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 60

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 60
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 60

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In 1806, his son Joseph returned to Belmont county, from Delaware, and settled on the land entered by his father. Here he remained until his death. He was married just before leav- ing his home, to Miss Margaret Gillaspie, and they traveled the whole distance to their western land on horseback. The road in many places was so narrow that they were obliged to travel single file. There were a few Indians remaining about the country then, but being somewhat civilized, were harmless. His father owned two sections up toward Steubenville, a part of: which land his (Joseph's) sister settled on,

There were other premature settlements made along the west- ern banks of the Ohio river above Bridgeport and about where Martin's Ferry is located and on still further up. These settle- ments took place quite carly, and it is thought many of them antedate that of Kirkwood's. The government removed some of the settlers and partially broke up the settlement, forbidding them to locate on this side of the river. But notwithstanding the complainings of the Indian tribes to the government, or the government's forbiddance, hunters and emigrants slipped across, squatted and began making improvements.

Perhaps the first permanent settlement was made about the year 1793, at Dillie's Bottom. Dillie's Fort was erected at the same place in the same year, for the protection of settlers. Along about 1794 a short distance below this fort, an old man named Tate was shot down by the Indians, very carly in the morning, as he was opening his door. His daughter-in-law and grandson pulled him in and barred the door. The Indians endeavoring to force it open, were kept out for some time by the exertions of the boy and woman. They at length fired through and wound- ed the boy. The woman was shot from the outside as she en- deavored to escape up the chimney, and fell into the fire. The boy, who had hid behind some barrels, ran and pulled her out, and returned again to his hiding place. The Indians now effcet- ed an entrance, killed a girl as they came in, and scalped the three they had shot. They then went out behind that side of the house from the fort. The boy, who had been wounded in the month, embraced the opportunity, and escaped to the fort. The Indians, twelve or thirteen in number, went off unmolested, although the men in the fort had witnessed the transaction and had sufficient force to engage with them.

The next settlement in order of time, was made in now Cole- rain township, near the town of Mount Pleasant. The settlers were almost exclusively "Friends," who emigrated from the state of North Carolina. They called their settlement "Concord," which name it still retains.

This settlement was begun in the year 1795 or '96. Two of the pioneer boys of this settlement, when men, became quite prominent in the literary field. Horton J. Howard as editor, for many years of the Belmont Chronicle, and John S. Williams as editor of the American Pioneer, a very valuable periodical. He came with his mother from North Carolina, (his father having died in 1799) in 1800 and settled in "Concord," where four or five years previously, five or six persons had squatted and made small improvements. The Friends, chiefly from Carolina, had taken the land at a clear sweep. Some of Williams' accounts of pioneer life are given elsewhere in this work.

It appears that the settlements first made by the pioneers were along the different streams. Amongst the earliest settlers we find the names as follows :

ON GLEN'S RUN.

James Alexander, Peter Alexander, John Alexander, Robert Alexander, James Alexander, George Brocan, James Egleson, Horton Howard, Alexander Mudge, John McCane, Jolin Nixon, Mrs. Williams.

ON WHEELING CREEK.

William Boggs, Alexander Boggs, William Bell, Jacob Cole- man, John Dever, Jonathan Ellis, Richard Hardesty, Daniel Har- ris, Isaac Hogge, James Johnston, Jacob Lowery, Daniel Mc- Peek, Hugh McCoy, Arch. McElroy, James McCoy, David Vance, William Vance, William Woods, John Winters.

ON CAPTINA CREEK."

Hugh Bryson, Hervey Hoffman, John Williams. ON THE OHIO RIVER.

John Dillis, Samuel Dillis, David Donglas, Richard Etherton, Robert Griffin, Samuel Gregg, Henry Hannah, Francis Hardes- ty, David Lockwood, Benj. Lockwood, Absalom Martin, James McMillen, William Mulvane, John Mitchell, James McAlister, Richard McKibbon, Joseph Moore, Daniel McElherron, William Norman, Martin Shay, James Smith.

#The name of this stream is properly pronounced Cap-tee-na. This was the pronuncia- tion given it by the ludians, and from this in many of the old documents it is spelled Cap- te-na. When the present orthography was first given, it was the intention that the letter "j" should receive the short sound. The stream is referred to by General Washington it hix journal of 1770, given elsewhere in this work, in which he says it is called by some "Fox-Grape-Vine" and by others "Captema," but we took the liberty to correct his or- thography of the latter name to the present rendering. The stream is generally nicknamed by the people of Belmont county-Capteen.

165

HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES.

ON MeMACHON'S CREEK.

Felty Ault, Jas. Bryan, Isaac Cowgil, Goldsmith Chandler, Josiah Dillon, Audrew Dixon, John Edwards, John Foulks, Joshua Hatcher, Abraham Lash, Henry Linge, David Williams, Elijah Marton, James Kirk, James Newel, John Parsons, Joseph Parish, John Purdie, Robert. Russell, Caleb Russell, James Rob- ison, Peter Sunderland, Allen Stewart, Thomas Tipton, James Woods, Samuel Worly.

ON SHORT CREEK.

David Barr, Francis Bowen, Michael Carrol.

ON STILLWATER.

Nicholas Gasaway, James Nowels.

From the most reliable information obtained on the subject, it appears that at the Concord settlement resided the first negro ever permanently located in Belmont county. It was a woman called Jenny, who had been a slave to John S. Williams' father, but manumitted, and after the family had moved to Belmont county, she followed, and lived with them until her death in 1803 or '4, dying at the great age of a hundred years.

BATTLE OF CAPTINA.

In the spring of 1794, quite a bloody battle took place in Bel- mont county, in the valley of Captina creek, at the month of what is now called Cove run. The Indians numbered thirty warriors, commanded by Charley Wilky, a chief of the Shawa- nese. The whites amounted to only fourteen men, under the direction of Captain Abram Enochs. The following description of the battle is in the words of Martin Baker, late of Monroe county, deceased, who was then a little boy at Fort Baker, on the Virginia side of the river. The youngest man among the whites was Duncan McArthur, afterwards Governor of Ohio, being elected in 1830 and serving two years.

"One mile below the mouth of Captina, on the Virginia side, was Baker's Fort, so named from my father. One morning in May, 1794, four men were sent over, according to the custom, to the Ohio side to reconnoitre. They were Adam Miller. John Daniels, Isaac McCowan and John Shoptaw. Miller and Dan- iels took up stream, and the other two down. The upper scouts were soon attacked by Indians, and Miller killed, Daniels ran up Captina about three miles, but being weak from the loss of blood issuing from a wound in his arm, was taken prisoner, carried into eaptivity and subsequently released at the treaty of Greenville. The lower scouts having discovered signs of the Indians, Shoptaw swam accross the Ohio and escaped; but M.c. Cowen, going up towards the canoe, was shot by Indians in am- bush. Upon this he ran down to the bank, sprang into the water; pursued by the enemy, who overtook and scalped him. The firing being heard at the Fort they beat up for volunteers. There were about fifty men in the Fort. There was great re- luctance among them to volunteer. My sister said she would not be a coward. This aroused the pride of my brother, John Baker, who before had determined not to go. He joined the others, fourteen in number, including Captain Abram Enochs. They soon crossed the river, and went up Captina a distance of a mile and a half, following the Indian trail. The Indians had come back on their trails and were in ambush on the hillside awaiting their approach, when sufficiently near they fired on our people, but being on an elevated position, their balls passed harinless over them. The whites then treed. Some of the Indians came up behind and shot Capt. Enochs and Mr. Hoffman. Our people soon retreated, and the Indians pursued but a short distance. On their retreat my brother was shot in the hip. Determined to sell his life as dearly as possible, he drew to one side and secreted himself in a hollow, with a rock at his back offering no chance for the enemy to approach but in front. Shortly afterwards two guns were heard in quick suc- cession ; doubtless one of them was fired by my brother, and from the signs afterwards it was supposed he had killed an Indian. The next day the men returned and visited the spot. Enochs, Hoffman and my brother were found dead and scalped. Enochs' bowels were torn out, and his eyes and those of Hoffman screwed ont with a wiping stick. The dead were wrapped in white hickory bark, brought over to the Virginia side and buried in their bark coffins. Seven skeletons of their slain were found long after secreted in the crevices of rocks."

.After the death of Captain Enochs, McArthur was chosen to command, and he conducted the battle and retreat with marked

ability. Indians were the worsted party having lost at least half their number in killed and wounded.

KILLING OF SIX MEN BY THE INDIANS-McARTHUR'S ESCAPE FROM A VOL- LEY OF BULLETS.

In about 1795, Lieutenant Duncan MeArthur and a posse of men, numbering in all a dozen, were stationed at the block-house on the land of Robert Kirkwood, near Indian Wheeling creek. One morning they noticed a young Indian dodging along not far from the fort behind the trees. He had been sent by a body of Indians who had ambused about three miles below, on the banks of the Ohio river, to decoy the soldiers from their fort. As soon as he was discovered, Lieut. McArthur and his men started out to catch him. They followed him as he ran down the river about three miles, to where the Indians had secreted themselves .. As they reached a certain point fifteen of the red- skins immediately fired into their company killing six men in- stantly. So unexpected was the attack that the remaining six were completely bewildered and freightened, turned and re- treated, McArthur behind. As he turned his head to take in the situation, his foot caught a grapevine and he was sent sprawl- ing on his face. As he fell to the ground the Indians fired a volly of bullets at him, fortunately, however not one touched him .. The limbs and leaves dropped all around him. He re- gained his feet in an instant and started at full speed, following the course of his men. He was a large, muscular man, and very athletic and nimble. He was closely pursued by the savages, but being so swift on foot they soon gave up the chase. The party regained the fort in safety. In the afternoon of that day they returned to the spot in stronger numbers and buried their dead undisturbed,

The above was obtained from from Gen. Wier, who received the story from the lips of MeArthur many years ago. The General said that when McArthur related it to him, he laughed as he remembered, "that it was that grapevine that made him Governor of Ohio."

ERECTION OF BELMONT COUNTY-NAME AND DESCRIPTION.

On the 7th day of November, 1801, as already stated, Bel- mont county was erected. Being at this time under the terri- torial government, it was created by proclamation of the pre- siding governor, Arthur St. Clair. It was the last county es- tablished under the territory. Its name is said to be derived from two French words,-belle and monte,-signifying beauti- ful mountain-a name very appropriate and descriptive of the general surface of the country, and the hills and valleys with which the county is so finely diversified.

The county contains an area of five hundred and fifty square miles, or about 337,500 acres. It is watered by three principal streams, as follows : Captina, Wheeling, and McMahon's creeks. These streams have each their origin in the western part of the county, and run parallel with each other east, at pretty equal distances from each other, until they reach the Ohio river. Other smaller streams have their outlet in the Ohio river ; and a branch of Stillwater, heading in the northwestern part of the county, runs northwest until it empties into the Tuscarawas river.

Belmont is regarded as being oue amongst the earliest settled counties in the State.

The following is the second proclamation issued by Governor St. Clair on account of an error having occurred in his former one in the boundary of Belmont :

A PROCLAMATION.

TERRITORY OF THE UNITED STATES By Arthur St. NORTHWEST OF THE OHIO. SS. Clair, Governor of the Territory of the United States Northwest of the Ohio :

Whereas, in my proclamation erecting the county of Belmont, bearing date the 7th day of September last, a mistake, to-wit .: the word north instead of west in the description of one of the boundaries, crept into the press-copy. To rectify the same and remove all doubts about the boundaries of the said county of Belmont, I have issued this my present proclamation hereby de- claring that the lines of boundary of the said county of Belmont shall begin (as -- in the aforesaid proclamation is declared ) ou the Ohio River to the middle of the fourth township of the second range of townships in the seven ranges, and running with the line between the third and fourth sections of the said township, counting from the township line, but which are numbered six- teen and seventeen upon the map, produced west to the western

166

HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES.

boundary of the said seven ranges ; thence south with the said western boundary to the middle of the fifth township in the seventh range ; thence east to the Ohio River, where the line between the ninth and tenth sections of the third township in the third range intersects the same, and thence with the Ohio River to the place of beginning : and the said lines as above described are hereby declared to be the lines and limits of boundary of the county of Belmont, and are the same which were intended to be established by the aforesaid proclamation. Given under my hand and the seal of the Territory at Cincinnati, the thirteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and one, and of the Independence of the Uni- ted States. the twenty-sixth.

[Signed.]

AR. ST. CLAIR.

FIRST SURVEYS.

As stated in preceding pages, Congress passed an ordinance for the survey of the lands in which Belmont, or the lands now comprising it, were included May 20, 1785. The lands surveyed were known as the First Seven Ranges. This tract of the " seven ranges " is bounded by a line of forty-two miles in length, running dne west from the point where the western boundary line of Pennsylvania crosses the Ohio river ; thence due south to the Ohio river, at the south-east corner of Mariet- ta township. in Washington county ; thence up said river to the place of beginning. The present counties of Jefferson, Columbiana, Carroll, Tuscarawas, Harrison, Guernsey, Bel- mont, Noble, Monroe, and Washington are in whole or in part within the seren ranges of Congress lands.

The lands embraced within the present limits of Belmont county were surveyed at the times and by different surveyors trom the several states as indicated in the subjoined table :

ORIGINAL. TOWNSHIPS.

Two MILE BLOCKS.

SECTION AND QUARTER SECTION POSTS.

: | Townships.

Range.

Year.

state.

Year.

1 2.1786 Absolem Martin

N. J. 1802 El. Schoefield,

1802

1803'Alex. Hohnes

1803

1804,

1804|Alex. Holmes.

Isaac Sherman

Conn

1802 El. Schoefield 1801 Zacheus Biggs

Alex. Holmes.

1800 Zacheus Biggs.

R. I. 1802' El. Schoetieid

Levi Barber.

1801 Zacheus Biggs 1804 Alex. Holmes

1800 Zacheus Biggs.

Absolem Martin

N. J. 1802 El. Schoefield

Levi Barber.

Benjamin Hough.

71 G

Joseph Simpson

Md.

1801 Levi Barber

Levi Barber.

8: 6

10 G

Absolem Martin.

.N. J. 1802

1805| Benjamin F. Stickney,

LAND SALES.

The first land sales of the "First Seven Ranges" by the gov- ernment occurred in New York, in 1787-9, in which, portions of the territory were sold by townships, and lots or sections, These sales are known as the "Coffee House Sales." The amount of sales aggregated $72,974. In 1796 sales were also made in the same manner at Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. The amount dis- posed of in the former city amounted to $5,120 and in the latter, to $43,446. No further sales did the United States Government make until the Land Office was opened at Steubenville, July 1st, by the act of May 10, 1800. At the same time Land Offices were established at Marietta, Cincinnati and Chillicothe. A portion of the land was located under United States Military Land War- rants.

PRIMITIVE JUSTICE.

The judicial power of the territorial government of Ohio was vested in the justices of the peace, in General Quarter Sessions of the peace, composed of all the justices of the peace of the coun- ty, and in a territorial circuit court. After she became a State in 1802, the jurisdiction of justices of the peace was restrained almost to its present limits, and in the year 1804 the General Quarter Sessions of the peace was abolished and their power dis- tributed to the Court of Common Pleas and County Commis- sioners. So it may be affirmed that the present judicial system of Ohio, with only trivial changes, began in the year 1804.

During the existence of the territorial government there was no penitentiary system in Ohio, nor was there any sneh system until the year 1813. Every crime therefore committed in the limits of Ohio less than murder at common law before that year. was punished by the infliction of some corporal chastisement. Hence, whipping posts, pillories and brandings, were in full op- eration in the State of Ohio for a number of years.

THE PRIMITIVE SEAT OF JUSTICE.

In accordance with the proclamation the seat of justice was fixed at Pultney, which was laid out by Mr. Daniel McElherron on the 22d of Angust, 1799, a few miles below the present site of the city of Bellaire, and now known as the "Pultney Bottoms." This was the first town laid out within the present limits of the county, and is long since extinct.

DELEGATES TO THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION.

On the 30th day of April, 1802, Congress passed an act author- izing the call of a convention to form a State Constitution for that part of the then "north-west territory lying between Lake Erie and the Ohio river and East of a meridian line drawn due north from the month of the Great Miami river and extending eastwardly to Pennsylvania."

In that convention James Caldwell and Elijah Woods were delegates from this county. They were convened at Chillicothe, Ross county, on the Ist day of November, 1802, completed the work before them and adjourned on the 29th day of the same month.

FIRST ROADS-THEIR CONDITION.

At the time Belmont county was organized there were no roads except bridle paths which were marked by blazings on trees. They led from cabin to cabin and from settlement to set- tlement. In 1801 there was a road laid out from Pultney vil- lage to Newelstown (now St. Clairsville) and also one from Martin's Ferry to intersect a so-called road from Peter Hender- son's, at Tilton's Ferry, near the mouth of Short creek. Prior to this, however, there was what was then known as Zane's trail on the north and Pultney road on the south, leading through Belmont county to Smithton to a small settlement a short dis- tance south of Washington, Guernsey county. The very name of Zane's trail is redolent of pioneer memories, bringing to our fancy innumerable stories of hair-breadth escapes and weary journeyings. The traveler in that early day was equally in danger from the treacherous and vengeful Red man who am- bushed near its track for the pale-face or the still more ignoble white, who murdered from the last of gold. When the stalwart merchant from the far off wilds of Kentucky passed along this forest path, beneath him, on his horse, the capacious saddle-bags, which contained his specie, which he carried to exchange for a slender store of the commodities and luxuries of the past, he was likely at most any moment to be attacked by the Indian or the marauder.

Zane's road or trail continued for many years to be the only thoroughfare by which the inhabitants of this region could go either cast or west. So considerable did the travel become in time along this route that it was worn alinost to the depth of a horse. The government at length took the matter in hand and employed Zane to make a practicable wagon road through from Wheeling to Chillicothe. Mr. Z. received as a recompense for the opening of this road, which went through St. Clairsville, a grant of three sections of land of six hundred and forty aeres each. On one section he founded Zanesville ; on another New Lancaster, and the third was part of the rich bottoms on the bank of the Scioto opposite to Chillicothe. A good inany at that time, so it is said, thought he (Zane) made a much better thing out of his contract than he did the road. It is claimed tradition- ally, that when the road was finished he took a wagon through to prove he had completed the contract and it was with the greatest of difficulty he made the trip.

Other roads for many years later were in nearly if not entire- ly the same condition. At present Belmont county can boast of excellent ones, having a hundred miles of pike road. What an improvement on its first roads.

PIONEER TIMES AND REMINIS ENCES.

A few years after a settlement had been attempted by Robert Kirkwood and others, other pioneers ventured across the Ohio with a determination to tomahawk their way through. It was a perilous undertaking, but the early pioneers were men who

Surveyor's Names.

1803.

1805 Levi Barber.

USOS Alex. Holmes,

Ebenezer Sproat.

Benjamin Hough.

سهم الى الك الك ات

1801 Zacheus Biggs 16

= Zachens Biggs

1806 Philip Greene.

167

HISTORY OF BELMONT AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES.

knew no cowardice. They came in from Virginia, Pennsylva- nia, Maryland, and other portions of the eastern country. The journey's (many, at least,) were long, and full of danger. The paths across the mountains were rough and impracticable. Pack-horses were the only means of transportation ; on some , the pioneers packed the stores and rude agricultural imple- ments, and on others the furniture, bedding, and cooking nten- sils ; and again on others their wives and children. "Horses which carried small children were each provided with a pack- saddle and two large ereels made of hickory withes in the fash- ion of a crate, one over each side, in which was stowed clothes and bedding. In the centre of each would be also tucked a child or two, the top being well secured by lacing, so as to keep the youngsters in their places, The roads, frequently, were barely passable ; sometimes lying along the brink of precipices ; frequently overflown in places by swollen streams, all of which had to be forded; horses slipping, falling, and carried away, both women and children being in great danger."

The creels, unfortunately, sometimes would break, and send the children rolling over the ground in great confusion. It was no uncommon thing for mother and child to be separated from each other for hours, whilst on a journey to their new homes in a wild forest, amidst beasts, and exposed to the still more dang- erous attacks of the barbarous Red-man. Here the pioneer se- lected his lot, and put up a brush shelter until he could further prepare a log cabin. After having provided a shelter-a house built of rough logs, without nail, board, or window-pane-they immediately turned their attention to clearing a small spot of ground to raise such food as was needed for the support of their families.

Their cabins contained little or no furniture; beds with no mattresses, springs, or even bed-eord-the couch being spread upon the floor and sleeping apartments made by hanging blank- ets. About the fire-place were found hooks and trammel, the bake-pan and the kettle, and, as homes varied, there were found in many a cabin the plain deal table, the flag-bottomed chairs, and the easy, high-backed rocker. And sometimes chairs were represented by sections of a tree of required height. Upon the shelf were spoons of pewter, blue-edged plates, cups and saucers, and the black earthen teapot; and later, perchance, a corner of the room was occupied by a tall Dutch elock, while in another stood an old-fashioned high-post and corded bedstead, covered with quilts,-a wonder of patchwork ingenuity and laborious sewing. In lieu of a time-piece, the surveyor may have cut a noon-mark upon the threshold, and in place of the bell to call the chopper from the clearing, a checry call was given.

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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 60

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