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 70
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In June, 1802, he married Hannah Finley, daughter of Major Joseph L. Finley, and by her became the father of the following children, all born in Adams County: Kennedy, Lyle, Joseph, Michael, Preston, John N., Jane E., married to Jacob McCabe, and the only one now living ; Martha Scott, afterwards married to Eli Kinney; Nancy Finley, after- wards married to J. Scott Peebles. In 1803, he was elected Sheriff of the County, and served until 1807. On May 17, 1804, he auctioned off the lots in the new town of West Union, and forty-nine years afterwards, on a visit to West Union, could point out cach lot and the name of the person to whom he sold it. In 1810, he was again elected sheriff and served one term. In 1812, though fifty-five years of age, he went into the war at the head of a regiment and performed distinguished ser- vices. He was an excellent disciplinarian and one of the bravest of men. Gen. Harrison, under whom he served, gave great meed of praise to his soldierly qualities. In 1819, he was a fourth time elected Sheriff of the County and served one term. While he held the office, at the opening of the term, he formed a procession and marched the judges from the hotel to the court room with martial music. On these occasions he wore a cocked hat and carried a sword. No one sustained the dignity of the office as fully as he did. He was very fond of musters, and on these occasions he was much admired for his soldierly bearing.
In 1815, he moved to West Union, and built the house afterwards known as the Benjamin Woods tavern, and where Lewis Johnston now resides. In 1819, he sold his farm in Sprigg Township to Col. John Means and purchased the McDade farm west of West Union in Liberty
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Township. He was County Commissioner irom December 1, 1823, for three years. He removed to the McDade farm after his retirement from the Sheriff's office. On July 28, 1827, his second wife, Hannah Finley, died, aged forty-four years.
In October, 1828, he married his third wife, Eliza B. Elliot, a widow, who died October 2, 1857, in Hamilton County, Ohio, and is buried at Spring Grove, Cincinnati. In 1832, Col. John Lodwick sold all his pos- sessions in Adams County and purchased a farm in Storrs Township, Hamilton County, where he spent the remainder of his days. This farm fronted the Ohio River, and he sold off part after part for suburban residences until finally he sold the last part of it and moved on to Pike Street in Cincinnati, where he died.
Many of the prominent families of Cincinnati have suburban homes on the land he bought in 1832. While residing in Storrs Township, he connected himself with the Presbyterian Church, and was a faithful member for the remainder of his days. In 1840, he had the remains of his two wives, Elizabeth and Hannah, taken up and re-buried in the West Union Cemetery. He placed over them a slab tomb, giving the usual data as to birth and death, followed by this :
"Their languishing heads are at rest, Their thinking and aching are o'er, Their quiet, immovable breasts Are heaved by affection no more."
From that time, during the remainder of his life, as long as able to travel, every summer, he would visit West Union for the purpose of looking after this tomb. His daughter, Sarah, resided in West Union and he would visit her. He always brought her many household gifts and would sometimes remain several weeks. On one of these visits the writer met and conversed with him. He had the most remarkable physi- cal powers. He survived until the age of ninety-four and was then car- ried off by a cancer of the face. Had it not been for this, he would easily have lived beyond a century. Think of one dying prematurely at ninety- four, but such was the case of Col. Lodwick. Not one in 100,000 had such vitality as he had. He was always full of animal spirits, of humor and fun. No one enjoyed a humorous story more than he did, and but few had such a repertoire of them.
He was always an entertaining and agreeable companion, as well for the young as for the old, and he retained all his faculties and his great flow of spirits to the last. At ninety-four, he was as cheerful, humor- ous and urbane as at any part of his life.
In politics, he was always a Democrat and never wavered from that faith. He trained all his sons in that party and they adhered to it during their lives. In religion, he was a Presbyterian and greatly devoted to the church.
No descendants of his are now living in Adams County. A number of them reside in Cincinnati and a few still remain in Portsmouth. It seems remarkable to reflect that one who at twenty-four years of age had resided in the Stockade at Manchester should survive till the day of President Lincoln's first inauguration, March 4, 1861.
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"Black Joe" Logan.
Joseph Logan was born a slave in the State of North Carolina, about 1797 or 1798. He was, of course, kept in ignorance of reading or writ- ing, and was brought up as slaves were at that time. He belonged to the Smith family, then a prominent family in North Carolina, and a daughter of which had married the Reverend William Williamson. He resided in Rutherford County. In about 1817, he contracted a slave marriage with Jemima, a black girl of about seventeen years of age, the property of another branch of the Smith family. Logan was then called Smith, after the family name of his master, John Smith. He was of or- dinary height, weight about one hundred and forty pounds, and was a v-shaped man, with broad shoulders, and muscular in every fibre of his frame.
He was as black as a coal, and slave as he was, he was a man, in the full sense of the term, and would take no affront, either for himself, or for any of his friends. While of ordinary size, he was more powerful and muscular than most of the men of his race, and would not hesitate to use his great strength when occasion required.
He was a favorite servant of his master, and usually travelled with him on all of his journeys. In 1803, his master's sister, Mrs. Jane Smith Williamson, emigrated to Ohio with her husband, and they had taken twenty-seven of his race with them, to set them free.
Joseph had accompanied his master to Ohio on a visit to his master's sister, between 1806 and 1816, and had some idea of a free State, and the condition of the freemen of his race. In 1819, by the death of the owner of his wife, she was willing to pay a legacy of $300 to Jane Smith Williamson, his master's niece, and he knew that she was liable to be sold to pay the legacy, and to be sent to the slave market in New Orleans, and this probable event was freely talked of in the family. His feelings, while such an event was impending, cannot be told. Fortunately for him, Miss Jane Williamson would not permit his wife to be sold, but elected to take her and her two children in satisfaction of the legacy. He heard of this, but did not know what it meant, until Miss Williamson came from Ohio, and stated that she would take Jemima and her two children. In the meantime, one of Jemima's children died, leaving her with but one. Logan begged Miss Williamson to buy him, and take him to Ohio with his wife; but she was unable to do so, for want of means.
It was the tenth of March, 1821, when Miss Williamson and her brother, afterward the Reverend Thomas Smith Williamson, started North. Each of them rode horseback, and the third horse carried Jemima and her child. Logan was not permitted to bid his wife and child good-bye, nor did he know they were started until after they had gone, and it was some time after they left before he learned of their des- tination. He simply knew that Miss Williamson intended to take Je- mima away with her when she went. That same summer his master vis- ited Ohio and took Logan with him. John Smith visited his sister, Mrs. Williamson, and Logan got to see his wife and spent some time with her, and it was there that he told her that he intended to be a free man, and a slave no longer.
Logan's master had been uniformly kind to him, and had promised that he would, at some future time, give him his freedom. After spend-
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ing several months in Ohio, John Smith took his slave Logan, and went back to North Carolina. Logan took note of the entire route of their return, and determined to escape at the first opportunity.
He made friends with the slaves on his route, returning, so that they would remember him, and aid him. As a precautionary measure to his escape, he privately beat and whipped all the slave-hunting dogs in the vicinity of his home, so that they would refuse to follow him.
He started in the summer of 1822, the next summer after his return from Ohio. While his master would not follow him, knowing that he would never be taken alive, other slave hunters of the vicinity undertook to recapture him, but the dogs refused their accustomed duties. When they found the trail of Logan, they sneaked back to their masters, and thus, the hunt had to be abandoned. But Logan was pursued at several points along his route by strange dogs. At one time he killed two dogs with a hatchet, which he carried with him, and wounded two others so badly that they had to be killed. At another time, he plunged into a river to escape the dogs. Two of them swam into the river after him, and he seized them, one at a time, and held their heads under the water until they were drowned. He could not be taken by dogs, as he either fright- ened them so badly they would not follow him, or he would fight and kill them before the hunters could come up to them. At one time, he was so closely pushed that he was forced to abandon the clothing which he carried, and which was of the best quality, the gift of his master. At another time he was so closely pursued by two men on horseback, that they were within a few feet of him. They ordered him to halt, but he refused, whereupon, they shot at him, but missed him. He traveled mostly by night, and fol- lowed the North Star. Wherever he could, he walked in the streams to cut off the scent of the dogs, for these often followed him a short distance. He knew the general course of the mountains and streams he had crossed before, and kept to the North all the time.
He went from North Carolina to the Poage settlement In Tennessee, where he was acquainted. There he learned that Colonel James Poage had taken his slaves North, and set them free. At this point he came very near being being recaptured by professional slave hunters. His master had not pursued him, and would not. He knew, and had been told, that Logan would not be recaptured, and would die rather than suffer such a thing. He was, therefore, willing to suffer his loss; but this did not prevent slave hunters anywhere along his route from seeking to re- capture him.
The rivers on his route he swam, where he could not wade them ; but he swam none, until he had first inspected them by daylight, and then swam them at night. Most of his travelling was done between midnight and morning, and on clear nights. He made his inquiries for the route, of slaves, of children, or of white men, whom he met alone. He would inquire for a route, but would never take the one he inquired for, but would travel parallel with it and away from it.
Occasionally, he ventured to travel by daylight. He swam the Ohio River near Ashland, Kentucky, and started westward, inquiring for the Reverend William Williamson, who was well known in Ohio. He thought it safe to travel by daylight in a free State. Not far east of Portsmouth, he met two men, who were willing to be man hunters.
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They recognized him as a fugitive from labor, and told him they be- lieved they would take him and remand him to slavery. He picked one of them up, and threw him over an adjoining fence. Then the next one con- cluded that Logan was too powerful a darkey for him to tamper with. They gave him directions, however, to find the Reverend William Wil- liamson, and he took a detour, miles to the north. Near Bentonville, he met a stone cutter who attempted to arrest him. Logan told him he could not take him South unless he killed him first. He then hid him- self until the next morning.
"The Beeches," where Rev. Williamson resided, was about a mile and a half from Bentonville, and his wife resided there. Next morning, after his adventure with the stone cutter, his wife was the first person he met, and that must have been a joyful meeting for two poor, black people, who felt that they had no friends on earth but each other.
Jemima had been looking anxiously for her husband, as he had told her, when on the visit the year before, that he intended to come to her, or die in the attempt.
Logan's master knew very well where he was. In fact, several slave hunters wrote him, offering to take Logan back to slavery for a suitable reward, but the master declined to give any reward. He knew that Logan would not be taken alive, and dead, he had no value.
Logan made enemies, who wrote his master where he was, and to come and take him; but the master declined to attempt to recapture him. Logan gave it out freely that if any attempt were made to re- capture him, he would kill as many of his captors as he could, and would die himself, before he would be retaken. He had demonstrated his physical prowess on many occasions, and his statement was strictly be- lieved.
In Ohio, Logan was a part of the Underground Railroad system, and he helped every runaway slave he could, to freedom. At one time, twelve slave catchers had surrounded his cabin, but he and his friends got away from them. Once, he accompanied the late Thomas Means to Bentonville. Some of the citizens expressed surprise that a fugitive slave should go abroad so boldly. Mr. Means told them that if any of them were fools enough to get killed trying to recapture Logan, the commu- nity could very well spare them. It was a common thing. in West Union, Ohio, after Logan removed there, for anyone who got angry with Logan, to write to his master to come and take him back; but the master, having promised to free him, and Logan having freed himself, declined to take any steps or to offer any reward to reclaim him.
Logan, like Hercules, was in the habit of carrying a great club with him wherever he went, and it was well known that he would use it on dogs or men, as occasion required. Once, he was caught without his club, and was attacked by three men. They were all armed, and he was not. They attempted to seize him, but before they could do anything, he knocked them all three down, disarmed all of them, and then told them that he was glad he had forgotten his club that day. as otherwise, no doubt he would have killed them.
Barney Mullen lived near West Union, and would come to the village, get drunk and over-awe every one by his prowess. He had the common Irish prejudice against a negro, and one day struck Logan with his
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fist. Logan staggered for several yards, but did not fall. As he re- covered, he came back at Mullen with a rush, and butted him over. He then pounded him well, and filled his eyes with sand from the highway It took Barney two hours to wash the sand from his eyes. Soon after, he left the country in disgust, emigrating to Illinios. He declared he would not live in a country where a negro could whip a white man.
Logan was fond of being about the hotels and public stables in West Union, and handling horses. He was a follower and attendant of some of the fast young men of West Union, notably, of Bill Lee. One day in 1849, Lee was drunk, and handling a revolver in his right hand. He dropped it on the floor, and it was discharged, the ball lodging in Logan's great toe. The wound brought on lockjaw, of which Logan died. He was thus carried off in his prime, with a constitution, which. in the ordinary course of nature, would have lasted him to the age of ninety.
Logan learned to read after he came to Ohio, and there is a story that his freedom was purchased of his master for $200, of which he contributed $100 himself, and $100 was contributed by his friends. I am led to believe that this story is not true; but it was current in his lifetime for many years before his death. Logan, no doubt, gave it countenance, for it served as a protection against the man hunters. It is said that Logan's master visited Ohio several times after Logan's es- cape and always saw him and conversed with him on those occasions.
On the first visit after Logan's escape, the master asked Logan to return to North Carolina, urging the kind treatment he had always received. Logan admitted that, but said that he had escaped to be with his wife, and preferred to remain in Ohio. The master told him that he would never send for him, and gave him $10, assuring him of his good wishes.
Jemima, the wife of Logan, survived until September 25, 1885, when she died at the supposed age of eighty-five. Logan left several children. Joseph Logan, his son, at the age of sixty-one, is a resident of West Union. He is a quiet, peaceable citizen, respected by all. Logan also left a daughter, who is married and has a family of children ; one girl of which is a music teacher, and has a class of white pupils.
Jane Williamson, who set Jemima free, at a great sacrifice to herself, survived until the twenty-fourth of March, 1895, when she passed away at the great age of ninety-three. The history of the world contains no nobler act than the freeing of Jemima by Jane Williamson, and no more daring adventure than that of the escape of Logan.
John Loughry, Sr.,
was born in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, May 8, 1786. He was married to Margaret Black, of Ohio, January 3, 1809. In 1812, he was a Captain in the Volunteer Service, and was stationed at Buffalo, and then called to the frontier. He was there until Christmas and then went home. He went to Columbus, Ohio, in 1817, and was Mayor of the town in 1823. On locating in Columbus. he connected with the First Presby- terian Church and soon after was made one of its ruling elders. While in Columbus, he followed the business of contracting on public works. as such he never worked on Sunday or permitted the men in his employ
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to do so. His wife died in 1827, and in 1829 he was married to Miss Elizabeth K. Cunning. He remained in Columbus until 1831, when he went to Rockville to get stone to build the canal locks at Cincinnati to lead the canal into the river. That took three years. He then went into the business of building steamboats and built the "Columbia," the "Atlanta" and others. He built a large saw and grist mill at Rockville and carried on a large business. He also went into the culture of peaches and pears. He had great success in the peach culture. He retired from business in 1855, turning it over to his son, John C. Loughry, except the fruit busi- ness, which he retained until his death. He took a great interest in the Presbyterian Church at Sandy Springs and had the church and parson- age rebuilt. He was an elder in Dr. Hayes' Church in Columbus while a resident there and also in the Sandy Springs Church. He was liberal in all things, kind and generous. He was the build of men which keeps the world going and preserves all that is good in it. He was an enter- prising, loyal citizen, a good man, a pleasant neighbor and a devoted Christian.
He died August 6, 1862, leaving a son, John C. Loughry, who has a , sketch herein, and two daughters, Mrs. Dr. Awl, of Columbus, Ohio, and Mrs. Dr. Marshall, of Blairsville, Pennsylvania.
General Nathaniel Massie,
the founder of Manchester and the leader in the third settlement in Ohio, was born December 28, 1763, in Goochland County, Virginia His grand- father, Charles Massie, with two brothers, had emigrated to Virginia from Chester in England in 1680. His son, Nathaniel Massie, was married to Elizabeth Watkins in 1760 and our subject was their eldest child. He had two brothers and a sister. His brother Henry was the original proprietor and founder of the city of Portsmouth, Scioto County. When he was eleven years of age, his mother died, and two years later his father married again. Nathaniel Massie had a good education and learned the science of surveying. In 1780 and 1781, he served with the Virginia Militia in the War of the Revolution.
In 1783, at the close of the Revolutionary War, at the age of twenty, young Massie set out for Kentucky. He was a surveyor. His father had already located lands in Kentucky and he had excellent letters of introduction. He adapted himself to the conditions of life he found in Kentucky and made a most expert woodsman, hunter and Indian fighter. He had courage, endurance, and a happy temperament. He would endure any hardships incident to his life without complaint. He was a trader in salt in 1788 and made money in the business. He estab . lished a reputation as a land locator which brought him business and made him money. He was a tall and uncommonly fine looking young man. His form was slender and well made. He was muscular, very active, and his countenance expressed energy and good sense. During his residence in Kentucky, he made several expeditions into that part of the North- west Territory now Ohio, and in 1790, formed the determination to establish a settlement at Manchester. He offered an inlot, an outlot and one hundred acres of land to the first twenty-five who would accompany him. His offers were accepted by nineteen persons, and a written con- tract entered into December 1, 1790. Of those who signed, the de-
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scendants of the Lindseys, Wades, Clarks Ellisons, Simerals, McCutch- eons and Stouts are well known to the present generation.
In the winter of 1790, in pursuance of this agreement, a settlement was made at Manchester, composed of Virginians, the third in Ohio. A block house and stockade were built. While the first people of Manchester lived in daily dread of the Indians, and while two of their number were carried off by them, yet they enjoyed themselves more than the present inhabitants. Massie was not, however, content to remain at the Station at Manchester. He located the land on Gift Ridge in Monroe Township in order to give each of his settlers the one hundred acres of land he had promised and he located one thousand acres of the finest upland for himself, being the tract afterward known as Buckeye Station. This he sold to his brother-in-law, Judge Byrd, in 1807. Massie began his explorations of the Scioto country soon after his location at Manchester and explored Paint Valley. Here, two miles west of Bainbridge, he located one thousand acres of land on which he after- ward made his home. It is today the finest body of land in Ohio, and the writer would rather own it than any tract of the same quantity in the state. Massie must have had a wonderful faculty of judging land in the virgin forest, for he never failed to select excellent land. In 1796, he located the city of Chillicothe. In 1799, he represented Adams County in the first Territorial Legislaure with Joseph Darlinton as his colleague.
In December, 1797, though a layman, he was a Common Pleas Judge of Adams County, and a Colonel of the Militia. He was married to Miss Susan Everad Meade, daughter of Colonel David Meade, of Chaumiere, Kentucky, in 1800, and thereby became the brother-in-law of Charles Wil- ling Byrd, then Secretary of the Northwest Territory, and of William Creighton, the first Secretary of the State of Ohio. He was a member of the second Territorial Legislature from Ross County, where he had taken up his residence. He was a member of the first Constitutional Convention from that county. He was a member of the State Senate from Ross County at its first and second sessions.
On January 11, 1804, he was commissioned as Major General of the Second Division of the Ohio Militia, having been elected to that of . fice by the Legislature. It is from this appointment he derived the title of General. At the same time his friend, David Bradford of Adams County, was commissioned as Quartermaster General of the same divi- sion. He was a member of the House from Ross County in 1806 and 1807, and a candidate for Governor in 1807 and received 4.757 votes to 6,050 votes for Return J. Meigs, who was declared ineligible to the office. Massie declined to take the office when Meigs was declared in- eligible and it was filled by his friend, Thomas Kirker, Speaker of the Senate. To show how he was estimated among those who knew him best we give the vote for Governor in the following counties: Ross- Massie, 1032 : Meigs, 62; Adams-Massie, 441 ; Meigs, 114; Franklin- Massie, 332 ; Meigs, 30.
On the question of the ineligibility of Meigs for the office of Gov- ernor, the vote of the General Assembly stood twenty-four in favor to twenty against. Thomas Kirker, the Senator from Adams and Scioto and Speaker, did not vote. Of the representatives from Adams and
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