USA > Ohio > Biographical and historical memoirs of the early pioneer settlers of Ohio, with narratives of incidents and occurrences in 1775 > Part 23
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JOSEPH GILMAN.
chairman of this committee, made large advances from his own private purse, at a very pressing period, for the pur- chase of blankets for the New Hampshire line, which was repaid in continental paper, and became a dead loss, en- tirely ruining his family estate. In proof of the intense feeling and ardor infused into the minds of the leading men of the period, and the deep interest they took in the welfare of the country, it is stated that at the period of the disas- trous events which followed the retreat of the American army from New Jersey, when it seemed as if the cause of liberty was hopeless, Samuel Adams had occasion to visit Mr. Gilman at Exeter, for consultation on the best course to pursue, and to devise ways and means to raise supplies for the starving and naked soldiers. It so happened that Mr. Gilman was abroad, and Mr. Adams was received by his wife. After a few minutes conversation, observing the ab- stracted manner and downcast looks of her guest, she ceased any further attempt to engage his attention, and applied herself quietly to her needle, an occupation then followed by females of the first families. Mr. Adams continued to walk rapidly up and down the room, too uneasy to sit qui- etly in a chair. After a few moments her attention was called to her visitor, by a deep sigh, amounting nearer to a groan. Casting her eyes on his face, the tears were rolling down his cheeks, and wringing his hands in agony, he ut- tered with a broken voice the deep thoughts within him, " O, my God, must we give it up!" How intense must have been the feeling of that great mind, when the physical man thus bowed beneath its sway. Happily for us, the friends of freedom were not long permitted to live in darkness, but the brilliant events which soon followed at Princeton and Trenton, revived their desponding spirits, and covered Washington and his few brave followers with a mantle of glory.
304
JOSEPH GILMAN.
When the Ohio Company was formed, Mr. Gilman be- came an associate, and moved his family, consisting of a wife and one son, B. Ives Gilman, to Marietta, in 1789. The country was then a wilderness, and those who entered it had to partake of the hardships, privations, and dangers which attend the forming of a new settlement several hun- dred miles beyond the borders of civilization. The journey . was performed in safety, and the family settled down in their new home, established on the lower Point, near Fort Har- mer, determined to be contented, and do their best for the good of the country.
In 1790 Mr. Gilman was commissioned judge of probate, in place of Gen. Putnam, resigned. He also received com- missions from Gov. St. Clair, as judge of the Court of Quar- ter Sessions, and also of the Court of Common Pleas, which posts he continued to fill during the territorial period. In 1796 he was appointed by Congress one of the United States judges for the Northwest Territory, and attended the sittings of this court at Post Vincent, Detroit, Cincinnati, and Marietta. The journeys to these remote points were made through the wilderness on horseback, attended with pack-horses to carry the baggage, in company with the other judges and lawyers, so that the ride through the woods, although tiresome and tedious, was not without many things to make it interesting. The trip to and from Cincinnati was usually made in a canoe or large pirogue, and occu- pied eight or ten days. They slept at night under a hut on the shore, and cooked their food in the woods, there being few cabins at convenient points, for a number of years after the war.
He was a man whom every body respected and esteemed, for his candor, honesty, good sense, and social qualities. As a jurist his reputation stood deservedly high. He was a careful student of the laws of nature, as well as those of
305
REBECCA GILMAN.
his country, and kept a meteorological journal, which for that day was rather rare. He died in 1806, aged seventy years.
Mrs. Gilman was Rebecca Ives, the daughter of Benjamin Ives and Elizabeth Hale. Her education was far superior to that of most females of her time, being chiefly acquired under the direction of her grandfather, the Hon. Robert Hale. By him her literary taste was highly cultivated, and a habit acquired for books and useful reading, that attended her late in life. She was familiar with the best British clas- sics of the days of Queens Ann and Elizabeth; could read French authors with facility and ease, and her acuteness was such in polite literature, that when any disputed point arose amongst the learned visitors and circles at her fire- side, she was often appealed to as umpire, and her decisions were usually decisive of the question, and seldom appealed from. This was often done by men of classical education, few of whom, in matters of history, pure English literature, poetry, or belles-lettres, excelled her in general knowledge, or critical acumen. Her early and youthful associates were generally men of superior minds and talents; amongst whom a'favorite one was Timothy Pickering, a resident of an adjacent town, and a frequent visitor in the family. These acquirements gave a tone and cast to her conversa- tion, very fascinating and engaging to such cultivated minds as came within the sphere of her influence, and her society was much sought, and highly valued by all her acquaint- ances. In person she was tall and commanding, with the most graceful and dignified manners: her countenance open, prepossessing, and intelligent. Children were much attached to her, as she was fond of giving them useful in- struction and advice, in such a pleasant and agreeable man- ner, as to win their attention, and impress it deeply on thei minds. One of the early citizens of Marietta, whose pa- rents lived the next door to her in 1796, says, that he
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B. I. GILMAN.
received, when a boy, more valuable advice from her, than he ever did from his own mother, and she was a woman of no ordinary capacity. In her domestic concerns she was a pat- tern to all good housewives, for industry, frugality, order, and promptness of execution; practices rather rare in lit- erary females. Her dress was always neat, but plain; indi- cating good taste, and purity of principle. After the death of her husband, she lived in her own house at Marietta, sur- rounded by her grandchildren, until 1812, when she moved with her son to Philadelphia, and died in the year 1820, full of peace, and joyful expectation of a blessed immortality.
BENJAMIN IVES GILMAN AND MRS. HANNAH GILMAN.
MR. GILMAN was born in Exeter, New Hampshire, in the year 1765. His early education was strictly attended to, and he had the advantages of the academy established in that place by Mr. Phillips. As his father was engaged in mercantile pursuits, he was brought up to the same employ- ment. When a small boy, he received the instruction and advice of a very intelligent and highly educated mother, who, having but one son on whom to bestow her care, his moral and intellectual culture were highly finished, and his whole after life showed the training of this early period. Richly was she rewarded for her labor of love, for no son ever more venerated and respected a mother than did Mr. Gilman. That "the boy is the father of the man," is an old, but very true axiom; and nothing is more certain than that the impressions, whether for good or evil, made on the mind
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B. I. GILMAN.
of youth, retain their hold during the remainder of life. Blessed is that son who has an educated, moral, and relig- ious mother: his happiness for time and eternity depends very much on the instruction received while he is more im- mediately under her care.
In 1789 he moved with his parents to Marietta. In 1790 he returned to New England, and married Hannah Robbins, the second daughter of the Rev. Chandler Robbins, D. D., pastor of the first church in Plymouth, Mass., the cere- mony being performed by her father. Soon after, in com- pany with his young bride, they returned across the moun- tains on horseback. At that early period, it was a se- rious and laborious journey, occupying from twenty-five to thirty days. The roads were very poor over the Alleghe- nies, and the accommodations for travelers scanty and coarse. From Red Stone, or Pittsburg, the passage was usually by water, in a flat, or Kentucky boat.
About the year 1792 he commenced the sale of merchan- dise, in a store at Fort Harmer. From small beginnings his business was gradually enlarged to the most extensive in Marietta.
During the war Mr. Gilman several times narrowly escaped the rifle and tomahawk of the Indians. About eighty rods from the fort, he had commenced a new clearing for agricul- tural purposes. One day, in the spring of the year 1794, he was out in this lot at work with a hired man named Robert Warth. Robert had just cut off a log for rail timber, and was still standing on it, with the axe resting at his feet, when he spoke to Mr. Gilman, who was thirty or forty yards distant, but more out of sight, inquiring further about the work. Before he had time to answer, the sharp crack of a rifle caused him to turn quickly in the direction of the shot, when he saw poor Robert falling dead from the log, and two In- dians in the act of jumping over a brush fence, close by,
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B. I. GILMAN.
where they had lain concealed. Being unarmed, he in- stantly ran for the fort, with one of the Indians in close chase, while the other was occupied in taking the scalp of Robert. An intervening fence gave his pursuer some hope of overtaking him, but he cleared it at a single leap. The Indian now stopped and fired at his flying foe, but happily missed his mark. The field was so near the block-house where he resided, that his wife and mother both heard the shots and the yell of the savages. Knowing the exposure of Mr. Gilman, they hastened to the window of the house to ascertain his situation, and as he came running up, eagerly inquired who was killed. The young wife of the backwoodsman was standing by the side of Mrs. Gilman, as he answered, "Robert," and thus suddenly heard the fall of her husband. The Indians were instantly pursued and fired at by the rangers, as they ascended the side of the hill which overlooks the alluvions on which the fort stood, but they escaped, although it was thought one of them was wounded.
In traversing the woods for strayed cattle, and in looking at the quality and boundaries of adjacent lands which he wished to purchase, he had many narrow escapes, but would never send a man where he was afraid to venture himself. In walking and running, few men could excel him; and unless fired at from a hidden enemy, he did not fear a surprise, as he could escape by his own activity.
After the close of the war he dealt largely in peltries, especially bear skins, having small trading stations on the Big Sandy and Guyandot rivers, where this animal abounded, and the chief employment of the inhabitants was hunting them for their skins, and the digging of ginseng, a plant which grew in wonderful abundance and great luxuriance on the rich hill-sides of this broken country. Both of these articles, from 1798 to 1808, were in great demand for
309
B. I. GILMAN.
exportation, and many large fortunes realized by persons who dealt in them.
Mr. Gilman was appointed clerk of the Court of Common Pleas of Washington county in the year 1796, and continued in office until the territory became a state. In 1802, he was one of the delegates at the convention for forming a consti- tution, and was a very active and useful man in completing that instrument.
In 1801, he commenced the business of ship-building, em- ploying Capt. Devol for the master-builder, and subsequently James Whitney. This was continued from that year to 1808, when the embargo put a stop to all mercantile operations, and ruined a number of the merchants of Marietta, who had embarked in this business. The ships when built were exchanged for merchandise in the Atlantic cities, and were the most profitable returns they could make; and, although the country was thinly peopled, yet the vessels were always loaded with flour, pork, and other produce, in their down- ward voyage, thus yielding a double profit on the investment. But the wisdom of Mr. Jefferson put a stop to all the en- terprising efforts of these western men, and overwhelmed several of them with ruin, especially such as had ships on hand, unsold in 1808. One man who had a ship in New Orleans at the time of the embargo, sunk over ten thousand dollars on her and the cargo. No town in the United States suffered so much as this, according to its capital, by this un- wise measure. Mr. Gilman escaped any serious loss, but all his plans were deranged, and the place where from four to six vessels were built in a year, giving employment to a large number of men, and increasing rapidly in population, was entirely paralyzed. Three extensive rope-walks, work- ing up large quantities of hemp raised in the country, and furnishing rigging for the ships, were put out of employ, and in a few years fell into ruins. The business of the town did
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HANNAH GILMAN.
not revive for many years; and in 1813, Mr. Gilman moved his family to Philadelphia and entered into merchandise, as a wholesale dealer. For this business his clear, calculating mind, enlarged views and industrious habits, eminently fitted him, and for a number of years it was prosecuted with great success. His business operations often called him to visit the valley of Ohio, for which he always felt a warm regard; two of his sons having settled at Alton, Ill., and when on a visit to that place in 1833, he was attacked with a fever, and died at the age of sixty-eight years.
In person, Mr. Gilman was rather above the medium size, very erect, graceful and quick in his motions, with the man- ners and address of the most polished gentleman; eyes black, brilliant and expressive; nose slightly aquiline; fore- head broad and high; face full and without a fault. The impression made on a stranger, who saw him for the first time, would be, that he was in the presence of a man of more than ordinary capacity and intellect. His powers of conversation were great and varied, and no one left his company without adding something to his stock of useful information.
Mrs. Hannah Gilman was the second daughter of the Rev. Chandler Robbins, D. D., for many years the pastor of the first church in Plymouth, Mass. She was brought up with great care and tenderness by her venerable father, and re- ceived as good an education as was customary to bestow on females of the first families in that day. She was a girl of great sprightliness and vivacity; always cheerful, and abounding in kindness to her associates, as well as to her own family. A joyful, kind spirit animated her frame through the whole course of her life.
In February, 1790, she was married to B. I. Gilman, a man every way worthy the hand and the heart of so excel- lent a woman. Nothing marred the joy of this festive
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HANNAH GILMAN.
occasion, but the circumstance of her being removed to so great a distance from her parents; the location of her future home being on the banks of the Ohio, far toward the setting sun. The New Englanders at this time were an untraveled people; they had not then learnt to roam into all parts of the earth, but a journey of a hundred miles was a great event in the life of that primitive people, and seldom under- taken by the pious, without the public prayers of the church for its success. How formidable then must have seemed to the old people, this journey of eight hundred miles; so far, that the expectation of seeing her again in this world, was almost hopeless, and the final adieu was affecting and solemn.
The ancestors of the Robbins family were amongst the first settlers of Massachusetts; their blood unmixed, and strictly Puritan.
On their arrival at Marietta, she found many intelligent and kind friends, to greet her with a warm and hearty wel- come, while the society of her husband's mother, in whose family they lived, was itself sufficient to make her home very pleasant, and the loneliness of the wilderness forgot- ten. From her she received all that love and tenderness she could have expected from her own mother, and which the affection of the female heart only knows how to bestow on a beloved daughter. Before many years, the cares of a growing family in some measure divided her regards be- tween her own household and that of her dear father and mother at Plymouth, so that the separation was more easily borne than at first. A frequent intercourse by letters also solaced her uneasy mind, so that she had often occasion to bless the happy inventor of this divine mode of an inter- change of thoughts, so wonderful in itself, and which struck with admiration, the savage and untaught mind of Pow- hattan, when he first saw the effects of these mysterious
312
HANNAH GILMAN.
marks in a letter, sent by Capt. Smith to Jamestown, while a prisoner in his dominions.
Many of her early letters to her brother, the Rev. Samuel Prince Robbins, while he was a boy, and when in college, also after his settlement as a pastor over the first Congrega- tional church in Marietta, have been preserved by his family. Some extracts from these will be given, to show her talents as a writer, and the amiable and pious feelings which per- vaded her heart, and made her worthy of the parentage of so excellent and noble a stock. The first is written in an easy, playful style, suitable to the subject, when her first child was about six months old, to her brother, then aged ten or twelve years, and dated Marietta, 16th of September, 1791. It was in answer to one he had sent to his sister, with a specimen of his drawing:
"I received the picture you sent me, and was much aston- ished to see how much you had improved in drawing. Did you do it all yourself ? I can hardly believe it. I suppose by the time I visit Plymouth with your little niece, you will be able to take her picture. If so, and it is a likeness, it will be the prettiest picture you ever saw."
To her parents she wrote regularly once a month, when there was an opportunity of sending a letter, which, until 1794, was only by private conveyance. In 1798 her brother Samuel graduated at Cambridge University. Her younger brother, Peter Gilman Robbins, was then a freshman.
In writing to Samuel, she speaks of the rapid passage of time in reference to Peter, who, she did not think, could be old enough to enter college, as she had been absent only seven years, and he was then a very small boy. "How fast time flies. The further you advance in life, the faster time will appear to fly. How important it is, that we improve it to the best purpose." In the same letter she sends a mes- sage to Peter, who was rather disposed to be a little wild ;
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. HANNAH GILMAN.
"charging him to refrain from going to the theater, as it would be injurious to his morals." At that period it was a fashionable amusement, and practiced by nearly all classes of society. Her nice sense of propriety saw its hidden evils, and her voice was raised against it.
After her brother had completed his college course, he studied divinity, under the care of the Rev. M. Hyde, of Stockbridge, in Connecticut. In the spring of 1805, at the urgent request of Mrs. Gilman, he visited Marietta, with an ulterior expectation that he might be settled in the ministry there, over the first Congregational church in this place. The Rev. Daniel Story, who had been their pastor for a number of years, from feebleness, and other infirmities, had resigned his charge, and they were now without a teacher. When he arrived, the society was so small, and the prospect of an adequate support so doubtful, that after preaching a few times he returned to Norfolk, Conn., where he was itin- erating. At that day there was no home missionary society, to aid feeble and newly formed churches, but they had to struggle into existence in the best manner they could.
In August, 1805, she wrote to him a very feeling letter, urging it upon him as a duty to return. "For my own part, I feel as if I could not receive a negative answer from you. It was so long since I had been favored with such preaching as I once lived under, that when you were here I got roused up in some manner; but now we are all asleep, and myself among the rest. However, I desire not to trust too much in an arm of flesh : a sovereign God, who orders all events, will provide." After mentioning the names of several of his acquaintances who had called to inquire after him, amongst whom were Gen. Putnam and Dr. True, she says, " I hope, my dear brother, you will write as often as possible, and O that you may be directed to the path of duty." This
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HANNAH GILMAN.
prayer was soon answered, for the trustees of the society directly after sent him a call to be their pastor, to which he returned a consenting answer, and the following January he was ordained over the first Congregational church and so- ciety of Marietta. Under his faithful and apostolic min- istry it was soon enlarged, embracing many from the adjacent towns of Belpre and Adams, where he preached about one-third of the time. In 1807, chiefly through the efforts of Gen. Rufus Putnam, aided by the liberality of several other citizens, especially Mr. Gilman, a large and handsome church was erected, at a cost of about seven thousand dollars: a vast effort for so small a society ; and it yet remains a monument to their praise. This was the first house erected specially for public worship; the Muskingum academy having been occupied for this purpose since the year 1799. No man was ever more diligent and faithful in his Master's service than Mr. Robbins, and his sister now felt an addition to her happiness of a spiritual nature, not before experienced. Earthly comforts had been showered upon her in rich abundance. A most excellent husband, children "like olive plants sprung up around her table," with all the wealth she could desire, made her rich in this world's goods ; but the longings of the immortal spirit could only be satisfied with the bread of everlasting life. During a revival in 1811, she united herself with the church, under her brother's care, and while she remained in Marietta, was one of its chief ornaments and supports. In 1890, her soul was tried with one of the sorest afflictions that can befall poor humanity, in the loss of her first-born child, the wife of Mr. D. Woodbridge. This bereavement was sustained with Christian resignation, and by it her spir- itual graces were greatly quickened and refined. The sym- pathy and prayers of her dear brother were now doubly
315
HANNAH GILMAN.
consoling, and from him she learned that uncomplaining submission to the divine will, so hard to be practiced by the natural heart.
In 1813, Mr. Gilman moved his family to Philadelphia, where he could enlarge the sphere of his mercantile opera- tions, more in accordance with his capacious mind, so highly fitted for extensive and wide-spread operations. Neverthe- less, he quitted the scenes of his early manhood with regret; the spot where his life had been often endangered, and the place where the foundations of his early wealth were laid. It was still more trying to his wife, who now bid adieu to the home where she had lived twenty-three years, amidst many dear and excellent female friends ; but, above all, to that brother beloved, whom she cherished with an ardor only known to those who, to a naturally warm temperament, feel the impulses of the Christian's love, in addition to that of the natural heart. This is the love which abideth and en- dureth when life itself vanishes away. The first letter after her arrival, is dated October 20th, 1813, and addressed to Mr. Robbins and his wife, who was a granddaughter of Gen. Putnam, and explains the references to persons in Marietta.
"We arrived here the 25th of September, all well. The dear children were never so hearty. O, what shall I render to the Lord for all his goodness ? The city was so healthy, we thought it best to come immediately in. But O, what noise-what confusion. That evening they had received the intelligence of the victory gained on the lakes : the whole city was illuminated, and every mark of joy and mirth. I was ready to say, 'God is not in this place.' But surely he is, for the heaven, and heaven of heavens, cannot con- tain him; and I think I can say from sweet experience, since my arrival, 'I have found Him whom my soul loveth,' and I have seen his stately goings in the sanctuary." After de- scribing the public institutions of the the city, Bible society,
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HANNAH GILMAN.
Sunday school for the poor children, &c., she says, "So you see there must be some good people here, but I have not been introduced to many as yet. I have not found your good grandmother, your aunt Betsy, your mother, and many others with whom I used to hold sweet converse. I feel at times exceedingly at a loss what to do about joining the church; I am much attached to our customs at Marietta, and feel unwilling to be dismissed from them. But there is no Congregational church here, and I feel alone: what shall I do?" It would seem that her brother advised her to unite with Mr. Skinner's church, which she did, and sat for many years under his teaching with great profit to her soul.
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