History of Marietta and Washington County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part 75

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 75

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Jonathan Dye, like his father, was big- hearted and generous. It was said of the lat- ter, while he was magistrate in Lawrence township, that he sold his favorite cow to meet the obligation of a debtor against whom there was a judgment on his docket in favor of an urgent creditor.

Jonathan Dye lived among us for 70 years, an observing man, and died, last year, pos- sessed of much knowledge of men and things.

Dr. Seth Hart, of Harmar, that good old man whom everybody loved, had knowledge of the practice and success of all of his pro- fession, for near a hundred years, hereabouts.

Who can tell us this history now ?

Dr. Addy. an example of Christian char- acter, most thoroughly posted in the history of his church, from the beginning until now, in the Northwest.

George Irish, identified with our business interests for many years : in later years a most extensive dealer in timber, under whose com- mands the giant forest trees have fallen : the Lest authority on timber and its growth.

Harvey Laflin, the wheelhorse of the Den- ocracy of the west side, of long ago, the con- temporary of Brough, Joline, Flood, Wood, Humphreys. Skinner, Dickey and Ross. He died the other day. Who lives now to tell us of the doings and sayings of his party in olden times ?

William H. Buell, the business man of broad ideas, grandson of Gen. Joseph Buell, had given much thought and study to the early history of the Northwest. To whom was this knowledge imparted ?

Rufus P. Iams, recently reported as among the departed, was for long years a resident of

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this place. When quite young, he became a clerk for John Mills, and was for many years identified in his mercantile business, a portion of the time as partner. In very early life he attached himself to the Methodist Church. As teacher and superintendent he made himself very useful in the Sabbath-school. As a mem- ber of the official board, he was much loved and respected by his associates, made up of such men as Whitney. Crawford, Daniels, Hall, Protsman, Jennings and others. He dies far away from his okl home and associates. No doubt a suitable stone will mark his grave. But better than on granite or glass tablets his record is on high. How very much it would interest the Methodist of the future to know what he has left unwritten.

But whilst I linger at the graves of these, my friends, I remember that woman, that was last at the cross and earliest at the grave, has been stricken by the shafts of death as well.

In Oak Grove Cemetery the upturned sod tells me that here lies Mrs. Abigal Hook, the wife of John Hook, Esq., and daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Kelly. At this home she was taught the ways of righteousness, and in early life learned to know the dear friends of her mother, Mrs. Curtis. Mrs. Whitney, Mrs.' Crawford, the Methodist ministers and their wives and families. Mrs. Hook lived to be near 80 years of age; with a retentive memory. much did she know. But where is the record ?

A few days since, beneath a spreading hemlock, in the Union township cemetery, there was laid to rest one aged and much be- loved, Mrs. Helen Putnam Devol. In life an honor to both surnames. She knew very much of the past history of the Muskingum Valley. And it was her pleasure ofttimes to entertain her relatives and visitors with accounts of the earlier days of this region. Her's was a happy old age, and every hour she was imparting pleasing instruction to her children and grand- children and scores of acquaintances who enjoyed being in her presence. But is there any record left of this long life of acquired knowledge?

slow tramp of the funeral procession, as they bear to the grave the remains of one who long years ago was a resident here. Mrs. Smith, who died in the East on the 14th day of this month, and at her request is buried in Oak Girove Cemetery, by the side of her husband. the former president of Marietta College, elo- quent and learned. Mrs. Smith and her huis- band were attendants at the Congregational Church of this city, in the years when Deacon William R. Putnam, Deacon John Cotton, Deacon Anselm T. Nve. Dudley Whodbridge, Samuel Shipman, Daniel B. Bosworth were prominent. If she has left a record of those days it will but aid the present pastor in his untiring work of compiling a history of bis church.

Reader, don't delay, but grasp the pen, and today commence to place upon paper what the old people say of the past.

THE FIRST SUNDAY-SCHOOL.

Marietta, June 2, 1801 -

Mr. Editor .- As there probably will be considerable interest among the Sunday-sehool delegates assembled here this week from all parts of Ohio, in regard to Mrs. Nancy Frost, who was a member of the first Sunday- school ever held in the Northwest. I send you herewith an article written some time since, after a personal in- terview with her of several hours.

The statements therein made are interesting, con- taining the recollections of a person then over 100 years of age and at this date, possessing most of her faculties unimpaired, although 106 years of age.

GEORGE M. WOODBRIDGE.

A GENUINE PIONEER.

.A Woman One Hundred Years Old.

The most remarkable woman, in many re- spects, in the State of Ohio, is Mrs. Nancy Allison Frost, who lives a dozen miles from Marietta, upon the banks of the Muskingum River.

Mrs. Frost is remarkable on account of her age, having completed her first century several months ago. She is especially interest- ing. however. for the reason that her memory is something extraordinary, and that she has

But hark! What is that I hear? It is the | such an immense collection of facts connected

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HISTORY OF MARIETTA AND WASHINGTON COUNTY.

with the early history of Ohio stored away in her recollection. It seems almost past belief that one can talk with a person who was born only one year after the Revolution was over. who was three years of age at the time the cele- brated ordinance of 1787 was passed, five years old when our Constitution went into effect. and 15 years old at the time of the death of Washington.

Naney Allison was born in Fayette Coun- ty, Pennsylvania, October 22, 1784. She, with her father and his family, moved to Marietta in the fall of 1,80, the year after the first set- tlement of Ohio at that point, and consequent- ly she has been a dweller within the boundaries of the State almost from its beginning. Two years after the arrival of the family, the terri- ble Indian war-1791-1795-broke out, and these fearful years of anxiety and peril were passed by the residents of Marietta in the two forts they had built for their protection. The Allisons lived during this time in the cele- brated Campus Martius. Of all those early pioneers who suffered and hoped together dur- ing those tedious years, Nancy Allison Frost is the last survivor, and it is thought that she is the only living person in Ohio who has any personal recollection of the Indian war. She remembers distinctly the consternation of the garrison upon the arrival of the news of the massacre of 14 persons at Big Bottom. Court was in session at Marietta at the time, and the feelings of the husbands and fathers, who had left unprotected wives and children in their little defenseless cabins, cannot be described.

Mrs. Frost speaks familiarly of Gen. Ru- fus Putnam and Maj. Anselm Tupper, the leaders of the 48 pioneers who made the great State of Olmo a possibility, and she saw them every day of those long years of incarceration in the fort. She speaks with special interest of Maj. Anselm Tupper, afterward commander of the garrison, but at this time the teacher for at least three years in the Campus Martius, and the first person to show the young idea how to shoot in the Northwest Territory. She talks in saddened tones, even yet, when she tells of the death of a little schoolmate, and

how Major Tupper had helped herself and three other little girls pass long handkerchiefs under the box which contained their little play- mate, and carry her, themselves, to the grave, followed by all the sorrowing inmates of the garrison.

She remembers well Arthur St. Clair, first governor of the Northwest Territory, and his beautiful daughter. Louisa, who at the time was 18 years' old, and the belle of the garri- son. Full of health and animal spirits, ready to enjoy anything, a fine horseback rider, a beautiful skater, an excellent markswoman, is it any wonder that half the young men in the garrison were madly in love with the brilliant girl, who seemed formed for the life she led ?

Mrs. Frost remembered Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Williams, and their pretty daughter, Drusilla, well. My readers may not recollect that this family, as early as 1786, were living in ( West) Virginia immediately opposite Marietta. Nothing could exceed their kindness, Mrs. I rost said, to the Marietta pioneers. Isaac Williams, in "the starving year" of 1790, had a good crop of corn, for which he refused the of- fer. made by a speculator, of $2 a bushel, that he might sell it, at 50 cents a bushel, to each family, as they had need of it. as long as it lasted. After this was gone, though, the peo- ple had a weary time for months, some of them having to eat even nettle-tops, and the weed known as pigeon berry. Mrs. Williams showed her kind heart by the salves and lotions she made for the weary. bruised pioneers, and by the readiness with which she nursed the sick, and put in place the broken limbs of unfortun- ate woodsmen.

Mrs. Frost attended what was probably the first Sunday-school taught in the Northwest Territory. Mrs. Mary Lake, a most estimable, benevolent woman, was the instructor. and gathered every Sunday afternoon, 15 to 20 young people in her room at the garrison. Herc she taught them the Westminster Cate- chism. the Apostles' Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and told her little listeners about John Rodgers and many a winning story about the Bible. Their accommodations were the simplest im-

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aginable .- a chair, even, being quite a rarity in the Campus Martius, but Mrs. Frost doubt- whether. with all the organs, and lesson leaves, and libraries and Christmas trees of the pres- ent day, there are more interesting schools now than this primitive one taught by good Mrs. Lake.,

Mrs. Frost laughed as she toll of a little playmate named Maria Green, who was the happy possessor of the only doll in the garri- son. Mrs. Frost described this much-envied treasure as minutely as if she had seen it only yesterday, whereas 90 years have flown ance she left the Campus Martius. In 1795 her family moved up on the Muskingum. almost opposite where the village of Lowell now stands. Five years after, when 16 years old, Nancy Allison married Stephen Frost, who lived upon the farm adjoining her father's. and this spot has been her home almost ever since.

In the course of nature one would think that Mrs. Frost's course must be nearly run, but her activity, both physical and mental, is something astonishing. To see a woman 100 years old shovel up and carry in a bucket of coal with entire case to herself is certainly wonderful. She sews and reads with ease. and makes most of her clothing, her dresses included. She showed the writer, with great pride, the pretty white curtains at her bedroon! windows, which she had made herself. She uses no spectacles, but has been enjoying her second sight for some years.

Mrs. Frost's only infirmity seems to be a slight deafness, but it is scarcely of enough consequence to be mentioned, as she hears readily all conversation directed to herself.

Upon the occasion of her rooth birthday she rode eight or ten miles to the house of a relative, and did not seem very much fatigued by the trip.

It is really beautiful to observe the rela- tions existing between herself and her grand- sou's family, with whom she lives. Mrs. Frost told me of the loving, tender care with which the whole household treated her, and the family in her absence spoke of her with the

utmost freed m. Religion, however, is the great abiding comfort of this remarkable wo- man and she told me that while she was will- ing to stay her allotted time on earth, she was ready whenever the summons came to go. As her grandfather Allison lived to the age of 104, Mrs. Frost may still have years of use- fulness before her.

DEFENSE OF THE PIONEERS AND THEIR SUC- CESSORS.

For years and down to the present, the writer has heard many things derogatory to the pioneers and their successors. At once to give the reader to understand what it means Ly this article, below will be found a sample of the inuendoes of an old and a later date. McMaster, in a recent work entitled "MeMas- ter's History of the United States," Vol. I, page 145. in speaking of the early comers here. says :

"Wheeling was a place of fifty log and frame houses, boasted of a stockade, and, in troubled times, of a garrison of one hundred and fifty troops.

"Below it, near the Muskingum, was Ma- rietta. In the official language of the time it was described as being in the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio. But the phrase was too long for the boatmen and settlers, and as they expressed it, Marietta was on the Indian side of the Ohio. Two hundred wooden houses of boat planks, or of logs, made up the town.

"The inhabitants were lasy and given to drink, cultivated little land, and lived chiefly on venison, wild turkeys, and bread made of Indian corn. Food, therefore was scarce and dear: nor was it always that the owner of a few bushels of 'red potatoes or a half dozen barrels of four could be induced to part with one even for money. Many a flat-boatman. who stopped at the place to buy food, went away disappointed."

We will now carefully examine Mr. Mc- Master's statements and his authority for them The reader will keep in mind that this author

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HISTORY OF MARIETTA AND WASHINGTON COUNTY,

says "The inhabitants were lazy and given to drink, cultivated little land, and lived chiefly on venison, wild turkeys, and bread made of Indian corn. Food was therefore scarce and dear: nor was it always that the owner of a few bushels of 'red potatoes' or a half dozen barrels of flour could be induced to part with one even for money. Many a flat-boatman who stopped at the place to buy food went away disappointed."

The inhabitants of Marietta had barely closed their trials and anxieties with the small- pox, when they were assailed by a more ob- stinate and unrelenting, if not more danger- ous, enemy. It was a trial in which all, whether rich or poor, were more or less involved and that was a scarcity of wholesome food. It was as late as the fore part of June. 1789. before the inhabitants had finished fencing and plant- ing the great corn-field on the plain. The in- creased number of horses and oxen had made it necessary to enclose the field with a fence. while the year before it had been without one. A brush fence from the Muskingum to Duck Creek, had afforded a sufficient range for the stock then in the country. A frost on the first of October had scared the corn, when it was not fairly out of that soft and succulent state. called the milk. It was gathered and put away, and supposed by many that when fairly dried it would make good bread, but when tried, it almost invariably produced sickness and vomiting: even the domestic animals could not eat it with safety. The effect was similar to that of a fungus grain, or "sick wheat." as it is generally called. Eatable corn rose from 50 cents to $1.50 and $2 a bushel : the poorest was $1.

By the middle of May, the scarcity was felt generally : there were but few cows in the country to afford milk : no oxen or cattle to spare for nieat, and but very few hogs. The woods, which were full of game in 1788, were now nearly as bare of it as an old settled country-the Indians having killed or driven away nearly all the deer within 20 miles of Marietta. In the great scarcity it was wonder- ful how little there was of selfishness, and how

generally kindness and good-feeling abounded ; those who had more resources, lent or gave to those who had less, using at the same time the strictest economy themselves, that they might be more able to do so; occasionally a turkey or a piece of bearmeat was procured from the hunters which was put into the kettle and boiled up with hominy or coarse meal: those who had cows divided the milk with their neighbors, especially where there were chil- dren : sugar or molasses they had little of, as they had no kettles to boil the sap of the maple which grew in great abundance on the rich lands, and would have afforded a valuable source of nourishment in the general scarcity. The river furnished a tolerable supply of fish. and aided much in preventing starvation, es- pecially in very poor families. Nettle-tops, and the tender shoots of pigeon berry ( Phy- tolacca decandra) as soon as they appeared were gathered up and boiled with a little flour or meal and salt and eaten by many persons ; potato tops were eaten in the same way. Salt was scarce, and sold in small parcels for 50 cents a quart. Spice bush and sassafras afforded an elimentary drink in the place of tea and coffee.

The Ohio Company, with a liberality worthy of all praise, assisted many poor fami- lies with small loans of money, or the suffer- ing would have been much greater. With this they could occasionally get provisions from boats descending the Ohio. Thus they strug- gled along until the young beans and early squashes appeared, when green corn and potatoes, which was considered a perfect re- lief, and finally the ripened corn, with a little wheat, ground in hand-mills, furnished bread that was thought a luxury. The matrons of the colony, in a little sober chitchat over a cup of spice-wood tea, without any sugar and very little milk, concluded if they lived ever to enjoy a supply of wholesome food for their children and selves, they would never complain of their fare be it ever so humble.

The reader will not wonder that food was scarce as claimed by the above writer. when he reads of the destitution of former years.

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From the commencement of the settlement. the Sabbath was observed as a day of rest. and from, and after, 1789, regular religious services were kept up in the Northwest Block- house at the Campus Martius. After the war commenced, and large block houses were built in the garrison at "The Point," religious wor- ship was held there part of the time: Rev. Daniel Story officiated as clergyman. The law regulating the militia required a muster of the troops every Sabbath day at 10 o'clock a. m., when they were paraded by the beat of the drum, the roll-call, and their arms in- spected, after which a procession was formed, headed by Colonel Sproat, with his drawn sword. the civil officers and the clergyman, with fife and drum, marched to the hall for divine service. All the New Englanders being veised in psalmody, there was no lack of good singing to aid in the solemnities of the day. On these occasions, nearly all of the popula- tion attended. The arms of the soldiers were setting by their side, or kept near them during the service, ready for use if need.

The latter part of September, on a Sab- bath morning. Peter Neiswanger, one of the rangers, went up to visit a field of corn and potatoes he had cultivated on the east side of Duck Creek, near the mouth. He had some fat hogs in a pen, one of which he found killed, and a portion of the meat cut out and carried off. Several hills of potatoes had been dug. and in the loose earth he discovered fresh moc- casin tracks, a proof that Indians had been there and done the mischief. He hurried back to the garrison at "the Point" and gave the alarm. It was in the midst of the fore- noon service, when the inhabitants were gen- erally assembled in the large block-house. list- ening to the sermon. The instant the word was heard "Indians in the vicinity," the drum- mer seized his drum, and rushing out at the door beat the long roll as the well-known sig- nal for every man to hasten to his post. The place of worship, so quiet and calm a few mo- ments before, was filled with confusion and alarm. The women caught up their little chil- dren, and hastened to their homes, and the

"place of prayer was abandoned for that day. Anxiety and fear for the fate of their brothers and husbands who had gone in pursuit of the dreaded Indians banished all holy thoughts. but the silent prayers for their safe return. A party was soon mustered, made up of five or six of the rangers, to volunteer citizens, and 12 United States soldiers from the company stationed at "the Point." The men went up in canoes to the mouth of Duck Creek, where they left their water craft. The more experi- enced rangers soon fell upon the trail, which they traced across the wide bottom to the Lit- tle Muskingum. At a point about half a mile below where Corner's Mill now stands. the Indians forded the creek.

In the above, the reader will see that from the difficulties and dangers of cultivating crops, that the scarcity of potatoes is easily accounted for as referred to by our quondam traveler. McMaster's authority for these dec- larations as he himself. acknowledges. is based upon the statement found in the hurriedly written journal of two illiterate and irresponsi- ble traveler, who touched the shores of Mari- etta during or soon after the Indian war. Their statements I give you as follows:

"Friday, November 6th, 1795. Nothing material occurred this day, except shooting eight or ten wild turkeys, killed by the boat's crent. There are still many fine tracts of land on both sides of the Ohio, between Wheeling and Marietta, where we arrived on Saturday at 12 o'clock. This town is situated on the Great Muskingum River, near 200 miles below Pittsburgh. It contains about two hundred wooden houses, and commands a delightful view up and down and across the Ohio. Flere also is a stockade-garrison, where soldiers are kept to protect the inhabitants from the incursions of the Indians, who are very trouble- songe during the war, and stole a great num- ber or horses from the settlers, which is the only reason why this town is not near so large as it otherwise would have been. as the land all about, and for a considerable distance is level and very rich. We could get no sup- ply of provisions here, except a bushel of red

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potatoes, which a poor, starved-looking Frenchman spared us for eighteen pence sterling, which is very surprising and betrays an inscrutable indolence in the settlers, who chiefly live upon venison, wild turkeys, and bread made of Indian corn.

"November 7th. After quitting Marietta at i p. m. yesterday, we proceeded on to Belpre.'

The reader of the above statement will notice that the writer was one short hour in Marietta -- a stranger, and obtaining informa- tion from strangers, and recording his con- clusions from what he heard in the grog-shop of Frenchman Thierry, which stood near the bank of the river. Also, not long ago, ap- peared in print, the following :

"The proverbial old fogies have been taking themselves to a better land quite rapidly in the last few years, and with their departure the city has fallen into the hands of modern hustlers who are giving Marietta new life and new tone."

These statements, and such as these in print and otherwise, have been so long allowed to go uncontradicted or unexplained, that the rising generation, as well as newcomers may be wrongly impressed. In this article it is pro- posed to examine the facts and the authorities upon which these statements are made.

First, then, in order to read our purpose at once, we will examine the facts connected with the lives of those entitled "Old fogies." My recollections may not serve me right, but I have endeavored to bring to mind names and deeds of those who have been called by Death from among us, in the few years immediately preceding the appearance of the above article, and I can but feel that the insinuations of the writer are very unjust and untrue. For reasons that will be obvious to the reader, I will avoid, for the most part, giving the names of those thus brought to mind, but will speak of the deeds of some whose lives were useful, and whose memories will be cherished. I can but name Capt. William Knox, who for 70 years lived among us, each year to honor his profession, and by strict integrity, untiring in-

dustry, and a comprehensive mind, greatly adding to the business of the place, and its reputation elsewhere.

Next to follow him, one who spent his money and time probably more than any other man living in Southern Ohio in battling slavery and its institutions. The grave, within these few years, has called to its embrace two honored and useful messengers of the Gospel, one of whom, more than 70 years ago, began his toilsome work. Another commenced life as a boy in a shipyard, lived in our midst to old age, and probably had as much to do with the improvements of our town for 25 years, as any mon living. Another, who, by a life of great economy and constant industry, accumulated considerable property, gave to the cause of education and suffering humanity more than half the savings of his life.

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History of Marietta and Washington County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part 75

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