USA > Ohio > Ross County > A Standard History of Ross County, Ohio > Part 12
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bus, Ohio; Jacob S., of Jefferson Township, Ross County; and Letitia J., who is deceased.
Jacob S. Caldwell attended the common and high schools and then entered Wesleyan University at Delaware, Ohio, where he spent two years, and then returned home and ever since has been interested in his agricultural industries. He owns 1,600 acres of valuable land in Ross and Pickaway counties, made up of four farms. He devotes much atten- tion to the breeding of Aberdeen Angus cattle and keeps from 100 to 150 head at all times, finding a ready market and selling all over the country. The present head of his herd is Belatun. Formerly he raised many trotting horses and still has a number that may be termed "fancy steppers." IIe has exhibited his stock in many states, including Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, and Ohio, at the state fairs usually, and at the Ohio State Fair was awarded medals for the senior and junior herd champions.
Mr. Caldwell was married to Miss Bertha L. Orr, who is a daughter of Presley and Martha E. Orr. They have five children: Herbert O., who is a graduate of the Chillicothe High School and spent two years in the Ohio State University; Presley E., who is a graduate of the Chilli- cothe High School; and Jacob, Elizabeth and Bertha E. On her mother's side Mrs. Caldwell is related to Edward Warwick Bradbury, who was Lord Mayor of London. The great-grandfather of Mrs. Cald- well was a direct heir to the great Trinity Church property in New York City, he being one of the lessees to that corporation. In politics Mr. Caldwell is a republican and at present is serving as a member of the county board of equalization.
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ROBERT ZURHMELY, who at one time lived in Union Township of Ross County, and was one of the well-known citizens of this section, repre- sent a family that came to Ohio in the very early pioneer days of the last century.
He was born in Philadelphia in 1818. His father, Samuel Zurhmely, was born in Switzerland, where he grew up and married, and in 1818 brought his family to America. Soon after their arrival his son Robert was born in Philadelphia. From Philadelphia the family came on to Ohio, locating in Pickaway County, and Samuel Zurhmely spent his last years in Stringtown, both he and his wife being buried in the Stump churchyard. They reared four sons and one daughter, the sons being Robert, Samuel, John and Peter. The son John was a soldier in the Mexican war and lost his life while with the army south of the Rio Grande.
But an infant when his parents came to Ohio, Robert Zurhmely grew up on a farm in Pickaway County. He learned the trade of carpenter, and followed that actively until his marriage, after which he settled on a farm in Union Township of Ross County. This farm had been given Mrs. Zurhmely by her father. In that locality for many years Mr. Zurhmely carried on his activities as a general farmer and stock raiser, and was one of the most successful men in the business among
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all his contemporaries. He bought other land until he owned 700 acres. On that farm he passed away in November, 1893.
The maiden name of his wife was Harriet Lutz. She was born in Pickaway County, Ohio, a daughter of Hon. Samuel and Elizabeth (Seatherolf) Lutz. Mrs. Zurhmely died in December, 1893. She reared six children, named Mary Elizabeth, John, Jennie, Ella, Clarabelle and Samuel L.
Samuel L. Zurhmely is now in active practice as a physician in Kingston. He graduated from the literary department of the Ohio Wes- leyan University at Delaware, and then pursued his studies at the Ohio Medical University at Cincinnati. After a few years of practice in the South, he returned to Ross County and has built up a good business at Kingston.
DANIEL CHESTNUT is one of the notable pioneer names of Ross County. He was distinguished not only by his very early settlement there, but also by his services as a minister and teacher.
Born in Rockingham County, Virginia, he acquired a good education for that time, qualified as a teacher and was ordained as a minister of the Methodist Church.
It was in 1797 that he came into Northwest Territory, first locating on the south bank of Paint Creek, across the river from the City of Chillicothe. After a time, on account of the unhealthfulness of the locality, he moved to the present site of Massieville and bought 640 acres of land. IIe made improvements by the erection of a double log cabin and remained a resident in that community until his death. He was one of the first Methodist preachers in that part of Ross County, and supplied the pulpits in many places. He was also the teacher in some of the pioneer schools, and altogether a man whose influence was spread over an entire generation. He filled the office of justice of the peace for several years.
The mother of his children was Margaret Blain, who was also born in Virginia. They reared ten children.
Of these their son, James Blain Chestnut, was born in Scioto Town- ship of Ross County in 1809, grew up on the home farm and eventually bought the interests of the other heirs to the homestead. He continued an active and prosperous farmer of that community until his death at the age of sixty-three. James B. Chestnut married for his first wife Nancy Ann Truitt, who spent her entire life in Ross County. Her five children were named Daniel, Samuel, Charles, Martha and Philip S. Daniel was a soldier in the Union army and a prisoner of war eighteen months, and afterwards served as court bailiff at Columbus until his death at the age of seventy-seven.
COL. JOHN McDONALD was one of the most conspicuous of the early scouts, explorers, Indian fighters, and settlers of Ross County. A few years ago Dr. J. B. F. Morgan read before the Ross County Historical Society a sketch of Colonel McDonald's career, and that sketch was sub-
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sequently published in The Old North West Genealogical Quarterly. It is from this course and manuscript that the following paragraphs con- cerning this noted pioneer character are drawn.
His paternal grandfather, Thomas McDonald, was born in the High- lands of Scotland, near Lockshin, about the beginning of the eighteenth century. His wife was Henrietta Gray. They died and were buried in their native Highlands about the year 1770, having reared a family of four sons and two daughters, John, Daniel, William and James, and Nancy and Catherine. The sons John and William came to America, John in 1770 and William in 1772.
William McDonald, father of Colonel McDonald, became a resident of the Colony of Pennsylvania. He had married Effie McDonald, who was a daughter of William McDonald and Elizabeth Douglass, both of whom were born, reared and married near Lockshin in the Highlands of Scotland. They also came to America in 1772 and settled in the Colony of Pennsylvania. In a memorandum made in his family bible, Colonel McDonald said: "My father and mother were of the same clan and were distantly related. Their ancestors were herdsmen as far back as tradition gives their history. They, like all the Highland clans were soldiers, always ready to attack for plunder or resist encroachments on their rights. My father was a very active but little man, of violent tem- per and impetuous in all his pursuits. In his friendship he was kind and as true as the needle to the pole. My mother was a most amiable woman ; patient in adversity and affliction in which she was sorely tried. Her confidence in the watchful protection of an Unseen Arm rendered her weak and resigned spirit conspicuous to all who knew her. I believe she was censured or reviled by no man or woman."
William McDonald died on the 4th day of September, 1823, aged seventy-eight years. Just four days later his wife joined him in the realms beyond. Their bodies were laid to rest on Fruit Hill, west of Chillicothe. The ashes of Colonel McDonald's maternal grandparents also commingle with the dust of Fruit Hill, the home of Governor McArthur and of Governor Allen. Colonel McDonald was the oldest in a family of seven children, five sons and two daughters. The sons were John, Thomas, James, William and Hiram. The daughters were Nancy and Henrietta. The sons John, Thomas, James and William distin- guished themselves in the War of 1812, while Hiram died in childhood. The daughter Nancy became the wife of Gen. Duncan McArthur, who in after years became governor of Ohio. The daughter Henrietta married Judge Presley Morris.
Col. John McDonald was born January 28, 1775, in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, which was then on the border of civilization in an English colony. About 1780 his father moved with the family over the mountains and settled at a point on the Ohio River called Mingo Bottom, about three miles from Steubenville, Ohio. That was the extreme limit of civilization, and in those years there was continuous warfare between the whites and Indians. At the age of five years Colonel McDonald began the education that fitted him for the responsi-
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bilities that he so nobly bore in future years. The frequent incursions of the savages upon the homes of the whites taught the youth to court danger. The necessities of the table developed a skill with the rifle that was only equaled by the savage dweller in the wilderness. The labor required to hew out homes in the heavy forests developed the muscles of the boy to their greatest strength in manhood. By dint of industry and never-failing perseverance, John McDonald added to the above qual- ifications the rudiments of an English education. His boyhood days were spent chopping, grubbing, picking, burning, building cabins to live in and forts for defense; hunting in daytime to furnish meat for the table, and standing sentinel at night to give warning to the family in case of a raid from the Indians.
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About 1790 the McDonald family moved to. Kentucky, which at that time was a continental battleground between the whites and Indians. Simon Kenton, the celebrated frontiersman, was a resident of the com- munity in which the McDonalds located. Though twenty years older than McDonald, a strong attachment sprung up between the two. McDonald was a lad just to the liking of the adventurer, and they were most constant companions. It was with the daring Kenton that McDon- ald made his first incursion against Indians. He was solicited to join a company being organized by Kenton to avenge the death of a couple of hunters who had been killed, but his father forbade him going. His eagerness was so intense that he disregarded his father's will and secretly took a rifle from the cabin and joined in the chase. After that he was constantly employed, scouting, hunting and surveying. As surveyor he engaged in the most dangerous calling to which the frontiersman was exposed. Writing of others and not of himself, McDonald has left some detailed accounts of early exploring expeditions on the frontier. He says: "Men not only placed their lives in peril every day, every day they were in the country of the savages, but every hour; every moment had to be guarded with the strictest precision. Their food consisted alone of what the forest afforded. No tent to shelter them from the pelting of the rain or protect them from the blast of the merciless winds; no ambulance to carry the wounded, no hospital to receive the sick, no surgeon to stop the ebbing tide. All this done for the paltry sum of seventy-five cents a day. But the adventure, the daring, the captivity, the dying at the stake of noble men seemed to be necessary for the devel- opment of the wilderness with its savage wigwams into a settlement covered with beautiful homes."
In the spring of 1792 McDonald joined Gen. Nathaniel Massie's set- tlement at Manchester, on the Ohio River. He accompanied Massie and his men on many surveying tours and was engaged in several contests with the savage foe. One of his early experiences with the Indians occurred within the limits of what is now Ross County. Doctor Morgan himself heard the story told from the lips of Colonel McDonald, and the following account of the tragic incident is quoted by Doctor Morgan ยท from another source: "Early in the month of November Lucas Sulli- vant, a land speculator and surveyor from Virginia, collected a com-
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pany of twenty-one men to go on a surveying tour in the Scioto country : notwithstanding the Indians had been severely beaten by General Wayne a few months previously, yet the country was far from being in a state of peace. Attached to this country were three surveyors John and Nathaniel Beasley and Sullivant. McDonald was connected with this company. Every man carried his own baggage and arms which consisted of rifle, tomahawk and scalping knife. Having taken Todd's trace, they pursued their journey until they came to Pink Creek at the old cross- ing; from thence they proceeded to Old Chillicothe, now Frankfort, and thence on to Deer Creek where they camped at the mouth of Hay Run. This is a point about two miles southeast of Clarksburg and about six hundred yards north of Brown's Chapel in Deerfield township.
"In the morning Sullivant, McDonald, Colven and Murray were selected as hunters for the day. They started down towards the mouth of the creek intending to take its meanderings back to camp. They had not proceeded more than a hundred rods when a flock of turkeys came flying towards them and alighted on the trees above them. McDonald and Murray were on the bank of the creek near a pile of driftwood. Murray having no thought that the turkeys might have been frightened by Indians stepped up to a tree and shot a turkey. He then stepped back under cover from the turkeys and McDonald took the position left by his companion. He was taking aim when the crack of a rifle greeted his ear. He whirled on his heel in time to see his companion fall to rise no more. Looking in the direction from which the messenger of death came he saw several Indians with their rifles leveled at him. As quick as thought he sprang over the bank into the creek, when they fired but missed. The Indians now resolved to take him prisoner. Their entire company made pursuit. For the distance of a hundred yards or so the land was open and gave the Indians a fair chance to measure speed with the young athlete. McDonald succeeded in reaching a thicket of undergrowth which gave him protection long enough to allow him to gather his wind. The thicket was too small to allow him to make his escape unobserved. He was driven from his hiding place into the open timber, and was compelled again to call his brave legs into action. Now was a race for life. The Indians were close upon him with the young athlete in the lead, the entire company yelling like demons incar- nate. For some moments McDonald imagined that he could feel the Indians' hands grabbing at his collar. Finally he cast his eyes about him and found that his pursuers were trying a flank movement upon him and he also learned that he had gained several rods upon them. The object of his pursuers was to chase him into a fallen tree top and there make sure of their capture. They succeeded in driving him to the tree top, but no doubt they were greatly chagrined to see him make a single bound and clear every limb of the fallen tree alighting safely upon the other side. This so astonished the Indians that they stood for a moment in amazement. This short halt put McDonald safely in the lead in the chase, but he was not out of reach of the rifles. The Indians . again took up the pursuit, firing as they ran. Several balls whizzed
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closely by, but failed to disable the desired captive. At this juncture he met Sullivant and three others of the company. Sullivant imme- diately threw away his compass but clung to his rifle. Their only safety was in rapid flight. The Indians were too numerous to encounter. As they ran the Indians fired upon them, one of the balls striking Colven's cue at the tie, which shocked him so much that he thought himself mor- tally wounded; but he succeeded in making his escape and ran up the creek and gave alarm at the camp, stating that he believed all were killed but himself. Those at the camp fled as soon as possible. McDonald and his party ran across the highland and after running three miles struck a prairie. Casting their eyes over it they saw four Indians along the trace. They thought of running around the prairie and heading them off; but not knowing how soon those in pursuit would be upon them, and perchance they would be between two fires, they adopted the better part of valor and hid themselves in the grass until the Indians were out of sight. After remaining there some time they went to camp and found it deserted.
"Just as they were about to leave the camp they found a note in a split stick saying 'if you come follow the trail.' It was then sundown and they knew that they would not be able to follow the trail after night. When night came on they steered their course by starlight. They had traveled the distance of seven or eight miles. It was a cold dreary night and the leaves being frozen the sound of their footsteps could be heard some distance. All at once they heard something break and run as if it was a herd of buffaloes. At this they halted and remained silent for some time. They finally returned cautiously to their fires. Suppos- ing that it might be their companions, McDonald and McCormac con- cluded that they would creep up slowly and see. They advanced until they could hear them cracking hazel nuts with their teeth. They also heard them whisper to one another but could not tell whether they were Indians or white men. They cautiously returned to Sullivant and after consultation concluded that they would call which they did and found to their joy that it was their friends and companions who had fled from them. They had mutual rejoicings, but poor Murray was left a prey to the Indians and wolves. They now commenced their journey homeward and after three days travel reached Manchester."
Doctor Morgan also relates another incident of Colonel McDonald's experience as surveyor. This was in the spring of 1795, when General Massie headed a party of surveyors from Manchester. This became known in local history as the "Starving Tour." There had been unusual weather conditions for some days, and there was crust on the snow suffi- ciently strong to bear the weight of wild game, but men would break through. This practically prevented hunting or pursuit of game, and the party was almost at the limit of starvation before a change of weather occurred and game could be found to satisfy their ravenous appetites. After relating the incidents of the tour, Colonel McDonald introduced what was unusual to him, a personal testimony. He added :
"The writer of this narrative accompanied General Massie on this
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tour and had previously passed through many trying scenes; but the hardships and privations of this tour were the most trying to the firm- ness, resolution and fortitude of the men that we ever saw or experienced. Only reflect on the critical condition of twenty-eight men, exposed to the horrors of a terrible snow storm in the wilderness, without hut, tent or covering; and what was more appalling, without provision, without any road or track to retreat on, and nearly 100 miles from any friendly aid or place of shelter, exposed to the truly tremendous and pitiless pelting of the storm of four days continuance, and you can fancy to yourselves some faint idea of the suffering of the party."
In 1794 Colonel MeDonald and his brother Thomas joined General Wayne's army as rangers or spies. It was the duty of this company to traverse the Indian country in every direction in advance of the main army. The most daring and intrepid men were selected for this com- pany. Upon their bravery and skill as Indian warriors depended the success of General Wayne's army. McDonald proved to be a man of unquestionable bravery and skill and had a combination of qualities that made him a valuable member of General Wayne's advance guard. One of his biographers says that Colonel McDonald under the leadership of Massie and Sullivant traversed the whole of the Virginia Military Dis- trict and located thousands of acres of land, while the Indians were roam- ing the forests and living in permanent villages on the banks of the various streams. He had a thorough knowledge of Indian habits and tactics. Daring, yet cautious, trained to habits of self denial and hard labor, he had nerves that never quivered in the presence of danger. He was courageous enough to attempt any task imposed, and was prudent and judicious enough to conduct it to a successful close.
In 1796 he accompanied General Massie's colony to the Scioto Valley and assisted in establishing the first settlement on the waters of the Scioto River. He assisted in surveying and laying out the first capital of Ohio, Chillicothe, and afterwards assisted in razing the forests to the ground, preparatory to erecting the beautiful homes in town and country of which the present generation so justly boast.
The most important event of his life occurred on the 5th day of February, 1799. On that day he married Catharine Cutright, who became his guardian angel. She proved a most faithful and devoted wife. She underwent the hardships of a frontier life with a bravery that was unexcelled. They were employed in the various vocations to be found in the infant settlement until 1802, when they purchased a tract of land on Poplar Ridge, Ross County, and converted it into their future home, where they dwelt for half a century.
At the time of his marriage the brunt of the struggle for implanting civilization in the great Northwest had been passed. The days of great- est danger were gone. He and his companions who had been in the very front of the advance guard now began to reap pleasures and benefits of a life of peace which their labors had made possible. It is pleasant to know that some of the men who endured the hardships of frontier life, who served in the army, who assisted in the surveys of the rich valley
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and rolling uplands and otherwise prepared the way for the advance- ment of civilization, found in the land over which they had marched and fought and dared hidden dangers, happy homes and comfort in their declining years.
To the marriage of John McDonald and Catharine Cutright were born six daughters and one son. The late Ex-Senator John C. McDonald was the youngest child. Senator McDonald died near the old homestead in July, 1905, aged eighty-five. About fifty grandchildren were the result of the marriages of the children of Colonel McDonald. Many other descendants in subsequent generations are still living.
After the time of danger had passed and Colonel McDonald was settled to the peaceful vocations of his farm, he was accorded the recog- nition which his valuable work and strong character entitled him to. Several times he was elected justice of the peace, and served as military officer, being captain, major, lieutenant-colonel and colonel. When the War of 1812 broke out he enlisted as a volunteer in the First Ohio Regiment. His well known skill and bravery again placed him in the front of danger. As soon as the regiment reached the enemy's country he was detailed as a spy, and was soon afterward appointed quarter- master and paymaster of his regiment. He continued to perform those duties until the surrender of the army by General Hull. He was made a prisoner at the surrender at Detroit. In 1813, having been exchanged, he was made a captain in the regular army, and in 1814 was in command of a regiment at Detroit. He remained in the service until peace was declared in 1813 and the army disbanded.
He then returned to civil life. In 1817 he was elected to the State Senate, in which capacity he served two terms. In 1834, when nearly sixty years of age, Colonel McDonald began writing reminiscences of the first settlements along the Ohio and its tributaries, and also began pre- paring the book that he called McDonald's Sketches. This book consisted of biographical sketches of General Duncan McArthur, Gen. Nathaniel Massie, Capt. William Wells and Gen. Simon Kenton.
To this work he devoted much time. As he was not an educated man the labor was very great. No task of this kind had ever before been undertaken by a frontiersman. He was the only pioneer of the Virginia Military District who attempted to record in historical form the deeds of his comrades on the frontier. In giving a history of the four indi- viduals above mentioned he painted a magnificent pen picture of the settlements of the western wilderness. A large portion of the informa- tion found in Howe's History of Ohio and also the History of the Great West by the same author, was compiled from the manuscript of this old pioneer. Much of his original manuscript has been entirely lost. It was borrowed by Benson J. Lossing, the historian, with the privilege of select- ing such as he might want to use and with the promise that all should be returned. Instead of its being returned it was all lost. In this manu- script much history that today would have been greatly appreciated by the present generation was lost.
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