rock. In 1806 he sent his sons Thomas, Ezekiel, Vincent, William, John and Amos-from Pennsylvania to begin an improvement. The sons remained, and he joined them in the following year. The surrounding lands were soon taken up by other prospectors, and Brookfield soon had a thrifty and intelligent population, most of the pioneers being Massachusetts Yankees.

On the West Fork of Duck Creek there were few, if any, permanent settlers prior to 1809 and 1810. Among the earliest to locate in the valley of that stream were the McKees, Caldwells, Blakes and Nobles. Like Brookfield, Olive Township became largely peopled with Yankees, more than a score of families from Maine arriving and settling during the War of 1812 or soon after.

The earliest settlers of the county were from the neighboring States of Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, and from New England. About

1817 there began a settlement of Protestant Irish in the vicinity of Summerfield, which in due time became rich and prosperous. In 1836 the German settlement began, in a region hitherto little developed in the southeastern part of the county. The number of settlers has steadily increased year by year, until now the greater part of Enoch and portions of Stock, Elk and Jefferson Townships are chiefly occupied by Germans and their descendants. Among the first arrivals were several Protestant families, but the Catholics were and still are most numerous.

The older counties of Ohio, and in particular the counties of Washington, Belmont and Guernsey, sent to Noble many of her sturdy pioneers and most excellent citizens.

In the chapters of township history which follow, the reader will find a detailed and minute account of the early settlement of every part of the county.

A

S will be seen by anyone who takes the trouble to trace the boundaries, a large part of the present County of Noble, from 1810 until the organization of Morgan County in 1819, was included in the County of Guernsey. The boundaries of the latter, the territory of which was taken from Muskingum and Belmont Counties, were thus defined by the act establishing the county, which took effect March 1, 1810:

"Beginning at the center of the fourth range, on the line between the fourth and fifth tiers of townships in said range (of United States military lands); thence east with said line to the western boundary of the seventh range; thence south to the southeast corner of the county of Tuscarawas; thence east through the center of the eleventh township of the seventh range of Congress lands to the line between the sixth and the seventh ranges; thence south with the said line to the northern boundary of the County of Washington; thence west with the said

boundary line, through the center of the fifth township of the seventh range; thence north to the center of the sixth township of the eighth range; thence west with the northern boundary of Washington County, to the line between the tenth and eleventh ranges; thence north with said line to the southern boundary of the United States military lands; thence west with said line to the southwest corner of the first township in the fourth range; thence north to the northwest corner of the third township of the fourth range; thence east to the center of the fourth range; thence north to the place of beginning."

The formation of Monroe County took a large portion of eastern Guernsey. Monroe County was erected by an act of the legislature passed January 29, 1813, and organized in accordance with the provisions of another act passed February 13, 1815. It originally included on its western border original townships number 5, 6 and 7 of the seventh

range, its western boundary being the line between the seventh and eighth ranges, and its southern boundary the line between townships 4 and 5 of range 7. By act of December 24, 1819, original townships 6 and 7 of range 8 were attached to Monroe County. They were included in Monroe County from its erection until the above date.

The erection of Morgan County still further reduced the territory of Guernsey. The act erecting Morgan County defined its southern and eastern boundaries as follows: East with the northern boundary of the donation tract to the southeast corner of township 5, range 9; thence north to the northeast corner of said township; thence east to the western boundary line of Monroe County to the southeast corner of township 6, range 8; thence north to the northeast corner of township 7, range 8; thence west to the line of Muskingum County.

When the territory now compris ing the County of Noble was first settled, for some years the scattered inhabitants were practically without judicial or civil organization. As late as 1812 the organization of townships in this section of the country had not progressed very far. A large section of the northern part of the county was then under the jurisdiction of Guernsey County, in which 'Squire Lewis, who lived in the vicinity of Cumberland, was commissioned to act as justice of the peace. In the early settlement about Carlisle, Elisha

* Passed December 29, 1817; but the county was not organized until April, 1819.

Enochs was the earliest justice of the peace of whom we have account, and his district was an extensive one, embracing all of the southeastern part of the county. 'Squire Porter, of Washington County, was the magistrate for the territory now included in the southern and southwestern parts of the County of Noble.

The inhabitants of the eastern part of Morgan County were never entirely satisfied with the location of the county seat at McConnelsville. An attempt was made to secure the passage of a bill providing for a re-location of the seat of justice shortly after the first election was held, but the movement was frustrated by the promptness and alertness of the citizens of the Muskingum Valley, who forwarded to the State capital a voluminous remonstrance, containing not only the names of all the inhabitants of McConnelsville and vicinity, but also the names borne on all the rolls of the militia captains of the neighborhood! It was doubtless to prevent a re-opening of the question by the inhabitants of the eastern portion of the county that influential friends of McConnelsville secured the passage in December, 1819, of an act taking the two most eastern townships from Morgan and attaching them to Monroe, as already mentioned.

Of course a new county was out of the question until the territory from which it was to be formed should become more thickly populated. But the people dwelling in the valleys of the several tributaries of Duck Creek, lived in hopes of such a consumma

tion, and only awaited a favorable opportunity for pressing their claims. March 11, 1845, the Whigs, then in the majority in the State legislature, passed an act annexing two rich and populous townships of Athens County (Homer and Marion) to Morgan. Both of these townships were strongly Whig, and the result of the annexation was that that party triumphed in Morgan County almost for the first time in its history. About this time, no doubt encouraged in their hopes by the recent action of the legislature in increasing the territory of Morgan County, the inhabitants of the eastern part of the county, together with some influential neighbors in Monroe and Guernsey Counties began to agitate the formation of a new county. The project was favored by many Whigs, as, if carried out, it would reduce the Democratic strength of the county. An amusing incident in this connection is thus related in the "History of Morgan County." "While this scheme was being zealously discussed, David Ball, of Malta Township, was nominated by the Whigs to represent the county in the legis lature. The east-enders' favorable. to the new county were desirous of knowing how the candidates stood on this question, and one of them interrogated Ball as to his position. Mr. Ball replied in the following terse, Quaker language:

"This was a comforting assurance to the friends of the measure, but the other side received it with derision."

When the petition for the erection of the new county was first introduced in the legislature, Warren P. Noble, of Seneca County (a representative in the years 1846-7 and 1847-8), was chairman of the committee on new counties. The friends of the measure, thinking it the part of good policy to secure his influence, therefore named the proposed county Noble. This statement, from a reliable source, establishes a fact over which there has been some local controversy. It may have been true also that the prominence of the Noble family in the county (where already there was a township named Noble) had its influence in bestowing the name; at any rate the matter was so managed as to give the representative named the impression that the name was given solely as a compliment to him.

Daniel Pettay, of Sarahsville, a lawyer and preacher, was the first man sent before the legislature with a petition. The petition gave no name to the proposed county, and Mr. Pettay was asked to supply the deficiency. Accordingly he gave the county the name which it now. bears.

The matter was first brought to the attention of the legislature of 1846-7, and the friends of the measure devoted their time, and interest to the question during that and every subsequent legislative session until March, 1851, when Noble

County was formed. At that time Hon. Ezra McKee, who lived in that part of Morgan County which now belongs to Noble, was the representative from Morgan County, and a most earnest advocate of the pro posed measure. Samuel McGarry, Esq., of Sarahsville, afterwards pro bate judge, was prominent as a lobbyist before every legislature from 1846 until the passage of the bill. Within the county there had been little opposition except from a few of the townships upon the borders of the territory of the proposed county. Among the many petitions circulated for the purpose of influencing legislation respecting the formation of the county was a memorial chiefly signed by the old inhabitants of the eastern part of Morgan County. This paper has been preserved and is given in full below. As is stated in the petition, all the signers resided here in 1817, consequently they were all among the early settlers of the present County of Noble.

แ

NEW COUNTY OF NOBLE.

Memorial to the General Assembly of the State of Ohio at its Forty-eighth Session. "The subscribers respectfully represent that they are residents within. the territory that is sought to be erected into the new County of Noble; that they resided in the territory, as they now do, at the time the County of Morgan was erected in 1817; that by reference to the law creating the county (see vol. 16, p. 42) and the map of the county, as described in the law, township 14 in range 14, now a part of York Township, was divided, and a bend in the

Muskingum River in township 9 of range 11, now Windsor Township, embraced within the limits of Morgan County, forming irregular lines and extreme points south and west, against the ranges of entire townships on the east where the heaviest portion of the territory, population and tax-paying at that time existed. This was not necessary to form the lines or obtain the territory for the county. Without these extreme points and irregular lines, your petitioners being included in the aforesaid territory; there was a large surplus beyond the constitutional area. That when the general assembly appointed commissioners to fix the seat of justice (see same vol. 16, p. 198). Your petitioners, with many others of the citizens who were tax-payers, believed that the seat of justice. should be located near the center of the territory then forming the county, or towards the eastern boundary, to concentrate the greatest portion of the territory and population. A site in township 6 of range 9 was fixed upon for that purpose.

"After viewing the site where McConnelsville now is, and the one in section 6, now Olive Township, a majority of the commissioners decided upon townships, and established the county seat at McConnelsville. To justify this and reconcile the eastern portion of the county, it was urged and held out as an inducement, that the territory which is now sought, and which should be erected into Noble County, was sufficient to create a new county, and that it would be done at no very distant