The history of Clinton County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its townships, cities, towns, etc.; general and local statistics; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; history of the Northwest territory, Volume 2, Part 21

Author: Durant, Pliny A. ed; Beers (W.H.) & Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : W. H. Beers
Number of Pages: 1410

USA > Ohio > Clinton County > The history of Clinton County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its townships, cities, towns, etc.; general and local statistics; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; history of the Northwest territory, Volume 2 > Part 21

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Layton Jay was born in Newberry District (County), S. C., as was also his wife, Elizabeth, who was a daughter of John Mills. They were members of Bush River Monthly Meeting of Friends, and were married according to the discipline of that church about the year 1796. Ten children were born to them, of whom all but three were born before coming to Ohio: Patience, born 16th day, 4th month, 1794; Charlotte, 13th, 7th, 1795; William, 30th, 8th, 1796; John, 29th, 4th, 1798; James, 27th, 7th, 1800; Abigail, 29th, 6th, 1802; David, 14th, 8th, 1804; Mary, 8th, 3d, 1806; Elijah, 13th, 7th, 1807; Anna, 3d, 4th, 1810. The exact date of their coming to Ohio is not known, yet it was not later than 1804 that they left South Carolina, and came by the way of Tennessee and Kentucky, crossing the Ohio at Cincinnati on a flat-boat, the horses tied to it and swimming behind. They landed near the present site of Waynesville, and the family remained there in camp for some time, or until the husband and father could find a place of settlement. He finally took

* Fifteen thousand acres by right of his rank as Major General.

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a lease on the lands of James Murray, or on land now owned by Thomas Long- stretch. His coming here was cotemporary with the arrival of Robert Eachus, Jacob Haines, Isaac Perkins, Mahlon Haworth and a few others, who settled in that neighborhood at the same time. The people of Chester Township of to-day can form but a faint conception of the condition of things then. We who now live here, surrounded with the many comforts and conveniences of life, know little regarding the mode of living in those early days. Their cabins were of unhewn logs, the bottom ones placed directly upon the ground, with poles and clapboards overhead, and contained but one room. The floor was made of puncheons, or logs split and then hewn, so that the flat or upper- most side presented a tolerable flat surface, but which made a very substantial floor. The roof was of clapboards, held in their places by large poles laid lengthwise. The chimneys were of sticks and mud, or clay. The fire-place was generally of large dimensions, often as wide as seven feet, and capable of taking in large sticks of wood, and up whose chimneys on cold wintry nights a roaring fire went, and around whose hearths the family gathered, and where the evening meal was prepared by loved hands.

At this time, but little land had been prepared for cultivation, and in its garb of nature presented a field of long and heavy toil to the pioneer. But these men were equal to the task. It seemed that their mode of living pre- pared them for the great labor that of necessity devolved upon them, and their bodies were free from the many ills that beset men of our day. It is true their lives were ones of constant privation and great labor, but withal it was to them in many instances a happy one, filled with a fullness of great and pure love for their families and friends, and a charity and friendship for each and all, and above all sound bodies and healthy offspring. There was no time for play, no time for idleness, from morning until night; from early dawn of the second until the close of the seventh day in each week, it was work. No one was idle, from the father to the child. There was timber to fell, rails to split, fences to build, ground to clear off, chips and brush to pile and burn, flax to break and spin, wool to card and weave, cows to milk and meals to prepare; in fact, there was room for all to work, and all did work.

For untold ages it has been the custom of man to lavish his praises upon those who, by mighty deeds of valor, on field of battle, send their names ring- ing down the flight of time; but not a word, not a praise for these real heroes, does man bestow, who, without a desire to create a name in history for them- selves, bore the battles of toil and privation that those who followed in after years might reap the benefits. To these men and their faithful wives should the honors be awarded.

The Indians were very numerous, as were the bears, wolves, deer and wild turkeys. The former at that day were not troublesome nor did they give the settler any fears. "I well remember them coming to my father's cabin," said the venerable John Jay to the writer, "and sitting or standing around my father's shoe bench until late bedtime. Jim Logan, a chief, and one of the number, could talk English some. I very well remember the rings sus- pended from their noses and ears, and vividly the night when Jim took an awl from my fathers bench, and, taking me by my ear, pretended he was go- ing to pierce it. I screamed loudly, when he threw down the awl and pre- tended to feel very bad about it. Every night we could see the light from their camp-fires. I also recollect one evening when my father, one of my brothers and myself were out in the little clearing pulling turnips, we heard the Indians' dogs coming through the wood, making a loud noise with their barking. My father said they were pursuing a bear, and for us to remain where we were until he could go to the house, get his gun and return, which ..

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he soon did. We then followed after the dogs and soon came up with them, and also with the bear, who had safely, as he thought, ensconced himself in the top of a tree. My father waited some time for the Indians to come up,. when, fearing it would then be too dark to see, shot and killed it. The Indians soon after came up, and hastily removing the skin they cut the bear in twain, gave my father half, and returned in a merry humor to their camp. The first mill I evor went to was the mill of Robert Eachus, upon Todd's Fork, and I woll recollect the circumstance attending it. Robert was of a cross or surly disposition, and was especially considered so by boys or those not acquainted with his manners. Riding up to the mill door, I called to him and asked him if he could grind my grist of corn. His reply came quick and very crusty, 'No.' Without remaining to ask another question, I turned my horse about and rode home, where my father met me, and, hearing my story, took me off, got on himself, rode to the mill and left it until such a time as he could grind it. The nearest trading place was where Waynesville now stands, and that a very small affair indeed. It was kept by David Halloway in a log cabin, and was the first and only one there at the time I speak of. His counter and his only shelf were puncheons, while his stock consisted of knives, forks, .spoons, knitting-needles, weavers' reels, awl blades, sewing thread, needles, powder, lead, tobacco, whisky and a few other articles daily called for by the settlers. " We remained here until 1809, when my father with the family moved up on Stillwater, in Darke County, where, in 1814, he died with milk sickness. My mother then returned to Chester Township with her children to her father's, John Mills, who then resided on Turkey Run. The children who were old enough went from home to live." Mr. Jay ever after remained in the township, and his further history will yet appear in these pages.

Isaac Webb was for seven years a soldier in the war for American inde- pendence, and at its close received from his grateful country a warrant for 2,6663 acres of land. One thousand of this he entered as a part of Warrant No. 2,446, "on the upper side of Cæsar Creek," and was numbered Survey 583, bearing date October 17, 1792.

James and Sarah Spray were natives of Chester County, Penn., and were members of the Society of Friends. They were married according to the dis- cipline of that church about the year 1752 or 1753. Eight children were the fruits of this union, namely :

Jesse, 23d day, 12th month, 1754; Samuel, 23d, 5th, 1758; Abner, 20th, 2d, 1761; Hannah, 18th, 2d, 1763; James, 4th, 1st, 1765; Mordecai, 3d, 2d, 1767; Thomas, 26th 12th, 1768; and William, 17th, 12th, 1771. There lived also in Chester County at that day John and Dinah Wilson, and they too were . married as members of Friends' Church. They had nine children, as follows: Mary, 12th month, 15th day, 1760; Jehu, 1st, 1st, 1763; Seth, 12th, 7th, 1764; Phebe, 2d, 15th, 1769; Esther, 2d, 9th, 1771; Sarah, 5th, 9th, 1773; Christopher, 8th, 15th, 1775; Hannah, 7th, 28th, 1778; and John, 8th, 28th, 1782. These families were neighbors, and about the year 1788 Samuel Spray was united in marriage to Mary, the eldest child of John and Dinah Wilson, the former at the age of thirty-one, the latter, twenty-eight years. They left soon after for Union County, S. C., where on the 15th of February, 1790, their first child was born to them. They remained here until the year 1805, when with their five children, born as follows: John, 15th day, 2d month, 1790; James, 17th, 8th, 1793; Samuel, 30th, 4th, 1796; Mary, 30th, 6th, 1798; and Dinah, 3d, 10th, 1804, they started on their journey through Ten- · nessee and Kentucky for Ohio, coming by the way of Cincinnati, and stopping at the great central point, Waynesville, where they remained until, having purchased, in the year 1806, of Isaac Webb, of Bourbon County, Ky., for a

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consideration of £1,000, current funds of that State, the 1,000 acres referred to, he removed his family that year, and settled upon it. This survey is now partly in Clinton, but at the time of purchase was wholly within the province of Warren County. History does not say in what year John and Dinah Wil- son left Pennsylvania and settled in South Carolina, but it does record them as living there.

Jamos Hawkins was born in Loudoun County, Va., January 23, 1756. He left there when a young man, and settled in Union County, S. C., and about the year 1792, married Sarah, a daughter of John and Dinah Wilson, and sister of the wife of Samuel Spray. On the 14th of March, 1795, Ruth, their first child, was born, and followed by Dinah, 22d, 11th, 1795, and Jehu, 30th, 10th, 1796. In 1806, he too took up the line of emigration, and landed here in the same year. He purchased of Samuel Spray 144 acres off the northeast corner of his tract, of land, the consideration being $4 an acre, and erected thereon a log house and began the clearing of his land. On 1st day, 4th 1808, a son, Benjamin, was added to the family. On the 1st, 6th, 1810, James, and 23d, 5th, 1813, Amos, the latter of whom now owns and lives on the old place. Jehu lives in Indianapolis; the rest have long since died.

We have now arrived at a time in our history when the emigration into and the settlement of our lands began in earnest. Daily from 1806, the tide of immigration flowed on unceasingly. From the hills of Pennsylvania and Virginia, the barren lands of the Carolinas, the dark grounds of Tennessee and Kentucky, and from the East, or New York, they came. But the princi- pal part of the immigrants who came in 1806 were Carolinians, not native born, but who had gone there from Pennsylvania and Virginia.

John Anderson, a Captain, entered on the 15th day of May, 1793, 1,000 acres under Survey No. 570, out of 4,6663 he was entitled to under warrant 2,367. A patent followed in his name January 9, 1804. This survey was due east of 583, separated only by the waters of Cæsar Creek. In 1806, Elijah O'Neal had become the owner, and held it on the market for sale.

Henry Millhouse was born in the parish of Timahoe, county of Kildare, Ireland, 1st of 5th month, 1736, O. S. At what date he came to America and settled in Union County, S. C., no record is left to tell; neither do the records say that he was married before or after his coming to America. Again, as to 'whom his wife was, where she was born, or when they were married, the records are as silent as the graves where for years they have lain. The records do make mention of her death, 11th of 8th month, 1803, and her burial on the Tiger River, in that State, at the age of sixty-four years; and further, the ' .records say, " She was a loving and affectionate wife, a tender mother over her children, endeavoring to bring them up in the fear of the Lord, sobriety and plainmess; was in the station of an Elder for several years before her death; a careful attender of meetings for worship and discipline." Henry and Re- becca Millhouse had in all six children-Mary, 5th month, 2d, 1763; Rebecca, 11th month, 8th, 1767; Sarah, 3d month, 25th, 1770; Ann, 1st month, 24th, 1772. The dates of the births of Robert and Dinah are not given.

David and Clement Whitson each lived out a life of usefulness, and died many years ago, in Union County, S. C. The record barely mentions the fact of their existence, and the elder of the family I now mention was their son. Solomon Whitson was born in Union County, S. C., the 2d of 4th month, 1741, and his wife, Phebe, 25th of 5th month, 1745. They were mar- ried according to the discipline of the Friends' Church, at Cane Creek Monthly Meeting, about the year 1765. Eleven children were born to them, three of whom only will I mention-David, the second child, born Sth month, 3d, 1769; Jordan, the sixth, 3d month, 3d, 1777; and John, the tenth, 24th of 6th month,

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1787. Four of the others died in childhood, and the remaining four never left that State. About the year 1800, David Whitson married Mary, the eldest daughter of Henry and Rebecca Millhouse. About the year 1791, Robert Millhouse married Sarah Compton. Rebecca Millhouse, in 1793, married Amos Compton, a brother to Sarah, the wife of Robert Millhouse, and of these Comptons there are no earlier records. Dinah Millhouse, in 1796 or 1797, married Stephen Compton, a brother to Amos and Sarah, who had already married into this family. Ann Millhouse, about the same year, married Amos Hawkins, a brother to James Hawkins, and Sarah Millhouse, in 1793, had married Mordecai, a son of James and Sarah Spray.

In 1806, Henry Millhouse, with his son Robert and his family, consisting of wife and seven children, his sons-in-law and their wives and families, in all twenty children, started by way of North Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky. for the land bevond the Ohio River, he then an old man, upon whose aged head seventy winters had loft their marks of time. Leaving for the last time, as he then well knew, the grave of his wife, the mother of his children, taking . up the path through the wilderness to the new land in the far Northwest, com- pare him, if you will, to another old patriarch whose journey was a similar one. They landed at Waynesville.

John Furnas was born in Newberry District, S. C., and was a member of Bush River Monthly Meeting of Friends. He married, about the year 1790, Esther, a daughter of John and Dinah Wilson. They had but one child, Christopher, born 18th of 10th month, 1791. On the 13th of 9th month, 1795, his wife died and was buried in the Friends' Burying-Ground on Bush River. About the year 1797, he married Ruth, a daughter of Isaac and Charity Cook, who was born 29th of 8th month, 1776. She bore him in all four children- Isaac, 6th of 12th month, 1798; Mary, 10th of 12th month, 1800; Joseph, 24th of 9th month, 1802; and Robert, the latter in Ohio, 3d of 6th month, 1805. In 1805, he came to Ohio, possibly with the Millhouses, and settled temporarily near Waynesville. Among those cotemporary with Furnas, from Newberry District, were George Arnold, Thomas Lewis and Robert Kelley. The survey, No. 570, as I before remarked, was then upon the market, and these people 'purchased the entire tract of land on or about the 3d of 12th month, 1806. Beginning on the northwest, Robert Kelley purchased 120 acres; then John Furnas, 154 acres; Thomas Lewis, 155 acres; all these lands running from Cæsar Creek southeast. Adjoining these three tracts of land on the southeast, George Arnold took 238 acres, which completed two-thirds of it. Henry Mill-, house purchased the balance, or about 333 acres, extending to Blair's Survey, No. 569. The consideration in each case was $2 per acre. -.

George Arnold was a son of John and Lina Arnold, of Newberry District, the eldest of a family of eight children, and born probably as early as 1760. There are no records. He married, about the year 1783, Rachel, a sister of John Mills. But one child, a son, was born to them, namely, Jesse, born 15th of 0th month, 1785, and consequently at the time of emigration, a man grown. Of Thomas Lewis and his family there are no records left, and the family has long since left here for the West. Of Robert Kelley, the same can be said, and but few people of this day about here have any knowledge of them at all. On the 3d of 6th month, 1806, John Furnas purchased his lands, and settled the same year where Samuel Lemar now lives and owns. He erected thereon the story-and-a-half part of the Squire's present residence, and began life in the new State. There was no road then in this section, his location being in- fluenced by the spring near by. He was also a blacksmith, and erected his shop a little northwest of his house, now west of the road. Here, for many years, the sound of his anvil could be heard, and the smoke seen issuing from

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the sooty stick-and-clay chimney. But full sixty years have passed and gone since this fire went out to him forever. On the 21st of 9th month, 1822, his second wife died, at the age of forty-six years. His third wife was Rebecca Millhouse Compton, with whom he lived until the 9th of 3d month, 1830, when he died and was "gathered to his fathers."

On the lands purchased by Henry Millhouse he settled his children, as follows: Amos Hawkins, on the southwest corner, or upon the farm where his son Henry lived out a long life, and died but a few years ago; David Whitson, adjoining Hawkins on the north, or upon the farm now owned by Milton Keys; Mordecai Spray, east of Hawkins; Robert, where William Icenhour lives, and himself between there and Mordecai Spray. Amos and Stephen Compton settled in Warren County.

James Craine was a Captain in the Continental Establishment of Vir- ginia, and under Warrant 2,089 was entitled to 4,000 acres of land. On the 6th of March, 1793, Survey 1, 004 was made, and a patent followed May 22, 1800, in the name of Daniel Muse. This survey lies in the southwest corner of Chester and the northwest corner of Adams; but at the time of settlement, prior to 1810, was in Highland and Warren, and at the organization of Clinton in that year, was wholly in Chester Township. Daniel Muse was a resident of Northumberland County, Va. He entered into a contract with one Thomas Carneal, whereby the latter was to have one-half of the survey if he would place it on the market and effect a sale. He did so, and took for his services the eastern half.

Preserved Dakin came from New York State in 1806, and purchased, it is said, for the colony he represented 2,000 acres, or the eastern half of survey No. 1,994. He took 1,000 acres for himself and four children by a former wife. He then sub-divided his tract as follows: To William, the eldest son, 200 acres where James Mussetter now owns and resides; to James, 200 acres off the southwest corner of his tract, or where the Dakin corner now is; to Elias, 200 acres where Elias D. Harlan now owns and lives; to Lydia, 200 acres where Harrison Mullen owns, and to himself 200 acres where Mr. Collins owns. At his death, this farm went to his second wife and her children.

Among others composing the Dakin colony, and all from the State of New York, was Joshua Nickerson, Sr., who came at the same time with the Dakins, and purchased land in the same tract, though on Todd's Fork, it being a part, if not all, of the farm now owned by Evan H. Hadley, a grandson-in-law of Nickerson. He had when reaching here but little else than a good wagon and two good horses. These he sold, and invested the proceeds in this land. He then purchased a pair of yearling steers, broke them to work, and they in time became a yoke of number one oxen, which supplied him with motive power until he became able to again own a team of horses. He was the father (among others) of two sons-Clark and Artemas, the former born May 5, 1792; the latter February 27, 1796.

Elijah and Mary Sabin were born and reared in the State of New York, the former in 1753, the latter in 1756. Several children were born to these people, but the records are gone, and the present generation is not in possession of any facts that would add to their history. They were a part of the Dakin colony, but as to their place of settlement I cannot say.

William, Enoch and Charles Haynes were also members of the colony spoken of, and came here in 1806. William, about the year 1800, married Marsha, * a daughter of Elijah and Mary Sabin, by whom he had four children -Harriet, William, James and Archibald, all of whom were born in the State of New York, the latter in July, 1808. In 1809, they came to Ohio, and settled

*Marcia ?

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on lands in the eastern half of 1,994, in what is now Chester Township, on 200 acres of land purchased by the Dakin colony two years before. The same year, his brothers, Enoch and Charles Haynes, settled on 100 acres, and fifty acres respectively on the same side of the eastern half of said survey. Jesse and David Hughes purchased 212 acres, and twelve acres in the same line of lands about the same time. The price paid in each case for these lands was $2.50 an acre.

THE HARLAN FAMILY.

Enoch Harlan was a native of Chester County, Penn., a member of the fourth generation of the name in this country, and was born the 27th of De- cember, 1745. He was the son of Ezekiel and Mary, both of whom were born in Ireland, the former 16th of July, 1679. The grandson of George and . Eliza, the former born in England January 11, 1850, the latter in Ireland, and the great grandson of James, born in England prior to 1625. The grandpar- ents, Goorge and Eliza, wore of the William Ponn stock of Friends (com- monly called Quakers), though the Harlans before him were members of the Church of England. In 1687, George Harlan and his family and his brother Michaol emigrated to America, and settled near Christian Hundred, on the Delaware River, in the present State of Delaware, and in the "verge" of Center Monthly Meeting of Friends. They some few years after crossed the Delaware and settled in Chester County, Penn. Enoch was the youngest in a family of seven children, five sons and two daughters, viz. : Mary, born 26th, 6th, 1722; William, 15th, 5th, 1724; Jonathan, 15th, 7th, 1726; James, 29th, 9th, 1730; Sarah, 23d, 9th, 1732: Stephen, 12th, 3d, 1740; Enoch, 27th, 12th, 1745. He married, according to the discipline of Friends, about the year 1768, Edith Carter (a sister of Nathaniel and George Carter, who were many years ago well known among the early Friends as prominent ministers of that church). History does not record the date of his emigration, but at an early day he took his family and settled in Guilford County, N. C., and in the verge of Spring- field Monthly Meeting. Eleven children were born to Enoch and Edith Har- lan, eight sons and three daughters, namely: Nathan, born 29th, 1st, 1770; William, 6th, 10th, 1771; Nancy, 19th, 10th, 1773; Nathaniel, 9th, 10th, 1775; Jonathan, 7th, 9th, 1777; David, 2d, 1st, 1780; Solomon, 13th, 2d, 1782; Hannah, 20th, 3d, 1784; Enoch, 26th, 12th, 1786; John Carter, 5th, 9th, 1790; Rebecca, 3d, 8th, 1792. Here he died 18th, 10th, 1794, at the age of forty-nine years. After his death, the widow and her children continued to reside in that State; but the great center of attraction soon became the "Ter- ritory Northwest," or the then new State of Ohio. Her boys had grown to manhood, and more lands were necessary. While yet residents of that State, Nathan had married Sarah Hunt; William married Charity Kimbrough; Nancy married Nathan Mendenhall; Nathaniel had gone to Kentucky, where he had settled, and married Elizabeth Berry; David married Susan Brummel. The rest of the children were yet at home.

In 1803, Nathan and William Harlan left that State on horseback on a prospecting tour, coming to Maysville, Ky., and, crossing the river, entered the "new State." They traveled northward, through what is now the county of Brown, into Highland (the latter county at that time included nearly all of Clinton), and stopped near Hillsboro for a short time. They left there and passed through the present county of Clinton, and as far west as the Great Mi- ami River, when they turned back and went home as they came, via Hillsboro. The next year (1804), William came with his family to this State, and settled near Hillsboro, where he remained until the early fall of 1806, when he left his family and returned with his four-horse team and wagon to Guilford County, N. C., for the purpose of removing his widowed mother and her chil-

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dren (yet at home), namely, Hannah, Enoch, John and Rebecca, to this State, which he accomplished the same fall. In the meantime, Nathan had removed from that State and settled on lands purchased of the Dakin colony, in Survey 1,994-lands now owned by John P. Denny's heirs, but for many years the farm of Joseph Coates.

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The history of Clinton County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its townships, cities, towns, etc.; general and local statistics; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; history of the Northwest territory, Volume 2, Part 21

Author: Durant, Pliny A. ed; Beers (W.H.) & Co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago : W. H. Beers Number of Pages: 1410

Author: Durant, Pliny A. ed; Beers (W.H.) & Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : W. H. Beers
Number of Pages: 1410