USA > Ohio > Washington County > Belpre > A history of Belpre, Washington County, Ohio > Part 7
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favorite city. Before the next day at noon their nice vil- lage was burnt to the ground; their cornfields of several hundred acres, just beginning to ripen, were cut down and trampled under foot by the horses and oxen of the invad- ers, while their melons and squashes were pulled up by the roots. The following winter the poor Indians, deprived of their stock of corn and beans, which were grown every year and laid up for their winter food as regularly as among the white people, suffered the extreme of want. Game was scarce in the country they retreated to on the west of the Miami, and what few deer and fish they could collect barely served to keep them alive. It was a cruel policy, but prob- ably, subdued their Spartan courage more than two or three defeats, as for many years thereafter, until the days of Tecumseh, they remained at peace.
COLONEL EBENEZER BATTELLE
Col. Battelle was the only son of Ebenezer Battelle and was born at Dedham, Mass., and graduated from Cambridge College in 1775. He held a commission of Colonel under the Governor of Massachusetts in the Militia. He was one of the active partners in a book store in Boston for about six years. While here he was elected to the command of the ancient and honorable artillery Company, a noted band of military men, composed of officers of good standing and character.
He became an associate in the Ohio Company and came to Marietta with Colonel May in the Spring of 1788 and his family came in November of the same year. During the following winter he became a member of the Belpre Association and in the Spring of 1789 proceeded to clear his land and erect a stout block house for the reception of his family. May 1st, Captain King was killed by Indians. The following day Col. Battelle, with two of his sons and Griffin Greene, Esq., embarked at Marietta in a large canoe, with farming tools, provisions, &c. On their way down they were hailed by some one from the shore and inform- ed of this sad event. They landed and held a consultation on what was best to be done. Some were for returning; but they fianlly decided to proceed.
The block-houses of these two emigrants were near each other, and nearly opposite the middle of Backus' Is-
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land, on the spot afterwards occupied by Farmers Castle. After landing the other settlers joined them for mutual de- fense, and through the night kept up a military guard, in the old revolutionary style, the sentinel calling out every fifteen minutes "All's well" not thinking this would give the skulking Indians notice where to find them. No enemy, however, molested them during the night, and their fears of an attack gradually subsided.
Early in April, before any families had moved on to the ground, a party of officers from Fort Harmar, with their wives, and a few ladies from Marietta, made a visit to the new settlement in the officer's barge, a fine large boat, rowed with twelve oars. These were the first white fe- males who ever set foot on the soil of Belpre. On their return Col. Battelle, with several others, accompanied them by water in a canoe, and another party by land. While on the voyage, a large bear was discovered swimming across the river. The landsmen fired at him with their muskets and rifles, but without effect. The canoe then ranged alongside, when Col. Battelle seized him by the tail and when the bear attempted to bite his hand, he raised his hind parts, throwing his head under water, and thus es- caped his teeth. One of his companions soon killed him with an axe. He weighed over three hundred pounds and afforded several fine dinners to his captors.
In the plan of Farmers Castle his blockhouse occupied the north east corner. Col. Battelle was very much inter- ested in Education and religion in the settlement. Both schools and religious services were held in a large room in his block house. He officiated as Chaplain when no clergy- man was present. Some times he gave a discourse of his own but oftener read a sermon of some eminent divine. He made Sunday respected and honored in the settlement. In the early years he was paid twenty dollars by the Ohio Company for his services as a religious teacher. He died in the home of his son at Newport, Ohio in 1815.
COLONEL ISRAEL PUTNAM.
Colonel Israel Putnam, the elder, was plowing at Pom- fret, Conn. with four oxen in April, 1775 when he heard of the battle of Lexington. He immediately left his oxen and mounting his favorite horse rode with all possible haste to
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Cambridge, Mass., where he did most important service, and was soon Commissioned a Major General. His son Israel soon raised a Company and served under his father until the arrival of General Washington as Commander-in- Chief. Israel continued in the service as aid to his Father At the close of the war he became a raiser of blooded Stock some of which he brought with him to Ohio.
He also brought a considerable number of valuable books which were the foundation of Belpre Farmers Li- brary. He was an influential man and was a leader in the establishment of both education and religion.
When absent from home his wife took charge of the family of six children. She was a woman of great spirit, and as firm a patriot as the general himself, hating, with all her soul and strength, the British oppressors of her country, who were technically called Redcoats, and loving with equal ardor the American soldiers, supplying them with food and clothing to the extent of her ability. In the winter of 1779 when the patriot troups suffered so much from the want of warm garments, she had spun and woven in her own house, a number of blankets made from the finest wool in the flock, and sent on for their relief. Num- erous pairs of stockings were also manufactured by her own hands and contributed in the same way. No one at this day knows, or can appreciate the value of the labors of American females in achieving our freedom. They wrought and suffered in silence, bearing many privations in common with their husbands and sons in the days which tried the patriotism of the colonies. She was a woman of elevated mind and great personal courage, worthy of the family to which she was allied. In the absence of her husband, when the vultures and hawks attacked the poultry, she could load and fire his light fowling piece at them, without dodging at the flash.
AARON WALDO PUTNAM.
Aaron Waldo Putnam was a son of Col. Israel Put- nam, and came with his father to Ohio in 1788, when he was about twenty years of age. He remained in charge of his farm in Belpre while his father was absent during the Indian War. He had two very thrilling adventures with Indians during this time which have already been
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narrated. After the close of the war he worked diligently in improving his farm which was one of the best in the valley. He introduced the best breeds of stock then known. He planted extensive orchards, grafted with scions of the best known varieties of fruit, brought from the east.
In 1800 he built a very fine house which still stands and is occupied by his descendants. This house and also the house built by Capt. Jonathan Stone near the village are good examples of the best New England farm house of that period. When built the upper story was fitted up for a ball room, and in an inaugural ball Lady Blenner- hassett from the Island led in some of the dances. The sturdy puritans of that time were conscientious and firm in their moral convictions, but believed also in recreations and when we consider the anxieties of those years when they knew that a murderous foe might be skulking in the neighboring forest, waiting for a night attack, we must commend their plans for such social amusements as would bind them close together and encourage them to persevere in their homes until danger from the Savages should pass away. This Putnam house, painted white, and standing on the margin of the Plain, or second bottom, and sur- rounded by orchards, became a conspicuous object to trav- elers on the "Belle Riviere" as there were at that time little besides wilderness and log cabins between Pittsburg and Cincinnati.
CAPTAIN JONATHAN STONE
Capt. Jonathan Stone was born in Braintree, Mass. and was son of Francis Stone who lost his life in the army of Gen. Wolfe at the conquest of Quebec. He entered the service of his country at the beginning of the revolution and the following year married Susanna Matthews a niece of Gen. Rufus Putnam. In the army he rose step by step to the rank of Captain. After the war he settled in Brook- field, Mass., and was employed by Gen. Putnam as a sur- veyor in the Province of Maine. He also served with Gen. Lincoln in subduing Shay's rebellion in which re- bellion a brother of his and other relatives were engaged.
He visited Marietta in the fall of 1788 and made pro- vision for the reception of his family. On July 4th,
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1789 he left Brookfield, Mass., with a wagon, drawn by four oxen, containing his household goods and three chil- dren. Two cows were driven on ahead, while his wife traveled on horse-back the whole distance to Simril's ferry, the western rendezvous for emigrants to Marietta. At Buffalo or Charleston, he bartered one yoke of oxen for pro- visions to support his family until he could raise a crop himself.
From the avails of a farm he had sold in Brookfield, he secured two shares of the Ohio Companies lands being about two thousands acres. He reached Belpre Dec. 10th and put up a log cabin on his lot, drawn the previous winter, making the floors and doors from the planks of the boat in which he descended the river. His farm lay in the wide bottom opposite and a little below the mouth of the Little Kanawha (still owned by his descendants. ) During the Indian war he removed his family to Farmers Castle and was one of the most active and efficient defend- ers of that garrison. In the Spring of 1793, he, with sev- eral others erected a palisade and several blockhouses on his own farm and remained there until the peace of 1795.
In 1792 he was appointed Treasurer of Washington County by Winthrop Sargent, then acting as governor of the North West Territory. After the peace he was em- ployed by the Ohio Company, with Jeffery Mathewson, to complete the surveys of their lands, which was done in a masterly manner. He died after a short illness, March 25, 1801 aged fifty.
Captain Stone was a man with a well formed agree- able person, gentlemanly manners and social habits. By his contemporaries he was highly esteemed. In 1911 the Belpre Historical Society erected a granite monument to point out the locality of Stones Garrison. (See account of Belpre Historical Society.)
MAJOR NATHAN GOODALE
Maj. Nathan Goodale, son of Solomon and Anna Good- ale, was born about 1743. His father died about one year later and in 1745 his mother, Anna Goodale, married Dea Samuel Ware and Nathan spent his early years in his family.t
¡Dea Samuel and Anna Goodale Ware, were great, great, grandparents of the compiler of this book.
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He married Elizabeth Phelps, September 11th, 1765 and about 1770 removed to Brookfield, Mass., where he labored on the farm and as a bricklayer. Mr. Goodale had made some preparation for a soldier life in drilling as a minute man and entered the army as a Lieutenant and was afterwards commissioned as Captain with which rank he continued through the war, to which was added a brev- et Major.
He purchased a share in the Ohio Company and ar- rived at Marietta with the first families, Aug. 19, 1788. Soon after his arrival at Marietta Governor St. Clair ap- pointed him Captain of a Company of light infantry se- lected from the most active men in the colony. His ex- perience in military affairs rendered him a very able and efficient officer familiar with all the details of actual ser- vice. He was one of the first settlers in Belpre in 1789. During the short period he lived here he was considered to be one of the most industrious, persevering and thor- oughly educated farmers in the County.
At the beginning of the Indian War he went with his family to Farmers Castle. In making the arrangement for the defense and military government of the garrison he was the leading man; and the command was by unani- mous consent given to him. His tragic kidnapping by Indians make him the martyr of Belpre and seems to make it proper that we describe his career somewhat in detail. General Rufus Putnam wrote to General Washington rec- ommending Captain Goodale for promotion in which he gives the following description of his exploits in active service : "In the dark month of November, 1776, Mr. Good- ale entered the service as a Captain in the regiment under my command, and was in the field early the next Spring; but, although he always discovered a thirst for enterprise, yet fortune never gave his genius fair play until August, 1777. It is well known into what a panic the country and even the northern army, were thrown on the taking of Ticonderoga. When General Gates took command in that quarter our army lay at Van Shaicks island; and Mr. Burgoyne, with his black wings and painted legions lay at Saratoga. The woods were so infested with Savages, that for some time none of the Scouts who were sent out for the purpose of obtaining prisoners or intelligence of the en-
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emy's situation succeeded in either. General Gates, being vexed at continual disappointments, desired an officer to procure him a man that would undertake, at all hazards, to perform this service. Captain Goodale, being spoken to, voluntarily undertook the business under the following orders from General Gates: "Sir, you are to choose out a Sergeant and six privates and proceed with them to the enemy's camp, unless you lose your life or are captured, and not return until you obtain a full knowledge of their situa- tion. Captain Goodale in his report of this scout, says it was not performed without great danger as the party was much harrassed by the Indians which occasioned their be- ing in the woods three days without provisions. However he succeeded beyond expectation; first throwing himself between their outguards and their camp, where he conceal- ed his party until he examined their situation very fully, and then brought off six prisoners, whom he took within their guards, and returned to General Gates without any loss. This success induced General Gates to continue him in that kind of service. A full detail of all the art and address which he discovered during the remainder of that campaign would make my letter quite too long. It may be enough to observe that before the capture of the British army, one hundred and twenty-one prisoners fell into his. hands. But as Captain Goodale is no less brave and de- termined in the open field where opposed to regular troops, than he is artful as a partisan of the woods, I beg your patience while I recite one instance of this kind. A day or two after Mr. Burgoyne retreated to Saratoga, on a foggy morning, Nixons brigade was ordered to cross the creek which separated the two armies. Captain Goodale with forty volunters went over before the advance guard. He soon fell in with a British guard of about the same number. The ground was an open plain, but the fog prevented their discovering each other until they were within a few yards, when both parties made ready nearly at the same time. Captain Goodale, in this position, reserved his fire and ad- vanced immediately upon the enemy, who waited with a design to draw it from him; but he had the address to in- timidate them in such a manner, by threatening immediate death to any one who should fire, that not more than two or three obeyed the order of their own officer, when he gave
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the word. The result was that the officer and thirty-four of the guard were made prisoners."
We have an account of another of his exploits from a different source. At the action of Valentine Hill the com- mander of the troops to which he was attached, had order- ed him to keep possession of a certain pass, important to the Americans, at all hazards, without any discretionary power as to contingencies. His command consisted of about forty light infantry and a number of Indians who stood the attack of a large body of the enemy and a com- pany of cavalry, until there were only seventeen men left out of the forty. Near the close of the combat the officer who led the charge rushed upon him with his sword. Cap- tain Goodale with a loaded musket, which he had probably picked up from one of his fallen men, shot the Briton dead from his horse as he approached. In a moment another of the enemy, seeing the fall of his leader, sprang at him
in desperation, with a full purpose to revenge his death. The musket being discharged, the only resourse was to parry the descending blow aimed at his head, in the best manner he could with the empty piece. It fell obliquely, being turned from it course by the musket and instead of splitting the skull of its intended victim glanced on the bone, peeling up a portion of the scalp several inches in length. The stunning effects of the blow felled him to the earth, but directly recovering, he rose to his feet. In the meantime the Cavalryman, who had leaned forward in the saddle farther than prudent to give a certain death-stroke, lost his balance when the heavy sword glanced from the skull, and fell to the earth. The bayonet of Captain Good- ale immediately pinned him to the ground and left him dead by the side of his leader. Thus two of the enemy fell by his hand in less than a minute. Seeing all prospect of further resistance useless he retreated with the balance of his men to an open woodland near the scene of action and secreted himself under a pile of brush.
An Indian had hidden under another heap, where they might have remained in safety until dark and then escaped; but the Savage, having an opportunity to shoot one of the enemy who approached their hiding place, could not re- sist the chance to add another scalp to his trophies and shot him. The report of the gun revealed their hiding
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place, and, being discovered, they were made prisoners. He remained for some time in the hands of the enemy, and when exchanged, his children related, that the British officers put poison in wine to which he was treated. He was sick for some time but recovered and resumed his place in the army. A narrative of his kidnapping and death is found in the account of Farmers Castle. An account of the dedication of a monument erected to his memory is re- corded in the history of the Belpre Historical Society.
MAJOR ROBERT BRADFORD
Major Robert Bradford was born at old Plymouth, Mass., in 1750. He was a lineal descendant of Governor Bradford, of about the fifth remove. His wife was Kezia Little, daughter of Captain Nathaniel Little, of Kingston, Mass. He entered early, and with all his heart, into the service of his country during the Revolutionary War, and for the larger part of that period commanded a company of light infantry. His military life commenced at the battle of Bunker Hill and ended with the Capture of Corn- wallis at Yorktown, being actually engaged in nearly all the pitched battles fought in the middle and eastern states. With many other American Officers he received the gift of an elegant sword from Marquis LaFayette as a mark of his esteem.
When the Ohio Company was formed he became an associate and removed his family to Marietta in 1788, and removed to Belpre in 1789. He was associated with Colo- nel Battelle in the expedition which discovered the site of the Scioto sale spring.
CAPTAIN MILES
Captain Benjamin Miles, from Rutland, Mass., was an officer during the Revolution and one of the early set- tlers at Belpre. His farm was in the lower settlement. He bought on from the east some choice cattle, among them a pair of very large oxen which the Indians wantonly killed when they failed to capture A. W. Putnam and Na- thaniel Fisher. Captain Miles was a substantial farmer and a man of influence. He built the first brick house in the settlement in which he had a tavern. The first town meeting in Belpre was held at his house. When the First Church was organized in Marietta in 1795 Captain Miles
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was chosen deacon for Belpre. He died at Belpre in 1817. CAPT. PERLEY HOWE.
Perley Howe when a young man came to Marietta dur- ing the first years of the Colony and married Persis, daughter of Gen. Rufus Putnam, May 2, 1798. Soon after this he removed to his farm about one mile west of Belpre Village. He was a school teacher for a number of years and was known as "Master Howe." He was considered one of the best teachers in the County. He was commis- sioned Capt. of the First Brigade, third division of the Washington County Militia in 1804 by Governor Tiffin. At the time of Burr's conspiracy this company stood guard and Captain Howe was a witness in the trial. He was the first Deacon of the Congregational church of Belpre and held the office until his death. Himself and family were prominent musicians in the church for two or three gen- erations.
He and his son entered into a business partnership, and at the close of a contract with several specifications to which they mutually agreed, they added the words, "and lastly we agree at all times to exemplify the Spirit of Christ." What a revolution would be wrought in business if all was conducted according to this principle.
The following sketches of pioneers are copied and con- densed from the interesting History of Newbury by Mrs. Laura Curtis Preston.
GUTHRIE BROTHERS
Truman and Stephen Guthrie each received a share in the Ohio Company's lands from their father, Joseph Guth- rie of Washington, Conn. They journeyed most of the way to Pittsburg on foot and by river to Marietta where they arrived July 3rd, 1788. Truman cleared about half an acre of land near Mound Cemetery, enclosing it with a brush fence; he sowed about a peck of wheat he had brought from Pennsylvania. This is said to have been the first wheat sown in Ohio and later the product of this same wheat was sown in Newbury. During the following year these brothers went back to Connecticut. In 1791 they returned to Newbury, Stephen with his wife and in- fant daughter Laura, in company with Eleazer Curtis and
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family. Later Truman married Elizabeth daughter of Col. Israel Stone of Belpre, taking his wife home in a canoe. They ate their first meal in this home from the head of a barrel. Their first table was a poplar pincheon hewed and planed, making a cross legged table which still remains in the family.
In 1795 when Belpre township was organized Stephen Guthrie, being one of the prominent men in that part of the County, was appointed by the Governor a Justice of the Peace. One cold day in January, while he was engaged with some men in killing hogs, he observed a party of half a dozen coming in their sleds, who, coming up, went into the house and made known the object of their visit. The Justice suggested that he should have time to change his garments, as he had on a long white linen frock, provided in those days for log rolling and all dirty work, and said to the party that his appearance was not proper, as his long frock was badly soiled with blood. "Oh! said the intended bride, We're in a great hurry; it makes no difference." So the ceremony was performed in short order, the groom giving the bride a smack which sounded like the crack of a small pistol. "What's to pay Square?" said the groom. His answer was "the law allows a dollar and a half." "All right, I have not got it today, but will pay with flax in the Spring." But the flax never grew. (A Pioneer Sketch by Stephen H. Guthrie.)
BULL BROTHERS.
Howell and Captain Aaron Bull of Weathersfield, Conn., were original proprietors of one of the one hundred acre lots at the lower end of Newbury bottom. The broth- ers came to Ohio in 1789. Howell's name is found in the list of single men in Farmers Castle in 1791 and Aarons in the list of grand jurors the same year. They cleared about three acres of their land, built a cabin and sold their claim to Eleazer Curtis in 1794. Aaron returned to Con- necticut. Howell Bull was an active intelligent man. While an inmate of Farmers Castle he rushed to the rescue of Aaron Waldo Putnam and Nathaniel Little as they were running toward the fort pursued by Indians.
CAPT. ELEAZER CURTIS.
Capt. Eleazer Curtis (the title was probably given him
PORTERFIELD CONGREGATIONAL MEETING HOUSE, BUILT 1889
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IINIVERSAI IST MEETING HOUSE. ROCKLAND, BUILT 1912
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in the Indian war) enlisted as a private in the War of Revolution, and was discharged a Sergeant. He endured the memorable winter at Valley Forge. He, with his wife and five children, from Warren, Conn. made the trip to Ohio with the Guthrie brothers in 1798. The trip to Pittsburg was long and tedious, but with nothing more serious than the overturning of one wagon, as they crossed the moun- tains. As they floated down the Ohio, in a flat boat, just above Wheeling the boat caught in an overhanging tree, causing a plank to spring, and the boat would have filled with water had not Capt. Curtis caught up a feather bed and stuffed it into the hole. A young man who attempted to climb the overhanging tree, fell into the water, and was drowned. They arrived at Marietta in November, 1791. The family resided respectively in Marietta, Goodale's gar- rison, and Newbury stockade, until the close of the Indian war, when they moved on to their farm, which Mr. Curtis had purchased of the Bull brothers. In 1795 he built a two story log house which was the best in the neighbor- hood at that time. A brick residence was built in 1827-8 by Walter Curtis son of Eleazer, all the material being made on the premises. Walter purchased the farm of the other heirs and also added other acres to it. Mrs. Curtis who was Almira daughter of Stephen Guthrie, boarded the men who worked on the house, and in addition to the house work, wove fifty-seven yards of linen sheeting, sold about one hundred and fifty pounds of cheese besides what was consumed by a family of twelve. Walter Curtis represent- ed Washington County in the Legislature, was Associate Judge, three years, Justice of the Peace, and held other minor offices. He, and his brother, Horace, were partners in the Keel-boat business, going to Pittsburg, Charleston, Cincinnati, and other points down the river. His son, Aus- tin, was also a state representative, Justice of the Peace, and served in the war of the rebellion. The farm is still owned by the descendants of Eleazer Curtis.
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