Centennial history of Belmont County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part 6

Author: McKelvey, A. T., 1844- ed
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1490

USA > Ohio > Belmont County > Centennial history of Belmont County, Ohio, and representative citizens > Part 6

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SUPERSTITIONS OF THE PIONEER AGE.

"The belief in witchcraft was prevalent among the early settlers of the Western Country. To the witch was ascribed the `power of inflicting strange and incurable dis- eases, particularly of children; of destroying cattle by shooting them with hair balls, and a great variety of other means of destruction ; of inflicting spells and curses on guns, and other things; and lastly, of changing men into horses, and after driving and saddling them, riding them in full speed over hill and dale to their frolics, and other places of ren- dezvous. Wizards were men supposed to possess the same mischievous powers as witches; but these were seldom exercised for bad purposes. The powers of the wizard were exercised almost exclusively for the pur- pose of counteracting the malevolent infli- ences of the witches of the other sex. The means by which the witch was supposed to inflict diseases, curses and spells could not be learned; they were sciences which no one was supposed to understand except the witch herself. Diseases which could neither be ac- counted for nor cured were usually ascribed to some supernatural agency of a malignant kind. For the cure of the diseases inflicted by witchcraft, the picture of the supposed witch was drawn on a stump or piece of board and shot at with a bullet containing a little

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.

bit of silver. This silver bullet transferred a painful and sometimes a mortal spell on that part of the witch corresponding with the part of the portrait struck by the bullet. The witch had but one way of relieving her- self from any spell inflicted on her in any way, which was that of borrowing something of a family to which the subject of the exer- cise of her witchcraft belonged. When cat- tle or dogs were supposed to be under the influence of witchcraft they were burned in the forehead by a branding iron, or when dead burned wholly to ashes. This inflicted a spell upon the witch which could only be removed by borrowing as above stated.

"Witches were often said to milk the cows of their neighbors. This they did by fixing a new pin in a new towel for each cow in- tended to be milked. This towel was hung over her own door and by the means of cer- tain incantations the milk was extracted from the fringes of the towel after the man- ner of milking a cow."

CHANGES IN THE WEATHER.

Since the settlement of our country great changes have taken place in our weather sys- ten1. Doddridge says: "These changes have been so gradual that it is no easy task to de- scribe them. For many years we scarcely ever had a single warm night during the whole summer. At the first settlement of the country, the evenings were cool and the mornings frequently uncomfortably cold. The coldness of the nights was owing to the deep shade of the forest trees which every- where covered the ground.

"At sundown the air began to become damp and cool, and continued to increase in coldness until warmed by the sunshine of the succeeding day.

"Our summers in early times were mostly very dry. The beds of our large creeks, ex- cepting in the deep holes, presented nothing but deep rocks.

"The mills were not expected to do any grinding after the end of May. It was a fre-

quent saying among our farmers that three good rains were sufficient to make a crop of corn if they happened at the proper time.

"Hunting snows usually commenced about the middle of October. November was re- garded as a winter month. The winter fre- quently set in with severity that month and sometimes at an earlier period. For a long time after the settlement of the country we had an abundance of snow in comparison to the amount we usually have now. It was no unusual thing to have snows from one to three feet in depth and of long continuance. Our people often became tired of seeing the monotonous aspect of the country so long covered with a deep snow, and longed to see the ground bare once more.

"The labor of getting wood after a deep fall of snow and opening of the roads was in the highest degree disagreeable. A tree when fallen was literally buried in the snow, so that the driver of the horses had to plunge the whole length of his arm into it to get the log chain around the butt end of the trees in order to haul it home. The depth of the snows, the extreme cold and length of our winters, were indeed distressing to the first settlers, who were but poorly provided with clothing, and whose cabins were mostly very open and uncomfortable. Getting wood, making fires, feeding the stock, going to the mill, were considered sufficient employment for any family, and truly those labors left them but little time for anything else. As our roads in early times did not admit of the use of sleighis, the only sport we had in the time of a deep snow was that of racing about on the crust on its surface. This was formed by a slight thaw, succedeed by a severe frost. On this crust we could haul our logs and brush, and owing to great drifts of snow in many places, over the highest fences. These crusts were often fatal to the deer. Wolves, dogs and men could pursue them withont breaking through the crust. The deer on the contrary, when pursued, owing to the smallness of their hoofs, always broke through it, unless when it was uncommonly

CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF BELMONT COUNTY,

hard. The hunters never killed the deer in the dead of winter, as their skins and flesh was then of but little value. On the whole, although the same variable system of weather continued, our springs were formerly some- what colder, and accompanied with more snow than they are now. But the change in these respects is not favorable to vegetation, as our late springs are uniformly followed by the most fruitful seasons. It is the law of the vegetable world that the longer the vegetative principle is delayed, the more rapid when put in motion. From this it appears that our seasons have already undergone great and important changes. Our summers are much warmer, our falls much milder and longer, and our winters shorter by at least one month and accompanied with much less snow and cold than formerly. What causes have affected these changes in our system of weather, and what we may reasonably sup- pose will be the extent of this revolution we can only conjecture."

THE HORRORS OF SLAVERY.

The horrors of slavery as practiced in pio- neer days and in the slave State adjoining Belmont County, is but little understood by the people of this generation and in this free State. When Dr. Doddridge lost his mother he was placed under the care of relations in Maryland for the purpose of being sent to school. The Doctor says: "When I arrived there I was in a new world. I had left the backwoods behind me. I had exchanged its rough manners and poor living for the build- ings, plenty, and polish of civilized life. My residence was in a neighborhood were slaves and convicts were numerous and where tor- tures inflicted upon them had become the occurrences of almost every day, so that they were viewed with indifference by the popu- lation of the neighborhood as matters of course.

"Thus it is that custom reconciles linman nature with all its native sympathies to the grossest barbarities and hardens the heart

against the most intense suffering of a fel- low creature. Not so with me who never had witnessed such tortures. I had not been long in my new habitation before I witnessed a scene which I shall never forget. A serv- ant accused of some trivial offense was doomed to the whip, tied with his arms ex- tended upwards to the limb of a tree, a bundle of hickories were thrown down before him, and he was ordered to look at them and told that they should all be worn out on him and a great many more, if he did not make a confession of the crime charged against him. The operation began by tucking up the shirt over his head so as to leave the back and shoulders naked. The master then took two of the hickories in his hand and by forward and backhanded strokes, each of which sounded like a wagon whip, and ap- plied with the utmost rapidity and with his whole muscular strength. In a few seconds the lacerated shoulders of the poor miserable sufferer were covered with not less than 50 scourges, so that in a little time the whole of his shoulders had the appearance of a mass of blood, streams of which soon began to flow down his back and sides; he then made a confession of his fault. A fault not worth naming, but this did not save him from further torture. He had put his mas- ter to the trouble of whipping him and he must have a little more. His trousers were then unbuttoned and suffered to fall about his feet; two hickories were selected from the bundle and were so applied that in a short time his posteriors like his shoulders exhibited nothing but laceration and blood. A consultation was then held between the master and the bystanders, who had been cooly looking on, in which it was humancly concluded that 'he had got enough.'

"A basin of brine and a cloth were ordered to be brought, and with this his stripes were washed, or salted, as they called it. During this operation the suffering wretch writhed and groaned as if in the agonies of death. ITe was then untied and told to go home, and mistress would tell him what to do.

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From this scene of torture I went home with a heavy heart and wished myself in the back- woods again. It frequently happened that torture was inflicted upon slaves and con- victs in a more protracted manner than in that above described. When the victim of cruelty was doomed by his master to receive the lash several of his neighbors were called on for their assistance. They attended at the time and place appointed.

"A jug of rum and water was provided for the occasion. After the trembling wretch was brought forward and tied up, the num- ber of lashes which he was to receive was de- termined on by lot or otherwise, and it was decided who should begin the operation; this done, the torture commenced; at the conclusion of the first course, the operator pretending great weariness, called for a drink of rum and water, in which he was joined by the company.

"A certain time was allowed for the sub- ject of their cruelty to cool, as they called it. When the allotted time had expired, the next one took his turn, and in like manner ended with a drink and so on until the ap- pointed number of lashes were all imposed. This operation lasted several hours, some- times half a day, at the conclusion of which the sufferer, with his hands swollen with the cords, was unbound and suffered to put on his shirt. His executioners, to whom the operation was rather a frolic than otherwise, returned home from the scene of their labors, half drunk.

"Another method of punishment still more protracted than this, was that of dooming a

slave to receive so many lashes, during sev- eral days in succession; each of those whip- pings excepting the first was called 'tickling up the old scabs.' Female servants, both white and black, were subjected to the whip in common with the males. Having to pass through the yard of a neighbor on the way to school it happened that on going my usual route on a cold snowy morning, when I came within view of the house, I was much surprised at seeing a naked woman standing at the whipping post, and her master with a hickory in his hand. When I got to the place I stopped to see what was going on; after the woman had received a certain num- ber of lashes, a female black slave was or- dered from the kitchen, stripped, and fast- ened by the irons of the whipping post, her scars exhibiting the stripes and corrugations of former years. Both these women had handkerchiefs tied around their eyes to pre- vent them from seeing when the blow was coming. The hickory used by this man was a forked one twisted together and tied. A hickory of this kind, owing to the inequlity of its surface, gives the greater pain. With this he scourged the backs of these two women alternately, but for what length of time I do not know; being shocked at the sight, I hurried on to school and left the master at his work. I might here. relate many other methods of torture, of which I have been an eye witness, among these people, such as the thumb screw, sweating, the birch, and etc., but it is enough; the heart sickens at such cruelties."

CHAPTER III.

CIVIL GOVERNMENT.

ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY-PROCLAMATION OF GOVERNOR ST. CLAIR-THE FIRST COUNTY SEAT-THE FIRST COURT-THE FIRST ELECTION PRECINCTS-THE FIRST CONSTABLES AND ELECTION SUPERVISORS-A UNIQUE WAY OF RAISING MONEY -- THE FIRST MEETING OF THE SUPREME COURT IN BELMONT COUNTY-A BIT OF UNWRITTEN HISTORY-A TRIBUTE TO GOVERNOR ST. CLAIR-COUNTY SEAT RE- MOVED TO ST. CLAIRSVILLE-THE FIRST MURDER TRIAL-BOUNTIES-THE FIRST COURT HOUSE AND GAOL-THE EVOLUTION OF THE TOWNSHIPS.

ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY.

At the time of the adoption of the ordinance of 1787, Belmont County was only a part of the great undivided territory of the Northwest. Of this ordinance a distinguished attorney has said it was the most remarkable political docu- ment, with the possible exception of the Delcara- tion of Independence, ever produced by unin- spired men. The declared purpose of the ordi- nance was to fix and establish the principles of civiland religious government as the basis of all law. Knowledge, morality and religion were declared to be necessary for good government and the happiness of all the people and it was accordingly ordained that schools and all other means of education should be encouraged. Thus was laid early and deep the foundation of our common school system and higher edu- cational institutions throughout the great Northwest. Among the other beneficent pro- visions of that great ordinance were justice and taxation, the integrity of private contracts and good faith towards the native Indians. Human slavery was also forever forbidden in all that great territory 87 years before the curse was stricken from our national Constitution.

The Continental Congress that enacted the or- dinance of 1787, providing for the govern- ment of the Northwest Territory, was presided over by General St. Clair, who was subsequent- ly made governor of the new territory and ar- rived at Marietta in July 1788, to assume the duties of his office. One of his first official acts was to establish the county of Washing- ton that embraced nearly all the territory now within the boundary of the State of Ohio. In the division and subdivision of this gigantic county, there arose much conflict and strife be- tween Governor St. Clair and the Legislature, by reason of which I of the 30 bills passed by the first General Assembly were rejected by the Governor because many of these bills pro- vided for the erection of new counties and the Governor held that that prerogative rested sole- ly with him. He charged, furthermore, that land speculators sought the erection of new counties for corrupt purposes, and the Gover- nor maintained this contention until it led to his removal by President Thomas Jefferson in 1802. Prior to this, Governor St. Clair estab . lished Jefferson County, which included all of the territory now embraced in Belmont County, except Kirkwood and Somerset townships, and

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a portion of Flushing township; subsequently Jefferson County was again subdivided and with the addition of lands from Washington County, the county of Belmont (the beauti- ful mountains) was organized November 7, 1801. This was the 10th county of Ohio in the order of establishment and the last county created before the admission of Ohio into the Union.

PROCLAMATION OF GOVERNOR ST. CLAIR.

The proclamation of Governor St. Clair creating Belmont County reads as follows : TERRITORY OF THE UNITED STATES, )

NORTH WEST OF THE OHIO, )

By Arthur St. Clair, governor of the territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio. Whereas, in my proclamation erecting the county of Belmont bearing date 7th day of September last a mistake, to- wit: the word north instead of west in the description of one of the boundaries crept into the press copy. To rectify the same and remove all doubts about the boun- daries of said county of Belmont, I have issued this my present proclamation, hereby declaring that the lines of boundary shall begin as in the aforesaid proclama- tion on the Ohio River at the middle of the fourth township of the second range of townships in the seven ranges and running with the line between the third and fourth sections of the said township, counting from the township line, but which are numbered 16 and 17 upon the map produced west to the western boundary of the said seven ranges ; thence south with the said west- ern boundary to the middle of the fifth township in the seventh range; thence east to the Ohio River where the line between the ninth and tenth section of the third township in the third range intersects the same, and thence with the Ohio River to the place of beginning, and the said lines as above described are hereby de- clared to be the lines and limits of boundary of the county of Belmont and are the same which were in- tended to be established by the aforesaid proclamation.

Given under my hand, and seal of the territory, at Cincinnati, the 13th day of November, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and one, and of the independence of the United States, the twenty- sixth.

AR. ST. CLAIR.

THE FIRST COUNTY SEAT.

After the issuance of the above, the county seat was established at a little village called Pultney, that was laid out by Daniel McElher- ren, August 22, 1799, after a sharp contest with the village of Jefferson, now Martin's Ferry,

laid out by Absolem Martin, in 1795. Pultney was located about one mile below Bellaire, and Jefferson is now the prosperous city of Mar- tin's Ferry.

THE FIRST COURT.

Held in Belmont County convened in the home of Jacob Repshire, one of the judges in Pult- ney, Tuesday, November 24, 1801. It was a Court of Quarter Sessions, with Judges Daniel McElherren, Jacob Repshire and David Lock- wood on the bench. At this session the first division of the county into townships was enacted. Up to this time the county embraced all the present area of the county, and all the east tier of townships in Guernsey and Noble counties, and nearly all of Monroe County. But this court divided the county into four parallel townships, namely, Kirkwood, Pult- ney, York, and Salem.

The first grand jury consisted of Notley Hayes, Patrick White, John King, Anthony Rizer, Joshua M. Sherry, Thomas Duffield, William Bush, George Barnett, Peter Buzzard, John Wall, Abraham Emerine, Richard Hard- esty, John Lamb, Robert Giffin, Henry Leep, Samuel Barnes, Andrew Miller, and Archi- bald Smith. The distinguished Charles Han- mond was chosen by this court to act as prose- cutor, until his appointment could be confirmed by the Attorney General. Two roads were ordered by this court, namely the construction of a road, under the supervision of Jacob Cole- man, surveyor, between Pultney ( Bellaire) and Newellstown (St. Clairsville) ; and a license for the construction of a road over the Zane Trail, from the river at or near Kirk- wood west through the county, practically along the line of the present National Road. At this term of the court, we also find an entry upon the court journals as follows : "That there be built on the public grounds in the town of Pultney a brick house 35 feet square, two stories high. The first story to be 12 feet in the clear, and the second eight feet in the clear. The same to be occupied as a Court House for this county."

CENTENNIAL HISTORY OF BELMONT COUNTY,

Jacob Repshire, David Lockwood (two of the judges) and Samuel Dille were appointed to purchase material to the amount of $500 for the Court House. And they were subse- quently empowered to make additional pur- chases and employ additional workmen for the speedy completion of the same. Until the new Court House was completed, the court rented a house from Judge Repshire, in which court was held until the new Court House was com- pleted.

THE FIRST ELECTION PRECINCTS.

In 1803, the court appointed an election pre- cinct in each township. Prior to this action of the court, there were but two election pre- cincts in the whole county. One of these was the home of Bassil Israel in Newellstown, now St. Clairsville, and the other in the home of Jacob Repshire in the town of Pultney, near the present city of Bellaire, and to these two distant precincts all the electors of the county assembled. Two years later two more pre- cincts were added. One at the home of Will- iam Congleton in York township, and the other in the home of Robert Latte, in Salem township. And thus the precincts increased in number with the added townships and the increasing population until at the lapse of our first century there were 52 precincts in the county. At the second term of the court held in February, 1802, the following judges were present : David Vance, David Lockwood, Dan- iel McElherren. In response to a call the following grand jury was chosen: Ezra Hall, Peter Wirich, Eben Phillip, John Caldwell, Jolin Nixon, Louis Sherer, John Kidd, John Williams, David Wordly, Matt Hungerford, Alex Duke, Henry Lingo, Robert Russell, Ebe- nezer Smith, Archibald Smith, Ezekiel Boggs, and James Eagleson. At this term of court three indictments were found against Judge Jacob Repshire for assault and battery, but the charges were not sustained and the Judge was acquitted. Judge Repshire~ was one of the magistrates holding court the previous year and was twice indicted at this term for the same

offense, "salt and battery," which was a fre- quent cause of trouble about this time.

THE FIRST CONSTABLES AND ELECTION SU- PERVISORS.

At the same term the following constables and election supervisors were appointed : Kirk- wood township-constables, William Congle- ton and Thomas Richards; supervisors, Thomas Richards, William Boggs, Joshua Hatcher, and James Knowles. Pultney-con- stables, Philip Dover and Joseph Lashley; su- pervisors, Jacob Repshire and David Wherry. York-constable, Samuel Dille; supervisors, John Dille, Ephraim Bates, and Michael Moore.

Much of the county revenue in those days was obtained from licenses; all business firms and places of entertainment were licensed and the fees for license ranged from $2 to $12 per year. At this session of the court, a license was granted Ananias Randall for keeping a house of public entertainment, and Jacob Holtz was licensed to keep a tavern in St. Clairsville.

A UNIQUE WAY OF RAISING MONEY.

The revenues thus derived were not suffi- cient to meet the needs of the people in the construction and maintenance of schools and academies.

The people of St. Clairsville were anxious to build an academy at the county seat that would be an honor to the county, but were unable to raise the money by subscription, or other private enterprises. Whereupon they decided upon the following unique method of raising the funds.

A petition numerously signed by many in- fluential citizens of the county, including ministers of the Gospel, was presented to the Legislature as follows: "To the Honorable the Legislature of the State of Ohio.

"The petition of a number of the citizens of the town of St. Clairsville and the county of Belmont humbly showeth that they labor under many disadvantages for the want of a seminary of learning in that part of the State in which they reside. They further state to

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your honorable body, that they are unable by private enterprise to raise funds for the erec- tion of an academy. From petitions deeining an institution of this kind in that section of the State of immense advantage not only to the citizens of the county aforesaid but to the State in general, we pray your honorable body to pass a law at your present session authoriz- ing a public lottery in the town of St. Clairs- ville in Belmont County to raise the sum of $7,000 for the purpose of erecting a public academy in the town or vicinity of St. Clairs- ville in said county, and your petitioners are in duty bound, etc."

At the same term of the court, it was or- dered that a house on public ground be erected in the town of Pultney 24 by 15 feet, of com- plete hewn logs and shingle roof, strongly built with a log partition across the center to be used as a gaol. This, the first jail of Bel- mont County, was built by Richard Butler at a cost of $165, and was completed on May 26, 1802. Upon August 25th following the court ordered the construction of a "pound" for the imprisonment of the estrays, and this build- ing when completed was 66 feet square and built of posts and rails of good oak timber, a gate hung on iron hinges and secured by a strong lock and key.

THE FIRST MEETING OF THE SUPREME COURT IN BELMONT COUNTY.

We find the first records of the meeting of the Supreme Court on June 28, 1803, at Pult- ney. The presiding judges were Samuel Huntington and William Spriggs, and Elijah Woods was appointed clerk. At this court, Charles Hammond was appointed United States prosecutor, and Daniel Barney was ad- mitted to practice. The work upon the new Court House was not pushed with vigor, and much discontent was expressed because the completion of the jail and pound outstripped it. For this and other reasons, a movement was inaugurated to remove the seat of jus- tice to Newellstown in Richland township. The name of Newellstown in the meantime

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Centennial history of Belmont County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part 6

Author: McKelvey, A. T., 1844- ed Publication date: 1903 Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1490

Author: McKelvey, A. T., 1844- ed
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1490