History of Summit County, with an outline sketch of Ohio, Part 19

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Baskin & Battey
Number of Pages: 1104

USA > Ohio > Summit County > History of Summit County, with an outline sketch of Ohio > Part 19

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" The stones were of the common grindstone grit, about four inches thick, and twenty in diame-

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ter. The runner, or upper, was turned by hand, by a pole set in the top of it, near the outer edge. The upper end of the pole was inserted into a hole in a board fastened above to the joists, immedi- ately over the hole in the verge of the runner. One person fed the corn into the eye-a hole in the center of the runner-while another turned. It was very hard work to grind, and the operators alternately exchanged places."

In 1800, several settlers came to the town and a more active life was the result. From this time, Cleveland began to progress. The 4th of July, 1801, the first ball in town was held at Major Carter's log cabin, on the hill-side. John and Benjamin Wood, and R. H. Blinn were managers ; and Maj. Samuel Jones, musician and master of ceremonies. The company numbered about thirty, very evenly divided, for the times, between the sexes. " Notwithstanding the dancers had a rough puncheon floor, and no better beverage to enliven their spirits than sweetened whisky, yet it is doubt- ful if the anniversary of American independence was ever celebrated in Cleveland by a more joyful and harmonious company than those who danced the scamper-down, double-shuffle, western-swing and half-moon, that day, in Maj. Carter's cabin." The growth of the town, from this period on, re- mained prosperous. The usual visits of the Indi- ans were made, ending in their drunken caronsals and fights. Deer and other wild animals furnished abundant meat. The settlement was constantly augmented by new arrivals, so that, by 1814, Cleve- land was incorporated as a town, and, in 1836, as a city. Its harbor is one of the best on the lakes, and hence the merchandise of the lakes has always been attracted thither. Like Cincinnati and Chil- licothe, it became the nucleus of settlements in this part of the State, and now is the largest city in Northern Ohio.

One of the earliest settlements made in the Western Reserve, and by some claimed as the first therein, was made on the site of Youngstown, Ma- honing County, by a Mr. Young, afterward a Judge, in the summer of 1796. During this summer, before the settlements at Cuyahoga and Conneaut were made, Mr. Young and Mr. Wilcott, proprie- tors of a township of land in Northeastern Ohio, came to their possessions and began the survey of their land. Just when they came is not known. They were found here by Col. James Hillman, then a trader in the employ of Duncan & Wilson, of Pittsburgh, "who had been forwarding goods across the country by pack-saddle horses since

1786, to the mouth of the Cuyahoga, thence to be shipped on the schooner Mackinaw to Detroit. Col. Hillman generally had charge of all these caravans, consisting sometimes of ninety horses and ten men. They commonly crossed the Big Beaver four miles below the mouth of the She- nango, thence up the left bank of the Mahoning- called by the Indians " Mahoni" or " Mahonick." signifying the " lick" or "at the lick "-crossing it about three miles below the site of Youngstown, thence by way of the Salt Springs, over the sites of Milton and Ravenna, crossing the Cuyahoga at the mouth of Breakneck and again at the mouth of Tinker's Creek, thence down the river to its mouth, where they had a log hut in which to store their goods. This hut was there when the surveyors came, but at the time unoccupied. At the mouth of Tinker's Creek were a few log huts built by Moravian Missionaries. These were used only one year, as the Indians had gone to the Tus- carawas River. These and three or four cabins at the Salt Springs were the only buildings erected by the whites prior to 1796, in Northeastern Ohio. Those at the Salt Springs were built at an early day for the accommodation of whites who came from Western Pennsylvania to make salt. The tenants were dispossessed in 1785 by Gen. Harmar. A short time after, one or two white men were killed by the Indians here. In 1788, Col. Hill- man settled at Beavertown, where Duncan & Wilson had a store for the purpose of trading with the Indians. He went back to Pittsburgh soon after, however, owing to the Indian war, and remained there till its close, continuing in his busi- ness whenever opportunity offered. In 1796, when returning from one of his trading expeditions alone in his canoe down the Mahoning River, he discovered a smoke on the bank near the present town of Youngstown, and on going to the spot found Mr. Young and Mr. Wolcott, as before men- tioned. A part of Col. Hillman's cargo consisted of whisky, a gallon or so of which he still had. The price of " fire-water " then was $1 per quart in the currency of the country. a deerskin being legal tender for $1, and a doeskin for 50 cents. Mr. Young proposed purchasing a quart, and having a frolic on its contents during the even- ing, and insisted on paying Hillman his cus- tomary price. Hillman urged that inasmuch as they were strangers in the country, civility re- quired him to furnish the means for the entertain- ment. Young, however, insisted, and taking the deerskin used for his bed-the only one he had-

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paid for his quart of whisky, and an evening's frolic was the result.

" Hillman remained a few days, when they ac- companied him to Beaver Town to celebrate the 4th, and then all returned, and Hillman erected a cabin on the site of Youngstown. It is not cer- tain that they remained here at this time, and hence the priority of actual settlement is generally conceded to Conneaut and Cleveland. The next year, in the fall, a Mr. Brown and one other per- son came to the banks of the Mahoning and made a permanent settlement. The same season Uriah Holmes and Titus Hayes came to the same locality, and before winter quite a settlement was to be seen here. It proceeded quite prosperously until the wanton murder of two Indians occurred, which, for a time, greatly excited the whites, lest the In- dians should retaliate. Through the efforts of Col. Hillman, who had great influence with the natives, they agreed to let the murderers stand a trial. They were acquitted upon some technicality. The trial, however, pacified the Indians, and no trouble came from the unwarranted and unfortu- nate circumstance, and no check in the emigration or prosperity of the colony occurred."*

As soon as an effective settlement had been es- tablished at Youngstown, others were made in the surrounding country. One of these was begun by William Fenton in 1798, on the site of the pres- ent town of Warren, in Trumbull County. He remained here alone one year, when he was joined by Capt. Ephraim Quimby. By the last of Sep- tember, the next year, the colony had increased to sixteen, and from that date on continued prosper- ously. Once or twice they stood in fear of the Indians, as the result of quarrels induced by whisky. Sagacious persons generally saved any serious outbreak and pacified the natives. Mr. Badger, the first missionary on the Reserve, came to the settlement here and on the Mahoning, as soon as each was made, and, by his earnest labors, succeeded in forming churches and schools at an early day. He was one of the most efficient men on the Reserve, and throughout his long and busy life, was well known and greatly respected. He died in 1846, aged eighty-nine years.

The settlements given are about all that were made before the close of 1797. In following the narrative of these settlements, attention is paid to the chronological order, as far as this can be done. Like those settlements already made, many which

are given as occurring in the next year, 1798, were actually begun earlier, but were only tem- porary preparations, and were not considered as made until the next year.

Turning again to the southern portion of Ohio, the Scioto, Muskingum and Miami Valleys come prominently into notice. Throughout the entire Eastern States they were still attracting attention, and an increased emigration, busily occupying their verdant fields, was the result. All about Chilli- cothe was now well settled, and, up the banks of that stream, prospectors were selecting sites for their future homes.

In 1797, Robert Armstrong, George Skidmore, Lucas Sullivant, William Domigan, James Mar- shall, John Dill, Jacob Grubb, Jacob Overdier, Arthur O'Hara, John Brickell, Col. Culbertson, the Deardorfs, MeElvains, Selles and others, came to what is now Franklin County, and, in August, Mr. Sullivant and some others laid out the town of Franklinton, on the west bank of the Scioto, oppo- site the site of Columbus. The country about this locality had long been the residence of the Wyan- dots, who had a large town on the city's site, and cultivated extensive fields of corn on the river bot- toms. The locality had been visited by the whites as early as 1780, in some of their expeditions, and the fertility of the land noticed. As soon as peace was assured, the whites came and began a settle- ment, as has been noted. Soon after Franklinton was established, a Mr. Springer and his son-in-law, Osborn, settled on the Big Darby, and, in the sum- mer of 1798, a scattering settlement was made on Alum Creek. About the same time settlers came to the mouth of the Gahannah, and along other water-courses. Franklinton was the point to which emigrants came, and from which they always made their permanent location. For several years there was no mill, nor any such commodity, nearer than Chillicothe. A hand-mill was constructed in Franklinton, which was commonly used, unless the settlers made a trip to Chillicothe in a canoe. Next, a horse-mill was tried ; but not till 1805, when Col. Kilbourne built a mill at Worthington, settled in 1803, could any efficient grinding be done. In 1789, a small store was opened in Frank- linton, by James Scott, but, for seven or eight years, Chillicothe was the nearest post office. Often, when the neighbors wanted mail, one of their number was furnished money to pay the postage on any letters that might be waiting, and sent for the mail. At first, as in all new localities, a great deal of sickness, fever and ague, prevailed.

* Recollections of Col. Hillman .- Howe's Annals.

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As the people became acclimated, this, however, disappeared.

The township of Sharon in this county has a history similar to that of Granville Township in Licking County. It was settled by a "Scioto Company," formed in Granby, Conn., in the winter of 1801-02, consisting at first of eight associates. They drew up articles of association, among which was one limiting their number to forty, cach of whom must be unanimously chosen by ballot, a single negative being sufficient to prevent an election. Col. James Kilbourne was sent out the succeeding spring to explore the country and select and pur- chase a township for settlement. He returned in the fall without making any purchase, through fear that the State Constitution, then about to be formed, would tolerate slavery, in which case the project would have been abandoned. While on this visit, Col. Kilbourne compiled from a variety of sources the first map made of Ohio. Although much of it was conjectured, and hence inaccurate, it was very valuable, being correct as far as the State was then known.

"As soon as information was received that the constitution of Ohio prohibited slavery, Col. Kil- bourne purchased the township he had previously selected, within the United States military land district, and, in the spring of 1803, returned to Ohio, and began improvements. By the succeed- ing December, one hundred settlers, mainly from Hartford County, Conn., and Hampshire County, Mass., arrived at their new home. Obeying to the letter the agreement made in the East, the first cabin erected was used for a schoolhouse and a church of the Protestant Episcopal denomination ; the first Sabbath after the arrival of the colony, divine service was held therein, and on the arrival of the eleventh family a school was opened. This early attention to education and religion has left its favorable impress upon the people until this day. The first 4th of July was uniquely and appropri- ately celebrated. Seventeen gigantic trees, em- blematical of the seventeen States forming the Union, were cut, so that a few blows of the ax, at sunrise on the 4th, prostrated each successively with a tremendous crash, forming a national salute novel in the world's history."*

The growth of this part of Ohio continued without interruption until the establishment of the State capital at Columbus, in 1816. The town was laid out in 1812, but, as that date is considered re-

mote in the early American settlements, its history will be left to succeeding pages, and there traced when the history of the State capital and State government is given.

The site of Zanesville, in Muskingum County, was early looked upon as an excellent place to form a settlement, and, had not hostilities opened in 1791, with the Indians, the place would have been one of the earliest settled in Ohio. As it was, the war so disarranged matters, that it was not till 1797 that a permanent settlement was effected.

The Muskingum country was principally occu- pied, in aboriginal times, by the Wyandots, Dela- wares, and a few Senecas and Shawanees. An In- dian town once stood, years before the settlement of the country, in the vicinity of Duncan's Falls, in Muskingum County, from which circumstance the place is often called "Old Town." Near Dres- den, was a large Shawanee town, called Wakato- maca. The graveyard was quite large, and, when the whites first settled here, remains of the town were abundant. It was in this vicinity that the venerable Maj. Cass, father of Lewis Cass, lived and died. He owned 4,000 acres, given him for his military services.

The first settlers on the site of Zanesville were William McCulloh and Henry Crooks. The lo- cality was given to Ebenezer Zane, who had been allowed three sections of land on the Scioto, Mus- kingum and Hockhocking, wherever the road crossed these rivers, provided other prior claims did not interfere, for opening "Zane's trace." When he located the road across the Muskingum, he selected the place where Zanesville now stands, being attracted there by the excellent water privi- leges. He gave the section of land here to his brother Jonathan Zane, and J. MeIntire, who leased the ferry, established on the road over the Muskingum, to William McCulloh and Henry Crooks, who became thereby the first settlers. The ferry was kept about where the old upper bridge was afterward placed. The ferry-boat was made by fastening two canoes together with a stick. Soon after a flat-boat was used. It was brought from Wheeling, by Mr. McIntire, in 1797, the year after the ferry was established. The road eut out through Ohio, ran from Wheeling, Va., to Maysville, Ky. Over this road the mail was car- ried, and, in 1798, the first mail ever carried wholly in Ohio was brought up from Marietta to McCulloh's cabin by Daniel Convers, where, by arrangement of the Postmaster General, it met a mail from Wheeling and one from Maysville.

*Howe's Collections.

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McCulloh, who could hardly read, was authorized to assort the mails and send each package in its proper direction. For this service he received $30 per annum ; but owing to his inability to read well, Mr. Convers generally performed the duty. At that time, the mails met here once a week. Four years after, the settlement had so increased that a regular post office was opened, and Thomas Dowden appointed Postmaster. He kept his office in a wooden building near the river bank.

Messrs. Zane and McIntire laid out a town in 1799, which they called Westbourn. When the post office was established, it was named Zanesville, and in a short time the village took the same name. A few families settled on the west side of the river, soon after McCulloh arrived, and as this locality grew well, not long after a store and tavern was opened here. Mr. McIntire built a double log cabin, which was used as a hotel, and in which Louis Philippe, King of France, was once enter- tained. Although the fare and accommodations were of the pioneer period, the honorable guest seems to have enjoyed his visit, if the statements of Lewis Cass in his " Camp and Court of Louis Philippe" may be believed.

In 1804, Muskingum County was formed by the Legislature, and, for a while, strenuous efforts made to secure the State capital by the citizens of Zanes- ville. They even erected buildings for the use of the Legislature and Governor, and during the ses- sion of 1810-11, the temporary seat of govern- ment was fixed here. When the permanent State capital was chosen in 1816, Zanesville was passed by, and gave up the hope. It is now one of the most enterprising towns in the Muskingum Valley.

During the summer of 1797, John Knoop, then living four miles above Cincinnati, made several expeditions up the Miami Valley and selected the land on which he afterward located. The next spring Mr. Knoop, his brother Benjamin, Henry Garard, Benjamin Hamlet and John Tildus estab- lished a station in what is now Miami County, near the present town of Staunton Village. That sum- mer, Mrs. Knoop planted the first apple-tree in the Miami * country. They all lived together for greater safety for two years, during which time they were occupied clearing their farms and erect- ing dwellings. During the summer, the site of Piqua was settled, and three young men located at a place known as " Freeman's Prairie." Those who

* The word Miami in the Indian tongue signified mother. The Miamis were the original owners of the valley by that name, and affirmed they were created there.

settled at Piqua were Samuel Hilliard, Job Garard, Shadrac Hudson, Jonah Rollins, Daniel Cox, Thomas Rich, and a Mr. Hunter. The last named came to the site of Piqua first in 1797, and selected his home. Until 1799, these named were the only ones in this locality ; but that year emi- gration set in, and very shortly occupied almost all the bottom land in Miami County. With the increase of emigration, came the comforts of life, and mills, stores and other necessary aids to civil- ization, were ere long to be seen.

The site of Piqua is quite historic, being the theater of many important Indian occurrences, and the old home of the Shawanees, of which tribe Tecumseh was a chief. During the Indian war, a fort called Fort Piqua was built, near the residence of Col. John Johnston, so long the faith- ful Indian Agent. The fort was abandoned at the close of hostilities.

When the Miami Canal was opened through this part of the State, the country began rapidly to improve, and is now probably one of the best por- tions of Ohio.

About the same time the Miami was settled, a company of people from Pennsylvania and Vir- ginia, who were principally of German and Irish descent, located in Lawrence County, near the iron region. As soon as that ore was made available, that part of the State rapidly filled with settlers, most of whom engaged in the mining and working of iron ore. Now it is very prosperous.

Another settlement was made the same season, 1797, on the Ohio side of the river, in Columbiana County. The settlement progressed slowly for a while, owing to a few difficulties with the Indians. The celebrated Adam Poe had been here as early as 1782, and several localities are made locally famous by his and his brother's adventures.

In this county, on Little Beaver Creek, near its mouth, the second paper-mill west of the Alle- ghanies was erected in 1805-6. It was the pioneer enterprise of the kind in Ohio, and was named the Ohio Paper-Mill. Its proprietors were John Bever and John Coulter.

One of the most noted localities in the State is comprised in Greene County. The Shawanee town, " Old Chillicothe," was on the Little Miami, in this county, about three miles north of the site of Xenia. This old Indian town was, in the an- nals of the West, a noted place, and is frequently noticed. It is first mentioned in 1773, by Capt. Thomas Bullitt, of Virginia, who boldly advanced alone into the town and obtained the consent of

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the Indians to go on to Kentucky and make his settlement at the falls of the Ohio. His audacious bravery gained his request. Daniel Boone was taken prisoner early in 1778, with twenty-seven others, and kept for a time at Old Chillicothe. Through the influence of the British Governor, Hamilton, who had taken a great fancy to Boone, he and ten others were sent to Detroit. The In- dians, however, had an equal fancy for the brave frontiersman, and took him back to Chillicothe, and adopted him into their tribe. About the 1st of June he escaped from them, and made his way back to Kentucky, in time to prevent a universal massacre of the whites. In July, 1779, the town was destroyed by Col. John Bowman and one hundred and sixty Kentuekians, and the Indians dispersed.

The Americans made a permanent settlement in this county in 1797 or 1798. This latter year, a mill was erected in the confines of the county, which implies the settlement was made a short time previously. A short distance east of the mill two block-houses were erected, and it was in- tended, should it become necessary, to surround them and the mill with pickets. The mill was used by the settlers at " Dutch Station," in Miami County, fully thirty miles distant. The richness of the country in this part of the State attracted a great number of settlers, so that by 1803 the county was established, and Xenia laid out, and des- ignated as the county seat. Its first court house, a primitive log structure, was long preserved as a curiosity. It would indeed be a curiosity now.

Zane's trace, passing from Wheeling to Mays- ville, crossed the Hoekhoeking* River, in Fairfield County, where Lancaster is now built. Mr. Zane located one of his three sections on this river, covering the site of Lancaster. Following this trace in 1797, many individuals noted the desira- bleness of the locality, some of whom determined to return and settle. "The site of the city had in former times been the home of the Wyandots, who had a town here, that, in 1790, contained over 500 wigwams and more than 1,000 souls. Their town was called Tarhee, or, in English, the Crane-town, and derived its name from the princi-

* The word Hock-hock-ing in the Delaware language signifies a bottle : the Shawanees have it Wea-tha-kagh-qua sepe, ie ; bottle river. John White in the American Pioneer says: "About seven miles nort . west of Lancaster, there is a fall in the Hockhocking of about twenty feet. Above the fall for a short distance, the creek is very narrow and straight forming a neck, while at the falls it suddenly widens on each side and swells into the appearance of the body of a bottle. The whole, when seen from above, appears exactly in the shape of a bottle, and from this fact the Indians called the river Hock-hock-ing."-Howe's Collections.

pal chief of that tribe. Another portion of the tribe then lived at Toby-town, nine miles west of Tarhe-town (now Royaltown), and was governed by an inferior chief called Toby. The chief's wig- wam in Tarhe stood on the bank of the prairie, near a beautiful and abundant spring of water, whose outlet was the river. The wigwams of the Indians were built of the bark of trees, set on poles, in the form of a sugar-eamp, with one square open, fronting a fire, and about the height of a man. The Wyandot tribe that day numbered about 500 warriors. By the treaty of Greenville, they ceded all their territory, and the majority, un- der their chief, removed to Upper Sandusky. The remainder lingered awhile, loath to leave the home of their ancestors, but as game became searce, they, too, left for better hunting-grounds."*

In April, 1798, Capt. Joseph Hunter, a bold, enterprising man, settled on Zane's trace, on the bank of the prairie, west of the crossings, at a place since known as "Hunter's settlement." For a time, he had no neighbors nearer than the set- tlers on the Muskingum and Scioto Rivers. He lived to see the country he had found a wilderness, full of the homes of industry. His wife was the first white woman that settled in the valley, and shared with him all the privations of a pioneer life.

Mr. Hunter had not been long in the valley till he was joined by Nathaniel Wilson, John and Al- len Green, John and Joseph McMullen, Robert Cooper, Isaae Shaefer, and a few others, who erected cabins and planted eorn. The next year, the tide of emigration came in with great force. In the spring, two settlements were made in Green- field Township, each settlement containing twenty or more families. One was called the Forks of the Hockhocking, the other, Yankeetown. Set- tlements were also made along the river below Hunter's, on Rush Creek, Raccoon and Indian Creeks, Pleasant Run, Felter's Run, at Tobeytown, Muddy Prairie, and on Clear Creek. In the fall, -1799-Joseph Loveland and Hezekiah Smith built a log grist-mill at the Upper Falls of the Hockhoeking, afterward known as Rock Mill. This was the first mill on this river. In the latter part of the year, a mail route was established over the trace. 'The mail was carried through on horse- back, and, in the settlements in this locality, was left at the cabin of Samuel Coates, who lived on the prairie at the crossings of the river.

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History of Summit County, with an outline sketch of Ohio, Part 19

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848- Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago, Baskin & Battey Number of Pages: 1104

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Baskin & Battey
Number of Pages: 1104