USA > Ohio > Guernsey County > History of Guernsey County, Ohio, Volume I > Part 36
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AN INDIAN WEDDING.
Alexander McCracken, when a young man, once was the witness of an Indiana wedding, at which several fiery "bucks" were united in wedlock with an equal number of befeathered "squaws." The Indian chief, "White Eyes," so named because of the peculiar color of his eyes, went through a tremendous ceremony of gibberish, to which the painted "children of nature" listened with rapt attention. At the end of the ceremony, he repeated the following rather neat couplet :
"By the power and by the laws I marry these Indians to these squaws, Over the hills and through the levels Salute your brides, you ugly devils."
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EARLY WHISKEY-DOG TRIAL.
The following is from the pen of the author, as published a few years since in the Cambridge Timess
"Your occasional correspondent, H. C. Black, of Freeport, is perhaps our age. Judging from his name, Henry Clay, he was born about the time of the great Clay and Jackson campaign of 1828. His father, Joseph Black. Esq., was one of the early Whigs of Guernsey county. We remember well when he lived in a double cabin north of Cambridge, Ohio, on land now owned by Col. J. D. Taylor. There had been in early days a 'still house' near the cabin. It may be that H. C. B. has some unwritten history of that day. Old John Sarchet was the original proprietor of the three four-acre lots on North Eighth street, Cambridge, Ohio, now owned by the Rev. Dr. McFarland, O. M. Hoge and John M. Ogier. On the Hoge lot he had a 'still house,' for making whiskey, using the water of the now famous spring that has afforded water in abundance for many purposes in Cambridge, and perhaps in the whiskey-making days this water was not spared in giving the rye and corn whiskey a 'bead.'
"John Sarchet built a two-room log cabin near the 'still house.' In the cabin lived old Robert Bell and his family. The head of this family is buried in the old graveyard, aged one hundred and seven years. William Ferguson, the grandfather of the Fergusons of Cambridge of today, boarded with the Bell family. They were connected by marriage relations. Ferguson managed the still house for John Sarchet. Some years after John Sarchet left Cam- bridge, the lots were sold, and the 'still house' lot came into the possession of Wyatt Hutchison. At that time, the still house had been abandoned. Wyatt Hutchison's sister, Catherine, with the daughters of a brother, John Hutchi- son, occupied the cabin. The spring and cabin came to be called 'Kittie Hutch- ison's.' She had a sort of half-wolf dog, that would bounce out into the road, and sometimes nip footmen and horses. Old 'Jim' Jenkins, a shoe- maker, who lived on the Guernsey bridge, on Wills creek, came into town one ยท day to get family supplies and leather, riding an old family horse. When ready to start home, late in the evening, he had his leather tied behind the saddle, and the family supplies in one end of a three-bushel sack, and a gallon jug of whiskey in the other for an 'evener.' This sack was thrown over the saddle. Jenkins was usually 'full' when he started for home, and this time he 'just had plenty.' He mounted his old nag and started for home. On passing Kitty Hutchison's the dog bounced out and scared the old nag. He jumped to one side, and the roll of leather flapped, and he jumped again,
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and off went Jenkins and the sack. In the midst of a good deal of swearing, he gathered himself up out of the wreck, and examining the sack found that the jug was broken and the whiskey gone. This raised his Irish ire to a white heat and he vowed to kill the dog. He selected a good shillalah from the wood pile nearby and, opening the gate, entered the yard. The dog made at him, and he gave it a whack that sent it howling into the house, which alarmed the inmates. Jenkins proceeded to follow on his errand of death. He was met at the door by old John Hutchison, with the 'pokin' stick,' a stick used in cabins to move the logs of wood in the fireplace. The old man was prepared to defend his castle. Jenkins struck at Hutchison in his ire, which old John resented by giving Jenkins a crack over the head. Jenkins re- treated to the road, and a war of words was entered into by both men and women. Jenkins finally gathered up his wreck sack and followed after his nag, which was making its way home. This occurred on Saturday night. Early on Monday morning Jenkins appeared before 'Squire W. W. Tracy, and caused the issuing of a writ for assault and battery and damages. When the day of trial came the Hutchisons swore out a writ of assault and trespass. What was the result, we don't now remember, but this was one of the noted dog-and-whisky trials in the early history of Cambridge."
COUNTY'S PIONEERS (NO. I). (Herald, November 12, 1902.)
The early Guernsey emigrants had a two months' voyage on the ocean, in a frail bark, and a land journey of almost two months, before they reached their goal, not to rest, but to enter into a new and laborious work, to trans- form the wilderness into places of habitation.
Their ocean voyage was one full of perils. Their frail bark, called the "Eliza," was not fitted for the ocean service, and its captain, William Mc- Crindell, was a distant relative of the Guernsey families who were on board. He was a son-in-law of Peter Sarchet, who settled in Cambridge in 1818, and purchased a large body of land east of the town, on which is now lo- cated the Cambridge Pottery, tin mill, glass works, Improvement Company's addition and the Rue de Sarchet addition to the city of Cambridge. His name will be found in the old records of the county, connected with the Peter Sar- chet estate.
During the voyage, the ship was becalmed for eight days in midocean. There was neither wind nor wave. The sails were tacked in every direction
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to catch the least breeze, but none came. In the midst of the calm the captain kept beastly drunk. The calm was followed by a terrible storm, lasting for many days and nights. The drunken captain rode the bridge, in his drunken and delirious condition, and the ship was being drifted at the mercy of the waves far out of its proper course. A meeting of the crew and emigrants was called in the forecastle. It was decided to ask the captain to give up the command of the ship. This he would not do, and all the while the ship was being drifted farther from its course. A second meeting was called, and it was decided to catch and handcuff him, and chain him in his cabin. This was done, and it was decided that John Sarchet and the mate should take charge of the ship. John Sarchet had had some experience as a sailor, and the two, acting in concert, succeeded in safely riding the storm, and after many days cast anchor at Norfolk, Virginia. At Norfolk the captain was set at liberty, and the ship sailed up the Chesapeake bay, for Baltimore, Maryland, which was the objective point of the voyage. At Baltimore preparations for the land journey were made. Horses and wagons and provisions were pro- cured, and at midday they passed up Howard street, on the 14th of June, 1806, the sun being in total eclipse and the town in partial darkness, lamps lighted on the streets and candles burning in the houses and places of business. For the first two hundred miles they traveled the "Old Braddock" road, engineered by Col. George Washington, and later known as the National road. As they were passing through the Alleghany mountains, they came upon a waif, a girl fourteen or fifteen years old, sitting by the roadside, crying. She gave her name as Betty Pallet, and said she had no home or relations, and that she had run away from a Catholic school somewhere in Pennsylvania. They took pity on the homeless girl, and brought her with them to Cambridge.
After crossing the Ohio river, they went into camp in the Wheeling creek bottom. Thus far the journey had been one of almost continuous rains and storms, impeding their progress by washouts on the road and by large trees being blown into and over the road. Few, if any, wagons had passed on that line as far as the Ohio river. Most of the travel was by way of Pitts- burg, and down the Ohio by boats, and west from the river by pack-horses. They were rejoiced to see the sun shining once more. Now, amid the sun- shine, the women began to wash their soiled clothing. If there was any one thing that a Guernsey woman despised more than another it was dirt. They opened their boxes and dried and aired the contents. They seemed to feel that a new life was before them, and they sang around their campfires the melodies of their far-away island home. The men and boys of the party
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assisted the farmers on the Wheeling creek valley to dry out their damaged wheat and get it into ricks and to harvest their oats, much of which had to be cut with a sickle. From the creek valley Thomas Sarchet, on horseback, followed the Zane Trace west as far as Chillicothe. On his return to the camp, preparation was made for their further journey. Their horses were well rested, and had fared finely on the wild pea vines and the rich wild grasses of the valley. When all was in readiness for the start, the horses soon showed that they would rather browse on the Wheeling creek bottoms than haul wagons. In order to get up Wheeling hill, they had to hire an extra team to help. Late at night they reached Newell's tavern, at Newells- town, now St. Clairsville. It was then raining, and had been for a good part of the afternoon. The next day it rained all day, and they remained at the tavern. That day an extra team of four horses and wagon was hired. The loads were adjusted the next morning, and a start made. Along in the after- noon a fearful storm came on, thunder and lightning and wind sweeping through the forest, felling trees, which hedged up the road in many places, washing out the ravines and runs so that log bridges had to be made to fill them up. The two Stillwater creeks had risen too high for fording, and they were compelled to lay by a day until they receded. They had left Wheeling creek bottom early on Monday, and it was late on Saturday after- noon when they drove down the Zane Trace, which was north of the original town plat of Cambridge, and went into camp on now North Fifth street. and some distance north of Steubenville avenue.
COUNTY'S PIONEERS (NO. 2). (Herald, November 19, 1902.)
Early on Sunday morning, John Beatty, Jacob Gomber and Grayham, who lived in the cabins at the crossing of the Zane Trace over Wills creek, were surprised to see smoke rising up through the forest on the north. There were at that time but two houses erected on the town plat, both hewed log houses, located on Main street, now Wheeling avenue. The John Beatty house was located where the Cambridge wholesale grocery is located, and the Judge Metcalf house, afterward the noted tavern, was located where now is the Stoner block. It was then in an unfinished state. It was the custom of the Guernsey settlers to rest on Sunday. The three men, Beatty, Gomber and Grayham, at once visited the camp, and were surprised to see these strange looking and strangely dressed people, composed in all of men, women and children to the number of twenty-six. The women, with short dresses and
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short gowns, belted around the waist, with large frilled caps on their heads, were busy about the campfire, preparing their frugal morning meal. The horses were hobbled, and browsing among the bushes, and the men, with smock frocks, short breeches, to which were attached long stockings, with heavy shoes, and white, broad-brimmed wool hats, were moving about the wagons talking a strange language. John Sarchet was the most fluent with the English tongue, and made the visitors to understand that they were Norman-French, from the island of Guernsey, in Europe, seeking homes in the new country. On this day of rest and sunshine, August 15, 1806, they sang hymns of thanksgiving and rejoicing, written and compiled by Jean De Caueteville, of the Wesleyan Methodist church. The French hymn book of Thomas Sarchet the writer has in his possession, published in 1785, having on the preface the endorsement of John Wesley.
On this Sabbath day, for the first time the strains of a Methodist hymn echoed through the wilderness at Cambridge, Ohio. During the day, the three resident families of the town visited the camp of those strange looking emigrants. The writer heard some of them say in after years how strange they were in look, dress and language. These early first settlers had spent two years almost entirely isolated from the world. They were rejoiced to see the Guernsey people, the first who had come to Cambridge since their settlement in it, and the Guernsey people were pleased to find these strangers so friendly.
Before night, the Guernsey people looked upon a stranger people than they, the Indians, and soon were daily visited by the Indian women, carrying their papooses tied to a board, and swung on their backs.
On Monday morning the women decided that they would wash their clothing. Their camp was near the now Lofland run, and between two large flowing springs. In the afternoon, after the washing was done, the camp was again visited by the women and children of the resident families of the town, who used all the persuasive power that their language permitted in urging the women to stop and settle in the new town. After their call at the camp, the women held the first woman's rights convention perhaps in the state of Ohio, and decided that they would go no further west. In the mean- time, the men were looking about the staked-off town and the out-lots. Only the main street, Wheeling avenue, had the underbrush cut out of it. When they returned to the camp, the women reported their action. The men pro- tested, but their protest was of no avail. When a Guernsey woman puts her foot down, it is there. The dye was cast and Cambridge was to be the Guernsey town, and the name of Guernsey county was to perpetuate their memory.
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They at once began to select lots and out-lots. Peter Sarchet chose the two lots west of the public square, on West Eighth street, fronting on Main; Thomas Sarchet chose two lots east and west of North Seventh street, front- ing on Main; Jolin Sarchet chose the lot opposite, now the Carnes corner ; Peter Sarchet chose out-lot No. 6, now the Judge Campbell addition to the city ; Thomas Sarchet chose six out-lots on North Tenth street, now the old Orchard, McCollum and Meredith's addition to the city; John Sarchet chose three out-lots on North Eighth street, now the McFarland, Bond & Company and Ogier additions to the city. Two of Thomas Sarchet's out-lots and one of John's were, as soon as cleared, planted in apple trees, brought on horse- back from the Putnam nursery at Marietta. These orchards were the first at Cambridge, and included varieties rarely seen at this day, Putnam Russets, Rhode Island Greenings, English Pearmain, Old Blue Streak, Golden Pippin, Pomme Royal, English Belleflower, Newtown Pippin and others.
The next thing was to provide shelter for the coming winter. They con- tinued in the camp, to which was added a brush tent, until the first cabin was erected. This was built on the northeast corner of the west lot on Seventh street, now the Carnes' livery stable corner. As soon as it was erected, before it had either floor, door or chimney, they moved from the camp up to it. In it were stored their boxes, chests and utensils, which were sparse. Near the cabin, where the trees were cut, the brush was piled, and the women raked up the leaves and burned the brush, and in the cleared space they raked and dug in turnip seed. The turnips grew large and afforded all of the vegetables they had during the winter. I have heard my uncles and aunts tell how they sat around the big wood fire in the long winter nights, and scraped turnips, and listened to the fierce winds sweeping through the trees, while packs of wolves howled around the cabin. The second cabin was erected on the southeast corner of the now old Orchard addition to the city.
While engaged in erecting this cabin, on the day of the "raising." in the afternoon, Betty Pallet was left at the first cabin in charge of the children. All hands, men, women and children, who could lift or push at a log, were needed at the cabin raising. In the evening, when they returned to the first cabin, they found that some person had been rummaging in the chests and boxes, and from one of the chests a sack of gold coin was missing. Betty was questioned. She denied having opened or searched the chests or boxes, or of anyone being about the cabin, or that she had left the cabin. A theft had evidently been committed, but by whom was yet to be found out. You may bet there was a "hot old time" in the Guernsey camp that night.
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COUNTY'S PIONEERS (NO. 3).
(Herald, November 26, 1902.)
Suspicion rested on Betty. She was guarded during the night. In the morning search was made everywhere, in and out of the cabin, and around the stumps, logs and roots or trees, but the sack of coin could not be found. Word was sent to John Beatty and Jacob Gomber, who came to the camp, and with them some men they had in their employ. Of these were George Philips and Isaac Oldham. A statement was made of the loss of the coin, and as Guernseymen could not in English fully cross-examine Betty, she was turned over to Beatty and Gomber to pass through the "sweat box." During this examination Betty again protested her innocence, and that she knew noth- ing of the sack of coin. Some one on going for water found the sack of coin sunk in the spring. This spring is located on the northeast corner of Peter Dennis's lot on North Fifth street. When the sack was brought to the cabin, Betty still denied knowing anything about it, or of how it got into the spring. A statement was made that Betty had in the afternoon done an unusual thing ; she had carried from the spring enough water for all purposes, so that no one would have to get water for use about the supper or cabin that night. After further questioning, Betty confessed that she had taken the sack to the spring, and intended to go to it during the night, and make off with it through the wood. Where she intended to get to she never divulged. Now came the question of what to do with Betty. There was no township organization at Cambridge, nor justice of the peace nearer than Zanesville. Muskingum county had just been formed, and had no jail or place for imprisonment. John Beatty and Jacob Gomber, acting as a court, decided that Beatty, having betrayed the trust committed to her by those who had befriended her and provided protection in a time of need, should be whipped and driven out of the camp and town. This action was taken from the fact that but a short time before, two men, taken as counterfeiters, were publicly whipped at Zanesville by George Beymer, sheriff, one receiving twenty-five lashes and the other thirty-nine lashes, on their bare backs, well laid on. Peter Sarchet was appointed to do the whipping, on Betty's bare back, which he did with a hickory rod, and Betty was started out into the wilderness just at nightfall, like Hagar, "from the faces of those who had dealt heavily with her." She was never heard of afterward, but it was supposed that she made her way along the Zane Trace to a Catholic settlement located in what is now Perry county. Ohio. I was seated at the bedside of a dying uncle, who was twelve years old at the time of the whipping and witnessed it. He turned over in the
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bed and said: "I do wonder what became of little Betty Pallet." I re- marked, "Who was Betty Pallet." Then he related the story as above, and of Betty being found wandering in the mountains. Is it any wonder that that old Christian man, eighty-four years old, who died the next day, should turn back in thought to that boyhood scene in the wilderness, seeing Betty's bare back, the welts and the blood? Certainly it seemed to him barbarous and in- human treatment, as it would to us, yet such treatment was lawful punish- ment for crime in those days of Ohio. Judge William Wilson, of Licking county, who was the first judge of the common pleas court of Guernsey county, was known throughout his district as the "whipping judge." Whip- ping posts were erected in every county. On the southwest corner of the public square, the whipping post of Guernsey county was erected, and was standing within the memory of the writer, used as a horse rack. After the formation of Guernsey county, Samuel Timmons, who was convicted on two counts of "uttering base coin," was tied to the post and publicly whipped on the bare back, thirty-nine lashes well laid on, on two different days, by order of Judge William Wilson.
Game of all kinds was plentiful, and could be had from the Indians in exchange for powder, tobacco and "whis." Beal laws were not yet. These settlers had procured guns, and the boys soon became expert hunters and could tell in after years of bringing down the bears, deer and turkeys. One of the guns was a long-barrel rifle, with a flint lock, that would carry an ounce ball. This gun was later the property of an old uncle. It was historic, hav- ing passed through the war of 1812, and the writer carried it to the front when Governor Tod called out the "squirrel rifle men," to check the rebel Gen. Kirby Smith, on his raid to invade Cincinnati.
There was an abundance of wild grapes, crab apples, plums and papaws, which afforded some luxuries, but sugar was a luxury almost beyond price. and the grapes, crab apples and plums were only brought out upon great occasions. Thomas and John Sarchet made trips to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, with pack horses, carrying back all needed supplies such as flour, that was gotten at a mill on Yellow creek in Jefferson county, Ohio, salt, coffee, tea, etc., as also iron and steel to be worked up into axes, mattocks, hoes and nails. John Sarchet was a blacksmith. Peter Sarchet was a carpenter, and dressed the puncheon floors, made the clap-board doors, with wooden hinges, door latches, which answered the double purpose of latch and lock. The latch string out, by pulling gave entrance; latch string in, locked the door. In the cabins were the corner dressers, where the women displayed their silver, pewter and brass plate, pots and kettles. In the first cabin, the families of
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Thomas and John Sarchet, in all fourteen, passed the first winter. In the second cabin, the families of Peter Sarchet and Daniel Ferbrache, in all twelve. My uncles have told me that the beds were three stories high, made of poles set up in the corners, and that some nights the covering of snow kept those in the upper tier warm, and that it was hard to tell where there was the most snow, out of doors or in the cabin.
COUNTY'S PIONEERS (NO. 4).
During the winter and spring, preparation was made for the erection of larger and better houses. The logs were all hewed and hauled to the sites. Stone was hauled for the foundations, so that by the last of June they were ready to commence the buildings.
The second colony came on in the latter part of June, 1807. Howe, in his "History of Ohio," gives the coming of the Guernsey settlers all in June, 1806, and that when they arrived at Cambridge, it was the day of a public sale of lots. That is not correct history. It was the coming of the second colony that gave rise to that story. There never was a public sale of lots. The first deeds made to any one of lots in Cambridge were to the Guernsey settlers, and they are dated September 9, 1807, and are acknowledged before Hans Morrison, who was a justice of the peace at Westbourne, now Zanes- ville, Muskingum county, Ohio, and are of record in Muskingum county, and by transfer of record, in Guernsey county, after its formation.
The first house to be built was that of Thomas Sarchet, a large two-and- a-half-story house, corner of Main and Pine streets, now Seventh and Wheel- ing avenue. Later there was an L frame attached to it, fronting on Seventh street. The history of this house, which was torn away at different times, I have heretofore given. It stood for three-quarters of a century, a land- mark of pioneer days, and its history, if fully completed, would be a history of Cambridge, from the wilderness to city full. Its place is taken by the Mathews, Clark and Broom business blocks. This old corner was always a business corner. The old house represents the first house in Cambridge, opened in 1808. The next was the John Sarchet house, on the opposite side of Main street, a one-story hewed log house. This house was also a land- mark for many years, and was made notable as the restaurant of Isaac Nis- wander, as notable in its day to Cambridge as Delmonico's to New York City. John Sarchet later built a brick house on the west corner, one among the first built in Cambridge. These two houses were his residences until he removed to Philadelphia in the early twenties. After his removal to Phila-
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