The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1879-04-03

06Jefmlueu, IL pubplpipj y" III
tute; and when a woman with the VIII
of Mrs. Cable determined to DO a thing,
II succeeded, as it did in this instance.
With the help Of friend, who eympa-
thized with her, she found a substitute
for $50. which she paid with earnings
she had saved while they kept tavern
on Yellow Creek. AS the man had no
gun, she was compelled to give up their
rife, which she much regretted, as she
had early acquired skill in its use, which
enabled her at any time she wanted
fresh meat to take down a squirrel or
wild turkey, with which the woods then
abounded. 1t was common custom
with Mrs. Cable during moonlight nights
after her children were asleep, to go ont
into the new ground and assist her hus-
band to roll logs and burn brush. She
could split rails, make fence, or cut cord
wood. In the har Jest field she made
full hand, and continued to do 80 as long
as her husband lived. Mr.. Cable died
in l848. Mrs. Cable is now SO years OF
age, and the finest type Of womanhood
in S,ark county. She is tall, of fine form,
walks erect has q pleasant, intelligent
countenance hearing unimpaired and
eyesight good. She keeps house by her
self on the old homestead, and does her
own cooking and washing. She is
among the last of tbe old guard. In the
order of Nature she cannot expect to re
main with us much longer; and yet she
enjoys life with as much zest and is as
much interested in what ls going on IN
the neighborhood as young school girl.
Pitney Guest came In 1872 with his
father-in.law, Benjamin Miller. They
were from New Jersey. Miller served
in the war of the Revolution, most of the
time under Gen. Green. He was wOun-
ded in an attack made by CORVALLIS in
North Carolina, but remained in the ser.
vice until the close of the war. He died
| in 1928 and is bnried in SandyvilIe. The
two families "squatted" on sec. l6 They
slept in the wagon in which they came
until log cabin was built. Mr.. Guest
had learned the shoemaker trade. and he
was enabled to procure many of the
necessaries of life by making and mend
ing shoes for the early settlers, as there
was no other member of the craft in the
settlement. At that time neighbors
would frequently join together, and load
a canoe with such articles as they had to
spare, float down the Nimishillen, Sandy
and Tuscarawas to place known as the
Station" where parties called TRADERS"
kept whisky, tobacco, iron, salt, nails,
pepper coffee, &C., which they would
barter for corn, flour or anything else
that could be disposed of to emigrants.
The return trip vas irksome and labori'
iOus, and as soon as the roads would ad-
nit, this traffic WAS transferred to Cleve'
land.
In the last call for troops in the war of
1912, Mr. Guest was drafted, but before
he was called out peace was declared.
He lived on sec. 16 about three years;
theu sold his Improvements for $l0O,and
entered the n. Or. of sec 7, the same
now owned and occupied by his son
Washington.
Mr. Guest was the first Justice Of the
Peace elected in the township. He was
an ordained minister of the Baptist
church, and in exercising the functions
of priest and squire, did much marrying
He was a man of fine appearance, sound
Judgment, and more than ordinary intel.
ligence. When parties came to him for
law, it was his invariable custom to make
an : fort to have them reconcile their
differences or compromise, rather than
resort to legal measures He held the
Office of Justice over twenty years, and
might have held it to The day of his
death, had he consented. Mr.. Guest
was killed in 1856, He was thrown from
wagon in run away; bis head strik.
ing a piece of timber with great force.
fracluring his skull He YVES 72 years of
age. His widow died in 1874, aged 92.
John Holm aud his father, Michael
Holn, from Maryland, settled in Pike in
1872 They purchased the n. W. ar. of
sec from a man named ADdrews. On
the farm is a fine spring of water, where
the Indians were in the habit of lOating
Arrow heaCs, implements of stone and
Indian trinkets have been found around
the place. In 1914 Amos Jenny, bick
ory Quaker, settled in the lower part of
the township He was surveyor by
profession, and had an eye to business
and speculation. He built a saw and
grist mill, the first in the township; the
latter vas quite primitive structnre;the
frame simply four corner posts set in the
ground, fOrked at the top for poles to
support the rafters and clapbcard roof
the sides were not weatherbosrded,
There was run of stone, quarried from
rock fOnnd in the neighbOrhoOd; and Il
bolt, about the size Of feather renova-
tor. Although the -four made al this
mill could not be compared with the
fancy brands of to-day, it had the good
quality of digesting itself.
Jenny conceived the idea that the coun
try around, with the natural inhuZ of
population likely to follow, would sup
port town; thereupon he had surveyed,
staked off and plated upon paper, in the
third mOnth, twenty-second, 1915" "(quo- |
ting his language, as recorded in the Of |
fee of the county Clerk Sparta, hoping |
it would grow and prosper, equal to its |
aDcient prototype. 1t is the only town in |
the township; and although it has not |
attained the greatness hoped for by its
founder, the town has held its own re-
markably well; which is more than can
be said of many other places known in |
history. In the original plat there we're |
but four streets, these are designated by |
the anomalish names Of Wolf, Bear, Buff |
falo and Elk! A posrofice was eat, blsh-
ed in Sparta in 1854 and called Pierce,
sfler the then President Of the United
States. John Croft was appointed 6rst
postmaster.
Luther Drury, Yankee who left his
wife because she liked another m too
much, came to Sparta in 1919; purchased
ground and built BloOmery-a furnace
for the production of malleabe iron,
lirected from the ore; the first establish
nent of. the kind in Ohio. The ore was
,roken up and mixed with charcoal, pla
ed on stone hearth, heat applied, the
re smeltsd and run off into blooms
rom which it was forged by the black.
mith. Il is said that during several
easons when there was scarcity of
81 af |