USA > Ohio > Champaign County > History of Champaign County, Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, Volume I > Part 108
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In the June of 1794 Kenton was connected with Wayne's army and commanded a troop of about one hundred and fifty horsemen in the attack on Fort Recovery. About 1805 he settled in Urbana, Champaign county, Ohio, where he remained some years. In 1805 he was made brigadier-gen- eral of militia. In the War of 1812 he joined the army of General Harrison and did valiant service at the battle of Moravian town. In 1813 he joined the Kentucky forces of Governor Shelby at Urbana; and in his last battle, October 5, 1813, on the River Thames in Canada, the British general Proc- tor was defeated and Tecumseh was slain. This battle seems to close the military career of Simon Kenton-a period of forty-two years of battles, sieges and raids.
Kenton's opportunities enabled him to secure large quantities of land in Kentucky and Ohio, but he became poor and necessitous. There are ser- cral reasons for this. He was unable to read and trusted to his memory and the honor of men. In addition to this he was generous and as kind- hearted as he was brave. Thus he incurred obligations which gave him
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much annoyance and distress. It is easy to see how an unlettered man can be swindled out of his possessions.
In 1811-12 when the jail stood at the corner of Locust and Market streets, he was jailer. Under the old law permitting imprisonment for debt, he was arrested on an execution by some Kentucky creditors. To prevent himself from being locked up in his own prison he availed himself of the prison bounds. He was his own jailer, but he did not violate his duty or his obligation to his bond. ยท
About 1820 he moved to the head of Mad river. In 1824 he visited the Legislature of Kentucky, then in session at Frankfort, to solicit some claims held by the state against some mountain lands held by him. At first his tattered appearance brought smiles from the Legislators, but when it was found that this old man was Simon Kenton, the friend of Boone, he was the lion of the day. The Legislature not only remitted the state claims, but also was active in securing him a pension from Congress of two hun- dred and forty dollars. Later through the exertions of Judge Burnet and Governor Vance, a pension of twenty dollars a month was granted him. which secured his declining years from want.
Collins in his history of Kentucky gives this description of Kenton : "General Kenton was of fair complexion-six feet, one inch in height. He stood and walked very erect, and in the prime of his life weighed about one hundred and ninety pounds. He was never inclined to be corpulent. He had a soft pleasant voice, laughing gray eyes, and dark auburn hair. He was a pleasant, good-humored and obliging companion, but when excited to anger, he was violent in his rage. In his dealings he was perfectly hon- est and his credulity such that the same man after cheating him twenty times. if he professed his friendship, could cheat him again. He usually carried a hickory staff five or six feet in length, which he grasped about a foot from the upper end and was made to serve two purposes, as a staff and as a poker to stir the wood fire."
Neither Ohio nor Urbana have been negligent in honoring such an illustrious citizen ; although they could have made his last years more pleas- ant. As the visitor to Oakdale cemetery enters the south gate his attention will be attracted by a substantial monument about eight feet high and four feet square at the base-a befitting memorial to Simon Kenton. When Kenton died in 1836 he was buried about five miles northeast of Bellefon- taine. A small stone slab marked the spot. His body, however, was removed to Oakdale cemetery in 1884.
The monument noted above is due to the unselfish interest and the
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steadfast attachment of Judge William Patrick to the memory of his friend. For more than twenty years the judge had made fruitless efforts to obtain from the state Legislature the passage of a bill for the erection of a fitting memorial of the services of Kenton. Finally in 1884 the bill for the modest appropriation was passed. Judge Patrick gave the matter his personal attention, and solicited the services of J. Q. A. Ward, which were cheerfully and freely given.
On the monument are carved in life size the head of an Indian chief, the head of a bear, the head of a wolf and the head of a panther. The top of the monument was left in a rough unfinished condition on the suggestion of Mr. Ward, that hereafter there might be found sufficient public interest to give to the memorial a worthy capital. Near the north face may be seen a little old-fashioned grave stone which was brought from the burial ground near Kenton's residence in Logan county. Time has almost obliterated the inscription on the old gravestone. but it reads as follows:
In Memory of Simon Kenton.
Who was born April 13, 1755. in Culpepper County, Va., and died April 20, 1836, aged 81 years and 20 days. His fellow citizens of the west will long remember him as a skillful pioneer of early times, the brave soldier and the honest man.
On the face of the monument is engraved :
1755-1836.
Simon Kenton.
On the north face near the top:
Erected by the State of Ohio. 1884.
To Judge Patrick more than to any other man is due the credit and grateful remembrance of his fellow citizens for the monument, simple though it may be, for when a people in their pursuit of wealth forget the men who did noble deeds, the time will soon come when there will be no deeds worthy of remembrance.
At the unveiling of the monument in 1884. Gen. Warren Weifer, of
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Clark county, who delivered the address, said: "A long life of hardy adventures with unexampled courage and a devoted patriotism in the cause of his country justly stamp him as illustrious."
WILLIAM WARD, SR.
William Ward, Sr., the founder of Urbana and the proprietor of its site, was born in Greenbriar county, Virginia, December 14, 1752; and died on December 24, 1822. He saw service in the Revolutionary War. At the battle of Point Pleasant his father, Capt. James Ward, fell, and William, who was a lieutenant in the company, led his father's command during the remainder of the fight. After the war, he returned to the old home and was married there. It was in the old Virginia homestead where his son, John A. Ward, was born. In 1790, or thereabouts, Ward moved to Ken- tucky and settled at Washington, near Maysville.
In 1758 William Ward's younger brother, John, then about three years of age, had been stolen by the Shawnees in one of their raids into the land of the white man. Tradition has it that this same John Ward was present at the battle of Point Pleasant when his father fell; and was with his family in Tecumseh's camp, near Williamsburg, Ohio, when it was attacked in 1792 by Kenton's company, one of whom was his brother, Charles Ward. It is said, that a year later he was on his way to visit his father's family, when a band of Shawnees, who were returning from a foray into Kentucky, camped by his lodge. The Kentuckians, who were on their trail under the command of Kenton, fell upon the camp during the night, and, in the melee, John Ward was killed.
It was the search for the family of this brother, John, that drew William Ward into Ohio, since he had heard that they were up in the Mad river country. When he and Simon Kenton, whom he had persuaded to accompany him in the search, arrived at their destination, they were so delighted with the country that they entered land, between the sites of the present cities of Springfield and Urbana. The two pioneers removed to these lands in 1802, three years before the organization of Champaign county. Ward made his home about four miles this side of Springfield, and Simon Ken- ton raised his cabin a mile to the north of Ward's place on the farm after- ward owned by Major Hunt.
Since there was the requisite number of settlers in the district, the Legislature passed an act organizing Champaign county, February 20. 1805. Ichabod B. Halsey and George Harlin, of Warren county, and William
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McClelland, of Butler county, were appointed as commissioners to locate the county seat, and John Reynolds, John Runyon and Samuel McCol- loch, associate judges of the new county. The judges met at Springfield village, April 20, 1805, and divided the county into three townships: Spring- field, Mad River and Salem. The court also appointed Joseph C. Vance director of the county.
William Ward, with Yankee shrewdness and foresight, saw his oppor- tunity and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land, which he con- sidered the logical and most acceptable site for the county seat, and then approached the commissioners with a proposition to locate the seat of the new county on this tract. The site was to be divided into two hundred and twelve lots and twenty-two out-lots, half of which, selected alternately, were to be given to the county and the remainder were to be retained by Ward. In addition to this he offered two lots for a cemetery and a tract for the public square. The scheme met with the approval of the commis- sioners, and Ward, with Joseph C. Vance, entered into a written agreement on October 11, 1805, which embodied his proposition. The original town plat signed by them is in Book A at the court house. Thus Ward became the proprietor of the site of Urbana, and he doubtless found the venture a lucrative one.
Ward soon removed to Urbana and there he lived, in the old homestead in the northwestern part of the city, until his death, December 24, 1822. By his first wife, whom he married in Virginia before he came West, he had four children. His second wife was Margaret Barr, by whom he had seven children.
Mr. Ward was a large man of striking appearance. He is described by the late J. R. McBeth, of Springfield, "as tall and broad-shouldered, with high cheek bones, keen eyes and dark auburn hair tied with a black rib- bon in a long queue, erect in person and very neat in dress. He wore but one style of hat-a black felt, with high crown and broad brim which was not turned up. His face resembled that of his grandson, Edgar Ward. He wore a black frock coat, or surtout, and on horseback he wore green flannel wrappers or leggings tied with ferreting below the knee."
Like many slaveholding Virginians, William Ward was "born to com- mand" and was haughty and arbitrary in his manners. When John Vance, a brother of Governor Vance, was collecting supplies for the army during the war of 1812, he needed a saddle horse. Ward had one that met his approval ; but since he did not like to make a direct offer, he spoke to one
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of the sons, mentioning the good price he would give. His method did not altogether appeal to Mr. Ward who asked him haughtily the next day why he did not come to him with his offer. Vance did not know what dire con- sequences would follow, and his surprise can well be imagined when Ward assured him the horse was for sale, and was as good and sound as he appeared; and above all his price was about ten dollars less than Vance offered.
William Ward was an old-school Virginian gentleman, who believed in good farming, and he kept the best breeds of horses and cattle. His manners were stately and decorous, and he was kind to his neighbors and liberal to strangers needing assistance in a new home. He was a Presby- terian, as was his family, but he freely entertained traveling ministers of all denominations in his home.
JOHN REYNOLDS.
John Reynolds, the first postmaster of Urbana and one of the leading citizens of the village for the first twenty-five years of its history, was born on April 18, 1775. Little is known of his career prior to his location in Mad River township in 1807, and shortly after settling in Urbana, but he evidently had a fairly good education if his success in financial affairs in Champaign county may be considered as demanding a trained mind. He was married on November 9, 1797, to Jane Lemon in Virginia. It seems that he came to the village about a year after locating in the county and shortly afterwards opened a store on the corner now occupied by the depart- ment store of Hitt & Fuller. For half a century he was a prominent figure in the life of the town. Just how long he was engaged in the mercantile business is not known, but he presumably maintained his connection for several years with the store he established. He died in Urbana on Decem- ber 21, 1855, in his eightieth year.
Reynolds began investing in land in various parts of the county and his name appears in the records of several of the townships as the owner of varying amounts of land. He owned so much land in the southern part of Salem township that he appealed to the Legislature to pass a special bill providing for the construction of a ditch to drain it. This was in 1827 and the bill which the Legislature passed in that year furnished the legal means for the construction of what is now known as Dugan run, or Dugan ditch, or sometimes as the Town branch . However, for several years after its construction it was known as the Reynolds ditch, his connection with it
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as superintendent of construction being responsible for its being so called. This famous artificial waterway has been in use so many years that many people have forgotten that it is of artificial construction.
Reynolds became the first postmaster of the village and it is said that he personally guaranteed that he would make up any deficit that the government might incur in maintaining the office. He opened the office in his own store and for several years had charge of it, finally retiring in favor of John C. Pearson. In the meantime he had become interested in the first bank in Urbana and, as the wealthiest citizen of the village, was no doubt the main figure in the bank. Unfortunately, there are no records to show the amount of business transacted by this first bank of the village and the absence of any local newspapers covering the early history of the village renders it impossible to do more than give only the vaguest details of this primitive banking institution.
Personally, Reynolds is represented as having been a quiet and unas- suming sort of a man, always careful in the management of his extensive business interests, and at the same time interested in everything of a public nature. His wife is remembered as a woman of more than ordinary abil- ity. She served as superintendent of the Methodist Sunday school when the church was located at the corner of Church and Locust streets. The methods of Sunday school instruction were very different then from what they are today. Mrs. Reynolds had a desk in front of the room and it was her wont to walk up and down the little room, stopping here and there to engage in a religious conversation with one of the pupils. There were no classes as they are now understood, only an opening hymn, a reading of a few verses from the Bible by the school alternately, with no comment on what was read, and the closing hymn. Mrs. Reynolds was usually garbed in a black silk dress and white apron, while she invariably wore what was called a "mob-cap" on her head. Mrs. Reynolds died on March 5, 1857.
JOHN HAMILTON.
John Hamilton, a pioneer, who was one of the carly residents of Urbana, may be remembered as the landlord and proprietor of the Hamilton House. a temperance hotel, which stood just east of the site of the court house. He was probably born in Kentucky in 1792: it is certain he came to Urbana in 1814, when he was twenty-two years of age. He lived in Urbana from that year until his death in 1868.
Whenever we look into the life of a pioneer, we expect to see some
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thrilling picture, but after his coming to Urbana, Mr. Hamilton's career apparently was uneventful. This does not mean that he did not have any true frontier experience, for he took an active part in the War of 1812. At the outbreak of the war, Mr. Hamilton answered the call of Governor Scott of Kentucky for volunteers; and he was attached to Colonel Lewis's regiment of that state, which was ordered to Ft. Wayne. After an expedi- tion to the neighborhood of Tippecanoe, near the present city of Lafayette. Indiana, the regiment returned to Ft. Wayne and was then ordered by Gen- eral Winchester to march on short rations to Ft. Defiance. They continued on down the Maumee river to camps 1, 2 and 3, and during this march they had no flour, or little else, for three weeks.
Orders reached Colonel Lewis at the camp on the banks of the river to detach six hundred men from the regiment and move them immediately to the river Raisin to dislodge the British and Indian forces which were encamped there. On January 18, 1813, Colonel Lewis began the assault and with considerable loss to both sides, drove the enemy from their quarters. He took possession of their position and sent word to General Winchester of the victory, and the latter with three hundred men hurried to his sup- port.
On the morning of January 22, the enemy were discovered approach- ing to the attack. The battle was fought with desperation, but the Ameri- cans were forced back. When Hamilton's regiment tried to make a stand in order to break the attack. Colonel Lewis, seeing his men were surrounded. ordered each to take care of himself. Young Hamilton at once turned to the south. Soon the young soldier found that an Indian was following him, but he was enabled to keep his would-be captor in check, since he had retained his gun. Pursuer and pursued sprang forward from tree to tree at every opportunity, and Hamilton, hoping to evade the redskin until nightfall, knew he could then trust to his endurance and activity. Late in the afternoon, while the two were playing their game of "hide and seek," Hamilton was startled by a shot to his right. As the first pursuer had followed him dur- ing the day without firing a shot. he decided to choose him for his captor. Accordingly, he gave himself up. After some difficulty the two Indians made an equitable division of Hamilton's belongings, and then joined their comrades with their captive at Stony Creek.
Hamilton's captor decided to adopt him, and the two set out in a northwestern direction to the wigwam. Here he remained until January, 1814. As the warriors were absent, the village was, at times, reduced almost to starvation. This was especially hard on young Hamilton, since
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he could not eat the dog and horse flesh, which was daily present on the menu.
Mr. Hamilton always became enthusiastic when he spoke of his adopted father and mother. The moral sense of the old Indian patriarch would not tolerate a lie, for at one time when Hamilton tried to shield one of the boys by withholding a fact, the old man flogged them both with equal fury. He also loudly praised the neatness of his foster mother. On one occasion he was sent to the spring with a sugar trough of hot hominy, which had just been boiled in lye to remove the hulls. His task was to wash out the hulls made free by the lye. As the day was cold, his feet bare, and the hominy hot, he could not resist the temptation to stand in the trough. The old lady discovered him using the improvised foot-warmer, and without delay thrashed him severely.
In November, 1813, peace terms were offered this tribe. the Ottawas. by a deputation from Detroit, and they were accepted after due considera- tion. Among the terms was the surrender of prisoners, and in January, :814. Hamilton was delivered to the officer at Detroit and was soon sent to his home in Kentucky. In that same year he settled in Urbana, where the confidence which his neighbors reposed in his integrity caused his fre- quent election to offices of trust. Moreover. he was an implacable enemy of rum. Even if taverns of those days were wont to permit their guests to consume unlimited quantities of alcoholic beverages, this was not so in the Hamilton House; a fact which was made known to the guests on the hotel sign. It is then vastly to the credit of John Hamilton that no drunken brawls and ribaldry, issuing from under his roof, ever prevented his peaceful neighbors from getting their usual portion of sleep. He was a quiet, reserved man, disliking any undue noise ; and throughout his life he was totally abstemious. Withal. John Hamilton was a valuable asset to good citizenship in Urbana, and doubtless the impression he left during his long residence there stands for the best which is possible for a man to give to his community. His famous temperance hotel was on North Main street, directly across the street from the court house. The site is now occupied by the Ganson buikling.
JAMES COOLEY.
James Cooley was one of the first lawyers to locate in Urbana, and was the first to receive recognition at the hands of the President of the United States. Little is known of his early life, but according to records
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preserved of him in the local papers and in the writings of citizens in the county who knew him, he must have been a man of unusual attainments. He had made a brilliant record as a lawyer in Urbana before receiving an appointment in 1826 to the court of Peru as charge d'affaires of the United States. He had served as prosecuting attorney and had held a number of minor offices in Champaign county during the eleven years he had been a resident of Urbana, all of which he had filled to the entire satis- faction of those with whom he came in contact. Personally he is repre- sented as having been a man of fine appearance and of such a gracious personality as to have an unusually devoted circle of friends.
An interesting account has been preserved of a banquet which was tendered Mr. Cooley on the evening of July 26, 1826, just before he left for South America to take charge of his appointment in Peru. According to one of the local papers "a number of his friends in Champaign and adjoining counties, desirous of manifesting their respect for him person- ally, as well as to bid him an affectionate farewell" asked him to attend a dinner to be given in his honor at the Hunter Hotel in Urbana. The invi- tation was naturally accepted and there has been preserved a portion of the toast given by Cooley when he arose to speak. The banquet was presided over by Judge Smith, while Judge Page, of Clark county, acted as right- hand man of Judge Smith. The post-prandial part of the program was devoted to five toasts, the concluding one being by "Our much-esteemed fel- low-citizen, James Cooley." With all of his impressive dignity, and deeply grateful for the honor which his country had bestowed upon him and appreciative of the good wishes of his fellow-townsmen, Cooley expressed himself, in part, to the effect "That the very flattering testimonial of the esteem and confidence of his fellow-citizens, and the more flattering dis- tinction in the sentiment given, demand and have his heartfelt acknowledg- ment. If he had been so fortunate as to acquire their confidence and in his endeavors faithfully to discharge his public duties, he had met their appro- bation-the measure of his reward is ample. Coming together from distant and various parts of the country and in many instances remote parts of the world, bringing different habits, feelings and tastes, it was natural that different and discordant opinions should be entertained on many subjects, but on one, all united-a devoted attachment to our common country, the principles of her government and sincere zeal for the prosperity of the state."
He continued in a lofty strain to the end and in his peroration paid a Flowing tribute to "the fertile fields of Ohio, her system of internal improve- ments, her commerce giving life to the industry of her citizens, her sys-
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:em of education and to the sincere expression of friends as evidenced by the citizens who tendered him the banquet.". He sat down with these words, and we may imagine the whiskey glasses lifted as he offered the toast : "The Mad river country : its generous, patriotic and enterprising popu- lation; health and continued prosperity attend them."
The local paper, the Mad River Courant, reported the next week that "The company dispersed with marked feelings of regret that so valued and esteemed a citizen is about to leave us for an undefined period of time- perhaps forever. In the evening a party numerously attended was given in honor of Mrs. Cooley. Arrangements are made to leave on Monday next, and if the virtues of a good and upright man, with the best wishes of many friends and acquaintances can secure him health, happiness and prosperity, he will be sure of those blessings."
Cooley, accompanied by his wife, left at the appointed time, reached Bolivia, the capital of Peru, without any mishap and for a period of fifteen months fulfilled all of the duties connected with his office. But misfortune seemed to have marked him for her own. On April 19, 1828, he had a violent bilious attack and five days later he succumbed to the attack, pass- ing away on Sunday, April 24, 1828. Concerning his death and the ship- ment of his body back to this country, a letter from Stanhope Prevost, dated at Lima, Peru, March 1, 1828, and addressed to Henry Clay, secre- tary of state of the United States, has the following interesting information.
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