History of Marietta and Washington County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part 68

Author: Andrews, Martin Register, 1842-; Hathaway, Seymour J
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1490

USA > Ohio > Washington County > Marietta > History of Marietta and Washington County, Ohio, and representative citizens > Part 68

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

"To save much trouble and expense from a

479

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.

personal application, and to obviate the incon- venience arising from my occasional absence, I would recommend George C. Woodruff, Esq., Attorney at Law, and Post Master at this place, as a suitable person for the com- plainants to appoint to transact their business with me.

"Holding a few small unclaimed dividends, of long standing, belonging to said proprietors, this may notify all original proprietors afore- said, or their legal representatives, whose di- vidends remain unpaid, that I wish them to

apply for the same, through the said George C. Woodruff, or in any other way that shall be agreeable to themselves. No application to me, through the mail, will be noticed, un- less the postage on the same is paid; and in every application the original proprietary share and agency must be particularly noticed. "BENJAMIN TALLMADGE,

"Treasurer late Ohio Company. "State of Connecticut, "Litchfield, April 22, 1834."

CHAPTER XXII.

REMINISCENCES BY COL. JOSEPH BARKER.

SKETCH OF COL. BARKER'S LIFE-THE EARLY COURTS-STORE SUPPLIES-SHIP-BUILDING -THE FRENCH EMIGRANTS-INDIANS DISSATISFIED-SCARCITY OF FOOD-WHY THE INDIANS DID NOT KEEP THE TREATY OF HARMAR-BUILDING OF THE BLOCK-HOUSES -BIG BOTTOM MASSACRE-WOLF CREEK MILLS- PROVISIONS FOR DEFENSE-INDIAN ALARM-THE GARRISON AT "THE POINT"-INDIAN TROUBLES-FIRST ENLISTMENT OF MEN FOR THE INDIAN WAR-CULTIVATION OF LAND ENCOURAGED-BELPRE- UPPER AND LOWER SETTLEMENTS -- REMINISCENCES OF PROMINENT PERSONS OF THE EARLY SETTLEMENTS.

COLONEL JOSEPII BARKER was born in New Market, New Hampshire. September 9, 1765. He was educated at Exeter Acad- emy and afterward learned the trade of a car- penter.

In 1789 he married Elizabeth Dana, daugh- ter of Capt. William Dana, of Amherst, New Hampshire, and with his father-in-law came to the new settlement on the Muskingum. Their mode of conveyance as far as Simrell's Ferry was an ox team ; at the ferry they were joined by Isaac Barker from Rhode Island and Thomas Stanley of Connecticut. The three friends built a boat and in it floated down to Marietta. Throughout the time of the In- dian war, Colonel Barker remained at Mariet- ta serving in the militia and working at his trade.

In 1795 he moved up the Muskingum, about seven miles from Marietta. The next winter his cabin, work-shop, store house and tools were destroyed by fire, also nearly all the pro- visions laid up for the year. In that day the less represented the destruction of many thou-

sand dollars in capital if we measure it by its importance to the owner. Mr. Barker re- turned to Marietta and resumed work at his trade; buikling a house for Paul Fearing, for William Skinner, for Rev. Daniel Story and the Blennerhassett mansion. He returned to his farm on the Muskingum and began to build vessels. In 1806 he built 15 boats for the famous Burr expedition.

lle was commissioned by Governor St. Clair as justice of the peace in 1799. He also passed through the different grades, by pro- motion, in the militia until he became colonel of a regiment. In 1830 he was elected asso- ciate judge of the Court of Common Pleas, an office which he continued to hold until declin- ing health forced him to resign in .1842. He died in September, 1843, aged 78 years.

Colonel Barker left a son, Joseph, who was for many years an enterprising citizen of Newport township.

Before his death Colonel Barker left in the care of Dr. S. P. Hildreth a volume of man- uscripts describing men and scenes of the early

481

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.

day in and around Marietta. From these manuscripts we have made selections which make up the remainder of this chapter :-

THE EARLY COURTS.

I do not remember any court being held in Marietta during the Indian war, nor do I rec- ollect any circumstance which would induce me to believe there was at Cincinnati; subse- quent to the war, they traveled by water up and down; it was easier, cheaper, and more expeditious traveling by water than land : there were no bridges-no roads-no taverns and but few cabins; aside from the danger from the Indians, when in a canoe or pirogue one could carry his kitchen. his dormitory. and his magazine, and could shift sides of the river to avoid danger.

In 1792 a mail route was established from Pittsburgh to Cineinnati. Charles Mills -- brother to Col. John Mills-who now resides in Gallia County, was employed to carry the mail from Marietta to Gallipolis once a week in a skiff or canoe for $20 per month, and $8 apiece for two hands ; how long the mail was carried in this way, I do not remember.

In June, 1788, the Governor and judges commenced the duties of their office and the county of Washington was laid off, inchiding the Ohio Company's Purchase, as far north as the Indian boundary. Joseph Gilman, Esq .. and Gen. Benjamin Tupper were appointed magistrates for Marietta ; Griffin Greene, Esq., for Belpre: Col. Robert Oliver, for Water- ford; Col. Ebenezer Sproat, high sheriff : Ben- jamin Ives Gilman, clerk of the Court of Quar- ter Sessions, and Court of Common Pleas, and Return Jonathan Meigs, Jr., prosecuting at- torney.

The first Court of Quarter Sessions and Common Pleas was held in September, 1788: the next court was held in March, 1790, at which a grand jury was empaneled and found a bill against Ezra Lunt for stealing a hog, who was later acquitted on his trial before a petit jury.

Return J. Meigs, Sr., and Paul Fearing were the only professional lawyers then, and

until after the war the court was hekl in the Northeast Block-house chamber, in the Camp- 115 Martius, where religious and other meet- ings were held; similar meetings were held. at "the Point," in Buell's & Munsell's Old Red Hlouse Hall-where William llolden's store. now stands.

To collect a sufficient number to form a grand jury or petit jury, Colonel Sproat had summonded most of the Revolutioners from. Belpre, so that by what were legally required to attend, and those who attended through curiosity or the novelty of the case, a larger number of Revolutionary officers met together than had assembled on any former occasion or did afterwards: as there was no public occa- sion to call the settlers together during the war. After the war, the influx of settlers made it unnecessary to call many to any one point. They seemed to be perfectly aware of the circumstance, and it was the topic of gen- eral conversation that it was probable that no future occasion would require the assembling of so large a proportion of those who had been associated in securing American indepen- dence, and the fee of the land they had pur- chased for a home. There was a kindness of feeling and friendship which had been created by association in peril, and toils, and dangers. and which were renewed and strengthened by a re-union; in the toils and watchfulness in subduing and cultivating a wilderness and repelling the dangers which threatened their peace and security from a crafty and vindic- tive enemy, while securing a second indepen- dence .- a permanent competency for them- selves and families.

Colonel Battelle lived adjoining the Court House and had brewed a keg of spruce beer for the occasion, and as they were all from the "Land of Flip," and it being no sin to drink flip in those days, and as their hours of con- vivial enjoyment were few and far between, each one who had not attended court in Ohio before was mulcted a pitcher of flip, and while the chord of friendship was still brightning, they gave the parting hand with a warm in- quiry "When shall we all meet again ?"

482

HISTORY OF MARIETTA AND WASHINGTON COUNTY,

After the war. the Court of Quarter Ses- sions was held quarterly, composed of the justices of the county-Joseph Gilman and Benjamin Tupper of Marietta-Griffin Greene and Daniel Loring from Belpre-Robert Oli- ver from Waterford-Alvin Bingham from Middletown ( Athens )-Philip Whitten from the Long Reach ( then in Marietta ) -and your humble servant from Adams ( now Union and Adams ) ; subsequently others were appointed as the population increased.

Colonel Sproat, as sheriff, and Benjamin Ives Gilman, as clerk, held their offices until the reformation from Federalism to Democ- racy took place.

Adam Smith says that "laws were made to protect the property of the rich, against the poor." It would seem to follow, where there is very little property, little law is -required, I do not recollect of any civil suit being com- menced during the war, nor but one criminal action ; an officer from General Harmar's gar- rison struck a citizen with his cane, who com- plained; the officer was fined a dollar and costs. Although we had sufficient law, we had not sufficient means to carry it into ef- fect. We had no place of confinement, and if your debtor had no property, taking his body would only be increasing the debt, unless he would consent to work, and then you must be your own bondsman. Much like the pres- ent time-if your debtor can secrete his prop- erty, you cannot take his body.

STORE SUPPLIES.

There were but a few merchants, and those with limited capital; no one came here with property who could do better with it some- where else; the price of calico was from $I to $1.75; coffee 50 cents ; tea-young Hyson- $2; salt, from $4 to $5 a bushel ; nails, 25 cents : sugar, we made ourselves-sugar trees were plenty, but metal to boil in was scarce and dear, so that many settlers labored under the want of kettles who otherwise might have gone far toward supporting their families. When General Putnam was in New York, and ob-

; tained the grant for the "donation" lands, Lady Washington sent out a keg of loaf made from maple sugar to be distributed among the ladies of the officers of the Revolutionary Army residing in the Ohio Company's Pur- chase; the demand for kettles for making su- gar induced traders to fetch them on, and al- though very dear, 10 and 12 cents per lb., still it was an advantage to procure them at that rate.

SHIP-BUILDING.

Ship-building commenced at Marietta at the beginning of this century; the brig "St. Clair" was built in 1800 by Charles Greene & Company. Her burthen was about 100 tons; she was constructed by Stephen Devol from Rhode Island. The company loaded her with flour and pork principally; this was the first square-rigged vessel built upon the waters of the Ohio, and navigated to the ocean. She was commanded by Abraham Whipple from Rhode Island, who was a commodore in the Navy of the United States during the Revolu- tion. In 1802 the ship "Muskingum," of 20 tons, was built by Captain Devol, and owned by Benjamin Ives Gilman; and the brigantine "Eliza Greene," owned by Charles Greene- both of Marietta. Several were built in Mar- ietta, and ship-building was carried on largely at Marietta and above and below, and was a popular business for several years : these ves- sels were built principally by English goods; the workmen were paid by orders on the store, and these orders passed from hand to hand as currently as the present bank bills, and much of the same character. They would bring dry goods only. Groceries, such as tea. coffee, salt, and iron were cash articles, and were an exception as these dry goods banks did not pay specie for their notes. Prices of goods were very high, and vessel building with goods seemed to promise a profitable investment of capital, but on trial it proved disadvantageous to the owners, the workmen, and the country ; the owners all became losers from numerous causes ; the difficulty and ex- pense of employing unexperienced workmen,

483

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.

although they were paid cheap, their labor came dear, because it required from 50 to 100 competent men to perform the work : they fre- quently had to take the vessel to New Orleans or an Eastern port to be rigged, which was more than half of the expense, and thus from having to entrust the business to the care of an agent, was likely to be ordinarily and dearly executed ; but, above all, the difficulty of sell- ing to advantage : shippers say that a second- hand vessel is like a second-hand coat: if a man wants a coat, he chooses to make it him- self, and will not buy a second-hand one, even if new; so, if a shipper wants a vessel, he chooses to build one to suit the trade he is in. and the arrangement of his voyages; it is a maxim of shippers that a second-hand vessel is always unsalable: with the skipper, much depends on the character of the vessel: the workman, to be sure, got his goods, but like a track in the water, they soon disappeared, and he was none the richer from year to year. while the country suffered for improvement and cultivation, which is a prominent addition to the capital of himself and society.

THE FRENCH EMIGRANTS.

In September. 1790, what have been called the French emigrants arrived, and were per- mitted by Colonel Sproat ( who then had charge of the garrison) to take possession of all the vacant rooms at Fort Harmar: they arrived in the night, in six Kentucky boats. and said to be 450 men, women and children ; this company came from Paris to settle on lands which were purchased from Colonel Bar- low, and which they expected to find immedi- ately below the Ohio Company's Purchase. General Putnam was one of the company who sent Barlow to France to sell land : finding the company would fail in giving a title from the United States, they made General Putnam agent, who brought out Major Burnham with a company of laborers who erected some houses for the reception of the enngrants, a part of whom went down the next spring and took possession : the greater part of these emigrants

were engaged in France in employment of com- panies and individuals who came out with them, paid their passage, and subsistence, and some wages, on to the Muskingum : they were to be employed-some as house servants, oth- ers in clearing and cultivating the land, others in building houses, others as carpenters, tailors, blacksmiths, &c .- all kinds of trades. There were others-private adventurers and gentlemen-some single, some with families. Beaucaire was said to be designed for a priest, and others for subordinates in the ecclesiastical line: in fact, some of every trade from the marquis down to the porter. The Marquis Manassa and his son, the Viscount, seemed to be the ostensible leaders ; a large number came out in his employ; M. Debutts-a German-Frenchman-had a number under him: there were compan- ies of two or more who brought out parties, but for what particular purpose. it was difficult to ascertain. The Marquis got a house in the Campus Martius and had a number of domes- tics. M. Debutts resided at "the Point :" oth- ers at Fort Harmar.

Toward spring. they began to scatter ; the Marquis, Debutts and some other gentlemen went over the mountains and back to France; quite a number went to Gallipolis: some to Canada: some staid about Marietta, and got "donation" lands. I suppose they had been defrauded in their purchase of land : they were disappointed-put out-and ill-natured: they grumbled : they Sacre Foutered the Yankees ; they jabbered: there might have been more tongues in Babel, but they never went faster; take them all together, they were a trifling ac- quisition to our settlement.

INDIANS DISSATISFIED.

I was not in when the Indians were in for a treaty in 1,88, and where they remained till the treaty was signed. the oth of January. 1-80. I arrived in Marietta. November I, 1789: 1 was informed by the concurrent tes- timmy of all the inhabitants ) that the Indians came in dissatisfied and uncheerful to the

484

HISTORY OF MARIETTA AND WASHINGTON COUNTY,

treaty ; they complained of being duped and deceived by the removal of the place of hold- ing the treaty. They expected the treaty to have been holden at Fort Lawrence, on the Tuscarawas: it was Lawrence township; the north side of the Thuiscarawas was a county, where a fort had been built and armed and garrisoned with a lieutenant's command ; but circumstances convinced the Governor that it was unsafe to hold a treaty in the center of the enemy's country, as the Indians were strongly suspected of a design of cutting off all the whites with the garrison that were as- sembled for a treaty. General Harmar sent a party of soldiers in the Ohio Company's boat-"Mayflower"-who propelled her up the Muskingum, and brought off the garrison, arms, provisions, for the treaty down to Fort Harmar. As the Indians came in to the treaty, they employed themselves in hunting and dis- turbing the game for which they had no use (they drew rations from the public) except for the skins of the deer; so great was their industry and perseverance that in the fall and winter they brought in deer and turkeys and piled them up on the banks of the Muskingum. west of Doctor Cotton's, like a rack of hay, until the inhabitants were obliged to assemble and throw them into the river to abate the nuisance. The carcasses left about the woods brought in the wolves and panthers, and de- stroyed all deer. (A man by the name of Bagly coming from: Wolf Creek, toward spring, one cold, snowy, frozen afternoon, was attacked by a large gang of wolves wIro drove his up a tree, where he had to sit and play the fiddle for them until they saw fit to leave him next day). When interrogated why they de- stroyed and wasted the game, the Indians an- swered they meant to "destroy and starve out every white-face north of the Ohio." They frequently alluded to the prospect of repos- sessing their lands, and recovering their hunt- ing-ground. One old Indian, when he drew his blanket, threw it over his shoulders, saying he had got his corn-field on his back, but he would have it to walk on next year.

SCARCITY OF FOOD.

It was said there were better than 400 In- dians-men, women, and children-and so thoroughly did they destroy the game, within IO miles of Marietta, that barely a deer could be seen where before a good hunter could kill from 10 to 15 of a day ; I have heard Hamil- ton Kerr ( who hunted for General Harmar and supplied his garrison with wild meat the year previous ) say that the hills between the Muskingum and Duck Creek were the best hunting-ground he had ever seen, and he could leisurely kill 15 deer of a day, and frequently of a morning. The Indians were burning the woods every year to keep down the under- growth and made good pasture for the deer, and good hunting for themselves. To the cir- cumstances of the Indians destroying nearly all the game in the neighborhood, combined with that of a severe frost in the early part of September, 1789. may be attributed the very great scarcity of bread and meat in the spring and summer of 1790. Many families were destitute of cows; there were a few yoke of oxen, which could not be spared from clearing and the plow; and no young stock except a few breeding sows. A large majority of the emigrants had literally strewed all their money on the mountains, and in the enjoyment that they had got to the "Land of Promise" they forgot to provide for the future; in fact there was very little to be bought, for those who had money. Where wild meat had formerly been very plenty, there was very little brought in; some few from over the Ohio; but those who had not means could not buy, and by the mid- dle of May the majority of people were out of bread, meat, or milk, and especially those families-the largest and most necessitous- where poverty, improvidence and scarcity meet ; charity and benevolence only could give relief. It was no time for catch-penny and chuck-farthings. Genuine hospitality pre- vailed; those who had, dealt out freely but sparingly, without money or price, to those who had not, which soon brought on a gen-

485

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.

eral scarcity; then the most free-handed adopted the strictest economy, and manage- ment that they might assist the needy ; nettles were the first herbs up in the spring, and were freely used ; next, pig-weed and poke sprouts.

The latter part of May, General Putnam wrote on to Col. R. J. Meigs to "open a hole of potatoes" he had at the Campus Martius and "distribute them among the people for planting at 50 cents." They were all taken in a few hours ( although very much grown, they answered well for planting ). When the pota- toes were up, the tops were used for greens ; coffee, tea, and sugar were out of the ques- tion ; spice-bush and sassafras were the con- mon drinks : some maple sugar was made, but most people were not prepared for want of metal to boil in-in this way, the people got along until the season brought relief in squashes, beans, then potatoes, then green corn, which was considered a complete relief. and then wheat harvest, and the hand mill was considered a luxury.

It was the fore part of June. 1789, before the great cornfields on the plains extending from near the Wilcox house up to Washing- ton street, containing 70 acres, were fenced, grubbed, and girdled and fit for planting: all hands had been employed during the summer of 1788, and most part of the winter, in the employ of the United States surveyors in building log cabins, sawing planks, and putting up the block-house, and other buildings in the Campus Martius, for the Ohio Company-in building a large, heavy bridge across Tiber Creek, where the stone bridge now stands ( from which a man by the name of Lot Cheevers, goldsmith from Boston, fell and lost his life )-until it was too late to think of clear- ing and fencing; there were small patches of bottom land which were too much shaded for cultivation. A large number associated to- gether to go to work and inclose a large field on "the Plain" and each one occupy in pro- portion to labor he put in, to prepare the field for planting : the field was planted with a great variety of vegetables and would have yiekled a fair return, had the frost held off as in or-

(linary seasons. But the crop being planted late, and the frost coming early, the whole was in- jured ; the appearance of some of the corn in- (luced a belief that after being dried through the winter it would do to eat: but, on making bread of it in the spring, it produced an effect similar to "sick wheat." Charles Greene had a crib at Belpre of 30 bushels which had the appearance of being good, but on trial none could eat it ; it even made the hogs sick. Corn soon rose, in Marietta, from 50 cents to $1.50 and $2 a bushel. Here Mr. Williams' beney- olence stepped, in of which you are sufficiently acquainted. Capt. Jonathan Devol and Isaac Barker got into a canoe and came up to Mr. Williams'; they had half a guinea in gold; they told him their families had no bread and they came to get the worth of their money in corn. "How many is there of you " said Mr. Williams. "Rising of 20," was the reply. "Dang it"-says the old man-"there's a heap of you; but you must have half a bushel apiece :" and they had.

At a meeting of a small circle of elderly ladies, the most reputable and independent the country afforded, while discussing over the collapsing times-over a cup of spice-bush tea, and a piece of dry johnny-cake, without meat or butter-mutually agreed that should they live to see the return of a bare comfortable plenty, they would never again find fault or even complain of their living.

WHY THE INDIANS DID NOT KEEP THE TREATY OF HARMAR.

I am not enough acquainted with the rela- tive transaction of the parties of that time to be able to make up anything like a correct opinion ; but think it probable the reason may be found in the circumstances that the Western Indians were continually committing depredations on the south side of the Ohio River until the commencement of hostilities ; that the Miamis and Wabash Indians utterly refused to come into the treaty, which was the cause of con- siderable difficulty between them: and the Wyandots and Delawares, with a majority of

486

HISTORY OF MARIETTA AND WASHINGTON COUNTY,

the individuals of the tribes who did come in were opposed to the treaty, and in particular the influence which the British garrison and the British agents on the Maumee, who received their skins and furs and delivered them arms and ammunition, had, to induce them to com- mence hostilities against the United States. Governor St. Clair sent the late Governor, Return J. Meigs, to Detroit with a dispatch to the British commander. Col. Thomas Gibson from Pennsylvania, who was afterward And- itor of the State of Ohio, was the licensed In- dian trader, and had a strong block-house store on the bank, near where the steam-mill stands in Harmar. The tall, well-built, active, half-French and half-Indian Garoot, who was known to Colonel Gibson and bore a good rep- utation, agreed for a price to take Meigs upon one of his horses and escort him to Detroit; the writer well recollects that he sold Garoot, through Colonel Gibson a new saddle worth $20 for which he has not got the pay. Creditors have the best memories. Meigs went out with the expedition in safety, found the British very sociable and polite, but the Indians were morose, distant, and cold: and from their looks and actions, and some information ob- tained from the inhabitants, he had well- grounded suspicions that they intended to way- lay him, coming in, and take his life ; he closed his business in the most private and shortest manner, procured a young half-French Indian, with some good horses, and started without the knowledge of British or Indians ; they made forced marches, and short encampments, and got so far the start that the Indians gave up the pursuit, and he arrived safe. This same Charlie was one of the Indians, recognized by Meigs two years after, who waylaid him, wounded his young man, killed his boy, and chased him with a tomahawk to within pro- tection of Fort Harmar.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Marietta and Washington County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part 68

Author: Andrews, Martin Register, 1842-; Hathaway, Seymour J Publication date: 1902 Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1490

Author: Andrews, Martin Register, 1842-; Hathaway, Seymour J
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1490