Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume I, Part 43

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

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Fights with Wolves and Bears .- A young man by the name of Elijah Thompson, of Geneva, was out hunting in the forest with his favorite dog. While thus engaged, his dog left him as if he scented game, and soon was engaged with a pack of seven wolves. Young Thompson, more anxious for the dog than his own safety, rushed to the rescue, firing his rifle as he approached, and then clubbing it, made a fierce onset upon the enemy. His dog, being badly wounded and nearly exhausted, could give him no assist- ance, and the contest seemed doubtful. The wolves fought with desperation; but the young man laid about him with so much energy and agility, that his blows told well, and he soon had the satisfaction of seeing wolf after wolf skulk away under the blows

which he dealt them, until he remained mas- ter of the field, when, with the remains of his rifle-the barrel-on his shoulder, and his bleeding and helpless dog under his arm, he left the scene panting and weary, though not materially injured in the conflict. Mrs. John Austin, of the same township, hearing, on one occasion, a bear among her hogs, detcr- mined to defeat his purpose. First hurrying her little children up a ladder into her cham- ber, for safety, in case she was overcome by the animal, she seized a rifle, and rushing to the spot saw the bear only a few rods distant, carrying off a hog into the woods, while the prisoner sent forth deafening squeals, accom- panied by the rest of the sty in full chorus. Nothing daunted, she rushed forward to the scene with her rifle ready cocked, on which the monster let go his prize, raised himself upon his haunches and faced her. Dropping upon her knees to obtain a steady aim, and resting her rifle on the fence, within six feet of the bear, the intrepid female pulled the trigger. Perhaps fortunately for her, the rifle missed fire. Again and again she snapped her piece, but with the same result. The bear, after keeping his position some time, dropped down on all fours, and leaving the hogs behind, retreated to the forest and re- signed the field to the woman.

The early settlers experienced great diffi- culty in preserving their swine from the rav- ages of wild beasts. Messrs. Morgan and Murrain, who, with their wives, dwelt in the same cabin, had with difficulty procured a sow, which, with her progeny, occupied a strong pen contiguous to the dwelling. Dur- ing a dark night, their husbands being neces- sarily absent, the repose of the ladies was disturbed by a very shrill serenade from the pen ; arousing from their slumbers, they dis- . covered a large bear making an assault upon the swine. They attempted, by loud screams and throwing fire-brands, to terrify the ani- mal; but not succeeding, they took an un- loaded rifle, and having heard their husbands say that it required just two fingers of pow- der, they poured liberally into the muzzle, one of them in the meanwhile measuring lengthwise of her fingers, until the full amount was obtained, then driving in a ball they sallied out to the attack. One lady held the light, while the other fired the gun. Such another report, from a tube of equal capacity, is seldom heard. The ladies both fell prostrate and insensible, and the gun flew into the bushes. The bear was doubtless alarmed, but not materially injured.

A War Alarm .- On the night of the 11th of August, 1812, the people of Conneaut were alarmed by a false report that the Brit- ish were landing from some of their vessels. A sentinel, placed on the shore, descrying boats approaching, mistook them for the enemy. In his panic he threw away his musket, mounted his horse, and dashing through the settlement, cried with a sten- torian voice: "Turn out! turn out/ save your lives, the British and Indians are land- ing, and will be on you in fifteen minutes !"

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ASHTABULA COUNTY.

The people, aroused from their beds, fled in the utmost terror to various places of covert in the forest. Those of East Conneaut had sheltered themselves in a dense grove, which being near the high road, it was deemed that the most perfect silence should be main- tained. By that soothing attention mothers know how to bestow, the cries of the children were measurably stilled ; but one little dog, from among his companions, kept up a con-

tinual unmitigated yelping. Various means having in vain been employed to still him, until the patience of the ladies was ex- hansted, it was unanimously resolved that that particular dog should die, and he was therefore sentenced to be hanged, without benefit of clergy. With the elastics supplied by the ladies for a halter, and a young sap- ling for a gallows, the young dog passed from the shores of time to yelp no more.

AUSTINBURG, five miles westerly from Jefferson, is a small village in a locality of fine historic note. Edwin Cowles, the veteran editor of the Cleveland Leader, was born in Austinburg Sept. 19, 1825, and of Connecticut stock. As a journalist he has shown extraordinary force and fearlessness of character, and has been a leader in many things of great public benefit, a power in the land.

The original proprietors of this township were Wm. Battell, of Torringford, Solomon Rockwell & Co., of Winchester, and Elipha- let Austin, of New Hartford, Conn. By the instrumentality of Judge Austin, from whom the town was named, two families moved to this place from Connecticut in 1799. The Jndge preceded them a short time, driving, in company with a hired man, some cattle 150 miles through the woods on an Indian trail, while the rest came in a boat across the lake. There were at this time a few families at Harpersfield ; at Windsor, southwest about twenty miles, a family or two; also at Elk

creck, forty miles northeast, and at Vernon, forty miles southeast, were several families, all of whom were in a destitute condition for provisions. In the year 1800 another family moved from Norfolk, Conn. In the spring of 1801 there was an accession of ten families to the settlement, principally from Norfolk, Conn. Part of these came from Buffalo by water, and part by land throngh the wilder- ness. During that season wheat was carried to mill at Elk creek, a distance of forty miles, and in some instances one-half was given for carrying it to mill and returning it in flour.

On Wednesday, October 24, 1801, a church was constituted at Austinburg with sixteen members. This was the first church on the Western Reserve, and was founded by the Rev. Joseph Badger, the first missionary on the Reserve, a sketch of whom is in another part of this work. It is a fact worthy of note, that in 1802 Mr. Badger moved his family from Buffalo to this town in the first wagon that ever eame from that place to the Reserve.

The Jerks .- In 1803 Austinburg, Morgan and Harpersfield experienced a revival of re- ligion by which about thirty-five from those places united with the church at Austinburg. This revival was attended with the phe- nomena of "bodily exercises," then common in the West. They have been classified by a clerical writer as, Ist, the Falling exercise ; 2d, the Jerking exercise ; 3d, the Rolling exercise ; 4th, the Running exercise ; 5th, the Dancing exercise ; 6th, the Barking exercise ; 7th, Visions and Trances. We make room for an extract from his account of the second of the series, which sufficiently characterizes the remainder :

It was familiarly called The Jerks, and the first recorded instance of its occurrence was at a sacrament in East Tennessee, when sev- eral hundred of both sexes were seized with this strange and involuntary contortion. The subject was instantaneonsly seized with spasms or convulsions in every muscle, nerve and ten- don. His head was thrown or jerked from side to side with snch rapidity that it was impossible to distinguish his visage, and the most lively fears were awakened, lest he

should dislocate his neck or dash ont his brains. His body partook of the same im- pnlse and was hurried on by like jerks over every obstacle, fallen trunks of trees, or in a church over pews and benches, apparently to the most imminent danger of being bruised and mangled. It was useless to attempt to hold or restrain him, and the paroxysm was permitted gradually to exhaust itself. An additional motive for leaving him to himself was the superstitions notion that all attempt at restraint was resisting the spirit of God.

From the universal testimony of those who have described these spasms, they appear to have been wholly involuntary. This remark is applicable also to all the other bodily exer- cises. What demonstrates satisfactorily their involuntary nature is not only that, as above stated, the twitches prevailed in spite of re- sistance, and even more for attempts to sup- press thera, but that wicked men would be seized with them while sedulously guarding against an attack, and enrsing every jerk when made. Travellers on their journey, and laborers at their daily work, were also liable to them.

KINGSVILLE, on Lake Erie, sixty miles east of Cleveland, fourteen miles from

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ASHTABULA COUNTY.

Jefferson, on L. S. & M. S. and N. Y. C. & St. L. Railroads, surrounded by a fine farming country. Newspapers : Tribune, Republican, I. V. Nearpass, editor. Churches : 1 Methodist, 1 Presbyterian. The principal industry is basket mak- ing, the Kingsville handle works employing 83 hands. Population in 1880, 495. The youth of Judge Tourgee, author of "The Fool's Errand," was passed in this place.

ALBION W. TOURGEE, LL. D., was born in Williamsfield in this county in 1838, and

MOSS

ALBION W. TOURGEE.

when seven years of age removed with his parents to Kingsville, near the lake. At

the breaking out of the rebellion he was a student in the Rochester University, and en- listed in the 27th New York ; was wounded in the first battle of Bull Run. In 1862 he was Lieutenant in the 105th Ohio and served in Kentucky and was taken prisoner and spent several months in Libby and other pris- ons. Being exchanged he rejoined his old regiment and was with it until after the bat- tle of Chickamauga, when from his sufferings from his old wound, an injury to the spine, he was discharged.

After the close of the war for twelve years he was a resident of North Carolina; held various offices, among which was that of a Judge of their Superior Court. Observing the effects of reconstruction in the South, he began a series of political novels on the effects of reconstruction on the condition of the blacks and their old masters, the most noted of which were "A Fool's Errand" and "Bricks Without Straw." They had an immense circulation and their influence so great Mr. Garfield wrote a friend that in his opinion they turned the scale of the Presidential election in his favor. His pres- ent residence is Mayville, N. Y.

Ashtabula county was the most noted spot in the Union for its anti-slavery position. The county anti-slavery society was formed in June, 1832, followed by local anti-slavery societies in various parts of the county which continued during the entire period of the anti-slavery contest.

The 4th of July, 1837, was celebrated by two local societies-one at Kingsville and the other at Ashtabula. The radical element had no great force. When Abby Kelly and Foster and Parker Pillsbury came and pro- claimed that "the constitution was a cove- nant with death and a league with hell," all listened but few believed. The societies here were mainly formed on the principle of moral suasion, declaiming against slavery as a wrong and opposing its extension. They denounced the fugitive slave law, and at a meeting at Hart's Grove in December, 1850, they re- solved "a law to strip us of our humanity, to divest us of all claims to Christianity and self- respect, and herd us with blood-hounds and men stealers upon penalty of reducing our children to starvation and nakedness. Cursed be said law !" Again, "that sooner than submit to such odious laws we will see the Union dissolved ; sooner than see slavery perpetuated we would see war ; and sooner than be slaves we will fight." At this time there was a regular underground railway ex- tending from Wheeling to the harbor at Ash- tabula. The people felt that the principle of freedom was fastened to the eternal prin-

ciple of right and anchored in God himself. While Benj. F. Wade and Joshua R. Gid- dings represented the sentiment of Ashtabula county in the Congress of the nation, a woman, Miss Betsy M. Cowles, by profession a teacher, by her fiery eloquence and intensity of feeling, more than any other person created in Ash- tabula the sentiment which upheld them. She was born in 1810 in Bristol, Conn., and was brought to Ohio an infant when her father, Rev. Dr. Giles Hooker Cowles, re- moved to Austinburg with his family.

During the entire anti-slavery agitation Miss Cowles and her sister Cornelia were foremost in this work. Often after a stir- ring address an impromptu quartette would be improvised, Miss Cornelia sustaining the soprano and Miss Betsy the alto; and as their strong sweet voices rang out the touch- ing strains, "Say, Christian, will you take me back ?" or that other saddest of lamenta- tion,

"Gone, gone ; sold and gone To the rice swamp dank and lone, From Virginia's hills and waters, Woe is me, my stolen daughters !'

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ASHTABULA COUNTY.

Bosoms hardened before thrilled in sympathy with an influence they could not but feel, and melted before a power they could not with- stand.

Nor was it alone for the slave that she made her voice heard and her influence felt. The position of women before the law, and especially married women, early arrested her attention.

"In 1848, in Seneca Falls, N. Y., a conven-

tion was called by Lueretia Mott and Mrs. H. B. Stanton, for the purpose of obtaining from the constitutional convention about to meet in that State juster laws regarding women. Over this convention Lucretia Mott presided. The next one was held in Salem, Ohio, for a similar purpose in 1850, and Betsy M. Cowles presided. She died in 1876 at her home- stead in Austinburg. Useful as was her life, fitting as were her words and deeds, all who

BETSY M. COWLES.

knew her felt that she was greater than all she did. She was indeed a perfect woman nobly planned. It was not so much what she did, writes one who loved her, as the atmos- phere she created which won all hearts. So sunny, genial and hospital was she that she drew all sufferers to her side."

John Brown and associates just prior to the raid on Harper's Ferry made West Andover in this county their headquarters.

Brown's, Sharp's rifles and other materials

of war were stored in the cabinet manufactory of King & Brothers on the ereek road in Cherry valley.

After the raid John Brown, Jr., who re- sided in Cherry valley, was summoned to appear before the United States Senate and give evidence. Refusing to obey, their scr- geant-at-arms was ordered to arrest him. Apprehensive that an armed force would be sent not only to arrest him but to take Mer- riam, Owen Brown and other fugitives in the

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ASHTABULA COUNTY.

vicinity, citizens of West Andover and neigh- borhood, organized a secret society, the " In- dependent Sons of Liberty," to defend these men with their lives if need be. Signals, signs, passwords and a badge were agreed upon, arms procured and a place of ren- dezvous selected. A State lodge was organ-

ized and finally a United States lodge. The final object was to act politically and in a revolutionary manner if necessary for the overthrow of slavery. Members in common parlance were called " Black Strings " from a badge which they wore, a black string tied into the buttonhole of their shirt collar.

ROCK CREEK, sixteen miles south of Lake Erie, on the Ashtabula & Pittsburg R. R. Newspapers : Banner, Republican, Scott & Remick, publishers. Churches : 1 Congregational, 1 Methodist and 1 Disciples. Bank : Morgan Saving & Loan Association, E. M. Covell, president, W. W. Watkins, cashier. Principal in- dustries are tannery, flouring, saw, planing and handle mills, moulding factory, etc. Population in 1880, 558.

ATHENS.

ATHENS COUNTY was formed from Washington March 1, 1805. The surface is broken and hilly, with intervals of rich bottom lands. The hills have a fertile soil and a heavy growth of trees. The Hocking canal commences at Carroll on the Ohio canal in Fairfield county, and follows the river valley to Athens, a dis- tance of fifty-six miles. In the county are extensive deposits of iron ore suitable for smelting ; excellent salt to the extent of 50,000 barrels were annually produced between the years 1848 and 1868. Its greatest mineral wealth is in its coal; in 1886 there were in operation forty-one mines, employing 1,804 miners and pro- ducing 899,046 tons of coal, being next to Perry the largest coal-producing county in the State. Its area is 430 square miles. In 1885 the acres cultivated were 46,685; in pasture, 128,269; woodland, 57,906 ; lying waste, 4,256; produced in wheat, 24,695 bushels; corn, 638,984 ; tobacco, 56,108 pounds ; peaches, 2,077 bushels ; wool, 580,983 pounds ; sheep, 108,454. School census 1886, 10,108 ; teachers, 215. It has 102 miles of railroad.

TOWNSHIPS AND CENSUS.

1840.

1880.

TOWNSHIPS AND CENSUS.

1840.

1880.

Alexander,

1,450

1,423

Lee,

848

1,086

Ames,

1,431

1,392

Lodi,

754

1,550

Athens,

1,593

4,517

Rome,

866

2,207

Bern,

381

1,073

Trimble,

762

1,367

Canaan,

800

1,499

Troy,

1,056

1,858

Carthage

737

1,308

Waterloo,

741

1,957

Dover,

1,297

1,736

York,

1,601

5,438

Population in 1820 was 6,342; in 1840, 19,108; 1860, 21,346 ; 1880, 28,411, of whom 23,787 were Ohio born.

In Evans' map of the middle British colonies, published in 1755, there is placed on the left bank of the Hocking, somewhere in this region, a town, station or fort, named "French Margarets." In the county above (Hocking) have been found the remains of an old press, for packing furs and peltries, which attest that French cupidity and enterprise had introduced an extensive trade among the Indians.

Lord Dunmore, in his famous expedition against the Indian towns upon the Scioto, in the autumn of 1774-just prior to the commencement of the revolu-

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ATHENS COUNTY.

tionary war, descended the Ohio, and landed at the month of the Great Hockhock- ing, in this county. He was there during the bloody battle at Point Pleasant- on an air line twenty-eight miles distant-between General Lewis and the Indians. At this place he established a depot and erected some defences, called Fort Gower, in honor of Earl Gower. From that point he marched up the valley of the river, encamping, tradition says, a night successively at Federal creek, Sunday creek, and at the falls of the Hocking. From the last he proceeded to the Scioto, where the detachment under General Lewis joined him, and the war was brought to a close by a treaty or truee with the hostile tribes. Dunmore, on his return, stopped at Fort Gower, where the officers passed a series of resolutions, for which, see Pick- away county, with other details of this expedition.

Colonel Robert Paterson, one of the original proprietors of Cincinnati, with a party of Kentuekians, was attacked, near the mouth of the Hoeking, by the In- dians, two years after the erection of Fort Gower. The circumstances are given under the head of Montgomery county.

The early settlement of this county began just after Wayne's treaty ; its ineep- tion had its origin in one of the most noble motives that can influence humanity, viz. : the desire for the promotion of learning. We extract from " Walker's His- tory of Athens County."

During the year 1796 nearly 1,000 flat boats or "broad horns," as they were then called, passed Marietta laden with emigrants on their way to the more attractive regions of Southwestern Ohio. In the early part of 1797 a considerable number of newly arrived emigrants were assembled in Marietta, eager to obtain lands on the best terms they could and form settlements. The two townships of land appropriated by the Ohio Company for the benefit of a university had been selected in December, 1795. They were townships Nos. 8 and 9 in the four- teenth range, constituting at present Athens and Alexander townships. The township lines were run in 1795, and the sectional surveys made in 1796, under the supervision of General Putnam, the company's surveyor, who from the first took an ardent interest in the selection of these lands and the founding of the university. His policy (in which he was seconded by the other agents) was to encourage the early settlement of the college lands, make them attractive and pro- duetive, and so begin the formation of a fund for the institution.

Encouraged by Gen. Putnam, who wished to introduce permanent settlers as soon as possible, a number of the emigrants who had stopped at Marietta decided to locate on the college lands. Among these were Alvan Bingham, Silas Bingham, Isaac Barker, William Harper, John Wilkins, Robert Linzee, Edmund, William and Barak Dorr, John Chandler and Jonathan Watkins. They made their way down the Ohio and up the Hockhocking in large canoes early in the year 1797. Having ascended as far as the attractive bluff where the town of Athens now stands, they landed and sought their various locations. A few of them fixed on the site of the present town, but most of them scattered up and down the adjacent bottoms.

The pioneers soon opened up several clearings about Athens, and a little corn for corn-bread was put in the first spring. The clearings, however, were irregular and scattered, and no effort was made as yet to lay out a town. Early in 1798 a number of emigrants arrived; among them were Solomon Tuttle, Christopher Stevens, John and Moses Hewit, Cornelius Moore, Josepli Snowden, John Sim- onton, Robert Ross, the Brooks, and the Hanings. Some of these had families. Some settled in Athens and some in Alexander township. Mrs. Margaret Snowden, wife of Joseph Snowden, was honored by having " Margaret's creek " named after her, she being the first white woman who reached this central point in the county.

The annexed vivid sketch of the captivity and escape of Moses Hewit (one of the early settlers above named) from the Indians, is from the history of the Bell- ville settlement, written by Dr. S. P. Hildreth, and published in the Hesperian, edited by William D. Gallagher.

284

ATHENS COUNTY.

CAPTIVITY AND ESCAPE OF MOSES HEWIT. -Moses Hewit was born in Worcester, Mass., in the year 1767 and came to the Ohio in 1790 ; at the breaking out of the Indian war he resided on the island now known as " Blen- nerhasset," in a block-house, where he mar- ried. After his marriage, as the Indians be- came dangerous, he joined the company of settlers at " Neil's station."- At this period, all the settlements on both banks of the Ohio were broken up, and the inhabitants retired to their garrisons for mutual defence.

Hewit's Physical Prowess .- Mr. Hewit was, at this time, in the prime of life and man- hood ; possessed of a vigorous frame, nearly six feet high, with limbs of the finest mould, not surpassed by the Belvidere Apollo, for manly beauty. The hands and feet were small in proportion to the muscles of the arms and legs. Of their strength some estimate may be formed, when it is stated that he could, with a single hand, lift with ease a large blacksmith's anvil by grasping the tapering horn which projects from its side. To this great museular strength was added a quick- ness of motion which gave to the dash of his fist the rapidity of thought as it was driven into the face or breast of his adversary. The eye was coal black, small and sunken, but when excited or enraged, flashed fire like that of the tiger. The face and head were well developed, with such powerful masseter and temporal muscles that the fingers of the strongest man, when once confined between his teeth, could no more be withdrawn than from the jaws of a vice. With such physical powers, united to an unrefined and rather irritable mind, who shall wonder at his pro- pensity for, and delight in, personal combat : especially when placed in the midst of rude and unlettered companions, where courage and bodily strength were held in unlimited estimation. Accordingly we find him engaged in numberless personal contests, in which he almost universally came off victorious.

Taken Captive .- Some time in the month of May, 1792, while living at Neil's station, on the Little Kenawha, Mr. Hewit rose early in the morning and went out about a mile from the garrison in search of a stray horse. He was sauntering along at his ease, in an obscure cattle path, when all at once three Indians sprang from behind two large trees. So sudden was the onset that resistance was vain. He therefore quietly surrendered, thinking that in a few days he should find some way of escape. For himself, he felt but little uneasiness ; his great concern was for his wife and child, from whom, with the yearnings of a father's heart, he was thus forcibly separated, and whom he might never see again.

In their progress to the towns on the San- dusky plains, the Indians treated him with as little harshness as could be expected. He was always confined at night by fastening his wrists and ankles to saplings, as he lay ex- tended upon his back upon the ground, with an Indian on each side. By day his limbs were free, but always marching with one

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Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume I, Part 43

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