Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/449

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��HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

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��President; Jehu Garber, Secretar}^; Aaron A. Leedy, Treasurer, and Thos. Poland, R. W. Has- lette and Simon Tucker, Directors. Valuation of property insured March, 1880, over $600,000.

The first orchards in the township were trans- planted from Jolinn}' Appleseed's nurseries by Jonathan Oldfield, George Aungst and Scott Durbin. A few of the trees in these orchards are living.

John Leedy set up the first distillery in 1812, at his home, near the center of Section 35. The first year, and for a time thereafter, the whisky sold for $1 per gallon. Distilleries soon became plenty, and, at one time, there were five in the township, and whisky sold for 20 cents a gallon. The last one suspended operations in 1862.

The first birth in the township was that of Mar}' McCluer. Jonathan Oldfield and Eliza- beth McCluer were married by Esquire Cofljen- bury February 11, 1812, probably the first in the count}'. Mr. Coffinl)ury had no form of ceremony, and, to meet the emergency, he sent to a friend in the region of Wheeling, Va., for one. The first deaths were those of Ludwic Strong and Stephen Dodge. Mr. Strong died in 1815, and was buried at the west side of the Frederick road, in a field belonging to Heze- kiah Armstrong. He was visiting his brother, Charles Strong, at the time. The latter was the first person buried in the Bellville cemetery. His grave is lost.

Old settlers say the Clear Fork was three and four times as large (so much more water), when the}' first knew it, as it is at present. The mills on this stream in the Jefferson Township of 1815, were Shauek's, built in 1830 ; Phillips', built in 1833; Ebyo Perry, built in 1837; Herron, built in 1812 ; Zent, built in 1813 ;

Stumps built in ■ ; Mood}', built in 1831 ;

Johnston, built in 1828 ; and Greenwood, in 1833. A Mr. Cornell built a mill on Honey Creek, a short distance east of the State road, in 1821, but it went down in a short time.

��In the summer of 1808, a furious tornado swept diagonally across Jefferson Township. It entered near the northwest, and passed out near the southeast, corner, almost stripping the hills of timber. On the land now owned ])y R. Evarts (part of Section 16), there is a space of about thirty acres, on which there was not a tree left standing. Its width was about one- fourth of a mile, and its track can yet ])e traced through the township. The timber which for- merly stood on the ground now covered with a beautiful gro\\i;h of young chestnut, owned by Jacob Bux'kholder and Casper Swank, was de- stroyed by this storm. L. K. Leedy remembers when he was taller than this timber. This was, undoubtedly, the se^'erest tornado that ever visited the county. The only white persons in Jeflferson Township at that time were the two }-oung men who had just finished the first log cabin.

In the fall of 1812, Jonathan Oldfield and his young brother Richard, set a trap at a hol- low of a tree, where they deposited the remains of a deer, which they presumed a wolf had killed the previous night. They did this in the evening, and early the next morning Jonathan took his gun, and Richard followed after, carry- ing the bridles to catch the horses. When they arrived at the tree the trap was gone, but the hook-like device attached made a trail, which they followed. After going a short distance, they heard a cry as the cry of a child. They walked a short distance further, and, just in front of them, in the dim light of the morning, the face of a huge l:)ear appeared above the brush and' nettles. Jonathan instantly took aim and fired ; the ball penetrated the bear's nostril, entered the brain, and she fell dead. A cub was in the trap, and the gTapnel had fast- ened on a root and it could not get away. Two more cubs were upon trees and were shot ; the captive was taken home alive. The mother thought her young one in the trap was sick, and she had gathered a great pile of leaves about it.

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