USA > Ohio > Biographical and historical memoirs of the early pioneer settlers of Ohio, with narratives of incidents and occurrences in 1775 > Part 32
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prudence and vigilance they maintained their post without further loss.
As a member of the new settlement of Ames,* Mr. Ewing was ever ready to promote schools, the library, and every measure calculated for the general good. He was fond of reading; was intelligent; possessed a fund of sterling sense, combined with lively wit and good humor. He sometimes indulged in a natural propensity for poetic and sarcastic descriptions : often served on juries at the freehold courts, held to settle the conflicting claims on the college lands at Athens. There were one or two individuals sometimes em- ployed as advocates, demagogues, who frequently made sad havoc with the king's English. He could not help versifying some of these bombastic speeches, which he did in a mas- terly manner, but always in a vein of good humor. He finally removed to Indiana, and died about the year 1830. He was the father of the Hon. Thomas Ewing, well known for his talents and the public stations he has held.
* The name of the township was suggested by Gen. R. Putnam, in honor of Fisher Ames, of Massachusetts. It is now one of the richest farming townships in the Ohio Company's purchase.
CAPT. BENJAMIN BROWN .*
CAPT. BENJAMIN BROWN was born in Leicester, Worces- ter county, Mass., on the 17th of October, 1745. He was the son of Capt. John Brown, who served with distinction among the colonial troops in the French war, and before and subsequently to the Revolution, for twenty years, rep- resented the town of Leicester in the General Court of the state. His grandfather, William Brown, while a youth, came from England to America, and was the first settler in the town of Hatfield, on the Connecticut, at the mouth of Deerfield river, and was often engaged in the Indian wars of that early period. The maiden name of his mother was Elizabeth Jones, a near relative of John Coffin Jones, a man somewhat distinguished during and after the Revolution. His father's family was large, numbering nineteen children : five by a former wife.
At the age of twenty-seven, he married Jane Thomas, who survived him, and died at Athens, in 1840, aged eighty- six years. Soon after his marriage he settled on a farm in the town of Rowe, then in the northwest corner of Hamp- shire county, but now in Franklin, Mass.
In February, 1775, he connected himself with a regiment of minute men, as they were then called, commanded by Col. Barnard, filling the post of quaster-master. This regi- ment, under the command of Lieut. Col. Williams, of Northfield, at the first sound of war at Lexington, marched to Cambridge, on the 21st of April. Here he received a
* The sketch of Capt. Brown was furnished by his grandsons, G. Brown and Ephraim Cutler, Esqs.
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lieutenant's commission in Capt. Maxwell's company, of Col. Prescott's regiment and Massachusetts line, in which he continued until December, 1776. In June, 1775, he was engaged with a party of Americans in a very hazardous service, removing the stock from Noddle's island, in Boston bay, to prevent their falling into the possession of the British, and also in burning the enemy's packet, Diana, ashore on Malden beach.
He took an active part in the battle of Bunker hill, on the 17th of June, where his commander, Col. Prescott, highly distinguished himself by his judicious conduct and bravery. In this battle his oldest brother, John Brown, who died in Adams, Washington county, Ohio, in 1821, aged eighty- seven years, was dangerously wounded in two places, by musket shots, one of which ranged the whole length of his foot, shattering the bones in a dreadful manner. He was borne from the field on the shoulders of his brother Pearly to a place of safety, showing the rare spectacle of three brothers engaged in this first of American battles.
After the evacuation of Boston, in March, 1776, he marched with his regiment to New York, and was present in several engagements during the retreat from Long Island. At the battle of White Plains, where he took an active part, his brother Pearly was killed; and his brother William died in the hospital at New York. On the 1st of January, 1777, he received a captain's commission in the eighth regiment of the Massachusetts line, of which Michael Jackson was colonel, and John Brooks, afterward governor of Massachu- setts, lieutenantcolonel, and William Hall, subsequently governor of Michigan, major. He remained in this regi- ment until the close of the year 1779. In December, 1776, he assisted at the capture of Hackensack, by Gen. Parsons. In the summer of 1777, his regiment was ordered to Albany to check the progress of the enemy under Gen. Burgoyne.
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About the middle of August, Col. Jackson, with his regi- ment, was detached with a body of troops under Gen. Arnold, to raise the siege of Fort Schuyler, and to check the advance of St. Leger's men down the Mohawk toward Al- bany, of which there was great apprehension, after the defeat of Gen. Herkimer at Oriskany, on the 7th of August. On his arrival at the German flats, he received information that at the stone house of Maj. Tenbreck, near where he was encamped, Maj. Walter Butler, a notorious Tory leader, had hoisted the British flag, and that the house and build- ings contained a large amount of military stores and pro- visions. Tenbreck held unlimited sway over the Tory inhabitants of that region, and all the disaffected were flocking to him for arms and provisions. It was known to be a place of great strength, and in addition to the other difficulties, it was said that Maj. Butler had with him a de- tachment of British troops, besides his Tory allies. But as it was of great importance to get possession of these two men, it was decided to make an immediate attack, before they were aware of the approach of their enemies. The colonel selected Capt. Brown, with a chosen corps, to pro- ceed in advance a little before the break of day. He marched with the utmost caution, until they came near the house, when, halting his men, he silently approached the sentinel, who, on his duty, advanced a few rods from the door, and then turning, marched back toward the house. Brown was a man of great strength and activity, and as he turned round he sprang upon him, securing his arms, and ordered his men to surround the house. He then with sev- eral of his trusty lads, tore some heavy rails from the fence, and using them as battering-rams, stove in the stout door and entered the building. He there met the two ma- jors, who surrendered the post without resistance, and when the regiment came up they had nothing to do but take
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possession, and thus, by this happy device, much bloodshed was prevented, and the troops proceeded without delay to the relief of Fort Schuyler, then in the most imminent danger from the army of Indians and Tories that surrounded the brave Gansevort and his gallant companions. On the ap- proach of Arnold, the siege was raised, and the garrison saved.
Soon after this event, his regiment returned to the vicinity of Saratoga, and was engaged in nearly all the battles which preceded the surrender of the army under Gen. Bur- goyne. At the storming of the German redoubts, on the 7th of October, Capt. Brown was eminently distinguished. The events of this day sealed the fate of the British troops. The eighth regiment, under Col. Jackson, led the attacking column. Brown, being the senior captain, commanded the front division; on approaching the redoubt, he found an abatis in front of the works, formed of fallen tree-tops. Being a man of uncommon muscular strength, as was also his armor-bearer, or covering-sergeant, they together almost instantly cleared a sufficient opening for his men, and were the first to enter the redoubt. In doing this they received the full fire of the Germans, which killed his brave sergeant, his lieutenant, and several privates; but he, with the re- mainder, and a free use of the bayonet, soon drove the enemy from the works, and closed this important day in triumph. Col. Breyman, the commander of the Germans, was killed in this redoubt, and from concurrent circumstances, and his own confession, it is quite certain that he lost his life in a personal contest with Capt. Brown, as he entered the works.
After the surrender of Burgoyne, he was not present in any important battles, but was with the army until his resig- nation. The station of aid-de-camp to Baron Steuben, was offered to him a short time before the battle of Camden; but he declined the honor, from a sense of his deficient
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education to fill the post with credit, being that of all the New England farmers of that period.
During his absence in the army, his family, in common with many others, suffered severe privations, incident to the condition of the country.
At the time of his resignation, in 1779, the continental currency had so greatly depreciated, that his month's pay would not purchase a bushel of wheat for his family, and he was thus forced to leave the service, and return home, to provide for their wants, by his personal efforts. About the year 1789, he removed from Rome, to Hartford, Washington county, N. Y., then a new settlement, where he remained until September, 1796; when, with several families, he left there, to seek a new home in the territory northwest of the Ohio river; the fertility and beauty of the country having spread, by the voice of fame, through the middle and east- ern states. He reached Marietta in the spring of 1797, and in 1799 moved, with Judge Cutler, to Ames township, and assisted in the first settlement of that place. In 1817, his health being much impaired, he went to live with his son, Gen. John Brown, in Athens. In 1818 he applied for, and received a pension.
He was a professor of religion, and died, much lamented, in October, 1821, aged seventy-six years.
The descendants of John and Benjamin Brown have multiplied in the west to hundreds. Some of them have occupied highly respectable public offices, with ability. Among the number is our late worthy member of Congress, P. B. Johnson, M. D., whose mother was the daughter of John Brown. Those two old pioneers may well be com- pared to the oaks of our forest, which nothing but the terri- ble tornado that levels all before it, can overthrow.
The following is a copy of the certificate of Gov. Brooks, given to Capt. Brown on applying for a pension :
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"MEDFORD, Mass., August 24th, 1818.
This is to certify that Benjamin Brown was a captain in the late eighth Massachusetts regiment, commanded by Col. Michael Jackson-that he (Brown) ranked as such from January 1st, 1777-that he was with me in the capture of Majs. Tenbreck and Butler, near German flats-in raising the seige of Fort Stanwix, and in the several battles which immediately preceded the capture of Gen. Burgoyne and his army, all in the year 1777, and that he always acted as a spirited and brave officer. The time of Capt. Brown's resigning is not within my knowledge, but he continued in service until after the 11th of September, 1778, at which time I left the eighth, being promoted to the command of the seventh regiment. I have no doubt of his having continued in service until the time he has mentioned in his declaration.
J. BROOKS, late lieutenant-colonel Eighth Massachusetts regiment."
COL. JOSEPH BARKER.
COL. JOSEPH BARKER was a native of New Market, Rock- ingham county, N. H., and was born on the 9th day of Sep- tember, A. D. 1765. His father was Ephraim Barker. The maiden name of his mother was Mary Manning, of Ipswich, Essex county, Mass. At the age of six years, he lost his mother, who left six children. A few years after her death, Joseph was sent to Exeter Academy, one of the earliest clas- sical seminaries in New England, and ranking with the best in reputation, for sound scholarship and correct discipline.
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He remained in the academy for a considerable time, and laid the foundation of a good English education, which, in after-life, by reading, a clear, discriminating mind, and close observation of mankind, enabled him to appear in the sev- eral posts he occupied, of a public nature, with honor to himself, and the credit of his patrons.
His father having married again, in the year 1774, moved his family to Amherst, N. H., where he followed the occupa- tion of a house-carpenter, to which he was bred; few of the New England men of that day being without some in- dustrial pursuit. His oldest son, Jeremiah, was educated as a physician, and settled in Portland, Me., where he be- came one of the most eminent practitioners of his time ; furnishing numerous articles on the diseases of that region, for the Medical Repository, from its first establishment by Drs. Mitchell and Miller, of New York city. This work was continued for many years, and was not only the first medical periodical published in America, but is said to have been the first in the world; opening the way to the vast amount of medical literature which is now sent forth to the public.
Joseph was continued at Exeter until sometime during the war, probably until he was about fourteen or fifteen years old, when he returned to his father, and commenced the acquirement of the art of a house-joiner and carpenter, under the guidance of his parent. He was a youth of great spirit, courage, and activity; and many stories are related, of his pugilistic feats and wrestling, not only with the boys of his own age, but with those much his superiors in years and size. His father lived near the court-house and jail, and Joseph became a great favorite of the sheriff of the county, who was fond of such sports as were common during the period of the Revolution, and encouraged him in the prac- tice. These athletic exercises invigorated and strengthened
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his muscular frame, and gave him that manly bearing and contempt of danger, which characterized his after-life. When a boy he possessed a rare fund of wit and humor, with a taste for the ludicrous, which was very amusing to his com- panions. One of his boyish feats was related, a few years since, by an old man of Amherst, to Mr. G. Dana, his bro- ther-in-law, while there on a visit.
In the spring of the year, it was common for the nice housekeepers in New England, to have their rooms and door- yards fresh whitewashed annually. Joseph had been set at this work, and when he had about completed the job, an old red mare, that belonged to a crabbed, ill-natured neigh- bor, came up to the gate, as she had been in the habit of doing for some time, giving him considerable trouble in dri- ving her away. The conceit immediately came into his head, that it would be a good joke to metamorphose the old mare, by giving her a coat of the whitewash. She was ac- cordingly tied up to the fence, and the operation commenced, of giving her a white masquerading dress over her red one. When finished, she was turned loose, and went directly home. The owner, seeing a strange horse at the stable door, threw stones at her, and drove her away, not once suspecting that this white horse could be his. The next morning, finding the strange animal still about his premises, he set his dog on her, in great anger, following her with many curses and brickbats, determined to break up her unwelcome visits. Several curious disquisitions were held, by the old man and his wife, on the pertinacity of the animal, while the mare was in the greatest wonder at the strange conduct of her master. One or two of the neighbors, who were in the se- cret, as the man was no favorite among them, enjoyed the joke exceedingly, especially when he began to make in- quiries after his own horse, which had somehow strangely disappeared. It was not until after two or three days, when
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the coat of white was rubbed off in patches, showing the natural red, that he could be convinced of her identity, and that he had been harassing and starving his own beast during all that time. This piece of fun was long remem- bered in the village, and gave Joseph no little eclat in the estimation of the real lovers of a little harmless mischief.
After working a year or two with his father, he went to live with a relative of his mother in New Ipswich, where he perfected his knowledge of the carpenter's business, becom- ing a skillful architect. He followed his occupation for several years. In 1788 he worked as a journeyman car- penter in the erection of a meeting-house in New Boston, where he remained until 1789.
In the latter year he married Miss Elizabeth Dana, the eldest daughter of Capt. William Dana, of Amherst, with whom he had long been acquainted. His father-in-law having visited the Ohio country in 1788, and determined on moving his family there, Mr. Barker concluded to join his fortune to theirs, and embark with them in the enterprise of seeking a home in the far west. They left Amherst in September, 1789. The mode of travel was in wagons drawn by oxen. One favorite cow was brought with them, which furnished milk for the children on the way; and on . their arrival at Belpre, their future home was named Old Amherst, in remembrance of their former place of residence. The fatigues of a journey of seven hundred miles, and across the mountains, at that day, cannot be estimated by those born amongst the facilities of steamboats and rail- roads. Such were the difficulties in passing these lofty ranges, that sometimes the wagons were actually taken in pieces, and the separate parts carried by hand over the im- passable barrier of rocks and ledges. On the route one of their oxen became lame, and had to be exchanged for a sound one, and as is usually the case in such events, they
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were sadly cheated, the new ox being nearly valueless for the draught. But the resolution of Capt. Dana and Mr. Barker was equal to any emergency, and surmounted every obstacle. The rugged mountains were finally passed, and in November the party arrived at Simrel's ferry, the grand embarking port of the New England emigrants in their de- scent of the Ohio river. As was usual at this early period, they were detained several days for a boat to be made ready for their use. No facilities of passenger boats of any kind were then known on the western waters, but every traveler furnished his own conveyance, or united with others, his companions, in procuring one. While waiting at this place, Isaac Barker, with his family, from Rhode Island, arrived, and they all lived under the hospitable roof of Thomas Stanley, a citizen of Connecticut then living at that place, and who subsequently became a respectable and valuable citizen of Marietta, and after the Indian war in 1797, erected mills on Duck creek, in the present township of Fearing. As soon as the boat was prepared, the three families em- barked in their unwieldy craft, built after the fashion of a large oblong box, covered half its length with a roof to shelter the people and their goods from the weather, while the open space contained their teams and wagons. The water on the Youghiogheny and Monongahela, as it usually is at this season of the year, was low, and every mile or two the boat grounded on the sand-bars and rocks, requiring the voyagers to leap over the side into the cold water, and pry her off into the current, rendering the passage both slow and painful. When they reached Pittsburg, a favorable rise in the river accelerated their progress and rendered the rest of the voyage more comfortable. On their arrival at Marietta, where they proposed to pass the winter, they found the few houses then built so crowded with inhabitants,
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that they concluded to pass on to Belpre, a settlement just commenced, where Capt. Dana's land was located.
The appearance of Marietta at that time, is thus described by one of the party now living. "On ascending the bank of the river to look at the town we had been nearly three months toiling to see, a very cheerless prospect was pre- sented to our view. A few log-huts were scattered here and there, raised only a few feet above the tall stumps of the sturdy trees that had been cut away to make room for them. Narrow foot-paths meandered through the mud and water from cabin to cabin; while an occasional log across the water-courses afforded the pedestrian a passage without wetting his feet".
The people were very kind and hospitable to the new comers, to the extent of their ability ; but after waiting a day or two, Capt. Dana proceeded on with his boat to his future home, where he arrived late in November. Much to his disappointment, he found that the log-house he had built the spring preceding, by accident was burned up, and the family had to remain in the boat until another was erected.
Mr. Barker, who depended on the proceeds of his mechan- ical labor for the support of his family, concluded to stay for the present in Marietta, where carpenters were in de- mand, and immediately began putting up a cabin on the corner of the square where the postoffice building now stands. Early in January, 1790, the small-pox was intro- duced amongst the inhabitants by a moving family, and it was thought prudent for Mrs. Barker to go to Belpre and live in her father's family, until the danger was passed. Mr. Barker not having had the disease, was inoculated about the middle of January, as were a large portion of the inhabitants of Marietta. For pest-houses, several small
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log buildings were put up on the border of the plain. On the 30th of that month he wrote to his wife. "I am living in a little, clean log-cabin that is six feet wide, seven feet long, and four and a half high. We make out to sit up, but can- not stand straight. We lodge very well." This shows the narrow accommodations to which some of the inhabitants had to submit. Those in Campus Martius had larger rooms, but were also very much crowded. He passed through the disease favorably, but was not allowed to visit his wife at Belpre, on account of the danger to the inhabit- ants, until the forepart of March.
On the 28th of February, Mrs. Barker gave birth to a son, the present honorable Joseph Barker, of Newport. He was the first child born in that township, and has several times represented Washington county in the state Legislature. Some time in the spring of the year 1790, he moved his wife and little son to Marietta, where he remained until the autumn of 1793.
The Indian war began in January, 1791, yet, notwith- standing the danger, he lived in his own house during a part of the time, retiring to the stockade at the Point when the rangers reported signs of Indians in the vicinity, and returning to his own domicil when the danger was at a distance. Soon after the war broke out, he was appointed an orderly-sergeant, in the pay of the United States by Col. Sproat, who was the military agent, with the rank of a lieu- tenant-colonel.
The condition of the Ohio Company's settlements at the time of his arrival, and for a year or two after, cannot be better described than in his own words.
In November, 1789, at the time of my arrival, ninety families had landed, and associations embracing two hun- dred and fifty settlers had been formed, and improvements had commenced in several of them. By May, 1790, there
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were very few lots in Belpre and Newbury without a settler. On a return of all the men enrolled for militia duty in the county, made to the secretary of war in March, 1791, their number amounted to one hundred and ninety-five. But after that I think the number increased, and the one hundred thousand acres granted by Congress for donation purposes, induced many to remain, and many more to come in, to avail themselves of the terms of the donation.
In January, 1790, a new arrangement was made in the militia, a company of artillery was formed, commanded by Capt. William Mills, of Marietta, Lieut. George Ingersol, of Belpre, and the late Gen. Joseph Buck, orderly-sergeant. The infantry company was commanded by Maj. Nathan Goodale, of Belpre, and Anselm Tupper, of Marietta, lieu- tenant. Early in the spring, some alterations were made, by which I was transferred from the artillery, and made or- derly-sergeant of the company of infantry, and it became my duty to keep a roll of every person amenable to military service; to attend at the place of public worship, with my roll; call every man's name, examine his arms and ammu- nition, and see that he was equipped according to law. I had also to note down and report all delinquencies. The territorial militia law made it the duty of the troops, to as- semble on Sunday morning, at ten o'clock, for inspection ; those who attended public worship, and there were few who did not, after the inspection, marched from the parade ground to the room where service was held, preceded by the clergy- man and Col. Sproat, the commandant at the Point garrison, with his Revolutionary sword drawn, and the drum and fife, and by Gen. Putnam and Gen. Tupper, at Campus Martius. The citizens generally fell into the ranks, and the procession moved, in military array, to wait on divine service; the fife and drum supplying the place of the church-going bell, in . the eastern states. In case of an alarm on the Sabbath,
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