USA > Ohio > History of the Upper Ohio Valley, with family history and biographical sketches, a statement of its resources, industrial growth and commercial advantages, Vol. II pt 2 > Part 7
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" I have the honor to be, with perfect regard and esteem, your Ex- cellency's most
"Obed't humble servant, " D. BROADHEAD."
ยท Directed:
His Excellency, Gen'l Washington.
It was the true policy of the colonies to maintain peace with the Indians, and congress did what it could to prevent the irritations that were certain to follow any attempted settlements on what was still the territory of the Indians, but more or less of them were persisted in and in 1785, Col. Harmer was instructed to send a detachment of troops from Fort McIntosh to eject by force and destroy the improve- ments of such settlers. This detachment was under Ensign Arm- strong, from whose report to Col. Harmer we append such extracts as relate to any such settlements in this county. After relating his experience at Beaver, Yellow Creek, Mingo Bottom or Old Town, Ensign Armstrong says:
"I learned from the conversation of the party that at Norristown, (by them so called) eleven miles further down the river. a party of seventy or eighty men were assembled with a determination to oppose me. Finding Norris to be a man of influence in that country, I con- ceived it to my interest to make use of him as an instrument, which 1 effected by informing him that it was my intention to treat any armed parties I met as enemies to my country and would fire on them if they did not disperse. On the 5th (April, 1785), when I arrived within two miles of the town, or place where I expected to meet with opposition, I ordered my men to load their arms in the presence of Norris, and then desired him to go to these parties and inform them of my intentions. I then proceeded on with caution, but had not got far when paper No. 1, was handed me by one of the party, to which I replied that I would treat with no party, but intended to execute my orders. When I arrived at the town there were about forty men assembled, who had deposited their arms. After I had read to
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them my instructions they agreed to move off by the 19th inst. This indulgence I thought proper to grant, the weather being too severe to turn them out of doors. On the 6th I proceeded to lloglin's or Mercer's Town (Martin's Ferry), where I was presented with paper No. 2, and from the humble disposition of the people, and the impos- sibility of their moving, I gave them to the 19th, and I believe they generally left the settlement at that time. At that place I had been informed that Charles Norris and John Carpenter had been elected justices of the peace; and they had, I found precepts and had decided thereon. I then proceeded on till opposite Wheeling where I dis- possessed one family and destroyed their buildings."
Mr. Armstrong's sanguine opinion of the dutiable character of those early settlers of Belmont county, who had already organized civil tribunals for the protection of their rights, based upon their " humble disposition "; that "they generally left the settlement," was not well founded, for, Gen. Butler, who in the fall of that year left Fort Pitt on a mission to treat with the Indians, and who had with him as one of the commissioners, "Colonel James Monroe, then a member of congress, and afterward president of the United States," gives evi- dence that as late as October they were still there, in part at least. In his journal of October 2nd, he says:
"Called at the settlement of Charles Norris, whose house has been pulled down and he has rebuilt it again. At this place found one Walter Keam, who seems but a meddling character. warned all these off, and requested they would inform their neighbors, which they promised to do. Col. Monroe spoke to them also, which had weight, as I informed them of his character.
"Called at the settlement of Captain Hoglan, whom we also warned off; his house had also been torn down and rebuilt. We informed him of the impropriety of his conduct, which he acknowledged, and seemed very submissive and promised to remove and to warn his neighbors off also."
It is possible that the persistent efforts of congress had the effect to drive most of these setllers of 1785-6 out of the northwest or from the Ohio borders, but the identification of many of their names with the early legal and permanent settlement of this county indicates that they never abandoned their purpose to occupy a part of it. John Mathews, a nephew of Gen. Putnam, who assisted in the survey of the lands included, in part, in Belmont county, in his journal of move- ments of the survey, says: "Tuesday, November 7, 1787: Discovered this morning that we were two miles west of the south township, and on McMahan's rivulets. From thence we traveled in a north course, and struck Indian Wheeling creek, five miles below the camp, which proves that we were misinformed as to the major's situation. When we struck the creek we met with some soldiers who informed us that Capt. Ilutchins was gone to Wheeling, upon which we proceeded im- mediately to the river and crossed over to Esquire Zane's, where he found Capt. Hutchins."
The absence of all reference to the existence of any settlers, settle-
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ments or improvements on the line of Little McMahan's creek, the country intervening through which the Indian trail and Zane's road were located, and on Indian Wheeling creek for at least ten miles from its entrance into the river, must be received as conclusive that in 1787 there were no such settlements.
Early Legal Settlements .- Among the first, if not the first, to settle upon lands purchased from the government within the limits of this county, was Capt. Robert Kirkwood, who served with distinction in the Revolutionary war, in the one regiment furnished by Delaware, his native state. He served as a commander in the battles of Cam- den, Holkirk's, Eutaw and Ninety-six, but at the battle of Eutaw. his command was so reduced in numbers that his promotion was impos- sible. In the year 1789, he settled on land entered on the south side of Indian Wheeling creek, where the town of Kirkwood still stands. He built a cabin and began to open up a farm. A block house was commenced in 1790, but not finished that year, and in the spring of 1791, about two hours before daylight, his house was attacked by a band of Indians that, without notice of their approach, or without knowledge that an attack was premeditated, rushed upon the house in the still hours before day and set fire to the roof. While Capt. Kirkwood and his men, for fortunately Capt. Biggs, with a small number of soldiers happened to be staying with him that night, were engaged in punching off the burning roof, the Indians, under cover of the unfinished block house, kept up a constant fire upon them. Capt. Biggs, on the first alarm, ran down the ladder to get his rifle, and a ball coming through the window wounded him on the wrist. The In- dians soon surrounded the house and attempted to cut down the door with their tomahawks. Those within braced it with puncheons from the floor. The people of Wheeling, having heard the noise of the at- tack, fired a swivel to encourage the defenders, and the Indians in- dignant at this attempt at intimidation, with yells rushed to the attack and piled brush against the cabin and set it on fire. There were no indications of succor, and the inmates fought the flames with desper- ate purpose, first with water and milk within the cabin and then with damp earth from the floor of the cabin, and the fighting was kept up until day-light, when the Indians, who feared that rescuers would come with daylight, retreated. Their loss is not known as the inmates knew of but one actually killed, an old man, climbing up the corner to enter through the roof. Seven of the inmates were wounded, and one, a Mr. Walker, mortally, who, when dying, taunted the Indians with bitter accusations. He was buried next day at Wheeling with military honors. After this affair Capt. Kirkwood removed his family back to Delaware, and accepted the command of a company of Dela- ware troops in Gen. St. Clair's forces on the way to Cincinnati to at- tack the Indians, and he fell at the defeat of St. Clair, in a brave attempt to repel the enemy with the bayonet, and thus ended a brave and honorable career. His son, Joseph Kirkwood, returned in 1806, and settled on the memorable lands entered by his father. Hle and
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his young wife, Margaret Gillespie, traveled the whole distance from Delaware on horse-back, indicating good frontier stock.
Early in 1793, John Dille and Samuel Dille settled upon land always since known as Dille's Bottom, which seems to be the first permanent and continuous settlement of which we have record. The same year " Dille's Fort " was built on those lands for the protection of settlers that seemed to have increased rapidly, and the following year we have record of the killing of an old man, Tate, by the Indians, a short distance below and in sight of this fort, showing that the Indians promptly resented all efforts at this date to settle in Ohio. Tate, very early in the morning, as he opened the door of his cabin to go out, was shot, and his daughter-in-law and grandson pulled his body in and barred the door, and the Indians unable to force it open, fired through and wounded the boy, and the woman was shot as she attempted to escape by the chimney and fell in the fire, but the boy who had been hiding behind some barrels, pulled her out and again hid. The Indians forced the door open, killed a girl as they came in, scalped those they had shot, and made their escape. The wounded boy, shot in the mouth, was not discovered and made his escape to the fort. There were twelve Indians in the party who escaped unpursued, although it is said there was sufficient force at the fort to have successfully engaged with them.
The next authentic settlement was made in Colerain township, near the county line, a little south of Mt. Pleasant. The settlers were Friends or Quakers who emigrated from North Carolina, and called their settlement "Concord." This commenced in 1795, and embraced a large tract of land. Among the pioneers in this settlement were Horton J. Howard, who was subsequently for a long time editor of the Belmont Chronicle, and John S. Williams, who, as editor of the American Pioneer, furnished much valuable history as to the early set- tlements, and the lives and habits of the settlers.
Early settlements, except those along the river front, and along the "Indian trail," subsequently " Zane's road," and later, the National road, were principally confined to the streams emptying into the Ohio and the hills along either side of them, and followed each other rap- idly; and within the limits prescribed for this work it will only be possible to briefly refer to them as occurring in the several townships of the county.
Mead Township .- As we have already seen, the earliest permanent settlement was made by the Dillies, at Dillie's Bottom, in this town- ship, in 1793, given above, we shall refer to additional settlements made at early dates. Among these were Martin Sherry and family, Major James Smith and family, and Leonard Coleman, who settled near Fort Dillie. Early settlements occurred in this township along the ridge west from Dillie's Bottom, along which the " grade road' was very early constructed and largely used by drovers taking horses, cattle and hogs cast before the construction of railroads. Among those that settled here before 1800, were Samuel Day, Richard Riley
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and family, and Thomas Dunfee and family, whose descendants still occupy the lands settled at that early date. David McElheron and family settled on Pultney Bottom in 1796 or 1797, and laid out the first town laid out within the limits of the county, which was the original county seat, of which more is said elsewhere. David Lockwood, who was one of the first associate judges of the county, settled in Dillie's Bottom in 1800.
Pultney Township .- Andrew Dickson, or Dixon, as his children write it, purchased the land on McMahan's creek, at the mouth of Little McMahan's creek, five miles west of Bellaire in 1791, but owing to Indian hostilities, did not settle upon it until after Wayne's treaty with the Indians, and came with his family in 1796, and his son, James Dixon, born in 1797, is among the earliest white births in the county. The same year Robert Alexander settled upon the farm near by, since occupied by his son, Samuel Alexander. Rapidly following these came Charles Eckles, Abraham Workman, George and Andrew Neff, Samuel Worley, Matthew Howell, James Hutchinson, Jacob Worley, John King, William Merritt and others, and settled upon McMahan's creek and the ridges upon either side of it. Jacob Davis emigrated from Maryland in 1802, and bought part of the land where Bellaire is now located, from John Buchanan's sons, who had purchased from John Duer, who entered it in 1792.
Pease Township .- Joseph Tilton was, perhaps, the first permanent settler upon land purchased from the government in what is now Pease township. Ile settled in 1796 on land where Tiltonville was afterward laid out, near the Jefferson county line. Joseph Moore came in 1799 and the Alexander, Clark and Peckens families settled upon what is known as " Scotch ridge" before the end of 1709. Ben- jamin Steele came from North Carolina in 1800, William Wiley from Pennsylvania in 1801, and the Griffins, Johnsons, Scotts, Yosts and Worleys, settled about the same time along Wheeling creek and its ridges.
Richland Township .- In 1795 Richard Hardesty settled on what was termed "Round Bottom," on Wheeling creek, and the same year William Boggs migrated from Washington, Penn., and settled on section 10, near St. Clairsville, where he resided until 1833. Ile opened the first coal bank in the neighborhood. Elijah Martin and James Wilson settled west of Steubenville a little later, and in 1797, when Isaac Cowgill removed from Wheeling to section 19, the west half of which had been selected for him by one of the Zanes, he crossed the Wheeling ferry with the first emigrant wagon that ever crossed it, and when he settled on his land the two families above were the only ones known west of his lands. He built the first hewed log house in the county, and died upon his farm November 20, 18.15. The Cowgills still own most of the land. Settlements followed rap- idly along this ridge, along which the "Zane road," the first in the county, was constructed under a government contract, and Richland township in 1804 had the largest population of any township in the county.
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Warren Township .- Next to the " Zane road," the " Pultney road" through Mead, Smith, Goshen and Warren townships was the earliest opened up, and along this road on the ridge it followed, there were early settlements. The earliest of these in Warren township were made by John Greer, George Shannon and John Dougherty with their families. They came from Fayette county, Penn., in the fall of 1800. John Greer settled on section 9, and erected the first cabin built in the township. George Shannon settled on section 12 and built a cabin in which his son Wilson Shannon was born in 1802, the first white child born in Warren township. He afterward became a prominent lawyer at Steubenville, was twice elected governor of Ohio, once to congress, was appointed minister to Mexico, and afterward governor of Kansas. In 1801 Robert Plummer, the first Quaker, settled in the township, and wintered in a small cabin made of poles, chinked with moss and covered with bark. The next year he gave an acre of ground for a township graveyard, on section 10. Here, as in the other townships, after 1800, immigrants arrived very rapidly, and until 1806 they came principally from Pennsylvania and South Carolina, and were Quakers. As early as 1803 a cabin was erected by James Ver- non, in which the first Friends meeting was held. Ruth Boswell preached in it. Henry Greer, a brother of John Greer, was the first settler west of Barnesville. He came with his family from Fayette county, Penn., in 1804, and settled at the foot of the hill on the west side of the township. The same spring Alexander Campbell and John Kennon, father of Judge William Kennon, Sr., settled on land that subsequently formed part of Spencer township, Guernsey county. A few years later they removed to the farm in Warren township sub- sequently owned by Robert Campbell. It was on this land that Judge Kennon earned the money, by grubbing and clearing it, to educate himself.
Union Township .- This township, after the end of Indian hostili- ties, settled up rapidly. Among the first, Jonathan Ellis settled upon section 3, in 1801. He at an early date, built the first grist-mill in the township, on a branch of Wheeling creek. Duncan Morrison came the same year, as did John Dever also, and settled upon section 13. In 1802, David Berry also settled upon section 13, and William Dann, on section 5. In 1803, Joseph Gunney settled on section 2, Thomas Marquis, on section 7, William Marquis, on section 3, Samuel McCune, on section S. Robert Patterson and William Boyd, on section 4. Fol- lowing these, within a year or two, were Leonard Hart, James Broom- hall, David Abner, Solomon and Samuel Hogue, Allen Bond, Noble Taylor, Levi Barnes, Joseph Mead. James Drennen, Richard Free- man, Barnet Groves, Nathan Bell. David Conner and others, whose names are still identified with the history of the township.
Wheeling Township. There is a great lack of definite information as to the dates at which the earlier settlements were made in this township. There is evidence that as early as 1800. John Winters built a water mill on lands entered by him in section 25, range 4, township S, at the forks of Crabapple, which indicates settlement at that date,
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and we find in official records, the names of Alexander and James McConnell, Robert and William McCollough, David Rusk, David Barton, Samuel Patton, James Campbell, John Edwards, Peter Snedi- ker, John Ilenderson, Daniel Merritt and David Ritchie, who must have entered these lands between 1798 and 1803, but there is a lack of dates that makes the exact time of their settlement uncertain.
Goshen Township .- John Adams, Joseph Dunlap, Christian Wyman and another named Keeler, were the first white inhabitants of Goshen township. Adams squatted on section 1, on bend fork of Captina creek, the others on a branch of Stillwater. In September, 1802, William Philpot, Ralph Heath and Joseph Wright entered at Steu- benville, section 12, where the town of Belmont now stands, which is believed to be the first purchase of lands in the township. The next settlers, perhaps, were John Gregg, in November, 1802: John and George Ewers, in 1803; Darling Conrow, in 1804,, at Burrs Mills. These were followed by David Fawcett, Ezekiel Smith, Joseph Dan- ner, Nathaniel McNichols, William Phillips, Stephen Gregg and George Burns, within a year or two.
Wayne Township .- In 1798 George Hall removed from Washing- ton, Dela., and settled upon sections 10 and 16, and erected the first cabin built in the township. Hall had been a sailor, and before leav- ing Philadelphia he married Letitia Ingraham, a native of Ireland, and brought her with him to their wilderness home, and although they were for some time alone, their nearest trading point at Wheel- ing, they got along very well. In 1800 Herman Umstead removed from Chester county, Penn., and resided upon the farm he then en- tered, until 1862. when he removed to Illinois. Other early settlers were the Barretts, Skinners, Stanleys, Millhorns, Mechen, More, Heuston and Wood.
Flushing Township .- Elisha Ellis, Samuel Russell and Levi Hol- lingsworth came to Flushing township in tSo4 and were among the first settlers. Hannah Ellis, wife of Elisha, says that her father, Levi Hollingsworth, in 1804, occupied a cabin 12x14 feet with puncheon floor, door, ceiling, table and cradle, with greased paper for a win- dow. John Howell, James Bethel and others followed the next year, and the settlement grew rapidly.
Smith Township .- In 1800 Caleb Engle settled where Lewis' mills are located. The same year Rice Boggs came from Washington county, Penn. William Wilson and family settled on section 36, in 1802. George Alben came to section 18 in 1803. John Warnock with wife and family came in 1804, and settled on section 18, about half a mile down the creek from what is now Warnock's Station, which was settled in 1805, by William Smith, who purchased from Mathers, who had entered it. Joseph Miller and Hans Wiley settled in 1805. David Myers, William Thornborough, John Wilkinson, John Dawson, Jacob Lewis, John Prior, Samuel Lucas, John Porterfield, William Workman, Samuel McKirahan, William Weekly and Miles Hart were among the earliest following settlers.
Somerset Township .- This township being off all early lines of travel,
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was among the last to be settled, and we have no authentic accounts of permanent settlements earlier than 1So7 and iSo8, and the names given are those who settled there within a few years following that date, and are . Enoch Stanton, Borden Stanton, James Edgerton, Joseph Bishop, Homer Gibbons, Samuel Williams and Richard English, nearly all of them names still found in the township.
Washington Township .- This was the last civil township organized in the county, as will be seen by the table of dates elsewhere, but not by any means in point of settlement, as the " beautiful Captina " early attracted settlers, and they came as early as 1797. Among the first were the Danfords and Perkinses, and the latter has perhaps the largest list of descendants of any family in that township, if not in the county. Samuel, William and Ambrose Danford removed from Wash- ington county, Penn., in 1797, and located on section 4, where they erected a cabin, cleared a piece of ground and planted some corn. Samuel and William then returned to Pennsylvania for the family, consisting of the father, Peter Danford, and two sisters. The father subsequently entered land in section 23, now owned by the heirs of his daughter, Nancy Grove. Reuben Perkins migrated from Penn- sylvania in the spring of 1798, and settled near Captina creek. Ile had six children and settled near the Potts-Dorsey mill. There were but three families in the neighborhood. In 1805 he entered a quarter of section 28 in Washington township, now owned by his grandsons. William Reed. a soldier of the Revolutionary war, settled on Captina in 1So5, and was killed by the Indians. His son, Joseph Reed, was a noted hunter, a soldier in the war of tS12, who lived until 1879. Other settlers rapidly followed; among them, Walter Ring, William and Samuel Patterson, William Frost, Robert Lindsey and Thomas Arm- strong.
York Township, as at present constituted, is but a very small part of the original township. Lying along the river and at the mouth of Captina, there is no doubt but it was early occupied by squatters, who were traders with the Indians or hunters without intention of perma- nent settlement, as the early settlers found a number of unoccupied cabins within the township. In tSot John and Edward Bryson settled on section 33, Henry Hoffman, on section 27, and George Lemley, on section 14. In 1802, George Delong and Levin Okey settled in May. Joseph Baker, Benjamin McVay, William Swaney, John Brister, Elisha Collins and John Aldridge, settled in 1803. John Davis, David Ruble and George Gales, in 1804. Burgy Hunt and Archibald Woods were early land agents in York township.
Adventures with the Indians .- The most formidable of the con- tests between the early settlers and the Indians was that of 1795, known as:
The Battle of Captina .- In the spring of 1704. quite a bloody contest took place in the valley of Captina creek, at the mouth of what is now called Cove Run. The Indians numbered thirty warriers com- manded by Charlie Wilkie, a chief of the Shawnees. The whites numbered only fourteen men under the direction of Capt. AAbram
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Enochs. The following account of the battle is by Martin Baker, who was then a boy at Fort Baker, on the Virginia side of the river. The youngest man among the whites was Duncan McArthur, elected gov- ernor of Ohio in 1830.
"One mile below the mouth of Captina, on the Virginia side, was Baker's Fort, so named from my father. One morning in May, 1794, four men were sent over according to the custom, to the Ohio side to reconnoitre. They were Adam Miller, John Daniels, Isaac McCowan and John Shopton. Miller and Daniels took up stream and the other two down. The upper scouts were soon attacked by Indians, and Miller killed. Daniels ran up Captina about three miles, but being weak from the loss of blood issuing from a wound in his arm, was taken prisoner, carried into captivity, and subsequently released at the treaty of Greenville. The lower scouts having dis- covered signs of the Indians, Shopton swam across the river and es- caped, but McCowan, going up toward the canoe, was shot by Indians in ambush. Upon this he ran down the bank, sprang into the water, pursued by the enemy, who overtook and scalped him. The firing being heard at the fort they beat up for volunteers. There were about fifty men in the fort. There was great reluctance among them to volunteer. My sister said she would not be a coward. This aroused the pride of my brother, John Baker, who, before had determined not to go. He joined the others, fourteen in number, including Capt. Abram Enochs. They soon crossed the river, and went up Captina a distance of a mile and a half, following the Indian trail. The Indians had come back on their trails and were in ambush on the hillside, awaiting their approach. When sufficiently near they fired on our people, but being in an elevated position, their balls passed harmless over them. The whites then treed. Some of the Indians came up behind and shot Capt. Enochs and Mr. Hoffman. Our people soon retreated and the Indians pursued but a short dis- tance. On their retreat, my brother was shot in the hip. Deter- mined to sell his life as dearly as possible, he drew to one side and secreted himself in a hollow, with a rock at his back, offering no chance for the enemy to approach but in front. Shortly afterward two guns were heard in quick succession. Doubtless, one of them was fired by my brother, and from the signs afterward, it was supposed he had killed an Indian. The next day the men returned and visited the spot, Enochs, Hoffman and my brother, were found dead and scalped. Enochs' bowels were torn out, and his eyes, and those of Hoffman, screwed out with a wiping stick. The dead were wrapped in white hickory bark, brought over to the Virginia side, and buried in their bark coffins. Seven skeletons of their slain were found, long after, secreted in the crevices of the rocks."
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