THE COONSKIN LIBRARY
Ames Township, Ohio was settled by pioneers who were individualists who know the necessity of working together to survive and succeed. How they came to establish a library in the wilderness is a unique story of community spirit and ingenuity.
The industrious Ames settlers had trekked westward from New England for the promise of new opportunities in the Ohio Valley. Some, like Ephraim Cutler and Capt. Benjamin Brown, had been educated in the East and valued education as a basic need for their children. As early as 1801 - when the settlement was less than a decade old - a school was in operation in Cutler's home.
But for some of the pioneers, this 'formal' education was insufficient. They wanted books - books for the continued education and entertainment of their entire family. There was little reading material in the settlement beyond a slim newspaper, the United States Gazette, that was delivered to Ephraim Cutler from Philadelphia and was frequently three weeks late. Assembling a library of books in the wilderness may have seemed an unattainable goal, but, just as the settlers joined forces to stitch quilts or build barns, they now would cooperate to satisfy their hunger for the printed word.
Plans for the Western Library Association, the official name for what would later be called the Coonskin Library, were begun at a meeting held to plan the township's road maintenance. Josiah True made a proposal for a library in Ames Township; he got an enthusiastic second from George Ewing. These men and their neighbors in the sparsely settled rural area recently released by the native Americans felt isolated from reading materials they had been accustomed to in New England. By the fall of 1803 at a second meeting they set into operation a plan to build a lending library.
Financing was the most immediate problem, as cash was in short supply on the Ohio frontier. However, True and Ewing had a solution; they suggested that their limited funds could be supplemented with cash from the sale of pelts in the East, pelts attained from hunting and trapping area wildlife. That fall and winter, area residents aggressively sought the pelts of raccoon, deer, fox and bear. Many Ames men must have followed the example of Josiah True, whose diary documented his hunting success:
October 15 (1803), "kill three raccoon, panther, 1 cat"; October 16, "kill she bare"; February 25, 1804,"went huntin 12 bares"; March 15, "kill 3 racoon". At a third meeting in the spring of 1804, True and others brought together their accumulated pelts. They also published regulations establishing the Western Library Association at this time. For many the skins fulfilled their financial obligation as charter members. The Coonskin Library was born.
The Amesville History Center is now open during Coonskin Saturdays (third Saturday of each month starting at 5:00 pm). The Center is located behind the Amesville Elementary School west of Franklin Street. Follow the raccoon footprints up Franklin Street to your destination. Find more detailed information about the Coonskin Library at: http://www.ohio.edu/people/deanr/coonskin.html
CHECK OUT THESE WEBSITE ON THE COONSKIN LIBRARY OR THE ESSAY BY SARAH CUTLER, LAST OWNER OF THE BOOKS OF THE COONSKIN LIBRARY (BEFORE DONATING THEM TO OHIO HISTORY SOCIETY)
http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Coonskin_Library?rec=692 https://people.ohio.edu/deanr/coonskin.html https://www.theclio.com/web/entry?id=41218 http://historicalmarietta.blogspot.com/2010/12/that-coonskin-library.htmlBRARY
David McCullough’s Idealistic Settlers - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
Amesville: Part of Ames Township
This was one of the four original townships into which the county was divided on its organization in 1805. The county included then more than twice its present area, and Ames comprised the territory which now forms the townships of Marion and Homer in Morgan county; Ward, Green, and Starr in Hocking county, and Trimble, York, Dover, Bern, and Ames in Athens county. The settlement of Ames was begun about a year after that of Athens, and the first settlers were judge Ephraim Cutler and George Ewing, with their families.
In the summer of 1797 Ephraim Cutler, one of the original associates of the Ohio Company, finding that a considerable portion of his lands lay on the waters of Federal creek, in the sixth township, of the thirteenth range, and being desirous to visit them and fix their location, explored a way and cut a horse path through the wilderness from Waterford on the Muskingum, to what is now Ames township. He was accompanied and assisted by Mr. George Ewing, who, with his little family, had come from western Virginia to the Ohio Company’s purchase in 1794, and had lived till the close of the Indian war in one of the block houses of the Waterford settlement.
In the autumn of 1797 they made a second visit to and more thorough exploration of Mr. Cutler’s lands. This time they were accompanied by Captain Benjamin Brown who had recently arrived in the colony from Massachusetts. Mr. Ewing and Capt. Brown each owned one hundred acres of land in the company’s ” donation ” tract on the Muskingum, which they exchanged with Mr. Cutler for land on Federal creek, agreeing to assist him in forming a settlement. They found a fertile region, heavily timbered, well watered, and abounding in game. Traces of the buffalo and elk showed that they were not yet exterminated, and deer, bears, wild turkeys, and smaller game were found in great abundance. Wolves and panthers were very numerous, and continued for many years to be a source of annoyance and danger.
Ames Township, Ohio was settled by pioneers who were individualists who know the necessity of working together to survive and succeed. How they came to establish a library in the wilderness is a unique story of community spirit and ingenuity.
The industrious Ames settlers had trekked westward from New England for the promise of new opportunities in the Ohio Valley. Some, like Ephraim Cutler and Capt. Benjamin Brown, had been educated in the East and valued education as a basic need for their children. As early as 1801 - when the settlement was less than a decade old - a school was in operation in Cutler's home.
But for some of the pioneers, this 'formal' education was insufficient. They wanted books - books for the continued education and entertainment of their entire family. There was little reading material in the settlement beyond a slim newspaper, the United States Gazette, that was delivered to Ephraim Cutler from Philadelphia and was frequently three weeks late. Assembling a library of books in the wilderness may have seemed an unattainable goal, but, just as the settlers joined forces to stitch quilts or build barns, they now would cooperate to satisfy their hunger for the printed word.
Plans for the Western Library Association, the official name for what would later be called the Coonskin Library, were begun at a meeting held to plan the township's road maintenance. Josiah True made a proposal for a library in Ames Township; he got an enthusiastic second from George Ewing. These men and their neighbors in the sparsely settled rural area recently released by the native Americans felt isolated from reading materials they had been accustomed to in New England. By the fall of 1803 at a second meeting they set into operation a plan to build a lending library.
Financing was the most immediate problem, as cash was in short supply on the Ohio frontier. However, True and Ewing had a solution; they suggested that their limited funds could be supplemented with cash from the sale of pelts in the East, pelts attained from hunting and trapping area wildlife. That fall and winter, area residents aggressively sought the pelts of raccoon, deer, fox and bear. Many Ames men must have followed the example of Josiah True, whose diary documented his hunting success:
October 15 (1803), "kill three raccoon, panther, 1 cat"; October 16, "kill she bare"; February 25, 1804,"went huntin 12 bares"; March 15, "kill 3 racoon". At a third meeting in the spring of 1804, True and others brought together their accumulated pelts. They also published regulations establishing the Western Library Association at this time. For many the skins fulfilled their financial obligation as charter members. The Coonskin Library was born.
The Amesville History Center is now open during Coonskin Saturdays (third Saturday of each month starting at 5:00 pm). The Center is located behind the Amesville Elementary School west of Franklin Street. Follow the raccoon footprints up Franklin Street to your destination. Find more detailed information about the Coonskin Library at: http://www.ohio.edu/people/deanr/coonskin.html
CHECK OUT THESE WEBSITE ON THE COONSKIN LIBRARY OR THE ESSAY BY SARAH CUTLER, LAST OWNER OF THE BOOKS OF THE COONSKIN LIBRARY (BEFORE DONATING THEM TO OHIO HISTORY SOCIETY)
http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Coonskin_Library?rec=692 https://people.ohio.edu/deanr/coonskin.html https://www.theclio.com/web/entry?id=41218 http://historicalmarietta.blogspot.com/2010/12/that-coonskin-library.htmlBRARY
David McCullough’s Idealistic Settlers - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
Amesville: Part of Ames Township
This was one of the four original townships into which the county was divided on its organization in 1805. The county included then more than twice its present area, and Ames comprised the territory which now forms the townships of Marion and Homer in Morgan county; Ward, Green, and Starr in Hocking county, and Trimble, York, Dover, Bern, and Ames in Athens county. The settlement of Ames was begun about a year after that of Athens, and the first settlers were judge Ephraim Cutler and George Ewing, with their families.
In the summer of 1797 Ephraim Cutler, one of the original associates of the Ohio Company, finding that a considerable portion of his lands lay on the waters of Federal creek, in the sixth township, of the thirteenth range, and being desirous to visit them and fix their location, explored a way and cut a horse path through the wilderness from Waterford on the Muskingum, to what is now Ames township. He was accompanied and assisted by Mr. George Ewing, who, with his little family, had come from western Virginia to the Ohio Company’s purchase in 1794, and had lived till the close of the Indian war in one of the block houses of the Waterford settlement.
In the autumn of 1797 they made a second visit to and more thorough exploration of Mr. Cutler’s lands. This time they were accompanied by Captain Benjamin Brown who had recently arrived in the colony from Massachusetts. Mr. Ewing and Capt. Brown each owned one hundred acres of land in the company’s ” donation ” tract on the Muskingum, which they exchanged with Mr. Cutler for land on Federal creek, agreeing to assist him in forming a settlement. They found a fertile region, heavily timbered, well watered, and abounding in game. Traces of the buffalo and elk showed that they were not yet exterminated, and deer, bears, wild turkeys, and smaller game were found in great abundance. Wolves and panthers were very numerous, and continued for many years to be a source of annoyance and danger.
