History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley, Part 118

Author: Caldwell, J. A. (John Alexander) 1n; Newton, J. H., ed; Ohio Genealogical Society. 1n
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Wheeling, W. Va. : Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 728

USA > Ohio > Jefferson County > History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley > Part 118
USA > Ohio > Belmont County > History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley > Part 118

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).

They encountered other game on the way, so that it was night- fall when they arrived at the fort. After consultation, it was concluded to kindle a fire in the shanty, to tuck in the little boy among the bed clothing and skins, and let him remain until they returned. These things being done, Mr. Shannon and his friend went on to the shanty on Shannon's run, to obtain the deer. A heavy snow storm commenced, and the night grew dismally dark, so they determined to remain until morning.

Early in the next day, they started for home through a snow several inches deep. On arriving at the fort, in sight of the shanty, they behold the door down, and in the snow the tracks of a large bear, making directly toward it. But Wilson was no- where to be seen, In alarm they seized their guns, and cau- tiously approached the shanty. The tracks continued on di- rectly towards it. They arrived at the door, looked in, and there, safely nestled amid the bear skins, lay the little fellow sound asleep, unconscious of the danger he had passed, and of the terror of his friends.

The bear had gone to the door, reared up his paws against it, made a circuit about the shanty, and then struck off to the east, leaving little Wilson ummolested. The jar given the door by the bear's weight, and the force of the wind subsequently, had thrown it down, but after bruin had departed. Having followed the tracks of the bear to a den, inaccessible to their reach, a half mile distant, they returned home, filled with a deeper joy than they had ever found in the pleasures of the chase.

The hardships that Mr. Shannon underwent, and the expos- ures to which he was subjected, caused a rheumatism that in later years disabled him. He died a few years ago, universally respected. The life and character of John Shannon are exam- ples which every young man would do well to imitate; for in them are exhibited the highest excellence that dignify human nature, and of him it may be truly said, the world is better by his living in it.

339

HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES.

A PREDICTION.

For a long time the settlement in Belmont and Guernsey counties, clung along the line of the old Wheeling and Putney roads, and emigration heing so large that belt of country soon became crowded with inhabitants. Asa consequence, soon game had to be sought for at remote distances. The earliest settlers beheld this pressing out of their favorite sport, with any but agreeable feelings. Hospitable and kind as they universally were to all new comers, yet every fresh arrival brought with it to them, sincere regret, for the reason that it contracted the limits of their bunting ground. .

Settlers hesitated to go south of the Leatherwood and Captina (Captenon according to the early surveyors' plats and the old authorities) creeks to enter farms, and that region as a result, became the home of the fugitive game driven away by the intru- sive settlements of the north. Hence that no one went south of the points indicated to form settlements, was a matter of 'grea- grattification to the first pioneers. They often said to each other, "that in the dark hills of Monroe, we shall at least have a per- manent hunting region."

I remember very vividly a conversation I once heard between Alexander Campbell and John Kennon, who were mentioned in the previous portion of this article. While they were dis- cussing the course of events about them. the rapid and constant disappearance of wild animals for other parts, and sighing for the good old days of wilderness and neighbors, Campbell re- marked :

"John, game will soon be gone, and we'll have to go on west, or go to living as we did in the east."

" I don't think exactly as you do, Aleck," replied Kennon. "We'll only have to go a longer way from home to carry on hunts, that's all. That country over there," pointing towards the Monroe region, " will never be settled up, and there we will al- ways find plenty of game."

The elegant farms and blooming fields of that locality, gives answer to the mistaken opinion of these worthy pioneers ; but the epithet of dark hill, stills clings to it, notwithstanding its great productions and the general enlightenment of the indus- trious and energetic inhabitants.

OTHIO FRENCH.

Among the first pioneers of Warren township, was Otho French, and as he was conspicuous among them, firmly im- pressing upon early times some of the peculiarities of his own character, from the many noted incidents in his career we will present a few of the more salient.

He was born in Frederick county, Maryland, on the 2d of May, 1777. His parents were respectable, but poor, and as a consequence his education was only rudimental. " When he was in his twenty-second year, one of the neighbors, Robert Plum- mers, aforementioned as one of the earliest settlers in the town- ship, proposed that if Mr. French would go west with him, and assist him in the selection of some lands for entry, he would as- sist him to purchase a part of the land so taken up.

The proposition was accepted by Mr. French, and in a short time they started for Ohio. Arriving at Marietta they heard such a glowing description of section number 10 of Warren township, that they determined at once to enter it, provided it were not already taken. They employed a guide to point out to them the section line that led to it. Pursning this line north they reached section (10) ten, which they knew as soon as they saw it, by the faithful description given them at Marietta. They went to Steubenville, made the entry and returned home.

Mr. French was married in a short time after his return, and migrated to Belmont connty. Mr. Plummer, true to his agree- ment, sold him a part of section (10) ten on easy terms, and Mr. French began immediately to clear ont his farm. At first he put up a cabin, in which he resided for several years. This was succeeded by a hewn-log mansion which is still standing in a fair state of preservation on the farm now owned by his son, Otho French, in section (10) ten. Mr. French, in a very brief period, became an expert hunter, surpassing all competitors, and his fame, in this respect, was so great that his neighbors, many times, would work in his clearings in order that he might go to kill game for them. In this manner he acquired a most con- summate knowledge of the means to secure game. An old ac- quaintance and relative of Mr. French, has kindly furnished us with some interesting hunting incidents in his life, which we beg leave to present to the reader precisely as they were written by our very worthy correspondent.

I-13-B.&J.Cos.

HUNTING TURKEYS.

He says: " Mr. French had two modes for hunting turkeys ; first, the old stratagem of hiding and then calling like one of a flock. He, however, combined with it a well trained turkey- dog which would scatter the flock; calling them would bring large numbers of the disturbed flock about his hiding place, thus giving him more numerous chances to kill them. Second, to hunt out their roostings and shoot them by moonlight. He dis- covered at his first trial by moonlight that to shoot his turkey, the aim must be taken from six to eight inches beyond the point desired to be hit. These nocturnal expeditions were generally successful. "

WOLF HUNTING.

Of wolf hunting he says: " Mr. French was the most accom- plished wolf trapper ever resident in Belmont county. So ex- pert did he become in the capture of these animals that he rare- ly failed, if he set his traps, to catch one of them. The wolf is your sly customer, and can only be caught in a trap by much deception.

During the winter of 1815, Mr. French captured six wolves. Histraps that winter were set on the Leatherwood, about two and a half miles southwest of Barnesville. His mode of trap- ping was to place the bait near a stream of water, so that the wolf could not get it without crossing the stream from the oppo- site side. Then we would set the trap under the water, and place a flat stone on the treadle, and lay others a short distance apart from the banks to the trap, for the wolf to step on. He never could cateh any unless the trap was set under water. The last one he caught in his traps in the winter of 1815, as soon as it saw Mr. Freneh laid down as quietly as a dog. He thought it was of the kind that they said could be handled like a kitten. French came up and touched it. It showed its teeth. He then reached his hat out to it, which was seized and torn to pieces. Mr. French then determined to take it home alive. Having, with the assistance of a friend, secured and muzzled it, he started home. As he pasred through Barnesville, he eaused quite an excitement by having a live wolf tied on his horse behind him.

BEE HUNTING.

"Mr. French was also a great bee hunter. In early times there was no bee-moth, and the old hives were often very rich in honey. He very frequently obtained as much as twenty to twenty-five gallons from one bee tree. The greatest quantity he ever got from one swarm was found in a limb. the hollow of which was fully ten feet long, and over a foot in diameter. His manner of finding a bee tree, was to place hait in some conven- ient place, and watch the course of the bees, The bee never goes over a mile in quest of forage. One day when Mr. French was out hunting bees, he had quite an adventure with a wild cat.

A STRANGE STORY,

"He had placed the bait on the upturned roots of a fallen tree, and was seated on its trunk, awaiting results. Presently he saw a large wild cat and two kittens coming down the hill toward him. He determined that when they were immediately under where he was seated, to jump down and seize the old cat. The kittens saw him and stopped; the old cat gave a mew or two but came on, and when she was right under him, he sprang at her but missed her. She ran a little way and turned. French started on his hands and knees toward her. She growled, stuck np her hairs, snarled, and made several jumps at him, but on he went, thinking that he could manage one wild cat, it he couldn't whip his weight in them. The old cat stood her ground, until he was within ten feet of her, when she bonnded away into the woods. The kittens had already disappeared."

BEARS.

Mr. French killed a great many bears within the limits of Warren township. Once he found a bear's den in a large pop- lar. So collecting a number of youngsters to help him ent the tree, they paraded at the spot, in high glee at the coming sport. French set his gun against a tree near at hand, but so as to be out of the way of the falling tree. They then commenced cut- ting down the old poplar. They had not chopped long before they heard some noise np the tree, and looking up, beheld the bear coming down. French thought of his gun, and started for it on the run. The boys thought he was running to escape from the bear, and so cat dirt as fast as their legs would carry

340

HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES.

them. Some of them did not stop until they were out of sight and hearing. French shot the bear, and had a hearty laugh at the expense of the boys.

In all his hunting adventures, he was never injured by any wild animal. The narrowest escape he ever had was from a wounded buck.

A NARROW ESCAPE.

He had shot it in the shoulder, and so disabled it that his dog soon brought it to bay. Before he could reload his gun the deer had caught the dog between its horns and pinned him to the ground. French re-loaded his gun as quick as possible, and ran up close, so as to shoot it in the head. As soon as the deer saw him it loosed its hold on the dog, threw its hair all back the wrong way and pitched at French, who barely had time to level his gun and pull the trigger, before the deer would have been upon him. His shot was fatal, and the buck fell dead at his feet.

A CURIOUS AFFAIR.

"At another time, in the last of December, he wounded an- other old bnek so that his dog soon caught it. While they were fighting, the dog had seized the deer by the top of the head, and was hanging down between its horns. In their strugglings both of the buck's horns fell off, and he became an easy prey. Some may ask why the deer's horns fell off at that "particular time ? I answer because it was the time of year for shedding his horns. The deer sheds its horns about New Year's. They grow a new set from six to seven feet long every year, after they are two years old.",

AN AFFECTING SCENE.

"Mr. French and his father-in-law were out hunting one day but got separated. After awhile French come across an old deer and her fawn, he shot the old deer and the fawn squatted close to her side. He loaded and fired at it several times, but it did not move. Presently the father-in-law came up and tried his skill on the fawn, but it remained as motionless as before. So they went up to it and found it alive, and making efforts to get away from them. Every shot had apparently taken effect, yet the love for its mother was so great that it endured all this pain sooner than leave her side."

HIS TEMPERANCE RECORD.

We give this in the language of another of his old friends, He says : "The most remarkable feature of Mr. French's life was his persistant, uniform and ceaseless opposition to the use of spiritous liquors as a beverage. There were no circum- stances in which he tolerated its use, as such, either by himself or by others, and in this particular has set an example that should be followed by all who teach total obstinence : put in practice yourself, what you preach to others. Do not talk temper- ance and act whisky."

"With the carly settlers of Warren, the use of spiritous liquors as a drink was the rule, he who abstained was the exception. Next in importance to the Bible with them, was the whisky jug. At all public gatherings it was drank ; in public and pri- vate it was drank; at home and abroad, whisky was the foremost social economizer. Every class and every age in- dulged in its use, and the religious and the irreligions made it the companion of their convivialities and the forerunner of their social recognition."

"Such were the surroundings of Otho French when he first placed himself in opposition to the use of alcoholic drinks. Ilis first demonstration against it was at a log rolling where were assembled nearly all the able-bodied men of the township. Every one present partook of it but French, who continued to reject it, until as the enstom was, they proposed to funnel him, as it was called. They had a funnel and flask, and the practice was to throw the refuser down, put the funnel in his mouth and pour in the whisky. The funneler approached within a few feet of him to execute the proceedings, when French warned him of his danger by an nplifted handspike, ominously threat- ening, and so doggedly determined in his manner that the fun- neler desisted from his effort, and French became the victor."

"In 1830 he assisted in the organization of the first temperance society over instituted in the township. And from that time to his death was always 'instant in season and out of season,' the faithful champion of total obstinenee.

"Many of the old residents of Barnesville will remember how dogmatic he was in his opposition to intoxicating drinks. He

would not walk on the side-walk in front of a tavern at which liguors were sold. Sooner than do so he would walk ont into the deep mnd or snow of the street, until he had passed the tav- ern, and then come on the side-walk again. And nothing could in- duce him to enter such a tavern if he knew it.

"During the latter years of his life he was in the habit of en- tertaining droves and drovers. His universal inquiry of the drovers was: 'Has any of your stock been fed at a still house ? if they have, you cannot stop with me.'"

SEVERELY FOR THE RIGHT.

"I well recollect his treatment of a drover, in the year 1849. He called on Mr. French and requested to stay over night. Mr. French put the usual question, which was answered in the neg- ative. The drove was turned in and fed, and the hands had all washed, ready for supper, which was on the table. Mr. French had found out, by some means, that the hogs for the greater part had been fattened at the Waverly distilleries. He instantly or- dered the drove to be taken out of his field, and would not let even the drover, nor his hands, have their suppers.

"When the Maine law excitement was raging in the country, Mr. French became a zealous advocate for its adoption in Ohio. He had a sign painted, bearing the words: 'Give us the Maine Law.' When he was on his death bed, he enjoined on his rela- tives to have engraved on his tombstone, the words: 'Hold on to the Maine law forever,' which was done. He died in 1857, in his eightieth year, and was buried in the township graveyard."

OIL MILL.

About the year 1825, Daniel Williams began the manufacture of linseed oil at his mill, two and a half miles southeast of Barnes- ville. It continued to be a paying business until 1833, when cotton fabrics supplanted linen ones. The cultivation of flax was abandoned, and Mr. Williams stopped his mill. The old mill is now called White's mill.

NATURAL CURIOSITIES.

On the farm of James Cox, two miles southwest of Barnes- ville, there is a natural curiosity unexcelled, perhaps, in the history of the freaks of nature. The dwelling of Mr. Cox is situ- ated at the foot of a hill five hundred feet in height. At about one hundred feet from the top of this bill, and directly west, and above Mr. Cox's house, a spring comes out from the hill, mak- ing its exit due cast.

Some time in the earth's history this spring was very highly charged with lime. Out from the mouth of the spring, there projects due cast, a gently sloping bench, a large part of which has been formed by the action of this spring. For a distance of fifty feet on each side of the trench through which the stream of the spring passes on this bench, there are a large number of flag-stones, sand-stones and boulders, encrusted with films and crusts of carbonate of lime. On many of these stones, the films and crusts are as closely and as neatly laid on and about them as the gold on plated ware is laid on and about the grosser metal that it encloses.

These films and crusts vary in thickness from that of tissue paper to a half inch.

The most peculiar and interesting feature of the work of this spring is that it has deposited an incalculable quanty of the hydrate of lime, and which deposit makes up the whole of the projecting bench just mentioned, within the following limits : At abont twenty-five feet from the spring's month the hydrate deposits begins, and at that point is not over ten feet wide on each side of the spring stream. But widening with the descent of the bench, this deposit becomes fifty (50) feet wide on each side of the spring stream at the brink of the bench. It then goes on, increasing in width, down the now steeper slope of the hill, until it stops at a point (150) one hun- dred and fifty feet. from the brink of the bench, and with a width of (100) one hundred feet at point of termination on each side of the spring stream.

How deep the deposit may be is unknown. The writer has dug down into it over four feet, and from two inches from the surface to the depth mentioned, he found the deposit a hydrate of lime just as perfect in looks, and just as pungent to the taste as the best slacked lime.

This vast deposit of hydrate of hundreds of thousands of tons, is so perfect that it might be put into mortar and plaster with only the nanal sitting. No vegetation will grow upon its sur- face, as in summer it is like the dust of a pike. Outside of its

341

HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES.

bulk, where its fertilizing powers may be utilized, vegetation is very luxuriant, and when put on ground on which tobacco is about to "throw up" it will carry the plants forward to a good growth and perfection. It is another strange fact that no " calcareons tufta " are found in the vicinity of this deposit.

TEA-TABLE ROCK.

On the old Riggs farm, about two miles south of Barnesville, is "Tea-Table Rock." It is on the very top of a large, smooth- ly sloped hill, aud is associated with several other sand rocks of the same geological formation. The general outline of the rock resembles that of a goblet very closely. Hence "Goblet Rock" onght to be its name, as that is much more descriptive of its gen- eval appearance. We shall therefore call it Goblet Rock.

The writer has very carefully examined it, and gives the fol- lowing as the result: Its average heighth is nine feet; circum- ference at base, fifteen feet and nine inches ; mid circumference, eighteeu feet and ten inches, and top circumference, thirty-one feet and four inches.

The top of the stone is flat, but not level, having a slight ineli- nation from the south to the north side. The top circumference on all sides but the north, describes very nearly a circle. The body of the stone from the bottom to the heighth of seven and a half feet, is almost a perfect circle, becoming larger as the heighth increases. At from seven and a half feet to the top, the stone enlarges rapidly, forming a projection of a foot and a half to two feet, and when put in proportion to the rest of the stone, is like the rim of a goblet. The following are the measurements of the top of the stone, regarding the latter as a high goblet, with its mouth southwest and its back northeast: Back diam- eter, five feet; mouth diameter, eight feet; loug diameter (back to mouth) eight feet and two inches, and diameter from side to side, at mid way, back to mouth, six feet and eight inches.

On the southside of the stone, from the ground to two feet high, the disentegrating influences of weather and frost, have carried away as much of the stone as would make a block of two feet perpendicular, two feet base, and lot less than three feet long where base and hypothenuse touch.

The bottom of the stone to the height of a foot, has been con- verted by some occult forces into thin layers of from a half to an inch in thickness, and these layers are much softer than the remainder of the rock, which is not stratified at all.

The whole stone can be shaken into a sensible tremble by one standing on its top. These layers are now being crushed by the weight of the rock, and it is easily foreseen that if these "pull- ing down" forces continne, in a few years the Goblet Rock will fall over.

HUMAN AND OTHIER FOOT-PRINTS.

The most interesting relics of the mound-building race yet discovered in the annals oftheir remains are the celebrated foot- prints on a sand-rock of the coal measure located on the lands of Robert Y. Price, Warren township. They were found in 1856, by a son of Mr. Price, who was then an ardent student of geol- ogy, and was excited to an examination of the rocks of the neighborhood by reading of the Connecticut bird-tracks.

These foot-prints are, without doubt, the result of the artistie skill of a Mound-race sculptor, and indicate a well advanced at- tainment of that branch of art; and although they have been for many years exposed to the erosions of the weather, and to the mutilations of time and accident, yet they were well defined when the author of this article made an examination and meas- nrement of them in the fall of 1856. He then wrote a very ac- curate description of them, which was published in one of the scientific journals, and here take the liberty of transcribing a portion of it for the benefit of our readers :

" Passing through Belmont county, Obio, a few weeks ago on my way cast, I stopped to see the footprints on some rocks near Barnesville, about which there is so much talk. Having made a careful survey of the location, and that of the region around and about, I proceeded to scrutinize the tracks themselves, and am well satisfied that they are the works of art-that they are the workmanship of some artist long since passed away-one of that extraordinary race whose relies so abound in this vicinity.

"The rocks on which they are impressed lie at least eighteen hundred feet* above the sea level, and are of a formation abn- dantly developed in the adjacent region. I counted ten frag-

ments of roeks containing footprints, but I shall describe only those I found on two of them.

"One of them will average two feet above the alluvial deposit, in which a large portion of its substance seems to be imbedded, with an exposed irregular surface of seventy-five square feet. The other is not over eight inches above earth level, with ex- posed surface of forty square feet. On the last named rock are carved eight human footprints, all of the same size, and appear as if the artist had intended to convey the impression that a person had crossed and recrossed upon it, as one of the west- bound tracks is trodden upon one of the east-bound tracks.

"They are impressed upon the rock one-half inch deep, and are but a shade less thau ten inches in length. There are also engraved on this rock twelve bird tracks, some of them web- footed, and seven other tracks of two different animals, one of which belongs to the tortoise family; the other I am unable to classify.

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.

History of Belmont and Jefferson Counties, Ohio, and incidentially historical collection pertaining to border warfare and the early settlement of the adjacent portion of the Ohio Valley, Part 118

Author: Caldwell, J. A. (John Alexander) 1n; Newton, J. H., ed; Ohio Genealogical Society. 1n Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Wheeling, W. Va. : Historical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 728

Author: Caldwell, J. A. (John Alexander) 1n; Newton, J. H., ed; Ohio Genealogical Society. 1n
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Wheeling, W. Va. : Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 728