The History of Union County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its townships, towns military record;, Part 26

Author: Durant, Pliny A. [from old catalog]; Beers, W. H., & co., Chicago, pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, W. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1254

USA > Ohio > Union County > The History of Union County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its townships, towns military record; > Part 26

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).

Simon Girty, the notorious renegade, who deserted to the British because he failed to secure a Captainey in the American regulars early in 1775, was the man who stirred up the worst feelings of the savages. and fought with them in many a fierce fray with his discarded countrymon. The only good deed related of him after his desertion is the resend of Simon Kenton from death at the stake at Wapatomica, in September. 1778. At the conference in 1792. after St. Clair's defeat, just mentioned, he was the only white man allowed to be present, and there " his voice was still for war. " At a second conference, in 1798, it was mainly through his exertions that continued hos- tilities were decided upon. The power of the Indians was broken by Wayne in 1794. and it is said that when the fight occurred at the " Fallen Timbers." on the 20th of AAngust in that year. Girty and Lis companions. Elliott and MeKee. " kept at a respectable distance from the contest, near the river." He tinally removed to a farm near Malden, below Detroit, on the Canadian shore of the river, and died there in ISTS, aged over seventy years, despised by all his countrymen and most of those who were familiar with the story of his treachery.

John Slover, one of the prisoners captured at the Crawford retreat in June. 1782. was finally taken to the Mac-a-chaek town, near the present site of West Liberty. Logan Co., Ohio. He was prepared for burning. being stripped and painted black, but in the night made his escape, jumped on the back of a horse, and made his way rapidly eastward, through the center of what is now Union County, and on toward his home in Pennsylvania, which he finally reached. He is the only one of the members of that ill-fated ex- pedition known positively to have crossed the territory now included in the County of Union.

The following, written by Col. John Johnston, and here taken from Howe's Ohio, is an account of an Indian council held at Upper Sandusky in ISIS, on the occasion of the death of a celebrated Wyandot chief. named Tarho-or, as Judge Burnet gives it. Tarkee. " The Crane." It was written in 1846:

"Twenty-eight years ago. 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 Dela- wares of Indiana and the Senecas of New York, at Upper Sandusky. I found. on arriving at the place, a very large attendance. Among the chiefs was the

* Butterfield.

251

HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.

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 mourn- ing and lamentation. Thus 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 facing 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 pase round until all had responded, and these repeated at intervals of a few minutes. The Indians were all washed, and had no paint or decorations of any kind upon their persons, their countenances and general department denoting the deepest. mourning. I had never witnessed anything 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 Mohawks. The business was entirely confined to their own affairs, and the main topic related to their lands and the claims of the respect- ive 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 the guest of the Wyandots, by their special invitation; that, as the agent of the Cuited States, I had a right to be there or anywhere 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 intemperate and per- sonal 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 sarcasm and research -going far back into the history of the natives, their wars, alliances, nego- tiations, migrations, etc. I had attended many councils, treaties and gather- ings of the Indians, 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 late, in great confusion, and in the worst possible feeling. A circumstance occurred toward the close, which more than anything 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 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 every- where 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 late and was very full; silence prevailed for a long time: at Jast the aged chief of the Shawanese, the Black Hoof. arose-a man of great influence and a celebrated orator. He told the assembly they had acted like children, and not men, on yesterday; 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

252

HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.

foolish words, and did there take them back-handing strings of wampum, which passed round and was received by all with the greatest satisfaction. Several of the principal chiefs delivered speeches to the same effect. handing round wampum in turn, and in this manner the whole difficulty of the preced - ing day was settled, and to all appearances forgotten. The Indians are very courteous and civil to each other, and it is a rare thing to see their assemblies disturbed by unwise or ill-timed 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 contributed toward the unpleasant occurrence. I could not but admire the genuine philosophy and good sense displayed by men whom we call savages, in the transaction of their public business: and how much we might profit in the halls of our legislatures by occasionally taking for our examples the proceedings of the great Indian council at Sandusky."

THE STORY OF JONATHAN ALDER.

Many of the people living in this locality are more or less familiar with the history of this man, but it will not be out of place to give an account of him here, taken principally from Howe's Ohio:

Jonathan Alder was born in New Jersey, about eight miles from Philadel- phia, September 17, 1773. When at about the age of seven years, his parents removed to Wythe County, Va., and his father soon after died. In the succeed- ing March (1782), while out with his brother David, hunting for a mare and her colt, he was taken prisoner by a small party of Indians. His brother. on the first alarm, ran, and was pursued by some of the party. " At length," says Alder, "I saw them returning, leading my brother, while one was holding the handle of a spear that he had thrown at him and run into his body. As they approached, one of them stepped up and grasped him around the body. while another pulled out the spear. I observed some flesh on the end of it, which looked white, which I supposed came from his entrails. I moved to him and inquired if he was hurt, and he replied that he was. These were the last words that passed between us. At that moment he turned pale and began to sink, and I was hurried on, and shortly after saw one of the barbarous wretches coming up with the scalp of my brother in his hand, shaking off the blood."

The Indians, having also taken prisoner a Mrs. Martin, a neighbor to the Alders, with a young child, agel about four or five years, retreated toward their towns. Their route lay through the woods to the Big Sandy, down that stream to the Ohio, which they crossed. and from thence went overland to the Scioto, near Chillicothe, and so on to a Mingo village on Mad River. Finding the child of Mrs. Martin burdensome, they soon killed and scalped it. The last member of her family was now destroyed, and she screamed in agony of grief. Upon this, one of the In lians caught her by her hair, and, drawing the edge of his knife across her forehead, cried, "Sculp! sculp!" with the hope of stilling her cries. But, indifferent to life, she continued her screams, when they procured some switches and whipped her until she was silent. The next day, young Alder having not risen, through fatigue. from eating, at the moment the word was given. saw, as his face was toward the north, the shadow of a man's arm with an uplifted tomahawk. He turned, and there stood an Indian, ready for the fatal blow. Upon this he let down his arm, and com- menced feeling of his head. He afterward told Alder it had been his intention to kill him; but as he turned, he looked so smiling and pleasant he could not strike, and on feeling of his head and noticing that his hair was very black, the thought struck him that, if he could only get him to his tribe, he would make a good Indian; but that all that saved his life was the color of his hair.

253

HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.

After they crossed the Ohio, they killed a bear, and remained four days to dry the meat for packing and to fry out the oil, which last they put in the intestines, having first turned and cleaned them. The village to which Alder was taken belonged to the Mingo tribe, and was on the north side of Mad River, which, we should judge, was somewhere within or near the limits of what is now Logan County. As he entered, he was obliged to run the gauntlet, formed by young children armed with switches. He passed through this ordeal with little or no injury, and was adopted into an Indian family. His Indian mother thoroughly washed him with soap and warm water with herbs in it, previous to dressing him in the Indian costume, consisting of a calico shirt, breech-clout, leggins and moccasins. The family, having thus converted him into an Indian, were much pleased with their new member. But Jonathan was at first very homesick, thinking of his mother and brothers. Everything was strange about him; he was unable to speak a word of their language; their food disagreed with him, and, child-like, he used to go out daily for a month and sit under a large walnut tree near the village, and cry for hours at a time over his deplorable situation. His Indian father was a chief of the Mingo tribe, named Succohanos; his Indian mother was named Whinecheoh, and their daughters respectively answered to the good old English names of Mary, Hannah and Sally. Succohanos and Whinecheoh were old people, and had lost a son, in whose place they had adopted Jonathan. They took pity on the little fellow, and did their best to comfort him; telling him that he would one day be restored to his mother and brothers. He says of them, " they could not have used their own son better, for which they shall always be held in most grateful remembrance by me." His Indian sister Sally, however, treated him like a slave, and when out of humor, applied to him, in the Indian tongue, the unladylike epithet of "onorary [mean], lousy prisoner !" Jonathan for a time lived with Mary, who had become the wife of the chief Col. Lewis .* "In the fall of the year," says he, "the Indians would generally collect at our camp, evenings, to talk over their hunting expeditions. I would sit up to listen to their stories, and frequently fell asleep just where I was sitting. After they left, Mary would fix my bed, and with Col. Lewis would carefully take me up and carry me to it. On these occasions they would often say-supposing me to be asleep-'Poor fellow! We have sat up too Jong for him, and he has fallen asleep on the cold ground;' and then how softly would they lay me down and cover me up. Oh, never have I, nor can I. express the affection I had for these two persons."

Jonathan, with other boys, went into Mad River to bathe, and on one occasion came near drowning. He was taken out senseless, and some time elapsed ere he recovered. He says: "I remember, after I got over my strangle, I became very sleepy, and thought I could draw my breath as well as ever. Being overcome with drowsiness, I laid down to sleep, which was the last I remember. The act of drowning is nothing, but the coming to life is distres- sing. The boys, after they had brought me to, gave me a silver buckle, as an inducement not to tell the old folks of the occurrence, for fear they would not let me come out with them again; and so the affair was kept secret."

When Alder had learned to speak the Indian language, he became more contented. He says: "I would have lived very happy, if I could have had health; but for three or four years I was subject to very severe attacks of fever and ague. Their diet went very hard with me for a long time. Their chief living was meat and hominy; but we rarely had bread, and very little salt, which was extremely scarce and dear, as well as milk and butter. Honey and

* Also called Capt. John Lewis; he was a noted Shawanese chief, who lived in what is now Logan County, and from whom the village of Lewistown derived its name.

254

HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.

sugar were plentiful, and used a great deal in their cooking, as well as on their food."

When he was old enough, he was given an old English musket, and told that he must go out and learn to hunt. So he used to follow along the water- courses, where mud turtles were plenty, and commenced his first essay upon them. He generally aimed under them, as they lay basking on the rocks, and when he struck the stone they flew sometimes several feet in the air, which afforded great sport for the youthful marksman. Occasionally he killed a wild turkey, or a raccoon, and, when he returned to the village with his game, gener- ally received high praise for his skill; the Indians telling him he would make " a great hunter one of these days." He had a varied experience during the years he remained with the Indians, and witnessed the shedding of blood in more than one engagement between the whites and the savages. He also went on one expedition. with others, into Kentucky, to steal horses from the settlers. He remained with the Indians until after Wayne's treaty, in 1795. He was urged by them to be present on the occasion, to obtain a reservation of land which was to be given to each of the prisoners; but, ignorant of its importance, he neglected going, and lost the land. Peace having been restored, Alder says, "I could now lie down without fear, and rise up and shake hands with both the Indian and the white man."

The summer after the treaty, while living on Big Darby, Lucas Sullivant made his appearance in that region, surveying land, and soon became on terms of intimacy with Alder, who related to him a history of his life, and gener- ously gave him the piece of land on which he dwelt; but, there being some little difficulty about the title, Alder did not contest, and so lost it. When the settlers first made their appearance on Darby, Alder could scarcely speak a word of English. He was then about twenty-four years of age, fifteen of which had been passed with the Indians. Two of the settlers kindly taught him to converse in English. He had taken up with a squaw for a wife some time previous, and now began to farm like the whites. He kept hogs, cows and horses, sold milk and butter to the Indians, horses and pork to the whites, and accumulated property. He soon was able to hire white laborers, and being dissatisfied with his squaw-a cross, peevish woman-wished to put her aside, get a wife from among the settlers, and live like them. Thoughts, too, of his mother and brothers began to obtrude, and the more he reflected, his desire strengthened to know if they were living, and to see them once more. He made inquiries for them, but was at a loss to know how to begin, being ignorant of the name of even the State in which they were. When talking one day with John Moore, a companion of his, the latter questioned him where he was from. Alder replied that he was taken prisoner somewhere near a place called Greenbrier, and that his people lived by a lead mine, to which he used frequently to go to see the hands dig ore. Moore then asked him if he could recollect the names of any of his neighbors. After a little reflection, here- plied, "Yes; a family of that Gulions lived close by us." Upon this Moore dropped his head, as if lost in thought, and inuttered to himself, "Gulion! Gulion!" and then raising up, replied, " My father and myself were out in that country, and we stopped at their house over one night, and if your people are living 1 can find them." Mr. Moore, after this, went to Wythe County, and inquired for the family of Alder, but without success, as they had removed from their former residence. He put up advertisements in various places. stating the facts, and where Alder was to be found, and then returned. Alder now abandoned all hopes of finding his family, supposing them to be dead. Some time after, he and Moore were at Franklinton, when he was informed there was a letter for him in the post office. It was from his brother Paul, stating that one of the

GBE6 amittro

257

HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.

advertisements was putup within six miles of him, and that he got it the next day. It contained the joyful news that his mother and brothers were alive.

Alder, in making preparations to start for Virginia, agreed to separate from his Indian wife, divide the property equally, and take and leave her with her own people at Sandusky. But some difficulty occurred in satisfying her. He gave her all the cows, fourteen in number, worth $20 each, seven horses, and much other property, reserving to himself only two horses and the swine. Besides these was a small box, about six inches long, four wide and four deep, filled with silver, amounting, probably, to about $200, which he intended to take, to make an equal division; but to this she objected, saying the box was hers before marriage, and she would not only have it but all it contained. Alder says: " I saw I could not get it without making a fuss, and probably having a fight, and told her that if she would promise never to trouble nor come back to me, she might have it; to which she agreed."

Moore accompanied him to his brother's house, as he was unaccustomed to travel among the whites. They arrived there on horseback, at noon, the Sun- day after New Year's. They walked up to the house, and requested to have their horses fed, and, pretending to be entire strangers, inquired who lived there. "I had concluded," says Alder, " not to make myself known for some time, and eyed my brother very close, but did not recollect his features. I had always thought I should have recognized my mother, by a mole on her face. In the corner sat an old lady, who I supposed was her, although I could not tell. for when I was taken by the Indians her head was as black as a crow, and now it was almost perfectly white. Two young women were present, who eyed me very close, and I heard one of them whisper to the other, 'He looks very much like Mark' (my brother). I saw they were about to discover me, and accordingly turned my chair around to my brother and said, 'You say your name is Alder?' 'Yes,' he replied, 'my name is Paul Alder.' ' Well,' I rejoined, 'my name is Alder, too.' Now, it is hardly necessary to describe our feelings at that time; but they were very different from those I had when I was taken prisoner, and saw the Indian coming with my brother's scalp in his hand, shaking off the blood. When I told my brother that my name was Alder, he rose to shake hands with me, so overjoyed that he could scarcely utter a word, and my old mother ran, threw her arms around me, while tears rolled down her cheeks. The first words she spoke, after she grasped me in her arms, were, .How you have grown!' and then she told me of a dream she had. Says she: 'I dreamed that you had come to see me, and that you was a little, onorary [mean] looking fellow, and I would not own you for my son; but now I find I was mistaken-that it is entirely the reverse-and I am proud to own you for my son.' I told her I could remind her of a few circumstances that she would recollect, that took place before I was made captive. I then related various things, among which was that the negroes, on passing our house on Saturday evenings, to spend Sundays with their wives, would beg pumpkins of her, and get her to roast them for them against their return on Monday morn- ing. She recollected these circumstances, and said now she had no doubt of my being her son. We passed the balance of the day in agreeable conversa- tion, and I related to them the history of my captivity, my fears and doubts, of my grief and misery the first year after I was taken. My brothers at this time were all married, and Mark and John had moved from there. They were sent for, and came to see me. but my half-brother, John, had moved so far that I never got to see him at all."

Jonathan Alder is well remembered by the older settlers now living in the county, and principally, perhaps, by those whose homes have been along the Big Darby Creek, in Jerome and Darby Townships. Benjamin Springer set-

258

HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.

tled near him and taught him the English language, and Alder reciprocated by supplying him and other pioneers with meat, and he is said to have saved some of the settlers, on different occasions, from being killed by the Indians. Joshua Ewing brought four sheep to his place in 1800, and these were strange animals to the Indians. An Indian, accompanied by his dog, was one day passing by, when the dog caught one of the sheep, and was immediately shot by Mr. Ewing. He would have been shot in retaliation by the Indian but for Alder, who was present and with much difficulty restrained him. Through the advice and influence of Alder, many of the Indians remained neutral during the war of 1812, and eventually became warm friends of the Americans. Dur- ing that war, he was one of the party which went north from about the site of Plain City, and built a block-house on Mill Creek, a few miles above where Marysville now stands. Several of the best known pioneers of the county assisted in constructing said building, of which not a trace now remains. Alder's home was for many years in Madison County. *

THE DOOMED WYANDOT.

The following interesting article appeared in the Hesperian, published at Columbus, Ohio, by William D. Gallagher and Otway Curry, in the issue of that magazine for May, 1838:

" The great northern family of Indian tribes which seem to have been originally embraced in the generic term Iroquois, consisted, according to some writers. of two grand divisions; the eastern and the western. In the eastern nation were included the Five Nations, or Maquas (Mingoes), as they were commonly called by the Algonkin tribes, and in the western the Yendots, or Wyandots (nick-named Hurons by the French), and three or four other nations, of whom a large proportion are now entirely extinct. The Yendots, after a long and deadly warfare, were nearly exterminated by the Five Nations, about the middle of the seventeenth century. Of the survivors, a part sought refuge in Canada, where their descendants still remain; a few are incorporated among the different tribes of the conquerors, and the remainder, consisting chiefly of the Tionontates, retired to Lake Superior. In consequence of the disastrous wars in which they afterward became involved with other powerful nations of the Northwestern region, they again repaired to the vicinity of their old hunting- grounds. With this remnant of the original Huron or Wyandot nation, were united some scattered fragments of other broken-up tribes of the same stock; and, though comparatively few in number, they continued for a long period to assert successfully the right of sovereignty over the whole extent of country between the Ohio River and the lakes, as far west as the territory of the Piankeshaws, or Miamis, whose eastern boundary was probably an irregular line drawn through the valleys of the Great Miami (Shi-me-am-ee) and the Ottawah-sepee, or Maumee River of Lake Erie. The Shawanese and the Delawares, it is believed, were occupants of a part of the fore-mentioned country, merely by sufferance of the Wyandots, whose right of dominion seems never to have been called in question, excepting by the Mingoes, or Five Nations. The Shaw- anese were originally powerful, and always warlike. Kentucky received its name from them, in the course of their migrations between their former place of residence on the Suwanee River, adjacent to the southern sea-coast and the territory of the Yendots in the north. The name (Kan-tuck-ee) is compounded from the Shawanese, and signifies a land or place at the head of a river.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

The History of Union County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its townships, towns military record;, Part 26

Author: Durant, Pliny A. [from old catalog]; Beers, W. H., & co., Chicago, pub. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Chicago, W. H. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 1254

Author: Durant, Pliny A. [from old catalog]; Beers, W. H., & co., Chicago, pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, W. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1254