Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/569

 HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

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��The early settlers of Plymouth Township were, perhaps, more than other townships, at a loss about getting their grinding done. There were many brooks and beautiful springs in dif- ferent parts of the township, but none of suffi- cient strength for an}' consideral)le period of the year, to furnish especially excellent water power. The}' were compelled, therefore, to travel great distances for this purpose. This state of things could not last where Yankee ingenuity and wit were not lacking. Mr. John Webber had been a miller l)y trade, and concluded he could work out a set of buhrs, or millstones, from the native granite bowlders, or " nigger- head " stone, which abounded in the country of almost an}- size. Selecting two large specimens, he succeeded by great labor in shaping them to suit him. These buhrs, instead of being two flat surfaces working against each other like the French buhr, were made, the nether one in the shape of a cone, and the upper bowl shaped to fit over it. The lower one was made stationary and the upper revolved around it. This mill was run by a little spring stream on Mr. Web- ber's land, and was a success. It was a curios- ity even in that day, and would be much more so to-day. Part of this mill is still in existence — the bowl part being used as as a water trough, at the house of a man named Cline, a short distance south of Shelby Junc- tion. A wheelwi'ight and carpenter named Rouse Bly assisted Mr. Webber in the erection of this mill.

Many horse-mills were erected in different parts of the township. In 1825, Mr. Trux erected a water-mill upon the little stream near his cabin. Steam power was unknown in those days, and this mill could only be used a portion of the year, but it has l^een in operation from that day to this, having been rebuilt and hav- ing changed hands many times ; steam power being added in the course of time. It is now operated by Snyder & Wolf Further down this stream, near Plymouth Village, is another

��mill owned and operated liy Ross Cuykendall. It also uses steam and water power, and has Ijeen in operation many years.

The sul)jectof education and religion received the early attention of the settlers here as else- where. The early missionary preachers through here were Rev. Mr. Wolf, a Presbyterian, Mr. Arbuthnot, a Covenanter, Mr. Mclntire, a jNIeth- odist, and John Chapman, a Swedenborgian. Rev. Benjamin Wooley, a Methodist, settled on the northwest quarter of Section 4, in 1817, and became a local preacher. Nearly all the early ministers found in other parts of the county were also well known here. Among them, the well-known names of Bigelow, Benajah Board- man, Harry 0. Sheldon, Enoch Congor and others appear. These were excellent men, with clear heads and stout hearts, preaching wherever they could find shelter, and often when they could not. They established church organiza- tions, and assisted in the erection of churches all over the county and adjoining counties, They spent their lives in the wilderness sowing good seed, and unconsciously, perhaps, building their own monuments.

Perhaps as early as 1816 or 1817, a Metho- dist class was formed at the house of John Long. John Murphy was its leader. These were earnest people, and this class continued in existence long after Methodist churches were erected in different parts of the county. The United Presbyterians, the General Assembly Presbyterians and the German Reformed people held meetings generally at the house of John Concklin until 1819, when they organized a church under the care of the Richland Pres- bytery, called the " First Presbyterian Church of Plymouth," with forty-two members ; and the same year erected a large log meeting- house on the corner of Peter Ruckman's land. Section 7. The first Elders of this church were John Concklin, Abraham Yanhouten, Levi Bodley and Daniel Gunsaulus. This society was organized at the house of Abraham A'anhouten.

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