Coshocton County Ohio villages

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New Castle, Ohio

By D.S. Snider

At an early date in the last century John Clark, a native of Virginia, arrived in the vicinity of New Castle and acquired land through which the travel went south, east and west, which he considered a good point for trade. He built a hotel and platted a village which he named Liberty, but for some reason was after changed to New Castle. It was uncleared but he and his family cleared it up. He was an early opponent of slavery and soon became a part of the underground railroad that assisted runaway slaves to gain their freedom by going to Canada, where they became free. From pictures in the histories of George Rogers Clark who captured Vincennes, the New Castle Clarks were related to that noted patriot. Descendants of the New Castle family now live in its vicinity.

Robert Giffin, another Virginian, and his wife started on horseback for Ohio with a few household utensils and a cow, about the time of Clark, and came to the New Castle locality and got a section of land and built a blockhouse for protection against the Indians, about a mile west of the village. The building was taken down about fifty years ago. His great-grandson, Robert, still owns part of the land and lives not far from where the blockhouse stood.

Another noted early resident of the locality, Eli Nichols, came from Belmont County, Ohio, to what was known as Wolf Pen Springs, later; and with his family made their home on a tract of land of about 3500 acres of forest and river bottom land. He had a large family and proceeded at once to improve his large estate. He was a lawyer, a man of culture and a student. He planted several orchards and devoted a great part of his time to their care, and at the same time took great interest in local affairs and practicing his profession. What is known widely as the Stone House was built for him by Charles Lym, a skilled mechanic whose work would be hard to excel in workmanship today. Nichols and his wife were both Quakers and opposed to slavery as all Quakers were. He was also active in underground railroad work and contributed anti-slavery articles for the press, but was not virulent. His wife, Rachel, wrote a poem of vigorous protest against the mobbing of Lovejoy, at Alton, Illinois. The large estate is now in the possession of strangers, but fortunately the Stone House is now owned by a lady to restored it to good condition.

Another celebrity of the village was William Gorham, its noted fortune teller, who had an almost nationwide reputation for ability to reveal the future for people (who believed it possible) and tell them what was in store for them. He had clients come to him and write to him for such information, but did not presume to be positive. He invariably conditioned his statements with, �It appears� so and so. He acquired his art from the professionals of his native land, England.

New Castle supplied a large quota of volunteers to the Union armies during the Civil War and some to the ranks in the wars since. It owns a park donated by the late Dr. Samuel McElwee, where public meetings for discussion of questions of public interest and other local activities.

Transcribed by: Cheryl Blizzard