A history of Scioto County, Ohio, together with a pioneer record, Part 178

Author: Evans, Nelson W. (Nelson Wiley), 1842-1913
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Portsmouth, O. N. W. Evans
Number of Pages: 1612

USA > Ohio > Scioto County > A history of Scioto County, Ohio, together with a pioneer record > Part 178

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His was at this time the only store in the settlement, and was looked upon as quite a mammoth affair and a great convenience. He lost no time in making up a pack to be taken to the Scioto Salt Works, thirty-seven miles distant, to exchange for salt. His goods were considered better than salt, and he found he could trade to good advantage. He took two pack-horses with him to pack the salt to Gallipolis, as in that day there was no other than a hun- ter's path. After the salt was thus packed to Gallipolis, it was put in a pirogue

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and two hands pushed it to Marietta, and paid his debt, then purchased again on the same terms. In this way, he kept up his store some years, and as emi- grants came into the country a circulating medium of silver enabled the farm- ers and others to buy his goods and pay for them in cash. During his tempor- ary absences, his wife attended to the store in a very efficient manner, and also to the house and other duties, and to their united efforts their after good for- tune may, in a great measure, be attributed.

In addition to the store he entertained travelers and accommodated river men, and he opened a bake shop. In this manner by the joint industry of him- self and wife, they soon became wealthy, and were considered by their neigh- bors as the "richest people in town." He was never known to stoop to a mean act, and was considered by merchants in Philadelphia, and other places where he had commercial intercourse, as a man of sterling integrity, punctual to an hour in the fulfillment of his contracts. It might, in truth, be said he was one of nature's noblemen. He had five children: Mary G. Menager, born in Galli- polis, June 9, 1792, died June 30, 1868; Peter Menager, born in Gallipolis in 1793, and died in Kansas October 20, 1868; Edward S. Menager, born in Gallipolis, September, 1797, and died September 17, 1870; Lewis B. Menager, born in Gal- lipolis April, 1801, and died at Point Pleasant, West Virginia, June 16, 1875; Roman Menager, born in Gallipolis July 20, 1799, and died January 19, 1888.

Very few men encountered greater difficulties in preparing their fam- ilies for future usefulness than Mr. C. R. Menager. He gave the main support to a teacher, by which his daughter was qualified for a clerkship in his store, and sent his boys away to school, where each received a good education. He died in Gallipolis, surrounded by his family, on January 17, 1835. His wife survived him a number of years, she being the last but three of the original French emigrants. She died at her daughters, Mrs. Newsom's, in Gallipolis, December 10, 1854.

General James H. Menary

was born near Mifflin, Pennsylvania, June 9, 1760. His ancestors were English. his father being in the city of London at the time of the great earthquake. In 1784, he was married to Miss Mary Blair, a native of Mifflin, Pennsylvania. She was born October 30, 1765 and died at the age of ninety-six years. He was in the Revolutionary War and his record will be found among the Revolutionary Soldiers under that title in this book. After the War of Independence, he with his family, went to Bourbon county, Kentucky. He disliked slavery very much, and in company with General Massie, and twelve other men, he came north, crossing the Ohio river near Manchester. They went to the north fork of Paint Creek, at the place now known as Frankfort, Ross county. This was in the winter of 1792 and 1793. While there, a three day's snow storm came upon them and the snow fell to the depth of eighteen inches. They were compelled to return to their homes after suffering much from cold, hunger and fatigue. One year later, they returned to the Ohio river and had a skirmish with the Indians and one of their number, Mr. Robinson, was fatally wounded and died a few hours afterwards. A Mr. Gilfillian was also wounded.

In the summer of 1796, Mr. Menary located land near the present city of Chillicothe. In December of that year, he brought his wife and children and settled on the bank of the Scioto, three miles below Chillicothe. He afterwards removed to Slate Mills and spent the remainder of his days there. He was a member of the Legislature and represented Ross county in the House in 1810, 1816 and 1817. In 1812, he erected a block-house. It was known as the "Men- ary Block-house" and was on the present site of the city of Bellefontaine. He died November 29, 1839.

He had a family of seven children: James born in Pennsylvania, Decem- ber 15, 1786; Alexander born in Pennsylvania, June 20, 1789; Jane born in Bour- bon county, Kentucky, August 14, 1792; Richard born in Bourbon county, Ken- tucky, March 14, 1795; Betsy born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, November 20, 1796.

Jane Menary in her nineteenth year united with the Presbyterian church in Chillicothe. She was married in her twentieth year, in 1812, to James H. McCreary, of Lancaster, Pa. They settled in Ross county, Ohio, on a tract of land adjoining that of her father. They had three children Rebecca born March

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30, 1813; James M. born November 11, 1814 and Mary E. born September 1, 1817. Jane McCreary died in her eightieth year, March 15, 1852, at the residence of her son-in-law, Henry L. Kline. Mary E. McCreary is the only one of her children now surviving. She is in her eighty-fourth year. She was married April 2, 1839 to Henry L. Kline of Pennsylvania. He was a Lieutenant Colonel in one of the Ohio Militia regiments. Their eldest son is P. J. Kline, M. D., a resident of Portsmouth.

Governor George Kilbon Nash,

Governor of Ohio, was born on August 14, 1842. His parents were Asa Nash and Electa Nash, nee Branch, both of whom came from Massachusetts, of old New England stock. The family consisted of three sons and two daughters, all of whom are deceased with the the exception of the subject of this sketch. Both his parents attained more than three score and ten.

Mr. Nash's early education was given full attention. He took a prepar- atory course at Hudson, Summit, Ohio and then entered Oberlin College. He enlisted in Company K, 150th O. V. I., May 2, 1864 and served till August 23, 1864. The regiment garrisoned the forts about Washington D. C. during its service. He had typhoid fever in the service but recovered and during the winter of 1864 and spring of 1865, was employed as a school teacher. In April, 1865, he begun the reading of law, and in 1867 passed a successful examination and was admitted to the bar in Franklin county, Ohio. His progress in the legal profession was marked and many honors were achieved by him. In 1870, Mr. Nash was elected Prosecuting Attorney of Franklin county by a handsome ma- jority, and filled that office for four years. So pronounced was the legal acumen and ability displayed by him, that in 1880 he was elected Attorney General of the State, a position to which he was re-elected and near the expiration of the second term he resigned to accept the appointment tendered by Governor Fos- ter, the Judge of the Supreme Court Commission, in the spring of 1883. He served on the Commission until April, 1885. From the latter date he was for over a dozen years in practical retirement.

In November, 1899, he was elected Governor of Ohio by a large plurality of 49,000, and was re-elected in 1901. Governor Nash was married to Mrs. Deshler in 1882. His wife died in October, 1886. There was one daughter of this marriage but she died in childhood, in February, 1897. His two step-children now form his immediate family. Governor Nash is active in fraternal circles, being a member of the Masons, the Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and in both public and private life he commands the confidence and warmest regards of all his fellow-men. He has made one of the ablest and most efficient of the long line of distinguished Governors of Ohio.

General Lewis Newsom

was born October 28, 1785, in Lewisburgh, Greenbrier county, Virginia. His father's name was William Newsom, who died December 27, 1812, at the age of fifty-two years. His mother was Margaret (Speece) Newsom, who died Septem- ber 8, 1833, at the age of sixty-eight years. From 1803 to 1807, he served as an apprentice to the tanner's trade, in Lewisburgh, Va. On June 17, 1807, he loca- ted in Gallipolis, Ohio, and started on $500 capital, which he had borrowed from his master, James Withrow. He bought lots at the lower end of Second street, in Gallipolis and built a tannery. He married Gabrielle Menager on January 3, 1810. She was born June 9, 1792, the daughter of Claudius R. Menager and Mary Bobine, his wife. There is a picture of his wife's mother, Mary Bobine Menager in this work. She died June 30, 1868, and her father died January 17, 1835 and her mother died December 10, 1854, at the age of fifty-two. His children were: Junius Lewis, b. December 23, 1810, m. Eliza- beth M. Gibbs, July 3, 1833, d. April 2, 1886; Mary, b. June 29, 1813, m. Darius Maxon, March 10, 1831, d. May 1, 1886. She was the mother of Mrs. W. H. Nash, widow of Gen. William H. Nash; Rosina, b. December 1, 1815, m. Augus- tus LeClercq, November 3, 1831, d. December 18, 1876, in Jacksonville, Florida. She was the mother of Mrs. H. N. Ford, of Gallipolis; James Withrow, b. March 5, 1820, m. Margaret Johnson, November 12, 1844, d. August 6, 1852; Caroline, b. December 11, 1823, m. W. C. Miller, August 15, 1844, d. Februry 23, 1881;

GOVERNOR GEORGE K. NASH.

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Claudius Romaine, b. February 10, 1838, m. Augustus Hale, December 2, 1845, d. June 20, 1849.

Gen. Newsom lacked the advantages of an early education but he appre- ciated the opportunities about him more than most of his fellow citizens. He was closely identified with all enterprises for the good of the town of Gallipolis. He was one of the promoters of the Gallipolis Academy and a trustee from the time it was organized until his death. He occupied the office of Justice of the Peace many years. He was a man of most excellent judgment. Gen. Lafayette visited Gallipolis in 1825 and he was the principal one of the reception com- mittee and escorted Lafayette about the village of Gallipolis. He owes his title to the State Militia in which organization he took a great interest. He was noted for his abstinence from the use of tobacco and liquors in any form. In his political affiliations, he was first a whig and then a republican. In his religious views he was inclined to the doctrine of the Presbyterian church. While not a member, he attended its services every Sunday. He died March 17, 1876, in his eighty-sixth year, and his death at that advanced age was a great loss to the community in which he dwelt.

Colonel Robert Safford,

a son of Dr. Chellis Safford and Lydia Warner, his wife, of Harwich, Mass., was born July 7, 1768, at Harwich, Mass. He married Catharine Cameron of Gallipolis in 1793. They had four sons and three daughters: John, Jonas, Polly, Lydia, Robert, Nancy and Cliellis. In the spring of 1797, he rode horseback to Vermont and visited his mother, whom he had left twelve years before. In 1796 he was Justice of the Peace, and held that office until 1803. He was one of the first trustees of Gallipolis township. He was also one of the · first Associated Judges of the Court of Common Pleas of the county under the constitution of 1802, and as such in the absence of Judge Thompson, of Chil- licothe he pronounced the sentence of death on the first and only man ever hanged in the county, Jim Lane.

He was appointed Associate Judge of Gallia county on April 6, 1803, re- appointed for a second term on February 15, 1810; on February 18, 1816. he was re-appointed for another term. He was appointed to the fourth term, January 22, 1823. He was a member of the Ninth General Assembly, which met December 3, 1810, adjourned January 3, 1811, at Zanesville, Muskingum county, Ohio. He was in the State Senate representing Gallia and Meigs counties in the Twenty-First General Assembly, which sat from December 1, 1828 until February 12, 1829. He also represented the same counties in the Twenty- Ninth General Assembly, which sat from December 6, 1830 to March 14, 1831. He also sat in the Thirtieth General Assembly as Senator from the same coun- ties. He was a Colonel in the War of 1812. He was Recorder of Gallia county, Ohio. He surveyed the line of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.

It was related that when the party first landed at Gallipolis in October, 1790, to secure the grounds for the expected French, Col. Safford seized a toma- hawk and rushed up the bank and cut down a sapling, in order that in after years he might have the reputation and honor of having felled the first tree on the site of Gallipolis. He was a companion of Daniel Boone, and had a toma- hawk and axes presented to him by Boone. Daniel Boone at one time visited Gallia county and trapped two years on Raccoon creek with Col. Safford. He had two traps, a large one and a smaller one. The large trap, a wolf or bear trap, was called "Old Isaac," and was presented to Col. Safford, and is now in the possession of his descendants. Col. Robert Safford was, in form, an Apollo, in strength a Hercules. Firm without stubbornness, brave without boast, his deportment insured confidence and was a source of safety to all who trusted him. His step was light, lithe, and elastic; his stride lengthy; his powers of endurance were wonderful in their speed and almost incredible in their endur- ance. He died July 26, 1863, and was buried in the cemetery at Cemetery Church, about two miles on the Portsmouth Road from Gallipolis.

Thornton William Sargent

was born in Pike county, Ohio, March 19, 1806. His father was Eli Sargent. His mother was Elizabeth Wood, whose father was a native of Kentucky.

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Eli Sargent had four sons and four daughters: Lydia, married Conrad Newsom; Mary, married Jacob Sears; Harriet, married Jacob Sears, a cousin to the other Jacob Sears; Elizabeth, married Andrew Guinn; Henry Wood Sargent married Elizabeth Berry; Snowden, married Catharine Berry, and one son died in in- fancy. Eli Sargent built the first mill in Pike county, the remains of the dam of which can be seen to this day from the N. & W. trains in passing the bend of the Scioto river, near Gregg's Hill. The dam was made of stone. The mill was built prior to 1816, and was a heavy frame structure. The father, Eli Sargent, sold the mill to his son, Thornton, and the latter sold it to Newton Moore. After the sale of the mill to Moore, Thornton W. Sargent bought a farm four miles below Piketon.

He married Elizabeth Mustard, daughter of Samuel Mustard, in 1830. They had six children: Samuel Mustard, the eldest, became a physician in Cleveland, Ohio; Elizabeth Catharine, married George C. Rittenour, of Rich- monddale, Ross county, Ohio, September 1, 1857, where she now resides; Lydia Ann married James Sargent. Mary Jane died unmarried at the age of fifty- eight, Harriet E. is single and resides on the old homestead, Henry Wood Sar- gent died unmarried in 1893, at the age of fifty-one years.

Thornton W. Sargent was a farmer from 1836 until his death. His wife died October 9, 1867. He was a whig during the time of the Whig party, and af- terwards a republican. He died September 24, 1893. At that date, he owned about 2,250 acres of land, all in the Scioto Valley. He was very liberal to his family and to others. He was one of the public spirited citizens of Pike county, and a tower of strength in the community in which he lived. He subscribed five thousand dollars to the building of the Scioto Valley railroad, now the Norfolk & Western.

Dr. Antoine Francois Saugrain

was born in Paris. He was highly educated, active and courageous. He loved adventure and disregarded hardship. He made one trip to Spanish America prior to 1788. At the latter date he came to America, went from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, started down the river, and was captured by the Indians, but es- caped and reached where is now Louisville, Ky. He went up the Ohio river to Pittsburg on an open boat and thence rode to Philadelphia on horseback. He came back with the French Emigrants and landed at Gallipolis. He there married Mlle. Rosalie G. Michau, one of the party who came over with him in the same ship. He made barometers, aerometers and phosphorus lights. He only remained a short time at Gallipolis, and then went to Lexington, Ky .. where he resided six years. Then he went to St. Louis, Mo., where he remained the remainder of his life. Mrs. Elise Marie Kennerly was. his daughter.

Joseph Prentiss Shaw

was born in New York city, July 1, 1818. His father William Shaw was a na- tive of Massachusetts and his mother Eliza Dewolf of Novia Scotia. They were joined in marriage at Rye, New York, March 29, 1808. From this marriage there were seven children, Joseph P. being the third. His paternal grand- father Stephen Shaw was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. His mother's people were sea captains. Most of his boyhood was passed in New York city, but he was sent as a student to Mr. Fairchild's school in New Jersey. During the Civil War he was engaged in the Provost Marshal's office. He was always an ardent republican, always a Presbyterian and for many years an Elder in the First Presbyterian church of Ironton, Ohio. He came to Ohio when quite a young man and was engaged in a bank in Columbus, afterwards holding the same position in a Cleveland bank. He came to Ironton, Ohio, in 1850, where for many years he owned a drug store, afterwards holding the position of United States Cmmissioner.

He married Mary D. Perkins, at Marietta, in 1849. Of this marriage there was one son, Douglas, now living in Philadelphia. His wife died in 1853 at Marietta. He married Rebecca Hibbard at her home in New Hamp- shire in May, 1856. Of this marriage there were five children, four of whom are still living: Mary A., wife of J. C. Adair of Columbus, Ohio, and Nellie of the same place, Lila and Frank H. of Ironton, Ohio. He died peacefully

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at is home on the evening of May 14, 1900 after a short and sudden illness, at the age of eighty-one years, ten months and thirteen days. So ended a long, honorable, upright Chirstian life. He is buried at Woodlawn cemetery of Iron- ton, Ohio.

Abel Sherman

was a pioneer of Ohio. In 1794 with a party of adventurers, he had located near the mouth of Olive creek near Marietta. There were seven or eight men and boys in the garrison and they called it Fort Fry. Abel Sherman had with him his wife and two sons. Early in June, 1794, a party of three Indians visited the settlement for the purpose of depredation. One way of bringing the whites into their power was to take possession of their cows, which, during the sum- mer ranged in the woods and found an abundant supply of food from the pea- vine and buffalo clover. The Indians would secure the cows, knowing that their owners would come after them and then they would attempt to waylay them and kill or capture them without danger to themselves. One of the cows taken by this party of Indians belonged to Abel Sherman, then a stout man of nearly 60 years. Against the advice of the other seven of the garrison he de- termined to go alone and search for his cow.

With his gun on his shoulder lie went along the margin of the river about four miles above the neighboring garrison of Waterford thinking they might have fallen in company with the cattle of that settlement. When he reached Waterford he could learn nothing of them. It was now nearing the close of day and his friends urged him to stay all night, thinking it was more than prob- able that the Indians were watching the path and were the cause of the ab- sence of the cows. Sherman would not listen to this advice but insisted on go- ing home on that evening. He had approached within a quarter of a mile of his home when he found near the mouth of the run, since called Sherman's Run, a patch of ripe May apples. The sight of the fruit tempted him to stop and gather a quantity for the women and children. He had nearly filled the bo- som of his hunting shirt when rising up from his stooping posture he saw an Indian within a few steps of him. Instantly he seized his gun, which he had rested beside a tree, raised it to his shoulder, and fired at the Indian in nearly the same instant in which the Indian fired at him. Sherman fell dead with a bullet through his heart, while his own shot broke his adversary's arm near the shoulder. The report of the two discharges was distinctly heard at the lit- tle garrison, and his eldest son, Ezra, a man grown, and a fine woodsman in- stantly said that one of those shots was from his father's gun, a large musket. He at once seized his arms and rushed out in search of his father, although strongly opposed by the men in the garrison, who were aware of the danger. knowing that the Indians never ventured into the settlements alone. Fear- less of consequences, in a few minutes, Ezra was on the ground where his father fell and found him dead and his scalp taken off. The Indians had in- mediately fled, knowing or fearing that pursuit would be made from the gar- rison.

Some of the particulars of this story were ascertained after the treaty of Greenville, from an Indian who was in the party at the time and came in to trade with the whites. He said the Indians had determined not to fire on a single man, but to make him a prisoner, or else to wait until more than one came out after their cows, but their discovery by Sherman and his prompt ac- tion led them to kill him in their own defense. The next day a party of men from the fort at Waterford went up and buried Sherman where he fell. A tombstone was erected with a scalped head rudely carved on it, and that marks the spot where he fell.

Abel Sherman's daughter, Phebe married John Jeffords. He had a son, Ezra Jeffords who married Elizabeth Van Bibber. His daughter Sarah Jane Jeffords married Stout Barklow of Portsmouth.

Charles William Simmons

was born January 18, 1811, in Virginia. and was the third child and only son of John Simmons of Virginia, Captain of Virginia Volunteers in the war of 1812, wounded under General Jackson at New Orleans, and who died at Guyan- dotte, Virginia, enroute home. His wife, Sarah McCoy, who was born in Ire-

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land and came to Virginia when seventeen, brought her three children to meet her husband at Guyandotte. After his death and burial there she traded her Virginia possessions for three or four hundred acres of Ohio river bottom land above South Point in Lawrence county afterward known as the Judge Ben Johnson farm, and settled there near three brothers she had not seen since they separated in Ireland. She died at the homestead at the age of eighty-four, in August, 1863, while her grandson, John, was absent in the army, and sleeps alongside of her only boy "Charley," as Mr. Simmons was called by every- body, but his wife and mother. He spent most of his early manhood on the river, making many trips to New Orleans.

At the age of twenty-six he married Phoebe Shattuck, sixteen, who mothered his fourteen children of whom five boys and two girls are still living, John being the eldest. At the age of eighty-two, she is a well preserved, well informed and beautiful old grandmother. She makes her home with her young- est child, Alice, the wife of Honorable Robert M. Switzer, of Gallipolis, Ohio. She was the daughter of Simeon Shattuck born at Windhamn, Vermont, in 1788. who was the son of Nathaniel Shattuck and Mary Burns, who were married while residents of Massachusetts but began their married life at Windham. Her mother's maiden name was Martha (Patsy) Hull also born at Windham, Conn., September 25, 1788, the third daughter and tenth child of John and Mar- tha Hull, who were relatives of General and Commodore Hull.

Simeon Shattuck and Martha Hull were married at Windham, Conn., where four children were born. Having to sacrifice his farm to pay a debt incurred by indorsing a friend, he brought his family to Ohio. Phoebe, the wife of Charles W. Simmons was the first Ohio child born to thein, March 26, 1820, at the Forks of Indian Guyan in Lawrence county, just above what is now the village of Scott Town.

Charles W. Simmons, when not satisfactorily and popularly filling the office of Sheriff, or Treasurer of his county, was township Trustee or Treasurer, and always a school director, and for many years kept the postoffice at his house, which his son Jack named "Willow Wood." It was a neighborhood convenience, and gave his house full of children the advantage of endless reading matter sent to the office as samples in pursuit of subscribers. There were no emoluments attached to this small office, but he was a cherished and trusted neighborhood father, and the people came to him not only for advice about business and trading and sowing and reaping, but the helpless for em- ployment or charity, the ignorant to learn how to vote, and the mothers to know what to name their children, when the vocabulary of names had out- run their biblical list as was not infrequently the case on Symmes' creek in those strenuous days. Mr. Simmons died October 14, 1874, of paralysis, at the homestead, and was buried in the quaint old graveyard near Marion.

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A history of Scioto County, Ohio, together with a pioneer record, Part 178

Author: Evans, Nelson W. (Nelson Wiley), 1842-1913 Publication date: 1903 Publisher: Portsmouth, O. N. W. Evans Number of Pages: 1612

Author: Evans, Nelson W. (Nelson Wiley), 1842-1913
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Portsmouth, O. N. W. Evans
Number of Pages: 1612