The History of Warren County, Ohio, Part 62

Author: W. H. Beers & Co.
Publication date: 1882
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1081

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In Testimony Whereof the said John Cleves Symmes of the first part, and the s John Smith, Samuel Highway and Evan Banes jointly and severally of the second ps have hereunto this article consisting of two sheets severally set their hands & affixed ib seals the day and year aforesaid. Sealed and delivered in presence of JOHN CLEVES SYMMES [Seal. ] TIMOTHY SYMMES, JOHN SMITH [Seal. WILLIAM SYMMES.

SAML. HIGHWAY Seal. ]

EVAN BANES

[Seal. ]

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AGREEMENT BETWEEN SMITH, HIGHWAY AND BANES.

Articles of Agreement made and entered into this 22d day of February. 1796, be- tween John Smith, Samuel Highway and Evan Banes, of Hamilton County & Territory N. West of the River Ohio as followeth to wit :

Whereas the said John Smith, Samuel Highway and Evan Banes did on the 3d day of February 1796 purchase of the Hon. John Cleves Symmes Esqr, a certain tract of land on the Little Miami River in the Fourth and Fifth Range of Townships, bounded East by the Miami River, containing 48 sections with their fractions on the said River for which they did on the 3rd day of February 1796 jointly enter into articles with the said John C. Symmes Esqr, for the payment thereof. Now the conditions of this article is such that the above named John Smith, Samuel Highway and Evan Banes do mutually agree to be- come equal partners, Jointly and severally as tenants in common, in the aforesaid pur- chase, in every respect as well in expenditures profits and loss &c. &c. The Said Samuel Highway, John Smith & Evan Banes, do Jointly and Severally, as tenants in common, bind themselves their heirs Executors to each other. his heirs Executors & Administrators to abide by and fulfill the above mentioned conditions and the following Stipulations in every respect. In the first place the said Samuel Highway to and with the said John Smith and Evan Banes, his and their heirs Executors and administrators to advance the sum of £2000, Stock doll's at 716 each towards the payment of the aforesaid Land, whenever Congress may demand payment of sd John Cleves Symmes Esqr. out of his own private stock, And the said John Smith and Evan Banes, do agree to advance whatever money they can of their own private stock towards the same, And the said parties do likewise agree that the party advancing the greater proportion of money when demanded by congress, for the surplus he may advance more than his copartners be entitled to interest for the ids the same at 6 per cent by such partner or partners who fail in advancing their equal quoto,- till the said surplus money can be reimbursed from the sale of the lands, do agree jointly and Seperately for himself, his heirs Executors and Administrators, as tenants in common, to reserve for themselves separately the quantity of 3000 acres of land in the said pur chase, in the following manner viz: The said Saml Highway is to have his 3000 acres as above mentioned, bounded East on the Miami two miles below the Town of Waynesville lately laid off in the said purchase, and adjoining the same, and West at right angles for quantity with the East and West section lines, Beginning at the South West corner of said Town agreeable to the plan thereof, And the said parties do agree as copartners & tenants in common that the said John Smith and Evan Banes may each of them take in re- serve for himself his quantity of 3000 acres of land in said purchase in any part thereof- excepting what the said Saml Highway hath chosen for himself, provided they do not in such choice extend more than one and a half miles each, on the Little Miami River agree- able to the section lines, And the said parties do agree with each other that whatever bar- gain or bargains may be made by any two of the said parners shall be absolute and valid in behalf of the whole in every respect whatever, agreeable to the spirit of the aforesaid agree- ment and the mutual interest of the company,-And the said parties do further agree, that each one of the aforesaid parners shall whenever called upon by the others or one of them or their representatives, produce sufficient vouchers, for his proceedings, in the sale or ex- penses attending the disposal of said lands for the satisfaction of the other parties, and not appropriate any of the money ariseing from the sale of said lands to any other use than what may be conceived by a majority of said partners to be for the interest of the whole. And it is likewise further agreed on by the said parties that all moneys received by any one of the whole of said partners for the sale of said lands, shall within the term of three months & every three months of the year, or years, during the continuance of the partnership, be deposited in the Bank of the United States after the first day of April next -as soon as possible-if Judged necessary by a majority of said partners until a sufficient sum is received to answer the demands of Congress for said lands as stipulated in the arti- cle between John Smith, Saml Highway Evan Banes, & John Cleves Symmes Esqr, & the performance of all and every the articles and agreements above mentioned, the said John Smith, Saml Highway & Evan Banes do hereby bind themselves their heirs Executors & Administrators as Tenants in common to each other his heirs Extrs & Admtrs as witness our hands & seals the day and date above Written.

In presence of R. BENHAM & JAS RIDDLE.

JOHN SMITH [Seal. ] SAML HIGHWAY [Scal. ] EVAN BANES [Seal. ]

SAMUEL HIGHWAY'S JOURNEY TO WAYNESVILLE.

The first settlers at Waynesville were accompanied on the journey, from Philadelphia down the Ohio to Columbia and thence to the site of Waynesville, by Francis Baily, a young Englishman of education and means, who afterward became well known as the author of some valuable works and a promoter of the science of astronomy. Baily's "Journal of a Tour in the Unsettled Parts of

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North America in 1796 and 1797," was published at London, in 1856, after the death of the author. The following liberal quotations are made from that work:

"I set off on the 1st of September, 1796, to make a tour of the Western country. I was in company with a gentleman by the name of Highway. who was going down to the Northwestern settlement to form a plantation." [He then describes their travel by horseback to Baltimore, where Mr. Highway bought his goods and had them hauled by wagons to Pittsburg; he continues their travel by horseback with a fine description of the country, towns, etc., until their arrival at Pittsburg, having traveled that way about 300 miles. At Pittsburg, Highway bought a flat-boat twelve feet wide, thirty-six feet long, drawing eighteen inches of water, and loaded into it over ten tons, and, the river being very low, they were required to wait for a rise. ]

"Thursday, November 24, 1796-The river having risen these last few

days, * * we started from Pittsburg this afternoon about 3 o'clock; however, we did not proceed over four miles down as the stream was very slow, and we were afraid to venture in the night in consequence of the riffles, which were not completely covered. Therefore, seeing some other boats near the shore, we made toward them and joined them for that evening. * * As the gentle- man who traveled with me was going to establish a settlement on the Miami River, he had got every article that he thought would be necessary in his new habitation; therefore, we were not so badly accommodated as some of the boats were, who went sometimes most miserably supplied, with scarcely a covering to the boat or a blanket to lie down on, and barely a pot or a kettle to dress what provisions they might chance to meet with. We had laid in a sufficient quan- tity of beef, mutton, flour, bacon and what other provisions we thought we might want, and we had three or four good feather beds and plenty of bedding; and, as it was very cold weather, we stopped every crevice we conveniently could, and made ourselves a very comfortable habitation.

* another boat. "Friday, November 25, 1796-By daylight, we started in company with ver Creek;

We stopped this night opposite the mouth of Big Bea- the wind was high and the weather very cold, the effects of which we found next morning, Saturday, November 26, for we observed several large pieces of ice floating down the river. * The next morning, Sun- day, November 27, having proceeded about two miles farther on the river, we observed two other boats made fast to the shore and accordingly joined them. Wednesday, November 30, the river having cleared itself of ice, we deter-

mined to proceed.

Thursday, December 1, we got fast on a riffle near

Brown's Island; * we got off without any danger on lightening the boat.

* * The next day, Friday, December 2, 1796, we met with a disaster which threatened us with very disagreeable consequences, but from which we were happily relieved without experiencing any material loss. It was about 2 o'clock in the afternoon; the river was very full of ice, and we were floating along at a slow pace, when, about a mile above the town of Wheeling (where there was a riffle), we got aground, and all our endeavors to get her off were ineffectual and no remedy was left but to unload the boat. Accordingly, we loaded a little skiff which we had with us, and sent her down to the town; and this we re- peated twice before it grew dark; but our endeavors to get her off were still ineffectual, and we were obliged to remain in this situation all night. .

* Early next morning, Saturday, December 3, we sent another skiff load down to the town, and, a flat coming down the river about breakfast-time, we got the men to stop and we then unloaded the boat sufficiently to let her float down to the town. * Wednesday. December 7, after laying in a fresh stock of

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provisions at this place and repairing the little damage, we pushed off from the shore and proceeded down the river. * *

* * "Thursday, December 8, 1796, we floated about 6, and at 12 we put ashore. * * The weather had been very cold for several days and the river had continued to fall, so that we determined to moor our boat in some place of safety, where she might not be exposed to the logs and large trees which were continually drifting down the river, and there to wait for a change of weather.

"Accordingly, the next day, Friday, December 9, 1796, Highway and my- self walked down the banks of the river about five miles to a place called Fish Creek, and, to our sorrow, found it completely blocked up with ice and frozen over for several miles down, so that it was absolutely impossible to proceed. We observed four or five boats on the opposite shore who were in the same pre- dicament with ourselves. Having satisfied ourselves in this respect, we re- turned home to our boat, and, the next day, Saturday, December 10, we dropped down the river about a mile to a place which we had observed yesterday in our walk, and which we conceived more secure from the bodies drifting down the river than the one we were in. Having moored ourselves, as we conceived, in a place of safety, and having every prospect of passing the winter in this situation, we began to apply ourselves to laying in a good stock of provisions. Mr. Bell's bout was with us, and another boat, which was proceeding down the river, joined us, and we all lay moored together, so that there were fourteen or fifteen of us in company, and we every day sent out some of the men into the woods with their guns to hunt for deer, turkeys, bears or any other animal fit for food.

" Wednesday, December 21, we were awakened out of our sleep with a noise like thunder, and, jumping out of our bed, we found the river was rising and the ice breaking up. All attempts would be feeble to describe the horrid crashing and tremendous destruction which this event occasioned on the river. Only conceive a river near 1,500 miles long, frozen to a prodigious depth (ca- pable of bearing loaded wagons from its source to its month), and this river, by a sudden torrent of water, breaking those bands with which it had so long been fettered! Conceive this vast body of ice put in motion at the same in- stant, and carried along with an astonishing rapidity, grating with a most tre- mendous noise against the sides of the river and bearing down everything that opposed its progress-the tallest and stoutest trees obliged to submit to its destructive fury and hurried along with the general wreck. In this scene of confusion and desolation, what was to be done? We all soon left the boat, in order for every one to provide for his own personal safety; but, seeing the pre- cautions we had taken the day before, prevented the ice from coming upon us as soon as it otherwise would have done, and that there was a chance, though at great risk, of saving some, if not all the things from the boat, we set to, as earnestly as we could to unload her.

"There were near eleven tons of goods in her, the principal of which were implements of husbandry designed for Mr. Highway's plantation; the rest con- sisted of articles of barter intended for the Indians and the provisions and other necessaries for our journey.

" We, in the first place, endeavored to secure these last mentioned; and then we set about getting out the others, some of which were very bulky, weigh- ing upward of 500 pounds.

" We had not proceeded in the undertaking above a quarter of an hour when a large sheet of ice came against our boat and stove in one side of her; we saw it coming, and happily escaped from the boat before it reached us. She was immediately filled with water, but, as she was near the shore and al-

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most touched the bottom (the water being very low), she was not immediately covered. The river was rising at a very rapid rate, and, as we knew if we once lost sight of her we should never see her more, and, as we saw there was still a chance of saving some things from the wreck (though at the risk of our lives). which might tend to make our situation more comfortable while we were obliged to stay here. and not leave us utterly bereft of every necessary, we de- termined upon making one more effort; therefore, jumping into the boat up to our middle in water, we continued to work near three hours amidst vast fields of ice. which were continually floating by us, and whose fury we would escape when they made toward us, by being warned by one of our party whom we set on the bank to watch. In this manner did we persevere till we had got most of the things out of the boat in one of the coldest nights ever remembered in this country; the thermometer was 17 degrees below zero, and so intense was the cold that the iron chain which fastened our boat, had the same effect on our hands as if they had been burned with a hot iron.

"Further, while we were in the boat this last time, the moment we raised our legs above the water (in walking), our stockings froze to them before they were put down again, as tight as if bound with a garter! In such a situation. and in such severe weather, it is a wonder we had not perished, and possibly. we might, had not the river, which was now rising rapidly, completely covered our boat and obliged us to desist from our attempt. Thus went our boat; and thus went every hope of our proceeding on our journey; thus were all our flattering prospects cut short, and none left but the miserable one of fixing our habitation on these inhospitable shores. It was still dark when the event hap- pened, and this. added to the desolation which was making around us, whose power we could hear but not discern, heightened the effect of our forlorn situa- tion.

"Some women who were of our party had kindled a fire on the banks; and when we saw that no more could be done, we took our blankets, and, clearing away the snow, lay ourselves down before it, and, overcome with fatigue, gave ourselves up to rest. Some of the party were so affected by the intense cold, and by so long exposure in the water, that their feet was frost-bitten; others had their legs swelled up in large knots as big as an egg. As to myself, I felt no ill effects from either.

" When morning approached, a scene most distressing presented itself to our view. The river was one floating wreck. Nothing could be discerned amidst the vast bodies of floating ice (some of which were as big as a moderate- sized house) but trees, which had been torn up from the banks, and the boats of many a family. who had scarcely time to escape unhurt from such an un- looked for event, and whose whole property (perhaps scraped together, to form a settlement in this distant Territory), was now floating down, a prey to the desolating flood. Canoes, skiffs, flats, in fact, everything which was ex- posed to its fury, was hurried along to one general ruin.

" As daylight advanced, we had also an opportunity of seeing in what situation we stood ourselves; and here, instead of finding any ray of comfort or hope, we observed our misfortunes increasing upon us, for the bank where we lay was fully fifty feet high and nearly perpendicular-so much so that it could not be ascended or descended without great difficulty. There happened to be a little bit of level where the boat was, and where we placed the things we had preserved from the wreck; but the water was rising so rapidly that it had al- most covered this place, and we were under the necessity (worn out as we were) of carrying them still higher up the bank, or they would have shared the fate of our vessel. This was a most laborious undertaking, and to have hauled them to the top of the bank would have taken us some days; we were, therefore, un-

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der the necessity of hauling them up one by one, about two or three feet at a time, and lodge them behind the trees which grew on the bank, and which pre- vented their rolling back into the river; and this we were obliged to continue to do until we saw the river had ceased rising; and then we left them for a day or two, in order to rest ourselves from our fatigue and to fix up some kind of habitation to protect us from the inclemency of the weather.

"Having thus happily escaped from this danger and saved most of our property from the flood, we set about erecting a covering under which to lodge it; and this we did with a number of blankets and some coarse linen which we had brought with us; it was a rough sort of building, but such an one as answered our purpose in the situation we were in. We made it by fixing two poles in the ground, about ten or twelve feet asunder, and laying another trav- ersely at the top of them. This was the front of our tent and was left always open; the back and sides were formed by straight poles leaning against the horizontal one, which was placed traversely across, and over them were thrown blankets, etc. ; this secured us, in a measure, from the rain, which ran off almost as fast as it fell; and, in order to keep off the cold, we kept a large fire burning in the front of our tent; and thus circumstanced, we endeavored to make our. selves as comfortable as we could, consoling ourselves that it might have been worse with us, and that even now we were not so badly off as many of those who had descended the river this season.

"Here we found full employment for some time in drying our goods, which had got wet when the ice stove the boat. Some of the packages were so much frozen as to take three days constantly standing before the fire ere we could get out their contents to dry them. This took us near three weeks, during which time we had got into more comfortable lodgings. In the neighborhood of this place we had found a log house, which appeared to have been used for the purpose of keeping fodder for cattle. It was open on all sides between the logs, but this we soon remedied by lining the whole with blankets and coarse linen which before we had covered our tent with. We also built up a chimney in it, and had our fire wholly within doors; so that now we began to look a little more in order, though there was no flooring to the house, neither was there any window, for all the light we had came down the chimney, which was large and wide, or in at the door; however, this was a luxury with which we could dispense, considering the hardships we had gone through; therefore, haul- ing all our goods to this place and stowing them under this roof, we may not improperly be said to have commenced housekeeping. This was on the 24th of December, and, as it was about a mile from where we were, we made a sledge for the convenience of dragging our goods to the house, or we should never have accomplished it. We had four horses aboard with us, which expedited us in this undertaking very much.

"December 25, Christmas Day, two of our party being ill with the fatigues we had undergone on the 21st, the task of superintending the conveyance of our goods devolved upon me. We had been employed at it the whole of yes- terday, and, as soon as daylight approached this morning, we began the same career again-nor did we cease this routine, except to take the scanty pittance we had saved from the wreck, till the setting of the sun, and our weary limbs told us it was time to close the scene once more. Circumstanced as we were, we were under the necessity of getting another boat to carry us on; but ere we could come to any resolution of this kind, or determine where we could get it accomplished, we had the mortification to see the river frozen over once more and close up as fast as ever; this did not prevent us from getting a boat ready against it should break up again. Accordingly, two of the men who accompanied us, being pretty good mechanics, we dispatched them off to

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Grave Creek across the woods, where they might have the advantage of a saw to saw the planks for the boat (for as to all other tools we had plenty of them with us) and where they might have the assistance of more hands if required. Accordingly, about the middle of this month (January), they set out for Grave Creek, taking with them all the tools which they might have occasion for in their undertaking; and they set about felling some trees immediately and soon put their work in a state of forwardness. But what relieved us most in our distress was their meeting with a supply of gunpowder, which, though small, was very acceptable to us, as we were reduced to our last charge and were in a great di- lemma what to do, as we depended on our gun for our daily food.

"Whilst they were getting the boat ready in this manner, we would occa- sionally take our guns and go over to see them and encourage them in their undertaking. These two men had lately come from England, and, Mr. H. meeting with them at Philadelphia, gave them £50 currency for their services for two years, and they were now going down with him to help him form his settlement on the Miami River; they had got their wives with them, which, to- gether with another person, Mr. Highway and myself (seven in all), formed our whole company. But what is very remarkable, and what may never happen to seven other people who were traveling near 4,000 miles from their country, we happened to be all English. This made it very pleasant and in this distressing situation in which we were, even to talk of England, afforded us pleasure; and it was a conversation in which we all could feelingly join, for, in the wilds of America, all distinctions of rank are necessarily laid aside.

"January 31, 1797-The river which had been frozen up near five weeks, broke up again to-day, with a repetition of all those destructive circumstances which attended it the last time, and we had the anxiety of beholding its ravages. * * We made another visit to our men who were engaged in building the boat, and, expediting it as much as possible, we had the satisfaction of seeing her launched on Friday, February 17, and the next day, February 18, we brought her down to the place where we lay. This boat was thirteen feet wide and forty feet long; it was about 9 o'clock in the evening when she ar-

rived, * and before daylight the next morning, February 18, we got up and proceeded to load the boat. This took up the whole day, so that it was next morning, February 20, 1797, Monday, about 10 o'clock in the forenoon, when we pushed off from the shore, and, on bidding a final adieu to our old habitation, proceeded down the river on our journey.

"Monday, February 27-About half-past 3 o'clock we came to Columbia -our long-wished-for port-having, through unforeseen difficulties and un- avoidable delays, been six months on our journey. We put our boat into the mouth of the Little Miami River, and my friend Highway having some busi- ness to do with a gentleman in the town, whose house was about a mile off, he took a canoe and went down to him this afternoon and did not return until quite late. Mr. Highway had purchased, in company with two other gentlemen of this place, 30,000 or 40,000 acres of land on the banks of the Little Miami and about forty miles up that river, and he was now going to form a plantation on that land and encourage settlers to do the same. He was down here about twelve months ago and made the contract. He gave Judge Symmes $1.25 per acre for it. Highway informed me that nearly half his land was sold and a great part of it settled; the price he asked for it was $2 per acre;

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The History of Warren County, Ohio, Part 62

Author: W. H. Beers & Co. Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1081

Author: W. H. Beers & Co.
Publication date: 1882
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1081