History of Coshocton County, Ohio, its past and present, 1740-1881, Part 17

Author: Hill, Norman Newell, jr., [from old catalog] comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A. A., & co., Newark, O., pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Newark, Ohio, A. A. Graham & co.
Number of Pages: 854

USA > Ohio > Coshocton County > History of Coshocton County, Ohio, its past and present, 1740-1881 > Part 17

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The close of the war, in 1795, insured peace, and, from that date, Hamilton and that part of the Miami Valley grew remarkably fast. In 1803, Butler County was formed, and Hamilton made the county seat.

On the site of Hamilton, St. Clair built Fort Hamilton in 1791. For some time it was under the command of Maj. Rudolph, a cruel, arbitrary man, who was displaced by Gen. Wayne, and who, it is said, perished ignobly on the high seas, at the hands of some Algerine pirates, a fitting end to a man who caused, more than once, the death of men under his control for minor offenses.

On the return of peace, no part of Ohio grew more rapidly than the Miami Valley, especially that part comprised in Butler County.

While the war with the Indians continued, but little extension of settlements was made in the State. It was too perilous, and the settlers pre- ferred the security of the block-house or to engage with the army. Still, however, a few bold spirits ventured away from the settled parts of the Terri- tory, and began life in the wilderness. In tracing the histories of these settlements, attention will be paid to the order in which they were made. They will be given somewhat in detail until the war of 1812, after which time they become too numerous to follow.

The settlements made in Washington-Marietta and adjacent colonies-and IIamilton Counties have already been given. The settlement at Gal- lia is also noted, hence, the narration can be re- sumed where it ends prior to the Indian war of 1795. Before this war occurred, there were three small settlements made, however, in addition to

those in Washington and Hamilton Counties. They were in what are now Adams, Belmont and Morgan Counties. They were block-house settle- ments, and were in a continual state of defense. The first of these, Adams, was settled in the winter of 1790-91 by Gen. Nathaniel Massie, near where Manchester now is. Gen. Massie determined to settle here in the Virginia Military Tract-in the winter of 1790, and sent notice throughout Ken- tucky and other Western settlements that he would give to each of the first twenty-five families who would settle in the town he proposed laying out, one in-lot, one out-lot and one hundred acres of land. Such liberal terms were soon accepted, and in a short time thirty families were ready to go with him. After various consultations with his friends, the bottom on the Ohio River, opposite the lower of the Three Islands, was selected as the most eligible spot. Here Massie fixed his sta- tion, and laid off into lots a town, now called Manchester. The little confederacy, with Massie at the helm, went to work with spirit. Cabins were raised, and by the middle of March, 1791, the whole town was inclosed with strong pickets, with block-houses at each angle for de- fense.

This was the first settlement in the bounds of the Virginia District, and the fourth one in the State. Although in the midst of a savage foe, now inflamed with war, and in the midst of a cruel conflict, the settlement at Manchester suf- fered less than any of its cotemporaries. This was, no doubt, due to the watchful care of its in- habitants, who were inured to the rigors of a front- ier life, and who well knew the danger about them. " These were the Beasleys, Stouts, Washburns, Ledoms, Edgingtons, Denings, Ellisons, Utts, Mckenzies, Wades, and others, who were fully equal to the Indians in all the savage arts and stratagems of border war."

As soon as they had completed preparations for defense, the whole population went to work and cleared the lowest of the Three Islands, and planted it in corn. The soil of the island was very rich, and produced abundantly. The woods supplied an abundance of game, while the river furnished a variety of excellent fish. The inhabitants thus found their simple wants fully supplied. Their nearest neighbors in the new Territory were at Columbia, and at the French settlement at Gallip- olis; but with these, owing to the state of the country and the Indian war, they could hold little, if any, intercourse.

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The station being established, Massie continued to make locations and surveys. Great precautions were necessary to avoid the Indians, and even the closest vigilance did not always avail, as the ever- watchful foe was always ready to spring upou the settlement, could an unguarded moment be ob- served. During one of the spring months, Gen. Massie, Israel Donalson, William Lytle and James Little, while out on a survey, were surprised, and Mr. Donalson captured, the others escaping at great peril. Mr. Donalson escaped during the march to the Indian town, and made his way to the town of Cincinnati, after suffering great hard- ships, and almost perishing from hunger. In the spring of 1793, the settlers at Manchester com- menced elcaring the out-lots of the town. While doing so, an incident occurred, which shows the danger to which they were daily exposed. It is thus related in Howe's Collections :

" Mr. Andrew Ellison, one of the settlers, cleared an out-lot immediately adjoining the fort. He had completed the cutting of the timber, rolled the logs together, and set them on fire. The next morning, before daybreak, Mr. Ellison opened one of the gates of the fort, and went out to throw his logs together. By the time he had finished the job, a number of the heaps blazed up brightly, and, as he was passing from one to the other, he ob- served, by the light of the fires, three men walking briskly toward him. This did not alarm him in the least, although, he said, they were dark-skinned fellows; yet he concluded they were the Wades, whose complexions were very dark, going early to hunt. He continued to right his log-heaps, until one of the fellows seized him by the arms, calling out, in broken English, ' How do ? how do ?' He instantly looked in their faces, and, to his surprise and horror, found himself in the clutches of three Indians. To resist was useless.

" The Indians quickly moved off with him in the direction of Paint Creek. When breakfast. was ready, Mrs. Ellison sent one of her children to ask its father home; hut he could not be found at the log-heaps. ITis absence created no immedi- ate alarm, as it was thought he might have started to hunt, after completing his work. Dinner-time arrived, and, Ellison not returning, the family became uneasy, and began to suspect some acci- dent had happened to him. His gun-rack was examined, and there hung his rifles and his pouch. Gen. Massie raised a party, made a circuit around the place, finding, after some search, the trails of four men, one of whom had on shoes; and the

fact that Mr. Ellison was a prisoner now became apparent. As it was almost night at the time the trail was discovered, the party returned to the station. Early the next morning, preparations were made by Gen. Massie and his friends to con- tinue the search. In doing this, they found great difficulty, as it was so carly in the spring that the vegetation was not grown sufficiently to show plainly the trail made by the savages, who took the precaution to keep on high and dry ground, where their feet would make little or no impres- sion. The party were, however, as unerring as a pack of hounds, and followed the trail to Paint Creck, when they found the Indians gained so fast on them that pursuit was useless.

"The Indians took their prisoner to Upper Sandusky, where he was compelled to run the gantlet. As he was a large, and not very active, man, he received a severe flogging. He was then taken to Lower Sandusky, and again compelled to run the gantlet. He was then taken to Detroit, where he was ransomed by a British officer for $100. The officer proved a good friend to him. He seut him to Montreal, whence he returned home before the close of the summer, much to the joy of his family and friends, whose feelings can only be imagined."

" Another incident occurred about this time," says the same volume, "which so aptly illustrates the danger of frontier life, that it well deserves a place in the history of the settlements in Ohio. John and Asahcl Edgington, with a comrade, started out on a hunting expedition toward Brush Creek. They camped out six miles in a northeast direction from where West Union now stands, and near the site of Treber's tavern, on the road from Chillicothe to Maysville. They had good success in hunting, killing a number of deer and bears. Of the deer killed, they saved the skins and hams alonc. They fleeced the bears; that is, they cut off all the meat which adhered to the hide, with- out skinning, and left the bones as a skeleton. They hung up the proceeds of their hunt, on a seaf- fold out of the reach of wolves and other wild ani- mals, and returned to Manchester for pack-horses. No one returned to the camp with the Edgingtons. As it was late in December, few apprehended dan- ger, as the winter season was usually a time of rc- pose from Indian incursions. When the Edgingtons arrived at their camp, they alighted from their horses and were preparing to start a fire, when a platoon of Indians fired upon them at a distance of not more than twenty paecs. They had

Eli Nichols

ELI NICHOLS.

ELI NICHOLS, late of New Castle township, was born in Louden county, Virginia, in 1799, and died on his farm at Walhonding in 1871. He married Miss Rachel -, born. in 1801, at Cattawissa, Pennsylvania, and she died in 1869. They became the parents of fifteen chil- dren : Rebecca N., Jessa, Charles, Jane, Mary, Loyd, Paxton, Eliza, Eugene, Susan, Hortense, Lucy, Ellen, Lundy, and Collins. Loyd now owns all of the large landed property formerly owned by his father. Eli Nichols resided fourteen years on his floral and nursery farm at Loyd, near St. Clairsville, Ohio. He practiced at the St. Clairsville bar, and represented Belmont county in the Legislature while there. He came to this county in 1844, and moved on his large landed estate, the largest in the county, at Walhonding.

Eli Nichols was a lawyer by profession, and a man not only of eminent learning and ability in his profession, but one who devoted much of his time to the study of the government and its institutions, and who possessed broad and comprehensive views of the State and National ques- tions which entered into the politics of his time. He was always a strong and fearless advocate of universal liberty, and of the doctrine of equality before the law. He hated oppression of every kind; he early entertained an instinctive and uncompromising hostility to American slavery, and for many years, when it cost a man political odium and ostracism to acknowledge himself an abolitionist, he gloried in the name, and was one of the few who had the courage and the patriot- ism, in those benighted days of the Republic, to stand up and denounce the institution of slavery as a national evil, and a crime. When he lived at Loyd, his home was a depot on the under- ground railroad. Once when a negro family, ticketed for freedom, was concealed at his house, a slave owner on the track of some runaway slaves, supposed that this family was the one he was after, and he, with about fifty sympathizers, prepared to attack the depot. One hundred abolition- ists rallied to Mr. Nichols' support. In the meantime the attacking party learned that they were on the wrong scent, and abandoned the field, and the frightened colored travelers passed on un- molested. Mr. Nichols was egged several times while making abolition speeches. He made his voice heard and his influence felt through the press and from the rostrum against this national curse, and perhaps did as much as any other man in Ohio to educate public sentiment in the right direction on this subject. In the latter part of his life he retired from his profession and moved with his family on a large landed estate at Walhonding, where he resided until his death.

Eli Nichols had great decision of character, and independence of thought and action ; his con- victions were strong, and he was always ready to maintain them, regardless of popular opinion ; dissimulation and sycophancy found no place in his composition, but he was always bold to assert what he believed to be right, and was frank, open, undisguised in his intercourse with others. He was possessed of a high order of mental faculties; a clear, comprehensive mind, with quick perception. He was energetic, self-reliant, generally a leader, influential, and a fluent and forci- ble public speaker.

Mr. Nichols was brought up a Quaker, afterward became liberal in his religious views, and in the latter part of his life espoused Spiritualism.

Mrs. Nichols was a highly estimable and intelligent lady, took a deep interest in the effort for human liberty, and wrote many meritorious productions for the press. The following pocm

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written by her in 1835, upon the mobbing and killing of Lovejoy, at Alton, Illinois, because of his abolitionism, is inserted by request :

" Fair Alton once, but fair no more, Thy brow with blood-stained wreaths is bound ; Thy days of honor are passed o'er- Thy virtues now a grave have found.

" Late, as a prosp'rous growing tree, With goodly branehes spreading wide, Exultingly we looked on thee,- Thy country's promise and her pride.

" Or as a brightly dazzling star The darksome path of evening cheers, We hailed thee in thy land afar ; Its light and hope of after years.

" But on thy morning's opening bloom Vice has eclipsed thy opening day ; Thy sun has set in sable gloom ; Oh! thou hast cast thyself away.

" Not thy wide prairies' fertile soil, Where Nature's hand profusely showers Luxuriantly, without thy toil, Her richest growth of grass and flowers.

" Not all thy splendor-it is vain- Of wealth, of power, thou need not tell; Not all thy charms, if demons reign ; With thee, Oh! may we never dwell.

"Thy name is numbered with the vile ; The clays of earth to thee will cling ; No one with them in deeds of guile- Thon art a base, polluted thing.

" The Mississippi rolling by In surging majesty with might, Can not, with all the floods, supply Half that will wash and make thee white.

"North, by unholy feet are trod The dearest rights allotted man- Rights guaranteed him by his God- Rights dear to all since time began.

" For pleading on behalf of these, Thy impious hands have dared to shed Blood, which, by heaven's just decrees, Will be avenged upon thy head.

" Our Lovejoy 's slain, but yet above, More perfect still each accent flows Around the mercy-seat of Love, Where thou canst never interpose.

" Yes, angel-like, behold him there, Imploring heaven the work to bless; And hear him from yon sky declare That God will crown it with success."

Rachel Nichols

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evidently found the results of the white men's labor, and expected they would return for it, and pre- pared to waylay them. Asahel Edgington fell dead. John was more fortuuate. The sharp crack of the rifles, and the horrible yells of the savages as they leaped from their place of ambush, frightened the horses, who took the track for home at full speed. John was very active on foot, and now an opportunity offered which required his utmost speed. The moment the Indians leaped from their hiding-place, they threw down their guns and took after him, yelling with all their power. Edgington did not run a booty race. For about a mile, the savages stepped in his traeks al- most before the bending grass could rise. The uplifted tomahawk was frequently so near his head that he thought he felt its edge. He exerted himself to his utmost, while the Indians strove with all their might to catch him. Finally, he be- gan to gain on his pursuers, and, after a long race, distanced them and made his escape, safely reach- ing home. This, truly, was a most fearful and well-contested race. The big Shawanee chief, Capt. John, who headed the Indians on this occasion, after peace was made, in narrating the particulars, said, "The white man who ran away was a smart fellow. The white man run; and I run. Hle run and run; at last, the white man run clear off from me."

The settlement, despite its dangers, prospered, and after the close of the war continued to grow rapidly. In two years after peace was declared, Adams County was erected by proclamation of Gov. St. Clair, the next year court was held, and in 1804, West Union was made the county seat.

During the war, a settlement was commenced near the present town of Bridgeport, in Belmont County, by Capt. Joseph Belmont, a noted Dela- ware Revolutionary officer, who, because his State could furnish only one company, could risc no higher than Captain of that company, and hence always maintained that grade. He settled on a beautiful knoll near the present county seat, but crelong suffered from a night attack by the In- dians, who, though unable to drive him and his companions from the cabin or conquer them, wounded some of them badly, one or two mortally, and caused the Captain to leave the frontier and return to Newark, Del. The attack was made in the spring of 1791, and a short time after, the Captain, having provided for the safety of his family, accepted a commission in St. Clair's army, and lost his life at the defeat of the General in

November. Shortly after the Captain settled, a fort, called Dillie's Fort, was built on the Ohio, opposite the mouth of Grave Creek. About two hundred and fifty yards below this fort, an old man, named Tato, was shot down at his cabin door by the Indians, just as he was in the act of entering the house. His body was pulled in by his daugh- ter-in-law and grandson, who made an heroic de- fense. They were overpowered, the woman slain, and the boy badly wounded. He, however, man- aged to secrete himself and afterward escaped to the fort. The Indians, twelve or thirteen in num- ber, went off unmolested, though the men in the fort saw the whole transaction and could have punished them. Why they did not was never known.

On Captina Creek in this same county, occurred, in May, 1794, the " battle of Captina," a fa- mous local skirmish between some Virginians from Fort Baker, and a party of Indians. Though the Indians largely outnumbered the whites, they were severely punished, and compelled to abandon the contest, losing several of their bravest warriors.

These were the only settlements made until 1795, the close of the war. Even these, as it will be observed from the foregoing pages, were tem- porary in all cases save one, and were maintained at a great risk, and the loss of many valuable lives. They were made in the beginning of the war.and such were their experiences that further attempts were abandoned until the treaty of Greenvillo was made, or until the prospects for peace and safety were assured.

No sooner, however, had the prospect of quiet been established, than a revival of emigration be- gan. Before the war it had been large, now it was largely increased.

Wayne's treaty of peace with the Indians was made at Greenville, in what is now Darke County, the 3d of August, 1795. The number of Indians present was estimated at 1,300, divided among the principal nations as follows: 180 Wyandots, 381 Delawares, 143 Shawanecs, 45 Ottawas, 46 Chip- pewas, 240 Pottawatomies, 73 Miamis and Ecl River, 12 Weas and Piankeshaws, and 10 Kicka- poos and Kaskaskias. The principal chiefs were Tarhe, Buckongahelas, Black Hoof, Blue Jacket and Little Turtle. Most of them had been tam- pered with by the British agents and traders, but all had been so thoroughly chastised by Wayne, and found that the British only used them as tools, that they were quite anxious to make peace with the " Thirteen Fires." By the treaty, former ones

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were established, the boundary lines confirmed and enlarged, an exchange and delivery of prisoners effected, and permanent peace assured.

In the latter part of September, after the treaty of Greenville, Mr. Bedell, from New Jersey, selected a site for a home in what is now Warren County, at a place since known as " Bedell's Sta- tion," about a mile south of Union Village. Ilere he erected a block-house, as a defense against the Indians, among whom were many renegades as among the whites, who would not respect the terms of the treaty. Whether Mr. Bedell was alone that fall, or whether he was joined by others, is not now accurately known. However that may be, he was not long left to himself; for, ere a year had elapsed, quite a number of settlements were made in this part of the Territory. Soon after his settlement was made, Gen. David Sutton, Capt. Nathan Kelley and others began pioneer life at Deerfield, in the same locality, and, before three years had gone by, a large number of New Jersey people were established in their homes; and, in 1803, the county was formed from Hamilton, Among the early settlers at Deerfield, was Capt. Robert Benham, who, with a companion, in 1779, sustained themselves many days when the Captain had lost the use of his legs, and his companion his arms, from musket-balls fired by the hands of the Indians. They were with a large party com- manded by Maj. Rodgers, and were furiously attacked by an immense number of savages, and all but a few slain. The event happened during the war of the Revolution, before any attempt was made to settle the Northwest Territory. The party were going down the Ohio, probably to the falls, and were attacked when near the site of Cincinnati. As mentioned, these two men sus- tained each other many days, the one having per- fect legs doing the necessary walking, carrying his comrade to water, driving up game for him to shoot, and any other duties necessary; while the one who had the use of his arms could dress his companion's and his own wounds, kill and cook the game, and perform his share. They were rescued, finally, by a flat-boat, whose occupants, for awhile, passed them, fearing a decoy, but, becoming convinced that such was not the case, took them on down to Louisville, where they were nursed into perfect health.

A settlement was made near the present town of Lebanon, the county seat of Warren County, in the spring of 1796, by Henry Taylor, who built a mill one mile west of the town site, on Turtle

Creek. Soon after, he was joined by Ichabod Corwin, John Osbourn, Jacob Vorhees, Samuel Shaw, Daniel Bonte and a Mr. Manning. When Lebanon was laid out, in 1803, the two-story log house built in 1797 by Ichabod Corwin was the only building on the plat. It was occupied by Ephraim Hathaway as a tavern. He had a black horse painted on an immense board for a sign, and continued in business here till 1810. The same year the town was laid out, a store was opened by John Huston, and, from that date, the growth of the county was very prosperous. Three years after, the Western Star was established by Judge John McLain, and the current news of the day given in weekly editions. It was one of the first newspapers established in the Territory, outside of Cincinnati.

As has been mentioned, the opening of naviga- tion in the spring of 1796 brought a great flood of cmigration to the Territory. The little settle- ment made by Mr. Bedell, in the autumn of 1795, was about the only one made that fall ; others made preparations, and many selected sites, but did not settle till the following spring. That spring, colo- nies were planted in what are now Montgomery, Ross, Madison, Mahoning, Trumbull, Ashtabula and Cuyahoga Counties, while preparations were in turn made to occupy additional territory that will hereafter be noticed.

The settlement made in Montgomery County was begun early in the spring of 1796. As early as 1788, the land on which Dayton now stands was selected by some gentlemen, who designed laying out a town to be named Venice. They agreed with Judge Symmes, whose contract covered the place, for the purchase of the lands. The Indian war which broke out at this time prevented an extension of settlements from the immediate neighborhood of the parent colonies, and the proj- ect was abandoned by the purchasers. Soon after the treaty of 1795, a new company, composed of Gens. Jonathan Dayton, Arthur St. Clair, James Wilkinson, and Col. Israel Ludlow, purchased the land between the Miamis, around the mouth of Mad River, of Judge Symmes, and, the 4th of November, laid out the town. Arrangements were made for its settlement the ensuing spring, and donations of lots, with other privileges, were offered to actual settlers. Forty-six persons entered into engagements to remove from Cincinnati to Day- ton, but during the winter most of them scat- tered in different directions, and only nineteen ful- filled their contraets. The first families who

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made a permanent residence here, arrived on the first day of April, 1796, and at once set about establishing homes. Judge Symmes, however, becoming unable soon after to pay for his purchase, the land reverted to the United States, and the set- tlers in and about Dayton found themselves with- out titles to their lands. Congress, however, came to the aid of all such persons, wherever they had purchased land of Symmes, and passed a pre-emp- tion law, under which they could enter their lands at the regular government price. Some of the set- tlers entered their lands, and obtained titles directly from the United States ; others made arrangements with Daniel C. Cooper to receive their deeds from him, and he entered the residue of the town lands. He had been the surveyor and agent of the first company of proprietors, and they assigned to him certain of their rights of pre-emption, by which he became the titular owner of the land.

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History of Coshocton County, Ohio, its past and present, 1740-1881, Part 17

Author: Hill, Norman Newell, jr., [from old catalog] comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A. A., & co., Newark, O., pub. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Newark, Ohio, A. A. Graham & co. Number of Pages: 854

Author: Hill, Norman Newell, jr., [from old catalog] comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A. A., & co., Newark, O., pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Newark, Ohio, A. A. Graham & co.
Number of Pages: 854