Nathan Dean Era/Mudsock
(1820-1840s):
In 1820 the village came into
the ownership of Nathan Dean Jr and was first called Mudsock sometime
prior to 1828. Nathan traveled here from Norton, Bristol County,
Massachusetts, in 1815 at age 27 with his father, Nathan Dean Sr.;
mother, Mary Thayer Dean; wife, Fannie Lane; young son, Nathan
William, five younger brothers and three younger sisters. Both
Nathans and Gulliver, acquired property in Ames township. It is clear
that Nathan Jr. was the primary land owner, but it is not clear
whether or not Nathan Sr. held title to land.
Both had no middle name
making it difficult to distinguish which owned land, if in fact,
Nathan Sr. did. But it is clear that Mudsock was on Col. Dean's farm;
colonel being a title later earned and maintained by Nathan Jr.
Gulliver moved into the upper
settlement where he was a farmer, stone mason, and shareholder in the
Coonskin
Library. The other
brothers, William, John and Luvead, lived in Athens where they
farmed; William and John manufactured brick. Nathan Sr. and wife,
Mary Thayer and the four youngest children resided for sometime
in Ames according the 1820 and 1830 censuses. The exact location of
their residence is undetermined but I assume that both Nathans lived
in the same area. The relationship between Silas and Nathan Dean, Sr
remains unclear. Genealogical research is underway to clarify any
relationship. Court records show that Silas' estate was awarded to
his siblings: Stephen Dean, Lavina Moore, Electa Adams, and Lydia
Pinney. They lived in Onondaga and Saratoga Counties, NY when he
died. They had all been reared in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
The Dean brothers were skilled
craftsmen. Harris writes that it was they who brought the skill
of making headed nails into the area from Massachusetts. Brothers
John and William were brickmakers in Athens; they manufactured the
brick used in construction of the three original buildings of the
American Western - soon to become - Ohio University. The first bricks
for the Central
Building were
purchased in 1816, only a year after the Deans arrived in Athens
County. Later, in 1836, John made the brick for the East and West
Wings (McGuffey
and Wilson
Halls).
Most accounts of the Ames
village and its buildings refer to the time period 1825-1841, when
Nathan Dean Jr. was landlord to most, if not all, the village
property. It is now apparent that he sold small lots of an acre
or less to the Presbyterian church and to Nathanial Shepard. He also
earned and retained the title Colonel; he was elected to the office
at the 8th Battalion muster around 1813-15. He died in 1837 at 49
years of age, an untimely, but anticipated and rapid death. He
had just become Ames Town's fourth postmaster and was carrying mail
from Marietta to Ames Town assisted by his adolescent son. He died
only 9 days after the terms of his will had been recorded, but prior
to its preparation for signature. Two witnesses were required
to attest that the terms of the final will were as he had dictated;
his signature is not on the will.
The
1833 Ohio Gazette
describes Ames as "... a township in the
northeast part of Athens County, on the waters of Federal Creek. It
contains two stores, a number of mills, a handsome brick Presbyterian
meeting house, two brick school houses, an incorporated circulating
library and is rapidly improving and increasing its population."
Walker estimated the Ames township population at 700-800 in 1810 and
721 in 1820 (388 males and 333 females). The 1830 census recorded 857
residents.
Mudsock - the Community
(1821-1841):
Buildings: There are
only two deeds to show that any land in what is called Mudsock was
ever owned by persons other than Nathan Dean Jr. during this period.
Nathan did sell very small plots to the Presbyterian church and
Nathanial Shepard. Birchie Thompson, Clifford Glazier, Harry
Henry, Nellie Woolley, and The 1833 Ohio
Gazette record that the village had a
brick Presbyterian meeting house, a brick school, a blacksmith shop,
a general store with postoffice, a tailor shop, a tannery, and four
or five homes. Physical evidence of prior buildings in this area
still exists in the form of a pile of bricks plowed up in the area by
Raymond Dean (1916-1992), great-great-great-grandson of Nathan Jr.
and father of the writer, an eyewitness account of the
existence of a log cabin in 1935, and four journals containing the
daily transactions at Loring B. Glazier's general store for the year
1837. Nathan Dean Jr. also left a detailed will at the time of his
impending death in 1837. In it he mentions of some of his tenants,
the 'smith shop", a home and the store. T
his
writer speculates that the buildings would have been constructed of
three types of materials: log, oak planks, and bricks.
The earliest buildings of the Silas Dean era would been log and
brick; recall John Brown's early brick home. The English , by
nature, preferred to construct buildings of sawed boards rather than
logs prior to mechanized sawmills. This is evident in the preserved
wood-framed Rufus Putnam home built in Marietta in the 1788
settlement. The Dean brothers came as skilled craftsmen and would
have preferred to build with the tools of their trade: boards, bricks
and stone. The earliest preserved home (pictured) is of oak planks.
This home was on the Dean farm 200 yards east of the cemetery.
Whether this was built by Nathan Dean or the McCune family is
undetermined. The use of bricks is clearly documented and is
demonstrated by Raymond Dean's brick pile (shown at end of
article).
The Church: Rev Fiske
arrived in Ames township in 1828; the following year a Presbyterian
congregation was organized. The history of the early Ames
Presbyterian Church provides excellent detail of the nature of the
first meeting house planned in 1829. Clyde Gibson on the occasion of
the 100th celebration of its organization in 1929, said that the
church was somewhere 
east
of Edward Dean's home (where I was born). His description and
the actual deed place its location on the south side of SR 550 near
where bricks have been unearthed. On July 23, 1832 Nathan Dean,
Jr. transferred a 40x57 foot plot of ground to the Ames Presbyterian
Church Society. Harry Henry shared a description of the church to be
built on Col. Nathan Dean's farm.
It was to be a 30 x 40 foot
structure of brick. The walls were to be raised 12 feet above the
stone work and be floored, roofed and plastered in a workman-like
manner, without shutters.
The Concord Church (pictured), is a current Ames brick structure
built in 1895; it is of similar dimensions and design. The bricks of
the Mudsock church were fired in kilns erected on the property. It is
presumed that Nathan Dean was the brickmaker as his younger brothers,
John and William, were successful contemporary brickmakers in Athens.
The meeting house was dedicated on Dec 1, 1832 with a membership of
52. It was used until 1858. The church fell into disuse over time.
Several accounts state there was a division among the congregation
regarding the civil war. Several members were rejected for being
southern sympathizers. This split in affiliation was cited as
instrumental in the declining attendance and support. In the 1850s
the structure was declared unsafe due to the brick deterioration and
later removed. During the existence of the Mudsock meeting
house, it had 7 pastors and membership rose to 176 in 1846.
A Rev. Cheadle is credited with renewing interest in it. The
congregation began meeting again in space rented in the Amesville
Academy after having to abandon the Mudsock structure in 1858. The
succeeding Presbyterian Church (pictured) was dedicated in 1861; its
congregation remains active today.
The Cemetery: Mudsock
Cemetery - now the Amesville Cemetery - is the dominant remaining
feature of the early village. Dates on tombstones and historical
accounts suggest that burials began in 1805-1810.
One account suggests that the area was originally the Brown family
cemetery; Polly Brown's May 1, 1810 grave is pictured to left. A
current publication of the Athens Genealogical Society lists Andrew
Brown with an earlier burial (1805). Visitors will note that the
earliest graves are in the southwest corner, nearest Route 550, and
that these tombstones face slightly more northwest that do later
stones. The later are more perpendicular to the highway. Many,
if not all, the early pioneers of the lower settlement are buried
here. Burials for the residents of the upper settlement were in
Cutler - now Fleming - Cemetery. Earliest Ames residents,
Benjamin Brown, Ephriam Cutler, and George Ewing, all moved from Ames
township by 1818 and are buried elsewhere.
The Postoffice: Loring
Glazier was appointed the first postmaster of Ames township in 1821.
It was the second postoffice in Athens County and followed the Athens
postoffice established in 1804. Bush writes that this postoffice was
in Glazier's home which is presumed to have been in Mudsock. He was
again the fourth Ames postmaster in 1837-1841, completing the
unfinished term of Nathan Dean upon his death
The General Store:
Glazier operated the general store here for many years, probably from
at least 1821 when he was appointed first postmaster until 1840 or
shortly after. The final sales in the older account books are in
1837. The same books were later used to record Ames township
transactions. Virginia Glazier Eddy and sister Dorothy Glazier Cole
possess four handwritten day journals that record the daily business
transactions of this store for 1837 and the later Ames Township Clerk
records of John H. Glazier (1845-1889). These records show names of
general store patrons, what they purchased, and the prices they paid.
It is clear from these records that customers charged items and sold
farm products and handicrafts for credit. Items most frequently
purchased were coffee (.18 1/2 per pound), tea (.75 per pound),
tobacco (.19 per pound) and a selection of fabrics and sewing
supplies. 
They
also bought brandy, groceries, paper, medicine, farming needs,
clothing, and school books. Customers can be identified who
came from the upper settlement. The store was open six days a week.
The journal also suggests that Glazier was a banker-of-sorts, lending
money on credit to patrons. Other written accounts state that when he
built the current "Glazier" home in 1841, just west of Dean's
property, that he moved various Mudsock buildings by oxen to this
site. Grandson, Clifford, writes that he moved a portion of the
store. A 1985 Ohio Historic Inventory suggests that he moved a
smaller "salt box" structure to a site just east of the 1841-built
home and that it was Presbyterian Minister's home. The building
pictured may have been part of the store. It was, until just
recently, behind the main home. Dean's will stated that he wished the
store to be sold. It is not clear whether or not that sale
occurred.
The Tailor Shop:
Mary Bowman Grosvenor wrote in her diary that her grandfather
had a tailor shop in Mudsock. No other accounts are available to
confirm that; however, Mary was an avid local historian, gave many
speeches on early Ames history, and was active in the 1976
Bicentennial project that produced Unto These
Hills.
The Blacksmith Shop:
This structure is listed among those in the village by Clifford
Glazier. Thompson says it was there as early as 1829. Nathan Dean
mentions it in his will.
It is logical that such a business would exist in such a
village because of the pioneer's dependence on horses for
transportation. Pictured is a blacksmith shop in a restored
village of the same time period at Stevens Museum, Salem, IN.
.
.
.
.
The Tannery: In the
preparation of this web account, I became aware of this additional
building. It was mentioned in the
Wanderings in Amesville and Beyond,
a brochure just printed in 1998 by the
Amesville Grange. It credits the source of this information to the
writings of Nellie Woolley, longtime Ames-Bern High School history
teacher and lifelong resident of Ames.
The Homes: Information
is meager on the names of those who occupied the four or five homes
Clifford Glazier says were in the village. If Loring Glazier did not
build on his own property until 1841, it is probable that one was
his. One account places the first postoffice in this home. Nathanial
Shepard bought a one acre lot just west of the church from Dean
perhaps for a home or business.
The saltbox home (on the left
in the picture) 
was
just a few yards east of Glazier's main house. It may have been built
in 1830 as the home of Charles Fisk, organizer and first pastor of
the Mudsock church and later moved by Glazier to avoid flooding when
the village declined. The account of this home is on file in the Ohio
Historic Inventory of buildings in the Athens County Genealogical
Library; it is dated August, 1985.
Dean in his will make reference
to how he wanted a Mr. Russel provided for in the future. This
account is partially illegible in the will, but context suggests that
he was a tenant. Dean also gave instructions to sell a home in the
area.
It is not apparent just where
either of the father and son Nathan Deans and their families lived.
The home pictured previously (in The Buildings section) was located
near but east of Mudsock. The home is approximately 500 yards west of
the cemetery and immediately behind a home later built in the 1850's
by elder son and grandson, Nathan W. I speculate that there was a
second or third home at this site that had to be removed to build the
1855 home (pictured in next section).
Terms: Coonskin, Ames,
Amesville, Athens County, Silas Dean, Nathan Dean, Richard Dean,
Northwest Territory, Ohio Company, Marietta, Ephriam Cutler, Rufus
Putnam, Mudsock, Thomas Ewing, Benjamin Brown, Revolutionary War,
Western Library Association, Presbyterian Church, early postoffice,
tourism, Silas Bingham