History of Medina county and Ohio, Part 17

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Battle, J. H; Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926; Baskin & Battey. Chicago. pub
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : Baskin & Battey
Number of Pages: 1014

USA > Ohio > Medina County > History of Medina county and Ohio > Part 17

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faet that Mr. Ellison was a prisoner now became apparent. As it was almost night at the time the trail was discovered, the party returned to the station. Early the next morning, preparations were made by Gen. Massie and his friends to con- tinue the search. In doing this, they found great difficulty, as it was so early in the spring that the vegetation was not grown sufficiently to show plainly the trail made by the savages, who took the precaution to keep on high and dry ground, where their feet would make little or no impres- sion. The party were, however, as unerring as a paek of hounds, and followed the trail to Paint Creek, when they found the Indians gained so fast on them that pursuit was useless.

"The Indians took their prisoner to Upper Sandusky, where he was compelled to run the gantlet. As he was a large, and not very active, man, he received a severe flogging. He was then taken to Lower Sandusky, and again eompelled to run the gantlet. He was then taken to Detroit, where he was ransomed by a British officer for $100. The offieer proved a good friend to him. He sent him to Montreal, whenee he returned home before the close of the summer, much to the joy of his family and friends, whose feelings can only be imagined."

" Another incident occurred about this time," says the same volume, "which so aptly illustrates the danger of frontier life, that it well deserves a place in the history of the settlements in Ohio. John and Asahel Edgington, with a comrade, started out on a hunting expedition toward Brush Creek. They camped out six miles in a northeast direction from where West Union now stands, and near the site of Treber's tavern, on the road from Chillicothe to Maysville. They had good success in hunting, killing a number of deer and bears. Of the deer killed, they saved the skins and hams alone. They fleeeed the bears; that is, they cut off all the meat which adhered to the hide, with- out skinning, and left the bones as a skeleton. They hung up the proceeds of their hunt, on a seaf- fold out of the reach of wolves and other wild ani- mals, and returned to Manchester for paek-horses. No one returned to the eamp with the Edgingtons. As it was late in December, few apprehended dan- ger, as the winter season was usually a time of re- pose from Indian incursions. When the Edgingtons arrived at their camp, they alighted from their horses and were preparing to start a fire, when a platoon of Indians fired upon them at a distance of not more than twenty paces. They had

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evidently found the results of the white nien's labor, and expected they would return for it, and pre- pared to waylay them. Asahel Edgington fell dead. John was more fortunate. The sharp crack of the rifles, and the horrible yells of the savages as they leaped from their place of ambush, frightened the horses, who took the track for home at full speed. John was very active on foot, and now an opportunity offered which required his utmost speed. The moment the Indians leaped from their hiding-place, they threw down their guns and took after him, yelling with all their power. Edgington did not run a booty race. For about a mile, the savages stepped in his tracks al- most before the bending grass could risc. The uplifted tomahawk was frequently so near his head that he thought he felt its edge. He exerted himself to his utmost, while the Indians strove with all their might to catch him. Finally, he be- gan to gain on his pursuers, and, after a long race, distanced them and made his escape, safely reach- ing home. This, truly, was a most fearful and well-contested race. The big Shawanee chief, Capt. John, who headed the Indians on this occasion, after peace was made, in narrating the particulars, said, "The white man who ran away was a smart fellow. The white man run; and I run. Hc run and run; at last, the white man run clear off from me."

The settlement, despite its dangers, prospered, and after the close of the war continued to grow rapidly. In two years after peace was declared, Adams County was erected by proclamation of Gov. St. Clair, the next year court was held, and in 1804, West Union was made the county scat.

During the war, a settlement was commenced near the present town of Bridgeport, in Belmont County, by Capt. Joseph Belmont, a noted Dela- ware Revolutionary officer, who, because his State could furnish only one company, could rise no higher than Captain of that company, and hence always maintained that grade. He settled on a beautiful knoll near the present county scat, but crelong suffered from a night attack by the. In- dians, who, though unable to drive him and his companions from the cabin or conquer them, wounded some of them badly, one or two mortally, and caused the Captain to leave the frontier and return to Newark, Del. The attack was made in the spring of 1791, and a short time after, the Captain, having provided for the safety of his family, accepted a commission in St. Clair's army, and lost his life at the defcat of the General in

November. Shortly after the Captain settled, a fort, called Dillie's Fort, was built on the Ohio, opposite the mouth of Grave Creek. About two hundred and fifty yards below this fort, an old inau, named Tato, was shot down at his cabin door by the Indians, just as he was in the act of entering the house. His body was pulled in by his daugh- ter-in-law and grandson, who made an heroic de- fense. They were overpowered, the woman slain, and the boy badly wounded. He, however, ruan- aged to secrete himself and afterward escaped to the fort. The Indians, twelve or thirteen in num- ber, went off unmolested, though the men in the fort saw the whole transaction and could have punished them. Why they did not was never known.

On Captina Creck in this same county, occurred, in May, 1794, the "battle of Captina," a fa- mous local skirmish between some Virginians from Fort Baker, and a party of Indians. Though the Indians largely outnumbered the whites, they were severely punished, and compelled to abandon the contest, losing several of their bravest warriors.

These were the only settlements made until 1795, the close of the war. Even these, as it will be observed from the foregoing pages, were tem- porary in all cases save one, and were maintained at a great risk, and the loss of many valuable lives. They were made in the beginning of the war,and such were their experiences that further attempts were abandoned until the treaty of Greenville was made, or until the prospects for peace and safety were assured.

No sooner, however, had the prospect of quiet been established, than a revival of cmigration be- gan. Before the war it had been large, now it was largely increased.

Wayne's treaty of peace with the Indians was made at Greenville, in what is now Darke County, the 3d of August, 1795. The number of Indians present was estimated at 1,300, divided among the principal nations as follows: 180 Wyandots, 381 Delawares, 143 Shawances, 45 Ottawas, 46 Chip- pewas, 240 Pottawatomics, 73 Miamis and Eel River, 12 Weas and Piankcshaws, and 10 Kicka- poos and Kaskaskias. The principal chiefs were Tarhe, Buckongahelas, Black Hoof, Blue Jacket and Little Turtle. Most of them had been tam- pered with by the British agents and traders, but all had been so thoroughly chastised by Wayne, and found that the British only used them as tools, that they were quite anxious to make peace with the " Thirteen Fires." By the treaty, former ones

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were established, the boundary lines coufirmed and enlarged, an exchange and delivery of prisoners effected, and permanent peace assured.

In the latter part of September, after the treaty of Greenville, Mr. Bedell, from New Jersey, selected a site for a home in what is now Warren County, at a place since known as " Bedell's Sta- tion," about a mile south of Union Village. Here he erected a block-house, as a defense against the Indians, among whom were many renegades as among the whites, who would not respect the terms of the treaty. Whether Mr. Bedell was alone that fall, or whether he was joined by others, is uot now accurately known. However that may be, he was uot long left to himself; for, ere a year had elapsed, quite a number of settlements were made in this part of the Territory. Soon after his settlement was made, Gen. David Sutton, Capt. Nathan Kelley and others began pioneer life at Deerfield, in the same locality, and, before three years had gone by, a large number of New Jersey people were established iu their homes; and, in 1803, the county was formed from Hamilton. Among the early settlers at Deerfield, was Capt. Robert Benham, who, with a companion, in 1779, sustained themselves many days when the Captain had lost the use of his legs, and his companion his arms, from musket-balls fired by the hands of the Indians. They were with a large party com- manded by Maj. Rodgers, and were furiously attacked by an immense number of savages, and all but a few slain. The event happened during the war of the Revolution, before any attempt was made to settle the Northwest Territory. The party were going down the Ohio, probably to the falls, and were attacked when near the site of Cincinnati. As mentioned, these two men sus- tained each other many days, the one having per- feet legs doing the necessary walking, carrying his comrade to water, driving up game for him to shoot, and any other duties necessary; while the one who had the use of his arms could dress his companion's and his own wounds, kill and eook the game, and perform his share. They were rescued, finally, by a flat-boat, whose occupants, for awhile, passed them, fearing a decoy, but, becoming convinced that such was not the case, took them on down to Louisville, where they were nursed into perfect health.

A settlement was made near the present town of Lebanon, the county seat of Warren County, in the spring of 1796, by Henry Taylor, who built a mill one mile west of the town site, on Turtle

Creek. Soon after, he was joined by Ichabod Corwin, John Osbourn, Jacob Vorhees, Samuel Shaw, Daniel Bonte and a Mr. Manning. When Lebanon was laid out, in 1803, the two-story log house built in 1797 by Ichabod Corwin was the only building on the plat. It was occupied by Ephraim Hathaway as a tavern. He had a black horse painted on an immense board for a sign, and continued in business here till 1810. The same year the town was laid out, a store was opened by John Huston, and, from that date, the growth of the ecounty was very prosperous. Three years after, the Western Star was established by Judge John McLain, and the current news of the day given in weekly editions. It was one of the first newspapers established in the Territory, outside of Cincinnati.

As has been mentioned, the opening of naviga- tion in the spring of 1796 brought a great flood of emigration to the Territory. The little settle- ment made by Mr. Bedell, in the autumn of 1795, was about the only one made that fall; others made preparations, and many selected sites, but did not settle till the following spring. That spring, colo- nies were planted in what are now Montgomery, Ross, Madison, Mahoning, Trumbull, Ashtabula and Cuyahoga Counties, while preparations were in turn made to occupy additional territory that will hereafter be noticed.

The settlement made in Montgomery County was begun early in the spring of 1796. As early as 1788, the land on which Dayton now stands was selected by some gentlemen, who designed laying out a town to be named Venice. They agreed with Judge Symmes, whose contract covered the place, for the purchase of the lands. The Indian war which broke out at this time prevented an extension of settlements from the immediate neighborhood of the parent colonies, and the proj- eet was abandoned by the purchasers. Soon after the treaty of 1795, a new company, composed of Gens. Jonathan Dayton, Arthur St. Clair, James Wilkinson, and Col. Israel Ludlow, purchased the land between the Miamiis, around the mouth of Mad River, of Judge Symmes, and, the 4th of November, laid out the town. Arrangements were made for its settlement the ensuing spring, and donations of lots, with other privileges, were offered to actual settlers. Forty-six persons entered into engagements to remove from Cincinnati to Day- ton, but during the winter most of them scat- tered in different directions, and only uineteen ful- filled their contracts. The first families who

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made a permanent residence here, arrived on the first day of April, 1796, and at onee set about establishing homes. Judge Symmes, however, becoming unable soon after to pay for his purchase, the land reverted to the United States, and the set- tlers in and about Dayton found themselves with- out titles to their lands. Congress, however, eame to the aid of all such persons, wherever they had purchased land of Symmes, and passed a pre-emp- tion law, under which they could enter their lands at the regular government price. Some of the set- tlers entered their lands, and obtained titles directly from the United States ; others made arrangements with Daniel C. Cooper to receive their deeds from him, and he entered the residue of the town lands. He had been the surveyor and agent of the first company of proprietors, and they assigned to him eertain of their rights of pre-emption, by which he beeame the titular owner of the land.

When the State government was organized in 1803, Dayton was made the seat of justice for Montgomery County, ereeted the same year. At that time, owing to the title question, only five families resided in the place, the other settlers hav- ing gone to farms in the vicinity, or to other parts of the country. The inerease of the town was gradual until the war of 1812, when its growth was more rapid until 1820, when it was again cheeked by the general depression of busi- ness. It revived in 1827, at the commencement of the Miami Canal, and since then its growth has always been prosperous. It is now one of the best cities in Ohio. The first eanal boats from Cincinnati arrived at Dayton January 25, 1829, and the first one from Lake Erie the 24th of June, 1845. In 1825, a weekly line of stages was established between Columbus and Cineinnati, via Dayton. One day was oceupied in eoming from Cincinnati to Dayton.

On the 18th of September, 1808, the Dayton Repertory was established by William MeClure and George Smith. It was printed on a foolscap sheet. Soon after, it was enlarged and changed from a weekly to a daily, and, ere long, found a number of competitors in the field.

In the lower part of Miamisburg, in this eounty, are the remains of ancient works, seattered about over the bottom. About a mile and a quarter southeast of the village, on an elevation more than one hundred feet above the level of the Miami, is the largest mound in the Northern States, ex- eepting the mammoth mound at Grave Creek, on the Ohio, below Wheeling, which it nearly equals

in dimensions. It is about eight hundred feet around the base, and rises to a height of nearly seventy feet. Wlien first known it was covered with forest trees, whose size evidenced great age. The Indians could give no account of the mound. Excavations revealed bones and eharred earth, but what was its use, will always remain a eon- jeeture.

One of the most important early settlements was made eotemporary with that of Dayton, in what is now Ross County. The same spring, 1796, quite a colony eame to the banks of the Scioto River, and, near the mouth of Paint Creek, began to plant a erop of eorn on the bottom. The site had been selected as early as 1792, by Col. Nathaniel Massie* and others, who were so de- lighted with the country, and gave such glowing descriptions of it on their return-which accounts soon cireulated through Kentucky-that portions of the Presbyterian congregations of Caneridge and Coneord, in Bourbon County, under Rev. Robert W. Finley, determined to emigrate thither in a body. They were, in a measure, induced to take this step by their dislike to slavery, and a desire for freedom from its baleful influenees and the un- certainty that existed regarding the validity of the land titles in that State. The Rev. Finley, as a preliminary step, liberated his slaves, and addressed to Col. Massie a letter of inquiry, in December, 1794, regarding the land on the Scioto, of which he and his people had heard such glowing ae- counts.

"The letter indueed Col. Massie to visit Mr. Finley in the ensuing March. A large eoneourse of people, who wished to engage in the enterprise, assembled on the oeeasion, and fixed on a day to meet at the Three Islands, in Manchester, and proceed on an exploring expedition. Mr. Finley also wrote to his friends in Western Pennsylvania

* Nathaniel Massie was born in Goochland County, Va., Decem- ber 28, 1763. In 1780, he engaged, for a short time, in the Revolu- tionary war. In 1783, be left for Kentucky, where he acted as a surveyor. He was afterward made a Government surveyor, and labored much in that capacity for early Ohio proprietors. being paid in lands, the amounts graded by the danger attached to the survey. In 1791, he established the settlement at Manchester, and a year or two after, continued his surveys up the Scioto. Here he was con- tinually in great denger from the Indians, but knew well how to guard against them, and thus preserved himself. In 1796, he estab. lished the Chillicothe settlement, and made bis homo in the Scioto Valley, being now an extensive land owner by reason of bis long surveying service. In 1807, he and Return J. Meigs were conpet- itors for the office of Governor of Ohio. Meigy was elected, but Massie contested his eligibility to the office, on the grounds of his absence from the State and insufficiency of time as a resident, as required by the Constitution. Meigs was declared ineligible by the General Assembly, and Massie declared Governor. He, however, resigned the office at once, not desiring it. He was often Repre- sentative afterward. He died November 13, 1813.

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informing them of the time and place of rendez- vous.

" About sixty men met, according to appoint- ment, who were divided into three companies, under Massie, Finley and Falenash. They pro- ceeded on their route, without interruption, until they struck the falls of Paint Creck. Proceeding a short distance down that stream, they suddenly found themselves in the vicinity of some Indians who had encamped at a place, since called Reeve's Crossing, near the present town of Bainbridge. The Indians were of those who had refused to attend Wayne's treaty, and it was determined to give them battle, it being too late to retreat with safety. The Indians, on being attacked, soon fled with the loss of two killed and several wounded. One of the whites only, Joshua Robinson, was mortally wounded, and, during the action, a Mr. Armstrong, a prisoner among the savages, escaped to his own people. The whites gathered all their plunder and retreated as far as Scioto Brush Creek, where they were, according to expectation, attacked early the next morning. Again the In- dians were defeated. Only one man among the whites, Allen Gilfillan, was wounded. The party of whites continued their retreat, the next day reached Manchester, and separated for their homes. " After Wayne's treaty, Col. Massie and several of the old explorers again met at the house of Rev. Finley, formed a company, and agreed to make a settlement in the ensuing spring (1796), and raise a crop of corn at the mouth of Paint Creek. According to agreement, they met at Man- chester about the first of April, to the number of forty and upward, from Mason and Bourbon Counties. Among them were Joseph McCoy, Benjamin and William Rodgers, David Shelby, James Harrod, Henry, Bazil and Reuben Abrams, William Jamison, James Crawford, Samuel, An- thony and Robert Smith, Thomas Dick, William and James Kerr, George and James Kilgrove, John Brown, Samuel and Robert Templeton, Fer- guson Moore, William Nicholson and James B. Finley, later a prominent local Methodist minister. On starting, they divided into two companies, one of which struck across the country, while the other came on in pirogues. The first arrived carliest on the spot of their intended settlement, and had commenced erecting log huts above the mouth of Paint Creek, at the 'Prairie Station,' before the others had come on by water. About three hundred acres of the prairie were cultivated in corn that season.

" In August, of this year-1796-Chillicothe* was laid out by Col. Massie in a dense forest. He gave a lot to each of the first settlers, and, by the beginning of winter, about twenty cabins were erected. Not long after, a ferry was established across the Scioto, at the north end of Walnut street. The opening of Zane's trace produced a great change in travel westward, it having pre- viously been along the Olio in keel-boats or canoes, or by land, over the Cumberland Mountains, through Crab Orchard, in Kentucky.

" The emigrants brought corn-meal in their pi- rogues, and after that was gone, their principal meal, until the next summer, was that pounded in hominy mortars, which meal, when made into bread, and anointed with bear's-oil, was quite pal- atable.

" When the settlers first came, whisky was $4.50 per gallon; but, in the spring of 1797, when the keel-boats began to run, the Monongahela whisky- makers, having found a good market for their fire- water, rushed it in, in such quantities, that the cabins were crowded with it, and it soon fell to 50 cents. Men, women and children, with some excep- tions, drank it freely, and many who had been respectable and temperate became inebriates. Many of Wayne's soldiers and camp-women settled in the town, so that, for a time, it became a town of drunkards and a sink of corruption. There was, however, a little leaven, which, in a few months, began to develop itself.

" In the spring of 1797, one Brannon stole a great coat, handkerchief and shirt. He and his wife absconded, were pursued, caught and brought back. Samuel Smith was appointed Judge, a jury impanneled, one attorney appointed by the Judge to manage the prosecution, and another the defense; witnesses were examined, the case argued, and the evidence summed up by the Judge. The jury, having retired a few moments, returned with a verdict of gnilty, and that the culprit be sen- tenced according to the discretion of the Judge. The Judge soon announced that the criminal should have ten lashes on his naked back, or that he should sit on a bare pack-saddle on his pony, and that his wife, who was supposed to have had some agency in the theft, should lead the pony to every house in the village, and proclaim, "This is

#Chillicothe appears to have been a favorite name among the Indians, as many localities were known by that name. Col. Jolin Johnston says : "Chillicothe is the name of one of the principal tribes of the Shawanees. They would say, Chil-i-cothe otany, i. e., Chillicothe town. The Wyandots would say, for Chillicothe town, 'T'at-a-ra-ra, Do-tia, or town at the leaning of the bank."

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Brannon, who stole the great coat, handkerchief and shirt;' and that James B. Finley, afterward Chaplain in the State Penitentiary, should see the sentence faithfully carried out. Brannon chose the latter sentence, and the ceremony was faith- fully performed by his wife in the presence of every cabin, under Mr. Finley's care, after which the couple made off. This was rather rude, but effective jurisprudence.

" Dr. Edward Tiffin and Mr. Thomas Worth- ington, of Berkley County, Va., were brothers-in-law, and being moved by abolition principles, liberated their slaves, intending to remove into the Ter- ritory. For this purpose, Mr. Worthington visited Chillicothe in the autumn of 1797, and purchased several in and out lots of the town. On one of the former, he erected a two-story frame house, the first of the kind in the village. On his return, having purchased a part of a farm, on which his family long afterward resided, and another at the north fork of Paint Creek, lie contracted with Mr. Joseph Yates, a millwright, and Mr. George Haines, a blaeksmitli, to come out with him the following winter or spring, and erect for him a grist and saw mill on his north-fork tract. The summer, fall and following winter of that year were marked by a rush of emigration, which spead over the high bank prairie, Pea-pea, Westfall and a few miles up Paint and Deer Creeks.

"Nearly all the first settlers were either regular members, or had been raised in the Presbyterian Church. Toward the fall of 1797, the leaven of piety retained by a portion of the first settlers be- gan to diffuse itself through the mass, and a large log meeting-house was erected near the old grave- yard, and Rev. William Speer, from Pennsylvania, took charge. The sleepers at first served as seats for hearers, and a split-log table was used as a pulpit. Mr. Speer was a gentlemanly, moral man, tall and cadaverous in person, and wore the cocked hat of the Revolutionary era.

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History of Medina county and Ohio, Part 17

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Battle, J. H; Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926; Baskin & Battey. Chicago. pub Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago : Baskin & Battey Number of Pages: 1014

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Battle, J. H; Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926; Baskin & Battey. Chicago. pub
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : Baskin & Battey
Number of Pages: 1014