In Pioneer Period and Pioneer People of Fairfield County, Ohio is:
"Christian Gundy and wife came to Fairfield County in the year of 1800f rom Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. They came as far as Wheeling,Va., w here Gundy left his wife and came on by himself. He cleared apiece of g round and planted it in corn on Walnut creek. During thesummer he went t o Wheeling for his wife. He spent the fall and winterin a rude camp wi th a blanket for a door. Robert Wilson, a neighborof Gundy 's came abo ut the same time."
From A Complete History of Fairfield County, Ohio:
"Christian Gundy and wife came in 1800. They came from LancasterCount y, Pa, as far as Wheeling, Va, on horseback. Mr. Gundy left hiswife a t Wheeling, and came out here on Walnut Creek, and plantedthree or fou r acres of corn, and went back and brought his companion,and lived all w inter in a sugar-camp with a blanket for a door.Robert Wilson came ab out the same time, and they both, with theirfamilies, squatted on unsu rveyed lands. After the surveyorestablished the lines, these two neig hbors found that they hadsettled on the same section; so Mr. Gundy mov ed his tent eastward.Noah Gundy, his son (my informant), was born in 1 806, and still liveson the old homestead....
Noah Gundy says that the first grist of corn his father took to millhe c arried to newark, in Licking County. I asked how hisfather foundthe w ay. he said, over an Indian trail...
Mr. Noah Gundy, who has been living in the vicinity more than seventyy ears, told me, that the Indians almost every spring would come onWalnu t Creek, near their farm for the purpose of boiling sugar. Onetime a m an came to hunt, and seeing some object moving among thepawpaw bushes, a nd believeing it to be a bear, fired at it, and wasstartled by the scr eam of a squaw, and alarmed, he lost no time ingiving 'leg-bail.' The I ndians were soon on his trail, but he eludedthem by his fleetness, and b y taking to the bed of the creek, thuscausing them to lose his track; a nd he kept safely out of their wayuntil the matter was settled and the I ndians pacified. Dr. Shawk, ofLancaster, was sent out to dress the wo unded arm, and he partiallysucceeded in persuading them that it was un intentional, though theyfor a long time enterteined lingtering doubts. T he squaw, however,got well, and all was over..
Following are the names of the principal pioneers who settled inLibert y Township prior to the year 1812....Robert Wilson, ChristianGundy...e tc"
From Fairfield Towne Crier:
" In 1800 Christian Gundy left Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, lefthi s wife in Wheeling (Virginia) for "safe-keeping," and continued tothe W alnut Creek Valley just north of the Hockhocking Valley. He"squatted" o n some good but unsurveyed land, planted some corn andthen returned to W heeling to retrieve his pioneer companion. Gundywas soon followed by R obert Wilson and they became the first settlersin Liberty Township. In 1 806 "Father" Gundy and Sarah brought intothe world a son, Noah. For hi s 1877 "Complete History of FairfieldCounty" Hervey Scott interviewed N oah Gundy for the "rest of thestory" about the elder Gundy.
One of the good stories about pioneer times in Liberty Townshiprecount s the time "Father" Gundy attempted to sell some of his hogs.He could n ot get what he thought was a fair price locally so hecontracted with a b uyer in Zanesville. Transportation was very crudeat the time and the Z ane's Trace was the only decent "road" to hismarket so he herded his h ogs and herded them over several days toZanesville. Upon arriving at t he confluence of the Licking andMuskingum Rivers forty miles away he w as informed by the buyer thatthe hogs were no longer wanted! Needless t o say, Gundy was quiteangry. He refused to march his hogs back to Libe rty Township so heleft them foraging in the streets of Zanesville and r eturned to hisfarm. According to Gundy, within three weeks everyone of t he porkersfound their way home on their own.
I once asked Mr. Fairfield County Fair, Russell Alt, whether hebelieve d Gundy's hogs could have returned as described in the story.Mr. Alt s aid he wouldn't bet on it but he did believe hogs had a bitof a "homin g instinct." Of one thing he was certain, however. Hesteadfastly claim ed the Alt's were the oldest continuous farm familyin Liberty Township , arriving with the first wave of Swiss pioneers."
Another version of the same story from the History of Fairfield Co,OH:
"Hogs were introduced at an early day, and were far less liable todise ase than either horses, cattle or sheep. They bred rapidly, and,with t he exception of the kidney worm, were but lightly afflicted inany way. I n the wild state of the country many small droves strayedfrom the plan tations, and in a very few years the woods containedlarge numbers of " wild hogs." The hills south of Lancaster wereespecially rich in this k ind of game, which haunted that locality insearch of acorns, upon whic h food they thrived and generally kept ina good order through the wint er. Many families relied entirely onthese droves of wild hogs for thei r winter's supply of pork.Sometimes the settlers managed to keep their e ar-mark on a drove ofwild hogs, and thus established their ownership. A ll domesticanimals, from the necessities of the case, being allowed mo re or lessliberty, it was a matter of law that each stock owner should p ossessa peculiar mark, called an ear-mark, because generally made on t heear, although with horses the mark was usually burned into the shoulder. This mark was recorded in a book, kept by the township clerk, andw as selected with especial reference to its dissimilarity with themark o f any other man in the township; and when litigations aroseover the di spute of ownership of stock, the book was brought intocourt, and the m ark on the disputed animal compared with the record.Speaking of wild h ogs, calls to mind a story told by Henry Leonard,of Liberty township. M ore than sixty years ago Father Gundy,of thattownship, contracted fort y head of fat hogs to Mr. Buckingham, ofZanesville, for one dollar and f ifty
cents per hundred, net weight, which, according to the custom of theda y, was to be found by deducting one-fifth of the gross. Gundy drovehis h ogs to Zanesville, a distance of forty miles, but Buckinghamwould not t ake them, saying that the market price was only one dollarand twenty-f ive cents Gundy declined to sell his pork at any suchfigure, and turni ng away, walked back to his home in Libertytownship, leaving the hogs t o care for themselves. Within three weeksevery hog of the forty was ba ck on the Gundy farm. Almost the entiredistance traveled was a wildern ess. Gundy afterwards got his price,one dollar and fifty cents, at Chi llicothe."
The History of Fairfield and Perry Counties, OH says:
"The first settlers of Liberty township were emigrants fromSwitzerland a nd Pennsylvania. It cannot now be ascertained who wasthe very first se ttler of the township.
Christisn Gundy and family came from Lancaster county, Pennsylvania,in 1 809, settling in the southern part of Liberty, on Walnut Creek.He erec ted a small log cabin, having a blanket for a door. Hisdescendants sti ll reside here.....
The nearest flouring mill was at Chillicothe, to which place thesettle rs would go for their flour and meal. Rev. Henry Leonard, whowas born i n 1812, and still resides in the township, furnishes thefollowing list o f families, who resided in Liberty township prior tothe war of 1811, v iz.: the Eversoles, Cooks, Campbells, Zirkles,Hiesers, Alts, Heistands , Apt, Finkbone, Kemerer, Paff, Bolenbaughs,Rouch, Newell, Blauser, Br owns, Shriners, Knepper, Moreheads,Olingers, Wrights, Tusing, Growiler s, McCalla, Switzer, Amspach,Heyle, Farmers, Leonards, Sann, Rouch, Z irkles, Sagers, RobertWilson, Nicholas Bader, Christian Gundy and seve ral other families.Many of the descendants of these first settlers are s till residinghere. The first cabins of the pioneers have long since di sappeared,and have been superseded by substantial brick and frame stru ctures."
1830 Liberty Twp, Fairfield Co, OH. The census recorded ChristianGun dy as 50-60 years old and had living with him: 1 male aged 5-10,1 at 1 5-20, 2 were 20-30, and 2 females at 15-20. In the same countywas a R egina Gundy who was 40-50.
In Cases Decided in the Supreme Court of Ohio, Decemter Term, 1831was:
"James Roland v Christian Gundy
The owner of a chattel, sold by the bailee, can recover the specificch attel of its value of whomsoever he may find in possession of it.
This cause came before the court, upon a writ of error to thecomm on pleas of the county of Morgan, and was adjourned here fordecision b y the Supreme Court in that county.
The original suit was an action of replevin, brought by Gundyagai nst Roland for a horse. Verdict and judgement for the plaintiff.Upon t he trial, it appeared that Gundy had lent the horse in questionto one M cConnel, who sold the horse to Isaac Roland, who sold him tothe defend ant, neither of whom had any notice of Gundy's claim. Thecounsel for t he defendant, on this testimony moved the court toinstruct the jury th at the plaintiff could not recover. Theinstruction was refused, and t his refusal was assigned for error."
By 1840 George and Noah Gundy were the only ones by the name in thatc ounty but Christian was probably living with Noah as he was in 1850.
8/19;/1850 Still in Lieberty Twp, Fairfield Co, OH. In that census,C hristian was 77, retired without real estate, and living with sonNoah.
Christian is buried with first wife, Sarah Wiley.
