Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio, Part 134

Author: Bert S. Bartlow, W. H. Todhunter, Stephen D. Cone, Joseph J. Pater, Frederick Schneider, and others
Publication date: 1905
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1149

USA > Ohio > Butler County > Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio > Part 134

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Mr. Sutherland was three times married. His first wife was Miss Mary Scott, of Fay- ette county, Kentucky. She died some years after their marriage, leaving one son, named Alexander, who died at Hamilton about the time he arrived at maturity. His second wife was Mary Steele. also of Ken- tucky, who died soon after their marriage, leaving no issue surviving her. In May, 1810, he married Nancy, the daughter of James Ramsey, who resided in Ligonier val- ley, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Nancy R. Suther- land was born November 6, 1787, and died on March 21, 1855, in the sixty-eighth year of her age. She led an exemplary Christian life. They were the parents of eight chil- dren, two sons and six daughters. Eliza- beth St. Clair, the eldest daughter, died un- married about the time she arrived at womanhood. James R., the oldest son, died in June, 1834, aged twenty-two years. Mary A., a daughter, married Carter B. Harrison, a son of Gen. William H. Harrison. Carter B. Harrison died at Hamilton August 12, 1839, leaving a widow and daughter. who continued to reside in Hamilton, and Sarah, another daughter, married Nathan Reeder.

ROBERT M'CLELLAN.

William, Robert and John McClellan were sons of a pioneer family who, at the time of the Revolutionary war, lived in a part of Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, which is now embraced in Franklin county, at the base of the cave or North mountain, near where the town of Mercers- burgh now is. Here the boys were schooled in all the arts of woodcraft and inured to all the hardships of frontier life.

On attaining a suitable age-an early September 9, 1834, aged sixty-three years. one, as backwoods boys are precocious in

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such matters-the boys obtained employ- ment as pack-horse men. The settlement of the country on the Monongahela and in the neighborhood of Pittsburg (a region known as the "backwoods" of Pennsy !- vania), had been but recently commenced. There were no iron works at that time west of the mountains, nor had the rich salt springs of the Kanawha and Muskingum been discovered. So that these indispen- sable articles, and all other stores for the use of the settlers and their guardians, the sol- diers at the frontier forts, had to be trans- ported from the towns east of the moun- tains, to which wagon roads had been made, on pack-horses. Each pack-horse had a pack-saddle, on which the load was lashed with a rope. Two men could manage from ten to fifteen horses, each carrying about two hundred pounds' weight, by tying the horses in a single file, one man taking charge of the leader and directing the way, the other following with the last and keep- ing an eye on the proper adjustment of the loads, and urging on any that appeared to lag. In this manner all their merchandise was transported along the narrow, winding paths, through the rocky mountain defiles. In this occupation the Mcclellan boys were engaged for several years after the Revolu- tionary war. In 1790 Robert's restless dis- position led him to seek adventures and more congenial occupation farther west. His personal prowess and skill in woodcraft soon found such occupation for him. He entered the service in the army in the ca- pacity of a spy or ranger at Fort Gower, a stockade fort which had been erected by Governor Dunmore in 1774, just above the mouth of the Hockhocking, on the Ohio, at that time occupied by troops under Gen. Josiah Harmar.

The following year, 1791, McClellan descended the Ohio to Fort Washington at Cincinnati. The next spring, 1792, he and his brother William came to Fort Hamilton, and engaged in the commissary department as pack-horse masters, in transporting pro- visions and stores from Fort Washington to garrisons in advance.

Captain Robert Benham had command of this department, and was called pack- horse-master general .. He was assisted by John Sutherland, William McClellan and others, as subordinate captains, each having the care and management of forty horses and the men who had immediate charge of them. This branch of the service was ar- duous and dangerous. They were often attacked by the Indians, the men killed and captured, and the supplies plundered. For their protection they were generally fur- nished with a military escort. William Mc- Clellan continued in this service during the whole of General Wayne's campaign. Rob- ert's scouting propensities soon obtained for him an appointment among the spies or rangers attached to the army. He was an extraordinary active man on foot and many marvelous stories are related of his athletic exploits. While at Fort Hamilton he would frequently leap over the tallest horse without apparent exertion. In the town of Lexing- ton, Kentucky, when passing along a nar- row sidewalk, a yoke of large oxen happened to be drawn up on the sidewalk; instead of walking around them, he, without hesita- tion, leaped over both at a bound. When with the army at Greenville, at a trial of feats of strength among the soldiers and teamsters, he leaped over a wagon with a covered top, a height of eight and one- half feet.

General Wayne had a bold, vigilant and

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dexterous enemy to contend with. It be- came indispensable for him to use the ut- most caution in his movements, to guard against surprise. To secure his army against the possibility of being ambuscaded, he employed a number of the best woods- men the frontier afforded to act as spies or rangers. A very effective division of the spies was commanded by Captain William Wells. Attached to Captain Wells' com- mand, among several others, was Robert McClellan, whose name has been since im- mortalized by the graphic pen of Washing- ton Irving in his "Astoria," and who was one of the most athletic and active men on foot that has appeared on this globe. This little band of spies performed more real service during the Wayne campaign than any other corps of equal numbers. They brought in at different times not less than twenty prisoners, and killed more than their own number, with the loss of but one man.

Robert McClellan remained with the army at Greenville till after General Wayne's treaty with the Indians, in August, 1794, which terminated the Indian war. His brother William married about this time, and opened a house of entertainment in the building at Fort Hamilton which had been erected by General Wilkinson for the accommodation of the officers of the gar- rison. The house stood on Main, now High street, about the west end of the site of the old Market-house. After the disbanding of the army for some time, Robert McClellan made his home with his brother at Hamil- ton, spending the most of his time in hunt- ing, remaining in the woods for days at a time. In one of his excursions he killed an elk and brought his hide and a part of the meat home; this was probably the last elk killed in the Miami country.

In the summer of 1799 he went to New Orleans, where he was attacked with yellow fever, but recovered after a lingering illness. On August 28th he sailed for Baltimore, where he arrived on the 12th of October. after having encountered so severe a storm that they were obliged to run into Charles- ton and remain there twelve days for re- pairs. His object in going east was to ob- tain a pension for his services and wounds in Wayne's campaign. He went to Phila- delphia, but found that General Wilkinson, from whom he expected to obtain the neces- sary certificate, had just gone to New York. He followed him, obtaining the proper pa- pers, returned to Philadelphia, presented them to the secretary of war, who sent him to Dr. Shippen, the examining surgeon. He reported that McClellan was entitled to only one-third pension, which for his rank, lieu- tenant, was only twenty-six dollars, Pennsyl- vania currency, a year. About this time he became connected with the department of the quartermaster general of the army and he was located for a while at Carlisle, Penn- sylvania, and in May, 1801, McClellan was sent on business connected with the commis- sary department to St. Louis, when, after completing his mission, he retired from the service. Soon thereafter he engaged in partnership with a Mr. Morton in trading at a post called Wilkinsonville, on the north bank of the Ohio river, about twenty miles above its mouth. His success in this ad- venture gave him a taste for trading, and for some years he made trading trips up the Missouri river with varying success in his dealings, which were principally with the Indians. Captain Clark, in descending the Missouri river on their return from the well-known Lewis and Clark expedition, met Mcclellan on the 12th of September,

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1806, in a large boat with twelve men going on a trade with the Mahos. Captain Clark, who had served as a lieutenant in Wayne's campaign, recognized the well-known form of the ranger, and halting, he and his com- panions remained with him till next day, spending a pleasant evening in relating their own adventures and hearing the news of the occurrences in the States during their long absence.

In 1807 Mcclellan entered into partner- ship with Ramsey Crooks, an adventurous young Scotchman, who had gained some ex- perience in Indian traffic in the employment of the Northwest Fur Company. Their ob- ject was to carry on a trading business with the Indians on the Missouri river. In this they continued for several years, with vary- ing success. In 1810 they dissolved part- nership and McClellan continued the busi- ness alone. On one of his expeditions to the upper Missouri, at the mouth of the Nodowa, he came across a camp of an ex- pedition of Astor's American Fur Company, under command of Wilson P. Hunt. Mc- Clellan was rejoiced to find in the party his old friend Crooks, who had joined the party at Milwaukee, as a partner. It needed but little persuasion to induce McClellan to ac- cept a few shares and become a partner in the expedition. This expedition was sent overland to the mouth of the Columbia river on the Pacific coast, by John Jacob Astor, in the interest of the American Fur Company, to establish a settlement and trad- ing-post at that point, in conjunction with an expedition which went by sea, under command of Capt. Jonathan Thorn. After many arduous experiences in struggling forward through the trackless wilderness, the main body of the party arrived at

Astoria on February 15, 1812. Mr. Crooks, with five men, who had separated from the party in the mountains, did not reach As- toria until the 10th of May. The ship "Tonquin," commanded by Captain Thorn and owned by John Jacob Astor, of New York, arrived at the mouth of the Columbia in the summer of 1811. She was the first vessel sent there by the American Fur Com- pany, and, in the month of June of that year, when trading on the coast north of the Co- lumbia was taken by the Indians and every soul on board massacred. The news of this disaster had reached Astoria some time be- fore the arrival of Mcclellan at that place, which struck dismay into the hearts of the Astorians and those engaged in the fur trade. As the spring opened, after the ar- rival of McClellan at Astoria, several im- portant things had to be accomplished. One of them was the sending of dispatches over- land to Mr. Astor, at New York. The dis- patches were confided to John Reed, the clerk of the company, and when the expedi- tion was made known, Robert McClellan an- nounced his determination to accompany it. He had for some time been dissatisfied with the smallness of his interest in the co-part- nership, and had requested an additional number of shares; his request not being com- plied with, he resolved to abandon the com- pany. McClellan was a man singularly self- willed and of decided character, with whom persuasion was useless; he was permitted, therefore, to take his own course without opposition. The party set out the 22d of March, and proceeded up the Columbia river till they came to the falls where they had some trouble with the Indians and hav- ing irretrievably lost the important dis- patches for New York, the object of the

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overland journey was defeated, hence the some hunters and buried in the woods where party returned to Astoria. On the 28th of he fell. June, 1812, another party set out to carry William, the eldest brother, continued in the employ of the quartermaster's depart- ment of the army as captain or pack-horse master, during the campaign of General Wayne, and until the treaty of peace con- cluded at Greenville, in August, 1795. dispatches to Mr. Astor and McClellan con- cluded to accompany them. It was a long and perilous journey, in which they suffered great hardships from cold and hunger, and were often exposed to the danger and treach- ery of the Indians. On April 30, 1813, they arrived in perfect health and spirits at St. Louis, having been ten months performing their toilsome expedition from Astoria.

The next day Robert Mcclellan wrote to his brother William, at Hamilton, Ohio, giving him an account of his journey from the Pacific ocean and by another letter, dated Cape Girardeau, of July 14, 1814, he wrote that he had been furnished with a stock of goods by Risdon H. Price, of St. Louis, and he had opened a store at Cape Girardeau. He stated that his health had been very bad for several months, and that he was closing his business with an intention of returning to St. Louis. His health continued to de- cline until his death, some time in the latter part of the year 1814, at Cape Girardeau, where he lies buried.

Of the three brothers, John McClellan pursued the business of packing over the mountains from the Conecocheague valley to the backwoods of Pennsylvania, until 1800, when he came to the western country. For several years he engaged in trading with the Indians at their towns on the head- waters of the Wabash river. On August 13, 1814, while on such an expedition, en route from Greenville to Fort Recovery, about nine miles in advance of Greenville, he was waylaid and shot by some Indians. His body was not discovered for two or three days afterward, when it was found by

Soon after this he married Miss Mary Sterret, of Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, and settled in Hamilton, Ohio, where he opened a tavern in one of the buildings of Fort Hamilton. At the organization of Butler county in 1803, William McClellan was elected sheriff and was re-elected in 1805, and served until 1807. In 1809 he was again elected for a term of two years, and in 181 I succeeded himself for another term. In 1811 he removed from the town of Ham- ilton, and settled on a farm, on Two-Mile creek, about a mile northwest of Rossville, on the old St. Clair trace. However, he still kept an office in Hamilton, and a deputy to attend to his business. He continued to reside on his farm until his death, on Oc- tober 2, 1827. His widow survived him several years, dying November 10, 1842. They had two sons and three daughters who inherited the estate.

MATTHEW HUESTON.

Matthew Hueston was a native of Penn- sylvania, coming from what is now Frank- lin county, where he was born on the Ist of May, 1771. His father's next neighbor was a Scotchman, named Buchanan, who afterwards became better off in the world, and moved to Mercersburg, where he be- came a justice of the peace. His son James was sent to Dickinson College, afterwards entering upon the practice of law. He was

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successively a member of the United States senate, minister to England, and President of the United States. When Matthew Hueston was two years of age his father, William Hueston, removed to the back- woods, and settled on the Monongahela, in Ohio county, Virginia. The Indians becom- ing troublesome, Mr. Hueston removed his family to Taylor's Fort, twenty-four miles from the town of Wheeling. The family remained most of the time at the fort, but occasionally went to the farm when it was deemed safe. Mr. Hueston went back and forth to cultivate his place, but on one of these trips he was shot, killed, and scalped by the Indians, at the door of his own cabin. Mrs. Hueston was left a widow with six small children.

As soon as Matthew Hueston was able he began working around the farm, and at fifteen went as an apprentice to learn the trade of a tanner and currier, continuing at that employment for several years. When he became a journeyman he saved up his money, and, in 1793, made a small venture of stock, with which he went down the Ohio river. On the 17th of April he landed at Cincinnati, but after a few days went down to the falls of the Ohio. He returned by the way of Maysville, again floating down to Cincinnati, where General Wayne's army had arrived in the meantime. Soon after arriving he sold out his goods to a man named McCrea, who, however, decamped without paying him. He then went to work in a tannery, being the one afterwards owned by Jesse Hunt, and afterwards went with Robert and William McClellan, who were engaged in driving a brigade of pack- horses from Cincinnati to Fort Jefferson. Completing his first trip, he drove a num-

ber of beeves from Fort Washington to Fort Jefferson, and then superintended the killing of the cattle and putting up the beef, which was designed to subsist the men the next winter. There being no salt at the gar- rison, the meat had to be hung up in the open air around the fort to prevent it from spoiling, until salt could be procured. This caused a delay in the business for some time. Soon after Mr. Hueston was appointed commissary at this post, at the pay of thirty dollars a month. The next summer he re- turned to Fort Washington, and went out with Wayne on his expedition, being issued commissary until the summer of 1795, when he resigned.

He then furnished himself with a stock of groceries and other articles, and began as a sutler, following this up until the year 1796. He had one store at Greenville and another at Cincinnati, in the latter having a partner. The business was very profitable, and he soon accumulated twelve to fifteen thousand dollars. In the latter part of 1796 Mr. Hueston was taken sick, remaining in his bed for three or four weeks. When he had sufficiently recovered, he set out for Cincinnati, but found his affairs were in a wretched condition. His partner had be- come dissipated, had squandered most of the property by gambling, and had finally sold out the stock, going down the river, and leaving Mr. Hueston to pay the debts of the firm. This he did, and found that, after exhausting all his means, he still owed four hundred dollars. Undiscouraged, he per- severed in his industrious way, and again embarked as a drover. He drove a large number of cattle from Cincinnati to Detroit for two dollars and fifty cents a head, and was successful in delivering them all, al-

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though the route was a complete wilderness. services, and went with a number of others He returned in forty days. This business he followed till the year 1800, when he had paid off all his old debts and had accumu- lated fourteen or fifteen hundred dollars in hard cash. This he laid out in land.

He bought a tract of two hundred acres, four miles south of Hamilton. It was then altogether in the woods, but now the rail- road, the canal, and the Cincinnati turnpike pass through it. In a few years he had a large farm under cultivation. He built a hewed-log house, in which he lived and kept entertainment for travelers a number of years. At the United States land sales in 1801 he purchased, or entered, three sec- tions of land and two fractional sections, on the west side of the river, comprehending in all about two thousand six hundred acres. To these purchases he added from time to time, so that he eventually became the largest owner of land in this county.

On his farm south of Hamilton he be- gan to reside in the year 1802. and on the 15th of April married Miss Catherine Davis. He remained here till 1813. when he re- moved to his farm on Four-Mile creek, in Hanover township. Here he built a large stone mansion, and attended to his agri- cultural interests for many years. He then removed to Rossville, taking up his abode there in October, 1834. This is in the house now occupied by his son-in-law. Robert Har- per.

At the beginning of the century the militia was better organized than it is now. Mr. Hueston became captain of a company of light-horse, from which he was after- wards advanced to the office of colonel of the Second Regiment. When Hull sur- rendered Colonel Hueston volunteered his

to Fort Wayne, which was then besieged by the enemy. After serving two or three months. he was made purchasing agent for the contractor of the Northwestern army, acting in that capacity until the conclusion of the war.

In 1808 he became a justice of the peace in Fairfield township, remaining so till he removed to Hanover. where, after a few months, he was again elected. In this posi- tion he served until his removal to Rossville, holding this office for twenty-three years. In no case was his judgment reversed on appeal. He was a commissioner of Butler county from 1826 to 1835. He died on the 16th of April, 1847. in the seventy-sixth year of his age, and was buried near the Presbyterian church in Collinsville. The services were conducted by the Masons.

He had four sons and five daughters. They were William, Eliza, Mary. Samuel, Thomas. Eleanor, Robert. Cynthia and Catherine.

J. G. LONG.

J. G. Long was the son of Armel Long. and was born December 15, 1815, in Wayne township. He received a good education at both the common and graded schools. He was reared to the pursuit of a farmer, which was his chief occupation through life.

Mr. Long was the possessor of two hun- dred and sixty-four acres of good land, situ- ated in this county, upon which he resided until his death. He also owned, in its natural state, four hundred and eighty acres of fine land near the city of Omaha.

The location of Mr. Long's late residence is very desirable. From almost every point of the compass the eye, unassisted by a glass,

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may scan views pleasant to behold; by the aid of a field-glass, objects sixteen miles distant towards the south can be distinctly seen; firerockets, thrown in midair at Cincinnati on a favorable night, may be seen from Mr. Long's late residence with the naked eye. The gentleman of whom we now write was a good financier, and was assisted in his temporal affairs by an amiable and economical companion, who acquitted her- self nobly in not allowing "to run to waste" the accumulation of property acquired and under the control of her worthy mate.

On the 14th day of January, 1841, he being then twenty-five years of age, the nuptials were performed which made him the husband of Miss Hannah Squire. Four children were born to them to make their home a happy one, and to more strongly cement the sacred union of their lives. Hampton H. married the daughter of Mr. Henry Snively, of Wayne township; Josephine P. married Philip H. Kumler, also of Wayne township. The former is a re- tired farmer residing in Hamilton. Mr. Long was a successful speculator, and held stock in the Second National Bank at Ham- ilton. He held the highest rank as a Mason, had a very large acquaintance, and was highly respected by all. An epoch in Mr. Long's life occurred when at the age of ten years; he was one of those who witnessed at Middetown, this county, the breaking of the sod for the Miami canal.

JOHN AUGSPURGER,

the fourth son of Christian Augspurger, was born July 31. 1819. on a keelbort on the Ohio river, near Steubenville, at a time when his parents were on their journey from near Strasburg, France, to Butler county, Ohio.

His parents had, however, been in this coun- try previous to 1819. It was in the year 1817 when they first emigrated to Pennsyl- vania with their family, consisting of six children. The old pioneer located his fam- ily in Pennsylvania, and, in company with others, went farther West, and took a view of the beautiful great Miami valley, in But- ler county, Ohio. Having satisfied himself that it would be much better for his chil- . dren here than in Europe, he concluded to settle here. But as he was a great friend of society, and being in a strange country, with no friends or acquaintances, he again, in 1818, returned to Europe with his fam- ily. In 1819 he left Europe with his family and a colony of thirty-six families, among whom were his brother Joseph and family, and his second cousin Jacob with his family. After arriving in Butler county, the old pioneer bought a farm in Milford township, near Collinsville, and settled there with his friends. Times then were quite different from now. Cincinnati was only a small town, and Hamilton a small village. There were no turnpikes, no canals, and no rail- roads, and no money to be gotten for any- thing outside of Cincinnati. Whisky was fifty cents a gallon, wheat twenty-five cents per bushel, corn ten cents per bushel, pork one dollar and fifty cents per one hundred pounds, and butter three cents per pound. Times, however, finally changed for the bet- ter, and with industry, frugality and zeal he worked his way along. He was a prac- tical farmer, and desired his children also to be farmers. He consequently kept buy- ing land until he had a fraction less than two thousand acres, all in this county, the most of which his children and grandchildren now own. His children were six sons and six

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Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio, Part 134

Author: Bert S. Bartlow, W. H. Todhunter, Stephen D. Cone, Joseph J. Pater, Frederick Schneider, and others Publication date: 1905 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1149

Author: Bert S. Bartlow, W. H. Todhunter, Stephen D. Cone, Joseph J. Pater, Frederick Schneider, and others
Publication date: 1905
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1149