Ashland County
Page 251
ASHLAND COUNTY was formed February 26,
1846. The
surface on the South is hilly, the remainder of the county rolling. The
soil of
the upland is a sandy loam; of the valleys-which comprise a
large
part of the county-a rich sandy and gravelly loam, and very productive.
A great
quantity of wheat, oats, corn, potatoes, etc., is raised, and grass and
fruit
in abundance. Majority of the population are of Pennsylvania origin. to
present
territory originally comprised the townships of Vermillion, Montgomery,
Orange,
Green, and Hanover, with parts of Monroe, Mifflin, Milton, and Clear
Creek, of
Richland county; also the principal part of the townships of Jackson,
Perry, Mohican,
and Lake, of Wayne county; of Sullivan and Troy, Lorain county; and Ruggles, of Huron county. The townships from
Lorain and
Huron counties are from the Connecticut Western Reserve tract. Area, 470 square miles. In 1885 the acres
cultivated were 130,94;
in pasture, 47,607; woodland, 45,137; lying waste, 3,128; produced in
wheat,
443,339 bushels; in corn, 861,675; cheese, 476,850 pounds; flax,
564,200; wool,
268,573; maple sugar, 57,850.School census 1886, 7,336; teachers, 153.
It has
29 miles of railroad.
Townships And Census |
1880 |
|
Townships And Census |
1880 |
Clear Creek, |
1,154 |
|
Montgomery, |
4,638 |
Green, |
2,857 |
|
Orange, |
1,448 |
Hanover, |
2,316 |
|
Perry, |
1,492 |
Jackson, |
1,486 |
|
Ruggles, |
726 |
Lake, |
886 |
|
Sullivan, |
795 |
Mifflin, |
846 |
|
Troy, |
715 |
Milton, |
1,192 |
|
Vermillion, |
2,209 |
Mohican, |
1,693 |
|
|
|
Population in 1860 was
22,951; in 1880,
23,883, of whom 18,852 were Ohio born.
ASHLAND IN 1846.—Ashland, the
county-seat, was
laid out (1815) by William Montgomery, and bore for many years the name
of
Uniontown; it was changed to
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its present name in
compliment to Henry
CLAY, whose seat near Lexington, Kentucky, bears that name. Daniel
CARTER, from
Butler county, Pennsylvania, raised the
first cabin in
the place about the year 1811, which stood where the store of William
GRANGER
ranger now is in Ashland. Robert NEWELL, three miles east, and Mr. FRY,
one and
one-half miles north of the village, raised cabins about the same time.
In 1817
the first store was opened by Joseph SHEETS, in a frame building now
kept as a
store by the widow YONKER. Joseph SHEETS, David MARKLEY,
Drawn
by Henry Howe in 1846.
PUBLIC
BUILDINGS IN ASHLAND.
Samuel URY, Nicholas
SHAEFFER, Alanson
ANDREWS, Elias SLOCUM, and George W., PLAMER were among the first
settlers of
the place. Ashland is a flourishing village; eighty-nine miles
northwest of
Columbus, and fourteen from Mansfield. It contains five, churches,
viz., two
Presbyterian, one Episcopal Methodist, one Lutheran, and one Disciples;
nine
dry-goods, four grocery, one book, and two drug stores; two newspaper
printing-offices; a flourishing classical academy, numbering over 100
pupils of
both sexes, and a population estimated at 1,300. The above view was
taken in
front of the site selected for the erection of a court-house, the
Methodist church building
seen on the left being now used for that purpose; the structures with
steeples,
commencing on the right, are the First Presbyterian church, the
academy, and
the Second Presbyterian church. At the organization of the
Frank Henry Howe, Photo.,
1888.
PUBLIC BUILDINGS IN
ASHLAND.
first court
of common pleas for this county, at Ashland, an old gentleman by the
name of
David BURNS was one of the grand jurors who, as a remarkable fact, it
is said,
was also a member of the first grand jury ever impanelled
in Ohio. The court met near the mouth of Wegee
creek,
in Belmont county, in 1795; the
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country being sparsely settled, he was compelled to
travel forty
miles to the place of holding court.—Old Edition.
County officers for 1888: Auditor, Samuel L.
ARNOLD; Clerk,
Milton WINBIGLER; Commissioners, Nathan J. CRESSON,
John Martin, Jacob KETTERING; Coroner,
William H. REINHART; Prosecuting Attorney, Frank C. SEMPLE; Probate
Judge,
Emanuel FINGER; Recorder, Edwin S. BIRD; Sheriff, Randolph F. ANDRESS;
Surveyor, John B. WEDDELL; Treasurers, James W. BRANT, Thomas C. Harvey.
ASHLAND, the county-seat, is about fifty miles
southwest of
Cleveland, on the line of the N. Y. P. and O. railroad. It is a
well-built
town, with a fine farming country round about. Newspapers:
Press, Democratic, W. T. ABLERTSON,
editor; Times, Republican, W. H.
REYNOLDS, editor; Brethren Evangelist, religious
and Prohibition, A. L. GARBER, editor; Gazette,
Republican, Hon. T. M. BEER, manager. Churches: one Presbyterian,
two
Lutheran, one Disciples, two Brethren, one Evangelical, one Reformed,
and one Catholic. Banks: Farmers’, E. J. GOSSCUP, president, George A.
ULLMAN,
cashier; First National, J. O. JENNINGS, president, Joseph PATTERSON,
cashier.
Manufactures and Employees.--Shearer, Kagey
&
Co., doors, sash, etc., 16 hands; F. E. Myers & Bro., pumps, 65;
Kauffman
& Beer, woven-wire mattresses, 20; H. K. Myers & Co., flour,
etc.; Klugston & Hughes, grain
elevator. State Report 1887. Population in 1880,
3,004. School census 1886, 1,169; Joseph E.
Stubbs,
superintendent.
Ashland has the high distinction having given
the first
citizen of Ohio volunteer as a
soldier for the Union army. This was Lorin
ANDREWS,
who was born here in a log-cabin, April 1, 1819, being the fourth child
born in
Ashland. His father, Alanson ANDREWS, later opened a farm southwest of
the
village. At the age of seventeen he delivered with great credit a
Fourth of
July oration at Carter’s Grove just east of the town. From 1840 to 1843
he was
a student at Gambier, but from want of pecuniary means was obliged to
leave,
and then took charge of the Ashland academy. He pursued his studied
without a
teacher, and with signal success. He lectured before institute
throughout the
State, and had scarcely an equal in influence as an educator. So
greatly was he
valued for power of intellect and general capacity that, in 1854, he
was chosen
to the presidency of Gambier, and he brought up the institution from an
attendance of thirty to over 200 pupils.
Princeton
conferred upon him the degree of LL. D. He had peculiarly winning
qualities
that made him a born leader. It was in February, 1861, that, believing
war
inevitable, he offered his services to Gov. DENNISON. In April he
raised a
company in Knox county for the Fourth
regiment, and
was elected colonel. It was ordered to West Virginia, where, owing to
exposure,
he was taken sick of typhoid fever, and died September 18, 1861, and
was buried
at Gambier in a spot of his own selection. He was but forty-two years
of age in
his prime-and of great moral influence. He was about five feet eight
inches in
height, and weighed about 130 pounds; hair sandy, and inclined to curl.
His eye
was a clear gray, his face manly, full of benevolence, his carriage
erect, with
a sprightly gait.
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Upon a high, commanding
site upon the
outskirts of the town stand the somewhat imposing structures of the
Ashland
Preparatory College, W. C. PERRY, principal. This institution is under
the
auspices of the Society of Dunkards, or
German
Baptists, of whom there are many in parts of this county. The following
account
of these peculiar and excellent
people is from the “County History.” The quiet simplicity and
earnestness of
their lives is on a par with that of the members of the Society of
Friends:
The
German Baptists
or, as they are commonly called by outsiders, Dunkers or Dunkards
(the name being derived from the German word to dip), had their first
organization in Germany about the year 1708, in a portion of country
where Baptists are said to have been unknown; the original organization
consisted
of eight persons, seven of whom were bred Presbyterians and one in the
Lutheran
faith; they agreed to “obey from the heart that form of doctrine once
delivered
unto the saints.” Consequently, in the year 1708, they repaired to the river Eder, near Schwarzenau,
and were
buried with Christ in baptism. They were baptized by trine immersion
and,
organizing a church, chose Alexander MAC their first minister. He was
not,
however, the originator of their faith or practice, the church never
having
recognized any person as such. Meeting with opposition and persecution,
they emigrated to America and settled, in
the year 1719, near
Philadelphia and Germantown, Pennsylvania. And from that little band of
eight
persons have sprung all the Dunkers in America. As the church has no
statistics, its numbers can only be estimated. The estimate is about
100,000
souls, mostly in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana,
Maryland,
Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska. They are mostly farmers, some mechanics and
a few
professional men, but such a thing as a Dunkard
lawyer is unknown.
Their
religion
inculcates industry and frugality, abstaining from extravagance and
worldly
display. They are very desirable citizens in any community, as by their
industry and freedom from excesses of all kinds, they create and
develop the
wealth of a country blessed with their presence, and by their example
exert a
healthy influence upon the morals of those associated with them.
They
regard the New
Testament as the only rule of their faith and practice; believe in the
Trinity
and contend for the literal interpretation of the Old and New
Testaments, as
works of Divine inspiration. All idiots, infants and those who die
before
knowing good from
evil will be
saved without obedience, having been sufficiently atoned for by the
death of
Christ. None, however, are recognized as members of the church until
after
baptism, which must be entire immersion, the applicant kneeling and
being
dipped forward three times, one for each person of the Godhead.
Feet-washing
is their
next ordinance, the authority for which is narrated in John 13. It is
observed
as a preparation for the love feast and communion. The brethren wash
the feet
of brethren only, and sisters of sisters: the sexes never washing the
feet of
each other, as has been sometimes stated. Those who perform this are
not
chosen, but any person of the same sex may voluntarily perform it.
The
love-feast is a
real meal; the quality or kind of food being unlimited, Christ’s supper
being
the authority for it. After this, immediately preceding the communion,
is the salutation of the kiss as observed by the apostles, and
Christian
churches following them. In this ordinance the sexes do not interchange
salutation.
At
communion, the next
ordinance, the sisters with heads covered with plain caps and brethren
with
heads uncovered give thanks for bread and wine. The minister breaks,
bread to
the brethren and they to each other; he also breaks bread to the
sisters, but
they do not break bread to each other; it is the same in passing the
wine. The communion. is always observed at
night, the hour of its institution by Christ; usually once or twice a.
year in
every church.
There
are also the
ordinances of laying on, of hands and
anointing the
sick with oil, founded on James 5; 14, 15.
The
church government
is republican in, form, matters of difference and questions of doubt
being
first submitted to the council of each church, and when not settled
they are
carried to the district council composed of one delegate each from
twenty
churches, sometimes less. If still unsettled it is carried to the
national
conference if a matter of general interest; but no local matter can be
referred
to that body.
In the
lower councils
all matters are decided. by vote of
brethren and sisters; but the sisters;
do not participate in the official deliberations of the national conference.
Their
mode of worship
does not materially differ from that of other denominations, save that
the Lord’s prayer is repeated after every
prayer, and the
service closed without benediction; the minister simply says: “We are
dismissed
in the name of the Lord,” or some similar phrase. During the service
the
sisters, keep their heads covered with a plain covering, in compliance
with
Paul, who says: “It is a shame for a woman to worship or
prophesy
with her head uncovered.” ‘
The
Dickey Church (so
named after Elias DICKEY, one of its leading speakers), the pioneer
Dunker’s
church of Ashland county, was erected about 1860 in Montgomery township, but
a new and larger edifice was erected in 1877. It owes its institution
to the
efforts of the late Jos. ROOP, who about 1839-40 invited Mr. TRACY to
address a
few people at his,
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house, and
the meetings were
continued until the present organization was formed. The Maple Grove or
Beighly church was erected four or five
years before the
Dickey building, but the latter was the earliest church organization.
Their
speakers receive no salary, but if one should be a poor man devoting
his time
and talents to the spreading of their faith, they regard it as
incumbent upon
them to reward him by gifts.
JEROMEVILLE
is a
small village eight miles southeast of Ashland, on Jerome fork of
Mohican,
which has one Presbyterian, one Methodist, and one Disciples church,
and in
1880 had 314 inhabitants. In that vicinity, about the year 1762,
MOHICAN JOHN,
a noted chief of Connecticut Mohegans, to
the number
of about 200 it is supposed; emigrated to Ohio, and established a
village upon
the west side of Jerome fork; on the site of the farms of Rev. Elijah
YOCUM and
Judge Edmund INGMAND. In the war of 1812 it was about the only
settlement
within the present limits of the county, and consisted of a few
families, who
erected pickets for their safety. There was at that time a Frenchman,
named
John Baptiste JEROME, who resided there
and gave name
to the locality. He had been an Indian trader, and had taken a squaw
for a
wife. The people of that nation always became more easily domesticated
among
the aborigines than the English. From very early times it was the
policy of the
French government not to allow their soldiers to take wives with them
into the
wilderness. Hence the soldiers and traders frequently married among the
Indians, and were enabled to sustain themselves with frequently less
difficulty. In 1812, when the Indians were removed, his wife went with
them;
and later he married a German woman. He removed to the month of Huron river, and died there. He began trading with the
Indians
when seventeen years of age, and was with them in Wayne’s campaign. The
Indian
village consisted of about thirty bark huts or wigwams. The names of
the heads
of the families were AWEEPSAH, OPETETE, CATOTAWA, NESOHAWA,
BUCKANDOHEE, SHIAS,
GROUND SQUIRREL, BUCKWHEAT, Philip CANONICUT, Billy MONTOUR, and Thomas
JELLOWAY.
Hill, in the “County
History,” says
that, JEROME was a brave and kindly man, small, wiry, and vivacious.
Having
been with the Indians at the battle of the “Fallen Timbers,” he often
related
anecdotes of that battle, describing the amazement of the Indians at
the
rapidity and violence of the movements of Wayne’s army, the Indians
comparing
him to a huge “black snake,” and ascribing almost supernatural powers
to him.
He came like a huge anaconda, inclosed and
crushed
them in such a frightful manner that. they
abandoned
all hope of resistance, and were glad to make peace. He asserted that
for a
very long time the very name of “Mad Anthony” sent a chill of horror
through
the body of an Indian.
The Delaware Indians had
a settlement
at or near Jeromeville, which they left at
the
beginning of the war of 1812. Their chief was old Capt. Pipe, who
resided near
the road to Mansfield, one mile south of Jeromeville.
When young he was a great warrior, and the implacable foe of the
whites. He was
in St. Clair’s defeat, where, according to his own account, he
distinguished
himself, and slaughtered white men until his arm was weary with the
work. He
had a daughter of great beauty. A young chief, of noble men, became in
love
with her, and on his suit being rejected mortally poisoned himself with
the May
apple. A Capt. PIPE, whose Indian name was TAUHANGECAUPEOUYE, removed
to the
small Delaware reserve, in the upper part of Marion county,
and when his, tribe sold out their Ohio possessions accompanied them to
Kansas.
Helltown and Greentown were two
Indian villages
in the southern part of this county. Greentown was so named after
Thomas GREEN,
a Connecticut Tory, who, sympathizing with the British and Indians in
the
destruction of the valley of the Wyoming, fled to Ohio and joined the Delawares, acquiring great influence among them.
Among the
Greentown Indians was a very aged, full-blooded, ugly-looking savage,
who was
known to the early settlers as Tom LYONS. He was born in New Jersey,
and was
one of the friendly Delawares with the
whites at the
massacre of Wyoming
in 1778. On a few occasions he related his achievements. He had
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been in many battles on the border,
taken many scalps. He related some of his acts of extreme
cruelty, and a
few of his barbarities inflicted upon the wives and children of the
border
settlers. He was with the other Greentown and Jerometown
Indians in the battle of the Fallen Timbers, and, as related in Hill’s
“History
of Ashland County,” gave this graphic account. It was in reply to a
question of
Allen OLIVER, who asked him what he thought of Wayne as a white chief:
“Wayne be
great
chief. He be one devil to fight. Me hear
his dinner
horn way over there go toot, toot; then over here it go toot, toot;
then way
over side it go toot, toot. Then his soldiers run forward-shoot, shoot;
then run among logs and brush. Indians have got to get out
and run. Then come Long Knives with pistols and shoot, shoot. Indians
run; no
stop; Old Tom see too much fight to be trap-he run into woods—he run
like
devil—he keep run till he clear out of danger. Wayne
great
fight—brave white chief. He be one devil.”
While going through the
description of the
fight, “Old Tom” gesticulated and grinned, as much as if in the midst
of the
battle. Terror was evinced in the whole of the mimic battle he was then
fighting over, and being about the ugliest-looking Indian the settlers
had ever
seen, the effect of his speech was to the highest degree expressive.
The exact location of the Indian village Helltown is not known, but it was supposed to be
on the
south line of what is now Green township,
on the banks
of the Clear fork of the Mohican. It probably derived its name from a
Pennsylvania captive who spoke the German language, in which “Hell”
signifies
clear or transparent, so called after the stream on which it was
situated.
When Col. CRAWFORD in the spring of 1782 invaded
the Indian
settlements of the tipper Sandusky the Helltown
Indians fled thither for safety. The village was the home of a number
of
well-known Delaware chiefs, among others Thomas ARMSTRONG; also the
occasional
residence of the noted Capt. PIPE, one of Col. CRAWFORD’S executioners.
In 1783
Thomas ARMSTRONG, with the original inhabitants of Helltown
(that village having been abandoned) and a few Mingoes
and Mohawks, established the village of Greentown, some three miles
west of the
present village of Perrysville. It was on a bluff extending to the
north banks
of Black fork, or “Armstrong’s” creek, almost entirely surrounded by
alder
marshes, and, a very strong position. The huts, numbering about 150,
were
constructed of poles covered with bark, and irregularly placed around a
knoll,
with a playground in the centre, at the west side of which was built
the
council house and cemetery in a grove.
Up to 1795 it was a station on the route for
captives on
the way to Detroit and other points in the Indian Territory.
Two tragedies in the autumn of 1812 were enacted
by the
Indians not far from the old Indian village of Greentown. These were
the murder
of Martin RUFFNER, Frederic ZIMMER (or in English Frederic SEYMOUR) and
family, on the Black fork
of the Mohican,
and the tragedy at the cabin of Mr. James COPUS. Hill’s History of
Ashland
County” gives very full details. We here first take the briefer history
as
published on pages 429-30 in the first edition of this work. In a note
there we
stated that our informant for the first tragedy was Mr. Henry NAIL,
from whose
lips, now just forty-two years ago, we derived it; and for the second,
we said:
“We have three different accounts of this
affair: one from
Wyatt HUTCHINSON, of Guernsey, then a lieutenant in the Guernsey
militia; one
from Henry NAIL, who was with some of the wounded men the night
following; and
the last from a gentleman living in Mansfield at the time. Each differs
in some
essential particulars. Mach experience has taught as that it is almost
impossible to get perfectly accurate verbal narratives of events that
have
taken place years since, and which live only in memory.” And
to this remark of ours made in that long ago we here add the additional
reason
for conflicting testimony, viz., the rarity of perfect accuracy of
observation
and strength of memory, combined with the faculty of clearness in
statement:
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The Massacre
of the Ruffner Family—There was
living at this
time—said Mr. NAIL—on the Black Fork of the Mohican, about half a mile
west of
where Petersburgh now is [now Mifflin], a
Mr. Martin
RUFFNER. Having removed his family for safety, no person was with him
in his
cabin, excepting a bound boy. About two miles southeast stood the cabin
of the
SYMOURS. This family consisted of the parents—both very old people—a
maiden
daughter Catharine, and her brother Philip, who was a bachelor.
One
evening Mr.
RUFFNER sent out the lad to the creek bottom, to bring home the cows,
when he
discovered four Indians and ran. They called to him, saying that they
would not
harm him, but wished to speak to him. Having ascertained from him that
the
SEYMOURS were at home, they left, and he hurried back and told RUFFNER
of the
circumstance upon which he took down his rifle and started for
SEYMOUR’S. He
arrived there, and was advising young SEYMOUR to go to the cabin of a Mr. COPUS, and get old Mr. COPUS and his son to
come up
and help take the Indians prisoners, when the latter were seen
approaching.
Upon this young SEYMOUR passed out of the back door and hurried to
COPUS’S
while the Indians entered the front door; with their rifles in hand.
The
SEYMOURS received
them with an apparent cordiality, and the daughter spread the table for
them.
The Indians, however, did not appear to be inclined to eat, but soon
arose and
commenced the attack. RUFFNER who was a powerful man, made a desperate
resistance. He clubbed his rifle, and broke the stock to pieces; but he
fell
before superior numbers, and was afterwards found dead and scalped in
the Yard,
with two rifle balls through him, and several fingers cut off by a
tomahawk.
The old people and daughter were found tomahawked and scalped in the
house.
In an
hour or so after
dark, young Seymour returned with Mr. COPUS and son, making their way
through
the woods by the light of a hickory bark torch. Approaching the cabin,
they
found all dark and silent within. Young SEYMOUR attempted to open the
door,
when it flew back. Reaching forward, he touched the corpse of the old
man, and
exclaimed in tones of anguish, “here is the
blood of
my poor father!” Before they reached the place, they heard the Indians
whistling on their powder chargers, upon which they put out the light
and were
not molested.
These
murders,
supposed to have been committed by some of the Greentown Indians,
spread terror
among the settlers, who immediately fortified their cabins and erected
several
block-houses. Among the block-houses erected was NAILS’, on the Clear
fork of
the Mohican; BEAMS’, on the Rocky fork; one on the site of Ganges, and
a
picketed house on the Black Fork, owned by Thomas COULTER.
The
Copus Tragedy.—Shortly
after this,
a party of twelve or fourteen militia from Guernsey county,
who were out on a scout, without any authority burnt the Indian village
of
Greentown, at this time deserted. At night they stopped at the cabin of
Mr.
COPUS, on the Black Fork, about nine miles from Mansfield. The next
morning, as
four of them were at a spring washing, a few rods from the cabin, they
were
fired upon by a party of Indians in ambush. They all ran for the house,
except
WARNOCK, who retreated in another direction, and was afterwards found
dead in
the woods, about half a mile distant. His body was resting against a
tree, with
his handkerchief stuffed in a wound in his bowels. Two of the others,
George
SHIPLEY and John TEDRICK, were killed and scalped between the spring
and the
house. The fourth man, Robert DYE, in passing between the shed and
cabin,
suddenly met a warrior with his uplifted tomahawk. He dodged and
escaped into
the house, carrying with him a bullet in his thigh.
Mr.
COPUS at the first
alarm had opened the door, and was mortally wounded by a rifle ball in
his
breast. He was laid on the bed, and the Indians shortly attacked the
cabin.
“Fight and save my family,” exclaimed he, for I am a dead man. “The
attack was
fiercely made, and several balls came through the door, upon which they
pulled
up the puncheons from the floor and placed them against it. Mrs. COPUS
and her
daughter went up into the loft for safety, and the last was slightly
wounded in
the thigh, from a ball fired from a neighboring hill. One of the
soldiers,
George LAUNTZ, was in the act of removing a chunk of wood to fire
through, when
a ball entered the hole and broke his arm. After this, he watched and
saw an
Indian put his head from behind a stump. He fired, and the fellow’s
brains were
scattered over it. After about an hour the Indians, having suffered
severe
loss, retreated. Had they first attacked
the house, it is probable an easy victory would have been gained by
them.
We now give the incidents
of these tragedies, and in
an abridged form, as told in the “County History:”
Martin
RUFFNER and
brother-in-law Richard HUGHES erected cabins near each other in the
spring of
1812, about half a mile northwest of’ the present site of Mifflin. Mr.
Frederick ZIMMER, Sr., put up a cabin two and a half miles southeast of
Mr.
Martin RUFFER and occupied it with his wife, daughter Catherine,
ZIMMER’S son
Philip ZIMMER, aged 19,
and Michael RUFFNER, brother of
Martin, whom he hired
to assist him. Martin RUFFNER and, a bound boy, Levi BERKINHIZER,
occupied the
RUFFNER cabin.
One day
in September
Michael RUFFNER met two well-armed Indians near the ZIMMER cabin, and
being
suspicious of their intentions he mounted a fleet horse and rode rapidly
Page 258
to
ZIMMER’S and put them
on their guard, and Philip ZIMMER was despatched
to
inform James COPUS, who lived two miles further south. Having warned
COPUS he
proceeded to inform John LAMBRIGHT, who returned with him and was
joined by Mr.
COPUS; proceeding to the ZIMMER cabin, which they reached early in the
evening.
Finding no light in the cabin COPUS crept cautiously up to it; the door
was
ajar, but with some obstruction against it: cautiously feeling his way,
he
placed his hand in a pool of blood. Returning to his companions he
informed
them of his discovery, and further investigation proved that Frederick
ZIMMER,
wife and daughter and Martin RUFFNER had been murdered RUFFNER had made
a
desperate resistance; he had fought his way from the cabin into the
yard, his
gun being bent nearly double from clubbing it; several of his fingers
had been
chopped off by a tomahawk and he was shot twice through the body. The
fiends
had scalped their victims, who had been treacherously set upon while
furnishing
them refreshment, as was indicated by the table being nigh spread.
It is
supposed eight
or ten Indians were engaged in the slaughter, whose enmity Mr. ZIMMER
had
incurred by tying clap-boards to their ponies’ tails to frighten them
away from
the corn fields; any injury to an Indian’s dog or pony being a cause
for
enduring resentment. Martin RUFFNER and the ZIMMERS were buried in one
large
grave on a knoll near the scene of the tragedy. The cabins of Martin
ZIMMER and
Richard HUGHES near the ZIMMERS’ were not disturbed, young BERKINHIZER
having
slept alone in that of RUFFNER the night of the tragedy, RUFFNER having
been
very friendly with the Indians, although perfectly fearless in his
dealings
with them.
After
his discovery of
the murder of the ZIMMERS Mr. COPUS and Mr. LAMBRIGHT returned to their
cabins
for their families, and removed them to the block-house at Jacob Beams’.
After
several days in
the block-house Mr. COPUS, believing the Indians owed him no ill will,
insisted
on returning with his family to his cabin on the Black Fork. Capt.
MARTIN
protested against it, but as COPUS persisted m going he sent nine
soldiers with
him as an escort. They reached the cabin in safety and retired for the
night,
the soldiers occupying the barn. In the night the dogs kept up a
continuous
barking and Mr. COPUS got up toward daylight and invited the soldiers
into the
cabin.
In the
morning the
soldiers leaning their guns against the cabin (although cautioned to
keep
possession of them by Mr. COPUS) passed out to the spring at the base
of a hill
near the sixth cabin for the purpose of washing. They had reached the
spring,
when some Indians from their concealment in a corn field near by rushed
out,
cut off their retreat and began hooting and tomahawking them. Mr. COPUS
seizing
his gun rushed for the cabin door; just as he opened it, he met an
Indian; both
fired at the same instant and both were mortally wounded. The ball from
the
Indian’s gun passed through the leather strap sustaining Mr. COPUS’S
powder
horn (which is now in the possession of Mr. Wesley COPUS) and into his
breast;
he staggered to his bed and died in a short time, begging the soldiers
to
defend and save his family. Two of the soldiers fled toward the forest,
but
were soon overtaken. killed and scalped; another, Mr. WARNOCK,
succeeded in
escaping his pursuers, but was shot through the bowels and foot; his
body was
afterwards found seated leaning against A tree with his handkerchief
stuffed
into the wound in his bowels. Mr. Geo. DYE, another soldier, was shot
through
the thigh just as he was entering the cabin.
The
knoll near the
cabin being covered with dwarfed timber served the Indians as a shelter
from
which they fired volley after volley into the cabin, wounding Nancy
COPUS, a
little girl, above the knee and breaking the arm of Geo. LAUNTZ, a
soldier, who
had the satisfaction however of returning his compliments with a bullet
which
caused the Indian who had shot him to bound into the air and roll down
the hill
on the way to the “happy” hunting grounds of his fathers.
The
battle lasted
about five hours, after which the Indians withdrew, carrying off their
dead and
wounded, but fired a parting salute into a flock of Mr. COPUS’s
sheep, killing most of them.
After
the withdrawal
of the Indians a soldier was despatched to
the
block-house at BEAMS’ for assistance. Shortly
after Capt.
MARTIN, having been out with a party of soldiers on a scouting
expedition,
arrived at the cabin, too late to be of any assistance. An
effort was
made to pursue the Indians, but was abandoned as useless. Mr. COPUS and
the
soldiers were buried in a large grave a rod or two from the cabin,
under an
apple tree. Capt. MARTIN then took the family and returned to the
block-house.
Mrs. COPUS and her children remaining in the block-house several weeks
removed
to Guernsey county, but in the spring of
1815 returned
to their cabin.
The
number of Indians
engaged in this attack was estimated at forty-five, there having been
discovered back of the corn field the remains of forty-five fires in
holes
scooped in the ground, to prevent observation, over which the Indians
roasted
ears of corn the evening before the attack.
Two handsome monuments in
Mifflin township now mark the
resting-places of the victims of these
tragedies. The Ruffner-Zimmer monument is ten
miles southerly
from Ashland, and the Copus monument
twelve miles.
They are so alike in
structure that
the engraving annexed gives a correct idea of the other.
Page 259
These monuments
were erected, at an expense of nearly $500, near the sites of the occurrences they
commemorate. The project had its
inception with Dr. S. Riddle, historian of the
Ashland Pioneer Society, who interested its members, and the necessary
sum was
raised by subscription in this
and in
Richland county. The history of their
dedication is thus given by him;
MONUMENT
IN COMMEMORATION OF THE COPUS
MASSACRE.
The date
for the unveiling of the Ruffner-Copus
monument was fixed for Friday, September 15,
1882, just seventy years to the day when the tragic scenes took place,
and
preparations were made for what was expected would be a memorable day
in the
history of Ohio. The expectations of the committee were more than
realized.
Early in the day the people began to arrive at the Copus
Hill from every direction; a-foot, on horseback and in every imaginable
kind of
conveyance, until fully 6,000 had assembled in the forest overlooking
the scene
of the Copus battle. The day was balmy—one
of those
pleasant fall days—and the thousands present came with baskets filled
ready for
the pic-nic. The exercises opened with
music by the
Mt. Zion band, followed by prayer by Rev. J. A. HAIL, then music, then
the
address of welcome by the gentleman above named. Rev. P. R.
ROSEBERRY
followed in a few
remarks, after which the venerable Dr. Wm. BUSHNELL, of Mansfield, end
Andrew
Mason, Esq., of Ashland, in response to calls, entertained the
audience. Mrs.
Sarah VAIL, daughter of James COPUS, who was present at the time her
father and
the three soldiers were killed, and who now resides hard by at the age
of
eighty-four years, was introduced to the multitude. Mrs. BAUGHMAN,
mother F. A.
J. BAUGHMAN, was also introduced to the audience: this lady’s father,
Capt. CUNNINGHAM,
assisted in burying the dead at Copus
Hill. A recess
was then taken for the pic-nic and an hour
later R.
M. Campbell, Esq., of Ashland, was introduced and spoke at length. Hon.
Henry
C. HEDGES, of Mansfield, was then introduced and made some touching
remarks; at
the close of his address the Huff Brothers Band played a dirge;
following this,
Dr. P. H. CLARK, of Ashland, delivered an appropriate address which was
full of
interest for the occasion; at its close a procession of vehicles to the
number
of about 1,200 was formed and passed by the Copus
Monument as it was unveiled. The multitude then proceeded to the Ruffner Monument, when it was also unveiled.
Thus the
ceremonies of the day ended; a day long to he remembered.
Page 260
Under the names of COPUS and the slain soldiers
was carved,
at the suggestion of Miss Rosella RICE of Perrysville, the name of the
eccentric Johnny Appleseed, whom she knew
well, and
whose good deeds she has commemorated with her pen. A novel, founded
upon these
tragedies and the early times in this region, entitled, “Philip
SEYMOUR, or
Pioneer Life in Richland County,” by Rev. James F. McGAW,
published in Mansfield in 1857 and 1883, has had quite a local
popularity.
PERRYSVILLE, sixty miles northeast of Columbus, on the P. Ft.
W. &
C. railroad.
It has churches: 1 Baptist, 1 Methodist, 1
Presbyterian, and 1 Lutheran, and in 1880, 476 inhabitants. A correspondent sends us some items:
Perrysville was laid out June
10, 1815, by
Thomas COULTER and was the second village established in the county. At
that
early day whiskey drinking was the general custom. At one period there
were
nine still houses in the township in active operation, and they ere
unable to
keep up with the demands of the thirsty. Jeremiah CONINE, on the resent
VAN
HORN farm, was the pioneer distiller. Hop picking was then an important
industry; the hops sold for fifty cents a pound. Mrs. Betsy COULTER, nee RICE, in 1815 opened the first school in her own
home. She
took spinning and weaving as part pay for tuition. Johnny Appleseed
was a frequent visitor here. He was a constant snuff consumer and had
beautiful
teeth. He was smitten here with Miss Nancy TANNEHILL and proposed, but
was just
one too late: she was already engaged. He died in St. Joseph township,
Indiana, at the house of Wm. Worth. When he died he had on for clothing
next to
his body a coarse coffee sack slipped over his head; around his waist
parts of
four pantaloons; over these a white pair complete. He was buried two
and a half
miles north of Fort Wayne. The principal white settlers in this section
in 1809
were Andrew CRAIG, an exhorter and local minister in the Methodist
Church who
frequently preached to the Greentown Indians, James CUNNINGHAM, Samuel
Lewis
and Henry McCART.
HAYESVILLE, about seventy miles northeast of Columbus, is a
fine
trading own, in the centre of an extensive farming, wool-growing, and
stock-raising district. Newspaper: Hayesville Journal, Independent, H.
H.
ARNOLD. Churches: l Methodist, 1 Presbyterian, 1 United Presbyterian. Population in 1880, 563.
LOUNDONVILLE, about sixty-five miles southwest
of
Cleveland, on the Black fork of the Mohican river,
also on the I. Ft. W. & C. railroad. It is surrounded by a very
productive
agricultural district. Newspapers: Advocate, Independent, P.
H. STAUFFER,
editor; Democrat,
Democratic, J. G. HERZOG, editor. Churches: l Methodist, 1
Baptist,
2 Lutheran, 1 Catholic, 1 Presbyterian, and 1 Evangelical. Banks:
Farmers’, J.
SCHMIDT, president, A. C. ULLMAN, cashier; Loudonville Banking Company,
G.
SCHAUWEKER, president, J. L. Quick, cashier. Among the principal
industries is
one of the finest and best equipped roller-process mills in the State. Population in 1880, 1,497. School
census
in 1886, 547; Elliott D. WIGTON, superintendent. Savannah and
Polk have
each about 400 inhabitants.
William B. ALLISON, the eminent member of the United States Senate from Iowa, was born in Perry township this county, March 2, 1829. He was educated at Allegheny College, Pa., and Western Reserve College, Ohio; practised law at Ashland and Wooster, and removed to Dubuque, Iowa, in 1857.