Liberty township was organized in 1820,
ninety years ago. It is the second from the north and
second from the western line of the county, and contains
about twenty-five sections of land, being five miles square.
Wills creek meanders through its territory and through its
beautiful valley runs the Pennsylvania railroad line
(formerly the Cleveland & Marietta). This is a good
agricultural section of the county and the people seem both
prosperous and contented. The groundwork for this
contentment was possibly laid in the labors and
self-sacrifice of the earlier settlers, who felled the first
trees and plowed the first furrow in the township, long
before the sound of the iron horse had ever been heard
within Guernsey county. A record was made many years
since of the persons who, in 1876, were seventy-six years of
age or older, then residing in the township, which list is
as fellows: Robert BELL, Henry MATTHEWS, James
BOYD, George B. LEEPER, Ann MILLIGAN, Elijah
PHELPS, Adam MILLER, Thomas STOCKDALE, James LACHAM, James
GILSON, William DeHARTE, George BELL, Alexander ROBINSON.
Residents who lived in Liberty
township away back in the sixties, seventies and eighties,
included these: Thomas ALEXANDER, born in Guernsey county
in 1815. Joseph C. McMULLEN a native of Ireland,
born in 1793, emigrated to Ohio when quite young and died in
the state of 1865. James BELL, a native of Ohio
county, Virginia, born in 1776, married and came to Ohio and
lived in Liberty township during the remainder of his days.
They reared five children, of whom Robert was
prominent in the history and development of his township.
The BELL farm consisted of three hundred and twenty
acres of land in Liberty township.
R. R. MILLER, born in Canada in 1822, was the
son of Adam MILLER, a native of Ireland, born in
1795, and who married in 1821 and came to America. He
settled in Guernsey county, first in Jefferson township,
then in Liberty township, where he remained until his death
in 1877. This couple had five children. The
MILLER family bore well the part of enterprising,
energetic citizens.
WILLIAM GIBSON, Sr., the first settler,
immediately after his marriage in 1794, moved close to
Wheeling, West Virginia. He was then just at the age
of manhood, while his wife was three yeas his junior and
both descended from good old Pennsylvania stock. Six
years later they resided in Belmont county, Ohio, and there
remained five years. In 1807 they obtained two canoes
at Cambridge and, going down Wills creek, landed where
Liberty township is now. They were the only
inhabitants of the country round about and here they built a
rude hut, or log cabin, later a much better one. They
continued to reside there until he died, in 1849, and the
good wife in 1873. They were the parents of fourteen
children. James, one of their sons, born in
Belmont county in 1804, married in 1833 and conducted a
hotel in Liberty for thirteen years. He also had a
two-hundred-acre farm of well improved land, and finally
lived a retired life. John GIBSON laid out the
village of Liberty (now Kimbolton).
JOSEPH BELL came from Virginia to Ohio in 1807
and settled in Liberty township. He was a native of
Ireland, born in 1775. He died in Liberty township in
1839 and his wife followed in 1842, leaving a family of five
children. David and George settled
Liberty township and became men of enterprise and thrift.
ROBERT FORSYTHE, born in Washington county,
Pennsylvania, in 1796, spent his youth there and in 1818
married Elizabeth Bell, Soon after, with his
wife and mother, he came to Ohio, settling in Liberty
township, where he remained until 1832, then moved to Wills
township, near Washington village, and in 1869 went to
Cambridge, where he died in 1873. This truly worthy
couple had seven children to honor their names.
JAMES BEGGS, one of the sons of the Emerald
isle, and his wife, Ellen (MILLER) BEGGS, also a
native of Ireland, emigrated to this country in 1798 and
settled in Jefferson township, this county, but soon after
located in Liberty township, where he died in 1867.
Mrs. BEGGS passed away a short time before. Their
children were Elizabeth, wife of Gilbert McCULLY,
and James. The latter was born in Ireland in
1817 and in 1841 married Margaret PARKISON, of this
county. They reared a large family of children.
The old BEGGS Farm contained three hundred acres.
NAPHTALI LUCCOCK, a native of England, was born
in 1797 and in 1819 embarked for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
in which city he engaged in a commission business. The
next two years he worked in a stocking factory in Germantown
(near Philadelphia), and in 1822 married Jane Thompson,
who was born at Fort Sea, England. They settled in
Wooster, Ohio, and for three years he taught school there.
The next four years they lived in Coshocton county, Ohio,
and in 1831 finally settled in Guernsey county. One of
the sons of this pioneer was named Thomas, born
in1823, married in 1848. He served as representative
from this county in the Ohio Legislature from 1875 to 1879.
He owned twelve hundred acres of land in this county, ws an
extensive agriculturist and conducted a general store in
Liberty township.TOWNS AND VILLAGES.
Kimbolton (formerly Liberty) is within
this township, situated on section 23, in the northern tier
of sections of the township. It was platted by
William and John GIBSON, August 2, 1828. When
incorporated, November 5, 1884, it was named in the articles
as Kimbolton. Its name is after a place like-named in
England. It was the birthplace in England of
Naphtali Luccock, the first postmaster, hence he called
this place after it, when the postoffice was to be named,
about sixty or more years ago. Among the postmasters
and postmistresses who have served here are: Naphtali
LUCCOCK, Miss Ann DeHART, J. L. DAVIS, W. H. LUDLEY, S. D.
ROSS, O. J. BERRY, Mrs. Ida A. BERRY. From this
postoffice there are four rural routes, extending out about
twenty-five miles each. The first was established
about 1903. The mail at an early date was carried to
and from here on horseback twice each week. There are
now two daily mails each way, by rail.
A city hall was provided in 1907. The only fire
of importance in the place was when the mill burned in 1909,
entailing a loss of about five thousand dollars. The
present council and officers are: William H. GIBSON, John
A. CHAMBERS, E. E. McKIM, Lafayette MILLER, Thomas MORRIS,
B. D. BUMGARDNER, council; M. V. McKIM,
mayor; O. J. BERRY, clerk; C. F. RHODES,
treasurer. The present marshal is F. M. FOWLER.
The business interests of the place are: Two
general stores, A. LEDLIE & Son, S. A. CLARK;
grocery, L. J. Van SICKLE; livery, R. R. WARDEN;
hotel, Central House, by R. R. WARDEN; steam
flouring mill, by M. T. KENNEDY.
The churches (see Church chapter) are the United
Presbyterian and Methodist Episcopal.
The present physicians are Drs. D. L. COWDEN and
William LAWYER. |
