Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/571

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��HISTORY OF RICHLAXD COUNTY.

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��Reservation. These people followed the old militaiy road to Paris, and then went north " blazing " their way to their farms. Thus it was, before Paris was laid out, there were set- tlements in every direction, and " blazed trails " leading from the village to these diffex'ent set- tlements. It is a remarkable fact, that no less than fourteen or fifteen " blazed trails " led through the woods to as man}- different settle- ments, all these trails centering in Paris. They were not roads ; they were hardly paths, the blazed trees alone directing the traveler to the ''Morris, Green and Van Osdell Settlement," the " White Settlement," the " G^-pson and Gard- ner Settlement," the " Bodley Settlement," the " Broomback and Swearengen Settlement," the '• Bevier Settlement," and " Swan and Smith Settlement," etc.

It seems a little strange that it took ten years of time, and all these settlers and thus cluster of houses, to impress upon the minds of some of the earl}' settlers the necessity of lajing out a town ; but such seems to lie the case, for the village of Paris was not laid out until the 17th da}' of May, 1825, at which time, as before stated, there were sixteen log houses on its site, occupied by the following settlers : Abraham Trux, Patrick Lynch, Benjamin Wooley, James Young, Enos Rose, Abner Harkness, A. D. "VV. Bodley, Haslo, John and Henry Barney, Christian Gulp, B. F. Taylor, William C. Enos and Lemuel Powers. These men were generally mechanics, and picked up what work came to the place, by reason of the travel on its gi-eat thoroughfare, passing the remainder of their time hunting, trapping and farming.

The town was laid out by Abraham Trux, Lemuel Powers and John Barney, on a high, sandy rolling piece of ground, and consisted, at first, of forty-seven in-lots, all of which were sold in less than two years, and additions made which found a ready sale, and Plymouth prom- ised to be a citv.

��The first blacksmith was Patrick Lynch ; the first lawyer, William C. Enos ; the first doctor, Lemuel Powers ; the first tailor, Mr. Curtis ; the first shoemakers, John Skinner and W. Y. B. Moore ; the first tanner, Hugh Long ; the first bricklayer and plasterer, Robert Morfoot (yet living) ; the first wheelwright, A. D. W. Bodley ; the first cooper, Anthony McLaughlin; the first cabinet-maker, James Drennan ; the first carpenters, William Crall, James Dickson and Mr. Gilcrease ; the first merchants, Wilson Brothers, ]\Iathew McKelvey and G. G. Graham.

Very soon after the town was laid out, Abra- ham Trux erected the gi'ist-mill before men- tioned, and also a saw-mill near his house, on a branch of the Huron River. Two distilleries were also erected, one by Lemuel Powers and the other by William McKelvey. These distil- leries purchased the corn, which they made into whisky, and therefore created a market for corn, about the only article of produce the farmer could sell. The whisky was hauled to the lake — except what was consumed at home, which was no small quantity — where it found a ready market.

These distilleries were, however, soon discon- tinued, Mr. McKelvey receiving an injury which disabled him, and Dr. Powers having been converted to the cause of temperance. The latter turned his distillery into a hat factory, which was conducted by him with success until his death, when it passed into the hands of his son, A^olney, who continued it several years.

The travel on the military road brought many strangers to the place, and made- ''taverns" a necessity. Before the place was two years old, three of these institutions existed, kept by James Drennan, Jacob Heller and Mr. Linsay, where the '• hog, hominy and whisky," wild meats and " corn pone." were plentifully spread before the mud-bespattered stage-drivers and their weary passengers.

The same year in which the village was laid out, the people erected, by subscription

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