History of Seneca County, Ohio, containing a history of the county, its townships, towns, villages, school, churches, industries, etc., portraits of early settlers and prominent men; biographies; history of the Northwest territory; history of Ohio; statistical and miscellaneous matter, etc., etc, Part 23

Author: Leeson, M. A. (Michael A.)
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Chicago : Warner, Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1088

USA > Ohio > Seneca County > History of Seneca County, Ohio, containing a history of the county, its townships, towns, villages, school, churches, industries, etc., portraits of early settlers and prominent men; biographies; history of the Northwest territory; history of Ohio; statistical and miscellaneous matter, etc., etc > Part 23

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).

208

HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY.

afterward. After the committal of the deed, Peter Pork went to his hut and made some preliminary preparations for defense, well knowing that his deed would be detected, He placed his tomahawk within reach of his bed, and stuck his knife in a crevice in a wall just above his head. His squaw, notic- ing these actions, comprehended that something was wrong, and after he had fallen into a sort of drunken stupor. she removed the knife, placing in its stead a piece of wood of about the same dimensions. The following persons repaired to his house in order to arrest him: Jaques Hulberd (afterward judge), Phineas Frary, Anson Gray and Stephen Ross. He was a gigantic savage, and on the entrance of the party a terrible struggle ensued, which was carried on in the dark, Pork having kicked the lantern out of the hand of Frary at the onset. Mr. Hulberd clinched the Indian, and caught him by the throat, when Pork seized the piece of wood, supposing it to be his knife, and gave Hulberd a terrible stab, the stick penetrating through his coat. After being nearly throttled, the Indian was secured; and April 28, 1830, he was arraigned before the court of common pleas of this county, and found guilty of 'stabbing with intent to kill.' He was sentenced to three years in the Ohio State Penitentiary."

Buck-ong-a-he-las, a noted old Delaware chief, mixed much with the Shawnees. He is supposed to have been born near Philadelphia, Penn .. a few years after the treaties with Penn, and, when he lived on the Auglaize, was well advanced in age. In colonial days, with Jacobs and other leading Delawares, he resided in western Pennsylvania, and is believed at that time to have been identical with the "Shingess" who entertained Washington, when a young man, in 1753. Shingess was an active warrior when Fort Du Quesne was taken in 1759. Heckewelder speaks of meeting him at the Tuscarora town on the Muskingum, as early as 1760. As early as 1764, King Beaver, who was a brother of Buck-ong-a-he-las, is met by Gen. Gibson at the mouth of Big Beaver. Just what time he settled in western Ohio is not known. At the capture of Col. Hardin, Maj. Truman and others in 1792, as bearers of a flag of truce from Washington, after having treacherously murdered Hardin, the Indians arrived near the Indian town of Auglaize, and reported to the old chief, "who was very sorry they had killed the men, and said, instead of so doing, they should have brought them along to the Indian towns, and then, if what they had to say had not been liked it would have been time enough to have killed them. Nothing could justify them for putting them to death, as there was no chance for them to escape." This chief fought against Harmar, St. Clair and Wayne. He signed the treaty of 1795. He must have been over one hundred years old. He died at Ottawa village, on the Auglaize, in 1804.

One of the most noted chiefs was the venerable Blackhoof-Cul-the-we-ka- saw-in the raids upon Kentucky sometimes called Blackfoot. He is believed to have been born in Florida, and, at the period of the removal of a portion of the Shawnees to Ohio and Pennsylvania, was old enough to recollect having bathed in the salt water. He was present, with others of his tribe, at the defeat of Gen. Braddock, near Pittsburgh, in 1755, and was engaged in all the wars in Ohio from that time until the treaty of Greenville, in 1795. He was known far and wide as the great Shawnee warrior, whose cunning, sagac- ity and experience were only equaled by the force and desperate bravery with which he carried into operation his military plans. He was the inveterate foe of the white man, and held that no peace should be made, nor negotiation at- tempted, except on the condition that the whites should repass the mountains, and leave the great plains of the West to the sole occupancy of the red men. He was the orator of the tribe during the greater part of his long life, and is

209

HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY.

said to have been an excellent speaker. Col. John Johnston says he was probably in more battles than any living man of his day, and was the most graceful Indian he had ever seen, and possessed the most natural and happy faculty of expressing his ideas. He was well versed in the traditions of his people, and no one understood better their relations to the whites, whose set- tlements were gradually pressing them back, and could detail with minuteness the wrongs inflicted by the whites on his people. He remembered having talked with some of the aged chiefs who had been present at the treaty with William Penn, in 1682. He fought the battles against Harmar, St. Clair and Wayne, hoping to retain his country; but when finally defeated, in 1794, he decided that further resistance was useless, and signed the treaty of Green- ville, in 1795, and continued faithful to its stipulations until his decease, which occurred in the summer of 1831, at Wapakonetta, at the advanced age of one hundred and twenty years! Blackhoof is said to have been opposed to polyg- amy and the practice of burning prisoners. He lived forty years with one wife, raising a large family of children, who both loved and respected him. He was small in stature, not more than five feet eight inches in height. He was favored with good health and unimpaired eyesight to the period of his death.

Quasky, his elder son, was the successor to Blackhoof. He possessed many of the qualities of his distinguished father. He went West with his people in 1832, and was living in 1853. He, like his father, was a fine speaker.

The chief Blue Jacket, it will be remembered, commanded the Indian army at the battle of "Fallen Timber," in 1794, and, with much reluctance, signed the treaty with Wayne, at Greenville, in 1795. He was very bitter in his feelings toward the "Long Knives," who were rapidly settling upon the lands that formerly belonged to the red man. His feelings were quite as in- tense as those of Tecumseh, though he did not possess his abilities for organi- zation. As a matter of prudence, he did not join Tecumseh in the war of 1812. He is supposed to have died at Ottawa village, down the Auglaize, just prior to the treaty at Maumee Rapids, in 1817. It appears that Gens. Cass and McArthur, in that treaty, made provision for his family at Wapako- netta, in which James, George and Charles Blue Jacket received each about 1,000 acres in the reservation.

Quilna, another chief, was actually popular among the white pioneers. He shared in all their sports and industries; was as good a workman as he was a hunter.

Little Fox, a brother of Pht, was an irreconcilable. Up to the departure of this Indian for Kansas, he could not believe that he was doomed to leave Ohio.

Turkeyfoot, a peculiar formation, just as broad as he was long, was a sav- age capable of entertaining and practicing the most diabolical ideas. At times he would induce himself to believe that he was on good terms with the whites, and while in such a mood he would make a circuit of all the white settlements.

Beaver, a young Delaware chief, who, with his band, made his home with the Shawnees, was a favorite of Gen. Harrison. He it was who executed Lit- tle Blue Jacket, in July, 1813, when that emissary of Proctor was on his way to assassinate Gen. Harrison, at Fort Seneca.

Little Blue Jacket, an itinerant bravado of the Shawnee nation, who passed some time with the British at Malden, was dispatched by Gen. Proctor to Ohio to introduce himself into the camp of the American Shawnees and Dela- wares, who were then aiding the American army, and, when an opportunity

210

HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY.

offered, to assassinate the American commander. Owing to the loyalty of Beaver his design was foiled, and himself made the victim of his treachery.

Soo-de-nooks, son of Black Chief, murdered John Barnet's half brother in October, 1830; was brought before a council of the Wyandots (of which tribe both were members), and sentenced to banishment, while his property was to become common to the tribe. This sentence was vetoed by the tribe, and all men over twenty-one years of age assembled to try the case. There were 112 votes in favor of capital punishment and twelve in favor of the sentence of the council. Three Christian and three heathen Indians were appointed to carry out the new decision, viz. : Silas Armstrong, Joe Enos, Francis Cot- ter, Lump-on-the-head, Soo-kuh-guess and Saw-yan-wa-hoy. These savages fired at the murderer, and Soo-de-nooks went straight to the country of all bad Indians.

Grey Eyes was a regular Methodist minister-a pure Wyandot, and an un- compromising opponent of the sale of the Big Spring and other reservations until after the majority agreed to sell, when he also acquiesced. In 1843, he moved West with the tribe, under Chief Jacques.

La-wa-tu-cheh (John Wolf), was a Shawnee of some note. Col. John Johnston hired of him a trading house at Wapakonetta, and he often accom- panied the Colonel on his trading trips in the forest among the different tribes. He died at Wapakonetta.

Wa-the-the-we-la, or Bright Horn, was another noted chief, who was pres- ent when Logan was mortally wounded in the contest with Winemac in 1812, and was severely wounded in the thigh in the same fight, but recovered and lived at Wapakonetta. He was, with Blackhoof, the especial friend of Gen. Harrison in the war of 1812. He was a brave man, and of sound integrity. He fought like a hero for our cause in the war of 1812. He was a large and commanding Indian in appearance, and was quite shrewd and intelligent. He died in 1826, at Wapakonetta.

Peter Cornstalk was a chief in succession to his father, who was assassin- ated at Point Pleasant, Va. This Peter was a fine specimen of the Indian, and a true friend of the settlers in the Auglaize country. He moved to Kan- sas in 1828 with the Prophet.

Nern-pe-nes-he-quah, also a son of Chief Cornstalk, went to Kansas in 1832.

Henry Clay, son of Capt. Wolf, was educated under the supervision of Col. John Johnston, at Upper Piqua, at the expense of the Quaker Friends. He afterward became a leading chief and married the daughter of Jeremiah McLain, formerly a member of Congress from the Columbus District, in 1835.

Way-wel-ea-py was the principal speaker among the Shawnees at the period of their removal. He was an eloquent orator, grave, gay or humorous, as oc- casion required. At times, his manner is said to have been quite fascinating, his countenance so full of varied expression, and his voice so musical, that surveyors and other strangers passing through the country listened to him with delight, although the words fell upon their ears in an unknown language. During the negotiation for the sale of their reserve, he addressed his people and Mr. Gardiner several times. His refutation of Gardiner's assumed supe- riority over the Indian race was complete and full of irony. Col. George C. Johnston often met this chief at his trading post in Wapakonetta, and says he was a fine looking Indian, and cultivated the friendship of the pioneers. He was the principal speaker of the Shawnees, and delivered the opinions of the tribe at treaties and in public assemblies. He removed West with his tribe, where he died in 1843.

211

HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY.

Lollaway (John Perry), head chief of the Shawnees, often traded at the station of Col. Johnston. He signed the treaty of 1831, at Wapakonetta. He could converse fluently in English. He was a man of influence with his tribe, and of good habits. He was much grieved when he learned that the Shawnees had been deceived as to the value of their reservations. He went West in 1832, and died in 1843.

The chief Oxonoxy resided where Charloe Village now stands. About the year 1827 this savage killed his son-in-law and grandson; he was tried by a council of chiefs, sentenced to be beheaded, but instead of carrying out the sentence one of deposition was substituted.

Between-the-Logs, son of a Cayuga warrior and a woman of the Bear band of Wyandots, was born at Lower Sandusky about three years prior to Crawford's defeat. At the age of twenty-five years he was sent to the Senecas further up the river to study the doctrine and ways of the Seneca prophet, and in 1806 visited the notorious brother of Tecumseh on a similar errand. He exposed those false prophets, and in 1812 opposed the political teachings of Tecumseh's brother, even going so far as to ask the chief to ignore him, and join the American army. During the war of 1812 he won all the Senecas and many of the Wyandots to the American standard; subsequently settled at Up- per Sandusky; became a drunkard, killed his squaw, immediately became tem- perate, visited Washington in 1817, and afterward joined John Stewart's Meth- odist Mission, of which he was appointed exhorter. He died in 1827, and on January 2, the day after, he was buried near the Mission Church, erected in 1825.

Warpole, the first chief of the Shawnees, elected after the death of Chief Deunquot, gave place to Jacques, who was re-elected on New Year's day for many years.

Mononcue, one of the ablest Indians of the decaying Wyandots, and one of the chiefs after Warpole, died about 1835. He was an orator of the tribe, and considered by old men to be much superior to Pomoacan, the great chief of the tribe in 1782.

William Walker, son of the squaw Catherine Walker, died in 1874. He was a quarter-blood Seneca.

Among the leading men of the Wyandots in 1843, known to the people of Seneca County, were Jacques (the chief), Porcupine, Providence, Split-the- Logs, Stand-in-the-Water, White Wing, Mud Eater, Bull Head, Peacock, Big River, Big Tree, Black Sheep, Chop-the-Logs, Blue Jacket, Bear Skin, Cary- Hoe, Curly-Head, Washington, Lump-on-the-Head, John Hicks, Kill Buck, Spy Buck, and others named in the foregoing sketches.

Sum-mum-de-Wat, one of the Christian Wyandots, and a chief of that tribe, was one of the truest friends the first settlers of Seneca County claimed among all the Indians. While entertaining a few whites, alleged land-hunters, the guests murdered their hospitable host in Wood County in 1841, the genial old Indian rested here in Seneca for a while, but in 1843 his ashes were re- moved to Mission Church Cemetery.

White and Colored Captives and Breeds .- Sam Wells, the negro captive, mentioned heretofore, did not go West with the Wyandots. He became a charge on the people of Wyandot County, under the care of Reuben Low- master, of Eden Township.

Spibey-the-Tailor, a breed, and Old Abe Taylor, a negro with Russell Russ, a breed, and a few Indians, were to be found on the borders of this county.

Spicer's sons and daughters-all of them as grotesque as their father's cab- in-married in this county.

212

HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY.

John Carpenter was made captive by the Delawares (two of whom were Moravians and speakers of the Dutch language) in February, 1782, at Buffalo Creek, Washington Co., Penn., and carried into Ohio. He escaped subse- quently and returned to Pittsburgh. The same year Thomas Decker, Samuel Wells, a negro boy, were also captured. Timothy Dorman and his wife were cap- tured near Fort Buchanan, and carried into the wilderness of Ohio, but there is no further account of them. About this time, also, the Delawares carried away the wife and three children of Robert Wallace, while he was away from home. They murdered Mrs. Wallace and her infant near the Sandusky River: one of her boys died in the Sandusky country; the other was sold to the Wyandots about 1812, and was rescued by his father about 1815. Even in 1817 there were several captives among the Senecas and Wyandots, such as Spicer, Knisely, Sarah Williams, Mrs. Castleman, Eliza Whittaker, Sally Frost, Van Meter and others referred to in the history of Ohio. Those who were carried away in their youth, were raised by Indian foster mothers, and became more Indian than the Indians themselves.

Sally Frost was a white girl, raised by a Wyandot woman after her capture, and survived Tarhe, her Indian husband many years, and was among the white pioneers of the Sandusky country.

Jonathan Pointer, was the name of. a negro, who was captured in Virginia, taken to the Wyandot country, and who grew up here to be the slave of Tarhe. He was also Girty's servant, subsequently Capt. Pipe's servant, and again an employe of John Van Meter: was a fair interpreter, as well as renderer of sacred vocal music. While at the Van Meter place, he would interpret for preacher Stewart and others, but when Stewart's doctrine became enigmatical, Pointer would look as comic as a negro can look, and add: "I don't know meself whether that is so or not so." He was leader in all musical entertainments at the Mission Church. even as he was at an Indian or pioneer dance.

Benjamin Franklin Warner was not a captive, but a citizen of the Seneca nation, having withdrawn from American civilization. He was married to a Mohican woman, named Konkepot, and with her came from Green Bay, Wis., to Ohio, where he was hospitably received by the Senecas. In accompanying his Indian friends to the Neosha, Konkepot died near the mouth of the Mis- souri, leaving her child to Warner. who cared for the little Indian until he was able to enter life for himself. Warner was the man-of-all-work, liberal, sober, industrious and always agreeable.

Charlieu, like Joseph Tequania, was in the service of the French-Cana- dian, and was present on the Plains of Abraham, when the unfortunate death of Montcalm gave the victory of that day, and all Canada to the British. He subsequently served with the British. Charlieu was born about 1736. as a child of the Mohawks, a nephew of the Brandts, married a French half-breed, spoke the French language, embraced Catholicism, came to Ohio with his tribe, and in 1829 joined the Senecas. When the tribe moved, in 1831-32, to the Neosha country, he set out on the overland trip, but died at St. Louis, Mo., April 26, 1832, from eating warm bread, and was interred in the old Catholic cemetery.

William Spicer, or Big Kittles, a captive of the Wyandots, was a native of Pennsylvania, made captive about 1775. and brought to the Ohio River, where the Wyandots would tie him to a tree near the river bank, so as to attract the attention of white travelers, who, on coming to release the boy, would them- selves be captured. He was moved to the Sandusky about 1778, grew up here, and became a large stock-raiser and farmer. About 1821 he was beaten and then robbed of several thousand dollars, it is alleged, by a carpenter named

G. R. Bosworth

215

HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY.

William Rollins, an employe of P. D. Butler, at Fort Ball, in 1821. At that time Benjamin Barney and a constable named Papineau, a polished French- Canadian, and Caleb Rice espoused Spicer's cause, arrested Rollins, Downing, Butler and Case, brought them to trial, and had Rollins sentenced to eleven years in the penitentiary. A year later Spicer himself signed a petition asking pardon for the robber. A good deal of the $6,000 or $7,000 stolen was returned to this prosperous captive, who died here about 1830. One of his daughters was the second wife of Crow, another captive. Spicer's cabin, like himself, is said to have been the filthiest west of the Alleghenies. This Will- iam Spicer was charged, in 1830, with the murder of Drake, the mail carrier, son of Judge Drake, of Marion County.

Robert Armstrong, to whom a section of land was granted at Fort Ball in 1817, was made captive in Pennsylvania. and adopted by a woman of the Wyandot nation. He married a half-breed Indian, presumably of the Cayugas, was employed as interpreter by the United States, as he could speak English and Indian well, and thus ingratiated himself into the confidence of both parties, until he was rewarded by the United States with this grant of 640 acres in one of the most beautiful spots in the State. In 1823 the President issued a patent to him for this land, and the same year he sold 404 acres of it to Jesse Spencer. He moved from Upper Sandusky to Fort Ball that year, returned in 1824, and died within two miles of Upper Sandusky in 1825, on the Wyandot Reservation.

William McCulloch, named in the treaty of 1817, was engaged for some months as an interpreter by Gen. Harrison, and killed by a cannon ball while. on duty at Fort Meigs in 1813. To his seven children a section of land was granted adjoining the Armstrong Reservation at Fort Ball, which was subdivided, and sold. In the history of Ohio McCulloch is mentioned as a half-bred. mar- ried to a squaw or squaws.

John Van Meter, captured in West Virginia in 1778, by the Wyandots, transferred to the Mohawks or Senecas in later years by his foster-mother, was married to a Mohawk woman named Susan Brandt, sister of Thomas, Isaac and Paulus Brandt, the last chiefs of the Mohawk nation, the remnant of whom settled near Tiffin and resided in this county. The treaty of 1817 provided that 1,000 acres of land should be granted to John Van Meter, his wife and her three brothers. This was known as the "Van Meter Reservation," on Honey Creek, and was the home of John, Sr., until his death about 1824. In 1828 John Van Meter, Jr., Thomas, Isaac and Paulus Brandt sold their inter- ests in this reservation to Lloyd Norris for $2,500, and in 1829 young Van Meter accompanied the twenty-five Mohawk families on their trans-Mississippi journey.

Crow. or Jacob Knisely, was made captive in his youth by the Wyandots at Loyal Hannah, Penn., and carried to the Ohio River; thence brought to the Sandusky and transferred to the Senecas, with whom he moved West in 1831-32. He was made captive in 1778. Fifty years later his father came to Seneca County and stayed at Crow's cabin. The captive refused to answer any questions, until Mr. Knisely said: "If you are my son, then your name is Jacob." Crow responded enthusiastically, saying: "That is my name and I am your son. I recollect that, but I kept it all to myself for fear that somebody would claim me and take me away." A very old Wyandot squaw, the woman who adopted young Knisely and named him Crow, was sent for to the Wyandot Reservation, and she confirmed the fact, but watched her foster-son, lest his father would induce him to return to civilization. In early years Crow married a Wyandot woman, who died, but before leaving for the West he took William

216

HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY.

Spicer's daughter as his wife. He would not return with his father, parting with him forever at Bellevue. He died in 1833. White Crow, a son of Crow by his second wife, visited the old reservation here in 1852, after leaving his sons in school at Dayton. He is now known as Jacob Knisely. When here he reported that the interpreter Herrin murdered Peter Pork on the Neosha.

Good Hunter, a full-blooded Cayuga, is supposed to have been born on the Sandusky about 1780. After the murder of Seneca John he took his place as chief and counsellor.

Catherine Walker, and John Walker and William Walker her sons, were well known settlers of Seneca Township. A grant of 640 acres was made to them under the treaty of 1817, in consideration of John Walker's services to the United States as a soldier, and on account of a severe wound which he received. Their claim was away west of the Mohawk Reservation. Catherine and her son William, conducted a store at Upper Sandusky. On their grant was some fine timber, and there they established a saw-mill about 1856, built a large house and soon cleared a beautiful forest.

John Stewart, an eighth-breed negro and Indian, was a native of Powhatan, Va., failed in an effort to commit suicide in the Ohio River, next became a convert to Methodism and then considered himself an instrument in the hands of God to convert the Indians and even the French. In August, 1817, he repeated his visit of November, 1816, to the Wyandots, used the negro- Pointer-and Tom Lyons as interpreters and was making fair progress, when Methodist missionaries visited Upper Sandusky in 1818 and spread the report that Stewart was an unlicensed preacher, if not a mere pretender. In March, 1819, a Methodist Conference at Urbana conferred a license upon him, allowed Anthony Banning to assist him, and when, in August, 1819, James B. Finley was appointed presiding elder of the Wyandot country, this Stewart, as well as James Montgomery, the Seneca sub-agent, were appointed missionaries. When Montgomery was really established at Fort Seneca he retired from missionary life among the Wyandots. Moses Henkle succeeded Montgomery, and henceforth John Stewart's teachings and influences declined.

Buckwheat, a Delaware who had negro blood in his veins, was burned in 1827 for his secret dealings with witches, a charge proved against him at Little Sandusky. Anthony Bowsher, who platted Bowsherville, Ohio, was present at this execution, which was only surpassed in cruelty by that of Col. Crawford, forty-five years previously.

Tom Lyons, a Delaware and the friend of Anthony Wayne, who named him Tom Lyons, was a very old and fierce warrior, having lived with his people in Pennsylvania long before they retired into Ohio. He often stated that he sent ninety-nine white men to meet in the happy hunting-grounds, and owing to his prowess was given the fairest woman of the Delaware tribe as his wife. On making his home at Fort Ball, he was accustomed to buy trinkets, ribbons, etc., for this woman, and array her in the outfit of a queen. While living in this simple way, two white hunters from Delaware County visited Fort Ball, and finding Lyons in his cabin, sent him to the happy hunting-grounds.

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.

Author: Leeson, M. A. (Michael A.) Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Chicago : Warner, Beers & Co. Number of Pages: 1088

Author: Leeson, M. A. (Michael A.)
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Chicago : Warner, Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1088