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 3

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 3
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 3

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).

The discovery of America may truly be viewed in this light. The time had arrived in which the existing circumstances made apparant the great advantages to the world such a revcla- tion would afford. The age was one of great intellectual restless- ness. What commercial intercourse that then existed among mankind, afforded many blessings to the different regions of the known world. The little oriental traffie that percolated through Mohammedan channels materially enriched those countries of Europe that then monopolized it. The Indics, with the fabled land of Cathay, the mines of Golconda, the golden kingdoms of Cipango and Mango, were themes in which imagination ran riot. Of all the channels of enterprise, maritime discovery was the most tempting, and it was making rapid strides of progress. The compass and astrolabe had been recently adapted to navigation. But the pursuit of exploration had not yet reached a basis of scientific probability, and mueh absurd fiction was mingled with aseertained fact.

The genius who grasped the great problem of maritime dis- eovery, who, by his noble work, opened to civilization a new theatre of action, was a sca-farer of the city of Genoa; one of humble condition, but who, through years of scientific research and a life of patient toil, wrought out the theories which at last he so triumphantly verified. But the first visible development had oceurred ages before, when a rude and unlettered sca-ranger had been driven, by adverse winds, across a sea which he had thought to be boundless, to a land whose existenee had never entered his imagination.

2-B. & J. CO.

Before proceeding to allude further to the great discoveries of Columbus and his successors, we will recount, as far as his- tory affords data, the exploits of those adventurous and ignorant seamen of Northern Europe, who, nearly five hundred years previously, had involuntarily found a continent beyond the wild Atlantic, which was then known as the "Sea of Dark- ness," and regarded by mariners with extreme dread and super- stition.

Those hardy pcople, called Northmen, or Norsemen, were Scandinavians, who then inhabited that portion of Europe em- braced in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland, and being a brave, adventurous raec, aceustomed to hardships and possess- ed with nautical skill, made themselves masters of the nor- thern seas, and became a terror to other nations, more honestly engaged in maritime traffic, by whom they were regarded as pirates and freebooters. Their vessels were a eraft of a few tons burthen, rudely equipped, clumsily rigged, always ear- rying on the prow the image of the head of a dragon or some imaginary monster, and generally commanded by the sons of Jarls, or Earls, who were themselves but retired sca-robbers. The historical chronieles of Iceland, ealled the Saga, which have been the subject of great research by modern historians, furnish mueh data and many interesting facts coneerning those wild rovers of the sea. Those pirate captains were ealled Vik- ings, and they were as severe and tyrannieal, over their ma- riners and fighting men, as they were remorseless in the treat- ment of their victims. Lawless marauders, as were the Vik- ings and their followers, they were the best and most adventur- ous navigators of the age, as well as fearless and redoubtable warriors.

The following lines from "Satanella" most truly represent the boldness of their character :

"Rovers, rulers of the sea, Wilder than the wild waves we, Merry men in storm and fight, Danger's true name is delight."

As early as the commencement of the ninth century, they had discovered and established colonies, or stations, on the Faroe Islands, whonee they made frequent and bloody incur- sions into Seotland and England, and whence, about that time, a commander named Naddok, on one of his expeditions, pene- trated so far north that he sighted the hitherto unknown island of Tecland. He seems to have been more disgusted than other- wise at its bleak barrenness, for he made no attempt at occupa- tion ; but after skirting its shores and mountains, called it Snowland, and returned home.

Subsequently, "a certain pyrate, whose name was Flokko," (this is the language of the historieal chronicles of Iceland,) having heard Naddok's account, set sail for the new country in 865, and being resolved not only to sec, but to colonize it he

HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES, OHIO.

took with him, from Norway, some families, implements, and cattle, for that purpose. This, of course, was not a piratical outfit.

The Vikings having no knowledge of the mariner's compass, Flokko took with him three ravens, which had previously re- ceived the rite of consecration from the priests of the pagan god Odin. These birds were depended on to give the navigator information in regard to the proximation of land. When a few days out he liberated the first raven, which at once returned in the direction whence the ship had come, and led him to infer that there was no land nearer than the port from which he had sailed. Farther on, the second bird was released, and, after hovering in a confused manner for some time, returned to the vessel. Two days later, upon being again set free, it rose to a great height, and then sped straight to the northwest. The Viking followed the feathered pilot, and soon reached the land of his search.

The colony proving a failure, Flokko and his people returned to Norway, perhaps as much disgusted with the country as Naddok had been, for they gave discouraging reports of it, and bestowed upon it the name of Iceland.

In the year 874, A. D., the Earl of Ingolf, who had, in some way, incurred the displeasure of his king-Harold the Fair- haired, of Norway-put his family and all his goods on board a ship and fled to Iceland, where he established a colony, which proved a permanent one, and which has now an existence of over one thousand years duration.

Not long after the settlement of Iceland, a sailor named Gunnbiorn, upon one occasion, had them is fortuneto be blown off the coast, before an easterly gale, across the narrow sea which separates the island from Greenland, and thrown upon the coast of that inhospitable country. From thence he suc- ceeded in returning to Iceland, bringing glowing accounts of his new discovery. But no colonists went there until 985, when Earl Eric, the Red, himself an outlaw in Norway, as Ingolf had been, fled his country and migrated to Greenland, from whence he spread such favorable reports, (after the custom of founders of new colonies,) that in the year 989, twenty-five vessels, loaded with families, goods, and cattle, sailed for the new land. Eleven of these ships were unfortunately lost on the passage, but fourteen arrived safely, and by these Greenland was extensively settled, and for many years emigration thence, from Norway and Denmark, was considerable.

In the year A. D. 1000, there was a bold young Danish Viking named Biarn, who, returning from a long voyage, learned that, during his absence, his father named Herjulf, had emigrated to Greenland and joined the colony of Red Eric. He immediately set sail thither, without even discharging his cargo, and this hardy Viking ventured upon an unknown and boisterous ocean, in the midst of strong weather, in his rude, tiny vessel, without a compass. A heavy gale blowing from the northeast, amidst a thick fog, he missed his destination, and after being driven for many days before the wind, he came in sight of land which he at once knew was not Greenland, for it was a flat wooded country, with no lofty ice-hills such as he had been told to ex- pect.

It is generally supposed, though not certainly known, that the land first seen by Biarn was the coast of Nova Scotia; but whatever it was, there can be no doubt that he and his crew were the first Europeans who ever saw land belonging to the North American Continent. Little did they comprehend the magnitude or the importance of their discovery.

The crew had great desire to go on shore, but the captain re- fused, and turning his course more towards the north, keeping well out at sea, sailed for two days and nights, after which he again approached the coast, but still found the same low, level shore, thickly timbered, and having no resemblance to the land he sought. Again he stood away on his course for two days, and then for the third time he made land. This he found to be " high and mountainous, with snowy mountains." By sailing close along the shore, he discovered it to be an island, not the haven he wished for, and once more he stood out, and ran before a brisk northwest wind for three days and nights, when at last he saw the rugged coast of Greenland, and soon had the joy of meeting his father, whom he had so long sought.

When Biarn related to Earl Eric, and the other colonists, the story of his involuntary voyage to the unknown country, he was censured by them for having failed to explore or land upon it. But his chief desire was to reach the land where his father had made his home, and after that to make regular voyages between Greenland and Norway, in which traffic he hoped to realize much gain. Now that he had reached the place where his father had settled, called Herjulfness, he was too much over-

joyed to indulge in any regret for his neglect to explore the lands he had seen, or to feel any wish to return to them for further observation.

To the sons of old Eric the Red, however, and particularly to Leif, the eldest of them, the desire to visit and explore the new regions which Biarn had seen, became overpowering, and with Eric's sanction he purchased, in the year 1001, Biarn's ship, and fitted her for the cruise. A crew of thirty-five men were employed, and Biarn himself consented to accompany the ex- pedition. The old Earl himself had been prevailed upon by his son to command, but as he was riding to the port front whence the vessel was to depart, the horse on which he rode, stumbled and threw the old Viking to the ground. Profoundly superstitious, he saw an omen, which he declared was a warn- ing to him to attempt no more voyages for the discovery of new countries. His son Leif then sailed in command of the vessel, which left her port most auspiciously, and stretched boldly away south westwardly over the unknown sea.

It was the intention of Leif to retrace, as nearly as possible, the vessel's former track, thus to make, first the high rugged island which Biarn had last seen, and from thence to skirt the land until he should reach the other points seen by the bold young navigator. The voyage prospered, and in due time they saw before them the lofty hills, which Biarn at once recognized as those of the island whence he had taken his last departure. It was not intended to stop long here, but the new commander went on shore and made some explorations, which showed him that it was a most forbidding place, the entire space from the sca to the base of the mountain being covered with flat stones, which lay so thickly, that no soil or vegetation appeared among them. With a feeling of disappointment he named the discov- ery Helluland, from the word hella, which in the Norse dialect, signifies a flat stone. Then he re-embarked, and after a further exploration by water, among the deep bays, harbors, and coves, with which the island was greatly indented, he proceeded on his way to seek the lands which had first greeted the eyes of Biarn-that level wooded country which he had described, and which seemed like a paradise to the imaginations of those rough rovers, whose whole lives had been spent upon the stormy seas, and among the glaciers and wild crags of the barren north.

Keeping away to the southwest, he again made land; this time a fair looking region, covered with trecs, to which he gave the name of Markland (or Woodland.) There is little doubt that this was the island now known as Cape Breton.

Beyond this he made another landing, finding still the same distinguishing natural features. But his love of adventure and thirst for discovery was not yet quenched, and he again stood bravely on towards the southwest before a brisk northerly wind. After three days and nights, steadily on this course, again came the welcome cry of land, and while waiting for good weather a landing was made to examine the region. It has never been satisfactorily settled, precisely where this land was, but beyond doubt, was a part of the New England coast, and it is quite generally believed to have been the island of Martha's Vine- yard, south of the State of Massachusetts.

Leif made a short stay here, then coasted along the shore and proceeded, as the Saga records, " up a river which came through a lake." Here he ordered the vessel to be securely moored, and preparations to be made for winter quarters. Autumn had al- ready made its appearance, but rude houses were speedily built and soon all was made secure. Among the crew was a man named Tyrker-not one of their own countrymen, but a South- ron, from the land of Vineyards-and he, in one of his rambles on shore, found grapes in profusion, growing wild in the woods. The discovery was hailed with great joy by these Northmen, who had never seen grapes in Greenland, Iceland, or Norway. The ripe grapes were freely gathered and eaten by Leif's people, which they found delicious to the taste, and they cured great quantities of them by drying in the sun. Leif was highly elated with the mild climate and the delicious fruit, and in his ectasy he named the country Vinland-the Home of the Vine. Soon, however, the bright days of Indian Summer were gone, and the snow storms and shrill winds of winter came ; but the Viking's crew had seen the deeper snows of Norway, and had felt the sting of the icy gales which roar across the Arctic Cir- cle, and they could laugh at the rigors of a New England winter. During this season they gathered great store of the different kinds of timber and wood, which grew so profusely in " Vin- land," but were scarce and highly prized in their own country. On the opening of Spring, they loaded their ship with these, and ihen filling their long boat, and all available space on the vessel with dried grapes, they left their winter home and sailed for Greenland. On the homeward voyage, a day or two before

HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES, OHIO.

his arrival, Leif rescued and saved a shipwrecked crew, which he brought along to the port of his destination. One of these was a woman, named Gudrid, wife of the captain of the wreck- ed vessel, who soon died, and then his widow married Thorstein a brother to Leif, and son of the Earl, Eric the Red.

The place where Leif and his followers had passed the winter, and which they had named Vinland, is generally supposed to have been situated on an arm of Narragansett Bay, below the mouth of the Taunton River, and near to the present town of Tiverton, in Rhode Island. And of this land, the explorers brought back to Greenland the most marvelous accounts. It was, they said, a region of almost unbroken summer (it is not strange that they thought it such, considering how cold and sterile was the land which they called home). And they told how delightful was its location, how great its fertility, and how abundant its rich fruits and rare woods. They indulged to the full, that propensity which is everywhere found in human nature, and which seems to be universal among those who visit remote regions : gross exaggeration of facts relating to the won- ders they had seen in their mysterious journeyings. If they did not paint these in colors as glowing as those in which the Spanish explorers depicted the golden El Dorado and the Foun- tain of Youth, it was probably less on account of their stricter adherence to truth, than because they lacked the vivid and gorgeous imaginations of the Southern adventurers.

So the wonderful tale went from mouth to mouth. The newly discovered land became known as " Vinland the Good," and its enterprising discoverer received the name of " Leif the Fortun- ate." Soon the story was carried to Norway and Denmark, from whence, eventually, it was heard of in a dim, vague way, in other parts of Europe.

Soon after Leif's return, he made a journey to Norway, and while there became converted from the Norse paganism to Christianity, and when he again returned to Greenland, he took with him some Christian priests, which act greatly incensed his father-for Red Eric was firm in his pagan faith, and con- tinued unshaken in the worship of the Viking's gods, Odin and Thor, until his death, which occurred soon after.

Having now, by his father's death, become the head of the family, Leif unwillingly abandoned the project which he enter- tained of another voyage to Vinland the Good; and, indeed, he resolved henceforth to live quietly at home, as his father had done, and so no more was ever heard of the ocean adventures or exploits of Leif the Fortunate.

But his brother Thorvald (who had also embraced the Chris- tian religion through the labors of the Norwegian priests) took up the enterprise, and soon departed, in his brother's ship, for the western land, where he arrived safely after a short and prosperous voyage.

Having without difficulty found the houses erected by his brother, he took possession, and there passed the winter.

The next year he pushed his explorations far to the west- ward, (probably through Long Island Sound), as far as "another lake through which a river flowed to the sea." The explorers were enchanted with the green grass, the groves of great trees, and abundance of vegetable growth which were all so strange to them. They made many landings upon the Islands, and each time their joy and admiration was increased.

Thorvald and his men also passed the following winter in the cabins built by Leif, and again, in the spring, made voyages and journeyings to the northward and eastward, passing Cape Cod, and, it is supposed, penetrating up Massachusetts Bay as far as the vicinity of Boston.

They had never yet seen any of the natives of the country, until, upon one of their expeditions, they suddenly came upon three boats, made of skins, and set up as tents. Under these were nine savages, asleep. The Viking and his men had the greatest contempt for these beings, and bestowed on them the name of Skraellings, which, in the Norse language, was a term of the bitterest opprobium. In fact, they considered them as no better than wild beasts; and so, when they found these, sleeping so quietly, and unconsious of danger, they followed the instincts of their Northern nature, and falling at once upon the unoffending natives, they slew all but one, who escaped with his life, greatly terrified.

As they came to a pleasant point of land, covered with the dark evergreen of fir trees, Thorvald said to his followers: " Here, on this cape would I wish to raise my dwelling." He little thought how soon his desire would be realized.

The frightened native, who had escaped slaughter by the Northmen, had aroused great numbers of his people, who were then determined to avenge the cruel murder of their compan- ions, and remained hidden until an opportunity should present

itself. So, a little further on, at a time when the party of ex- plorers were resting in fancied security, they were surprised by the sound of the terrible war-whoop, and an attack by a great number of the Skraellings. In dismay they fled to their ves- sel, and raised the wooden shield, behind which they were wont to fight their enemies. From thence they discharged their ar- rows, and soon the natives retired, but not until one of the white men had been wounded in the side, by a dart from the Skraellings. The wounded man was none other than Thorvald himself; and when he withdrew the dart from the wound, and knew that his hurt was mortal, he told his followers to bear him to the pleasant promontory, and bury him there among the fir trees. "It may be" said he, "that it was a true word which I spake, that I would dwell there for a time; there shall ye bury me, and set crosses at my feet and head, and call the place Krossaness,* forever in all time to come." His men obeyed the dying command of the young sea-king, and left him there, with the Christian cross (the first ever erected on the American Continent) marking the spot where he slept in peace beneath the evergreens.

The party was now without a head, and, being entirely dis- heartened, returned to Greenland.

Then, Thorstein, another son of Eric, victualled a vessel and sailed in search of the body of his brother, resolved to bring it back to the family tomb. This was in the year 1005. His company numbered twenty-five men, and he made a most faith- ful search, but failed to find the point called Krossaness, and so, after a time, returned unsuccessful, and soon after died of scurvy, contracted on the voyage. Thorstein was the last of the sons of Eric who ever journeyed to America, but the blood of the Red Earl would not be still. His daughter, Freydis, sister of Leif, Thorvald and Thorstein, next planned an expedition to the land of vines. She was the wife of Thorvard, the captain of a trading ship; and he, with one Thorffinn Karlscfne, a rich merchant of Iceland, fitted out three vessels, with which they sailed in the spring of the year 1007.

The wife of Karlsefne, was none other than Gudrid, the widow of Thorstein, she who had been rescued from shipwreck by Leif, on his return voyage from Vinland. Besides Freydis and Gud- rid, many other women were taken; as well as cattle, imple- ments, and abundant stores, for it was intended to found a per- manent colony.

The company numbered more than one hundred persons, with Thorffinn in command, though the woman Freydis, was in reality the master spirit of the enterprise.

Their outward voyage was a prosperous one. On arriving at the lands near their destination, they found a huge carcass of a whale which had been stranded high and dry upon the sandy shore, and this was not only a great accession to their commis- sariat, but was esteemed as most delicious food by those hyper- borean epicures.

It is not known whether or not they settled at the place where Leif built his houses; but they found abundance of game and fish, and great trees covered with grapes, while a little way off, were "fields of self-sown wheat," (by which is proba- bly meant the Indian maize). Here they expected to pass a pleasant and unmolested life ; but soon they were visited by the "Skraellings," who were described as "black and ill- favored, with coarse hair on the head, with large eyes and broad cheeks." They seemed to be entirely ignorant of the uses or capabilities of edged implements, and it is told that one of them playfully handling one of the Norse battle axes, appar- ently ignorant that it was a more formidable weapon than those of their own rude fashioning, dealt to one of his compan- ions a blow which was instantly fatal.

These natives, however, offered no violence to the whites, but, after satisfying their curiosity, went away for a time ; soon however, returning in great numbers, and wishing to barter valuable skins and furs for red cloth, of which the colonists seem to have had a large quantity, and with which the natives were greatly pleased. Cow's milk was also freely given them by the colonists, and this they appreciated highly.

But of a sudden, when all was progressing pleasantly, a bull, belonging to Thorffinn, burst out from among the trees, and with a roaring, which shook the very earth, rushed full upon the poor Skraellings, who, thereupon, fled to their boats in the greatest terror. For a long time they remained away, but after awhile they returned in a great body, and gave battle to the Northmen, who, being vastly outnumbered, fled to the woods, after many had been killed by those natives whom they so

"Krossaness, in the Norse language, sigulfles Cross Cape, and this place is supposed to be identical with the point now called Point Alderton, in Boston harbor.

HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES, OHIO.

much despised ; and it is related that they would all have been slaughtered, but that Freydis, seizing a weapon from the body of one of the slain men, rushed upon the savages with great fury, making loud and piercing cries and wild gestures, by which the Saga says : they were as much terrified, as on the former occasion they had been, by the bellowing of the bull. They rushed pell-mell to their boats, fled in dismay, and were seen no more.

This attack and its results greatly discouraged the colonists ; who at once demanded of their leader Karlsefne that they should return home without delay. He, being a merchant of wealth and consideration in Iceland, acceded to their wishes, and re- turned to that country, where he passed the remainder of his days in ease and splendor.

But Freydis, being a very bold and ambitious woman, was by no means satisfied with the result. She wished to found a permanent colony, in which herself and her husband Thorvard should be chief personages.

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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 3

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