History of Guernsey County, Ohio

VOLUME I

All life and achievement is evolution; present wisdom comes from past experience, and present commercial prosperity has come only from past exertion and suffering. The deeds and motives of the men that have gone before have been instrumental' in shaping the destinies of later communities and states. The development of a new country was at once a task and a privilege. It required great courage, sacrifice and privation. Compare the present conditions of the people of Guernsey county. Ohio, with what they were one hundred years ago. From a trackless wilderness and virgin land, it has come to be a center of prosperity and civilization, with millions of wealth, systems of railways, grand educational institutions, splendid industries and immense agricultural and mineral productions. Can any thinking person be insensible to the fascination of the study which discloses the aspirations and efforts of the early pioneers who so strongly laid the foundation upon which has been reared the magnificent prosperity of later days? To perpetuate the story of these people and to trace and record the social, political and industrial progress of the community from its first inception is the function of the local historian. A sincere purpose to preserve facts and personal memoirs that are deserving of perpetuation, and which unite the present to the past, is the motive for the present publication. The work has been in the hands of able writers, who have, after much patient study and research, produced here the most complete biographical memoirs of Guernsey county. Ohio, ever offered to the public. A specially valuable and interesting department is that one devoted to the sketches of representative citizens of this county whose records deserve preservation because of their worth, effort and accomplishment. The publishers desire to extend their thanks to the gentlemen who have so faithfully labored to this end. Thanks are also due to the citizens of Guernsey county for the uniform kindness with which they have regarded this undertaking and for their many services rendered in the gaining of necessary information.

In placing the "History of Guernsey County, Ohio," before the citizens, the publishers can conscientiously claim that they have carried out the plan as outlined in the prospectus. Every biographical sketch in the work has been submitted to the party interested, for correction, and therefore any error of fact, if there be any, is solely due to the person for whom the sketch was prepared.

 

Table of Contents

CHAPTER I— TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY 25
CHAPTER II — INDIAN OCCUPANCY 30
CHAPTER III — ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY 38
CHAPTER IV — EARLY SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTY 46
CHAPTER V — COUNTY GOVERNMENT 53
CHAPTER VI — POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE COUNTY 65
CHAPTER VII — MILITARY HISTORY OF THE COUNTY 88
CHAPTER VIII — EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE COUNTY 117

CHAPTER IX — CHURCH AND DENOMINATIONAL HISTORY 138
CHAPTER X — SECRET SOCIETIES OF THE COUNTY 167
CHAPTER XI — EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS 17S
CHAPTER XII — RAILWAY. WATER NAVIGATION AND THE OLD PIKE ROAD 185
CHAPTER XIII — THE BAR OF GUERNSEY COUNTY 197
CHAPTER XIV — THE MEDICAL PROFESSION 203
CHAPTER XVI — NEWSPAPERS OF GUERNSEY COUNTY 215
CHAPTER XVI — BANKS AND BANKING 224
CHAPTER XVII — MINES AND MINING 239
CHAPTER XVIII — THE CITY OF CAMBRIDGE 245
CHAPTER XIX — ADAMS TOWNSHIP 281
CHAPTER XX — CAMBRIDGE TOWNSHIP 284
CHAPTER XXI — CENTRE TOWNSHIP 285
CHAPTER XXII — JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP 288
CHAPTER XXIII — JACKSON TOWNSHIP 291
CHAPTER XXIV — KNOX TOWNSHIP 296
CHAPTER XXV — OXFORD TOWNSHIP 298
CHAPTER XXVI — LIBERTY TOWNSHIP 303
CHAPTER XXVII — RICHLAND TOWNSHIP 306
CHAPTER XXVIII — MILLWOOD TOWNSHIP 311
CHAPTER XXIX — MONROE TOWNSHIP 320
CHAPTER XX — MADISON TOWNSHIP 322
CHAPTER XXXI — SPENCER TOWNSHIP 324
CHAPTER XXXII — WHEELING TOWNSHIP 329
CHAPTER XXXIII — WESTLAND TOWNSHIP 332
CHAPTER XXXIV — LONDONDERRY TOWNSHIP 335
CHAPTER XXXV — WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP 337
CHAPTER XXXVI — WILLS TOWNSHIP 341
CHAPTER XXXVII — VALLEY TOWNSHIP 349
CHAPTER XXXVIII — MISCELLANEOUS EVENTS OF INTEREST 357
CHAPTER XXXIX — GENERAL REMINISCENCES 393

 

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Guernsey county is bounded on the north by Tuscarawas and Harrison counties, on the east by Belmont county, on the south by Noble and on the west by Muskingum and Coshocton counties. Its soil is derived chiefly from the underlying rocks, which are mostly shales or sandstone. Except on the eastern borders, where the limestone at the base of the upper coal measure is reached, this applies where the soil is loose and thin. In some places it affords barely enough hold for the growth of grasses on the steep hillsides. A very small portion of the lands in the county were uncultivated later than 1880. It has every facility for a good dairy section, and to this many have, of late years, turned their attention with much profit. Its many springs and cooling streams make it an ideal country for this branch of farm industry. Sheep also do well and long years since the county ranked third and fourth of all the counties in Ohio in the production of sheep and wool.