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AMERICAN ELOQUENCE:
A COLLECTION OF Speeches and Addresses by the most Eminent Orators of America, WITH BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES AND ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES. BY FRANK MOORE.
THIS work furnishes, in a convenient and popular form, a LIBRARY EDITION of the most cele- brated Speeches of some of the principal Orators and Statesmen of America. Many of these speeches have not been included in any previous collection, and have been inaccessible to the general reader. Beside a great variety of Miscellaneous Addresses and Speeches, there are here presented specimens of the eloquence of the Continental Congress,-and selections from the discussions in the State Conventions, on the adoption of the Federal Constitution, which will render the book peculiarly acceptable to the student of American History. Its plan may be briefly stated. A short, but complete Biographical Notice is given of each Orator, and this is followed by specimens of his eloquence, the whole curiched with valuable Historical and Explanatory Notes. An important feature of the work is the introduction of the portraits of Fourteen of the most eminent of our Orators. Selections from the eloquence of Red Jacket and Tecumseh are also given, and, to complete its usefulness, a thorough analytical Index is added to the work. That such a book is wanted will be universally allowed ; and it is confi- dently hoped that these volumes may supply that want, and that they may furnish to all, who would listen to the eloquence of other In s, " "is - "+1. spring scenes of our coun- .y iust. 1 ^. and ennobling. The
try's history, a source of gratifion :
work is comprised in two roll
:A:es. Fourteen portraits
engraved on steel, from or'_ sal pict "e-
PRICE IN CLOTH, $), L. RARY STYL
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(.Among many othe .. en rec ed, and "earl: 0 uhrer ber have already entered
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on the Philadelphia Press.
"ol mes we read by a new light .istory of this nation."
From the St. Louis Democrat.
"There has been no work issued from the American press for a number of years that will be received with so much gratification, and prove of such inestimable value to the admirers of the forensic and parliamentary eloquence of our countrymen, as these two important vol- umes. "
From the Morning Times.
" To the student of political history, this work must prove invaluable, especially as a full analytical index is added to it."
From the Phil. Evening Bulletin.
My Dear Sir - Permit me to congratulate you upon your success in your new and very "Like Motley's Dutch History, it is a book which will at once take classic rank, and he valuable work upon "American Eloquence." It will supply a place in our libraries filled by referred to as a standard authority by the first no other book. Every student of our country's scholars." annals, and every lover of true oratory, has From the Boston Transcript. reason to thank you for a collection so copious and instructive-so replete with specimens of " The selections have been chosen with great the noblest eloquence, and with interesting research and discrimination ; the biographies facts in the lives of men who have made our are written with brevity, yet completeness ; history. I am, my dear Sir, yours truly, E. H. CHAPIN.
FRANK MOORE.
and the engravings are the most authentic aud life like imaginable."
Published by D. APPLETON & CO., 346 & 348 Broadway, N. Y.
LG FOLLETT, FOSTER & Co., Agents for Ohio, to whom applications for agencies should be addressed.
My Dear Sir-T was so er to see your work on American Eloquence, that I became the owner of a copy almost on the very day of its publication. And now I have to thank you for the beautiful volumes which you have been so good as to send me, and which I shall doubly value for their intrinsic merit, and as the evi dence of your good will. They came to me as a rich gallery of mental portraits, and I think you have done well in selecting so many speeches that are of the utmost political and historical interest. With my best thanks,
I am ever, dear Sir, very truly yours,
GEO. BANCROFT.
FRANK MOORE, Esq. NEW YORK, Dec. 11, 1857.
THE EXILES OF FLORIDA.
BY JOSHUA R. GIDDINGS.
ILLUSTRATED WITH SIX FINE ENGRAVINGS. One Volume. 12mo. 338 pp.
This work portrays, with eminent ability, the crimes committed by our Government against the Maroons who fled from South Carolina and other Slave States, seeking protection under Spanish laws. It also shows the bad faith exercised toward the Indians of Florida, and presents a true view of the long-fought FLORIDA WAR.
The object of the work is to operate upon the political morality of the country, by calling forth the sympathies and moral feelings of the people ; and its condemnation of the tyranny of the Executive and its supporters, should commend it to the attention of every American citizen.
The long and distinguished services, high personal character, and known ability of the writer, will be a sufficient guaranty of its merits.
The Washington correspondent of the New York Evening Post, who examined some of the advance sheets, says :
" I have examined it with pleasure and instruction. The work will prove a valuable history of important events which will undoubtedly be passed over by those who claim to be the historians of the country, either in consequence of the 'peculiar institution ' which it concerns, or because they have not the facilities for acquiring information on the sub- ject. To any other man than Mr. Giddings, the subject of the Spanish Maroons or Seminole slaves would become complex and remote. Per- haps there has been no subject which he has more thoroughly investi- gated in the course of his public duties, nor any that he comprehends better than this. The book will cover a vast deal of important infor- mation beside that of which it is the special object of the author to treat. The character of Osceola, as delineated by the pen of Mr. Gid- dings, is grand to contemplate. His parentage, marriage, romantic life and noble death, make up a most thrilling and instructive chapter in the work; and while the whole is produced in the usually earnest, clear and concise style of the author, it is also beautified with a romance more charming than can be gathered from the world of fiction."
Agents Wanted in every County in the United States.
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4608- 53
SECRETARY
TREASURER
AUDITOR
FELCH - RICHES.
United States Court House.
Public Offices.
Old State House.
STATE BUILDINGS
AT COLUMBUS.
HISTORY
OF
FRANKLIN COUNTY:
A COLLECTION OF
REMINISCENCES OF THE EARLY SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTY;
WITH
Biographical Sketches,
AND A COMPLETE
HISTORY OF THE COUNTY TO THE PRESENT TIME.
BY WILLIAM T. MARTIN. "
. LIBRARY OFC.
NCITY OF
COLUMBUS: PUBLISHED BY FOLLETT, FOSTER & COMPANY 1858.
PREFACE.
IT is the design of this Work to preserve for the peo- ple of Franklin County an imperishable record of its early history-now existing only in the memory of the more aged settlers, and in scattering and detached papers and records, which are every year wasting away.
To write the history of a single county, may to some appear like a very small business; while to others it is considered very desirable that some one should do so in every county. How else are the names and memory of our early settlers and friends to be preserved ? And who is there that would not be pleased to look back, or to have his children look back, upon some record of his early days, and of departed friends ? And how else should strangers, settling among us, so readily obtain a knowledge of our institutions and public characters, as by some such local publication ?
It has been the writer's object in this compilation, to give a correct statement of all events worthy of remem-
iv
PREFACE.
brance, with their proper dates, so as to form a book of ready reference, such as will be convenient and inter- esting to all residents of the county. For this purpose, he has relied upon public records and documents, where they could be obtained ; and in all other cases, upon the best information that could be derived from early and intelligent settlers of the city and county, aided by his own personal knowledge.
It is but a little over sixty years since the first settle- ment was commenced - more than two-thirds of that time the writer has been a resident of the county. Over twenty years ago, while on terms of intimacy and daily intercourse with some of the very first settlers, he compiled a small pamphlet entitled "Franklin County Register," a few copies of which were printed; and which may be considered as the basis of this work. In that way he obtained and preserved the recollections of those pioneer friends.
And now, as some of the matter contained in these pages has heretofore appeared in different prints, to avoid the charge of plagiarism, it is but necessary to say, that when Mr. Wheeler published his map of Frank- lin County, in 1842, he accompanied it with a very small pamphlet, historical and descriptive of the county, which was taken wholly from the Franklin County Register, without giving credit ; and when Mr. Howe published
V
PREFACE.
his " Historical Collections of Ohio," in 1847, he copied from Wheeler's pamphlet, and gave credit to it. It may not be amiss, also, to add that the "Brief History of Columbus," accompanying Mr. Armstrong's " Columbus Business Directory," published in 1843, was also pre- pared by the writer hereof, which may be an apology for the free use of it in this work.
To suppose that this publication contains no errors or omissions, would be folly in the extreme. But the wri- ter has labored assiduously to have it as free from errors as possible. And to those who have kindly rendered ·him assistance in the collection of facts, he tenders his grateful acknowledgments.
W. T. MARTIN.
COLUMBUS, May, 1858.
HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY.
CHAPTER I.
FROM THE FIRST SETTLEMENT UNTIL THE ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY, IN 1803.
THE first settlement of the territory now composing the county of Franklin, was commenced in the year 1797, while we were yet under the Territorial Govern- ment, and in the County of Ross.
In the year 1796, or early in '97, Lucas Sullivant, from Kentucky, then a young man, with his corps of chain-carriers, markers, etc., engaged in the surveying of lands and locating warrants, in the Virginia Military District, west of the Scioto; and in the month of Au- gust, 1797, he laid out the town of Franklinton. To encourage the settlement of the place, he appropriated the lots on a certain street, which he named " Gift street," as donations to such as would improve them and become actual settlers thereon. The settlement of the town was soon commenced. Among the first set-
2
HISTORY OF
tlers, were Joseph Dixon, George Skidmore, John Briek- ell,* Robert Armstrong, Jeremiah Armstrong,# William Domigan, James Marshal, the Deardurfs, the McElvains, the Sells, John Lisle and family, William Fleming, Jacob Grubb, Jacob Overdier, Arthur O'Harra, Joseph Foos, John Blair and John Dill, the latter from York County, Pennsylvania.
About the year 1801, Mr. Sullivant having married, settled in his new town; and soon after, Lyne Starling and Robert Russell, and about the same time, Colonel Robert Culbertson, from Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, arrived, with his numerous family of sons, sons-in-law and daughters, both married and unmarried. He was a man of some wealth and distinction, and the first year after his arrival, he was elected a Representative to the General Assembly for the County of Ross.
At the first settlement of the county the Indians were numerous, but friendly, it being some two or three years after Wayne's Treaty ; they were principally of the Wyandot tribe, some Delawares, and a few Mingoes. In front of where the Penitentiary now stands, they had an encampment, with their usual wigwams; another on the west bank of the Seioto, near where the Harrisburg bridge is now erected over the river; and they had
* See Chaps. IX and X, for narrative of Brickell's and Armstrong's captivity.
3
FRANKLIN COUNTY.
for years raised corn in what was afterward known as Sullivant's Prairie. There was also another encamp- ment of this kind two or three miles further down the river.
Agreeably to tradition, about the time Lord Dun- more's army was in Pickaway County, prior to the treaty at which Logan's celebrated speech was delivered, a party from Dunmore's army pursued and overtook a party of Indians at, or near, this second named encamp- ment, and a skirmish ensued in which the Indians were defeated, with the loss of two or three men and a squaw. It is said that Captain Minter, afterward of Delaware County, and also Mr. John Huffman, formerly of Frank- lin County, were of the pursuing party .*
Next, after the settlement at Franklinton, was a few families on Darby, near where Mr. Sullivant laid out his town of North Liberty, and a scattering settlement along Alum Creek. This was probably about the sum- mer of 1799. Among the first settlers on Alum Creek, were Messrs. Turner, Nelson, Hamilton, Agler and Reed.
* In " Howe's Historical Collections," an account is given of this skirmish somewhat variant from this, in which he says : - " One of the whites saw two squaws secrete themselves in a large hollow tree ; and when the action was over, they drew them out, and carried them captive to Virginia. This tree (he says) was alive, and standing on the west bank of the Scioto, as late as 1845." All a mistake.
4
HISTORY OF
About the same time improvements were made near the mouth of Gahannah (formerly called Big Belly) ; and the settlements thus gradually extended along the principal water-courses. In the meantime, Franklinton was the point to which emigrants first repaired to spend some months, or perhaps years, prior to their permanent location.
In 1803, a settlement was commenced about where the town of Worthington now stands, by a company, said to number forty families, from Connecticut and Massa- chusetts, known by the name of the " Scioto Company," under the agency of Colonel James Kilbourne, who had the preceding year explored the country, and selected this situation for them. They purchased here half a township, or eight thousand acres of land, all in one body,* upon which, in May, 1804, Colonel Kilbourne, as agent for the company, laid out the town of Worthing- ton ; and in August, 1804, the whole half township being handsomely laid out into farm lots, and a plat thereof recorded, they, by deed of partition, divided the same amongst themselves, and so dissolved the company. The parties and signers to this deed of partition, were James Allen, David Bristol, Samuel Beach, Alexander Morrison, Ebenezer Street, Azariah Pinney, Abner P.
* They also purchased two quarter townships unconnected with this.
5
FRANKLIN COUNTY.
Pinney, Levi Pinney, Ezra Griswold, Moses Andrews, John Topping, Josiah Topping, Nathan Stewart, John Gould, James Kilbourne, Jedediah Norton, Russel Atwa- ter, Ichabod Plum, Jeremiah Curtis, Jonas Stanbery, Lemuel G. Humphrey, Ambrose Cox, Joel Mills, Glass Cochran, Alexander Morrison, jr., Thomas T. Phelps, Levi Buttles, Levi Hays, Job Case, Roswell Wilcox, William Thompson, Samuel Sloper, Nathaniel Little, Lemuel Kilbourn, Israel P. Case, Abner Pinney, and William Vining.
For several years there was no mill nor considerable settlement nearer than the vicinity of Chillicothe. In Franklinton, the people constructed a kind of hand-mill, upon which they generally ground their corn ; some pounded it, or boiled it, and occasionally a trip was made to the Chillicothe mill. About the year 1799 or 1800, Robert Balentine erected a poor kind of mill on the run near Gay street, on the Columbus plat; and, near the same time, Mr. John D. Rush erected an infe- rior mill on the Scioto, a short distance above Franklin- ton. They were, however, both poor concerns, and soon fell to ruins. A horse-mill was then resorted to, and kept up for some time; but the first mill of any consid- erable advantage to the county, was erected by Colonel Kilbourne, near Worthington, about the year 1805.
6
HISTORY OF
About the same time, Carpenter's mill, on Whetstone, in what is now Delaware County, and Dyer's, on Darby, were erected.
About one year probably after the first settlement of Franklinton, a Mr. James Scott opened the first small store in the place, which added much to the convenience of the settlers. And as early as 1803, we find that our old and respected townsman, Robert Russell, Esq., was engaged in merchandizing in Franklinton.
During the first years of the settlement it was ex- tremely sickly - perhaps as much so as any part of the State. For a few of the first years, the fever and ague prevailed so generally in the fall seasons as to totally discourage many of the settlers; so that they would, during the prevalence of the disease, frequently resolve to abandon the country and remove back to the old set- tlements. But on the return of health; the prospective advantages of the country ; the noble crops of corn and vegetables ; the fine range for stock, and the abundance of wild game, deer, turkeys, etc., with which the country abounded - all conspired to reänimate them, and en- courage them to remain another year. And so on, year after year, many of the first settlers were held in con- flict of mind, unable to determine whether to remain or abandon the country ; until the enlargement of their improvements or possessions, the increasing convenien-
7
FRANKLIN COUNTY.
ces and improvements of the country, together with the fact that the seasons had become more healthy, deter- mined them generally to remain. Although sickness was so general, deaths were comparatively few, the dis- ease of the country being principally ague-or so it was called. There was the shaking ague, and what is now familiarly termed chills and fever, which was then called the dumb ague.
CHAPTER II.
FROM THE ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY UNTIL THE LAYING OUT OF COLUMBUS IN 1812.
Organization of County and Boundaries - Division into four Town- ships - U. S. M. Lands-V. M. Lands - Refugee Lands - Congress Lands - First Post Route and Mail Carrier - Col. McEl- vain's Letter - First Court House and Jail - Court Journal - First Election in the County and Poll Book - Delaware County creeted in 1808 - Dates, etc., of the present Townships - Further Extracts from Court Journal - Execution of Leatherlips.
IN 1803, the County of Franklin was stricken off from Ross, and organized. The act creating the new county, was passed March 30th, 1803, to commence and take effect from and after the 30th of April, 1803. The bounds are described as follows : "Beginning on the western boundary of the twentieth range of townships east of the Scioto River, at the corner of sections Nos. 24 and 25 in the 9th township of the 21st range, sur- veyed by John Matthews, thence west until it intersects the eastern boundary line of Greene County, thence north with said line until it intersects the State line, thence eastwardly with the said line to the north-west
9
FRANKLIN COUNTY.
corner of Fairfield County, thence with the western boundary line of Fairfield to the point of beginning." That is, bounded on the east by nearly our present line, south by a line near the middle of what is now Picka- way County, on the west by Greene County, and on the north by Lake Erie. The creation of the county of Delaware in 1808, reduced our northern boundary to its present line ; the creation of the county of Pickaway in 1810, reduced our southern boundary to its present limits ; the creation of Madison in 1810, and of Union in 1820, reduced our western limits to the boundaries represented by Wheeler's County Map, published in 1842; but subsequently, by an act of the Legislature passed the 4th of March, 1845, our western boundary was changed by making Darby Creek the line from the north-west corner of Brown to the north line of Pleasant Township, as represented by Foote's Map of 1856; and by an act passed the 27th of January, 1857, entitled "An act to annex a part of Licking County to the County of Franklin," there were nine half sections taken from the sonth-west corner of Licking, and attached to Franklin. This occasions the jog in the eastern line of Truro Town- ship, as represented on the maps. Then at the session of 1850-'51, a range of sections, being a strip one mile in width and six miles in length, including the town of Winchester, was taken from Fairfield County and
10
HISTORY OF
attached to the cast side of Madison township, in Frank- lin County, as represented on Foote's Map. The county is now in nearly a square form, and is twenty-two and a half miles in extent north and south, and would prob- ably average a trifle over that from cast to west.
There are four several denominations of land in this county. They are designated the United States Military Lands, Virginia Military Lands, Refugee Lands, and Congress Lands. The townships of Plain, Jefferson, Mifflin, Blendon, Sharon, Clinton and Perry, are within the United States Military District ; the townships of Montgomery and Truro, in the Refugee tract; the town- ships of Hamilton and Madison, in the Congress Lands, so called; and all the other townships (west of the Scioto) are in the Virginia Military District. The United States Military Lands, are so called from the circumstance of their having been appropriated by an act of Congress in 1796, to satisfy certain claims of the officers and soldiers of the Revolutionary War. These lands were surveyed by Government into townships of five miles square, and then into quarter townships of two and a half miles square, containing four thousand acres each. Some of the quarter townships, however, were subsequently divided into lots of one hundred acres each, for the accommodation of those soldiers holding one hundred acre warrants. The fourth, or south-east quar-
11
FRANKLIN COUNTY.
ter, of Plain Township, and a strip in Perry Township, bordering on the river, are thus laid out into one hundred acre lots. And again, after satisfying the claims for which these four thousand acre tracts were designed, there appears to have been a surplus of land, which was then laid out by Government into sections of six hundred and forty acres, and sub-divided into quarter sections of one hundred and sixty acres, and disposed of as other Congress lands. Of this description are quarters one and two (or north half) of Plain Township. These original surveyed townships of five miles square, when divided into quarters, are numbered thus, 2 | 1 3 4 (the top being considered north,) and are most properly designated as first quarter, second quarter, etc., in township No. - , range -, but sometimes in conveyances, they are called sections, and very commonly so in conversation, as the Rathbone sec- tion, the Stevenson section, the Brien section, etc., which in the minds of some may create confusion, as a section, in Congress Lands, is well known to contain six hundred and forty acres, while one of these quarter townships (or sections, if we so call them,) contains four thousand acres.
The Virginia Military District in Ohio, comprises the lands between the Scioto and Little Miami Rivers; and when the State of Virginia, in 1783, ceded to the United
12
HISTORY OF
States all her right of soil and jurisdiction to all the tract of country she then claimed north-west of the Ohio River, it was provided that the " Virginia troops of the Continental establishment" should be paid their legal bounties from these lands. The patent to the soldier or purchaser of these lands, as well as of all other Ohio lands, is derived from the General Government. This District is not surveyed into ranges and townships, or any regular form, and hence the irregularity in the shapes of the townships, as established by the county commissioners, for civil purposes ; but any individual holding a Virginia Military Land Warrant, might locate it wherever he desired, within the district, and in such shape as he pleased, wherever the land had not been previously located. In consequence of this want of regular original surveys, and the irregularities with which many locations were made, and the consequent interference and encroachment of some locations upon others, far more uncertainty and litigation has arisen relative to lines and titles in this district, than in any of the regularly surveyed districts. In conveyancing, the lands in this district are not designated by section or range, but as being within Original Survey No. -.
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