Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume II, Part 36

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio
Number of Pages: 916

USA > Ohio > Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume II > Part 36

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Manufactures and Employees .- Troy Spring Wagon and Wheel Co., carriages, etc., 127 hands; the Troy Buggy Works, buggies, etc., 146; Kelley & Sons, windmills, etc., 8; John & William Youtsy, lumber, 5 .- State Reports, 1888. Population, 1880, 3,803. School census, 1888, 1,218 ; C. L. VanCleve, school superintendent. Census, 1890, 4,590.

Troy has several fine three-story business blocks, and is a favorite place for trade for the large, rich agricultural country of which it is the centre. Prior to the railroad era it was a noted grain market.

The new county court-house here is an evidence of the wealth and liberality of the people. It is one of the most magnificent structures of the kind to be found anywhere. The architect was J. W. Yost, Columbus, and contractor, T. B. Townsend, Zanesville. It stands in the centre of a square, with bounding streets of 230 by 330 feet. The building itself is highly ornamented, and is 114 feet 2 inches square ; its material is the beautiful Amherst sand-stone. To the eaves it is 60 feet in height, and to the top of the dome 160 feet. Its entire cost with its furniture, including the heating and lighting appointments, amounted to about $400,000. The first building used for courts was at Stanton, on the east side of the Miami. The first court-house was of brick, and stood in the centre of the public square ; the second is shown in our old view.

Piqua in 1846 .-- Piqua is another beautiful and thriving town, eight miles above Troy, and also on the river and canal. It was laid out in 1809 by Messrs. Brandon and Manning, under the name of Washington, which it bore for many years. The town plot contains an area of more than a mile square, laid ont in uniform blocks, with broad and regular streets. On the north and east, and op- posite the town, are the villages of Rossville and Huntersville, connected with it by bridges across the Miami. ·

It contains one New and one Old School Presbyterian, one Methodist Episcopal, one Methodist Wesleyan, one Episcopal, one Baptist, one Associate Reformed, one Lutheran, one Catholic and one Disciples church ; one high school, a town hall, and a branch of the State bank. The manufacturing facilities in it and vicinity are extensive. The Miami furnishes power for one wool-carding and fulling fac- tory, three saw-mills, one grist-mill adjacent to the town, and a saw and grist- mill, with an oil-mill, below the town. The water of the canal propels a saw- mill, a clothing and fulling factory, with a grist-mill. A steam saw-mill, a steam

THE MIAMI COUNTY COURT-HOUSE, TROY.

250

MIAMI COUNTY.

grist-mill and tannery, with two steam iron-turning and machine establishments, constitute, with the rest, the amount of steam and hydraulic power used. With these are over 100 mechanical and manufacturing establishments in the town, among which are twenty-five cooper shops-that business being very extensively carried on. There are also fifteen grocery and variety stores, twelve dry-goods, three leather, one book and three hardware stores ; a printing office, four forward- ing and three pork houses; and the exports and imports, by the canal, are very heavy. South of the town are seven valuable quarries of blue limestone, at which are employed a large number of hands, and adjacent to the town is a large boat yard.

In the town are 600 dwellings, many of which are of brick and have fine gardens attached. Along the canal have lately been erected a number of three- story brick buildings for business purposes, and the number of business houses is ninety-eight. During the year 1846 eighty buildings were erected, and the value of the real estate at that time was $176,000.

The population of Piqua in 1830 was less than 500; in 1840, 1,480; and in 1847, 3,100.

The Miami river curves beautifully around the town, leaving between it and the village a broad and level plateau, while the opposite bank rises abruptly into a hill, called "Cedar Bluff," affording fine walks and a commanding view of the surrounding country. In its vicinity are some ancient works. From near its base, on the east bank of the river, the view was taken. The church spires shown. commencing on the right, are respectively, the Episcopal, Catholic, New School Presbyterian, Wesleyan Methodist, Old School Presbyterian and Baptist. The town hall is seen on the left .- Old Edition.

The old view of Piqua was taken a few rods only below the present bridge, both occupying the same site. In 1846, when a part of John Randolph's negroes were driven from Mercer county, they camped here at this place in tents. Three years later John Robinson's elephant fell through the old bridge.

From the Miami county traditions we annex some facts respecting the history of Piqua.

JONATHAN ROLLINS was among the first white inhabitants of Miami county. In connection with nine others he contracted with Judge Symmes, for a certain compensation in lots and land, to become a pioneer in laying out a proposed town in the Indian country, at the lower Piqua village, where is situated the pleasant and flourishing town under that name. The party left Ludlow station, on Mill creek, in the spring of 1797, and pro- ceded without difficulty to the proposed site. They there erected cabins and enclosed grounds for fields and gardens. But the judge failing in some of his calculations was unable to fulfil his part of the contract, and the other parties to it gradually withdrew from the association, and squatted around on pub- li land as best pleased themselves. It was some years after this when land could be reg- vlarly entered in the public offices ; surveying parties had been running out the county, but time was required to organize the newly in- froduced section system, which has since proved so highly beneficial to the Western States, and so fatal to professional cupidity.

Indian Grief .- Some of these hardy ad- venturers settled in and about Piqua, where they have left many worthy descendants. Mr. Rollins finally took up land on Spring Creek. where he laid out the farm he now

(1839) occupies. While this party resided at Piqua, and for years after, the Indians were constant visitors and sojourners among them. This place appears to have been, to that un- fortunate race, a most favorite residence, around which their attachments and regrets lingered to the last. They would come here to visit the graves of their kindred and weep over the sod that entombed the bones of their fathers. They would sit in melancholy groups, surveying the surrounding objects of their earliest attachments and childhood sports-the winding river which witnessed their first feeble essays with the gig and the paddle-the trees where first they triumphed with their tiny bow in their boastful craft of the hunter-the coppice of their nut gather- ings-the lawns of their boyhood sports, and haunts of their early loves-would call forth bitter sighs and reproaches on that civiliza- tion which, in its rudest features, was up- rooting them from their happy home.

Pioneer Assertion .- The Indians at Piqua soon found, in the few whites among them, stern and inflexible masters rather thas asso- ciates and equals. Upon the slightest provo- cation the discipline of the fist and club, so humbling to the spirits of an Indian, was freely used upon them. One day an exceedingly large Indian had been made drunk, and for

251

MIAMI COUNTY.

some past offence took it in his head to kill one of his wives. He was following her with a knife and tomahawk around their cabin, with a posse of clamorous squaws and pap- pooses at his heels, who were striving to check his violence. They had succeeded in wresting from him his arms, and he was standing against the cabin, when several of

the white men, attracted by the outcry, ap- proached the group. One of them, small in stature but hig in resolution, made through the Indian crowd to the offender, struck him in the face and felled him to the ground, while the surrounding Indians looked on in fixed amazement.

When the country had developed somewhat flatboats were constructed at Piqua on the river bank. They were about seventy feet long and twelve wide. They were loaded with flour, bacon, corn on the cob, cherry lumber, furniture and other products and taken down the river, sometimes to New Orleans. From thence the boatmen often walked all the way home again, passing through what was then called the Indian Nations, Choctaws and Chickasaws.

Navigating the Miami was risky, especially in passing over mill-dams and fol- lowing the channel through the " Ninety-nine Islands," a few miles below Troy. It required the utmost skill and quickness to guide the unwieldly craft through the swift, crooked turns.

PIQUA is eight miles north of Troy, on the Miami river and the Miami & Erie Canal, at the crossing of the P. C. & St. L. and D. & M. Railroads. City officers, 1888 : G. A. Brooks, Mayor ; J. H. Hatch, Clerk; Clarence Langdon, Treasurer ; Walter D. Jones, Solicitor ; W. J. Jackson, Engineer ; James Liv- ingston, Marshal. Newspapers : Call, Republican, J. W. Morris, editor and publisher ; Dispatch, Republican, D. M. Fleming, editor ; Evening Democrat, Democratic, J. Boni Hemsteger, editor and publisher ; Der Correspondent, Ger- man, Democratic, J. Boni Hemsteger, editor and publisher ; Leader, Democratic, Jerome C. Smiley & Co., editors and publishers ; Miami Helmet, Republican, I. S. Morris, editor and publisher ; Pythian News, Knights of Pythias, Harry S. Frye, editor and publisher. Churches : Methodist, 3; Presbyterian, 2; Baptist, 3; Lutheran, 1; Episcopal, 1; Catholic, 2; German Methodist, 1. Banks: Cit- izens' National, W. P. Orr, president, Henry Flash, cashier ; Piqua National, John M. Scott, president, Clarence Langdon, cashier.

Manufactures and Employees .- The Piqua Straw Board Co., paper and straw board, 62 hands; Bowdle Bros., machinery and castings, 13; I. J. Whitlock, builders' woodwork, 25; C. A. & C. L. Wood, builders' woodwork, 30; the Fritsche Bros., furniture, 10; the Wood Linseed Oil Co., linseed oil, etc., 8; the Piqua Manufacturing Co., mattresses, etc., 35; L. W. Fillebrown, machinery, 5; the Piqua Handle Co., agricultural implements, 43 ; the Piqua Straw Board Co., paper, 25 ; the Piqua Oat-meal Co., corn-meal, 10; Snyder & Son, carriage shafts, etc., 111 ; C. F. Rankin & Co., handlers of malt, etc., 15; Leonard Linseed Oil Co., linseed oil, etc., 20 ; W. P. Orr Linseed Oil Co., linseed oil, etc., 22; J. L. Schneyer, lager beer, 4 ; Mrs. L. E. Nicewanner, flour, etc., 5; the Piqna Hosiery Co., hosiery, 76 ; the F. Gray Co., woollen blankets, etc., 62; L. C. & W. L. Cron & Co., furniture, 165 ; Cron, Kills & Co., furniture, 178 .- Ohio State Re- ports, 1888.

The Bentwood Works are the largest of the kind in the Union. Over a million bushels of flaxseed are annually crushed, making it the largest linseed oil centre, and, excepting Circleville, no other place equals or surpasses it in the production of straw board. On the Miami are extensive and valuable limestone quarries.

Population, 1880, 6,031. School census, 1888, 2,717; C. W. Bennett, school superintendent. Capital invested in industrial establishments, $968,500. Value of annual product, $1,626,000 .- Ohio Labor Statistics, 1887. Census, 1890, 9,090.

The manufacturing prosperity of the city is largely due to its excellent system of water-works. The canal is over six miles in length, and contains within its prism and reservoirs therewith connected at least 150 acres of water line, at an elevation of thirty-eight feet over the city, and three falls, aggregating fifty-two feet six inches, for hydraulic power.

Drawn by Henry Howe in 1846.

PIQUA.

From the east bank of the Miami. The elephant of John Robinson's cirens in 1849 broke through this bridge.

C. A. Gale, Photo., Piqua, 1886,

PIQUA. From the east bank of the Miami. The bridge is the successor of that shown above.

253

MIAMI COUNTY.

A recent acquisition of Piqua is in a beautiful library building. It was the gift of Mr. J. M. Schmidlapp, a prosperous merchant of Cincinnati, who wished the citizens of this his native town to remember him by what would prove of lasting benefit.

The following historical matter respecting this region is taken from our first edition.

" The word Piqua is the name of one of the Shawanese tribes, and signifies, 'a man formed out of the ashes.' The tradition is, that the whole Shawanese tribe, a long time ago, were assembled at their annual feast and thanksgiving. They were all seated around a large fire, which, having burned down, a great puffing was observed in the ashes, when, behold ! a full-formed man came up out of the coals and ashes; and this was the first man of the Piqua tribe. After the peace of 1763, the Miamis having removed from the Big Miami river, a body of Shawanese established themselves at Lower and Upper Piqua, which became their great headquarters in Ohio. Here they remained until driven off by the Kentnekians, when they crossed over to St. Mary's and to Wapaghkonetta.

" The Upper Piqua is said to have contained, at one period, near 4,000 Shawa- nese. The Shawanese were formerly a numerous people, and very warlike. We can trace their history to the time of their residence on the tide-waters of Florida, and, as well as the Delawares, they aver that they originally came from west of the Mississippi. . Black Hoof, who died at Wapaghkonetta, at the ad- vanced age of 105 years, told me [Col. John Johnston] that he remembered, when a boy, bathing in the salt waters of Florida ; that his people firmly believed white or civilized people had been in the country before them-having found, in many instances, the marks of iron tools, axes, upon trees and stumps, over which the sand had blown. Shawanese means the south, or 'people from the south.'"

Upper Piqua, three miles north of Piqna, on the canal and Miami river, is a locality of much historic interest. It is at present (1846) the residence of Col. John Johnston-shown in the view-and was once a favorite dwelling-place of the Piqua tribe of the Shawanese. Col. Johnston, now at an advanced age, has for the greater part of his life resided at the West as an agent of the United States Government over the Indians. His mild and parental care of their inter- ests gave him great influence over them, winning their strongest affections and causing them to regard him in the light of a father. To him we are indebted for many valuable facts scattered through this volume, as well as those which follow respecting this place.

Battle at Piqua .- In the French war, which ended with the peace of 1763, a bloody battle was fought on the present farm of Col. Johnston at Upper Piqua. At that time the Miamis had their towns here, which are marked on ancient maps, "Tewightewee towns." The Miamis, Wyandots, Ottawas and other Northern tribes adhered to the Freneh, made a stand here and fortified-the Canadian traders and French assisting. The Delawares, Shawanese, Munseys, part of the Senecas residing in Pennsylvania, Chero- kees, Catawbas, etc., adhering to the English interest with the Engish traders, attacked the Freneh and Indians. The siege continued for more than a week ; the fort stood out and could not be taken. Many were slain, the assailants suffering most severely. The be- sieged lost a number, and all their exposed property was burnt and destroyed. The Shawanese chief, Blaekhoof, one of the be- siegers, informed Col. Johnston that the ground around was strewn with bullets, so that basketfuls could have been gathered.

Soon after this contest the Miamis and their allies left this part of the country and re- tired to the Miami of the Lake, at and near Fort Wayne, and never returned. The Shaw- anese took their place and gave names to towns in this vieinity. Col. Johnston's place "and the now large and flourishing town of Piqua was ealled Chillicothe, after the tribe of that name ; the site of his farm after the Piqua tribe."

Fort Piqua, erected prior to the settlement of the country, stood at Upper Piqua on the west bank of the river, near where the figure is seen in the distance on the right of the engraving. It was designed as a place of deposit for stores for the army of Wayne. The portage from here to Fort Loramie, fourteen miles, thence to St. Mary's, twelve miles, was all the land carriage from the Ohio to Lake Erie. Loaded boats frequently ascended to Fort Loramie, the loading taken out and hauled to St. Mary's, the boats also moved across on wheels, again loaded and launched for Fort Wayne, Defiance

254

MIAMI COUNTY.

and the lake. Sometimes, in very high water, loaded boats from the Ohio approached within six miles of St. Mary's. Before the settlement of the country a large propor- tion of the army supplies were conveyed up this river. When mill dams were erected the navigation was destroyed and boating ceased.

A Massacre .- In 1794 Capt. J. N. Vischer, the last commandant of Fort Piqua, was stationed here. During that year two freighted boats guarded by an officer and twenty-three men were attacked by the Indians near the fort and the men all massacred. Capt. Vischer heard the firing, but from the weak- ness of his command could render no assist- ance. The plan of the Indians doubtless was to make the attack in hearing of the fort and thereby induce them to sally out in aid of their countrymen, defeat all and take the fort. The commander was a discreet officer and, aware of the subtleness of the enemy, had the firmness to save the fort.

The family of Col. Johnston settled at Upper Piqua in 1811, the previous eleven years having been spent at Fort Wayne. Years after the destruction of the boats and party on the river, fragments of muskets, bayonets and other remains of that disaster were found at low water imbedded in the sand. The track of the pickets, the form of the river bastion, the foundation of chimneys in the block-houses still mark the site of Fort Piqua. The plow has levelled the graves of the brave men-for many sleep here-who fell in the service. At this place, Fort Lo- ramie, St. Mary's and Fort Wayne, large numbers of the regulars and militia volunteers were buried in the wars of Wayne, as well as iti the last war.

Friendly Indians .- In the late war the far greater number of Indians who remained friendly and claimed and received protection from the United States were placed under the care of Col. Johnston at Piqua. These were the Shawanese, Delawares. Wyandots in part, Ottawas in part, part of the Senecas, all the Munseys and Mohicans; a small number remained at Zanesfield, and some at Upper Sandusky, under Maj. B. F. Stickney, now (1846) of Toledo. The number here amounted, at one period, to six thousand, and were doubtless the best protection to the frontier. With a view of detaching the Indians here from American interest and taking them off to the enemy, and knowing that so long as Col. Johnston lived this could not be accomplished, several plots were con- trived to assassinate him. His life was in the utmost danger. He arose many mornings with but little hope of living until night, and the friendly chiefs often warned him of his danger, but he was planted at the post ; duty, honor and the safety of the frontier forbade his abandoning it. His faithful wife stayed by him ; the rest of his family, papers and valuable effects were removed to a place of greater security.

Escape from Assassins .- On one occasion his cscape seemed miraculous. Near the

house, at the road side, by which he daily several times passed in visiting the Indian camp was a cluster of wild pluui bushes. No one would have suspected hostile Indians to secrete themselves there ; yet, there the intended assassins waited to murder him, which they must have soon accomplished had they not been discovered by some Delaware women, who gave the alarm. The Indians- three in number-fled ; a party pursued, but lost the trail. It afterwards appeared that they went up the river some distance, crossed to the east side, and passing down nearly opposite his residence, determined in being foiled of their chief prize not to return empty- handed. They killed Mr. Dilbone and his wife, who were in a field pulling flax ; their children, who were with them, escaped by secreting themselves in the weeds. From thence, the Indians went lower down, three miles, to Loss creek, where they killed David Garrard, who was at work a short distance from his house. The leader of the party, Pash-e-towa, was noted for his cold-blooded cruelty, and a short time previous was the chief actor in destroying upwards of twenty persons-mostly women and children-at a place called Pigeon Roost, Indiana. Hc was killed after the war by one of his own people, in satisfaction for the numerous cruelties he had committed on unoffending persons.

Management of Indians .- In the war of 1812 nothing was more embarrassing to the public agents than the management of the Indians on the frontier. President Madison, from a noble principle, which does his memory high honor, positively refused to employ them in the war, and this was a cause of all the losses in the country adjacent to the upper lakes. Having their families in possession, the agents could have placed implicit con- fidence in the fidelity of the warriors. As it was, they had to manage them as they best could. Col. Johnston frequently furnished them with white flags with suitable mottoes, to enable them to pass out-posts and scouts in safety. On one occasion the militia basely fired on one of these parties bearing a flag hoisted in full view. They killed two Indians, wounded a third, took the survivors prisoners, and after robbing them of all they possessed conveyed them to the garrison at Greenville, to which post the party belonged.

On reflection, they were convinced they had committed an unjustifiable act and became alarmed for the consequences. They brought the prisoners to Upper Piqua and delivered them to Col. Johnston. He took them, wish- ing to do the best in his power for the Indians, and on deliberation decided to con- duct them back to Greenville and restore them, with their property, to their people.

Hazardous Errand .- Application was made by Col. Johnston to the officer commanding at Piqua, for a guard on the journey. These were Ohio militia, of whom not a man or officer dared to go. He then told the com- mander if he would accompany him he would go at all hazards, the distance being twenty-

MIAMI COUNTY.

five miles, the road entirely uninhabited and known to be infested with Indians, who had recently killed two girls near Greenville. But he alike refused. All his appeals to the pride and patriotism of officers and men proving unavailing he decided to go alone, it being a case that required the promptest action to prevent evil impressions spreading among the Indians. He got his horse ready, bade fare- well to his wife, scarcely ever expecting to see her again, and reached Greenville in safety ; procured nearly all the articles taken from the Indians and delivered them back, made them a speech, dismissed them, and then springing on his horse started back alone, and reached his home in safety, to the surprise of all, particularly the militia, who, dastardly fellows, scarce expected to see him alive, and made many apologies for their cowardice.

Indian Faithfulness .- During the war Col. Johnston had many proofs of the fidelity of some of the friendly Indians. After the sur-

render of Detroit the frontier of Ohio was thrown into the greatest terror and confusion. A large body of Indians still resided within its limits accessible to the British. In the garrison of Fort Wayne, which was threatened, were many women and children, who, in case of attack, would have been detrimental to its defence, and it therefore became necessary to have them speedily removed. Col. Johnston assembled the Shawanese chiefs, and stating the case requested volunteers to bring the women and children at Fort Wayne to Piqua. Logan (see page 352) immediately rose and offered his services and soon started with a party of mounted Indians, all volunteers. They reached the post, received their inter- esting and helpless charge and safely brought them to the settlements, through a country infested with marauding bands of hostile savages. The women spoke in the highest terms of the vigilance, care and delicacy of their faithful conductors.

TRAVELLING NOTES.

On my arrival at Piqua I had the gratification of being taken in charge of by the oldest born resident, and to him I am under "ever so many" obligations. This was Major Stephen Johnston, so named from his father, a brother of Col. John Johnston. He is by profession a lawyer, and although I met many of his profession in this tour, he is the only one that I know of whose father was killed and scalped by the Indians and his scalp sold to the British. This happened near Fort Wayne, where he was a factory agent. A month later, September 29, 1812, the Major was born. This was in a farm-house just south of Piqua.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume II, Part 36

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893 Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio Number of Pages: 916

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio
Number of Pages: 916