Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume I, Part 108

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio
Number of Pages: 1006

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MOSS "ENG. C ..

N.V.

THE FRENCH SETTLERS AT GALLIPOLIS, DIRECT FROM PARIS, CUTTING DOWN TREES.

this was accomplished by tying the bottle to the limb of a tree, with the peach when young inserted into it. His swans which swam around basins of water amused me more than any wonders exhibited by the won- derful man.

The French Philosophers and the Savages. -The doctor was a great favorite with the Americans, as well for his vivacity and sweet- ness of temper, which nothing could sour, as on account of a circumstance which gave him high claim to the esteem of the backwoods- men. He had shown himself, notwithstand- ing his small stature and great good nature, a very hero in combat with the Indians. He had descended the Ohio in company with two French philosophers who were believers in the primitive innocence and goodness of

the children of the forest. They could not be persuaded that any danger was to be ap- prehended from the Indians. As they had no intentions to injure that people, they sup- posed no harm could be meditated on their part. Dr. Saugrain was not altogether so well convinced of their good intentions, and accordingly kept his pistols loaded. Near the mouth of the Sandy a canoe with a party of warriors approached the boat ; the philos- ophers invited them on board by signs, when they came rather too willingly. The first thing they did on coming on board of the boat was to salute the two philosophers with the tomahawk, and they would have treated the doctor in the same way but that he used his pistols with good effect-killed two of the savages and then leaped into the water, div-

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ing like a dipper at the flash of the guns of the others, and succeeded in swimming to the shore with several severe wounds whose scars were conspicuous.

Madame Saugrain .- The doctor was mar- ried to an amiable young woman, but not possessing as much vivacity as himself. As Madame Saugrain had no maid to assist her, her brother, a boy of my age, and myself, were her principal helps in the kitchen. We brought water and wood and washed the dishes. I used to go in the morning about two miles for a little milk, sometimes on the frozen ground, barefooted. I tried a pair of sabots, or wooden shoes, but was unable to make any use of them, although they had been made by the carver to the king. Little perquisites, too, sometimes fell to our share from blacking boots and shoes. My com- panion generally saved his, while mine would have burned a hole in my pocket if it had remained there. In the spring and summer a good deal of my time was passed in the garden, weeding the beds. While thus en- gaged I formed an acquaintance with a young lady of eighteen or twenty on the other side of the palings, who was often similarly occu- pied. Our friendship, which was purely Platonic, commenced with the story of Blue Beard, recounted by her, and with the nov- elty and pathos of which I was much inter- ested. This incident may perhaps remind the reader of the story of Pyramus and Thisbe, or perhaps of the hortical ecologue of Dean Swift, "Dermot and Shela."

Connected with this lady is an incident which I feel a pleasure in relating. One day, while standing alone on the bank of the river, I saw a man who had gone in to bathe and who had got beyond his depth without being able to swim. He had begun to strug- gle for life, and in a few seconds would have sunk to rise no more. I shot down the bank like an arrow, leaped into a canoe which for- tunately happened to be close by, pushed the end to him, and, as he rose, perhaps for the last time, he seized it with a deadly, convul- sive grasp and held so firmly that the skin afterward came off the parts of his arms which pressed against the wood. I screamed for help. Several persons came and took him out, perfectly insensible. He afterwards married the young lady and raised a numerous and respectable family. One of his daugh- ters married a young lawyer who now repre- sents that district in Congress.

Sufferings of the Settlers .- Toward the latter part of summer the inhabitants suffered severely from sickness and want of provisions. Their situation was truly wretched. The swamp in the rear, now exposed by the clear- ing between it and the river, became the cause of a frightful epidemic, from which few escaped, and many became its victims. I had recovered from the ague, and was among the few exempted from the disease ; but our family, as well as the rest, suffered much from absolute hunger, a most painful sensation, as I had before experienced. To show the extremity of our distress, on one

occasion the brother of Madame Saugrain and myself pushed a light canoe to an island above town, where we pulled some corn, took it to mill, and, excepting some of the raw grains, had nothing to eat from the day be- fore until we carried home the flour and made some bread, but had neither milk nor meat. I have learned to be thankful when I had a sufficiency of wholesome food, how- ever plain, and was blessed with health ; and I could put up with humble fare without a murmur, although accustomed to luxuries, when I have seen those who have never ex- perienced absolute starvation turn up their noses at that which was a very little worse than the best they had ever known.

General Wilkinson and Suite .- I had been nearly a year at Gallipolis, when Capt. Smith, of the United States army, came along in advance of the barge of Gen. Wilkinson, and, according to the request of my father, took me into his custody for the purpose of bringing me once more to my native place. He remained two or three days waiting for the general, and in the meanwhile procured me hat, shoes and clothes befitting a gentle- man's son, and then took me on board his boat. Shortly after the general overtook us I was transferred on board his barge as a playmate for his son Biddle, a boy of my own age. The general's lady and several ladies and gentlemen were on board his boat, which was fitted up in a style of convenience and even magnificence scarcely surpassed even by the present steamboats. It was propelled against the stream by twenty-five or thirty men, sometimes by the pole, the cordelle, and often by the oar. There was also a band of musicians on board, and the whole had the appearance of a mere party of pleasure. My senses were overpowered- it seemed an elysium ! The splendor of the furniture-the elegance of the dresses-and then, the luxuries of the table, to a half- starved creature like me, produced an effect which can scarce be easily described. Every repast was a royal banquet, and such deli- cacies were placed before me as I had never seen before, and in sufficient abundance to satiate my insatiable appetite. I was no more like what I had been than the cast-off skin of the blacksnake resembles the new dress in which he glistens in the sunbeam. The general's countenance was continually lighted up with smiles, and he seemed faire le bonheur of all around him ; it seemed his business to make every one happy about him. His countenance and manners were such as I have rarely seen, and now that I can form a more just estimate of them, were such as better fitted him for a court than a republic. His lady was truly an estimable person, of the mildest and softest manners. She gave her son and myself a reproof one day which I never forgot. She saw us catch- ing minnows with pin-hooks, made us desist, and then explained in the sweetest manner the cruelty of taking away life wantonly from the humblest thing in creation.

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In 1807 Breckenridge again saw Gallipolis.

As we passed Point Pleasant and the island below it, Gallipolis, which I looked for with anxious feelings, hove in sight. I thought of the French inhabitants-I thought of my friend Saugrain ; and I recalled, in the live- liest colors, the incidents of that portion of my life which was passed here. A year is a long time at that period-every day is crowded with new and great and striking events. When the boat landed, I ran up the bank and looked around ; but alas! how changed ! The Americans had taken the town in hand, and no trace of antiquity, that is, of twelve years ago, remained. I hastened to the spot where I expected to find the abode, the little log- house, tavern, and laboratory of the doctor, but they had vanished like the palace of Alad- din. After some inquiry I found a little Frenchman, who, like the old woman of Gold- smith's village, was " the sad historian of the deserted plain,"-that is, deserted by one

race, to be peopled by another. He led me to where a few logs might be seen, as the only remains of the once happy tenement which had sheltered me-but all around it was a common ; the town had taken a different di- rection. My heart sickened ; the picture which my imagination had drawn-the scenes which my memory loved to cherish, were blotted out and obliterated. A volume of re- miniscences seemed to be annihilated in an instant! I took a hasty glance at the new town, as I returned to the boat. I saw brick houses, painted frames, fanciful enclosures, ornamental trees ! Even the pond, which had carried off a third of the French population by its malaria, had disappeared, and a pretty green had usurped its place, with a neat brick court-house in the midst of it. This was too much ; I hastened my pace, and with sorrow once more pushed into the stream.

GALLIPOLIS IN 1846 .- Gallipolis, the county-seat, is pleasantly situated on the Olio river, 102 miles southeasterly from Columbus. It contains 1 Presbyterian, 1 Episcopal, and 1 Methodist church, 12 or 14 stores, 2 newspaper printing offices, and by the census of 1840 had 1,221 inhabitants, and now has about 1,700. A part of the population is of French descent, but they have in a great measure lost their national characteristics. Some few of the original French settlers are yet living. The engraving of the public square shows the market and court-house near the centre of the view, with a glimpse of the Ohio river on the left .- Old · Edition.

Gallipolis is on the Ohio, 4 miles below the mouth of the Kanawha, 102 south- east of Columbus, and on the C. H. V. & T. R. R. County officers in 1888 : Auditor, Anthony W. Kerns; Clerk, Robert D. Neal ; Coroner, Fred. A. Crom- ley ; Prosecuting Attorney, D. Warren Jones ; Probate Judge, John J. Thomas ; Recorder, James K. Williams ; Sheriff, Valentine H. Switzer ; Surveyor, Ira W. Jacobs ; Treasurer, D. S. Trowbridge, I. Floyd Chapman ; Commissioners, S. F. Coughenour, Daniel J. Davies, William H. Clark. Newspapers: Bulletin, Demo- cratic ; Gallia Tribune, Republican ; Journal, Republican. Churches : 3 Episco- pal Methodist, 1 Colored Methodist, 1 Baptist, 1 Colored Baptist, 1 Catholic, 1 German Lutheran, 1 Universalist, 1 Presbyterian, 1 Episcopalian. Banks : First National, R. Deletombe, president, J. S. Blackaller, cashier ; Ohio Valley, A. Henking, president, C. W. Henking, cashier. Industries and Employees : Gal- lipolis Steam Tannery, 14 hands ; Morrison & Betz, Inmber ; James Mullineaux, doors, sash, etc., 24; Vanden & Son, A. A. Lyon, carriages ; Martin McHale, brooms, 19 ; Fuller & Hutsinpiller, furniture, 75; The Fuller and Hutsinpiller Company, finishing furniture, 64; Treasure Stove Works, stoves, etc., 21; Kling & Co., stoves, etc., 24; T. S. Ford & Co., flooring, etc., 12; Enos, Hill & Co., machinery, etc., 25 ; Gatewood Lumber Company, furniture, etc., 22 .- State Report for 1887.

Population in 1880, 4,400. School census in 1886, 1,868; Miron E. Hard, superintendent.

TRAVELLING NOTES.

In my original visit to Gallipolis I failed of learning that the extraordinary specimen of humanity known as Mad Ann Bailey passed the latter part of her days in its vicinity. In my travels over Virginia in the years 1843-

44 taking pencil sketches and collecting mate- rials for my work upon that State, I learned of her and inserted therein this account.

"There was an eccentric female, who lived in the Kanawha region towards the latter part of the last century. Her name was Ann

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Barley. She was born in Liverpool, and had been the wife of an English soldier. She generally went by the cognomen of Mad Ann. During the wars with the Indians, she very often acted as a messenger, and conveyed let- ters from the fort, at Covington, to Point

Pleasant. On these occasions she was mounted on a favorite horse of great saga- city, and rode like a man, with a rifle over her shoulder, and a tomahawk and a butch- er's-knife in her belt. At night she slept in the woods. Her custom was to let her horse

EUREA.

Drawn by Henry Howe in 1846.

PUBLIC SQUARE, GALLIPOLIS.

go free, and then walk some distance back on his trail, to escape being discovered by the Indians. After the Indian wars. she spent some time in hunting. She pursued and shot deer and bears with the skill of a backwoods- man. She was a short, stout woman, very masculine and coarse in her appearance, and

seldom or never wore a gown, but usually had on a petticoat, with a man's coat over it, and buckskin breeches. The services she ren- dered in the wars with the Indians endeared her to the people. Mad Ann, and her black , pony Liverpool, were always welcome at every house. Often, she gathered the honest, sim-

Fenner, Photo., 1885.

ON THE PUBLIC SQUARE, GALLIPOLIS.

ple-hearted mountaineers around, and related her adventures and trials, while the sympa- thetic tear would course down their cheeks. She was profane, often became intoxicated, and could box with the skill of one of the fancy. Mad Ann possessed considerable in- telligence, and could read and write. She died in Ohio many years since."

I have this notice of her death which is kindly copied for me by Mr. James Harper, from the Gallia Free Press, of December 3, 1825, published by his father. In a note with it he wrote to me : " I saw Ann Bailey a short time before she died-the first and only time -and she made a lasting impression upon my six-year-old mind, She wore a hat, and her

GALLIA COUNTY.

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accoutrements were tomahawk and scalping- knife." The account was published under the caption "Longevity."

"Died, in Harrison township, Gallia county, Ohio, on Tuesday, November 22, 1825, the celebrated Ann Bailey. From the best ac- count we have had she must have been at ' least 125 years of age. According to her own story her father was a soldier in Queen Anne's wars ; that on getting a furlough to go home, he found his wife with a fine daughter in her arms, whom he called Ann, after the Queen, as a token of respect. In 1714 she went from Liverpool to London with her mother on a visit to her brother-while there, she saw Lord Lovett beheaded.

She came to the United States the year after Braddock's defeat, aged then forty-six years. Her husband was killed at the battle of Point Pleasant in 1774; after that, to avenge his death, she joined the garrison, under the command of Col. Wm. Clendenin, where she remained until the final departure of the Indians from the country. She has always been noted for intrepid bravery. Col. Wm. Clendenin says, while he was com. mander of the garrison where Charleston, Kanawha, is now located, an attack by In- dians was hourly expected. On examination it was believed that the ammunition on hand was insufficient to hold out a siege of any length ; to send even two, three or four men

ANN BAILEY, the Heroine of Point Pleasant.

to Lewisburg, the nearest place it could be had, a distance of 100 miles, was like sending men to be slaughtered ; and to send a larger force was weakening the garrison. While in this state Ann Bailey volunteered to leave the fort in the night and go to Lewisburg. She did so-and travelled the wilderness, where rot the vestige of a house was to be seen-arrived safe at Lewisburg, delivered her orders, received the ammunition, and re- turned safe to her post, amidst the plaudits of a grateful people."

In the April number, 1885, of the Magazine of Western History is a sketch of Mad Ann by Wm. P. Buell. It states she was born in the year 1700, in Liverpool, England, and named in honor of Queen Anne, and was present with her parents at her coronation in 1705. She was of good family ; the name Sargent. At the age of nineteen, while on her way to school with books on her arm, she was kidnapped, as was common in those days, and brought to America and landed in Vir- ginia, on James river, when she was sold to defray her expenses. At the age of thirty she married John Trotter, who was killed at the battle of Point Pleasant in 1774. The loss of her husband filled her with rage and,

swearing vengeance upon the entire savage race, she entered upon a career as a scont and spy. She hun+ 4, rode and fought like a man. She had a fine black horse called Liv- erpool, in honor of her birthplace, an animal of great beauty and intelligence. On one occasion, when she was pursued by Indians, she came to an impenetrable thicket where she was obliged to dismount and leave him for their capture. She then crawled into a hollow sycamore log. The Indians came and rested on the log, but without suspecting her concealment within. After they had gone she followed their trail, and in the darkness of night recaptured the animal, and, mount- ing him, when at a safe distance from being shot or taken gave a shout of defiance and bounded away. The Indians eventually be- came afraid of her, regarding her as insane and therefore under the special protection of the Great Spirit.

After sixteen years of widowhood she mar- ried John Bailey, a soldier, and went with him to Fort Clendenin, on the site of Charles- ton, Kanawha river. This was in 1790, and when she had attained to the ripe, mellow age of ninety years. Her second husband was murdered, when she went to live with

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her son, William Trotter. In 1818 Trotter moved into Gallia county, became a large landowner and was justice of the peace for twenty-one years, and a highly respected man.

A Chat with James L. Newsom about Mad Ann Bailey and others was a wholesome enter- tainment for me while in Gallipolis. Mr. Newsom lived in a little cottage a stone's throw from the Ohio. He was rather tall, cheeks rosy, and life appeared to have gone well with him ; and was a boy of fourteen when Mad Ann Bailey died. He told me that he had eleven children, eight boys and three girls ; that not one of the eleven had ever tasted ardent spirits, and the eight boys always voted the Republican ticket, which I

concluded was a good thing for that ticket, but bad for the distilling business.

"I knew Ann Bailey well," he said, "and heard her say she was five years old when, in 1705, Queen Anne was crowned, and her mother took her up to London to see the event. She was a low-set, heavy woman, not over five feet two inches high, dressed in a petticoat with a man's coat over it, wore a hat, and loved whiskey in her old age ; often saw her come to town with a gun and a shot- pouch over her shoulder. She would not live with her son and grandchildren-was too wild. Her home was a cabin, or rather pen, four miles below town, high on the Ohio river hills. She built it of fence rails, which

CABIN OF ANN BAILEY.

It was on the Ohio River Hills, below Gallipolis, and built by her of fence rails.

lapped at the corners. It was made like a shed, had one door and a single window, a small, four-pane affair. The roof was without nails, of black oak clapboards say four feet long, held to their places by weight poles. The chimney was merely an excuse for a chimney ; was, outside, about four feet high ; the fireplace would take in sticks four or five feet long. The interstices of the cabin were stuffed with straw and old rags and daubed with mud. The only floor was the earth ; she had no furniture, not even a bedstead. Mad Ann was passionate, high spirited, had excellent sense, would allow no trifling with her, and hated Indians.

She was very particular in the observance of the Sabbath ; gathered in the children and taught them Sunday lessons. Her voice was coarse, like the growl of a lion, and she chewed tobacco like a pig, the saliva coming down the corners of her mouth. I often saw her in town ; she sometimes walked and some- times paddled up in a canoe, and always with a gun and shot-pouch over her shoulder in hunter fashion.

Although spoken of as Mad Ann, no one ever had the temerity to so address her ; the people fairly idolized her, treated her with great kindness, loaded her with presents and

plied her well with whiskey. She died from old age, never was sick-only gave out.

She looked tough as a mule and seemed about as strong. I was a stout boy of four- teen, and one day she laid down her bundle of things which people gave her. We boys were afraid of her, as she was disposed to be a little cross, but as her back was turned 1 tried to lift it, but was unable. She lifted it with ease, and walked all the way to her home with it, four miles away."

Mr. Newsom brought out a picture, which he gave me, saying he had kept it for years because it was an excellent likeness of Mad Ann, although not taken for her, and this is reproduced in these pages. That of the cabin is from the imagination of an artist, who being a city man has made it altogether too palatial ; Mad Ann would have scorned to have lived in so pretentious a mansion.

Gen. EDWARD W. TUPPER, an officer of the war of 1812, lived in a house now stand- ing, which faces the public square in Gal- lipolis. In 1812 he raised, mainly from Gallia, Jackson and Lawrence counties, 1,000 men, marched to the northwest and had a skirmish with the enemy at the foot of the Maumee Rapids. He was a large, fine-looking man, continued Mr. Newsom, and when our people

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attempted to establish a ferry to Point Pleas- ant, the inhabitants there arose in opposition. The jurisdiction of Virginia extended over the Ohio, and they threatened to kill the first passenger who crossed. Hearing this, Tupper buckled on his sword and pistols and mounting his old war horse ordered the ferryman to take him over. He landed and galloped to and fro through the village. No one ventured to molest him, and thus was the ferry estab- lished.

Mr. Newsom also related this anecdote of Col. Robert Safford, who, as stated, cut the first tree on the site of Gallipolis. "One time, said Safford to me, after the defeat of St. Clair, I was in the neighborhood of Rac- coon creek with a brother scout, one Hart, when we discovered an Indian seated on a hillock mending his moccasins. I told Hart we must shoot together and I would give the word by counting one, two, three, four. When I said four' he must answer ' four,' then we would shoot together. I did so, but Hart not responding I looked behind me where Hart was and saw him running away. I again looked at the hillock and saw not one, but four Indians ; so I followed suit."

Gallipolis was the life-home of SIMEON NASII, one of the learned jurists of Ohio ; he died in 1879. He aided me on the first edition by a valuable contribution. He was one of those plain, sensible, industrious men who generally go direct for their facts and get them. He was born in Massachusetts in 1804, educated at Amherst ; was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1850, and for many years Judge of the Seventh Dis- trict. Judge Nash was author of various law works, as: "Digest of Ohio Reports," in twenty volumes ; " Morality and the State," "Crime and the Family," etc.

JOSEPHI DROUILLARD, now living, at the age of ninety-two years, with his son-in-law, Mr. James Harper, editor of the Gallipolis Journal, is a son of the " Peter Druyer " (as the name has been wrongly spelled) who res- cued Simon Kenton from being burnt at the stake by the Indians. He was clerk of the court here for twenty-three years and is a highly respected citizen.

The cemetery at Gallipolis is unique from having so many monuments to French people. One of these is to the memory of JOHN PETER ROMAINE BUREAU. I met him here on my first visit ; a little, vivacious, old gen- tleman, very urbane, graceful and smiling ; evidently wanting everybody to feel as joyous as himself. A daughter of his, Romaine Madelaine, married Hon. Samuel F. Vinton, one of Ohio's most distinguished statesmen. (See Vinton county. ) Their daughter, MADE- LAINE VINTON DAHLGREN, for her second husband married Admiral Dahlgren. As early as 1859 she published "Sketches and Poems," under the pen-name of Corinne. Her reputation as an authoress and a lady of the highest culture, wealth of information and efficiency in the circles of Washington is too well known for other than our allusion. The Chapel of "St. Joseph's of the Sacred Heart of Jesus," at South Mountain, Md., her summer home, was built through her munificence. One of her works received the compliment of a preface from James A. Garfield, and another the thanks of Pius IX., and still another the thanks of the illustrious Montalembert. Her summer home overlooks the famous battlefield, and resembles a castle of the Middle Ages. Mrs. Dahlgren has published various works on various subjects ; essays, poems, biography, magazine and news- paper articles, and nearly a dozen novels.

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Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume I, Part 108

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893 Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio Number of Pages: 1006

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio
Number of Pages: 1006