Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume II, Part 39

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

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In the old picture of Woodsfield is the figure of an old man leaning on a cane with a dog by his side. That is JAMIE SHAW and his dog. He was not on that spot at the moment I drew the picture, but I introduced him as a matter of humor, and in his con- templative attitude: Jamie was the oddity of Woodsfield and I felt his memory should be preserved for a grateful people.

I derive the following about Jamie from conversation with Hon. W. F. Okey, of Woodsfield, and Gen. Jas. O. Amos, of the Shelby County Democrat. The last, once a boy in Woodsfield, years later, in Allen's administration, mounted epaulets and became Adjutant-General of Ohio.

Jamie was a hatter, originally from Greene county, Pa., and a soldier of the war of 1812. He was a short, fat man, waddled about carrying a cane, and wherever Jamie went his dog, like Mary's lamb, was sure to go. The dog was like his master, short and fat. and his color interesting- yellow. Whenever Jamie stopped or sat down his dog would drop on his haunches and look up lovingly in his face. The dog in his affection seemed the counterpart of Dr. Holland's Blanco. And, no doubt, Jamie felt towards him as the Doctor did to Blanco, when he wrote :

My dear dumb friend, low-lying there, A willing vassal at my feet ; Gład partner of my home and fare, My vassal on the street.

I scan the whole broad earth around. For that one heart which, leal and true, Bears friendship without end or bound, And find that friend in you.

Ah, Blanco, did I worship God, As truly as you worship me ; Or follow where my Master trod With your humility-

Did I sit fondly at his feet, As you, dear Blanco, sit at mine ; And watch him with a love as sweet, My life would grow divine.

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MONROE COUNTY.

Jamie was an ardent soul and greatly en- joyed his religion. He was a Methodist, and oft carried away in a frenzy of excitement to the perpetration of ridiculous things and greatly to the amusement of the Woodsfield youngsters. On one of these occasions, while lying on the floor, kicking up his heels and crying, "Glory to God," one of the mis- chievous urchins dropped a bullet in his mouth. It came near choking Jamie to death. A boy named Driggs was arrested and brought before a Justice and fined for the offence ; but he declared it was not him that did it-it was another boy. It always is.

Jamie eventually moved to Missouri, where he located some soldier's land-warrants granted him for his services in our last war against the "red-coats." He lived there a number of years ; when the word came he was

no more. But as for his companion, there was no record, not even his name ; but we do know he worshipped Jamie, and the huc of his coat was the hue of those worn by the priests of Boodha, the " sacred yellow."

As for odd characters in the olden time, the country was full of them. Every community had its queer one. What was singular, no two of these were ever alike. The isolated lives of the old-time people had much to do with the development of originality. Now. through the influence of the press, we all daily talk the same topics, think the same thoughts and move on the same planes. Individuality is measurably lost in the on-rush of the ever- surging increasing multitudes, who, in the daily surprise of startling events and wonder- working discoveries, continually lift their hands and exclaim, "What next ?"

CLARINGTON is on the Ohio river, at the mouth of the Sunfish, about fifteen miles east of Woodsfield. Newspaper : Independent, Independent, W. T. Powell, editor . and publisher. Churches: 1 Methodist, 1 German Lutheran and 1 Christian. Population, 1880, 915. Sehool census, 1888, 251; E. B. Thomas, school superintendent. Clarington is the most extensive business point on the river between Marietta and Bellaire. It was laid out in 1822 by David Pierson, who named it after his daughter Clarinda.

BEALLSVILLE is eight miles northeast of Woodsfield, on the B. Z. & C. R. R. It has 1 Presbyterian, 1 Methodist Episcopal, and 1 Christian church. Popula- tion, 1880, 391. School census, 1888, 166.

GRAYSVILLE is eight miles southwest of Woodsfield. It has 1 Christian, 1 Methodist and 1 Baptist church. Population, 1880, 174. School census, 1888, 74.

CALAIS is twelve miles northwest of Woodsfield. It has 1 Methodist Episcopal church. Population, 1880, 159. School census, 1888, 105.

CAMERON is twelve miles east of Woodsfield. School census, 1888, 140.

STAFFORD is ten miles southwest of Woodsfield. It has 1 Christian and } Methodist Episcopal church. School census, 1888, 103.

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MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

MONTGOMERY.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY was named from Gen. Richard Montgomery, of the American Revolutionary army ; he was born in Ireland, in 1737, and was killed in the assault upon Quebec, Dec. 31, 1775. This county was created May 1, 1803, from Hamilton and Ross, and the temporary seat of justice appointed at the house of George Newcom, in Dayton. About one-half of the county is roll- ing and the rest level ; the soil of an excellent quality, clay predominating. East of the Miami are many excellent limestone quarries, of a greyish-white hue. Large quantities are exported to Cincinnati, where it is used in constructing the most elegant edifices ; nearly all the canal locks from Cincinnati to Toledo are built with it. This is a great manufacturing county, and abundance of water power is furnished by its various streams, and it is very wealthy, with a dense agricultural population. The principal products are corn, wheat, rye, oats, barley, flaxseed, potatoes, pork, wool and tobacco.

Area about 470 square miles. In 1887 the acres cultivated were 167,779; in pasture, 18,402; woodland, 34,134; lying waste, 9,624; produced in wheat, 639,886 bushels ; rye, 4,655 ; buckwheat, 171 ; oats, 415,084 ; barley, 55,960 ; corn, 1,523,796 ; broom-corn, 67,759 lbs. brush ; meadow hay, 15,104 tons ; clover hay, 8,628 ; flax, 176,477 lbs. fibre; potatoes, 85,200 bushels ; tobacco, 4,717,558 lbs. - (largest in the State) ; butter, 827,943 ; cheese, 2,715; sorghum, 5,872 gallons ; maple syrup, 13,934 ; honey, 4,018 lbs .; eggs, 635,473 dozen ; grapes, 132,780 lbs. ; wine, 6,301 gallons ; sweet potatoes, 3,648 bushels ; apples, 563 ; peaches, 15 ; pears, 1,725 ; wool, 15,747 lbs. ; milch cows owned, 10,497. Ohio Mining Statistics, 1888 : Limestone, 5,062 tons burned for lime; 195,537 cubic feet of dimension stone ; 33,977 cubic yards of building stone; 422,558 square feet of flagging ; 9,750 square feet of paving; 48,586 lineal feet of curbing ; 1,352 cubic yards of ballast or macadam. School census, 1888, 26,797; teachers, 402. Miles of railroad track, 165.

TOWNSHIPS AND CENSUS.

1840.

1880.

TOWNSHIPS AND CENSUS.

1840.

1880.

Butler,

1,897

2,196

Madison,

1,594

2,306

Clay,

1,633

3,063

Mad River,

2,091

Dayton (city and township),

10,334

38,678

Perry,

1,883

2,272

German,

2,629

3,451

Randolph,

1,774

2,327

Harrison,

2,667

Van Buren,

2,953

Jackson,

1,688

2,451

Washington,

2,259

1,784

Jefferson,

1,895

6,096

Wayne,

1,045

1,191

Miami,

3,249

5,024

Population of Montgomery in 1820 was 16,061 ; 1830, 24,374 ; 1840, 31,879 ; 1860, 52,230 ; 1880, 78,550 ; of whom 54,396 were born in Ohio; 4,059 Penn- sylvania ; 1,197 Indiana; 1,114 New York; 1,037 Virginia; 813 Kentucky ; 7,894 German Empire; 2,574 Ireland ; 664 England and Wales; 270 France ; 207 British America ; 159 Scotland, and 11 Norway and Sweden.

Census, 1890, 100,852.

Among the early settlers of Montgomery county was Col. ROBERT PATTERSON. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1753, and emigrated to Kentucky in 1775. In 1804 he removed from Kentucky and settled about a mile below Dayton. He was the original proprietor of Lexington, Ky., and one-third owner of Cincinnati, when it was laid out. He was with Col. George Rogers Clarke in 1778, in his celebrated Illinois campaign ; in the following year he was in Bowman's expedi- tion against old Chillicothe. In this expedition, according to Patterson's memo- randa, Bowman had 400 men. In Angust, 1780, he was also a captain under

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MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

Clarke, in his expedition against the Shawnees, on the Little Miami and Mad river ; was second in command to Col. Boone, August 19, 1782, at the battle of the Lower Blue Licks; was colonel on the second expedition of Gen. Clarke, in the following September, into the Miami country ; held the same office in 1786, under Col. Logan, in his expedition against the Shawnees. He died, August 5, 1827. His early life was full of incidents, one of the most remarkable of which we give in his own language, as originally published in the Ohio National Journal :

Canoe Journey up the Ohio .- In the fall of 1776 I started from Mcclellan's station (now Georgetown, Ky.) in company with Jos. McNutt, David Perry, James Wernock, James Templeton, Edward Mitchell and Isaac Greer, to go to Pittsburg. We pro- cured provision for our journey at the Blue Licks, from the well-known stone house, the Buffalo. At Limestone we procured a canoe, and started up the Ohio river by water. Nothing material transpired during several of the first days of our journey. We landed at Point Pleasant, where was a fort com- manded by Capt. Arbuckle. After remain- ing there a short time, and receiving des- patches from Capt. Arbuckle to the com- mandant at Wheeling, we again proceeded. Aware that Indians were lurking along the bank of the river, we travelled with the ut- most caution. We usually landed an hour before sunset, cooked and eat our supper, and went on until after dark. At night we lay without fire, as convenient to our canoe as possible, and started again in the morning at daybreak. We had all agreed that if any disaster should befall us by day or by night that we should stand by each other, as long as any help could be afforded.

Attacked by Indians .- At length the mem- orable 12th of October arrived. During the day we passed several new improvements, which occasioned us to be less watchful and careful than we had been before. Late in the evening we landed opposite the island [on the Ohio side of the river, in what is now Athens county], then called the Hockhock- ing, and were beginning to flatter ourselves that we should reach some inhabitants the next day. Having eaten nothing that day, contrary to our usual practice, we kindled a fire and cooked supper. After we had eaten and made the last of our flour into a loaf of bread, and put it into an old brass kettle to bake, so that we might be ready to start again in the morning at daybreak, we lay down to rest, keeping the same clothes on at night that we wore during the day. For the want of a better; I had on a hunting-shirt and britch clout (so called), and flannel leg- gins. I had my powder-horn and shot-pouch on my side, and placed the butt of my gun under my head. Five of our company lay on the east side of the fire, and James Temple- ton and myself on the west; we were lying on our left sides, myself in front, with my right hand hold of my gun. Templeton was lying close behind me. This was our posi- tion, and asleep, when we were fired upon by a party of Indians. Immediately after the fire they rushed upon us with tomahawks, as

if determined to finish the work of death they had begun. It appeared that one In- dian had shot on my side of the fire. I saw the flash of the gun and felt the ball pass through me, but where I could not tell, nor was it at first painful. I sprang to take up my gun, but my right shoulder came to the ground. I made another effort, and was half bent in getting up, when an Indian sprang past the fire with savage fierceness, and struck me with his tomahawk. From the position I was in, it went between two ribs, just be- hind the backbone, a little below the kidney, and penetrated the cavity of the body. He then immediately turned to Templeton (who by this time had got to his feet with his gun in hand), and seized his gun. A desperate scuffle ensued, but Templeton held on, and finally bore off the gun.

A Forlorn Condition .- In the meantime I made from the light, and in my attempt to get out of sight, I was delayed for a moment by getting my right arm fast between a tree and a sapling, but having got clear and away from the light of the fire, and finding that I had lost the use of my right arm, I made a shift to keep it up by drawing it through the straps of my shot-pouch. I could see the crowd about the fire, but the firing had ceased and the strife seemed to be over. I had rea- son to believe that the others were all shot and tomahawked. Hearing no one coming towards me, I resolved to go to the river, and, if possible, to get into the canoe and float down, thinking by that means I might possibly reach Point Pleasant, supposed to be about 100 miles distant. Just as I got on the beach a little below the canoe, an Indian in the canoe gave a whoop, which gave me to understand that it was best to withdraw. I did so ; and with much difficulty got to an old log, and being very thirsty, faint and ex- hausted, I was glad to sit down. I felt the blood running, and heard it dropping on the leaves all around me. Presently I heard the Indians board the canoe and float past. All was now silent, and I felt myself in a most forlorn condition. I could not see the fire, but determined to find it and see if any of my comrades were alive. I steered the course which I supposed the fire to be, and having reached it, I found Templeton alive, but wounded in nearly the same manner that I was. James Wernock was also dangerously wounded, two balls having passed through his body ; Jos. McNutt was dead and scalped ; D. Perry was wounded, but not badly, and Isaac Greer was missing. The miseries of that hour cannot well be described.

Wernock's Resignation .-- When daylight

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MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

appeared we held a council, and concInded that inasmuch as one gun and some am- innition was saved, Perry would furnish us with meat, and we would proceed up the river by slow marches to the nearest settle- ments, supposed to be one hundred miles. A small quantity of provisions which was found scattered around the fire was picked up and distributed among ns, and a piece of blanket, which was saved from the fire, was given to me to cover a wound on my back. On examination, it was found that two balls had passed through my right arm, and that the bone was broken; to dress this, splinters were taken from a tree near the fire that had been shivered from lightning, and placed on the ontside of my hunting shirt and bound with a string. And now, being in readiness to move, Perry took the gun and ammunition, and we all got to our feet ex- cept Wernock, who, on attempting to get up, fell back to the ground. He refused to try again, said that he could not live, and at the same time desired us to do the best we could for ourselves. Perry then took hold of his arm and told him if he would get up he would carry him; upon this he made another effort to get up, but falling back as before, he begged us in the most solemn manner to leave him. At his re- quest, the old kettle was filled with water and placed at his side, which he said was the last and only favor required of us, and then conjured us to leave him and try to save ourselves, assnring ns that should he live to see us again, he would cast no reflections of unkindness upon us. Thus we left him. When we had got a little distance I looked back, and distressed and hopeless as Wer- nock's condition really was, I felt to envy it. After going about 100 poles, we were obliged to stop and rest, and found our- selves too sick and weak to proceed. An- other consultation being held, it was agreed that Templeton and myself should remain there with Edward Mitchell, and Perry should take the gun and go to the nearest settlement and seek relief. Perry promised that if he could not procure assistance he would be back in four days. He then re- turned to the camp and found Wernock in the same state of mind as when we left, perfectly rational and sensible of his con- dition, replenished his kettle with water, brought us some fire and started for the settlement.

Wernock's Death .- Alike unable to go back or forward, and being very thirsty, we set about getting water from a small stream that happened to be near us, our only drink- ing vessel an old wool hat, which was so broken that it was with great difficulty made to hold water; but by stuffing leaves in it, we made it hold so that each one could drink from once filling it. Nothing could have been a greater Inxury to us than a drink of water from the old hat. Just at night Mitchell returned to see if Wernock was still living, intending if he was dead, to get the kettle for us. He arrived just in time to see him expire; but not choosing to leave him until he should be certain that he was dead, he

stayed with him until darkness came on, and when he attempted to return to us, he got lost and lay from us all night. We suffered much that night for the want of fire, and throngh fear that he was either killed or that he had ran off; but happily for us our fears were groundless, for next morning at sunrise he found his way to our camp. That day we moved about 200 yards farther up a deep ravine, and farther from the river. The weather, which had been cold and frosty, now became a little warmer, and commenced raining. Those that were with me could set up, but I had no alternative but to lie on my back on the ground, with my right arm over my body. The rain continuing next day, Mitchell took an excursion to examine the hills, and not far distant he found a rock projecting from the cliff sufficient to shelter ns from the rain, to which place we very gladly removed. He also gathered pawpaws for us, which were our only food, except perhaps a few grapes.

Rescuers Arrive .- Time moved slowly on until Saturday. In the meantime we talked over the danger to which Perry was exposed, the distance he had to go and the improba- bility of his returning. When the time had expired which he had allowed himself, we concluded that we would, if alive, wait for him until Monday, and if he did not come then, and no relief should be afforded, we would attempt to travel to Point Pleasant. The third day after our defeat my arm be- came very painful. The splinters and leaves and my shirt were cemented together with blood, and stuck so fast to my arm that it required the application of warm water for nearly a whole day to loosen them so that they could be taken off; when this was done, I had my arm dressed with white oak leaves, which had a very good effect. On Saturday about twelve o'clock, Mitchell came with his bosom full of pawpaws, and placed them con- venient to us, and returned to his station on the river. He had been gone about an hour, when to our great joy we beheld him coming with a company of men. When they ap- proached us, we found that our trusty friend and companion, David Perry, had returned to our assistance with Captain John Walls, his officers and most of his company. Our feelings of gratitude may possibly be con- ceived, bnt words can never describe them. Suffice to say that these eyes flowed down plenteously with tears, and I was so com- pletely overwhelmed with joy that I fell to the ground. On my recovery, we were taken to the river and refreshed plentifully with provisions, which the captain had brought, and had our wounds dressed by an experienced man, who came for that purpose. We were afterwards described by the captain to be in a most forlorn and pitiable condition, more like corpses begin- ning to purify than living beings.

While we were at the cliff which sheltered us from the rain, the howling of the wolves in the direction of the fatal spot whence we had so narrowly escaped with our lives, left no doubt that they were feasting on the

273

MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

bodies of our much-lamented friends, Me- Nutt and Wernock. While we were refresh- ing ourselves at the river, and having our wounds dressed, Captain Walls went with some of his men to the place of our defeat

and collected the bones of our late compan- ions, and buried them with the utmost ex- pedition and care. We were then conducted by water to Captain Wall's station, at Grave Creek.

HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE MISCELLANIES.

The following series are from the pen of Mr. Robert W. Steele as originally communicated to the "History of Dayton," a large octavo of seven hundred and twenty-seven pages, published in 1889 by Harvey W. Crew. Mr. Steele is a Christian gentleman, who has devoted a large part of a long life to the highest interests of the public. He was born in Dayton, July 3, 1819, of an honored parentage, his ancestry having been of that Scotch-Irish Presbyterian stock that settled in the Valley of Virginia. He graduated in 1840 at the Miami Uni- versity ; was for thirty years member of the Dayton Board of Education and long its president ; has been connected with the Dayton Public Library from the beginning ; is a member of the State Board of Charities and of the State Board of Agriculture. Several of the other articles which follow are also contributed by him as the account of the great Harrison Convention of 1840. Sketches of Daniel Cooper, the Van Cleves, etc.

NATURAL ADVANTAGES. FERTILE SOIL. TIMBER.

Long before any permanent settlement was made in the Miami Valley, it> beauty and fertility were known to the inhabitants of Kentucky and the people beyond the Alleghanies, and repeated efforts were made to get possession of it. These efforts led to retaliation on the part of the Indians, who resented the attempt to dispossess them of their lands, and the continuous raids back and forth across the Ohio River to gain or keep control of this beautiful valley, caused it to be called, until the close of the eighteenth century, the "Miami Slaughter- house." The report of the French Major Celoron de Bienville, who, in August, 1749, ascended the La Roche or Big Miami River in bateaux to visit the Twightwee villages at Piqua, has been preserved, but Gist, the agent of the Virginians, who formed the Ohio Land Company, was probably the first person who wrote a de- scription in English of the region surrounding Dayton. Gist visited the Twight- wee or Miami villages in 1:51. He was delighted with the fertile and well- watered land, with its large oak, walnut, maple, ash, wild cherry and other trees. "The country," he says, "abounded with turkey, deer, elk and most sorts of game, particularly buffaloes, thirty or forty of which are frequently seen feeding in one meadow ; in short, it wants nothing but cultivation to make it a most de- lightful country. The land upon the Great Miami River is very rich, level and well timbered, some of the finest meadows that can be. The grass here grows to a great height on the clear fields, of which there are a great number, and the bottoms are full of white clover, wild rye and blue grass." It is stated by pioneer writers that the buffalo and elk disappeared from Ohio about the year 1795.

The development of the Miami Valley has shown that the glowing accounts of the early explorers as to the fertility of the soil were not too highly colored. Beautiful and fertile as the Miami Valley is, no part of it surpasses, if it equals, the region immediately surrounding Dayton. The "MAD RIVER COUNTRY," as this region was called by the first pioneers, was the synonym for all that was desirable in farming lands.

RIVERS.

Dayton is fortunate in its location at the

confluence of four important streams-the Miami, Mad River, Stillwater and Wolf Creek. Each of these streams has its valley

274

MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

of great beauty and fertility, and these val- leys produce large and profitable crops of every variety. As reported in the United States census report of 1880, the total value of farm products in Montgomery County in 1879 was three million two hundred and eighty-eight thousand four hundred and forty-nine dollars, a greater amount than was produced by any other county in Ohio. An incidental advantage resulting from the four- river valleys is the facilities they afford for the construction of railroads, which, through them, may reach Dayton on easy grades, and at comparatively small cost. No doubt to this cause may be partly attributed the fact that, with Dayton as a centre, ten railroads radiate in every direction.

BUILDING STONE AND GRAVEL.

One of nature's chief gifts to Dayton is the building stone that underlies a large part of Montgomery County, Of especial value is the Niagara, or, as it is commonly called, the Dayton stone. So extensive are the beds of this stone that Professor Orton, the State geologist, pronounces it inexhaustible.

Another article, which at first thought may be considered of little value, is of the great- est importance. Gravel is so abundant and so cheap that we seldom reflect what an im- portant part it has played in the development of the country. Professor Orton says : "It is not easy to set a proper estimate upon the

beds of sand and gravel of Montgomery County until a comparison is instituted be- tween a region well suppied with such accu- mulations and another that is destitute of them. The gravel knolls and ridges with which in the southern and eastern portions of the county, almost every farm abounds, afford very desirable building sites, and are generally selected for such purposes. Land of the best quality for mortar, cement and brick - making is everywhere within easy access.

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Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume II, Part 39

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