The history of Hardin county, Ohio, Part 31

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

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To Charles W. and Cynthia Stevenson were born the following chil- dren: Margaret J., who married Lewis A. Miller, and now resides in Nebraska; Clarissa married Samuel Stewart, and died in Logan County, Ohio, where her husband is still living; William removed to Vandalia, Ill., and there died. These three were born in Greene County ere the coming of their parents to Hardin. The next was David P., who was born in 1828, now resides in Kenton and is the oldest living native of Hardin County; Robert died in Kenton in 1855; Euphemia A., became the wife of John

L'Merriman

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HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY.

Morrison, and died in Kenton; Charles W., resides in Nebraska; Usher P., died in Kenton; and two daughters who died in infancy. On the 1st of April, 1833, Mr. Stevenson was elected Auditor of the newly organized county of Hardin, and soon after the location of the county seat at Kenton, he removed to its site. He built a log cabin on the north side of Columbus street, the first lot west of the Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western Rail- road. He was appointed Director of Kenton in 1833, which position he held until his death. He filled the office of County Auditor eleven consec- utive years, from 1833 to 1843 inclusive. After the expiration of his last term as Auditor, Mr. Stevenson engaged in farming and teaming, finally erecting a saw mill on Taylor Creek, in Buck Township, about one mile south of Kenton, which he operated until his death, May 17, 1854. His widow, who was a member of the United Presbyterian Church, survived him more than twenty-three years, and died in September, 1877. In pol- itics a Whig, be had, withal, the confidence of every class, irrespective of party lines, and, though a member of no religious denomination, he was so thoroughly moral in his life as to win the affectionate regard of all good citizens.

Samuel Stevenson was a native of Greene County, Ohio, born September 4, 1804, and, as mentioned in his brother's sketch, came to Hardin County in March, 1827, and located near the head-waters of Silver Creek, in what is now Taylor Creek Township. The land upon which they settled was in Survey 10,014. After the cabin was erected, Samuel, who was then unmar- ried, remained in charge while Charles W. returned to Greene County for his family. The brothers, after making considerable improvement, lost the land, without receiving any remuneration for their labor. In a few years Samuel married and became the father of the following children: Polly, John, Samuel and Robert, who are dead, and Sarah, Wilkins and William, who still survive. Four of the sons, John, Samuel, Robert and Wilkins, served in the Union army during the rebellion. Of these, John died soon after the war, from the effects of disease contracted in the army; Samuel was wounded and died while under a surgical operation; and Robert was taken prisoner and confined in a rebel prison, but soon after his release, he died from the ravages made upon his constitution through starvation and exposure. Samuel Stevenson, Sr., was a noted hunter, and it is said that he could kill a greater number of deer in the same time than any man in Hardin County. About 1840, he removed into what is now Lynn Town- ship, settling on land now owned by Julius Schoonover. Here he died May 3, 1873, and, though he was only a plain, old-fashioned pioneer, yet he did much good throughout his life by kind words and acts, and by ad- hering to those principles of honesty that seem to have been a part of every pioneer's nature.

The record of the lives of these pioneers from first to last is a simple narrative, but develops the fact that they were "ruggedly honest," yet to "say that they had some weaknesses is only to admit that they were human. With clean hands and pure hearts, they passed through a life of toil and danger, without once faltering in what they considered the path of duty; and now that the end is reached, it is seen more plainly than before how brave and strong and true they were.

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HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY.

CHAPTER V.

PRINCIPAL LAND DIVISIONS OF OHIO-THE VIRGINIA MILITARY LANDS-CON- GRESS LANDS-EARLY SURVEYS-PIONEER DAYS AND TRIALS-PIONEER CABIN-FURNITURE, FOOD AND MEDICINE-HABITS AND LABOR -CLOTHING AND BOOKS-EARLY MANNERS AND CUSTOMS,

ETC .- MILLS, TEAMSTERS AND STORE GOODS.

THE pre-historical history of Ohio, so far as regards civil organization and the exercise of authority, begins in 1769, when the colony of Virginia attempted to extend her jurisdiction over the territory northwest of the River Ohio. The House of Burgesses passed an act establishing the county of Botetourt, with the Mississippi River as its western boundary. This was a vast county. The act which established it contained the following passage :

Whereas, the pe ple situated on the Mississippi, in the said county of Botetourt, will be very remote from the court house, and must necessarily become a separate county as soon their numbers are sufficient, which will probably happen in a short time, be it therefore en- acted by the authority aforesaid, that the inhabitants of that part of the said county of Botetourt which lies on the said waters shall be exempted from the payment of any levies to be laid by the said county court for the purpose of building a court house and prison for said county.

Civil government between the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers existed only nominally until 1778, when, after the conquest of the country by Gen. George Rogers Clark, the Virginia Legislature organized the county of Illinois, embracing within its limits all of the lands lying west of the Ohio River to which Virginia had any claim. Col. John Todd received appoint- ment from the Governor of Virginia as civil commandent and lieutenant of the county. He served until his death, at the battle of Blue Licks, in 1782, and Timothy Montbrun was his successor.

In 1787, Virginia, having made her deed of cession to the United States, and the title having been protected through other deeds of cession, and through Indian treaties, Congress took the great step which resulted in the establishment of a wise and salutary civil government. Upon ths 13th of July, after a prolonged discussion of the principles and issues involved, there was issued " An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States Northwest of the River Ohio," which has since been known as "the ordinance of 1787," or the " ordinance of freedom." By this great and statesmanlike ordinance, provision was made for successive forms of territorial government, adapted to successive steps of advancement in the settlement and development of the Western country. Chief Justice Chase says of this ordinance : "This remarkable instrument was the last gift of the Congress of the old confederation to the country, and it was a fit consummation of their glorious labors."

At the time this ordinance went into effect, there had been made no permanent settlement of the whites upon the territory embraced, except the few French villages, and their immediate vicinities, in the western and northwestern portions of it. If any such existed within the present limits

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of Ohio, they must have been situated along the Maumee River, and were of small extent. The Government had discouraged the settlement of whites up to this time, to avoid infringement upon the rights of the Indians, and consequent troubles. Military force was resorted to to break up some small settlements made along the Ohio, and in other parts of the State. After the passage of the ordinance, emigration was encouraged. "When the settlers went into the wilderness they found the law already there. It was impressed upon the soil itself, while it yet bore up nothing but the forest."

. When Ohio was admitted to the Federal Union as an independent State, one of the terms of admission was the fee simple to all the lands within its limits, especially those previously granted or sold, should be vested in the United States. The different portions of the lands have, at various times, been granted or sold to various companies, bodies politic, and individuals. The principal divisions were known as follows : 1, Congress lands ; 2, United States Military Lands; 3, Virginia Military District; 4, Western Reserve ; 5, Fire Lands ; 6, Ohio Company's Purchase ; 7, Donation Tract ; 8, Symmes' Purchase ; 9, Refugee Tract ; 10, French Grant; 11, Dohrman's Grant ; 12, Zane's Grant ; 13, Canal Lands ; 14, Turnpike Lands ; 15, Maumee Road Lands ; 16, School Lands ; 17, College Lands; 18, Min- isterial ; 19, Moravian ; 20, Salt Sections. Part of the lands in this county are in the Virginia Military District, and among the finest in the State.

THE VIRGINIA MILITARY LANDS.

At its session, beginning October 20, 1783, the General Assembly of Virginia passed an act to authorize its Delegates in Congress to convey to the United States, in Congress assembled, all the right of that common- wealth to the territory northwest of the Ohio River. Congress stipulated to accept this cession upon condition that this territory should be formed into States, containing a suitable extent of territory, and that the States so formed should be distinctly republican, and admitted members of the Federal Union, having the same rights of sovereignty and freedom as the other States. On the 17th of March, 1784, Thomas Jefferson, Arthur Lee, James Monroe and Samuel Hardy, the Virginia Delegates to Congress, con- veyed to the United States " all right, title and claim, as well as of juris- diction, which the said commonwealth hath to the territory, or tract of coun- try, within the limits of the Virginia charter, situate, lying and being north- west of the River Ohio."

This act of cession contained, however, the following reservation : " That in case the quantity of good land on the southeast side of the Ohio, upon the waters of Cumberland River, and between the Great and Tennes- see Rivers, which have been reserved by law for the Virginia troops, upon continental establishment, should, from the North Carolina line, bearing in further upon the Cumberland lands than was expected, prove insufficient for these legal bounties, the deficiency should be made up to the said troops in. good lands, to be laid off between the Rivers Scioto and Little Miami, on the northwest side of the River Ohio, in such proportions to them as have been engaged to them by the laws of Virginia." The land embraced in this reservation constitutes the Virginia Military District in Ohio, and is composed of the counties of Adams, Brown, Clinton, Clermont, Highland, Fayette, Madison and Union, and portions of Scioto, Pike, Ross, Pickaway,

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HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY.

Franklin, Delaware, Marion, Hardin, Logan, Clark, Greene, Champaign, Warren, Hamilton and Auglaize. Congress passed an act authorizing the establishment of this reservation and location as defined, upon the report of the Executive of Virginia that the deficiency of good lands upon the waters of tue Cumberland existed.

The Virginia soldiers of the Continental line, who served in the Revo- lutionary war, were compensated in bounty awards of these lands, according to the rank, time of service, etc. The first step necessary, after securing the proper certificate of actual service, was that of procuring a printed war- rant from the land officer, specifying the quantity of lands and the right upon which it was due. This military warrant was issued from the land office, in the State of Virginia, which empowered the person to whom it was granted, his heirs or assignees, to select the number of acres specified in the lands reserved for that purpose, and to have the same appropriated. After the location was made, and the boundaries ascertained by surveying, the owner of the warrant returned it to the State authorities, and received in its place a patent or grant from the Government. This grant was equiv- alent to a deed in fee simple, and passed all of the title of the Government to the grantee.

On the same day on which the act was passed, Richard C. Anderson, a. Colonel in the army, was appointed Surveyor for the Continental line of the army, by the officers named in the act and authorized to make such ap- pointment as they saw fit. He opened his office at Louisville, for entries in the Kentucky lands, on the 20th of July, 1784. When the Kentucky grant was exhausted, he opened another office, for entries in the Ohio tract. He held his position up to the time of the death, in October, 1826, and during the long period faithfully discharged the onerous duties devolv- ing upon him. His son-in-law, Allen Latham, Esq., was appointed Sur- veyon some time after Col. Anderson's death, and opened his office in Chillicothe in July, 1829.

Any soldier who held a warrant, or the heir or, assignee of any soldier who held a warrant, was at liberty to locate his lands wherever he pleased within the Virginia Military District, and in consequence of the irregular- ities with which many locations were made, and the encroachments of some locations upon others, far more litigations have arisen relative to lines and titles in this district than in those which were regularly surveyed and laid off in sections. The Virginia Military Tract was never surveyed into ranges or townships until it was done in the different counties, by order of the County Commissioners, when it became desirable to organize the town- ships for civil purposes. Hence their irregular shape and size. All of the lands in Hardin County lying south of the Scioto River are in the Vir- ginia Military District, and are highly prized for their richness of soil and productiveness.

CONGRESS LANDS.

The territory embraced in Hardin County lying north of the Scioto River comprises what is known as Congress Lands. To facilitate the set- tlement of lands acquired by treaty from the Indians, Congress, on May 20, 1785, passed an act for disposing of lands in the Northwest Terri- tory. Its main provisions were-a surveyor or surveyors should be ap- pointed by the General Government, and a geographer and his assistants to act with them. The surveyors were to divide the territory into to wnships

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of six miles square, by lines running due north and south and east and west. The starting place was to be on the Ohio River, at a point where the western boundary of Pennsylvania crossed it. This would give the first range and the first township. As soon as seven townships were surveyed, the maps and plats of the same were to be sent to the Board of the Treas- ury, who would record them and proceed to place the land in the market; and so on with all the townships, as fast as they could be prepared ready for sale.

Each township was divided into thirty-six sections, of 640 acres each, out of which Sections 8, 11, 26 and 29 were reserved for the use of the Government, and Section 16 for the establishment of a common school fund. One-third of all mines and minerals was also reserved for the United States. Liberal amounts were reserved for the use of Revolutionary officers, men and others who suffered in the cause of liberty. Refugees from the British Provinces were entitled to grants of land. The Moravian Indians were also exempt from molestations and guaranteed in their homes. Soldiers' claims, and all others of a like nature, were also recognized, and land reserved for them. Congress lands are so called because they are sold to purchasers by the immediate officers of the General Government, con- formably to such laws as have been, or may be, from time to time, enacted by Congress.

This county contains a portion of the Ohio Canal lands, which were granted by Congress to the State of Ohio, to aid in constructing her exten- sive canals. This grant comprises over one million acres, a large propor- tion of which was in the market as late as 1847. Those located in Hardin County are principally in the northwest townships, with scattering tracts as far east as the Wyandot County line, and north of the Scioto River.

EARLY SURVEYS.

The original survey of the majority of the lands lying in the Scioto Valley was attended with great difficulties, and oft times danger from prowl- ing bands of Indians that infested this whole region of country, and who were bitterly hostile to those intrepid men who, with compass and chain, were the avant couriers of civilization in this portion of the State. The Virginia Military Land office, for the tract north of the Ohio River, was opened at Louisville, Ky., in 1787, and soon after, Massie, McArthur, Sullivant and others commenced the adventurous undertaking of surveying it. All of the locations of land warrants prior to 1790 were made by stealth. " Every creek which was explored, every line that was run, was at the risk of life from the savage Indians, whose courage and perseverance were only equaled by the perseverance of the whites to push forward their

settlements." Col. R. C. Anderson, Surveyor General of the Virginia Military District, placed a large number of the warrants in the hands of Nathaniel Massie, in 1790, when Congress removed the last obstruction to the taking of the lands, and he immediately proceeded to enter and survey on such terms as he could make with the owners. The risk being great, and as the holders of claims were anxious to have them located as soon as possible, in order that they might obtain the best selections, they were willing to pay liberally for the labor and danger of the survey. One- fourth, one-third, and sometimes as much as one-half of the lands acquired by entry were given by the proprietors to the surveyors. If the owners preferred paying

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HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY.

in money, the usual terms were ten pounds, in Virginia currency, for each 1,000 acres surveyed, exclusive of chainman's wages. Massie continued to survey during the winter of 1792-93, and in the fall of the latter year he pushed his way far up the Scioto. He employed about thirty men to ac- company him on his dangerous expedition. The greater part of Ross and Pickaway Counties west of the river was well explored, and partly sur- veyed. The party returned without having met with any harm, and de- lighted with the richness of the valley. Massie resumed his labors in the winter of 1793-94, and braved many hardships and dangers.

Prior to the treaty of 1817, surveying parties had extended their labors as far north as the Greenville treaty line, and as far west as the eastern boundary of Seneca County. All of the territory north and west of these lines was, up to that time, in possession of the Indians. As soon as the lands acquired by said treaty were opened for settlers, a Government land office, for the disposal of Congress lands, was established at Bucyrus, Ohio, and thither flocked the hardy pioneers, to secure homes in Hardin County, which had previously been surveyed by the Government. The office for the Virginia Military Lands was at Chillicothe, and that portion of the county lying south of the Scioto was soon alive with surveyors and specu- lators, locating land warrants. A great deal of these lands were "taken up" in large tracts, the titles to which were often doubtful or worthless, and held by speculators at such a high figure, that many of the pioneers crossed the Scioto and bought Congress land, thus securing a cheap home and a good title. The office for the canal lands scattered through this por- tion of the State, was located at Fort Ball, across the Sandusky River from Tiffin, Ohio, and now a part of that city.

PIONEER DAYS AND TRIALS.

In nearly all great and thoroughly organized armies, there is a corps of active, brave men, usually volunteers, whose self-imposed duty is to go ahead and prepare the way with ax, mattock and pick for the advancement of the armny -- the fighting rank and file They are called pioneers, and are armed with guns as well as implements of labor, for their position and their work is a dangerous one. They are obliged to keep a constant look- out for an ambush, in momentary fear of a sudden attack, for the enemy, with a full knowledge of the country, which to the advancing corps of pioneers is a terra incognita, is liable, any instant, to send a sudden volley of arrows or rifle balls into their midst, or to hem them in and overpower them with a superior force.

The men who pushed their way into the wilderness along the Scioto and its tributaries, and all those earliest settlers of Ohio from the river to the lake, were the pioneers of one of the grandest armies that earth ever knew; an army whose hosts are still sweeping irresistibly ahead, and which now, after more than eighty years, has not fully occupied the country it has won. It was the army of peace and civilization that came, not to con- quer an enemy by blood, carnage and ruin, but to subdue a wilderness by patient toil; to make the wild valley blossom as the rose; to sweep away the forest, till the soil, make fertile fields out of the prairie lands and build houses

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which were to become the abodes of happiness and plenty. The pioneers were the reliant vanguard of such an army as this.

The first hardy and resolute men who penetrated the valley of the Scioto, coming up the stream from " la belle rivere," found a land fertile as heart could wish, fair to look upon, and fragrant with the thousand fresh odors of the woods in early spring. The long, cool aisles of the forest led away into mazes of vernal green, where the swift deer bounded by unmo- lested, and as yet unscared by the sound of the woodman's ax or the sharp- ring of his rifle. They looked upon the wooded slopes and the tall grass of the plains, jeweled with strange and brilliant flowers, where once the red man had his fields of corn. All about them were displayed the lavish boun- ties of nature. The luxuriant growth of the oak, walnut, sycamore, maple, beech, hickory, elm, chestnut and the tulip tree, with the lesser shrubs, such as the dogwood, wild plum and crab-apple, the red bud, the papaw, the heavy-hanging grape-vines, the blueberry and raspberry gave evidence of the strength of the virgin soil and the kindness of the climate. The forest covered the land with an abundance of food for the smaller animals, and the deer, as common as the cattle of to-day, grazed upon the rich grass of the prairies, and browsed upon the verdure in the little glades. Other animals were abundant. The opossum, raccoon, rabbit and ground-hog existed in great numbers. The wild hogs roamed the woods in droves, and fattened upon the abundant mast, or "shack." The bear was occasionally seen. Wild turkeys appeared in vast flocks, and in the season came the migratory fowls and tarried by the streams. The streams had their share of life, and fairly swarmed with fish.

But the pioneers came not to enjoy a life of lotus-eating and ease. They could admire the pristine beauty of the scenes that unveiled before them ; they could enjoy the vernal green of the great forest, and the love- liness of all the works of nature. They could look forward with happy an- ticipation to the life they were to lead in the midst of all this beauty, and to the rich reward that would be theirs from the cultivation of the mellow, fertile soil ; but they had first to work. The seed-time comes before the harvest in other fields, too, than that of agriculture.

The dangers, also, that these pioneers were exposed to, were serious ones. The Indians could not be trusted, and the many stories of their out- rages in the earlier eastern settlements made the pioneers of the Scioto country apprehensive of trouble. The larger wild beasts were a cause of much dread, and the smaller ones were a source of great annoyance. Added to this was the liability to sickness which always exists in a new country. In the midst of all the loveliness of the surroundings, there was a sense of loneliness that could not be dispelled, and this was a far greater trial to the men and women who first dwelt in the western country than is generally imagined. The deep-seated, constantly-recurring feeling of isolation made many stout hearts turn back to the older settlements and the abodes of com- fort, the companionship and sociability they had abandoned in Virginia, Pennsylvania and the Southern and Eastern States, to take up a new life in the wilderness.

The pioneers coming first down the Ohio and then making their way up the Scioto, and later making the tedious journey from the East and South by the rude trails, arrived at the places of their destination with but very

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little with which to begin the battle of life. They had brave hearts and strong arms, however, and they were possessed of invincible determination. Frequently they came on without their families to make a beginning, and this having been accomplished, would return to their old homes for their wives and children. The first thing done after a temporary shelter from the rain had heen provided, was to prepare a little spot of ground for some crop, usually corn. This was done by girdling the trees, clearing away the underbrush, if there chanced to be any, and sweeping the surface with fire. Ten, fifteen, twenty, or even thirty acres of land might thus be prepared and planted the first season. In the autumn the crop would be carefully gathered and garnered with the least possible waste, for it was the food sup- ply of the pioneer and his family, and life itself depended, in part, upon its safe preservation.

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The history of Hardin county, Ohio, Part 31

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