COSHOCTON COUNTY OHIO - BIO: DULING, Thomas D. Sr.  (published 1917)
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THE MAKING OF A TOWNSHIP
Being an Account of the Early Settlement and Subsequent Development of
FAIRMOUNT TOWNSHIP GRANT COUNTY, INDIANA 1829-1917
Edgar Baldwin Printing Company, 1917
Page 220, 221, 222, 223 with photo of Thomas D. Sr., Edmund, William and
Thomas D. Jr.

        THOMAS D. DULING, Sr., was born in Hampshire County, Virginia,
November 22, 1811. With his parents, Edmund and Mary (Dean) Duling, he
moved in the fall of 1815 to Coshocton County, Ohio. On February 4, 1836,
he was married to Nancy Meskimen, daughter of William and Anna (Shryock)
Meskimen, her father, a merchant of Baltimore, Maryland, where she was
born. John Meskimen, great-grandfather of Thomas D. Duling, Jr., was a
soldier under Gen. George Washington, serving through the entire period of
the Revolutionary War with a regiment of Maryland colonial troops. Thomas
D. Duling, Sr. came to Fairmount Township in the spring of 1845. He bought
of Nathan Dicks eighty acres of land located about one-half mile north and
west of Fowlerton. Here he built a hewed-log cabin eighteen by twenty feet,
with one door, two windows and a fireplace. Having made preparations for a
home, he returned to Ohio, and on October 3, 1845, with his wife and
family, namely, William M., Mary, John and Barbara Ann, came in a two horse
wagon to settle in the wilderness. This wagon Duling traded to George Nose
for clearing twelve acres of ground. Here Elizabeth, Thomas D., Jr., Joel
O. and George E. W. Duling were born. Elizabeth passed away at fifteen
years of age, and George died September 2, 1894. The father and his family
shared the hardships common to pioneers of that day. The first season he
cleared six acres of land out of the green woods and planted a crop of
corn. Each season he added more acreage to his cleared ground. Being
industrious and thrifty he began to accumulate. He bought, in 1849, another
eighty of Aaron Vestal, and about 1860 he purchased of the William Chamness
estate eighty acres more. In politics Mr. Duling was a Republican and a
pronounced Abolitionist. The Dulings are members of the Methodist
Protestant Church, and have given liberally of their means and have devoted
their activities to the firm establishment of this denomination in their
neighborhood.

        THOMAS D. DULING, SR., to whom extended references have been made
in former articles, came to this Township in 1845. He taught two terms of
school in the early day, the attendance one winter being so large that he
was obliged to employ an assistant, who was Oliver Meskimen, of Linton,
Ohio. In 1846 Mr. Duling was named one of the Township Trustees for a
period of three years. On October 31, 1846, he gave bond for the faithful
performance of his duties, with Henry Simons as his surety. Mr. Duling
continued to serve in this position until 1860. The old log school house
having burned in 1855, steps were taken at once to build a new one in his
district. He offered one half acre of land free as a site. This site was
situated on the northeast corner of the west half of the northwest quarter
of Section 25. He provided that this school house, which was known as the
Liberty school house, should be open for all religious meetings, no
denomination barred, when not occupied for school purposes. This building
was completed in 1855. It was in this building that Mary Ann Taylor taught
when a very young woman. Mr. Duling's home was the scene of much
hospitality. It was here that teachers usually made their home, and
itinerant ministers of all denominations found a characteristic pioneer
welcome. Thomas Duling was a man of considerable education for his day, and
in a few instances young men would not undertake to teach school in his
neighborhood unless first assured of Mr. Duling's assistance and advice. It
was he, with the help of his sons, William M. and John W. Duling, who got
out the huge timbers, sills, posts and beams that were used in the
construction of the old Duling home which was burned last winter. In
finishing the interior of this house the best walnut lumber obtainable in
that day was used.

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