History of Greene County, Ohio, Part 22

Author: Robinson, George F., 1838-1901
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 934

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resided, which afterward became his own entirely. He commenced housekeeping near the spot where the dwelling house now stands. Mr. Read was in all the relations of life a most excellent man, of the strictest integrity, moral and upright in his life. He possessed great energy of character and a resolute purpose. His industry was proverb- ial, his constitution was a vigorous one, and up to within a few days of his death he en- gaged in his usual avocation with the alacrity and vigor of a man twenty years younger in life. In his family he was the kindest of husbands and the best of fathers. He was devoted to his children, six of whom with their mother survive to mourn the loss of a kind husband and father. For many years he had been a member of the Metho- dist Episcopal church, and by his exemplary life illustrated the Christian virtues. His . that time a Frenchman whose name I have

death was the result of injuries received on the 21st of October, 1858, from a fall from a horse. His death was hastened, perhaps, by subsequent exposure. His remains were followed to the tomb in Woodland cemetery in Xenia by a large procession of citizens and members of the Masonic fraternity, to which he belonged, being one of the charter members in Xenia, Ohio.

YELLOW SPRINGS IN 1804.

A writer in the "Post and Country Man," published at Cincinnati, gives an ac- count of the appearance of Yellow Springs in the summer of 1804. At that time the village was not, and the springs were the resort of invalids rather than pleasure seek- ers. Lewis Davis was the keeper of the boarding house at that time. The accom- modations were few and simple. The writer says: "At that time, as near as I

can recollect, there were some dozen på- tients seeking the healing of those waters. With three of them I was personally ac- quainted ; one was a sad dyspeptic, one had an incontrollable eruption of the skin, which all the doctors had failed to cure, and one was a married woman who had been pros- trated with a strange disability for years. The water was an effectual cure for the first two and a present relief for the last. The dyspeptic lived until near ninety years old, active to the last. The second reared a fam- ily of twelve or thirteen children. And the last after a few years again sank down and was bedridden during the twenty years or more of her life. As to the effect of these waters whether by bath or drinking, on the other patients there at that time I know nothing, as they were strangers to me. At lost kept a little store at the springs. prin- cipally, I think, to trade with the surround- ing Indians. He also kept a pack of hounds, the first and last I ever saw. At daylight each morning I was there he loosed his hounds, and such a yelling as immediately followed can be imagined better than de- scribed. The master took them on the morn- ing hunt, which usually lasted until ten o'clock, when he returned with them wet and weary. By this time his Indian cuis- tomers, I was told, came to trade at his store. But as I then staid but a single night and part of two days, I do not recollect har- ing seen any Indians there, but I understood from visitors there at that time many hun- dreds came to trade with him, exchanging furs and skins for his articles of ornament and use." The compiler of this sketch can furnish the name of the storekeeper, which was Thomas Fream. General Benjamin Whiteman at that time undoubtedly owned

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a large part of what is called the Yellow James Scott. Samuel G. Martin and Thomas Wright. Springs, and from old papers that belong to the county which have passed through the JACOB MILLS, ESQ., writer's hands can produce the evidence that such was a fact. And as General Died at his residence in Miami township. July 29. 1850. He was a native of Virginia. emigrated to this state in 1796 and settled near Waynesville. The same year the first log cabin for the residence of a white set- tler was raised in Greene county. In 1809 he removed to this county, Miami township, where he continued to reside until his death. Whiteman had married for his wife a daughter of Owen Davis, who was the fa- ther of Lewis Davis, the founder of what is called Yellow Springs, the writer has proof to show that Thomas Fream had leased the land on which he was staying from General Whiteman, and in addition to his having the store, he was also the first postmaster He was appointed major by Governor Tiffin on the first organization of the militia. and afterward for years he filled the office of justice of the peace for Miami township. of the aforesaid Yellow Springs. In a deposition taken at Old Town in the year 1816, General Whiteman states that he first came to Greene county in the year 1799, and settled first in Beavercreek township. He REMINISCENCES OF OLD TOWN. says further that about one year after com- ing he had occasion to go to the falls of the Christmas morning being bright and beautiful we made a pedestrian excursion to Old Town, three miles north of Xenia. It was formerly called Chillicothe, that being the Indian name for town. This peaceful, quiet village is a place of more county. The landscape is of unrivaled Little Miami river and there were at that time ( 1800) but three settlements on the Little Miami river. Owen Davis, the pro- prietor of the first mniil in Greene county and the father-in-law of Mr. Whiteman, had sold his mill to Jacob Smith, and in 1805 , historical interest than any other in this they removed to Miami township.

We will close by giving a copy of a petition to keep the tavern in Yellow Springs, the date of which is June 13, 1804: To the Honorable Court of Greene County, now sitting, and for said County: Your petitioners humbly showeth that a license may be issued to Thomas Fream, now liv- ing at Yellow or Medicinal Springs, to keep a tavern or public house, and your peti- tioners will ever pray, etc. Signed by J. P. Stewart, Lewis Davis, Jacob Smith, Joseph Layton, John Paul, Robert Renick, Robert Layton. John Daughterty. Joseph C. Vance. George Allen, Felix Hover, Joseph Reid.

beauty. A lovely prairie stretches away to the west, the view being bounded by a range of wooded hills, skirting the horizon some seven miles distant, whose summits were rendered indistinct by a blue, hazy mist. On the north meanders the Little Miami. bounded by undulating highlands : paralleled hills on the south side range round the east end of the prairie to Massies creek, named after Gen. Nathaniel Massie, a brave pio- neer who surveyed many of the land entries in this county. The hills on either side of this beautiful vale are adorned with com- modious residences, the abode of civiliza-

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tion, neighborly kindness and welcome hos- pitality. Their elevated situations afford a prospect varied, extensive and delightful, over which the eye may roam with unsated satisfaction. An air of quiet, dreamy re- pose seems to rest on the landscape, while evidences of good farming, thrift and in- dustry, and their legitimate consequences, the comforts of life, on all sides greet the eyes. What wonderful changes have taken place. The church in which divine pre- cepts of fraternal love are inculcated has taken the place of the council house, in which human beings were doomed to be roasted alive at the stake, in all of the pro- longed agony that diabolical ingenuity could suggest. The plowshare passes over the ground on which the gauntlet has been run and unmitigated torture inflicted. The school house in which knowledge is im- parted to qualify the living generation to usefulness may occupy ground which has been tramped in the ferocious war dance. Hominy blocks have been superseded by one of the most elegant mills in the state, and the shrill whistle of the iron horse has taken the place of the fierce warwhoop and savage scalp yell. It seems strange and out of character that a place which nature has adorned as if to show a sample of her power shoukl have been a theater of re- volting barbarity and moral agony.

This was the chief town of that nomadic race, the Shawnees. This was the place of rendezvous for war parties from Piqua. Maumee, Sandusky, Mad River and other towns to carry murder and desolation to settlers on the "dark and bloody ground." Here they returned with their prisoners, plunder and scalps before separating for their different villages. The dwellings were constructed with poles and roofed

with bark. There was a stockade enclosing several acres of ground, including the vil- lage and council house. The late Abner Read's crehard is on part of the ground.

Tecumseh, the renowned warrior, was born here, near the spring a short distance west of where the church now is, in 1769. That Tecumseh was born here we have the statement of "Ben" Kelley, his adopted brother, who was a member of Blackfish's family five years at Old Town, and who so informed Thomas H. Hind at a treaty at Chillicothe in 1807.

FIRST WHITE MAN KNOWN TO ENTER OLD TOWN.

In the year 1773 Captain Bullet unex- pectedly entered this town with a flag of truce. It was a daring but successful ad- venture. He was on his way down the Ohio on a surveying expedition. In 1778 Daniel Boone was brought here a prisoner and had a shooting match with the Indians, whose vanity he humored by letting them beat him slightly. He ran away on the roth of June and arrived at Boonsborough, a distance of one hundred and sixty miles in four days, eating but one meal during the whole time. What iron men those times produced !

In 1778 Simon Kenton was brought here a prisoner. He was stripped naked, and his hands tied to a stake above his head, his cap- tors intending to burn him alive, but after torturing him till past midnight they con- cluded to defer the pleasure of burning him until another time. Next day they made him run the gauntlet between ranks of In- dians extending nearly a quarter of a mile, commencing at the foot of the hill near where now" stands the brick mill as you pass under the railroad going into Old Town.

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and ending at the council house, near where the church now stands.

The place is memorable as being the first point invaded from the Kentucky side of the river in July. 1779. Colonel Bowman arrived here with one hundred and sixty men in the night under cover, but the attack next morning was so badly managed that a retreat was ordered. The Indians becom- ing the aggressors, overtook and sur- rounded them near Glady, on what used to be called Churchill Jones' entry, and partly owned by Mrs. Lydia Stanfield. Their situation was critical, as Indian reinforce- ments were expected. The advice, general- ship and courage of Colonel Logan saved them. Mounting some of the bravest men on the baggage horses he made a success- ful charge and opened a way for the retreat. Bowman lost nine men and a few wounded. In all the accounts of this expedition it is stated that Blackfish was killed here, but that was not true.

That noted chief was killed in Ken- tucky. He had broken into a cabin, and while engaged in a struggle on the floor with the owner, his daughter seized a butcher knife and stabbed him to the heart. ( For particulars see sketch of James Collier in this book. )

GENERAL ROGER CLARK AT OLD TOWN IN 1780.

In 1780 Roger Clarke, at the head of one thousand men, made this place a point of invasion. The Indians fled precipitately. leaving their camp, kettles with beans and hominy cooking over the fires, to the grati- fication of the hungry soldiers. Next day some of them were seen sitting on their ponies on the hills north of the Miami

gazing at the irresistible invaders, but they took care not to come within gunshot. Clarke burned the town and destroyed the crops.

DAVID LAUGHEND AT OLD TOWN IN 1780.

What adds interest to this account of the invasion of Clarke's army in 1780 is that the story has been confirmed recently by the discovery of depositions taken at Old Town in the year 1818, which adds local interest to that successful campaign of General Clarke.

David Langhead, who was the father of David M. Laughead, who was the father of David and Joseph K. Laughead, whom many of the oldl citizens of Xenia remem- ber, was with General Clarke in this cam- paign. David Laughead was born in 1757. emigrated from Pennsylvania to Kentucky some time previons to 1780 and was at the time he was with Clarke's army twenty- three years old. In answer to the question, "How long have you been acquainted with Old Chillicothe, or Old Town?" answered : "On an expedition from Kentucky I was at- tached to a troop of horse under the com- mand of General Clarke, and we crossed the Ohio river at the mouth of the Licking river on the morning of . August 2, 1780, and arrived here at Old Chillicothe on the after- noon of August 5." He tells us that pre- vious to leaving Kentucky on this expedi- tion they had heard of Old Chillicothe on the Little Miami river, of its notoriety as a strong Indian town: had heard it spoken of by his neighbors at his old home in Ken- tucky. He also says that on their approach the Indians fled, and that night Clarke's army camped on that portion of land that is between what is now called Massies

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creek and the Little Miami. A fact is brought to light in these depositions that perhaps never has been known. Many of Clarke's men after their return to Kentucky often spoke of their old camping ground of that night as a beautiful island comprising about three hundred acres of land. Mr. Laughead says what impressed it upon his mind was the fact that on their return from Old Piqua, where they had been successful in destroying also that town, they camped on the north side of the Little Miami near Old Town, and they had left standing a por- tion ci corn for their use on returning. . 1. detail ci hity men was made to cross over and finish the work, and one of the men thus detailed had a sore foot and his messmates took him over and set him down. After a while he called to them to come and take him over the other branch of the river. which circumstance Mr. Langhead remem- Hered. General Whiteman also stated that he was of the same opinion until he had be- come a resident of Greene county, which was in the year 1799. when he first settled in Beavercreek township. In the year 1800 he says he had occasion to go to the falls of the Little Miami, and coming up the valley when near Old Town he saw that the stream of water now called Massies creek was not a branch of the Little Miami but a separate stream of water.

.GENERAL, CLARKE'S SECOND INVASION OF OLD TOWN.

In September, 1782, General Clarke again invaded Old Town. He marched wit1. celerity from the mouth of the Licking river at the head of one thousand men, but the Indians obtained information of his ap- proach and fled, leaving the town to its fate.

Again it was reduced to ashes and the crops destroyed.

James Galloway, Sr., father of the late Major Galloway, was in that expedition. It is a singular fact that James Galloway. Sr., who was born May 1, 1750, and was at the time of this invasion thirty-two years of age. should fifteen years later ( 1797) come to this, the Miami country, and settle, just across the Little Miami river from Ok Chillicothe or Old Town. No doubt but the remembrance of that part of the Northwest Territory ever after the aforesaid event haunted him and he disposed of his prop- erty in Kentucky and removed to the land that for fifteen years had been in his day dreams. And Greene county was the gainer by his coming. He was the efficient treas- urer of the county from the organization of the county in 1803 until the middle of June. 1810. lle was the custodian of the new county's funds, the mainstay and pillar of the church of his choice, a good man, hating that which was wrong, encouraging all that which was good. He was one of the pio- neers of the county that was called to meet at Old Town to tell what he knew of the early history of the aforesaid place. In an- swer to the question by the attorney, "Mr. Galloway, how long have you known Old Chillicothe on the Little Miami river, where you are now?" his. answer was. "I have known it since the month of October or No- vember, 1782. It was at that time and has continued to be a place of public notoriety in the Miami country." Question: "Are you now sitting at the place called Old Chillicothe?" Answer: "I am now sitting within the bounds of where the pickets were." Question: "Is there not a very large and extensive prairie between the Old Chillicothe where we now sit and the river ?"

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ROBINSON'S HISTORY OF GREENNE COUNTY.

Answer: "Yes." That short answer of Mr. Galloway's settles beyond cavil the statement that the beautiful valley on the south side of Massies creek as it is to-day so it was in 1782. a prairie, the Indian's corn- field.

COL. BENJAMIN LOGAN'S EXPEDITION IN 1786.

In the summer of 1786 Col. Benjamin Logan crossed the Ohio river at Limestone. now Maysville, with four hundred men or more. Along with this expedition were Daniel Boone. Simon Kenton, Colonel Trot- ter. officers in this expedition. The result of this expedition was the burning of eight of their towns, also the destruction of much corn. Twenty warriors were also killed. in- cluding a prominent chief of the nation, and aly ut seventy-five prisoners were taken.

OLD TOWN ON THE LINE OF MARCH.

While they were encamped on a creek near the site of Jacob Brown's sawmill, Greene county, a negro servant of one of the officers deserted and warned the Indians of approaching danger. The negro's name was "Caesar." from which the creek was named. The trail en which they marched went be- tween the house where Henry Conklin now lives and his barn.

THE DEATH OF MULUNTHA AT OLD TOWN.

When they arrived at Old Town they found but one Indian, an old chief named Mulutha. He had dressed himself in the gayest Indian costume, wearing a cocked hat and carrying a tobacco pouch in one hand and a calumet in the other. He boldly

approached the men and proposed to smoke the pipe . f peace with them. Some of them received him in a friendly manner and shook hands with him, but on approaching Mc- Garey, whose rashness and folly caused the defeat at the "Bhie Licks." the latter drew his tomahawk and cloved the skull of the old man, swearing that he would kill every Indian he found and would tomahawk any white man who should presume to censure him for doing so.

GENERAL HARMAR AT OLD TOWN IN 1790.

In 1790. General Harmar, at the head of fourteen hundred and fifty-three men, ar- rived at this place early in October. While he was sitting on his horse on a knoll re- viewing his troops a stampede occurred among pack horses and bullocks, which caused a great uproar and confusion and an immense deal of hard swearing.

Harmar advanced on the French trading post, now Fort Wayne, sending on detach- ments to fight battles, and after losing one hundred and thirty men, returned, having effected nothing.

On arriving at Old Town on the return an order was issued that the men should cease firing off their guns. One of the Ken- tucky militia disobeyed the order. He was stripped and tied to a wheel of a cannon carriage and ordered to be flogged. The late General Benjamin Whiteman, who was present, says that the Kentuckians formed a semi-circle round the cannon, leveled their guns and put a stop to the punishment. Harmar ordered the regulars to face them with fixed bayonets, and the drummer to proceed, and to finish the flogging. This was the last expedition to invade this noted village.

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LOOKING BACKWARD.

We will conclude our sketches with some scenes from pioneer life. A change has come over the spirit of the scene. The council fires of the red men have gone out. Their rude cabins have been reduced to ashes, the pale face has triumphed and is in possession of the country. Scattered about are round log cabins with mud and stick chimneys. The adjoining cornfields abound in deadened trees. These primitive tene- ments were inhabited by pioneers, brave, en- terprising and thrifty.

AMUSEMENTS OF THE PIONEERS.

When young men were together they amused themselves by running foot races, wrestling, over and under jumping with or without a pole and various other feats vi strength and agility. Their habits invig- orated their systems, expanded their lungs. increased their muscular power and fitted them for bodily endurance. Bodily strength and activity were highly appreciated. The man who could fight severely, endure a great deal of punishment and come off vic- torions was a man of note and had much influence among his admirers.

WHO WERE THE SOLDIERS IN THAT DAY ?

Every able-bodied man between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years was a soldier. There was a strictly enforced militia system, with company and battalion, and regimental musters, with court martials. courts of inquiry and courts of appeal. . \11 the men bearing arms in those days in the county formed one regiment.

TIIE OLD-TIME MUSTER AT OLD TOWN,

A. D. 1806.

Now we have a regimental muster at Old Town. A hardy, rough-looking set of men they are, common dress, blue linsey hunting shirt, secured with a leather belt and buckle, buckskin pants and tow linen shirt and weel hats. These men have been marching and counter marching, wheeling by platoons, sections and companies, hand- ling, shouldering and presenting their fire- locks and fixing and charging bayonets in a pickwickian sense. Now the muster is o'er and the men are dismissed. They are employing themselves in various ways; Some of them are shooting at a mark. others are engaged in a wrestling match for a pint of whiskey.

Observe that fine looking man, six feet two inches high. He is as well formed as Apollo, combining strength and activity in great perfection. He is fair skinned, blue eyed. with light auburn hair and sanguine temperament. That is the noted fistic cham- pion. Ben Kizer. He is one of a family of twelve children, all boys. His brothers are stout, resolute men, but he is the stoutest of all. Notice his firm step, confident look and manly bearing. He is as full of fight as a game cock. He engages in a fight just as eagerly as a hungry man eats his dinner. Every man he whips adds one more sprig to his pugilistic laurels. He estimates suc- cess as highly as a prize formerly won in Olympic games. He has had so many fights and come off victorious that it is a hard matter to find a customer. He has been known to pretend at a mere nothing, and knock down a man who would not fight, merely to keep his hand in practice. He was

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like Mike Fink, a boatman, who lamented while floating down the Ohio that he had not had a fight in a month, and it seemed like an eternity to him, and that if he did not have one soon he would have to be "kivered" up in salt to keep him from spoiling.

Kizer has heard of one Aaron Beall, a powerful man, a foeman worthy of his fists. and has made up his mind to whip him at the first chance; and that is his principal business at Old Town to-day. Beall is of a hardy race, a long bodied man, six feet high, straight as an Indian, round shoul- dered. with large limbs and muscles like whip cord, weight two hundred and fifteen or two hundred and twenty pounds. His muscles are so indurated and his flesh so firm that comparatively he is insensible to pain. He has florid complexion, sanguine temperament, built for ponderous strength more than activity, with firmness and un- flinching combativeness. When about to engage in a fight he is calm and deliberate, with a smile on his countenance, but notice those pale lips and gleaming eyes. That smile is more ominous than blustering wrath. The two champions are standing some ten yards apart. Kizer begins with a banter that he could outrun Beall. The latter did not run himself, but he had a brother that could run. In those days it was a common boast for one to say that he hart the fastest horse, the best rifle. the ugliest dog and the prettiest sister. The bantering in the present case was ended by Kizer asserting that he could whip Beall. There- upon they ran at each other and came in collision. In the shock Beall went down beneath the gallant "Ben." Now there is tremendous excitement. a wild uproar among the men and a tumultuous rush is

made for the combatants, a ring is formed around them, the spirit of combativeness is powerfully excited; hunting shirts are thrown off, and the shirt sleeves of many brawny arms hastily rolled up. Kizer ap- pears to have the most friends. They cheer him boisterously: "Hurrah. Ben, that's right, give it to him, whip him till his hide won't hold shucks! Gouge him!" Col. James Collier was sitting on his horse out- side of the circle. Sherift Maxwell rushed into the ring to part them, when he received a blow on the head from the butt of a loade.l whip which made the blood spurt. He ran stooping across the arena, butted the ring and fell under Mr. Collier's horse, his head bleeding profusely. It was never known to a certainty who struck that blow. but there were good reasons for supposing that Amos Durreugh, who built the first jail in Xenia, was the man. In the meantime sullen sounds, thump. thump, thump, coull be dis- tinetly heard above the din and confusion. These were made by Beall's fists playing like a trip-hammer against Kizer's sides. At length some of his friends stopped to ex- amine more closely. Sure enough Kizer was not fighting any; they tore him away; he was exhausted and speechless. He was laid upon one of the temporary tables that had been used for selling refreshments, and efforts made to resusitate him, which were successful after a quantity of blood had been discharged from his mouth and throat. In the meantime the combativeness of Beall had been excited to the highest pitch, his blood thoroughly heated, his great power of wrath awful. He demanded in a loud voice : "Has this man no friends on the ground?" He was responded to by one of the Kizer family, who commenced a conflict with him with resolution and vigor. but was soon

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History of Greene County, Ohio, Part 22

Author: Robinson, George F., 1838-1901 Publication date: 1902 Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke Publishing Company Number of Pages: 934

Author: Robinson, George F., 1838-1901
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 934