Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/463

 HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

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��the lot, according to his promise ; and I have recently been informed by H. C. Hedges, Esq., his nephew, that it was Gen. Hedges" intention to have it made a matter of record. Bnt it seemed he had forgotten to do so. At that time, Gen. Hedges was a single man — in fact, I believe he never was married — and boarded at the Newman cabin, and it would seem strange that my parents and Gen. Hedges could be so much mistaken, considering the sparsity of the population and the fact that such an event was not of such frequent occurrence as to escape their memories."

The following extract is from a letter of C. S. Cottinberrv. of Constantine, Mich., a sou of George Coffinberry. and is dated February 17, 1873: •• I notice in the Shield and Banner Si note of Thomas B. Andrews addressed to you (R. Brinkerhoff ). giving the date of the Ijirtli of the three daughters of 3Irs. Cunningham, with the further statement of Mrs. Cunningham that Matild was born in the town of Mansfield, in the first hnise built in the town, there being- no other house in the town when the}' moved into it. ^Ir. Andrews further states, that Mrs. Cunningham informed him that she was at the house of Jacob Newman, which was the only house in Mansfield at the time. * * * The first house built in the town of Mansfield was built by George Coftinberry in 1809, in the month of August of that year, on the site now occupied by the North American Hotel, at the southwest corner of the public square. The building was a small log cabin, and was never occupied by an}^ other famih'. It was occupied h\ Mr. Coffinberry until he pulled it down to make place for a frame building. On the 23d of August, 1809, the date of the birth of Ma- tilda Cunningham, this house was the only one in the town of ^lansfield, and had not been erected over six days. The house of Jacob Newman, erected and occupied by him, was not within the original plat of the town of Mans- field, and was not erected for some consider-

��able time after that of Mr. Coffinberry's, I think during the winter of 1809. Mansfield Hedges Gilkison was the first white child born in the town of Mansfield. This fact was well known to all the first settlers in the town — the Wel- dons, the Hedges, the Laflands, the Newmans, and others. If Hemy Newman and John New- man still survive, they will bear me out in this statement. If Matilda Cunningham was born August 23, 1809, she was not born in Mans- field, for the house of George Coffinberry, my father, was then the only house in IMansfield, which was a thick and heavy foi'est."

Evidence he has already been given to show that Mr. Coffinberry must have been mistaken regarding the first cabin, and, if so mistaken, it impairs his evidence in this letter.

The following is from Robert Cairns, who is still living in ^Mansfield : •• ]My father and mother moved to the- town of Mansfield in the fall of 1813, and I have frequently seen them point out M. H. Gilkison, and say that he was the first child ])orn in Mansfield. I further state, that I was long and intimately acquainted with Gen. James Hedges, one of the proprietors of the town, and frequently have had conversation with him, in which he stated to me, in speaking of the early settlers of the town of jNIansfield, that JMansfield Hedges Gilkison was the first white child born in the town. He also stated to me that he had the privilege of naming said M. H. Gilkison, and for the privilege of doing so, agi'eed to give him a deed for a town lot, which he has done. * * * Mr. Andrews, in his statement, says that Matilda Cunningham stated to him, that she was born in the cabin-house of Jacob Newman, and the only house in the town. Now, if her statement be correct, in whose house she was born, I boldly assert, with- out fear of contradiction, that Matilda Cunning- ham was not born in Mansfield at all. I now assert that this cabin-house of Jacob Newman was not built in the town of Mansfield at all.
 * * * It was located directly south of

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