USA > Ohio > Highland County > The County of Highland : a history of Highland County, Ohio, from the earliest days, with special chapters on the bench and bar, medical profession educational development, industry and agriculture and biographical sketches > Part 10
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shot by the smoke of his gun, sprang like a coward behind his horse. Williams' horse, badly frightened, kept changing so as to expose a vital place in the body of his rider and the chief shot that man dead in his tracks, then rushed upon Wolff and felled him to the earth with a blow. Wolff, recovering, caught the chieftain by what he sup- posed was the scalp lock, and attempted to stab the Indian as he jerked him forward, but when he made the vicious jerk, Wolff fell upon his back with Waw-wil-a-way's turban in his hand. The Indian drew his knife and made a stab at his prostrate foe, who, seeing the danger, threw up his feet and caught the blow in his thigh. The handle of the knife broke in the struggle, leaving the blade in the wound. Just at this time Ferguson ran up, and the chief seized Wolff's fallen gun and struck the man a terrible blow on the head, bringing him to the ground and laying bare his skull from the crown to the ear. This ended the battle; and so rapid had been the fight that scarcely three minutes saw it begun and ended. The foes of the chieftain were all at his mercy and, had he been able to fol- low up his victory, none had been left to tell the story of the desper- ate and cruel onslaught of three unprincipled white men upon the friendly chieftain of the Shawanees. But the strength had gone from his own body and his sight was growing dim. He cast one glance toward his foes, then folding his arms and walked proudly a few paces from the path, falling amid the fragrant flowers of his native land, and with his face to the earth, the fearless heart of this noble redman was stilled forever. While the encounter lasted the chief never uttered a word. He fought his last battle like a hero as he was, and in his struggle against fearful odds and treachery, he proved the courage of the men immortalized in song and story.
This was the blackest murder in the history of the West, and loud and deep were the words of condemnation and sense of hor- ror among the honest settlers in the entire community. When the news of the battle reached Old Town, parties were dispatched to the scene. Williams was dead, and was carried to the home of Nathaniel Pope. Wolff was taken home in a wagon, and the knife blade taken out by a surgeon. Ferguson's head was dressed as well as it could be, but his recovery was slow and prolonged, and his suffering from pain and remorse was very great. Wolff, the insti- gator of the action, escaped with little injury save the loss of blood from the stab in the thigh. The body of the chieftain was taken by members of the tribe to its place of .burial.
The killing of Waw-wil-a-way, who was known by all to have been a strong and lasting friend of the whites, and honored and revered by his own people, created a panic among settlers and Indi- ans alike. The Indians in the neighborhood fled in one direction, while the whites retreated in the other. To calm the public mind, and satisfy the Indians that the white men had not broken the
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treaty, General McArthur collected a large body of men, and mounting them, started upon a journey to the Indian coun- try. They went to Greenville in the Great Miami valley, where they found a large body of Indians, under the celebrated chief Tecumseh, or Shooting Star, as the word signifies. A council was held, with all the leading chiefs and warriors present. General McArthur made a clear, plain statement of all the facts in the case ; told the story of the finding of the dead body of Captain Her- rod, tomahawked and scalped, and also the killing of Waw-wil-a- way by the cruel and irresponsible white men. The Indians were entirely ignorant of all these facts, and while surprised and indig- nant, had no disposition to violate the treaty, but pledged them- selves to stand by its terms in every respect. General McArthur desired Tecumseh to go with him to Chillicothe, which he did. On arriving at that place, it was announced that upon a certain day the great chief would address the people. A vast concourse of peo- ple assembled to hear him. He spoke through an interpreter, and his dignified and impressive presence, his native ability as a great orator, produced a wonderful impression upon the people present. His speech quieted the fears of all, and the people returned to their homes, satisfied that the danger was over and war averted. By the order of Governor Tiffin a company of militiamen were quar- tered at Old Town to protect the inhabitants. They remained about a week, and had a good time generally.
Three or four days after the killing of the Shawanee chief, about four hundred Indians collected at the forks of Lee's creek in High- land county and encamped there. The locality was not very thickly settled at that time, Nathaniel Pope being the only set- tler near the encampment. He was greatly alarmed at the pres- ence of this warrior band, but did not retreat to the fort at the falls of Paint as his neighbors had done. The Smith's old mill, then the property of General Massie, had been fortified as a place of refuge and safety in case war should follow the tragedies of the two murders. Some of the chiefs visited Pope, who sent for some of his Quaker neighbors who had not gone to the fort, and a coun- cil was held, under an elm tree, which yet stands by a spring on the farm then owned by Pope. The Indians demanded an equal division of all the provision and salt, and all the blankets that could be found. The consideration for this division was, if war should come this locality should be exempt from its ravages. Mrs. Pope objected to giving up her blankets, but when an Indian stood her youngest son, afterward General J. W. Pope, against a tree, and began throwing a tomahawk at the boy, sticking it into the tree within a few inches of her son's head, while the other Indians were laughing loudly over the scene, she yielded to the demand, and the Indians departed, taking William Pope and some other young
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men with them to aid in their search for Wolff. It was a law among the Indians that the nearest of kin had the right to kill the murderer wherever he could be found. Wolff, well knowing this law, fled to Kentucky, but before going employed a man to act as his agent in fixing the blood ransom. The two sons of the chief were his blood avengers, and to them Wolff's agent appealed for terms of ransom. It was finally agreed between them that if Wolff would furnish each of them a horse, new saddle and bridle, and a new rifle, they would bury the tomahawk and forego their vengeance. To this Wolff agreed and the bargain was ratified at Old Town in the presence of a large assembly of whites and Indians. The cer- emony was very impressive. A hollow square was formed, in the center of which stood Wolff with his two horses and the other arti- cles of the compact, while the two sons of the dead chief stood near. In relinquishing their claim on the life of Wolff, the sons lifted their hands toward heaven, invoking the "Great Spirit to witness that to Him alone they transferred the blood and life of Wolff, forfeited to them by the murder of their father." The scene was solemn and pathetic in the extreme, and many in the audience wept aloud when in the spirit of forgiveness the sons of the chief advanced and taking Wolff by the hand called him brother and smoked the pipe of peace with him, which ended the feud for- ever. This ended the last Indian alarm in southern Ohio.
Morgan Van Meter came to Ohio from Kentucky in 1803. He was a true type of the backwoodsman, a hunter by profession, who hoped to find a locality where game would be plentiful and not many settlers to mar the range of his hunting expeditions. He had a wife and a large family whose support depended upon his skill with the rifle. Van Meter followed the trace from Maysville through New Market on to the head waters of the East fork of the Little Miami, some fifteen miles north of New Market, which was his nearest trading place. On this spot he built his cabin home, having located his land warrant upon the land of his own selection, where years before he passed over the country with a party of soldiers in pursuit of some Indians who had visited Kentucky, stolen horses and taken prisoners and plunder northward. The location selected by Van Meter proved to be a good one, upon Ken- ton's trace, or the Old Mead river road, as named afterward, which was then the main line of travel north. As emigration increased rapidly from Kentucky in that direction, his home became known as a good stopping place for the tired travelers on their journey north. After the trace was cut from Chillicothe to Lebanon, the crossing of the two traces was at the house or home of Van Meter, which increased largely the number of travelers, and compelled the lucky owner to put up an additional building. Van Meter's
H-7
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tavern was a delightful place to stop, where venison and hominy, if they had no corn bread, constituted the bill of fare. Not sat- isfied with his success as a hotel keeper, he concluded to build a town, and soon had all the future city platted in squares and lots, with the high hope that at no distant day it would be the capital of a new county. This town was given the name of Morgantown. For a while its growth and prosperity seemed assured. People purchased lots and erected cabins. But alas ! when Highland county was organized, Morgantown was found in the wrong place for a county seat. Its improvement was no longer a passion in the mind of the disappointed landlord, and a slow decline set in, from which it finally wasted away until nothing remained to mark the original site, and its name was blotted out in the history of the county.
After the ambitious Wishart had thrown up his commission as postmaster of New Market, Jonathan Berryman was appointed in his place, and continued as such for some twenty years, filling the office with honor to himself and fidelity to the government. Aaron Watson coming from Kentucky and establishing himself in New Market as a tavern keeper, disgusted Wishart at the prospect of the future of the place, so he sold out and moved away in the summer of 1803. The same year John Campton settled in New. Market and began the business of tanning leather. His brother soon joined him and together they established a tanyard on quite an extensive scale; the first in the county of Highland. While it was very necessary that the people of that community should have leather to supply their needs, it was difficult to obtain, owing to scarcity of hides, and the very high price of fish oil, necessary in the finishing of leather. Prices were very high and were not reduced when the home factory turned out its supply. The Camptons peeled their own bark and kept the price up by the plea that fish oil was so high that they could not afford to sell at a less price. But it was hinted by some that not a drop of fish oil had ever come to the town since the Camptons had begun the tanning business ; but that coon, opossum, bear and other oils were freely purchased by them. The Camptons would not admit these hints to be true, but they also used unsalted butter when they could no longer obtain the oil of wild animals, and it passed for fish oil, in the mystery of the leather proc- ess. Tanning was very profitable, and rival yards became quite common in various localities in the county.
In March, 1803, our friend Michael Stroup and Polly Walker were united in marriage in the growing town of New Market. The history of this wedding, as given in Scott's history, is amusing, also valuable as a picture of the character and moral tone of social life at that time. "Miss Walker was a very handsome, black-eyed girl of eighteen, who had emigrated from Fleming county, Ky., with her
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mother and stepfather, Joseph Myers, to the falls of Paint four years before, and came to New Market in 1801. She wore on this occasion a nice plain cap on her head, white silk gloves, a plain white collar, and shoes and stockings. Her dress was a very fine light-figured calico, which cost one dollar per yard. Most of those who could get it preferred white muslin worth two dollars per yard ; often, however, they wore homespun, as meeting all requirements. The groom was dressed in brown dress, coat and pants, white mar- seilles vest, white socks and low quartered shoes and white kid gloves. Generally in those days the grooms were not nearly so well dressed. The wedding took place at two o'clock p. m. The party was small and the ceremony was performed by Squire Oliver Ross. 'Well,' said the squire, in his peculiar Irish style, 'we have met today to join together in holy matrimony Michael Stroup and Polly Walker, as respectable a couple as iver the Lord brought togither. Now I hope that not one of you will have any objections to their gettin' married. I think there will be no objections. Join your right hands. Wall, Mr. Mike, will you take Miss Polly, whom you hold by the right hand, and as good looking and virtuous a young lady as iver the Virgin Mary was, to be yer lawfully wedded wife. Do you promise to forsake all others (now by the Lord, Mike, you must quit your running after other girls and cling to her alone, will ye, Mike ?)' 'Yes, yes,' said the groom, 'Oh, by G-d, yes.' 'Well, Miss Polly, will you take Mike, whom you hold by his right hand, to be your lawfully wedded husband (he is worthy, for he is as sprightly a young man as iver wore a pair of buckskin brokins), you promise to forsake all others-but what the devil's to make a woman promise that, when you know they won't keep their promise, but I think you are an exception-you will cling to him till it please the Lord to separate you by death, will you, Polly ? I know you will.' 'Yes.' 'Then I pronounce you man and wife, no more two but one. Now go home and raise your children for the Lord. The Lord bless you, ha ! ha ! ha ! take your seats now, ha ! the Lord bless you.' Long and lovingly this couple lived in the enjoyment of their share of temporal blessing, seeing their fourteen children grow up like olive branches around their table."
Following this wedding was the marriage of George Parkinson and Rebecca Ross, already mentioned as the first white woman in the county of Highland, coming as a camp keeper with her father and the surveyors under Henry Massie.
During the summer of 1803 a number of settlers came into the county. Among the number was David Ross, from Kentucky, who settled the farm in the present township of Union in Highland county, afterward owned by Isaac French up to the time of his death. At the time of this settlement the country there was an unbroken wilderness, inhabited by Indians and wild beasts. His
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nearest neighbors were Morgan VanMeter, and the Mckibbens upon the East fork of the Miami, and the nearest mill on the Little Miami, many miles away, with only a blazed trace marking the route through the forest. Mrs. Ross, when her husband was gone to mill, would leave the house and stay in the woods until he returned, so great was her fear of the Indians. But there they lived, tended their small patches of cleared land, hunted for the deer and bear, con- tented and happy, until the smoke from many cabins all around them proclaimed the presence of friends and neighbors in whom their hearts took delight.
David Reece came to Ohio from Grayson, Va., in 1802. He had learned the carpenter trade, though very young, being but fifteen years of age when he came to Highland. He added very materially by his skill and industry, to the comfort of the settlers, by building them better houses and repairing those already built, making them neat and warm.
In the fall of 1803 Joseph Eakins and his family came to New Market. He was an Irishman, who arrived in America in 1801; first settled in Pittsburg, where he remained for about one year, and within that period purchased a tract of land near New Market containing some three hundred acres. On reaching his purchase there was no shelter but a camp, but in a little time he had erected a cabin for his wife and children. Eakins was a man of wealth and culture, and entirely unfitted for the life of hardship and toil demanded in a new country. He had brought groceries, tea and coffee, from Pittsburg and a barrel of flour from Manchester, but when these were gone starvation seemed to stare them in the face. Mrs. Eakins was greatly cast down, and bitterly wept at the doleful prospect before them. While in the midst of her tears, James B. Finley entered her home, ragged, dirty, and a little drunk. He kindly asked Mrs. Eakins what the matter was. She told him between her sobs the wretched condition they were in. He told her to cheer up; that he would make her some bread; that she and her children could eat. She was greatly surprised, but allowed him to have his way. Finley washed his hands, cut a piece of fat from a freshly killed hog that her husband had bought, rendered it in a pot, put it in a pan of meal and mixed it with water. Then he made a smooth Johnny-cake board, spread on the dough, and baked it before the fire. When it was done Mrs. Eakins and her children thought it delicious, and, having learned the process, used "Jim Finley bread" ever after. Finley had many a langh, after he had become a famous preacher in the Methodist church, with Mrs. Eakins and her daughter, Mrs. St. Clair Ross, over the "Jim Finley" he introduced to keep the Irish from starving.
In April, 1803, Ezekiel Kelley settled upon a farm three miles north of the site of Hillsboro. He came from Maryland, and at
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first took up his residence at Chillicothe. But the fever and ague drove him and many others away from that locality to seek health in the hills along the Rocky fork. East and about one-half mile from his cabin was one of the largest and best deer licks in the whole country. He built a blind in easy range of it, and for years after he settled there he furnished many of the neighbors venison almost as regularly as the butcher of today supplies his customers with beef. He would appoint a day when they were to come for deer meat and seldom, if ever, disappointed his venison-loving consumers. This salt lick was visited by vast numbers of deer, and before the time of Kelley's residence by elk and buffalo. Kelley aided in the erection of the first cabin in Hillsboro.
Mr. Samuel Gibson settled with his family some three miles southeast of Hillsboro, on the Rocky fork. In a year or so after his arrival he built a corn cracker, as it was called, and this was the first effort of the kind on the creek, which now, within a distance of fourteen miles of the Gibson site, has three first-class grist mills, Newell's, Spargur's and Barrett's. Humorous stories were told of the Gibson mill. One, illustrating its slowness, was that when the hopper was filled with corn the miller would start the mill and then leave for some other employment, and the ground squirrels would congregate about and steal the corn as it dropped from the hopper to the ground, until the supply was exhausted. It often happened that in the struggle for place upon the shoe, a squirrel would fall into the hole in the stone, and too frequently for the popularity of this mill, some horror-struck housewife would find the remains of a dead squirrel or rat in the meal sifted for mush or johnny cake. The site, now known by the name Bishir, always had a mill until a few years ago when the roof tumbled in, and now the only thing that remains is the big willow tree; the squirrels and the mill are gone.
In the spring of 1803 General Massie's mill at the falls of Paint was destroyed by a great flood. He made no effort to rebuild, but in a little time bought the mill owned by Jacob Smith, who moved away from the settlement. Massie then laid out the town of Bain- bridge and named it for Commodore William Bainbridge, an Amer- ican naval hero. Soon afterward Jacob and John Rockhold, then living at the falls, were called to the new town to build a store house for Massie, of hewn logs, in which he put a stock of goods. The town of Bainbridge and the big store was the doom of New Amster- dam, which went into a rapid decline, and long ago vanished.
In 1803 Job Haigh settled on Brush Creek, near the present site of the town of Belfast. His home became the preaching place for the traveling preacher, and was for years noted as the abode of a generous and genial man, whose hospitality was unbounded and whose earnest effort to advance the moral interests of the community
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aided much in promoting the cause of humanity. The preacher that most frequently stopped at the home of Haigh was Rev. Lea- mons, a. Baptist. While the religious interests of the people were not neglected, there was no attempt to organize a school until three or four years after, when a small cabin was built near a spring in a secluded spot, and Benjamin Massie installed as teacher. Before this time any one who desired to school his sons sent them for two or three months during cold weather to West Union, where there was a small school for teaching spelling, reading and writing. The girls were compelled to go without education, except what was given by their mothers. The fact is, the poor girls had no time to engage in study. Carding, spinning and weaving were the accomplishments in which they excelled, for upon this industry depended the clothing and comfort of the family. Flax was raised for shirting, and the pulling and preparing for weaving was the work of the women. Flax pullings were seasons of frolic and fun as well as labor and utility. Labor of some character was always associated with pioneer gather- ings, chopping, grubbing, log rolling, or some other work of a special kind, which demanded the presence and strength of numbers. Gen- erally these day gatherings ended with a frolic at night, when dancing and sparking among the young was carried on with persist- ence and vigor, "when music arose with its voluptuous swell, and all went merry as a marriage bell."
Sinking Spring was increasing in population slowly. Jacob and Philip Roads, Peter and Jacob Stults, from Virginia, and Michael Shiveley from Pennsylvania, came in 1804. George Gall, a Revolu- tionary soldier, also came to the Springs. He had marched with Colonel Boyer against the British through the Dismal Swamp, and was present at the surrender of the British at Yorktown. The Gall family is very numerous in Highland county and are at the present time making an effort to erect a memorial monument in honor of the name. In 1804 Samuel Shoemaker built a water mill two miles west of Sinking Spring on the East fork of Brush creek. The Coun- trymans had built a mill the year before this on the same creek about three miles northwest of the Springs.
The ancient town of New Market was also improving. George W. Barrere moved to that place in 1802 and purchased from John Eversole a house of one room, to which he added another, and fixing up the loft for sleeping purposes, opened up his house as a tavern, which soon became the most popular resort in all the region.
Matthew Kilgore came to what is now Madison township. Quite a large number came into the county in the years 1803-4. William Kilbourn, Seth Smith, the Ellises, Samuel Littler, Thomas Colvin and Caleb Chatman made the usual settlement, building a cabin and clearing a small patch for corn. Chatman made his place of resi- dence about four miles north of New Market, on land of the best in
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New Market township, and upon this farm he spent the remainder of his days.
Joseph W. Spargur came from Surry county, N. C., in the autumn of 1804, and located southwest of New Petersburg, as now known. Spargur was a millwright and followed that trade when he could obtain employment. His wife was often compelled to remain at her home alone while her husband was away at his work, and in after years would tell how she barricaded the door of her lonely cabin at night, and assured herself of the presence of two loaded guns, a hatchet and knife, and a big dog with her in the house before she could compose her mind to sleep. The history of the Spargur family is very remarkable. Their number of the descendants and kinfolk is legion, and they form a most worthy and substantial class of citizens. Along the Rocky fork branch of Paint creek, in the village of Rainsboro, in Greenfield, in the little city of Hillsboro, in fact, all over the county Spargurs may be found, as ideal farmers, as merchants, as mill owners, bankers, lawyers and physicians, and always full of vim, business, intelligence and thrift.
Early in June, 1805, David Jolly and James Jolly, with their families, moved from the vicinity of Chillicothe and settled on the Rocky fork east of the present town of Hillsboro. With them came their brother, William, and brother-in-law and sister, William and Mary Ann Warnick. William Warnick died the following fall. The Jollys were among the first settlers of Chillicothe, having emi- grated to that neighborhood in the fall of 1796, from Virginia. David, the eldest living son of the family, was born and raised on the frontier and early became a hunter, a scout, and Indian fighter. His romantic story has already been told in this volume. The com- panion of the Wetzels, the Bradys and the Zanes in border warfare, he was also the companion of McArthur and David McDonald, Massie and other early survivors and spies of southern Ohio. He continued to reside only a few years in Ohio, preferring the wilder scenes of the west. He, however, married and raised a most respect- able family, whose descendants are living in Wisconsin. James Jolly was a tanner, worked at his trade on a farm in Marshall town- ship, afterward owned by Judge Delaplane, but now in possession of Judge Huggins. David Jolly, Jr., was a successful farmer and leading member in the Presbyterian church, being one of the first to establish a congregation of that denomination, and erected a church in the neighborhood of Hillsboro. He was an earnest and pure- hearted Christian man, helping with a kindly hand the poor and distressed, and in every way showing that the religion that he pro- fessed was not a mere emotion, but a deep seated principle ruling his life. He died at his home in this county in 1843.
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