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Historical Collections of Ohio

By Henry Howe

Vol. I.

©1888

 

FAIRFIELD COUNTY

 

 

    Page 587

 

            FAIRFIELD COUNTY was formed December 9, 1800, by proclamation of Gov. St. Clair and so named from the beauty of its fair fields.  It contains every variety of soil, from the richest to the most sterile.  In the north and west it is generally level and the soil fertile.  The southern part is hilly and broken, the soil thin and in many places composed of sand and gravel.  A great and permanent source of wealth to the county is its vast sandstone quarries, the stone from which is largely sent to other parts of the State for building purposes.  Area 470 square miles.  In 1885 the acres cultivated were 130,721; in pasture, 93,071; woodland, 12,005; lying waste, 5,258; produced in wheat 160,756 bushels; corn, 2,649,925; butter, 713,868 pounds; wool, 146,192; cattle owned, 23,448; sheep, 30,391; hogs, 32,538.  School census, 1886, 10,663; teachers, 205.  It has 95 miles of railroad.

 

 

 

 

            The population in 1820 was 16,508; 1840, 31,858; 1860, 30,538; 1880, 34,284, of whom 29,963 were Ohio-born; Pennsylvania, 1,058; Germany, 1018; Ireland, 230; Virginia, 623; New York, 135; Indiana, 113.

 

            From the lecture delivered before the Lancaster Literary Institute, in March, 1844, by George Sanderson, Esq., we derive the following sketch of the history of this region:

 

 

Page 588

etta, were owned and occupied by the Wyandot tribe of Indians.  The principal town of the nation stood along the margin of the prairie, between the south end of Broad street and T. EWING’S canal basin, and the present town of Lancaster, and extending back to the base of the hill, south of the Methodist Episcopal church.  It is said that the town contained in 1790, about 100 wigwams and a population of 500 souls.  It was called TARHE, or in English the Crane-town, and derived its name from that of the principal chief of the tribe.  Another portion of the tribe then lived at Tobey-town, nine miles west of Tarhetown (now Royalton); and was governed by an inferior chief called Tobey.  The chief’s wigwam, in Tarhe, stood upon the bank of the prairie, near where the fourth lock is built on the Hocking canal, and near where a beautiful spring of water flowed into the Hockhocking river.  The wigwams were built of the bark of trees, set on poles in the form of a sugar camp, with one square open, fronting a fire, and about the height of a man.  The Wyandot tribe numbered at that day about 500 warriors. . . . . By the treaty of Greenville, in 1795, the Wyandots ceded all their territory on the Hockhocking river to the United States.

 

                The Crane chief, soon after the treaty, with many of the tribe, removed and settled at Upper Sandusky; others remained behind for four or five years after the settlement of the country, as if unable or unwilling to tear themselves away from the graves of their forefathers and their hunting grounds.  They were, however, so peaceably disposed towards the settlers, that no one felt willing to drive them away.  In process of time, the game and fur became scarce, and the lingering Indians, unwilling to labor for a living, was forced by stern necessity to quit the country, and take up his abode with those of his tribe who had preceded him, at Upper Sandusky.

 

            In 1797 Ebenezer Zane opened the road known as “Zane’s Trace,” from Wheeling to Limestone (now Maysville).  It passed through the site of Lancaster, at a fording about 300 yards below the present turnpike bridge, west of the town, and then called the “crossings of the Hockhocking.”  He located one of his tree tracts of land, given by Congress for the performance of this task, on the Hockhocking, at Lancaster.

 

            In 1797, Zane’s trace having opened a communication between the Eastern States and Kentucky, many individuals in both directions, wishing to better their condition in life by emigrating and settling in the “backwoods,” so called, visited the Hockhocking valley for that purpose.  Finding the country surpassingly fertile, abounding in fine springs of the purest water, they determined to make it their new homes.

 

                In April, 1798, Capt. Joseph HUNTER, a bold and enterprising man, with his family, emigrated from Kentucky and settled on Zane’s trace, upon the bank of the prairie, west of the crossings, and about 150 yards northwest of the present turnpike road, and which place was called “Hunter’s settlement.”  Here he cleared off the underbrush, felled the forest trees and erected a cabin, at a time when he had not a neighbor nearer than the Muskingum or Scioto rivers.  This was the commencement of the first settlement in the Upper Hockhocking valley, and Capt. Hunter is regarded as the founder of the flourishing and populous county of Fairfield.  He lived to see the county densely settled and in a high state of improvement, and died about the year 1829.  His wife was the first white woman that settled in the valley, and shared with her husband all the toils, sufferings, hardships and privations incident to the formation of the new settlement.  During the spring of the same year (1798) Nathaniel WILSON, the elder, John and Allen GREEN, John and Joseph M'MULLEN, Robert COOPER, Isaac SHAEFER and a few others, reached the valley, erected cabins and put out a crop of corn.

 

                In 1799 the tide of emigration set in with great force.  In the spring of this year two settlements were made in the present township of Greenfield.  Each settlement contained twenty or thirty families.  One was called the Forks of the Hockhocking, and the other Yankeetown.  Settlements were also made along the river below Hunter’s, on Rush creek, Raccoon and Indian creeks, Pleasant run, Fetter’s run, at Tobeytown, Muddy Prairie, and on Clear creek.  In the fall of 1799 Joseph Loveland and Hezekiah Smith erected a log grist-mill at the upper falls of the Hockhocking, now called the Rock mill.  This was the first grist-mill built on the Hockhocking.

 

                In April, 1799, Samuel COATES, Sen., and Samuel COATES, Jr., from England, built a cabin in the prairie at the “Crossings of the Hockhocking,” kept bachelors’ hall, and raised a crop of corn.  In the latter part of the year a trail route was established along Zane’s trace, from Wheeling to Limestone.  The mail was carried through on horseback, and, at first, only once a week.  Samuel COATES, Sen., was the postmaster, and kept his office at the Crossings.  This was the first established mail route through the interior of the territory, and Samuel COATES was the first postmaster at the new settlements.

 

 

Page 589

 

            In the fall of 1800 Ebenezer Zane laid out Lancaster, and by way of compliment to a number of emigrants from Lancaster county, Pa., called it New Lancaster.  It retained that name until 1805, when, by an act of the Legislature, the word “New” was dropped.  A sale of lots took place soon after the town was laid off and sold to purchasers at prices ranging from five to fifty dollars each.  The greater portion of the purchasers were mechanics, and they immediately set about putting up log-buildings.  Much of the material needed for that purpose was found upon their lots and in the streets, and so rapidly did the work of improvement progress during the fall of 1800 and following winter that in the spring of 1801 the principal streets and alleys assumed their present shapes and gave assurance that New Lancaster would, at no distant day, become a town of some importance.

 

            About this time merchants and professional men made their appearance.  The Rev. John Wright, of the Presbyterian church, settled in Lancaster in 1801, and the Rev. Asa Shinn and Rev. James Quinn, of the Methodist church, travelled on the Fairfield circuit.

 

                Shortly after the settlement, and while the stumps yet remained in the streets, a small portion of the settlers occasionally indulged in drinking frolics, ending frequently in fights.  In the absence of law, the better disposed part of the population determined to stop the growing evil.  They accordingly met and resolved, that any person of the town found intoxicated, should, for every such offence, dig a stump out of the street, or suffer personal chastisement.  The result was, that after several offenders had expiated their crimes, dram drinking ceased, and for a time all became a sober, temperate and happy people.

 

                On the 9^th day of December, 1800, the governor and council of the Northwest Territory organized the county of Fairfield, and designated New Lancaster as the seat of justice.  The county then contained within its limits all, or nearly all, of the present counties of Licking and Knox; a large portion of Perry, and small parts of Pickaway and Hocking counties.

 

            The first while male child born in Fairfield was the son of Mrs. Ruhama GREENE.  This lady emigrated to this region in 1798 and settled three miles west of Lancaster, where her child was born.  The sketch appended of her is from Col. John McDonald, of Ross county.

 

                Mrs. Ruhama GREENE was born and raised in Jefferson county, Virginia.