Ohio annals : Historic events in the Tuscarawas and Muskingum Valleys, and in other portions of the state of Ohio, Part 23

Author: Mitchener, Charles Hallowell, ed
Publication date: 1876
Publisher: Dayton, Ohio : Thomas W. Odell
Number of Pages: 380


USA > Ohio > Ohio annals : Historic events in the Tuscarawas and Muskingum Valleys, and in other portions of the state of Ohio > 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).


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Muskingum County Press .- At Zanesville, the Courier, republican in politics, founded in 1800, edited by Newman & Dodd, and circulation about 3,100; the Signal, demo- cratic in politics, founded in 1864, edited by James T. Ir- vine, and circulation about 1,800; the City Times, inde- pendent in politics, founded in 1852, edited by W. W. Pyle, and circulation about 800; the Farmers' and Me- chanics' Advocate, independent in politics, founded in 1870, edited by J. T. Shryock, and circulation about 1,400; Blandy's Monthly, independent in politics, founded in 1867, and edited by H. & F. Blandy.


Stark County Press .- At Alliance, the Leader, Monitor, Review, Telegraph-four in all-edited by W. H. Phelps,


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M. Mcclellan, S. J. McKee, and J. W. Gillespie, and ag- gregate circulation of 5,000; at Canton, the Repository, republican in politics, founded in 1815, edited by Josiah Hartzell, and circulation about 2,400; the Stark County Democrat, democratic in politics, founded in 1833, edited by A. McGregor, and circulation about 2,200; the Staats Zeitung, democratic in politics, founded in 1875, edited by N. Montag & Co., and circulation about 1,340 ; the Times, democratic in politics, edited by M. A. Stewart, and circu- lation about 1,300 ; at Massillon, the Independent, republi- can in politics, founded in 1863, edited by Welker & Taylor, and circulation about 700: the American, independent in politics, edited by S. & J. Hoover, and circulation about 800; at Minerva, the Commercial, republican in politics, founded in 1868, edited by Weaver Brothers, and circulation about 700.


Tuscarawas County Press .- At New Philadelphia, the Ohio Democrat, democratic in politics, founded in 1839, ed- ited by Matthews, Elliott & Co., and circulation about 1,400; the Advocate, republican in politics, founded in 1819, edited by J. L. Mellvaine, and circulation about 1,500; the Beo- bachter, democratic in politics, founded in 1871, edited by Walter & Minning, and circulation about 1,000; at Dover, the Reporter, independent in politics, founded in 1871, edited by R. Watson, and circulation about 900; at New Comers- town, the Argus, republican in politics, founded in 1870, edited by George McClelland, and circulation about 1,000; at Uhrichsville, the Chronicle, republican in politics, founded in 1865, edited by W. A. Pittinger, and circulation about 1,300.


Washington County Press .- At Marietta, the Mariettian, independent in politics, founded in 1865, published by the Steam Printing Company, and circulation about 1,500 ; the Register, republican in politics, founded in 1801, edited by E. R. Alderman, and circulation abont 2,500; the Times, democrate in politics, founded in 1864, edited by S. MeMil- len, and' circulation about 1,400; the Zeitung, neutral in


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politics, founded in 1868, edited by Jacob Mueller, and circulation about 800; at Belpre, the Courier, neutral in . politics, and edited by T. H. Winchester.


Of non-political, daily, semi-weekly, tri-weekly,


weekly, monthly papers, and magazines there are in Ohio .. 200


Of political papers there are


175


Total. 375


200 non-political papers circulate.


700,000


90 republican papers circulate.


300,000


85 democratic papers circulate 250,000


Total circulation 1,250,000


Of these, three-fourths are weekly issues, one-eighth daily, one-sixteenth tri-weekly and semi-weekly, and one- sixteenth semi-monthly and monthly.


The weekly issues are 937,500


The daily issues are.


156,250


The tri-weekly and semi-weekly issues are 78,125


The semi-monthly and monthly issues are. 78,125


Total issues


... 1,250,000


THE FIRST SALT WORKS IN MORGAN AND MUS- KINGUM COUNTIES.


Salt Creek empties into the Muskingum at Duncan's Falls, below Zanesville. On this creek the first salt works were erected in the valley, about 1796. Fifty settlers put in $1.50 each. They bought twenty-four kettles at Pitts- burgh, which were brought to the falls by water trans- portation down the Ohio and up the Muskingum, and thence carried seven miles to the salt licks on pack-horses.


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A well was dug fifteen feet deep, to the salt rock. A hollow sycamore, three feet in diameter, was then put down, and bedded into the rock, so as to prevent leakage. The twenty- four kettles were built in two ranges of stone, and a shed erected over them, with a cabin near by. A sweep and pole raised the salt water up the hollow sycamore, to troughs conveying it to the kettles. The owners took turns in work, five men being required to run the works. Every two weeks they changed, and another set of five men took their places. The kettles were kept boiling night and day. A yoke of oxen and one man kept the works in wood. Eight hundred gallons of water were used to make fifty pounds of salt, which consumed twelve hours in the mak- ing, and was worth three dollars. Thus, it took in those times six men and a yoke of oxen to earn that sum in twelve hours. The works, however, were a great public conven- ience, and settlers came forty miles to get salt. This salt company was kept up about three years, and afterward the State became the owner, and leased the works out at a fixed rent, until no person would pay the amount, when these primitive salt works disappeared.


CHAPTER XIII.


EARLY SETTLEMENT OF MORGAN AND MUSKINGUM COUNTIES.


Zanesville was laid out in 1799, by Jonathan Zane and John McIntyre, and the same year houses were erected thereon. Among other carly settlers were William McCul- lough, Henry Crooks, Jamss Duncan, Increase Matthews, Levi Whipple, Edwin Putnam, and some of the Zane family.


As early as 1790, attempts were made to settle in Morgan County, but the ferocity of the Indians compelled the settlers who were not killed to flee for their lives. About the year 1800, peace having been made with the Indians by the Greenville treaty of 1795, settlers came and dotted the county here and there with their cabins; and in due time villages were laid out by original settlers-among whom are to be found the names of Anderson, McConnell, D'eaver, Fisher, Hoskins, Sharon, Wharton, Wood, &c.


In 1818, the county of Morgan was formed, and the county seat established at McConnellsville, the original owner of which was Robert McConnell, one of the influ- ential men of that day in the county.


The editor is indebted to W. G. Moorehead, Esq., for the names of the following early settlers in Muskingum County :


John McIntyre, the founder of Zanesville ; Lewis Cass, Elijah Merwin, Wylys Silliman, Samuel W. Culbertson, and Samuel Herrick-the five last being lawyers of wide celebrity. Among the prominent citizens were Judges


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Stillwell, Finley, Putnam, and JJeffries ; General Van Horn, General Green, Captains Taylor and Cass, Major Cass, Major Pierce, Captain Pierce, George, Richard, and James Reeve ; Moses, John, and Isaac Dillon ; Joseph Church, James Culbertson, Captain Ross, George Jackson, Daniel Converse, Robert Fulton, Robert Hazlett, Isaac Hazlett, Hugh Hazlett, Alexander MeLaughlin, Alexander Adams, Nathan Finley, Colonel John Halle, James Hampson, William Blocksom, Gilbert Blose, Henry Wheeler, James Granger, Henry Granger, Doctors Belknap, Fowler, Saf- ford, Matthews, Rhodes, Conant, Hanna, and Mitchell : Ebenezer Buckingham, Solomon Sturges, J. D. Cushing- one of the first four children born in Ohio; Captain Elijah Ross, William Dennison-father and son ; Captain Benoni Pierce-killed at River Raisin in the war of 1812; John Dugan, Nathan, Joseph, John, James, and Absalom Rob- erts; James Crosby, Joseph Shepherd, Thomas Moorehead, Joseph Robertson, William Pelham, Jeffrey Price, Charles Elliott-author of a work on Romanism; Peter Strickland, David Young, and several families of the Adamses.


Joseph Fisher, Esq., ex-surveyor, furnishes the following list of early settlers of Muskingum County :


" William S. Dennison, whose donation to Granville Col- lege gave it its present name, Dennison University, came, when a boy, with his father, from Massachusetts to Mus- kingum County, abont 1810. He is a well-known farmer and stock-raiser; has never aspired to any office, but has, by constant attention to business, acquired a competency.


" Daniel Stillwell, known as Judge Stillwell, in an carly day one of the associate judges.of the common pleas court of Muskingum County, emigrated from Eastern Penn- sylvania, purchased a quarter township of land-four thousand acres-in Madison township, and was a successful farmer. He was the father of Richard Stillwell, for some years judge of the court of common pleas. The old gentle .. man, in crossing the Muskingum River, some years ago. when too high to be safely forded, had his buggy upset by


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the current, and he and his granddaughter were drowned. Ifis youngest son, John Stillwell, is now a resident of Ten- nessee, some fifteen or twenty miles north-west of Nashville.


"George W. Adams, the owner of Adams' mills and of the Ewing mills, is a Virginian by birth, came to Mus- kingum County from Farquier County, Virginia, with his father, George Adams, early in the present century. His brother Edward and he built a mill near the present Adams mills, about the year 1828 or 1829, and afterward the Ewing mills, near Dresden. They acquired a large landed estate in Muskingum and Coshocton counties. He represented Muskingum County one term in the legislature, as member of the house of representatives, A. D. 1840.


"Jesse John emigrated from eastern Pennsylvania to Blue Rock township, Muskingum County, He was a respect- able, influential man in that part of the county. The father of Davis John, who represented this county in the legislature two terms-1843-'44, and 1845-'46.


"Henry Wheeler, aged upward of eighty years, came from western Virginia to Ohio, when a young man ; settled in Muskingum County ; resides near Adamsville ; has been a member of the Baptist church at that place forty-five or fifty years, and was one of the county commissioners at one time.


"Charles R. Copland came from Richmond, Virginia, when a young man. His father was the owner of a quarter township of land-four thousand acres-being partly in Madison and partly in Muskingum townships. He married Evelina Adams, daughter of George Adams, who was also a large land-owner in Madison township. Mr. Copland and his wife are still living in Madison. They are upward of eighty years old.


"George Slack and Jacob Slack, brothers, and living in the same neighborhood in Washington township, Muskin- gum County, came from Virginia, London County, carly in the present century, with their father, John Slack-long since dead. They are between eighty and ninety years old.


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" David Richardson and Martin Richardson, brothers, settled in Monroe township, Muskingum County, at an early day. They came from one of the New England States, and were prominent farmers in that part of the county. They died some years ago.


"John Van Voorhis, an early settler of Muskingum County, and a successful farmer in Licking township, came from Pennsylvania, and died a year or so ago, upward of ninety years of age. His son, Daniel Van Voorhis, who was a representative in the legislature one session, and was also a member of the constitutional convention of 1873-'74, still resides in Licking township, near Nashport."


EARLY SETTLERS AND INCIDENTS IN COSHOCTON COUNTY.


Colonel Charles Williams was the first settler in Coshoc- ton County. Born in Washington County, Maryland, in 1764. He married Susannah Carpenter, on the banks of the Ohio River, in the vicinity of Wheeling; emigrated to the salt works, on the Muskingum River, and after remain- ing there for a time removed to the forks of the Muskingum, and built a cabin on the bank of the river where Coshocton now stands. This was in the year 1800. The next year George and Thomas Carpenter, his brothers-in-law, arrived; also William and Samuel Morrison. These men, making their home with Colonel Williams the first year, raised a crop of corn on " the prairie," four miles up White Woman's Creek. This was probably the first crop of corn raised in the county, and was in the year 1801. The same year (1801) Michael Miller located the second quarter, township four, range six. He lived seven weeks on venison, bear meat and other game, without bread of any kind.


The first lands located were those along the rivers. Among the first sections located were second quarter, township five, range six, Elijah Backus, of Marietta; first quarter, township five, range six, Chandler Price and Ben-


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jamin Morgan, of Philadelphia; second quarter, township four, range six, Michael Miller; third quarter, township six, range eight, third quarter, township six, range nine, Cairnoan Medowell, of Philadelphia; third quarter, town- ship five, range six, third quarter, township six, range four, fourth quarter, township six, range five, Martin Baum, of Cincinnati; third quarter, township four, range six, Ben- jamin Robinson; fourth quarter, township five, range five, Denman and Wells, of Essex County, New Jersey.


John Matthews, surveyor of Marietta, made a number of the early locations for non-residents, receiving a certain part of the land as his compensation. There were thirty- three military sections located in Coshocton County.


Among the early settlers should be mentioned George and Henry Miller, Isaac Hoglin, George MeCulloch, An- drew Craig, William Whitten, Elijah Newcomb, Benjamin Robinson, Abraham Sells.


Colonel Williams kept the first tavern, the first store, and the first ferry. The house which he first erected was burned after a few years, with the loss of two children. lle rebuilt on the same lot, and here, after the county was organized, court was held. The hardships of frontier life may be illustrated by the fact that Colonel Williams' daughter, at the age of twelve years, would sometimes ride on horseback to the White-eyes Plains (six miles) for a sack of grain; the next day go with the grain to mill at Zanesville, and return the third day.


Major Cass located in the Muskingum valley, fourteen miles north of Coshocton.


From 1805 to 1812 the population of the county in- creased very rapidly, as is shown by the fact that Coshoc- ton County, embracing at that time part of what is now Holmes County, furnished four companies for the war of 1812: one company of volunteers under the command of Captain Adam Johnston ; and three companies of drafted men, under the command of Captains Tanner, Beard and Evans.


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Coshocton was laid out in 1802, by Ebenezer Bucking- ham and John Matthews, of Marietta, under the name of Tuscarawa. The county was organized, and the name of the county seat changed, in April, 1811. . The first town- ships organized were Tuscarawas, Washington, New Castle, Franklin, Oxford, and Linton.


Court was first held in Coshocton County in April, 1811, Little was done at this term, except to order elections for justices of the peace in several of the townships. Court also sat in September, at which time several minor cases were disposed of. The first case in which there were any pleadings filed was at the December term, 1811-Charles Williams rs. Adam Marpley; Lewis Cass, attorney for plaintiff; John Howard, attorney for defendant ; judge, William Wilson; associates, William Mitchell, Isaac Evans, and Peter Casey ; judgment of $9.56 in favor of plaintiff.


Among the first officers of the county were, Cornelius P. Vankirk, sheriff; Adam Johnston, clerk and recorder; Wright Warner, prosecuting attorney ; William Lockart, county surveyor, and William Whitten, justice of the peace.


The first resident physician was Dr. Samuel Lee, who located here in 1811. Rev. J. W. Pigman, of the Methodist Episcopal church, who lived in the western part of the county, and Rev. Timothy Harris, of the Congregational church, Utica, used to preach here occasionally about the beginning of the war of 1812. The first Sunday-school was organized in the year 1824, under the superintendence of James Renfrew.


The first mill in the county was built several years be- fore the war of 1812, by Jesse Fulton, one mile south-east of Coshocton, on the farm since known as the Benjamin Rickets place. A mill run by horse power was erected soon after this on lot numbered two hundred and sixteen, corner of Cadiz and Second streets (the Harbaugh lot).


The first brick house in Coshocton was built in 1816, corner of Cadiz and Second streets (the Fritchey house).


Before the construction of the Ohio Canal, goods were


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brought from Pittsburgh to Coshocton in keel-boats, via Marietta-a slow and laborious method. Letters came from Philadelphia in twenty-five days-postage twenty-five cents.


Coshocton was visited by the " cold plague" in 1814- quite a number of fatal cases occurring in the town and vicinity.


It is said that Louis Philippe, afterward king of France, visited Coshocton in the character of a schoolmaster, during his exile. His aristocratic notions were not in keeping with the republican ideas and rude manners of the frontier, and his stay was very short.


Caldersburgh was laid out in 1816, on the west bank of the Muskingum, by James Calders. A large addition was subsequently laid out north of the old town, and the name changed to Roscoe.


The completion of the canal marks an important epoch in the material prosperity of Coshocton, and other counties in the valley, as it afforded an outlet for the enormous crops of wheat which were raised after the clearing away of the forests.


An incident of those early days may be worth preserva- tion : Five or six runaway slaves, from Virginia, made their way to Coshocton, and were quartered at the house of Pryor Foster, a colored man. Word had reached the citizens beforehand of their escape-a large reward being offered for their capture; but such was the popularity of Foster among the white people, that they were willing to assist in the escape of the refugees. Foster kept them in his house, and stood guard outside all night, to prevent any possible interference. The next morning he took them across the river, and hid them in a cave a mile west of Caldersburgh. The pursuers soon after made their appear- ance-pretty confident of overtaking the slaves-having traced them in this direction. But no satisfactory informa- tion was to be obtained. Some show of violence was also offered, and they rode out of town and gave up the pursuit.


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When it was certain that the coast was clear, Foster took them to the White Woman River, and told them to travel up the stream-giving them such further directions as would enable them to reach Lake Erie and Canada.


This occurrence was about the time of the construction of the Ohio Canal. The slaves were 'afterward captured some distance north-west of Coshocton, and taken back to Virginia.


EARLY SETTLERS AND PROMINENT MEN IN STARK COUNTY.


After the treaty of Greenville, in 1795, the territory now in Stark County attracted many emigrants, down to the period when it was organized into a county, with Canton for the county seat, which was laid out in 1806, by Bazaled Wells, of Steubenville.


From that period the emigrants from Pennsylvania and Maryland flocked in, and in later years the Germans from Europe came, and made it one of the rich and prosperous counties of Ohio.


Among the prominent men of the county forty years ago-and some of whom being of the first settlers-may be mentioned Parker Handy, William Williams, Thomas Blackburn, Jacob Palmer, V. R. Kimball, John Kryder, II. D. Williams, David Stripe, William Dunbar, James Allen, John Saxton, Daniel Gutshall, Peter Kauffman, P. Loutz- enheiser, Samuel Hownstine, Samuel Lyons, George N. Webb, George Crouse, George Cribbs, George Roudebush, Richard Sheckles, John Dunbar, Elias D. Albert, Arnold Lynch, William McCormick, William Sarball, Enos Raf- fensperger, Eli Sala, George B. Hoss, Harmon Stidger, Heram Griswold, John Harries, Samuel Lahm, Lyman Pease, George Slusser, Daniel Diewalt, Thomas H. Webb, Alexander McCulley, John, James, Elias, and Matthew Johnston, Oses Welch, Joseph Watson, Silas Rawson, H.


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B. Hurlbutt, Lewis Schaeffer, Abel and James II. Under- hill, Robert II. Folger, Daniel Atwater, George Diewalt, John Schlosser, Jolm Myers, William Fogle, William Tof- fler, John Short, Sr., John C. Rockwell, Henry Kitzmiller, Matthias Shoplar, Peary Stidger, David A. Starkweather, John E. Dunbar, O. T. Browning, JJudge Sowers, Peter Croft, William Christmas, John Black, William White, Doctor Rappel, William Bucher, Daniel Raffensperger, Andrew Meyer, Martin Wokedal, Benjamin F. Leiter, Wil- liam Lemon, Doctor Robert Estep, Joseph Matthews, Sr., John Pirrong, Jonathan G. Lester, William Reed, Samuel Stover, Seraphun Myer, Jacob Schneider, Henry Hawrecht, John Rex, John Clark, Doctor Whiting, C. C. A. Witting, Samuel Petry, William Beals, Samuel Stanker, Joshua Saxton, Joseph Shorb, John Hawk, Samuel Hawk, Samuel Hunt.


Of the above, Matthias Sheplar, David A. Starkweather, and Benjamin F. Leiter, each were members of Congress. Jolın Rex was the father of Hon. George Rex, now one of the supreme judges of Ohio. John Saxton, Esq., James Allen, William Dunbar, Daniel Gutshall, Peter Kauffman, were all able editors. Several of the others named repre- sented the county in the legislature. The physicians named were able men in their profession, known far and wide. The lawyers, Griswold, Starkweather, Carter, Lahm, and Belden, had no superior in eastern Ohio; and of the others it may be said that, as farmers and business men, their in- fluence and examples at an early day made Stark County take rank as one of the first-class counties in the State.


FIRST HOUSES, MILLS, STORE, STILL-HOUSE, ETC.


The first buildings erected in the present county of Tus- carawas were, so far as known, as follows: 1760, Thomas Calhoun, trader's house, on the west bank of the Tusca- cawas, near Bolivar; 1761, Christian Post's dwelling house, on the east bank of the Tuscarawas, near Bolivar: 1765,


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James O'Harn's trader house, on the east bank of the Tus- carawas, near Bolivar; 1772, David Zeisberger's mission houses, on the east bank of the Tuscarawas, at Sehoch- brunn; 1773, John Christian Roth, and others, honses at Gnadenhutten; 1774, James Campbell and others, trader house, at present New Comerstown ; 1779, D. Zeisberger and others, houses on the west bank of the Tuscarawas, New Schoenbrunn ; 1780, J. Heckewelder and others, houses on the west bank of the Tuscarawas, at Salem; 1796, Charles Stevens, settler, in the present township of Fairfield; 1797, C. Clewell and John Carr and others, at present Gnaden- hutten; 1798, Mortimer Benger and others, dwellings at Goshen ; 1797, Jacob Bush, Paul Greer, Peter Edmonds. Ezra and Peter Warner, and others of the settlers; 1799, David Peter opened a store at Gnadenhutten for Jacob Recksecker, and II. Bollinger brought teams with goods for the store; 1800, Lewis IIuebner, pastor's house and Bee- sheba church, on the west side of the river, near lock num- ber seventeen; John Kinsey and George Stiffer built near New Philadelphia in 1804; Philip Menech built on the present Gooden farm in 1805; John Hull built the first honse in New Philadelphia in 1805; Jacob Uhrich built the first mill (water) at Uhrichville, in 1807; the first horse- mills were put up in 1772, '73 and '74, by the missionaries : the first tavern built in New Philadelphia was by Leninger, in 1807 ; the first still house in the county was put up by Gabriel Cryder, on the west side of the Tuscarawas, about. equi-distant between New Philadelphia and Dover. A Mr. Vanrouff built the first ark, or grain-boat, at the canal at Dover; George Sluthour did the carpenter work. Amos St. Clair built the first bridge across the river, at Dover, in 1826.


FIRST BIRTHS IN OHIO.


John Ludwig Roth, son of Rev. John and Maria Agnes Roth, was born at Gnadenhutten mission, in the present Tusearawas County, on the fourth day of July, A. D. 1773.


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This was the first white child born in the valley, and it is claimed to be the first in Ohio, but the white wife of a French officer gave birth to a child at Fort Junandat, on the Sandusky, as early as 1754, and while Ohio was French territory.


On the 13th of April, 1781, was born at Salem, in the present Tuscarawas County, Maria, daughter of John and Sarah Joanna IIeckewelder. Her birth has been stated as occurring on April 6, 1781, but the 13th is correct.


Richard Conner and wife had one or more children born at Schoenbrunn prior to 1781.


Of the several ministers, Mortimer, Smick, Jungman, Edwards, Senseman, and others, none had children in the valley, except as above named.


FIRST CHRISTIAN BURIALS.


Prior to 1775 seventeen interments of Christians had taken place at Schoenbrunn grave-yard, on the farm now owned by Rev. Elisha P. Jacobs, three miles east of New Philadelphia. Between 1774 and 1781 a larger number were there interred, aggregating about forty in all. It was the first burying grounds of Christians in the two valleys, and has long since been obliterated by the plow.


At Gnadenhutten grave-yard an equal, if not greater, number of Christians were interred prior to 1782, when the town was burned and inhabitants slaughtered. In October, 1799, John Heckewelder and David Peter, who had came to the burnt town in 1797, gathered up the bones of the slain and buried them in a cellar, on the spot where the monument stands.




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