HARRISON COUNTY TOWN HISTORIES
Many thanks to Harry Liggett for this submission.
(From the U.S. Bicentennial edition of the Harrison News-Herald, Cadiz, Harrison County, Ohio,
Thursday, December 30, 1976. Used with permission of the publisher.)
A search of historical records concerning the organization of various towns and townships reveals interesting dates. As far as was known, the first white settlers were on Short Creek, and they were followed by those in Cadiz and surrounding territory. Originally, Harrison County was not permanently inhabited by Indians but was used as a hunting .ground: Indian trails from Short Creek and Mingo Bottom crossed near the present site of Cadiz and those were followed by the settlers.
Available records give the following data:
ADENA (Short Creek Twp.) Established May 5, 1914, by O.L. Fulton.
One of the early pioneers of Jefferson County was John McLaughlin, who settled at Adena in 1801. His father had come to this country during the time of religious persecution in Europe.
After coming to Jefferson, he purchased some land from his brother-in-law, John Johnston, who had purchased it at 121/2 cents an acre. It was in an entirely wild state and covered with dense forest, in which many kinds of game abounded, and where the howling wolves made terrible the nights of the pioneers. To this community, he gave the name Adena.
Soon after coming to Ohio, Mr. McLaughlin was elected a member of the state legislature, and served for 8 years. He was then elected to the State Senate and served 8 more years.
He was associated with Thomas Worthington, who was a territorial 'governor of Ohio. Worthington had a beautiful home with a flower garden surrounding it which he called his "Adena," meaning Paradise. For. this reason, the Jefferson County community was named Adena by McLaughlin. He hoped that someday his Adena would resemble his friend's garden.
Rather than have mail delivery from two points; it was decided to build a post office in 1855. In 1860, a covered bridge was built in the center of town. Both a. school and church were established along with roads Finally, in 1908; the town was incorporated with Bascom Hastings as mayor. The population was 500 in 1908.
BOWERSTON (Monroe Twp.) Platted by David Bowers, Henry Hoover, Nathaniel Bower, Established August 21, 1852.
In the early 1800s two crude mills were built on the south side of Conotton Creek; which was then practically a wilderness: One was a saw mill and the other was a grist mill: These mills-were, operated until the 1870's. The builder was Barnhard Bower. With his brother, John, and their families, the little caravan; had left Maryland in 1804.
John and his family located on land owned later by Charles Crawford, half a mile north of Bowerston. Barnhard located in Salem for 5 years and then moved to what is now Bowerston. He started to build the mills in 1812. His home was located above the mills on what is now Main Street. The father died and was the first to be buried in the cemetery C. B. 1810.
John moved to Indiana, while Barnhard and his sons stayed, working the mills and sawing timber for people in the sparsely settled neighborhood. Bower had 4 boys and 3 girls. He deeded to two sons David and Jacob, the mills and some lands in 1827. To other sons he gave a farm.
The pioneer settlement, laid out in 1816, was first called Bower's Mills and later Bowersville. In 1883, it was changed to Bowerston. Since then, the last "w" was dropped. Bowers operated the two mills until the 1850's and then sold them to Peter and Joseph Overholt who rebuilt them. Since then, various owners have been the Orr boys, Billy Roof, Stewart Price, and Molesworth. In 1937, the old mill was torn down.
BROWNSVILLE (Franklin Twp.) Established December 20, 1815; Absalom Kent; proprietor.
CADIZ (Cadiz Twp.) Established Oct. 2, 1804; Zaccheus Biggs and Zaccheus Beatty, proprietors. Incorporated1818.
When Cadiz was laid out the land was covered by forests. The site was chosen because of the junction of the road from Pittsburgh with the road from Washington, Pennsylvania. This was one of-the most traveled roads northwest of the Ohio River. Early immigrants stayed at Cadiz for a time before moving westward.
The first addition to the village was platted about 1813 by Jacob Arnold, a tavern keeper. The Arnold addition consisted of 9 lots. Cadiz was chosen as the county seat in 1813 and was incorporated in 1818. Cadiz had its first Independence Day celebration on July 4, 1806. The people of the town and country for miles around attended. They had a huge feast of wild turkey, venison, bear meat, and rye whiskey.
The land on which Cadiz was built was granted to Zaccheus Beatty by the U.S. Government on April 29, 1804, and was conveyed by him to Zaccheus Biggs in 1805, In 1800 a blacksmith by the name of Garrett Glazener was said to have built his shop at the site where Cadiz was later located. This story has not been backed up by facts so is regarded only as tradition.
The town was laid out by Biggs and Beatty before Benjamin Hough, Justice of the Peace, in 1804, and recorded at Steubenville. The name was borrowed from the Spanish-town of Cadiz. Lots were numbered 1-141. The streets were South; Warren, Market, Spring, North, Muskingum, Main, Ohio, and Buffalo. The fist deed for a lot was made to John Finney and the lost cost $20. That deed was recorded in 1806.
CADIZ JUNCTION (German Twp.) Also known as MEANS
This community, first platted in 1851 as Pennsville by Joseph Penn, became known as Cadiz Junction. It was located at the junction of the main line of the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railroad (Pennsylvania Railroad) with a branch line from the village of Cadiz. The Cadiz Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad connected with the Steubenville and Indiana Railroad and opened for business in 1854. Two surveys were made through Harrison County for building the main line of the railroad . A route through northern townships was chosen because Archer, Green and Stock townships failed to raise their quota for building the road. However, Cadiz raises $30,000 and in 1854 the Cadiz Branch was opened. Cadiz Junction was also known as Means which was the name of the post office at that location. Abraham Lincoln on his train trip to his inaugural stopped for breakfast at the station restaurant in Cadiz Junction on February 14, 1861.
CONOTTON (Monroe Twp.) Originally Masterville; Established 1851. G. W. Holmes, proprietor.
Masterville, or Conotton as it later came to be called, was founded in the hilly watershed of the Muskingum drainage area, on the Conotton. Creek. It was never incorporated, and so has no definite boundaries. It centered around a group of mills at a dam just below the Conotton Creek bridge, and never spread far. It was laid out on adjoining lands of three farms in the very early years of the last century.
The first of these farms was entered by Rev. Joseph Gundy, a Mennonite minister, east of the present village in 1805, and was known for many years later as the John Holmes farm. The second was entered soon after by Rev. John Crum just north of the village,.and was known as the Robert Law farm. The third was entered by Philip Firebaugh in 1812 and passed quickly through several hands into the possession of Thomas Smith whose descendants made it their home.
The occupants of these farms and those for .several miles around made up the community, with the addition of the villagers who came later to form a typical farm trade center: Probably, the first structure to be built in the bounds of the present village was an old style up-and-down sawmill erected by Rev. Crum south of the creek just below the present site of the bridge. This was soon destroyed by f ire.
In 1882, Lot Demming purchased the land south of the Creek and rebuilt the sawmill. He also built the first residence in the village proper. This was a one room log house built in 1824 on the rise just above the sawmill. Here he lived for three years, then moving to the farm settled by Rev. Gundy. Holmes Wilson came into possession of some land and laid it out and sold lots. Other houses were built, and. the town began to grow.
DEERSVILLE (Franklin Twp.) Established Nov. 25, 1815; John Cramblett, proprietor.
Deersville was settled by hardy adventurers from the Old World who gave the .village character and prominence.
About the beginning of the nineteenth century came John Cramblett from near the Pennsylvania and Maryland state line, along the Moravian trail. He settled between two flowing springs, half way between the Standing Stone and Waterford, and laid out the village of Deersville.
After this, other stalwart settlers came and located near by -- Thomas Adams, an old soldier; John Spurtzell, John Vicars, the Tiptons, Youngs, and Coultraps; and a colony from the Isle of Wight, headed by John Pittis, who chartered a sailing vessel ballasted with salt and goods, family, crew, passengers. The latter promised to pay for their passage by work after they arrived in America.
The ship, after a voyage of several weeks, sailed into a bay in Maryland. After disposing of the cargo, Pittis, wife, children and belongings were placed in wagons and started out of Baltimore westward. The procession was headed for the Alleghenies and to Illinois, the prospective land, of promise. Wheeling, on the Ohio River, was reached and it was expected to take a boat from there to Illinois, but the water was too low.
While waiting ,for the river to rise, a miller, Mr. Norris, mentioned to Pittis that Illinois was reputed for malaria, and that there was a place along the Moravian Road which was exempt from it. The caravan started, with Norris as a guide, and the family located a mile west of Deersville.
The Pittis home was welcome to one and all, yet a sad misfortune happened. A deer-hunter was adjusting the flint lock on his musket when it discharged a slug through an inch thick wooden door; closed between the dining room and kitchen, and into the body of a daughter, Emma, who was standing at the kitchen table. Her remains rest in the McGee cemetery.
Other emigrants came from the south of England and the Isle of Wight. Later .Americans began to settle in the village and Augustus Waters, a chemist from Baltimore, came and set up a still for the manufacture of oils and extracts from the herbs of the county.
FAIRVIEW - See JEWETT
FRANKLIN - See TAPPAN
FREEPORT (Freeport Twp.) Established March 16, 1810. Daniel Easly, William Melton, Jonathan Bogue, proprietors.
The plat for Freeport was filed first in Tuscarawas County. The name indicates the utilization of Big Still water to freight produce toward the Tuscarawas River settlements. The village was on the early trail, later the road to the west ridge, on which sat Cadwalader, now Westchester, and over into the valleys leading to Old New Comer's Town and to White Eyes Plain.
Freeport is served by the B. & O. Railroad once the Wheeling, Cleveland, and Lorain or locally, the Tuscarawas Valley Railroad.
Several small industries have been located in Freeport. It has profited from stone quarrying, and has been in the center of the chief timbering area of our county. Freeport owns and operates its .own water .works system, which was constructed and laid in 1919, costing $18,000.
The early resources were mostly agricultural with chief employment at the lumber dealers, the B. & O. Railroad and the stone quarry.
GEORGETOWN (Short Creek Twp.) Established Sept. 3, 1814; George Riggle, proprietor.
Located, on the Harrisville Pike Road, 7 miles SE of Cadiz, Georgetown was a village of noteworthy artisans and craftsmen up to the 1870 era. Two Friends Meeting Houses were located there.
GERMANO (German Twp.) Originally Jefferson. Established Dec. .1815. Frederick Zollars, proprietor.
Platted in 1816 as New Jefferson, Germano was on the trail leading to the Conotton Valley, then on to the Tuscarawas River. The village was laid out by Frederick Zollars and the area became a settlement of numerous Germanic families.
A leading merchant in early days was George Wirt, a leading attorney, John Gruber, both Pennsylvania Germans.
During the 1920s, several businessmen were: barber shop, C. C. Lowmiller; furniture, A. B. Roberts; general dealers, B. C. Scott and C. L. Adrian.
Mr. Adrian, the founder of the Adrian store at Germano, started in business in Salem Township, Carroll County. His first work experience was as a huckster and poultry dresser. In 1906, Adrian purchased a cobbler shop in Germano from J. A. Wells. Mr. Adrian was assisted in business by his wife, and in a few years the little shop was too small to handle the growing trade.
Additions were made to the old cobbler shop until it was finally transformed into a two story building with a basement. The business advanced to the stage where four horses were kept busy and the Adrian's huckster wagon made regular trips to Steubenville to service the. many customers. A complete line of dry goods, groceries, and general merchandise was handled by the store at that time.
J. D. and E. J. Adrian worked in their father's store since childhood, and in 1938, after the death of their father, continued under the same name. As late as the 1960s the Adrian Brothers made regular trips to Steubenville. The Adrians raised hogs for butchering, and bought eggs, poultry and beef from the farmers.
In the winter, the men sold hickory smoked country hams and during the Holiday season, poultry was dressed.
GREEN - See HOPEDALE
HARRISVILLE (Short Creek Twp.) Established Oct.: 19, 1814. John Wells, proprietor.
In 1796, Isaac Holmes raised his cabin at what is today's Harrisville site. It was a strong colony of the Friends Society.
In 1920 some of the businesses were: Grant Morton, Floyd Coulter-auto, garages, Joseph Johnson-blacksmith, F.M. Farnsworth, W.N. Hall-general merchandise, William Moore-meat market, and A.W. Toling-shoe repair.
HOPEDALE (Green Twp.) Formerly GREEN. Established Oct.. 15, 1849. Cyrus McNeely, proprietor.
Early in 1800 Philip Delaney and James Harrow left Pennsylvania and started west, as hunters. This part of Ohio was a dense forest, populated by Indians. The two men came as far as the Ohio River, and swam across, where they were met by friendly Indians. They were brought to where Hopedale now stands. Delaney stayed and cleared a settlement.
About the same time, Reverend Cyrus McNeely cane from Ireland, and settled near the Beech Spring meeting-house. It was there that his son, Cyrus, was born in 1809. There, he grew up, attended school and worked hard during the summers so that he could study in the winter.
In 1837, Cyrus made a journey to Cincinnati, where he visited friends. In the process, he married and returned with his bride, Jane Donaldson.
It was largely due to his wife that the Normal School was started. McNeely bought about 200 acres of land from Delaney and laid out Hopedale. The town at that time was known as Green.
A flour mill was raised in 1849, owned by G.S. Stringer. It was then that the town was , named Hopedale, by McNeely and the name first appeared on the front of the mill.
JEFFERSON - See GERMANO
JEWETT (Rumley Twp.) Originally Fairview. Established Dec. 5, 1851. John Stahl, proprietor. The village of Jewett, incorporated in 1885, is situated in the SE corner of Rumley Township. In 1852 Jewett was platted by John Stahl under the name of Fairview. Fifty-one lots were included, with many additions later.
In 1881 a group of citizens filed a suit asking to change the name of Fairview to Jewett. Several reasons were offered: post office name was already Jewett, another Fairview in Guernsey County, third Fairview near Cleveland, and no other Jewett in Ohio. Accordingly, Fairview became Jewett through a court order.
Jewett is the home community of a number of the early settlers of Harrison County and many of their descendants still live there. Municipal government was established in 1886.
The town of Jewett cannot today boast of any booming industries, but several small businesses existed at one time or another. The main lines of the. Pennsylvania and Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroads went. through the town. Consequently, a railroad yard and shop wire built, employing. about 100 men.
At one time; a business known as the Jewett Streetcar Co., built cars there. It eventually moved to Newark. In 1905 an enamelware manufacturer came to town and operated for. a few years.
MASTERVILLE - See CONOTTON
MEANS - See Cadiz Junction
MOOREFIELD (Moorefield Twp.) Established Dec. 15, 1815. Michael Moore and Gabriel Cane, proprietors.
Moorefield was platted by Michael Moore and Gabriel Cane in 1815. It was located on the Clay Pike: About 1831, this highway was surveyed from Steubenville to Cambridge, with the idea of making it a National highway. Prior to the building of the National Pike, Clay Pike was probably the greatest artery of commerce between Pittsburgh and the West.
Little had been recorded of the village prior to the Civil War, but about that time Moorefield must have reached the peak of its population. At that time, Moorefield had 3 hotels, 7 shoemakers, two tanneries, 2 wagonmakers, 2 buggy factories, 4 blacksmith shops, 1 saddler, 1 hatter, 2 tailors, 3 general stores, 1 pottery, 1 distillery, etc.
At that time, it probably had some of the most active livestock dealers in the country. One horse dealer had a barn that would hold 50 horses.
The village has the reputation of having sent more men to the Civil War than any other village with the same population in the state.
With the building of the railroad and growth of other villages, Moorefield more or less died. It was a town with one street before U.S. Route 22 was built.
Moorefield is located on a high ridge which gives it a commanding view of the surrounding country.
Morgan's Raiders went through the town, with the Union forces in hot pursuit.
NEW ATHENS (Athens Twp.) Established Feb. 10, 1817. John McConnell and John Walker, proprietors.
The first recorded visit to the area of what was later to be New Athens was made in 1786 by government surveyors. The site was described as good for the production of wheat. The earliest settlers were probably members of the Joseph Huff family and they located about a mile north of present New Athens.
In 1801, John McConnell came from Washington County, Pennsylvania, and he settled his family on 640 acres near a strong spring. A few years later other pioneers moved in, and the McConnell's neighborhood became so populated that the need arose for a grinding mill. McConnell gained influence when he constructed a horsemill. In addition, it made the man wealthy. The most important point was, however, that the mill created a need for public roads for travel to the mill.
The roads came, one from Cadiz following what is now State Route 9, another from New Athens to Harrisville, over the present Route 519.
Reverend John Walker, who had congregations in the area; bought 60 acres next to McConnell's farm, and the men formed a business relationship, for. both owned land around a possible cross-roads. They thought it more profitable to sell their land for town lots rather than farmland. So, in 1817 they hired Laerd Stinson, a surveyor from Cadiz, to lay out a village on parts of their farms. The town was named. New Athens, signifying a town for learning.,. It became a village on February 10, 1817.
NEW JEFFERSON - See GERMANO
NEW MARKET - See SCIO.
NEW RUMLEY (Rumley Twp.) Established Aug.16, 1813. Jacob Custer, proprietor.
New Rumley was platted in 1813 by Jacob Custer, an uncle of the General.
Prior to the building of the railroad in 1856, New Rumley was the half way point between Steubenville and New Philadelphia, and all stage coaches in both directions stopped there for the night. The 4 hotels or taverns, as they were called, did a thriving business. Liquor was said to have flowed freely, and many nights were filled with excitement.
According to records, the house where General Custer was born was originally a tavern. Another stood on the lot occupied by Van Fossan's Garage. Many of the older, residents remembered Jackie Shambaugh, who was a stage coach driver in his younger days. He was the great-grandfather of Sam and Harold Kimmel.
In the early days farmers who had wheat to sell had. to haul it with horses to some point of contact with the canal west of Dennison. Also, most of the articles farmers needed had to be hauled from the canal. One required item was salt, which was very expensive and was rationed by mothers carefully. The roads were very bad and the trips to the canal were tiresome for the horses and men.
The coming of the Steubenville and Indiana Railroad (now the Penn-Central-Amtrak) was one of the greatest boons ever to come to the community. No longer was it necessary to make the long, weary trip to the canal, instead the wheat and other products could be delivered to the Fairview or New Market, and the needed commodities were readily available.
New Rumley was platted 46 years before the first oil well. was drilled.. It wasn't until some years after the Civil War that kerosene lamps came into common use. In the meantime: the only lighting in homes was the tallow candle: The homes were heated by open fireplaces; using wood for fuel. Often the only light would be from the fireplace.
In the early days, the only public conveyance was the stage coach. People often traveled a long distance on foot. A trip to Steubenville was a day's journey on poor roads.
Farm labor was done by hand: All hay was cut with scythes and wheat and oats were cut with sickles, then replaced by grain cradles. Later, the reaper appeared and then the self binder. Threshing was done with flails, or the grain tramped loose from the chaff and straw by having horses walls over it continuously.
Schools were one-room log affairs, open for only a few months each year so that the children could help with chores at home.
In the early days, much of the land in Rumley Township was covered with virgin timber. The finest trees were used to build log cabins, barns, and fences.
PENNSVILLE - See CADIZ JUNCTION
PIEDMONT (Moorefield Twp.) Established 1880 from Butler and Collinsport. Harvey Butler & Z. Collins, proprietors.
Piedmont is in Moorefield Twp. on what had been promised to be the main line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The first name of the hamlet was Butler in honor of Harvey Butler, who agreed that the railroad should go through his frm. Because cargo was often sent by mistake to Butler in Richland County, the name was changed to Piedmont which already was the name of the post office.
SCIO (North Twp.) Originally New Market - Laid out in 1837. George Turner, proprietor.
Scio, located in North Township, was founded in 1837. The region was settled though soon after 1800. by farmers from England. In 1837 George Turner laid out the town of New Market, as it was known, on his farm, and a few houses were erected. Almost 20 years later the .town was platted.
More importance was added to the town when the Pennsylvania Railroad was built through the village. The first post office was established as New Market and the first postmaster was John Giles.
New Market's growth was slow until 1867 when the Rural Seminary was raved from Carroll County, where it became Scio College. This action brought rapid growth and shortly after the formation of Scio College, the name of the village was changed to Scio from New Market: Thus, the name, Scio, meaning "I Think," went the route from the College, to the post office and finally the town. Scio was incorporated under a mayor-council government.
Until 1898, Scio was a quiet, peaceful college town. Then, though, oil was discovered and it became a boom town. Overnight the town population went from a few, hundred to 5,000. After 2 years, the town returned to normal. During the boom, Scio College was hard hit. It never recovered and in 1911 was joined with Mt.. Union College in Alliance. The old buildings were torn down.
SMYRNA (Freeport Twp.) Established. Aug. 4, 1817. Samuel Burrow, proprietor.
Smyrna was platted in 1817. It was an early settlement of Friends. It is a hamlet in Freeport Township on the southern line of Harrison County, with the larger part in Guernsey County. It was the site of the TriCounty Fair.
This exposition was unusual in that it brought many fence-climbers from the most remote rural areas. Grown boys were barefooted and the corn cob pipe and twist tobacco held forth long after the advent of the automobile age.
Morgan's raiders entered the county at Smyrna.
TAPPAN (Franklin Twp.) Originally Franklin.. Established March 4, 1837. John Marshall, proprietor. Under water (Tappan Lake) since construction of Tappan dam as part of the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District.
In 1938, Tappan was a village of nearly 100 inhabitants and was 150 years old. Originally it was named. Franklin and then renamed after U.S. Senator Arthur Tappan. The Indian name meant "cold stream."
Tappan was targeted for extinction in 1933, when it was decided to build a dam a half mile below it on Little Stillwater Creek, as part of the Muskingum Conservancy Project. People left their hearts behind when leaving the village, knowing that it would be under from 10-30 feet of water.
TIPPECANOE (Washington Twp.) Established Dec. 8. 1840. Alfred Heacock, proprietor.
When the town was platted in 1840, General William Henry Harrison had just completed a successful campaign for the Presidency of the United States. Harrison had acquired the nickname of "Old Tippecanoe" when he successfully led an army against the Indians in 1811, in a battle on Tippecanoe Creek in Indiana. Quite naturally, the name Tippecanoe was adopted by the village in honor of the successful candidate.
When romantically minded Eleanora Knype left her castle home by way of a bed cord suspended from her bedroom window to join her lover, she little dreamed just what the results of that elopement-marriage would be, or that destiny would not only lead her to the New World, but that she and her husband would help found, and populate a village in America.
When James Brown Norris and Eleanora Norris left their home in England about 1809, with their 8 children, they lived in Canada awhile and then immigrated to the U.S. Journeying westward about 1815 in their Conestoga wagon, they arrived in the state of Ohio and settled on Stillwater Creek, founding the town of Norrisville. Previous to this, several families had cleared land there for agricultural purposes, but it wasn't until the Norris family settled there, married, and established homes, did it become known as a village.
About 1820 a grist mill was built by the Norris men. This mill stood until 1840, when a new and larger one was built by Alfred Heacock It stood for about 85 years. The mill passed .through different hands until 1925, when it was torn down.
Mr. Heacock also purchased land and laid out 41 lots on the south side of the town in 1840. The lots were sold for $10, or were given to anyone who would build a two-story home on it. It was at this time that the town was renamed Tippecanoe.
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