History of Knox County, Ohio, its past and present, Part 20

Author: Hill, N. N. (Norman Newell), comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A.A. & Co., Mt. Vernon, Ohio
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Mt. Vernon, Ohio : A. A. Graham & Co.
Number of Pages: 1096

USA > Ohio > Knox County > History of Knox County, Ohio, its past and present > Part 20

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* Recollections of Col. Hillman .- Howe's Annals.

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As the people became acclimated, this, however, disappeared.

The township of Sharon in this county has a history similar to that of Granville Township in Licking County. It was settled by a "Scioto Company," formed in Granby, Conn., in the winter of 1801-02, consisting at first of eight associates They drew up articles of association, among which was one limiting their number to forty, each of whom inust be unanimously chosen by ballot, a single negative being sufficient to prevent an election. Col. James Kilbourne was sent out the succeeding spring to explore the country and select and pur- chase a township for settlement. He returned in the fall without making any purchase, through fear that the State Constitution, then about to be formed, would tolerate slavery, in which case the project would have been abandoned. While on this visit, Col. Kilbourne compiled from a variety of sources the first map made of Ohio. Although much of it was conjectured, and hence inaccurate, it was very valuable, being correct as far as the State was then known.

"As soon as information was received that the constitution of Ohio prohibited slavery, Col. Kil- bourne purchased the township he had previously selected, within the United States military land district, and, in the spring of 1803, returned to Ohio, and began improvements. By the succeed- ing December, one hundred settlers, mainly from Hartford County, Conn., and Hampshire County, Mass., arrived at their new home. Obeying to the letter the agreement made in the East, the first cabin erected was used for a schoolhouse and a church of the Protestant Episcopal denomination ; the first Sabbath after the arrival of the colony, divine service was held therein, and on the arrival of the eleventh family a school was opened. This early attention to education and religion has left its favorable impress upon the people until this day. The first 4th of July was uniquely and appropri- ately celebrated. Seventeen gigantic trees, em- blematical of the seventeen States forming the Union, were cut, so that a few blows of the ax, at sunrise on the 4th, prostrated each successively with a tremendous crash, forming a national salute novel in the world's history."*

The growth of this part of Ohio continued without interruption until the establishment of the State capital at Columbus, in 1816. The town was laid out in 1812, but, as that date is considered re-

mote in the early American settlements, its history will be left to succeeding pages, and there traced when the history of the State capital and State government is given.

The site of Zanesville, in Muskingum County, was early looked upon as an excellent place to form a settlement, and, had not hostilities- opened in 1791, with the Indians, the place would have been one of the earliest settled in Ohio. As it was, the war so disarranged matters, that it was not till 1797 that a permanent settlement was effected.

The Muskingum country was principally. occu- pied, in aboriginal times, by the Wyandots,. Dela- wares, and a few Senecas and Shawanees. An In- dian town once stood, years before the settlement of the country, in the vicinity of Duncan's Falls, in Muskingum County, from which circumstance the place is often called "Old Town." Near Dres- den, was a large Shawanee town, called Wakato- maca. The graveyard was quite large, and, when the whites first settled here, remains of the town were abundant. It was in this vicinity that the venerable Maj. Cass, father of Lewis Cass, lived and died. He owned 4,000 acres, given him for his military services.

The first settlers on the site of Zanesville were William McCulloh and Henry Crooks. The lo- cality was given to Ebenezer Zane, who had been allowed three sections of land on the Scioto, Mus- kingum and Hockhocking, wherever the road crossed these rivers, provided other prior claims did not interfere, for opening "Zane's trace." When he located the road across the Muskingum, he selected the place where Zanesville now stands, being attracted there by the excellent water privi- leges. He gave the section of land here to his brother Jonathan Zane, and J. McIntire, who leased the ferry, established on the road over the Muskingum, to William McCulloh and Henry Crooks, who became thereby the first settlers. The ferry was kept about where the old upper bridge was afterward placed. The ferry-boat was made by fastening two canoes together with a stick. Soon after a flat-boat was used. It was brought from Wheeling, by Mr. McIntire, in 1797, the year after the ferry was established. The road cut out through Ohio, ran from Wheeling, Va., to Maysville, Ky. Over this road the mail was car- ried, and, in 1798, the first mail ever carried wholly in Ohio was brought up from Marietta to McCulloh's cabin by Daniel Convers, where, by arrangement of the Postmaster General, it met a mail from Wheeling and one from Maysville.

*Howe's Collections.

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McCulloh, who could hardly read, was authorized to assort the mails and send each package in its proper direction. For this service he received $30 per annum ; but owing to his inability to read well, Mr. Convers generally performed the duty. At that time, the mails met here once a week. Four years after, the settlement had so increased that a regular post office was opened, and Thomas Dowden appointed Postmaster. He kept his office in a wooden building near the river bank.

Messrs. Zane and McIntire laid out a town in 1799, which they called Westbourn. When the post office was established, it was named Zanesville, and in a short time the village took the same name. A few families settled on the west side of the river, soon after McCulloh arrived, and as this locality grew well, not long after a store and tavern was opened here. Mr. McIntire built a double log cabin, which was used as a hotel, and in which Louis Philippe, King of France, was once enter- tained. Although the fare and accommodations were of the pioneer period, the honorable guest seems to have enjoyed his visit, if the statements of Lewis Cass in his " Camp and Court of Louis Philippe" may be believed.

In 1804, Muskingum County was formed by the Legislature, and, for a while,strenuous efforts made to secure the State capital by the citizens of Zanes- ville. They even erected buildings for the use of the Legislature and Governor, and during the ses- sion of 1810-11, the temporary seat of govern- ment was fixed here. When the permanent State capital was chosen in 1816, Zanesville was passed by, and gave up the hope. It is now one of the most enterprising towns in the Muskingum Valley.

During the summer of 1797, John Knoop, then living four miles above Cincinnati, made several expeditions up the Miami Valley and selected the land on which he afterward located. The next spring Mr. Knoop, his brother Benjamin, Henry Garard, Benjamin Hamlet and John Tildus estab- lished a station in what is now Miami County, near the present town of Staunton Village. That sum- mer, Mrs. Knoop planted the first apple-tree in the Miami * country. They all lived together for greater safety for two years, during which time they were occupied clearing their farms and erect- ing dwellings. During the summer, the site of Piqua was settled, and three young men located at a place known as " Freeman's Prairie." Those who

* The word Miami in the Indian tongue signified mother. The Miamis were the original owners of the valley by that name, and affirmed they were created there.

settled at Piqua were Samuel Hilliard, Job Garard, Shadrac Hudson, Jonah Rollins, Daniel Cox, Thomas Rich, and a Mr. Hunter. The last named came to the site of Piqua first in 1797, and selected his home. Until 1799, these named were the only ones in this locality ; but that year emi- gration set in, and very shortly occupied almost all the bottom land in Miami County. With the increase of emigration, came the comforts of life, and mills, stores and other necessary aids to civil- ization, were ere long to be seen.

The site of Piqua is quite historic, being the theater of many important Indian occurrences, and the old home of the Shawanees, of which tribe Tecumseh was a chief. During the Indian war, a fort called Fort Piqua was built, near the residence of Col. John Johnston, so long the faith- ful Indian Agent. The fort was abandoned at the close of hostilities.

When the Miami Canal was opened through this part of the State, the country began rapidly to improve, and is now probably one of the best por- tions of Ohio.

About the same time the Miami was settled, a company of people from Pennsylvania and Vir- ginia, who were principally of German and Irish descent, located in Lawrence County, near the iron region. As soon as that ore was made available, that part of the State rapidly filled with settlers, most of whom engaged in the mining and working of iron ore. Now it is very prosperous.

Another settlement was made the same season, 1797, on the Ohio side of the river, in Columbiana County. The settlement progressed slowly for a while, owing to a few difficulties with the Indians. The celebrated Adam Poe had been here as early as 1782, and several localities are made locally famous by his and his brother's adventures.

In this county, on Little Beaver Creek, near its mouth, the second paper-mill west of the Alle- ghanies was erected in 1805-6. It was the pioneer enterprise of the kind in Ohio, and was named the Ohio Paper-Mill. Its proprietors were John Bever and John Coulter.

One of the most noted localities in the State is comprised in Greene County. The Shawanee town, " Old Chillicothe," was on the Little Miami, in this county, about three miles north of the site of Xenia. This old Indian town was, in the an- nals of the West, a noted place, and is frequently noticed. It is first mentioned in 1773, by Capt. Thomas Bullitt, of Virginia, who boldly advanced alone into the town and obtained the' consent of

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HISTORY OF OHIO.

the Indians to go on to Kentucky and make his pal chief of that tribe. Another portion of the settlement at the falls of the Ohio. His audacious bravery gained his request. Daniel Boone was taken prisoner early in 1778, with twenty-seven others, and kept for a time at Old Chillicothe. Through the influence of the British Governor, Hamilton, who had taken a great fancy to Boone, he and ten others were sent to Detroit. The In- dians, however, had an equal fancy for the brave frontiersman, and took him back to Chillicothe, and adopted him into their tribe. About the 1st of June he escaped from them, and made his way back to Kentucky, in time to prevent a universal massacre of the whites. In July, 1779, the town was destroyed by Col. John Bowman and one hundred and sixty Kentuckians, and the Indians dispersed.

The Americans made a permanent settlement in this county in 1797 or 1798. This latter year, a mill was ereeted in the confines of the county, which implies the settlement was made a short time previously. A short distance east of the mill two block-houses were erected, and it was in- tended, should it become necessary, to surround them and the mill with pickets. The mill was used by the settlers at " Dutch Station," in Miami County, fully thirty miles distant. The richness of the country in this part of the State attracted a great number of settlers, so that by 1803 the county was established, and Xenia laid out, and des- ignated as the county seat. Its first court house, a primitive log structure, was long preserved as a curiosity. It would indeed be a curiosity now.

Zane's trace, passing from Wheeling to Mays- ville, crossed the Hockhocking* River, in Fairfield County, where Lancaster is now built. Mr. Zane located one of his three sections on this river, covering the site of Lancaster. Following this trace in 1797, many individuals noted the desira- bleness of the locality, some of whom determined to return and settle. "The site of the city had in former times been the home of the Wyandots, who had a town here, that, in 1790, contained over 500 wigwams and more than 1,000 souls. Their town was called Tarhee, or, in English, the Crane-town, and derived its name from the princi-

* The word Hock-hock-ing in the Delaware language signifies a bottle : the Shawanees have it Wen-tha-kagh-qua sepe, ie ; bottle river. John White in the American Pioneer says: "Abont seven miles north west of Lancaster, there is a fall in the Hockhocking of about twenty feet. Above the fall for a short distance, the creek is very narrow and straight forming a neck, while at the falls it suddenly widens on each side and swells into the appearance of the body of a bottle. The whole, when seen from above, appears exactly in the shape of a bottle, and from this fact the Indians called the river Hock-hock-ing."-Howe's Collections.

tribe then lived at Toby-town, nine miles west of Tarhe-town (now Royaltown), and was governed by an inferior chief called Toby. The chief's wig- wam in Tarhe stood on the bank of the prairie, near a beautiful and abundant spring of water, whose outlet was the river. The wigwams of the Indians were built of the bark of trees, set on poles, in the form of a sugar camp, with one square open, fronting a fire, and about the height of a man. The Wyandot tribe that day numbered about 500 warriors. By the treaty of Greenville, they ceded all their territory, and the majority, un- der their chief, removed to Upper Sandusky. The remainder lingered awhile, loath to leave the home of their ancestors, but as game became scarce, they, too, left for better hunting-grounds."*

In April, 1798, Capt. Joseph Hunter, a bold, enterprising man, settled on Zane's trace, on the bank of the prairie, west of the crossings, at a place since known as "Hunter's settlement." For a time, he had no neighbors nearer than the set- tlers on the Muskingum and Scioto Rivers. He lived to see the country he had found a wilderness, full of the homes of industry. His wife was the first white woman that settled in the valley, and shared with him all the privations of a pioneer life.

Mr. Hunter had not been long in the valley till he was joined by Nathaniel Wilson, John and Al- len Green, John and Joseph MeMullen, Robert Cooper, Isaac Shaefer, and a few others, who erected cabins and planted corn. The next year, the tide of emigration came in with great force. In the spring, two settlements were made in Green- field Township, each settlement containing twenty or more families. One was called the Forks of the Hockhocking, the other, Yankeetown. Set- tlements were also made along the river below Hunter's, on Rush Creek, Raccoon and Indian Creeks, Pleasant Run, Felter's Run, at Tobeytown, Muddy Prairie, and on Clear Creek. In the fall, -1799-Joseph Loveland and Hezekiah Smith built a log grist-mill at the Upper Falls of the Hockhocking, afterward known as Rock Mill. This was the first mill on this river. In the latter part of the year, a mail route was established over the trace. The mail was carried through on horse- back, and, in the settlements in this locality, was left at the cabin of Samuel Coates, who lived on the prairie at the crossings of the river.

* Lecture of George Sanderson .- Howe's Collections.

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HISTORY OF OHIO.

In the fall of the next year, Ebenezer Zane laid out Lancaster, which, until 1805, was known as New Lancaster. The lots sold very rapidly, at $50 each, and, in less than one year, quite a vil- lage appeared. December 9, the Governor and Judges of the Northwest Territory organized Fairfield County, and made Lancaster the county seat. The year following, the Rev. John Wright, a minister of the Presbyterian Church, came, and from that time on schools and churches were estab- lished and thereafter regularly maintained at this place.

Not far from Lancaster are immense mural es- carpments of sandstone formation. They were noted among the aborigines, and were, probably, used by them as places of outlook and defense.

The same summer Fairfield County was settled, the towns of Bethel and Williamsburg, in Cler- mont County, were settled and laid out, and in 1800, the county was erected.

A settlement was also made immediately south of Fairfield County, in Hocking County, by Chris- tian Westenhaver, a German, from near Hagers- town, Md. He came in the spring of 1798, and was soon joined by several families, who formed quite a settlement. The territory included in the county remained a part of Ross, Athens and Fairfield, until 1818, when Hocking County was erected, and Logan, which had been laid out in 1816, was made the county seat.

The country comprised in the county is rather broken, especially along the Hockhocking River. This broken country was a favorite resort of the Wyandot Indians, wiß could easily hide in the numerous grottoes and ravines made by the river and its affluents as the water cut its way through the sandstone rocks.

In 1798, soon after Zane's trace was cut through the country, a Mr. Graham located on the site of Cambridge, in Guernsey County. His was then the only dwelling between Wheeling and Zanes- ville, on the trace. He remained here alone about two years, when he was succeeded by George Bey- mer, from Somerset, Penn. Both these persons kept a tavern and ferry over Will's Creek. In April, 1803, Mr. Beymer was succeeded by John Beatty, who came from Loudon, Va. His family consisted of eleven persons. The Indians hunted in this vicinity, and were frequent visitors at the tavern. In June, 1806, Cambridge was laid out, and on the day the lots were offered for sale, sev- eral families from the British Isle of Guernsey, near the coast of France, stopped here on their

way to the West. They were satisfied with the location and purchased many of the lots, and some land in the vicinity. They were soon followed by other families from the same place, all of whom settling in this locality gave the name to the county when it was erected in 1810.

A settlement was made in the central part of the State, on Darby Creek, in Union County, in the summer of 1798, by James and Joshua Ewing. The next year, they were joined by Samuel and David Mitchell, Samuel Mitchell, Jr., Samuel Kirkpatrick and Samuel Mccullough, and, in 1800, by George and Samuel Reed, Robert Snodgrass and Paul Hodgson.

"James Ewing's farm was the site of an an- cient and noted Mingo town, which was deserted at the time the Mingo towns, in what is now Logan County, were destroyed by Gen. Logan, of Ken- tucky, in 1786. When Mr. Ewing took posses- sion of his farm, the cabins were still standing, and, among others, the remains of a blacksmith's shop, with coal, cinders, iron-dross, etc. Jonathan Alder, formerly a prisoner among the Indians, says the shop was carried on by a renegade white man, named Butler, who lived among the Mingoes. Extensive fields had formerly been cultivated in the vicinity of the town."*

Soon after the settlement was established, Col. James Curry located here. He was quite an influ- ential man, and, in 1820, succeeded in getting the county formed from portions of Delaware, Frank- lin, Madison and Logan, and a part of the old In- dian Territory. Marysville was made the county seat.

During the year 1789, a fort, called Fort Steu- ben, was built on the site of Steubenville, but was dismantled at the conclusion of hostilities in 1795. Three years after, Bezaleel Williams and Hon. James Ross, for whom Ross County was named, located the town of Steubenville about the old fort, and, by liberal offers of lots, soon attracted quite a number of settlers. In 1805, the town was incorporated, and then had a population of several hundred persons. Jefferson County was created by Gov. St. Clair, July 29, 1797, the year before Steubenville was laid out. It then included the large scope of country west of Pennsylvania ; east and north of a line from the mouth of the Cuyahoga ; southwardly to the Muskingum, and east to the Ohio; including, in its territories, the cities of Cleveland, Canton, Steubenville and War-

* Howe's Collections.

Me leroper

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ren. Only a short time, however, was it allowed to retain this size, as the increase in emigration rendered it necessary to erect new counties, which was rapidly done, especially on the adoption c." the State government.

The county is rich in early history, prior to its settlement by the Americans. It was the home of the celebrated Mingo chief, Logan, who resided awhile at an old Mingo town, a few miles below t. 1e site of Steubenville, the place where the troo )s under Col. Williamson rendezvoused on their i - famous raid against the Moravian Indians; ar d also where Col. Crawford and his men met, when starting on their unfortunate expedition.

In the Reserve, settlements were often made remote from populous localities, in accordance with the wish of a proprietor, who might own a tract of country twenty or thirty miles in the interior. In the present county of Geauga, three families located at Burton in 1798. They lived at a considerable distance from any other settlement for some time, and were greatly inconvenienced for the want of mills or shops. As time progressed, however, these were brought nearer, or built in their midst, and, cre long, almost all parts of the Reserve could show some settlement, even if isolated.

The next year, 1799, settlements were made at Ravenna, Deerfield and Palmyra, in Portage County. Hon. Benjamin Tappan came to the site of Ravenna in June, at which time he found one white man, a Mr. Honey, living there. At this date, a solitary log cabin occupied the sites of Buffalo and Cleveland. On his journey from New England, Mr. Tappan fell in with David Hudson, the founder of the Hudson settlement in Summit County. After many days of travel, they landed at a prairie in Summit County. Mr. Tappan left his goods in a cabin, built for the purpose, under the care of a hired man, and went on his way, cutting a road to the site of Ravenna, where his land lay. On his return for a second load of goods, they found the cabin deserted, and evidences of its plunder by the In- dians. Not long after, it was learned that the man left in charge had gone to Mr. Hudson's settle- ment, he having set out immediately on his arrival, . for his own land. Mr. Tappan gathered the re- mainder of his goods, and started back for Ravenna. On his way one of his oxen died, and he found himself in a vast forest, away from any habitation, and with one dollar in money. He did not falter a moment, but sent his hired man, a faithful fellow, to Erie, Penn., a distance of one hundred miles through the wilderness, with the compass for his

guide, requesting from Capt. Lyman, the com- mander at the fort there, a loan of money. At the same time, he followed the township lines to Youngstown, where he became acquainted with Col. James Hillman, who did not hesitate to sell him an ox on credit, at a fair price. He returned to his load in a few days, found his ox all right, hitched the two together and went on. He was soon joined by his hired man, with the money, and together they spent the winter in a log cabin. He gave his man one hundred acres of land as a reward, and paid Col. Hillman for the ox. In a year or two he had a prosperous settlement, and when the county was erected in 1807, Ravenna was made the seat of justice.

About the same time Mr. Tappan began his settlement, others were commenced in other locali- ties in this county. Early in May, 1799, Lewis Day and his son Horatio, of Granby, Conn., and Moses Tibbals and Green Frost, of Granville, Mass., left their homes in a one-horse wagon, and, the 29th of May, arrived in what is now Deerfield Township. Theirs was the first wagon that had ever penetrated farther westward in this region than Canfield. The country west of that place had been an unbroken wilderness until within a few days. Capt. Caleb Atwater, of Wallingford, Conn., had hired some men to open a road to Township No. 1, in the Seventh Range, of which he was the owner. This road passed through Deerfield, and was completed to that place when the party arrived at the point of their destination. These emigrants selected sites, and commenced clearing the land. In July, Lewis Ely arrived from Granville, and wintered here, while those who came first, and had made their improvements, returned East. The 4th of March, 1800, Alva Day (son of Lewis Day), John Campbell and Joel Thrall arrived. In April, George and Rob- ert Taylor and James Laughlin, from Pennsylvania, with their families, came. Mr. Laughlin built a grist-mill, which was of great convenience to the settlers. July 29, Lewis Day returned with his family and his brother-in-law, Maj. Rogers, who, the next year, also brought his family.

" Much suffering was experienced at first on account of the scarcity of provisions. They were chiefly supplied from the settlements east of the Ohio River, the nearest of which was Georgetown, forty miles away. The provisions were brought on pack-horses through the wilderness. August 22, Mrs. Alva Day gave birth to a child-a fe- male-the first child born in the township.

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History of Knox County, Ohio, its past and present, Part 20

Author: Hill, N. N. (Norman Newell), comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A.A. & Co., Mt. Vernon, Ohio Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Mt. Vernon, Ohio : A. A. Graham & Co. Number of Pages: 1096

Author: Hill, N. N. (Norman Newell), comp; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-; Graham, A.A. & Co., Mt. Vernon, Ohio
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Mt. Vernon, Ohio : A. A. Graham & Co.
Number of Pages: 1096