indian burial mounds about five feet high, each having
a diameter of nearly twenty-five feet at its base. Immense oak
trees on and around the mounds evidenced the many intervening years
since the mounds were constructed.
George W. Hill relates that curiosity persuaded members
of the Sprott family to dig one of the mounds where, to their
amazement, they discovered a large coffin built of flat stones.
Eagerly but carefully, piece by piece, they lifted the covering and
therein lay, side by side, the remains of six or eight Indians, the
bodies having undergone such careful preparation that they were in a
state of good preservation. On the stones over the top of the
coffin they found numerous Indian treasures and about a peck of
vermilion. The Sprott boys, leaving everything just as they
found it, reverently closed the mound.
At his own request Thomas Sprott was buried upon one of
the mounds at his death in 1839, his son, William, being buried beside
his father in 1845; but about 1880, their bodies were removed to
Savannah Cemetery.
From the top of Sprott's Hill one may observe a
landscape of rare beauty. When the atmosphere is clear, it is
possible to locate from the top of the Hill the towns of Ashland, West
Salem, Nankin, Polk, and Savannah, besides the farms and homes of many
persons.
The following bit of verse came to mind at the close of
a beautiful autumn day in 1932, after my mother and I, accompanied by
Mr. and Mrs. T. V. Simanton, of Ashland, Ohio, had delightfully spent
the afternoon motoring throughout the southern portion of Clear Creek
Township, familiar ground to Simanton since his childhood days:
Clear Creek's Scenic Beauty
Within its borders one may find
No snow-capped peaks nor wooded mountain sides,
Nor stretch of ocean's magic blue -
Its angry waves or slowly moving tides;
But pastoral scenes of beauty rare
Are over all our Township's surface cast,
Entwined midst field and winding roads,
Hills, valleys, streams and lakes and forests vast.
'Tis autumn, and today we climbed
And stood upon the summit of Sprott's Hill
To view or Clear Creek's farms and homes.
Wonderful picture! How our hearts did thrill
Across great stretch of rolling lands
For miles and miles we gazed in ecstacy,
Pointing out homes and villages
Resting on hill, in vale, so peacefully;
Corn standing in long rows of shocks,
Yielding to huskers' hands their ears of gold;
New wheat fields, all so fresh and green,
With promise bright, the farmers' pride untold.
Large flocks of sheep and cattle herds
Contentedly in pastures roamed and grazed,
While myriads of beauty-spots
Came into view as silently we gazed.
And over all the beauteous scene
Was cast a mellow glow of richest hue,
Caught from the brilliant sun-kissed robes
With which the forests were bedecked anew.
No artist's brush, nor writer's pen
Could e're portray that grand autumnal scene
As from the summit of Sprott's Hill
It lay before us, peaceful and serene.
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INDIANS OF CLEAR CREEK -
Before the Advent of white settlers, Clear Creek
Township had been the hunting grounds of representatives of several
tribes of Indians, principally the Delawares, Senecas, Wyandotts,
Mingoes, Mohegans and the Ottawas.
At certain seasons of the year, Clark Creek's streams,
and especially its lakes were very attractive to Indian hunters and
fishermen, and most of the trails crossing the Township led to, or
traversed one or both of the Lakes. Back through the years, and
even occasionally at the present time, many specimens of the Indians'
handiwork have been tossed up by the plowshare as men on farms
bordering the Lakes tilled their fields. On the home farm of
Carey Boyd, southeast of Savannah, on which is a portion of the
Lower Lake, there was once an Indian camping ground, and for years the
successive owners of the land would plow up many articles of Indian
handiwork such as stone battle axes, flint arrowheads, skinners, and
other tools of Indian construction, and frequently bars of lead about
a foot long and an inch wide would be found, having found, having been
molded by the Indians for making bullets.
In the home of Jacob McClain, a hatter, one of
the very early residents of Savannah, the Indians found warm friends
and visited the McClain home frequently to run bullets, sometimes
leaving a papoose tied to a board standing against a large oak tree
near by while they were inside. On one occasion they ran out of
lead. One of the Indians sped away on swift foot and soon
returned with a fresh supply. He said he got it near a spring
with a large oak tree beside it, but would not disclose the definite
location, and where it came from is still an unsolved mystery.
Once when some Indians came to the McClain home to run
bullets, McClain was absent, having gone to Mansfield, a distance of
about 20 miles, for a supply of salt. Mrs. McClain had finished
an attractive pair of knitted red wool mittens which hung from a
rafter in her kitchen. The Indians displayed great interest in
the mittens and made so many peculiar gestures which Mrs. McClain
could not understand that she became frightened and gave the mittens
to them. They went away happy, but upon his return McClain was
greatly incensed over his wife's loss of the prized red mittens.
One of the trails to the Lakes and thereabout was from
an Indian camp near Greenwich, Ohio, about twelve miles distant.
A large old Indian named Turner was a frequent traveler of that trail.
He had lost one eye which had been struck by a diverted arrow when his
bow split. Turner became angry at a man by the name of Biddinger
who lived near the Upper Lake and was determined to kill him. He
was frequently discovered lying in ambush to watch for Biddinger who
knew his danger and was afraid to venture from his home. Dave
Duff, of Savannah, a man of enormous stature, and a sure marksman,
was greatly distressed over Biddinger's predicament.
Dave Duff was at Savannah's old log Inn one day when a man stopped
and told him that Turner was on the trail to the Lakes and would be at
the river west of town before long. Duff said nothing but
picked up a gun and started out. When he returned he was asked
if he had seen Turner. He replied, nonchalantly, that he looked
through the sight on his gun and saw Turner on the middle of a
foot-log across the river, - that he looked again and the Indian was
gone. That was all he would say, but Turner was seen nevermore
about Savannah Lakes, to the great relief of Biddinger and his
family.
Clear Creek Township settlers experience less trouble
with the Indians than in some other portions of Ashland County.
Abel and Acsah Bailey lost a small daughter scalped by a savage
Indian. Her mother heard the child's screams, but was powerless
to save her. It was a grewsome topic and the family seldom
mentioned it.
It was but natural that the intrusion of the white men
aroused emotions of resentment and hatred in the minds of the red men
who so long had claimed the territory as a portion of their happy
hunting ground. They could not be blamed. But the kindness
and friendliness of the pioneers was soon reciprocated by their red
brothers and history relates no serious outbreaks of savagery and
slaughter among the Indians within the bounds of Clear Creek Township.
Only a few years lapsed until all the land of the Township
was entered by white settlers. The rapid changes of civilization
forced the Indians to abandon the territory and journey "toward the
setting sun," although Clear Creek's splendid hunting and finishing
opportunities, and for several years the maple sugar season, attracted
a few of the Indians to the community each springtime. |
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