USA > Ohio > Gallia County > Illustrated historical and business review of Meigs and Gallia counties, Ohio, for the year 1891. > Part 1
USA > Ohio > Meigs County > Illustrated historical and business review of Meigs and Gallia counties, Ohio, for the year 1891. > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26
-
Gc 977.101 M471 1448966
M.
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
L
GEN
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02483 8572
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016
https://archive.org/details/illustratedhisto00aust
ILLUSTRATEDES
Historical and Business Review
er --- - OF-
.
1
COUNTIES, OHIO,
FOR THE YEAR 1891.
RESS OF THE T A C., COSHOCTON, V.
THE EXTENSIVE MILLING PLANT OF THE
MIDDLEPORT FLOUR COMPANY,
MERCHANT AND CUSTOM MILLERS, AND MANUFACTURERS OF THE LEADING BRANDS,
"Harvest Home,'
"Little Duchess"
and "Roller A."
SEE PAGE 126.
ILLUSTRATED Ne
HISTORICAL AND BUSINESS REVIEW
1
Meigs and Gallia Counties, OHIO,
FOR THE YEAR 1891.
RECORDING THEIR COMMERCIAL, PROFESSIONAL AND INDUSTRIAL INTERESTS ; ALSO, SYNOPTICAL OF THEIR CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, SOCIETIES AND OR- GANIZATIONS, SECRET ORDERS, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE IM- PROVEMENTS, PROGRESSIVE SCIENCES AND ARTS, NATURAL RESOURCES, ETC.
- 0
UNION PUBLISHING CO., COSHOCTON, OHIO, 1891.
.
1448966
nece $ 17.50 6-18.68 frw. 8981 P.O.S +82
3:77. . 77
3 1833 02483 8572
/
INTRODUCTORY.
Every general reader is sometimes at a loss for a date or a fact con- nected with his locality, and meets with frequent references to historical and biographical subjects, of which he knows nothing, or obscurely remembers, or only partially understands.
The design of this work is to furnish such information, and at the same time a record of the commercial, professional, and industrial interests of our own city and county. It is particularly commended to the attention of commercial and professional men; and while no pretense is made to history, however, such events as are of special importance, are recorded. The index embraces a business directory and notice of the county seat, and all the vari- ous towns of the county, with page references to those whose enterprise and public spirit justify special editorial mention.
The Compiler, however, has culled many features of prominence from various sources, and enterspersing these, and other illustrative sketches throughout these pages, has sought to enliven the work, and thus render it amusing, attractive, and readable.
Yours, Etc.,
UNION PUBLISHING CO.
. 1
THE GREAT NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
W E take no note of time, but from its loss. Human works perish with their architects. Isolated mounds betoken the former exist- ence of a numerous race throughout the region of the Great Lakes, the valleys of the Mississippi, the Ohio, and the Muskingum. The populous and templed cities of Yucatan, though built of massive stone, are dreary spots, bearing the gathered dust of centuries. Walls have crumbled, and all, even to the name, is lost. The progressive nations of the past placed hopes of earthly immortality in enduring marble, and trusted to their faultless orators to per- petuate their fame. The pyramids of Cholula stand in a wilderness, the dumb monuments of an unknown race. Some Aztec heiroglyphies and pictured his- tory have been seen, but the key was lost, and the tide of oblivion rolls over them.
Engaged in the present, we are in danger of neglecting to perpetuate the memories of the early settlers-hardy pioneers, the men to whom we owe our very existence and all the luxuries of the present day-who endured privations, cleared the forests, and made a pathway and a home for us.
One hundred and three years have passed since the date of the inception of Marietta, the first town settled in the Northwest Territory-Yea, and also the soul of every Pioneer of that never-to-be-forgotten age-only WE are left to view their vast improvements, and to listen to the meagre story of their wonderful achievements. Can we not say we are grateful, and that we owe the present with all its bounties, to the toils and hardships of our forefathers of the past?
16
HISTORY OF
Their works are to be seen on every hand, and at every step we tread up- on their achievements, and the work of their hands.
Our aim is the plain story of feeble settlement and early improvements: a present exhibit of the people and resources of the county; for evidences of past industry and a base to measure the future ; this is no child's task for "Only the gifted pen of such as Prescott might
Record Moig's and Gallia's history aright.
Let me attempt with an unpracticed quill.
And take, O, reader, for the deed. the will.
ABORIGINAL PERIOD.
The earliest authentie history of the Red Man in the Ohio and the Mus- kingum Valleys may be said to have had its beginning about the year 1750. But little is definitely known concerning the Indian occupation of the Ohio country prior to 1750, and scarcely anything anterior to the year 1650. How- ever, about the middle of the seventeenth century the doom-destined Eries, the most powerful western nation, were in possession of the vast wilderness which is now the thickly settled, well improved State of Ohio, dotted with vil- lages and cities and covered with the meshes of a vast net-work of railroads. Most of the villages of the Eries were along the shores of the lake which bears their name.
Five other powerful nations of the West, the Andastes and the Hurons occupied the valleys of the Alleghney and upper Ohio, and the peninsulas about the lakes, respectively :
The Iroquois or Five Nations, ( Mohawks, Senecas, Onandegas, Miamis, Cayucas) afterwards the Six Nations, (increased by the alliance of the Tus- caroras from the South, ) formed their confederacy in the beginning of the seventeenth century, and through consolidation of strength, and by resorting to stratagem, overwhelmed, singly and successively, the Hurons, the Eries, and the Andastes. And so the victorious Iroquois took up their habitation on the shores of Lakes Erie and Ontario and utilized all that territory about the headquarters of the Ohio and the Muskingum and their valleys as a vast . hunting ground.
These rivers teemed with fish, and the dense luxuriant wood abounded in game, but no Indian wigwam dotted the shores of these noble streams; no campfires gleamed along their banks, and no maize-fields covered the fertile bottom lands or lent variety to the wild vernal green. An oppressive stillness hung over the land, marked and intensified rather than broken, and only made more wierd by the tossing of the water upon the shores and the soft mysteri- ous sounds echoed from the distance through the dim aisles of the forests.
Nature was lovely then as now, but with all her pristine beauty, those val- leys were hushed in the vastness and solemnity of their solitude. No where was human habitation or indication of human life, the powerful Iroquios having driven all the weaker tribes from the valleys.
Such was the condition of the country when explored by the French Navi- gators, and when a century later it became the field for British and American adventurers.
17
MEIGS AND GALLIA COUNTIES.
There was a reason for this desertion of a region rich in all that was dear to the Red men. These rivers were the warway down which silently and swift- ly floated the canoe fleets of a fierce, relentless and invincible enemy-the Iroquois.
SECOND INDIAN OCCUPATION OF OHIO.
Concerning what may be termed the second Indian occupation of Ohio, we have authentic information. In 1761 the most trustworthy and valuable re- ports up to that time secured, were made by Colonel Boquet as the results of observation while making a military expedition west of the Ohio. The authen- tic history of the Ohio Indians had its beginning about the year 1750. Abont this time the principal tribes in what is now Ohio were the Delawares, occupy- ing the valley of the Muskingum, Tuscarawas and Walhonding Rivers; the Shawnees, the Seioto Valley; the Miamis, the valleys of the two rivers bear- ing their name ; the Wyandots or Hurons, the country about the Sandusky River; the Ottawas, in the valleys of the Manmee; the Chippewas, on the south shore of Lake Erie ; and the Mingoes, on the Ohio, south of Steubenville. All these tribes, however, frequented, more or less, lands outside of the ascrib- ed divisions of territory, and at different periods from the time when the first definite knowledge concerning them was obtained, down to the era of white settlement, they occupied different locations. When at the time of the in- vasion of the whites into south castern Ohio, these tribes were pressed from their old abidding places, their favorite regions were of course deserted, and the allied forces of all these tribes took up their abode in the northwestern part of the State upon the Maumee and its tributaries. The Delawares, as has been indicated, had their densest population upon the Muskingum, Tus- carawas, and Walhonding Rivers; and, it is with them we have mostly to deal. This tribe was the elder branch of the Lenni-Lenape, with whom William Penn made the treaty under the "Great Elm Tree," designated as the "only treaty never signed and never broken," has by tradition been accorded a high rank among the savages of North America.
Schoolcraft, Loskiel, Albert Gallatin, Drake, Zeisberger, Heckewelder, and many others have born testimony to the superiority of the Delawares, and James Fennimore Cooper, in his attractive romances, has added lustre to the fame of this tribe.
According to the tradition preserved by them, the Delawares, many cen- turies before they knew the white man, lived in the western part of the conti- nent, and separating themselves from the rest of the Lenni-Lenape, migrated slowly eastward. Reaching the Allegheny River, they waged war with success against a race of giants called the Allegewi, and still continning their march, settled on the Delaware River, and spread their population eventually to the Hudson, the Susquehanna, and the Potomac. Here it was they were found by the first European settlers along the Atlantic coast. Disturbed by the white settlers, they turned once more westward and concentrated upon the Allegheny. Disturbed here again they obtained permission from the Wyan- dots (whom they called their uncles) to occupy the lands along the Musking-
MEIGS AND GALLIA COUNTIES.
There was a reason for this desertion of a region rich in . 1] that was to the Red www. "These rivers were the warway down which silenti; an " ly floated the vunoe fleets of a fierce, relentless and invincible en t Ler will Iroquois.
SECOND INDIAN OCCUPATION OF OHIO. ce of the
Concerning what may be termed the second Indian occupation Of and a few havo authonte information. In 1764 the most trustworthy and viand tradi port- up to that time secured, were made by Colonel Boquet as the observation while making a military expedition west of the Ohio. Tl far ns is tic history of the Ohio Indians had its beginning about the year 1750. e almost this time the principal tribes in what is now Ohio Were the Delawares, 'ed as & ing the wley of the Muskingum, Tuscarawas and Walhonding Rivers; io Shawnee the Scioto Valley; the Miamis, the valley; of the two rivers bene ing thele hame; the Wyandots or Hurons, the country about the Sandus River, the Ottawas, in the valleys of the Maumee; the Chippewas, on t. south shore of Lake Erie ; and the Mingoes, on the Ohio, south of Steubenvil in All theun tribes, however, frequented, more or less, lands outside of the ascr 6. S . ed divisions of territory, and at different periods from the time when the_ (01- definito knowledge concerning themn was obtained, down tothe era ? a story as settlement, they occupied different locations. When at the ame d'unty of vasion of the whites into south eastern Ohio, these tribes were pressed their old abidding places, their favorite regions were of course deserted, a the allied forces of all these tribes took up their abode in the northweste part of the State upon the Maumee and its tributaries. The Delawares, :" has been indicated, had their densest population upon the Muskingum, Tus carawas, and Walhonding Rivers; and, it is with them we have mostly to deal This tribe was the elder branch of the Lenni-Lenape, with whom William Penn made the treaty under the "Great Elm Tree," designated as the "only treaty never signed and never broken," has by tradition been accorded a high rank among the savages of North America.
Schoolcraft, Loskiel, Albert Gallatin, Drake, Zeisberger, Heckewelder, and many others have born testimony to the superiority of the Delawares, and James Fennimore Cooper, in his attractive romances, has added lustre to the fame of this tribe.
According to the tradition preserved by them, the Delawares, many cen- turies before they knew the white man, lived in the western part of the conti- nent, and separating themselves from the rest of the Lenni-Lenape, migrated slowly eastward. Reaching the Allegheny River, they waged war with succ against a race of giants called the Allegewi, and still continuing their mares settled on the Delay r', and spread their population eventually to tl Hudson, the Suse
was they were for
white settlers, 1 Mmf ) maand det The oven of the sale 1. Di -- bed bv by the first F
segheny. Dis man in tốc ogmá
₹ (whom they
HISTORY OF
(745) and it was here they were found be the French Missionarice, and missions established among them in lever years.
became hore a more flourishing and powerful tribe than they had before. Their warriors numbered not less than six hundred in
elawares were divided into three tribes, the Ungoods Fralachiou and also called the Monseys or Muncies. The English equivalent Toing the Turkey, and the Wolf, respectively.
ribe bearing the latter name exhibited a spirit quit to keeping with Delawares, as a rule, were less warlike than other nwins, ami they lily accepted Christianity. Their principal chief- wen White Eyes, apain Pipe, the former a peace-maker, and the later in ned In war. de was great rivalry between them, and after the death of Wild E in , Captain Pipe gained the ascendency among his people. flas showil. scherous, and full o' malignity, according to Heckewelder, Pe AL and other ters on the Indiars of the northwest, though brave, and fammiess a lender battle. Buekau ahelas was another of the noted Delaware hint king Newcomer (after whom the present Newcomerstoen was named. } King, voted for his services to the British in the Treoch and Indico companion seout with thh famous Captain Jack, specially during ock's march, and in the ensuing battles that followel.
There dwelt among the Delawares of the Upper Muskingum, at White- man's Town, located at the -mouth of Kilbuck Creek in Coshocton County, white woman, the wife of a chief named Eagle Feather, who had great in- ence among them, and in honor of whom both the town and Whitewoman's ver were named.
Concerning this woman there is an old story. "She hant born to her hus- band no papooses, which worried Eagle Feather very much, na it was consid- erell a disgrace to the whole tribe for their chief to die with More blood runing in the veins of no living creature. Reflecting on this subject, Baglo Feather decided to prcure another wife, and in the ecstacy of his thoughts. Itile did he think how faithful his wife had been to him for many years and how much she loved him in the cold Indian style, as also, the great trouble that was brew- ing. Following up his conclusions he went on a long journey into Pennsyl- vania, and there succeeded in capturing another white woman, (for he had captured his first wife the same; ) and after an absense of several weeks re- urned with his intended No. 2, telling his wife of his intentions, much to her -satisfaction, and arousing within her a bitter jealous , given vent only in Cat and protracted lamentations. This state of affairs continued some time, Khi with the stealth of a lioness, the newcomer, ( hi the Indians called y at the dead hour c omal , with arose and seek- f the sleeping a in killing his darkness and rø ing, near a li
19
MEIGS AND GALLIA COUNTIES.
town on the Tuscarawas, called to this day Newcomerstown, * and wa: taken back to Whitewoman's Town, where they arrived with her, just as Christopher Gist, the scout, passed down the river, where she was beaten to death with clubs, in the following manner, according to Gist's journal, "She was allowed to run at fifty yards start, and then was pursued by savages who beat her with their clubs until life was extinct."
Most of the Delaware towns were in the vicinity of the confluence of the Tuscarawas and Walhonding Rivers at the source of the Muskingum and a few miles down its source, and that region is rich in old Indian names and tradi- tions.
The Delawares had no villages on the lower Muskingum, and so far as is known, none in what is now Meigs or Gallia Counties, this region, like almost the whole of the Ohio Valley, being devoid of inhabitants, and regarded as a hunting ground. Thus, dear reader, you have the aboriginal period of Ohio pictured to your mind's eye.
NORTH-WEST TERRITORY.
The North West Territory comprised all that portion of land situated in the angle of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and south of the Great Lakes, now the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. The or- ganization of this territory, prohibiting slavery, is what is known in history as the "Ordinance of 1787." This territory was also known as the County of Botetourt, and afterwards, a part of it as Illinois County.
ADVENT OF THE WHITE MAN.
There is every reason to believe the adventurous Robert Cavalier de la Selle to be the first white man who trod the soil of the destined State of Ohio, and the first whose eyes beheld the beautiful Ohio River. In the winter of 1669-70, led by Indian guides he penetrated the vast country of the Iroquois, until as Parkman says, he reached, "at a point six or seven leagues from Lake Erie, a branch of the Ohio, which he descended to the main stream," and so went onward as far as the "falls" or the present site of Louisville. There his men abandoned him and he retraced his way alone. This was over two hun- dred years ago.
As early as 1749, Celeron de Bienville made a systematic exploration of the Ohio Valley, and on the sixteenth of August in the same year, wa's at the mouth of the Muskingum and buried a leaden plate with an inscription en- graven thereon, and found protruding from the ground, after a freshet, by some boys, forty-nine years later, and ten years after the settlement of Mar ietta ; the same now being preserved in the Massachusetts Antiquarian Society.
THE OHIO COMPANY.
The settlement of the North West Territory was due to the untiring e vorts of a company of adventurers, duly organized and styled the Ohio Company, of which Generals.Putnam and Turner may be properly called the wunders.
tijem There are many different stories told as to the origin of the name, among th uf that a Newcomers at one time into the town gave it the name.
20
When Gonnen A rom a survey of the west, visited Gen- eral Putnam at his home in Rutland, Worcester County, Mass., and earnestly talked of their experiences and their hopes in front of the great fire, while the night hours fast passed away : "A night of friendly offices and conference be- tween them gave at the dawn, a development-how important in its results !- to the cherished hope and purpose of the visit of General Tupper." As the re- sult of this conference by a New England fireside, appeared the first mention in the public prints of the Ohio Company, which was organized March 3rd, 1786. The two most prominent men of the Ohio Company were the Rev. Man- asseh Cutler and General Putnam. From first to last they were the leading spirits of the Company.
The ordinance of 1787 passed upon the thirteenth of July, and from its most important provision, often termed "the Ordinance of Freedom" was the "last gift of the Colonial Congress to the country, and it was a fit consummation of their glorious labors. It was the product of what we might call inspired statesmanship, the foundation upon which five great commonwealths were to be built up, the fundamental law, the constitution of the Northwest Territory, and a sacred compact between the old colonies and the yet uncreated States to come into being under its benign influence. It forever prohibited slavery up- on the soil of the great territory that it organized, and it is undoubtedly true, that to this ordinance the people of this great Republic owe thanks for the final suppression of slavery within its borders. Had the institution of slavery been established between the Ohio and Mississippi, its strength as a system would have resisted all reforming measures and crushing forces and the United States to-day have been a slaveholding power. And so the Congress of 1787 "builded wiser than they knew," and more grandly.
SETTLING THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
The year 1787 was one full of doings and rich in result. The constitution of the United States was adopted, the Ordinance of Freedom enacted, and the Ohio Company's purchase negotiated-the first of a series of transactions by which a revenue was obtained from the public domains to lessen the heavy war debt and restore prosperity. It was through some difficulty that a colony was organized to try their fortunes in the west. Many glowing accounts were published of the country to induce emigration to the Ohio country. The en- thusiasm with which the chief characters of the Ohio Company labored to de- velope their plans, and the roseate hued accounts that were given of the coun- try to which a colony was to be sent, provoked some merriment and some sneering.
The Ohio Valley was dubbed "Putnam's Paradise," and Cutler's Indian Heaven," and these and other names came into quite common use, even among he men who were quite friendly to the movement these phrases were intended rø ridicule. But, not withstanding all this, a party of pioneers were duly or- grazed, and the first party consisting of twenty-two men, and including the boat builders and mechanics, started from Danvers, Mass., on the first of De- oliver, 1787, under the command of Major Hatfield White, and were tea'l o build boats on the Youghiogheny, which, in western parlance/
MEIGS AND GALLIA COUNTIES.
commonly called the "Yoh." The advance company arrived at Sumrill's Ferry on this stream (about thirty miles obove Pittsburgh) on the twenty-third of January, after a wearysome journey. The other party, including the survey- ors and their assistants and a number of the proprietors of the Ohio Company rendezvoused at Hartford, Conn., on the first of January, 1788. They arrived at the Youghiogheny in the middle of February, expecting to find preparations for the journey down the Ohio duly made, in this they were disappointed. There were "no boats built, no boards or planks in readiness, or person capa- ble of building a canoe, much less a boat, among the party-mill frozen up and no boards to be had. He (Major White) had, however, three canoes, such as they were, on the stocks; and five of his men were sick with the smallpox, which they took by inoculation. A large boat with a capacity of about fifty tons, and a small flat boat of about three tons burthen, were built and named the Mayflower and the Adelphia respectively. The Mayflower, in the commer- ation of the ship which one-hundred and sixty-eight years before had brought across the ocean the Plymouth colonists.
The little party embarked on their journey on the afternoon of the first of April, which was Tuesday, and after a voyage of six days, on the seventh of April arrived at their destination about noon upon the site of Marietta. This was at the point and Allen Putnam was the first pioneer who landed at Marietta. They were welcomed by a party of about seventy Wyandot and and Delaware Indians, warriors. women and children, led by Captain Pipe. The pioneers who arrived on the "Mayflower" at the site of Marietta numbered forty-seven and named in the following list :- Gen. Rufus Putnam, superin- tendent of the colony ; Col. Ebenezer Sproat, Major Anselem Tupper, and John Mathews, surveyors; Major Haffield White, steward and quartermaster; Cap- tains Johnathan Devol, Josiah Munroe, Daniel Davis, Peregrine Foster, Jethro Putnam, William Gray, and Ezekiel Cooper. Phineas Coburn, David Wallace, Gilbert Devol Jr., Jonas Davis, Hezekiah Flint, Josiah Whitridge, Benjamin Griswold, Theophilus Leonard, William Miller, Josiah White, Henry Maxon. William Moulton, Benjamin Shaw, Jervis Cutler, Samuel Cushing, Daniel Bush- nell, Ebenezer Corry, Oliver Dodge, Isaac Dodge, Jabez Barlow, Allen Putnam, Joseph Wells, Israel Danton, Samuel Felshaw, Amos Porter Jr., John Gardner, Elizur Kirtland, Joseph Lincoln, Earl Sproat, Allen Devol, William Mason, Simeon Martin, and Peletiah[ White. These men, on Monday, the seventh of April, 1788, made the first lawful organized English settlement within the lim- its of the great Northwest Territory.
There seems to have been many objections to emigration to the Ohio Coun- try by the New England people, and much ridicule offered to the same. It as sumed in fact the form of burlesque. One early resident of Ohio (Judge Tim- othy Walker ) has said : "I have a distinet recollection of a picture I saw in boyhood, prefixed to a penny-anti moving-to-Ohio pamphlet, in which a stout, ruddy, well dressed man on a sleek, fat horse, with a label "I am going to Ohio" meets a pale and ghastly skeleton of a man, scarcely half dressed, on the wreck of what was once a horse, already bespoken by the more political crows, with a label "I have been to Ohio." Thus we have recorded the prominent events of the first settlement in the Northwest Territory.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.