USA > Ohio > Ross County > Pioneer record and reminiscences of the early settlers and settlement of Ross County, Ohio > Part 6
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Buckskin Township.
and William Heath; Merchants, John Carlisle (wholesale and retail), W. R. Southard, John Walker, T. V. & S. Swearen- gin, Barr & Campbell, Ephraim Doolittle, Wm. McFarland, Wm. Ross & Co., John McCoy, Nimrod Hutt, Waddle & Davison, Isaac Evans, John Hutt, James Culbertson & Co., Runkle & Board, James Phillips, John McLandburgh, Amasa Delano, David Kinkead & Humphrey Fullerton, Thomas Orr, Marquis Huling, Waddle & Dunn, James McClintock, Wm. McDowell & Co., Samuel Taggart, James Miller & Co., John McDougal, Austin Buchanan, Wm. Irwin, Drayton M. Curtis, and Samuel Monett; Innkeepers, Edmund Bayse, Thomas Cohen, Daniel Madeira, James Phillips, and Benjamin Woods.
Town Council of Chillicothe in 1827.
Levi Belt, Mayor; Jeremiah McLean, Recorder; Benjamin Hough, Treasurer; Isaac Cook, W. R. Southard, John Waddle, James McDougal, David Kinkead, and George Nashee.
Bank of Chillicothe-Thomas James, President, and John Woodbridge, Cashier; Farmers', Mechanics', and Manufacturers' Bank of Chillicothe-Thomas S. Hyde, President; John P. Fessenden, Cashier.
The following lines are taken from a copy of the Scioto Gazette of 1815 :
THE YEARS TO COME.
My transient hour, my little day, Is speeding fast, how fast away ; Already hath my summer sun Half its race of brightness run. Ah me! I hear the wintry blast, My " Life of Life" will soon be past ; The flush of youth will all be o'er, The throb of joy will throb no more, And fancy, mistress of my lyre, Will cease to lend her sacred fire. My trembling heart-prepare, prepare, For skies of gloom, and thoughts of care;
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Pioneer Record of Ross County, Ohio.
Sorrows and wants will make thee weep And fears of age will o'er thee creep. Health that smil'd in blooming pride ; Will cease to warm thy sluggish tide ; The shaft of pain, the point of woe, Will bid the current cease to flow. And who, alas, shall then be nigh To soothe me with affection's sigh, To press my feeble hand in theirs, To plead for me in silent prayers, And cheer me with those hopes that shed Rapture o'er a dying bed. Days of the future cease to roll, Upon my wild, affrighted soul. Mysterious fate, I will not look Within thy dark eventful book; Enough for me to feel and know, That love and hope must shortly go; That joy will vanish, fancy fly, And death dissolve the closest tie. E'en now, while moans my pensive rhyme
I list the warning voice of time; And oh! this sigh, this start of fear, Tells me the night will soon be here.
By Mrs. Matilda Hitchcock.
Her father, whose name was John Proud, emigrated to Ohio from New Jersey in 1801; he served as a soldier in the war of 1812; he was constable of his township for many years ; was a great hunter and paid for his farm, on which my in- formant, with her husband, now resides, in pelts and furs. He bought his land from General McArthur. He first lived two years on what was formerly known as the old Read farm, near Bourneville, when he moved to Buckskin township, which, at that time, was a howling wilderness, there being no settle- ment north within twenty miles. When he was moving to his new home in the woods, he took his family and a part of his goods to his cabin, and leaving them in care of his wife,
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Buckskin Township.
returned for the balance. By some cause he was delayed until the next day, leaving his family in their solitary cabin, which his wife had to defend all night, standing with the ax in her hands to keep the wolves out, as it had no door except what was very commonly substituted in those days, a blanket or quilt. He was a great hunter, and, at the age of seventy years, with spectacles on, he would kill squirrels from the tops of the highest forest trees with his rifle. He was a man of no education, but of a great mind-one of nature's true noblemen. He died at the age of seventy-four years.
By Samuel Braden.
His father, Robert Braden, emigrated from Pennsylvania in 1800. He was in the war of 1812, and lived in Buckskin township forty-two years, where he died at the age of seventy- one years. My informant has been a resident of the township for seventy years, and is now aged seventy-three years. Old settlers, David Edminston, Robert Edminston, Robert Holding, J. Wilson, Benjamin McCline, Michael Hare, Robert Young, Jacob Davis.
By C. WV. Price.
The village of Lyndon, on Marietta and Cincinnati Rail- road, contains two stores, a grocery, a blacksmith shop, a car- penter shop, a wagon shop, a hominy mill, a planing mill, a saw and flouring mill, town hall, school house, and post-office. Number of inhabitants about 100.
By Abram Price.
His father, William Price, emigrated to Ohio from Vir- ginia in 1820, and died aged sixty years. My informant has served his township as treasurer for several years, and was a store-keeper in Lyndon.
By E. F. Coiner.
His father, Robert Coiner, emigrated from Virginia in 1836, and served for many years as justice of the peace and
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Pioneer Record of Ross County, Ohio.
deacon in the Presbyterian Church, was sergeant of a company in the war of 1812; is now a notary public, and aged about seventy-six years.
By John Howard.
His father, Adam, emigrated from Rockingham county, Vir- ginia, to Ohio, in 1809. He served as a soldier in the war of the Revolution, and died at the age of seventy-two years. My informant served one term as director of the infirmary of Ross county, and has lived in the township fifty-eight years. Old settlers, Joseph Warnuch and Leeman. Warnuch served as a soldier in the war of the Revolution. J. Ricketts served as a soldier in the French war. Anderson Bryan served in the war of the Revolution.
By William Tharp.
His father, Daniel Tharp, emigrated from Rockingham county, Virginia, in 1810, and died aged seventy-three years. My informant served as a soldier in the war of 1812, and at the time the war broke out, he was in Columbus, Ohio, making brick. He helped to make the brick for the old State House. He says in 1812 the place was but a village. On Mr. John Depoy's farm there has been, as is supposed, an ancient camp ground of the Indians, where many arrows of different sizes and shape may be found. In early days, on what is called the muddy fork of Buckskin, there was a beaver dam constructed across that stream, which remained, in part, for many years. Old settlers, James E. and Alex. Kerr, James Watt, Abram Stookey, Jacob Hire, John Fernour, John Sample (the latter was captain of a company in the war of 1812), William Grant, John Wallace, Robert Dubois, and James Dickey. Revs. Pit- tinger and Johnston were the first preachers. Mr. Tharp has an old-fashioned churn, which his family uses at the present day, and which is over one hundred years old. The churn is made from the wood of the cypress.
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Buckskin Township.
By Robert D. Patterson.
He was a carpenter, and moved from Highland to Buck- skin township in 1841, and has served his township as con- stable for several years. He also served as one of the deputies for sheriffs Ghormley and Adams.
By Crawford Caldwell.
He emigrated to Ohio from Ireland in the first settlement of the country ; served as a soldier in the war of 1812; has been a resident of the township for seventy years, and is now aged about eighty years. Old settlers, Jarret Erwin ; William Smith, who served in the Revolutionary war; John McLean, also a Revolutionary soldier; Robert Holliday, who fought at the battle of Trenton, and Alexander Scroggs.
By John Lucas.
.
Ezra Lucas, his father, was born at Marietta, Ohio, and moved to Ross county in 1811. He was in the war of 1812, was a cooper, and died aged about seventy-five years. His grandfather, Isaac Lucas, was one of the first settlers at Ma- ricetta. He came from Boston, served seven years in the Revo- lutionary war, and was at the battle of Bunker Hill.
By Robert Wilson.
He was born near Pittsburg, in 1781, and from there he removed to near Wheeling, where, he says, he saw the body of the first person killed by the Indians near that place-a man named Robert Edgar. In 1797 or 1798 he moved to near Flem- ingsburg, Kentucky, and, in the fall of 1800, to Ohio, where he settled on Buckskin creek, near South Salem, on a farm his father had bought the previous year, when there were but three or four families living on the creek. In those early days, he says, the farmers turned their horses and cattle loose in the woods, to feast themselves on the luxurious herbage which grew so plentifully, and when they were needed they would have to be hunted in the deep forests, as they sometimes strayed many miles from home. On those occasions he invariably
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Pioneer Record of Ross County, Ohio.
carried his trusty rifle for protection and to kill game. He also says that he has killed many bears in those hills, and some- times when they were feasting upon some of their hogs. The bear will not take time to kill a hog before eating, but as soon as it is caught will commence devouring it, the hog squealing as long as he has life. He says he has often been attracted to the place by the squealing of the hogs and killed the bear. Sometimes the hogs would return home with the flesh all torn from their backs. The wolves were also very plentiful and destructive to the sheep and pigs. "I was in the woods," says he, "one day, when my dog came running to me much frightened, and I saw, in a few moments, five large wolves in full chase after him. I fired and succeeded in killing one, when the balance made their escape into the forest.
"Our cabin was often visited by the Indians, who encamped on the creek near us, for days at a time, to hunt game. In 1802, after Ohio became a State, emigration increased in our neighborhood, and we began to have religious services. The first sermon preached in Buckskin was in the woods, on my father's farm, near where Major Irwin's house now stands, by two Presbyterian ministers, named Marcus and Dunlevy. After the service was closed, Father Irwin arose and made a short exhortation, and closed by saying : 'These ministers can not live upon the wind, therefore I propose to take up a collec- tion,' when taking up his hat he threw into it a silver dollar, and passing it around collected several dollars. The first church edifice erected was a small log building, near the resi- dence of James A. Wallace. The first minister who remained any length of time was the Rev. Robert B. Dobbins, who was with us three or four years; the next was the Rev. James H. Dickey, who remained twenty-seven years."
My informant says: "I bought the farm I now live upon in 1804, and in 1805 did the first work on it; I cut the date-Feb- ruary 15, 1805-in the bark of a beech tree which stands near my residence ; the tree is still standing, and the date is quite perceptible. In the same year, I planted some apple trees,
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Buckskin Township.
which still bear fruit. I was married and settled on my farm in 1812, where I have lived ever since. In the summer of 1813, I was in the service of the United States as a soldier, having been called out to protect the frontier just after Fort Meigs had been besieged by the British, and was most of the time stationed at Lower Sandusky. I was a member of a rifle or light com- pany belonging to a battalion commanded by Major Robert Harper. Before we were discharged, my brother-in-law, John Halliday, and myself had our horses sent to us to ride home, and we turned them into a large pasture near the fort, till the time of our discharge. Halliday went out one day to salt the horses, and, after having gone some distance in the pasture, he heard a noise behind him near the fence, and look- ing around saw a party of Indians making for him ; he started back on 'double quick time.' After running about half way across the pasture, he looked over his shoulder and saw one large Indian in advance of the others, so close that he could see the white of his eyes, which gave renewed impetus to his speed. On nearing the fence he looked for a favorable spot to cross, and to his great joy he saw a place where there was a wide space between the top rail of the fence and the rider; he made for it, and, without touching the fence, bounded through into the thick woods, and eluded his pursuers, and making a circuit of some miles got safely back to the fort."
Mr. Wilson is yet living and quite spry ; his age is about eighty-nine years.
By Colonel William Collier.
His father, Captain James Collier, was born in Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, May 20, 1752. When the colonies de- clared their independence, Mr. Collier took a decided stand in their favor. In 1776, he commanded a company in an expedition known as the Flying Camp; they rendezvoused at Lancaster, from there they marched to New York, took an active part in the battle of Long Island, and assisted in several skirmishes up the North river. They also fought at the battle
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Pioneer Record of Ross County, Ohio.
of White Plains, and were with General Washington during his retreat through New Jersey. He also assisted in the capture of the Hessians at Trenton, and in 1777 was in the battle of Brandywine; also, was in several skirmishes at the White House. He and his company participated in the terrible sufferings at Valley Forge, where they were encamped for some time with General Washington. In 1778, Captain Collier was given com- mand of a company by the authorities of the State of Penn- sylvania, and ordered to Northumberland county to guard the. frontier against the Indians. At Sunbury he joined a State regiment, and was stationed at Fort Muncie, on the west branch of the Susquehanna. He took an active part at the battle of Freeland's Fort. Having no command at this place, he volun- teered to bring in the dead. In 1779, he received a commission to enlist a company of rangers to serve during the war, in which he continued until its close. For his gallantry he was presented by General Lafayette with a fine sword, which is still in the family.
In 1814, he came to Ohio from Pennsylvania, and settled in Buckskin township, where he lived till the year 1844, when death called him away, lamented and beloved by all who knew him.
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Paxton Township.
Paxton Township.
Township Officers.
Justices of the Peace, J. M. Pearce and Charles Robbins ; Trustees, A. W. Seymore, A. Ferneaur, and J. W. Ferneaur ; Constable, Samuel Tweed; Township Clerk, Charles Robbins ; Treasurer, J. H. Huling; Land Appraiser, Austin Pepple; At- torneys, A. O. Hewett, J. R. Whitney, Ice S. Estel, and S. M. Penn.
Officers of the Town of Bainbridge.
Mayor, Lec S. Estel ; Marshal, William Rittenhouse; City Council, Charles Robbins, Samuel Townsend, Dr. S. C. Roberts, John H. Huling, and Robert N. Ivens; Recorder, A. E. Mc- Goffin ; Postmaster, A. E. McGoffin.
Number of Stores, etc.
Eleven stores and groceries, one drug store, three black- smiths, two wagon-makers, two harness-makers, four shoe- makers, two tinners, one silversmith, two tanneries, four doc- tors, one saloon, one pump-maker, one hotel, one boarding house, two barbers, one bakery, one butcher, one carpenter, two man- tua-makers, two painters, one stoneyard, one Presbyterian and three Methodist churches (including one colored), one union school and one colored school, three parsonages, and one National Bank by Rockhold & Co. Number of inhabitants, 900.
By Elijah Rockhold
His father, Joseph Rockhold, emigrated from Pennsylvania to Ohio in 1797, and settled first at the Highbank Prairie; moved from there to Paxton township in 1800; served as cap-
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Pioneer Record of Ross County, Ohio.
tain of a company during the war of 1812, and his township for twenty-seven years as justice of the peace; he died at the age of eighty-five years.
Old Settlers.
Thomas and Captain William Stockton served during the war of 1812. Amos and Joseph Reeder. Christian Benner built the first iron works at the Little Falls of Paint creek ; he emigrated from Germany to Ohio at a very early day. Henry Benner served as justice of the peace and captain of militia for many years. John Benner was born in Pennsylvania, and when but a small child, came with his parents to Ohio. Here he studied for, and was admitted to the bar, but soon left his practice, as his father needed his aid on the farm. He was a good neighbor, highly respected and loved by all who knew him. He died September 13, 1869, aged sixty-seven years. At the time of his death, he held the office of mayor of Bainbridge and justice of the peace. The first mill was built by Jacob Smith, at the Big Falls of Paint creek ; first hotel was kept by John Torbett; first postmaster was Elijah Kelly, a blacksmith, who was also justice of the peace for many years. Mary Rock- hold, mother of Elijah, is one of the oldest ladies in the county, being now ninety-four years of age. She is in good health, and retains her mind to a remarkable degree. The author was in- troduced to her one evening by her son, when he awkwardly addressed her : " Why, you are a pretty old lady." She an- swered : "I am old, but not pretty, and never was." She is now living with her son in Bainbridge. Mrs. Rockhold says one of the first hotels was kept by Mr. Christian Platter, who was also a miller. The first store was kept by Enos Folk.
By Jacob Gault, of Bainbridge.
Mr. Gault emigrated to Ohio from Virginia in 1790, and served in the war of 1812; his captain was Mr. Joseph Rock- hold. Mr. Gault was at Hull's surrender, and at the siege of Lower Sandusky, under General William Henry Harrison ; he
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Paxton Township.
served during the war; was afterward captain of a rifle com- pany of militia. He went from Bainbridge to Kentucky, and drove the carriage that conveyed Henry Clay to his home in that State when on his return from the treaty of Ghent, and re- mained with that celebrated statesman and patriot eight days at his own mansion. Mr. Clay's wife and daughter, and a gen- tleman by the name of Brown, were in the carriage with them. Mr. Gault says Mr. Clay was a fine violin player, and they had quite a pleasant trip. Mr. Gault used to drive team over the mountains from Chillicothe to the East for goods for the Messrs .. Campbell, in early days; he is now living, and over eighty years of age. He says in his younger days he was a lit- tle wild, which, of course, most men are. He relates the follow- ing as one of his boyish pranks : He was working at the old Reeves' tannery, two miles east of Bainbridge, and in the neigh- borhood there was a young lady and gentleman who were en- gaged to be married. The day had been set and all the usual preparations made, but from some cause or other (my informant does not state whether his good looks had anything to do with the matter or not), the young lady repented, and, in her dis- tress, applied to Mr. Gault and asked: "What shall I do ? or where shall I fly ?" He told her that in the cellar of the tan - nery, there was a large hogshead in which, if she wished, she could hide, and he would see that she was cared for, which kind offer the young lady accepted, and, together, they, on the evening when the twain were to have been united, hied off to the cellar, and the young lady, assisted by her gallant, entered the hogshead, when he covered it over with large pieces of tan bark, and day after day, for eight days, she remained in her prison- house, my informant conveying her food. On the evening of the eighth day, Mr. Gault procured a carriage and conveyed the lady to Lancaster, Ohio, and thus she eluded her would-be-husband. From McDonald's Sketches, pp. 57, 58.
"In the year 1795, while Wayne was in treaty with the Indians, a company came out from Manchester, on the Ohio
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Pioneer Record of Ross County, Ohio.
river, to explore the Northwestern Territory, and especially the valley of the Scioto. General Massie was in this little band. After proceeding several days cautiously, they fell on Paint creek, near the falls. Here they found fresh Indian signs, and had not traveled far before they heard the bells on the horses. Some of the company were what was called raw hands, and pre- vious to this wanted much 'to smell Indian powder.' One of the company, who had fought in the Revolutionary war, and also with the Indians, said to one of these vaunting fellows: 'If you do, you will run, or I am mistaken.' A council was now called. Some of the most experienced thought it was too late to retreat, and thought it best to take the enemy by sur- prise. General Massie, Fallenach, and R. W. Finley were to lead on the company, and Captain Petty was to bring up the rear. The Indians were encamped on Paint creek, precisely at what is called Reeves' Crossing. They came on them by sur- prise, and out of forty men, about twenty of them fought. Those fellows who wanted to smell powder so much, ran the other way, and hid behind logs, and Captain Petty reported afterward that they had the ague, they were so much affrighted. The battle was soon ended in favor of the whites, for the In- dians fled across the creek, and left all they had but their guns. Several were killed and wounded, and one white man, a Mr. Robinson, was shot through the body, and died immediately. These Indians had one male prisoner with them, who made his escape to the whites, and was brought home to his relatives. As soon as the company could gather up all the horses and skins, and other plunder, they retreated for the settlement at Manchester, on the Ohio river. Night overtook them on the waters of Scioto Brush creek, and as they expected to be fol- lowed by the Indians, they made preparation for the skirmish. The next morning, an hour before day, the attack was made with vigor on the part of the Indians, and resisted as manfully by a few of the whites. There being a sink-hole near, those bragging cowards got down into it, to prevent the balls from hit- ting them. Several horses were killed, and one man, a Mr.
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Paxton Township.
Gilfillan, shot through the thigh. After an hour's contest, the Indians retreated ; and the company arrived at the place they started from, having lost one man, and one man wounded."
By Samuel Peacock.
His grandfather, Martin Gilmore, was in the battle of Reeves' Crossing above mentioned, and in the fight became separated from the company ; two Indians gave chase; he ran to where Reeves' mill stands, and crossing the creek, turned and fired on the Indians, killing one of them, and had the sat- isfaction of seeing his carcass float down the stream. The In- dians fired on him several times, but did not hit him, and he finally made his way in safety back to his company. He moved from Amsterdam to Bainbridge, where he lived for many years. He raised one of the first cabins in the place, and carried on the tailoring business. John Thompson served a term of years as commissioner of Ross county.
By George Free.
His father, Frederick Free, emigrated to Ohio from Vir- ginia at a very early day, accompanied with his family, in- cluding George, who has now been a resident of the township for sixty years. He was called out during the war of 1812, but furnished a substitute by the name of David McClellan. Near his residence was a stream called Cliff run, a branch of Paint creek, which, for natural scenery, can not easily be surpassed. Its banks in places rise to the hight of fifty or sixty feet, of solid limestone, almost perpendicular, and on the top are inter- spersed with pine, which give the cliffs a beautiful appearance. At the point where this stream enters Paint creek, and for two miles above, are also cliffs, on either side, of limestone, rising sometimes nearly one hundred feet, with caves extending from fifteen to twenty feet and of considerable dimensions. Mr. Free's wife was a daughter of William Warnick, who was a sub- scriber to the Scioto Gazette for fifty years.
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Pioneer Record of Ross County, Ohio.
By Joseph Ogle.
He emigrated to Ohio from Kentucky about the year 1800 ; was born in Maryland ; was in the war of 1812 in Captain Jos- eph Rockhold's company ; was a home hunter, and has killed many bear, deer, and other game. He hauled wood for the use of the first legislature, which convened at Chillicothe. He is now nearly eighty-eight years of age. His wife was a daughter of Abram Pepple, who emigrated from Maryland to Kentucky, and from Kentucky to Ohio, in 1808. Her brother Abram was in the war of 1812. Old settlers, William Kent, Nathan Reeves, and John Ferneaur. The first preachers in the neigh- borhood were Rev. Wm. Mick and Rev. J. B. Finley. Mrs. Ogle says she has heard Mr. Finley preach many times. He used to preach to the Indians, and had a colored man to interpret for him.
By Joseph Platter.
His father, Christian Platter, emigrated from Kentucky to Ohio in 1800; served his township in different offices for many years ; built the mill on Paint creek known as the Platter mill, and died aged seventy seven years. Joseph has served as township officer in different capacities for many years. He says near Bainbridge is a bank of red clay which some of the neighbors have used for painting their buildings, supposed to be the same with which the Indians used to paint themselves at the Big Falls of Paint. The water pours over a solid lime- stone rock, and falls about eight or ten feet, and just below there is another fall, but not so great.
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