from "Arise Wild Land" 
by Lindsay Williams, 1982

(picture)
First frame schools were replaced in Milton Township with ten "Little Red Brick
Schools" so fondly remembered by oldtimers.  This last one at the corner of 
Highway 585 and Benner Road was abandoned long ago and soon will be reclaimed 
by Mother Nature.

Chapter 8 

A Town-full of Lances

The largest pioneer family to "cut an opening" in the Milton Township wilderness
was that of Lantz (Lance).

Christopher Lance, 72-year-old patriarch of 12 children in Jefferson County, 
Ohio, near Stuebenville, came here in the summer of 1814 in company with George
Halliwell.  Lance bought the northwest quarter of section 1 on July 25, 
Halliwell registered the northeast quarter of section 2 on July 27 and the
northeasat quarter of section 9 on April 5, 1815.

It is hard to believe that Christopher Lance had any intention of clearing 
a new farm.  He had six sons so it is more likely he was scouting the territory
on their behalf.

James Lance, the youngest son, and his brother William checked out the area 
in late 1814.  Both made down payments on a quarter section each on December 19.
James took northwest 10 and William took northeast 10.  Another brother, Henry,
bought the southeast quarter of section 4 on June 22, 1815.  John Lance, 
oldest of the four brothers relocating - twin brothers Abraham and Peter stayed
in Jefferson County - bought Halliwell's quarter in section 2 and Christopher's
quarter in section 1.

(transcriber's note: Abraham moved to Chippewa Twp in 1816.)

Douglass says that William and Henry built cabins here in the Fall of 1817 and
brought their families the following spring.  James and John were said to have
arrived in the spring of 1820.  

Christopher and Sarah, the father and mother, had a house built for them on 
James's farm, but frontier life was too hard on the old folks.  They returned 
to Jefferson County in a year or two.

Halliwell set up a blacksmith shop on the south side of a road cut through 
a corner of his farm to the Doyle meeting house.  When Doyle gave up teaching 
in 1827 and moved out of the area, Halliwell donated land for a German Baptist 
Church next to his blacksmith shop.  James donated land at the same time 
for a school on the norheast corner of Rittman and Schorle roads.

The Baptist Church was the first in the township devoted exclusively to worship.
It was constructed of hewed logs and was in use only a few years due to the 
difficulty of obtaining regular ministers.

The first "preacher" was Elder Rufus Freeman of Seville.  He was a veteran of 
the Revolutionary War, having served in the Cheshire County Militia of New 
Hampshire.  The census of 1820 shows him living in Ashtabula County, Ohio. 
The first evidence we have of him in this area is an entry in the diary of 
William Hosmer, first postmaster of Seville: "February 19, 1826, Elder Freeman
preached".  On the Fourth of July, 1827, Hosmer recorded: "Old Elder Rufus 
Freeman delivered an oration".  Elder Freeman did not pastor a church but 
preached in frontier homes as occasion occurred.  He had four sons, however, 
who became ministers.  He died in 1847 and is buried at Seville.

The Douglass history asserts that the first regular minister at the German 
Baptist Church was a James Newton.  Unfortunately a diligent search of 
pertinent records fails to find a reference to him.

The log school house was very much like the Doyle school.  With three, 
large Lance families in the area, the school was dominated by Lance children.

Two brothers, B.G. and Wilber Foster, who attended the school in 1843, provided
the earliest recollection of the enrollment at a reunion in 1916.  The teacher
in the early days was Thomas Peckinpaugh.  B.G. Foster became a teacher at the
school in 1855.

Wilber Foster, 80 years of age at the reunion, read a poem he composed for the 
occasion:

    They tell us of old Harvard school,
    And Yale as wondrous places;
    Where young men get knowledge some,
    And more of football graces.
    
    Well, while those alma maters old
    Are held in veneration;
    I'll tell you of my mater, dear, 
    The sharpest in creation.
    
    It stood upon a little hill,
    'Twas built of logs, and shingled;
    And here the youthful Buckeye blood,
    With birch was often tingled.
    
    We stood in line to read and spell,
    The Fosters, Johnsons, Kindigs;
    The Aults and Weldays e'er outdone,
    In all our youthful "Shindigs".
    
    For there stood out a name supreme,
    Heard at the roll call ever;
    Which told that sweet supremacy,
    Could crown the rest, no, never!
    
    The total call was sixty-three,
    And this explains our chances;
    Of that whole list of juveniles,
    Just forty-two were Lances.

From the foregoing it is easy to understand why the area around the school, 
church and blacksmith shop was known as "Lancetown".

Within a few years, Nelson Welch set up a general store on the west side of 
Schorle Road just south of Rittman Road.

Peter Rich built a brewery in the fork of Rittman Road and Sterling Avenue.  
The Rich home is still a dwelling but the brewery, spring-colled cellar and 
barn are now gone.

A cheese factory and several dwellings at the Lancetown cross roads completed
a village that seemed destined to become the main community of Milton Township -
a potential dashed by location of railroad depots elsewhere.

With the Lance brothers in place, Milton Township had 35 families resident, 
about equally divided north and south of Center Swamp.

A comparison of the 1820 census and tax list indicates 19 of the families had 
bought their land by early 1816 and used up their five-year tax exemptions.  
They were George Coolman, John Coolman, John Dawson, William Doyle, George Hoff,
Henry Hoff, Peter Hoff, Jacob Kiefer, Michael Kiefer, James Lance, John Lance,
William Lance, Henry Sigler, Samuel Slemmons, Mary Trump (widow of David), 
Andrew Wagoner, Methia Walker, Christopher Watkins and Thomas Watkins.

Those living in the township and still enjoying tax exemption were John Ankels,
Joseph Campbell, Frederick Dague, Gabriel Dague, Thomas Dawson, Martin Fritz, 
Benjamin Hays, Jeremiah Johnson, Henry Lance, John Lee, James Law, Joseph 
Patterson, Valentine Riggleman, Henry Sann, James Tarnekin, and Thomas 
Wellington.

All on the 1820 census were "engaged in agriculture" except Peter Hoff, 
the blacksmith, who was listed as "engaged in commerce".
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From Chapter 22

Ghostly Fire Haunts Home

The explosion of Knupp's mill is well remembered, but there is a strange sequel
that has been nearly forgotten.

Again we quote the Milton correspondent of the Wadsworth Enterprise under date 
of December 1870:

"There was the sound of revelry the other night in Abe Lance's mansion, for a 
company of wood choppers had gathered there, and were chasing the hours with 
flying feet, when the alarm that Peter Lance's house was on fire brought the 
exercises to a sudden close.

"The revelers rushed en masse for the house which was only a few rods distant,
observing the glimmer of the flames through the curtains of the parlor windows.
They broke open the door, when, lo! the flames vanished, leaving no evidence 
of their visit, save the terror depicted in the countenances of those present.

"Mrs. Lance was so terrified that she refused to remain in the house during her
husband's absence.  The house in which that phenonmenon (sic) was witnessed is
the same in which Mr. McConnell, one of the victims of that terrific boiler 
explosion at Milton Station, formerly lived."

Apparently the experience unnerved Mr. and Mrs. Lance for the correspondent 
reported the next February:

"Peter Lance has traded his farm for one in Gratiot County, Michigan, formerly 
owned by Jackson Lance.  A.J. Lance has purchased the farm formerly owned by 
Peter Lance for $3,000."

But ghostly fire was to haunt the Almighty and Great Windy once more.