USA > Ohio > Historical collections of Ohio, containing a collection of the most interesting facts, traditions, biographical sketches, anecdotes, etc., relating to its general and local history : with descriptions of its counties, principal towns, and villages > Part 24
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Concord, 1074
Madison,
765
Union, 1945
Green,
1616
Marion,
879
Wayne, 1540
Jefferson,
1948
Paint, 1212
The population of Fayette, in 1820, was 6,336 ; in 1830, 8,183, and in 1840, 10,979 ; or 26 inhabitants to a square mile.
TWO LPREID
View in Washington.
Washington, the county seat, is on a fork of Paint creek, 43 miles ssw. of Columbus. It contains 1 Presbyterian, 1 Methodist church, 1 academy, 8 mercantile stores, 2 newspaper printing offices, 2 woollen factories, 1 saw and 2 grist mills and 97 dwellings. It was laid out in 1810 as the county seat, on land given for that purpose by Benj. Temple, of Kentucky, out of his survey.
The following are the names of some of the first settlers of this county, viz. : Colonel James Stewart, Jesse Milliken, Wade Loof- borough, Thos. M'Donald, Doctor Thomas M'Gara, John Popejoy, Gen. B. Harrison, Jesse Rowe, John Dewitt, Hamilton and Benjamin Rogers, William Harper, James Hays, Michael Carr, Peter Eyeman, William Snider, Judge Jacob Jamison, Samuel Waddle, James San- derson, and Smith and William Rankin.
Colonel Stewart, at an early date, settled near the site of Bloom- ingburg, about 5 miles northerly from Washington. His untiring industry in improving the country in his vicinity, and the moral influence which he had in the community, will be long remembered. Jesse Milliken was one of the first settlers of Washington, was the first post-master and the first clerk of both the Supreme and Common Pleas Courts of the county, in all of which offices he continued until his death, in Aug., 1835. He was also an excellent surveyor, per- formed much of the first surveying done in the county, and erected some of the first houses built in the town. Wade Loofborough, Esq.,
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FAYETTE COUNTY.
was one of the first citizens and lawyers in the county. Thomas M'Donald was one of the first settlers in this part of Ohio, built the first cabin in Scioto county, was engaged with Gen. Massie and others in laying off the county into surveys. He rendered valuable services in Wayne's campaign, in which he acted as a spy, and was also in the war of 1812.
Dr. Thos. M'Gara, now residing in Greenfield, Highland county, was one of the first settlers and first physician of the town of Wash- ington, where he practiced his profession for a number of years. He represented the county in the legislature, and was associate judge. John Popejoy, Esq., was one of the first justices in the county ; he built the one story house on Court street, on the lot No. 5. It is said that he kept his docket on detached scraps of paper in the most con- venient cracks of his cabin, and that his ink was made of walnut bark. Although many amusing anecdotes are related of him, yet he was a good man, sincerely desirous of promoting peace and good will in the community. When a lawsuit was brought before him, his uni- versal practice was, if possible, to prevail upon the parties to settle the dispute amicably. He always either charged no costs, or took it in beer, cider, or some other innocent beverage, of which the witnesses, parties and spectators partook, at his request, and the parties generally left his court in better humor and better satisfied than when they entered.
The first Court of Common Pleas in the county was held by Judge Thompson, at the cabin of John Devault, a little north of where Bloomingburg now stands. The judge received a severe lecture from old Mrs. Devault, for sitting upon and rumpling her bed. The grand jury held their deliberations in the stable and in the hazel brush. Judge Thompson was a man of strict and Puritan-like morality, and distinguished for the long (and in some instances tedious) moral lec- tures, given in open court, to the culprits brought before him.
The pioneers of Fayette county were principally from Virginia and Kentucky, and were generally hale and robust, brave and gen- erous. Among the Kentuckians was a family of great notoriety, by the name of Funk. The men, from old Adam down to Absalom, were of uncommonly large size, and distinguished for their boldness, activity and fighting propensities. Jake Funk, the most notorious, having been arrested in Kentucky for passing counterfeit money, or some other crime, was bailed by a friend, a Kentuckian by the name of Trumbo. Having failed to appear at court, Trumbo, with about a dozen of his friends, well armed, proceeded to the house of the Funks for the purpose of taking Jake, running him off to Kentucky and de- livering him up to the proper authorities, to free himself from paying bail.
The Funks, having notice of the contemplated attack, prepared themselves for the conflict. Old Adam, the father, took his seat in the middle of the floor to give command to his sons, who were armed with pistols, knives, &c. When Trumbo and his party appeared, they were warned to desist ; instead of which, they made a rush at
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FAYETTE COUNTY.
Jake, who was on the porch. A Mr. Wilson, of the attacking party grappled with Jake, at which the firing commenced on both sides. Wilson was shot dead. Ab. Funk was also shot down. Trumbo having clinched Jake, the latter drew him to the door, and was about to cut his throat with a large knife, when old Adam cried out, " Spare him !- don't kill him !- his father once saved me from being murdered by the Indians !"-at which he was let off, after being severely wounded, and his companions were glad to escape with their lives. The old house at which this fight occurred is still stand- ing, on the east fork, about 8 miles N. of Washington, with the bullet- holes in the logs as a memento of the conflict.
The Funk family were no enemies to whiskey. Old Adam, with some of his comrades, being one day at Roebuck's grocery-the first opened in the county, about a mile below Funk's house-became merry by drinking. Old Adam, wishing to carry a gallon of whis- key home, in vain endeavored even to procure a wash-tub for the purpose. Observing one of Roebuck's pigs running about the yard, he purchased it for a dollar and skinned it whole, taking out the bone about two inches from the root of the tail, which served as a neck for the bottle. Tying up the other holes that would, of necessity, be in the skin, he poured in the liquor and started for home with his com- panions, where they all got drunk from the contents of the hog- skin .*
Captain John was a Shawanee chief, well known to the early settlers of the Scioto valley. He was over six feet in height, strong and active, full of spirit and fond of frolic. In the late war, he joined the American army, and was with Logan at the time the latter re- ceived his death wound. We extract two anecdotes respecting him from the notice by Col. John M'Donald. The scene of the first was in Pickaway, and the last, in this county.
When Chillicothe was first settled by the whites, an Indian named John Cushen, a half blood, made his principal home with the M'Coy family, and said it was his intention to live with the white people. He would sometimes engage in chopping wood, and making rails and working in the corn-fields. He was a large, muscular man, good humored and pleasant in his interviews with the whites. In the fall season, he would leave the white ยท settlement to take a hunt in the lonely forest. In the autumn of 1779, he went up Darby creek to make his annual hunt. There was an Indian trader by the name of Fallenash, who traversed the country from one Indian camp to another with pack-horses, laden with whiskey and other articles. Captain John's hunting camp was near Darby creek, and John Cushen arrived at his camp while Fallenash, the Indian trader, was there with his goods and whiskey. The Indians set to for a real drunken frolic. During the night, Capt. John and John Cushen had a quarrel, which ended in a fight : they were separated by Fallenash and the other Indians, but both were enraged to the high :st pitch of fury. They made an arrangement to fight the next morning, with tomahawks and knives. They stuck a post on the south side of a log, made a notch in the log, and agreed that when the shadow of the post came into the notch the fight should commence. When the shadow of the post drew near the spot, they deliberately, and in gloomy silence, took their stations on the log. At length the shadow of the post came into the notch, and these two desperadoes, thirsting for each other's blood, simultaneously sprang to their feet, with each a tomahawk in his right hand and a scalping-knife in the left, and flew at each other with the fury of tigers,
* The preceding items of history respecting Fayette, are derived from a communication from a gentleman residing in Washington.
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FRANKLIN COUNTY. .
swinging their tomahawks around their heads and yelling in the most terrific manner. Language fails to describe the horrible scene. After several passes and some wounds, Captain John's tomahawk fell on Cushen's head and left him lifeless on the ground. Thus ended this affair of honor, and the guilty one escaped.
About the year 1800, Captain John, with a party of Indians, went to hunt on the waters of what is called the Rattlesnake fork of Paint creek, a branch of the Scioto river. After they had been some time at camp, Captain John and his wife had a quarrel and mutually agreed to separate, which of them was to leave the camp is not now recollected. After they had divided their property, the wife insisted upon keeping the child ; they had but one, a little boy of two or three years of age. The wife laid hold of the child, and John at- tempted to wrest it from her; at length John's passion was roused to a fury, he drew his fist, knocked down his wife, seized the child and carrying it to a log cut it into two parts, and then, throwing one half to his wife, bade her take it, but never again show her face, or he would treat her in the same manner. Thus ended this cruel and brutal scene of savage tragedy.
Bloomingburg, on the east fork of Paint, 5 miles easterly from Washington, has 4 stores, 3 churches and about 300 inhabitants. Jeffersonville; 10 Nw. from Washington, has one church, 2 stores and about 200 inhabitants. Waterloo, Martinsburg, Staunton and Mount Vernon are small places.
FRANKLIN.
FRANKLIN was formed from Ross, April 30th, 1803, and named from Benj. Franklin. The prevailing character of the soil is clay, and the surface is generally level. It contains much low and wet land, and is better adapted to grazing than grain, but along the nu- merous water courses are many fertile and well-cultivated farms. The principal products are corn, wheat, oats, hay, potatoes, pork and wool. The following is a list of its townships in 1840, with their population.
Blendon, 972
Jefferson,
1040
Plain,
1263
Brown, 425
Madison,
1815
Pleasant,
811
Clinton, 965 Mifflin, 832
Prairie, 603
Franklin, 1345
Montgomery, 7497
Sharon, 1168
Hamilton, 1238
Norwich,
740
Truro, 1418
Jackson, 787
Perry,
1039
Washington, 842
The population of Franklin, in 1820, was 10,300; in 1830, 14,756, and in 1840, 24,880, or 49 inhabitants to a square mile.
The tract comprised within the limits of the county, was once the residence of the Wyandot Indians. They had a large town on the site of the city of Columbus, and cultivated extensive fields of corn on the river bottoms opposite their town. Mr. Jeremiah Armstrong, who now or recently kept a hotel at Columbus, was taken prisoner when a boy from the frontier of Pennsylvania, and brought captive to this place : after residing with them a number of years, he was ransomed and returned to his friends. Mr. Robert Armstrong, also a native of Pennsylvania, being an orphan boy, was bound to a trader, and while trapping and trading on the Alleghany, himself and em- ployer were surprised by some Wyandots and Senecas. The mas-
.
167
FRANKLIN COUNTY.
ter was killed and Armstrong brought to their town at Franklinton. He was raised by the Indians, became a great favorite, lived, married and died among them. He was occasionally an interpreter for the United States. He left two sons, now with the Wyandots in the far west ; both of them were educated, and one of them admitted to the Ohio bar .*
In the year 1780, a party of whites followed a band of Indians from the mouth of the Kanawha, overtook them on or near the site of Columbus and gave them battle and defeated them. During the fight, one of the whites saw two squaws secrete themselves in a large hollow tree, and when the action was over they drew them out and carried them captive to Virginia. This tree was alive and standing, on the west bank of the Scioto, as late as 1845.f
In June, 1810, there was an old Wyandot chief, named Leather- lips, executed in this county on the charge of withcraft. We take the account of this event from Drake's life of Tecumseh, where it is abridged from an article by Otway Curry, in the Hesperian.
General Harrison entertained the opinion that his death was the result of the prophet's command, and that the party who acted as executioners went directly from Tippecanoe to the banks of the Scioto, where the tragedy was enacted. Leatherlips was found encamped upon that stream, twelve miles above Columbus. The six Wyandots who put him to death, were headed, it is supposed, by the chief Roundhead. An effort was made by some white men, who were present, to save the life of the accused, but without success. A council of two or three hours took place : the accusing party spoke with warmth and bitterness of feeling : Leatherlips was calm and dispassionate in his replies. The sentence of death, which had been previously passed upon him, was reaffirmed. " The prisoner then walked slowly to his camp, partook of a dinner of jerked venison, washed and arrayed himself in his best apparel, and afterwards painted his face. His dress was very rich-his hair gray, and his whole appearance graceful and commanding." When the hour for the execution had arrived, Leatherlips shook hands in silence with the spectators. "He then turned from his wigwam, and with a voice of surpassing strength and melody commenced the chant of the death song. He was followed closely by the Wyandot warriors, all timing with their slow and measured march the music of his wild and melancholy dirge. The white men were likewise all silent followers in that strange procession. At the distance of seventy or eighty yards from the camp, they came to a shallow grave, which, unknown to the white men, had been previously prepared by the Indians. Here the old man knelt down, and in an elevated but solemn tone of voice, addressed his prayer to the Great Spirit. As soon as he had finished, the captain of the Indians knelt beside him and prayed in a similar man- ner. Their prayers, of course, were spoken in the Wyandot tongue. " After a few moments delay, the prisoner again sank down upon his knees and prayed, as he had done before. When he had ceased, he still continued in a kneeling position. All the rifles belonging to the party had been left at the wigwam. " There was not a weapon of any kind to be seen at the place of execution, and the spectators were consequently unable to form any conjecture as to the mode of procedure which the executioners had determined on for the fulfilment of their purpose. Suddenly one of the warriors drew from beneath the skirts of his capote, a keen, bright tomahawk-walked rapidly up behind the chieftain-brandish- ed the weapon on high for a single moment, and then struck with his whole strength. The blow descended directly upon the crown of the head, and the victim immediately fell pros- trate. After he had lain awhile in the agonies of death, the Indian captain directed the attention of the white men to the drops of sweat which were gathering upon his neck and face ; remarked with much apparent exultation, that it was conclusive proof of the sufferer's guilt. Again the executioner advanced, and with the same weapon inflicted two or three additional and heavy blows. As soon as life was entirely extinct, the body was hastily buried, with all its apparel and decorations, and the assemblage dispersed."
One of Mr. Heckewelder's correspondents, as quoted in his historical account of the In- dian nations, makes Tarhe, better known by the name of Crane, the leader of this party.
* Col. John Johnston.
t Jonathan Alder, of Madison county.
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FRANKLIN COUNTY.
This has been denied ; and the letter of Gen. Harrison on the subject, proves quite conclu- sively that this celebrated chief had nothing to do with the execution of Leatherlips. Mr. Heckewelder's correspondent concurs in the opinion that the original order for the death of this old man, was issued from the head-quarters of the prophet and his brother Tecumseh.
The annexed anecdote, derived from J. W. Van Cleve, of Dayton, shows a more pleasing feature in the character of the Indian.
A party, surveying on the Scioto, above the site of Columbus, in '97, had been reduced to three scanty meals for four days. They came to the camp of a Wyandot Indian with his family, and he gave them all the provisions he had, which comprised only two rabbits and a small piece of venison. This Wyandot's father had been murdered by the whites in time of peace : the father of one of the surveyors had been killed by the Indians in time of war. He concluded that the Indian had more reason to cherish hostility towards the white man than he toward the Indian.
The first settlement of this county was commenced in 1797. Some of the early settlers were Robert Armstrong, George Skidmore, Lucas Sullivant, Wm. Domigan, the Deardorfs, the M'Elvains, the Sellses, James Marshall, John Dill, Jacob Grubb, Jacob Overdier, Arthur O'Harra, Colonel Culbertson and John Brickell. This last named gentleman was taken prisoner when a boy, in Pennsylvania, brought into Ohio and held captive four and a half years among the Delawares. He was liberated at Fort Defiance, shortly after the treaty of Greenville. We cannot but digress here and extract from his narrative, published in the Pioneer, an affecting account of his separation from his Indian father, who bore the singular name of Whingwy Pooshies.
On the breaking up of spring we all went up to Fort Defiance, and on arriving on the shore opposite, we saluted the fort with a round of rifles, and they shot a cannon thirteen times. We then encamped on the spot. On the same day Whingwy Pooshies told me I must go over to the fort. The children hung round me crying, and asked me if I was going to leave them ? I told them I did not know. When we got over to the fort, and were seated with the officers, Whingwy Pooshies told me to stand up, which I did ; he then rose and addressed me in about these words : " My son, there are men the same color with yourself. There may be some of your kin there, or your kin may be a great way off from you. You have lived a long time with us. I call on you to say if I have not been a father to you ?- if I have not used you as a father would use a son ?" I said, " You have used me as well as a father could use a son." He said, " I am glad you say so. You have lived long with me ; you have hunted for me ; but our treaty says you must be free. If you choose to go with the people of your own color, I have no right to say a word, but if you choose to stay with me, your people have no right to speak. Now reflect on it and take your choice, and tell us as soon as you make up your mind."
I was silent a few minutes, in which time it seemed as if I thought of almost every thing. I thought of the children I had just left crying ; I thought of the Indians I was attached to, and I thought of my people which I remembered ; and this latter thought predominated, and I said, " I will go with my kin." The old man then said, " I have raised you -- I have learned you to hunt. You are a good hunter-you have been better to me than my own sons. I
am now getting old and I cannot hunt. I thought you would be a support to my age. I leaned on you as on a staff. Now it is broken-you are going to leave me, and I have no right to say a word, but I am ruined." He then sank back in tears to his seat. I heartily joined him in his tears-parted with him, and have never seen nor heard of him since.
In the month of August, 1797, Franklinton was laid out by Lucas Sullivant. The settlement at that place was the first in the county. Mr. Sullivant was a self-made man and noted as a surveyor. He had often encountered great peril from the attacks of Indians while making his surveys.
Next after the settlement of Franklinton, a Mr. Springer and his son-in-law, Osborn, settled on Darby ; then next was a scattering settlement along Alum creek, which last was
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FRANKLIN COUNTY.
probably about the summer of 1798. Among the first settlers here were Messrs. White, Nelson, Shaw, Agler and Reed. About the same time, some improvements were made near the mouth of Gahannah, (formerly called Big belly,) and the settlements thus gradually extended along the principal water courses. In the mean time, Franklinton was the point to which emigrants first repaired, to spend some months, or probably years, prior to their permanent location. For several years, there wasno mill nor considerable settlement nearer than the vicinity of Chillicothe. In Franklinton, the neighbors constructed a kind of hand- mill, upon which they generally ground their corn. Some pounded it, and occasionally a trip was made with a canoe or periogue, by way of the river, to the Chillicothe mill. About the year 1799, a Mr. John D. Rush erected an inferior mill on the Scioto, a short distance above Franklinton ; it was, however, a poor concern, and soon fell to ruin. A horse-mill was then resorted to, and kept up for some time ; but the first mill of any considerable ad- vantage to the country was erected by Col. Kilbourne, near Worthington, about the year 1805. About the same time, Carpenter's mill, near Delaware, and Dyer's, on Darby, were erected. About one year, probably, after the first settlement of Franklinton, a Mr. James Scutt opened the first small store in the place, which added much to the convenience of the settlers. For probably seven or eight years, there was no post-office nearer than Chilli- cothe, and when other opportunities did not offer, the men would occasionally raise by con- tribution the means, and employ a man to go the moderate distance of forty-five miles to the post-office to inquire for letters and newspapers. During the first years of the settle- ment, it was extremely sickly-perhaps as much so as any part of the state. Although sickness was so general in the fall season as to almost entirely discourage the inhabitants, yet, on the return of health, the prospective advantages of the country, the luxuriant crops, and abundance of game of all kinds, together with the gradual improvement in the health of the country generally, induced them to remain. The principal disease of the country being fever and ague, deaths were comparatively seldom .*
Franklinton lies on the west side of the Scioto, opposite Columbus. It was the first town laid off in the Scioto valley N. of Chillicothe. From the formation of the county, in 1803, it remained its seat of jus- tice until 1824, when it was removed to Columbus. During the late war, it was a place of general rendezvous for the N. W. army, and sometimes from one to three thousand troops were stationed there. In those days, it was a place of considerable note : it is now a small village, containing, by the census of 1840, 394 inhabitants.
Worthington is a neat town, 9 miles N. of Columbus, containing 3 churches, and by the census of 1840, 440 inhabitants. At this place is a classical academy, in the old botanic college building, in fine repute, under the charge of the Rev. R. K. Nash ; also a flourishing female seminary, under the patronage of the Ohio Methodist Conference, of which the Rev. Alex. Nelson is the principal. The building is of brick, and stands in a pleasant green.
Worthington Female Seminary.
The township of Sharon, in which Worthington is, was very early settled by " the Scioto Company," formed in Granby, Connecticut, in the winter of 1801-2, and consisting at first of eight associates. They drew up articles of association, among which was one limit- ing their number to forty, each of whom must be unanimously chosen by ballot, a single negative being sufficient to prevent an election. Col. James Kilbourne was sent out the succeeding spring to explore
* From " A Brief History and Description of Franklin County, to accompany Wheeler's map."
22
170
FRANKLIN COUNTY.
the country, select and purchase a township for settlement. He re- turned in the fall without making a purchase, through fear that the state constitution, then about to be formed, should tolerate SLAVERY, in which case the project would have been abandoned.
It is here worthy of notice, that Col. Kilbourne, on this visit, con- structed the FIRST MAP OF OHIO, which he compiled from maps of its different sections in the office of Col., afterwards Gov. Worthing- ton, then register of the United States land office at Chillicothe. The part delineating the Indian territory was from a map made by John Fitch, of steamboat memory, who had been a prisoner among the Indians, which, although in a measure conjectural, was the most accurate of that part of the N. W. territory.
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