USA > Ohio > Wyandot County > Past and present of Wyandot County, Ohio; a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievemen, Vol. I > Part 6
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There shall also be reserved for the use of the Wyandots residing at Solomon's town, and on Blanchard's Fork, in addi- tion to the reservations before made, sixteen thousand acres of land to be laid off in a square form, on the head of Blanchard's Fork, the center of which shall be at the Big Spring, on the trace leading from Upper Sandusky to Fort Findlay ; and 160 acres of land for the use of the Wyandots on the west side of the Sandusky river, adjoining the said river, and the lower line of two sections of land, agreed, by the treaty to which this is supplementary, to be granted Elizabeth Whitaker.
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Art. 3. It is hereby agreed that the tracts of land, which, by the eighth article of the treaty to which this is supple- mentary, are to be granted by the United States to the persons therein mentioned, shall never be conveyed, by them or their heirs, without the permission of the president of the United States.
By this supplement, an additional annuity was to be given to the Wyandots of $500, forever; to the Shawanese, $1,000; to the Senecas, $500, and to the Ottawas, $1,500.
During the same year, 1818, a grand Indian council was held at Upper Sandusky on the occasion of the death of Tarhe, or "the Crane," the most celebrated chieftain the Wyandot na- tion ever produced. Col. John Johnston, of Upper Piqua, Ohio, who for about half a century served as an agent of the United States over the Indians of the west, was present, and in his "Recollections" gives the following interesting account of the proceedings :
"On the death of the great chief of the Wyandots, I was invited to attend a general council of all the tribes of Ohio, the Delawares of Indiana, and the Senecas of New York, at Upper Sandusky. I found on arriving at the place a very large at- tendance, among the chiefs was the noted leader and orator, Red Jacket, from Buffalo. The first business done was the speaker of the nation, delivering an oration on the character of the deceased chief. Then followed what might be called a monody, or ceremony, of mourning or lamentation. The seats were arranged from end to end of a large council house, about six feet apart. The head men and the aged took their seats fac- ing each other, stooping down, their heads almost touching. ' In that position they remained for several hours. Deep, heavy and long-continued groans would commence at one end of the row of mourners, and so pass around until all had responded, and these repeated at intervals of a few minutes. The Indians were all washed, and had no paint or any kind of decorations upon their persons, their countenances and general deport- ment denoting the deepest mourning. I never witnessed any- thing of the kind before, and was told this ceremony was not performed but on the decease of some great man.
After the period of mourning and lamentation was over, the Indians proceeded to business. There were present the Wyandots, Shawanese, Delawares, Senecas, Ottawas and Mo- hawks. The business was entirely confined to their own af-
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fairs, and the main topics related to their lands and the claims of the respective tribes. It was evident, in the course of the discussion, that the presence of myself and people (there were some white men with me) was not acceptable to some of the parties, and allusions were made so direct to myself that I was constrained, to notice them, by saying that I came there as a guest of the Wyandots by their special invitation; that as the agent of the United States, I had a right to be there as any- where else in the Indian country; and that if any insult was offered to myself or my people it would be resented and pun- ished. Red Jacket was the principal speaker, and was intem- perate and personal in his remarks. Accusations, pro and con, were made by the different parties, accusing each other of being foremost in selling lands to the United States. The Shawanese were particularly marked out as more guilty than any other ; that they were the last coming into the Ohio country, and although they had no right but by permission of the other tribes, they were always the foremost in selling lands. This brought the Shawanese out, who retorted through their head chief, the Black Hoof, on the Senecas and Wyandots with pointed severity.
The discussion was long continued, calling out some of the ablest speakers, and was distinguished for ability, cutting sar- casm and research, going far back into the history of the na- tives, their wars, alliances, negotiations, migrations, etc. I had attended many councils, treaties and gatherings of the In- dians, but never in my life did I witness such an outpouring of native oratory and eloquence, of severe rebuke, taunting national and personal reproaches. The council broke up later in great confusion, and in the worst possible feeling. A cir- cumstance occurred toward the close which more than any- thing else exhibited the bad feeling prevailing. In handing around the wampum belt, the emblem of amity, peace and good will, when presented to one of the chiefs, he would not touch it with his fingers, but passed it on a stick to the person next to him. A greater indignity, agreeable to Indian etiquette, could not be offered.
The next day appeared to be one of unusual anxiety and despondency among the Indians. They could be seen in groups everywhere near the council house in deep consultation. They had acted foolishly-were sorry-but the difficulty was who would first present the olive branch. The council convened
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late and was very full; silence prevailed for a long time; at last the aged chief of the Shawanese, the Black Hoof, rose-a man of great influence, and a celebrated warrior. He told the assembly they had acted like children, and not men on yester- day ; that he and his people were sorry for the words that had been spoken and which had done so much harm; that he came into the council by the unanimous desire of his people present, to recall those foolish words, and did there take them back, handing strings of wampum, which passed around and were received by all with the greatest satisfaction. Several of the principal chiefs delivered speeches to the same effect, handing around wampum in turn, and in this manner the whole diffi- culty of the preceding day was settled, and to all appearances was forgotten. The Indians are very courteous and civil to each other, and it is a rare thing to see their assemblies dis- turbed by ill-timed or unwise remarks. I never witnessed it except on the occasion here alluded to, and it is more than probable that the presence of myself and other white men con- tributed toward the unpleasant occurrence. I could not help but admire the genuine philosophy and good sense displayed by men whom we call savages, in the translation of their pub- lic business ; and how much we might profit in the halls of our legislatures, by occasionally taking for our example the pro- ceedings of the great Indian council at Upper Sandusky.
At the time the events occurred, which have just been re- lated, the Indian town known as Upper Sandusky, was located about four miles northeast of the present county seat (a point, it appears, to which the Indians removed prior to 1782). After the death of Tarhe, however, they erected a council house on the site of the present town of Upper Sandusky (a place which was nearer the center of their reservation), gave this name-Upper Sandusky, and called the old village Crane Town. It was built chiefly of bark, and in dimensions was about 100 feet long by fifteen feet wide. Subsequently the tem- porary structure at the new town of Upper Sandusky gave place to a more substantial building, the frame council house known to early settlers for several years, as the Wyandot county courthouse, etc., which was built probably about the year 1830 or a few years after the completion of the grist and saw mill provided for in the treaty of September 29, 1817, at the foot of the Maumee Rapids.
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The Wyandot nation was divided into ten tribes. These tribes were kept up by the mother's side, and all her children belonged to her tribe. The totem of each of the ten tribes was as follows: The Deer, Bear, Snake, Hawk, Porcupine, Beaver, Big Turtle, Little Turtle and Terrapin. Each of these tribes had its chief, and these chiefs composed the grand council of the nation. The oldest man in the tribe was generally the tribal chief, and all the persons belonging to a tribe were considered as one family-all near akin. Indeed, no law or custom among them was so scrupulously regarded and adhered to with so much tenacity as the tribe law in this particular. No person was allowed to marry in his or her own tribe. It was thus con- sidered that no crime could so effectually destroy their char- acter or disgrace them so much as this. Nothing could ever restore to them their lost reputation. When a man wished to marry a woman he first had to obtain the consent of her tribe, and most generally he went to live with his wife in her tribe, yet the woman was not bound to live with him any longer than she pleased, and when she left him could take with her, her children and her property.
From time immemorial, until "Mad Anthony's" decisive battle at the foot of the Maumee Rapids, to the Deer tribe belonged the scepter and calumet of the great sachems; but as a result of that battle, this tribe became so weak by the loss of their warriors that the nation deemed it best to take the burden off their shoulders, and placed it on the Porcupine tribe. Ac- cording to Finley, the celebrated Tarhe, and his immediate successor, De-un-quat, as head chiefs and grand sachems of the Wyandot nation, were members of the last mentioned tribe.
PURCHASE OF RESERVATIONS
By a treaty concluded at Little Sandusky, August 3, 1829, between John McIlvaine, commissioner on the part of the United States, and the chiefs and head men of the Delawares, the latter ceded their reservation to the United States for the sum of $3,000, and removed west of the Mississippi. This reservation was granted to the Delawares at the treaty of the Maumee Rapids. It contained nine square miles and ad- joined the Wyandot reserve on the southeast, thus embrac- ing portions of the present townships of Antrim and Pitt
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in Wyandot county. By permission of the Wyandots, these Indians made a village on the west bank of the Sandusky river, below the mouth of Broken Sword creek, where a fine spring emerges from the river bank. Captain Pipe, Jr., a son of the Captain Pipe who burned Colonel Crawford at the stake, was with them, and their village was called Pipetown, or Captain Pipe's village. Among those named in the orig- inal grant at the treaty of the Maumee Rapids, several sur- vived until after their removal beyond the Mississippi, and among the number were Captain Pipe, Zeshawan, or James Armstrong, Mahautoo, or John Armstrong, Sanondoyeou- rayquaw, or Silas Armstrong, Black Raccoon, Billy Montour, Buckwheat, William Doudee, Thomas Lyons, Johnnycake, Captain Wolfe, Isaac Hill, John Hill, Tishatahooms, or Widow Armstrong, Ayenucare, Hoomaurou, or John Ming, and Youdorast.
The Delawares were a treacherous, superstitious race, and the pioneers could not rely upon their seeming friendship or their promises. Buckwheat, one of the Indians mentioned above, was part negro. About the year 1827, he was accused of witchcraft. He was tried by his fellow Indians, found guilty and sentenced to be burned alive. The burning took place near the bank of the river opposite the town of Little Sandusky.
Tom Lyons, or "Old Tom Lyons," as he was termed by the whites, was another conspicuous character among this small band of Delawares. He had lived with the Delawares in Pennsylvania before these Indians were forced to remove to Ohio. He was a strong, powerful man and made many enemies among the whites by boasting that he had killed ninety-nine of them and had their tongues upon a string and that he desired to make the number an even hundred before being called to the "happy hunting ground." It has been written that Lyons' wife was quite a queen of beauty among the squaws of the tribe, and that he was very proud of her and kept her dressed in the height of Indian fashion and would not permit her to perform the menial labor usually required of the squaws.
Solomon Johnnycake, the husband of Sally Williams, was well-known to the early settlers of Wyandot county. He was a friendly hunter, and it was customary for Sally and the children to accompany him on his hunting excursions. He
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usually constructed a bark wigwam to protect his wife and children from the storms and exposures of the forests, while he ranged the woods in search of game. He sometimes ex- changed venison for pork with the white settlers, and some- times parties who had a curiosity to see his wife and children visited his wigwam. His wife was a quarter blood, and was regarded as a good housekeeper. Her mother, a white woman, was captured in girlhood upon the Pennsylvania frontier. Johnnycake went west with his people. Three of his sons served in a Kansas regiment of the Union army during the Civil war.
Captain Pipe, Jr., son of Old Captain Pipe, who burned Colonel Crawford, was a small, rather spare man. He went west with his tribe and died upon their reservation about 1840. Among his own people he had the reputation of being quite a medicine man.
The Delawares as well as the Wyandots, when journey- ing from their reservations in search of game, almost invari- ably stopped at all the houses of the white settlers, and when they came to a white man's cabin expected to receive the hospitality of its inmates, if they did not they were much offended. They would never accept a bed to sleep upon, all that was necessary was to have a good fire in the fireplace and plenty of wood near by to replenish the fire if needed. They usually carried their blankets, and would spread them upon the floor in front of the fire.
A Wyandot pioneer said that he had often seen as many as twenty or thirty Indians pass by his cabin with their hunt- ing materials and equipments packed on their ponies, all in single file, on their old Sandusky and Pipetown trail.
In explanation of the number of white men or partly white men found among the Wyandots, it appears that this nation, although never behind other savage tribes during their wars with the whites, were more merciful than the Delawares, Shawanese, Miamis, Ottawas, Chippewas, etc. They saved more of their prisoners and purchased many others from other tribes of Indians, and adopted them into their families. Thus they became allied with many good families of the coun- try, including the Browns, the Zanes, the Walkers, the Will- iams, the Armstrongs, Mcculloughs and Magees. Robert Armstrong, one of the best interpreters during the Rev. Fin- ley's missionary services among the Indians, was taken pris-
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oner by the Wyandots about the year 1786, when a boy about four years old. His parents resided a few miles above Pitts- burgh, on the banks of the Allegheny river. One Sunday morning a young man of the family, with little Robert, took a canoe and crossed over to the west side of the river to visit a party of supposed friendly Indians of the Cornplanter tribe. This camp was situated four miles distant from the river. After they had made their visit and were returning home, in passing a dense thicket through which their path led, they heard a noise, and stopping to look back, to their great sur- prise and terror, four hideously painted Indians of the Wyan- dot nation rose up and ordered them to stop. The young man attempted to make his escape by running, but had made only a few steps, when the Indians fired and he fell dead. Little Robert ran a few rods, but one of the Indians soon caught him and picked him up. Armstrong said he was so scared to see the young man tomahawked and scalped that he could scarcely stand, for he expected it would be his lot next. One of the Indians took him on his back and carried him several miles before he stopped. The company of In- dians then divided. Two of them took the scalp, and the other two took the Armstrong boy.
Young Armstrong was adopted into the Big Turtle tribe of Wyandots and named O-no-ran-do-roh. He became an expert hunter, and a perfect Indian in feelings and habits. He married an Indian woman or half-breed, and had so far lost his knowledge of the English language that he could speak but little of it. But after General Wayne's treaty he mingled more with the whites and learned to talk with them in their own language. He became an expert interpreter, and was employed in interpreting and trading the rest of his life. He died at Upper Sandusky of consumption in April, 1825. This sketch of the career of Armstrong is only a fair illustration, probably, of the life and experience of many other whites who had been captured and adopted by the Wyandots.
Between-the-logs, a Wyandot of considerable note, died of consumption, January 1, 1827. During the last part of the same year, the Rev. Mr. Finley terminated his missionary labors with the Wyandots, leaving Rev. James Gilruth in con- trol. Among the successors of the latter were Messrs. Thomp- son, Shaw, Allen and Wheeler, ministers of the Methodist Episcopal church. It is said, however, that the mission at-
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Citizens Savings Bank North Sandusky Avenue
High School
Water Works
East Wyandot Avenue
UPPER SANDUSKY SCENES
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tained its greatest activity and prosperity about the close of the Rev. Finley's superintendency.
At the annual conference of the Methodist Episcopal church held at Cincinnati, in August, 1819, the Indian mis- sion at Upper Sandusky was named as a regular field of labor in the Lebanon district, which then extended from the Ohio river northward including the Michigan territory. At the same time the Rev. James B. Finley was appointed presiding elder of the district, and the Rev. James Montgomery, mis- sionary to assist Stewart. Subsequently, Mr. Montgomery was appointed sub-agent over the Senecas, and Moses Henkle was employed to fill the position vacated by Montgomery.
In August, 1821, in accordance with the suggestions of the Methodist preachers, the Indian chiefs Deunquot, Be- tween-the-logs, John Hicks, Mononcue, and several others signed a petition, which was drawn up and witnessed by Will- iam Walker, United States Inspector, and Moses Henkle, Missionary, requesting that a missionary school be estab- lished among them at Upper Sandusky, and for that pur- pose they donated a section of land at Camp Meigs, where there was a fine spring of water and other conveniences. The Indians also requested that the teacher sent them should also be a preacher, thus obviating the necessity of a traveling mis- sionary being continued among them. Thereupon the Rev. James B. Finley was appointed resident missionary and teacher at the Wyandot mission.
In the summer of 1823, the mission school was formally opened. It was conducted according to the manual labor sys- tem. The boys were taught farming, and the girls were taught housework, sewing, knitting, spinning, etc. The boys were at first adverse to labor, but they were encouraged by being urged to excel others in their line of work. As many as sixty children were enrolled at one time, a number of them being children sent from Canada by members of the Wyandot tribe there. Bishop McKendree in writing of the mission there in 1823 said in part, that the missionary establishment at Upper Sandusky, in the large national reserve of the Wyan- dot tribes of Indians contains one hundred and forty-seven thousand acres of land, being in extent more than nineteen miles from east to west, and twelve miles from north to south. Throughout the whole extent of this tract the San- dusky river winds its course, receiving several other beauti- Vol. 1-5
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ful streams. This fine tract, with another reservation of nine miles square at the Big Spring, head of Blanchard creek, is all the soil that remains to the Wyandots.
After the Rev. James B. Finley had been appointed resi- dent missionary and teacher at the Wyandot mission, he says in his history of the mission: "There was no plan of. operation furnished me, no provision made for the mission family, no house to shelter them, nor supplies for the winter; and there was only a small sum of money, amounting to $200, appropriated for the benefit of the mission. However, I set about the work of preparation to move. I had a suitable wagon made, bought a yoke of oxen, and other things neces- sary, took my own furniture and household goods, and by the 8th of October was on my way. I had hired two young men and one young woman, and Sister Harriet Stubbs volunteered to accompany us as a teacher. These, with my wife and self, made the whole mission family. We were eight days making our way out. Sixty miles of the road was almost as bad as it could be. From Markley's, on the Scioto, to Upper San- dusky, there were but two or three cabins. But by the bless- ing of kind Providence, we arrived safe, and were received by all with the warmest affection. There was no house for us to shelter in on the section of land we were to occupy, but by the kindness of Mr. Lewis, the blacksmith, we were per- mitted to occupy a new cabin he had built for his family. It was without door, window or chinking. Here we unloaded, and set up our Ebenezer. The Sabbath following, we held meeting in the council house, and had a large congregation. Brother Stewart was present, and aided in the exercises. We had a good meeting, and the prospect of better times.
"We now selected the place for building our mission house. It was on the spot called 'Camp Meigs,' where Gov- ernor Meigs had encamped with the Ohio militia in time of the last war, on the west bank of the Sandusky river, about a mile below the post of 'Upper Sandusky.' We commenced getting logs to put us up a shelter for the winter. The first week one of my hands left me. A day or two after, while we were in the woods cutting down timber, a dead limb fell from the tree we were chopping, on the head of the other young man, so that he lay breathless. I placed him on the wagon, drove home half a mile or more, and then bled him, before he recovered his senses. I now began to think it would be hard
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times. Winter was coming on, and my family exposed in an Indian country, without a house to shelter in. For years I had done but little manual labor. But the Lord blessed me with great peace in my soul. My worthy friend, George Riley, recovered from his hurt, and we worked almost day and night, until the skin came off the inside of my hands. I took oak bark, boiled it, and washed my hands in the decoction, and they soon got well and became hard. We built a cabin house, 20 x 23 feet, and without door, window, or loft. On the very day that snow began to fall, we moved into it. The winter soon became extremely cold. We repaired one of the old block-houses, made a stable thereof for our cattle, and cut, hauled and hewed logs to put up a double house, forty-eight feet long by twenty wide, a story and a half high. We hauled timber to the sawmill, and sawed it ourselves into joists and plank, for the floors and other purposes. I think I can say that neither brother Riley nor myself sat down to eat one meal of victuals that winter but by candle-light, except on Sabbath days. We always went to bed at 9, and rose at 4 o'clock in the morning, and by daylight we were ready to go to work. In addition to this, I preached every Sabbath and met class, attended prayer meeting once every week, and labored to rear up the church. Brother Stewart assisted when he was able to labor, but his pulmonary affliction con- fined him the most of his time to the house, and I employed him to teach a small school of ten or twelve Indian children at the Big Spring; for these people were so anxious to have their children taught that they could not wait until prepara- tions were made at the mission house, and they wanted to have a separate school by themselves. To this I would not agree; but to accommodate their wishes until we were ready at the mission house to receive their children, I consented that they might be taught at home."
Mr. Finley remained with the Wyandots at Upper San- dusky (assisted meanwhile, at different periods, by Revs. John Stewart, Charles Elliott, Jacob Hooper, John C. Brooke and James Gilruth), about seven years, and his published statements of the proceedings while here, are quite interest- ing and complete. Yet, except in a few instances, the scope of this work-the great variety of topics to be treated-pre- cludes the practicability of our giving full accounts obtained therefrom, or indeed of doing but little more, while speaking
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