HISTORY OF LANCASTER
OHIO

     THE town of Lancaster was laid out in 1800 by Ebenezer Zane, of Wheeling, Va.  The original plat was bounded on the west by Front Street, through which the canal passes; on the east by Broad Alley, which is the alley running north and southeast of Fourth Street; on the north by one tier of lots on the north side of Mulberry Street; and on the south by one tier of lots on the south side of Chestnut Street, and was covered by a luxurious growth of forest timber, consisting of the several varieties of oak, black and white walnut, elm, sugar, honey locusts, buckeye, mulberry and hickory.  The pawpaw, wild plum, maple, blackhaw, grape vine and spice bush made up a thickly set undergrowth.  Soon after the town was laid off a sale of lots took place and were taken by purchasers at prices varying from five to one hundred dollars per lot, according to the situation.  There were some inequalities on the surface of the plat, but they have all been removed long since by improvement.  The first purchasers were, generally speaking, mechanics and laborers, who forthwith commenced clearing off their lots and erecting cabins. And so rapidly did the work of improvement progress during the fall of 1800 and the following winter, that in the spring of 1801 the principal streets were opened and a number of dwellings erected.  Rude and uncomfortable as they were, they gave Lancaster the

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appearance of a thriving town in the wilderness."  The above graphic sketch of the town site of Lancaster is from the pen of General George Sanderson.
     Caleb Atwater, in his history of Ohio, says of Lancaster:  "Before Lancaster was laid out, travelers, who passed along Zane's trace, through the then, vast forest of Ohio, called this spot, 'the place where they crossed the Hockhocking, near the Standing Rock.'  "In 1838, he said, "Lancaster now contains about three thousand people; the houses, three hundred in number, are large, durable and handsome ones; the people of Lancaster are an industrious, well informed community, who have always stood high with the people of the State."  A vast improvement since the land sales of November 1800. Maple Street, Lancaster, is on the east line of the original Zane section; the north line is now the alley just north of the German Lutheran Church; the south line is now a part of the south line of the Mithoff farm; the west line starts at a point on the south line near the sugar grove on the Mithoff farm, running thence north.

ZANE'S AGREEMENT.

     "Article of agreement made and entered into by and between Ebenezer Zane, of Ohio County, Va., and the purchasers of lots in the town of Lancaster, county of Fairfield, territory northwest of the Ohio River, now for sale in lots, on the east side of the Hockhocking River, by Ebenezer Zane.
     Section 1. The lots to be numbered in squares beginning with the northwest corner of the town, and then alternating from north to south and from south to north, agreeable to the general draft of the town.
     Sec. 2. One-fourth of the purchase money will be re-

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quired two weeks from the date of this article.  The residue of three-fourths will be required on or before 14th of November, 1802.  To be approved by secured notes bearing lawful interest from the 14th day of November, 1800.
     Sec. 3. Square No. 16, including five lots in the south east corner of the town, was thereafter to be held in trust, for the use of a graveyard, erection of a school house, a house of worship, and such other buildings as may be found necessary.  All of which are to be under the direction of the trustees for the time being.  Also four lots at the intersection of the two main streets running east and west and north and south, known by appellation of the Center Square, are given for the purpose of erecting public buildings not heretofore specified.
     Sec. 4. Possession will be given immediately to purchasers complying with Section 2 of this Article.  When fully complied with the said Ebenezer and his heirs, bind them selves to make a deed to the purchasers, their heirs and assigns.  If the terms be not fully complied with the lots shall be considered forfeited and returned again to the original holder.
     Sec. 5. For the convenience of the town, one-fourth part of an acre, lying west of lot No. 2 in the square No. 3, including two springs, will be, and are hereby given for the use of its inhabitants, as the trustees of the town may think proper.
     Sec. 6.  In consideration of the advantages that arise from the early settlements of mechanics in the town, and the encouragement of those who may first settle, lot No. 3 in 20th square; lot No. 6 in 15th square; lot No. 6 in 12th square, will be given to the first blacksmith, the first carpenter and the first tanner, all of whom are to settle and continue in the town pursuing their respective trades for the term of four years, at which time the aforesaid Zane binds himself to make them a deed.  In testimony of all and singular, the premises, the said Ebenezer Zane by his attorneys, Noah and John Zane, hath hereunto set his hand and affixed his seal, this 14th of November, A. D. 1800.
                                        Ebenezer Zane.

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     In April, 1799, Samuel Coates, Sr., and his son Samuel, Jr., came to the Valley from England and built a cabin on the east bank of the Hockhocking River, about three hundred yards south of the present bridge on the Chillicothe road. 
     Both families lived within the present corporate limits of Lancaster, and may be properly classed as the first residents of the town.  Samuel Coates was postmaster before Lancaster was known to the world. 
     It is pretty well established that Zane's trace followed our present Wheeling street as far west as Columbus street, where it diverged to the south and crossed the Hockhocking at the Coates cabin. 
     Descendants of Samuel Coates still reside in Lancaster.  Here follows a full list of the first settlers of Lancaster who purchased lots at the sale in November, 1800, or 1801 and 1802:  Emanuel Carpenter, Noah McCullough, Jacob Taylor, Ralph Duddleson, Ebenezer Martin, Peter Reber, Jno. Barr, John Reed, J. Denny, Benj. Allen, N. Willis, T. Worthington, T. Terre, Noah Zane, John Zane, J. Conway, Jacob Teller, Peter Teller, B. Teller, A. Reger, N. Johnson, Wm. Trimble, W. Stoops, T. Barr, J. Beard, N. Wilson, J. Denny, Kerb, Grubb and Hampson, M. S. Hoag, J. McMullen, Jno. McMullen, Thos. Sturgeon, Jno. Overdear, R. Pitcher, R. Morris, Joseph Hunter, Jacob Wolford, H. Mieson, Jas. Converse, George Coffinberry, J. Hanson, Jno. Williamson, Samuel Coates, W. Harper, Mary Pastor, John VanMeter, S. Reese, J. Hardy, W. Babb, Jno. Lynch, Jno. Jups, J. J. Carson, Amasa Delano and Henry Wetwine. Nathaniel Willis and Thos. Worthington who purchased lots at the sale, were residents of Chillicothe;

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Worthington became Governor of Ohio;  Willis published a paper in Chillicothe and was father of N. P. Willis, the famous author of New York.
     Dec. 9, 1800, Governor St. Clair and the Council of the Northwest Territory organized the County of Fairfield and named New Lancaster as the county seat. 
     In the year 1805 the name was changed by the Legislature to Lancaster. 
     The first Court House was erected in 1806, and continued to be occupied as such until torn down by order of Commissioners in 1863.  General Williamson was the contractor and the brick were manufactured by Sosthenes McCabe, a pioneer citizen, whose descend ants still reside in Lancaster.  The Rev. John Wright, long the worthy pastor of the Presbyterian Church, settled in Lancaster in 1801, and was the first to preach the Gospel in the new court house.  He was followed by Bishop Asbury of the Methodist Episcopal Church, who preached there in 1809.  The early Lutherans also held services in the court-house for many years.
     Wm. Creighton, Alex. White, Philemon Beecher, Wm. W. Irvin and Robert F. Slaughter, were the first lawyers.  All were men of distinguished ability.  Beecher and Irvin served with distinction as Members of Congress.  Irvin became Judge of the Ohio Supreme Court, and Slaughter Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. Hugh Boyle, brother-in-law of General Beecher, and father-in-law of Thomas Ewing, was appointed Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas in 1803 and served as such until 1833.  He was succeeded by Dr. M. Z. Kreider, who served until the year 1842, when

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his deputy, Joel Radebaugh, was appointed by the Court and served until the year 1850, when the office became elective under the new Constitution.
     Judge Silliman was the first Common Pleas Judge who sat upon the Bench in Lancaster.  Judge R. F. Slaughter was the second, appointed in 1805.  Thomas Worthington, afterward Governor of Ohio, and Henry Abrams surveyed the Government lands of the Valley south of Lancaster, Ohio.

ROBERT F. SLAUGHTER

     Robert F. Slaughter was born in Culpepper County, Virginia.  At the age of seventeen he was a volunteer to defend the settlers of Kentucky against the Indians. From Kentucky, in 1796, he went to Chillicothe, Ohio, and from there in the year 1800 came to Lancaster. He was both a merchant and a lawyer for a short time. He was one of the first, if not the very first lawyer, to open an office in Lancaster. He was followed by Alex ander White and William Creighton, who were sworn in as attorneys January 12, 1801. He married a Miss Bond, of Lancaster, who proved to be a good wife and a Christian woman. In the year 1805 he was elected Common Pleas Judge for the Lancaster Dis trict; the District included Circleville, Chillicothe and Athens; he served but one term. Later he was ap pointed Prosecuting Attorney of this County and served four years. In the year 1817 he was elected to the Ohio Legislature. He was also a member for the years 1819, 1821, 1823 and 1824. While in the Legislature he supported and voted for our Common School System and for the bills establishing our Canal System. In the years 1810 and 1811 he was a member of the Ohio Senate. He was also a senator during

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years, 1827, 1828, 1829, 1830 and 1831.  His record as a public servant is without stain or blemish.  He is said to have been an effective speaker, a good orator.  He was a man of ability, but plain and unassuming in his manner and appearance, yet was often absent minded, and some good stories are told of him in that regard.  At the June term of the Court of Quarter-Sessions, 1802, Emanuel Carpenter, Presiding Judge, the Sheriff was ordered to take Alexander White to prison one hour for striking Robert F. Slaughter, a brother attorney, while court was in session.  Judge Slaughter was third in the race for member of the Constitutional Convention in 1802, Carpenter and Abrams being elected.  He died October, 1846, at the age of seventy-six years.  His son Thomas S. Slaughter, of Kansas, and Mrs. Dennison, of Los Angeles, California, are his surviving children.
     The Judge and his wife lie side by side in the Carpenter graveyard, south of town.

GENERAL PHILEMON BEECHER

     General Beecher came to Lancaster from Litchfield, Conn., in 1801, and opened a law office on what is now the Rising Corner.  In 1803 he was elected a member of the Ohio Legislature.  In the year 1818 he was elected a member of Congress, in which capacity he served ten years.  General Beecher was an able man and a good lawyer and one whose integrity was never questioned.  He was the leading lawyer of the Lancaster Bar for twenty-five years.  It was in his office that Thomas Ewing studied law.  He was a Major General of the Ohio Militia.  His wife was a daughter of Neil Gillespie, of Brownsville, Pa.  She came to Lancaster on a visit to her sister Mrs. Hugh Boyle;

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while here Philemon Beecher made her acquaintance and they were soon married. One of his daughters married Henry Stanbery, the other Philadelphus Van Trump, both of whom became distinguished citizens of Lancaster.  General Beecher was highly esteemed, and the pioneers who have come down to us all speak well of him.  He died in the year 1839, at the age of sixty-four years.

DOCTOR JOHN M. SHAUG

     Doctor Shaug was one of the pioneers of Lancaster.  He came to Lancaster in 1801 and purchased a lot on Main Street.  He did not remain long, but returned to his family in Kentucky.  In the year 1806 he brought his family to Lancaster, and made it his permanent home.  Here for forty years he practiced medicine, and was a popular physician.  The new Columbian Block stands upon the lot where he lived and died.  His death occurred in 1846.  His wife lived to a great age, dying at the age of ninety-nine years.

WILLIAM W. IRVIN

     Judge Irvin came to Lancaster from Virginia, in 1801.  He opened a law office and began the practice of his profession.  In a year or two he was elected a member of the Ohio Legislature.  In the year 1810 he was elected a judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio.  In 1828 he defeated his brother-in-law, General Beecher, and was elected a member of Congress.  He was a Virginia gentleman of the old school, courteous and polite to all; a man of ability, a good lawyer and a good judge.  He had an interesting family, refined and cultured, and his home was the resort of the beauty and fashion of Lancaster.  In his old age he left his fine

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mansion on the Public Square and moved to his farm south of town.  His son, William Irvin, was Lieutenant-Colonel of the Second Ohio Regiment in the Mexican War; at the close of the war he settled in Texas, where he soon after died.  His son John lived many years in Texas, enlisted in the rebel army and was killed in battle.  One of his daughters married Dr. Wolfley of the United States Navy; he met with an accidental death on the coast of Africa.  The late Dr. Wolfley, of Circleville, was a son; Lewis Wolfley, late Governor of Arizona Territory, was also a son of Dr. Wolfley.  Judge Irvin's daughter, Louisa, married Judge J. F. Mathews, of Columbus, Ohio.  The wife of Judge Irvin was a daughter of Neil Gillespie, of Brownsville, Pa.  He met her while visiting her sister, Mrs. Boyle, in Lancaster.  The Judge was several times a member of the General Assembly.  His death occurred March :27, 1842.

MICHAEL GARAGHTY

     Mr. Garaghty was a native of Ireland and came to Lancaster in 1804.  His first business was that of a dry goods merchant.  He was an accomplished accountant, and his services were soon in demand.  He. was clerk for several years of the Board of County Com missioners.  He was one of the commissioners of Fairfield County for the years 1815, 1817 and 1818.  During the war of 1812 he was a paymaster and as signed to Colonel Williamson's regiment.  In 1816 he was chosen cashier of the Lancaster, Ohio, Bank, and remained until its doors were closed in 1842.  As cashier of the Lancaster Bank he made a reputation for his integrity and capacity.  He built one of the first fine houses of Lancaster, not the finest, but at the time a very well finished house, now owned by Mrs. Mu-

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maugh.  He reared a large family of children and they became more or less prominent in Lancaster. One of his daughters married the Hon. Wm. E. Fink, of Somerset, Ohio.  His wife was the daughter of Charles Babb, an early pioneer.  He was a lifelong member of the Catholic Church.  His career closed the same year with the bank he had served so well, at the age of sixty-three years.

HUGH BOYLE

     Hugh Boyle was a native of Donegal, Ireland; his father was a country gentleman, well-to-do.  Young Boyle got into some trouble with the British government, and in the then troublesome state of the country concluded that, rather than lie in hiding, he would go to the United States.  At this time he was eighteen years of age.  He arrived in Virginia in 1791, where he found an uncle in mercantile business, at Martinsburg.  The young man was well educated and a good accountant, and his uncle employed him and soon made him a partner, sending him to Brownsville, Pa., to open a branch store.  Here he soon made the acquaintance of Eleanor, the daughter of Neil Gillespie, and in due time they were married.  The parents of the young lady were opposed to the match and the young couple left Brownsville for the newly laid out town of Chillicothe, Ohio, where Boyle opened another branch store in partnership with his uncle.  Here his daughter Maria Boyle, the future Mrs. Ewing, was born January 1, 1800.  He visited Zane's new town of Lancaster in 1801, and purchased several lots and prepared to move his family thither.  A sister of his wife, Susan Gillespie, was visiting them in Chillicothe, and accompanied them to Lancaster; here she met Phile-

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mon Beecher and in due time became his wife.  A third sister, Elizabeth Gillespie, came out to Lancaster on a visit to her two sisters, and on this visit met W. W. Irvin; he wooed and won her and they were married. Neil Gillespie, Jr., brother of the three sisters, happily married in Brownsville, had two children, John and Maria L.  The son John came out to Lancaster to visit his aunts and while there met and won Miss Mary M. Miers; they were married and went to Brownsville to live. The daughter of this union married P. B. Ewing, oldest son of Thomas Ewing. John Gillespie died early in life, and his widow returned with her children to Lancaster, where she subsequently married William Phelan, a prosperous merchant.  Maria L. Gillespie married Ephraim Blaine, of Pennsylvania,  They were the parents of the Hon. James G. Blaine.  A daughter of Hugh Boyle, Maria, married Thomas Ewing.  It will be seen that Mrs. Ewing was a cousin of Mrs. Ephraim Blaine and a second cousin of James G. Blaine.  James G. Blaine was a cousin of Mrs. P. B. Ewing.  This explains the relationship of the large Gillespie connection in Lancaster with Mr. Blaine.  He being closely related to the families of Boyle, Irvin and Beecher.  Soon after Mr. Boyle's arrival in Lancaster he was appointed a Justice of the Peace by  Governor St. Clair, and was occasionally engaged in surveying.  In the year 1803 he was appointed Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas.  This office he held for thirty years.  He was Clerk of the Supreme or District Court thirty-three years. Hugh Boyle built the brick house owned in recent years by Daniel Kutz, on Columbus Street, where Mrs. Kutz now resides; he also owned the four lots east of his residence, on Mulberry Street, where Howe's Academy once stood.

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Mrs. Boyle died October 16, 1805, and Hugh Boyle, in 1848.  Mrs. John Krepps, daughter of Neil Gillespie, was the grandmother of T. Ewing Miller, of Columbus, and John K. Miller, of Mt. Vernon, Ohio.  John Gillespie, son of Neil Gillespie, Sr., was the grandfather of Henry, William, Jonathan and John Miller, late of Columbus, Ohio. Luke Walpole, late of Indianapolis, Indiana, married Margaret Gillespie; his daughter married Hon. David Colerick, of Ft. Wayne, Indiana, and her daughter married John Larwell, of Wooster, Ohio.  It will be seen from this sketch that the blood of Neil Gillespie circulated in the veins of many distinguished families, and Lancaster has sheltered the largest number of them.

ELNATHAN SCOFIELD

     Mr. Scofield received a good education in his native state, Connecticut, and came to Lancaster in the year 1802.  He was by profession a surveyor, and while here was occasionally engaged in that occupation.  Soon after his arrival here he opened a dry goods store, and for three years John Mathews was his partner.  Mathews then retired and Scofield continued the business on his own account until the year 1818.  John Creed, then a young man, was clerk for Mathews and Scofield.  In the year 1805 Scofield was elected County Surveyor and Justice of the Peace; he served with distinction several terms in both branches of the Ohio Legislature.  During the administration of John Quincy Adams he was postmaster of Lancaster.  He was the personal friend of Henry Clay; often met him in Lancaster and assisted in entertaining him at a public dinner in 1825.  For at least two terms he was an associate Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Fair-

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field County.  He was the father-in-law of John T. Brasee and James R. Stanbery.  He and John Graham and E. B. Merwin married sisters, young ladies by the name of Reed, who had came out from Baltimore, Md.  He built one of the first good brick dwellings in Lancaster, corner of Columbus and Main Streets.  The builder was Henry Miers, Sr.  Mr. Scofield was one of the noble band of great and good men, pioneers of Lancaster.  He died suddenly in 1841.  He was found in the public road a corpse, having fallen from his horse on his way from his farm to town; his age was sixty-nine years.  The late Gilbert Outcalt, of Cincinnati, and the late David Colerick, of Ft. Wayne, Indiana, were clerks in the postoffice during Scofield's term.

PETER REBER

     Peter Reber was a native of Berks County, Pa., and came to Lancaster as early as 1801 or 1802; he purchased a lot owned at the time by Rudolph Pitcher, corner of Broad Street and the Public Square, where Mrs. Effinger now lives.  He married a daughter of Frederick Arnold, the founder of the Arnold family in this county.  He is recognized as one of the founders of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Lancaster, and his dust reposes in the graveyard of that Church.  He was a man of good common sense, a good business man and a much respected citizen.  He was one of the directors of the old Lancaster Bank and was so highly esteemed by his associate directors, that he was tendered the presidency of the bank, but declined it.  At an early day he owned and operated a horse-power mill.  The mill stood on the ground where the new Presbyterian church now stands.  It was destroyed by fire in 1821.  He owned the lot and built the house,

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fronting on Broadway, which was long the residence of Dr. Effinger.  Here for many years he kept a tavern, the sign of the "Spread Eagle".  He died in the prime of life, October 6, 1823, leaving a large family of young children.  They were cared for by the family friends and well brought up.  The daughters were all handsome young women and married business men; the sons, George and John, were among the foremost men of Lancaster in their day.  His daughter, Maria, Mrs. John H. Tennant, is the only one now living; she resides in San Francisco, at an advanced age.  Old Lancaster people say that she was a beautiful young woman.

WILLIAM AND CHRISTIAN KING

     The Kings were the first merchants to compete with Converse in the new town; they came to Lancaster in 1802, from Middletown, Pa., opened a dry goods store, and conducted it until 1822, when Samuel Rodgers became a partner and continued with them until the spring of 1826, when he removed to Circleville.  William King died in 1832, and the stock of goods was sold to Kauffman and Foster.  This venture was disastrous to Kauffman; he lost all that he had hitherto earned in Lancaster and was compelled to begin life anew.  In 1835 Kauffman and Foster sold what was left of their stock to Carpenter and Tennant, John H. Tennant, the same who afterwards married Maria Reber and subsequently moved to California.  In 1839 Carpenter and Tennant sold their stock to James Sherman, brother of Senator John Sherman.  In July, 1840, James Sherman sold his stock to M. B. Browning and subsequently moved either to Des Moines, Iowa, or to Cincinnati. Samuel Stambaugh and John D. Martin

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were Browning's clerks, and the business was carried on in the name of M. B. Browning and Company; Browning made a disastrous failure and the loss fell upon Stambaugh and Martin, although they had no interest beyond their salaries.  Christian King, after disposing of his store, in 1832, engaged in the tanning business upon a large scale; he had been a successful business man and he was counted wealthy, but he endorsed for friends, as many have done before him, and this proved his ruin.  The case which was to determine his fate was tried in court and decided against him; this had a very depressing effect upon him and he died suddenly the same day, in the year 1838.  The Kings were good men and public-spirited citizens.  In early times they built a bridge across the swamp west of town and kept it in order for many years by collecting tolls.  Christian King was one of the founders and leaders in the Lutheran Church.  In 1813 he married a hand some young school teacher, named Butler, who came from New York.  His son, William, was a prominent young man of Lancaster in 1840; he was an early emigrant to California and died there.  Captain A. D. King, of Lancaster, and Thomas King, of Washington City, are his sons.  Charles Deshler, son of the Columbus banker, married Christian King's daughter, Flora.

JOHN CREED

     John Creed was a native of Rhode Island.  He came west and landed in Marietta in 1802 and from thence went to Lancaster.  Here he was first employed as a clerk in the store of Mathews and Scofield.  In the year 1805 he began business for himself, opening a general store.  This he continued until the year 1815, when F. A. Foster became a partner and the business was

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conducted under the name and style of F. A. Foster & Company.  This continued for two years, when Foster withdrew and Thomas H. Cushing, a clerk, became his partner.  This partnership continued until 1827, when Cushing died and the stock was sold to James Smith and Tunis Cox.  Upon the death of James Smith, Cassel and Eckert became interested in the firm.  This was about the year 1835.  Eckert was a son-in-law of Cox.  In 1837 Galloway and Myers purchased the stock and in 1838 Henry Galloway retired, and Alfred Fahnestock became a member of the firm under the style of Henry T. Myers and Company.  In October, 1839, Elias Nye purchased the interest of Myers and with Fahnestock continued the business until April, 1841.  In that year Elias Nye retired to study law, and removed to Ironton, Ohio.  A few months later Fahnestock sold out to Myers, Fall & Collins, and engaged in business for himself.  Fahnestock was a tanner before he became a merchant at the old Stutzen tannery west of canal.  Mr. Fahnestock was a lover of horticulture and during his residence in Lancaster planted fine fruit on at least two homesteads.  The fine apple known as the Kinkead originated upon his grounds.  In his old age he cultivated a fine fruit farm near Toledo, where he died a few years since.  John Creed served as quartermaster, Colonel Williamson's regiment, during the War of 1812.  He was elected president of the Lancaster, Ohio, Bank in 1817 and served during its existence,— twenty-five years.  He was a member of the Ohio Senate and served one term as associate judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Fairfield County.  He was a first-class business man and was at one time wealthy, but losses caused by endorsements brought financial

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ruin.  He died in the year 1843, aged sixty-six years.  His sons were John M. Creed, William P. Creed and George Creed, long well known Lancaster men.  His sons-in-law. were Andrew Parks, John C. Fall, William A. Ritchie and Darius Tallmadge.  His first wife was a sister of James and Robert Smith, and the mother of his children. His second wife was the sister of Dr. James White.  She was a good woman and took the mother's place and reared his family of children.

JACOB GREEN

     Jacob Green came to Lancaster about the year 1805 and opened a general store.  In July, 1822, his brother Joseph became a partner and so continued to October 19, 1830.  For some years Jacob Green was the proprietor of a tavern on his well known corner.  Later in life he became the owner of the Pitcher or Good Hope paper mill in Hocking County and operated it until his death in the year 1850.  During the construction of the Hockhocking Canal he was a member of the firm of Green, Work & Thorne, con tractors.  Mr. Green was a director of the Lancaster Bank and one of the receivers to close it up in 1842.  The bank was closed by paying Green $4,000 to re deem its straggling outstanding circulation.  He was elected in 1848 the first president of the "Savings Institute," which was located in the old Green Block, northwest corner Public Square.  Jacob Green was a good business man and accumulated a handsome estate.

TIMOTHY STURGEON

Timothy Sturgeon came to Lancaster in 1802 and opened what we now call a jewelry store, then he was called a silver-smith. He continued this business up

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to the time of his death in 1826 at the age of forty-six years.  He served several years as justice of the peace and for two or three terms as treasurer of Fairfield County.  He was a prominent pioneer, an honorable man, and highly esteemed.  His son Thomas Sturgeon, now the oldest native born citizen of Lancaster, was born October the 17th, 1808.  He took up his father's business and conducted it until about the year 1850.  He was successful and made an honorable record as a business man.  For two years thereafter he was associated with Samuel Crim in the purchase and sale of horses on a large scale. In 1852 Crim and Sturgeon, with one hundred head of fine horses crossed the plains to California and made a successful venture.  In 1860 they again crossed the plains with horses and made some investments in San Francisco property.  There he remained two years, running an omnibus line, as a partner of Crim, to the suburbs, and contracting and making improvements for the City of San Francisco.  On their trip to California they took with them some fine horses.  Among them "Captain Fisher" and "Chieftain." For the latter they paid $1,800.  He was a fine son of old "Togue." Tiring of California and anxious to return to his family, Sturgeon sold out to Crim for a handsome sum of money.  Mr. Sturgeon owns several good pieces of Lancaster real estate and a farm near town.  Now in his eighty-ninth year he spends his time quietly with his family.  He lacks but eight years of being as old as his native town.

THOMAS STURGEON

     Thomas Sturgeon, brother of Timothy, came to Lancaster in the year 1800 and opened the first hotel n the corner now owned by George Matt.  This

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corner has always been known as the Sturgeon and Latta corner.  John Latta came by it through his wife, who was the daughter of Thomas Sturgeon.  He closed his hotel in 1824 and from that time until his death he boarded a few young men, one of whom was the late John G. Willock, long an honorable merchant of Lancaster.  He died in the year 1828.

DR. WILSON

     Dr. Wilson was one of the first physicians to settle in Lancaster.  He came from Virginia and landed here in 1804.  He practiced his profession up to the time of his death, which occurred in the year 1823, aged forty-three years.  His widow became the wife of John Latta, at the time a very prominent young merchant of Lancaster.  Maria, the accomplished daughter of Dr. Wilson, was prominent in Lancaster society in 1830.  She presented a flag in a neat speech to one of the canal boat captains at the celebration of the opening of the lateral canal in 1834, in behalf of the ladies of Lancaster.  She soon thereafter became the wife of Mr. Bull, of the firm of Ritchie & Bull, produce dealers.  She had a brother named James, well known to old citizens.  Mrs. Bull died in Lancaster. What became of her husband cannot be ascertained.  In the year 1815, Dr. Wilson was president of the town council.   He owned the lots now occupied by the Blaire Block on Broadway and resided there in a cottage and had a frame office on the corner.  He was an army surgeon in the War of 1812.  He was a much respected citizen.  Thomas Sturgeon is the only man now in Lancaster who remembers him.  His wife was the daughter of Thomas Sturgeon, the hotel keeper.

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ADAM WEAVER

     Adam Weaver came to Lancaster from Lancaster, Pa., in the year 1806. His first employment was clerk in Rudolph Pitcher's store.  In the year 1810 he was elected justice of the peace for Hocking Township.  He was a popular justice and held the office eighteen years.  In 1812 he was a lieutenant in Captain Sumner's company of artillery.  This company reported at Franklinton to the Governor, but owing to the fact that Weaver was sheriff of the county the Governor excused him, and Sosthenes McCabe was elected in his place. Weaver was elected county treasurer in the year 1826 and served four years.  Adam Weaver was the father of the late John C. Weaver, and of George Weaver, once editor of the Lancaster Gazette, and of Mrs. Philip Bope.  He was an active, vigorous man and one of Thomas Ewing's posse to arrest counterfeiters in 1818.  He died in the year 1841.

GENERAL SANDERSON'S RECOLLECTIONS

     The following are the names of the early settlers of Lancaster, and in what part of the town they settled, as far as recollected by the writer of this article, who deems it not out of place to state that he has been a resident of Lancaster and its immediate vicinity ever since the town was located, and is now in the seventy-eighth year of his age.  Samuel Coates, Sr., and Samuel Coates, Jr., erected the first cabin in the new town in 1800.  It stood on the alley on a lot fronting on Front street, between Main and Chestnut.  The Coateses —father and son — were from the City of Leeds, in England, where they had been engaged in business, but, failing, came to the

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United States.  In 1799 a mail route was established along Zane's trace, and the elder Coates was appointed postmaster at the crossings of the Hockhocking, so called and generally known by the settlers.  The trace, for it was only an apology for a road, crossed the stream about midway between the turn pike and railroad bridges.  Here in a lonely cabin was the first postoffice established in Fairfield County.  The elder Coates held the postoffice until 1807 or 8, when he departed this life, and the son succeeded to the office and held it until about the year 1814, when he was succeeded by Jacob D. Deitrick.  He died in 1839, aged seventy years. Ralph Morris, in 1800, put up a cabin on Front, between Main and Wheeling streets.  He died about 1806.  General Jonathan Lynch improved the lot on the southeast corner of Front and Wheeling streets in 1800 and moved onto it in 1801.  He sunk a tanyard about the same time at the base of the hill west of his residence, and was the first to commence the business of tanning in the Hockhocking Valley.  General Lynch was appointed by Governor St. Clair the first coroner of Fairfield County, and held the office for several terms after the admission of the State into the Union.  He also rose from a captaincy to general of brigade in the early militia of Ohio.  He was a native of Fayette County, Pa.  He died in 1818, aged forty-six years.  Dr. Amasa Delano built a cabin on the northeast corner of Front and Main streets in 1801, entertained the public and practiced physic for a year or two.  He was succeeded as an inn-keeper by Wm. Austin, who, dying in 1803 or 4, George W. Selly, a son-in-law of

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Dr. Silas Allen, of Tobeytown (now Royalton), took the stand for a few years.  General David Reese emigrated from Virginia in 1800 and put up a cabin on the north side of Wheeling, between Front and Second streets.  He was elected, on October 12, 1802, a member of the first General Assembly of the new State of Ohio, and continued to represent the county for several sessions.  He also, at an early period of the new county, was elected brigadier general of the Ohio militia.  In 1803 or 4, or about that time, he erected a brewery on the lot upon which St. Peter's Church now stands (shoe factory now).  He died in 1842, aged seventy-one years. Henry Wetwine, a German, in 1802 improved a lot on the north side of Wheeling, between Front and Second streets, and carried on the baking business.  He died in 1803.  Alexander White in 1801 lived in a cabin which he erected on the south side of Wheeling street, between Front and Second streets.  He was from Winchester, Va., and was an attorney at law and became somewhat eminent in his profession during his short residence in the town.  He died in 1804. Robert McClelland built a cabin in 1800, and commenced a public house in 1801 on the north side of Main, between Front and Second streets.  He was a valuable pioneer woodsman and hunter, and was frequently employed in viewing and laying out roads in the valley.  He died near New Lexington in Perry County, O., in 1848, at the age of eighty-six years.  He came from Fayette County, Pa.  He came to Mt. Pleasant as a scout and figures in Bennett's legend of that mountain.  Thomas Hart came from Chillicothe, O., to Lan-

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caster in 1801 and brought with him a stock of goods, which he opened on the north side of Main street, adjoining the residence of Robert McClelland.  He served in the War of 1812 and died in 1825, aged forty-eight years.  His wife was a McClelland.  In 1800 Rudolph Pitcher erected a cabin on the northwest corner of Broad street and the Public Square and kept tavern until 1802, when he sold out to Peter Reber, and then purchased the lot on the southwest corner of Broad street and the Public Square, upon which he erected a square log building with a shingle roof, a new thing in those days, entertained the public and sold goods.  Adam Weaver and Wm. Hamilton became his clerks. In a few years, perhaps in or about 1808, he sold to Jacob Boos, and put up a dwelling on the southeast corner of Main and Center alley, the alley running north and south between Second street and the Public Square, where he resided at the time of his death in 1812.  A brother, Frederick Pitcher, settled in Lancaster previous to 1802, and after a few years moved to the falls of Hockhocking.  From there he moved to Michigan.  Abram Pitcher, another brother, came at an early day, and he and Rudolph built a paper mill, now in Hocking County, O., and since called Good Hope Mill. The Pitchers were natives of Switzerland.  In 1801 Rudolph Pitcher and Isaac Koontz erected a sawmill on Saw Mill Run, so called, about five miles south of Lancaster.  General John Williamson came to the town in 1800.  He bought the lot on the southwest corner of Wheeling street and Center alley, and in 1801 put up a shop, and in company with James Hampson carried on the carpenter business. He was from Virginia. Soon after

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the organization of Fairfield County he was elected one of the county commissioners.  In 1808 he was elected sheriff of the county.  He also served a term of duty as colonel of a regiment of Ohio militia in the War of 1812. In 1804 he and James Hampson be came contractors for building the new Court House, which they completed in 1806.  The inside work was done by George Welsh, then a resident of Lancaster.  General Williamson was killed by lightning in 1820, about two miles north of Lancaster, on the Baltimore road, in the forty-seventh year of his age.  James Hanly came to the valley of the Hocking in 1800, bought a lot on the northeast corner of Wheeling and Broad streets, and in 1801 put up a blacksmith shop and cabin, and was the first to carry on the business in Lancaster.  In 1804 or 5 he removed to the southeast corner of Main street and the Public Square, where he ended his days.  John Inks, Sr., and his son John Inks, Jr., settled as early as 1801 or 2 on the southwest corner of Wheeling and Second streets.  In 1801 or 2, David Wolford erected his cabin and lived on the northwest corner of Wheeling and Second streets.  William Ream improved and carried on the hatting business on the southwest corner of Main and Second streets in 1801.  He was the first hatter in town. Wm. B. Peck first worked in his shop. Simon Converse, a brother of James, had been merchandising on the north side of Main, between Second street and Center alley.  He put an end to his life in 1807 in the house of his brother James.  Hugh Boyle improved the lot on the northwest corner of Main and Second streets in 1801 by the erection

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of the first frame building in the town, and a rough one it was, for the weatherboarding was rived out with a frow, for saw mills were then unknown.  He in two or three years sold the lot to Elnathan Scofield.  He was appointed clerk of the court in 1803.  Served as justice of the peace and county surveyor.  George Coffinberry fixed his first place of residence on the southwest corner of Public Square and Broad street about 1801.  He, after a short residence there, built upon the east half of the lot on the northeast corner of Main street and Center alley and kept a house of entertainment until 1810, when he moved to Richland County, O.  He came from Berkeley County, Va. Wm. Babb built a cabin and lived for several years on the north side of Main, between Front and Second streets.  This was earlier than 1802.  He died in Somerset, Ohio.  Dr. Wm. Irwin settled on the west side of Front street, nearly opposite the west end of Chestnut, in 1801 or 1802.  He practiced medicine and served as a justice of the peace.  He was also an associate judge of Common Pleas Court.  He moved from Lancaster to Franklin County.  Samuel Stoops lived on the north side of Main street in the room first occupied by James Converse as a store room, on the lot adjoining General Beecher's residence, until 1804 or 5, when Thos. Flicker, a hatter by trade, became proprietor and carried on his business for about forty years.  Sosthenes McCabe, with his father, Wm. McCabe, and his brothers, David and Ezra, came to the north part of the present town in 1801 and commenced the brick making business. They made the brick for the first house of the kind in Lancaster. David McCabe

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served as lieutenant of Captain George Sanderson's company in the War of 1812 and was surrendered by General Hull at Detroit.  Sosthenes McCabe served as a lieutenant in Captain Sumner's company of artillery in Colonel John Williamson's regiment.  Mr. McCabe built the Scofield office on Main street.  Dr. Wm. Kerr commenced the practice of physic in 1801 and pursued it until his death in 1805.  Daniel Arnott was here as early as 1801 or 1802.  He was a tanner and did business on a lot adjoining St. Peter's Church.  He was barkeeper for Peter Reber for some years.  Joseph Beard settled here in 1801 on northeast corner Public Square and Main street.  He sold to Thomas Sturgeon and left the town.  Wm. Harper built a blacksmith shop and cabin on the southeast corner of Wheeling and Fourth streets in 1801 or 2.  John Irvin came to Lancaster in 1801 with his brother, Wm. W. Irvin.  He was a single man and failing to obtain office, after several trials, left the town forever.  David Firestone put up a one-story cabin on the southeast corner of Main street and Center alley in 1802.  He kept the sign of the Black Horse and sold Monongahela.  Brice T. Sterrett came here in 1801, from Pennsylvania.  He owned the tract of land—590 acres—upon which East Lancaster now stands. After a residence here of more than twenty years he returned to his native state and died there.  He was a bachelor.  William Martin owned the lot on the southeast corner of Wheeling and Second streets.  He was in Lan-

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caster in 1802 and died in 1825, aged sixty years.  He was a bachelor.  Wm. B. Peck came to Lancaster as a journeyman hatter in 1801 or 2, and worked for William Ream.  He built the brick house now standing on the south west corner of Broad and Chestnut streets, and was famous for manufacturing furred and Koram hats. In 1833 he closed his life in death, aged sixty-three years.  He was from Boston, Mass.  He was the father of Mrs. Charles Hood and of W. B. Peck, Jr.  His wife was a daughter of Charles Babb.  Daniel Shope improved and lived upon a lot on the south side of Main, between the Public Square and High alley as early as 1801 or 2.  In a few years he moved to Missouri.  Rev. John Wright, a native of Westmoreland County, Pa., visited Lancaster in 1802 and in 1803, as a missionary, and having received a call from a little flock of Presbyterians, settled himself down in 1805 as their pastor.  He erected the second brick house in the town on the northwest corner of Main street and High alley.  He continued his care of the church until 1836, when he removed to Logansport, Indiana.  He died at the residence of his son, Edward F. Wright, in Delphi, Indiana, while on a visit, on the 31st of August, 1854, aged seventy-eight years.  He was the father of the Presbyterian Church in Fairfield County.  Jacob Gaster, a Switzer, built a cabin in the new town in 1801 or 2.  He was a boot and shoemaker, and kept a public house on Main street, where the Hocking Valley Bank now stands.  He died early.  Henry Miers, Sr., and William Duffield, emigrants

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Miers settled on the southeast corner of Chestnut and Second streets (Columbus street).  He built the Scofield house, the house of General Beeeher, the old academy and the Swan Hotel.  He was a man of integrity and highly esteemed.  He died in 1828, aged fifty-eight years.  Duffield built his house on southeast corner of Main and Fourth streets (High street), where the Court House now stands.  He lost his life on a trading voyage to New Orleans.  David Gates, Timothy Gates, Benedict Hutchins, Barnabas Golden and Henry Meisie were residents on Mulberry, between Front and Second streets as early as 1801 or 2. Charles Daily built on Chestnut, between Second and Broad streets, and Bucker on the northwest corner of Chestnut street and Center alley, when that part of the town was a forest.  Both those old buildings are now standing and occupied.  Ralph Selby was an early citizen of Lancaster.  He is remembered as a famous horseman.  Robert Russell, long a resident of Columbus, lived in Lancaster with his brother-in-law, Dr. Amasa Delano, in 1800 and 1801.  He died in Tiffin, Ohio.  He opened a store in Franklinton as early as the year 1803 or 1804.  Elijah B. Merwin, from Vermont, commenced the practice of law here in 1804.  He represented this county in the Legislature in 1808.  He married a sister of Mrs. Judge Scofield.  He moved to Zanesville, Ohio, about the year 1815.  In 1804 Dr. Ezra Torrence came from Vermont with E. B. Merwin and commenced the practice of medicine.  In 1815 he kept hotel and in one of his

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rooms a guest, Robert Edmund, was robbed of $1,500 in cash.  The doctor died in the year 1818.  William and Joseph Tomlinson were early merchants on Main street, between Second and the Public Square. Their business was not a success and they did not remain long. Andrew Crocket, son-in-law of Rudolph Pitcher, was an early merchant, but not successful.  John Schurr, from Germany, commenced the baking business in 1803.  He did business on the south west corner of Main and Second streets, where he died by his own hand.  Hugh Driver, an Irishman by birth and a tailor by trade, settled on the south side of Chestnut street between Broad and High alley.  John Bly commenced the potter business on Wheeling street east of Fourth in 1804.  His location was then out of town.  Jacob Greene and his brothers, Timothy and Joseph A. Greene, emigrated from Pennsylvania to Lancaster in 1805.  Jacob purchased the northwest corner of Main street and the Public Square, sold goods here and kept hotel.  He died in 1850, aged sixty-three years.  John Neel built a square log house and entertained the public before the property passed into the hands of Greene.  General Jesse Beecher, brother of General P. Beecher, located in Lancaster in 1805.  At one time he was a merchant.  He died in Missouri. Colonel Wm. Sumner, a native of Connecticut, was a resident of the town as early as 1804.  He commanded a company of artillery in General John Williamson's regiment in the War of 1812.  In January, 1828 he married the widow of General John Wil-

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liamson, his old colonel.  He died in 1838, aged fifty-nine years.  His widow survived him many years and was a popular woman.  Warren Spitler was an early resident and put up a residence on the southeast corner of Chestnut street and Center alley.  He died in Amanda, and was buried at the Sweyer graveyard by Rev. D. M. Martens, now of the Lutheran Book Concern, Columbus, February 9, 1859.  Jacob Boos, a native of Switzerland, in 1806 purchased the property on the southwest corner of Main street and the Public Square, and kept tavern there.  He was succeeded in the business by his son-in-law, Frederick A. Shaeffer.  He died in 1848 in his eighty-second year.  Dr. Robert Wilcox came here an old man in 1806.   He had been an army surgeon in the War of the Revolution.  He died in 1812.  Henry Sutzen, a Switzer and tanner by trade, lived on Front Street near Chestnut at an early day.  He died young in 1822.  He was the father of Henry Sutzen, the tanner, who, late in life, moved to Iowa. His wife was a sister of the wife of Jacob Beck.  George Little, from Berkeley County, Va., was a pioneer and died in 1816, aged forty-five years.  John N. and George Henry were his sons.  Henry Johns, a native of Lancaster, Penn., was a citizen of Lancaster in 1802 or 1803.  He afterwards lived a few years in Greenfield Township, then at the mouth of Rush Creek.  He moved to Indiana, city of Fort Wayne, in 1832, where he died at an advanced age.  John Graham came from Maryland, and was a merchant as early as 1803 or 1804.  He died in 1806.

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Graham, Judge Scofield and E. B. Merwin married sisters by the name of Reed, who came from the county of Allegheny, Md.  Walter Turner was a resident as early as 1804, and carried on the business of hatter on Main street in the store-room formerly occupied by Mathews & Scofield.  He came from Martinsburg, Va.  Long since dead.  In 1801 or 1802 Jacob Wolford became the owner of the lot on the southeast corner of Main and Second streets.  He was a hatter and carried on that business.  Wm. H. Tong put up buildings on the west half of lot on the northeast corner of Main street and Center alley, at an early period of the town, and manufactured spinning wheels.  He was the proprietor of the town of Carroll.  (He was doubtless the Mr. Tong mentioned by Bishop Asbury, and entertained him at dinner the day he preached in the new Court House in 1809.)  Alexander Sanderson emigrated from the state of Pennsylvania to Kentucky in 1797 and thence to the Hockhocking Valley in the spring of 1800.  In the early part of 1801 he moved into the cabin at the crossings of the Hockhocking after Coateses had changed their residence to the new town, and lived there until the spring of 1802, when he moved to a cabin which stood near the west end of Main street of the present city, and resided there two or three years.  He died at his residence in Perry County in 1815.  He was the father of the writer of this article.  John Trump was a pioneer settler of the town and was living on the northwest corner of Main street and the Public Square, where his son, Colonel P. Van Trump, was born in 1810.  He was at one time

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a tavern keeper in Lancaster.  He died in Franklin County in 1835, aged sixty-eight years.  John U. Giesy was a native of Switzerland.  He came to Liberty Township with his father's family in 1804.  In 1809 he became an employee of John Shurr, and in a few years commenced business for himself on the south side of Main street, west of and adjoining the present Hocking Valley Bank.  He operated a bakery and kept a hotel, in which business he accumulated a good estate.  He died on his farm in Bern Township in 1856, aged sixty-eight years.  Jacob Shaeffer was living here as early as 1809.  He was a saddler by trade.   He resided on the south west corner of Wheeling street and Center alley.  He built a two-story brick block on Main street.  He died on his farm south of the city.  Thos. Cisna was an early inhabitant.  He lived on the south side of Main, about midway between Fourth street and Broad.  In 1815 he was a farmer one mile west of town and a breeder of fine Merino sheep, as he announced in Ohio Eagle.  He died many years ago while on a trading voyage to New Orleans. Samuel Matlack, a venerable old man, settled in Lancaster on Wheeling, between Front and Second streets. He was the father-in-law of H. H. Hunter, Esq., and brother-in-law of General Lynch.  He was the father-in-law of John B. Reed and George H. Smith.  He was a native of Fayette County, Penn. John Woodbridge was merchandizing on Main street before 1806.  He changed residence to Chillicothe, where he was cashier of one of the State Banks for many years.  Archibald Carnahan sold goods in Lancaster be fore the War of 1812, and died soon after that date.  He lost his life by drowning.

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     It is a remarkable fact that all the mercantile men of Lancaster, between its commencement and the War of 1812, were unsuccessful in business.  Some left the town, others withdrew from trade, others lost their all.
     Ernest Mollenhaur and Peter Nearling, foreigners, were citizens of Lancaster previous to 1812.
     John Koontz, John Foglesong, Dorman Lofland, Samuel Jewell, Larkin Reynolds, John Lynch, a brother of General Lynch, Thomas Lofland, John Lofland, John Robinson, Edward McCalla, Job Compton, John Boyle, a brother of Hugh Boyle, and Henry McCart, were residents about 1812.  Their localities are lost to the writer.
     John H. Cooper and Henry W. Cooper, saddlers by occupation, carried on the business in 1806.  John died in 1806, and Henry went to Missouri.  
     Jacob Burton as early as 1802 lived in the town.  In 1806 he was an associate Judge of the Court of Common Pleas.  He and Elnathan Scofield represented the county in the Legislature, the Senate branch, 1809. 
     Wm. and Charles Babb were pioneers of the Scioto Valley in 1798 and came to Lancaster about 1802.  The latter named was the father-in-law of the late Michael Garaghty and W. B. Peck.
     Robert, Daniel, James and Benjamin Smith came from Rockingham County, Va., about the year 1810.  Robert kept a store several years, traded to New Orleans, and late in life moved onto his father's farm in Pleasant Township, Benjamin Smith, Sr.  James died in 1835.  He was a partner of Tunis Cox from 1827 to 1835.  Benjamin Smith was a member of the Ohio Legislature in 1813, 1814 and 1815.  About the year

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1820 he moved to Charleston, W. Va., where he became a distinguished lawyer and politician.  Dr. Daniel Smith was a member of the Ohio Legislature in 1817 and 1818. Henry, Jacob, Isaac and Wm. P. Darst, brothers, became residents in 1806.  They did not remain many years in Lancaster.  W. P. returned in his old age.  Frederick Arney, father of John Arney, was a resident at an early day, but did not remain many years, removing to the northern part of the state.

HENRY ABRAMS

     Henry Abrams lived on his farm near Lancaster.  He was an early pioneer and his name will always be closely associated with that of Lancaster.  He was early engaged in surveying the government lands.  October 12, 1802, he was elected a member of the first Ohio Constitutional Convention, receiving 181 votes. In 1806, 1807 and 1808, he was one of the associate judges of the Court of Common Pleas.  His son, John Abrams, was a farmer of Greenfield Township.  His son Henry went to New Orleans and died in Grand Gulf, Miss.  He was a hotel keeper.  His daughter Nancy married George Sanderson and died in Lancaster at an advanced age.  Emma married Mr. Harper, an officer of the United States Navy.  But little is known of his history.  He made the circuit of the globe and occasionally visited his family.  Jemima Abrams married a man named Clark and they moved to Marion, Ohio.  Another daughter became the wife of Christian Musser.  He was a chairmaker and lived for a time in Rushville.  From there they moved to Dayton, Ohio, where he died some years since.  Sarah Harper, granddaughter of Henry Abrams, was edu-

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cated at Bardstown, Ky., and became a good scholar and an artist of considerable ability.  She is an accomplished woman, having been a teacher in two or three Catholic institutions, and has many friends in Lancaster.  Henry Abrams died in 1821, aged 68 years.