The History of Miami County, Ohio, Part 23

Author: W. H. Beers & Co.
Publication date: 1880
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1051

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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).

The pioneer settlers were from all the old States 'in the Union. Those from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia were perhaps predominant, but the Caro- linas and Georgia were well represented in the southwest part of the county by the Friends and the anti-slavery emigrants from the South, and there was quite a sprinkling of New Englanders and Yorkers, with several families from Delaware. They were generally a hard-working, self-reliant set of people, yet acknowledged the necessity of mutual aid and assistance in the erection of log cabins, and at log-rollings-which were no small burthen to many of the early settlers.

New-comers generally entered their land and built a cabin before removing their families. They would cut the logs of the desired length and number, have puncheons or split plank for floors, and four-feet split clapboards for roof, and appoint a day, invite the necessary hands ( who were generally prompt to attend), and the cabin would be erected and inclosed, the floor laid, and perhaps a chimney of wood to be plastered with clay, and made habitable, all in one day. They then made a comfortable tenement without sawed lumber (except for doors), without nails or other iron, glass or brick ; the door and window shutter being hung with wooden hinges, and latch with string to pull in at night.

These cabins were generally from eighteen to twenty feet square. Sometimes, if the immigrant had the means to spare, he would have a cabin built by contract on his land, to be ready for his family when he returned with them in the autumn. He usually paid about $40 for building the cabin, and felling the timber within reach of the same. He would then spend the winter in clearing a few acres, and making rails to fence it in the spring.

The usual mode of clearing was to cut all timber a foot in diameter, and deaden the remainder, to stand till it fell, and then burn it, which made work of the final clearing of the ground run into eight or ten years, but, as the timber would be dry, it was readily burned after being " niggered," as they termed it, that is, burned in two, in lengths of ten or twelve feet. Sometimes, where the family was large, they would build double cabins, that is, two cabins, ten or twelve feet apart, a roof covering the whole, the space between serving as a hall, and one cabin was used for cooking and eating in, the other as a sleeping apartment, and the hall for various uses, according to the weather.

A few, possessing more means, would have the logs hewed on two sides, and the roof covered with lap shingles, and one or two small glass windows.

The matter of mills was of no small consideration to the early settlers of the county, and an individual who had the enterprise to secure a mill seat, and set about. the erection of a mill for grinding and sawing, was looked up to as a person of im- portance ; but often, for the want of means, he would require the gratuitous assist- ance of his neighbors, which was freely rendered, in the erection of a mill-dam, and other works pertaining to the establishment. These early-erected mills were quite primitive in their structure and material. The millstones were generally manufact- ured in the county, often in the immediate vicinity of the site where they were

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to be used, of single stones, worked out of the large bowlders which were to be found on the surface of various parts of the county. Very little iron, except the spindles, gudgeons and a few bands, was used, wood being exclusively used for all other purposes, iron being expensive and difficult to obtain. These mills, from these circumstances, were very simple structures, calculated for grinding corn prin- cipally. The first grinding of wheat for flour was very imperfectly done. In some, at first the bolt was turned by hand, a somewhat laborious operation, but, wheat bread being a rarity, the labor was willingly performed. As for lumber, there was usually a saw-mill connected with the " corn-cracker." But, from the simplicity of the dwellings, there was little demand for lumber, and it was obtainable at comparatively low prices ; log stables and barns were exclusively in use. At the time of the organization of the county (1807), there were six or seven of these milling establishments in operation. They were Mordecai Mendenhall's, on Honey Creek, Henry Gerard's, on Spring Creek, John Freeman's and John Manning's, on the Miami River, Moses Coates', on Ludlow Creek, Mast's, Weddel's and Empire's, on Stillwater.

The life of the early settlers was generally a laborious and hard one, being remote from any source of supply of some of the essentials of life in new settlements, particularly salt and iron, which were exorbitantly high, and, money being very scarce, most of the trade being by barter, salt at $2 per bushel, and poor at that, iron 15 to 20 cents per pound, and no cash market for any produce, with the exception of supplying new-comers.

In the autumn months, the settlers were much afflicted with intermittent and bilious fevers and rheumatic affections, which often disabled them for months, and made the struggle for life a hard one. But in general they were healthy and hardy, mutually assisting each other in house-raising, log-rollings and corn- huskings. Most neighborhoods had their

LITTLE COPPER DISTILLERY,

which furnished the stimulating fluid deemed essential on all these occasions, and without which no one could have obtained the required aid, and the general use of which was common, but the excessive use was not more common, and the fatal effects far less, than at the present day. There were occasional moves made at total abstinence. One of the leaders in this matter, who was, by-the-by, one of the judges of the court, it is reported, at a house-raising, at the refreshment, upon the tin cup of whisky being passed around, was urged to take a drink, but he refused, saying he was pledged to abstain from drinking whisky. After & little reflection he took a slice of light bread, and soaked it in the tin cup of whisky and ate it, and not long after was as jolly as the jolliest of the party. This affair brought a great scandal upon the teetotalers.

DRE88.

The pioneer settlers were clothed almost entirely in domestic family manufact- ures of flax and wool, cotton being comparatively scarce. Immigrants from the South generally came clothed in home-made cotton apparel of various hues and stripes. The family-made goods of this period were much more durable than those of the present day ; a lady's linsey dress being often worn the second winter, with lighter cotton or linen worn in summer. The better class wore calico for Sunday dresses. This family manufacture gave constant employment to the females of the family, and led to habits of industry and economy not sufficiently appreciated at the present day. Linsey of a light Indigo blue was common men's wear for winter, with linen underclothes and woolen flannel to a small extent. The loom was con- sidered an essential appendage to every family of any size. Occasionally you would see a hunter dressed in a full buckskin suit with moccasins. The uniform of the two independent rifle companies of the county consisted of light-blue linsey hunting shirt, with cape, the whole fringed and coming half-way down the thigh,

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HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY.

with leather belt, shot pouch and powder horn, with large knife and tomahawk or hatchet in the belt, and rifle on the shoulder. This uniform was much worn in the war of 1812. I have seen Gov. Meigs, Jeremiah Morrow, and other officials wear this hunting shirt while on the frontier during that war.

FOOD AND COOKING.

Cooking stoves and their paraphernalia were unknown in the days of the pio- neers. The cooking was done before the large cabin fire, in few plain cast-iron ves- sels. Often one skillet would be used to cook more than one article for the same meal. The Dutch-oven was the most important article used in cooking, for the baking of corn pone or light bread, as corn bread was mostly used by the early settlers. A favorite mode of making corn-cake, sometimes called "hoe-cake," was to spread the corn dough on a clapboard, three feet long, by six or eight inches wide; the dough an inch thick, and bake it before the fire. This was sweeter and better than dodger-cake baked in an iron vessel. I have often seen this distributed to a family of urchins in sections of six inches, and with this in one hand and with a tin cup of milk in the other, they devoured it with great glee, and making a very satisfactory meal. [The writer of the history of Miami County would remark, in parenthesis, that he would like to have a section also.]

Green corn and wild fruits constituted important articles of food with many of the settlers. A cow for milk was very important, as milk was largely used by all classes, and coffee and tea but very little-and then frequently of domestic mate- rial. As to towns and merchants, there were few. The county being an interior one. with no external trade, except that of procuring salt and iron from Cincinnati, the farmer, to save the percentage, would raise what money he could, or perhaps two or three would join together, fit out a wagon (for many of the farmers were unable to keep a wagon), take their provisions and feed for the trip, go to Cincin- nati, purchase the required supplies and return in eight or ten days without spend- ing a quarter of a dollar. Settlers would exchange or sell commodities among them- selves, consequently there was no central point of trade of any particular note in . the county.

Prior to 1815, there were only two stores each in Troy and Washington ( now Piqua ) and one in Milton, of small capital each, supplying a few foreign articles, salt and iron, and a harter trade in domestic manufactures ; ginseng, beeswax and feathers being most in demand for shipment. There was no marketing of any kind to send out of the county. The towns having few .inhabitants, afforded no markets worth mentioning. The barter price of wheat was 50 cents, corn 25 cents and oats 20 cents; but for cash one-third or more less would be taken. The demand for money to meet the payments on Government land was the great desid- eratum, and often great sacrifices would have to be made to meet them, such as selling wagons and horses at a low rate, or sometimes selling their improvements for less than it cost them, and entering a new tract. Such was the condition of things in the days of 1800. The flat-boat and keel-boat propelled by a pole, have given place to the three-decked floating palace propelled by steam. Blazed paths, mud roads and ox teams have been replaced by pikes, canals and railroads. The old dandy wagon disappears before the elliptic-springed phaeton. Instead of the long-snouted rooter, we have the Berkshire, blooded cattle, and Shanghai rooster. The lug-pole, crane and trammel no longer hang in the capacious fire- place ; and in their stead we have the " Early Breakfast " and base burner. The Dutch oven, skillet and pot hooks have retired also. Pennyroyal and sage tea, ginseng and slippery-elm poultices, have all disappeared before sugar-coated pills, and the surgeon's knife. The old flint-lock has been exchanged for the central fire. breechi-loading, sixteen-shooter, We cannot review these transformations without a feeling of veneration for those brave spirits, through whose efforts they were effected ; who changed a wilderness swarming with wild animals and savages, to waving fields and flourishing cities ; from the howl of the wolf and

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HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY.

the war-whoop of the Indian, to the whistle of the locomotive and the chime of the church bell.

We have now endeavored to give the settlers of this county, from the earliest up to the year 1800. We have also undertaken to give a brief review of the customs, privations, etc., of those days, and touch upon the changes that have taken place from that time till the present. We shall now begin with the year 1800, and perhaps we may discover some stragglers that belonged to an earlier age, and if so, we shall place them where they belong. Yes, we are not out of sight of the old year's camp, until we see, John Hilliard and his wife, and Father Michael Williams, with a family of nine children, coming, the former three years, the latter one year behind us. John Hilliard was temporarily located at Mill Creek, and, as soon as he thought he could venture out without losing his scalp, came into Miami and entered Section 30, in Spring Creek Township, cleared a little spot, built a pole hut, and on the 4th day of April, 1797, moved in with his family. Being an aged man, the hardships of pioneer life proved too great for his shattered constitution, and he soon gave up the ghost, and was laid away in a lonely spot in the woods, the first death and burial in that part of the country. Michael Williams, with his sons, George, John, Henry, Michael, Jr., and two daughters, Fanny and Elizabeth, came from Virginia about 1797. He and his family stopped at a collection of huts on Mad River, called Dayton. Having remained about a year here, they pushed further on to Honey Creek, and hearing from Gen. Harrison of a beautiful prairie on Still- water, he and all his family removed within the present limits of Newton Township in 1800. We may place in this list, also, the names of Robert and John H. Craw- ford, who came from Pennsylvania and settled in Bethel Township. Philip and Jacob Sailor, Jr., bought farms on Indian Creek and spent their lives clearing and improving them .* Although we have not noticed many young women around in the year 1800, yet there must have been some, for we see by the record that in this year Mary Sailor married Joseph Stafford, and Rachel Sailor married David Morris. In these days of natural simplicity and hard work, when the hands find plenty to do, and the mind is pure and innocent. the ceremonies attendant upon marriages were very unostentatious. No broadcloth, scissor-tailed coat, no stove- pipe beaver, no Alexandre seamless, no button-hole bouquet, or patent-leather boots adorned the scene; the flash of the diamond nor the gauzy point-lace, neither silks nor satins adorned the bride ; but the honest pioneer, in his home- made hunting shirt, buckskin breeches, moccasins on his feet, with dried leaves for socks, stood by the side of the innocent girl, in her linsey-woolsey frock, guiltless of magnolia balm, "Bloom of Youth," except that which nature gave her, for she is nature's child, pure and artless.

BIOGRAPHICAL REMINISCENCES.

Having now given, as far as possible, all the names of those advance-guards and forerunners of civilization, who braved the perils and hardships incident to opening a home in the wilderness, up to the year 1800, we shall now take pleasure in giving a brief sketch of those of whom we have been able to glean any remin- iscences. David H. Morris and Samuel Morrison contracted with Symmes for lands near the mouth of Honey Creek, raised corn on Freeman's Prairie, and, as has been stated previously, were supposed to have been the first settlers of this county. They were both honorable men, and well respected by the later settlers, who shared their hospitality. The former came from New Jersey and served during the war of 1812, under Gen. Wayne. Samuel Morrison was a native of Pennsylvania. Robert Crawford came from Pennsylvania, was appointed by the Commissioners to superintend the laying-out of the town of Troy, and also in the sale of town lots, but after serving a year, he resigned. John H. Crawford, also from Pennsylvania, was one of the first Associate Judges of the county, and served two terms.

It would seem also that Job Gard, who is said to have been one of Wayne's army, after the treaty of Green- ville, returned, and in 1798 built a rude cabin, and lived in it without floor or window for one year, when be sold out to John Manning, who, five years subsequently, erected a grist-mill near the site of Piqua.

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HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY.

SCALPING OF MRS. MARTIN.

Levi Martin and family were among the earliest settlers of Staunton. Mrs. Martin was an unfortunate victim of Indian cruelty, the details of which are worthy of a place in this connection.

"In 1788, or near that time," says Stephen Dye, who was an eye-witness to the bloody affair, " the family of John Corbly, a very pious man, lived at Gerrard Station, on the Monongahela, not far from Redstone Fort, a mile and a half from a meeting-house. He was, with his family, a regular attendant on Divine worship. One pleasant morning in the spring, a party of youth had started from the Dye settlement (among whom was the narrator) to attend meeting. They had just crossed a creek branch, when they heard the report of rifles in the direction of the fort. It was an unusual sound on that day, but they supposed some stran- gers had come into the neighborhood, and were out hunting. The party, however, had not proceeded half a mile, when they saw several bodies lying in the path, and, on approaching them, they proved to be the mutilated remains of the Corbly family. The old gentleman had forgotten his hymn book, and left his family walking on, to go back after it. During his absence, the Indians, concealed in the woods, shot at them, killed outright Mrs. Corbly and three children. Two younger daughters were left for dead. They had been knocked down, and, with the rest of the party, scalped, but were resuscitated ; one of these, Delila Corbly, late Mrs. Martin, who died in 1836, lived for many years, an esteemed and favor- ite member of this neighborhood." Mrs. Martin lived to rear a family of eight sons and two daughters, notwithstanding the severity of her wounds, which, her family physician says, extended over the crown of her head, as wide as the two hands. The hair grew thriftily around the edge of the scalped surface, which, by careful training, grew upward, and served as a protection to the exposed parts. At times, it caused her pain, and she frequently complained of headache, which she attributed to the loss of her scalp; but, so far as known, no serious results ever followed, for she lived to quite an old age, and performed a great amount of hard labor.

Peter Felix, a Canadian Frenchman, was supposed to have been in the neigh- borhood of Staunton previous to the first settlement there. He was rather a noted Indian trader, and in addition to this, kept a kind of tavern. He was shrewd, and drove many a sharp bargain with the Indians. His stock of needles once getting scarce, it is reported that he demanded of the Indians a coonskin for a needle, giv- ing as an excuse, that the needle maker had died, and he could get no more. It is presumed he made money at his calling, for at the organization of the county, the first courts were held in his house.

Andrew Dye, Sr., was one of the oldest settlers of this county, and, with his sons, ranks among the most prominent of the same.

Had all been as Mr. Dye, the growth of this county would have increased in spite of Indian massacres, famine, pestilence and every other known calamity inci- dent to humanity, for he had eight sons and two daughters. He died in 1837, at the age of eighty-seven ; at which time his posterity amounted to about five hun- dred, three hundred and sixty of whom were living. What a sight for an old bach- elor to contemplate ; gazing upon three hundred and sixty children ranging down to the fifth generation, with one hundred and forty buried. John Gerard was one of the settlers who came to Staunton in 1799. Was one of the first Associate Judges of the county. He was a man of strict integrity, energy and a valuable citizen; and a prime mover in every enterprise looking toward the development of the infant county.

Nathaniel Gerard, also a settler of 1799, in Staunton, bought land two miles from Troy, on which was located the celebrated tea spring, a description of which is given by D. H. Morris, in " Harmar's Expedition," now owned by the Coleman fam- ily. Mr. Gerard established the first tannery in the county, which was of inestima-

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HISTORY OF MIAMI COUNTY.

ble value to the early settlers, for they either had to pay an enormous price for leather, wear buckskin moccasins, or go barefooted.

Henry Gerard, son of Nathaniel, was also one of the ninety-niners, and was one of the most useful men in the county. While his father was the first to prepare the hides of the animals for their feet, he was the first to erect machinery for preparing the grain for their stomachs, and lumber for their houses and furniture. Previ- ous to this, he had been employed by John Cleves Symmes as his agent in super- intending matters in connection with the northern part of his purchase, for which he was to be compensated in land ; but as he was often heard to say that he never received anything, it is supposed Symmes failed with him, as well as with the Gov- ernment.

1800-1807.

Our facilities for ascertaining the names and number of those who came into this county, from 1800 to 1805, seem to be very meager.

We learn of an Irishman, by the name of George Kerr, who settled on Section 8, in Monroe Township, about the year 1800. He cleared out a little farm, and became an industrious and permanent settler of this county. At this time, also, a few families came from South Carolina, and settled in the vicinity of Kerr, cleared lands, and raised large families ; many of whom are now living on the farms of their fathers. Among those worthies we may mention Joseph Layton, Jesse, Amos, and David Jenkins ; the last of whom was elected Justice of the Peace in 1818, the duties of which office he honorably discharged until his death in 1858. About this time, also, came a family of Pearsons. Samuel, was a man who could indulge his ingenuity in almost any direction, could with equal facility mend a plow, or pull a tooth, make a singletree, or cut off a finger, fix a clock, or administer worm med- icines to a squalling baby ; in fact make himself useful at almost anything, and therefore was indispensable to the immigrants. Enoch Pearson was one of the first preachers in the county, and held many meetings in the woods, where he preached the honest doctrine of the Friends, to which denomination he belonged.

As he was one of the earliest to proclaim the Word of God, so was he one of the first taken to the fold above. His remains lie buried in the family graveyard. Thomas Furnace came to this county from South Carolina in the year 1800 and located on the farm now owned by Newel Kerr, in Monroe Township. Mr. Furnace was a prominent man in the county and wore some of her highest honors, having been elected Sheriff, and afterward represented Miami in the State Legis- lature. The now flourishing county owes an everlasting debt of gratitude to those brave men who supported her in her infancy, and gave her the strength of their own heroic manhood. Not only does she owe a debt of gratitude to these men, but equally as much to the true-hearted and noble-minded women ; who aided their brothers, their husbands, their fathers, with their own hands ; and, by their presence and purity, rendered the house in the wilderness a place of happiness, to which their husbands, brothers and fathers, wearied by the hard day's toil, could retrace their steps, feeling each grow lighter, as they approached the abode where woman's presence made all things cheerful, and woman's sweet smile of welcome chased away all the toils of the day.

Such men were the Coppocks, Pearsons, Furnaces, Mendenhalls, Coateses, Leagues, Yountzes, Jenkinses and hosts of others, who gave color to the county, and whose descendants do honor to their ancestors.

It will be impossible for us to give the names of all the immigrants to this county after 1800, because from rapidity of immigration and the increase within them- selves, we cannot keep pace with them ; we will give, therefore, a few of the most prominent.

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The History of Miami County, Ohio, Part 23

Author: W. H. Beers & Co. Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1051

Author: W. H. Beers & Co.
Publication date: 1880
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1051