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 60
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A wilder country than this in the early days it would be liard to imagine, with its great systems of rocks and intermingled forests. Indians, wolves, wild game and snakes were more numerons than interesting. I remember distinctly one time, my son Thompson was a baby, I put him to sleep one afternoon in his cradle and went ont to help my husband in the field. " He had an Irishman working in the shop. In a little while after he went into the house to get some tobacco. He came soon running out to us, hallooing in the field, "Oh, mon ! come quick ; the devil he is in the house !" We hastened to the door, and found a large rattle- snake which had been lying by the cradle. "Our presence disturbed it, and it ran under the bed, and my husband got a club and dragged it out and killed it.
MCARTHUR, county-seat of Vinton, abont sixty miles southeast of Columbus, about 105 miles cast of Cincinnati, is on the Ohio River Division of the C. H. V. & T., and three miles north of the C. W. & B. R. R. It is in the midst of a rich iron and coal region. The surrounding country is largely devoted to raising fine wool sheep, cattle and swine.
County Officers, 1888 : Auditor, John MeNamara ; Clerk, David HI. Moore ; Commissioners, William J. Cox, Lyman Wells, Henry C. Robbins ; Coroner, Jacob D. Christ; Infirmary Directors, Nathan B. Westeook, John Bray, E. MeCormack ; Probate Judge, John N. MeLaughlin ; Prosecuting Attorney, William S. Hudson ; Recorder, Cyrus C. Moore; Sheriff, Enos T. Winters; Surveyor, Simon R. Walker ; Treasurer, Eli Reynolds. City Officers, 1888 : II.
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VINTON COUNTY.
W. Horton, Mayor ; John S. Morrison, Clerk ; V. R. Sprague, Treasurer ; John Lowry, Marshal. Newspapers : Democrat-Enquirer, Democratic, Alexander Pearce, editor ; Plaindealer, Democratic, J. W. Bowen, editor ; Vinton Record, Republican, A. Barleon, editor. Churches : 1 Christian, 1 Methodist Episcopal, 1 Presbyterian and 1 Episcopal. Banks: Vinton Co. National, Daniel Will, president, J. W. Delay, cashier. Population, 1880, 900. School census, 1888, 343 ; Joseph Rea, school superintendent. Census, 1890, 888.
Mc Arthur was named from Gov. Duncan McArthur, a sketch of whom will be found under the head of Ross County. It is sometimes called the "Mineral City," and is on a pleasant elevation of table land, between two branches of Elk fork of Raccoon creek. It is environed by low hills, with coal banks from every direction facing the town. Previous to the year 1815, this spot was mostly a forest, where two brothers, William and Jerry Pierson, built cabins, and possibly some others. Burrstone quarries were then being worked in the north part of the county by the first settlers, and two of the roads coming together here made it of some importance as a stopping-place.
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McArthur was laid out in 1815 under the name of McArthurstown, after Gov. MeArthur. The name was changed, Feb. 7, 1851, by act of the legislature, and the place incorporated. By the census of 1850 it had 424 inhabitants.
Robert Sage, Esq., gave us some interesting items, which we noted as he talked to us on our visit to MeArthur, Tuesday, 5 P.M., March 30, 1886. He said : " MeArthur was laid out'in 1815 by Moses Dawson, Levi Johnson, Isaac Pear- son, George Will, J. Beach, and Samuel Lutz the surveyor, who is now living at Circleville. His age is 98, is in good health, and within a year has surveyed land. [He died in 1889, aged over 101 years.] The acknowledgment of the laying out was taken before Joseph Wallace, on Saturday, the day before the battle of Water- loo, which was fought Sunday, June 18, 1815. My father, Joel Sage, built the first house that was, built after the laying out, and in the ensuing fall began to keep therein what is believed to have been the first tavern opened in the limits of the county. I have been a justice of the peace twenty-one years, and was the first boy who had a home here.
" Phillips & Winzer, about the year 1817, opened a store on the lot now owned by Dr. A. Wolf. At that period James Staneliff, the first justice of the peace, started the first school. The population of the county is, I think, more largely than usual of the old American stock, and we claim for them extraordinary health and vigor. Living is very cheap. Retail prices for sirloin steak 10 cents a pound ; best pork steak at 8 to 10 cents ; chickens, 15 to 25 cents cach ; turkeys, 6 cents per pound ; eggs, 8 to 10 cents per dozen, and coal delivered at 5 cents per bushel."
From the " History of the Hocking Valley" welearn that the 18th Ohio, which was formed from this and the adjoining counties, had a somewhat unusual experience while stationed, May 1, 1862. just outside of Athens, Georgia. Being attacked by a superior force, they were ordered to retire towards Huntsville. Their ronte took them through Athens, whereupon the citizens, seeing them fall back, insulted them, the men throwing up their hats and the women waving their handkerchief's and all jeering and hooting at them, while some shots were fired from the houses. The men were so abused that the officers could with difficulty restrain them. Gen. Turchin came to their support with the 19th Ilinois and some artillery, when they faced abont and drove the enemy out of town and vicinity. This was the occasion when Turchin's brigade "went through Athens."
Some of the Illinois companies were com- posed of Chicago roughs; with such men for leaders, the soldiers, feeling outraged by their treatment from the citizens, who had been well treated by them, retaliated. This was in accord with Col. Turchin's European ideas of war customs, so in the result there was scarcely a store or warehouse that they did not pillage.
Col. Turchin laid in the Court-house yard while the devastation was going on. An aid-de-camp approached, when the colonel re- marked.
Vell, lieudtenant, I think it is dime dis dam billaging vas shtop.'
"Oh, no, colonel," replied he, "the boys are not half done jerking."
" Ish dat so ? Den Eschleep for half an hour longer," said the colonel, as he rolled his fat, dumpty body over on the grass again.
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The boys of the 19th Illinois used the word "jerk " in the sense of steal or pillage. This gave the 18th Ohio and 19th Illinois the ap- pellation of "Turchin's Thieves." For this act Turchin was court-martialled and dismissed
from the service by orders of Buell ; but Lincoln, recognizing his soldierly qualities, restored him with the rank of brigadier- general. This retaliation secured better treat- ment from the citizens.
A gentleman of many years and experience, who has long known Vinton county, Mr. S. W. Ely, agricultural editor of the Cincinnati Gazette, who made it a visit in the summer of 1886, has put in print these valuable facts :
"Since our last issue we have enjoyed the opportunity of visiting the county of Vinton, Ohio, which is situate on the C. B. & W. Railway, within 150 miles east of this city, and contrasting conditions and appearances at present with those existing thirty years ago. At that time the county had recently been formed from Ross, Athens, Hoeking and Jackson, and a scattering country village, almost un- approachable from the outer world, located as its 'court-house,' with a patro- nymic derived from one of Ohio's early governors.
" MeArthur was situate on the long and difficult hilly and muddy road which ex- tended sixty miles from Chillicothe to Athens, nearly equidistant between those pioneer boroughs. A few of its early settlers were known to the Scioto valley stock feeders as reliable breeders of 'sassafras' bovines and mountain sheep, and occasionally a caravan of 'Salt Creekers,' with their few hundred feet of ' plank,' their feathers, eggs, 'parilla, and maple molasses came into the ' Ancient Metropolis' for marketing purposes.
" It was understood before that time, however, that Vinton county territory abounded in both sylvan and mineral riches. The first geological survey of the State under Prof. Mather, assisted by the veterans, Briggs, Whittlesey, etc., had been finished and particular mention made of the millstone, coals, iron ores, and other mineral riches of the new county and its neighboring shires. But not until the Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad was completed to the Ohio river did the newly opened territory begin earnestly to improve.
" Trade in the 'black diamonds' with the communities towards the west opened and rapidly increased. The finest timber and best tanbark-the prey most greedily coveted on our new railway lines-were soon wheeled off and utilized. An English colony introduced its 'best methods' at Zaleski, and 'astonished the natives' by erecting a gas-house and indulging in expensive gradation of streets before their hamlet was fairly started, following up with a large blast furnace, in which they vainly strove to make good pigs with a raw sulphurous coal-a task they had to abandon, so that their stack soon crumbled down to the foundation, and a slowly-growing village, kept alive by a portion of the railway machine shops, ensued their bright expectations.
" Within a few years the Columbus and Hocking Valley Railroad has been thrust southwardly, across Vinton county, from Logan, through McArthur to Pomeroy, reinforcing the old Portsmouth branch of the C. B. & W. in connect- ing this interesting region with steamboat navigation. And this brings us to the point of our paragraph. In no respect has this county more positively improved since our earliest acquaintance with it than in that of its agriculture. On every hand, within sight of the railroad, the lands have been largely cleared, and the fields are clothed with rich coats of cultivated grasses, including blue grass, orchard grass, red-top, timothy, etc., while great attention is paid to the clover crop.
" A gentleman who kindly drove us over a considerable scope of country re- marked : 'Our farmers formerly paid more attention to the cereals, but after three or four crops of corn on the same ground they found that their warranty deeds were not strong enough to hold their lands, so they have resorted to grass, hay, pasturage, and cattle and sheep breeding and fattening, so that the old gullies washed in our hillsides are filled up, smoothed over, and 'all dressed in living green.' Meantime agricultural, methods have greatly improved in most other
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respects. The fields we cultivate are well plowed, harrowed, and the clods broken, before the seed is sown or planted. Our erops are larger and more sure than be- fore ; the values of lands have increased correspondingly, and our farmers pay their taxes, and become rich and independent.'
" We observe that great attention is paid to orchard and fruit raising. Our friend, on sixty-six aeres, has 1,100 apple trees, a moiety of which are the Hughes Virginia Crab, from cach of which he will make this year a barrel of cider, worth ten dollars in market. This, he thinks, will pay better than grain or grapes. His place adjoins the town of McArthur, and is remarkably fertile, underlaid also by good, workable coal. It is in a lovely region. It is probable, we think, that no part of our great State can boast of a greater degree of agricultural im- provement, effected in the same period, than Vinton county. . The construction of railroads through her territory has led in this desirable direction. In picturesque beanty she can now challenge the most favored regions, while in all other respects we have reason to believe her people have advanced. Good agriculture is at once the basis and proof of civic improvement. The population of this part of the State is very rapidly increasing, and the inducements for the exercise of industry and energy are excellent."
ZALESKI is on the C. W. & B. R. R., forty-two miles east of Chillicothe and about six northeast from McArthur. It is named from Peter Zaleski, a banker in Paris, a native of Poland, and financial agent for Polish exiles of wealth in France. He was a leading member of the Zaleski Mining Company, which bought large quantities of mineral land hereabout and laid out the town on their land in 1856. For many years it was simply a mining town, the company building, houses for rent to their employees. The ores proving unremunerative, the houses have fallen into the ownership of individuals, and it has lost its identity as a mining town. The greatest industry here is the repairing shops of the railroad, which em- ploys many workmen. It has 1 Episcopal Methodist, 1 Catholic and 1 Mission Baptist Church.
City Officers, 1888 : Sylvester Shry, Mayor ; Peter Hoffman, Clerk ; Jacob Dorst, Treasurer ; John McCoy, Marshal and Street Commissioner.
Population, 1880, 1,175. School census, 1888, 374; J. W. Delay, school superintendent.
HAMDEN P. O., Hamden Junction, is seven miles southwest of McArthur, on the C. W. & B. R. R. It has 1 Presbyterian and 1 Disciples church. City Officers, 1888 : S. F. Cramer, Mayor ; H. D. Wortman, Clerk ; R. R. Brown, Treasurer; J. B. Watts, Marshal ; William Ogier, Commissioner. Newspaper : Hamden Enterprise, Independent ; K. J. Cameron, editor and publisher. Popula- tion, 1880, 520. School census, 1888, 250 ; D. B. Dye, school superintendent.
WILKESVILLE is fifteen miles southeast of McArthur. It has 1 Methodist Episcopal, 1 Presbyterian, 1 United Brethren, and 1 Catholic church. Popu- lation, 1880, 309 ; school census, 1888, 104. The hills there are rich in iron and coal.
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WARREN COUNTY.
WARREN.
WARREN COUNTY was formed from Hamilton, May 1, 1803, and named in honor of Gen. Joseph Warren, who fell at the battle of Bunker Hill.
The surface is generally undulating, but Harlan township embraces a part of an extensive region formerly known as "The Swamps," now drained and culti-"" vated. The greater portion of the county is drained by the Little Miami river. The soil is nearly all productive, much of it being famed for its wonderful strength and fertility.
Area, about 400 square miles. In 1887 the acres cultivated were 136,739; in pasture, 32,696 ; woodland, 30,282, lying waste, 5,724; produced in wheat, 394,588 bushels ; rye, 715; buckwheat, 193; oats, 304,601 ; barley, 1,306 ; corn, 1,453,744 ; broom corn, 7,550 lbs. brush ; meadow hay, 16,042 tons ; clover hay, 2,871 ; flaxseed, 64 bushels; potatoes, 25,599; tobacco, 246,863 lbs .; butter, . 524,454 ; sorghum, 925 gallons ; maple syrup, 5,689; honey, 1,946 lbs. ; eggs, 373,189 dozen; grapes, 9,400 lbs .; wine, 50 gallons; sweet potatoes, 3,886 bushels ; apples, 3,940; peaches, 70; pears, 1,682; wool, 83,761 lbs. ; milch cows owned, 5,587. School census, 1888, 7,611 ; teachers, 168. Miles of rail- road track, 100.
TOWNSHIPS AND CENSUS.
1840.
1880.
TOWNSHIPS AND CENSUS.
1840.
1880.
Clear Creek,
2,821
2,782
Salem,
2,955
2,052
Deerfield,
1,875
2,011
Turtle Creek,
4,951
5,799
Franklin,
2,455
4,148
Union,
1,617
1,110
Hamilton,
1,718
2,523
Washington,
1,306
1,390
Harlan,
2,242
Wayne,
3,392
2,904
Massie,
1,431
Population of Warren in 1820 was 17,838; 1830, 21,474; 1840, 23,073; 1860, 26,902; 1880, 28,392; of whom 23,256 were born in Ohio; 643 Vir- ginia ; 573 Pennsylvania ; 539 Kentucky ; 364 Indiana; 188 New York ; 574 German Empire; 520 Ireland ; 180 England and Wales; 32 Scotland; 24 France ; 24 British America, and 4 Norway and Sweden.
Census, 1890, 25,468.
On September 21, 1795, William Bedle, from New Jersey, set out from one of the settlements near Cincinnati with a wagon, tools and provisions, to make a new settlement in the Third or Military Range. This was about one month after the fact had become known that Wayne had made a treaty of peace with the Indians. He travelled with a surveying party under Capt. John Dunlap, following Har- mar's trace to his lands, where he left the party and built a block-house as a pro- tection against the Indians, who might not respect the treaty of peace.
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Bedle's Station was a well-known place in the carly history of the county, and was five miles west of Lebanon and nearly two miles south of Union village. Here several families lived in much simplicity, the clothing of the children being ... made chiefly out of dressed deerskin, some of the larger girls being elad in buck- skin petticoats and short gowns. Bedle's Station has generally been regarded as the first settlement in the county. About the time of its settlement, however, or not long after, William Mounts and five others established Mounts' Station, on a broad and fertile bottom on the south side of the Little Miami, about three miles below the mouth of Todd's Fork, building their cabins in a circle around a spring as a protection against the Indians.
Deerfield, now South Lebanon, is probably the oldest town in the county. Its proprietors gave a number of lots to those who would erect houses on them and
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WARREN COUNTY.
become residents of the place. On January 25, 1796, the proprietors advertised in the Centinel of the Northwest Territory that all the lots they proposed to donate had been taken, and that twenty-five houses and cabins had been erected. Ben- jamin Stites, Sr., Benjamin Stites, Jr., and John Stites Gano were the proprietors. The senior Stites owned nearly ten thousand acres between Lebanon and Deer- field. Andrew Lytle, Nathan Kelly and Gen. David Sutton were among the early settlers at Deerfield. The pioneer and soldier, Capt. Ephraim Kibbey, died; here in 1809, aged 55 years.
In the spring of 1796 settlements were made in various parts of the county. The settlements at Deerfield, Franklin and the vicinities of Lebanon and Waynes- ville, all date from the spring of 1796. It is probable that a few cabins were erected at Deerfield and Franklin in the autumn of 1795, but it is not probable that any families were settled at either place until the next spring.
Among the earliest white men who made their homes in the county were those who settled on the forfeitures in Deerfield township. They were poor men, wholly destitute of means to purchase land, and were willing to brave dangers from savage foes, and to endure the privations of a lonely life in the wilderness to re- ceive gratuitously the tract of 1063 acres forfeited by each purchaser of a section of land who did not commence improvements within two years after the date of his purchase. In a large number of the sections below the third range there was a forfeited one-sixth part, and a number of hardy adventurers had established themselves on the northeast corner of the section. Some of these adventurers were single men, living solitary and alone in little huts, and supporting them- selves chiefly with their rifles. Others had their families with them at an early period.
THE PERILOUS ADVENTURE OF CAPT. BENHAM.
Capt. Robert Benham, the subject of one of the most romantic stories in the history of the Ohio valley, died on a farm about a mile southwest of Lebanon, in 1809, aged 59 years. He is said to have built, in 1789, the first hewed log-house in Cincinnati, and established a ferry at Cincinnati over the Ohio, February 18, 1792. He was a member of the first Territorial Legislature, and of the first board of county commissioners of Warren county. He was a native of Pennsylvania and a man of great muscular strength and activity. He was one of a party of seventy men who were attacked by Indians near the Ohio, opposite Cincinnati, in the war of the Revolution, the circumstances of which here follow from a pub- lished source.
In the autumn of 1779, a number of keel boats were ascending the Ohio under the com- mand of Maj. Rodgers, and had advanced as far as the mouth of Licking without accident. Here, however, they observed a few Indians standing upon the southern extremity of a sandbar, while a canoe, rowed by three others, was in the act of putting off from the Ken- tucky shore, as if for the purpose of taking them aboard. Rodgers immediately ordered the boats to be made fast on the Kentucky shore, while the crew, to the number of seventy men, well armed, cautiously advanced in such a manner as to encircle the spot where the enemy had been seen to land. Only five or six Indians had been seen, and no one dreamed of encountering more than fifteen or twenty enemies. When Rodgers, however, had, as he supposed, completely surrounded the enemy, and was preparing to rush upon them from several quarters at once, he was thunderstruck at beholding several hundred savages suddenly spring up in front, rear, and
upon both flanks, They instantly poured in a close discharge of rifles, and then throwing down their guns, fell upon the survivors with the tomahawk. The panic was complete, and the slaughter prodigious. Maj. Rodgers, to- gether with forty-five others of his men, were quickly destroyed. The survivors made an effort to regain their boats, but the five men who had been left in charge of them had immediately put off from shore in the hind- most boat, and the enemy had already gained possession of the others. Disappointed in the attempt, they turned furiously upon the enemy, and, aided by the approach of dark- ness, forced their way through their lines, and with the loss of several severely wounded, at length effected their escape to Harrods- burgh.
Among the wounded was Capt. Robert Benham. Shortly after breaking through the enemy's line he was shot through both hips, and the bones being shattered, he fell to the ground. Fortunately, a large tree had
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lately fallen near the spot where he lay, and with great pain he dragged himself into the top, and lay concealed among the branches. The Indians, eager in pursuit of the others, passed him without notice, and by midnight all was quiet. On the following day the In- dians returned to the battle-ground, in order to strip the dead and take care of the boats. Benham, although in danger of famishing, permitted them to pass without making known his condition, very correctly supposing that his crippled legs would only induce them to tomahawk him upon the spot in order to avoid the trouble of carrying him to their town. He lay close,, therefore, until the evening of the second day, when perceiving a raccoon descending a tree near him, he shot it, hoping to devise some means of reaching it, when he could kindle a fire and make a meal. Scarcely had his gun cracked, how- ever, when he heard a human cry, apparently not more than fifty yards off. Supposing it to be an Indian, he hastily reloaded his gun and remained silent, expecting the approach of an enemy.
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Presently the same voice was heard again, bnt much nearer. Still Benham made no reply, but cocked his gun and sat ready to fire as soon as an object appeared. A third halloo was quickly heard, followed by an ex- clamation of impatience and distress, which convinced Benham that the unknown must be a Kentuckian. As soon, therefore, as he heard the expression, "Whoever you are, for God's sake answer me !" he replied with readiness, and the parties were soon together. Benham, as we have already observed, was shot through both legs. The man who now appeared had escaped from the same battle with both arms broken ! Thus each was en- abled to supply what the other wanted. Benham, having the perfect use of his arms, could load his gun and kill game with great readiness, while his friend having the use of his legs, could kick the game to the spot where Benham sat, who was thus enabled to cook it. When no wood was near them, his companion would rake up brush with his feet, and gradually roll it within reach of Benham's hands, who constantly fed his companion and dressed his wounds as well as his own, tearing up both of their shirts for that purpose. They found some difficulty in procuring water at first, but Benham at length took his own hat, and placing the rim between the teeth of his companion, directed him to wade into the Licking, up to his neck, and dip the hat into the water by sinking his own head. The man who could walk was thus enabled to bring water, by means of his
teeth, which Benham could afterwards dis- pose of as was necessary.
In a few days they had killed all the squir- rels and birds within reach, and the man with the broken arms was sent out to drive game within gunshot of the spot to which Benham was confined. Fortunately, wild turkeys were abundant in those woods, and his companion would walk around and drive them towards Benham, who seldom failed to kill two or three of each flock. In this manner they supported themselves for several weeks, until their wounds had healed so as to enable them to travel. They then shifted their quarters, and put up a small shed at the mouth of Licking, where they encamped until late in November, anxiously expecting the arrival of some boat, which should convey them to the falls of Ohio.
On the 27th of November they observed a flat boat moving leisurely down the river. Benham hoisted his hat upon a stick and hallooed loudly for help. The crew, how- ever, supposing them to be Indians-at least suspecting them of an intention to decoy them ashore-paid no attention to their sig- nals of distress, but instantly put over to the opposite side of the river, and manning every oar, endeavored to pass them as rapidly as possible. Benham beheld them > pass him with a sensation bordering on despair, for the place was much frequented by Indians, and the approach of winter threatened them with destruction, unless speedily relieved. At length, after the boat had passed him nearly half a mile, he saw a-canoe put off from its stern, and cautiously approached the Ken- tucky shore, evidently reconnoitring them with great suspicion. He called loudly upon them for assistance, mentioned his name, and made known his condition. After a long par- ley, and many evidences of reluctance on the part of the crew, the canoe at length touched the shore, and Benham and his friend were taken on board. Their appearance excited much suspicion. They were almost entirely naked, and their faces were garnished with six weeks' growth of beard. The one was ' barely able to hobble upon crutches, and the other could manage to feed himself with one of his hands. They were taken to Louis- ville, where their clothes (which had been carried off in the boat which deserted them) were restored to them, and after a few weeks' confinement, both were perfectly restored.
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