History of Ashland County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 47

Author: Hill, George William, b. 1823; Williams Bros
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: [Cleveland] Williams
Number of Pages: 896

USA > Ohio > Ashland County > History of Ashland County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches > Part 47

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HISTORY OF ASHLAND COUNTY, OHIO.

that a tree had been cut on the ridge, but the exact point was in uncertainty. After examining the witnesses, Mr. Bushnell stated that his clients did not deny cutting a tree on the ridge, but the tree was in the adjoining township, and the present court had no jurisdiction. Witnesses for the defence had testified that they had seen the tree, and it was as stated. The plaintiff had, therefore, failed to fix the cutting of the tice upon the young men, as charged in his affidavit. Mr. Bushmell, therefore, demanded the discharge of his clients, which the justice granted without further delay. For fees he received thirty silver half-dollars, and returned triumph- 'antly to his own cabin.

Mr. Bushnell died at his homestead in Vermillion township, August 16, 1846, aged seventy-four years. He was the father of eleven children -- five sons and six daughters-Betsy, wife of Sylvester Bucher ; Laura, wife of Tully Crosby, William, an eminent surveyor of Mans- field, Ohio; Collins, who built the first hotel in Hayes- ville, and died in Louisiana in 1832 leaving three sons- Judge Tully C., Sterling G. (a justice of the peace), and Collins W. (probate judge), Sedelia, wife of James Con- nolly, of Iowa; Jothan, deceased; Huldah, wife of Stephen Tanner, of Illinois; Rosella, wife of Jonathan W. Sloan, of Mansfield; Homer, of Mercer county, Ohio, deceased; Olive, wife of Dr. David Snively, of Xenia, Ohio; and Thomas, of Hayesville, who resides on the old homestead, and is noted for his zeal and suc- cess in agriculture and horticulture.

ELIAS SLOCUM

was born in Rodman township, Jefferson county, New Vork, August 11, 1784. In June, 1817, he came west to select a home, and arrived in Uniontown, now Ashland, in July, after a long and toilsome journey. After exam- ining the country in and about Montgomery township, he concluded to make the vicinity of Uniontown his res- idence. In October he returned east for his family. In this trip he was accompanied by George W. Palmer, a Mr. Lucas and a Mr. Butterfield. In the meantime the families of the foregoing pioneers remained in the vicin- ity of Black Rock, somewhat noted in the Indian wars and the war of (8re, and in January, 1818, after having attempted to make a passage up the lake, but having been driven back by the tempestuous storms then prevail- ing, commenced their journey overland, and arrived in Uniontown in March, after continuous travel of near two months, over rugged hills, down narrow valleys, along winding paths, often crossing deep streams. Mr. Slocum purchased of George Butler, one of the sturdy pioneers, one hundred and six acres of land, two miles east of Uniontown, on section sixteen, and also jointly with Alan. son Andrews, and George W. Palmer, who accompanied him with his family, three acres on Mont gantery's sun, in Uniontown, and created a distillers, an invitation prior to that time unknown in Uniontown. Hisfamily resided in a cabin on the farm, to which Mr. Sborum returned from has daily toils at the village of Uniontown. At that

time there was not a physician in the present limits of Ashland county; and school-houses were equally rare. "Old Hopewell." Presbyterian, one mile west of the vil- lage, was the only church in this region. Log cabins were the order of the day, and Mr. Slocum, like other pioneers, often spent the whole week at cabin raisings, and log-rollings, traveling several miles from home to do so. All were anxious to increase the number of settlers, and great exertions were made to aid in raising cabins and preparing lands for culture. When Mr. Slocum set- tled on section sixteen wild animals, such as deer, bear and wolves, were quite numerous, while the latter proved quite destructive to sheep and hogs. Wild turkeys were also very plenty, and an expert hunter could easily pro- cure an abundance of wild meat.

Mr. Slocum, at a later period, purchased a lot and house where the town hall now stands, and removed into it, and kept hotel a number of years. He accumulated property quite rapidly, and was very shrewd in money matters. At an early day he became quite expert in legal disputes, and was the principal attorney in this re- gion, although never regularly admitted to the bar. Many anecdotes evincing unusual sharpness in practice, are related of him. At an early day he had a suit before 'Squire Solomon Sherradden, who resided where James Newman now lives. It was for the price of a certain "crow-bar," which had disappeared from a quarry two and a half miles east of Ashland, and was in possession of a certain citizen. The ownership was in dispate, and the question of identity was to be raised by the defend- ant. On the morning of the trial Mr. Slocum visited the residence of the justice, and finding him absent, ob- tained permission from Mrs. Shenadden, who was at a spring a short distance from the cabin engaged in washing, to go to the house and examine the bar, as he was the attorney for the defendant. Having done so, he replaced it beneath the bed where he found it, and : turned at the hour of trial. He was confronted by the late Silas Robbins, jr., an attorney for the plaintiff. The trial pro- ceerled regularly until proof was made that the bar in question was new. unmarked, and of the usual style. After cross-questioning the witnesses sharply, to avoid equivocation, Mr. Slocun requested the production of the bar in court. It was drawn from under the bed. and upon examination was found, not to be smooth and nn- marked; but on the contrary, was deeply indented. Mr. Slocum demanded judgment for the defendant, and the court readily granted ti, to the great chagrin of Mr. Rob. bins and the plaintiff. The facts were, that on the ex- amination in the morning, Mr. Slocum had taken the bar to the shop of Mr. Sherradden, who was a blacksmith, and made the indentations that defeated the claimant. These tricks, then perfectly allowable among country at- torneys, constituted a large proportion of the stategy of litigation.

The relation of these inellents of practice furnished a good deal of amusement to those outside the qharrel. He often net Mr. Sterling G Bushmell, of Hayesville. as a country practitioner in legal contests in justices coutts. Mr. Bushneil had the reputation of being de.

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cidedly sharp -- was fluent, extremely sarcastic, and untir- ing in his efforts in behalf of his clients.

Before (the establishment of the county of Ashland, Mr. Slocum often conducted appeals in the courts at Mansfield with considerable ability and success. In person, he was commanding in appearance, was abont six feet in height, hair light brown, eyes a bluish gray and very expressive. In disposition he was kind and rather disposed to conciliate; but when aroused, exceed- ingly sarcastic and unyielding. As a business man he was very shrewd, insinuating, and successful. He was a good judge of values, and was not easily overreached in his purchases and exchanges. He arrived in Mont- gomery when it was sparsely settled, and lived to see it the most populous and thrifty township in the county. He passed through all the struggles from a poor and humble pioneer to that of thrift and wealth, and at the advanced age of seventy-eight years, April 17, 1862, deceased at his residence in Ashland, and his remains now rest amid the tombs of his pioncer neighbors, who passed away before him.

He was twice married, having lost the wife of his youth in 1829. He had no children by his second wife. His family consists of Sarali, married to John Lafferty, of Stark county, Illinois; Mary, married to Joseph Palmer, of Galesburgh, Illinois; Elizabeth, married to Daniel Carter, of Ashland; Lyman. deceased ; Wealthy, married to the late David Bryte, of Ashland; Ephraim, who resides on the old homestead, near Ashiand ; Wi !- lard, an attorney, who resides in Ashland ; Mahala, married to Johnson Carson, of Galesburgh, Illinois; Eli, of Ashland; Alfred, near Ashland; and Cordelia, de- ceased. His descendants are all thrifty, intelligent, and influential people.

CAPTAIN PIPE,

whose Indian nunc was " Hobacan," belonged to the Monsie or Wolf tribe of the Lenni-Lenape or Delawares. This famous war chief, in his later years, appears to have resided on the upper branches of Mohican, the head branches of Black river, the Vermillion and the. Cuya- hoga. It is believed that some time between 1793 and 1795, he made his headquarters at Jerometown, an In- dian village about three-fourths of a mile southwest of the present site of Jeromeville, and erected a cabin on the old site of Mohican Johnstown. This village was surrounded south, cast and north by alder swamps that were impassable by cavalry, and difficult of penetration by infantry.

A brief outline of the career of this noted chief of the Delawares, may be interesting to the reader.

He was born, as near as can be learned, on the banks of the Susquehanna river, in Pennsylvania, about the year 1740. Though undoubtedly a member of the royal or tuling family of his tribe, His youth seems to have been remarkably obscure. This obscurky may - have arisen from the fact that all Indian youths were taught to show deference to age and experience. It is '

believed that Pipe and other Delawares located at the junction of the Sandy and Tuscarawas rivers as early as !758. His first appearance on the historic page was among the warriors at a conference held at Fort Pitt, July, 1759, between the agent of Sir William Johnston, Hugh Mercer, the Iroquois, Delawares and Sharemees.

Pipe was then probably about nineteen years of age, and much too young to be conspicuous. He is next mentioned in an agreement with Charles Frederick Post, the eminent Moravian missionary, in the year 1762. Post had visited the junction of the Sandy and Tusca- rawas rivers, in 1761, and obtained the consent of King Beaver, a Delaware chief, to erect a cabin for a school and mission house. When he returned in 1762, with John Heckewelder, then nineteen years old, as an assistant to teach the young Delawares, he located in the cabin, and commenced to mark out a small field for corn. The Indians ordered him to desist. A council was held, in which the Indians expressed fears that a fort would soon appear at that point if they permitted Post to go on with his clearing. On being assured by Post that their fears were groundless, they consented to allow the missionaries a spot of ground-fifty steps each way-for a garden or field, in which to raise corn or vegetables for their support. Accepting these terms, "Hobacan" -- Captain Pipe, a young Delaware chief --- was ordered to step off the boundaries, and drive stakes at the corners. Pipe seemed very suspicious of the mission, because his people had suffered many wrongs at the hands of the British in Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania, and never failed, in a sly way, to tige his tribe to be cautious of the whites and the new mis- sionaries.

In 1764 Colonel Henry Bouquet led an expedition to the Muskingum river against the Indians. When his army reached Fort Pitt, now Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he delayed his march a few days. Some ten Indians appeared on the north bank of the Ohio river during the time he was at this fort, and asked to have a talk. Part of them crossed the river and entered the foit, and not being able to explain their object in coming to the settle- ment, were detained as suspicious characters or spies. One of these proved to be young Pipe, the Delowcare. who, two years prior, had marked out Post's garden spot. He was detained at Fort Pitt until Colonel Bouquet re- turned from the Muskingum, where he dictated terms of peace and a treaty with the Delawares and Sharerees. The transaction soured the temper of Captain Pipe, and he resolved upon a relentless course in the future against the "Long Knives." as he called the colonists.

Captain White Eyes, "Coquethagechton," chief of the Turtle tribe of Delawares, unlike Pire, was friendly to the missionaries, and opposed him in his hostility towards the settlers in western Pennsylvania. Although Pipe's tribe repressed their hate, with few exceptions until :786. he entertained a bitter feelingtoward the col- onists. In 1765 he attended a conference af Fort Fitt, at which about six hundred chiefs and warriors and many women and children were present. In 170% he again met in conference at Font Pitt, George Croghan,

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the sub-agent of Sir William Johnston, and over one thousand Iroquois, Delawares, Sharonees, Wyandots and Mohegons. In the meantime Pipe and White Eyes be- came rivals for ascendancy in the councils of the Dela- weares. White Eyes was a frank, manly and courageous chief, and had the sagacity to see that to make war upon the border settlers was to invoke incursions into the In- dian territory, and bring ruin upon his people. Pipe was haughty and ambitious, and detested the "Long Knives," and longed for the time when it would be safe for him to take the hatchet. His young warriors very generally seconded his warlike ferocity, and a large number of the Turtle tribe were deeply affected by his intrigues.

In 1771 he sent a speech to John Penn, the governor of Pennsylvania, in which he made complaints against white aggression and wrong. Not being relieved of the complaints in 1774, Pipe, White Eyes, and others, met the agent of Governor Dunmore, John Connelly, at Pittsburgh, in conference, in regard to recent aggressions on the Indian territory, and the unprovoked murder of the relatives of the noted Mingo, Logan. At this con- ference strong efforts were made to pacify the Indians and prevent war. The effort was in vain, for a great battle was fought at the mouth of the Kanawha, in Oc- tober. It is not known how many of the Delawares participated in that battle.

In 1778 a conference was held at Fort Pitt between Andrew and Thomas Lewis, United States commission. ers, and Captains White Eyes, Killbuck, and Pipe, depu- ties and chiefs of the Delawares, concerning the wrongs inflicted by the "Long Knives," and the retaliation of the Indians.

The long-impending separation of Pipe and White Eyes soon after this took place. Pipe made an effort to overthrow White Eyes. Seeing the effect of the intrigues of Pipe upon the Turtle tribe, Whites Eyes summoned a council, and declared that if they determined. in spite of his remonstrances, to go to war, he would lead the war- riors himself and die with his tribe. This heroic propo- sition turned the scale, and his people remained the friends of the colonists. Pipe, and the warlike members of his tribe, departed from the Tuscarawas and located on the Walhonding, about fifteen miles above the pres- ent site of Coshocton, and attached himself to the Brit- ish, who furnished his warriors blankets, tomahawks, guns. and ammunition, in exchange for human scalps.

In the midst of the revolution (1780) Captain Pipe and his warlike Delawares removed from the Walhond- ing to the Sandusky, on Tymocktee creek, and united his forces with the Wyandvis, Senecas, and other savages favoring the British cause. While he resided in this region he organized an expedition (1781) for the removal of the Moravian Delawares from the Tuscarawas. He was accompanied by three hundred warriors, two dis- tinguished chiefs, and the notorious Captain Elliott, then active in the British service. After the remov.d, Colonel Williamson and a large number of border ruthans from western Pennsylvania, made an expedition to the deserted villages on the Tuscarawas, barbarondy murdered all

they could find, and burned their houses and bodies.

In 1782 followed the unfortunate expedition of Colo- nel William Crawford. Captain Pipe has been censured for the cruelty inflicted upon Colonel Crawford and the other captives. We are apt to think, notwithstanding in- genious attempts have been made to excuse that wicked expedition, that it was the deliberate intention of Craw- ford and Williamson, and the barbarous persons who ac- companied the expedition, to first assault and destroy the Moravian settlements, and then finish their work of blood and death upon the Wyandots.

The barbarities of the men who accompanied the new expedition on the Tuscarawas. led Pipe and his peo- ple to believe that no Indian would be spared. The Delawares, Wyandots, and Sharenees, were ready to meet the invaders and give them a hot reception. They were not non-resisting Moravians. They fully appreciated their position, and, like brave men, met their enemies -and put them to flight. The subsequent tragedies were such as Crawford and his men should have expected when Williamson and his men failed to show mercy even to praying women and innocent children.

Yet Williamson was actually a candidate to lead the new expedition, and some writers are surprised that the historians of that day should entertain the idea that the expedition contemplated the destruction of the remain- ing Moravians. Pipe was relentless. It was a contest of life and death: Crawford had to die, because he would have killed Pipe and his people, and burned their towns. Retributive justice is severe, but generally overtakes bad enterprises.

Captain Pipe appeared before the British authorities at Detroit, as a witness against the Moravians, and finally excused them against the false accusations of Girty and others; and expressed a determination to treat the cap- tive missionaries better in the future. In December, 1781, he appeared before the same British officer. Col- onel Arentz Schuyler DePeyster, and reported the result of his military enterprise against the colonists, and bit- terly reproached that officer for seducing the Indians into a war, in which they were acting the part of a hunter's dog, which, being hissed to the attack, received all the injuries inflicted by the ferocious beasts of the forest. At the same time he expressed a determination to withdraw from their service by returning his war toma- hawk. In 1785 he was present at the conference at Fort McIntosh, and signed the treaty of that date. His name, by the interpreter, was affixed to that treaty, as "Wobocan," and signed. At this period, it is evident, he made frequent trips up and down the Muskingum, and possibly to his old residence at Sandy. We next hear of him at the mouth of the Big Miami, below Cin- cinnati, at a treaty with the Shawnees and others, as late as 1786. He was not a party to the treaty, however, but was present, and signed the document as a witness. One year after this, according to Zeisberger, the mission- ary, he attached himself to the tribes friendly to the United States, but in a short time violated his new co- gagement.

In 1789, when the pioneer set lers ineed at what is

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now Marietta, they found Captain Pipe and about seventy warriors encamped in the neighborhood. At that time General Harmar described him as a "manly old fellow, and much more of a gentleman than the generality of the frontier people." Colonel John May, during the same spring, says: "Here (at the residence of General Harmar) I was introduced to ' Old Pipe,' chief . of the Delaware Nation, and his suite, dressed like the offspring of Satan." Here he is described as " Old Pipe." According to the most reliable accounts, Captain Pipe was then about forty-eight years of age.

When we consider the fact, that Blackhoof, and per- haps Thomas Lyon, each lived over a century, Captain Pipe was then in his prime. This leaves Captain Pipe quietly navigating the Muskingum and its branches, hunting and making annual trips, at the proper season, to exchange furs and peltry for such goods and supplies as were needed by himself and people. Whether he : visited Marietta at a later period than 1790 does not seem quite clear, though it is possible he may have done so.

It seems to be conceded, very generally, that Captain Pipe took an active part in the campaign against Har- mar in the fall of 1790. It is urged, however, by some authorities, that he did not freely second the wishes of the Delawares in that campaign; and that he was opposed to entering the struggle against Harmar; but that he was overruled and yielded a reluctant consent to enter the contest. Pipe was no coward. He was rash and vin- dictive. His wishes for peace in this instance were pre- tended. He entertained no scruples about entering the campaign against General St. Clair in 1791. It is re- lated that he boasted of slaughtering the soldiers of that unfortunate expedition until his arm was weary. That was the temper of Pipe when roused to vengeance. He was a merciless foe.

In the campaign of General Anthony Wayne in 1794, we are of opinion Captain Pipe was one of his bitterest foes. We are also of opinion he was engaged in the bat- tle of Fallen Timbers, and was even present at the treaty of Greenville in 1795, though it is asserted that he died in 1794. His name is not attached to that trea y. Why is this? Captain Pipe was in disgrace. He had betrayed his friendship for the United States; brought ruin upon his people by his alliance with Little Turtle and other leaders in that war. The Delawares were left in a state of anarchy. They had warted against the United States by the advice and aid of Captain Pipe, and ruin and disorganization had overtaken them. Pipe, with a few of his friends, skulked away, and came down to the branches of the Mohican.

A late writer says "he died a few days previous" to the battle of Fallen Timbers, in 1794. Where and un- der what circumstances? "Upon the Maumee River." Where? In the presence of whom? Who first gave cir- culation to the story of his death? "Joseph Brandt." a Mohawk, who desired to pacify the trembling Moravi. ans. Why did Heckewolder, Loskiel, and other Mora- vians not hear of and mention the circumstance? They had had bitter experience under the rule of Pipe, and

would have been rejoiced to be liberated from his sur- veillance and dictation. Heckewelder, who is so fre- quently assailed as a romancer, would have been but too happy to have penned a criticism on his old accuser and foc. Heckewelder passed down these valleys many times between 1794 and 18to, and could have thrown much light on the decease of Pipe, and the incidents connected with his last hours. He is silent. So Is Los- kiel and others; and Zeisberger doubtless based his state- ment on a rumor, and subsequent writers have simply re- peated that rumor.

Now for the reason. About the year 1795, John Bap- tiste Jerome, a French trader, who had married a Dela- ware woman, on the Auglaize river, about 1790 or 1791, located with his wife and daughter, then some four or five years of age, upon the present site of Jeromeville, and after whom the village was called. The stream pass- ing said village also received his name, and has ever since been called the Jerome foik of the Mohican, When the earliest settlers came into that region, in 1808-9, Jerome had a good cabin, and some thirty or forty acres of land cleared and in a tolerable state of cultivation. About three-fourths of a mile southwest of his cabin, across the Mohican, was located the ancient Mohican Johnstown, then inhabited by Delawares, and near which old Captain Pipe, Hobocan, located about the same time. Is there any mistake about that? The identical spot of his wigwam is yet known. From whom was this information gleaned? From John Baptiste Je- rome, the French trader, who accompanied Captain Pipe to this region, and who knew him well. Jerome often related to the pioneers the circumstances connected with the battle of Fallen Timbers, the utter amazement and terror of the Indians over the movements and vic- tory of "Mad Anthony." According to his statement, Pipe was in the battle of 1794, although it was his opinion that Pipe was not present at the treaty. He often stated to pioneers, yet living in this county, that after the treaty of Greenville Captain Pipe began to see that his diplo- macy had brought distress upon his people, and though accepting the terms of peace, bitterly regretted that he had not refrained from identifying himself with the allied tribes and the British. In a vain endeavor to correct the errors of the past, he left the region of the Maumee, and quietly sought repose on the Mohican.

Captain Pipe resided on the Mohican in IS09-10-11 and 1812, and when the Finleys, Carters, Warners, Chand- lers, Coulters, Olivers, Rices and Tannehills, most of whom still survive, settled on the branches of the Mo- hican. He continued to reside in a wigwam, about a mile southwest of the present site of Jeromeville, until the spring of IS12, when he and most of His people quietly disappeared from that locality and never returned.

In the fall of 18i a great feast took place at Green- town, an Indian village on the Black fork of the Mobi- can, about ten miles southwest of Jerometown. Captain Armstrong, chief of the Turtle tribe, and his people. resided in Greentown. There were present between three and four hundred Delazers and other Indians. Among the number of chiefs was Captain Pipe, of

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History of Ashland County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 47

Author: Hill, George William, b. 1823; Williams Bros Publication date: 1880 Publisher: [Cleveland] Williams Number of Pages: 896

Author: Hill, George William, b. 1823; Williams Bros
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: [Cleveland] Williams
Number of Pages: 896