USA > Ohio > Miami County > Troy > Centennial history. Troy, Piqua and Miami county, Ohio > Part 5
USA > Ohio > Miami County > Piqua > Centennial history. Troy, Piqua and Miami county, Ohio > Part 5
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The genesis of Miami Connty begins with the formation of what is known as the Northwest Territory. I have briefly traced the struggle of France and England for the soil embraced within the present limits of our domain. The last engage- ment of the French and Indian War took place in 1763 at Fort Piqua. Although the Treaty of Paris settled the claims of the continental rivals to this particular region, in which England was the gainer, it did not put an end to the Indian troubles. In the year last mentioned Pontiae, the great sachem of the Ottawas, formed one of the most stupendous conspiracies ever known. He drew into it the various tribes scattered throughout Ohio, and the design of this scarlet Napoleon was the destrnetion of the British posts in the northwest. In this
he was secretly and, at times, openly aided by the French, who still chafed under the overthrow which they had experienced at the hands of England. Pontiae and Te- cumseh stand forth as the most astute In- dians ever connected with the history of Ohio.
The plans of Pontiae came to naught, most notably in his failure to capture De- troit, and after the allied tribes had sus- tained their final defeat at Fort Pitt (Du Quesne), they were forced to make peace by Boquet, who led an expedition into their country and liberated a number of white captives. Not until then did the opposi- tion to British rule end on the part of the Indians. Royal proclamations had hitherto prevented settlements beyond the Ohio, but grants of land south of that river were
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HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
obtained by companies formed in Virginia and elsewhere, and hunters and traders, ignoring the boundary lines, pushed into the new territory, taking up lands under the very noses of the French. In 1774 the "Quebec Act" passed the English parlia- ment and the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers were made the western and southwestern boundaries of Canada. During the Amer- ican Revolution a majority of the Indian nations espoused the cause of England, but the Delawares were kept neutral by the Moravians who had established villages of Christian Indians on the Muskingum in 1772.
Two block houses were built at Cincin- nati in 1780, the year of Clark's expedi- tion, New York relinquished her charter claims to the Northwest Territory and the following year Virginia did the same; but at the same time obtained by way of com- promise a tract of land between the Scioto and Little Miami which received the name of the "Virginia Military District." Mas- sachusetts and Connecticut yielded their claims in 1785 and '86, but gained land like Virginia, which was called the "West- ern Reserve." Congress, in 1785, caused to be surveyed the public lands west of the Ohio, and Fort Harmar was erected at the mouth of the Muskingum and the Ohio. Under direction of Gen. Rufus Putnam, a brilliant officer of the Revolution, the "Ohio Company of Associates" was formed in Boston and this eventually led to the settlement at Marietta.
The settling of the Ohio Valley quickly followed the expedition led by Putnam. Im- migrants poured through the passes of the Alleghanies all headed for that vast and beautiful region which stretched westward. These bands of hardy souls crossed or
floated down the Ohio, stopping here and there as the different places pleased them, and the sound of the pioneer's axe awoke the solitudes of the forest. Congress, July 13th, 1787, passed the celebrated ordinance for the government of the Northwest Ter- ritory. This act provided for the forma- tion of not more than five states out of the immense tract, and slavery and involun- tary servitude was forbidden therein, othì- erwise than in punishment for crimes. On July 17th, the regular government of the Northwest Territory was installed with Gen. Arthur St. Clair as governor. On the 26tlı Washington County, Ohio, was estab- lished and on September 17th the first court was held.
The inauguration of Governor St. Clair still further stimulated settlement. Re- ports sent back by those who had settled in Ohio caused a perfect stream of pioneers to flow in this direction. They were un- daunted by reports of restless Indians, for it was believed that the red man was by no means pacified ; but this did not impede immigration. The white man considered himself capable of coping with the Indian and the lands of the Ohio were too great a prize to be permitted to slip from his grasp. Year after year the tide of civiliza- tion rolled westward, breaking through the mountain barriers in a resistless torrent, and filling the forests with a new race which would not brook threatened dispos- session.
In January, 1790, Hamilton County was organized, "beginning on the banks of the Ohio River at the confluence of the Little Miami, thence up the same to the Standing Stone Fork, or branch of the Big Miami, and thence with a line to be drawn due cast to the Little Miami and down same to the
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HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
place of beginning." In March, 1803, a part of Hamilton County was laid off and called Montgomery. January 16, 1807, in an act which took effect March first,"
"All that part of Montgomery County be and the same is hereby laid off and created into a separate and distinet county which shall be known by the name of Miami, to-wit: Beginning at the southwest corner of Champaign County and southeast corner of section 1, township 2 and range 9; thence west with the line between ranges 9 and 10 to the Great Miami River, crossing the same in such direetion as to take the line on the bank of the said river, between townships 3 and 4 in range 6, west of said river. Thence west with the said line to the state line, thence north with the same to the Indian boundary line; thence east with the same to the Champaign County line; thence south with the said county to the place of beginning.
"From and after the 1st day of April, 180", said eounty of Miami shall be vested with all the powers, privileges and immunities of a separate and distinct county. Jan. 7th, 1812, all that part of Montgomery County lying north of the county of Miami shall be and the same is hereby attached to the said county of Miami and all that part lying north of the county of Darke shall be and the same is hereby attached to the said county of Darke. "
In this manner according to law came into being the county we now inhabit. Prior, however, to the legal establishment of the county the Indian title had been ab- rogated. The county's name is derived from the Miami Indians whose place of residence, as a tribe, has long been a sub- ject for dispute by local and state his- torians. I have before me a letter secured especially for this work from Col. Charles C. Royce, for many years a resident of the county and a compiler of Indian data for the General Government. Col. Royce is an authority on Indian affairs and his con- clusions which follow settle once and for all the disputes concerning the Indian oc- cupation of this county. He writes as follows :
"At the close of the Revolutionary War and for a number of years thereafter the territory now comprised within the limits of Ohio was occupied and claimed by a number of Indian tribes, the respective boundaries of each tribe being specifically differential. As early as 1749 an English trading-post was established called Loramie's Store, or Pickawillany, within the present limits of Shelby County, and one or more villages of the Twightwees, or Miami Indians, existed for a time
in the vicinity. When the Freneb, with the assistance of the Ottawas and Chippewas, destroyed the trading- post in 1752 in the face of a vigorous protest from the Miamis, the latter were disturbed in their occupation of this territory and withdrew further to the north and west in the vicinity of Fort Wayne.
"After Wayne's defeat of the allied Indian forces at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, in 1794, he made a treaty with them at Greenville, in 1795, whereby they eeded all the land south of a line beginning at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, thence up the same to the portage between that and the Tuscarawas branch of the Mus- kingum; thence down that branch to the crossing place above Fort Lawrence: thence to a fork of that branch of the Great Miami running into the Ohio at or near which fork stood Loramie's Store and where commences the portage between the Miami of the Ohio and St. Mary's River, which is a branch of the Miami which runs into Lake Erie; thence a westerly course to Fort Recovery, which stands on a branch of the Wabash, thence southwesterly in a direct line to the Ohio so as to intersect that river opposite the mouth of the Ken- tueky River.
"This treaty was made jointly with a number of tribes, of whom the Miamis were one. The land ceded to the United States included the present boundaries of Miami County, but at the time of the eession there was no Miami County. Indians resided therein and the region including Miami. Clarke, Champaign, Logan and a number of other counties was claimed and occupied by the Shawnees who had a number of villages in this section.
"By the treaty of October 6, 1818, the Miamis ceded to the United States a tract of country beginning at the Wabash River, near the mouth of Raccoon Creck; thence up the Wabash to Fort Wayne, thence to the St. Mary's River ; thence up the St. Mary's to the Portage; thence with the line of the Wyandot cession of 1817 to the reservation at Loramie's Store; thence with the Indian boundary line to Fort Recovery, and thence with said line to the beginning. This tract at its southwestern extremity included a part of the present Shelby, Au- glaize and Mereer Counties and marked the southern and eastern lines of the territory specifically claimed by the Miamis.
"It can be affirmatively stated that within the period since the organization of the Federal Government the Miami Indians neither occupied nor claimed any land within the present boundaries of Miami County. On the contrary the United States, by a treaty concluded January 31, 1795, at Greenville, definitely conceded the elaims of the Shawnees to the ownership of certain ter- ritory which included the present boundaries of Miami County."
It will be seen from Col. Royce's state- ment that "within the period since the or- ganization of the general government," the Miamis claimed no land within the boundaries of this county. That this tribe of the great Algonquin family at one time were in these parts is undisputed. As early as 1658 the French found the Miamis in the
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AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS
neighborhood of Green Bay, Wis. In 1683 they carried on a war with the Sioux and Iroquois and, in 1705 the French brought about a war between them and the Otta- was. The Miamis, many years later, united with Pontiac in his conspiracy for the de- struction of the whites, and during the Revolution they assisted the English. As late as 1790 they were able to put in the field fifteen hundred warriors and were a nation not to be despised. They were war- like and energetic, but idle life and intoxi- cants so led to their downfall as a great savage nation that they were easily over- come by the whites. They gradually ceded all their lands to the General Government and in 1846 removed to the Fort Leaven- worth agency. At the present time this once powerful nation is almost extinct and its members are dissipated and wretched.
I have been thus particular in giving an account of the Miamis from the fact that this county owes its name to them. It is one of the few counties in Ohio that per- petuates the memory of the tribes that once roamed the forests. The Miamis pro- duced no celebrated leaders like Tecumseh and Pontiac, but they had within their ranks warriors whose deeds for many years left their impress on the localities they inhabited.
Prior to the formation of the county one of the hindrances to settlement was the manner in which the land could be ob- tained. In most of the states and terri- tories lying west of the Alleghanies the United States collectively and as a nation owned or did own the soil of the country after the extinction of the Indian title. This vast domain, which comprised mil- lions of acres, was to be sold at moderate prices to the settlers, but even at this many
could not comply with the terms, for the average settler was poor in this world's goods and had nothing but his strong arm and his determination. The "Symmes Pur- chase" included land between the Great and Little Miami Rivers. It was patented by John Cleves Symmes in 1794 for sixty- seven cents per aere. Every sixteenth sec- tion or square mile in each township was reserved by Congress for the use of schools. This tract is now one of the most valuable in the state. I extract from a valuable work the disposition of the lands which attracted the early settlers of this county :
"Up to 1799 Congress lands could not be sold in quantities less than 4,000 acres ; but through the efforts of General Harrison a law was passed authorizing the sale of half of the public lands in sections and the other half in half sections. In 1800 land offices were established by Congress for the sale of these lands in sections and half sections on the following terms: Two dol- lars per acre, applicant to deposit $6 for surveying a section, or $3 for half section and $5 for a patent for a section, or $4 for a half section; also he was obliged to de- posit one-twentieth of the price, all of which was to be forfeited if within forty- nine days one fourth of the purchase was not paid, another fourth within two years, another fourth within three years and the residne within four years with 6 per cent interest on the deferred payments from date of sale. Subsequent acts, however, gave great relief to the purchasers by ex- tending the time of payments and in 1804 the fees for surveying were abolished and an act for the sale of lands in quarter sec- tions was passed. In 1820 lands could be
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HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
bought in forty acre lots and the price was $125 cash."
The last aet was a great blessing to the early settler. He was enabled by it to pur- chase lands in quantities that suited him, but many purchased sections and half sec- tions, forming from these tracts some of the best farms that exist in the county at the present time. When it became known that land in any quantity desired could be obtained in this section there was a great influx of immigration. The locality drained by the Miami and its tributaries offered excellent inducements to the pioneer, and he was not long in taking advantage of them. He saw that in the valley of the Miami there was everything needed for a home, and the reports he sent back over the mountains to friends and relatives pro- duced amazing results.
With the legal establishment of the county in 1807 a new era was to begin. The first court was held at Staunton, primitive it is true, but a court nevertheless. The łog court-house witnessed the first opera- tion of law within the limits of the county, and if the old records could be consulted, an interesting and amusing chapter might be included in this work. It is stated that court was first held in the house of one Peter Felix, who was a character of the early day. He was a Frenchman and somewhat of a trader and he dwelt for years at Staunton carrying on his business. Around the first county seat arose the cabins of the settlers. These early homes,
which long ago gave way to more preten- tions ones, were simple in the extreme. The wants of the settler were also simple in the extreme. He was easily satisfied. The cabins were, for the most part, constructed on a universal plan. They consisted, as a
rule, of one large room. Overhead was a garrett, access to which was had by means of a ladder in one corner of the cabin. The young folks used the upper room for a sleeping apartment. There they were lulled to sleep by the pattering rain on the clapboard roof which was all that sepa- rated them from the outer world. How often in the winter time on arising in the morning-never later than four o'clock- did they find their beds covered with snow, driven through the crevices by the piercing winds.
The cracks between the logs were filled with elay in which was mixed the dry grass of the near-by meadows. This held the clay together and kept it from erack- ing and falling out. The fire-place was broad and deep, constructed of large stones obtained from the bed of a creek near by, and would accommodate a back-log six feet in length which was rolled into posi- tion with handspikes and would last for days. The floors were constructed of boards split from long straight logs, gen- crally oak and were smoothed on one side with the axe, laid rough side down and made fast to the joists by wooden pins driven in holes made with an augur. This was called a puncheon floor and an old song recalls it in this manner :
"Oh, Jennie, my toes are sore. Dancing over the puncheon floor."
The windows were merely openings made by cutting out a portion of one of the logs, to be closed by a sliding clap- board. Loop-holes were sometimes pierced in the sides and ends of the cabins through which to shoot when attacked by Indians. The doors were heavy and strong and were often fitted with stout barricades to resist outside pressure. The beds were made
CABIN BUILT IN 1798, STAUNTON TOWNSHIP (Still Standing.)
MIAMI RIVER BELOW TROY
WEST CHARLESTON FALLS
1
RESIDENCE OF OSCAR F. FURROW Lost Creek Township
INDIAN MOUND ON WOLVERTON FARM
HORSE SHOE BEND NEAR TROY
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AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS
upon boards resting on a frame attached to the side of the cabin. The table from which the meals were partaken was se- enred in the same manner and three-legged stools took the place of chairs. Now and then in a cabin was seen an old split bot- tom arm-chair that had been brought across the mountains. It was too dear a bit of furniture to be left behind, for the grandmother in it had sung sweet lullabies to all her children while in her protecting arms she rocked them to sleep. These cabin homes, humble as they were, afford- ed the pioneers comfortable and pleasant places of abode.
One of our old settlers has left on record his experiences in a wilderness home which is particularly interesting :
"My father's family was small and be took us all with him to the Miami willerness. The Indian meal which he brought was expended six weeks too soon, so for that time we had to live without bread. The lean venison and the breast of the wild turkey we were taught to call bread. I remember how narrowly we children watched the growth of the potato tops, pumpkin and squash vines, hoping from day to day to get something in place of bread. How delicious was the taste of the young pota- toes when we got them! What a jubilee when we were permitted to pull the young corn for roasting ears! Still more when it acquired hardness to be made into johnny-cakes by the aid of a tin grater. The furniture of the table consisted of a few pewter dishes, plates and speons, but mostly of water bowls, trenchers and nog- gins. If these last were scarce, gourds and hard-shell squashes made up the deficiency.
"'I well remember the first time I ever saw a tea eup and saucer. After the death of my mother, which sad event took place when I was seven or eight years of age, my father sent me away to school. I stopped at a tavern which was plastered on the inside, both as to the walls and ceiling. I had no idea there was a house in the whole world that was not built of logs-the tavern was a stone affair-but I looked around and could see no joists. Whether such a house had been built by the hands of man or had grown up of itself I could not con- jecture. I had not the courage to inquire anything about it. When supper came my confusion was worse con- founded. A little eup stood in a bigger one with some brownish stuff in it whieb was neither milk, hominy or broth. What to do with these little cups and the spoons belonging to them I did not know and I was afraid to ask anything concerning them."
In the winter evenings around the fire blazing on the hearth would congregate the
family, the mother engaged in making or mending the clothes of the household, while the father was shaping an axe handle, a hickory broom, or perhaps repairing the moccasins for himself and boys. The chil- dren cracking nuts or studying their les- sons, while at their feet stretched out upon the hearth quietly slept the faithful wateli- dog, the guardian of the place, an indis- pensable acquisition to the pioneer home. A lurid flame from the long-nosed iron lamp, filled with melted bear's grease, min- gling with the bright firelight, made cheer- ful the surroundings of this happy group.
In these pioneer homes there was always a cheerful welcome for the new comer. There was little room for envy, jealousy and hatred, which are the cause for so much human misery in the older commu- nities. As a natural consequence the pio- neers were, as a rule, true Christians. It was this abiding confidence in an all-wise Providence that enabled them to bear up under the many trials and tribulations through which they were called upon to pass.
The early settlers of Miami County were plain in their attire. Their garments were manufactured at home and from flax and wool, as cotton then was comparatively scarce. The immigrants from the South wore goods of cotton, but those who came from the East could not be so favored. The latter had to depend on wool and flax. A lady's linsey dress would often last through the second summer for then style seldom changed. The pioneers were con- tent with what they had. The making of the family clothing gave employment to the female portion of it and led to habits of economy among them. Men in the winter time wore light Indigo blue linsey, and now
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HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY
and then was seen a hunter in buckskin and moccasins. As has been said, the girls of the pioneer families were industrious. They were early taught industrious and economical habits by careful mothers. In this connection a page from the diary of a pioneer miss is given to show what could be accomplished by the willing hands of the grandmothers of the past :
"Fixed gown for Prude-Mended mothi- er's riding hood-Spun short thread- Fixed two gowns for the Welsh girls- Carded tow-Spun linen-Worked on cheese basket-Hatchel'd flax with Han- nah; we did 5 lbs-Pleated and ironed- Read a sermon of Doddridge's-Spooled a piece-Spun a piece-Milked the cows- Spun linen, did 50 knots-Made a broom of wheat straw-Spun thread to whiten-Set a red dye-Had two scholars from Mrs. Taylor's-Carded two pounds of whole wool and felt nationally-Spun harness twine-Scoured the pewter."
Girls of this sort made excellent wives. The young miss also tells of washing, cook- ing, knitting, weeding the garden, picking geese, etc., and of visits to neighbors. She dipped candles in the spring and made soap in the autumn. This latter was a bur- densome business, but the soft soap was important for home use. Even before they could spin the pioneer girls of Miami County were taught to knit as soon as their little hands could hold the needles. Some- times girls of six could knit stockings. Boys often had to knit their own suspend- ers. All the stockings and mittens for the family were made in large numbers. To knit a pair of mittens was a sharp and long day's work. A story is told of a pioneer boy in Spring Creek Township who came home one night and said that
he had lost his mittens in the woods while chopping wood. His sister ran to a bundle of wool in the garret, carded and spun a big hank that night. It was racked and seoured the next morning and in twenty- four hours from the time the brother an- nounced his loss he had a fine new pair of double mitts.
Another occupation which obtained among the girls of pioneer days was that of quilting. There was not then the variety of colors to be had now and it took no little ingenuity to make the product of the quilt- ing frame a showy one. There was one satisfactory condition in the work and that was the quality of the cottons and linens of which the patchwork was made. They were none of the slimsy composition- filled, aniline-dyed calicoes of to-day. A piece of "chaney," "patch," and "copper plate" a hundred years old will be as fresh to-day as when woven. A sense of the idealization of quilt piecing is given also by the quaint descriptive names applied to the various patterns. Of these the "Ris- ing Sun," "Log Cabin," and "Job's Trou- ble" were perhaps the most favored. There were many "quilting bees" during early times and they were great affairs, looked forward to with much interest. More than one resident of the county has heard his grandmother describe them. Not only were the girls taught to quilt, but they were ini- tiated into the mysteries of the spinning- wheel. Their deft fingers were ever busy and all became experts at the various occu- pations that pertained to the comforts of the family.
If such were the useful occupations of the girls, what did the boys do? Like their sisters they were raised to habits of indus- try, frugality and self-reliance, and were
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