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mediately engage in the political affairs of the township until after their naturalization.  We have no knowledge,
however, of any being disqualified for that reason:

PIONEERS IN BLOOM IN 1819:

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The hunter informed him that he had all the land he desired for his business and did not care to purchase more.  It is said that Mr. Larrison was much disappointed in not being able to make the trade.

     James Briggs was the pioneer blacksmith.  He was one of the settlers of 1818.  From an old day-book we find the names of many of the old settlers who are charged with work done by him during 1819-1820-1822.  The following memorandum shows that he had one customer he did not appreciate, July 5, 1822:
     “Then settled with W— A— W— from the beginning of the world to the end of time.
                              JAMES BRIGGS”
     The Briggs families were prominent Methodists and largely identified with the early history of the church in this township.  At this time, 1886, Joseph M. Briggs, is the only male representative of the family living in the township. 
     Rebecca Briggs, daughter of James Briggs, married James Finney, who came to the township about 1825.  They are the oldest people residing in the township.  He is ninety years of age.  His wife is his junior by a few years.  Both are remarkably well-preserved people.
     In 1822 Ohio produced an excellent crop of wheat. In some sections of Morgan County, however, the crops suffered from a blight known to the early settlers as “sick wheat.”  Several farmers in the east portion of the township suffered severely.  The berry was full and plump.  The flour from it was white, raised well in baking, but when eaten it produced sickness, violent vomiting, so no use could be made of it. No animal could eat it without producing the same effect.  The cause of this has never been satisfactorily explained.

EARLY EVENTS.

     1823 was noted for the invasion of sqirrels traveling east.  Black and gray, about equally divided, they came in countless numbers.  They crossed the river and immediately attacked the fields of corn wherever found.  Many farmers who were not able to watch their corn crop lost all their crop; and others with all the attention they could give saved only a small part of it.  One farmer said, “I had nine acres of good corn that season and I watched my crop the best I could; I only saved enough for one horse and one cow for winter use.”

     William and James White killed enough of the marauders to fill two three-bushel bags at one place where they crossed the river.

     The first peach orchard was set out by Caleb Osborn, in 1821.  In two years he had a bountiful crop.  A man wanted to purchase all he had, but he said, “My peaches are for my neighbors; I have none to sell.”  He disposed of his entire crop in this way, not receiving any remuneration whatever.  Farm produce at this time was very low.
     From 1820 to 1823 good beef cattle weighing from 1,000 to 1,200 pounds sold for seven and eight dollars.  William Briggs, a settler of 1818, was hunting his horses along Oil Spring Hollow, when his dog chased a large bear under the ledge of a rock.  The bear attacked the dog; they clinched and rolled down the steep hill, over Mr. Briggs, to the foot of the hill.  Mr.
Briggs followed as soon as possible and shot the bear.

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RELIGIOUS.

     Father Russell was the pioneer Baptist minister.  As soon as there were a few settlers in a neighborhood he was ready to preach for them.  He preached at the settlers’ dwellings and they had great respect for him as a man and minister of the gospel.  Rev. Henry Pringle, Baptist, often preached at the settlers’ cabins and was always welcome.
     Revs. Levi Reeves and Alvin Fuller were the first Methodist ministers.  The meetings were held at the settlers’ cabins long before any house of worship was built.  In the eastern part of the township preaching was at John F. Talley’s and John Hammond’s; in the Briggs vicinity the Briggs’ cabins were the places of worship until 1836, when Revs. Pardon Cook and Henry Wharton were on the circuit of the M. E. Church.  The house called “Free Grace” was built near the Briggs graveyard.
     The Presbyterian denomination was represented by Revs. Samuel Baldridge, Hunt and Baker as early as 1820.  The following incident occurred in Rev. Baker’s first visit to Bloom in 1820:  Miss Sallie McCune had occasion to visit McConnelsville.  At this time there was only a blazed bridle-path from her father’s house to the village, nine miles, woods all the way.  Jacob Adams kept a store on the public square.  When Miss McCune had finished trading butter at five cents per pound for calico at twenty-five cents a yard, Mr. Adams informed her that a Presbyterian minister wished to visit her father and other settlers in the neighborhood, and requested her to show him the road.  Rev. Baker and Miss McCune were on horseback, and after riding a short distance he inquired,  “Where is the road?”  She pointed to the blazes (ax-marks) on the trees, and informed him, “this is our road and we are on the right track.”  Mile after mile was traveled along the bridle-path through the dense forest, until the sun sank behind the western hills.  His reverence feared they would be lost.  She comforted him, saying, “We are near home, and there is no danger of being lost.”  After they were safe at Mr. McCune’s, the minister breathed
easier, and informed her father what a fearful ride they had made, and that his daughter was a heroine.
     As an illustration of pioneer times and the scarcity, of money, the following is related of Mr. Daniel E. Chandler:  He desired a pair of heavy boots, and to obtain them he cut forty-nine cords of wood for the salt-works in Bloom Township.  The task occupied a half-month.

     Abraham and Margaret Roberts came from Virginia and settled in Bloom in 1832.  They had a family of eleven children.  The former died in 1870, the latter in 1881.

     John and Amanda Roberts were married in May of 1858.  They had a family of eleven children.  John Roberts died in December of 1882.

     Daniel Lawrence was a native of the State of Maine, whence he emigrated to Bloom Township, Morgan County in 1818.  The entire journey was made by wagon, over mountains, fording streams, and through miles and miles of almost trackless wilderness.  The journey was safely made, however, and the family, consisting of himself, wife and nine children, found a home on the southeast side of the township.  He was tin pioneer upon the farm which he improved and upon which he

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resided until his decease, which occurred in 1851.  Daniel, Jr., married Miss Bethany, daughter of Lovit Bishop, the pioneer blacksmith of Bristol Township, and settled on the farm entered by Lemen Fonts.  He died in 1884.  He was a man highly esteemed, and took a prominent part in the early affairs of the township.

     William Northup was one of the early settlers of the county.  Simon, his son, was born on the old place, and married Eliza, daughter of Francis Greer, one of the old residents of Bloom.  James Whitaker, of Bloom, was one of the early settlers of Zanesville, where he resided from 1803 until 1816.  In the early days of the city he operated the ferry thence to Putnam—then known as Springfield.  In 1816 he located on the east bank of the river, a short distance below where is now the Rokeby lock and dam, where he lived, and where he died on Jan. 13, 1814, an honest man, respected by all.  If eulogy were requisite, the writer would ponder as to precedence to him or “Aunt Nellie,” who shared with him the toil and privations of a pioneer life and survived him a few years.

     Presbury Devol, aged ninety-two years, died at Rokeby Jan. 27, 1862.  He was born in Tiverton, Rhode Island, in 1770.  He said he voted for Washington at his re-election, and at every presidential election to that of Abraham Lincoln.  At the time of his death Mr. Devol was the oldest man in the county.

     In April of 1822 Joseph Devol and family came from Washington County, Ohio, and settled on section sixteen, Bristol Township.  The family consisted of seven children: Nancy, Richmond, Philip, Deborah C., Rhoda and Loren.  The latter is the only one of the family now residing in the county. He was born in Washington County, Ohio, Aug. 8, 1820.  His father was a native of Rhode Island and was born in 1773.  His grandfather, Captain Jonathan Devol, was one of the Marietta colonists, and aided in the construction of the Campus Martius.  Loren Devol, one of the prominent and successful farmers of Bloom, was a resident of Bristol until about 1875.  He was a member of Company C, 122d Regiment O. V. I., and served three years.

     Theobald D. Weber was born in Bavaria, Germany, Feb. 23, 1816.  In June of 1832,with his parents, Jacob and Elizabeth Weber, and three brothers and his sister, he left the land of his nativity and arrived in New York City in August of that year, after a stormy voyage of forty-eight, days.  Previous to their emigration other relatives had settled in the township of York, and this fact no doubt induced the elder Weber to settle in the immediate
vicinity of his people.  He purchased a farm on Island Run, about three miles from Deavertown.  Theobald remained with his father until his marriage in 1840 to Miss Phebe Weber, who came to this country from Bavaria, Germany, in 1834.  After his marriage he was for a short time engaged in the manufacture of salt at Big Bottom, Bloom Township.  He then kept a hotel until 1868, when he purchased the farm he now occupies.  Of the family who came with him, the sister and one brother, John P., are yet living.  At the time of “Morgan’s Raid” through Morgan County in July of 1863, he suffered a considerable loss of property, he being at that time with the militia at Marietta, Ohio.
     He reared a family of six daughters

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and two sons, four of whom are now living.

     George W. Jones, son of Alonzo and Louisa (Miller) Jones, was born in Malta Township in 1837.  His father was a farmer and an early settler of Morgan County and one of its reputable citizens.
     George W. received a good common school education and began life as a teacher.  He followed this vocation but a short time when he began merchandising, in which business he has since been engaged.  In 1865 he married Miss Lizzie, daughter of Theobald Weaver, one of the old settlers of York Township.  Five children have been born to them, three boys and two girls.  Mr. Jones is now (1886) in business at Rokeby Lock.

     After Congress reduced the price of Government land, in 1820, from two dollars to one dollar and a quarter per acre, Bloom Township lands were rapidly taken, and soon after settlers came more rapidly.  In 1830 the land was settled and the population had increased to that extent that schools were found in every neighborhood.

     Robert Ingram came from Chester County, Pa., in 1822.  He had two sons, Harlan and Robert.  They went to Philadelphia, where they studied law and did a large business.  Harlan was a member of the Pennsylvania Senate.  He represented a Philadelphia district.

     Wm. Peairs and his brother, Isaac Peairs, settled in Bloom Township between 1825 1830.  Both were prominent farmers.

     William Lehew, in 1824, located on the farm where the Lehew road now crosses Meigs Creek, he erected a stillhouse and manufactured pure liquors for a number of years.

     Clearing the heavy timber from the land, log-rollings and raisings developed the muscles, and many men of strength and activity were found in this township.  John F. Talley was one, if not the greatest rail-splitter of his time.  He chopped the timber and split four hundred and sixty-seven rails in one day.  Four hundred rails was his day’s work in good timber, he chopping the trees.  On one occasion, on a trial at wood-chopping, at Dr. Martin’s salt works in a contest with Thomas Carlin, they took from the stumps, sixteen and one-half cords of wood.  Mr. Talley cut eight cords, but Carlin gained the contest by half a cord. These accounts are verified by many responsible parties.
     Dr. Samuel Martin was the first physician to settle in the township.  He came from England, was a man of good education, a successful practitioner for many years.  He was a great addition to the settlement of Bloom Township, he married Miss Sarah Montgomery.  Some years before his death, he lived in Zanesville, where his widow yet resides.
     His son Edward engaged in the milling business, in the mill below the locks at McConnelsville, in partnership with Eli Sheppard.  They were very successful. Afterward Edward Martin engaged in steamboating, and he has been one of the successful men in business in that line, owning a number of the best boats on the Muskingum river.  As a steamboat captain, he was a success and had the confidence of shippers and the traveling public.  At one time he was cashier of the First National Bank in Zanesville.  He has been successful thus far in all his business operations.  At the present time he is

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one of the owners of three of the Muskungum River packets and the confidential adviser in the business of these
boats.

     Alfred Martin was partner in the milling; business at Zanesville.  The mill was at the foot of Main street, and I for many years the firm of Cushing & Martin were the most prosperous in the Hour trade of the Muskingum Valley.

     Captain James Martin, a son of George Martin of Bloom Township, commands the steamer General H. F. Devol.

     The history of Bloom Township would not be complete without more extended notice of Samuel McCune and John F. Talley, for the part they occupied in the first settlement of the township.

     Samuel McCune, Sr., settled in Muskingum County in the year 1798, on the Muskingum River, near where the village of Gaysport is now located.  A few years later he was living on the farm now occupied by the Morgan County Children’s Home, in Malta Township.  The exact date is not now known.  His daughter, Nancy, was born at that place in 1812.  She is now Mrs. Rutledge and lives on the “Mound Farm,” Duncan’s Falls.  Mr. McCune lived on this farm until 1816, when he moved to Salt Creek Township, Muskingum County, where he built the mill, now known as the Burnt Mill, on the B., Z. & C. R. R.  In 1818 he moved to Bloom Township, Morgan County, where he had purchased four quarter sections of land.  He lived on one of these farms until his death, in 1829.  After that time the farm was occupied by Mr. E. J. Harlan, who married his daughter Sarah, and since the death of her husband, the oldest daughter of Samuel McCune, Mrs. Sarah Harlan,

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setts.  He says, “for fair dealing, John Brown & Sons were the most honorable men I ever met,” and “ John Brown was the best judge of wool I ever dealt with. I was with him twenty-one days in Springfield and I know of what I speak.”

     This is the evidence of Mr. John F. Talley, who was a life-long Democrat.  Mr. Talley was the first man to engage in improving the native cattle in his vicinity.  In 1836 he purchased an animal at Springfield, O., of one of the importers of Durham cattle, and it proved to be a fine animal.  This animal was the first cross on the native cattle in that part of the country, and the improvement he made in the stock of the county induced another enterprising farmer (Mr. S. McCune, Jr.) to engage in the business.

     Brick was first made in the township by James Camp, on the river near Island Run, in 8820, for James Whitaker who built the house now occupied by Richard McIlhiney.

     The first brick houses built in the township were the dwellings of James Whitaker, built in 1822, and William Montgomery in 1824.  James Camp made the brick for both building's.

     Samuel McCune, Sr., built the first frame barn in 1822. The carpenters were Russell Whipple and Gideon Mingus.  The following incident occurred about the nails used in this building.  Mr. McCune borrowed two kegs of nails of a “ Shylock ” in the vicinity, he was to furnish nails or cash in a reasonable time when called on.  On Friday afternoon, when he thought it too late for McCune to get the nails he demanded nails or cash to be furnished on Saturday, not expecting the nails.  Mr. McCune took two horses and the forewheels, of his wagon, went to Zanesville Friday night, and Saturday evening delivered the nails, to the dismay of his hard-hearted neighbor.  The nails were twenty dollars a keg at the time he borrowed them.

     John Livezey and Thomas Hampton occupied the farms owned by Hays Barr and William James.

     David Smith built a saw-mill on a branch of Meigs Creek, and Samuel  McCune one on another branch of the same stream.  These were the only saw-mills ever built in the township.  After a freshet these mills could saw lumber if the dams did not break by the force of the water.  Getting lumber at these mills was very uncertain.  They repaired the dams when washed away many times, until at las they were abandoned.  These mills were in operation fifteen years, commencing soon after 1825.  After the water mills were partly abondoned and uncertain, the whip-saw was used by many farmers in obtaining lumber for new buildings.  Andrew Briggs, James Larue, Gibbons Harlan and James Singles were skillful hands at the whipsaw business.

     The Greer families settled on Meigs Creek at the Lehew road crossing in 1826.  George Greer was the first teacher in the Talley school district.  Schools at this time were very primitive, only the simple branches were taught and little of them. They called it keeping “school.”

     Wilkes Richardson came in 1826, and Benjamin Reed soon after.  These men became the largest land owners in the township.

     In 1828 a family named Barr from Chester Couty, Pa., settled near the Morgan County line in Muskingum

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County.  Three of the sons, in a short time came to Bloom Township, Nathan, Samuel and after a time Eli.  The latter was born in Chester County, Pa., in 1800, and settled in Blue Rock Township, Muskingum County.  In 1828 he came with his father’s family and assisted in clearing the farm where his father settled.  He was the eldest of a family of eight children, five boys and three girls.  The Barrs were industrious and energetic men and a valuable acquisition to the pioneer settlement.  They were of Quaker antecedents.  Mrs. Barr, the mother of Eli, was a relative of Dr. Hays, the Arctic explorer.  He was married to Miss Adeline Pyle, Mar. 12, 1840, and settled in Bloom Township in the same year.   

     The Barr Families families were the pioneers in cultivating sweet potatoes, and for many years they supplied the Zanesville market with them.

     Smith Haines was accidentally killed in 1888, while assisting in raising a barn on his farm.

     There are two churches in Bloom Township; both are Methodist Protestant.  The Pisgah Church is on the State Road, the other at Eagleport.  The first Methodist Protestant Church was built in 1832, near the State Road.  It is called Pisgah.  Rev. Gailbraith was the minister in charge of the circuit when it was built.

     The first schoolhouse was built near the State Road on land now owned by Eli Barr.  Thomas Thornburg was the first teacher in 1820.

     The village of Airington in the east part of the township was commenced by John F. Talley erecting houses for a blacksmith and wagon-maker in 1836.  In a year there were two stores, a doctor, blacksmith, wagon-maker, cooper, cabinet-maker, tailor, shoemaker and many men of all work.  For years this was one of the prosperous towns in Morgan County.  When Mr. Talley quit the mercantile business the town commenced to decay.  Large establishments spoiled the shoe and tailor business, and soon a general decay took place, and at this time no business is done at the place.  The village is in ruins and only two families remain.

     Eagleport is on the west side of the river above the dam.  This village was laid out by S. Ramey in 1837.  Two streets parallel with the river and cross streets, first, second and third; seventy-two lots in all.  Baughman’s addition of twenty-four lots was laid out the same year.  There are in Eagleport fifteen or twenty families, two good drygoods stores, three warehouses, a church (M. P.), a schoolhouse, one physician and a postoffice.

     Rokeby, on the east side of the river, was platted with twenty-four lots, by Buckingham & Sturgus, of Putnam, while the lock and dam was being built under the superintendence of Col. Curtis.  It has one store and a postoffice.  In the first settlement of this heavily-timbered township, a large amount of hard work was required to clear the land for cultivation, and close economy was required to enable the early settlers to procure the necessary articles for their families without thought of the luxuries of life.  The early pioneers had much enjoyment at log-rollings, raising log buildings, corn-shuckings and “kickings.”  The kicking was the fulling-mill to dress their woolen goods.  The carding, spinning and weaving were all done at home or at some neighbor’s, who had sufficient

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help. The fulling-mill was set in operation during the long evenings in the commencement of winter, and often lasted until late at night, and was performed in the following manner: A piece of woolen goods was placed on the floor then a row of chairs was placed around it, a rope ran between the legs of the chairs, forming a circle.  The chairs were occupied by the kickers, when hot soap-suds was poured on the goods.  The kicking would commence; round and round the goods were kicked until all was in a foam of soapsuds, working harder than a treadmill.  When the first set were tired an other set would take their places, and the goods would be whirled around.  Steam and mist would occupy the room until the work was pronounced done.  Then came a grand supper, probably a dance, the escorting the girls home. The girls did not do this kind of kicking.

     Abraham Roberts, Sr., came from Brooke County, West Va., about 1830 and settled in the eastern part of Bloom Township, where he purchased 320 acres of land.  With him came his family of wife and five children.  He was an honest, industrious farmer, and died in 1872.  His wife died in 1882.  Abraham Roberts, Jr., was born in Bloom Township in 1835, and was reared on his father’s farm.  At the age of twenty-seven he married Miss Mary, daughter of Jefferson Osborn, one of the early settlers of Bloom.  He came from Brooke County in 1826.  He was a carpenter by trade and unmarried, and with his mother made the trip from Wheeling by boat via, the Ohio, Muskingum and Meigs creek to Mann’s Fork.  He was a mechanical genius and could perform almost any kind of mechanical labor.  After his emigration he followed his trade and in this way earned money sufficient to improve his property.  He married Ada J., daughter of Rev. Henry Pringle, of Muskingum Co., and reared a family of seven children.  He is recollected as a genial man who was possessed of a fund of mirth and anecdote on all occasions.  He died in 1875; his wife in 1886.  Mr. Roberts moved from Bloom to Bristol in 1861.  He is a successful agriculturist and a valuable citizen.

     Jonathan Richardson was born in England in 1789, and emigrated to America about 1821.  He first settled in Delaware near Wilmington, where he engaged in the dairy business.  In June of 1831 he removed to Bloom township and bought the farm now owned by his son, James Richardson.  Shortly after his removal to Bloom he visited Zanesville in company with some neighbors to purchase dour and some household articles.  On his return when within a few miles of his home his horses became frightened, ran away and he was almost instantly killed, leaving Mrs. Richardson with four children, the oldest of whom was only eight years of age, to fight, the battle of life alone.  With true Christian resignation she resolved to stay upon the farm and to make the best of her bereavement.  In a small log house, roofed with clap boards, she lived until 1833 with her children.  One stormy night in March of 1833 the cabin was unroofed and the family exposed to the rigors of a winter storm.  The rain came down in torrents, and with her little family huddled about her she sat waiting for daylight, momentarily expecting the fall of the house.  Had she not been a brave woman she would

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have been unable to endure the many privations and hardships that fell to her lot.  In 1834 she buried three of her children.  Under this last affliction she gave away, and in a short time afterward returned to her old home.  She died in 1879, aged ninety-two. James, now one of the prominent farmers of Bloom, was born in 1829 in Delaware, he is the only one of the family left.  He is one of the prominent members of the M. E. church in which he has been a class-leader for seventeen years.

     Wilkes B. Richardson was born at Carroll’s Manor, Baltimore County, Md., in 1804.  When eighteen years of age he went to Wellsburg, Brooke County, Va., where he lived with an uncle and engaged in farming until twenty-one years of age.  Without means, he shipped at Wheeling on a flat-boat bound for New Orleans.  He received for this trip $50 which appeared a fortune to him, as it was the first money he had ever earned.  While at New Orleans he took the yellow fever.  Returning he was obliged to stop at Cumberland, owing to the freezing of the river.  Thence he went to Louisville, Ivy, and after the opening of navigation took passage to Wellsburg.  Mr. Richardson worked in Wellsburg and vicinity until 1832, when he came to Morgan County and purchased 100 acres of land in Bloom Township, and traded for 60 acres more, making a quarter section.  Here he began the difficult task of making a farm, changing the primitive forests to cultivated fields.  His characteristic energy and diligence bore fruit, rendering him abundantly successful.  And now in the evening of his days he reviews the busy past with satisfaction.  He was married in 1832 to Ruth Bozman, who bore seven children— four daughters and three sons.  Mrs. Richardson died in 1845.  In 1851 Mr. R. married Elizabeth Ann Wallace, a native of Muskingum County, who is still living.  They have had eight children—Vinson Edward, Gleason B. and Madison Monroe the sons; Annie G., Isolina H., Mary J., Wilkie J. and Birdie E., the daughters.

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