Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/684

 -1^

��672

��HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY

��interest of the Brethren, or Tunkards, which has a circulation of 4,000. Its editors and man- agers are Prof S. Z. Sharp, S. H. Bashor and John Worst.

In the same office and for the same society, is also published a Sabbath-school paper, called the Young Disciple, which is edited by Prof S. Z. Sharp, President of the Ashland College, and James Quintor. Its circulation is nearly 10,- 000.

The jobbing department of the Times office is complete in every respect, and the establish- ment generally is one of the largest and most complete in this part of the State.

The Ohio Union, above mentioned, continued in charge of Mr. Knapp until 1853, when he sold to John Sheridan, bv whom it was con-

��tinued until November, 1855, its name having, in the mean time, being changed to the Ash- land Ihiion. At that date, it was purchased by Collins W. Bushnell. In January, 1857, H. S. Knapp repurchased, and continued the publi- cation of the paper until May 30, 1860, when he disposed of it to J. J. Jacobs. Mr. Jacobs sold, in 1865, to McCord, Nelson & Landis, and in the same year it was transferred to J. M. Landis & Bro. In 1868, the establishment was pur- chased by George W. Hill, who conducted it until August, 1872, when he sold to Nelson & Gates, who changed the name to the Ashland Press. January 1, 1879, W. H. Gates retired from the firm, and Nelson continued until July 17, when the establishment was purchased by Alberson & Heltman, the present proprietors.

��Formation — Indian Trail-

��CHAPTER LXXII.

ORANGE TOWNSHIP.*

Indians and Indian Relics — Ancient Relics — First Settlers- Mills — Orange Villaoe — Churches.

��First Road —

��PRIOR to 1816, Montgomery Township, in what is now Ashland County, was twelve miles long from north to south, and six miles wide. June 3, 1816, this territory was divided and the north half called Orange. It was at that time the northeast township of " Old Rich- land," but became a part of Ashland County in 1846. It was surveyed by Maxfield Ludlow in 1806, when it was yet a wilderness and no white man's cabin within its boundaries. An Indian trail passed through the southwestern part of the township, passing up Jerome Fork, crossing into Clear Creek Township, to Ver- million Lake. This trail was much used by the Wyandots and Ottawas in their passage to and from the eastern part of the State. About the year 1816, this trail was surveyed by Rev. James Haney, of Savannah, a practical sur-


 * Now in Ashland County, formerly in Richland.

��veyor, to Rowsburg, and from there to Wooster. It was opened as a road and used as a common highway Ijy the early settlers of Orange and Clear Creek Townships.

The evidences of Indian occupation in many parts of Orange Township were numerous. The aborigines, it seems, were accustomed to assem- ble annually in the spring, in large numbers, upon the lands subsequently owned by Isaac Mason, Jacob Young, Jacob Heifner and Peter Biddinger, to make sugar and hunt, which cus- tom they kept up until as late as 1815 or 1816. Mr. Biddinger, being a gunsmith, was often visited by them for repairs to injured or broken flint-locks.

The soil and timber of Orange do not differ materially from others around it, already de- scribed. The land is generall}- level, or with gentle ascents and descents ; the township is

��^^

��:\

�� �