Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/651

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��HISTOKY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

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��on his shoulder, a basket of eggs on his arm, and walk several miles to Plymouth or other places, and peddle from house to house. He was strictly honest and conscientious in- his dealings, careful in making change even to a cent or the fraction of a cent. He was never known to laugh, or even smile, and never owned or would use a horse, always carrying his grist to mill upon his back, and returning with the meal or flour the same wa}'. He died about 1840, without a will, leaving considerable money and a fine quarter-section of land, which was taken possession of by his rich and aristocratic Boston relatives, who had frequently visited him, and tried to induce him to return to Boston. His was, also, a severe case of " woman."

The early settlers were John Pettijohn and William Greene, who came as earlj^ as 1815 ; Charles Morrow, 1817 ; Adam Aumend, Ru- dolphus Morse and Resolved White, who came from New York in 1819 ; John Blair, 1821 ; A. T. Ross, 1825 ; John Webber, 1817, Section 13 ; Jacob Cuykendall, John Blair, Van Osdoll, Van Fleet, Ruckman, Capt. Joseph Gardner, John Bodley, Jesse Ladow and Samuel and Robert Hanna. These were all here before 1820, except Ross. These early settlers are all dead. They and those who immediatelj' followed them were generally New Englanders, New York Hollanders and Pennsylvania Scotch-Irish.

Probably the first road opened through the township was one cut by a portion of thearm}^ of Gen. Harrison, in 1813-14, from Mansfield to Fort Ball, near the present site of Tiffin, which passed diagonally across it from southeast to northwest. This route was frequented by Har- rison's couriers with despatches to the East. One of these couriers, well known to the set- tlers, was George Myers, a German, who after- ward laid out New Washington, in Crawford County, and called it after the " Father of his Country." A fact may be here noted, that nearly all the early settlers in Plymouth and Auburn Townships were soldiers of the war of

��1812. They must have been attracted to this beautiful country, and returned to it after the war.

Auburn is well supplied with churches, there being seven, at present, within its limits. One of the oldest religious organiztitions is that of the Presbyterians, at Waynesburg. Rev. M. Wolf, a missionary, organized this society in a very early day. Their meetings were held in private houses and schoolhouses ; no church building was erected.

The Baptists organized a society about 1830, Deacon Howe was the founder and leading spirit. About 18-40, they erected a small frame church on Section 16, which they occupied until January 1, 1880, when they dedicated a new one which had been erected at a cost of $2,500.

The Methodists have a church called " Pleas- ant Grove," in the southern part of the town- ship. The United Brethren also have a church near Tiro in the southern part of the township, erected in 1878, at a cost of about $1,500. In the same neighborhood, on the Plymouth and Bucyrus road, is the Lutheran Church, organ- ized about 1855. One of the earliest Methodist churches was located on Section 8 ; it was used for many years, and sold to the Winebrenarians, or Church of God, who organized about 1874, and have since occupied it. The " Good Will " Methodist Church, is located on Section 20, and was organized about 1850. The church was not erected until 1870 ; Thomas Milliard, who came from Pennsylvania and settled near here in an earl}' daj', was the founder. Dni'ing 1879, the Catholics erected a church at a cost (in- cluding parsonage) of $4,000, on Section 7. But two towns have been started in this town- ship — W^aj'nesburg, on the west side, which be- came a village with two or three business places, but was killed by the passage of the rail- road through Plymouth, and Tiro on the Mans- field, Coldwater & Lake Michigan Railroad. This latter is generally called DeKalb station, Tiro being the name of the post office.

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