A history of Scioto County, Ohio, together with a pioneer record, Part 60

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 60

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September 19,-John McDowell was married at Chillicothe, to Mary W. Jefferson, by Rev. James Quinn.

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November 23,-James Hammitt, husband of the late Margaret Dole, commenced the business of silversmithing and tinning.

November 16,-James McCoy was married to Judith Morton, by Rev. Dan Young.

November 19,-Mrs. Rachel Kendall, wife of General William Kendall and mother of Jefferson Kendall, died at Portsmouth, aged 32 years.

November 30,-Wilson Gates married to Elizabeth Kinney, by Rev. Ste- phen Lindsley.

December 14,-Washington Kinney was married to Mary Waller, by Rev. Stephen Lindsley.

1821.

January 10,-Harriet Stratton, aunt of Chas. Smith, died aged 18 years.

February 1,-Jacob Clingman was married to Susannah Frontair, at Piketon, by Rev. Eskridge Hall.

February 22,-Marcus Bosworth was married to Sarah Dole, by Rev. Stephen Lindsley.

February 18,-Edward Cranston was married to Nabby Cole, by Philip Moore, Esq.

March 4,-A flat boat loaded with missionaries for the Choctaw Nation arrived, among whom were the father and mother of Rev. Augustus Bridwell, who in the year 1842, became the Presbyterian preacher at Pine Grove Furnace. On the following morning, I found a pen knife and the river being high, Sandy dugouts came with the flood, and in my travels along the bank I espied Dennison Shaw in a small dugout. I proposed to give him my knife for the dugout, which he accepted. We both got into it and made our way up the river, to the front of our house, Pig Iron Corner, where we landed at the head of a log raft, above a flat boat. I stepped out on a log and it turned. I went into the river and Robert Montgomery, who was a fisherman, was coming along with his canoe. He grabbed me and gave both Shaw and myself a few spanks in the rear, and pushed my dugout into the stream, thus putting my boating career to an end, with the loss of pen knife and dugout.

April 11,-G. S. B. Hempstead married to Elizabeth Peebles, by Rev. Stephen Lindsley.

"Why man, she is my own,

And I as rich, in having such a jewel, As twenty seas, if all their sands were pearls, The water nectar, and the rocks pure gold."

May 27,-A sermon preached by Dan Young, at the house of Thomas B. King, of Kentucky, on the death of Benjamin Mead, of Virginia, who died April 19, 1821. Father of Armstead Mead of Greenup County, Kentucky. June 9,-Heavy rain. Turkey Creek higher than ever known before, was fifteen feet in less than two hours, overflowing all the farms, destroying three mills belonging to John West and the dwelling house of Thomas Nichols. June 27,-Jack Lancaster was married to Anna Copes at the house of John H. Thornton, by John Smith, Esquire.

June 30,-Hon. Jasper N. Clough, uncle of Mrs. Rev. E. Burr, D. D., died at Chillicothe, Ohio. He was one of the Judges of the Supreme Court, in the forty-second or forty-third year of his age.

July 27,-John S. Smith, father of Charles S., P. N., and Joseph W. Smith, died, aged forty-one years. He was buried by Aurora Lodge, No. 48.

August 10,-Ezekiel, son of Elijah Glover died, aged seventeen years. On the same evening, at her residence, two miles from town, Mrs. Elizabeth Funk, wife of Martin Funk and grandmother of Martin F. Timmonds.

1824.

July 22,-At the yard of Kendall and Herod, the steamboat "Herald," was launched, afterward named "Ohio," built under the directions of Captain Stephen Butler ..

July 24,-Benjamin Wood, father of James L. Wood, died aged fifty-six years.

August 13,-Preparations being made for the reception of General La Fayette.

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THE CITY OF PORTSMOUTH.

December 24,-The Steamboat "Belvidere" was launched at the yard of Kendall and Herod built under the direction of Captain Rogers, and owned by Lodwick & Company.

December 30,-Azel Glover was married to Elizabeth Deering, at the house of George Offnere, by Squire Gunn.

1825.

February 1,-Hannibal G. Hamlin was married to Mary Whitney, daughter of Ruloff Whitney, by William Oldfield, Esquire.

February 27,-The first Methodist Sabbath School was commenced in the Methodist Church, known as Wheeler's Academy on Fourth and Market.

March 1,-Samuel R. Nurse, of French Grant, was married to Phebe Burdick, of this place, by Reuben Wait, Esquire, of Washington Township.

March 25,-The steamboat "Belvidere" made her first trip. Made the trip from Louisville in two days, with ninety tons freight, seventy cabin and one hundred and five deck passengers. She had the largest number of ladies and gentlemen passengers which ever arrived here on a boat bound eastward. She was built at Kendall's Mills, near the mouth of Brush Creek, she was com- menced July and launched in December. She was built of clear locust timbers, and had an iron fastened cabin built at Cincinnati, by James and Eben Abbot.

May 8,-John McConnell was married to Sophia Oard, daughter of Joseph Oard, of Washington Township.

May 19,-General La Fayette arrived at Cincinnati, escorted by Governor Desha and a number of other citizens of Kentucky. On Friday 20th at 11 o'clock, a grand procession was formed and marched through the streets to the open plain in the rear of the town, where was erected a grand pavilion, decor- ated with flowers and evergreens. After the General was seated, and the crowd silenced, the "Marseilles Hymn" was sung, by Mr. Samuel M. Lee.

June 23,-The steamboat "Velocipede" sank on Buffalo Log, below the mouth of Scioto. No lives were lost in transferring the passengers to the shore. $1,000.00 which was in paper and silver, was thrown from the boat to the yawl, fell into the river, but was found afterwards by divers.

June 19,-Harriet Corwin, wife of Eben Corwin, died, aged thirty-three years and twenty-five days.

July 4,-The great work of the Ohio Canal was commenced, at the Licking Summit and the first shovel of clay was thrown by Governor De Witt Clinton, of New York, followed by Governor Morrow, of Ohio. Oration by Thomas Ewing. Two spades were handed by Judge Minor, the President of the Board and Commissioners, to Governors Clinton and Morrow, desiring them in the name of the Commissioners and the people of Ohio, to commence the work, which was done, and as soon as done, was received by a shout, that might be heard above the roar of the artillery.

July 5,-John Young was suspended for three years from the benefits and privileges of Masonry for unmasonic conduct. Aurora Lodge, Number 48. John D. Weaver, Secretary Pro tem.

September 12,-Sanders Darby died. aged fifty-nine years. 1826.

March 9,-John Hatch married to Emily W. Jones, by Rev. Dan Young. April 26,-Thomas Burt, of Greenupsburgh, Kentucky, was married to Cornelia Ann Buffington, by John Noel, Esquire.

March 14,-A boat load of pork and lard belonging to John McCoy, of Chillicothe, Ohio, was sunk in the Scioto river, at the cut off, being insured by the Travelers Insurance Co., of New York. J. and W. Peebles, Commission Merchants, were authorized to pay 75 cents for each barrel of pork and 50 cents for each keg of lard. A large proportion of the same was delivered to them. The balance drifted down the river and was lost or buried in the sand. Strange to tell, about fifty years afterwards, a barrel of this identical pork was found buried in the sand bar, some where near the mouth of the Scioto Mill Race, but the contents were not merchantable.

June 18,-Edward Hamilton, Attorney at Law, hung out his sign as an Attorney at Law. Office two doors west of C. McCoy's Hotel.

July 4,-Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died within a few hours of each other. Mr. Adams aged ninety-one years.

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August 15,-Robert, a son of John Noel, was drowned in the Scioto river, a little above Gharky's Ferry, aged nine years.

August 28,-A man by the name of John Smith, stopped at our Hotel, and brought with him a horse. He was sick when he came, grew worse and died September 4, and was buried September 5. Aged thirty-five years. He came from Louisville. His horse was kept by us until its keeping and the expenses of his sickness amounted to the value of the horse, which was kept by my brother William. After keeping it for some time, he sold it to Henry Massie, for $100.00, The amount being one of the payments on lot No. 48, of said Massie.

October 19,-Advertisement of Moses Gregory, Sheriff, calling the people as collector to pay their taxes. The taxes were then collected by the Sheriff, there being no Treasurer.

December 2,-The steamboat "Merchant" arrived here, having in tow, an elegant and commodious barge, fitted up as a safety barge, with a cabin the entire length of the barge, and to accomodate one hundred passengers. It was made as an experiment, and commanded by Captain Robert Wallace, father-in- law of John Shillito of Cincinnati, Ohio. It was found that it was inexpedient and difficult to manage in storms and landings, and was abandoned the first trip down.

During the year 1826, Hall & Thomas and S. Nixon & Co., opened stores in Portsmouth, Ohio. The former in Allen Morris' old store house, Damarin's upper store room, and Nixon's in George Clark's store house, corner of Market and Front, where the Biggs House now stands.

July 4, 1827-Had a public dinner, under the Old Elm Tree, furnished by William Peebles. Declaration read by Edward Hamilton and address by Charles Oscar Tracy. in the Presbyterian Church.

March 28, 1829-J. V. Robinson opened his first store in the house for- merly occupied by J. P. Noel near corner of Jefferson and Front.

April 4, 1829-David Scott commenced the cabinet business on the lot now owned and occupied by T. M. Lynn as a livery stable.

December 6, 1848-The steamboat "Relief", Captain William F. Davidson, left here for Tomlinson's dam, four miles below Chillicothe, with sixty tons freight and several passengers. She left here at one o'clock P. M. The princi- pal part of the freight was for Messrs. J. R. and C. Brown.

PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS OF THE LATE JOHN G. PEEBLES, WRITTEN BY HIMSELF.

In order that the life and history of the Peebles family of Portsmouth, Ohio, as to their origin and past history, may be better understoood, I have thought proper and it may prove advantageous to give an account of their rise and progress to the present, and in giving an account of this family from my earliest recollections of each and every member of same, in order to give char- acter to same, I may deviate from a close and connected account of the ages, connections and daily lives of each, and connect with it a more particular ac- count of their history after their arrival at Chillicothe, Ohio, together with such memorandums of various births, marriages and deaths, and also of many notices of important matters which occurred during the time which probably may be forgotten by some. and unknown by many of those who are now living here. Having a fond recollection of the past, and having in my possession doc- umentary evidence of what I shall relate and not relying on my own memory exclusively for dates, facts, etc., I will try to give such an account as ought to be considered valuable without egotistical embellishments,

Commencing with the history of my parents and their offspring .- My father, John Peebles, son of William and Elizabeth Peebles, was born in Cum- berland County, Pennsylvania. November 20, 1769. My mother, Margaret Rod- gers, daughter of Richard and Rachel Rodgers, was born in the same County, May 13, 1777. They were married in said County, by the Rev. Doctor Cooper, November 17, 1795. William Peebles, my grandfather, was wounded in the battle of Long Island or Flat Bush and died of the wound September 5, 1776. The increase of my father's family was as follows: William Peebles was born in Shippensburg, Cumberland County, Pa., on November 16, 1796. Rachel Rodgers Peebles, born same place July 18, 1798. Betsy Peebles, born same

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THE CITY OF PORTSMOUTH.

place, September 1, 1800. Fanny Denny Peebles, born same place, July 3, 1803 and died November 11, 1804, aged 11 months, 48 days, was buried in Middle- spring Cemetery, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. Jane Frisby Peebles, born same place, February 23, 1806. During the month of May, 1807, my father with his family started from Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, for what was called the far west (Ohio) and came as far as Brownsville, Pennsylvania, in wagons, (bringing with him his sister Jane McCracken.) where he purchased a small flat boat and put all his household goods and family in it and came as far as Pittsburg. Some of the family were sick, so he remained there until they were in a situation to travel. During his stay there, he became acquainted with a man by the name of Andrews, (father of the late Hon. Watt An- drews). A merchant from Mt. Sterling, Kentucky, who had his goods in a flat boat, and my father lashed his boat to Mr. Andrew's boat, and they came to Portsmouth, Ohio, in the forepart of June, 1807, where my father stopped and put his household goods and family in wagons and started for Chillicothe, Ohio, arriving there after three days hard travel.

My father was a cabinet maker by trade and he practised his trade for five years. While here, he bought land now occupied as a cemetery near Paint Creek. Here he built a distillery, which was not a success and later burned down. At this place my brother Richard Rodgers Peebles was born January 10, 1810. After this loss of the distillery, he removed to town and lived in a house on Paint street, across the alley from what was then known as the Fitch tavern, now Valley House. In this house my sister, Margaret Rodgers Peebles was born November 10, 1811. Not being satisfied, but of a restless disposition, he bought a small farm some five or six miles from Chil- licothe, Ohio, on Lick Run, which was heavily timbered, it had a large quan- tity of walnut and cherry timber on it together with an uncertain supply of water in the creek. He built a saw mill and started off to manufacture furni- ture largely. Not being very successful in this business he concluded to build another distillery, which was not successful and burned down.

Miss Jane McCracken, who came with my father from Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, was not long in Chillicothe, before she married Mr. John Mc- Coy, a prominent merchant. Three of their children: Mrs. Dr. Foulke, Mrs. Dr. Waddle and Judge Samuel F. McCoy are still in Chillicothe and William McCoy and John L. McCoy are in Independence, Missouri.

At this place, I was born November 30, 1813. We did not live long on the farm and my father traded it to Daniel W. Hearn for the house situated on Second street and adjoining (east) the house now owned and occupied by Dr. William Waddle. In this house, my brother, Joseph Scott Peebles was born June 19, 1817. After living in this house for three or four years, he sold it to William Creighton, Sr., and moved into a house on said Second street, east of Paint street, about opposite to the old Bank and Masonic Lodge house, where he lived until he became restless again.

With the persuasion of Doctor McDowell, father of John McDowell, and a man by the name of Haines, who had considerable property in the town of Mount Carmel, Illinois, he was persuaded to pack his household goods to go to Mount Carmel. My mother was not favorably disposed towards the expedi- tion but concluded to leave Chillicothe and go to some place where there would not be so many attractive speculations offered. The Scioto river was then navigable for keel boats with a moderate stage of water. It was decided to put the household goods in a keel boat which was owned by a man by the name of Pangburn and piloted or steered by Caleb Armitage of Scioto Coun- ty, Ohio.

On Friday morning, April 2, 1819, we left Chillicothe, Ohio, in the keel- boat. Miss Jane Douglas, sister of William H. Douglas, a prominent mer- chant, came with us to Portsmouth. It was understood by my mother, that, if she were pleased with Portsmouth, they would go no farther. Mr. Francis Campbell and James Culbertson accompanied us as far as Kilgour's Mill. The river was high and the boat went rapidly along. We stopped in the evening at Piketon, laid all night, and were visited by Mr. and Mrs. Fitch who were then living there. They brought a good warm supper to the boat for us. We started early the next morning and made a speedy run, being the first boat that ever passed through the "cut-off", and in passing through it, the steering

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oar struck a snag, which threw Mr. Armitage overboard; but he was soon on board again and at his position.

We landed at Gharky's lower ferry landing about three o'clock, Satur- day afternoon. Shortly after our arrival, we all went up into town to a hotel on the corner of Front and Massie streets, kept by Henry Core. We had not been there long until my father had made an arrangement with Mr. Core to take the hotel on Monday morning. The house was a brick structure, two stories high, with two rooms below and two above, and had a good sized one and one half story house in the rear. The lower story was used as a dining room and kitchen and the upper part was used as a sleeping department. It was occupied by our family until Monday morning.

During the Sabbath, we children stayed in that department all day; and the time was spent principally in learning and saying the Shorter Catechism. Father and mother attended Presbyterian Church in the Court House which was located in the middle of Market street about half way between Front and Back street (now Second street). My father having determined to stay here, presented his and mother's letters to the church. Stephen Lindsley was the pastor. On the next Sabbath, we children attended a Sabbath School which was kept in the middle room of a house owned and occupied by Samuel Gunn. The teachers were Samuel Gunn, James Abbott, Dr. Hersey and Dr. Thos. Waller. Elijah Glover was keeping a Hotel on the same street, a short dis- tance below ours. William Byers was a baker and we obtained our first sup- ply of bread from him.

Our schoolmaster was David Knight Cady, and he kept. his school for a short time in one of the rooms of the Gunn mansion and removed later to a small frame house on the lot above where C. McCoy afterwards built a brick house which he turned into a hotel. This school kept

was in this house about one year, when he moved into what was called Wheeler's Acad- emy, situated on Thornton's out lot on the extension of Market street. He kept there but a short time and quit keeping school. As there are some still living who went to school in that house under the tutorship of Mr. Cady, and others who will often hear the name of Wheeler's Academy mentioned, I will give a short description of the building taken from an advertisement in the Portsmouth Gazette, August 19, 1820, which says that "the house is as well lighted and well calculated and finished for the convenience of scholars as any where, and large enough to accommodate 150 scholars at a time. It is hand -- somely situated on Market street, about thirty perches north of the Court House" (which then stood in the middle of Market street, half way between Front and Second street) "adjoining the open fields, embracing the free cir- culation of air, and retired from the noise and temptations incident to a town, calculated to draw the attention of scholars from their studies; and free also from the dangers to which small scholars are exposed from being near the water of the Ohio river during the intermissions of school."

My father had business capacity but lacked in judgment and skill in selecting and managing outside investments. He was easily led into outside speculations which generally proved unsuccessful, but being of a mechanical turn he delighted in manufacturing enterprises and before he left Chillicothe, he bought from Isaac Cook, the machinery of a nail factory, which had not proved to be a success in Chillicothe, but which he thought could be successful- ly operated in Portsmouth. He brought with him a man by the name of Thomas Tipton, to operate it. The iron to make the nails had to come from Pittsburg.

The process of making nails then was all done by man power. The pro- duct was small and the expense of making them was large, compared with what it is now. The stock used to make them was Juniata Hoop Iron, the width of same was such, that when cut into nail shape it would make the various sizes from 3's to 10's. The Hoop Iron had to be heated and then pushed through a shear worked by hand and reversed so as to make head and point. They did not turn the plate as the feeders do now, but moved the hand that held the Hoop Iron just enough to make the bevel of the nail, hav- ing a guide on each side so as to make the bevel and side alike. This was a slow process. The worst operation was to head them which was done in a spring vise operated by the tramp of the foot. The nail was held in the

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fingers of the nailer and dropped into the vise, having enough outside to make the head and the heading was done by a lick of hammer in the hands of a nail- er. It was a drop, a move of the foot and a blow of the hammer, that made. a nail; and from this process, the phrase of "hit the nail on the head" originated. The work of a man and machine was about 25 pounds a day and the price of them ranged from 50 to 75 cents per pound. This manufactory was started in a small house that stood just above where the old James Lodwick building stands, but the manufactory did not last long as it was not profitable. This was the first and the last nail factory of that kind in the Ohio Valley.

Portsmouth being the point where all the merchandise sold in the Scioto Valley as far as Columbus was landed, to be hauled or boated up to Chillicothe, Circleville and Columbus, my father was induced to open a commission house for storage, which business was more remunerative than any of his previous operations. There being at that time no warehouses for the storage of goods, we had to use stables and vacant houses for that purpose.

In the spring of 1819, I saw a steamboat, for the first time. The name of it was "Basil Wells," named after a prominent man who lived in Steubenville, Ohio. The boat did not land or come to shore, but anchored out in the stream opposite the Elm Tree. The Captain was afraid of the natives. He came to our Hotel and was received so kindly that he invited our family to come on board and see the boat. None of them had ever seen a steamboat. My father engaged Mr. Gharky to bring his ferry flat around. The mouth of the Scioto

was then at Alexandria, and the flat had to come around and go up to the boat. I was small and my feet had an unusual amount of dirt on them, so that the colored Steward, as soon as I set my feet on the boat, picked me up and set me back in the flat. I was deprived of seeing that boat.

We remained in the Core house until the fall of 1820, when we moved into a large frame house which was built during that year and owned by Elijah Glover. This house was situated on the corner of Front and First West Street (now Jefferson), in which house my sister Betsy, was married on the 11th day of April, 1821, to Dr. G. S. B. Hempstead. Margaret Jane

Hempstead (now Gaylord), was born in this house, January 22, 1822 and my sister Margaret Rodgers Peebles died in this house, September 27, 1822, and was buried in the graveyard, then situated where the Burgess Iron and Steel Works was afterwards located. Dr. Hempstead was absent from home at the time of the birth of his daughter, attending a course of lectures, at Cincinnati, Ohio, and shorty after his return, he moved into a one-story house on Back street (now Second street) owned by Jacob Clingman. The same house was afterward occupied by Mrs. Wertz. He removed in the spring of 1823, to the Daily House on Front Street, now occupied by Mr. Eberhardt, where on June 18, 1823, Samuel B. Hempstead was born.

On the next day, 19th, the steamboat "Scioto," which was built by Wil- liam Lodwick and others, superintended by Captain Stephen Butler, made a trial trip to Greenupsburgh, Kentucky, loaded with castings from the Old Steam Furnace, (Shreve &Co.) for Cincinnati, Ohio. My father took my broth- er Richard and myself along on that trip. On the return of the boat to this place, David K. Cady, and wife moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. Mr. Cady was clerk of the boat. My sisters, Rachel and Jane went on the boat to visit Mr. and Mrs .. William Barr and John F. Keys.

In the early part of 1822, Melanchthon Rodgers, a sharp, keen Yankee, came out from Vermont, and was employed as a school teacher, boarding at our house. The younger children: Richard, Margaret, myself and Joseph went to his school. He was our teacher for two or three years, during which time he studied Medicine with Doctor Hempstead, attended a course of Lectures at Cincinnati, and afterwards removed to Cincinnati and became one of the most skillful and prominent dentists.

In the spring of 1823, we moved from the Glover House up to the Pres- cott house on Front street, which was situated on the alley below First East street (now Court), and in front of the "old elm tree". This Hotel had pre- viously been kept by Nathan Head, "Sign of the Golden Ball". Soon after we moved into the Prescott House in the spring of 1823, James Hamlin, a brother- in-law of Alexander Caldwell, who lived in the east end of the house, (this same house is now owned and the residence of H. Vincent on Sixth street),

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A history of Scioto County, Ohio, together with a pioneer record, Part 60

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