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 49
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333
MADISON COUNTY.
MADISON.
MADISON was organized in March, 1810, and named from James Madison, the fourth President of the U. States. The soil is clayey, and the surface level. Almost one-third of the surface is prairie land. Wool-growing has become an object of considerable business. It is principally a stock-raising county. The productions are grass, corn and oats, and beef cattle. Wool and pork are the principal staples. The following is a list of the townships in 1840, with their population.
Canaan,
607
Monroe,
385
Range, 820
Darby, 466
Pike,
529
Somerford, 761
Deer Creek, 545
Pleasant,
936
Stokes, 770
Fairfield, 505
Union, 1350
The population of Madison, in 1820, was 4799; in 1830, 6191 ; . and in 1840, 9025, or 20 inhabitants to the square mile.
In the course of this work, we have made several extracts from the MSS. of Jonathan Alder, who was taken captive when a boy, and passed many years among the Indians. These Mss. contain about a hundred pages, and comprise a sketch of his life while with the Indians, together with a relation of many of their. customs, and incidents that came under his observation. Mr. Alder is now living on Darby creek, in this county. We give a sketch of him, derived from the above-mentioned source.
JONATHAN ALDER was born in New Jersey, about 8 miles from Philadelphia, Sept. 17th, 1773. When at about the age of seven years, his parents removed to Wythe county, Va., and his father soon after died.
In the succeeding March, (1782,) while out with his brother David, hunting for a mare and her colt, he was taken prisoner by a small party of Indians. His brother, on the first alarm, ran, and was pursued by some of the party. " At length," says Alder, " I saw them return- ing, leading my brother, while one was holding the handle of a spear, that he had thrown at him and run into his body. As they approached, one of them stepped up and grasped him around the body, while another pulled out the spear. I observed some flesh on the end of it, which looked white, which I supposed came from his entrails. I moved to him, and inquired if he was hurt, and he replied that he was. These were the last words that passed between us. At that moment he turned pale and began to sink, and I was hurried on, and shortly after saw one of the barbarous wretches coming up with the scalp of my brother in his hand, shaking off the blood."
The Indians having also taken prisoner a Mrs. Martin, a neighbor to the Alders, with her young child, aged about four or five years, retreated towards their towns. Their route lay through the woods to the Big Sandy, down that stream to the Ohio, which they crossed, and from thence went overland to the Scioto, near Chillicothe, and so on to a Mingo village on Mad river.
Finding the child of Mrs. Martin burdensome, they soon killed and scalped it. The last member of her family was now destroyed, and she screamed in agony of grief. Upon this, one of the Indians caught her by her hair, and drawing the edge of his knife across her forehead, cried " sculp ! sculp !" with the hope of stilling her cries. But, indifferent to life, she continued her screams, when they procured some switches, and whipped her until she was silent. The next day, young Alder having not risen, through fatigue, from eating, at the moment the word was given, saw, as his face was to the north, the shadow of a man's arm with an uplifted tomahawk. He turned, and there stood an Indian, ready for the fatal blow. Upon this he let down his arm, and commenced feeling of his head. He afterwards told Alder it had been his intention to have killed him ; but as he turned he looked so smil- ing and pleasant, that he could not strike, and on feeling of his head and noticing that his
334
MADISON COUNTY.
hair was very black, the thought struck him, that if he could only get him to his tribe he would make a good Indian ; but that all that saved his life was the color of his hair.
After they crossed the Ohio, they killed a bear, and remained four days to dry the meat for packing, and to fry out the oil, which last they put in the intestines, having first turned and cleaned them.
The village to which Alder was taken, belonged to the Mingo tribe, and was on the north side of Mad river, which we should judge was somewhere within or near the limits of what is now Logan county. As he entered, he was obliged to run the gauntlet, formed by young children armed with switches. He passed through this ordeal with little or no injury, and was adopted into an Indian family. His Indian mother thoroughly washed him with soap and warm water with herbs in it, previous to dressing him in the Indian costume, consisting of a calico shirt, breech clout, leggins and moccasons. The family having thus converted him into an Indian, were much pleased with their new member. But Jonathan was at first very homesick, thinking of his mother and brothers. Every thing was strange about him ; he was unable to speak a word of their language ; their food disagreed with him ; and, child- like, he used to go out daily for more than a month, and sit under a large walnut tree near the village, and cry for hours at a time over his deplorable situation. His Indian father was a chief of the Mingo tribe, named Succohanos ; his Indian mother was named Whinecheoh, and their daughters respectively answered to the good old English names of Mary, Hannah and Sally. Succohanos and Whinecheoh were old people, and had lost a son, in whose place they had adopted Jonathan. They took pity on the little fellow, and did their best to comfort him, telling him that he would one day be restored to his mother and brothers. He says of them, " they could not have used their own son better, for which they shall always be held in most grateful remembrance by me." His Indian sister Sally, however, treated him " like a slave," and when out of humor, applied to him, in the Indian tongue, the un- lady-like epithet of " onorary, [mean,] lousy prisoner !" Jonathan for a time lived with Mary, who had become the wife of the chief, Col. Lewis, (see p. 304.) " In the fall of the year," says he, " the Indians would generally collect at our camp, evenings, to talk over their hunting expeditions. I would sit up to listen to their stories, and frequently fell asleep just where I was sitting. After they left, Mary would fix my bed, and with Col. Lewis, would carefully take me up and carry me to it. On these occasions they would often say-supposing me to be asleep -- ' poor fellow ! we have sat up too long for him, and he has fallen asleep on the cold ground ;' and then how softly would they lay me down and cover me up. Oh ! never have I, nor can I, express the affection I had for these two persons."
Jonathan, with other boys, went into Mad river to bathe, and on one occasion came near drowning. He was taken out senseless, and some time elapsed ere he recovered. He says, " I remember, after I got over my strangle, I became very sleepy, and thought I could draw my breath as well as ever. Being overcome with drowsiness, I laid down to sleep, which was the last I remember. The act of drowning is nothing, but the coming to life is dis- tressing. The boys, after they had brought me too, gave me a silver buckle, as an induce- ment not to tell the old folks of the occurrence, for fear they would not let me come with them again ; and so the affair was kept secret."
ยท When Alder had learned to speak the Indian language, he became more contented. He says, " I would have lived very happy, if I could have had health ; but for three or four years I was subject to very severe attacks of fever and ague. Their diet went very hard with me for a long time. Their chief living was meat and hommony ; but we rarely had bread, and very little salt, which was extremely scarce and dear, as well as milk and butter. Honey and sugar were plentiful, and used a great deal in their cooking, as well as on their food."
When he was old enough, he was given an old English musket, and told that he must go out and learn to hunt. So he used to follow along the water courses, where mud turtles were plenty, and commenced his first essay upon them. He generally aimed under them, as they lay basking on the rocks ; and when he struck the stone, they flew sometimes seve- ral feet in the air, which afforded great sport for the youthful marksman. Occasionally he killed a wild turkey, or a raccoon ; and when he returned to the village with his game, gen- erally received high praise for his skill-the Indians telling him he would make " a great hunter one of these days."
We cannot, within our assigned ilmits, give many of the incidents and anecdotes related by Alder, or any thing like a connected his- tory of his life among the Indians. In the June after he was taken, occurred Crawford's defeat. He describes the anxiety of the squaws while the men were gone to the battle, and their joy on their return-
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335
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MADISON COUNTY.
ing with scalps and other trophies of the victory. He defends Simon Girty from the charge of being the instigator of the burning of Crawford, and states that he could not have saved his life, because he had no influence in the Delaware tribe, whose prisoner Crawford was. Alder was dwelling at the Mackachack towns (see p. 299) when they were destroyed by Logan, in 1786 ; was in the attack on Fort Recovery, in 1794, (see p. 140,) and went on an expedition into " Kaintucky to steal horses" from the settlers.
Alder remained with the Indians until after Wayne's treaty, in 1795. He was urged by them to be present on the occasion, to obtain a reservation of land, which was to be given to each of the prisoners ; but, ignorant of its importance, he neglected going, and lost the land. Peace having been restored, Alder says, " I could now lie down without fear, and rise up and shake hands with both the Indian and the white man."
The summer after the treaty, while living on Big Darby, Lucas Sullivant (see p. 168) made his appearance in that region, surveying land, and soon became on terms of intimacy with Alder, who related to him a history of his life, and generously gave him the piece of land on which he dwelt ; but there being some little difficulty about the title, Alder did not contest, and so lost it.
When the settlers first made their appearance on Darby, Alder could scarcely speak a word of English. He was then about 24 years of age, 15 of which had been passed with the Indians. Two of the settlers kindly taught him to converse in English. He had taken up with a squaw for a wife some time previous, and now began to farm like the whites. He kept hogs, cows and horses, sold milk and butter to the Indians, horses and pork to the whites, and accumulated property. He soon was able to hire white laborers, and being dissatisfied with liis squaw-a cross, peevish woman-wished to put her aside, get a wife from among the settlers, and live like them. Thoughts too, of his mother and brothers, be- gan to obtrude, and the more he reflected, his desire strengthened to know if they were living, and to see them once more. He made inquiries for them, but was at a loss to know how to begin, being ignorant of the name of even the state in which they were. When talking one day with John Moore, a companion of his, the latter questioned him where he was from. Alder replied that he was taken prisoner somewhere near a place called Green- briar, and that his people lived by a lead mine, to which he used frequently to go to see the hands dig ore. Moore then asked him if he could recollect the names of any of his neigh- bors. After a little reflection, he replied, " Yes! a family of Gulions that lived close by us." Upon this, Moore dropped his head, as if lost in thought, and muttered to himself, " Gulion ! Gulion !", and then raising up, replied, " My father and myself were out in that country, and we stopped at their house over one night, and if your people are living, I can find them."
Mr. Moore after this went to Wythe county, and inquired for the family of Alder ; but without success, as they had removed from their former residence. He put up advertise- ments in various places, stating the facts, and where Alder was to be found, and then re- turned. Alder now abandoned all hopes of finding his family, supposing them to be dead. Some time after, he and Moore were at Franklinton, when he was informed there was a letter for him in the post office. It was from his brother Paul, stating that one of the adver- tisements was put up within six miles of him, and that he got it the next day. It contained the joyful news, that his mother and brothers were alive.
Alder, in making preparations to start for Virginia, agreed to separate from his Indian wife, divide the property equally, and take and leave her with her own people at Sandusky. But some difficulty occurred in satisfying her. He gave her all the cows, 14 in number, worth $20 each, 7 horses, and much other property, reserving to himself only 2 horses and the swine. Besides these, was a small box, about 6 inches long, 4 wide and 4 deep, filled with silver, amounting probably to about $200, which he intended to take, to make an equal division. But to this she objected, saying the box was hers before marriage, and she would not only have it, but all it contained. Alder says, " I saw I could not get it without making a fuss, and probably having a fight, and told her that if she would promise never to trouble nor come back to me, she might have it ; to which she agreed."
Moore accompanied him to his brother's house, as he was unaccustomed to travel among the whites. They arrived there on norseback, at noon, the Sunday after new years. They walked up to the house and requested to have their horses fed, and pretending they were entire strangers, inquired who lived there. " I had concluded," says Alder, " not to make myself known for some time, and eyed my brother very close, but did not recollect his fea-
336
MADISON COUNTY.
tures. I had always thought I should have recognized my mother, by a mole on her face. In the corner sat an old lady, who I supposed was her, although I could not tell, for when I was taken by the Indians her head was as black as a crow, and now it was almost perfectly white. Two young women were present, who eyed me very close, and I heard one of them whisper to the other, " he looks very much like Mark," (my brother.) I saw they were about to discover me, and accordingly turned my chair around to my brother, and said, " You say your name is Alder ?" " Yes," he replied, " my name is Paul Alder." " Well," I rejoined, " my name is Alder too." Now it is hardly necessary to describe our feelings at that time ; but they were very different from those I had when I was taken prisoner, and saw the Indian coming with my brother's scalp in his hand, shaking off the blood.
" When I told my brother that my name was Alder, he rose to shake hands with me, so overjoyed that he could scarcely utter a word, and my old mother ran, threw her arms around me, while tears rolled down her cheeks. The first words she spoke, after she grasped me in her arms, were, " How you have grown !" and then she told me of a dream she had. Says she, " I dreamed that you had come to see me, and that you was a little onorary [mean] looking fellow, and I would not own you for my son ; but now I find I was mistaken, that it is entirely the reverse, and I am proud to own you for my son." I told her I could remind her of a few circumstances that she would recollect, that took place before I was made cap- tive. I then related various things, among which was that the negroes, on passing our house on Saturday evenings, to spend Sundays with their wives, would beg pumpkins of her, and get her to roast them for them against their return on Monday morning. She re- collected these circumstances, and said she had now no doubt of my being her son. We passed the balance of the day in agreeable conversation, and I related to them the history of my captivity, my fears and doubts, of my grief and misery the first year after I was taken. My brothers at this time were all married, and Mark and John had moved from there. They were sent for, and came to see me ; but my half brother John had moved so far, that I never got to see him at all."
This county was first settled by the whites in 1796. In the fall of 1795, Benjamin Springer came from Kentucky, selected some land about a mile north of Amity, on the west bank of Big Darby, which stream was named by the Indians, from a Wyandot chief named Darby, who for a long time resided upon it, near the line of this and Union counties. Springer having made a clearing and built a cabin, moved his family to the place in the spring of 1796. The next year, William Lapin, Joshua and James Ewing settled in the same neighborhood. The last named is now living.
Springer settled near Alder, and taught him the English language, which much endeared the latter to him. He reciprocated this benefit, by not only supplying him with meat, but others of the early settlers, who, had it not been for him, would have been in danger of starva- tion. He also, on different occasions, saved some of the settlers from being killed by the Indians.
In 1800, Mr. Joshua Ewing brought four sheep to his place, which were strange animals to the Indians. One day an Indian was pass- ing by, when the dog of the latter caught one of the sheep, and Ewing shot him. The Indian would have shot Ewing in retaliation, had not Alder, who was present, with much difficulty prevailed upon him to refrain.
On the outbreak of hostilities, in 1812, the Indian chiefs held a council, and sent a deputation to Alder, to learn which side to es- pouse, saying that the British wished them to go and fight for them, holding out the promise that in such case they would support their families. He advised them to remain at first neutral, and told them they need not be afraid of the Americans harming their women and
337
MAHONING COUNTY.
children. They followed the advice, for a while remained neutral, and eventually became warm friends of the Americans.
Deer Creek, in this county, was so called by the Indians, because of the many deer that used to frequent it to eat the moss that grew plentifully upon its banks. It was considered by the Indians the best hunting ground for deer in this whole region of country.
The first court in this county was held in a cabin, Judge Thomp- son, of Chillicothe, presiding. The grand jury retired to deliberate to an oak and hazle thicket that stood near. The principal business, for the first year or two, was to try men for fighting.
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T.FELLOWS
M.FELLOWS
View in London.
London, the county seat, is 25 miles westerly from Columbus. It was laid off in 1810 or '11, as seat of justice, by Patrick M'Lene, by order of the commissioners ; and by the autumn of 1812 had six or eight families. The view shows on the left the court house, and in the distance the academy. London contains 1 Presbyterian and 1 Methodist church, a classical academy, 1 newspaper printing office, 8 stores, and about 400 inhabitants. By the census of 1840, its pop- ulation was 297.
West Jefferson, on the national road, 14 miles w. of Columbus, and 10 from London, has a Baptist church, an academy, 3 stores, and about 45 dwellings. At an early day, a fort or block house was built on the east bank of the Little Darby, about 20 rods south of where the national road crosses the creek, near the village.
Lafayette, 7 miles w. of Jefferson, on the national road, has about 30 dwellings. Mount Sterling, Midway, Solon and Summerford, are small places.
MAHONING.
MAHONING was formed from Trumbull and Columbiana, March 1st, 1846. It derived its name from Mahoning river. The name Mahoning is, according to Heckwelder, derived from either the In- dian word Mahoni, signifying " a lick," or Mahonink, "at the lick."
43
338
MAHONING COUNTY.
The surface is rolling and the soil finely adapted to wheat and corn. Large quantities of the finer qualities of wool are raised. The val- ley of the Mahoning abounds in excellent bituminous coal, which is well adapted to the smelting of iron ore. Excellent iron ore is obtained in the Mahoning valley, and it is believed to be abundant. There are fifteen townships in the county ; the five southernmost, viz : Smith, Goshen, Greene, Beaver and Springfield, originally formed part of Columbiana, and the others, the southern part of Trumbull, the last of which are within the Western Reserve. The following is a list of the townships, with their population, in 1840.
Austintown, 1245
Coitsville,
1016
Milton, 1277
Beaver, 1973
Ellsworth,
988
Poland, 1561
Berlin, 1284
Goshen,
1397
Smith, 2029
Boardman, 933
Green,
3212 Springfield, 1994
Canfield, 1280
Jackson, 1124 Youngstown, 999
Total population in 1840, within the present limits of Mahoning, 21,712, or 51 inhabitants to the square mile.
The following sketch from a resident of the county, not only de- scribes interesting incidents in the life of one of the first settlers on the Reserve, but gives facts of importance connected with the his- tory of this region.
COL. JAMES HILLMAN, of Youngstown, was one of the pioneers of the west, and rendered essential service to the early settlers of the Western Reserve. He is still living, and at the age of 84 enjoys good health and spirits, and walks with as much elasticity of step as most men 30 years younger. He was born in Northampton, Pa., and in 1784, was a soldier un- der Gen. Harmar, and was discharged at Fort M'Intosh, at Beaver town, on the Ohio, in August, 1785, after the treaty with the Indians.
His acquaintance with the country, now known as the Western Reserve, commenced in the spring of 1786, at which time he entered into the service of Duncan & Wilson, of Pittsburgh. They were engaged in forwarding goods and provisions, upon pack-horses, across the country to the mouth of the Cuyahoga, (now Cleveland,) thence to be shipped on the schooner Mackinaw, to Detroit. During the summer of 1786, he made six trips,- the caravan consisting of ten men and ninety horses. They usually crossed the Big Beaver, 4 miles below the mouth of the Shenango, thence up the left bank of the Mahoning, cross- ing it about three miles above the village of Youngstown, thence by way of the Salt Springs, in the township of Weathersfield, through Milton and Ravenna, crossing the Cuyahoga at the mouth of Breakneck, and again at the mouth of Tinker's creek, in Bed- ford, and thence down the river to its mouth, where they erected a log hut for the safe keeping of their goods, which was the first house built in Cleveland. At the mouth of Tinker's creek were a few houses built by the Moravian missionaries. They were then vacant, the Indians having occupied them one year only, previous to their removal to the Tuscarawas river. These, and three or four cabins at the Salt Springs, were the only buildings erected by the whites between the Ohio river and Lake Erie. Those at the Salt Springs were erected for the accommodation of persons sent there to make salt, and the tenants were dispossessed during the summer of 1785, by order of Gen. Harmar. During this year, 1786, Kribs, who was left in one of the cabins to take care of goods belonging to Duncan & Wilson, was murdered by the Indians, and his body was found by Hillman's party, shockingly mangled by the wolves. During the same season, James Morrow and Sam Simerson, returning from Sandusky, were killed by the Indians, at Eagle creek, west of Cleveland. Mr. Hillman was married in 1786-and in 1788, settled at Beaver town, where Duncan & Wilson had a store for the purpose of trading with the Indians.
From 1788 to 1796, Mr. Hillman resided in Pittsburgh, and traded with the Indians in Ohio, principally on the Reserve, bringing his goods in canoes up the Mahoning. His in- tercourse with the Indians during these eight years and before, afforded him the opportu- nity of acquiring a knowledge of their language, and gaining their confidence, both of which he obtained, and by means of which, he was enabled afterwards to be of great ser- vice to the early settlers of the Reserve.
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MAHONING COUNTY.
In 1796, when returning from one of his trading expeditions, alone in his canoe, down the Mahoning river, he discovered a smoke on the bank, near the present site of the village of Youngstown, and on proceeding to the spot, he found Mr. Young, (the proprietor of the township,) who, with Mr. Wolcott, had just arrived to make a survey of his lands. The cargo of Mr. Hillman was not entirely disposed of, there remaining among other things some whiskey, the price of which was to the Indians, $1,00 a quart, in the currency of the country, a deer skin being a legal tender for one dollar, and a doe skin half a dollar. Mr. Young proposed purchasing a quart, and having a frolic on its contents during the evening, and insisted upon paying Hillman his customary price for it. Hillman urged that inasmuch as they were strangers in the country, and just arrived upon his territory, civility required him to furnish the means of the entertainment. He however yielded to Mr. Young, who immediately took the deer skin he had spread for his bed, (the only one he had,) and paid for his quart of whiskey. His descendants in the state of New York, in relating the hard- ships of their ancestors, have not forgotten that Judge Young exchanged his bed for a quart of whiskey.
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