USA > Ohio > Seneca County > History of Seneca County, from the close of the revolutionary war to July, 1880 > Part 10
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He informed the chiefs that he had been hunting on the Wabash. and at his own request was permitted to join the party that was now
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BLUE JACKET AND BEAVER.
getting ready to march to Fort Seneca. Upon their arrival at MeAr- thur's blockhouse. they halted and encamped for the purpose of receiving provisions from the deputy Indian agent. Col. McPherson. who resided there.
Before their arrival at that place. Bhie Jacket had communicated to a friend of his. a Shawnees warrior, his intention to kill the American general, and requested his assistance. This his friend declined, and endeavored to dissuade him from attempting it, assuring him that it could not be done without the certain loss of his own life, as he had been at the American camp, and knew that there was always a guard around the General's quarters, who were on duty day and night.
Blue Jacket replied that he was determined to execute his intention at any risk, and said: "I will kill the General. even if I was sure that the guard will cut me into pieces no bigger than my thumb-nail."
No people on earth are more faithful in keeping a secret than the Indians, but each warrior has a friend from whom he will conceal nothing. It was the good fortune of Gen. Harrison that the friend and confidant of Blue Jacket was a young Delaware chief by the name of Beaver, who was also bound to the General by ties of friendship. He was the son of a Delaware war-chief of the same name, who had, with others, been put to death by his own tribe, on the charge of practicing sorcery.
Gen. Harrison had been on terms of friendship with his father, and had patronized his orphan boy, at that time some ten or twelve years of age. He had now arrived at manhood, and was considered among the most promising warriors of his tribe. To this young chief the friend of Blue Jacket revealed the fatal secret. The Beaver was placed, by this communication, in an embarrassing situation; for, should he hisclose what he had heard and been entrusted with, he betrayed his friend, than which nothing .could be more repugnant to the principles of an Indian warrior. Should he not disclose it, consequences equal, or even more to be deprecated, were likely to ensue. The assassination of a friend-his father's friend-whose life he was bound to save and defend, or whose death to avenge, by the same principle of fidelity and honor which forbid the disclosure.
While in this state of meditation and hesitation, the young Delaware being undecided as to which of these conflicting duties was the strongest. Blue Jacket came up to the Delaware camp somewhat intos- icated, vociferating vengeance upon Col. McPherson, who had just turned him out of his house, and whom he declared he would kill for this insult. The sight of the traitor raised the indignation and resent-
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HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY.
ment of the Beaver to the highest pitch. He. seized his tomahawk, and advancing towards the villain, said to him: "You must be a great. warrior: you will not only kill this white man for treating you as you deserve, but you will also murder our father, the American chief, and bring disgrace and mischief upon us all. But you shall do neither: I will serve you as I would a mad dog."
A furious blow from the tomahawk of the Beaver stretched the unfortunate Blue Jacket at his feet, and a second finished him.
"There," said Beaver, to some Shawnees, who were present, "take him to the camp of his tribe and tell them who has done the deed."
The Shawnees approved of the act, and were pleased to have escaped the ignominy which the villainy of Blue Jacket would have brought upon them.
It is impossible to say what was the motive of Blue Jacket to attempt the life of Gen. Harrison. He was not one of the Tippecanoe Shaw- nees, and therefore could have no personal resentment, or cause for malice, against the General. There is but little doubt that Blue Jacket came from Malden, under British influence, when he arrived at Wapa- koneta, and that he came for the express purpose to assassinate Gen. Harrison; but whether he was instigated or hired by any person, or conceived the idea himself, has never been ascertained.
The country west of the Sandusky river was not only a dense forest, but also a vast swamp, in which the Indians themselves found no spots suitable to build their wigwams. This great swamp was the country of the Wolfcreeks-sluggish streams that come together near the mouth where Wolfcreek proper enters the Sandusky river in Ballville town- ship, Sandusky county. There were no Indian trails through this swale. These followed the banks of the river on both sides, from the headwaters of the Sandusky to the mouth. Along these trails they built their towns, and the army road. made and opened in the late war. under the direction of Gen. Harrison, following the left bank of the river on high ground wherever practicable, and without any line of survey. There was another army road from Delaware to Fort Seneca, on the east side of the river. Along this road Fort Seneca and Fort Stephenson were supplied with provisions. And right here, before proceeding any further in this narrative, it may be asked:
"What in this world can possibly be said of the history of a part of our county that was once a dense forest and a dead swamp? What historic events can be connected with the hard work requisite to reduce both forest and swale, and enable the pioneer farmer to raise his bread and support his family?"
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THOMAS CORWIN. .
This question arises very naturally, and it must be admitted that, while no great battles were fought within the boundaries of Seneca; while it can not boast of a Lexington, a Bunker Hill or a Yorktown; while it was not the birth-place of any person whose name has adorned general history, yet it will be admitted that men of not only state, but of national notoriety, and whose names have adorned not only the history of our state, but also that of the general government, were identified with events that transpired within her borders, and a history of Seneca county without a relation of the movements of Gen. Harrison along this valley would be nothing but a fraction of what it should be. There was also another character identified with Fort Seneca. It was "Tom, the wagon-boy," as he was then familiarly called. Let us see who he was. Mathias Corwin, in 1798, settled in what is now Warren county, and which was then as complete a wilder- ness as Seneca in 1820; and the school houses and opportunities for education were also of a like character. He had a son by the name of Thomas, who, in 1812, when the war broke out, was about fifteen years of age. Our unnatural enemies were stimulating the savages all along our northern frontier to kill, burn and destroy. Gen. Hull had made his disastrous surrender at Detroit. All plans of the War Department in the northwest were thus deranged. Our soldiers, unsupplied with food, were in danger of starvation.
In this emergency, Judge Corwin determined to send a team to the extreme frontier, loaded with supplies for the suffering troops. His son Thomas drove the team. He came by the Delaware army road to Fort Seneca, with the load, while Gen. Harrison was there. This trip attached to him the name of "Tom, the wagon-boy," for life. He became highly popular with the people of Ohio in after years, and won honors at the bar, in the legislature of the state, in the council of the general government as Senator from Ohio. He was Governor of Ohio, and Secretary of the Treasury under the administration of Mr. Fillmore. In 1861, President Lincoln appointed Mr. Corwin Minister to Mexico. He died in the City of Washington, on the 18th day of December, 1865.
Mr. Corwin was a fine specimen of a self-made man. He was recognized by friend and foe as a man of strict notions of honor. an able lawyer, a great statesman, and an orator of the first order. He could hold a crowd as by magic, and his anecdotes, accompanied with his unsurpassable grimaces and applications, were irresistible in their effect.
Mr. Corwin was a man about five feet nine inches high, very com- pactly built, muscular and fleshy, with strong features, dark eyes, high
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HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY.
forehead, black hair, short neck and of very dafk complexion. He was gentle, social, kind.
The writer was present one time when a company of gentlemen met at the old American house, in Columbus, and heard Gov. Wood tell a good joke on Mr. Corwin in his presence. Gov. Wood said: "A few years ago, in the winter, while Mr. Corwin was in Columbus attending to business in the United States District Court, the mulattoes in Columbus had a' dance, and had given notice that none but pure mulattoes would be admitted. One of Mr. Corwin's friends offered a small bet that he ( Mr. Corwin) could not get in to see the dance because he was too dark for a mulatto. Mr. Corwin accepted the bet, and, dressing himself in the best manner he could to deceive the door keeper, put a hat with a very wide rim on his head, and the party started for the ball. Mr. Corwin presented his ticket, and the mulatto door keeper lifted up the rim of Mr. Corwin's hat, and said: 'Can't get in heah, Massa-one shade too dark;' and Mr. Corwin lost the bet."
The Senecas took possession of their lands soon after the treaty, and began to build cabins and open little clearings around them. By virtue of the treaty, the United States . were obliged to establish an agency near the reservation, to provide for their wants, and in every way to assist in carrying into effect the conditions of the treaty. The Rev. James Montgomery was appointed agent for the Senecas. On the 19th day of November, 1819, he moved with his family into the old blockhouse of the fort, and immediately took charge of his office.
Mr. Montgomery was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, November 20, 1776. He finished his education in Pittsburgh, and when he was seventeen years old, moved with his widowed mother to the state of Kentucky. His father died in the revolutionary war in Johnstown, New Jersey, of camp fever. The widow and her children settled on one of those celebrated "tomahawk claims" in Kentucky. and which, as a matter of course, became involved in litigation, which was usual, and lost. Mr. Montgomery married a Miss Kaziah Rouse. and in 1806 moved into Champaign county, Ohio, and located eight miles cast of Urbana. He preached through that county as a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In the year 1812, he moved with his family to Springfield, Ohio, and while there he was appointed by Gov. Meigs commissary for the army. After the war he moved back to Champaign county, and while there, received his appointment from the president as agent for the Seneca Indians. The family lived in the old blockhouse seven years, when he built a large cabin close by, where he afterwards lived with his family to the time of his death, which
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JAMES MONTGOMERY-JAMES T. WORTHINGTON.
occurred on the ist day of June. 1830. During his residence here. whenever the duties of his office as Indian agent would admit of it, he attended to his ministerial duties, and became generally respected and beloved by all who had an opportunity to enjoy his acquaintance. He was possessed of a noble, manly character, kind, generous and hospit- able. His house became the headquarters for traders. The latch string of his door was always out. Ministers, lawyers, surveyors. Indians and whites made Mr. Montgomery's house a stopping place. The Indians called him Kuckoo-wassa-new acorn. He was but fifty- four years old when he died. The Rev. Ezechiel Cooper, a Methodist Episcopal preacher, preached his funeral sermon from the text :- "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord." All the chiefs and braves of the Senecas attended his funeral. He was buried in the old cemetery near the fort. He had eleven children-two sons and nine daughters. Mr. William Montgomery, who was afterwards extensively engaged in the mercantile business in Tiffin, was his oldest son. Mrs. Sally Ingham. who now resides in the city of Tiffin, is the only surviving member of that large family.
Mr. Montgomery was about five feet six inches high, strong and compactly built, without being corpulent. His carriage was straight and erect. He had black hair and eyebrows, dark eyes, prominent nose, smooth forehead, rather heavy lower jaw, clenched lips, a frank and open countenance, which, together, would mark him, not only as a man of great decision, but also as a leader in any capacity. He had a clear, strong voice, fine control of language, and was altogether practical in his orthodoxy. His conversation was cheerful, humorous and instructive. He was the kind neighbor, affectionate husband and father, an honest officer, and a blessing to all around him. Shortly before his removal to Fort Seneca, he was ordained by Bishop Asbury, in Lebanon. Warren county, Ohio, in 1819.
Among the many visitors at the old blockhouse was Mr. James T. Worthington, who was employed by the government to survey several of the townships in Seneca county into sections and quarter-sections. Mr. Worthington often stopped at Montgomery's for meals. He was then a young man, about twenty three years old, about five feet eight inches high, slender built, with light brown hair, brushed back and over the left side, of fair complexion, grey eyes, expressive, intellectual countenance, pleasing in conversation, gentlemanly in his bearing, and very good looking. His grey linsey-woolsey Indian hunting shirt, with cape and fringe, became him very much. He was a son of Governor Worthington, of Ohio.
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HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY.
The early emigrants to the valley of the Sandusky were compelled to make their way through forest and swamp as best they could. They had to follow old army roads, or Indian trails, fording streams, and winding through the woods for hours and days by blazed trees. There was no bridge across any stream in the whole valley of the river-nor could a house or cabin be found to stop at. They had to camp out. and sleep in the wagon, or on the ground, with no roof but the trees. or the broad canopy of heaven. When Mr. Montgomery moved into the old fort, there was no bridge between Urbana and Lower Sandusky. When the writer came to Seneca, in 1833, there was no bridge in the county. Neighbors on opposite sides of streams, made a way to get across by falling a tree across and walking over the log.
In the years 1819 and 1820, there were but five families of white people living between Fort Seneca and Fort Ball. These were the Dumonds, William Harris, Abner Pike, (who had a cabin near the place where Ezra Baker afterwards built a frame house near the mill,) an old man by the name of McNutt, and widow Shippy. Benjamin Barney, Anson Gray and Joel Chapin also arrived about that time.
Anson Gray afterwards married one of the Harris girls-Jane. The farm, about one mile south of the present town of Fort Seneca, which was afterwards owned by the Rev. J. J. Beilhars, of the German Lutheran church, and where he died, was bought at the land sales, by Anson Gray. In after years Gray moved with his family to Illinois. In 1820, old Mr. McNutt lived in a log cabin at a place that afterwards became familiarly known as the "Wright farm." Here McNutt cleared some land. The cabin was built for a school house, and was the first school house built in the Sandusky valley.
"The Barney Boys," as they were familiarly called, afterwards lived with Joel Chapin, in the same house. Afterwards, Lorenzo Abbott and Joel Chapin and their families lived in the same house. They had rented the place, and had abont thirty-five acres cleared and under fence.
The widow Shippy also lived on the Wright farm, in a cabin near the school house.
Three brothers: Willard, Francis and Ezra Sprague, lived in a cabin on the farm that is now known as the Gangwer place. Ezra afterwards lived with a family by the name of Downing. Most all of these first cabins were built in the woods, without regard to section lines, roads, or anything else, except to get to some neighbor, if possible, and with a view of buying the lands at the sales, or entering them at the land office after the sales. Several of these cabins were built by the Indians
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EARLY SETTLERS.
before they moved together on to their reservation to the east of the river. Other settlers that came on afterwards occupied the cabins on the west side of the river that the Senecas had abandoned. In these cabins the early settlers made themselves as comfortable as they could while they waited for the time of the land sales. There were no cabin, any distance west and from the river, and but two more between the fort and Lower Sandusky.
A Mr. Wilson lived in a cabin at a place that afterwards became known as the Frank Abbott farm. Caleb Rice lived in a cabin on the farm now owned by Mr. William Montgomery. Daniel Rice, who married Ann Barney, was the first justice of the peace in that neigh- borhood. He was a brother of Caleb Rice, and his widow is still living with her son, north of Clyde. in Sandusky county.
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CHAPTER V.
SPEECH OF ISAAC I. DUMOND BEFORE THE SENECA PIONEER ASSOCIATION -SAMUEL CROWELL'S CONTRIBUTION-THE DOG-DANCE-SOW-DOWS-KY.
C N THE 22d day of February, 1869, being the anniversary of the birth of George Washington, in conformity to a call previously issued, a large number of the pioneers of Seneca county met at the court house in Tiffin, to organize a Pioneer Association. At one of the subsequent meetings, February 22, 1871, Mr. Isaac I. Dumond, one of the first settlers near the west bank of the river, in Pleasant town- ship, read a paper before the Association, which is given below in full. The further proceedings of the Association, of general interest, will be referred to hereafter. Mr. Dumond said:
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN :- My father moved with his family to what was then called "The New Purchase." on the Sandusky river. in 1821. at which time I was in my twentieth year.
We found the entire country a wilderness, with no other than the rude improvements made by the Indians.
There was but one public road known as a highway in all the region of the country designated as the new purchase, which was opened in the fall of 1820. and ran on the east side of the Sandusky river. north and south. then known and still continuing as the Marion State Road.
My father settled in what is now Pleasant township, in this county, where. for a time, we had to encounter many difficulties. During a part of the year the roads were almost impassable, by reason of the mud mixed with the branch roots. During the summer, mosquitoes and house-flies gave ns a degree of trouble that none can realize. except from experience. The flies would gather on a horse in such quantities that a single grab would till a man's hand. The Massasangar. or prairie rattle-snake. was another unpleasant enemy. which appeared in great numbers. I killed five in cutting a small piece of oats: but to my knowledge. no one ever suffered from them.
At that time there were few families living afong the entire route from Tymochtee ( which name means. in the Indian language. "the stream around the plains") to Lower Sandusky.
We had few mechanies: but the one most needful was a blacksmith. which we found in Leroy Cresey, at Fort Ball.
Dr. Brainard was the only physician in the neighborhood. and his practice extruded from Lower Sandusky. his place of residence. to Tymochter.
Throughout the entire settlement there was not a lawyer to be found.
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SPEECH OF ISAAC I. DUMOND.
The only minister we had was the Rev. James Montgomery, of the M. E. church.
Jesse and George Omsted had our only store between Delaware and Lower Sandusky.
There was considerable travel during the spring and early summer of 1821, by men in search of land, till Angust, when the land sale occurred.
Our greatest privation was want of mills. Our nearest mill was at Cold creek, about twenty-four miles distant, and withont a direct road leading to it. The difficulties in some cases were very trying. For example: Mr. Barney and Daniel Rice arranged for a trip to mill, each with a team of oxen and wagon. As they had to eross the river, the grain was hanled there. unloaded and ferried across; then the wagon ferried over, and afterwards the team swam over, when they could reload, hitch and proceed. This was in April, 1821. After having their grain ground, and on their homeward route, they were overtaken by a snow storm. The snow was damp, and fell to the depth of a foot, rendering the road almost impassable, and so weighed the bushes down over them, that they were compelled to abandon their wagons, and with much difficulty sneceeded in reaching home with their oxen.
Although the year 1821 was a trying one, it had secured to many a sufficient amount of land to afford a home for the future, and to enconrage ns. We had an abundant crop.
Many of the people had acted as squatters. The Indians, who had form- erly lived on the west side of the river, had removed to their reservation on the east side, and abandoned their old homes and houses, which were appropriated by the white settlers, and held until they wished to go, or were displaced by a deed from Uncle Sam. conveying the same to somebody else. The settlement was weak in 1821, and to raise a log-cabin, the neighbors were often summoned from places five or six miles distant.
Of those who came previous to the land sales, some suffered from sickness. and. becoming discouraged, left, and others died; but immediately after the land sales the population steadily increased, and in 1523. Mr. Rumley built a inill on Green creek, and soon after, Mr. Moore built a mill on the Sandusky river, in order to supply the increased demand. which greatly diminished the inconvenience we had all experienced.
The early settlers were in the majority: rough, but generons, whole-sonled and kind towards one another, and ever ready to lend a helping hand to the needs.
The use of intoxicating drinks was onr greatest evil. Some would get ou sprees, and after taking minch whisky, would form a ring, and with bells. horns. tin pans, log chains, or any noisy instrument, engage in a hideous dance, sing, and give Indian war-whoops. Such a state of society was not the rule entirely, however, and was wholly displaced in a short time by the ingress of more refined people, who controlled the moral standard of the neighborhood. That enemy of civilization-whisky -was hard to subdne. however. This is always the case. I remember when farmers would trade " bushel of corn for five quarts of whisky. and this was as necessary for harvest as provisions.
In the fall of 1524, the first general muster of the militia took place at
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HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY.
Fort Seneca. The regiment numbered about 400 men, under Gen. Rumley and Col. J. B. Cooley, who gathered from over the country between Cold creek and Tymochtee, many having to camp out in order to reach the fort in time.
A considerable trade was carried on between the southern portion of the state. after the close of the war of 1812, and Lower Sandusky and Sandusky City. Teams came loaded with flour, bacon and whisky, and returned with fish or merchant goods, which were sold at Urbana, Springfield and Dayton.
The Indian tribes here at the time of the first settlement by the whites. were the Senecas, Cayugas, Mohawks and Oneidas. The Senecas-the most numerous-and Cayugas occupied the lower part, and the Oneidas and Mohawks the upper part of the reservation, which was nine miles north and south, and six miles east and west, on the east side of the Sandusky river. The land was held in joint stock, and each had the privilege of making improvements, as he wished.
They numbered several Indred, and were not bad in general character. but friendly and kind when well treated and not maddened hy whisky, for which they had a strong passion. I have known them to offer two or three dollars' worth of goods for a quart of whisky; and, when intoxicated, would give anything they possessed for it.
They depended largely upon hunting for subsistence, in which, when children, they commenced by shooting fish and small game with the bow.
Most of the Indians and squaws cultivated each a small piece of land. varying from a half to two acres, which they formerly did with a hoe; but seeing ns use the plow, and the amount of labor saved thereby, they con- eluded to abandon the custom of their fathers. Seeing two Indians plowing on the opposite side of the river one day, I crossed overand discovered them going the wrong way over the land, throwing the furrows in, and next time running inside of it, and then another, which they thought very well, until I turned them the other way, and gave a little instruction, which they thankfully received. They raised a soft corn, which they pounded into meal and used to thicken soup.
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