USA > Ohio > Adams County > A history of Adams County, Ohio, from its earliest settlement to the present time, including character sketches of the prominent persons identified with the first century of the country's growth > Part 62
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This last sentence refers to her father, Col. John Means, bringing his family and twenty-four slaves from South Carolina, in 1819, when Mrs. Burgess was twenty years old.
He says that the Abolition movement originated in Ohio, and that the two Mr. Dickeys of Tennessee, and himself, were the first projectors of
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the scheme, which at last succeeded. He also states that Rev. James Gilli- land, Rev. Robert G. Wilson, and Rev. Samuel Carothers, were their earliest coadjutors. That they commenced operating in about 1817; that in 1818, he introduced a paper into the General Assembly of the Presbyterian ยท Church at Philadelphia, which passed that body, and came near destroy- ing him. He wrote to his cousin that those who would not speak to him then, would now willingly pass as having been friendly to the measure.
. In 1857, he addressed an open letter to the Free Presbyterian, when it was proposed that they should return to the old church. He said: "It is proposed that we return to Egypt. Some of us, at least, have no hankering after garlic. We pledged ourselves, in the name of Christ, not only not to sustain human slavery, but also not to sustain secret con- spiracies ; either the curse-bound Danites of the Mormons or any other conspiracy so bound. We pledged ourselves, also, not to sustain at the Lord's table, self-destroyers; whether the instrument of destruction was the pistol, alcohol or that specific poison, filthy tobacco. Shall we violate that pledge "
Until the age of eighty-three, his faculties retained their vigor. In 1867, he attended the semi-centennial of the church at Piqua, Ohio, and there he contracted a severe sickness, which affected his mental faculties, but did not affect his general health.
His memory of passing and recent events was gone on his recovery, but he could repeat whole chapters of the Bible, and page after page of favorite old authors. He could give a rational and clear exposition of almost any scriptural passage. His power in prayer was unaffected to the last. Thus while in the last five years of his life, his communications with earth were cut off; his connection with Heaven was clear to the last. He died in 1872 at the age of eighty-eight.
. Why have we brought forward anew the memory of this man of God? Because in his time and in his place, he was the First Apostle of Personal and Social Purity. Because when the use of whisky and tobacco were almost universal, he had the courage to preach against them and depict their evils. Because when the national conscience was debauched and demoralized by that great curse of slavery, he had the discernment to see the evil of it, and to be the first to denounce it. Because he was a man of enlightened conscience, and had the courage to preach according to its dictates. Because he lived as he preached, and exemplited his ideas in a long and useful life. Such men should not be forgotten. The record of their good lives should be graven in living characters on the memory of each generation following them, and so long as the record is re- membered, our people will seek the right, and try to follow it as Dyer Burgess did in his eighty-four years.
Nicholas Burwell
was born near Winchester, Virginia, September 11, 1794. He learned the shoemaker's trade as a youth at Winchester, and while residing there was in the War of 1812. In 1815, he and Murtaugh Kehoe, also a young shoemaker, came to the West from Winchester, Virginia. They floated down the Ohio River and landed at Portsmouth, Ohio. Kehoe was favorably impressed with the place and resolved to remain and did so. Burwell thought two of the same trade should not locate in the same
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town, and he went on to Limestone, now Maysville. There he heard of West Union, then a new town, only eleven years old, and he went there and set up in the business of shoemaking. He lived there five years when he was married to Sarah Fenton, daughter of Samuel Fenton, of Gift Ridge, one of Adams County's pioneers. They were married April 19, 1820. She was born September 22, 1802. The minister who performed the ceremony was Rev. Greenbury Jones, one of the pioneer Methodist preachers. On this occasion, Rev. Jones alluded to them as children, owing to their youthful appearance.
Nicholas Burwell and his wife went to housekeeping in West Union and lived there all their lives. Their oldest child was Elizabeth, born May 5, 1821, and married Joseph West Lafferty, May 24, 1838. Their oldest son, Samuel, was born November 20, 1822. He is the veteran editor of the Scion and was married to Margaret Mitchell, March 30, 1848. William Burwell, the second son, was born October 20, 1826. He married a Miss Murphy of Buena Vista and is now deceased; Martha Ann, born January 16, 1830, married Ellis Bottleman, April 12, 1854; Edward was born January 26, 1834; Michael Henry was born February 26, 1839, and is now deceased. Mary, the youngest daughter, married Smiley Lock- wood, May 23, 1860. She is now a widow residing at Winchester.
Nicholas Burwell conducted a shoe shop in West Union all his life. He was contemporary with Judge Byrd and knew him well. The Judge took a fancy to Mr. Burwell's cow at one time and gave him $50 for her, an extravagant price at that time. Nicholas Burwell was one of the pillars in the Methodist Church at West Union. He always attended all its services week days and Sundays and never missed one. He was particularly punctual at the Wednesday evening prayer meetings. The other pillars in the church whom the writer remembers, were Abraham Hollingsworth, Adam McGovney, William R. Rape and William Allen. They were always present as well as Burwell. The latter always felt well assured of his eternal salvation. At many of the meetings, he would get very happy. He was enthusiastic in his devotion to the church. With him, it was always first. Everything else was secondary. He was a thin, spare man, wore a silk hat and went along the street with his head slightly bowed as if in a deep study. He was cordial with and genial to every one. His likes and dislikes were very strong, a trait inherited by all of his descendants. He was often given to hyperbole in common conversa- tion, another family trait, but he was honest and an honorable man, a good citizen and a good Christian. He feared the Lord but nothing else. He was active and energetic, very fond of physical exercise. Within a few months prior to his death, he walked from Manchester to West Union. In his old age, he was as good a walker as any boy. He entered into rest in all the triumph of his faith, July 1, 1879. His wife followed him, January 14, 1885. They rest side by side in the old cemetery at West Union, waiting the sound of Gabriel's trumpet.
John Belli
was a citizen of the world. His father was a Frenchman, his mother a native of Holland, and he was born in Liverpool, England, in 1760. He received a good education in England in a military school. When he came of age, he was in Amsterdam, Holland, and received his coming of
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MAJOR JOHN BELLI OF WAYNE'S LEGION, AND FIRST RECORDER OF ADAMS COUNTY, O.
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age papers from the estates of Holland and West Friesland. When he undertook to start to the United States, it was from Paris, France, and he had a letter of recommendation from John Jay. He came over with a Mr. Francis Bowers, of Ostend, a merchant who was bringing over goods. His letters of introduction were to Mr. Josiah Watson, of Alexandria, Va. He had been studying about the United States and had become filled with the extreme Republican notions of that time. In theory of government, he was a rabid republican; in his own personal relations, he was an aristocrat, though he was hardly conscious of the fact. Mr. Jay, in his letter, described him as a young man worthy of trust. He came alone, without any members of his family. He landed at Alexandria, Va., in May, 1783. That was then an important seaport. He engaged in busi- ness there as a clerk at first, and afterwards as a merchant, and remained there until the spring of 1791, a period of eight years. Of his life in Alexandria, we have no account, but he formed .a number of valuable and important acquaintances in that time, among whom were Col. Alexander Parker and Gen. George Washington.
In October, 1791, Gen. Knox, then Secretary of War, sent him to the Northwest Territory on public business. What his functions were does now clearly appear, but it was of a confidential character.
On April 18, 1792, when he was in the Northwest Territory, Presi- dent George Washington sent him a commission as Deputy Quarter- master on the General Staff of Wayne's Legion. This commission is in the hands of John Belli Gregory, his grandson, at Fontana, Kentucky. It is on parchment, illustrated, and bears the original signature of President Washington and Secretary of War, Henry Knox. The commission does not state his rank, but it was that of Major, hence his title. He went by way of Pittsburg, then called Fort Pitt and down the Ohio River to Fort Washington. Gen. Knox gave him a letter dated September 30, 1791, directed to the Deputy Quartermaster at Fort Pitt, stating that he was to have transportation down the Ohio River as he was on public business of great importance. He went direct to Fort Washington, where it appears he was stationed until the time of Wayne's expedition against the Indians.
There is preserved a list of the Quartermaster's stores he had on hand at Fort Washington, November 1, 1783. Mr. Gregory also has in his possession a letter addressed to Major John Belli from Gen. Anthony Wayne, in answer to one of May 30, preceding. He tells the Major that he is glad he has been successful in purchasing cattle ; that 300 per month will be required independent of accident; that he must forward those on hand by first escort. That he has three weeks' supply for the Legion, nor can he think of advancing with less than 600 or 800 cattle, which would not be more than ten weeks' supply, should they all arrive safe. He stated that the wagons would set out from Fort Jefferson the next morning for Fort Washington under a good escort, commanded by Major Hughes, and they were not to be delayed at Fort Washington more than forty- eight hours, to be loaded with tents, intrenching tools and axes. Also he was to send such hospital or ordinance stores as he had been provided with, together with all the hunting shirts, or shirts and tools that were in his possession. Also, that his own private stores were to be forwarded under a select guard, which he will request Major Hughes to furnish from his department.
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He was directed to use as many private teams as could be obtained which, with the use of the water transport, when a favorable rise may happen in the Miami, would enable him to forward the grain to Fort Hamilton, which the Quartermaster General had required. He was not to lose a moment in mounting the dragoons and furnishing all the necessary accoutrements. He was also to be furnished with $2,000 in specie, and $8,000 in good bank bills to be replaced by his department. He was told that every arrangement would be made by his department for a forward move by the first of July. He wished the Major every success in his purchases and supplies of every nature in the line of his department and signed himself, "I am sir, your most ob'dt humble serv't., Ant'y Wayne."
As soon as the expedition was successful, Major Belli, went east and settled his accounts with the department. He returned with some $5,000 and bought 1,000 acres of land at the mouth of Turkey Creek and placed a man named Wright upon it, who cleared up a part of it, built a log house and planted an orchard. This was the first settlement in Scioto County, though the historian, James Keyes, disputes it, and says the first settlement was near Sciotoville, by the Bousers and Burts.
He laid out the town of Alexandria, at the mouth of the Scioto River, and gave it its name for Alexandria, Virginia, where he had first landed in this country, and had spent eight years. He spent considerable time in and about Alexandria as the agent of Col. Wm. Parker, for whom he located much land in Scioto County. In September, 1797, he was ap- pointed Recorder of Adams County and held the office until October, 1803. He was a Justice of the Peace for Adams County, appointed by the Judges of the General Court, April 28, 1801, and his commission is in existence.
It seems he spent a great part of his time in Kentucky. He evidently did not and could not attend personally to the duties of the office of Recorder of Adams County.
On the twenty-first of March, 1800, he concluded some very im- portant business in Kentucky, for on that date, he was married to Miss Cynthia Harrison, a cousin of Gen. Wm. Henry Harrison. Her father, Samuel Harrison, was a very prominent man in Kentucky, and a large slaveholder. He owned the site of the town of Cynthiana, Ky., and laid it out. He named it for his twin daughters, Cynthia and Anna, born just before the town was platted. On his marriage, Major John Belli moved to his land at the mouth of Turkey Creek. He named his home, "Bel- videre," and he kept a carriage and horses and traveled in style. In every county of the territory, there was a Colonel of the Militia and a Major. Nathaniel Massie was the Colonel of the Adams County Militia and John Belli, the Major.
On August 29, 1804, he was commissioned by Edward Tiffin, Gov- ernor of Ohio, Major of the Second Battalion, 2nd Regiment, Ist Brigade, 2nd Division, Ohio Militia.
During the time that the town of Washington was flourishing as the county seat of Adams County, Major Belli was there much of the time. When he was absent, I do not know who attended to the duties of his office as Recorder, but have an idea it was General Darlinton, who was always ready to do anything to accommodate his neighbors.
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Major Belli had five children, four daughters and a son. His daughter Eliza was born December 3, 1809. She married Moses Gregory, October 20, 1826. Her son, John Belli Gregory, who was a citizen of Scioto County for many years, at one time, member of the Board of Public Works in this State, and afterwards its Engineer, resides at Fontana, Ky., and has kindly loaned the editor of this work the papers of Major Belli. His son, Hiram D. Gregory, is a lawyer at Covington, Ky.
Major Belli, after 1803, devoted his whole time to the improvement of his land on Turkey Creek, though he was a land owner in many places. He at one time owned a large tract near New Hope in Brown County. In 1806, he built him a large two-story frame house on his land at the mouth of Turkey Creek, but did not live to enjoy it. In October, 1809, he was taken with one of those fevers against which it seems the pioneers could not contend, and he died and was buried on the river bank near his home. His widow continued to reside there until 1838, when her home, built by the Major in 1806, was accidentally destroyed by fire. She re- moved to Illinois where she died in 1848. In 1865, the Major's grave was washed by the river and Mr. Gregory had his remains exhumed, and reinterred in the cemetery at Friendship. A picture of the Major is in the possession of Mr. Gregory. It represents him with powdered wig and a continental coat, faced with red.
Major Belli was a gentleman of the old school. He never changed his dress from the style during the Revolution. While he lived among backwoodsmen, he always had his wig and queue, wore a cocked hat, coat with facings, waist coat, knee breeches, stockings and shoe buckles. His queue was carefully braided and tied with a ribbon, and this was his style of dress at all times.
While he believed himself to be a Republican, as the term was under- stood in his time, he had pride enough for all the aristocrats in the neigh- borhood. He was a disbeliever in slavery and it is thought his location in the Northwest Territory and his maintainance of his residence here, was on account of his repugnance to that peculiar institution. His wife's slaves were brought to Ohio and freed, and this through his influence.
Daniel Boyle.
John Boyle, father of our subject, was born on the banks of the river Boyne, in Ireland, a Roman Catholic. His wife, Sarah Wilson, was reared a Presbyterian. Her father was a linen merchant, a wealthy man for his time. He never forgave his daughter for her marriage, but she adhered to her religion and converted her husband to it.
Our subject was born on the banks of the river Boyne in 1787, and emigrated to this country with his father, mother, brothers and sisters when he was eight years of age. The family located first at Shippens- burg, Pa., and afterwards moved to Greensburg, in the same state, where the father died. John Boyle reared a family of nine children. Daniel had a common school education and was apprenticed to the tin and coppersmith trade in Pittsburg. His master's name was Hampshire. At the close of his apprenticeship, in 1817, he married Margaret Cox, then residing in Pittsburg, but a native of Carlisle, Pa. Daniel Boyle worked at his trade in Pittsburg and in New York and Philadelphia. He walked from Pittsburg to Philadelphia no less than seven times. In 1819
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he came down the Ohio River from Pittsburg in a flatboat with his wife and household goods. Mr. Boyle left the boat at Manchester and came to West Union when the town was fifteen years old. He opened out the tinning business and carried it on there with the exception of a short time until near his death.
He bought a part of lot 67 on the corner of Main and Cherry Streets where he resided until his death. In 1829, he rented his premises and re- moved to Cincinnati where he and John Sparks kept an iron store. David Sinton was a clerk for them at a small salary. This venture was not profitable, and he returned to West Union after one year, where he con- tinued his tinning business until 1872. When a young man, he made general trading trips to the South as was common at that time. While on one of these trips, he was an eye witness to the New Madrid earth- quake in 1811.
He was a Justice of the Peace of Tiffin Township from January 10, 1835, until 1838, and one term was sufficient for him. He possessed the strictest integrity. He was frugal and unostentatious in his manner. He always tried to do his duty by his neighbors, and in the several cholera scourges he and his family remained in the village and did all in their power to minister to the sick and dying and to aid the families of the victims. There were born to him and his wife nine children, three sons and six daughters. Of these, Sarah, the eldest daughter, resides in the old homestead. She bears the burden of years with grace and honor. She possesses that stering character of her father, hers by birthright, and is respected and honored by all who know her.
Daniel Boyle had excellent tastes. He was fond of music, being a player on the flute and clarionet. He was also a great reader and par- ticularly of historical subjects. He took the Cincinnati Gazette from its first issue until his death. In politics, he was a Whig and a Republican. In his religious attachments, he was a member of the United Brethren Church. His faith was strong and he was devotedly attached to his re- ligious principles. He departed this life in the peace of God, May 29, 1874. His aged wife followed him August 26, 1876. He was a just man, who loved to render to every one his just dues. He left a memory of which his family can be proud and which posterity would do well to hold in lasting remembrance.
Charles Willing Byrd
was born in Westover, Charles City County, Virginia, on Monday, the twenty-sixth day of July, 1770, at one o'clock in the morning, so reads the record in the old Westover Bible. He was the second son and the seventh child of the third Colonel William Byrd, of Westover, Charles City County. His mother, Mary Willing, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on the tenth of September, 1740, and was the daughter of Charles Willing, and his wife, Ann Shippen, of that city. His father was a Colonel under General Washington in the early part of the Revolu- tion, but died when his son was but seven years of age. Thus left in his mother's care, she sent him at an early age to her brother-in-law, Thomas Powell. Mr. Powell, who married Mrs. Byrd's sister, was a member of the Society of Friends, and from whom Judge Byrd imbibed many of his views in regard to slavery, temperance, physical, moral and religious culture, for which views he was noted in his day. Thus we have
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the Friends' ideas grafted on the old cavalier, fox hunting and rollicking, Virginia stock. One of the reasons his pious mother gave for putting her son under this influence to be educated was on account of the skepticism and infidelity that had crept into the old college of William and Mary, at Williamsburg, Virginia, where all the preceding Byrds who had not been educated in England, had attended college.
Judge Byrd received his entire academic and legal education in the city of Philadelphia, and was a finished scholar and a gentleman of rare polish and elegance. He pursued his law studies in Philadelphia with Gouverneur Morris. He knew intimately, through his mother's family, the Hon. Robert Morris, the financier of the Revolution. Directly after his admission to the bar in 1794, he went to Westover to spend the summer. There his brother-in-law, Benj. Harrison, wrote him that Robert Morris wanted an agent to go to Kentucky and take charge of his lands there and bring them into the market; and to any one who would do so, he would give him a salary of one thousand dollars a year, and he urged young Byrd to take the appointment and go to Kentucky at once. He did so and Robert Morris gave him a power of attorney, the original of which is in the hands of the Judge's descendants. He went to Lexington, Kentucky, and there met the family of Col. David Meade of Chaumiere, who had removed from the estate of Maycox, Prince George County, Virginia, opposite Westover and whose family were intimate friends of the Byrds. Col. Meade had four young daughters, and it was very natural that young Byrd should fall in love with one of them, which he proceeded very promptly to do, and on the sixth day of April, 1797, which was Easter Sunday, and which Judge Byrd, in his quaint way, called the "Day of his Resurrection," he was married to Sarah Waters Meade, the second daughter of Col. David Meade. Her eldest sister married General Nathaniel Massie, the founder of Manchester. After his marriage, he returned to Philadelphia and remained there until he was appointed by President Adams, Secretary of the Northwest Territory, which appoint- ment was made in January, 1799. He held this munificent office at a salary of $400 a year, until he succeeded General Arthur St. Clair as Territorial Governor, and retained that position until 1802, when the State was organized and Governor Tiffin took charge on March 4, 1803. His commission as Secretary of the Territory in which he was sworn in as Secretary by Arthur St. Clair is in the possession of his family. On the third of March, 1803, he was appointed by President Jefferson, United States Judge for Ohio and held that position until his death on the eleventh day of August, 1828. During the time he was Secretary of the Northwest Territory and Federal Judge, up to June, 1807, his residence was on Fifth Street, Cincinnati, Ohio, which was then known as Byrd Street. The Presbyterian Church now. stands on what was part of his home. Judge Burnet, Nicholas Longworth and George Hunt were among his many friends. The father of the late Vice President Hendricks kept a school in his vicinity. On June 8, 1807, he bought from his brother-in-law, Gen. Nathaniel Massie, a tract of six hundred acres in Monroe Township, Adams County, Ohio, being known as Buckeye Station and Hurricane Hill. He took up his residence there at once, at a point on the ridge overlooking the Ohio River, a romantic spot where there is a fine view of the Ohio both up and down stream, and under
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which the river almost directly flows. He held this property until August 15, 1817, when he conveyed it to John Ellison, Jr. In 1811, Nathaniel Massie, of Hillsboro, Ohio, lately deceased, then a boy of six years, in company with his father and mother, visited his uncle Judge Byrd at Buckeye Station. Mrs. Byrd, nee Sarah Meade, died February 21, 1815, and was buried at the Station. Judge Byrd removed to Chillicothe and lived there one year. He went to West Union in 1816 and resided there until March 16, 1823, when he removed to Sinking Spring, in Highland County, where he had bought a large tract of land and built a brick house. He resided there until his death.
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