Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/689

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��HISTORY OF RICHLAND COUNTY.

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��It was discovered in the morning that the drove of cattle belonging to the army had In-oken loose from their corral, and were roaming at will. It is said several of them were killed. The General was satisfied, however, as the troops had shown their willingness to fight.

Gen. Beall left a broad trail through the wil- deniess, and cleared off some ground in the neighborhood of his camp. The first road, however, for the use of the public was that from Wooster to Mansfield, which passed through near the center of the township, and was made in 1815. Settlements grew rapidly along this road, and the first hotel and post office was es- tablished on this road at Hayes Cross Roads, now Hayesville.

Vermillion is well watered by the tributaries of Black Fork and Jerome Fork, lying as it does between these streams. ^lills and distil- leries were erected along these tributaries ; the latter, especially, growing very numerous. Hav- ing no market for their corn, they were compelled to make whisky out of it, and this found a ready sale. It was hauled to the lake, and found its way to the Indians and soldiers, by whom the larger share of it was consumed, though the settlers themselves used a large (juantity of whisky. It was not poisoned in those days, and was considered a healthy drink. The first mill was erected by ('onstance Lake, in the tall of 1817, on Goady's Run, in the southeastern part of the township. Prior to this, the settlers had recourse to their hand- mills or hominy-blocks, and to Shriraplins, on Owl Creek, and Stibb's, near Wooster. The trip to these mills was generally made with four horses and a wagon, by one of the settlers, who carried the grists of all his neighbors ; and it occupied about a week of time. The farm upon which Constance Lake erected his mill, had previously been occupied by JJaptiste Jerome, a Frenchman, and the first white set- tler in this part of the country. He lived for a long time on the site of Jeromeville (which

��received its name from this fact), among the Indians. The mill soon afterward passed into the hands of Lake & Larwill, and then Lake & Bentley.

James Wallace and Robert Newell were elected .Justices of the Peace, in the township, in 1814 ; Ephraim Eckley and James Walters also occupied this oflBce before 1815. Joseph Workman succeeded Wallace, in 1817.

pjducation has received the attention of the the people of Vermillion ever since it was a wilderness. The children of the pioneers were taught the rudimentary part of their ed- ucation at home, and many select schools were taught in private houses before any school- house was erected. One of the first Iniildings used for a schoolhouse was the old Baptist Church, in 1821, in the Buslmell District, and probably the first public school was taught in that house, by Miss Sedelia Bushnell. William Irwin was also a teacher in 1823. Since then, comf<n-tabl(f schoolhouses have been erected in place of the old log ones, and. about 1840, a disposition was shown to have a place for higher education. A high school was accord- ingly estal)lished in Hayesville in 1843, and in 1845, the Vermillion Institute was chartered and authorized to confer degrees. It originated through the eflfbrts of Rev. Lewis Granger, J. L. McLain and the citizens of the town. It is handsomely situated, and has had a career of varied success. Like all other institutions of learning, even though not attended with the highest success, it gives to the people ai-ound it a higher civilization and better society than is enjoyed outside the circle of its influence.

The first church was erectetl in the northeast part of the township, in 1817, and was known as " Eckley's Church." It was free to all Prot- estant ministers, but was chiefly used by the Methodists. -Old Hopewell," erected by the Presbyterians, one mile west of Ashland, and Eckley's, formed the nucleus from which Pres- byterianism and Methodism radiated in Ashland

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