Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/671

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��HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

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��had a class in Perrysville, but no building until 1873, when they erected the present frame.

Perrysville was laid out, according to the statement of Mr. Rice and other old settlers, in 1812, though the plat does not appear on the records until three years later. About the time it was laid out, the battle on Lake Erie was fought by Commodore Perry — hence the name of Perrysville. The proprietors were Thomas and Jonathan Coulter and Greorge Crawford. Its first settlers were the Hills, Coul- ters and Tannehills, the first coming from Ver- mont and the two latter from Pennsylvania. There are two ancient mounds near the town, and dui'ing last year while excavating for gi-avel (they are constructed principally of gravel), two skeletons wei-e found in an indiffer- ent state of preservation.

The town contains, perhaps, three or four hundred people, and is situated on the Black Fork, and the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chi- cago Railroad, on a sandy bottom among the hills. It contains three dry-goods stores, which, however, are not confined to dry goods alone ;

��two grocery, one hardware, two drug and one boot and shoe store ; two foundries, one hotel, many shops of different kinds, and the usual number of mechanics in the various ti'ades.

Education has not been neglected. The first schoolhouse in the town was erected on Lot No. 36, and was hewed log. The next — a frame — was erected nearly on the site of the first. The third was erected in 1854, in Coul- ter's Addition — a frame about 2-1x30 feet. It is yet standing, but is used as a dwelling. The fourth house was also erected in Coulter's Ad- dition. It is a two-story frame, and is yet in use for school purposes. The town is now di- vided into two districts, the Black Fork being the dividing line.

In 1865, Prof J. C. Sample started a select school in the Presb3^terian Church. This school was a success, and in two or three years a stock compan}' was formed and erected the present academy, at a cost of $4,000. Prof Sample is yet Principal, and has a houseful of students, many of them from a distance. Per- rysville is a quiet, orderly, pleasant village.

��CHAPTER LXIX.

HANOVER TOWNSHIP.*

Notes of the Survey — Organization and Physical Features — Early Settlers — Loudontille — The Bank — Mills — The Business of Loudonville — Secret Societies — The Churches and Schools — The Press — The Mayors.

��HANOVER TOWNSHIP was surveyed by James Hedges, who commenced March 15, and ended March 25, 1807. In his notes of the survey he says : '' The east boundary had much burnt woods. On the fifth mile going south, came to an old Indian l)oundar3' line, being, perhaps, the north line of Glelloway Res- ervation, in Knox County."

The line runs southwest across the township, and passes out nearly in the middle of Section


 * Now in Ashland County, formerly in Richland.

��31. In subdividing the township, between Sec- tions 1 and 2, he touches Armstrong's Creek, 150 links wide, running southwest. This creek is so named from Capt. Thomas Armstrong, an Indian chief, who resided in the A'illage of Greentown, some eight miles higher up the stream. It is also described by other survey- ors as the IMudd}- or Black Fork of Mohican John's Creek, but more popularly known as the Black Fork, or principal head of the Walhon- ding or White Woman's River. The junction of

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