Homepage

 

Visit the Descendant’s Registry

Adams | Allen | Ashland | Ashtabula | Athens | Auglaize | Belmont | Brown | Butler | Carroll | Champaign | Clark | Clermont Clinton | Columbiana | Coshocton | Crawford | Cuyahoga | Darke | Defiance | Delaware | Erie | Fairfield | Fayette | Franklin Fulton | Gallia | Geauga | Greene | Guernsey Hamilton | Hancock | Hardin | Harrison | Henry | Highland | Hocking Holmes Huron | Jackson | Jefferson | Knox | Lake | Lawrence | Licking | Logan | Lorain | Lucas | Madison | Mahoning | Marion Medina | Meigs | Mercer | Miami | Monroe | Montgomery | Morgan | Morrow | Muskingum | Noble | Ottawa | Paulding | Perry Pickaway | Pike | Portage | Preble | Putnam | Richland | Ross | Sandusky | Scioto | Seneca | Shelby | Stark | Summit | Trumbull Tuscarawas | Union | Van Wert | Vinton | Warren | Washington | Wayne | Wood | Wyandot

Historical Collections of Ohio

By Henry Howe

Vol. II

©1888

 

UNION COUNTY

 

 

Page 704

 

 

UNION COUNTY was formed April 1, 1820, from Delaware, Franklin, Madison and Logan, together with a part of old Indian territory. The surface is generally level, and most of the soil clayey. The southwestern part is prairie land, and the north and eastern woodland of great fertility when cleared. In the eastern part are valuable limestone quarries.

 

Area about 420 square miles. In 1887 the acres cultivated were 124,261; in pasture, 53,807; woodland, 37,046; lying waste, 1,364; produced in wheat, 276,985 bushels; rye, 785; buckwheat, 362; oats, 180,250; barley, 79; corn, 1,111,352 broom corn, 800 lbs. brush; meadow hay, 28,045 tons; clover hay, 4,639; flax, 8,000 lbs. fibre; potatoes, 21,075            bushels; butter, 383,982 lbs.; cheese, 11,500; sorghum, 1,934 gallons; maple sugar, 26,092 lbs.; honey, 2,814; eggs, 551,631. dozen; grapes, 6,340 lbs.; wine, 35 gallons; sweet potatoes, 142 bushels; apples, 5,288; peaches, 200; pears, 770; wool, 354,274 lbs.; milch cows owned, 4,880. School census, 1888, 7,301; teachers, 247. Miles of railroad track, 63.

 

 

 

Population of Union in 1830, 3,192; 1840, 8,443; 1860, 16,507; 1880, 22,375; of whom 19,218 were born in Ohio; 618, Pennsylvania; 591, Virginia; 232, New York; 104, Indiana; 42, Kentucky; 379, German Empire; 222, Ireland; 131, England and Wales; 39, British America; 12, Scotland; 8, France, and 2, Norway and Sweden. Census, 1890, 22,860.

 

The first white men who ever made a settlement within the county were James EWING and his brother Joshua. They purchased land and settled on Darby creek, in what is now Jerome township, in the year 1798. The next year came Samuel MITCHELL, David MITCHELL, Samuel MITCHELL, Jr., Samuel KIRKPATRICK, and Samuel McCULLOUGH; and in 1800, George REED, Samuel REED, Robert SNODGRASS and Paul HOUSTON.

 

James EWING’S farm was the site of an ancient and noted Mingo town, which was deserted at the time the Mingo towns, in what is now Logan county, were destroyed by Gen. Logan, of Kentucky, in 1786. When Mr. EWING took possession of it, the houses were still remaining, and, among others, the remains of a blacksmith’s shop, with coal, cinders, iron-dross, etc. Jonathan ALDER, formerly a prisoner among the Indians, says the shop was carried on by a renegade white man named BUTLER, who lived among the Mingoes. Extensive fields had formerly been cultivated in the immediate vicinity of the town.

 

 

Page 705

 

differed, in one respect, from some of the accounts of it which we have read. His recollection was perfectly distinct that, when the alarm was given in the camp, upon the approach of the Indians in the morning, a limited number of men from each company were called for, and sent out with the expectation that they would have a fine frolic in the pursuit of what they supposed to be a mere scouting party of Indians. After the party thus detached had been gone a few minutes, a few scattering reports of rifles began to be heard. Momently, however, the firing became more rapid, until it became apparent that the Indians were in force. The whole available force of the whites then left the camp. During the forenoon Mr. C. received a wound from a rifle-ball which passed directly through the elbow of his right arm, which disabled him for the remainder of the day.

 

During his residence in Ohio he was extensively known, and had many warm friends among the leading men of the State. He was one of the electors by whom he vote of the State was given to James Monroe for President of the United States. The last of many public trusts which he held was that of associate judge for this county.—Old Edition.

 

Marysville in 1846.—Marysville, the county-seat, so named from a daughter of the original proprietor, is thirty miles northwest of Columbus, on Mill creek, a tributary of the Scioto. It contains 1 Presbyterian and 1 Methodist church, an academy, 1 newspaper printing office, 3 mercantile stores, and had, in 1843, 360 inhabitants; it is now estimated to contain about 600.

 

MARYSVILLE, county-seat of Union, twenty-five miles northwest of Columbus, is surrounded by a rich farming district, and is on the C. C. C. & I. R. R. County Officers, 1888: Auditor, George M. McPECK; Clerk, Robert McCRORY; Commissioners, Thomas  M. BRANNEN, David H. HDNDERSON, Berry HANNAWALT; Coroner,  Robert H. GRAHAM; Infirmary Directors, John E. HARRIMAN, William M. WINGET, David R. WHITE; Probate Judge, Leonidas PIPER; Prosecuting Attorney: Edward W. PORTER; Recorder, Jefferson G. TURNER; Sheriff, Thomas MARTIN; Surveyor, Robert L. PLOTNER; Treasurer, Robert SMITH. City Officers, 1888: W. M. WINGET, Mayor; John C. GUTHRIE, Clerk; John H. WOOD, Treasurer; Moses COOLEDGE, Marshal: Antone VANDERAU, Street Commissioner. Newspapers: Tribune, Republican, J. H. SHEARER, editor; Union Co. Journal, Democratic, A. .J. HARE, editor and publisher. Churches: 1 Methodist, 1 Catholic, 1 Presbyterian, l Congregational, 1 Lutheran, 1 African Methodist Episcopal. Banks: Farmers’, J. M. SOUTHARD, president, Chas. W. SOUTHARD, cashier; Bank of Marysville (Fullington & Phellis), R. M. HENDERSON, cashier; People’s, A. J. WHITNEY, president, C. S. CHAPMAN, cashier.

 

Manufactures and Employees.—Robinson, Curry & Co., doors, sash, etc., 15; Half, furniture, 42; C. F. Lentz, butter tubs, etc., 28; S. A. Cherry, lumber, Flack & CHAPMAN, doors, sash, etc., l0; A. S. Turner, carriages and Spargue & Perfect, flour, etc., 5; J. Z. Rodgers, machine repair shop.—State Reports, 1888

 

Population 1880, 1,061. School census, 1888, 928; W. H. COLE, school superintendent. Capital invested in industrial establishments, $78,700. Value of annual product, $159,600.—Ohio Labor Statistics, 1887. Census, 1890, 2,832.

 

Marysville is sometimes called “the Shaded City,” because its streets are so well maples. The county is remarkable for its excellent macadamized roads extending in the aggregate 550 miles and made at a cost of a million and two hundred thousand dollars. The county court-house is a handsome substantial structure of Berea sandstone and pressed brick, and built in 1883 at a cost of $150,000. It is the fourth county court-house. Its predecessor is shown in the old view of Marysville.

 

 

Page 706

Top Picture

Drawn By Henry Howe in 1846.

CENTRAL VIEW IN MARYSVILLE.

 

Bottom Picture

W. O. SHEARER, Photo, 1890.

Each picture was taken from the same standpoint.

 

 

Pages 707, 708, 709

 

gallons.  A fine large bath-house has been erected and other preparations made for visitor.

 

The memorable “LOG-CABIN CAMPAIGN,” during which the word “Buckeye” became the fixed sobriquet of Ohio, was intimately connected with the history of Union county, for here the first log-cabin was built.

 

The building of the log-cabin and its introduction into the campaign was brought about by a scurrilous newspaper article, describing Gen. Harrison’s home life, and representing him as living in a log-cabin, drinking hard cider, and without ambition or ability to fill the highest office in the land. The people of Ohio were at this time just emerging from the log-cabin era; all the early associations and sentiment of their lives were identified with the log-cabin, where they had lived while they and their parents had fought the daily battle of privation and hardship in the wresting of the wilderness from barbarianism. The contemptuous reflection on this life they resented with great indignation, and enthusiastically supported Gen. Harrison.

 

At the Whig State Convention held in Columbus, February 22, 1840, every county determined to be well represented. They taxed their ingenuity to devise curious insignia of their party. Songs were written without number and sung to such an extent that the campaign also became known as “The Song Campaign.” Two of these songs became famous throughout the length and breadth of the land for their exceeding aptness, sentiment and tuneful rhymes: these were “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too,” by A. C. Ross, of Zanesville, and the “Log-Cabin Song,” by Otway CURRY, of Marysville.

 

The idea of constructing a log-cabin to be taken to the State Convention first occurred to the Union county delegates. Under the supervision of Levi PHELPS, William W. STEELE, A. C. JENNINGS, James W. EVANS; Stephen McLAIN and Mains WASON the cabin was constructed.

 

Jackson G. SPARGUE (living in Bloomfield, ILL., in 1889) built the cabin of buckeye logs, cut for the purpose from the forest in the vicinity of Marysville. It was built on the wagon which was intended to carry it in the procession to Columbus. (The Convention being a mass convention, each county was represented by hundreds of delegates.) Before the completion of the cabin, Mr. CURRY was waited upon by a delegation of citizens and requested to compose a suitable song for the dedication ceremonies. Mr. Curry complied with the request and composed the “Log-Cabin Song” and played an accompaniment on the flute the first time it was sung.

 

On the morning of February 21 at the log-cabin on a wagon drawn by four horses and accompanied by a large procession started for Columbus. The neat morning on nearing Columbus the procession was augmented in numbers by a large delegation from Clarke county. A band of singers had been placed in the cabin, and on it printed copies of the song had been distributed, so that when the procession entered Columbus and moved through the city every person had learned the song, and the tuneful air rang out loud above the cheers that greeted the delegation on every side.

 

In a very short time every delegation had procured copies of the song, which was printed by the Columbus papers, and when these delegations returned to their homes the refrain was taken up and spread throughout the country with marvellous rapidity until the whole country was resounding with the air. Its effect in rousing the spirit of the people throughout the nation cannot be estimated.

 

 

 

 

The “Song” incited the production of many similar songs, but none of these shared its popularity except.” Tippecanoe and Tyler, too.” This was written by A. C. Ross, of Zanesville, on his return from the State Convention. Ross was a member of the Zanesville Tippecanoe Glee Club and was asked to write an original song for them. A friend suggested “Little Pigs” as an air that would furnish a chorus well adapted for public meetings. “Tippecanoe and Tyler, too” was composed and first sung at a meeting of the Glee Club. It was received with great enthusiasm, but did not spread much beyond the Buckeye State until September. In that month at a political meeting held in Lafayette Hall, New York city, Mr. Ross was pesent having gone east to purchase goods. goods. The speakers, Prentiss of Mississippi, Talmadge of New York, and Otis of Massachusetts, were late in reaching the hall. Several songs were sung to hold the crowd, but the stock was soon exhausted and chairman Delevan requested any one present who could sing to come forward and entertain the people.

 

Ross said, “If I could get on the stand I would sing a song,” and hardly had the words out before he found himself passing over the beads of the crowd to be landed on the platform. Questions of “Who are you?” “What’s your name?” came from every hand. “I am a Buckeye from the Buckeye State,” was the answer.” Three cheers for the Buckeye State! “cried out the president and they were given with a will. Ross requested the meeting to keep quiet till he had sung three or four verses, and it did. But the enthusiasm swelled up to an uncontrollable pitch, and at last the whole meeting joined in the chorus with a vim and a vigor indescribable. The song was encored and sung again and again, but the same verses were not repeated, as he had many in mind and could make them to suit the occasion. While he was singing in response to the third encore, the speakers, Otis and Talmadge, arrived and Ross imporvised—

 

 

 

He took his seat amid thundering applause and three times three for the Buckeye State. After the meeting was over the crowds in the streets, in the saloons, everywhere, were singing “Tippecanoe and Tyler, too.”

 

 

 

 

The authorship of “Tippecanoe and Tyler too,” has been erroneously attributed to John Greiner, of Columbus, who wrote a large number of popular campaign songs.

 

Soon after the nomination of David Tod for governor by the Democrats in January, 1844, Samuel Medary, through the columns of his paper (Ohio Statesman), called “for a song from Greiner,” The following unique lines were the result of that call:

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Nght of Suffering and Peril of Two Soldiers of the War of 1812.—The following account of the terrible suffering of two of the early residents of Union county is abridged from the “County History.” It illustrates one of the many perils common to all pioneer settlements.

 

In the latter part of December, 1813, David MITCHELL and James MATHER, soldiers of the war of 1812, who had been honorably discharged at Fort Meigs, were on their way to their homes at the “Mitchell Settlement” on Big Darby creek, when they were overtaken by a heavy snow storm, accompanied by severe cold. Their path lay through an uninhabited region, with not even a blazed tree to guide them. To cross Mill creek, they had felled a tree for a foot bridge. The exertion had produced profuse perspiration. The tree did not quite reach the opposite bank, so that in crossing they were wet to the knees. When the opposite bank was reached MITCHELL, who was in feeble health, was seized with a fit of sickness and vomiting, as a result of the chill caused by the wetting. Some six miles from “Mitchell’s Settlement” he became too weak to proceed, and sank to the ground exhausted; believing that he could not survive; he besought MATHER to leave him to his fate and seek his own safety. This MATHER refused to do, but went courageously to work to do what he could for his companion. Gathering some dry leaves, he made a bed of them at the roots of a large tree, and, with brush, limbs and bark, constructed a rude shelter, to which he carried MITCHELL. By rubbing his feet and legs he endeavored to get up a reaction through the circulation of the blood; then taking a pair of stockings from his own knapsack he put them on MITCHELL’s feet. In the meanwhile, night closed in, and, although the snow ceased falling, the cold increased in severity. Throughout the long, dreary night, MATHER kept up his efforts to restore his comrade, but apparently without avail. When at last dawn began to break, although still alive, MITCHELL was rapidly sinking, and again by words and signs besought die MATHER to seek safety and leave him to die alone. MATHER again refused to do this, but as soon as sufficiently light started on a swift run to the settlement, and when nearing Judge MITCHELL’s house he met three brothers of MITCHELL, to whom he communicated the condition of affairs. They immediately procured blankets and restoratives and hastened on horseback to the rescue, though scarcely expecting to find their brother alive.

 

Mitchell was still alive when found, was hastily conveyed to his father’s house; medical aid was summoned, and by careful nursing he was restored to health, although he never recovered from the effects of his terrible experience. His feet and legs having been frozen, he was crippled to some extent. MATHER suffered no permanent injury from the exposure.

 

 

Page 710

 

given in the “Union County History,” is related an account of his refusal to turn over to a jailer a slave that had sought protection from the Union army. It involves a question which was at the time a national one, and a subject for consideration in the cabinet of President Lincoln.

 

Capt. HAMILTON was born in Irville, Muakingum county, O., September 24, 1830. When a boy of eight years he removed with his father’s family to Richwood, Union county. He worked on his father’s farm, spent two years in college at Delaware, taught school; married, June 3, 1856, Edmonia DAWSON, daughter of Dr. Nelson DAWSON, of Putnam, O.; commenced farming in Black Hawk county, Ia., in 1857; returned to his father’s farm in 1861; July 22, 1862, was appointed by Gov. Tod to raise Union county’s quota of volunteers; Aug. 7, 1862, was elected captain in the 96th O. V. I. The regiment was assigned to the command of Brig.-Gen. S. C. Burbridge, and the brigade was attached to Maj.-Gen. A. J. Smith’s division of the Thirteenth Army Corps.

 

Capt. HANILTON resigned from the army Aug. 9, 1863, on account of disease contracted in the service. His wife died Jan. 29, 1877, and in 1879 he married Miss Molly KENDALL, and they now live together in the village of Richwood. Capt. HAMILTON has partially regained his health.

 

The account of Capt. HAMILTON’s refusal to return the fugitive slave is here quoted from the “County History:

 

“The 96th O. V. I. reached Kentucky on the 1st day of September, 1862. It will be remembered that at this time there was a sentiment among the new recruits that slaves and slave property were being wrongfully protected by the army, and that it was no part of a soldier’s duty to protect rebel property, and catch and return slaves to their masters. It began to be noticed that negroes were turned out of our lines with an ever-increasing degree of reluctance; also that Capt. HAMILTON was the friend of the oppressed, and that he did not always obey an order to do so inhuman a thing as to turn a fellowman over to his rebel master even in obedience to a positive command of a senior officer. Finally a boy, some fourteen years of age, came into the camp of the 96th Ohio, at Nicholasville, Ky., calling himself William CLAY, and reporting that his master was a rebel, and that he had thrown an axe at him (Billy), and that he wanted protection. He found a friend in Capt. HAMILTON, and remained with him, as a servant, for some time, until the army was ordered to move to Louisville. On the way, and as it passed through Versailles, a person dressed in the uniform of a Union soldier came, representing himself as being on Maj.-Gen. A. J. Smith’s staff, and that as such he ordered Capt. HAMILTON to deliver the boy Billy to him to be turned over to the jailer as an escaped slave. This he refused to do unless the order came in writing from Gen. Smith in the ordinary way, being countersigned by Gen. Burbridge and Col. I. W. Vance, of the 96th O. V. I. This the fellow refused to get, but notified him that he would be back in fifteen minutes “with a detachment of soldiers, and that he would take the boy by force. Upon this the captain turned to his company, and told them that if it was going to be a question of force, that they might load their guns and prepare for the affray.

 

That order the company made haste to execute, and as they did so one company after another did the same, until, as far as one could see, the road seemed to glisten with the light of the sun as it was reflected by the several thousand ramrods which were being used to send home the ball that was intended to perforate the hide of any man who would attempt to take Billy by force. The effect of his preparation was that the staff officer gave upon his notion of taking the boy by force at at time, but notified the captain that the affair would be deferred until evening, at which time the boy would be taken by force, and the captain put under arrest for disobedience of orders. This kept the matter brewing in the minds of the soldiers. As soon as the army was encamped for the night, the soldiers held an impromptu meeting, at which speeches were made and resolutions passed approving the course of Capt. HAMILTON, and resolving that they would stand by him to the death A committee was appointed to inform him of their purpose, and he was soon waited on by a soldier who made known their action to him, and requested that, if any move should be made to take the boy by force, immediate notice should be given to the officers and soldiers whose names were found on a card which was handed to the captain. This uprising of the soldiers, cocasioned by the refusal of Capt. HAMILTON to give up the boy Billy, had the effect to stop all effort in the Army of Kentucky to arrest or return slaves to their masters.

 

 

Page 711

 

take the bop by force and send him back to Kentucky, but he said that the captain need not be alarmed, for that many thousands of men were armed and ready for any move that might be made to return the boy.

 

Billy CLAY and H. C. HAMILTON both live in Richwood at this time, and this story would not have been told if it had not been for the fact of its having had so important a part in the war in overthrowing the slave power, and in developing liberal and Christian sentiment at home.”

 

The name of OTWAY CURRY stood high among the people in the olden time as that of a man of singular purity and dignity of character, and a poet whose verses illustrated the thoughts and emotions of a devout and reverent spirit.

 

He was born on what is now the site of Greenfield, Highland county, March 26, 1804, and when a lad of seven years came with his father, Col. James CURRY, into what is now Union county. His father the next year, 1812, was summoned to Chillicothe as a member of the legislature; an older brother went into the army to do battle for his country, and the rest of the family remained on the farm with their prudent and patriotic mother. Alone in the wilderness, surrounded by savages, they were never molested, though often alarmed. On one occasion their horses showed every indication of fear; their dogs barked furiously, now rushing into the cornfield and then retreating with bristling hair as if driven. The family thinking that the Indians were near, decided to fight as well as pray.

 

The mother, in marshalling her forces, stationed young Otway and his brother Stephenson on guard, Otway at the house corner and Stephenson at the bars with loaded guns at rest and ordered them to take aim and fire as soon as they saw an Indian. Fortunately none appeared.

 

Otway learned the carpenter’s trade at Lebanon, and followed that occupation for several years, part of the time in the lower Mississippi country. At this period he began writing verses anonymously for the newspapers, as “My Mother,” and “Kingdom Come;” these gained popular favor and won the life-long friendship of William D. Gallagher. He married Miss Mary NOTEMAN, and eventually settled on a farm in Union county, where he courted the muses in the intervals of agricultural labor. In 1836 he was elected to the legislature; again in 1837 and 1842. For a while he edited the Xenia Torch Light, and was associated with Gallagher in Columbus in the publication of the Hesperian, a monthly magazine of a high order, and therefore naturally of a short life.  In these years he studied the law, and though entering the profession late evinced marked capacity. In 1850 he was elected a member of the second Ohio Constitutional Convention. In 1853 he purchased the Scioto Gazette and removed to Chillicothe, where he edited it for a year, and health failing, returned to Marysville and resumed the practice of the law. In 1854 he was president of the Ohio Editorial Convention, and died February 15, 1855. He was one of the choice spirits of the Methodist church. The late Bishop Thomson wrote of him “as a man without, a spot in his character, of strong domestic nature, whose home to him was a paradise: a man of fervent piety, and his poetry as the song of a religious soul: a faith that brings heaven near to earth and man into fellowship with angels.”

 

Mr. Curry was tall and well proportioned, with a broad, lofty brow, and an open countenance. He was strikingly neat in his personal appearance, and careful and cautious in his speech and writings as though the eye of the Master was ever upon him in all his words and acts. Annexed is one of his poems, which has been a comfort to many devout souls:

 

 

 

                         Page 712

 

December 1, 1838.  Francis F. Browne, author and editor of the Dial, thus outlines his career in “Appleton’s Cyclopedia of American Biography:”

 

Mr. SMITH had the best educational advantages that the State then afforded. He was tutor in a western college, and then assistant editor of a weekly paper in Cincinnati, of which, at the age of twenty-two, he became editor, doing also literary work on the Literary Review. At the opening of the civil war he was on the editorial staff of the Cincinnati Gazette, and during the war he took an active part in raising troops and forwarding sanitary supplies, and in political work for strengthening the government.

 

He was largely instrumental in bringing Gov. John Brough to the front as the candidate of the United Republicans and War Democrats; and at Brough’s election, in 1863, he became the latter’s private secretary. The neat year he was elected secretary of  the State of Ohio, and was re-elected in 1866. He retired from public office to establish the Evening Chronicle at Cincinnati but, his health giving way, he was forced to withdraw from all active work. In 1870 he took charge of the affairs of the Western Associated Press, with headquarters at Chicago. in 1877 he was appointed by President Hayes collector of the port at that city, and was instrumental in bringing about important reforms in customs methods in harmony with the civil service policy of the administration.

 

In January, 1883, he effected the union of the New York Associated Press with the Western Associated Press, and became general manager of the consolidated association.

 

Mr. SMITH is a student of historical subjects. He is author of “The St. Clair Papers” (2 vols., Cincinnati, 1882), a biography of Charles Hammond, and many contributions to American periodicals. He has partly completed (1888) a “Political History of the United States.” By his investigations in the British Museum he has brought to light many unpublished letters of Washington to Col. Henry Bouquet, and has shown that those that were published by Jared Sparks were not correctly given.

 

Mr. SMITH is of Scotch-Dutch descent, through both the male and female line. His father, William DeForest SMITH, was a native of Litchfield county, Connecticut, where his family had settled about 1639. Mr. SMITH’s mother was Almira GOTT, daughter of Deacon Story GOTT, a lieutenant in the Revolutionary army, who was a descendant of Daniel GOTT, who emigrated from Scotland and settled in the Connecticut Valley before the year 1690. After the close of the Revolutionary war Lieutenant GOTT removed to Columbia county, N. Y.

 

At the northwest corner of Broadway and Dey streets, New York,