USA > Ohio > Delaware County > Century history of Delaware County, Ohio and representative citizens 20th > Part 93
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still dark and cloudy. They broke camp at an early hour, and before they had traveled one mile drops of rain began to fall and soon it was raining quite hard and the prairie was be- coming quite muddy. Captain Mosley, Buck, Lobo, the extra man and the cook, sought shelter in the wagons, while the ox-drivers and the Indian walked on in the rain.
While the Captain and Lobo were busy talking, Buck was seated in front on a package of goods looking out into the rain. After a short time, Captain Mosley came to the front of the wagon and seated himself on some goods. His face wore an uneasy expression. He said, "Well, Buck, how are you making it sitting here in silence this rainy day ?" ""Cap- tain." was the answer. "I do not think i will ever learn to travel on the plains, although when I was four or five years old I was con- sidered equal to a pig in traveling in the woods. Now here I am with an Indian guide at our head-and I have heard that they were the best guides in the workl and can always strike their point under any circumstances --. and I have been sitting here all the morning looking out in front, with my eye on the guide, and my mind wholly on the run of our travel, and it does seem to me that we have been steadily swinging to the left, and are now headed to the north of the place we came from this morning. I have never felt so com- pletely lost in my life." The Captain said, "Buck, you are right ; that damned Indian has turned us around, and I am going to get out and do some guiding myself." The French- man said. "That Indi-on is one good gui-ced. Hle was raised on the prai-rec, and he does know where he does go." "i do not care what he knows, 1 am going to get out and guide this outfit." By the time he had alighted from the wagon, the Indian had stopped and was look- ing at the ground. When Mosley came up to him he was standing as still as a mile-post, and gazing at the tracks they had made an hour or two before. The Captain turned the outfit around to a southerly direction and headed to- ward the Ninnesqua, and the Indian crawled into a wagon and covered his head with a blanket. When they had gone about a mile, it
stopped raining and the sun came out. Mosley threw his blue blanket on the ground, mo- tioning to the teamsters to pick it up and con- tinued on. As Buck was tired of riding, lie jumped out of the wagon and started on at a rapid pace to overtake Mosley. By the time he caught up with him they were at the banks of the Ninnesqua, and Mosley was looking for a place to stop for the night. After locating the camp, they were busily engaged in gather- ing wood. The sun was still shining. but low. They had a fire burning when the wagons came up. Coffee was soon made and the cook was occupied in making bread. Each man had his piece of buffalo meat cooking in d manner to suit himself. This was the second day out from the post, and they were only twenty-five miles away. When they had fin- ished supper the sun had set. it was growing dark, the wind had shifted to the northwest and the air was getting quite cold. The stars were shining and everything was wet with dew, and the silence of the night was soon broken by the keen sharp yelling of the coyotes and the low mournful howl of the big gray wolves. In the morning there was a heavy white frost on the vegetation, appar- ently the first frest of the season.
.After supper the Indian had crawled out of the wagon and walking to the camp said, "I know where I am now, our camp is about five miles (holding up the fingers of one hand to indicate the number ) from the place. Mr. In- dian now acted as guide. As we reached the summit of the elevated prairie, we could see vast herds of horses grazing on the descend- ing prairie, and farther on could be seen small clumps of trees, which were at the head of a small stream called Shumacusse. This was the long looked-for camp, and the first Indian Indian camp Buck was ever in. In this camp could be seen Indians from the smallest pappoose in a parted raw-hide baby-cage sus- pended from the limb of a tree up to the big lazy buck sunning himself on the south side of a hill. Buck made himself useful in assisting the Captain in measuring out merchandise. Many times during the day the Captain and he were invited into the lodges of the chiefs
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and of the noble bloods for a feast, which in- vitation could not be refused without insulting the Indian. The cook, the extra man and the teamsters were invited into the lodge of Lobo and the other lodges of low rank. Lobo was living with an inferior looking old squaw, and though he had lived many years with the In- dians, he seemed to be of low rank in the vil- lage. By evening the cargo was very much reduced. When the cargo from a wagon was removed, the cover and bows were laid aside and the bed of the wagon was filled with buf- falo robes, piled up until the top of the load projected over the sides and from there up would be ten feet wide and seven feet high. there being many hundred robes in the pile. Trading had about ceased when night came 011. Bon-fires were being kindled. Small brush was gathered and saturated with buffalo tallow, and these when set on fire produced a brilliant light. As the fire began to burn, one could see the numerous warriors taking from their belts a small sack containing red, yellow and black paint, and a small looking-glass in- serted in a board handle like a hair brush. In the morning the wagons were started back with the cargo. Mosely and Buck remaining in the camp. They were gone about four days. and by the time they returned, the entire stock of merchandise was sold out. The return cargo consisted of buffalo tallow and robes, dressed buckskin and robes. Mosley was to guide the outfit back. He stayed in just about one foot behind Buck, and every once in a while would ask, "Where are we going now ?" Buck would reply, "I think you are about right." and then conversation would be re- sumed.
After they had been back at the post a few days, an outfit was rigged up for a wolf hun. Flour, coffee, sugar, dried fruit, beans, for the men, and a large stock of strychnine for am- munition for the wolves. The party consisted of Ashby, Engal. Condit. Hayden, Moffit and Wigton. When the party was ready, Mosley said, "If you are attacked, Ashley, you are Captain of this outfit, and I will expect every man to be under your command. Buck, you are the guide of this party, and Ashley, I want
you to understand that he is the guide of the party. Buck, you go south to the Cimron ( Cimarron ), and if you cannot find plenty of wolves there, go up the Cimron until you do find them."
It took six days to reach the Cimarron, and then there were no buffalo or wolves. They started slowly up the stream until they reached the salt plain country. There they found plenty of wolves and made a grand hunt. The party got over a thousand wolf skins. Each man got one-half of what he made, the Cap- tain furnishing all supplies, except fire arms and blanket. Baits poisoned with strychnine were set about dusk at evening for the wolves. One day on reaching camp. it was discovered that the Indians had been there, cut the tents and cut up the wagon and pitched it into the stream. They had taken all the provisions, So the party started back to the trading post. The third day they were going a little north of east, and when they reached a certain point a dissension arose as to the direction they should take. The party broke up, different ones go- ing in the direction they thought right, only Moffit, the youngest man in the party remain- ing with Buck, the official guide. They reached Mosley on the fourth day, having had nothing to eat since the morning of the day they started back, except a few black walnuts which they had found on the evening of the third day. When Mosley saw them, he said. "What the devil are you doing there?" "We have been robbed by the Indians." "llave they killed the men?" "No, the men left me at the Minnesqua." "Well. that's a devil of a note : which way did they go?" He was told the direction taken by the different men. It was several days before the balance of the party staggered into camp one and two at a time, and most of them with badly frozen limbs. In the interval Mr. Wigton spent two clays with an oll hunter, James Dewit.
Early in 1861, a party came down off the Cimarron River, to the trading post, report- ing that two of their party. Shaw and Green. had been killed by the Indians. Mr. Wigton with Mr. Ashby and Mr. Ingle, went in search and found Shaw's body, which had been
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scalped, but Green's body was never recoy- ered. In a few days, Mr. Wigton and his companions returned to the post and shortly afterward Captain Mosley went back to his residence on Fall River, twenty-five miles east of Eureka, Butler County, Kansas. Mr. Wig- ton there raised some recruits to pursue the In- (lians, who had a council and camp at the mouth of Fall River. It was this camp that Mr. Wigton and Mr. Ingle raided, carrying off the Indian horses to Leroy, where they re- mained a few days, when Captain Mosley came with his ox-train of hides, to ship to St. Louis from Leavenworth. When the trader reached St. Louis they found that city in an uproar, and Captain Mosley could not sell his cargo and left Mr. Wigton in charge, while he went to Peoria, Illinois. Subsequently, Mr. Wigton placed the cargo of hides on a boat and shipped the same to Peoria, where Mr. Mosley traded the most of them for corn, which he shipped to Kansas.
Mr. Wigton then left Captain Mosley and went to Michigan. He also visited Chicago, and then returned to Leavenworth. going thence to Denver, from which city he went back to Leavenworth with a four-mule team. in preparation for entering the Government transportation service. He remained at dif- ferent points in Kansas and Nebraska until June, 1862, when he started south with the first and second Indian regiments to Fort Scott, where he was employed in handling transportation. He was a member of the no- ted Colonel Coffey expedition and in Decem- ber. 1862, participated in the fight at Perry Grove, later at White River, and at Spring- field, Missouri, in March, 1863, after which he returned to Fort Scott. In the fall of this vear he went to Fort Smith to pass the winter.
Up to January, 1865, when Mr. Wigton reached Leavenworth again, his life was one round of dangerous adventure and on several occasions he was the only member of his party who entirely es- caped injury. He remained in the service of the Government until October, 1865, when he was honorably discharged, having spent the previous summer putting up hay on the plains.
He remained at Fort Scott, engaged in a traf- fic business for a time and then went down into the Indian Nation, with Chester Tuttle, of Topeka. He remained variously engaged on the frontier of Kansas, until 1875, and then went into Western Texas, and in the spring of 1879, from there to Las Vegas, New Mexico. A few days later he went to Fort Union, in the Government employ. under Captain Hooker, as chief packer on the Apache expedition and remained out in the transportation service until September, a number of the men and horses of the troop being killed in the mean- while. He remained at Las Vegas also as in- terpreter for Obirn & Hosick, of Chicago, dealers in hides. In 1882, he made a prospect- ing trip west of Las Vegas for coal and worked a coal bank that would have been profitable if transportation facilities had been near. Mr. Wigton then built a small mill near Mineral Hill and he also often served as a guide to tourists in the mountains, who visited the Mineral Hill Resort, which is 10,000 feet above sea level.
The time came, however, when Mr. Wig- ton felt a longing for the scenes of his early life and he came back home in February. 1896. lle is a member of Lodge No 421. Odd Fellows, at Ashley, Ohio. In politics, he is a Democrat. He is engaged in the milling busi- ness at the old Beaver Mill, which he owns. Ile speaks Spanish, keeping himself in prac- tice by reading aloud to himself Spanish pa- pers. He also speaks four Indian tongues.
K. WYLIE, proprietor of a flourishing hoop and stave manufactory at Dela- ware, is a son of Abraham P. and Sarah E. ( McConnell) Wylie, and a grandson, on the paternal side, of Robert and Elizabeth ( Patterson) Wylie. The grandparents were early settlers in Logan County, Ohio, Robert Wylie being an industri- ous and successful farmer. They professed the faith of the old Scotch Covenanters and were earnest Christian people.
Abraham Patterson Wylie, son of Robert
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and father of the subject of this article, was born in Richland Township. Logan County, Ohio, and is now living ( 1908) at the age of 67 years. He has followed the trade of lum- berman all his life. During the Civil War he served in the One Hundred and Thirty- second Ohio Volunteer Infantry. After its close he became proprietor of a portable saw- mill. About 1883 he located at Bell Center. where he was engaged in the milling business until the spring of 1904. He is now a resident of Lawrence County. Tennessee, and is still actively engaged in business pursuits. His wife Sarah, who was a native of Pennsylvania. dlied about five years ago at the age of 63. She bore her husband two children-J. K., born January 2. 1869, who is the subject of the present notice : and Margaret B., who is now the widow of J. C. Todd. of Lawrenceburg. Tennessee. Mr. Wylie's parents, like his grandparents, were members of the Covenant- ers' Church.
J. K. Wylie was educated in the district school. When old enough to enter the in- dustrial ranks, he began to learn the milling business with his father, and by application and industry he gradually acquired a very thorough knowledge of it. In 1904 he started in the business for himself in Wyandotte County, Ohio, where he continued until De- cember. 1906. He then purchased his present plant in Delaware of Keyes & Worlogs, of New York City, and has since taken rank among the prosperous manufacturers of the county. He has doubled the capacity of the plant, manufacturing about thirty thousand hoops and thirty-six thousand staves daily, and shipping his product to all parts of the coun- try. He gives employment to about 30 men on an average, and has worked up such a large and profitable business connection, that he no longer has occasion to advertise. His goods command a steady market, and he never has any difficulty in disposing of all that he can produce. He is one of those who act up to the maxim-"Push your business and your busi- ness will push you." He shows an intelligent interest in local affairs, though without caring to take office.
Mr. Wylie married Mary E., daughter of William and Sarah Stough, of Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio, and has two children- William A. and Dwight G. The family are members of the United Presbyterian Church at Belle Centre.
ON. EMMETT MELVILLE WICK- HAM, Common Pleas judge for the First Sub-division of the Sixth Ju- dicial District, embracing Delaware, Knox and Licking Counties, was born in Genoa Township, Delaware County, Ohio. October 29. 1859, son of Kitridge Havens and Marinda Rose ( Sebring) Wickham.
He is a descendant, in the eighth genera- tion, of Thomas Wickham, born in England in 1624, who settled in Weathersfield. Con- nectient. in 1648, becoming a freeman 10 years later. He followed the occupation of merchant and was a man of some prominence. His death is believed to have occurred about the year 1690. His wife, whose given name was Sarah, died in January, 1700.
Joseph Wickham, son of Thomas, through whom the present line descends, was born in Weathersfield, Connecticut, in 1662. He was a tanner and land owner and quite wealthy for his day. He married Sarah Satterlee, of Southampton, Long Island, in which locality he settled about the time of the marriage. He was at Southampton as early as 1698, and at that time had one child-Joseph. Later he re- moved to Southold, where he received land in return for setting up a tannery, which he agreed to run for seven years. He was one of a company organized to repel a threatened invasion of Dutch settlers from New York, which, however, did not take place. At the time of his death he owned Robin's Island, comprising 400 acres. He died in 1734. His wife died previous to 1725. They had five sons and one daughter, of whom the youngest son, Jonathan, comes next in the present line of descent. Joseph bequeathed his lands to his eldest son. Joseph, Jr., and also stated in his will. "I bequeath to my daughter. Elizabeth, i
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my mulatto girl until she shall arrive at the age of 30 years, when it is my will that she shall have her freedom." Elizabeth married the son of the Lord of the manor of Gardiner's Island, which lies east of Long Island. lle gave to his four youngest sons the rents and profits of certain lands for a certain number of years, which had been bequeathed to Joseph. In 1740 the four younger sons leit Long Island and went up the Hudson River. Two of them-William and Samuel-settled in Orange County, New York, near the site of the present city of Middletown. Benjamin and Jonathan settled in the eastern part of Dutchess County. At the time of the Revohi- tionary War this Jonathan, though living, was too okl to serve.
Jonathan Wickham, son of the Jonathan . above mentioned, and great-great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born in Dutchess County, and was a member of the "Associated Exempt" during the Revolution- ary War. He was twice married. His second wife, through whom the present line of descent was continued, was Susan, daughter of Robert Wilkinson. AAfter the Revolutionary War Jonathan and his family left Dutchess County and settled at Plattsburg, New York, where he followed his trade of miller, conducting the first mill established at that place. Here a gloom was cast over the family by the murder of his wife's father, Robert Wilkinson, who had accompanied them to Plattsburg. While returning from Dutchess County, where he had gone to collect money or dispose of property. Mr. Wilkinson was knocked from his horse by desperadoes, robbed and murdered. His body was found in a small stream of water by the roadside. A son of Jonathan Wick- ham by his first wife, and also named Jona- than, organized a posse and traced the mur- derers to Canada. where they were captured. Being brought back to Plattsburg, they were there tried. convicted, and hanged. Jonathan and Susan ( Wilkinson) Wickham had nine children-six sons and three daughters-of whom the second son. Ahaz. comes next in the genealogical line now under consideration.
Ahaz Wickham learned the trade of mil-
ler under his father. When he was about 20 years old he moved to okd Saratoga, now Schuylerville. New York. This was about 1802. At Saratoga he married Eunice Welch, and they became the parents of 12 children, six sons and six daughters. In January, 1849. his wife died at Middle Grove, Saratoga County, and he went to Schroon Lake, where he had a son living. Here he remained, re- siding with his son, until his own death, which took place in January, 1859.
His wife, Eunice, was a daughter of Jo- seph and Eunice Welch, the former of whom was living at Richmond, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, at the outbreak of the Revolu- tionary War. He was captured by Indians and remained a prisoner in their hands for a year before making his escape. He took part in the fight at Bunker Hill, being first lieutenant of his company. Subsequently serving in the expedition against Canada, he was there cap- tured by the English and Indians and was taken to Halifax, where he was kept on board a British prison ship for nine months. He was then parolled and sent to Boston, where he resided until 1781. He died at old Saratoga in 1825, his wife passing away two years later.
Asa Wickham, son of Ahaz and grand- father of Hon. Emmett M. Wickham, was born March 29, 1803. in old Saratoga. When a hoy he worked under his father in the mill, but on reaching the age of 12 he was appren- ticed to learn the shoemaker's trade, which he subsequently followed more or less all his life. He also acquired the trade of basket-making. and was engaged to some extent in tanning. conducting a small tan-yard in connection with his shoe-making. During his apprenticeship, when he was about 16 or 17, having received a whipping with a strap. he ran away from his master and returned home, where his mother, a woman of stout frame and strong character, kept and protected him. At Schroon Lake, in 1823, he met and married Sarah Wiswell, their union being solemnized in De- cember of that year. They had nine children -four sons and five daughters. In May, 1834, the family migrated to Ashtabul
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County, Ohio, making the journey from Sche- nectady to Buffalo by the Erie Canal, and thence to Ashtabula County. Here they resided for two years, Mr. Wickham being engaged in shoemaking. In the spring of 1836 they moved again, this time to Black Lick, Franklin County, in which place they were located for 15 years. Then, in the spring of 1851. they made their last migration, coming to Dela- ware County and settling in Genoa Township. where Asa Wickham died, after a long, in- dustrious and well spent life, on April 23. 1888. The last 37 years of his life had been spent in Genoa Township, where he was gen- erally esteemed as a good and useful citizen. well endowed with intelligence, industry and perseverance. During his residence in New York State he was connected with the militia. in Essex County, serving in the capacity of drummer.
His wife. Sarah, was a daughter of Moses and Keziah ( Woods ) Wiswell. Her father. a native of Shoreham. Vermont. removed to Schroon Lake, Essex County, New York. His wife Keziah was a daughter of Joseph and Keziah (Goddard) Woods, who were natives of Massachusetts and later lived in Vermont. Joseph Woods was a minute man in the Revo- lutionary War and was a resident of Boston at the time of the battle of Lexington, Bunker Hill and Saratoga, in which he participated. He died October 12. 1807, and was buried at Sudbury, Vermont.
Among the children of Asa was Kitridge Havens, who has been mentioned at the be- ginning of this sketch as the father of its di- rect subject. He was born at Crown Point. Essex County, New York. September 16. 1833. Like his father, he became a master of several trades, being a shoemaker, basket- maker, and stone cutter. He took up the last mentioned trade about 1875. the two other trades he had acquired having by that time become unprofitable. He came to Delaware County in the fall of 1850. and removed to Delaware City in 1892. Like his progenitors in the paternal line for several generations back. he was a Democrat in politics. In 1890 he was elected justice of the peace, having
previously served as constable. His death took place December 18, 1899.
On January 9. 1859, he was married to Marinda R. Sebring, who bore him three chil- dren. namely : Emmett Melville, whose name begins this article; Myrtie V., wife of George H. Rickner, of Mansfield; and Asa L., who now resides in Genoa Township. The mother of these children, who was a member of the Baptist Church, was born June 9. 1834, and died February 11, 1907. She was a daughter of Josiah and Sarah ( Adams) Sebring, and a granddaughter of Fulkard Sebring, of Ly- coming County, Pennsylvania, Josiah Se- bring was born in Pennsylvania about 1795. and died in Kosciusko County, Indiana, in the spring of 1870. He was a farmer and settled in Indiana in 1853. Ile had accompanied his father from Pennsylvania to Franklin County, Ohio, in 1810. Three years later they settled in Genoa Township, where the father bought a large tract of uncleared land.
Sarah Adams Sebring, above mentioned, was born in 1796 and died in 1874. She was a daughter of David Adams, a Revolutionary soldier, who enlisted in 1778, when he was but 161/2 years old. After his return from the army he married, at Wilkesbarre. Pennsyl- vania. Elizabeth, daughter of Rulif and Mary Fischer, of Amsterdam, Holland. In 1814 he brought his family to Harlem Township. Delaware County, and he resided here until his death. His wife Elizabeth died in 1854. when in her 89th year.
Emmett Melville Wickham acquired his elementary education in the township schools. which he attended until he was twenty years of age. In the spring of 1880 he secured 1 teacher's certificate and began to teach in his home district, where he continued for three months. He continued in the occupation of teaching in Delaware County for 12 years. In the fall of 1880 he began the study of law. and he was admitted to the Bar December 3. 1891. by the Supreme Court of Ohio. In the following June he gave up teaching and in September. 1902. entered the office of Hon. F. M. Marriott, with whom three years later he formed a partnership under the firm name
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