PIONEER DAYS IN CENTRAL OHIO.1
IT is pleasant, my friends, to realize
the sentiment that,
not only peace has its triumphs as well
as war, but that
domestic and home life hath its
excitements and enjoyments
as well as the political arena.
In this day of public strife-in the
middle of a campaign
in which the embattling squadrons of the
several political
parties of the day are arrayed against
each other in the con-
test for civil power-we rest on our
arms, and come together
as under a flag of truce; nay, more,
forgetting all differences
or grounds for hostility, we meet as
friends and neighbors,
irrespective of all divisions on public
questions, to interchange
kindly civilities, for mutual
congratulations on the joys and
happiness with which God has blessed us
in our present
social relations of life, and to
contrast the same with the
character and conditions of our fathers,
the early settlers and
pioneers of this part of our beloved
State.
In the few remarks I may submit it is my
purpose, how-
ever I may sometimes wander from the
straight path I have
allotted to myself, to speak of the
early settlements in Cen-
tral Ohio, and of the character and
life-incidents of the set-
tlers.
In speaking of them I do not propose to recount his-
tory, but rather to refer to times and
events that in a long life-
time, relating back to the beginning of
the present century
have fallen under my own observation.
I came with my father's family to
Licking county in 1809.
We settled in Newark, then a small
hamlet composed of a
few straggling hewed log houses, or log
cabins proper, chiefly
on the east and north line of the public
square of that now
1 An address delivered
at Mansfield, Ohio, September 15th, 1885, before
the Richland County Historical and
Pioneer Society. This address was
the last delivered by Mr. Curtis (his
death occurring a few weeks later),
and is printed from the manuscript in
the author's handwriting, now in the
possession of the Ohio State Archaeological
and Historical Society.
243
244
Ohio Archaeological and
Historical Quarterly.
beautiful city. There were but two frame structures then
standing on the town site-one a lawyer's
small office, the
other a one and one-half story dwelling
of the other lawyer
of the village. A little to the north
and south respectively
of the centre of the public square stood
two conspicuous
hewed log edifices, simply enclosed, but
otherwise unfinished
and unfurnished, the one for a common
jail, with an upstairs
prison for debtors, the other dignified
with the name of court
house. In the latter, upon a rude
platform on which sat the
judges, and with rustic benches and
improvised tables for the
lawyers, the forensic debates of the bar
were delivered and
decisions of the four judges -Judge
Wilson presiding--pro-
nounced.
At the period to which I refer there
were probably two
hundred inhabitants, the families of
some seventy-five or
eighty settlers, who had located on the
plateau of this beauti-
ful valley of rich lands at the junction
of the three streams
that here come together and make the
Licking river. The
county had been organized only the year
preceding, and
Newark, after a hard-fought battle with
the settlement at
Granville, had won the contest, and
become the county seat.
A small settlement was gathered around
Robertson's mills
under the name of Wilmington, on the
north branch of the
Licking, where the town of Utica now
stands. Thence to
Mt. Vernon, in Knox county, was chiefly
an unbroken forest,
with here and there by the narrow wagon
way a log cabin,
and the beginning of a settlement. The
same remarks would
apply to the line of roadway at that
period of time between
Mt. Vernon and Mansfield, county seats
respectively of Knox
and Richland counties, then recently
erected. Small indica-
tions of villages were seen at
Fredericktown and Bellville,
and in a few other places east of the
main north and south
line of road. On the lower waters of Owl
creek and upper
branches of the Mohican were beginnings
of new homesteads
by settlers that had drifted in from
Western Pennsylvania and
Virginia.
I wonder if many of those before me
really had any proper
idea of the manner in which these early
settlements were be-
Pioneer Days in Central Ohio. 245
gun. Of course I recognize some men of
advanced age in
this audience, who, if they did not
themselves participate in
the labor of building the first log
cabin and clearing their
first field, may have lived so near that
time as to recognize
some of the features I will attempt to
give. In the first
place you must realize, if you can, that
the work to be done
was usually at the greatest
disadvantage; and hence much
more difficult than the same work, and
in the same primitive
style, could now be done. An ax, a saw,
and an auger, and
the hammer taken from the doubletree of
his wagon, usu-
ally constituted all the mechanical
tools with which the rude
architect was to rear and construct the
house that probably
for the succeeding fifteen or twenty
years must be the home
for his family. There the later children
will be born and
reared, while the older ones are
assisting the father to clear
the farm and open fields from the heavy
timber and under-
brush of the surrounding forest. After a
few days spent in
an improvised shanty, or perhaps the
interior of the covered
wagon, the pioneer sets himself
seriously to work in the con-
struction of his log cabin. Having
selected his spot, the
tall, straight young trees of the forest
are to be felled, meas-
ured, cut, and hauled to the place; at
the same time properly
distributed to form the several
prospective sides of the pro-
posed structure. The "skids"
are provided upon which to
run up the logs. The clapboards, rived
from the cleanest
white oak blocks, rough and unshaved,
are made ready for
the roof. Whiskey, then about
twenty-five cents per gal-
lon, is laid in, and due notice given to
such neighbors as can
be reached, of the day appointed for the
"raising."
When the time comes, and the forces
collect together,
a captain is appointed, and the men
divided into proper sec-
tions, and assigned to their several
duties. Four men most
skillful in the use of the axe, are
severally assigned to each
corner; these are the "corner
men," whose duty it is to
"notch" and
"saddle"-as it were, like a dovetail-the
timbers at their connection, and
preserve the plumb, " carry-
ing up" the respective corners.
Then there are the "end
men," who, with strong arms, and
the aid of pikes, force the
246
Ohio Archaeological and
Historical Quarterly.
logs up the "skids" and
deliver them to the corner men.
In this way the building rises with
wonderful rapidity; the
bearers for the roof logs are adjusted;
the broad clapboards
laid with skill, the
"weight-poles" placed upon the succes-
sive courses, and the shell of the cabin
is completed. The
frolic is ended and a good supper crowns
the day's work.
Then follow the "puncheon"
floor, made of heavy planks split
from timber and dressed on one side with
an axe; the big log
fire place; the beaten clay hearth; the
stick and clay chim-
ney; the "clinking" and
"daubing;" the paper windows,
and the door with wooden latch and
hinges. And so the
log cabin home is made ready, and the
family moves in
with as much joy and delight as may fill
their hearts when,
twenty years later, they enter their now
stately frame or brick
mansion erected on the same spot.
The above is the primitive log cabin;
but it was subject to
many modifications and degrees of
advanced pretensions.
The cabin might be single, or double,
with a gangway be-
tween, covered by a common roof. It was
made of hewed
logs, or "scutched," which was
a superficial hewing made
after the building was up. So, too, its
elevation was suited
to the condition of the family; and
sometimes the corners
squared or dressed down; and perchance
the clapboards
nailed on, when so luxurious an article
as nails could be ob-
tained, in lieu of the
"weight-poles."
These were various forms of the
residences of the pioneers.
They were all log cabins, but the
primitive form first de-
scribed predominated; the improved form
indicating the am-
bition, prosperity and taste of the
proprietor and his family.
Such was the beginning of settlements in
all this range of
beautiful country, embracing the central
counties of Licking,
Knox and Richland, and others adjacent,
through which a
gentleman may now drive with his
carriage and pair as
through a park. The stately mansions and
their surround-
ings often presenting the appearance of
a villa; and the ex-
tended fields and groves forming a
succession of landscape
most pleasing to the eye, and giving
assurance of the wealth,
comfort and happiness of our people, and
of the wonderful
Pioneer Days in Central Ohio. 247
rapidity with which our country has
progressed during the
last half century, along the road of
prosperity.
In this connection I might extend my
reminiscences to em-
brace many interesting events in the
early settlement of this
part of Ohio, the history of which is
fast becoming mere tra-
dition. But a proper regard to the limit
of time I may have
your attention, admits my mentioning a
few only.
It was but natural that the amusements
of the period often
assumed features corresponding with the
character of their
employments. Hence the
"chopping" and "log-rolling"
frolics, the "corn-husking
bees" and the "raisings" would
bring together the neighbors of a
five-mile settlement,
assembling with the social feelings that
would lighten their
labor, and make the occasion one of joy
and recreation.
Nor were these hilarious gatherings
confined to the men; for
the good wives and daughters, entering
into the spirit of the
time, would appoint some branches of
their own industry-
their sewing or quilting-to enter into
the frolic; and at the
end of the day, alike laying their
labors aside, all would join
in doing justice to a chicken pot-pie,
the making of which,
since the era of cooking stoves, has
become a lost art to the
present generation. Then the evening
would wind up-per-
haps with games and plays-or, if the
fiddler could be
obtained, with a lively dance upon the
green lawn, or the
"puncheon" floor.
The war of 1812, occurring as it did in
the pioneer day of
Ohio, the proximity of the settlers to
the Indian villages and
the Canada border brought them in direct
connection with
many of its painful events, and added
greatly to their suffer-
ings and privations. There was an Indian
village on the
upper waters of the Raccoon branch of
the Licking, near
where the village of Johnstown now
stands; another, called
Greentown, near Perrysville, in this
county; and then the
Wyandottes at Upper Sandusky. Although
these several
Indian Poeblos professed to be
friendly, yet their friendship
was unreliable; many young braves of the
tribes, as well
from their natural hate towards the
whites, as also from
248
Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.
British bribes and influence, were
covertly hostile; and these
villages gave shelter and harbor to
emissaries from other
tribes openly hostile. Indians that had
been peaceful in our
villages, as traders with their
cranberries, pelts, and moccasin-
work, became a terror to the settlers;
and the massacre of
the Copus family in this county, and the
Snows in Huron,
and other depredations, added to the
alarm.
There was a block-house at Fredericktown,
another at
Bellville; also one at this village
[Mansfield], and at other
exposed places. And often on signal of
danger, all the
inhabitants of a village or settlement
would gather in these
places of security for protection of
their wives and children,
against apprehended night attacks of the
savages. These
alarms were often without just
cause-sometimes perpetrated
as practical jokes. The surrender of our
first army at
Detroit by General Hull, followed later
by the siege of Fort
Meigs, and the bloody battle of the
River Raisin, increased
the general alarm of the frontier
settlements and added to
the demand for vigilance on the part of
the settlers.
The return of peace was hailed with joy,
and the little
eight-by-ten windows of the cabins, as
well as of the more
pretentious dwellings that had grown up
in our villages,
blazed with added lights, and music and
rejoicing filled our
streets and our dwellings.
I will now pass to some remarks I desire
to make on the
character of the pioneers and early settlers of this part of
Ohio. And let me here premise, that I
entirely disagree
with a popular writer of the day1 who
has attempted to illus-
trate the proposition "that our
manners and customs go for
more in life than actual quality."
On the contrary, do we
not know that the former is but the
superficial covering in
which the true man may be clothed;
produced by factitious
circumstances, and conformed to
surrounding influences?
While the "quality" of the man
makes his true character,
to estimate which you must study his
inner principles; his
habit of thought; his clear perceptions
between right and
1Howells.
Pioneer Days in Central Ohio. 249
wrong; his spirit of enterprise; the
greatness and strength
of his power of conception and
resolution of purpose. These
are qualities that contribute true
character-character that is
not the less great because found in the
humble and unrefined
"manners and customs" of our
noble sires-once called the
backwoodsmen of Ohio.
It is not the inert, the irresolute or
stupid who strike out
in life in great changes of pursuits, or
risks in business. It
is the men of thought, of enterprise, of
resolution. Such
traits of character were necessary to
bring the young man of
strong purpose, or the head of a family,
to break up the old
associations of life, and dare the
hardships and privations of
a new settlement in the wild woods of
the West. Who does
not see in a Boone, a Kenton, a Symmes,
or a Putnam, ad-
venturers who first penetrated the Ohio
Valley, men of strong
minds and great character?
Of such qualities were the early
pioneers of our noble
State. They were the men of nerve, of
intellect, and strength
of purpose, that led the way over the
Alleghenies to the bor-
ders of our beautiful streams and
teeming valleys. Nor were
they ignorant or uncultured in the
rudiments of fair education.
They had been brought up in a land of
schools and churches,
and where colleges and academies were
known. And they
brought with them their education and
religion.
It is a great mistake, therefore, to
suppose that our fathers
were of less culture in the arts and
sciences, and all the
elements of civilization, than the
succeeding generations.
On the contrary, the natural character
of the men, and the
advantages they had received in earlier
life, gave them an
ascendancy to which the first generation
that followed could
not attain for the want of these
accessories. So that it often
happened, that the growing family of
sons and daughters, in
the absence of schools, were wholly, or
largely, dependent
upon their parents for such teaching and
instruction, as other
pressing labors would permit them to
give. Hence, in con-
templating the characters of our
fathers, we must go back
beyond the generation that succeeded,
and remember the
men in their individual and collective
relations; in the great
250 Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.
qualities that fitted them to lay the
foundations of government.
It would be interesting to individualize
and illustrate the
ideas which I have attempted to give, by
bringing into review
sketches of the lives and characters of
the leading men who
marked the way in these early
settlements of which I have
been speaking; and to whom this part of
Ohio is so deeply
indebted for its present prosperity. But
the limits of a brief
address cannot be enlarged into a
volume-many of which
might be written on this noble theme.
But I will recall to
your minds some recollections of the
first courts of common
pleas-always the great working
court-that opened the ad-
ministration of legal justice in these
counties.
I do not know that this beautiful city,
Mansfield, was ever
adorned with a whipping-post; but
I remember very well that
interesting feature on the public square
in Newark. It was
a centre for our games, to us school
boys, and afforded the
test of agility in our trials to reach
the great staple near the
top. It was in 1812, I think, that a
poor fellow of the name
of John Courson was convicted of
stealing some bags of flour
from a mill, and perhaps some other
articles. He was sen-
tenced by Judge Wilson to receive fifty
"stripes," well laid
on (as the law then required),-five the
next morning, fifteen
at noon, and thirty the following day at
noon. George Allis-
ton was high sheriff and Andy Beard
deputy. The flagella-
tion was performed by the latter under
the oversight of
the chief. A circle of about sixty feet
diameter was drawn
and a cordon established that kept back
the crowd that
pressed to the line. The prisoner was
brought out from the
log jail and secured by his upraised
hands to the big staple.
The first blow of the
"cowhide" simply left a welt.
"A
little harder," said the sheriff,
and Andy marked the four
succeeding blows in distinct red lines
on the poor fellow's
naked back. He received this first
installment of his sen-
tence without an audible groan; but when
returned to the
same position for the second, his
utterances and screeches
from the first stroke were
heart-rending, and when returned to
the prison, his audible lamentations and
prayers for annihila-
tion before another day were fearful and
most painful to be
Pioneer Days in Central Ohio. 251
heard. Yet he stood the whole
punishment, receiving the
following day the heavy remainder of the
infliction, and re-
turned to his prison with his back
lacerated and bleeding
from his shoulders to his hips. It was a
painful and disgust-
ing sight, the first and last of the
kind in Licking county.
William Wilson was the first presiding
judge of the Court
of Common Pleas for these central
counties. He was ap-
pointed by the Legislature at one of its
sessions in Chilli-
cothe at the organization of the circuit
in 1808. He was
brought up on a farm near the "
Dumbarton Hills," in New
Hampshire, where he received a fair
education with a partial
classical course, and had wended his way
to Ohio to grow up
with the country. Although a young and
briefless lawyer at
the time, through the influence of some
friends and with little
or no competition, he obtained the
appointment, and immedi-
ately removed to and made Newark his
permanent place of
residence until his death. He held his
position on the bench
for three terms-twenty-one years-when he
was succeeded
by Alexander Harper, then a leading
lawyer of Zanesville.
Judge Wilson was a man of marked and
practical good, com-
mon sense, which supplemented his
deficiencies in legal learn-
ing. The long period of his presidency
furnished him with
the rules of practice and increased his
knowledge of the
principles of the law and the leading
decisions of the courts.
But when subjected to the criticisms of
such strong legal
minds as the elder Stanbery (then the
great lawyer of Licking
county) and of the Shermans, the Ewings,
the Grangers and
others of other parts of the circuit, he
often had a hard time
to maintain his dignity on the bench, or
to adhere to his own
rulings. Withal, he was a man of strict
integrity of purpose,
of high moral character, and had the
confidence and respect
of the public.
In the reconstruction of the circuits,
Ebenezer Lane, a
distinguished lawyer of Norwalk,
succeeded Judge Wilson in
what had been the northern part of the
latter's district.
Judge Lane for the period of some seven
years presided in
the Common Pleas Courts of this
(Richland) and other adja-
cent counties. He was afterward
translated to the bench of
252 Ohio
Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.
the Supreme Court. While by the bar of
Ohio Judge Lane
is best remembered and honored for his
clear and lucid
enunciations of the law in final
decisions of the higher court,
it is as judge of the Common Pleas that
the local bar and
the masses formed that intimate social
and professional
knowledge of the man that so endeared
him to our hearts
and makes his memory so grateful to all
who had the honor
and happiness of his friendship. He was
a graduate of Har-
vard, and studied the law in
Connecticut. From that State
he came to Ohio, settling at Norwalk in
1819. He was the
prosecuting attorney who framed the
indictment and con-
ducted the trial of the Indians who were
convicted and sub-
sequently hung at Norwalk in the latter
part of that year for
the murder and robbery of a white man in
the western part
of the State, then within the
jurisdiction of Huron county.
I was present at the trial as a youth
and student, and well
remember the clear and lucid statement
of the case by the
young prosecutor, in which his logical
array of the facts, the
inferences therefrom, and condensation
of his argument,
indicated the later character of the
jurist. Genial in his
friendships, taciturn but never
reticent, ingenuous, kind and
courteous in manner, he had not only the
confidence of the
bar, but their love and affection. And
his retirement from
the bench to accept the presidency of a
railroad combina-
tion, by which, in a sense, he became lost
to the bar of Ohio,
was profoundly felt and regretted. After
an extended tour
through England and the continent in
1860-'61, he retired
from public business. His death occurred
in 1866.
In looking into the past, and my early
professional associa-
tions in the Courts, the three several
Clerks of the Courts of
these counties, of the period referred
to, arise before me.
Amos H. Caffee, for some fourteen years
Clerk of the
Common Pleas and Supreme Courts at
Newark. How
genial his kindly face as it now, to my
mind's eye, appears
before me. The accomplished scholar; the
faithful friend;
my many-years' preceptor, and the model
and guide of my
early youth. He came to Newark about the
year 1811, and
soon organized a select grammar school,
at the head and in
Pioneer Days in Central Ohio. 253
control of which, he stood for many
years. In his school
the best young men of Newark of that day
were trained for
the active duties of life. From the
master's chair he became
Postmaster, and then Clerk of the
Courts, as before men-
tioned. Mr. Caffee's first wife was a
daughter of Mrs.
Henderson, a highly respected widow, of
good business
capacities, and who for many years, as
some of you may
remember, kept an excellent Public in
the old McComb
House in this city. His faithful
services in the Courts and
his obliging manners towards all who had
business in his
office, should establish for him an
honorable mention in the
annals of old Licking.
James Smith, for three full terms,
twenty-one years, clerk
of the Courts of Knox county. Who of the
survivors of
that period who had business relations
with the good old man
fails to remember his gentle manners and
kind old Virginia
heart? Few of the public transactions in
the early affairs of
old Knox transpired without "Uncle
Jimmy" being con-
sulted or his advice and participation
enjoyed. He was
identified with every pnblic movement,
and justly exercised
a dominating influence in the affairs of
public interest in the
then village of Mount Vernon, and the
county as well. Fond
of a good joke, he would enjoy it, tho'
he were himself the
victim. His open-handed hospitality made
his humble dwell-
ing a welcome home to all comers. In the
Court room the
lawyers were his pets, for whom his
services were ever cheer-
fully rendered. He was a preacher and
writer in the denom-
ination called "The Christian
Church," (otherwise New-
lights), and the chief organizer of that
religious sect in the
counties of Knox and Licking. Your
speaker was an in-
mate in his family for several years,
and acknowledges with
gratitude the noble qualities of his
patron and their happy in-
fluence upon his own character.
One of the first friendly acquaintances
I made at the Mans-
field bar, in the outset of my
professional attendance at her
Courts was with Elzey Hedges, the genial
and obliging
clerk of all the Courts in old Richland,
not old then but, like
the other counties I have mentioned,
very young in organiza-
254 Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.
tion. Mr. Hedges was an early settler at
Mansfield, but
whether he came in with the first I am
not prepared to state.
In the early '20's he occupied a
partially finished brick house
at the N. E. corner of the public
square. The clerk's office
was kept in one of the front rooms; and
there Elzey Hedges,
with his genial face and kind smile,
could always be found, if
not engaged at his desk in the Court
room. Though the ap-
pointments and conveniences of the
office room were exceed-
ingly primitive, yet so faithfully were
the records kept, and
the papers and files so carefully
adjusted, that any document
or journal entry could be promptly
produced, at the most
sudden call. Visiting lawyers from other
counties always
felt their obligations to Mr. Hedges for
his careful attention
to their business and the obliging
manner in which he per-
formed his duties.
In the remarks which I have submitted,
while recurring to
events of the olden times, and
illustrating by brief notices
of a few of the characteristic men of
the period, I do not
forget the hundred and one, so to speak,
noble names of the
fathers who laid the foundations of
these now wealthy
counties. Their names are honorably mentioned in the
county annals, and will, I trust, be
ever cherished by the
successive thousands that are filling
their places. But chiefly
I have desired to impress upon the
hearts and memories of
my hearers the high character of these
pioneer fathers of the
State, for moral worth and noble aims.
And that, however
humble their mode of living-their
distinguished virtues en-
title them to our highest veneration,
and to rank with the
heroes who establish empires.
HENRY B. CURTIS.