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 84
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its notes ; and during the same year, a swindling concern, called the " Scioto Exporting Co." was started by a posse of counterfeiters, who drew in some others, but it was destroyed by the citizens be- fore they could get a large amount of paper afloat.
OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY was chartered in 1842, and the pre- paratory department opened the following year, and the college regularly organized in the fall of 1845. The present faculty con- sists of Rev. Edward Thomson, M. D., president and professor of moral science and belleslettres ; Rev. Frederick Merrick, A. M., prof. natural science ; Rev. Herman M. Johnson, A. M., prof. an- cient languages and literature ; Rev. L. D. M'Cabe, prof. mathe- matics ; William G. Williams, A. B., principal of preparatory de- partment, and E. C. Merrick, A. B., assistant. The college library consists of over 1000 volumes, obtained by donations, and is con- stantly increasing. Connected with it is a cabinet gallery of paint- ings, in which are several splendid specimens of artistical skill. The laboratory will this year be supplied with ample chemical and philosophical apparatus. There are two literary societies connected with the institution, each of which has a hall with suitable furniture, and a small library. The tuition is $30 in the college, and $20 in the preparatory department.
ENDOWMENT .- This university received nothing from government, but originated in the liberality of the citizens of Delaware, embracing all denominations, who donated the build- ing and ten acres of land, valued at $10,000. Five acres adjoining, including the Pres- ident's house, at $5,000-a farm near Marion, at $10,000-other lands at $2,000, and notes $45,000, all obtained by subscription, making a total amount of $72,000. These scholarship notes were obtained in various parts of the state, each one hundred dollars en- titling the debtor to five years tuition, the interest payable annually. Last year the receipts were, interest on notes, $2,500, rent of farm, $300, tuition, $1,000 ; total, $3,800. Ex- penses for professors' salaries, $3,350. A new and elegant chapel of limestone is now erecting, and will be finished in 1848. Its cost is to be defrayed from the proceeds of a small 8vo. volume of original sermons, 45 in number, by the elder Methodist ministers. It has just issued from the press, (June, 1847,) and the first edition of 5000 vols. sold in six weeks. This manifestation of spirit, connected with the fact that the first annual cata- logue exhibits an array of 162 pupils, warrants the conclusion that the institution is des- tined to flourish remarkably. It must be so, as this is the only college in the state under the control of the Methodists, who in the same bounds number 150,000 communicants, just being properly awakened in the important cause of education.
History .- The first settlement in the county was made May 1st, 1801, on the east bank of the Olentangy, five miles below Delaware, by Nathan Carpenter and Avery Powers, from Chemango county, N. Y. Carpenter brought his family with him, and built the first cabin near where the farm house now stands. Powers' family came out towards fall, but he had been out the year before to explore the country and select the location. In April, 1802, Thomas Celler, with Josiah Mckinney, from Franklin county, Pa., moved in and settled two miles lower down, and in the fall of 1803, Henry Perry, from Wales, commenced a clearing and put up a cabin in Radnor, three-fourths of a mile south of Delhi. In the spring of 1804, Aaron, John, and Ebenezer Welch, (brothers,) and Capt. Leonard Monroe, from Chenango, N. Y., settled in Carpenter's neighborhood, and the next fall Col. Byxbe and his company, from Berkshire, Mass., settled
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on Alum creek, and named their township Berkshire. The settle- ment at Norton, by William Drake, and Nathaniel Wyatt; Lewis settlement, in Berlin, and the one at Westfield, followed soon after. In 1804, Carpenter built the first mill in the county, where the fac- tory of Gun, Jones, & Co. now stands. It was a saw mill, with a small pair of stones attached, made of boulders, or " nigger heads," as they are commonly called. It could only grind a few bushels a day, but still it was a great advantage to the settlers. When the county was organized, in 1808, the following officers were elected, viz. : Avery Powers, John Welch and Ezekiel Brown, commission- ers. Rev. Jacob Drake, treasurer, Dr. Reuben Lamb, recorder, and Azariah Root, surveyor. The officers of court were Judge Belt, of Chillicothe, president, Josiah M'Kinney, Thomas Brown and Moses Byxbe, associate judges ; Ralph Osborn, prosecuting at- torney, Solomon Smith, sheriff, and Moses Byxbe, jr., clerk. The first session was held in a little cabin that stood north of the sulphur spring. The grand jury sat under a cherry tree, and the petit jury in a cluster of bushes on another part of the lot, with their consta- bles at a considerable distance to keep off intruders.
Block-houses .- This being a border county, during the last war, danger was apprehended from the Indians, and a block-house was built in 1812, at Norton, and another, still standing on Alum creek, 7 miles E. from Delaware; and the present dwelling of L. H. Cowles, Esq., NE. corner of Main and William streets, was con- verted into a temporary stockade. During the war this county fur- nished a company of cavalry, that served several short campaigns as volunteers, under Capt. Elias Murray, and several entire compa- nies of infantry were called out from here at different times by Gov. Meigs, but the county never was invaded.
Drake's Defeat .- After Hull's surrender, Capt. Wm. Drake formed a company of Rangers in the northern part of the county to protect the frontier from marauding bands of Indians who then had nothing to restrain them ; and when Lower Sandusky was threatened with attack, this company, with great alacrity obeyed the call to march to its defence. They encamped the first night a few miles beyond the outskirts of the settlement. In those days the captain was a great wag, and naturally very fond of sport, and being withal desi- rous of testing the courage of his men, after they had all got asleep he slipped into the bushes at some distance, and discharging his gun, rushed towards the camp yelling Indians ! Indians ! with all his might. The sentinels, supposing the alarm to proceed from one of their number, joined in the cry and ran to quarters ; the men sprang to their feet in complete confusion, and the courageous attempted to form on the ground designated the night before in case of attack ; but the first lieutenant, thinking there was more safety in depending upon legs than arms, took to his heels and dashed into the woods. Seeing the consternation and impending disgrace of his company, the captain quickly proclaimed the hoax and ordered a halt, but the lieutenant's frightened imagination converted every sound into In-
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dian yells and the sanguinary war-whoop, and the louder the captain shouted, the faster he ran, till the sounds sank away in the distance, and he supposed the captain and his adherents had succumbed to the tomahawk and the scalping-knife. Supposing he had been asleep a few minutes only, he took the moon for his guide and flew for home, but having had time to gain the western horizon she led him in the wrong direction, and after breaking down sapplings and running through brush some ten miles through the woods, he reached Radnor settlement just at daybreak, bare-headed and with his garments flow- ing in a thousand streams. The people, roused hurriedly from their slumber, and horrified with his report that the whole company was massacred but him who alone had escaped, began a general and rapid flight. Each conveyed the tidings to his neighbor, and just after sunrise they came rushing through Delaware, mostly on horse- back, many in wagons, and some on foot, presenting all those gro- tesque appearances that frontier settlers naturally would, supposing the Indians close in their rear. Many anecdotes are told, amusing now to us who cannot realize their feelings, that exhibit the varied hues of courage and trepidation characterizing different persons, and also show that there is no difference between real and supposed danger, and yet those actuated by the latter seldom receive the sym- pathies of their fellows. One family, named Penry, drove so fast that they bounced a little boy, two or three years old, out of the wagon, near Delaware, and did not miss him till they had gone five or six miles on their way to Worthington, and then upon consultation concluded it was too late to recover him amid such imminent danger, and so yielded him up as a painful sacrifice ! But the little fellow found protection from others, and is now living in the western part of the county. One woman, in the confusion of hurrying off, forgot her babe till after starting, and ran back to get it, but being peculiarly absent minded she caught up a stick of wood from the chimney cor- ner, and hastened off, leaving her child again quietly sleeping in the cradle ! A large portion of the people fled to Worthington, and Franklinton, and some kept on to Chillicothe. In Delaware, the men who could be spared from conveying away their families, or who had none, rallied for defence, and sent scouts to Norton to reconnoi- tre, where they found the people quietly engaged in their ordinary avocations, having received a message from the captain ; but it was too late to save the other settlements from a precipitate flight. Upon the whole it was quite an injury to the county, as a large amount of produce was lost from the intrusion of cattle and the want of hands to harvest it; many of the people being slow in returning and some never did. Capt. Drake, with his company, marched on to Sandusky, to execute the duty assigned him, without knowing the effect produced in his rear. He has since been associate judge, and filled several other offices in the county, and is still living, respected by his neighbors, and characterized by hospitality and good humor, and his strong penchant for anecdote and fun.
Early Customs .- I learn from the old pioneers that during the early period of the county
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the people were in a condition of complete social equality ; no aristocratic distinctions were thought of in society, and the first line of demarkation drawn was to separate the very bad from the general mass. Their parties were for raisings and log rollings, and the labor being finished, their sports usually were shooting and gymnastic exercises with the men, and convivial amusements among the women ; no punctilious formality, nor ignoble aping the fashions of licentious Paris, marred their assemblies, but all were happy and en- joyed themselved in seeing others so. The rich and the poor dressed alike ; the men gen- erally wearing hunting shirts and buckskin pants, and the women attired in coarse fabrics produced by their own hands ; such was their common and holiday dress; and if a fair damsel wished a superb dress for her bridal day, her highest aspiration was to obtain a common American cotton check. The latter, which now sells for a shilling a yard, then cost one dollar, and five yards was deemed an ample pattern ; silks, satins, and fancy goods, that now inflate our vanity and deplete our purses, were not then even dreamed of. The cabins were furnished in the same style of simplicity ; the bedstead was home-made, and often consisted of forked sticks driven into the ground with cross poles to support the clappoards or the cord. One pot, kettle, and frying-pan, were the only articles considered indispensable, though some included the tea-kettle ; a few plates and dishes upon a shelf in one corner, was as satisfactory as is now a cupboard full of china, and their food rel- islied well from a puncheon table. Some of the wealthiest families had a few split bottom chairs, but as a general thing, stools and benches answered the place of lounges and sofas, and at first the green sward or smoothly leveled earth served the double purpose of floor and carpet. Whisky toddy was considered luxury enough for any party-the woods fur- nished abundance of venison, and corn pone supplied the place of every variety of pastry. Flour could not for some time be obtained nearer than Chillicothe or Zanesville ; goods were very high, and none but the most common kinds were brought here, and had to be packed on horses or mules from Detroit, or wagoned from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, thence down the Ohio river in flat boats to the mouth of the Scioto, and then packed, or hauled up. The freight was enormous, costing often $4,00 per ton. Tea retailed at from two to three dollars a pound, coffee 75 cents, salt $5 to $6 per bushel, (50 lbs.) The coarsest calicoes were $1 per yard, whisky from $1 to $2 per gallon, and as much of the latter was sold as of all other articles, for several years after Delaware was laid out ; but it must be remembered that this then was the border town, and had considerable trade with the Indians. It was the common practice to set a bottle on each end of the counter, for customers to help themselves gratuitously to enable them to purchase advantageously ! Many people suffered hardships and endured privations that now would seem insupporta- ble. In the fall of 1803, Henry Perry, after getting up his cabin near Delhi, left his two sons and returned to Philadelphia for the remainder of his family, but finding his wife sick, and afterwards being sick himself, could not get back till the next June. These two little boys, Levi and F.echer, only eleven and nine years old, remained there alone, eight months, fifteen miles from any white family, and surrounded by Indians, with no food but the rabbits they could catch in hollow logs ; the remains of one deer that the wolves killed near them, and a little corn meal that they occasionally obtained of Thomas Cellar, by following down the " Indian trace." The winter was a severe one, and their cabin was open, having neither daubing, fire-place, nor chimney ; they had no gun, and were wholly unaccustomed to forest life, being fresh from Wales, and yet these little fellows not only struggled through but actually made a considerable clearing ! Jacob Foust, at an early day, when his wife was sick and could obtain nothing to eat that she relished, procured a bushel of wheat, and throwing it upon his shoulders, carried it to Zanesville to get it ground, a distance of more than 75 miles, by the tortuous path he had to traverse, and then shoul- dering his flour retraced his steps home, fording the streams and camping out nights. .
BIOGRAPHY .- Colonel Moses Byxbe was for several years the most prominent man in the county, being the owner of some 8000 acres of valuable land in Berkshire and Berlin, and joint owner with Judge Baldwin of about thirty thousand acres more, the sale of which he had the entire control. These were military lands, which he sold on credit, at prices vary- ing from two and a half to ten dollars an acre. He possessed a complete knowledge of human nature, and was an energetic and prompt business man. Upon the organization of the county he was elected one of the associate judges, and continued to hold the office till 1822. He was afflicted with partial insanity before he died, which occurred in 1827, at the age of 67.
Solomon Smith, Esq., was born in New Salem, N. H., and came here with Col. Byxbe in 1804. He was the first sheriff in the county, and was the first justice of the peace in the township, which office he held, by repeated elections, more than twenty years. He was also the first post-master, and continued many years in that capacity. The responsible
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offices of county treasurer and county auditor he also filled for many years, and discharged the duties of all these stations with an accuracy seldom excelled, and a fidelity never ques- tioned. In him was exhibited an instance of a constant office-holder and an honest man, and for a long time he possessed more personal popularity than any other man in the county. He died of congestive fever, at Sandusky City, on his return from New York, July 10th, 1845, in his 58th year, and his remains were brought here for interment.
Hon. Ezekiel Brown was born in Orange county, N. Y., in 1760, and moved to North- umberland county, Pa., when about ten years old. In 1776, he volunteered and marched to join Washington's army, which he reached just after the battle of Trenton. He partici- pated in four different engagements, and in '78, joined a company of rangers, called out against the Indians. On the 24th of May, when out scouting with two others, they came across a party of fifteen Indians watching a house, and were themselves discovered at the same moment. The Indians fired and killed one man, and Brown and his comrade in stantly returned the fire, wounding an Indian, and then fled. The other escaped, but he was not fleet enough, and was captured. They were Delawares and Cayugas, and first took him to Chemung, an Indian town on Tioga river, where he had to run the gauntlet, being badly beaten, and received a severe wound on his head from a tomahawk, but he succeeded in reaching the council-house without being knocked down. After a few days, they resumed their march to the north, and met Colonel Butler with a large body of British, tories and Indians, on their way to attack Wyoming, and he was compelled to run the gauntlet again to gratify the savages. This time he did not get through, being felled by a war-club and awfully mangled. He recovered, and proceeded on to the main town of the Cayugas, where Scipio, N. Y., now stands, and having again passed the gauntlet ordeal successfully, he was adopted by a family, in the place of a son killed at Fort Stanwix. Afterwards he was taken to Canada, and kept to the close of the war in '83, when he re- ceived a passport from the British general, M'Clure, and returned, after an absence of five years, to his friends in Pennsylvania. In 1800, he moved to Ohio, and in 1808, he settled near Sunbury, and was immediately elected one of the first county commissioners. After- wards he was elected associate judge, and served in several minor offices, and died about five years ago, leaving the reputation of an upright man.
Captain John Minter, from Kentucky, one of the early settlers in Radnor, and brother- in-law of Col. Crawford, who was burnt by the Indians, was, in his younger days, a great hunter, and became famous for a terrible bear fight, in which he came very near losing his life. When hunting alone one day, he came across a very large bear and fired at him. The bear fell, and re-loading his gun, Minter advanced, supposing him dead, and touched his nose with the muzzle of the gun, when he instantly reared upon his hind legs to seize him. Minter fired again, which increased his rage, only inflicting a flesh wound, and then threw his hatchet at him; and as the bear sprang forward to grasp him, he struck him with the rifle on the head with all his might, producing no other effect than shivering the gun to pieces. Too late then to escape, he drew his big knife from its sheath and made a plunge at his heart, but old Bruen, by a stroke of his paw, whirled the knife into the air, and enfold- ing its weaponless owner with his huge arms, both rolled to the ground. A fearful struggle then ensued between the combatants: one ruled by unvarying instinct, and the other guided by the dictates of reason. The former depended wholly upon hugging his adver- sary to death, while the latter aimed at presenting his body in such positions as would best enable him to withstand the vice-like squeeze till he could loosen the grasp. He was about six feet in height, possessing large bones and well developed muscles, and being properly proportioned, was very athletic. The woods were open and clear of underbrush, and in their struggles they rolled in every direction. Several times he thought the severity of the hug would finish him ; but by choking the bear, he would compel him to release his hold to knock off his hands, when he would recover his breath and gain a better position. After maintaining the contest in this way several hours, they, happily for him, rolled back near where his knife lay, which inspired him with buoyant hope, but he had to make many in- effectual efforts before he could tumble the bear within reach of it. Having finally re- covered it, he stabbed him at every chance till he at last bled to death, only relaxing his hold when life became extinct. He attempted to get up, but was too much exhausted, and crawling to a log, against which he leaned, his heart sickened as he contemplated the scene. Not a rag was left on him, and over his back, arms and legs his flesh was lacerated to the bones by the claws of the bear. By crawling and walking he reached home after night, with no other covering than a gore of blood from head to foot. His friends, who went out next morning to survey the ground and bring in the trophy, said the surface was torn up by them over a space of at least half an acre. After several weeks he recovered, but he carried with him the cicatrices and welts, some of which were more than a quarter of an inch thick,
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till he died, which occurred about 15 years ago. He never desired another bear hug, but gave up hunting, and turning his attention to agriculture, left his children a comfortable patrimony and a good name.
Rev. Joseph S. Hughes, from Washington, Pa., came to Delaware in 1810, and organ- ized the first Presbyterian church here, and also those in Liberty and Radnor. For a short time, he was chaplain in the army, and was with Hull when he surrendered, at which time he returned. The societies being unable to pay much salary, he sought his support mainly from other sources, serving several years as clerk of the court, and afterwards in the capa- city of editor. He possessed a liberal education, superadded to oratorical powers of a supe- rior order by nature. As an orator he is described as being graceful, mellifluous, persuasive and convincing, and he has left the reputation among many of the old settlers of being the most effective speaker that they have ever heard. In the social circle, too, he excelled, but unfortunately he had an indomitable penchant for festivity and sport. Many anecdotes are related detracting from his clerical character, and when dwelt upon, we must not forget to associate the habits and customs of the times in which they occurred. For instance, it is said that one time, on the occasion of a wedding at Capt. Minter's, after the ceremonies had been solemnized and the luxuries duly honored, he started off about dusk to go to a place some five miles through the woods, but after dark returned somewhat scratched by the bushes, and reported having been lost, and concluded to stay till morning. According to the general custom on such occasions, all the young folks in the settlement had assembled for a frolick, and they charged him with having returned to participate with them, and as he was a good musician, and their " knight of the bow" had disappointed them, they in- sisted upon his playing the fiddle for them to dance, which he did all night, with an occa- sional intermission for refreshment or to romp! Some of the old citizens say also that he was a good hand at pitching quoits, and as it was common to choose sides and pitch for the " grog," he seldom even then backed out! For these and other charges he was arraigned before the presbytery, where, declining all assistance, and relying on his own ingenuity and eloquence, he made a successful defence. He continued to preach as " stated supply" till he was suddenly cut off by an epidemic fever in the fall of 1823, and was interred in the old burying ground, but no tombstone points out the place where his mouldering remains lie. He was succeeded in 1824 by Rev. Henry Vandeman, the first installed pastor, and who has retained his charge ever since, a fact that is mentioned, because in the west preach- ers seldom retain a pastoral charge so long, and in this presbytery there is no similar in- stance, excepting that of Dr. Hodge, of Columbus.
ANTIQUITIES .- The remains of ancient fortifications are found in three places in the county, the most remarkable of which is in the lower part of Liberty, about eleven miles below Delaware, on the east bank of the Olentangy.
INDIAN VILLAGES .- There were formerly two villages belonging to the Delawares, mostly within the limits of the present town of Delaware. One occupied the ground around the east end of William street, and the other was at the west end, extending from near the saw- mill to the hill side. Upon the ground now occupied by the town, they cultivated a corn- field of about four hundred acres. The Mingoes had a small village half a mile above town, on " horse shoe bottom," where they also raised corn.
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