The history of Hardin county, Ohio, Part 28

Author: Warner Beers & co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago : Warner Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1076

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That summer they cleared the lower of the three islands, in the Ohio River, and planted it in corn. As the land was very rich, abundant crops were produced, which, together with a plentiful supply of game, furnished the settlers with everything necessary to a livelihood, especially as their wants were few and easily gratified. From this point, Massie continued, throughout the Indian war, despite the danger, to survey the surrounding country and prepare it for settlers. This settlement suffered little from In- dian depredations on account of the unexposed locality and well-fortified position, stragglers or prospectors alone being in danger of capture or death by the prowling savages.

The master mind of Gen. Massie saw the safety of the location from the outset, and to him, more than any other man, is due the rapid growth and development of the Scioto Valley. He was born in Goochland County, Va., December 28, 1763, and in 1780 engaged, for a short time, in the Revolutionary war. In 1783, he left for Kentucky, where he acted as surveyor. He was subsequently appointed Government surveyor, and labored much in that capacity for early Ohio proprietors, being paid in land for his services. Thus he accumulated a vast amount of good land, while

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conferring a lasting benefit on the country by his explorations. After the permanent establishment of the Ohio River settlement, he was instrumental in the gradual filling up of the country all over the valley. In 1796, he assisted in founding a settlement at the mouth of Paint Creek, and laid out the town of Chillicothe. In 1798, he was elected a member of the Ter- ritorial Assembly, to represent Adams County ; and at the first election for the Ohio Assembly he was elected from Ross County to a seat in the State Senate, and subsequently chosen Speaker of that body. In 1807, he was the opponent of Return J. Meigs for Gubernatorial honors. The latter was elected, but Massie contested the election upon the grounds that Meigs was ineligible on account of his absence from the State and insufficiency of time as a resident. Massie was declared Governor, but resigned the office at once, his fine sense of honor preventing him from holding a position for which his opponent had received the majority of votes cast. He was often Representative after, and always wielded a powerful influence in the affairs of the State. He died November 3, 1813, after seeing the State, whose constitution he had helped to frame, on the high road to prosperity. It was through him that the militia of this region was first organized, of which he became Colonel, and was the first Major General of the Second Division under the new Constitution of 1802. His residence was at the falls of Paint Creek, in Ross County, but his land operations made him well known in adjoining counties.

During the existence of the six years' Indian war, a settlement of French emigrants was made on the Ohio River in what is now Gallia County. In the spring of 1788, Joel Barlow went to France, claiming to be "authorized to dispose of a very large tract of land in the West." In 1790, he distributed proposals in Paris for the disposal of lands at 5 shil- lings per acre, which, says Volney, "promised a climate healthy and delightful ; scarcely such a thing as frost in the winter ; a river, called by way of eminence ' The Beautiful,' abounding in fish of an enormous size ; magnificent forests of a tree from which sugar flows, and a shrub which yields candles; venison in abundance; no military enrollments and no quarters to find for soldiers." All classes of tradesmen and artisans, to the number of 500 persons, including their families, purchased these titles, and in 1791-92, arrived in the New World. Upon reaching their destination, they found that they had been cruelly deceived, and that the titles they held were absolutely worthless.

Without food, shelterless, and beset with danger on all sides, they were in a position that none but Frenchmen could be in without despair. The land to which they came was covered with immense forest trees, and they must clear these off or starve. Their cabins were erected in a cluster, which afforded them protection from the Indians, and their food was pur- chased from passing boats. In a rude, uncultured manner they began fell- ing the forest, this being their greatest difficulty, as they knew nothing of a woodman's life. They called their settlement Gallipolis, from Gallia or Gaul, the ancient name of their fatherland, and throughout the long winter drowned care and sorrow once a week in the merry dance. They could not pay for their lands the second time, therefore some went to Detroit, some to Kaskaskia, on the Mississippi, and others secured lands on generous terms from the Ohio Company. This outrage and deception coming to the knowl-

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edge of Congress, it granted them 24,000 acres of land in Scioto County, in 1795, to which another tract of 1,200 acres was added in 1798, thus partly wiping out the disgrace and swindle perpetrated upon these confiding people by unscrupulous men from the New England States. This tract has since been known as the French Grant, though few of the French emigrants remained any length of time in that vicinity.

We now come to the erection of Wayne County, by the proclamation of Gov. St. Clair, August 15, 1796, it being the third county formed in the Northwest Territory. The act creating it thus defined its limits: "Be- ginning at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, upon Lake Erie, and with the said river to the Portage, between it and the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum; thence down the said branch to the forks at the carrying place above Fort Laurens; thence by a west line to the east boundary of Hamil- ton County (which is a due north line from the lower Shawnee town upon the Scioto River); thence by a line west-northerly to the southern part of the Portage, between the Miamis of the Ohio and the St. Mary's River; thence by a line also west northerly to the southwestern part of the Portage, between the Wabash and the Miamis (Maumee) of Lake Erie, where Fort Wayne now stands; thence by a line west-northerly to the southern part of Lake Michigan; thence along the western shores of the same to the north- west part thereof (including the lands upon the streams emptying into said lakes); thence by a due north line to the territorial boundary in Lake Su- perior, and with the said boundary through Lakes Huron, St. Clair and Erie to the mouth of Cuyahoga River, the place of beginning." These limits include territory now embraced in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Wis- consin, besides all of Michigan. The cities of Chicago, Milwaukee, Macki- naw, Sault St. Mary's, and every town in Northern Indiana, Northern Ohio west of the Cuyahoga, Michigan, and the lake towns in Illinois and Wis- consin, are within the original boundaries of Wayne County. Its southern boundary line was some distance south of Hardin County, which formed a portion of its territory.

The period from 1795 to 1800 was marked by a rush of emigration which extended to the Greenville treaty line. From the settlements upon the Ohio River, as well as from those in the eastern part of the Territory, the bravest and hardiest of the pioneers spread themselves further to the north and west throughout the rich valleys of the Muskingum, Cuyahoga, Tuscarawas, Scioto, Miamis and Mad River, so that with the beginning of the nineteenth century there were settlements scattered all over those por- tions of Ohio.

In December, 1798, a Territorial Legislature was elected under the proclamation of Gov. St. Clair, and in accordance with the ordinance of 1787, which provided for an Assembly as soon as the Territory should con- tain 5,000 inhabitants. The members from Wayne County, of which Hardin, though included in the Indian Territory, was then a part, were Solomon Sibley, Jacob Visgar and Charles F. Chabert de Joncaire. It met at Cincinnati January 22, 1799, and nominated ten persons for the Legis- lative Council, five of whom were to be chosen by the President of the United States, to compose said Council. This selection was made on the 2d of March, and the same confirmed by the United States Senate upon the following day. The members chosen were Jacob Burnet, James Findlay, Henry Vanderburgh, Robert Oliver and David Vance. On the 16th of September, 1799, the Legislature met again at Cincinnati, the House con- sisting of nineteen members, of whom one was from Washington County -

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erected in 1788; seven from Hamilton-erected in 1790; three from Wayne -erected in 1796; one from Jefferson-erected in 1797; two from Adams -erected in 1797; four from Ross-erected in 1798, and one from Knox, which subsequently became the Territory of Indiana. The member from St. Clair County (Illinois Territory) does not seem to have been present. There was no quorum until September 24, and the session lasted until December 19, 1799, when, having finished all business on hand, the Assem- bly was prorogued by the Governor until the first Monday in November, 1800.

Tbe Indiana Territory was formed from Knox County in 1800, and the seat of government of the Northwest Territory established at Chillicothe during the same year. The first session was opened at that town on the 3d of November, but at the second session, held in the fall of 1801, so much enmity was expressed and so much abuse heaped upon the Governor and the Assembly that a law was passed removing the place of holding the Legislative sessions back again to Cincinnati. Fate, however, had destined a new order of things, and the Territorial Assembly never met after that session.

On the 1st of November, 1802, a convention assembled at Chillicothe for the purpose of framing a constitution for a State government; on the 29th of that month, the same was ratified and signed by the members of the convention, and the Territory became a State, February 19, 1803, receiv. ing its name from the river called by the Indians Ohezuh, meaning beauti- ful, and changed by the whites to Ohio. Chillicothe was made the tempo- rary seat of government, and the Legislative sessions were held there from March, 1803, until 1810. The sessions of 1810-11 and 1811-12 were held at Zanesville, then again at Chillicothe until December, 1816, when Colum- bus, which had been selected in 1812, became the seat of Government, and has ever since been the capital of Ohio.

The lands embraced in Hardin County are north of the Greenville treaty line, and west of the territory acquired from the Indians by the treaty held at Fort Industry (Toledo), in 1805, which is partly included in the Connec- ticut Western Reserve, erected as Trumbull County in 1800. The western boundary of the " Fire Lands, " which is the dividing line between the coun- ties of Seneca and Huron, was by that treaty established as the eastern boundary of the Indian territory. Thus this county was not opened for set- tlement until 1817, as the lands did not come into market until after the treaty with the Indians held at the foot of the Maumee Rapids, by which they were ceded to the Government, and certain reservations, mentioned in the previous chapter, set apart for the use of the Indian tribes. Even then, many causes assisted in keeping back the rapid settlement of the newly ac- quired territory. The Indians were not, as a body, satisfied with the con- tinuous deeding away of their heritage, and looked with disfavor upon the intrepid surveyors who soon began to divide the land which they had such a short time before called their own. Though we are not aware that any of these surveying parties were attacked by the Indians who then infested the country, it is a well-known fact that the savages regarded them with hostile intentions, and nothing but the strong arm of the law and the wholesome dread of the white man's vengeance prevented a collision.

In 1820, all of the territory acquired from the Indians by the treaty of 1817 was divided into fourteen counties, viz. : Allen, Crawford Hardin, Han- cock, Henry, Marion, Mercer, Paulding, Putnam, Seneca, Sandusky, Van Wert, Williams and Wood. This county was attached to Logan, and re-

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mained under its jurisdiction until 1833, when the Legislature passed a law organizing Hardin as a separate county, with all the rights and privileges thereof. During the progress of these events, a more friendly feeling had grown up between the whites and Indians, and the pioneers began pouring in from the older settled counties on the south and east.

It is said that French and English "fur traders" were located at the In- dian villages and camps of Hardin County, during the early Indian occupa- tion of this territory, and, doubtless, such was the case, for we know that this class of men were scattered throughout the whole Northwest, traveling from village to village and from camp to camp, buying peltries, which they paid for either in goods or money, just as the occasion required, whisky, tobacco, powder and lead being principally in demand. After the occupation of these lands by the whites, the fur companies employed agents to travel through the country and purchase furs from the Indians and white hunters who followed the chase. One of those agents was Harvey Buckmister, a pioneer of the southeastern part of Hardin County. He was engaged for thirteen winters in buying peltries for the Hollister Fur Company, and of- ten paid out as much as $5,000 for furs in one season. Mr. Buckmister is now a resident of Kenton, having secured a competency and retired from active businss life to enjoy the fruits of his early industry.

The old Military road was opened in 1812, by Col. Duncan McArthur, through what is now Taylor Creek, Lynn and Buck Townships, to the Scioto River; thence by Col. James Findlay, through Cessna, Pleasant, Blanchard and Washington Townships; thence northward through Hancock and Wood Counties, to Sandusky. For many years, the old McArthur road, or "Hull's trail," as it is sometimes called, was the principal highway from Bellefontaine to Detroit. In the northwest corner of Buck Township, on the south bank of the Scioto River, Col. McArthur built the fort which bore his name. It was one of the military posts in the Indian territory, and continued to be garrisoned for some time after the close of the war of 1812. The soldiers, traders and emigrants passing over this road became familiar with the country through which it passed, and when the lands of Hardin County came into market, many pioneers of the older settlements concluded to take up their residence upon its soil.

Tradition says that Alfred Hale and wife, Mary, with two sons and one daughter, located at Fort McArthur in 1817, where, two years subsequently, another son, Jonas, was born. There can be little doubt that this was the pioneer family of Hardin County, but it is probable that Hale was a hunter, and belonged to that shiftless, migratory class known as "squatters." It is evident that he owned no land, and, upon the death of his wife, which occurred a few years after the birth of the child spoken of, he removed from this vicinity. The neighborhood of Roundhead was, we might say, the first point in this county to receive the impress of a permanent civiliza- tion. Here, in the spring of 1818, Peter C. McArthur and Daniel Camp- bell built their cabins on the east bank of the Scioto River, and northeast of the present village of Roundhead, in what is now McDonald Township. They cleared up a patch of ground, which they planted in corn, and the nucleus around which gathered the large population of Hardin County was established. The settlements close to Bellefontaine contained their nearest civilized neighbors, and, it is said that, upon one occasion, having allowed their fire to go out, McArthur was compelled to walk to that point for the purpose of obtaining a fresh supply. On his return, he met an Indian squaw, who, upon hearing his story, laughed at his ignorance, and taught

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him how to light a fire with a flint and punk. After planting their corn, they went back to Ross County, whence they had come, with the object of moving out their families, but a threatened Indian outbreak frustrated these intentions, and they did not return until early in the spring of 1822. In a few years, the pioneer's cabin began to make its appearance in every portion of the county. Small clearings soon dotted the forest, and the sound of the woodman's ax broke the grandeur of its solitude. The In- dian, with a sad heart, watched the destruction of his hunting grounds, while year by year the grand old forest shrunk away to give more room for the coming race.

While the same general characteristics underlie the early settlers of every portion of the State, yet each had its local heroes and adventurers. The men who first tried the wilderness were poor, hardy, strong and hos- pitable. Their strength made them self-reliant, and their poverty never closed the cabin door. They were titted by nature to build up a new country, and, restless under the conservative influences of old and well- established communities, fled from what men call the luxuries and security of civilized life, to try the dangers and discomforts of the wilderness. If the motives were inquired into why the change was made, which not only insured unusual hardships and disappointments, but too frequently was attended with all the barbarities of savage warfare, the answer would doubtless be, to promote their success in life; but underneath and beyond this was the love of forest life, the freedom from conventional restraint, the hunter's paradise. Accustomed to look discomfort and danger in the face, the earliest settlers soon learned to regard them as matters not worthy of anxious thought. Their wants were few and easily supplied, but daily labor became necessary for daily sustenance. These pioneers of civiliza- tion, and their immediate descendants, braved the dangers of a compara- tively unknown region, and endured the toils and trials unavoidably inci- dent to a country totally without improvements. The present generation knows little or nothing of what it costs in time, in patient endurance, and in deprivation of every comfort, to change the wilderness into a fruitful field, and to lay broad and sure the foundations of the prosperity that crowns the State of Ohio to-day.

JANE (TIDD) RUTLEDGE BORN NOV. 15.1823. FIRST WHITE FEMALE BORN IN HARDIN CO.

LEWIS RUTLEDGE

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CHAPTER IV.

PIONEER HISTORY - CAPTURE AND CAPTIVITY OF SIMON KENTON - CAPTURE AND ESCAPE OF DR. JOHN KNIGHT - PIONEERS OF HARDIN COUNTY PRIOR TO 1828 - ALFRED HALE - THE M'ARTHUR FAMILY- DANIEL CAMPBELL-SAMUEL TIDD-JAMES E. HUESTON- SAMUEL AND ANDREW RICHIEY AND JAMES HILL -CHARLES W. AND SAMUEL STEVENSON.

THE American continent, which we are wont to term our Western World, is eminently a land of rapid development and marvelous progress. Its pioneers were men and women of great toil, patience, endurance and per- severance. They began on the Atlantic coast, where they founded colonies; thence they proceeded to found and people State after State in their west- ward course, not stopping for mountain barrier or savage opposition. As they advanced, they had to penetrate vast forests and traverse great mount- ain ranges, with or without roads, and with or without teams, carrying fire- arms to secure game for their sustenance, and to protect themselves against savage assaults. Selecting the sites for their dwellings and for their pro- spective towns, they wielded the echoing ax to fell the timbers of the dense woodlands, and constructed substantial but rude cabins of primitive mate- rials. The labor, hardship and exposure they went through would to us seem unendurable, but they heeded it not. Many of them had come from sections where wealth had drawn social lines not to be passed over; and there was a servitude and a caste galling to men who looked for better things. We need not be surprised, then, to find that a large majority of the pioneers who for these reasons braved the wilderness were not ordinary men. The true man counted the cost and never "bated jot of heart or hope," and in the struggle developed the manly character with which na- ture's God had endowed him. Their methods, their experience, their suf- ferings, men have loved to hear them relate:

"They came to the West when the forest stood Mighty and solemn and grand, And built their homes in the shade of the wood That covered our Western land, When the blue, wide waters, crystal clear, Flowed onward, swift and free, As the unchained love of the pioneer Gushed forth for liberty."

But alas! all of them have passed away, and many have left no record of their eventful and adventurous lives.

CAPTURE AND CAPTIVITY OF SIMON KENTON.

There is, perhaps, no name in the annals of Indian warfare connect- ed with the struggle for possession of the Northwest Territory, around which may be woven such a halo of historical truth, as that of Simon Ken- ton. His prowess as an Indian fighter and scout has been so indelibly marked upon the pages of the history of Ohio that the record of his life

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and exploits is known in nearly every home throughout the State. One of the leading events in his adventurous career was his capture and captivity in 1778-79, and as this circumstance is closely interwoven with the early history of the territory now embraced in Hardin County, we give the story as related by his biographer, Col. John McDonald, believing it deserving of a place in this work.

He says: "Kenton lay about Boone's and Logan's Stations till ease be- came irksome to him. About the 1st of September, 1778, we find him pre- paring for another Indian expedition. Alexander Montgomery and George Clark joined him, and they set off from Boone's Station, for the avowed purpose of obtaining horses from the Indians. They crossed the Ohio, and proceeded cautiously to Chillicothe (now Oldtown, Ross County). They arrived at the town without meeting any adventure. In the night they fell in with a drove of horses that were feeding in the rich prairies. They were prepared with salt and halters, but had much difficulty in catching the horses ; however, at length they succeeded, and as soon as the horses were haltered, they dashed off with seven-a pretty good haul. They traveled with all the speed they could to the Ohio, which they struck near the mouth of Eagle Creek, now in Brown County. When they came to the river the wind blew almost a hurricane. The waves ran so high that the horses were frightened, and could not be induced to take the water. It was late in the evening They then rode back into the hills some distance from the river, hobbled and turned the horses loose to graze, while they turned back some distance, and watched the trail they had come, to discover whether or no they were pursued. Here they remained till the following day, when the

wind subsided. As soon as the wind fell, they caught their horses and went again to the river; but the animals had been so frightened with the waves the day before, that all their efforts could not induce them to take the water. This was a sore disappointment to our adventurers. They were satisfied that the enemy was in pursuit, and therefore determined to lose no more time in useless efforts to cross the Ohio; they concluded to select three of the best horses and make their way to the falls of the Ohio, where Gen. Clark had left some men stationed. Each made choice of a horse, and the balance were turned loose to shift for themselves. After the spare animals had been permitted to ramble off, avarice whispered to our scouts, Why not take all the horses? which had by this time scattered and straggled out of sight.

" Our party now separated to hunt up the horses they had turned loose. Kenton went toward the river, and had not gone far before he heard a whoop in the direction of where they had been trying to force the horses into the water. He got off his horse and tied him, and then crept with the stealthy tread of a cat, to make observations in the direction he heard the whoop. Just as he reached the high bank of the river, he met the Indians on horseback. Being unperceived by them, but so nigh that it was impos- sible for him to retreat without being discovered, he concluded the boldest course to be the safest, and very deliberately took aim at the foremost In- dian. His gun flashed in the pan, and he retreated, with the Indians in close pursuit. In his retreat, he passed through a piece of forest where a storm had torn up a great part of the timber. The fallen trees afforded him some advantage over the Indians in the race, as they were on horse- back and he on foot. The Indian force divided; some rode on one side of the fallen timber, and some on the other. Just as he emerged from the fallen timber, at the foot of the hill, one of the Indians met him, and

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The history of Hardin county, Ohio, Part 28

Author: Warner Beers & co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Chicago : Warner Beers & Co. Number of Pages: 1076

Author: Warner Beers & co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago : Warner Beers & Co.
Number of Pages: 1076