A history of Scioto County, Ohio, together with a pioneer record, Part 9

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 9

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He had a handsome daughter, whom everybody admired. Her name was Cynthia and she married Captain Moses Fuqua, of Vir- ginia. She was born of his first wife as were his sons, Thomas and John. His daughter Polly, married William Roby; Nancy married William Young; and Amelia married Philip Moore. There was a son Enos. All these were of his first marriage.

The second wife was Jane Lampson. Her children were Eliza- beth, married Nehemiah Beardsley: Joseph, William, David and Su- san, married to William Nottingham. All of these are deceased, but David, who lives at Blue Creek, Ohio. John Collins was an old fash- ioned Democrat, without variableness or shadow of turning. There was nothing piebald about his politics. He always went to every election and voted his party ticket and he always took an active part in every political canvas. He lived to vote for Andrew Jack- son in 1832 and died that same year. While a strict partisan in poli- tics he had his friends in the other party. He took a great fancy to young Sam Tracy when he came to Portsmouth. Collins was the moving spirit in having him appointed Prosecuting Attorney by the Court and declared that, so long as he sat on the bench, Sam should have the office. He kept his word. Collins was a large fine looking man and of a positive and peremptory turn, but he soon learned that an Associate Judge had no duty but to concur with the Presiding Judge, and he followed that out. Once in the early part of his career on the bench, the presiding Judge was absent, and on that occasion Collins was the ruling spirit. A party was tried and con- victed of hog stealing. Collins pronounced the judgment of the Court and the criminal was ordered to be bound hand and foot, placed

HISTORY OF SCIOTO COUNTY.

in a canoe and set adrift in the Ohio River. The sentence was car- ried out. Judge Collins was a strict Methodist for forty years and then left that Church and went to the New Lights, in which faith he died. He was buried in the Carey's Run cemetery and his grave is unmarked. His character and course of life was remarkably fitted to the time in which he lived.

Samuel Reed.

His father came to America from Ireland about the year 1763, and settled in New Jersey. He was married to Rebecca Minor about the year 1772. They had one only child named Samuel, our subject. Samuel, the father, died a short time after the birth of his son, and the widow married Robert Taylor. Taylor and his wife raised a large family. Our subject was born April 2nd, 1773. At the age of twenty-three he married Elizabeth Burr, of Baltimore, January 26th, 1797. They had one child, Anna. His wife, Elizabeth Burr-Reed, died soon after the birth of her child. Samuel Reed moved to Vir- ginia, where he met and married Rebecca Lucas, on November 5th, 1799, at Shepherdstown. They came to Ohio in 1803, and settled first in Scioto County, but afterwards moved to Pike county. He was a carpenter by trade, but in Ohio never followed it. He was a farmer. He had ten children by his second wife-of these, five lived to maturity and married ; one of the sons was William Reed, the father of Samuel Reed, the Banker, of Portsmouth, Ohio. Our subject stood very high in his neighborhood as a citizen and business man. He was in 1804 appointed Associate Judge of Scioto County, vice Thomas Sweeny, resigned. He was elected the same fall and served till 1810. was Associate Judge of Pike County from January 28th, 1817, to Aug- ust 27th, 1835, and again from June 28th, 1842, until February 28th, 1849. Rebecca Lucas-Reed died, and he married Mary Hicks, November 11th, 1821. He was seventy-eight years old when he married Susanna Jones, March 30th, 1851: Judge Reed was a very strong temperance man. It was the custom, when he went to Pike- ton to furnish whiskey to the men helping to harvest the grain. Judge Reed said he would not give whiskey to the men. His neighbors said he could get no men to work for him if he did not. He said he would let the grain rot in the field before he would give them whiskey. So all his neighbors who were temperance men came to his rescue and har- vested his grain for him, and thus the custom of furnishing whiskey was broken up in that vicinity. He was a strong Presbyterian. He built the Presbyterian Church in Piketon. He died in 1852 and is buried in the old cemetery at Piketon.

Charles T. Mastin

was born in Virginia, in 1772. He came to Scioto County as early as 1806 and located the John Thomas farm, now in Valley Township. He was a Justice of the Peace in Wayne Township in 1809. He was

JUDGE SAMUEL REED.

BIOGRAPHIES OF JUDGES.

made an Associate Judge, in 1810, and served seven years. He was a good citizen, and was respected by his neighbors. In 1813, he was a Trustee of Wayne Township. He died on the 30th of November, 1842, leaving a large family, all of whom have left Scioto County and none of whom could be communicated with in regard to him. Mr. Mastin was an extensive dealer in real estate and towns lots, as the early records disclose.

Samuel Crull

was born July 23rd, 1781, near Morgantown, Virginia. His fath- er, David Crull, came from Heidelberg, Germany, at the age of ten years. in 1763. He married Nancy Bennett in Virginia, about 1787. The whole Crull family came to Ohio in 1805. They came on a raft and landed at the mouth of the Little Scioto. The children of David Crull were: William, Samuel, our subject, Jemima, David, Charles, Henry, Susan and John. All came to Scioto County with their father David. Afterwards Charles, Jemima, Henry and Susan mar- ried and went West. The others remained in Scioto County. The original form of the name in Germany was Kroll. Our subject was married October 14th, 1802, to Jane Howell in Virginia. When, they came to Ohio, they had but one child, William, afterwards Doctor William Crull. Eight children were born to them, but four sons and three daughters reached maturity. Their names were John, Julia. Samuel, Harriet, David, Martha and Jane. David was the father of Mrs. Emma J. Slattery. Charles Crull, brother of our subject, had visited Scioto County and spied out the land before the others came. Our subject purchased a large quantity of land in the vi- cinity of Harrisonville. He helped to locate the village and gave a lot and $50 for the Methodist Church there. When Judge Crull lo- cated near Harisonville, his nearest neighbor was his brother Charles at Harrisonville and his next nearest Isaac Bonser, at Dixon's Mills. He enlisted in the war of 1812 and got as far as Sandusky, when peace was declared. Judge Crull was a devoted and enthusiastic Methodist. He always entertained the visiting ministers and could not do too much for the church. In politics, he was a Whig. He was an active, industrious man. He built a saw mill on Long Run about three-fourths of a mile above Harrisonville. He also had burrs for grinding corn. It was run by water power and was the first mill in that part of the country. In 1827, Isaac Bonser, Democrat, and Sam- uel Crull, Whig, were candidates for the Legislature. Bonser received the certificate, but Crull contested and was awarded the seat. He was an Associate Judge of the County 1813 to 1827. 1830 to 1837. 18.48 to 1851, twenty-four years. He bought and gave each of his sons a farm. At his own home on his farm, he delighted in entertaining his friends and among those entertained there, were those great Whig apostles, Moses Gregory, John R. Turner and Colonel Oscar F.

HISTORY OF SCIOTO COUNTY.

Moore. He died October 3rd, 1854, aged 74 years, 2 months and ten days.

.William Givens.

Judge William Givens was born in Mason County, Kentucky, Sep- tember 18th, 1782. His father, who was a farmer, was killed by the Indians before William Givens was born. He was living in Ma- son County, Kentucky, and had been married but a short time, and had gone to housekeeping. One morning on leaving his cabin he was shot by an Indian. This was about the time that seventy-five Wyandot Indians crossed the Kentucky river at Boonesboro and marched North. Then ensued a fierce and sanguinary struggle for possession of the hunting grounds, in which many settlers lost their lives, and many others emigrated to Ohio. His mother, who was a sister of Judge David Mitchell, afterwards married John McBride, and there were three children of her second marriage. William Giv- ens subsequently moved to Scioto County, afterwards to Jackson County, and later, in 1826, returned to Nile Township, Scioto County, Ohio, where he purchased 301 acres out of the Graham, O'Bannon & Massie survey of 1550 acres, dated, June 20th, and July 3rd, 1795. 'T'his survey had a frontage of three and one-third miles on the Ohio river, the Givens tract of 301 acres lay near the upper part of the survey. By some fault or defect he was compelled to pay for this land the second time. The land purchased by him was covered with a (lense forest and he and his elder sons, William, David and John, cut off the timber to clear the land and sold the wood used in making pay- ments on the farm. At that time, 1827, the "Eliza" was a steamboat with "walking beams," that being the only class of boats on the Ohio at that time plying between Portsmouth and other points. Game of every description was plenty, bear, deer, wild turkey, squirrels, etc., while the wolves kept things lively in their well known manner. While in Jackson County, he was engaged largely in the manufacture of salt for several years, that point being the great center for the supply of this product to the settlers for many miles around.

William Givens served in the war of 1812, holding the posi- tion of First Sergeant in Captain Jared Strong's Company, Ohio Mil- itia of the First Odd Battalion, Second Brigade, Second Division, late in the service of the United States, commanded by Major Ben Daniels from the 29th of July, 1813, to the 19th of August, 1813, inclusive. Service performed was marching into the Indian country for the relief of Fort Meigs, then beseiged. William Givens was elected by the Ohio Legislature as Associate Judge of the Courts of Common Pleas for Jackson County, on February 25th, 1816, and again on January 22, 1823, for the same county, and afterwards for Scioto County in 1832. The Counties of Pike and Jackson constituted a Leg- islative District until the census of 1820 was taken. In 1818 Judge William Givens was elected a member of the House of Representatives

BIOGRAPHIES OF JUDGES.

from this district and served one year. On February 7th, 1814, an Act was passed by the Ohio Legislature in order to promote the dis- covery of salt and to encourage the manufacture of it at the Scioto Salt Works and to foster that industry. Salt was then worth from $4.00 to $6.00 per bushel of eighty pounds, and the larger part of it was brought across the Alleghany Mountains on the backs of pack horses. William Givens and six others had petitioned for assistance to dig, each, a well, they to bear the incidental expenses, and in re- turn to have exclusive use for five years. Under this Act, John Nel- son, who married Judge Givens' half sister, Miss Polly McBride, sank a well to the depth of 240 feet. John Wilson to the depth of 260 feet, and Henry Harman to the depth of 260 feet, but no stronger brine was discovered. An Act to make further experiments was passed February 15th, 1815, directing William Givens to sink a well 350 feet deep, and to be two and one-fourth inches in diameter at the bottom, for which he was to be paid $700.00, the water to be strong enough to make 50 pounds of salt for 250 gallons of brine, a stronger water than was obtained in Kanawha, in 1810. He found many diffi- culties, and on February 24th, 1816, an Act was passed extending his time to April Ist, 1816, to finish and tube his well. Mr. Givens exe- cuted his work faithfully and then added another one hundred feet to the depth at his own expense. At this depth of 450 feet the boring ceased, a stronger water was obtained, but it was small in quantity and did not rise to the top of the well. Force pumps for raising wa- ter were not then in use as they are now. No less than fifteen Acts were passed on the subject of the Ohio Salt Works. Givens' experi- ment demonstrated that a brine strong enough to compete with that of other salines could not be secured at Jackson, and the Ohio Legis- lature passed a resolution on January 3rd, 1818, favoring the sale of the Ohio Salt Reserve. The Givens salt well is still open. It is a few hundred feet above the Baler building in Jackson and the water stands the year round in the well pipe. His furnace stood on the knoll near by to the South, and its remains may be seen when- ever the ground is plowed. The small creek emptying into Salt Creek a few hundred feet below bears the name of Givens' Run, and thus his name survives in this historic spot. Salt at that time was meas- ured and not weighed. The manufacture was stopped on account of the scarcity of wood and the failure of the salt wells. Mr. Givens prospered at the Salt Works. He erected a two story log mansion. The house was built of logs but was better than the ordinary log house of the early days, in that it had two stories. The lower floor con- sisted of two rooms, while the upper story consisted of one large room, unceiled. This house was for years the finest residence in all Jackson County. It stood near the site of Fulton Furnace, and was the first seat of Justice. Under an Act of the Ohio Legislature, passed Jan- uary 12th, 1816, to erect the County of Jackson, Sec. 5 reads as fol-

HISTORY OF SCIOTO COUNTY.

lows: "That the Courts of said County of Jackson shall be holden at the house of William Givens, within the reserved Township, at the Scioto Salt Works, until the permanent seat of Justice for said county shall be established. This Act shall take effect and be in force from and after the Ist day of March, 1816." The first meeting of the County Commissioners was held at his house, as ordered by the Leg- islature, the record of which meeting is now lost. The first Court of Common Pleas was held at his house. The Court opened Monday, August 12th, 1816. The weather was very warm the first day, an ad- journment was had to the shade of a large white oak tree near by. When the grand jury was organized the court officers led it away some distance from the tree, where it held its meetings, the crowd be- ing kept out of hearing by the constables.

The Presiding Judge was the Hon. John Thompson, of Ross County. Judge Thompson was the guest of Hon. William Givens, whose residence was the seat of Justice. His associates were Hugh Poor, David Payne and William Givens. The house of William Giv- ens, where the Common Pleas Court was held during the year 1816, was situated just north of the Court House in the City of Jackson. William Givens, whose activity, energy and influence had been large- ly instrumental in securing the organization of Jackson County, was elected by the Ohio Legislature on February 24th, 1816, as one of the first three Associate Judges of Jackson County. Judge Givens was head and judge in his own house, like the Patriarchs of old. At this first court the entire male population of the County was said to have been present, viz., salt boilers, planters, hunters, trappers, hermits and squatters, silent men with coon-skin caps and clothes of deer skin. Judge William Givens was married July 13th, 1809, to Susanna An- derson, who only lived a short time, leaving no children. He was married the second time on October 24th, 1810, to Rachel Stockham, who was the sister of Mary Stockham, who married Judge David Mitchell, and Anna Stockham, who married John Bennett of Jackson, and Ruth Stockham, the wife of William Crull, and had brothers : Aaron, Joseph, John, Payne and William Stockham. These were all children of William Stockham, who was a native of Wales and emi- grated to the United States in 1777, and settled near or in Trenton. New Jersey, where he married Susannah Payne, and in 1798 came to Ohio with his family of ten children, and in 1803 he settled in Madi- son Township, Scioto County. He died at an advanced age in 1815, his wife dying in 1835. Rachel Stockham was born in Trenton, New Jersey, May 3rd, 1794, and married William Givens as above stated. Eleven children were born to them, viz., William, (see sketch) ; Dav- id, married Cynthia McCall; he died and his widow married David WV. Murphy (see sketch) ; John married Eliza Collier; Samuel and George died unmarried ; Allen F. (see sketch) ; James Harvey, mar- ried twice, first to Margaret Burriss, who died February 20th, 1871,

BIOGRAPHIES OF JUDGES.

and afterwards to Mrs. Elizabeth ( Royse) Teeters; Cynthia A. mar- ried John McDermott ; Jane and Mary died young; and Thomas J. married Elizabeth Leighton, who died leaving two children. He af- terwards married Emily Bennett, of Jackson, a daughter of John Ben- nett, and had one daughter. Judge Givens was always a Whig in politics until the dissolution of that party, and was always a Re- publican afterwards., He was a Methodist. He had a fine col- lection of books for his day. It was composed of the best standard works of reference in encyclopedias .and commentaries on Law and the Bible, the Bridgewater Treatises, historical and biographical works, etc., all of which bore the marks of having been well read, as well as well cared for. He was a great reader of current events, and took the same untiring interest in the welfare of matters of state, nation and country, township and neighboring welfare, that he had previous- ly shown in Jackson County. He died June 26th, 1863, at the home of his son, Allen F., in Nile township, from the infirmities of old age, aged 80 years, 9 months and 8 days. Rachel ( Stockham) Givens, his wife, died February 18th, 1865, while visiting at the home of her son, William, of an acute attack of heart disease, aged 70 years, 9 months and 15 days. The descendants of Judge Givens are now scat- tered over many states. His name was so intimately associated with the Salt Works and early history of Jackson County and the organi- zation of that County, that a sketch of one would be incomplete with- out the other. At this writing, March Ist, 1902, only one of his children is yet alive, viz., Allen F., (see his sketch). The writer of the foregoing (in his young manhood) knew the Judge and his good wife personally, knew their rare accomplishments, had the honor of their society, love and friendship, and was many times made welcome to their hearth and home. ,

Joseph Moore

was born February 13th, 1790, in Hampshire County, Va. In the same year his parents came down the Ohio River in a flat-boat and landed at Limestone, Ky. They located first in Mason County, Ky. Joseph Moore, the father of our subject was a local Methodist Min- ister. He took his family and located on Ohio Brush Creek in Adams County in 1797. In 1797, he organized a Methodist society there and in 1800, built Moore's Chapel. It was begun in the winter and finished in the spring. The first services there were in August, 1801. It is said to have been the first Methodist meeting house in Ohio. Today there stands on the site a frame church, successor to the original edi- fice. Joseph Moore, the father of our subject, was also a revolution- ary soldier from the State of New Jersey. His mother was Rebecca Foster, also from New Jersey. His father died in 1833. Joseph Moore saw and experienced all the pioneer hardships. He was fond of re- lating how, when a boy in Kentucky, he rode forty miles through the wilderness to mill. He rode the horses which pulled the logs

HISTORY OF SCIOTO COUNTY.

to erect the first Moore's Chapel. At the age of 15, he was placed as an apprentice with Job Denning, at Killenstown, Ohio, to learn the stone mason's trade, and he learned it well. He aided in the erection of Judge Denning's stone house at Killenstown, and helped to build a stone store house on the present site of the Hood Corner in West Union, Ohio. In 1814, he went to the vicinity of Rockville in Adams County and purchased the present Loughry Lands, of General Nathaniel Massie's heirs. There he built the stone house which is still standing midway between Rockville and Beuna Vista. He also built the stone house which formerly stood below Rockville on the lands of the Shale Company. He built the stone house near Upper Twin Creek, and one for Levi Moore, which stands near Hygean Run in Washington Township, Scioto County. He built the stack for the Brush Creek Furnace on Brush Creek in Adams County. In 1812, he was working for William Lawson in Scioto County, and married his daughter, Mary. He was out in the general call in the war of 1812, in Captain Wikoff's Company and received a pension on account of the same under the law of 1878. He was the pioneer in the stone business. He engaged in it at Rockville form 1814 to 1830, and got out much stone. He shipped it to Cincinnati on rafts made of logs from deadened timber. He made considerable money in the business and in 1830, invested it in a good farm above Upper Twin Creek in Scioto County, where he continued to live until his death. His father had twelve children and he had eleven of his first marriage. His first wife died July 24th, 1838, and on August 6th, 1839, he mar- ried Isabella Elliott. She died May 30th, 1848, and on February 15th, 1849, he married Sarah Chenowith. She died February 2nd, 1878.

He joined the Methodist Church in 1812, and was a faithful member during his entire life. He was also a true and loyal Demo- crat, and never wavered. His first Presidential vote was cast in 1814, for President Madison. He voted for Monroe both times he was elected, and for General Jackson in 1824, 1828 and 1832. He never voted any ticket but the Democrat, and he never used liquors or tobac- co. He never belonged to any secret society. He served the Demo- cratic party with great euthusiam. He was always ready to lead the forlorn hope for it, at any time. While he never sought office, if his name was needed to fill out the ticket, it was at the service of his party. He was as zealous a Methodist as ever lived. He was a class leader in the Methodist Church for over forty years. He held every office in the local church. He aided in building McKendree Chapel on Upper Twin Creek, and laid the stone foundation. He was elected an Associate Judge of Scioto County, February 11th, 1834, and served one term, seven years. He remembered the territorial legislature of 1799, and the admission of the State in 1802. He remembered well when the first lots were sold in Portsmouth. He called on Dr. Tho-

BIOGRAPHIES OF JUDGES.

mas Waller, first in 1800. He was a noble example of a firm and up- right life. He died Oct. 28th, 1884, in his 95th year.

Richard H. Tomlin.

The derivation of the name signifies judgment or power; but in this case, it happened to be a misnomer. He was born in 1803, and the locality of his birth was in New York. He came to Portsmouth in 1831. He married Eliza Butler, daughter of Samuel Butler, a tavern keeper, but there was no issue of the marriage. His first residence in Portsmouth, after his marriage, was the house where Mrs. George Wilhelm now resides on the southeast corner of Front and Chillicothe streets. He afterwards bought the whole square boun ded by Seventh and Eighth, and Washington and Court streets, and resided there at the time of his death.

In 1838, he advertised in the newspaper as being engaged in the business of selling whiskey and pork in Portsmouth, and for a con- siderable part of his time was a clerk in the commission house of G. J. Leet. He at one time kept a hotel on Pig Iron Corner. In his political faith, he was a Jacksonian Democrat, and seemed to be fond of political office. He was appointed as an Associate Judge of Scioto County by a Democratic majority in the legislature for seven years from February 16th, 1837. He succeeded Samuel Crull, and was succeeded by William Salter. He first occupied the bench in Portsmouth at the May term, 1837, and he last sat at the December term, 1843.

Tomlin was the first mayor of the city of Portsmouth. He commenced the duties of his office in March, 1837. In 1836, he was elected a member of the town council for three years. On May 4th, 1838, he was appointed a member of the committee on claims of council, and thus obtained his title to be one of the aristocrats at Portsmouth, they being persons who served on the committee of claims, or their descendants. On March 27th, 1837, was the first election of the town officers by the people, other than councilmen. At this election Mr. Tomlin was elected mayor of the town. On March 15th, 1844, he was re-elected mayor of the town over Oscar F. Moore, the Whig candidate. Rumor says that false defamatory cir- culars distributed just before the election to influence the voters against Mr. Moore resulted in the election of Tomlin. The town made a sorry choice, for on April 28th, 1845, council passed a resolu- tion that, owing to ill-health and deafness, the mayor was inefficient and that a mayor pro tem should be appointed. Owing to legal diffi- culties, that action was not consummated until February 20th, 1846, when George Johnson was appointed mayor pro tem on the ground that Tomlin was sick and incapacitated. At the next election March Ioth, 1846, George Johnson had 266 votes for mayor ; Isaac Kirby, 88; and Richard Tomlin, 1.

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A history of Scioto County, Ohio, together with a pioneer record, Part 9

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