FRANKLIN
TOWNSHIP named in honor of Benjamin Franklin, was
organized for civil purposes June 7, 1820. The population in 1870
was 1,302. The following is a list of the officers of the
township, as appears upon the official records:
Justices of the Peace - Samuel Mitchel, commissioned July 6,
1820; Jacob Nixon, July 29, 1820; Samuel Mitchel, July 5,
1823; Jacob Nixon, Apr. 22, 1926; Samuel Mitchel, Apr. 22,
1826; Jacob Nixon, May 12, 1829; James Taylor, May 26,
1829; John Alexander, Apr. 27, 1832; John Hughes, Apr. 27,
1832; John Hughes, Apr. 18, 1835; John Alexander, Apr. 18,
1835; Nicholas Smith, Apr. 30, 1838; John Alexander, Apr.
30, 1838; John Hughes, July 23, 1838; William Boles, Apr.
16, 1841; John Hughes, Oct. 21, 1842; James Swarts, Apr.
25, 1844; John Hughes, Oct. 23, 1845; James Swarts, Apr.
14, 1847; David Gabriel, Oct. 21, 1848; John Kimber, Apr.
12, 1849; Robert Stitt, Oct. 20, 1849; Joshua Wilson, Apr.
11, 1850; David Gabriel, Nov. 3, 1851; Joshua Wilson, Apr.
19, 1853; Hugh Truesdall, Oct. 21, 1854; Stephen Henry,
Nov. 16, 1855; Joshua Wilson, Apr. 28, 1856; James Swart,
Oct. 18,1 858; Joshua Wilson, Apr. 19, 1859; S. M. Henry,
Nov. 20, 1860; James Swarts, Oct. 22, 1861; S. M. Henry,
Oct. 22, 1863; Cornelius Smith, Oct. 15, 1864; Andrew Moore,
Oct. 15, 1866; Cornelius Smith, Oct. 15, 1867; Andrew Moore,
Oct. 20, 1969; Cornelius Smith, Oct. 18, 1870; John R.
McKinney, Oct. 12, 1872; Cyreneus Geiselman Oct. 22, 1873;
John Butler, Apr. 12, 1875; R. A. Schmuck, Apr. 13, 1876.
At first election held in Franklin township, April 28,
1820, David Mitchell and Daniel Kirkpatrick were judges,
and John Boyd and John Brown were clerks.
1820. |
Trustees - David Mitchell, Samuel Vanemman, Isaiah Jones;
Clerk - Michael Kanny; Treasurer - Jacob Burgan;
Listers - Samuel S. Moore, William Thomas; Constables
- Andrew Alexander, John Floyd; Overseers of Poor -
John Boles, Robert Buckley; Fence Viewer - James Finley;
Supervisor - Nicholas Jones. |
1821. |
Trustees - John Hughes, S. S. Vanemman, John Miller;
Clerk - Michael Kanney; Treasurer - Jacob Burgan;
Lister - Picket Doughte. |
1822. |
Trustees - John Hughes, S. S. Vanemman, John Miller;
Clerk - Michael Kanney; Treasurer - Samuel Mitchel;
Lister - George Wilson. |
[Page 597] |
1823. |
Trustees - Jonathan Peppard, John Boyd, Samuel Vanemman;
Clerk - John McClellan; Treasurer - David Mitchel;
Lister - S. S. Vanemman. |
1824. |
Trustees - James Hindman, Jacob Nixon, Samuel Mitchel;
Clerk - John Alexander; Treasurer - Jacob Burgan;
Lister - John Hughes. |
1825. |
Trustees - Jacob Nixon, J. J. Brown, Thomas Patrick;
Clerk - John Alexander; Treasurer - Jacob Burgan;
Lister - John Smith. |
1826. |
Trustees - J. J. Brown, Nicholas Smith, Thomas Patrick;
Clerk - John Alexander; Treasurer - Jacob Burgan;
Lister - James Bolin. |
1827. |
Trustees- John Hughes, Isaiah Jones, Jonathan Peppard;
Clerk - John Alexander; Treasurer - Jacob Burgan. |
1828. |
Trustees - John Boyd, Valentine Geiselman, Jacob Nixon;
Clerk - John Alexander; Treasurer - Jacob Burgan. |
1829. |
Trustees - Ephraim Cutter, Valentine Geiselman, Alexander
Sanderson; Clerk - John Alexander; Treasurer -
Jacob Burgan. |
1830. |
Trustees - James Hindman, William Boles, James Taylor;
Clerk - John Alexander; Treasurer - William Norton. |
1831. |
Trustees - James Hindman, William Boles, William
Patterson; Clerk - John Alexander; Treasurer -
William Norton. |
1832. |
Trustees - William Patterson, Samuel Mitchel, Jacob
Nixon; Clerk - John Alexander; Treasurer - Aaron
Franks. |
1833. |
Trustees - William Patterson, Samuel Mitchel; Clerk -
John Alexander; Treasurer - Aaron Franks. |
1834. |
Trustees - James Hindman, Alexander Sanderson, John
Hughes; Clerk - John Alexander; Treasurer - Aaron
Franks. |
1835. |
Trustees - John Hughes, Benjamin Lawrence, Jacob Nixon;
Clerk - John Alexander; Treasurer - Aaron Franks. |
1836. |
Trustees - William Boles, Valentine Geiselman, John
Brenizer; Clerk - John Alexander; Treasurer -
Aaron Franks. |
1837. |
Trustees - John Hughes, John Brenizer, John Boles;
Clerk - John Alexander; Treasurer - Aaron Franks. |
1838. |
Trustees - William Boles, John Brenizer, Henry Munson;
Clerk - John Alexander; Treasurer - Jacob Nixon. |
1839. |
Trustees - James Hindman, Henry Munson, Aaron Franks;
Clerk - John Alexander; Treasurer - Benjamin Lawrence |
1840. |
Trustees - Aaron Franks, Henry Munson, James Hindman;
Clerk - Samuel Scott; Treasurer - Benjamin Lawrence |
1841. |
Trustees - Henry Munson, Jacob Harmon, Aaron Franks;
Clerk - Samuel Scott; Treasurer - Benjamin Lawrence |
1842. |
Trustees - Samuel Mitchel, Jacob Harmon, Aaron Franks;
Clerk - Samuel Scott; Treasurer - Benjamin
Lawrence |
1843. |
Trustees - William Noland, Samuel Mitchel, Jacob Harmon;
Clerk - Samuel Scott; Treasurer - Benjamin
Lawrence. |
1844. |
Trustees - Jacob Nixon, James Hindman, Aaron Franks;
Clerk - David Gabriel; Treasurer - John Ernsperger. |
1845. |
Trustees - Jacob Nixon, William Boles, Moses Lockhart;
Clerk - David Gabriel; Treasurer - George Ernsperger |
1846. |
Trustees - Jacob Harmon, Andrew Brothers, George Gardner;
Clerk - David Gabriel; Treasurer - William Boles;
Assessor- Aaron Franks. |
1847. |
Trustees - Jacob Harmon, George Gardner, James Boyd;
Clerk - Daniel Gabriel; Treasurer - Valentine
Geiselman. |
[Page 598] |
1848. |
Trustees - James Boyd, Jacob Harmon, Henry Munson;
Clerk - A. A. Bainbridge; Treasurer - Valentine
Geiselman. |
1849. |
Trustees - James Boyd, James Knox, Peter Weiker;
Clerk - Jacob Castel; Treasurer - Valentine Geiselman;
Assessor - Jacob Reaser. |
1850. |
Trustees - Samuel Metzler, Harvey Messmore, George
Gardner; Clerk - J. G. Castel; Treasurer -
Valentine Geiselman; Assessor - Levi Snure. |
1851. |
Trustees - Morgan Butler, James Gabriel, Jacob Harmon;
Clerk - John Noland; Treasurer - Valentine
Geiselman; Assessor - Levi Snure. |
1852. |
Trustees - Peter Weiker, Morgan Butler, Robert Barnes;
Clerk - J. G. Castel; Treasurer - Valentine
Geiselman; Assessor - John Hughes. |
1853. |
Trustees - Peter Weiker, James Boyd, Cornelius McIntire;
Clerk - William Weiker; Treasurer - Adam Hensil;
Assessor - John Hughes. |
1854. |
Trustees - James Sanderson, Aaron Franks, Peter Weiker;
Clerk - James Hoy; Treasurer - Adam Hensil;
Assessor - Levi Snure. |
1855. |
Trustees - Robert Stitt, John Firestone, Peter Weiker;
Clerk - James Hoy; Treasurer - Adam Hensil;
Assessor - Aaron Franks. |
1856. |
Trustees - John Firestone, Aaron Franks, Mark Taylor;
Clerk - James Hoy; Treasurer - Adam Hensil;
Assessor - Cyrus Hughes. |
1857. |
Trustees - John Firestone, Aaron Franks, Mark Taylor;
Clerk - James Hoy; Treasurer - Adam Hensil;
Assessor - Cyrus Hughes. |
1861. |
Trustees - Robert Barnes, A. J. Moore, Samuel Weiker;
Clerk - Andrew Butler; Treasurer - Adam Hensil;
Assessor - Robert Reed. |
1862. |
Trustees - Robert Barnes, A. J. Moore, Samuel Weiker;
Clerk - Andrew Butler; Treasurer - Adam Hensil. |
1863. |
Trustees - Cornelius Smith, C. Geiselman, S. Weiker;
Clerk - S. M. Henry; Treasurer - A. J. Moore;
Assessor - Seth Smith. |
1864. |
Trustees - Mark Taylor, Michael Moore, R. Vangilder;
Clerk - Andrew Butler; Treasurer - Jacob Halfhill;
Assessor - Seth Smith. |
1865. |
Trustees - Mark Taylor, Michael Moore, Thomas Metzler;
Clerk - A. G. Barnes; Treasurer - Jacob Halfhill;
Assessor - Finley Franks. |
1866. |
Trustees - D. A. Lawrence, Peter Weiker, Thomas Metzler;
Clerk - A. G. Barnes; Treasurer - J. Halfhill;
Assessor - C. Geiselman. |
1867. |
Trustees - D. Lawrence, Peter Weiker, Finley Franks;
Clerk - A. G. Barnes; Treasurer - J. Halfhill;
Assessor - C. Geiselman. |
1868. |
Trustees - Finley Franks, John Firestone, Adam Eyman;
Clerk - A. G. Barnes; Treasurer - Thomas Metzler;
Assessor - C. Geiselman. |
1869. |
Trustees - John Firestone, Adam Eyman, A. Rumbaugh;
Clerk - Samuel Morr; Treasurer - Thomas Metzler;
Assessor - Andrew Butler. |
1870. |
Trustees - A. Rumbaugh, Levi Miller, Israel Franks;
Clerk - Samuel Moore, Jr.; Treasurer - C. Geiselman;
Assessor - Andrew Butler. |
1871. |
Trustees - Levi Miller, Israel Franks, Thomas Taylor;
Clerk - Samuel Morr, Jr.; Treasurer - C. Geiselman;
Assessor - William H. Miller. |
1872. |
Trustees - Thomas Taylor, Lewis Walter, J. B. Franks;
Clerk - Samuel Morr, Jr.; Treasurer - J. C. Walter;
Assessor - W. H. Miller. |
1873. |
Trustees - Lewis Walter, Jacob Franks, Robert Scott;
Clerk - Samuel Morr, Jr.; Treasurer - Mark Taylor;
Assessor - C. Smith. |
1874. |
Trustees - Robert Scott, David Herman, R. A. Schmuck;
Clerk - Samuel Morr, Jr.; Treasurer - Mark Taylor;
Assessor - C. Smith. |
1875. |
Trustees - R. A. Schmuck, David Herman, Peter Lowe;
Clerk - Samuel Morr, Jr.; Treasurer - Mark Taylor;
Assessor - Seth Smith. |
[Page 599] |
1876. |
Trustees - Peter Lowe, David Gertgey?, Henry Munson;
Clerk - Samuel Morr, Jr.; Treasurer - Mark Taylor;
Assessor - Seth Smith. |
1877. |
Trustees - Henry Munson, David Geitgey, Rollin V. Bowers;
Clerk - W. A. Crow; Treasurer - James B. White;
Assessor - David Herman; Constables - Israel
Franks, Ira A. Swat. |
MORELAND.
This is the only village
in Franklin township. It was laid out by Jonathan Butler
and George Moor, January 19, 1829; record found on page 95,
volume 7, County Recorder's office. The first building in the
place was erected by man named Loux, for a blacksmith shop.
FIRST SETTLEMENTS
AND SETTLERS.
The first settlement
made, outside of Wooster, in Wayne county, was in this township, and
upon the farm now owned by Thomas Dowty. James Morgan and
Thomas Butler were the two first white settlers, removing there
in 1808. Soon thereafter came John Boyd, Robert Buckley, John
and James Cisna, Tommy Lock, Samuel Mitchell, Jacob Nixon, William
Nolan, Jacob Miller, Moses Lockhart and John Hughes.
James Morgan entered the first land in the
township.
Samuel Mitchel was the first Justice of the
Peace.
One of the early school-houses that we have mention of
was built on the farm of Daniel Daringer (now Stephen
Harrison's), who donated half an acre of land for a site, and is
known as the Polecat school-house. Old William Hughes was
one of the first teacher.
Old Johnny Boyd had the first distillery, and it
was on the farm now owned by Mark Taylor. He sold it in
quantities - "Yes, sir; just as little as you want , sir."
The first grist-mill was built by a brother of David
Mitchel, on the farm now owned by Andrew Bucher, and was the
only one ever in the township.
James
Morgan was of Welsh descent through a
native of Virginia, and his wife was an English lady named Cox.
They removed to Ohio in 1806, and settled in Franklin township in the
spring of 1808, raising a crop of corn that year. He had a family
of ten children, to wit: Jesse, Isaac, John, James, Joseph, William,
Jonathan, Sarah, Rebecca and Hannah, not one of whom is
[Page 600]
living in Wayne county. He died of dropsy in 1822, and is buried in the
graveyard on the Jacob Bucher farm. In the early days
"Priest" Jones used to preach at Morgan's. Jesse,
his oldest son, perished in a snow-storm near the present site of
Indianapolis; he was on horseback, the drifts overwhelmed him, he got
into a swamp, became lost and died.
Thomas Butler was born in
Monongahela county, Virginia, but in what is now Preston county, West
Virginia, August 10, 1783, and came to Franklin township in 1808,
settling on the farm now owned by John and Elizabeth
Butler and Isaac Munson. He entered 160 acres of land,
the second land entered in the township, and being a single man boarded
with James Morgan, and on April 12, 1809, married Rebecca,
daughter of Mr. Morgan (first marriage in the county).
He built a cabin and moved therein, but which was fired and destroyed
when he was at Mr. Morgan's, by the Indians. Mr. Morgan
had eight children, to wit: Sarah, Jane, Elizabeth, Morgan, Jonathan,
Isaac, John and Andrew. Truly indeed was the
county a wilderness when Butler and Morgan entered it.
The bottoms of the Killbuck then abounded in plum thickets, cherry and
sycamore trees and considerable walnut. For years Mr. Butler
kept his wheat in the trunks of sycamore trees. Bears were
plentiful and wolves numerous, Mr. Butler on one occasion killing
one within half a mile of his house. Mr. Butler was
a great talker, a pioneer of the true type, and performed a brave part
in the early settlement of the county.
Jonathan
Butler, his brother, was a native of Virginia, and
emigrated to Holmes then, but Wayne county now, as early as 1818, and
was the builder of the famous Butler mill. He died in
Indiana. His father, Thomas Butler, Sr., an early settler
likewise, died at Jonathan's.
Samuel Mitchel was born near
Chambersburg, Franklin county, Pa., June 5, 1776. His father was a
farmer, and with him Samuel remained until he was twenty-one
years of age, the family having removed to Washington county, Pa., where
the subject of this sketch remained a few years with his parents.
In the spring of 1812 Samuel Mitchel emigrated to Wayne county,
settling in Franklin township, on the farm now owned by his son,
Samuel Mitchel. On his arrival he entered 160 acres of
land, and soon
[Page 601]
thereafter purchased a quarter section more.
He immediately put up a cabin in which to find shelter, and set himself
to the task of clearing spaces for cultivation. In this rough
diminutive cabin, built in haste and true primitive rudeness, the family
lived for eight years, when he erected a more comfortable frame
dwelling, in which they resided for twenty years, when in the same yard
he built a still more commodious brick.
He was married Jan. 6, 1808, in Washington county, Pa.,
to Mary McGugen, by which marriage he had four children,
Jesse, Ann, Maria M. and Samuel. Jesse was a merchant
in Fredericksburg, where he died Feb. 7, 1839. Ann, the
oldest daughter, died at the age of nine years, Sept. 3, 1818.
Maria M., the second daughter, married John McClellan and
lives in Wooster.
He died on his farm in Franklin township, Mar. 18,
1864. Mr. Mitchel was identified with the interests of
Franklin township for over half a century, and saw its transformation
from a howling waste to pleasing and productive fields. He and
Jacob Nixon were the two first Justices elected after the
organization of the township, June 7, 1820. He was elected
Commissioner of Wayne county, in 1814, or two years after he came to the
county. He was drafted in the war of 1812, but hired a substitute
in the person of Caleb Bundy whom he paid $100. Few of the
backwoodsmen had more varied experience than he, but whether dealing
with the treacherous Indians or fighting the bears and wolves that
carried away his pigs and lambs, he ever managed to escape without
serious harm.
His home was in the deep and solitary woods; there were
no roads or avenues of travel; no near neighbors to come in case of
danger; no markets and no money, Wooster existing but in name, with its
few and scattered houses. It required the soldier's courage to
encounter the situation. Among the desperate inhabitants of the
forest whom he met was Simon Girty,* "the white savage,"
"Whose vengeance shamed the Indian's thirst for blood;
Whose hellish arts surpassed the Red Man's far;
Whose hate enkindled many a border war." |
On one occasion he came to
Mr. Mitchel's house and made
---------------
*Girty was the son of an Irishman, and for
twenty years was the Raw-head-and-bloody-bones of the border, produced
when nature was in hell and disciplining herself to her worst mischief.
He was a besotted human devil, a grog-burnt fiend, whose wife coud no
longer endure him, and who was killed by his paramour.
[Page 602]
inquiry for horses, which was the
source of indescribable dread and terror to the family. Mr.
Mitchel was originally a Presbyterian, but when he came to Wayne
county he united with the old Seceder church at Wooster, then under the
pastorate of Rev. Samuel Irvine. He subsequently united
with the Associate Reformed body, under Rev. James Peacock, and
when, in after years, the two churches united and consolidated into what
is now known as the United Presbyterian church, he became a member of
it.
Samuel Mitchel,
his youngest
child, was born in Franklin township, Sept. 28, 1820. His
occupation until within several years has been that of a farmer.
He remained with his father on the old homestead, which he now owns,
until his death, continuing thereafter upon it until 1868, when he
removed to Wooster. He was married May 24, 1849, to Mary A.
McClellan, sister of John McClellen. He has been a
hard-working, industrious, frugal man, and by the exercise of economy
and care has acquired a competency which enables him to live in comfort
and retirement. He is a quiet, unassuming, upright citizen and
honest man. He united with the Presbyterian church in 1859, since
which time he has been a member.
John Hughes was
born in Fayette county, Pa., Mar. 13, 1785, where he lived with his
father and followed the occupation of a farmer. He married Jane
Fleniken, of Greene county, Pa., from which marriage resulted the
following children: Minerva, James F., William, John, Cephas, Robert,
Cyrus, Alford, Jane and Helen. His wife died July 23, 1835,
and he was married again in June, 1836, to Jane Boyd, of Greene
county, Pa. The following were the children of his second
marriage: Samuel B., Mary Ann, Sarah A., Nancy, Lucretta, Josephus
and Ellen.
Mr. Hughes was among the first settlers. He
came to Wayne county in the fall of 1816, and entered to quarters of
land, the same now owned by his son Alfred Hughes, in Franklin
township. He also bought a quarter second-handed, the one now
owned by his heirs, and now occupied by his son Samuel. In
that year did some clearing and built his cabin, 18x25 feet, then
returned to Jefferson county, Pa., and in April of 1817 he brought his
family to Franklin township, where he continued to reside until his
death, Apr. 18, 1861. Mr. Hughes was in many respects a
more than ordinarily valuable citizen, and was possessed of considerable
enter-
[Page 603]
prise. He was one of the early settlers of Franklin township,
serving as Justice of the Peace for many years.
Hugh Morgan, Sr.,
was born on Cheat River, Va., Jan. 1, 1759, his wife, Mercy Ayers,
being born Dec. 15, 1763. He immigrated to Wayne county 1814-15,
settling on the farm now owned by John Brown, on the west side of
the township. Here he lived and died in 1844, his wife surviving
him three years. He had ten children, viz: Stephen, Dorcas,
Phoebe, Mary, Jane, Margaret, Elizabeth, Priscilla, Rebecca and
Temperance. All were girls save one, all were born in
Virginia, all grew to womanhood, all lived in Wayne county at one time,
and all are dead.
Hugh Morgan,
son
of Stephen Morgan, and grandson of Hugh Morgan, was born
Jan. 26, 1821, in Clinton township, and lives within 100 rods of where
he was born, although in Franklin township. He pursues the
occupation of farmer, though he followed teaching regularly in the
winter, and occasionally in the summer, from 1843 to 1857, since which
time he has been devoted to agriculture, and more recently giving some
attention to the nursery business. He was married, May 18, 1857,
to Sarah Weiker of Franklin township, and has seven children, to
wit: Florence, Floraette, Almada, Mary E., Linnet, Sarah E. and
Rhoda J. Morgan.
Mr. Morgan is a gentleman of culture and education;
was a successful teacher; is a believer in books, libraries and the
general diffusion of intelligence among the masses.
Moses Lockhart, Sr.,
was
born near Romney, Hampshire county, Virginia, in 1788. He was
married in Virginia to Phoebe Morgan, daughter of Hugh Morgan,
of Wayne county, in 1812. He came to Ohio in 1813, settling in
Franklin township, on the farm where his son Moses now lives,
where he entered 400 acres of land, all in woods and prairie bottoms of
Killbuck. The cabin was built near the site of the present house,
the latter built in 1820. Here Moses Lockhart lived until
his death in March, 1839. He had six children, four of whom
survived him - three daughters and Moses Lockhart, Jr., the
bachelor, now residing on the old farm. Elizabeth, the wife
of James Moore, of Clinton township, is one of the surviving
daughters. Moses Lockhart, Jr., was born Apr. 14, 1821.
His grandfather, William Lockhart, was a soldier in the
Revolutionary war, participated in the battle of Brandywine, etc., and
died in Warren county, Ohio.
[Page 604]
The Munson family. -
Isaac Munson, Sr., removed with his family from Connecticut
to New York, where his wife Eleanor Andrews Munson died in
August,1815. Soon after her death he, with his son Henry,
started for the west, passing the winter in 1815 in Holmes county.
In the spring of 1816 they came to Wayne county, settling on the farm
now owned by Henry Munson, buying the farm of 160 acres
second-hand. Here Isaac Munson continued to live until
death, July 10, 1830. He was a soldier under Washington in
the Revolutionary War, entering the service as a volunteer at the age of
fifteen, for which he drew a pension, getting it paid at Chillicothe.
Until 1821 Isaac Munson and his son Henry kept
bachelor hall, when Henry came to his farm he lived on it until
1861, when he removed to Shreve, remaining there five years, then
returned to the old homestead, where he made his home with his son
Henry until the period of his death, which occurred Dec. 1, 1867.
His wife died May 4, 1872. the had seven children, four sons and
three daughters, viz: Ezra, Isaac, Samuel, Eleanor, Mary,
Elizabeth and Henry. All the daughters are dead.
Isaac Munson was born Sept. 19, 1823, and was
married to Eliza A. Lowe, from which union there were three
children, Mary, Phoebe and Jacob. His wife dying, he
re-married in the fall of 1856 to Miss Susan Thomas, and by this
marriage has a son, Charles. Henry Munson, Jr., was born in
Franklin township, Feb 12, 1837. He was married to Miss Rebecca
Jones, daughter of John Jones and granddaughter of Isaiah
Jones, Feb. 15, 1861, and by this marriage had five children, viz:
John Henry, E. N., James K., William B., and one that died in
infancy. His wife, Rebecca died Sept. 28 1874, and on Nov.
30, 1876, he was re-married to Martha McCartney. Eleanor,
the oldest daughter of Henry Munson, Sr., married Jared Barker,
of Summit county, and died Sept. 9, 1856. Mary married
Isaiah Jones, of Holmes county, and died in 1862. Elizabeth
died, unmarried, Oct. 12, 1856. Samuel C. Munson, son
of Henry Munson, lives in Medina county, and is married to
Jane Hughes, daughter of John Hughes, of Franklin township.
Ezra Munson resides in Caldwell county, Missouri, and was married
to Ann Eliza Wycoff, of Franklin township.
The Munson family are noted
throughout for their sterling
[Page 605]
character, then industry,
hospitality, courtesy and general good qualities as neighbors and
citizens.
Henry
Munson, Sr., in 1816 or 1817, opened up and burned the first lime,
and had the first kiln in Wayne county, burning the first lime in a log
heap to test its quality. People for fifty miles around came to
him for it. He furnished the lime used in building the old Wiler
House, in Mansfield, hauling it there by oxen at about fifty cents per
bushel, at nights sleeping under the wagon, and turning the oxen out to
graze.
CHURCHES OF
FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP.
Jacob's Lutheran Church
was built in 1844 on lands donated by Jacob Herman, and was named
Jacob's church by Jacob Snider. Rev. Kline
was the first preacher. George Moore, Jacob Snider, Michael
Schaff, Philip Moore, Adam Geitgey and his sons Adam and George
Geitgey, George Reinard, and others, with their families, were the
first that belonged to this church. Before it was built they went
to Wooster and listened to Father Sonnedecker and Rev.
Weygandt.
The Church of God.
- This was built at Moreland in 1843, Adam Weiker,
Isaac Tate and Samuel Metzler being the principal movers in
the religious enterprise. Messrs. Weiker and Tate
designated the building and superintended its construction. The
first preachers after the church was built were Archibald Megrew
and Jonathan West. Present ministers- Rev. Martin Beck
and Samuel Deckerhoff, with a membership of about thirty.
William Metzler furnished these facts.
M. E. Church. -
The first Methodist Episcopal church was built in Moreland about 1830 -
a one-story frame building, 30x30, located on Robert Buckley's
lands, donated by him for that purpose. The names of the first
Methodists in the vicinity were John Floyd, wife and daughter;
William Force and Sarah, with wife; Peter Kiser and
wife; Jacob Kiser and wife; Hannah Force and
Abraham Force; Michael Kinney and wife, and Robert Buckley
and wife. For fifteen years before this church was built Methodist
service was held at the private house of William P. Force.
The first preachers were Rev. Evans, Rev. James Wilson, Rev. Abner
Goff, Rev. Harry O. Sheldon, and Rev. Russel Bigelow, who was
the first Presiding Elder. The second Methodist church was built
in the summer of 1863. Present minister - Rev. McCartney,
with a congregation of about ninety and a prosperous Sunday-school.
Trinity English Lutheran
Church. - The church of this congregation was built in 1861, on
land donated by David Lawrence. Individual members
furnished the material, cut the timber, hauled the logs, etc.
David Geitgey was the principal carpenter, D. J. Snider and
David Lawrence his assistants. The existence of this church is
due to a discussion and difference between the members of the old
Jacob's church, as to whether there should be German and English
preaching. The first members of the Trinity came from Jacob's
church, and were Jonathan Snider and his sons, John, D. J.,
Joseph and Jonathan, and Jacob and William Patton
and their families. Rev. J. B. Baltzley, was their first
preacher, and organized the church with eighteen members. Then
came Rev. W. W. Lang, who remained pastor for seven years, who
was succeeded by Rev. E. B. Crouse; then Father Sloane, of
Wooster, as a supply for a year; then Rev. Fryberger. There
is now a membership of about fifty. An excellent Sunday-school,
with one hundred pupils, is connected with the church.
Superintendent of the Sunday-school, Jacob H. Snider; officers,
Israel Franks, Henry Kauffman, S. P. Chase, D. J. Snider.
[Page 606]
Jacob Harmon
was born in Montgomery county, Pa., Dec. 31, 1791. His father,
Conrad, was a homemaker, with whom Jacob worked for many
years, never having but two months English schooling in his life.
He came to Wooster township in the spring of 1818, then a single
man. He was married to Catherine Hoff, Oct. 10, 1820, and
has had ten children. She died April 27, 1872. When he came
to the county, he says, there were Indians to be seen, and he remembers
seeing Simon Rice, accompanied by his brother, William,
spear and kill a bear near the farm of ex-Judge John K. McBride
He is now eighty-seven years of age, and is a member of the Lutheran
church.
Stephen M. Henry,
son of John and grandson of Stephen Henry, was born in
Wayne county, September 8, 1825. He has been twice married; first,
Mar. 7, 1850, to Delilah Burnett, and second, to Catharine
Burnett, half-sister of his first wife, and has lived in Franklin
township since Apr. 1, 1858. Mr. Henry is an energetic man,
with positive and pronounced opinions, and a Democrat of the old
Jacksonian Type. He is a public-spirited, influential citizen, has
served nine years as Justice of the Peace, and six years as Commissioner
of Wayne county, in all of which positions he acquitted himself with
honor.
Thomas Dowty, the father of
Thomas Dowty, was a South Carolinian, born about 1785. His
grandfather, David Dowty, was a farmer and dealer in blooded
horses, and removed to Kentucky, and thence to Athens County, Ohio,
where he died. His son, Thomas Dowty, emigrated to Wayne
county in 1811, settling on a farm east of Wooster, on the State road.
Here he entered eighty acres of land and remained a few years, when he
went to Franklin township in 1814, where he entered 160 acres of land,
now owned by the heirs of Adam Weiker. He settled in the
woods, built a cabin, lived in it without a floor, etc., and staid to
1830, when he removed to a farm now owned by his son, Thomas Dowty,
and here his death occurred in 1842. He was married to Rosa
Sowards, a Kentucky lady, and raised six children. He was
re-married to Hannah Young, of Holmes county. Thomas
Dowty, his son, was born Nov. 27, 1806, in Athens county, Ohio, and
was married Oct. 20, 1836, to Sarah Ann Cavenee,
of Columbia county, Pennsylvania. David Dowty, we were
informed by Thomas, who was his cousin, was the first white boy
born in
[Page 607]
Wayne county, that event transpiring in Wooster, his father's
name being Daniel Dowty.
The farm upon which Thomas Dowty now
lives is said to be the first one entered in Franklin township,
and by old James Morgan.* Upon his premises, and near his
house, in 1874, he constructed a beautiful fish-pond, supplied from a
strong spring, in which are many varieties of fish. He is a
generous and warm hearted man, characterized by a true Southern
hospitality, sociableness and friendliness of feeling.
John McIntire, the father of
Cornelius, was born in County Derry, Ireland, in 1755, and
immigrated to America in 1782, settling in York, Pa., as a farmer.
He remained there fifteen years, then removed to near Steubenville, on
the old Mingo Bottoms, Jefferson county, Ohio, and in 1820 came to
Franklin township, Wayne county. He had eight children - John,
James, Smith, William, Archibald, Cornelius, Sarah and Catherine,
none of whom survive, except Cornelius.
Cornelius McIntire
was born in Fayette county, Pa., July 20, 1800, and came
to Wayne county with his father in 1820. He immediately went to
clearing land, and the same season had four acres in wheat. Jan. 24, 1828, he was
married to Nancy Rayl, who was born in Beaver county,
Pennsylvania, in 1811, and moved in 1819 to Franklin township, the
marriage, resulting in thirteen children, to wit: Mary Jane,
George (dead), Reasin, Hannah, Sarah A. (dead), Sophronia
(dead), Cornelius, William, Ezra, Elizabeth, Susan, John W.
(dead) and Jacob (dead). The family at this time is
considerably scattered. The old folks celebrated their golden
wedding, the fiftieth anniversary of their married life, on Jan. 24,
1878, by a grand dinner, to which relatives and neighbors were gathered,
and all had a happy time in talking of old times and eating off a table
that Mr. and Mrs. McIntire had had ever since their marriage.
He is a solid, substantial and industrious
citizen. His son, William McIntire, born Feb. 10, 1843, is
married to Sarah King, of Franklin township, and has two sons,
Warren and Jacob.
Killing a Bear. - Shortly
after coming to Franklin township, Cornelius McIntire killed a
bear that weighed four hundred pounds. In relating the incident,
he
---------------
*Mr. Dowty says John Larwill so informed
him.
[Page 608]
says that a neighbor boy discovered the bear's track and told him
about it, and he was soon after bruin with his gun and dogs. The
bear took to a swamp, from where the dogs drove it finally, Cornelius
giving it a shot, but not killing it. He pursued it to Little Salt
creek, and then his brother James joined him, and they followed
the bear to Newman's creek swamp, where they killed it, sold the meat to
neighbors around there, carrying some home, together with the bear's
hide, which they kept as a trophy of the chase.
Ephraim Cutter, a native of
New Jersey, was born in 1789, and came to Holmes county as early as
1816, removing to Wayne county in 1827, settling north of Moreland one
half mile, on the farm now owned by Solomon Tate He
eventually removed to Huntington county, Indiana, where he died twenty
years ago. He was married to Sarah Edgar, of Columbia
county, Pa., and had eleven children.
John Cutter
was
born in Northampton county, Pa., Jan. 8, 1793; came to Holmes county in
1818, and removed to Wayne county in 1831, settling on the farm where he
now lives. He was married in Holmes county, Apr. 20, 1824, to
Hannah Peterman, of Columbia county, Pa.., and has had seven
children - Charity, Mary and Elizabeth, James, John, Ephraim
and A. B. Cutter. Ephraim is in Australia, whither he went
in 1852. A. B. lives in Holmes county; James in
Franklin township; and John W. Cutter married M. A. Sellers,
of Holmes county, and lives with his father. His father died Oct.
9, 1868. Ephraim and he were both soldiers in the war of
1812. Mr. Cutter is distinguished for his kind and generous
nature and his many good and noble qualities of head and heart.
Samuel Cutter was born in
Columbia county, Pa., in 1803, and removed to Holmes county, Ohio, with
his father in 1820. In 1822 he went to Wooster and was married to
Deborah Sprague, of that city. He was a blacksmith,
learning his trade with Mason & McMillen, of Wooster.
He was elected Sheriff of Wayne county in 1846, afterwards removing to
Wayne township and thence to Medina county, where he now lives.
Aaron Franks, a native of
Fayette county, Pa., where he was born in 1801, emigrated to Wayne
county in 1827, landing April 11, at his brother Jacob's, then
living in East Union township, with whom he staid for nearly a year,
when he removed to Franklin township, settling upon the farm where he
now lives.
[Page 609]
Philip Smith was the first owner of this farm,
Mr. Franks being the fourth, he having erected upon it all the
present improvements. He has been twice married; first to
Rebecca Sulifend, Oct. 18, 1823, of Fayette county, Pa., and by this
marriage had nine children; second to Angeline, daughter of
Peter Zaring, Esq., of Jefferson, Plain Township, Aug. 31, 1875.
His first wife died Feb. 11, 1868.
Mr. Franks is a good business man, and, in his
younger days, a public spirited, active citizen. He is a man of
intelligence, worth and reliability; has accumulated a competence, and,
in his older years, has every comfort of life surrounding him. He
is social, communicative, and will probe you with a joke, and in
conversation will trap you or set you on the brink of a pitfall, without
previous admonition. His relations to the public have always been
beneficial, and his career as Coroner of Wayne county was marked by
ability, shrewdness and economy.
John Harrison
was born Aug. 1,
1796, in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, seven miles south-west of
Uniontown. His father's name was Peter Harrison, a farmer,
who was raised in Maryland, but removed from there to Fayette county,
and from thence to Columbiana county, Ohio, and again to Harrison
county, where he died. Peter Harrison had fifteen children,
all of whom but the oldest and youngest lived to be men and women.
John and Elisha Harrison are the only two of
that family who came to Wayne county to live. John came in
May, 1816, having been married Apr. 30, preceding, to Margaret Dysert,
of Virginia. He and his young wife came to Wayne county on
horseback, packing 150 pounds of flour in his wife's bed, seventy miles,
from Harrison county, Ohio, and settled down in the woods, within a mile
of their present residence in Franklin township. They were the
parents of eleven children, six of whom (three sons and three daughters)
are living. Mr. Harrison is one of the best citizens of
Franklin township. William Harrison, his uncle, came to
Franklin township as early as 1813, and settled on the farm now owned by
the widow of James Finley.
Recollections of John
Harrison - Salt was worth six cents per pound when I came
here. Bought a two-horse wagon from old Billy Poulson,
about 1826, and paid for it in salt; went to Cleveland for it; obtained
one barrel there and one barrel ten miles out of the city. These
two barrels of salt paid for the wagon - price, thirty dollars. A
bushel of wheat would pay for a pound of coffee, the former being of
[Page 610]
little cash account until the canal was opened. There were some
Indians about - plenty of them on Martin's creek. Old chief
Dan. Lyon remained after the other Indians left; he would make
wooden ladles and exchange them for bacon; had smart children.
Old Jonathan Grant lived in the Holmes county
side of the line, but in Wayne county then. He was a sort of spy,
and an agent to look after the interest of first settlers. The
Government had him employed, and donated him one hundred and sixty acres
of land where he lived. He lived in true aboriginal style - in an
open shanty, between the logs of which dogs could jump; had no floor,
and was covered with bark; was a great hunter; bear and deer-skins
covered his shanty; prayed and swore in the same breath. The
Larwills waited on him in his last sickness; died of cancer, over
fifty years ago.
Thomas L. Smith
was born in Westmoreland county, Pa., May 17, 1811, and is a son of
Thomas Smith, whose occupation was that of farmer. Mr.
Smith emigrated to Wayne county in 1842, arriving at Fredericksburg
in August of that year. He was married in July, 1845, to Mary
A. Powers, of Allegheny City, Pa., and has seven children. He
was a member of the old Seceder church, united with this organization
under the ministry of Rev. Samuel Irvine at Fredericksburg, upon
his arrival, and at present is a United Presbyterian. Mr. Smith
is an intelligent, industrious farmer, distinguished for his
earnestness in all good work, and for his purity of life and integrity
of conduct.
William
P. Force, a citizen of New Jersey,
removed to Pennsylvania, thence to Wayne county, Ohio, in 1821, settling
south of Moreland, on the farm now owned by Adam Weiker.
Here he lived until his death in 1830, and was the first person buried
in the Moreland graveyard. He had ten children. He was a
member of the Methodist church, an excellent and pious man, whose house
was open to every one and whose liberality was great. William
Force, his son, was born Jan. 3, 1804, in Columbia county, Pa., and
came to this county with his father in 1821 and was married Sept. 1,
1825, to Lucinda Sowards of the State of Kentucky, who was born
Feb. 4, 1808. Mr. Force, like his father, is a member of
the Methodist church, has been a class leader for 25 years, and an
exhorter for twenty years in that church. He is a farmer, an
upright, high-minded man of enlightened views and independent judgment.
Moses
McCammon was born in County Down, Ireland, and immigrated to
America in 1819, landing at Boston. In the New England States
he remained three years teaching school, when he
[Page 611]
removed to Cadiz, Ohio.
From there he went to Kendall (Massillon), and worked in a cloth factory
for a Mr. Thomas Roach, and soon removed to Wayne county, where
he found employment in Stibbs' woolen factory, and where he
worked six years. He then removed to a farm east of Moreland,
where he lived thirty years; but selling it, he went to Moreland and
resided there three years, when he removed to Ripley township, Holmes
county, and purchased a small tract of land, his wife dying Sept. 16,
1863. After her death Mr. McCammon returned to Franklin
township, and spent the remainder of his days with his daughter Mary,
wife of Jonathan Saunders, where he died Aug. 30, 1868, aged 86
years. He was married in Ireland to Sarah Brown of County
Down, and had nine children.
Mr. McCammon was, in many respects, a
remarkable man, and possessed a wonderful fund of intelligence. He
enjoyed a remarkable familiarity with the old English, Scotch and Irish
poets. He believed that he, too, was a poet, and has written
enough verse to make considerable of a volume. Some of it does not
rise above the level of galloping doggerel; much of it possesses
sterling poetic merit and will bear comparison with the better products
of our accepted and popular writers. He seems to have been a
rhymer by nature, and his lines jingle like sleigh-bells on a winter
morning. Burns has been his especial favorite, and why should he
not have been?
He has imitated The Twa Dogs, his Lines to a Mouse, his
epistles, epitaphs has been humorous, pathetic, contemplative, spenetic,
saturnine ad sentimental. He has sung a Venus, Mars and Momus.
He is mirthful, hilarious, and at times his pen is a fountain, out of
which gushes and bubbles merriment and laughter. He passed up and
down the aisles of the world singing, obscurely, it is true, sometimes,
but nevertheless in the moods and with the gifts of song.
He was a genial, social, rare old Irish gentleman;
lived a good and quiet life, blameless in his ways before men; and if
Fame did not press her trump to her fickle lips and blow him to the
world, he died with the solace that he was not a stranger to books- that
he had held soul-relations with dead but mighty thinkers. He had
but limited education, and believed more in the "spark o' Nature's fire"
than
"A' your jargon o' your schools,
Your Latin names for horns and stools,
If honest Nature made you fools." |
[Page 612]
We regret that our space
forbids the publican of the pathetic Scotch poem in our possession, but
will introduce the following:
Come, Contemplation, lonely Power,
That loveth the still and solemn hour,
Come gaze upon those orbs that roll
In silence round the glowing pole;
The sparkling planet's borrowed beam,
The fixed stars less refulgent stream,
And meteors that with lurid glare,
Shoot sudden through the parting air,
And robed in transistory fire
Ere thought can reach their course, expire.Fancy expand thy
wings of light,
And speed thro' heaven my lofty flight;
I see ten thousand systems rise,
And other orbs gild other skies -
And quicker than the solar ray,
I shoot along the Milky Way,
And various unknown world's explore,
And wander all their beauties o'er.
Thence as I gaze with curious eye,
Far o'er the regions of the sky,
Earth seems to float in ether bright,
A trembling spark of moving light;
In silent course around her twines
The silver moon, and fainter shines;
The sun himself, now viewed afar,
Seems but a more refulgent star.
O! could I run my airy race
Amid the boundless realms of space -
Till all these systems glittering here,
In distance lost would disappear -
Even then, before my wondering eyes,
New globes would glow, new stars arise,
New suns with radiant glory stream,
New planets glitter in their beam;
And by resistless impulse hurled,
New comets blaze from world to world.
EPITAPTH -
Here, underneath, lies honest Chubb
Who drove his wheels thro' many a dub;
Him sober saints no more shall snub
Or zealots jeer him;
Their hearts they'd need to cleanse and scrub
Ere they get near him. |
[Page 613]
REMINISCENCES OF JOHN BUTLER, A JUSTICE OF THE PEACE OF FRANKLIN
TOWNSHIP.
The Indians Burn Thomas
Butler's Cabin - Mr. Butler being
absent at his
father-in-law's, the Indians burned his cabin. The cause was
presumed to be as follows: Butler had raised considerable
corn in the bottoms, and had a good many hogs. A gang of Indians
passed-one day, and shot one of them. Mr. Butler followed
after and found them encamped in the region of the present site of
Shreve. He went to the Chief and told him the circumstance, and
that he must pay him; the Chief going to the thief and telling him he
must pay for the hog. He asked him what he killed the hog for,
whereupon the Indian replied, "I wanted grease." The Chief made
him pay for the animal, Mr. Butler receiving in pay therefore two
deer skins, which the Indian indignantly kicked toward him. It was
soon after this that Mr. Butler's cabin was burned, and he
claimed that gang of Indians did early conflagration. Here Mr.
Butler lived, raised his family, and died March 17, 1837.
The Morgan Block House
- This Fort stood on the Thomas Dowty farm, and
but a few rods from his house, and was quite a large structure, and a
source of protection to the pioneers. During the summer of Hull's
Surrender a company of soldiers was stationed here from Tuscarawas
county. A wood-be brave soldier of this company was ever boasting
of his courage, and ached for an opportunity to have a fight with the
Indians. The boys concluded they would accommodate him. They
caused to be painted and decked in true Indian costume one of their
number, and had him secrete himself in a swamp close by. The
company proceeded on one of its scouts and passed by this swamp, when
the mythical Indian sprang out, yelling, and pointing his gun, took
after this Sir Valiant soldier, who rushed at the top of his
speed and concealed himself in a marsh. The company and the
painted gentleman rapidly returned to the Block House. Soon
thereafter the would-be Indian-fighter, who had lost his shoes in the
swamp, returned. Some of the boys went in search of his shoes and
brought them to camp.*
Old Chief Lyon Delvers his "Checks."
- Alexander Bell, of
Holmesville, informed 'Squire Butler that when he was a boy he
went to old Lyon's camp, near the mouth of the Butler Spring run,
and found him in a sick condition in his hut. Lyon asked
Bell to take his camp-kettle and bring him some fresh water, which
he did, when Lyon asked him to look at his tongue. Bell
told him how it looked, when the old Chief said, "Me dead Indian."
Bell said, "I will go and tell Jess Morgan, if you wish me
to," to which old Lyon consented. Jess came,
accompanied by Bell, and found the old Chief very sick, whereupon
he repaired to Sandusky and communicated the facts to his Indian
friends, when several of them came along back with Jess.
They took the old Indian upon one of their ponies, but in a few days
the news was received of his death.
Throughout the entire county we have heard vague recollections expressed
concerning this old chief. The early settlers all knew him, as he
vested their cabins, and frequently was a source of terror to women and
children.
-----------------
*For further
particulars inquire of John Butler, Esq.
-- END OF FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP.
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