Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume I, Part 96

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

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Captain John was a Shawanee chief, well known to the early settlers of the Scioto valley. He was over six feet in height, strong and active, full of spirit and fond of frolic. In the late war he joined the American army, and was with Logan at the time the latter received his death-wound. We extract two anecdotes respect- ing him from the notice by Col. John M'Donald. The scene of the first was in Pickaway, and the last in this county.

When Chillicothe was first settled by the whites, an Indian named John Cushen, a half- blood, made his principal home with the McCoy family, and said it was his intention to live with the white people. He would sometimes engage in chopping wood, and making rails and working in the corn-fields. He was a large, muscular man, good humored and pleasant in his interviews with the whites. In the fall season, he would leave the white

settlement to take a hunt in the lonely forest. In the autumn of 1779, he went up Darby creek to make his annual hunt. There was an Indian trader by the name of Fallenash, who traversed the country from one Indian camp to another with pack-horses, laden with whiskey and other articles. Captain John's hunting camp was near Darby creek, and John Cushen arrived at his camp while Fal- lenash, the Indian trader, was there with his

604

FAYETTE COUNTY.

goods and whiskey. The Indians set to for a real drunken frolic. During the night, Cap- taiu John and John Cushen had a quarrel, which ended in a fight : they were separated by Fallenash and the other Indians, but both were enraged to the highest pitch of fury. They made an arrangement to fight the next morning, with tomahawks and knives. They stuck a post on the south side of a log, made a notch in the log, and agreed that when the shadow of the post came into the notch the fight should commence. When the shadow of the post drew near the spot, they deliber- ately, and in gloomy silence, took their stations on the log. At length the shadow of the post came into the notch, and these two despera- does, thirsting for each other's blood, simul- taneously sprang to their feet, with each a tomahawk in his right hand and a scalping- knife in the left, and flew at each other with the fury of tigers, swinging their tomahawks around their heads and yelling in the most terrific manner. Language fails to describe the horrible scene. After several passes and some wounds, Captain John's tomahawk fell

on Cushen's head and left him lifeless on the ground. Thus ended this affair of honor, and the guilty one escaped.

About the year 1800, Captain John, with a party of Indians, went to hunt on the waters of what is called the Rattlesnake fork of Paint creek, a branch of the Scioto river. After they had been some time at camp, Captain John and his wife had a quarrel and mutually agreed to separate ; which of them was to leave the camp is not now recollected. After they had divided their property, the wife insisted upon keeping the child ; they had but one. a little hoy of two or three years of age. The wife laid hold of the child, and John at- tempted to wrest it from her; at length John's passion was roused to a fury, he drew his fist, knocked down his wife, seized the child and carrying it to a log cut it into two parts, and then, throwing one-half to his wife, bade her take it, but never again show her face, or he would treat her in the same man- ner. Thus ended this cruel and brutal scene of savage tragedy.

WASHINGTON COURT-HOUSE IN 1846 .- Washington Court-House, the county- seat, is on a fork of Paint ereek, 43 miles south-southwest of Columbus. It contains 1 Presbyterian, 1 Methodist church, 1 academy, 8 mercantile stores, 2 newspaper printing offices, 2 woollen factories, 1 saw and 2 grist mills, and 97 dwellings. It was laid out in 1810 as the county-seat, on land given for that purpose by Benjamin Temple, of Kentucky, out of his survey .- Old Edition.

Washington Court-House, county-seat, is on the C. & C. M., D. Ft. W. & C., P. C. & St. L., and I. B. & W. railroads, thirty-eight miles from Columbus and seventy-seven miles from Cincinnati. County officers in 1888 : Probate Judge, Thomas N. Craig; Clerk of Court, E. W. Welsheimer ; Sheriff, A. B. Rankin ; Prosecuting Attorney, Robert C. Miller; Auditor, T. J. Lindsey ; Treasurer, James F. Cook ; Recorder, John R. Sutherland ; Surveyor, Frank M. Kennedy ; Coroner, L. F. House ; Commissioners, Lewis C. Mallow, Henry Mark, Thomas F. Parrett. Newspapers : Herald, Republican, William Millikan & Son, editors; Fayette Republican, Republican, Thomas F. Gardner and Will R. Dalbey, editors ; Ohio State Register, Democratie, William Campbell, editor. Banks: Commereial, Morris Sharp, manager ; Merchants' and Farmers', M. Pavey, president, J. W. Faringer, cashier ; People's and Drovers', Daniel McLean, president, Robert A. Robinson, cashier. Churches : 1 Presbyterian, 1 Catholie, 1 Christian, 1 Metho- dist, 1 Colored Methodist, 1 Baptist, and 1 Colored Baptist. Principal industries : Janney & Manning's machine shop; Fayette Creamery Company ; White & Bal- lard's shoe factory ; A. Coffman & Co., doors, sash, and blinds ; the Ludlow Soap Factory ; J. D. Stucky and Parks Bros., milling. Population in 1880, 3,798. School eensus 1886, 1,398 ; Charles F. Dean, superintendent.

Washington is a leading stock eentre. The last Tuesday of every month is stoek-sales day, when the streets are often filled with cattle. As many as 6,400 head of cattle have been sold in a single day.

There is yet a pensioner of the American Revolution alive and residing in Washington Court-House-Mrs. Mary Casey, "a war widow," who when young married an old soldier of the " times that tried men's souls."

On the 8th of September, 1885, Washington Court-House was partially de- stroyed by one of the most disastrous of cyelones. The loss of life was surprisingly small considering the fearful disturbance of the elements, there being but six per- sons killed and a comparatively small number injured. The loss of property was estimated to be nearly $500,000.

605

FAYETTE COUNTY.

The cyclone had its origin in Greene county, and moving southeasterly struck Fayette county in Jasper township, increasing in power and destructiveness until it reached Washington Court-House, about eight o'clock in the evening, leaving almost total devastation along its course of twelve miles. An hour before the cyclone struck Washington a huge black cloud slowly crept up the western horizon,

LINN L.P.REID

Drawn by Henry Howe in 1846.

VIEW IN WASHINGTON C. H.

which was followed by a strange phosphoresceut cloud filled with lightning shoot- ing from heaven to earth in a constant chain. Some described the cloud as re- sembling a huge elephant's trunk, the lower end of which dipped down first on the right hand and then on the left. Others say it resembled a great and luminous hornet's-nest, whirling in the heavens in frautic fury. As the clouds approached

Willett, Photo., Washington, 1886.

A STOCK SALES DAY IN WASHINGTON C. H.

the darkness became intense; the roar of the angry elements could be heard grad- ually increasing in power .. About five minutes past eight the rain commenced falling in torrents, and the storm burst upon the town with a terrible roar, amidst which could be heard the falling of walls, crashing of timbers, and smashing of

боб

FAYETTE COUNTY.

glass, while the earth seemed to sway and reel under the force of the discordant elements. This lasted about a minute, when the storm passed over, but the rain continued falling in torrents.

The entire western, southern, and central parts of the town were swept by the storm, and within that territory which includes the business portion very few houses escaped injury, while many were totally destroyed, and the majority more or less seriously damaged.

Along the course of the storm in the country whole farms were totally destroyed, buildings blown down, and fields mowed clean of vegetation ; corn not only blown from the stalks, but in some instances completely husked ; patches of timber liter. ally mowed down, and barns, straw-stacks, etc., blown to atoms. On the farm. of Mr. Jesse Bush, three miles from Washington, blades of straw were found blown endwise into trees to the depth of half an inch ; in another place a piece of pine fence-board was found with a piece of tarred-paper roofing driven into it to a depth of three-quarters of an inch and firmly imbedded. A train of nine cars and caboose standing on a bridge on the Ohio Southern railroad was blown off. An (apple-tree in the yard of Mrs. Lou Harris, the milliner, on Fayette . street, was driven from two to three feet into the ground without breaking a bough. A car- load of tin roofing, cornices, etc., from Washington, was gathered on a farm eighteen miles distant.

Besides these curious freaks of the great storm illustrating its power, and which are vouched for by thoroughly trustworthy parties, many instances of heroism transpired, one of which is particularly noteworthy. Miss Lucy Pine, a school- teacher, was left in charge of her sister's children, two boys, aged respectively one and a half and three years. The babies had been put to bed ; when the storm came up Miss Pine rushed to them, and, as the roof was torn off, she leaned over the bed, receiving the weight of a falling joist upon her back, and thus saved their lives. By pressing down the springs of the bed she was enabled to extricate them and herself from their perilous position. From the Fayette Republican we quote :

"The residence of Mr. Henry C. Shoop, on the corner of Oak Lawn avenue and the Washington pike, was considerably shaken up. Mr. Shoop tells the following story : ' My wife and myself, with our three small children, were in the house when the cyclone struck it. The house shook and the glass door crashed in. Fearing the house would be demolished and we all crushed beneath the ruins, my wife and children rushed out of the door, and were carried by the wind fully fifty feet. I, anxious about my wife and little ones, leaped out of the house, and was instantly carried ten feet high into the air. The whole family were blown against the fence in front of the house. A large tree was blown up by the roots and fell across the street, the top of it almost reaching us as we clung with a death-grip to the fence, which, fortunately, was not blown away by the ter- rific gale. A large limb of the tree was hurled over the fence, and struck on the ground just a few feet away. The screams and moans of those who were buried beneath the debris were heartrending. Many of my neighbors' houses were blown entirely away, and the inmates pinned to the ground by heavy timbers. As my house was the only place in the neighborhood where the lights were not extinguished my neighbors, after extricating themselves from the rubbish, con- gregated there for shelter. My house was full of unfortunate victims; mothers and

children crazed with fright, with blood stream- ing from their wounds and chilled by expo- sure to the heavy rains. Those who could not help themselves from the ruins cried most pitifully for help. The house of Mr. James Bench was in the same locality as mine, and it was utterly demolished. His wife, who was lying upon the bed, holding in her arms an infant but three days old, and her two little children standing at her bedside, were in an instant carried quite a distance with their house, which was picked up by the whirling monster and dashed to pieces upon the ground. Mr. Bench was knocked sense- less. After he began to realize the situation he heard screams from his children, and hearing his wife's voice. he was overjoyed to think that they were still alive. Mrs. Bench received several bruises, which were not serious, and the infant was unharmed. Mr. Bench is a very industrious young man, and by economy and frugality had just finished paying for his little house. But the cyclone scattered it to the four winds, and to-day he and his estimable family are homeless. The house of Mr. George Bybee, Sr., moved on its foundation, and it was feared it was going, but Mr. Bybee, who lias been prostrated upon a bed of affliction for years, remained in the house with his family unharmed, while the huge trees in the yard were torn up by the roots and thrown all around them.'

607

FAYETTE COUNTY.

One of the narrow escapes was that of the Rev. John B. Steptoe, pastor of the Second Baptist (colored) church, who had sought shelter from the storm in the tower of the Catholic church, and was there engaged in prayer at the moment of its destruction. The reverend gentleman has favored us with the following unique account :

I was going home from prayer meeting at the Second Baptist church (colored), of which I was pastor, aud the skies above me seemed angry and threatening. As the lightning above me would flash every moment I noticed clouds of different kinds and colors, dark and angry, red, pale and an inky blue.

Then a kind of warm something passed by me. At this time I was a few rods from the Catholic church when balls of hail commenced to fall around me, and way above my head in the air it appeared that something like large whips and guns were firing and cracking. I turned back in search of a place of refuge, but I could not get any farther than the Catholic church. There I stood in the tower, and in a quiet manner I thought I was pray- ing my last prayer. I did not make a noise, but I prayed secret.

Just across the street stood the First Bap- tist church, when something like a big slap struck it and it fell; then with two crashes the Catholic church fell, all except the tower, in which I was standing and praying ; but the Catholic church went down so easy, as it appeared to me, that I thought it was only a breach or two in the wall, for where I was standing I could not see the main building. I had my umbrella in my hand and the top part of the stick was broken off and carried away; my hat was also taken off my head. I have never found it. My lantern was burn- ing in my right hand and did not go out. I don't suppose the cyclone lasted over two or three minutes, but it was a long time to me. I passed the same by myself, for nobody knew where I was, and as soon as the storm was over, instead of going home as I had started to, I turned back bare-headed to tell the people what had happened, for I was not aware at that time the destruction was nearly general, and I tell you, my dear reader, I never felt so thankful in my life as I did that night when God heard and answered my prayer. It is a truth, and my very legs felt glad in a way they had never felt before. But afterward, when I had surveyed the re- mains of the church, and saw what a narrow escape I had made, my legs then reversed their feeling, for they trembled, and I could not avoid it. "Though Thou slay me, yet will I trust in Thee !"

TRAVELLING NOTES.

Some places we can never forget. In my experience Washington Court-House is one such. First, because it is the only town in Ohio which, when named, it seems necessary to convey the idea that there justice is done, so it is written with "Court-House " against it. Second, because there, on my original tour, I made the acquaintance of the man

who had committed one of the most auda- cious, if not the most audacious, act known in American history-the man who had com- mitted a personal assault on a President of the United States, and that President Gen. Jackson ! He had tried to pull his nose, and, as he claimed, succeeded ; but this was de- nied.

This man was Lieut. Robert B. Randolph,

Willet, Photo. THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AFTER THE CYCLONE

of Virginia, who had been dismissed in dis- grace from the navy by President Jackson.

Assault on General Jackson .- The circum- stances of the assault were these. In the summer of 1833, in company with Vice-Pres- ident Martin Van Buren and the members of his cabinet, the President, or "Old Hickory," as the people often called him, made his grand tour through the principal cities. Just before starting he went down to Fredericks- burg, Virginia, to attend the ceremony of laying the corner stone of the monument to the memory of the mother of Washington. On the way thither the steamboat in which he was stopped at the wharf at Alexandria.

At the moment the general was almost alone in the cabin, reading a newspaper, when Randolph, smarting under a sense of wrong, hurried aboard, and finding him thus ab- sorbed, rushed upon him, and having full; accomplished, as he claimed, this indignity, quickly made good his escape before the by- standers could fairly comprehend it. Taken by surprise, the aged warrior, in a torrent of passion, sprang from his seat, his spectacles, it was said, going one way and his newspaper another, and called out, "Give me my cane ! Give me my cane ! By the Eternal, I'll chastise the rascal."

A Pen Portrait of Gen. Jackson .- The wrath of Gen. Jackson was something terri- ble to behold. I saw him on his tour and I

608

FAYETTE COUNTY.

can imagine it ; a six-foot tall, wiry old man, visage long, thin, melancholy, solemn as that of the Knight of the Rueful Countenance. His face was red from the sunburn of recent travel, having bowed bareheaded, riding in his carriage, to enthusiastic, shouting multi- tudes in many cities through which he had lately passed. In striking contrast, his hair, snowy white, stood upright, bristling from every part of his head. It was a common saying in that day, " Yes ; his hair stands up bristling all over his head just like General Jackson's." He wore a tall white hat, the lower half buried in crape in mourning for his deceased wife, upon whom he had doted, and in defence of whose good name he once fought a duel and killed his man. This assault created a great sensation at the time. Jackson was a man implacable in his enmities and warm in his friendships. He was idol- ized by the people at large because he had defeated the British at New Orleans, the feeling at that era being very bitter against England, and for the effective manner in which he had stamped out nullification in South Carolina.

Lieut. Randolph .- At the time of my visit to Washington I met Randolph, who was boarding at the Wilson tavern shown in the old view, where I was stopping. He was indeed a pitiable object, old, poor and seedy ; a disgraced and fallen man living in bitter memories, existence joyless, without hope. But, withal, his air was of one born to com- mand, and I saw in that tall, imperious pres- ence a gentleman from one of the proudest, most honored families of old Virginia.

On making his acquaintance he greeted me with great warmth. I had but a short time previously made an historical tour of his be- loved Virginia and published a book on it, and this warmly commended me to his re- gards. He had that indescribable air char- acteristic of the old style gentlemen of Vir- ginia in their social intercourse, a mingling of dignity with great suavity and deference of manner and a simplicity and frankness of speech that was charming. Like children, it seemed often in talking with such as though they were laying their hearts open bare to

one's gaze. A highly emotional people, largely planters, knowing nothing of the great business world, when the finer chords of their nature were played upon, nothing could be more winning than their society.

Randolph's Eccentricities .- On this present visit I found Richard Millikan, an elderly gentleman, here, one who knew Randolph well. He gave me some items. Having been at sea in early life, Millikan and Ran- dolph met on congenial grounds ; and they were quite intimate, often took their Sunday dinners together. Randolph came here to have the oversight of some wild land which belonged to the family. He was, when not antagonized, a pleasant man, delighted in children, had a fancy for the young men of the town, whom he was wont to gather in his room and play chess and entertain with nau- tical stories of his experience while in the navy. As was common with the old-style of seafaring men, he was exceedingly profane, but was never known to ntter an oath in the presence of ladies or of clergymen. Al- though very poor he seemed, Old Virginia like, to have no idea of the value of money. He shipped a barrel of hickory nuts to his wife in Richmond. This was before railroads and the freight was $10.00. He was in con- tinued litigation with his double cousin, Rich- ard Randolph. He had quarrels with him and Judge Jacob Jamieson ; with the latter in regard to a boundary line. One night he displayed his wrath; hung them both in effigy here in Washington on the Court-House Square, the bodies being duly labeled with their names.

He finally sold his land for a trifle, owing to an imperfection in the title, which, how- ever, proved good, and then returned to Vir- ginia. In Buchanan's administration he for a time held a petty office in the navy depart- ment at Washington, but was not allowed to hold it long. Some member of Congress from Jackson's State, Tennessee, made a raid upon him and had him turned out. The poor old fellow long ere this must have been gathered to his fathers, the Randolphs of Virginia.

JEFFERSONVILLE, about 35 miles southwest of Columbus, is in the centre of a fine stock-raising and grain district. It is on the O. S. and C. C. & H. V. Railroads. Newspapers : Ohio Citizen, Independent, L. A. Elster, M. D., editor ; Chronicle, Independent, Adolphe Voight, editor and publisher. Churches : 1 Con- gregational, 1 Methodist Episcopal, 1 Universalist. Jeffersonville Bank, E. A. Lewis, president, S. M. Taggart, cashier. Industries: Jeffersonville is the ship- ping point for fine specimens of Poland-China hogs and Short-horn cattle for breeding. Population in 1880, 374.

BLOOMINGBURG, on the C. & C. M. R. R. and on the east fork of Paint, 5 miles easterly from Washington Court-House, has several churches and, in 1880, 526 inhabitants.

609

FRANKLIN COUNTY.

FRANKLIN.

FRANKLIN COUNTY was formed from Ross, April 30, 1803, and named from Benjamin Franklin, who died April 17, 1790, aged eighty-four years, who was " at once philosopher, diplomatist, scientific discoverer, moralist, statesman, writer and wit, and in many respects the greatest of Americans, and one of the greatest men whose names are recorded in history." The prevailing character of the soil of the county is clay, and the surface is generally level. It contains naturally much low wet land, and is best adapted to grain ; but it has many finely cultivated farms, especially along the water courses. In 1885 the acres cultivated were 151,102; in pasture, 55,100; woodland, 32,799; lying waste, 6,521 ; bushels wheat, 145,240; corn, 3,590,968 (being next to Pickaway the greatest amount of any county in the State); oats, 221,319; apples, 145,651. School census 33,223 ; teachers, 520 ; area, 540 square miles. It has 228 miles of railroad.

TOWNSHIPS AND CENSUS.

1840.

1880.

TOWNSHIPS AND CENSUS.

1840.

1880.

Blendon,

972

2,185

Montgomery,

7,497

51,647

Brown,

425

982

Norwich,

740

1,690

Clinton,

965

1,700

Perry,

1,039

1,489

Franklin,

1,345

3,810

Plain,

1,263

1,270

Hamilton,

1,238

1,485

Pleasant,

811

2,291

Jackson,

787

2,092

Prairie,

603

1,926

Jefferson,

1,040

1,288

Sharon,

1,168

1,621

Madison,

1,815

3,853

Truro,

1,418

1,955

Marion,

2,342

Washington,

842

1,326

Mifflin,

832

1,845

The population of Franklin in 1820 was 10,300 ; in 1830, 14,756; in 1840, 24,880 ; 1860, 50,361 ; 1880, 86,882, of whom 63,224 were Ohio-born; 2,91G Pennsylvania ; 1,920 Virginia ; 1,699 New York ; 601 Kentucky ; 521 Indiana, 6,098 Germany ; 2,742 Ireland ; England and Wales, 1,598; British America, 396 ; France, 266 ; Scotland, 156.

The tract comprised within the limits of the county was once the residence of the Wyandot Indians. They had a large town on the site of the city of Colum- bus, and cultivated extensive fields of corn on the river bottoms opposite their town. Mr. Jeremiah Armstrong, who early kept a hotel at Columbus, was taken prisoner when a boy from the frontier of Pennsylvania, and brought captive to this place : after residing with them a number of years he was ransomed and returned to his friends. Mr. Robert Armstrong, also a native of Pennsylvania, being an orphan boy was bound to a trader, and while trapping and trading on the Alleghany, himself and employer were surprised by some Wyandots and Senecas. The master was killed and Armstrong brought to their town at Frank- linton. He was raised by the Indians, became a great favorite, lived, married and died among them. He was occasionally an interpreter for the United States. He left two sons who went with the Wyandots to the far west ; both of them were educated, and one of them was admitted to the Ohio bar.

In the year 1780 a party of whites followed a band of Indians from the mouth of the Kanawha, overtook them on or near the site of Columbus and gave them battle and defeated them. During the fight, one of the whites saw two squaws secrete themselves in a large hollow tree, and when the action was over they drew them out and carried them captive to Virginia. This tree was alive and standing, on the west bank of the Scioto, as late as 1845.

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Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume I, Part 96

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