USA > Ohio > Highland County > A history of the early settlement of Highland County, Ohio > Part 1
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GC 977.101 H538 1386714
M. L.
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
GEN
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02410 7044
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016
https://archive.org/details/historyofearlyse00scot
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A HISTORY "
-OF ---
THE EARLY SETTLEMENT
-OF-
HIGHLAND COUNTY, OHIO.
BY DANIEL SCOTT, EsQ.
WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND INDEX.
COLLECTED AND REPRINTED
BY
THE HILLSBOROUGH GAZETTE.
PRINTED AT THE GAZETTE OFFICE 1800.
1386714
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
The Destruction of Hannahstown -Where the Pioneers Emigrated From-Peter Patrick's Adventure, and the First Settlement in the State -- Something of the Magnitude of the Enterprise and Dangers Incurred by the Emigrants who Came by the Ohio -- Graphic Description of His Labors Told by Colonel William Keys 1 The
CHAPTER II.
The French Dominion, with a Short Account of the Subsequent Contests and Cessions which Finally Brought the Territory of the Northwest Under the Control of the United States-Simon Kenton's Capture and Escape - The Story of Joshua Fleethart - First Permanent Settlement in the State at 5 Marietta
CHAPTER III.
The Heroic Age of the West - Captain James Trimble -- The Battle at the Point - Daniel Greathouse and the Massacre at Baker's Block- House - St. Clair's Expedition. 9
CHAPTER IV.
Some of the Adventures of Duncan McArthur and Samuel Davis -- The Capture and Escape of Israel Donaldson-Unsuccessful Attempts of Thomas Beals . to Reach this County from North Carolina-The Burning of James Horton and John Branson -Simon Kenton Pursues a Party of Shawnees Through: Highland County 12
CHAPTER V.
The l'attle of the East Fork 15
CHAPTER VI.
Battle of Belfast -- Reals and Pope Make an Expedition Into the County -. Something about Land Warrants and how They were Located -- An Ad- venture of Massic when Surveying in the Virginia Military District ..... ">
CHAPTER VII.
Hardships and Privations Suffered by the Surveyors - Simon Kenton Makes the First Location in Highland - Early Adventures About Manchester - The Capture of Andrew Ellison - Exciting Race of John Edgington - Wayne's Victory, and the Peace Following -The Last Indian Battle on the Scioto - William Rogers and Rev. Robert Finley 2.5
CHAPTER VIII,
Habits and Customs of the Pioneers, and the Hardships and Privation: They
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CONTENER.
Endured - The Settlement at Chillicothe, and the Means Employed to Stimulate Its Rapid Growth as a Town-The Treaty of Greenville, by which Permanent Peace was Seenred to the Northwest Territory. ...
CHAPTER IX.
Organization of Adams and Ross Counties First Settlement Within the Limits of Highland at Sinking Springs John Wilcoxon, the Pioneer Householder -Early Liquor Legislation in the Territory- Appointment of Justices of the Peace, and Their Peculiar Ideas of the Administration of Justice Cantes which Retarded the Growth of the Chillicothe Community, and Led to the. Settlement of Highland County :1
CHAPTER X.
The Town of New Market Laid Off' and Platted, and the First Houses Built --- The First White Woman in what is Now Highland County ....... .. .10
CHAPTER XI.
Jacob and Enoch Smith Settle at the Falls of Paint -General MeArthur Selects a Site and Lays Off the Town of Greenfield. -15
CHAPTER XII.
Wishart's Tavern, and the First Postmaster at New Market-The Village of New Amsterdam - - Job Wright Makes the First Settlement at Greenfield The Haleyon Days Permanent Settlers of New Market in 1800-A Tea Party - The Seat of Government Removed to Chillicothe
CHAPTER XIII.
First Settlers at Greenfield-The Poet Curry-Major Anthony Franklin Settles in the County - Nathaniel Pope and Family Start from Virginia for the Northwest Territory
CHAPTER XIV.
Hugh Evans Settles on Clear Creek - Plants the First Corn, Builds a "Sweat Mill," and Prospers, while Nathaniel Pope is Sowing the First Wheat, and William Pope, John Walters and Others are Hunting Bear, on ires Creek and Rattlesnake with the Indians -The Finleys and Davidson Find Similar Excitement and Trials on Whiteoak
CHAPTER XV.
A Settlement is Made on Rocky Fork, and "Smoky Row" is Laid Out- John. Porter's Grist Mill-Death of Thomas Beals- Rijah Kirkpatrick, Lewis sum- mers, George Row, Joseph Meyers, Isante Laman and George Caley Come to New Market-Adam Lance, George Fender and Isaiah Roberts Join the Finley's on Whiteoak -The Van Meters Settle on the Last Fork - Robert and Tary Templin Settle on Little Rocky Fork, and Simon Shoemaker, Troddeich Broncher and Timothy Marston Locate at Sinking Springs - Adam Masker and Robert Branson are Buried at New Market Benjamin Carr, Sammel Hat- ler, Evan Evans, Edward Wright and William Ington Settle About her big - Lupton Builds the First Saw Mill, and James Howard the Int Com Mili,
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CONTENTS.
in That Neighborhood- The Friends Ereet a Meeting-Honse, while Mrs. Bal- lard is the First to be Buried in the Graveyard 62
CHAPTER XVI.
Michael Stroup Surprises the People of New Market, and with William Finley and Robert Boyce Cuts a Wagon Road to Mad River-After Suffering Many Privations, Stroup Enters Into Partnership with George Parkinson and They Make Wool Hats at $18 per Dozen-Arthur St. Clair, the Territorial Governor, Being Relieved by the Admission of Ohio into the Union, Returns to Penn- sylvania, where he Dies in Poverty 66
CHAPTER XVII.
John Gossett Erects a Grist Mill-Something About Lewis Gibler-Brushcreek Currency-The First Settler in Union Township-Thomas Dick Settles in Marshall, Establishes a School, and Founds the Presbyterian Church of That Neighborhood-Sinking Springs and Vicinity Receives Additional Inhabitants in the Persons ot Simon Shoemaker, Jr., and his Brothers Peter and Martin, John Hatter, John Fulk, George Suiter, James Williams, Jacob Roads, David Evans, Jacob Fisher, Abraham Boyd, Peter Stultz, Dr. John Caplinger, Capt. Wilson, Henry Countryman and Rev. Benj. VanPelt 69
CHAPTER XVIII.
William and Bigger Head and Joseph, John and Benjamin West Settle in the Neighborhood of Sinking Springs and Marshall- Ruinors of Indian Hostilities at Chillicothe Create Great Fear and Excitement in the New Settlements --- Graphic Account of the Killing of the Shawnee Chief, Waw-Wil-a-Way ...... 76
CHAPTER XIX.
Morgan VanMeter Locates on the East Fork, Opens a Hotel, and Lays Out a Town -Jonathan Berryman Appointed Postmaster at New Market-Aaron Watson Starts a Hotel, and John and William Campton Establish a Tannery in the Same Place-How the Materials for the Manufacture of Leather were Procured -Marriage of Michael Stroup and Polly Walker, with a Description of the Wedding Ceremony-David Ross Settles in Union Township-David Reece, a Carpenter, is Cordially Welcomed, and Contributes Greatly to the Conven- iences of the Early Settlers-Joseph Eakins Locates near New Market ..... 80
CHAPTER XX.
Edward Tiffin, the First Governor of Ohio, Enters Upon His Duties, and the First General Assembly Meets at Chillicothe-Ezekiel Kelly Settles on Rocky Fork and Assists in the Erection of the First House in Hillsboro-Samuel Gibson and His Remarkable Mill-Judge Mooncy, the Pioneer School-Master- The Growth of Greenfield, with a Description of Some of Its Early Taverns and Other Business Enterprises- Edom Ratcliff, Job Haigh, George Gall and Others Locate in Different Parts of the County S.4
CHAPTER XXI.
Captain James Trimble's Second Visit to Highland-Rev. Edward Chaney and His Missionary Work Among the Indians -- "Splitting Rails" on the Present Site of Hillsboro-Struggles and Privations of the Evans and Hill Families to Effect a Permanent Settlement on Clear Creek-Cyrus Blount, Geo. Nichols,
CONTENTS.
Joseph Knox, George Hobson, Matthew Kilgore, Wm. Killbonin, Sunuel Lit- tler and Joseph W. Spargnr Move Into the County ..
CHAPTER XXII.
The Legislature Creates the County of Highland and Establishes Its Boundaries -- First Session of the Common Pleas Court, with Names of Judges and Jurymen -- Extracts from the Records-The First Church in Brushcreek Township- James Carlisle and His Celebrated Tobacco - Proceedings of the Board of County Commissioners, and Result of the Election in 1805 -An Anecdote of John Gossett, Highland's First Representative in the Legislature-Surveying and Establishing Wagon Roads Through the County The First School in Union Township 91
CHAPTER XXIII.
1 Detailing the Massacre of the Jolly Family, the Capture of William Jolly, and Ilis Thrilling Adventures Among the Indians, with the Efforts of His Relatives to Rescue Him .. 103
CHAPTER XXIV.
Proceedings of the County Commissioners, and Extracts from Court Record :- Origin of the Names of Water-Courses in the County --- Additional Settlements in the Neighborhoodl of Greenfield-Moses Patterson Erects a Mill Near Hills- boro - Roush, Annett and Wilkin Move Into the County 108
CHAPTER XXV.
Incidents and Anecdotes of the Early New Market Settlement Col. William Keys and the Hardships which He and His Family Endured in Their Journey to Highland The Stafford, Caley and Creek Families Move In and Settle in Different Localities -Court Records, Closing Up the Year 1803 112
CHAPTER XXVI.
The Subject of the Removal of the County-Seat is Agitated, and the Citizens of New Market Make a Desperate Effort to Retain in Their Village the Seat of Justice-John Carlisle's Mercantile Venture on Clear Creek - Laying Out and Establishing New Roads-Rewards Offered for Wolf and Panther Scalps- John Smith Starts a Store in New Market, and Afterwards Removes to Hills- boro- James Fitzpatrick Settles Near Hillsboro-Peter Cartwright and James Quinn, Early Methodist Ministers, and Their Labors-Matthew Creed and Ilis Milling Enterprise-A Turkey Pen. 119
CHAPTER XXVII.
Frederick Fawley, Jeremiah Smith, Matthew Creed, Jo. Hart, Mark Euunter, Abra- ham Clevenger and Jesse and William Lucas Move Into the County - . 1 Queer Marriage Fee-Accessions to the Settlements Near Leesburg and Fall Creek, Composed of the Wrights, Morrows and Pattona-Court Records and Election Results - Early Township Others-Jacob Hiestand Locates Sehr Sinking Springs The Rogers Settlement Near Greenfield Early Presbyterian History
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Common Pleas Court Records-Establishment of a Permanent Seat of Justice
t
CONTENTS.
for Highland County --- Names of Male Inhabitants Over Twenty One Years of Age .. 136
CHAPTER XXIX.
Last Sessions of the Courts at New Market-A Description of the Manner in which Houses and Barns were Built-Meager Church and School Privileges- The Ravages of Squirrels, Wolves, Foxes, &c .- Further Court Records, and Proceedings of the County Commissioners -Opening of New Roads - William C. Scott's Miraculous Escape from Indians. 147
CHAPTER XXX.
Description of an Early School-House-A Famous Deer Lick-Rev. James Quinn, an Itinerant Minister-The Commissioners Meet at the New County-Seat- How Jo. Hart Bribed a Jury with Roast Venison 155
CHAPTER XXXI.
The VanMeter Family-Incidents Connected with the Settlement of Dodson Township-The First Distillery in the County-A Bushel of Corn for a Gallon of Whisky-The Growth of Hillsboro-The Boundaries of Paint Township- First Marriage in Hillsboro-Horrible Death of Andrew Edgar from the Bite of a Rattlesnake 161
CHAPTER XXXII.
The Township of Richland-Description of a General Muster-Election Returns for the Year ISOS-The Whipping Post, and the Part it Took in the Adminis- tration of Justice in Highland County. 170
CHAPTER £ XXXIII.
Erection of the Court House-Commissioners' Proceedings-Patterson's Mill-A Horse-Thief and His Punishment - The College Township Road - Organiza- tion of Union Township-Election Returns for 1809. 177
CHAPTER XXXIV.
The Whisky Road, and a Description of the Manner in Which It was Made-New Settlers About Sugartree Ridge-Contracts Given for the Erection of a Jail- -- A Good Bear Story-The First Case of Imprisonment for Debt in Highland County-Concord Township Laid Off and Named 184
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.
In giving to the public this volume of the unfinished writings of Daniel Scott, credit is only asked for having preserved to posterity a valuable work.
The story of the sufferings, heroisms, labors and trials of the pioneers of the Northwest Territory has been written many times, but nowhere have the hon( - ly facts and incidents of their every-day struggles with savage nature and savage man been more graphically portrayed than is done in these few chapters. Many of the men who chased the deer, and hunted the wild Indian, and were in turn hunted by him, over the hills and through the hollows of Southern Ohio, inscribed their names on the roll of immortality, and as long as the history of the people who settled the Mississippi Valley is read, their names will be known and revered; while thousands of others, whose names are unknown and unsung, labored as zealously, suffered as intensely, and died as bravely: and it is due to their labor and toil, and that of their wives and children, that the center of pop- ulation in a Country many times larger than the original Colonies has passed far beyond the wilds where Simon Kenton made the first location of land in High- land county, Ohio. It is of the struggles and toils, privations and amuse- ments, joys and sorrows, of these latter, that this volume gives a glimpse.
Scott began the publication of "A History of Highland County from its Earliest Settlement to June, 1551," in May, 1858. So ephemeral is the work of a newspaper writer, that after the lapse of thirty years from the date of the first publication, it has been found impossible, by most diligent endeavor, to procure all of this. In gathering together so much as is here given, credit is due to Thomas M. Boyd, Esq., of Greenfield, O., and Hon. Charles II. Collins, of Hillsboro, O., for valuable assistance rendered. In this reprint some obsoleto names are changed, some errors in dates und mistakes in names and places aro corrected, and events are placed, as far as possible, in chronological sequence.
It is very much to be regretted that Scott did not complete his work, and that it was not brought down to June, 1851, as originally intended. Whitt the causes were which induced him to cease its publication are unknown. Had he done so, it would have been a work of much greater value, and that it would have retained the interest of the reader to the end, is undoubted, for bie had the rare faculty of making the dry facts of history exceedingly interesting. As a writer, he was undoubtedly the most facile and scholarly ever con- nected with the press of Highland county. He loved the people of whom he wrote. Born and reared in their midst, he knew their privations and the struggles they had to hew their homes out of the wilderness, ani he alinired them for their sturdy perseverance and homely virtues. Careful, conscientious and painstaking, he sought out the traditions of the carly settlers, sifted ile evidence, weighed the testimony gleaned from all available sources, and has undoubtedly given the correct version in all cases where there was a dit- ference in the accounts. Like Sh Walter Scott when he wrote his "Bonter Minstrelsy," he personally visitel the places and interviewed the actors. if living, and if not, those of their suppressors most likely to know the facts Are the time he wrote there were lying many who had actually been connected with
INTRODUCTION.
the earliest settlements; and the sentiments, opinions, mode of life and amuse- ments, as well as the general character of the people were those of the primitive backwoodsman. The war of the Rebellion changed their thoughts to other matters of vital interest. Time in its continued advance up the cycle of years dropped the older inhabitants on the grassy wayside, honored and lamented, it is true, but pot mourned with the same feelings of grief as in former times. Too many had suffered the keener sorrow of having near relatives and friends cut down in the prime and vigor of manhood, by the desolation of internecine war. They whose constant practice it was to first read the lists of "killed, wounded and missing" in the daily newspaper accounts of the battles, were not wont to miss as keenly the quiet departure of those whose lives had extended beyond the allotted period of three score years and ten.
When this war ended a new era began. An epoeli was passed, back of which few cared to go. Ten years later Scott would have found his task im- practicable. A generation having passed away since he wrote his chapters, in- terest is being renewed in the men who settled the country, and no longer is it entirely centered in those who did its battles. As time passes this feeling will grow, and the hero of the forest will be no less honored than the hero of the field. Moving at the pace we now are, it may be pardonable to halt a moment and consider the simple character and modest lives of our ancestors. One who had been a cotemporary of Scott recently returned here, after an absence of more than thirty years, and expressed himself astonished at the im- provements made in his absence. Accustomed as he had been during that time to see, springing up like the prophet's gourd where but a short time before the only signs of life were a few Indian tepees or scattered buffaloes, cities far exceeding in luxury, architecture, population and wealth anything the world had known since the Goth and Hun destroyed the ancient civilization of the Roman Empire, he was nevertheless forced to acknowledge his surprise and pleasure in the evidences of substantial advancement shown in Hillsboro and Highland county. Nothing of stirring importance occurred in the county until the war of 1861-65. To be sure, a regiment of infantry was eu- listed for the war of 1812, and another regiment went to the front in the Mexi- can War, to return home decimated in numbers and covered with glory; but the people were still interested in opening up new clearings, and retained the rough and ready ways of the first settlers. So meagre were the means of com- munication with the outside world at the time of the Mexican War, it is related that when the volunteers left they marched east to Chillicothe and took trans- portation from that place by water to Cincinnati, in preference to going direct to the latter place. On their return, the completion of the Milford and Chillicothe Turnpike provided a more direct way for coming home. The old Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad gave better facilities, when completed, in 1553, and afforded the merchants and the few others who left their homes a sprecher mode of travel than the old stage-coach.
Had David Hays returned in 1850 to the town he had laid off on the two hundred acres of forest, purchased in 1807 for the consideration of $100 from "Benjamin Ellicott, through his attorney in faet, Phineas Hunt," he doubtless would have been astonished at the growth of the town and county, but other than that the faces of niny would have been new to him and that the appear- ance of the landscape had been changed by the felling of the forests, he would have felt at home, for the people were the sanie. Were he to return in 1539 to "the town of Hillsborough" he would be completely lost, a stranger in a strange country. The town which, thanks to his wisdom and taste, has become one of the prettiest spots on the earth, would be a revelation to him. Its broad streets,
INTRODUCTION.
all macadamized and clean, lined with rows of shade trees set in wide strips of green lawn, its handsome residences in tasty and ornamental grounds, and its substantial business blocks and public edifices, would in themselves be enough to astound him. But if he stopped to consider the changes made through the discoveries of science he would be completely bewildered. What with the streets lighted by electricity, and the houses by gas, the telephone and telegraph, the railroad and turnpike, the type-writer and graphophone, the photograph and the steam engine, the reaping machine, the steam plow, and the traction engine, his bewilderment, in comparison with the perplexity of Rip Van Winkle after his twenty years sleep in the Kaatskill Mountains with Hendrick Hudson, would be as ignorance to wisdom. What he would find, were he to return in the year 1930, can only be a matter of speculation, but that he would find the world better, wiser and more populous can not be doubted. Whether it will be happier and more contented, may be a question of greater doubt.
The towns in a purely agricultural community are representative of the agriculturists. The community of interests and the concinity of ideas, tastes and habits of town and country are so close that the prosperity of one is an index to the prosperity of the other. If the people of the towns are found ad- vanced, progressive, and prosperous, the people of the country may, without hos- itation, be set down as being in a like condition The converse of this proposi- tion is equally truc.
Hillsboro, being the county seat and centrally located, quickly became after its establishment the leading town in the county, and to it came a class of people with education and accomplishments unusual for the times. Their thoughts and attention were at once directed to the subject of education. On account of this and its healthy location the place soon became noted for its schools, more particularly those devoted to the education of females, and was renowned during the first half century of its exist- ence for its polished and courtly society. It is to be regretted, perhaps, that in the struggle after more material things these matters should have been permit- ted to fall into partial inusitation. The spirit of progress, love of education, culture and aesthetic taste which pervaded the community of Hill.,- boro was emulated by the other villages and the whole population of the county, and nowhere in the State can be found a more generally intelligent and cul- tured people than that which inhabits Highland county. Settled as it was largely by the hardy sons of the cavaliers of Virginia and the Carolinas, through Limestone, Ky,, and the liberal and polished pioneers of Chesapeake Bay by way of Fayette county, Pa,, its early settlers possessed advantages far superior to those who settled many other parts of the Territory. While it will not be claimed that the ideas and habits peculiar to them were those best calculated to make a wealthy community, it can not be denied that except in this one matter of money getting, they are much pleasanter and perhaps more to be admired.
New accessions were made from all the moving population that from the. beginning of the century swept over Ohio to the Great West, and many who ?? families are among the most respected and prominent in the county and are commonly supposed to belong to the earliest pioneers, are not found in the lists of the first settlers made by Scott.
The last sentences of his writing are descriptive of the first school house on Sugartree Ridge. At the election following the erection of this house there were fifty-seven votes cast in the township, which at that time included a good portion of the present townships of Jackson and Washington. At the last Presidential election the township, with a much diminished territory, cast 200
INTRODUCTION.
votes. It is to the determination therein evinced by the early settlers to secure to their children the advantages of education, notwithstanding the difli- culties seemingly in the way, that we owe the present magnificent public school system of the State of Ohio. From the few schools similar to the one de- scribed by the author, which did not exceed at that time six or seven within the county, have grown the one hundred and fifty-nine school-houses which now dot it over at a cost of $207,500, and require the services of a corps of one hun- dred and ninety-eight educated men and women as teachers, at an annual ex- penditure of $61,000 for salaries and $14,000 for other expenses. From a popu- lation of 5,766 inhabitants in the county in 1810, the population has increased until in the year 1888 there were 4,708 boys and 4,481 girls between the ages of six and twenty-one, of whom 7,498 attended school in that year. In these schools the child of the humblest is afforded the opportunity to study orthogra- phy, reading, writing, arithmetic, geography and grammar in the country schools, and in the larger towns history, drawing, music, physical geography, physics, physiology, botany, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, literature, chein- istry, astronomy, book-keeping, natural history, rhetoric, science of govern- inent, Latin, Greek, German and French. Children unable to purchase books are furnished with the same at public expense, and all children between six and fourteen years of age are compelled to attend school at least sixteen weeks in each year. From this it will be observed that the youth of to-day has a much better opportunity of becoming acquainted with the authors of the school- books, than their grand-fathers had in the old unhewed-log cabin, puncheon- floor, eat-and-clay-chimney school-houses of the first settlers. If a little learn :- ing is a dangerous thing, the rising generation is certainly afforded excellent opportunities for sipping at the Pierian spring.
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