USA > Ohio > Union County > The History of Union County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its townships, towns military record; > Part 1
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PREFACE.
T THE history of Union County, which has been for a year past in course of preparation. is herewith presented to the patrons of the work, in a form which is confidently believed will prove satisfactory to all. The magnitude of the task of writing such a history can only be conceived by those who are ex- perienced, and the thousand other details attendant upon the preparation and publication of the work are familiar to and can be appreciated only by those who have engaged in similar business. The result of twelve months of hard labor is a history of which the compilers and publishers are proud, and which, if possessing imperfections, is as nearly accurate as it has been possible to make it in the time taken. and may be considered authentic and reliable. The writers have been conscientious in the execution of their duty, and those per- sons engaged in the various other branches have also attended faithfully and well to the tasks assigned them. The first eleven chapters of the general his- tory, as also chapter thirteen, were prepared by Pliny A. Durant, who also wrote the history of Marysville. Chapter twelve is contributed by Judge John B. Coats. Part IV. Military Record, was contributed by Col. Will L. Curry, to whom are due the earnest thanks of writers and publishers for the interest he has taken in the work and the facilities he has afforded. when within his pow- er, to those in search of information for insertion in this volume. The histories of Paris, Claibourne, Darby, Jackson, Jerome, Leesburg, Washington and York Townships were written by John B. Mansfield, of Ashland. Ohio, and those of Allen, Dover, Liberty, Mill Creek, Taylor and Union by N. B. Holder, of Greenville, Ohio. R. L. Woodburn, Esq., of Marysville, furnished an article on the County Agricultural Society ; Dr. T. P. Shields, of Watkins, contrib- uted an excellent paper upon the County Grange ; William Lee, of Marys- ville, is the author of the article upon the County Bible Society and a sketch of his brother, Cyprian Lee, deceased ; Judge P. B. Cole furnished interest- ing biographical sketches, mentioned elsewhere, and is also credited with many special favors ; Capt. H. C. Hamilton, of Richwood, furnished interesting reminiscences which were added to the history of Claibourne Township ; Rev. John Graham, of Richwood, prepared the religious history of his township, and others in all parts of the county have contributed freely of their know !. edge and allowed the gentlemen in charge the use of very many documents bearing upon the early history of the county.
Especial mention should also be made, for favors extended, of Hon. J. W. Robinson, F. J. Sager, Col. A. B. Robinson, William M. Robinson (Pres- ident of the Pioneer Society), Judge John L. Porter, John H. Shearer, Leon- idas Piper, Esq., all the county officers, the Directors and Librarian of the Marysville Library, the officers of the Marysville corporation, George Snod- grass (the oldest surviving native of the county), A. S. Mowry, Mrs. Stephen Winget, R. L. Partridge, Taber Randall, W. M. Winget, Mrs. Judge Cassil and daughter, W. C. Malin, Philip Snider, John F. Sabine, Dr. A. Sabine, J.Mrs. A. F. Wilkins, Mrs. Thomas Turner, members of the clergy, press and B 'HAP Bios
iv
PREFACE.
bar, members of the various churches, orders and societies, Hon. H. Sabine, State Commissioner of Railroads and Telegraphs, the Recorder of Ross Coun- ty, Mrs. Judge Woods and family, of Minneapolis, Minn., Nelson Cone and John Curry, of Jerome Township, Llewellyn Curry, of Chicago, proprietors of manufacturing establishments, and all who have contributed, even in the least degree, to swell the vast fund of valuable historical matter which is in- cluded in this publication. It is impossible to mention the names of all who have thus aided. No stone has been left unturned which would reflect further light upon doubtful points. The patrons' biographical department of each Township is full and complete ; the portraits which have been inserted are from among the representative families of the county, and the book is most respectfully submitted by THE PUBLISHERS.
2 77
CONTENTS.
PART I.
HISTORY OF THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
PAGE.
PAGE.
PAGE.
Geographical Position. ......... 19 Early Explorations ... ..... 20
Discovery of Ohio 32
English Explorations and Settle-
tory 65
Tecumseh and the War of 1812 ... 69 Black Hawk and the Black Hawk War 73
PART II.
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.
History of Ohio 93 | Organization of Counties
French History 96 Description of Counties .. 137
Ohio Generals. .191 Ordinance of 1787, No. 32 105 Early Events 137 The War of 1812 122
Governors of Ohio. 160 Banking 126 Ancient Works 174
The Canal System 128 Some General ('haracteristies. 177
Ohio Land Tracts 129
Outline Geology of Ohio. 179 Edited by Salmon P. Chase, and
Ohio's Rank During the War. .182 Published in the year 1833 ....... 204
PART III.
HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.
PAGE,
CHAPTER I .- Physical Features-Geography, Topography, Gicology, Soils, etc ... 215
CHAPTER IJ .- The Western Border-Indian
Occupants-Border Warfare-Treaties, Facts and Incidents. 222
CHAPTER III .- The Virginia Military District -Origin of Title-Explorations and Surveys -Prominent Surveyors-First Settlements in the District. 262
CHAPTER IV .- Pioneer History-Pre-Historic -Early Events, Manners and Customs- Early Schools, Religious Organizations, Etc. -Miscellaneous Matters of Interest Con- cerning Pioneer Times. 277
CHAPTER V .- Civil Organization ot Union County-Its Pedigree-Organization and Facts
Connected Therewith-Its Division
Into
Townships-Location of County Seat-County
Buildings
304
CHAPTER VI .- County Societies
328
CHAPTER VII .- The County Board-Procced- ings of the Board of Commissioners-Statisti- cal 359 341 CHAPTER VIII .- The Courts and Civil List ..... ... CHAPTER IX .- The Pench and Bar of Union County .. 374 CHIAPTER X .- The Union County Medical Asso- ciation .. 397 CHAPTER X1 .- The Press of Union County .. 399 CHAPTER XII .- Log Cabin Campaign of 1840, ete. 402 CHAPTER XIII .- Internal Improvements. 110
PART IV.
MILITARY RECORD.
CHAPTER I .- War of the Revolution. 427 CHAPTER II .- War of 1812 429 CHAPTER III .- The Old Militia. 434
CHAPTER IV .- The Mexican War, 1846-1847 437
CHAPTER V .- Tbe War of the Rebellion 441 Roster -- Infantry Regiments, with History. 452-523 Cavalry Regiments, with History .. 523-530
A Tabular List of Military Organizations of Ohio, with the leading facts in their History 537 Losses by Regiments of Union County Sol- diers .. ... 540 Union County's Heroic Dead 541 National Military Cemeteries. 541 Names and Dates of the Principal Battles of the War of the Rebellion. 542 Relief Work and Aid Societies 551 Miscellaneous Regiments, with Ilistorv ..... 530 Miscellaneous Enlistments. 533 Siege of Cincinnati. 534 Union County Ex-Soldiers' Association 553 Grand Army of the Republic. 554 Marches, Battles and Sieges 557 Veterans. 535
PART V.
TOWNSHIP HISTORIES.
CHAPTER I .- Paris Township-Marysville .. 3
Biographical Sketches. 76
CHAPTER II .- Union Township. 158
Biographical Sketches. 198
CHAPTER III .- Darby Township 217 Biographical Sketches .. 242
CHAPTER IV .- Jerome Township. 262 Biographical Sketches. 291
CHAPTER .V .- Mill Creek Township. 328 Biographical Sketches .. 343
CLAPTER VI .- Dover Township. 353 Biographical Sketches ... 372
CHAPTER VII .- Liberty Township 381 Biographical Sketches ... 404
CHAPTER VIII .- Leesburg Township ....... 414 Biographical Sketches. 433 CHAPTER IX .- Allen Township. 451 Biographical Sketches ... 471
CHAPTER X .- Jackson Township. 484
Biographical Sketches 501
CHAPTER XI -York Township. 513
Biographical Sketches ..
535
CHAPTER XII .- Claibourne Township 557
Biographical Sketches. 607
CHAPTER XIII .- Washington Township 656
Biographical Sketches 666
CHAPTER XIV .- Taylor Township. 674
Biographical Sketches 684
Comments upon the Ordinance of 1787, from the Statutes of Ohio.
Improvements
132
State Boundaries 136
mients 34
American Settlements .... ... 59
Division of the Northwest Terri-
137 | A Brief Mention of Prominent
Some Discussed Subjects .. ....
.196 Conclusion 200
PAGE.
1
vi
CONTENTS.
PORTRAITS.
Otway Curry
Frontispiece.
PART II.
James A. Curry. 115
William Hamilton. 134
W. W. Woods 151
C. S. Hamilton
170
J. H. Langstaff .. 187
Jesse Gill. 206
James Fullington 211
PART III.
John B. Coats. 226
Nathan Howard 235
George Stevens. 246
G. B. Hamilton 255
Andrew McNeil
266
William T. Fulton. 275
Levi Longbrake. 286
John II. Shearer.
295
S. B. Woodburn. 336
J. K. Riehey
345
Thomas Stillings James Thompson
365
A. S. Chapman
370
A. H. McCampbell. ...
385
George M. Rickard 396
J. Q. Southard 405
416 W. H. MePeek
PART IV.
W. Il. Robb .. 443
D. H. Henderson 462
Andrew Sabine. 479
A. B. Robinson. 498
D. W. Henderson 515
John Hobensack
533
550 H. C. Hamilton
PART V.
S. D. Robinson 9
Jehu Gray .. 20 John Maskill
Lorenzo Cheney 29
W. P. Hazen 10 I. N. Hamilton 49
J. W. Hedges
60 Amon Davis 549
George M. MePeek 69 B. P. Glascoe. 560
E. E. Hazen
80
George Coder. 569
John Paver. 580
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Source of the Mississippi
22
Present Site of Lake Street Bridge, Chicago, 1833 58
La Salle Landing on the Shores of Green Bay.
24
A Pioneer Dwelling
60
Buffalo Hunt.
26
Lake Bluff.
62
Trapping 28
3L
. Indians Attacking a Stockade.
71
High Bridge ....
33
Black Ilawk, the Sac Chieftain
Perry's Monument, Cleveland 91
Indians Attacking Frontiersmau 55 Niagara Falls
MISCELLANEOUS.
Map of Union County 14-15
Constitution of the United States 79 Area of the United States. 203
Area of the Principal Countries in the World 203
First Union County Court House, Lithograph 305
Third Union County Court House, Lithograph 316
Fourth Union County Court House, Lithograph .. 325
Population of the Principal Countries in the World 203 Population of Ohio by Counties 203
Population of Union County 347
Photo-Lithograph of account kept by Col. James
('urry when in the service of the United States, made from the original document 300
PAGE.
PART V-Continned.
Leroy Decker. 100
J. T. Mccullough 109
J. H. Dodge 120
E. K. Fox 129
E. Y. King 140
A. J. Blake .. 149
John Blair. 160
R. L. Partridge. 169
W. C. Henderson 150
George Wilber. 189
2200
Luther Turner.
209
H. P. Goff.
Walter B. Beecher
240
S. S. Jewell
249
James Smith.
269
Michael Sager
280 289
James S. Smith
309
W. M. Winget. 320
J. F. Bennett. 329
J. V. Finley 340
Elijah Witter. 349
Shepherd Clark
360
Philip Coe.
369
J. D. Haines.
380
Samuel Sherwood. 389 400
409
Stephen Cranston
420
Henry Fox 429
John Newhouse 440
David Reyner
49
S. D. Kilgore.
460
John Elliott. 469
Andrew Taylor. 480
James Herd. 489
J. J. Gabriel.
500 509
J. M. Gander. 520
Thomas Skidmore. 529
William M. Skidmore 540
1Ienry - Hazen
89
Peleg Cranston.
220
229
J. T. Mahaffey
260
W. C. Wood ..
Robert Hill.
356
Matthew Lingrel.
Henry Amrine
Tecumseh, the Shawnee Chieftain 68
Mouth of the Mississippi ..
Pontiac, the Ottawa Chieftain .. 42
PAGE.
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1
PART I.
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
5
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION.
When the Northwestern Territory was ceded to the United States by Virginia in 1784, it embraced only the territory lying between the Ohio and the Mississippi Rivers, and north to the northern limits of the United States. It coincided with the area now embraced in the States of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and that portion of Minnesota lying on the east side of the Mississippi River. The United States itself at that period extended no farther west than the Mississippi River ; but by the purchase of Louisiana in 1803, the western boundary of the United States was extended to the Rocky Mountains and the Northern Pacific Ocean. The new territory thus added to the National domain, and subsequently opened to settlement, has been called the "New Northwest," in contradistinction from the old "Northwestern Territory."
In comparison with the old Northwest this is a territory of vast magnitude. It includes an area of 1,887,850 square miles ; being greater in extent than the united areas of all the Middle and Southern States, including Texas. Out of this magnificent territory have been erected eleven sovereign States and eight Territories, with an aggregate popula- tion, at the present time, of 13,000,000 inhabitants, or nearly one third of the entire population of the United States.
Its lakes are fresh-water seas, and the larger rivers of the continent flow for a thousand miles through its rich alluvial valleys and far- stretching prairies, more acres of which are arable and productive of the highest percentage of the cereals than of any other area of like extent on the globe.
For the last twenty years the increase of population in the North- west has been about as three to one in any other portion of the United States.
(19) .
20
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
EARLY EXPLORATIONS.
In the year 1541, DeSoto first saw the Great West in the New World. He, however, penetrated no farther north than the 35th parallel of latitude. The expedition resulted in his death and that of more than half his army, the remainder of whom found their way to Cuba, thence to Spain, in a famished and demoralized condition. DeSoto founded no settlements, produced no results, and left no traces, unless it were that he awakened the hostility of the red man against the white man, and disheartened such as might desire to follow up the career of discovery for better purposes. The French nation were eager and ready to seize upon any news from this extensive domain, and were the first to profit by DeSoto's defeat. Yet it was more than a century before any adventurer took advantage of these discoveries.
In 1616, four years before the pilgrims "mioored their bark on the wild New England shore," Le Caron, a French Franciscan, had pene- trated through the Iroquois and Wyandots (Hurons) to the streams which run into Lake Huron ; and in 1634, two Jesuit missionaries founded the first mission among the lake tribes. It was just one hundred years from the discovery of the Mississippi by DeSoto (1541) until the Canadian envoys met the savage nations of the Northwest at the Falls of St. Mary, below the outlet of Lake Superior. This visit led to no permanent result; yet it was not until 1659 that any of the adventurous fur traders attempted to spend a Winter in the frozen wilds about the great lakes, nor was it until 1660 that a station was established upon their borders by Mesnard, who perished in the woods a few months after. In 1665, Claude Allouez built the earliest lasting habitation of the white man among the Indians of the Northwest. In 1668, Claude Dablon and James Marquette founded the mission of Sault Ste. Marie at the Falls of St. Mary, and two years afterward, Nicholas Perrot, as agent for M. Talon, Governor Gen- eral of Canada, explored Lake Illinois (Michigan) as far south as the present City of Chicago, and invited the Indian nations to meet him at a grand council at Sault Ste. Marie the following Spring, where they were taken under the protection of the king, and formal possession was taken of the Northwest. This same year Marquette established a mission at Point St. Ignatius, where was founded the old town of Michillimackinac.
During M. Talon's explorations and Marquette's residence at St. Ignatius, they learned of a great river away to the west, and fancied -as all others did then-that upon its fertile banks whole tribes of God's children resided, to whom the sound of the Gospel had never come. Filled with a wish to go and preach to them, and in compliance with a
21
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
request of M. Talon, who earnestly desired to extend the domain of his king, and to ascertain whether the river flowed into the Gulf of Mexico or the Pacific Ocean, Marquette with Joliet, as commander of the expe- dition, prepared for the undertaking.
On the 13th of May, 1673, the explorers, accompanied by five assist- ant French Canadians, set out from Mackinaw on their daring voyage of discovery. The Indians, who gathered to witness their departure, were astonished at the boldness of the undertaking, and endeavored to dissuade them from their purpose by representing the tribes on the Mississippi as exceedingly savage and cruel, and the river itself as full of all sorts of frightful monsters ready to swallow them and their canoes together. But, nothing daunted by these terrific descriptions, Marquette told them he was willing not only to encounter all the perils of the unknown region they were about to explore, but to lay down his life in a cause in which the salvation of souls was involved ; and having prayed together they separated. Coasting along the northern shore of Lake Michigan, the adventurers entered Green Bay, and passed thence up the Fox River and Lake Winnebago to a village of the Miamis and Kickapoos. Here Mar- quette was delighted to find a beautiful cross planted in the middle of the town ornamented with white skins, red girdles and bows and arrows, which these good people had offered to the Great Manitou, or God, to thank him for the pity he had bestowed on them during the Winter in giving them an abundant " chase." This was the farthest outpost to which Dablon and Allouez had extended their missionary labors the year previous. Here Marquette drank mineral waters and was instructed in the secret of a root which cures the bite of the venomous rattlesnake. He assembled the chiefs and old men of the village, and, pointing to Joliet, said : " My friend is an envoy of France, to discover new coun- tries, and I am an ambassador from God to enlighten them with the truths of the Gospel." Two Miami guides were here furnished to conduct them to the Wisconsin River, and they set out from the Indian village on the 10th of June, amidst a great crowd of natives who had assembled to witness their departure into a region where no white man had ever yet ventured. The guides, having conducted them across the portage, returned. The explorers launched their canoes upon the Wisconsin, which they descended to the Mississippi and proceeded down its unknown waters. What emotions must have swelled their breasts as they struck out into the broadening current and became conscious that they were now upon the bosom of the Father of Waters. The mystery was about to be lifted from the long-sought river. The scenery in that locality is beautiful, and on that delightful seventeenth of June must have been clad in all its primeval loveliness as it had been adorned by the hand of
22
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
Nature. Drifting rapidly, it is said that the bold bluffs on either hand " reminded them of the castled shores of their own beautiful rivers of France." By-and-by, as they drifted along, great herds of buffalo appeared on the banks. On going to the heads of the valley they could see a country of the greatest beauty and fertility, apparently destitute of inhab- itants yet presenting the appearance of extensive manors, under the fas- tidious cultivation of lordly proprietors.
SOURCE OF TIIE MISSISSIPPI.
On June 25, they went ashore and found some fresh traces of men upon the sand, and a path which led to the prairie. The men remained in the boat, and Marquette and Joliet followed the path till they discovered a village on the banks of a river, and two other villages on a hill, within a half league of the first, inhabited by Indians. They were received most hospitably by these natives, who had never before seen a white person. After remaining a few days they re-embarked and descended the river to about latitude 33°, where they found a village of the Arkansas, and being satisfied that the river flowed into the Gulf of Mexico, turned their course
23
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
up the river, and ascending the stream to the mouth of the Illinois, rowed up that stream to its source, and procured guides from that point to the lakes. " Nowhere on this journey," says Marquette, " did we see such grounds, meadows, woods, stags, buffaloes, deer, wildcats, bustards, swans, ducks, parroquets, and even beavers, as on the Illinois River." The party, without loss or injury, reached Green Bay in September, and reported their discovery-one of the most important of the age, but of which no record was preserved save Marquette's, Joliet losing his by the upsetting of his canoe on his way to Quebec. Afterward Marquette returned to the Illinois Indians by their request, and ministered to them until 1675. On the 18th of May, in that year, as he was passing the mouth of a stream-going with his boatmen up Lake Michigan-he asked to land at its mouth and celebrate Mass. Leaving his men with the canoe, he retired a short distance and began his devotions. As much time passed and he did not return, his men went in search of him, and found him upon his knees, dead. He had peacefully passed away while at prayer. He was buried at this spot. Charlevoix, who visited the place fifty years after, found the waters had retreated from the grave, leaving the beloved missionary to repose in peace. The river has since been called Marquette.
While Marquette and his companions were pursuing their labors in the West, two men, differing widely from him and each other, were pre- paring to follow in his footsteps and perfect the discoveries so well begun by him. These were Robert de La Salle and Louis Hennepin.
After La Salle's return from the discovery of the Ohio River (see the narrative elsewhere), he established himself again among the French trading posts in Canada. Here he mused long upon the pet project of those ages-a short way to China and the East, and was busily planning an expedition up the great lakes, and so across the continent to the Pacific, when Marquette returned from the Mississippi. At once the vigorous mind of LaSalle received from his and his companions' stories the idea that by fol- lowing the Great River northward, or by turning up some of the numerous western tributaries, the object could easily be gained. He applied to Frontenac, Governor General of Canada, and laid before him the plan, dim but gigantic. Frontenac entered warmly into his plans, and saw that LaSalle's idea to connect the great lakes by a chain of forts with the Gulf of Mexico would bind the country so wonderfully together, give un- measured power to France, and glory to himself, under whose adminis- tration he earnestly hoped all would be realized.
LaSalle now repaired to France, laid his plans before the King, who warmly approved of them, and made him a Chevalier. He also received from all the noblemen the warmest wishes for his success. The Cher-
24
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
alier returned to Canada, and busily entered upon his work. He at once rebuilt Fort Frontenac and constructed the first ship to sail on these fresh-water seas. On the 7th of August, 1679, having been joined by Hennepin, he began his voyage in the Griffin up Lake Erie. He passed over this lake, through the straits beyond, up Lake St. Clair and into Huron. In this lake they encountered heavy storms. They were some time at Michillimackinac, where LaSalle founded a fort, and passed on to Green Bay, the " Baie des Puans " of the French, where he found a large quantity of furs collected for him. He loaded the Griffin with these, and placing her under the care of a pilot and fourteen sailors, .
LA SALLE LANDING ON THE SHORE OF GREEN BAY.
started her on her return voyage. The vessel was never afterward heard of. He remained about these parts until early in the Winter, when, hear- ing nothing from the Griffin, he collected all the men-thirty working men and three monks-and started again upon his great undertaking.
By a short portage they passed to the Illinois or Kankakee, called by the Indians, "Theakeke," wolf, because of the tribes of Indians called by that name, commonly known as the Mahingans, dwelling there. The French pronounced it Kiakiki, which became corrupted to Kankakee. "Falling down the said river by easy journeys, the better to observe the country," about the last of December they reached a village of the Illi- nois Indians, containing some five hundred cabins, but at that moment
25
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
no inhabitants. The Seur de LaSalle being in want of some breadstuffs, took advantage of the absence of the Indians to help himself to a suffi- ciency of maize, large quantities of which he found concealed in holes under the wigwams. This village was situated near the present village of Utica in LaSalle County, Illinois. The corn being securely stored, the voyagers again betook themselves to the stream, and toward evening, on the 4th day of January, 1680, they came into a lake which must have been the lake of Peoria. This was called by the Indians Pim-i-te-wi, that
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