History of Champaign County, Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, Volume I, Part 107

Author: Middleton, Evan P., editor
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Indianapolis, B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1196

USA > Ohio > Champaign County > History of Champaign County, Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, Volume I > Part 107

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Joseph C. Vance, the father of the governor, was the youngest of a large family of children born to his parents in Virginia, and in the Old Dominion grew to maturity. His father, a native of Ireland, of Scotch ancestry, had come to this country with a considerable body of Presbyterians emigrating from Ireland with the intention of setting up new homes in the new land across the Atlantic : and at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War had his home well established in Virginia. Joseph C. Vance was old enough to render service in the struggle for independence, and served throughout the war as a member of Capt. Saul Vail's company in the famous rifle regi- ment of General Morgan. In 1781, the year hostilities ceased with the bat- tle of Yorktown, he married Sarah Wilson, who was born in Loudon county, Virginia, and straightway he and his bride boldly pushed forward into what was then practically an unknown West with the intention of establishing a home amid pioneer conditions. Kentucky, the great western county of Virginia, was their objective. When they reached a point in the immediate vicinity of the old Indian village of "Catfish," near the city of Washington, Pennsylvania, they made a temporary home and remained there a few years, during which time, in the spring of 1786, was born their son, Joseph, who later was to become the governor of the state of Ohio. Two years later, in 1788, Joseph Vance loaded his little family and his few belongings on a raft and floated down the Ohio to a point on the Kentucky side now known as Vanceburg, where he built a house and established his home in the wilder- ness. There he founded the Vanceburg settlement. A few years later he decided to penetrate farther into the wilderness and again started down the river with his family and goods on a flatboat and stopped on the Kentucky side a few miles above Mays Lick, where he established his home and devel- oped a good farm.

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It was there, near Mays Lick, among the Indians and amid conditions typical of the frontier settlements, that the future governor of Ohio grew to manhood. He became a sturdy, vigorous man, inured to all the hardships and privations common to the pioneers of that place and period. He com- menced business in life when a mere boy as a wood-chopper at the salt works, and by strict economy saved enough money to buy au ox-team, with which he hauled and distributed salt to the scattered settlers in Kentucky. Even after his settlement in Urbana, he made occasional trips to the salt works. It was while carrying on this work he met Thomas Ewing and Duncan McArthur. These three young men, who worked by the day for their living, afterward became prominent men in the affairs of state and nation, and maintained until death the friendship which began during the clays of their youth. Joseph Vance developed his body with this capacity for work and willingness to perform the hardest kind of manual labor; and he also improved his mind by close application to the few books he could command, as he sat at the fireside during the long winter evenings.

In 1801 Joseph C. Vance again decided to move on, his true pioneer- ing instinct leading him again to face the wilderness. He crossed with his family into the then Territory of Ohio, and settled in Clifton, within the confines of Green county. Four years later, however, he "pulled up stakes" and came up into this section and settled here the same year Cham- paign county was organized, 1805. The Vance family established their home in Urbana, which had just a short time before been laid out by Col. William Ward: and when the time came to establish a county seat, the father of the future governor was one of the men instrumental in having the seat of county government located at that place. Joseph C. Vance, who had a very vigorous personality, was a man of force and character, and his pioneer neighbors turned instinctively to him as a director of their affairs. He was then the logical man to become first director of the county. He wa's also elected first clerk and first recorder of the county, and continued active in local civic affairs until his death in 1809.

Joseph Vance was eighteen or nineteen years of age when he came to this county with his father. He was one of the first young men in the new county to apply for a license to marry, for the faded old record of marriage licenses in the court house shows that on December 17, 1807, he was united in marriage to Mary Leman, the record disclosing that the ceremony was performed by Rev. John Thomas. Before the War of 1812 began, young Vance had been elected captain of a local militia company, which was called out on several occasions prior to the actual opening of hostilities, to quell

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incipient Indian uprisings. Some time prior to 1812, he and his company erected a blockhouse in Logan county, near Quincy, which was long known as Vance's blockhouse. He made marked progress in military affairs, for he passed through several grades of office, including major. colonel, briga- dier-general and major-general.

In the fall of 1812, Joseph Vance, who meanwhile had been growing greatly in favor among his pioneer neighbors, was elected to represent this district in the state Legislature and he served as a member of the lower house during the eleventh and twelfth sessions ( 1812-13). In the fall of 1815 he was again elected to the Legislature and served during the four- teenth and fifteenth sessions; his last service in the lower house was rendered during the eighteenth session. 1819. His service in the state Legislature so commended him to the people of the congressional district that they con- ferred upon him a wider field of usefulness by electing him to Congress in 1820; and by successive re-elections he served in that body from March 4, 1821, to March 4, 1833, six terms, during which time he became one of the best-known members of the Ohio delegation in the national House of Repre- sentatives. In politics he was a Whig of the Henry Clay school, and a zeal- ous advocate of internal improvements. In 1827, while making a speech in which he advocated the repair and extension of the National road, then called the Cumberland road, through Ohio and other states of the West, he made some sharp thrusts at the advocates of states rights. Since his arraign- ment had been somewhat bitter and the practice at that time was to settle such matters on the field of honor, the future governor was imminently near fighting a duel in support of his assertions; but since it was well known that he not only would fight to uphold his principles but was also a dead shot, his opponents did not push the issue.

After a three-years respite from the grind of public life, Joseph Vance was elected governor of Ohio in the fall of 1836, and served as chief execu- tive during the years 1837-39. In the fall of the year following his retire- ment from the governor's office, he was elected to represent this district in the state Senate and served in that body during the thirty-eighth and thirty- ninth sessions ( 1840-41). He was then re-elected to Congress from this district and served two terms, 1843-47, at the end of which time he retired to private life, with the avowed intention of never again allowing his name to be proposed for public office. However, when the constitutional con- vention of 1851 was called, Governor Vance answered the call of his neigh- bors to use his wealth of experience in public service in forming a new set of organic laws for the commonwealth, and was found as one of the lead-

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ing members of that historic body. It was while in the active performance of his duties as a member of the convention that he was suddenly stricken with paralysis, and was compelled to relinquish his duties. He never recov- ered from the stroke and died at his home, two and one-half miles north of Urbana, less than a year later, August 24, 1852.

Governor Vance not only gave his vote and influence to public improve- ments, but he was interested in private enterprises which contributed to the general welfare. He was president of the Mad River and Lake Erie Rail- road. In 1818 he built a mill on Kings creek, a short distance above the junction of that creek with Mad river. The industry had all the improvements in milling in use at that day; and the castings, the pat- terns of which were made on the farm, were hauled by wagon from McArthur's furnace on Raccoon creek. Moreover, he was one of the first men in the county to import thoroughbred horses and cattle, thus increasing the well-being of the farmers by improving the live stock in this section.

Governor Vance had a strong personality. He was about five feet ten inches in height, with a large frame, and was somewhat inclined to corpulency. His head was large, his forehead broad and his face strongly marked. His eyes, the right one of which was nearly closed as if pained by the sunlight, were shaded by heavy brows. He always wore a standing shirt collar, loose around the neck, and not always "square" with his chin; and a black silk cravat or a neckerchief tied in a small bowknot. At home and among his neighbors he liked to wear a blouse and jeans pantaloons, and had a strong dislike for the fashionable cut of the latter. In public life he wore, according to the custom of the day, the conventional suit of black cloth. He especially liked to associate with young men, to whom he was always pleasant and talkative: and he made himself a most interesting conversationalist by describing in the easy conversational tone of every-day life, scenes of public life he had witnessed and incidents relating to the pub- lic men he had known. As a speaker he had a strong, rich voice, and he expressed himself with earnestness and force, without the arts of a practiced debater ; often in the heat of discussion he was prone to make his argument personal.

Thus Governor Vance lived. He was one of nature's noblemen, whose strong character and rugged personality were fashioned on the anvil of privation and hardship so characteristic of pioneer life. His kindly spirit, which dedicated his gifts to the public service of his fellow-men. became soft and gentle, yet bold and fearless, through the rough contact with the hard conditions of those times which tried men's souls.

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SIMON KENTON.

What a debt of gratitude do the people of the Middle West owe the doughty pioneers who founded our civilization, established our economic well-being and fostered our hardy American spirit. By their great priva- tions and arduous labors they insured the future of our country, clearing the primeval forest and creating settlements in spite of the prowling bands of hostile Indians. One of the most picturesque of these redoubtable men was Simon Kenton, the explorer, pioneer and Indian fighter, who made his way into the "dark and bloody ground" of Kentucky and also led the way into the wilderness of Ohio, planting the seeds of civilization which in later years have borne rich fruit.

Simon Kenton was born in Fauquier or Culpeper county, Virginia, April 3, 1755, and died in Logan county, Ohio, April 20, 1836. His father was Irish and his mother was Scotch. There is no doubt that Kenton inher- ited his bold hardihood and sterling integrity from his Scotch-Irish parent- age. His, parents emigrated to America and located in Fauquier or Cui- peper county, Virginia; but after some years' residence in Virginia, the family became dissatisfied with their surroundings and removed to Ken- tucky.

The family consisted of several sons and one daughter. Simon, who was the youngest member of the family, passed the early years of his life on his father's farm and industriously applied himself to the manifold duties of the pioneer boy of that day. Apparently, his career was uneventful until he reached the age of sixteen, but then occurred an event which turned the whole current of his life and started him on a career which for wild adven- ture, for hair-breadth escapes and for useful service to his fellow pioneers has rarely been equaled.

It seems that even at the early age of sixteen, Simon Kenton succumbed to the wiles of a neighborhood coquette who was perplexed by the problem of choosing a husband from many suitors. Young Simon and a farmer whose name was Leitchman seemed to be the most favored ones. Since the young lady could not choose between the two, they took the matter into their own hands, and in consequence of foul play on the part of some of Leitch- man's friends young Kenton was beaten with great severity. He submitted to his fate for some time in silence, but he inwardly vowed that as soon as he attained his full growth he would take ample vengeance on his rival. In the following spring Kenton, finding himself six feet tall and full of strength

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and action, decided that the day of reckoning had arrived. Accordingly he walked over to Leitchman's house one morning, told him his object and requested him to adjourn to a spot more convenient for the purpose. Leitch- man, who was confident in his superior strength and size, readily assented. When they reached a solitary place, they stripped and prepared for the encounter. The battle was fought with all the fury that natural hate, jeal- ousy and herculean effort could supply, and after a severe round in which considerable damage was given and received, Kenton was brought to the ground. Leitchman, without the least scruple, sprang upon him and kicked him unmercifully. During this base attack Kenton lay still, but he atten- tively eyed a small bush which grew nearby. It occurred to him that if he could wind Leitchman's long hair around that bush, all of these kicks and cuffs could be returned with interest. By biting his antagonist an arrierre, Kenton caused his enemy by short springs to approach the bush. When near enough Kenton exerted the whole of his strength and succeeded in wrap- ping the long hair of his rival around the sapling. He then sprang to his feet and took a terrible revenge for all of his past injuries. In a short time Leitchman was apparently gasping in the agonies of death. Kenton at once. fled, without returning to get an additional supply of clothing, and he directed his steps westward.

This occurred on April 6, 1771. Kenton was deeply agitated during his flight, for he supposed that his enemy was dead and that he was a mur- derer. This constant fear of a murderer's punishment caused him to push westward until he felt that immediate danger from pursuit was over. To conceal his identity, he assumed the name of Simon Butler. Soon he fell in with an exile from New Jersey whose name was Johnson, and together they pushed into the wilderness of the Allegheny mountains. They did not pause until they arrived at a small settlement on Cheat river-one of the tributaries of the Monongahela river. Here they separated and Kenton at- tached himself to a small company, which was being collected for the pur- pose of exploring the country, and he employed the years 1772-73 in hunt- ing, trading, fishing and in occasional conflicts with the Indians. This life was well adapted to develop an adventurer's true character, and young Ken- ton showed remarkable courage, sagacity and endurance. While engrossed in these pursuits, he became the friend of Daniel Boone, and was later asso- ciated with George Rogers Clark.

In 1774 war broke out with the Indians, and Governor Dunmore, of Virginia, raised two large bodies of troops for the purpose of settling the Indian question once and for all. Scouts were needed, and Kenton's experi-

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ence and ability recommended him to the notice of the governor. While he was employed as a scout in the expedition, he laid the foundation for a last- ing friendship with Simon Girty, who was also a scout. This later brought about Kenton's rescue from death at the stake. In 1775, however, Girty became a renegade, took up his abode with the Indians and became one of them. In 1776-77 the Indians became more and more troublesome. Every station was hotly beseiged. Again Kenton as a scout rendered invaluable service to the settlers.

In the expedition of George Rogers Clark against the Illinois towns, Kenton was employed as a scout in 1778. In September of that year Ken- ton with two companions, Alexander Montgomery and George Clark, left Boone's Station for Ohio with the avowed purpose of obtaining horses from the Indians. Near Chillicothe one night they fell in with a drove of horses that were feeding in the rich prairie. After some difficulty they captured the horses and started for the Ohio river, but the horses refused to go into the water. As time was valuable, since they knew they were pursued by the Indians, they concluded to select three of the best horses and make their .way to the Falls of the Ohio, where General Clark had some men stationed. After they had pushed forward a short distance, Clark and his companions, chagrined by the loss of the other horses, decided to return and get them. As soon as Kenton reached the river he heard a whoop in the direction of the point where they had tried to force the horses into the water. He dis- mounted, tied his horse and moved forward stealthily toward the point from which the whoop had emanated. Presently he saw the redskins. He fired at the foremost one, but his adversaries after quite a struggle forced him to surrender. While they were binding Kenton, Montgomery approached and fired into the Indians who immediately gave chase. Soon they returned to Kenton, shaking Montgomery's bloody scalp in his face. Clark, how- ever, escaped.

The Indians tortured Kenton in almost every conceivable manner. He was securely tied to the back of a wild, unbroken colt, and the colt was then turned loose in the woods. His escape from death in this instance was miraculous, because after the horse ran about lunging, kicking and rearing for sometime, it finally submitted to the situation and meekly returned to take its place among the other Indian ponies.

After a journey of three days the Indians reached Chillicothe. During the journey Kenton suffered terrible agony. He was tied up securely at night in a very strained and uncomfortable position, exposed to the gnats, mosquitoes and weather. At the coming of dawn the Indians began to

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collect from the town to witness and to participate in the sport and amuse- ment at Kenton's expense, for he was to run the gauntlet. The Indians, each armed with a hickory club, were ranged in two lines about six feet apart. As Kenton, who was forced to run between the lines, passed, each Indian beat him with a club. He had not gone far before he saw an Indian with a knife drawn, ready to plunge it into his body as he passed. As soon as Kenton reached this Indian, he broke through the line and ran with all speed for the town. He wished to reach the council house, for any prisoner who could succeed in doing so would not have to run the gauntlet again. Kenton, who was almost spent, was overtaken, thrown down and kicked and cuffed most terribly by the whole party. Finally they left him on the ground to recover from his exhausted state.

When he had recovered somewhat, they took him to the council house to determine his fate. A number of speeches were made and Kenton, although he could not understand their language, soon ascertained by their animated gestures and fierce looks at him that a majority of the speakers were bent upon his destruction. When the vote was reported, the large majority were for death. The sentence was soon passed upon the prisoner 'to the accompaniment of a bedlam of blood-curdling yells. The next thing to settle was the time and place of the execution. Some wanted it carried out immediately, while others wanted it to be a solemn sacrifice. It was finally resolved that the place of execution should be Wapatomika (now Zaneshield, Logan county). Enroute to Wapatomika they passed through two other Indian towns, Pickaway and Machecheck, where he had to run the gauntlet. While he lay at the latter place he attempted to escape, but when freedom was almost within his grasp, he accidentally ran into some Indians on horseback who drove him back to the town. Apparently death was inevitable. He was bound and given over to the young Indians who dragged him to the creek, tumbled him into the water and rolled him in the mud until he was almost suffocated. Afterward they took him to Wap- atomika.

As soon as they arrived there all the inhabitants of the village crowded around the prisoner. Among those who came to see him was his old friend, the renegade, Simon Girty. As it was the custom for the Indians to blacken prisoners whom they intended for death, Girty did not immediately recog- nize him. After some questions Girty asked Kenton his name. When he answered "Simon Butler," the former recognized in Kenton his old friend, and threw himself into his arms. Girty promised Kenton to use all his influence to get his release. He immediately had a council convened and

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made an impassioned speech in behalf of his friend. His arguments availed. and Kenton's life was saved, and he was placed under the care and protec- tion of the renegade. . As the British post then was at Wapatomika, Girty took his charge to the store and fitted him out with wearing apparel and then provided him with a horse and saddle. Kenton was now free. It is thought probable that if the Indians had continued to treat him with kind- ness and respect he would have eventually become one of them, for he had but few inducements to return again to the whites, as he was a fugitive from justice. One day a war party which had been operating in the vicin- ity of Wheeling returned badly worsted from their foray against the Ameri- cans. They were sullen, chagrined and determined to wreak their revenge upon any white. Kenton was the only available one. Girty was advised to bring Kenton to the council which was called at Wapatomika.

When Kenton entered the council lodge, he readily saw from the scowl- ing glances of the assembled warriors that misfortune was in store for him. The war chief of the defeated party arose and in a vehement speech demanded the death of Kenton. Girty spoke brilliantly and well in behalf of his friend, but it availed nothing. Kenton was again doomed to death. Girty as a last resort persuaded the Indians to convey their prisoner to Sandusky, where the British paid their western Indian allies their ammunition.

Enroute to Sandusky the prisoner and his keepers passed through the village of the celebrated Mingo chief, Logan, who, unlike the rest of his tribe, was humane. He became interested in Kenton, and enlisted the sym- pathy of Peter Druyer, a French Canadian, who was connected with the British Indian agent department and who had wonderful influence over Britain's red proteges. When Kenton arrived at Sandusky he was not forced to run the gauntlet again. A grand council was called to determine his fate. Captain Druyer received the permission of the council to speak. He made it plain to the Indians that they couldl derive more good from a live Kenton than from a dead one. since valuable military information could doubtless be gained from him. He showed further that the Indians had surely taken sufficient revenge upon Kenton. Finally he offered the red- skins rum and tobacco to the value of one hundred dollars if they would release Kenton to him so that he would be examined by the British com- mandant at Detroit. The Indians agreed to this proposal and Kenton became a prisoner of war.

At Detroit Kenton soon regained his old vigor. In the spring of 1779 several prisoners were brought to the fort. Kenton and three of these concerted a plan of escape. though they had neither guns nor provisions and

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the distance to Louisville was four hundred miles through a country inhab- ited by deadly foes. The wife of an Indian trader named Harvey became interested in the prisoners, and through her aid guns, ammunition and pro- visions were secured and hidden on the trader's premises. These were placed in the hands of the prisoners one night and they commenced their flight. Their care and skill in woodcraft enabled them to go successfully through many dangers; and finally after thirty days, they reached Louis- ville.

From 1780 to 1794 Kenton acted as a scout in the attack and destruc- tion of eight towns on the upper waters of the Mad river. In 1786 the Mac-a-cheek towns at the head of the Mad river were destroyed by a body of Kentuckians under General Logan. In this attack Colonel Boone and Simon Kenton, then major, led the advance. In 1793 Kenton, who was tiring of inactivity around Boone's and Logan's stations in Kentucky, struck out again by himself into the hostile territory. After he had gone to sleep one night a party of Indians came upon him and captured him. They car- ried him northward to a village in northern Indiana or southern Michigan. He seemed to accept his captivity with such good grace that he was adopted into the tribe. In the fall of that year when the braves went forth to lay in a store of winter meat, Kenton was left at the camp under the surveil- lance of a few braves. Kenton with another prisoner seized the arms of the braves, procured some ammunition and escaped. They reached their friends without mishap.

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History of Champaign County, Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, Volume I, Part 107

Author: Middleton, Evan P., editor Publication date: 1917 Publisher: Indianapolis, B.F. Bowen Number of Pages: 1196

Author: Middleton, Evan P., editor
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Indianapolis, B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1196