Historical collections of Ohio in three volumes ; an encyclopedia of the state : with notes of a tour over it in 1886 contrasting the Ohio of 1846 with 1886-90, Vol. III, Part 59

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Columbus, Ohio : Henry Howe & Son
Number of Pages: 1200

USA > Ohio > Historical collections of Ohio in three volumes ; an encyclopedia of the state : with notes of a tour over it in 1886 contrasting the Ohio of 1846 with 1886-90, Vol. III > Part 59

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THE ORATION.

The oration is of historical value. It shows the feelings of pride and self-con- gratulation of those old-time American people, when they came together to cel- ebrate their achievement of breaking away from the yoke of Great Britain and establishing a nation of their own. It illustrates the then intense hate against the English government and the " myrmidons of Britain." It"is, too, a literary curiosity, being in the style of the proud-swelling oratory so popular at that day, and universal with Fourth of July orators. It was exactly what was wanted to fill the demands of the market. "Thunder ! how we did lick the British !" was on that day the cry of every small boy in the land, as he looked up to the flutter- ing of the flag on the " liberty pole," and after the boom of every cannon run a race to secure the burning wads.

The early part of the oration is occupied with a rapid sketch of the history of America, from the discovery of Columbus down to the war of the Revolution, which is also described, and he then says :

These battles, through which our fathers waded in blood, cemented the Union of Amer- ican Confederacy, now the happy and prosperous United States. The pride of Britain being humbled, although she called to her aid all the savages of our vast Northwest frontier, who broke in upon us with the tomahawk and scalping-knife, making indiscriminate slaughter of helpless men, women and children, she was forced in 1783, after the most sanguinary conflict,: to acknowledge that the United States were free, sovereign and independent.

The Declaration of Independence was signed and promulgated through the Union on the 4th of July, 1776, after which the war continued six years, waged in the most cruel and un- feeling manner by the British. Those amongst our citizens who adhered to the British king were styled TORIES. These men, destitute alike of every feeling and principle, attacked, in a sudden manner, the citizens of their own towns, wreaking their bloodthirsty vengeance alike on their parents, brothers and sisters ; burning towns, villages and the dwellings of their nearest relatives with relentless fury, and plunging the dagger to the hearts of their country- men. Oh, shame, where is thy blush !

But let us turn from these disgusting pictures. Peace was proclaimed, the soldier of the Revolution returned to his home after his severe trials penniless ; his ardent patriotism did not forsake him ; he mingled again with his fellow-citizens, and though neglected by the gov- ernment, which was poor and without means, he uttered not a murmur, but strove to gain a subsistence by his daily labor.

He saw everywhere around him the fruits of his toils and sacrifices. Towns, villages and cities reared their majestic temples where the forests had covered the country, and the beasts of the field, as well as the original inhabitants, fled before civilization and the arts; every

419

VAN WERT COUNTY.

house was opened and every hand greeted the war-worn veteran. After a lapse of years he is made to partake of the bounty of a grateful government.

Another war, rendered memorable by many battles and by sacrifices of a brave and gen- crous people, has tested the strength and stability of our political institutions.

It was waged by our old enemy. Our navy, though compared to hers was but a pigmy to a giant, yet it rode triumphant on the ocean. Our militia and raw troops again beat the proudest veterans the world could produce, with less than equal numbers, and the boasting conquerors of ensanguined Europe were themselves conquered. 3

The genius of the free government of our country is daily developing its powers ; its flag waves over every sea. Its commerce extends over the whole globe, and equals that of the proudest nations of the earth ; while the inventive faculties of the American mind in our immortal Fulton furnished to the astonished world the novel spectacle of ships propelled by fire, traversing every sea, and approximating the extremities of the longest river to a span. Our free and happy population has increased beyond any former example. In less than a half a century two millions of people have become twelve millions.

Sciences and the arts have even outstripped our most sanguine expectations, and we now behold our beloved country, blessed by the fostering hand of an overruling Providence, one of the most prosperous, flourishing and powerful nations of the earth.

Examples interest our country in many directions, for the spark that kindled the flame of our Revolution has spread its benign influence over the entire world. In Europe it has been smothered and kept down by bigotry, ignorance, superstition and tyranny, through the most destructive wars occasioned by the French Revolution.

The entire host of tyrants and religious fanatics in the Old World have marshalled them- selves against our principles-they are arrested in Europe-they sleep but to rise again with redoubled vigor, when, bursting asunder their chains, they are destined to overwhelm their tyrants and oppressors throughout the universe.

In their steady march the principles contained in our Declaration of Independence in the New World have fully triumphed, and under the genial influence of our example the republics of Buenos Ayres, Chili, Columbia, Mexico and Peru have recently sprung into existence.

The land of the children of the sun is free ; the holy horrors inflicted by bigoted and mer- cenary Spain under her Christian Cortez and Pizarro, upon the Mexicans and Peruvians, have returned upon her devoted head ; led by the virtuous and patriotic Bolivar, St. Martin, Hieras, Lare, O. Higgins and a host of other worthies the legions of liberty have established their independence.

Kingly tyrants and religious fanatics have received a mortal stab in that portion of the world. The blood of Montezuma, the Incas and hosts of innocents has cried for vengeance, and the Almighty arm has avenged their injuries. .

Already the cry of liberty of conscience has been proclaimed, and may we indulge the 1

pleasing hope that this monstrous struggle will satisfy the civilized nations of the beauties and benefits of self-government, destined to extend throughout the globe.

We are assembled to commemorate the day and the patriots who proclaimed and estab- lished the most perfect system of equal rights and privileges ; civilization keeps pace with the moral and religious freedom and toleration, and is the most conclusive proof that these States have outstripped the other quarters of the world.

Look at the American female character ! The fairest work of creation here have all the advantages of polite and useful education, and of moral and religious liberty ; as wives, mothers and daughters they hold the rank of equals with their nearest relations, and by their virtues and goodness are esteemed as the greatest blessing a bountiful Providence could- bestow on man.

THE DINNER, DANCE, AND SONG.

The oration being ended, the people, to the number of about seventy-five, took their places at the table, which had been loaded with all the luxuries the country afforded, and well cooked. Mr. Golden Green, of Shane's Crossing, asked a blessing, and those who were skilled commenced to do the carving. A small roasted pig happening to be in front of one old gentleman, the skin beautifully

420

VAN WERT COUNTY.

browned (it was roasted before the fire), he deliberately took off the skin and - placed it on his plate, remarking, " Some folks like meat best, and some folks like skin best; for my part I like skin best," and carved the pig for the rest, no one ob- jecting to his gratifying his taste, and all went off delightfully.

After dinner toasts were drank, using what we called metheglin, made from honey, very delicious, but not intoxicating. I only remember my father's toast, which was, " The State of Ohio, the first-born of the ordinance of 1787. May, .. she lead the van in the cause of freedom and equality until our glorious Declara- tion shall be fulfilled, and we can with truth 'proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all the inhabitants thereof.' " All cheered the sentiment ; then followed many more of like patriotic sentiments. My father, brother James, Unele Roswell Riley, J. W. Milligan, Dr. Edmiston, Tom Sweeny, and James Hagar, with mother, and sisters Amelia and Phebe, Mrs. Milligan, Mrs. Roswell Riley, and Mrs. Edmiston were all good singers. Unele Roswell sang comic songs as well as I ever heard since on the stage. He sang several, and then "Perry's Victory " and " Hull's Surrender." Mrs. Edmiston sang " The Meeting of the Waters" (Vale of Avoca). She was a highly accomplished musician, and all wound up with Burns' "Auld Lang Syne," shaking hands across the table. Those that did not know the words joined in the chorus. A plank floor had been laid upon scantling on the ground, and a dance by torchlight wound up the first celebration of the Fourth of July in Van Wert county, Ohio.

There must have been present nearly every person then in the county, includ- ing the infantry in arms. As stated above, "about seventy-five took their places at the table." As by the census of 1830, five years later, the entire population of Van Wert county was but forty-nine, it is surmised the surplus were " distinguished guests from abroad."

The large and flourishing town of DELPHOS lies on the line of this and Allen county, about equally divided between the two. The post-office is in this county. Delphos is described in Allen county, vol. i., page 249.

WILLSHIRE is fourteen miles southwest of Van Wert, on the T. St. L. & K. C. R. R. It has 1 Methodist aud 1 Baptist church. Population, 1880, 508. School census, 1888, 224.

CONVOY is eight miles northwest of Van Wert, on the P. Ft. W. & C. R. R. It has churches : 1 Lutheran, 1 Methodist, 1 Baptist and 1 Catholic. Population, 1880, 386. School eensus, 1888, 189.

MIDDLEPOINT is eight miles cast of Van Wert, on the Little Auglaize river and on the P. Ft. W. & C. R. R. Population, 1880, 386. School census, 1888, ! 152.

SCOTT is eight miles north of Van Wert, on the C. V. W. & J. R. R. School . census, 1888, 136.

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三

421

VINTON COUNTY.

VINTON.

VINTON COUNTY was formed March 23, 1850, from Gallia, Athens, Hocking, Ross, and Jackson counties, comprising eleven townships, with a combined popula- tion of 9,353. It is watered by branches of the Scioto and Hocking rivers. Its surface is mostly hilly, with some broad, fine, fertile, level land on the streams. The land is well adapted to grazing, and it is a good county for sheep, horses, cattle and hogs. While the hills are generally sloping, in many places they are cultivated to their summits, and have been successfully devoted to grape culture and other fruit. Its great wealth is in its coal, fire-clay and iron. There are four furnaces in the county : Eagle, Hope, Vinton, and Hamden, but not now in operation,

Area, 402 square miles. In 1887 the acres cultivated were 41,645; in pasture, 69,217 ; woodland, 48,376 ; lying waste, 6,794; produced in wheat, 80,134 bushels ; rye, 252 ; buckwheat, 412 ; oats, 45,907 ; corn, 202,241 ; broom- corn, 50,050 lbs. brush ; meadow hay, 11,155 tons ; clover hay, 38; potatoes, 15,658 bushels; tobacco, 850 lbs. ; butter, 194,689 ; sorghum, 4,525 gallons ; maple sugar, 2,248 lbs. ; honey, 2,104; eggs, 189,694 dozen ; grapes, 550 lbs. ; sweet potatoes, 386 bushels; apples, 11,232 ; peaches, 1,451 ; pears, 78 ; wool, 163,853 lbs. ; milch cows owned, 2,541. Ohio Mining Statistics, 1888 : Coal, 108,695 tons, employing 225 miners and 57 outside employees ; iron ore, 11,761 tons. School census, 1888, 5,931 ; teachers, 158. Miles of railroad track, 68.

TOWNSHIPS AND CENSUS.

1850.

1880.

TOWNSHIPS AND CENSUS.

1850.

1880.

Brown,

648

1,241

Knox,

947

Clinton,

886

1,608

Madison,

2,217

Eagle,

476

1,044

Richland,

493

1,668

Elk,

1,221

2,000

Swan,

1,154

1,095

Harrison,

580

1,172

Vinton,

460

1,131

Jackson,

835

1,288

Wilkesville,

1,037

1,812

Population of Vinton in 1860, 13,631; 1880, 17,223: of whom 14,839 were born in Ohio; 594, Pennsylvania ; 500, Virginia; 115, Kentucky ; 81, New York; 32, Indiana ; 327, Ireland ; 160, German Empire; 94, England and Wales; 13, British America ; 12, Scotland; and 11, France. Census, 1890, 16,045.

This county is named in honor of SAMUEL FINLEY VINTON, one of Ohio's eminent statesmen of a past generation. Mr. Vinton is a direct descendant of John Vinton, of Lynn, Mass., whose name occurs in the county records of 1648. The tradition is that the founder of the family in this country was of French origin, by the name of De Vintonne, and he was exiled from France on account of his being a Huguenot. Mr. Vinton was born in the State of Massachusetts, September 25, 1792, graduated at Williams College in 1814, and soon after 1816 established himself in the law at Gallipolis. In 1822 he was, unexpectedly to ." himself, nominated and then elected to Congress, an office to which he continued to be elected by constantly increasing majorities for fourteen years, when he voluntarily withdrew for six years, to be again sent to Congress for six years longer, when he declined any further Congressional service, thus serving in all twenty years.

Mr. Vinton originated and carried through the House many measures of very great importance to the country. During the period of the war with Mexico, he was Chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, and at this particular juncture his financial talent was of very great service to the nation. During his entire course of public life he had ably opposed various schemes for the sale of

VINTON COUNTY. 423

solved by the Court of the King's Bench ; henceforth, until the Revolution, Virginia was a crown colony with no claim to the ter- ritory northwest of the Ohio, and that after the Declaration of Independence the territory came under the jurisdiction of the United States by right of conquest.

In May, 1890, the Supreme Court of the United States reaffirmed the decision of Jus- tice Marshall in a controversy between Ken- tueky and Indiana as to jurisdiction over Green River island, in the Ohio river, some six miles above Evansville. The court held that Kentucky's boundary extended to the low water mark on the north bank at the time - Kentucky became a State, and Commissioners were appointed to ascertain and run the boundary line as designated, and to report to the court.

Shortly after this decision had been ren- dered, ex-Governor Cox wrote a letter to Governor Campbell, drawing his attention to the interests involved, and suggesting that he request Attorney-General Watson to inter- vene in the suit (it not being actually closed until the Commissioners' report had been accepted), and that Illinois and West Vir- ginia be made parties. Measures were at once taken by Governor Campbell and Attor- ney-General Watson to interplead in Ohio's behalf before the United States Supreme Court.

Ex-Governor Cox denied the validity of Virginia's claim, and in his letter stated some of the complications likely to ensue if the de- cision of the Supreme Court was permitted to stand without question.

"The reasons for making the median line of a stream the boundary between private properties are infinitely stronger when it comes to nations and States. Cincinnati has six or eight miles of river front, on which she

has built levees and public landings, and our merchants and manufacturers have made docks, coal chutes, etc. If the ancient mean- dered line of he low water mark be rigidly renewed, the whole commercial front of this great city may possibly be held to be cut off from Ohio by some narrow strip sufficient to fence us in.

"If Kentucky prudently does not urge such a claim, we may still hold our territory, rather by sufferance than by title of a better kind. Railways have been built up and down the river on the Ohio shore. It can hardly be possible, in the nature of constructions of such a sort, that they have not trenched upon the water line. Shall a quo warranto in Kentucky forfeit their Ohio charter's and rights of way? Kentucky companies plant bridge piers so close to Ohio that the value of adjacent property is destroyed. Must the Kentucky jury on the opposite shore have sole jurisdiction to assess damages ?

"Suppose the war of secession had resulted in the independence of the South, and the Ohio had been the boundary, as the South claimed. The idea of a boundary on the north shore would have made peace forever impossible. The river is too important a highway of commerce to permit any separa- tion of jurisdiction except in the middle of the stream. It has always been admitted that such also is the general rule of law. But an exceptional interpretation is claimed exactly where the reasons for the rule are most overwhelming. There could have been no GOOD reason for Virginia and Kentucky controlling the whole river, and it cannot be supposed that the cession of Virginia saved such jurisdiction for BAD reasons. I believe the publicists of the world would be shocked to see the claim of Virginia recognized as a rule of law."

EARLY HISTORY.

Nearly half a century elapsed after its first settlement before Vinton county was formed. The first settlers centred most strongly around MeArthur and Vinton townships. A Mr. Musselman was one of the earliest. Of him but little is known, except that he was the discoverer of the burr stone. He worked a few years quarrying these stones, as did most of the early settlers.

It was in 1805 that Musselman came. He settled in Elk, the pioneer township of the county. He was a miller; being something of a geologist he discovered the fine burr stone, and in the spring of 1806 began his quarrying operations.

The first permanent settler in Elk was Levi Kelsey, who came about 1802, and was probably the very first settler in the county. Isaac and John Phillips came in 1806 and 1807. Levi Johnson came in 1811, put up the first distil- lery, and, being justice of the peace, performed the first marriage ceremony. Then came, and a little later, Jacob and Paul Shry, Geo. Fry, James and Wil- liam Mysick, Edward Satts, Thaddeus Fuller, David Richmond, Rev. Joshua Green, Lemuel and Allen Lane, Joseph Gill, and Isaac West.

We copy here the personal recollections of early times in Vinton county by one of her pioneer women, Mrs. Charlotte E. Bothwell, given in 1874 at MeArthur, when she was 86 years of age. She, with her husband, his brother, and their two children, emigrated here in the summer of 1814 from Silveysport, Md. She was then twenty-six years of age, and her husband twenty-nine.

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424

VINTON COUNTY.

They came down the Monongahela and Ohio rivers by pirogue, which he bought, hired a pilot, landed at Gallipolis, and came thence by wagon, having been just thirty-two days on the way.

It was on a Tuesday morning when they left Gallipolis with Mr. Pierson, her sister's husband, who had come with his wagon to help them on their way. The next morning they took breakfast at what is now Jackson. It was then nothing bnt "a salt works, a number of rough, scattering cabins, and long rows of kettles of boiling water."

The roads all the way were but mere paths, and the three men compelled to eut ont roads with axes, and drive along hillsides, when it was all the men could do to keep the wagons from upsetting. After leaving Jackson, it was nine miles to Mr. Paine's, the first house. The remainder of her narrative we give in her own words.

About the middle of the day it began raining very hard, and rained all day ; everything was soaking with water. My youngest child lay in my arms wet and cold, and looked more like it was dead than alive. Several times we stopped the- wagon to examine to see if it was dead. But we had to go on. There was no house to stop at till we got to Mr. Paine's. It was more than an hour after dark when we got there, wet, cold, and still raining. We found Mrs. Paine one of the best and kindest of women. An own mother could not have been more kind. After breakfast next morning, we started and got to my brother-in-law's the evening of the 5th of August, when four days afterward our child died.

My husband had been here the spring previous, entered 160 acres of land, being now (1874) the farm once owned by David Ray, and reared the walls of a cabin upon it. When we got here, it had neither door, floor, window, chimney, nor roof. My husband hired two men to make clapboards to cover it, and puncheons for a floor, we remaining with my brother-in-law until this was done. We then moved into our new house, to finish it at our leisure. Isaac Pierson then " sentched " down the logs, my husband chinked it, and I daubed the cracks with clay.

There was no plank to be had, the nearest saw-mill being Dixon's, on Salt creek, twenty miles away. So I hung up a table-cloth to close the hole left for the window, and a bed-quilt for a door. The back wall of a fire-place occupied nearly one whole side of the house; but the chimney was not built on it, and sometimes the smoke in the house would almost drive me out. We lived in this way five months. I was not used to backwoods life, and the howling of the wolves, with nothing but a suspended bed-quilt for a door, coupled with other discomforts of border life, made me wish many a time I was back at my good old home.

On the 14th of January, 1815, the chimney was built. My husband had some plank and sash, and made the door and window. The hinges and latches were of wood. Our cabin was the only one in the whole country around that had a glass window. On the same day, while the men were working at the house, I finished a suit of wedding clothes for David Johnson, father of George and Ben- jamin Johnson, who still live here. I had the snit all done but a black satin vest when he came here. I didn't know it was a wedding snit, and tried to put ~ ~ ~~ him off; but he would not be put off. The next day my third child, Catherine, who is the widow of Joseph Foster, and lives near Sharonville, was born.

My husband was a cabinetmaker and painter, but bedsteads and chairs and painting were not in use here in that day, and his business was confined to making spinning-wheels and reels. He did not get his shop till the first of May, and as he had not worked for a year our little accumulated earnings were all spent. However, we were now comfortably fixed. I had some pipe-clay and white- washed the inside of the cabin, and some of our neighbors regarded us as very rich and very aristocratie-thought for this country we put on too nmch style !

I had learned the tailoring business and found plenty of work at it. There

٠ ٠

الجديد

SAMUEL F. VINTON.

Drawn by Henry Howe, 1886.

VINTON COUNTY COURT HOUSE, MCARTHUR,

425

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VINTON COUNTY.

427 9€

was not much money in the settlement, and I was more often paid in work than in cash ; but we wanted our farm cleared up and therefore needed work. It cost us about $10 per acre to clear the land, beside the fencing. Lands all belonged to the government and could be entered in quarter sections or 160 acres, at $2 per acre, to be paid in four annual payments of $80 each.

When we first came here there were perhaps fifty families in and around this settlement, most of them quarrying and making millstones. There was no person making a business of farming. All had their little patches of garden, but mak-2." ing millstones was the principal business. Isaac Pierson, father of Sarah Pier- son, of Chillicothe, had the principal quarry. Afterward Aaron Lantz and = Richard MeDougal had large quarries. A man named Musselman first discoy- ered the stone in 1805 and in 1806 employed Isaac Pierson to work for him. This was on section seven. There were no white people here at that time and the two camped out. Musselman quit, but the next year Pierson, finding the business. to be very profitable, moved out, built the first cabin and made the first permanent settlement.

He employed hands to help him, and soon the settlement began to grow. The business was very profitable, and all engaged in it would have become indepen- dently rich but for one thing-whiskey ! Most of them drank ; and nearly every pair of millstones that was sold must bring back a barrel of whiskey, whether it brought flour or not. If the flour was ont they could grind corn on their hand- mills, but they made it a point never to get out of whiskey.

Trading was done principally at Chillicothe. There was no store closer than Chillicothe or Athens. Everything we bought that was not produced in the eoun- try was very dear. The commonest calico, such as now sells at 6 to 10 cents, was 50 cents a yard ; coffee, 40 cents ; tea, $1.25 ; we made our own sugar. We made it a point, however, to spend as little as possible. Our salt we got at Jackson ; gave $2 for fifty pounds of such mean, wet, dirty salt as could not find a market now at any price.

All kinds of stock ran loose in the woods. Each person had his stock marked. My husband's mark was to point one ear and cut a V-shaped piece out of the other. I marked my geese by splitting the left web of the left foot. These marks were generally respected. There was good wild pasturage for the cattle, and hogs grew fat upon the mast. When one was wanted for use it was shot with tlie rifle.

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Historical collections of Ohio in three volumes ; an encyclopedia of the state : with notes of a tour over it in 1886 contrasting the Ohio of 1846 with 1886-90, Vol. III, Part 59

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893 Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Columbus, Ohio : Henry Howe & Son Number of Pages: 1200

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Columbus, Ohio : Henry Howe & Son
Number of Pages: 1200