I think the last one seen in this region, was in Bedford township, Meigs county, in 1815, where it was wounded. When I was a young man I have stood in one spot, behind a large tree, in Lodi township, and killed three deer as fast as I could load and shoot. My brother, Thomas Bobo, killed twelve deer the year he was twelve years old.

R

CHAPTER XVI.

Rome Township.

OME was formed from a portion of the township of Troy in 1811. The first entry on the subject, in the records of the county commissioners, is as follows:

"Thursday, April 4, 1811.-Ordered by the commissioners, That so much of the township of Troy as is contained in the original surveyed townships, numbered 5 and 6, in the 11th range, and 6 in the 12th range, be erected into a new township by the name of Rome.

"Ordered by the commissioners, That their clerk notify the inhabitants of the township of Rome to meet at the house of Amos Crippen, in said township, on Saturday the 20th instant, for the purpose of electing township officers."

But no election was held under this order, and, on the 4th of June ensuing, the commissioners

"Ordered, That the boundaries of the township of Rome be as follows, to wit: beginning at the southwest corner of township No. 6 in the 12th range, thence east on the township line

until it intersects the river Hockhocking, thence up said river until it intersects the range line between the 11th and 12th ranges, thence on said range line (being the line between the counties of Athens and Washington) to the south boundary of Ames township, thence west on said township line to the township of Athens, thence south to the place of beginning, and that the remainder of the township of Rome be and is hereby attached to the township of Troy. [This refers to the previous order of April 4th.]

"Ordered by the commissioners, That their clerk notify, by advertisement, the inhabitants of the township of Rome to meet at the house of Daniel Stewart, on Saturday, the 15th instant, for the purpose of electing township officers."

The only change that has since been made in these boundaries, was by an act of the legislature, passed February 10, 1814, which detached sections 31 and 32, township 6, range 11, from Washington county, and added them to Rome, thus taking in the strip east of the Hockhocking, and causing the offset at the southeast corner of the township.

The population of Rome in 1820 was 497; in 1830 it was 522; in 1840 it was 852; in 1850 it was 1,309; in 1860 it was 1581.

The Methodist church was planted in this township at a very early day. Daniel and Archelaus Stewart were the first to move in the matter of forming a society here. They settled here in 1802. About two years

later Daniel Stewart rode twenty miles to meet the Rev. Jacob Young, who was then on the Marietta circuit, and engaged him to visit Rome township. Mr. Young

came according to promise.

In his autobiography,

published a few years since, in narrating the events of 1855, Mr. Young speaks of Daniel Stewart:

"Under whose hospitable roof I have spent many a happy night, and from whose hand I had received many a dollar, when I stood in great need of money. I first lodged with this good man in 1804, preached and organized a church in his house. He was then in the vigor of manhood, and was one of most active and enterprising men in Ohio."

William Pilcher, Job Ruter, Eliphalet Case, Elijah Rowell, and their wives, were among the earliest members of the society thus formed by "Father Young." The Methodists now have three neat and substantial church buildings in the township, where services are held regularly. One of the first ministers who preached in the township, was the Rev. Cyrus Paulk, jr., who preached in 1803, and, thereafter, regularly for many years. He was a "Calvinist Baptist." There is one Baptist and one United Brethren church in Rome.

The first school house in the township, a log structure sixteen feet square, was built in 1804, on the east bank of Federal creek, about two hundred yards below the bridge and near the mouth of the creek. Abraham Richards was the first teacher, and Mrs. Polly Driggs, a daughter of Ebenezer Barrows, was the next. The school was supported by subscription, and was the center of a school district about five miles in diameter.

There are now eleven school houses in the township, each with ample accommodations for forty scholars.

The "Miller seminary," owned and managed by the Rev. Amos Miller, is pleasantly located on his farm, about one mile east of Savannah, near the Hockhocking river, and three miles from the Marietta & Cincinnati railroad. When first established, in 1841, Prof. Miller used a large room in his dwelling house as a school room. As the school increased a separate building on his farm was made use of, and, in 1859, Prof. Miller erected a handsome and convenient two-story building, in which the school has since been kept. Neat cottages have been built close at hand, for the use of pupils who desire to board themselves.

The seminary will accommodate one hundred pupils. Some hundreds of youths of both sexes have been taught here, and the institution is a credit to the founder and to the county. Professor Miller has taught in Athens. county at intervals, and most of the time for the last

forty-two years.

At Savannah is located the " Savannah academy." This school, the management and success of which have been highly creditable to all concerned, was founded in the spring of 1867 through the efforts of some public spirited citizens of the township. Frederic Finsterwald, Peter Boyles, Vincent Caldwell, Harvey Pierce, and John Caldwell were elected the first board of trustees of the academy and have been its steady patrons