Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/457

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��HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

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��CHAPTER XLYII.

EARLY HISTORY OF MADISON TOWNSHIP AND MANSFIELD.

Madison Township — Its Formation, Physical Features and Population — Survey — Early- Settlers — Mans- field — Its Location and Survey — Established on Rocky Fork — Name — First Settlers — First Cabin — First White Child — Pioneer Matters — A Number of First Things — Gen. Crooks — The Block Houses — John M. May^ — The Sturges Firm — Indians — What Rev. James Rowland and Other Pioneers Say — Early Hotels, Etc.

��IN 1807, Madison Township included the territory at present embraced in Richland County. It was named after President Madi- son, and was then under the jurisdiction of Knox County. In 1812, it was divided, Greene being created from its o^stern part. A third division occurred August 9, 1814. leaving Mad- ison the northwestern township in the county, with a territor}- eighteen miles square. Thus it remained until 181G, when it was reduced to its present dimensions — six miles square in the center of the count}'. It is generally rolling, and in places even hill}', but there are no prominent landmarks. North of the city of ^lansfield, there is a ridge whose general course is northwest and southeast, over which the At- lantic & Great Western Railway passes, suffi- ciently elevated to divide the waters of Black Fork and Rocky Fork ; the grade along the road being about fift}' feet to the mile over this ridge. The tributaries of these two streams carry off the water ; and in addition to these, numerous and beautiful springs burst from the gi'ound in different parts of the township. One of these, on Fourth street, probabh' had an in- fluence in determining the location of Mans- field. Two others, the Laird and John's Springs which will receive more particular mention in the history of the w^ater-works, now furnish the city with pure spring water. Another of importance is located in the south- eastern part of the township, on Rocky Fork,

��where the first settlement was made, and others of more or less importance in various places. It was once denselj' covered with every species of hard-wood, and its agricultural resources are fully equal to those of an}' other in the county.

The substratum of its population was of the best material. It was largely Pennsylvania German — either Lutheran or Reformed — and Pennsylvania Cah'inistic Scotch-Irish. The former was the better judge of the qualities of the soil, and the more careful and skillful culti- vator of it. But in public spirit, and in ap- preciation of the importance of private and public education, the Scotch-Irish Avere supe- rior. In the intermingling of the two elements, enterprise and conservatism, materialism and idealism were happily balanced and l)lended ; and it would be hard to find a more desirable population than this combination furnished. To these have been added, in minor propor- tions, the more cosmopolitan elements of the Marylander, the Jersej'^man and New-Yorker, with now and then a Yankee, with his natiye acuteness. smartness, pushing enterprise and passion for progress and improvement ; and notwithstanding his ever-present assumption, that whatever there is good in America came over in the Mayflower, has made himself a val- uable and valued ingi-edient in the population of the township. The presence of the German element was influential in bringing in large

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