Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/468

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��HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

��neighbors, generally from the top of the log or a stump.

When Samuel Hill and Rolin Weldon came, in 1810, they cut a road from the Indian vil- lage of (jireentown to Mansfield.

The first doctor was Royal V. Powers. He came in 1815, tore down that immortal first cabin and erected a frame building, about 18x26 feet and one story high. Here he swung his shingle, kept a few drugs and prac- ticed medicine. Powers afterward settled in the vicinity of New Haven, Huron County, and he and his brother David laid out that place. His sister was the wife of Millard Fillmore.

During the autumn of 1812, Gen. Crooks, with 2,000 men, encamped within the city limits, and assisted the new settlement very materially by clearing oflT about fifty acres of land. They remained until January, and were encamped first on the east side of the square ; but the gi-ound becoming too muddy, they re- moved to the west side, where they cleared oft' a new camp.

During this winter, a windstorm blew dowii a tree near where the old court house stood, killing two men belonging to the army. It has been erroneously stated that Maj. Wilson was one of the men thus killed. Henry NcAvman says that Maj. Wilson died of disease in his father's cabin, and was buried with the honors of war. Mr. Newman describes the funeral, and says Maj. Wilson's father afterward sent money to his mother (his father, Jacob, being then dead), to pay the expenses of his sickness.

Mr. Weldon, who was one of the earliest set- tlers, says, regarding these early times : " John Wallace and I went out one day to hunt bees, about a mile north of Mansfield. On the hill, near the Piatt farm, we came on a den of yel- low rattlesnakes. We commenced shooting them, and continued to do so until our ammuni- tion failed. The balance of the snakes crawled into a hollow log, and we then went to work and pried it open, killing the balance with

��clubs. When we had finished our work, we piled up and counted the dead reptiles^ which were 121, all told. One of them had two heads and three eyes. This one we brought to Mans- field and gave to Dr. Bradle3\ * * * He put it in alcohol and kept it several j^ears."

Rattlesnakes were numerous and among the most disagreeable enemies of the pioneers. They were frequently' found in their cabins and even in their beds.

Not more than eight or ten families arrived in Mansfield before the war of 1812, and dur- ing that war, few, if anj^, came. Some time during the war, or shortly after, the Coffinberry cabin, on the North American corner, was taken down and a frame building erected, which was occupied by Samuel Williams as a tavern. He kept a good house for those da^s and did a lively business. People were coming con- stantly, to look at and locate lands. This hotel was afterward moved to the southwest cor- ner of Mulberry and West Market streets, and thence, some years ago, to the southeast corner of Mulberry and Second streets, where it still remains, and is occupied by Dr. Mera as a dwelling. Henry Roop was the next land- lord after Williams on that corner, and laid the foundation of the jjresent building.

When the war of 1812 was declared, the set- tlers, fearing a general Indian massacre, began the erection of block-houses for their protec- tion. The first was erected at Beam's mill, on the Rock}^ Fork, where the first settlement was made. Two others were erected on the public square in Mansfield. The first was erected by a company of soldiers, under a Capt. ShaefFer, from Fairfield Count}'. It stood nearly in the center of the west side of the square. The second was built b}^ a company commanded by Col. Charles Williams, of Coshocton. Its loca- tion was a little south of and near the site of the old court house.

These block-houses were garrisoned until after the battle of the Thames. The one on

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