IN TROD UCTION

In 1 876 a revival of interest in local history was manifest l th a thro—ughout the United States . The Centennia of e N th e E a i tion xposition at Philadelphi , exhibiting troph es of th e m uch atte n ti n b t Revolutionary period , while g q was es owed r " upon Colonial relics , and regard for Colonial ancest y . The m n older class of people had been retired fro public observatio ,

i s and espec ally in the Western States of Ohio , Indiana , Illinoi — r — Michigan . The first settlers the earlie emigrants had braved the Indians , the wild beasts , the privations of a new h ad u country, toiled to open p the primeval forests for culti vation an d / broken in health , dispirited often by adversity “ - — they h ad grown old before their three score years and an d the generation following them had been unwittingly push

T h e r i n m t . e W e wa ing hem aside y the y of odern progress , and

’ ' they had retreated to th e back rooms of their children s man ' 1 76 e n -c . 8 sions But in it was s e that . the country ould not celebrate h er Centenary without bringing into honorable rec

' o n ition s and r s g the father mothers , the soldie s and tatesmen , whose ach ievements had wrought such evident prosperity f or u — the co ntry such high rank among the N ations . So it came

. o l old a about that old records , d furniture , tales of early d ys , ’ ' ' old people tottering on their canes,were s ubj e cts of es pécial n attentio . e o r to The R v lutionary soldier, old and g ay, was escorted a seat on the platform where jubilant oratory proclaimed his r a : ‘ h sm. deeds of e oi It was at this time th t Stillman C Larkin ,

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B . s Aaron Stivers , H . Smith and a few other , awakened to a a of and the f ct th t Meigs county had a past worthy record , o v oun e in l oking around disco ered th at the f d rs , the early a n " N ot of emigr nts , were go e a representative left the days

C w h o t th e be of St . lair, of men came into his part of county 3 4 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

im fore Ohio was admitted into the Union . They became a pressed with sense of duty toward those forefathers , and to e retriev as far as possible the neglect of previous years , they —H organized the Meigs County Pioneer Association . B .

Smith , President ; Aaron Stivers , Secretary ; later Stillman C .

Larkin , President . Mr . Larkin as a son of a pioneer, Abel h e Larkin , who had been active in t organization and develop ment of the civil and moral interests of the new country, began collecting and placing in manuscript , everything available of the acts and actors of all legislative aff airs in the new country . First, the sparsely settled lands were incor

or ate d p in Washington county , and Marietta people were wise enough to keep a running account with Time , but Gallia 1 81 9 county was taken out from Washington , and until all civil records were kept in Gallipolis , when Meigs county was taken out from Gallia county

Mr . Larkin began at the beginning, and wrote the Declara 1 776 tion of Independence , declared in , which made the Cen te n n i al 1 876 —h e 1 787 of possible wrote out the Ordinance of , that proclaimed freedom of the whole N orthwest Territory of the Ohio river, from involuntary servitude of man for man . — The first emigrants to Ohio Washington , Gallia and Meigs , opened up the wilderness for cultivation , or the present gen e r ation would not have broad acres in meadows , or hillsides in

- wheat , or blooming fruit laden orchards . These first settlers e built their cabins and schoolhouses , had teach rs for their o ffi children ; they rganized townships , elected township o cers and kept records of local aff airs .

t . For hese men and these records Mr Larkin had respect . It was no easy matter to collect and place in order the history of the first ten years of the settlements included later in the

i 1 798 1 808 boundar es of Meigs county ; for from to , is an almost forgotten page , but the men who wrought for the — good of coming generations wrought wisely , intelligently, e ff or t with broad views , and persistent to establish homes , PIONEER H ISTORY OF M EIGS COUNTY 5

roads , schools and churches , to assist in framing wholesome

- laws , and enforcing them for the protection and well being of a growing community, men like George W . Putnam , Fuller E lliott , Levi Stedman , Brewster Higley, Peter Grow , Hamilton

Kerr, John Miles , William Parker, Abel Larkin and others , whose deeds and names belong to the annals of those year s 1 2 1 i i r 79 808 . on e e r h to s . from to That makes true p _ y From 1 808 1 1 r to 8 8 the influx of emigrants increased apidly . People seeking lands to found homes for their families , mechanics of all kinds , carpenters , blacksmiths , tanners and shoemakers , served for public utility and improvement . 1 81 9 off In Meigs county was set from Gallia county, and assumed importance . A court house and jail were built in

Chester, the county seat . Courts of Common Pleas were held f — judges were appointed , county o ficers were elected auditor , ff treasurer, recorder, sheri and clerk of the courts . Township f — o ficers were chosen esquires and constables , clerk , treas

u r e r . , assessor , trustees , school directors and supervisors The discomforts of pioneer life had ceased . The people enjoyed 1 820 comfortable homes , with growing families . From to

1 830 an , there was inflow of newcomers , representing all pur suits , civil and educational , lawyers, doctors , preachers and

” teachers . Farms changed owners , and new customs were d fl atbo ats introduce . The fertile Letart bottoms sent laden

N ew O with produce annually on trips to the South , rleans being the final mart . The traders returning by keelboat or ff steamboat brought sugar and molasses , rice and co ee for the merchants and communities .

N N e . ial y , Sr , Sons were established at the mouth of ’ Kerr s run , before the county of Meigs was organized , and kept a store of general merchandise , ran a sawmill , and had a ” boat landing , a port of entry for goods consigned to Levi r Stedman and others at Chester and the inte ior of the county . A po s toffice was located here and the place was called N yes 1 820 1 830 ville . From to , while a growing prosperity was 6 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUN TY I s een throughout the county, no capitalist with means and energy had arrived to develop the natural resources of Meigs 1 830 1 840 county . From to marked the beginning of com me r cial prosperity . Mr . V . B . Horton , with a wide personal influence , brought capital to operate on the development of the coal in the hills of Salisbury . He started the transporta tion of coal by means of a steamboat, the Condor, towing immense fleets laden with coal down the Ohio river, and farther down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico , from whence ships conveyed it to Boston , and grates in Boston parlors glowed with Pomeroy coal . This enterprise opened — up boat building ship builde rs from Maine and N ova Scotia came towork and direct the labor in the Horton boat yard . It gave employment to river men to manage the tow - boat E Condor , and the barges . nglish and Welch men of ex e r i e n ce an d p and j udgment took charge of the mines, miners E from ngland , Wales and Germany went into the coal tunnels of Meigs county and with pick and hand- car brought to light m the wealth of the hills . A rolling ill was set in operation , e a foundry , machine shop , and Haven Stackpole erect d a - i s flour n . three tory steam g mill Pomeroy was laid out, lots sold , the town incorporated , and elegant residences were N ’ placed on the spurs of the hills at aylor s run and Sugar run ,

ff . E while under the cli s the Brothers Howe , Dr stes and the H . . s lawyer, U G owe , Charle Pomeroy and Horace Horton ’ built no less fine homes . Mr . Samuel Grant s sawmill had full orders , furnishing lumber as fast as possible . In this

o s tofli ce decade of stirring material prosperity, the little p ’ town of Graham s Station received an impetus . Mr . Lucius 1 822 Cross came from Marietta in to lands of own , and \his h a started a tannery, built flat boats to send y to the South , opened a store of general merchandise , erected a mill on ’ Bowman s run for making flour, and sawing lumber, giving ff employment to hundreds of men in these di erent enterprises .

The name of Graham Station was changed to Racine . The PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 7

f town of She field sprang into existence in these times, broad acres j ust above the mouth of Leading creek W ere laid out in lots , the town incorporated and a cotton mill built by Mr .

- Philip Jones , a novel project for a non cotton producing ter ’ r i r to y . The Grant brothers put into the business of steam ur in a flo g mill that prospered for more than forty years . The one great event in Meigs county was the removal of the county seat from Chester and establishing th é seat of justice m in Po eroy . ’ e f The aim and int nt o Mr . Larkin s book is to preserve a record of pioneer times, that later generations may have e prop r respect and pride in their forefathers . He was the prime mover in organizing the “ Meigs County Pioneer As ” e sociation , and devot d time , thought and research in order to place correct statements concerning those early days in his book .

We ask the , Pioneer Association of Meigs County for a and liberal patronage of the book , and of thinking men women , who will find much to interest them in reading the f work , and especially the favor o descendants of early settlers in Meigs county, who are scattered in other states and i te r r tor e s .

EM E K K LINE LAR IN BIC NELL,

Reviser of the MSS . of S . C . Larkin .

PIONEER HISTORY O F MEIGS COUNTY 9

T H E E L AR A N F N DEP E N E N E L D C TIO O I D C , JU Y O R H SE E N E EN N R E D AN D F U T , V T HU D

E N - " S VE TY SI .

When in the course of human events it becomes n e ce s sary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of earth , the separate and equal station to which the ’ an d N a laws of nature of ture s God entitle them , a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they Should declare the causes which compel them to a separation . We hold these truths to be self- evident that all men are created equal , that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights ; that among these are life , liberty t o and the pursuit of happiness . That secure these rights , governments are instituted among men , deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed , and that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends , to it is the right of the people alter or abolish it , and to

' m institute new govern ent , laying its foundations on such

n principles and organizing its powers i such form , as to them ff Shall seem most likely to e ect their safety and happiness .

e s Prudence indeed , will dictate that governments long tablis h e d Should not be changed for light and transient causes , and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are ff ' ff more disposed to su er while evils are su erable , than to right themselves by abolishing the form to which they are accustomed . But when a long train of abuses and usurpations pursuing invariably the same obj ect , evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism , it is their right, it is their duty to

r throw off such government, and provide new guards for thei future security . 1 0 PIONEER H ISTORY OF M EIGS COUNTY

ff Such has been the patient su erance of the colonies, and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former system of government . The history of the present king of Great Britain is a his tory of repeated inj uries and usurpations , all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states . To prove this let these facts be submitted to a candid world : He has refused his assent to pass laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good . He has for bidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing e importance , unless suspended in their operation till his ass nt

’ Sh o uld be obtained , and when SO suspended , he has utterly neglected to attend to them . He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people unless those people would relinquish their right of representation l in the legislature , a right inestimable to them and formidab e to tyrants only . He has called together legislative bodies at pleasure , unusual and uncomfortable and distant from the th e repository of their public records , for sole purpose of n fatigui g them into compliance with his measures . He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people . He has refused for a long time after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected whereby the legislative powers incapable of annihilation have returned to the people for their exercise .

The , States remaining in the meantime exposed to all the n dangers of invasio from without, and convulsions within .

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states , for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of ’ foreigners , refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appro n pr iatio s of lands . He has obstructed the administration of justice by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary ‘ powers . He has made judges dependent on his will alone PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 1 1 for the tenure of their offices and the amount and payment f of their salaries . He has erected a multitude of new o fices and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance . He kept among us in times of peace u a standing army witho t the consent of our legislators . He has aff ected to render the military independent of and superior to the civil power . He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution and unacknowledged by our laws , giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation . For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us ; f or pote ctin g them by a mock trial and punishment for any mur ders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states ; f or cutting off our trade w ith all par ts of the world ; for imposing taxes on us w ith out our consent ; for depriving us in many cases of the benefits of trial by j ury ; for tran s porting uS beyond seas to be tried for pretended off enses ; for abolishing th e free system of English law s in a neighbor ing province , establishing therein an arbitrary government and enlarging its boundaries, SO as to render it at once an example an d fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these colonies ; For taking away our charter, abolish ing our most valuable laws and altering fundamentally the forms of our government ; for suspending our ow n legisla tures and declaring themselves invested with power to legis e late for us in all cases whatsoever . He has abdicated gov rn ment here by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us . s He has plundered our eas , ravaged our coasts , burned our towns and destroyed the lives of our people . He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to com le te n p the work of death , desolatio and tyranny already begun w ith circumstances of cruelty and p e r fidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages , and totally unworthy the head of a Christian nation . He has constrained our fellow citizens , 1 2 PIONEER HISTORY OF M EIGS COUNTY taken captive on the high seas to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren , or to fall themselves by their hands . He has excited domestic insurrection among us and has endeavored to bring the inhabitants of our frontiers under the n merciless India savages , whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions . In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for m ur redress in the ost humble terms . O repeated petitions A have been answered only by repeated inj ury . prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a t tyran is unfit to be the ruler of a free people . N o r have we been wanting in attentions to our British brethren . We have warned them from time to time of the attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us . We have reminded them of the circum f n d stances O our emigration a settlement here . We have ap

' pealed to their native justice and magnanimity and w e h ave conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations which would inevitably interrupt our con

n e ction s . and correspondence They , too, have been deaf to the voice of justice and consanguinity . We must, therefore , acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separa

tion and hold them as we hold the rest of mankind , enemies in war ; in peace , friends . We , therefore , representatives of A the United States of merica , in general Congress assembled , appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions , do in the name and by the authority of the good people of these Colonies , solemnly publish and declare that these United Colonies are , and of right ought to be , free and independent states . That they are absolved from all allegiance to the British

olti cal crown , and that all p connection between them and the state of Great Britain is and ought to be totally dissolved ; and that as free and independent states they have full power PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 1 3

to levy war, conclude peace , contract alliances , establish com merce and to do all other acts and things which an inde f pendent state may o right do . And for the support of this declaration with a firm reliance m utuall on the protection of Divine Providence , we g y pledge ' our to each other lives , our fortunes and our sacred honor ,

- ix u S . July fo rth , seventeen hundred and seventy John Han cock, President . N Signe rs ame s . — Georgia Button Gwinnett , Lyman Hall , George Walton .

N e w — Hampshire Josiah Bartlett , William Whipple ,

Matthew Thornton . — A o Massachusetts Bay Samuel dams , John Adams , R bert E Treat Paine , lbridge Gerry . — E Rhode Island Stephen Hopkins , William llery — Connecticut Roger Sherman , Samuel Huntington , William

O . Williams , liver Wolcott N ew —V V1 11 1 am York Floyd , Philip Livingstone , Francis

Lewis , Lewis Morris . N ew — h Jersey Richard Stockton , Jo n Witherspoon , Francis A Hopkinson , braham Clark and John Hart . — Pennsylvania Robert Morris , Benjamin Rush , Benjamin

Franklin , John Morton , George Clymer , James Smith , John

Hancock , George Taylor, James Wilson , George Ross . — M cK e an Delaware Caesar Rodney , George Read , Thomas . d— Marylan Samuel Chase , William Paca , Thomas Stone , o f Charles Carroll , Carrollton . — Virginia George Wythe , Richard Henry Lee , Thomas ff N r . Je erson , Benjamin Harrison , Thomas elson , J , Francis

Lightfoot Lee , Carter Braxton . N — orth Carolina William Hooper , Joseph Hewes , John e P nn . —E South Carolina dward Rutledge , Thomas Hayward ,

Thomas Lynch , Arthur Middleton . PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

T H E OR N AN E F 1 8 DI C O 7 7 .

xtr act f r om th e i s tor of th e Unite d States of m r i c b Timoth P itkin "E H y A e a. y y ,

V ol . 2 , P age

In consequence of cessions the United States became pos f

“ sessed of all the lands northwest of the Ohio, and the estab lis h m e n t d of a government for the inhabitants already settle , as well as others who might remove these , became necessary.

N ew . (The Colonial Congress , then in session at York ) 1 787 O Th is Congress , therefore , in July, , established an rdi nance for the government of this territory . This Ordinance is the basis of the governments established s by Congress in all the territorie of the United States , and may be considered an anomaly in American legislation . The whole territory was under one district , subject to be divided into two , at the pleasure of Congress . With respect to the mode Of governing the settlers in this n territory or colony , the ordinance provided that u til the number of free male inhabitants of full age in the district

Should amount to five thousand , the legislative , executive and judicial power Should be vested in a governor and three judges , who , together with a secretary, were to be appointed o fli ce by Congress . The governor was to remain in three

“ years and the judges during good behavior . The governor, with the judges were empowered to adopt and publish Such . laws of the original states , criminal and civil , as might be r necessary , and best suited to the ci cumstances of the district, and report them to Congress ; such laws to be in force until disapproved by that body . The governor was empowered to divide the district into counties or townships and to appoint. f AS all civil o ficers . soon as the free , male inhabitants of full age and Should amount to five thousand , a general assembly was to be constituted , to consist of the governor, a legislative council , and house of representatives . The representatives to c be hosen from the counties or townships, one for every five

1 6 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

means of education were forever to be encouraged , and the utmost good faith to be observed toward the Indians ; par ti cular ly their lands and property were never to be taken from n them without their conse t . The territory and the states to be formed therein were Of forever to remain a part the American confederacy, but not less than three , nor more than five states , were to be estab li h s e d . The bounds of these were fixed with liberty for Congress

“ to alter them , by forming one or two new states in that part of the territory lying north of an east and west line drawn through the southern bend , or extreme of Lake Michigan . It was also provided that whenever in any of these states there Should be sixty thousand free inhabitants , such state

was to be admitted into the Union , on the same terms or footing of the original states in all respects whatever, and be at liberty to form a permanent constitution and government , such constitution and government was to be republican and

conform to th e principles of the articles . If consistent with the general interests of the confederacy

such state , however, might be admitted into the Union with th e a less number than Sixty thousand free inhabitants . By sixth and last article it was provided there Should be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the territory otherwise

. than in the punishment of crime , of which the party Should las tw is e have been duly convicted , and in consequence of this and salutary provision the evil of Slavery has been prevented in all the new states formed out of this territory northwest of ” the river Ohio .

T — r an a of as s ach us etts is s aid to be th e auth or o f th e N O E M . D M i Sixth ar t cle .

— h e h i r di n w as ein r ame d in N ew Yor it S . W n t s o n a ce P . b g f k C y , th e Con s titution al Co n ve n tio n w as p r e p ar in g a Con s tituti on f or th e i i l i N at on in Ph lade ph a . P IONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 1 7

T H E H L AN D M P AN ’ P R H A E O IO CO Y S U C S . The Ohio Land Company originated with the disbanded O fi f cers of the Revolutionary army, while a large portion of the stockholders were citizens at large . This company was

’ y h organized in Boston early in the year 1 787. T e purchase from Congress consisted of a million and a half acres of land h 1 7 7 M an a a 8 . . s s by negotiations made by Rev Cutler , in The O a 1 802 State of hio was dmitted into the Union in , and com prised that portion of the N orthwest Territory on its eastern boundary, extending from the Ohio river on the south to the E shores of Lake rie on the north , comprising seventeen million

five hundred thousand acres of very fine land . The lands of the Ohio Company’s purchase were located in the southern part of the state bordering on the Ohio river . These lands were surveyed by men appointed by the Presi of dent, George Washington , whom were General Tupper, E General Meigs , General Israel Putnam , Colonel benezer

M . Sproat, John atthews , and others These surveyors divided o s S ix the lands int township containing square miles , and these - an d townships were sub divided into ranges , further surveyed h 640 . into sections of acres Towns ips , ranges , and Sections l OO— were numbered , as were acre lots , which sold to pur chasers . In every township , three sections are reserved for

C . ongress , Ministerial and school purposes The boundaries of these lands were permanent , thus , when any county or — 2 township or road refers to certain points Township , Range 1 1 6 —it , Section has reference to the surveys of the Ohio ’ Company s purchase .

n M e igs Cou ty .

m , 1 81 9 eigs county was formed in June , and was composed

o ff an d of territory set from Gallia county , Athens county, : Washington county , and contained the following townships — 1 803 From Gallia County Letart township , organized in ; 1 805 Salisbury township , organized in ; Rutland township , 1 8 PIONEER H ISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

1 81 2 1 81 3 organized in ; Lebanon township , organized in ; 1 81 4 Salem township , organized in ; Sutton township , organ iz d 1 81 4 e .

' — ff 1 81 3 . O o From Athens County range township , set in ;

O off 1 81 9 S e t off live township , set in ; Scipio township , in

1 81 9 Off In 1 820 ; Columbia township , set ; Bedford , including E l 21 off I n 8 . i Chester, township , set

N A E A I N EB AN N M S OF H EAD S OF F M I L I E S L O , L A T AN N 1 2 ET R D SUT T O T W N S P H 8 0 . , O HI S, O IO ,

L e w n hi banon To s p . Caleb Price Thomas Lloyd David Pickens Robert Pickens Simeon Lawrence David Dailey George Warth Jacob B u ffin gton George Com mins Aaron Lasley William Pickens William Smith John Flesher William Barrin ger Jacob Regor Elias Browning James Giles Joseph B u ffin gto n Lucinda Flesher David Sle ath John Hall Edward Sims Thomas Flinn Lawrence Jenks John Smith John Brown u Charles Sh ipman Sam el M . Jackson Abraham Knapp Hugh Brown h Ziba Lindley , Jr . Cat arine Alford Edward Anderson Philip Lauck Ziba Lindley William Lauck

Stephen K . Miller Levi T . Gandy Andrew Anderson John Hanshaw John Si s s l e Solomon Smith

L etart Towns hip .

John H . Sayre Baltzer Roush A Samuel A . Deviney dam Harpold Benjamin Warner Michael Roush Isaac Taylor Henry Roush , Jr . PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 1 9

Molly Roller Levi Osborn David W h e e lbar ge r Moses Goodfellow

Elizabeth Wolf Peter R . Goodfellow Thomas Vail John M c Elr oy John Linscott S amuel Clark Michael Dars t N iece Pickens Peter Wolf Milby German George H r e ll Jacob Scott Anthony Roush John Deviney Henry Roush Thomas Sayr e E M c D ad e E Dre vin e dward lizabeth y,z Ephraim Sayr e William Smith a D vid C . Sayre Calvin Martin John Waggoner Jacob Cr ow s e r Ezra Chapman Robert Sayre George Burns Spencer Hayman

' a David B . Sayre Jededi h Darby John Sayre T h eo ph ol us Ketchan Job Powell Elijah Bebee Burton Bradford Joseph Bebee John Hayman Abraham Kin gr e e

James Hayman William A . Boyce E John S . White Jonathan vens William Alexander Robert Hester John Boudin Ot Shadrack Rice Thomas Love John Smith Moses Sayre Haviland Chase ’ Lydia Slack Daniel Lovett R e ubin S mith John Smith i Sutton Tow n s h p . John Pickens James Ashworth George Ingals Isaac Foster Joseph Ingals David Ashworth Aaron Thompson Jacob Salser Peter Wolf Stephen Partlow William Kerr Robert Baird Thomas Batey Loftus Pullins

John H . Hayman John Pullins Samuel Pickens Mich ael W ill Jacob VVOlf George Sch ibe lair

Thomas Ashworth. John Ralph 20 PIONEER H ISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

Aaron Torrence Thomas Smith Simeon Elliott David Hudson Randall Stivers Anson Sole James Pickens Joel Hull Erastus Gelson Stephen Root James M c Cor mi ck Samuel Grant Cornelius Roush David Curtis Frances Hughs David Cooper John Hussey Peter Masten William " Radford William Kimes Jasper Branch Solomon WO lf Wyman Hardy Thomas VVigge r Ezra B emass Samuel Westfall e John R . Smith Sarah Gilmor Thompson Pickens William Watkins Jacob Aumiller Jacob M c B r ide David Young Philip Watkins Asa Johnston James Blairs ' Benjamin N oyes N athaniel Prentice Jonathan Seelye Lewis Chase Edward Ward Richard Haden George Roush Royal Burch Mary White Michael N ease Henry Wolf Mary Burrell Lyman Parker Rogge r M c B r ide Seth Jones Mary Dunbar Fuller Elliott Adam H ou de s h e ll Thomas Reding James Di xon John Wolf Michael Peltz Peter L allan ce Philemon Warner George Wolf John Warner

Michael Circle Robert C . Barton Sylvanus Ripley N icholas Weaver Andrew Donley Charlotte Scott John Quickle Fenn Robinson Luther D on il s o n Hezekiah Sims Gabriel Walling David Stewart John Rose Jeremiah Sh u mw av John Frank u Township bo ndaries were made anew , or within the limits of the older townships . Letart township originally extended PIONEER H ISTORY OF M EIGS COUNTY 21 from the mouth of Shade river to the mouth of Kerr’s run and out of its territory the townships of Lebanon and Sutton were f o rmed . Salisbury township originally embraced territory as far th e north as ROSS county, but such portions of township as w ere within the boundaries of Meigs county were divided into n w Rutla d to nship , Salem township , and a township remaining Dze e ds t e Salisbury . of land are recorded according to h ’ no menclature of the Ohio Company s surveys . 1 802 Ohio , having been admitted into the Union in , it fol lowe d that a constitutional convention Should be called to e prepare a constitution for the new state , therefore , lectors , or id e le ate s g , were elected according to the regulations given by t h e Congress of the United States, and according to the O 1 787 N a rdinance of , for the orthwest , Territory, elimin ting on l : ualifica l y one claim of that ordinance , viz the property q

from the counties within its boundaries . e Constitutional Convention w as composed of thirty-five Washington county was entitled to four dele s : E e n tes, as follow Rufus Putnam , phraim Cutler, B njami I n t r e S M c e . Gilman , and John y This convention assembled N l s t 1 802 N Chillicothe , ovember , , and adjourned ovember h 1 02 l t 8 . aw , That assembly formed Gallia county by a 30th 1 803 at was to come in force April , , by a division of

ton county , with specified boundaries , but it was 1 81 6 on the west by Scioto county until . Athens 1 805 n as formed March l st, , and was bounded o the 7th 1 807 Gallia county until January , . The boundary south of Athens county was changed to take a por tio n _ ’ ester is located, from Gallia , and add it to Athens th e ” he it remained until formation of Meigs county, 1 1 8 9 . of legislature authorizing associate judges to divide n m 1 h 1 0t 803 . ac ies i to townships was ade May , In 22 P IONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY cor dan ce therewith Gallia county was divided into three town — ’ ships Gallipolis , Kerr s, and Letart . The same act of the legislature authorized the associate ” judges to appoint j ustices of the peace for each of the aforesaid f townships . Robert Saf ord and George W . Putnam were ap pointed for Gallipolis township . In Letart township an elec tion of j ustice of the peace was to be held in the h ous e o f

—L Henry Roush one justice of the peace for Letart township . ’ For Kerr s township one j ustice of the peace was to be elected , and the election to be held in the house of William Robinson . Another act of the legislature creating a board of county l s t 1 04 8 . commissioners came into force March , The commis s ion e r s 1 l th 1 805 r e aforesaid on the of June , , proceeded to u divide the co nty of Gallia into townships, recognizing the ’ s K e r r s an d boundaries of Letart, but aboli hing that of , forming a new t‘ownship by the name of Salisbury and establishing its boundaries as follows : Beginning On the Ohio river in the

Thirteenth range of townships at . th e southeast corner of 1 00 o 376 acre lot N . ; thence west with the south line of said lot to the southwest corner of the same ; thence north to the south 1 0 o 1 4 N o . N . east corner of Section , in Range , of Township 5 N O . ; thence west to the line between the Fourteenth and Fifteenth ranges ; thence north to the northwest corner of

N o . 5 Township , in the Fourteenth range ; thence west to the county line ; thence north to the northwest corner of t h e ’ county ; thence east until it intersects the line between Kerr s and Letart ; thence with the same to the Ohio river ; thence down to the place of beginning . fli ce r f or alis bur The first election for township o s . S y town th Es . 27 ship was held in the house of Brewster Higley, q , July ,

1 805. E — d . Trustees lecte Hamilton Kerr, James G Phelps , Felix

Benedict .

- N . Overseers of the Poor . John iswonger , William Parker — h s . Fence Viewer Samuel Denny , David T omas

24 PIONEER H ISTORY OF M EIGS COUNTY

1 806 1 807 miah Fogg, Aaron Holt, James and John Forrest, 1 807 1 807 1 807 Thomas Gaston , Joel Cowdery, Henry 1 808 1 808 1 808 Roush , ; Jacob Cowdery, ; Squire B ullock , ; B u ffin ton 1 808 1 809 oh h B Philip g , ; Aaron Torrence , ; J uts ' 1 787 1 81 0 minger, ; Josiah and Joseph Vining, ; Alexander 1 81 0 1 81 1 1 81 1 Warth , John Hall , Richard Cook, Seth Jones , 1 81 2 1 81 2 ; Adam Harpold, ; Augustine Webster, William 1 81 E - in — K 1 2 Skinner, 0 Samuel verett , son law of Ham . err, 81 E N h 1 81 2 John , rastus, and at aniel Williams, ; Joseph Town ‘1 1 2 c 1 1 8 . 8 3 1 81 4 send , ; Dr Philip Lau k , ; Andrew Anderson, ; 1 81 4 n 1 81 0 Jedediah Darby, John Hayma , ; Peter Pilchard , 1 1 8 0 .

O 1 805 w The electors for Governor of hio , , in Salisbury to n : ship , were the following H il e r on E E v s . N John , James Phelps , John iswonger, lam

Higley, William Sparks , Brewster Higley , Daniel Strong, n Caleb Gardner , Cornelius Thomas , John Miles , William Gree , N imrod Hysell , Stephen Strong, Jared Strong, William Barker,

Daniel Rathburn , Samuel Denny , Hamilton Kerr, Thomas / a H o r at o Str on Sheph rd , Benj amin Williams , i g, Joel Higley, l r l s t . , James Smith; William Spencer" Joel Higley, J , Abe

E . Larkin, Samuel rvin , Felix Benedict The state elections for Governors and state officers were O 1 802 n N held on the second Tuesday in ctober, , and u til ovem 1 886 ber, , when , by a constitutional provision, the time was altered to conform to the time of holding elections f or th e

Presidents of the United States . Three road districts were made in Salis btir y township in 1 06 an d 8 the following supervisors elected , namely i “ e : . r First D strict Benjamin Smith , supervisor He made 1 806 1 8 7 turns for work done in to the trustees in 0 . : b Second District Daniel Rath urn , supervisor . He made 1 806 1 807 returns for work done in to the trustees in .

: . . Third District John Miles , supervisor Returns made in 1 1 807 for work done in 806 . The work on the highways was PIONEER H ISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 25

1 804 to pay a road tax . By a law of every male person over 1 8 years of age and under 50 years of age was liable yearly 'o and every year to do three days w rk on the public roads . The trustees of Salisbury township levied a tax to be worked out

- - at sixty two and one half cents a day . 1 8 1 2 Rutland township was organized in , being formed out

of territory embraced by Salisbury township , Gallia county , 6 1 4 ’ and consisted of Township , Range , of the Ohio Company s 6 purchase . This Township was divided by the original land - 640 company into thirty six square miles , or sections of acres

each , commencing to number them at the Southeast corner, o running north . Three sections were secured to C ngress , 1 1 2 6 . o 29 : N os . 8 N . namely , , and For ministerial purposes , 1 6 . N o . and for school purposes , making in all five sections N ine sections near the center of the township were cut up 262 : N o s 9 1 0 1 4 1 5 into fractions of acres each , as follows . , , , , 1 22 27 2 — 20 2 8 . , , , , leaving twenty two whole sections and

- twenty two fractions for the company . The fractions in Rut land township are numbered so as to correspond with the o 1 2 4 6 7 1 2 N s . 3 5 sections belonging to the company , , , , , , , , , 1 2 24 2 1 32 3 4 1 3 1 7 1 8 9 3 5 30 3 3 3 35 36 . , , , , , , , , , , , , , Six Sections l s t were added after the formation of Meigs county , April ,

1 81 9 . , and are an important addition to Rutland township Among the pioneers who settled on this tier of sections were

r E . , J . , , , . Joel Higley James Phelp Daniel Rathburn and Benja m 1 03 8 . min Willia s , all from Granby , Connecticut, in In looking back to the days when Salisbury township ex ’ r u n n tended from Kerr s westward to Ross cou ty, we have i ntroduced a list of some supervisors of roads , and after giving

names , dates and returns, find it interesting to describe the

boundaries of one or two road districts , viz , of Daniel Rath i burn , Second district, ordered to do work , beg nning at ’ ,Widow Case s , down to the Butternut rock , when he thought

n -tax 1 806 most proper, this bei g highway for the year 26 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

Daniel Rathburn , Joel Higley , Brewster Higley , 85 Abel Larkin , Luke Brine , cents ; Joel Higley, E 1 r . 05 E S . N J , James Phelps , Shubael obles , $ ; Eli quire B ullock , Stedman , Benjamin Williams , 75 E 75 cents ; lam Higley, cents ; Jesse Fleshman, Jesse

85 E . Carpenter, cents ; dward Faller, Moses Russell , 95 Martin Roup , William Sparks , cents ; William 85 N Campbell , cents ; icholas Sins , Stillwell , A 5 7 . mos Carpenter , cents

H I - JOEL GLEY,

M E . P JA ES PHEL S, 1 5th 1 06 . O 8 . ctober , Trustees

John Miles , supervisor of the Third road district in Salisbury 1 806 be township , highway taxes for the year , the district ’ 7- ginning at the Widow Case s , up the road to the mile tree 95 William Spencer, cents ; Abijah Hubbell , John E Miles , Caleb Gardner, rastus Stow , Wil

r liam Parker, J . , Thomas Shepherd , Thomas E 85 verton , cents ; Felix Benedict , M K WILLIA PAR ER,

M E . P JA ES PHEL S, I R JOEL H GLEY, J . ,

Trustees . The Widow Case mentioned in the boundaries of the Second and Third road districts lived where the l ate lamented Virgil

C . Smith afterwards lived . Mrs . Case was his maternal grand A t be l mother, who subsequently married bijah , Sr. She s was the widow of John Case , mentioned , al o , in the account of the settlement of Brewster Higley . Mr . Case had gone t back to Vermon , and in company with his friend and neigh

N . . bor , oah Smith , started for Ohio Mr Case had a young

. s wife , and Mr Smith had a wife and three or four daughter , 3 and son % years old . After journeying on the road from N Philadelphia as far as Carlisle , in Cumberland county, oah

PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 27

‘ ‘ T H i e n t ri ith r . s w o w M . Smith s uddenly died . family Case until Of reachi ng a little town West Liberty, the county seat Ohio

die d . an d county, West Virginia , where John Case suddenly , —h e r fi r s t where Mrs . Case gave birth to a daughter child , who n n E . o was . amed liza As s on as these conditio s were known by Brewster Higley he went to their relief and brought them bou h t f all to Leading creek . Mrs . Smith settled on land g o

n M r s . Samuel Denny, O the west side of the creek , and Case e settled on the east side of the same stream, and n arly opposite

’ - Eli za an d Mrs . Smith . There she brought up her daughter, ,

r e . the Smith family we reared , so in the later years Livingston E Smith and liza Case were married , reared a respectable a Old family, and died, fter living to a good age .

T h e Butternut rock is on the west side of Leading creek,

7- half amile above the mouth of Thomas fork . The mile tree is thought to be on the road up Leading creek on the road e x un trav led to Scioto salt furnaces , but the e act place is — a known probably about L ngsville .

B R EW T ER L E AN AM L S HIG Y D F I Y .

The first settlement made in Rutland township w as by 1 799 Brewster Higley, in April , , on the farm since occupied i ‘ h s s n . e by o , Milo Higley Judg Higley . was a native of Sims b t bury, Connecticut, u came from Castleton , Rutland county, V e r mOn t l 1 8 , to Be lville , West Virginia, where he remained

a . months, prepar tory to his removal to Ohio He bought a ’ share in -the Ohio C ompany s purchase for one t h ouSan d dol

. i lars He then , in company w th John Case , who had been one of a party of surveyors , and was of some service to Mr . Higley

' o as to th e in making his selecti n of land , as he w have a part of land , made a visit to the place of his future home . He returned floate d -d o to Bellville , purchased a family boat and wn the Ohio

‘ - river to the mouth of Leading creek, w hich being high w ith a t h e back water, he poled his boat up the stre m as far as place 28 PIONEER H ISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

n ’ know as Jacobs upper salt works . Here he tore his boat to pieces and built a shanty for his family to live in until he could build a house on his land . The first shanty made for his boys and John Case to live in w hile clearing the land was made of bark and sticks and stood near the ground afterwards used as a family graveyard . Brewster Higley was a Revolutionary soldier and had served

. r as j ustice of the peace in the state of “ Vermont Gene al

. N o Arthur St Clair, Governor of the orthwest Territ ry , ap

“ pointed Brewster Higley aS ' on e of the j u s t1 ce s of the peace f er u h a e the co nty of Was ington , the commission bearing d t De 28th 1 801 i cember , , done at Chillicothe . This commiss on an d E es one to Fuller lliot, of Letart, are probably the only on for justices appointed under the territorial government for the people living in what is now Meigs county . Mr . Higley was one of the first associate j udges of Gallia county and

Served for a number of. years . He was elected justice of the 1 81 5 peace in Rutland township , and in was made the second postmaster of Rutland and held the office for several years . 20th 1 847 88 3 He died June , , at the ripe old age of years 6 N months and days . His wife , aomi Higley, died February m 4th 1 850 89 3 . , , aged years , one onth and days

e e N The children of Br wster Higley and his wif , aomi Higley , were four sons and three daughters k h : r . Ac s a The sons were Brewster Higley, J , who married

Evarts.

. m E Cyrus Higley arried lecta Bingham , daughter of Judge

B n i . . O e Alvin ingham , of Athens son, Jul us Bicknell Higley e N \Lucius Higley marri d ancy Shepherd . Lucius Milton 1 s Higley marr ed Mis Morton . Milo Higley married Miss

Pankey . E Joseph L . Higley married mily Reed . ‘ i r Harriet Higley was marr ed to Alvin Bingham , J . , son of e Judge Bingham , of Ath ns .

30 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

on a farm where Middleport is now situated . Philip Jones th 1 6 30 86 80 . died May , , aged years E 2 h 1 7 N 6t 88 . lihu Higley was born ovember , He s erved in 1 1 2 the Army of the N orthw est in the War of 8 . He married N 1 8 1 5 ancy Cook in December, , moved to his farm in Rutland 1 1 D 8 6 . in ecember , They had one child , Clarissa Fidelia i 23d 1 877 married Mart n Fox . Mr . Higley died April , , aged

89 years . 20th 1 7 95. Laura Higley , born August , She was married 1 1 2 I 8 . . O to Daniel C Rathburn in , in Rutland , , moved to ndi ' 1 8 4 91 8 . ana , died there in August , , aged years 8th 1 795 - Sally Higley, born March , , was married to Daniel M c N au h ton 1 81 6 29th 1 845 g , December , , and died September , , h 50 . M c N au ton aged years Harlow g , a son , was captain of the Seventh Ohio Battery in the Civil war for the Union . 7th 1 797 Cynthia Higley, born February , , and never mar i 26th 1 81 22 9 . r ed . She died August , , aged years 30th 1 799 r Maria Higley, born July , , and mar ied Willis 2 th 1 4 8 83 35 . Knight , and died February , , aged years 9th 1 802 Joel Phelps Higley was born June , , married 2 1 836 34 ' O 3d . Catherine Wise , and died ctober , , aged A son , 8 3 1 6 . Captain Joel P . Higley, fell in fighting for the Union in E A Laurinda Higley was married to arl P . rcher and died 1 855 0 9 . September, , aged years She was the mother of a large A E family . Marinda rcher, Henry, Sophia, Benjamin , lam , and Abiah Archer, who married Benjamin W hitlock , their

E . childr en were Hiram , lecta , Levi , Harriet , Eunice E w unice Higley married Silas Knight , kno n as Deacon ” 1 1 1 1 2 8 2 8 . Knight , in and came to Rutland in They were — highly respected . They had a numerous family two sons S ix E and daughters . Mr . Knight and his wife unice , both died the same day and were buried in the same grave , July 3l s t 1 83 9 67 63 . , , aged years and years , respectively E 1 778 lecta Higley was born in , and came to Rutland with her parents , and afterwards married Benjamin Williams . She

PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

a ma was a rem rkable wo n , intelligent , energetic , with resource o ful disposition to be adapted to pioneer c nditions . She

' ’ ow n h ou s e taught school in her , cut and made men s best clothes , and cared for a flower garden that was the pride of

n tw o Rutland for ma y years . She had children , a daughter, t 1 1 1 M l 8 . born February , , married Rev James itchell , went d 1 81 1 55 3 . E 8 8 . to Illinois in , and died February , Mrs lecta ’ 1 7 865, 8 Williams died at _ her daughter s in Illinois, in aged 26th 1 873 years . Her husband died July , . The son , Benjamin N 1 8th 1 808 Selah Williams , was born ovember , , and married E lizabeth L . Brown , of Athens county , and lived on the home 1 7th stead farm where he was born until his death , February , 1 1 2 89 8 3 . . , aged years , months Mrs Williams was born July 2d 1 81 1 1 4th 1 897 85 7 , , and died February , , aged years , 1 2 f . O months , days They had a numerous family sons and daughters , but they, except two children , James and Mary, left th Ohio for e West .

Sophia Higley was married to Asa Stearns , a Free Will e c O Baptist preach r , finally settled in Mercer ounty , hio , where

died . They had four children , Rufus , Amos , Louise ,

was a soldier in the War of 1 81 2 and served

Harrison in the Army of the N orthwest . He and settled on a farm in the northeast h i s w n s . p They had one child , Au tin 1 876 y , who went to Iowa about , and died there . i E ncident in the life of lam Higley is worth relating .

his enlistment , when about to leave home , his mother him a Bible with directions to put it in a Side pocket of

already made for its reception . When in the Maumee

' a an d they had Skirmish with the enemy , a bullet d E ’ an In ian , aimed at lam s heart , struck that Bible h i ’ lif s e . did not pass. through , thus was preserved His “ E u rades said , lam thought himself badly wo nded , but the ” n as w . was fou d in the Bible , and he not hurt 32 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

Hamilton Kerr was born in Philadelphia in 1 764. He was a noted Indian scout of great daring, courage and strength . N He married Susannah iswonger, a highly educated young N woman , and daughter of Colonel John iswonger . Mr . Kerr came to his land below the mouth of Leading creek , on the

O 1 797 n hio river, in , and was an active , useful citizen , as see f in reports of all civil proceedings of Salisbury township . O t their children , William Kerr married Jane Murray and se tled on a farm on the west side of Thomas fork , just above the 27th 1 883 6 8 . mouth , where he died March , , aged years E Sarah Kerr was married to Samuel verett , and lived near ’ the mouth of Story s run ; later moved to the northern part of Ohio .

Margaret Kerr was married to Hamilton Kerr, a distant relative . After the death of Hamilton Kerr in 1 821 the estate was

-

b E . settled y Colonel verett , the administrator, and Mrs Kerr, th e the widow , and her daughter, Sophia , moved to north part of the state , probably Wyandot county .

Colonel John N iswonger was of German extraction and early in life was from near Winchester , Virginia . He enlisted D 29th 1 776 ecember , , to serve during the war ; served as a ’ T sergeant in Captain John Leman s company , hirteenth Vir e ginia regiment , commanded success ively by Colon l John

Gibson , Revolutionary war, and appears on the muster roll , N 1 779 October, ovember, and December, , at Fort Pitt , and ” 1 3th 1 780 February , , on which he is reported as being at Fort N Henry . Colonel John iswonger was one of the heroes of the battle of Point Pleasant . He settled on land near the

—i n — mouth of Leading creek , with his son law , Hamilton Kerr, 1 798 in , and was an important factor in the civil arrangements i n for the government of Salisbury township , afterwards cluded in Rutland township , Meigs county . His tombstone was found in the tearing down of an old building, where PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 33 it had been used as a h ear th s ton e i It had this plain inscription “ N Sacred to the memory of Colonel John iswonger, who de 1 3 1 821 7 ” 8 4 . p arted this life July th, , aged years and months N o person now living can find the place of his grave .

Peter N iswonger was a comrade of George Warth in the 1 81 1 1 81 4 N hunting trips of the years to , when Mr . iswonger

- had a still house for making whisky and peach brandy, built 1 82 ’ by a spring of excellent water , on Lot , Ohio Company s N purchase , afterward owned by ehemiah Bicknell . The “ ” - spring was always called the still house spring. His name , of E N in connection with that lias esselrode , is used in an account of an elk discovered crossing the Ohio river below

k b d A w h o Oh i Sandy cree , y An rew nderson , , being on the o N N side of the river, saw iswonger and esselrode pushing a canoe laden with salt upstream to whom he called “ to head ” off the elk , which had reached their Side so near that they

' t h Or n s w h ich threw a log chain a his , so enraged him that he capsized their canoe with the men and the salt and escaped to the woods of Virginia .

T H E W AR TH FAM I L Y—COL ON EL DAV ID B AR B ER ’S

82 . L ET T ER , 1 8

During the Indian war there came to the stockade in h i s Marietta a family named George Warth , wife and two : daughters and five sons , namely John , George , Robert ,

Martin , and Alexander . They came from Virginia , brought

- u p in the woods and were all fine hunters . John and George

. were employed as rangers , or spies for Fort Harmar The f amily lived in a log house on the first bottom between the river and the garrison built by the United States troops for the

r tific e r Fl e eh ar t a s to work in . George Warth married Ruth ,

h n r h Fl e eh ar t and Jo W a t married Sally , sisters to Joshua Flee d h art , and Robert W arth mar r ied a aughter of a French widow 34 PIONEER H ISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

L allan c e named , who came from France with two children , a son and this daughter, and who were in the stockade at the time when Robert Warth was killed by the Indians . He left a young widow and one child , Robert Warth , afterwards a noted merchant of Gallipolis . The family were illiterate , but pos sessed keen , clear intellectual faculties , which were improved in later years by whatever opportunities were afforded for learning.

Mr . Paul Fearing taught John Warth the rudiments of his v education , which he culti ated so that at the close of Indian hostilities , having settled on lands in West Virginia , Jackson ’ W ar th s f county, long known as bottom , he filled several O fices for the government and was a magistrate for a number of years . He was also the owner of slaves . George Warth O owned a piece of land in Meigs county, on the hio river, opposite the present town of Ravenswood , West Virginia .

He , with his brother John , carried the first mails from Mari etta to Gallipolis , in canoes . They went armed with rifles , carried provisions for their journey, traveling chiefly at night of to avoid Indian encounters . George Warth was a hunter wild animals , his greatest success during life . He had a family of sons and daughters—Robert Warth and Alexander

Warth , Clara , Sally , Hannah , Rebecca , Rachel , and Drusilla .

He lived and died in his cabin on the banks of the Ohio , a poor man in what the world calls wealth , yet all of the hero is due to his name , for brave and fearless protection of the helpless in times of peril . s The son , Robert Warth , married Mary John on , and lived as a farmer in Jackson county, West Virginia , and died in

Ravenswood .

Alexander Warth was a boatman , married in Louisville ,

Kentucky , and after the death of his parents , within two weeks

' ach l and D us of each other, his sisters , Sally, R e , . r illa moved to

Louisville .

36 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

E 1 5th 1 7 95. lisha Hubbell Benedict , born September , He married Maria Simpson, and they lived in Rutland township

1 856 . several years , but removed to Kansas in , where Mrs — Benedict died . They had six children Lydia Ann , Claretta, A E a . . E . . C Sarah , lish , Walter lisha C enlisted in Company ‘ N D, inth Regiment, Kansas Volunteer Cavalry, and died at 1 3th 1 862 Fort Scott , Kansas , September , .

~ 28th W alte r F. , born July , enlisted in Company D , N inth Kansas Regiment, Volunteer Infantry, served during ' the Civil war and participated in fifteen engagements . 1 5th 1 797 N Harriet, born December , , and married ovember 1 8 1 829 N 9th 1 86 . th , , to B enjamin Savage , and died ovember ,

3d 1 806 1 3 1 824. Felix Starr, born May , , and died August th , N 28th 1 808 William Spencer, born ovember , , and died June 1 6 1 833 th , .

AB EZ B E E AN D M L j N DICT FA I Y .

He was a son of Felix B enedict and wife , Clarissa , and was O 1 3 1 802 born ctober , , and removed with his parents to Lead 1 3 1 803 4th O O . ing Creek , hio , ctober , He married April , 1 833 , Miriam Chase , daughter of John and Miriam Chase , of — O . Athens county, hio Their children were four Clarissa,

7th 1 835 S . born May , ; William , died young ; John Merrill 1 7 1 839 . Benedict , born September th , He enlisted in the Eigh te n th Ohio Volunteer Infantry as a private and was pro a moted to lieuten nt colonel , served four years in the Civil

N w as war, was wounded twice at ashville , but recovered , and ’ H e O brevetted colonel at the close of the war . married cto 1 8 1 882 ber th , , to Miss Bettie Rife , of Morgantown , West

Virginia .

George W . Benedict , son of Jabez B enedict and wife , was 21 t 1 84 E s 3. born July , He served three years in the ighteenth O 4th 1 878 hio Volunteer Infantry , was married March , , to

Florence Grimes , a daughter of James Grimes , of Rutland ,

Ohio . C OUNTY PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 37

B 28th 1 886. j Jabez enedict died January , He was noted for

his fondness for reading, and with a retentive memory he was

familiar with the best authors of his time , and of the Holy

Scriptures .

E 1 800 Thomas verton came from Canada in , and settled on

a farm near the mouth of Leading creek . He was a member tedinComan D , , p y , of the Regular Baptist Church and was called familiarly “ E ” mtr serv , . y, eddur Deacon verton and died on his farm in Rutland township : naemen , . gg ts. There were eight children Betsy Mrs B enjamin Richard E E . E lmarriedNovember son ; benezer verton ; Relief, Mrs dwards ; Thomas

E . . N . 1 verton , Polly, Mrs Stone ; ancy, Mrs . Jesse W November 9th 186. , Jr

E . ; ; , . dAuust13th 1324. Stevens Benjamin verton Sally Mrs Charles Richardson g ,

1 08anddied une 8 , j ER E M IA R GG A D AM L J H I S N F I Y . l P 1 800 He came to what is now ca led agetown , in , and m : arried Miss Rachel Keller . They had a large family

r . E William James, Frank , Jeremiah , J , George , lias , Jackson N and three daughters , Rebecca, ancy and Polly . There

ate of the death of Jeremiah Riggs or his wife . Several

sons moved to some western states ; the daughter, N ancy, never married . Rebecca was married twice , and lived

and died in the Hocking Valley . Polly was married to Martin

D e Sh e y , of Pagetown , for his second wife ; left a widow died

M r s . f her niece , John Crary, in Lebanon town 1 th 1 ctobe r 3 895. On e , She was the last of Jeremiah

iggs family .

O N M L E S AN D FAM L J H I I Y .

John Miles came from Rutland , Worcester county , Y N . . Massachusetts , to Cooperstown, , where he married

Chloe Jervis . They came to Belpre , Washington county, O 1 798 r e ma1 n e d 1 801 hio , in , where they three years . In they t e ame to Leading Creek , being the S cond family in what was 38 PIONEER HISTORY OF M EIGS COUNTY

afterwards Rutland township . He bought a Share in the Ohio ’ - Company s Purchase for ninety six pounds , sterling, and N l 0th 1 847 settled on the farm where he died on ovember , , 21 s t aged eighty years . Chloe Jarvis Miles died September , 1 44 ‘ 8 . They had seven children . Benjamin Lanson Miles ‘ went to Arkansas , had a cotton plantation , some slaves ; lived 1 839 . and died there in He was twice married , but left one son , James B . Miles .

Mary Miles was never married . She died in Rutland , April

' 9th 1 857 —f o r e ar u s . , , aged Sixty y Barzillai Hosmer Miles was a preacher of the Christian Am denomination . He married y Guthrie , who died leaving

AS two daughters . a preacher he was successful , traveled 1 832 some and died of cholera in , while on his way home from

Louisiana .

John B . Miles married Mary Johnson and owned a farm in

Rutland township , where they lived many years . They had 1 864 a family of sons and daughters . He died in Racine in ,

- aged sixty eight years . Mrs . Mary Miles died in Racine , Ohio .

Columbus Miles , son of John and Mary Miles , married Elizabeth H opkins ; was in the marble business at Gallipolis and died ther e

' a i 1 n Benjamin Harrison Miles , a preacher, and sold er the

Civil war , but died later . John Wesley Miles , a marble dealer ’ a i . e in Gallipolis Adalin Miles was m rried to Waid Cross , a

O . merchant in Racine , hio They had a family of sons and 1 05 daughters . Mrs . Cross died in 9 . n 5 1 803 . N Sally C Miles was bor ovember th , , being the first female born in the township , afterwards Rutland . She was a m rried to Russell Cook , lived on a farm in Rutland . They 1 857 had a large family of sons and daughters . She died in , fif t - aged y four years . 1 9th 1 807 O . Joseph Jarvis Miles was born ctober , He mar 1 841 ried Sarah Cutler Larkin in . They had children but all d ied in infancy . He was a tanner by trade , carried on the PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 39

f o business in Gallipolis r a number of years , and later in the th 1 855 27 . same business in Pomeroy . He died July , E th e h h o lecta Miles , youngest c ild o f Jo n and Chl e Miles w as 20th to born August , and was married John “

M c ui s . Q gg, and lived many years on the Mile Homestead — Sh e They h ad two children George M c Q uigg and Frances . l oth 1 906 - died January , , aged ninety four years , loved and esteemed by all . i 25th 1 0 M c u N 83 . George Q gg was born ovember , He was married twice , first to Miss Caroline Smith , who was the M mother of two children , Lucy . , who died young, and John i M c u N . Q gg, connected with the Pomeroy ational Bank Miss M c ui Kate Edwards was the second wife of Mr . Q gg. They — had three children Charles , in the salt business as a successor r to his father ; Anna , married to M . Follett , of Kansas , and

ui M c ui ' ff E M c . mma Q gg George Q gg was a man of a airs , a f fine business man , clean in his political actions , genial , af able , th e always winning favor of the best citizens . He was gen eral agent of the Ohio Salt Company from 1 868 to the time 29th 1 892 - of his death , October , ; aged sixty one years , ten — months and twenty eight days .

Captain James Merrill was a sea - faring man and com m an de d E vessels in the ast India trade for Mr . Dexter, a wealthy shipowner and merchant prince . After years of ’ service in Mr . Dexter s employ he quitted the sea and came to O 1 801 hio in , settling on a farm in Salem township given to him by Mr . Dexter, but removed to a farm in Rutland township in later years . Capt . Merrill built the first frame

- house in what is now Meigs county . The weather boards were of wild cherry, sawed with a whipsaw . He had con ducted to the ocean one of the first Ships built at Marietta . He was a religious man , highly respected . He died in Rutland . 2 h 1 2 O 9t 8 6 . ctober , 40 H , PIONEER ISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

W I L L I AM P AR K E R AN D FAM L . , I Y

William Parker, Sr . , was born at Malden, Massachusetts,

5 1 745 - June th , , and was married to Mary Warner, January

28th 1 772. , She was the daughter of Philemon Warner , of u 1 753 Gloucester, Massach setts , and was born in . He was a

cabinet maker and exported furniture to the West Indies . ’ He bought a Share of land in the Ohio Company s Purchase , E 1 789 and left the ast in , traveling as far as the forks of the You h io h e n r 1 8 0 r e g g y , where he emained until about 0 ; he

moved his family to his farm in Salem township , where they

° lived and reared a large family . Their children were

E 21 s t 1 773 lizabeth Warner , born September , , and died 1 9 1 850 — h e a . e J nuary th , , aged seventy seven years S was n ver

married and died in Salem .

r 4th 1 77 t . 5 William , J , was born July , , and married Be sy 1 3 1 02 8 . Wyatt , May th , She was a daughter of Deacon

Joshua Wyatt . 6th 1 777 Sally, born June , , and was married to Judge E 1 3th 1 808 th 1 846 . . 30 phriam Cutler , April , She died June , 20th 1 779 m John , born June , ,and arried Lucy Cotton . He

and 1 84 was a Halcyon preacher died in 9 . 7th 1 781 a Daniel was born August , , and m rried Priscilla 24 h 1 1 O t 8 6 . e Melloy Ring, ctober , He was a preach r of Uni 22d 1 1 . 86 . versal Restoration He died March , His wife died 4th 1 4 87 . September , 27th 1 783 Polly, born May , , and was married to Judge

Cushing Shaw . They both lived and died in Salem , leaving a a numerous and worthy f mily of children . N 1 3 1 785 ancy, born March th , , was marr ied to Stephen

Es . . Strong, q Mr Strong was an early advocate of temper

“ On e ance . He was elected to the legislature for term , was a

surveyor and held many county offices . They had no children ;

lived and died in Salem . PION EER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 4 1

l oth 1 787 . Susanna , born March , , was married to Dr Syl

van us E 5 1 81 5 - varts , and died July th , , aged twenty eight

years . 26th 1 789 Fanny, born March , , and was married to John

Fordyce and had several children . They were farmers and

lived and died in Salem . E 22d 1 792 benezer was born December , , and married Mary

n N u . Swett, daughter of Benjami Swett , of ewb ryport, Mass E benezer Parker lived in the old homestead for many years , but sold out and finally removed to Cincinnati to live with h is

sons , where he died .

1 795 . Clarissa , born May , , and was married to Peter Shaw hewas never 24th 1 1 7 - 8 . She died May , , aged twenty two years 26th 1 825 Mr . William Parker, Sr . , died N ovember , , and 2 th 1 81 1 his wife , Mrs . Parker, died February 5 , They were

both members of the Presbyterian Church , lived useful and

honorable lives , leaving an exemplary record to their de

s ce n dan ts .

e The Al shire brothers , Conrad , Michael and Peter, came as O emigrants from the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia , to hio , in 1 802 , and settled first near the mouth of Kiger creek , until 1 805 , when Michael came to Leading creek and bought a '

die d in 1 845. farm , but afterwards moved to Salem , where he

Conrad Aleshire came to Leading creek , settled on a farm ; A had a son , bram , who came with him from Virginia , who 1 784 was born in , and who had two children, Anna and Pres

1 1 842 - ton Aleshire . Conrad Aleshire died in , aged eighty nine r 1 e a s . 865 j y Abram Aleshire died in . Peter Aleshire was a a regular B ptist preacher and lived in Salem township .

Thomas Shepherd moved to Leading creek in 1 802 and set

| l 1 - t e d N o . 9 or on Fraction , the Denny lot . He was from M c Far lan d Maryland , but married Polly in Kentucky . She 42 PI oN EER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

M c Far lan d t h e was the daughter of Mr . , and who was in Block House in Marietta at the time of the massacre by the

Indians of the settlement twelve miles up the Muskingum . In the alarm occasioned by that event the defense of the r M c Far lan d Block House was left ve y weak , and Polly , a girl

a . . of sixteen , was given a gun and st tioned at a porthole Mr M c Far lan d moved to Kentucky , where Polly was married to . e Thomas Shepherd . Int resting stories are related of her

n e . courage in meeting emergencies . O night when Mr Shep h a d e n herd gone to Gallipolis for ammunition , a large bear te r e d i a calf pen not far from the house , and in try ng to carry it off the calf bawled , which wakened Mrs . Shepherd , who went off out , drove the bear and up a tree , under which she built a an fire and kept it there until morning . It is said of her that other time she was going after‘ the cows in the woods when the dogs treed a raccoon . She sent a boy after an ax , cut down

the tree , caught the raccoon , tanned the hide and made herself

a pair of Shoes .

They had three sons and several daughters . The sons were

Charles , Daniel and Thomas . The daughters were , Polly, N married to Andrew Long ; ancy, married to Lucius Higley

(see Higley family) Sally , married to Mr . Shaw ; Jane , Mrs .

John Savage ; Betsy, Mrs . James Caldwell ; Annie ; Peggie ,

a o S . Clarissa , Mrs . Backus ; Almira , Mrs . A r n mith ’ Mr . Shepherd s name appears as a voter for the first election 1 806 for Governor of Ohio ; also on the supervisors tax list for , and he was one of the first trustees of Rutland township in 1 1 2 1 772 1 42 8 . He was born in and died in 8 .

Caleb Gardner came from the State of N e w York and 1 80 settled in Rutland in 3. He was a man of good business ffi abilities , and served the township in various o cial capacities

with credit to himself and satisfaction to the public . He died N 23d 1 823 fif t - ovember , , aged y nine years .

44 PIONEER HISTORY OF M EIGS COUNTY li h e d r e ach e r s f h ad s their home , where itinerant Methodist p regular appointments . The names of Jacob Young, David

Young, William Young, James Quinn , James Gilruth , and

W h o . . John P . Kent, and others found a cordial welcome Mr

“ an d Mrs . Rathburn were leading and influential citizens in

' i — a f am l . those early times . They had y of sons no daughters 1 852 —five r Mr . Daniel Rathburn , Sr . , died in , aged eighty yea s , r 1 868 - six months . M s . Rathburn died in , aged ninety eight years , ten months , three days .

' “ ‘ The children were Daniel C . Rathburn, who married Laura H igley, had a farm in Rutland , was j ustice of the peace , and

“ taught school . They had a numerous family of sons and

25th 1 855 fif t v n in e daughters . He died September , , aged y years . E t o 23d lisha Rathburn was married Polly Giles , September , 1 1 8 9 . He came with his father to Ohio and settled on a farm near the village of Rutland . He was highly respected by the community and favorably known as a preacher in the Baptist n or Christian de omination . His gifts and graces , zeal and

‘ charity were s h ow n i n a remarkable degree through a long u and seful life . E 30th 1 789 A lisha Rathburn was born June , , and died ugust th A 1 3th 1 79 8 . 9 , Mrs Rathburn was born pril , , and died th 1 896 - 7 . February , , aged ninety one years They had a family of one son , Joseph N ewton , and five daughters , Clarissa,

E . lizabeth , and Roana (Mrs Seth Paine) , and two daughters who died in early womanhood . N M ilto x . n Two sons of J ewton Rathburn , Rathburn and e m Charl s , are successful erchants , and prominent citizens of u Meigs co nty, Milton Rathburn being elected Senator from 1 06 9 . this district , for state legislature , They were born and brought up in Rutland township .

Timothy Rathburn , a son of Daniel Rathburn and his wife ,

Desire Rathburn , married a Miss Daniel , of Gallia county, and M . E. RATHBURN

EDG E V AR R IN.

F urth G r ati fr m Da i l a o ene on o n e S y r e .

PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 45

a t s lived on part of h e old homestead . They had everal children .

' ' Alvin Rathburn was a ph ys i cian and practiced medicine in

Rutland . He was married and had three sons . William P .

“ Rathburn , a banker, removed to Chattanooga, Tennessee , where h e was successful in accumulating a large property by investments in iron and coal . He died in Chattanooga . s ia Jo eph Rathburn , son of Alvin , was a physic n , as was his G brother , James Rathburn , who removed to allia county , w here he died .

h . Jo n Rathburn , a son of Daniel Rathburn , Sr , was a doctor , but died young . Francis Asbury Rathburn was the sixth son of Daniel

9th 1 800 . Rathburn , Sr . , and his wife . He was born March , e r H was never married but lived with his parents , ca ing for h them with filial devotion in their Old a ge . After the deat

h i s n 1 852 o of father i he moved int the village with his mother , 1 wher e she died in 863. He continued to live in Rutland until

bv . his death , an exemplary man , respected all who knew him

Samuel Rathburn was the youngest son of Daniel Rathburn , 1 2 d 0 . . a Sr , and his wife , Desire Rathburn , n was born in 8 He married a Miss Vanden, of Gallipolis , engaging in the mercan i n f tile business that city . He held several o fices of public a trust , was probate judge of Gallia county , and m intained an honorable character , a highly respected citizen , until his death .

T H E H UN T ER S .

An account of hunting adventures; as described by Mr . John

Warth and reported by Mr . Silas Jones , who was a member

’ " 1 2 r W a th 3 . . of Mr . r s family in 8 He says that Mr Warth neve t ired of entertaining his guests with narratives of perils and

and . adventures in his early life , Mr Jones reports , as near as ’ s possible , in the actor s own word . 4 6 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

In the time of great peril , when it was not safe to look out

of the fort, and our brother Robert had been shot while

chopping a log near the fort , it became necessary to procure

some meat for the families in the fort . Thinking the Ohio

bottoms less liable to be infested with Indians , George and I

stole out of the fort at nigh t , and paddled noiselessly down Blan n e r h as s e t the river to a point opposite island , where we As hid our canoe in the willows . soon as it was light we

started in diff erent directions to hunt for deer . I had not gone half a mile when I saw two tall savages coming in the

direction I was going . I squatted in the high pea vines and thick undergrowth that covered the ground while they passed

by near me but did not see me . However, they soon dis

covered my trail , which they . followed back to the canoe , which I supposed they would watch until the owner would

come . My great concern now was the safety of my brother

George , as he not being aware of the presence of the Indians

would return to the canoe and fall a prey to them . Then I on decided a plan to save George , which was to proceed to a

p oint out of Sight of the Indians , hide my gun , swim across ’ the river, then swim to the island and watch for George s

return . This plan I fully carried out . Along in the afternoon I heard the report of my brother’s gun after which my anxiety — amounted to agony minutes seemed hours . At length I saw George coming out of the woods with the carcass of a deer th . e on his back He looked up and down shore , when I got his attention and by Signs and gestures got him to take

in the situation . We both regained the fort without further

trouble . When the danger was over I went with a party and n recovered my gun and the ca oe . “ Another time George and I went out in search of game ,

s o m e di s tan ce and were separated , when I heard the report of

his gun , after which I heard cries of distress coming from

George . I ran to him with all the possible speed of my limbs ,

and found him pinned to the earth by a large elk . I was so PIONEER HISTORY OF M EIGS COUNTY 47

exhausted that I could not draw the bead , so I ran up and thrust the muzzle of my rifle against the animal ’s ribs and

fired , when he fell dead at my feet . My brother was not much d hurt, the horns of the elk had not penetrate through the th ample folds of his hunting shirt, which held him to ’ s ufli ci e n tl ground . (The hunter s shirt was made y large so ’ that he could stow a week s provisions above the belt . ) e n George had fired on the elk , only wounding him , and so raging the beast that he turned on the hunter and compelled George to take refuge in a high upturned root where he fought with his clubbed rifle till he had nothing left but th e bent

barrel , when the maddened elk finally dislodged him , with the

. O ur above result capture was a valuable one , but did not ’ ” acom e n s ate p for George s gun .

" A E e R ive n ncou nte r W ith W olve s at Shad r. George Warth and Peter N iswonger took their rifles and f r t went out o a hunt . Af er traveling some time they came to

a ridge that ran to near the mouth of Shade river , when Warth N “ said to iswonger , You go on the bottom on one side of the ridge and I will take the other side and will come together ” s at the end of the ridge on the bank of Shade river . They N out started thus , but iswonger got of the way, and came l out above the second ridge . Warth went directly to the river t — end of the ridge there sat seven to ten wolves . They showed a a alarm at his approach , the largest w lked toward him , the « others following . He Shot the foremost one , and it fell dead .

He reloaded his rifle as soo n as he could , for the wolves

indicated fight . Then he went into the river until the water

was up to his hips , and the wolves went in after him . He shot the foremost one through the shoulder and he went back to ’ the water s edge and sat down and looked at him . He de

fended himself with his empty rifle , broke the stock in many

pieces , and then fought them with the empty barrel . He had the advantage of being in the water deep enough to swim th e 48 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

wolves , and he pounded them until they retreated to the edge of the water and sat down on their haunches and looked at him . He dared not go out of the water as he might not be N able to fight if they followed him . Soon iswonger came on the shore opposite the wolves and Warth crossed over to him “ —w e and told him not to Shoot will call it a draw game , ” N neither party whipped . He would not let iswonger shoot lest they might be attacked . The hunters returned to their O o homes on ldt wn creek , and next day increased their force and went back to the place of the battle and found two dead wolves but no live ones . (Sketch by Mr . Silas Jones . ) Black bears were numerous in these parts of southern O hio in the first years of the nineteenth century . Henry Roush , of

Letart township , related an incident of his encounter with “

. : bears He said I was going out to bring in the cows , and contrary to my usual custom did not take my rifle with me , and while passing along the rear of my neighbor’s field of corn I saw two young bears helping themselves to roasting ears . I succeeded in capturing one of them , which began to squall at a furious rate , which brought the mother bear rush ing upon me with great fury . I had to drop my prize and run for a high fence which was near , with the angry bear at my heels . After gaining the top of the fence , I seized a ff ” stake and beat o my assailants . Elk were seen , but not in great numbers . Wolves were

h e ar numerous and very troublesome . It was as common to the howl of a wolf in the twilight of an evening as it was to hear the crowing of a cock in the morning. They would answer each other from hill to hill when gathering their pack ’ for the depredations upon the settler s Sheep or young cattle . In 1 827 a party of road viewers were cutting out a road from m Chester, the county seat of Meigs county, to Sterling Botto , O on the hio river , and at a certain point lay out a road from O n . N this to ldtow The viewers were ehemiah Bicknell ,

Samuel Bowman and one or two other men . They had pro

50 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

’

Abel Larkin had mills on Otter creek , Vermont , which were

swept away by floods . He then started with wife and four « h il r 1 804 s c d e n . to Ohio , coming to Leading creek in , in June ’ He was able to obtain a house on Judge Higley s farm , where -

his family remained four years . Mr. Larkin and Judge Higley 1 I n e 808 . were acquainted V rmont . In Mr Larkin moved into

his own cabin on the farm he had purchased . Mr . Larkin was

the first township clerk for Salisbury township , elected July 27th 1 805 1 808 , ; was also elected justice of the peace in , again 1 1 2 1 1 8 8 8 . in , and again in Afterwards he served as associate

judge for Meigs county .

Their children were four sons and five daughters . in1 796 Susannah , born in Vermont , and died in Rutland in 1 80 5. July, E 1 798 an d d meline Larkin , born in Vermont , died in Rutlan , 1 2 — O 8 4 . hio , in May, , aged twenty six years r 21 s t 1 801 Abel Larkin , J . , was born April , , married Adeline 1 835. Hadley in Illinois , near Mt . Sterling, in He settled on a

farm in Brown county, where they reared a numerous family —five sons and four daughters . Three of his sons enlisted in r the Civil war, and one came back alive with inju ies from a which he died . He was John L rkin . The daughters were ff grown to womanhood , married and moved to di erent parts 1 881 of the country . Mrs . Adeline Larkin died in . Mr . Abel 1 4 r 8 . Larkin , J . , died in 8 in Illinois He had been a pioneer in 1 829 O . hio , and going to Illinois in , was a pioneer in that state a 29th 1 802 n m Juli Larkin was born June , , in Rutla d , Ver ont , e 1 804 and removed with her parents to Leading cre k in . She “ N 1 6th 1 826 was married to ehemiah Bicknell March , , and

a came with him to Leb non township , to his farm , where she 2 th 1 8 i 5 63 . S x lived until her death , February , They had chil

dren , one son and five daughters . O Stillman Carter Larkin was born in Rutland , hio , March k 9th 1 808 . N l t 1 837 , He married Mary Hedric , ovember , , d on an . a lived the Larkin homestead until death Stillm n C .

PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 5 1

' L 1 898 arkin died in January, , aged ninety years , ten months ,

- k 3oth 1 904 twenty three days . Mary Lar in died May , , aged

- t w o . ninety years , five months , fifteen days They had no children . 6th 1 81 1 Sarah Cutler Larkin was born September , , in Rut 1 2th land , Ohio, and was married to Joseph Jervis Miles , April , 1 1 t o 84 . They lived in Gallipolis a few years , then came 1 855 . M r . . Pomeroy , where Miles died in July , Mrs Miles e return d to the old Larkin homestead . She had no children

' r 1 7th 1 895 that lived . Her death occurred Janua y , , at the

- age of eighty three years , four months , eleven days .

27th 1 81 3 O . Curtis Larkin was born May , , in Rutland , hio

He was in California a few years , but returned to Rutland , 1 846 Ohio , where he married Lura Hubbell , who died in . He — married again Sarah Church . They had one son , George B .

“ Larkin . Their home was always in Rutland , Ohio . Mr . f f tr us te e. o Larkin held some local and township o fices , was a m f “ Rutland township several years . He was a me ber o the First Christian church and served as an active local elder for more th an thirty years . E 25th 1 81 5 , , , dwin Larkin was , born September in Rutland 1 839 Ohio . He went to the South in and never returned . 8th 1 806 Betsy Larkin was born August , , in Salisbury town

. N o ship , Gallia county She was married to Daniel Cutler, ve mbe r 5 1 834 th , . They lived in Warren township , Washing c O - ton ounty, hio , for twenty one years , and had two children ,

Charles Curtis and Mary, who died when Sixteen years of age .

. . v 1 856 Mr and Mrs Cutler mo ed to the West in , and settled

finally in Franklin county , Kansas . Mrs . Cutler died June

1 9 1 883 - th , , aged nearly seventy seven years . 1 9th 1 799 Daniel Cutler was born February , , in Waterford , n O . E Washington cou ty, hio He was the son of Judge phram

Cutler and his first wife , who died early, leaving four children , N Charles , ancy, Mary, and Daniel , who was taken to the

e v. home of R Manasseh Cutler, where he spent his childhood . 52 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

E His father, phram Cutler , married Sarah Parker , and she

W . was the mother of Hon . illiam P . Cutler . Mr Daniel — Cutler was an anti slavery man , and lived in Kansas in those exciting times of border warfare . He was also a temperance man , and a member of the Congregational church . He was the first postmaster of Rantoul , Franklin county, was a farmer, owned a thousand acres of land in one body . He lived and l 0th died an honorable , Christian gentleman , on January , 1 7 88 . o c Charles C . Cutler , an only child , survives him and c u ie p s the homestead . N r Mr. Daniel Cutler commenced life in the orthweste n

Territory , and followed up along the border of civilization during a most eventful period of time , for the whole of his

- eighty eight years of life .

Abel Larkin , whose family has been noted , died February

1 7 1 830 O - five th , , in Rutland , hio , aged sixty years , five months , nineteen days . 1 4th 1 860 d Susannah Larkin (Bridges) died August , , age

- — eighty nine years , four months , twenty six days . She passed

h . away from her own homestead in Rutland , a woman onored

N a h e t ehemiah Bicknell was the son of J p Bicknell and wife , 26th 1 796 Amy Bicknell (nee Burlingame) , was born June , , E a at ast Greenwich , Rhode Island . His p rents moved to

N e w 1 798 York state in , where he lived until nineteen years N of age , and his father and brother having died , ehemiah , with his widowed mother , came with a company under the h . O O leadership of Rev Samuel Porter, to Athens , io , in ctober, 1 1 ‘ 8 5. They traveled with teams and covered wagons , and

alw a s s to i n . were forty days on the way , y pp g over Sunday 1 81 6 His mother died in February, , and lies buried in the A old cemetery at thens , leaving him and his younger sister, Zim d r o e . , alone among strangers in a new country God took care of them and they soon found good friends . ' PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 5 3

1 6th 1 826 N March , , ehemiah Bicknell married Julia Larkin , O in Rutland , hio , and they moved immediately to make their home on his farm in Lebanon township on the banks of the

Ohio river . They endured many hardships incident to pioneer e life , none of which they deprecated more than the ignoranc and low state of morals in the neighborhood . Mr . Bicknell 1 828 1 829 opened his own house for preaching in about or , to the Methodist itinerant . Later he secured the building of a school house on his land adjoining the Pioneer burying ground , where the preaching appointment was removed , and A continued for many years . fterward he gave a lot for a E is co site for a church , deeded to trustees of the Methodist p

pal church , and a public graveyard . Mr . Bicknell was a a public spirited man , who felt the lack of early education e constant impediment to progress . He was lected magistrate o three terms, township trustee , p stmaster eleven years, Sun

- day school superintendent for many years , class leader when the appointment w as know n as the Oldtown class . He was an uncompromising temperance man all of his long life , and

erected a large barn , the second building in Meigs county raised without the compliment of whisky , He was a road viewer and helped in laying out roads in nearly every part of

the county, and dissented from the policy of narrow minded men who would lay out a public road on inaccessable hillsides , ’ f or or around the corner of a selfish man s farm . He claimed

the traveling public suitable ground , and making good roads

At - everywhere . eighty three years of age his step was firm ,

his eyes bright, and cheeks rosy . His birthday, celebrated in 1 879 Au l s t June , , he , with his eldest daughter , left home gust

N ew to revisit his boyhood home in Chenango county, York , ’ and attend to the p lacing of gravestones anew at his father s

grave . In some strange manner he seemed to have gone w off out of the car to the platform , hen he fell and was E killed . This was on the rie railroad , near Beaver Flats , and

3 m 6th 1 879 . the fatality occurred about a . . , August , His 54 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY stricken daughter brought his body back and he was laid by the side of his wife in the graveyard by the little church “ ’ E called Bicknell s Chapel . ( . L . B . ) N The children of ehemiah Bicknell and his wife, Julia E Bicknell (nee Larkin) , were meline Larkin , born February 1 9 1 827 th , , and was married to Isaac A . Cowdery in July, 1 846. h It proved a most unfortunate marriage, and S e ob tain e d 1 853 a divorce in June , , in the Common Pleas court of

Meigs county, and her name restored to that of Bicknell . ch ildr en ‘ a She had borne two , son , dying at three months, and

E O 1 0th 1 860 h e r a daughter, lla Frances , who died ctober , , in ninth year. Am 28th 1 828 Julia y was born December , , and died of fever, 1 846 . September , N An infant son of ehemiah Bicknell and his wife, March l oth 1 , 833.

Zimr ode 1 855 Adaline was married to John Roberts in May, . l oth 1 870 A She died December , , leaving three children , rthur d A Zimr o e . B . E , lla , and lbert John Roberts E 24th 1 839 Sarah lizabeth , born September , , and died 1 3d 860 . October , 7th 1 842 Mary Susannah , born March , , was married to Rev . 1 869 . O . George J Conner in ctober, They had one son , Charlie — 1 873 Cookman , but father and son both died the first , the

1 76 . latter 8 . She was again married to David B Cross in 7th 1 879 1 882 . January, , and died March , , forty years of age

She left one son , Willie Bicknell Cross .

1 1 3 775. Allen Ogden was born in Maryland , April th , He 1 7 8 1 7 5 8 . 9 was in Marietta in In June , , he married Miss 1 804 Hannah Keller, with whom , in April , , they moved to what is now known as Columbia township , Meigs county . He purchased land , cleared up a farm , where he made his home and reared a family of ten children . He served many years

5 6 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

O O . Hugh gden , the second son of Alvin gden , Sr , was born 1 8 2 1 . 7 1 l th 804. March , He never married He died in in

Salem township .

N O O . ancy gden , daughter of Alvin gden , Sr , and his wife , 1 th 1 06 8 8 . was born May , She was married to William Green ,

and they both lived and died in Columbia township . They

had five children . Albert Green was a soldier in the

Eighteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and died in the service .

O . Lovina gden Green married Lewis Castor, of Columbia

Hannah Green married Miles Graham , a member of the E ighteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, who died shortly after

the close of the war .

Cynthia Green married William Graham , who was a soldier

and died in the service the first year of the Civil war .

E O . lizabeth Ogden, daughter of Alvin gden , Sr , was born 25th 1 808 July , , and was married to Daniel Caleb , and moved

O . to Hardin county, hio , where they died They had four

children and numerous descendants . A N O O . oah gden , a son of lvin gden , Sr , was born March 1 1 1 1 6th 8 . , He married Dorcas Graham and settled in Salem

township and had four children , and numerous descendants . 1 He died in 890 . 4th 1 8 7 O . 6 Alvin gden , Sr , died January , , aged nearly — ninety two years . He was a son of a Revolutionary soldier,

himself a pioneer of Meigs county . When he died he left ten 1 2 — 9 . children , grandchildren , and seven great grandchildren

N o race suicide in his posterity . The foregoing sketch is copied from a history of the Ogden

family , as a part of that interesting narrative published in the “ 28th 1 89 8 . . Telegraph , January , S C . Larkin .

N Shubael obles and family came from Tremont township , " 1 0 1 8 . Rutland county , Vermont , to Marietta in Then to the 1 804 Joel Higley farm in , and finally to his own farm in the 1 N o . 5 1 805. northwest corner of Section , in Rutland , in PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 57

N E . Mrs . obles before marriage was lizabeth Post They i N had three sons and S x daughters . Mr . obles was a tanner N by trade , also a shoemaker . Charles F . obles , a son , was H e m a O a blacksmith . arried Sar h Fanny Winn in ctober,

1 1 8 w as A n d 8 . She a daughter of braham Winn , a was born

24th 1 795 O N ew . July , , in ntario county, York _ She was a noble woman , with great energy . They reared a large family

r a N 1 870 . of sons and daughte s . Mr . Ch rles F . obles died in

N N 24th 1 890 - five Mrs . obles died ovember , , aged ninety years , four months . N N Lewis obles , son of Shubael obles , married Betsy i n n O r u s u r e I us . St a b g. He was noted as an g mechanic He 26th 1 887 - s e V e n died May , , aged Sixty years , eleven months , f 1 897 seven days . His wi e died March l st, , in her Seventy sixth year of age . O N ’ smar obles was never married , but lived on the old farm N Silas obles went to Indiana, married and died there . A N N bigail obles , daughter of Shubael obles , was married to Phineas Matthews , of Gallia county . Julia married Jacob 1 2 . e 88 A Winn , liv d in Rutland , and died in , at the age of - fi E eighty ve years . liza was married to Jacob Swisher and lived in Gallia county . E N A sther obles was married to bel Chase , of Rutland , Ohio . 2 1 E h 6t 808 . N She was born March h , unice obles died Marc

7th 1 878 - i v . , , aged se enty eight years Mary N obles died in

“ - s . N . Rutland , aged ixty one years Shubael obles , Sr , died in

158 54 - . 855 , aged ninety one years His wife died in 1 , aged e - ighty eight years .

N William Parker, second , was born in ewburyport , Massa

‘ h u s e tts 4th 1 775 , July , , and came to Marietta with his father , W in 1 7 98 . illiam Parker, first, He married Betsy Wyatt , fil au h ter A g of Deacon Joshua Wyatt , of thens county , May 1 3th 1 802 1 804 , , and they came to Rutland , Ohio , in , and 5 8 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

settled on a farm , which has been owned and occupied by a

Parker for more than one hundred years .

The children of William Parker, second , and his wife were E liza , who was married to Samuel Halliday, and lived in Meigs . county . They had a family of sons and daughters ; Alexander died w hen a child ; William Halliday ; Jane w as Mrs . Rob E bins ; Samuel Halliday married lizabeth Remington , of E E Pomeroy liza, Henry, Thomas , dwin , and Mary left Meigs h 1 850 county with t eir parents in .

William Parker, third , married Lovina Stout . Their chil : o dren were William Parker, fourth , Mary, Ida , Sophr nia , E — d dwin Parker, Barton , and Sarah Mrs . Green, who die

. E and early, leaving one daughter dwin married lives in

Cincinnati . Ida Parker was a successful teacher in the public

. w o schools in Middleport, Ohio T brothers and two unmarried e Sisters live together in the hom stead . Q

Silas Parker, son of William Parker, second , studied medi

cine and went to the West when quite a young man .

Mary Parker was married to Buckingham Cooley, who died

early, leaving a widow and one daughter. Mrs . Cooley was

married afterwards to William Bartlett, of Athens , Ohio .

E . A Es . Sarah Parker became the wife of Tobias . Plantz , q , E and lived in Pomeroy . They had two children , Mary . a Plants who died young, and George Wyatt Pl ntz , banker and

prominent citizen of Pomeroy for many years , identified with

all good enterprises for the prosperity of the town . He mar

ried Mary G . Daniel , daughter of H . G . Daniel , banker and an

esteemed business man of Pomeroy . They have one son, who a bears the family name , Wy tt Garfield Plantz , and is one of “ th e — bankers First Citizens Bank , of Pomeroy . e John Wyatt Parker, son of William Park r, second , and his

. E M c u i wife , was born in Rutland He married liza Q gg, and

lived in Gallipolis for several years , was auditor of Gallia

county, but removed to Dubuque , Iowa .

PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 5 9

n d Daniel Parker, son of . William Parker, second, a his wife, . 2 ' 1 O 2 d 809 . E vas born ctober , He married Catharine . Gil

1 . h O 847. r espie , of Dayton, hio , in They had t ee sons

G G . f eorge , Daniel Herbert, and Frank H . Parker, all noted wh s ician s ar ke r o y and specialists in surgery . Mr . Daniel B w n e d

' n d e ' 1 9 1 893 occupied the hom stead , and died January th , ,

e d - w - gg eighty three years, two months, t enty eight days . Mrs . P 1 908 - h arker died in , in her eighty fourt year, a woman of ra ld re accomplishments , one who never grew O .

’ This Parker homestead is occupied by Dr . Frank Parker, the ’ » n l y surviving member of his father s family .

A party of Indians came to sometime in the inter _ Rutland 1 1 ral between 804 and 808 . The is not as certain as _ date h a in id n ae c e t . It was a custom in those days when preaching

o ccas ion al . to a minister was only , observe the Sabbath th e services at the home of some family in neighborhood . I n e Sunday when the meeting was progress , Indians were h c ' n looking throug the cra ks of the door, and between the e Immediately const rnation prevailed , the women cry n d wringing their hands, while some of the men went to

found them to be friendly . ” - cake w h ich aid they wanted johnny , fortunately so the request was granted and the Indians de Milo Higley has written a very good song on

n n - y cake, and we venture to copy two stanzas relating to

e foregoing narrative .

“ It was Sunday m that early day , And all had gone to church

n . n I the house of Mr . Larki , ’ h God s holy book to , s e ar c e t Around the fir side hey met, -A blessing to partake , W h il e f r om th e hearth came up the fume ’

- Of . steaming johnny cake : 60 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

While thus in solemn worship there

The women gave a scream , For through a crack in the cabin wall — ’ A red Skin s eyes were seen .

The stately deacons rose and asked , ‘ Why this disturbance make "’

In Indian language they replied , ‘ ’ We want some johnny- cake "

This visit was the last one of the Indians in the vicinity

Rutland . P N EE E T IO R SOCI Y . A meeting preliminary to a call for the organizing of pioneer society met at the court house in Pomeroy in 1 876 . . . , Mr H B Smith , chairman , Aaron Stivers , secreta

Those present were Stillman C . Larkin , Aaron Torren

N . . . . . ehemiah Bicknell , Silas Jones , Mrs H B Smith , Mrs S E Miles , and Mrs . . L . Bicknell . They met and proceeded name a committee to announce the time and place for a reg lar organization of the Meigs County Pioneer Society, and b - prepare a constitution , with suitable y laws , for the futu conduct of the society . They reported at the next meet N which was held in the court house at Pomeroy, ovember 1 7 8 6 . , pursuant to the call of the last meeting

President Stillman C . Larkin in the chair, and Aaron

' Stivers , secretary. The object of the meeting was stated the president and then the report and constitution was re and adopted . “ In view of the fact that all of the first settlers of Mei county have passed away, and most of their children are a ff gone , and th t time is e acing the mementos and monum that have marked the only history of our county , we admonished that unless immediate steps are taken to pres the remembrance of those interesting events they will be f an d gotten and lost . In order there ore to recover pres

62 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

as pay the same out on the order of the recording secretary, directed by the executive committee , unless otherwise ordered by the society . l 9 . Art . A majority of the members present at an annua meeting shall determine the place of the next annual meeting thereafter to be holden . “ 1 0 e e Art . . The executive committee with the two S cretari s e th e shall give the necessary notice , and make arrangem nts for annual meeting of the society. “ 1 1 t Art . . The consti ution may b—e altered or amended any annual meeting by a vote of two thirds of all the memberh ” present .

T h e n er s h e s n Sig of t Con titutio .

e N . Horace Holt , Mary Lash r, Bicknell , Sarah C . Miles, i n Benjamin Smith , P . Penn ngton , Samuel Bradbury, Sam e

Halliday , Sarah Murphy, Samuel S . Paine , Mary Simms , h r in E i E So a . p Stivers , Silas Jones , W Stivers , John rw n , lecta M c ui A N Q gg, aron Thompson , Sarah F . obles , Aaron Stivers ,

O . . . . . Persis Cooper , T A Plants , Stillman C Larkin , S Bos A worth , W . . Barringer, John Ruble , L . Smith , Geo . W .

Cooper, W . B . Smith , W . B . Pennington , John C . Hysell . The society then proceeded to choose officers and the fol lowi ng were elected

- Stillman C . Larkin , president ; John C . Hysell , vice presi

dent ; H . B . Smith , treasurer ; Aaron Stivers , recording secre tary ; Geo . W . Cooper, corresponding secretary ; Samuel Brad A nd bury, Silas Jones , Washington Stivers , aron Thompson , a E John rvin , executive committee . It was then determined by a vote of the society to hold th next annual meeting in Middleport .

The meeting then adjourned .

’ M K STILL AN C . LAR IN, President . V AARON STI ERS , Secretary . PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 63

Benjamin Smith , who was born in Salisbury township in 804 , gave some items , related interesting incidents of early

imes , and promised if life and health permitted to prepare

the annual meeting, as his father and grandfather

g the first early settlers in the county .

of C . Hysell gave incidents early history and con to write an article from h i s knowledge of pioneer

e l 1 81 9 Halliday, who came from Scotland in , and was

- r atifi auditor for twenty three years, expressed his g

If allthem r e amb this moment , and made some very appropriate

relation to it . He also promised to furnish a paper

g a history , of events in the county, and observations ff of county a airs .

A . Plantz spoke of a history prepared by a son of Daniel

‘ cou n t th at er, who lived in Clermont y , included valuable

mation of the earliest settlements in Meigs county , and

ould secure a copy for this pioneer society . ff B . Smith o ered the following resolution , which was “ r e Resolved , that each member of this society be

ted to furnish in a written form , at the next annual meet such information as shall be within the meaning and

t of the constitution of this society, and that T . A . tz be appointed a committee to procure the Parker

rs . A paper was filed containing an account of the settlement N 1 820 . Bicknell in , in Lebanon township .

K E F EAR L H S S TCH O Y I TOR Y .

B Lu e y th r H ecox .

th e W h e ts ton e N e hurman Hecox and family moved from , w N O to ewbury in hio , between the Big Hocking and 1 800 Hocking rivers in August , , and the same year

up the Hocking river four miles into Troy township . 64 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

1 80 1 The next year, , they planted corn on the George Ackley farm and one day when they were hoeing corn they killed five rattlesnakes , not until Mr . Hecox had been bitten by one . They had to go up the Muskingum river four miles above Marietta to a floating mill in summer ; in winter they lived on boiled corn and turnips . Their meat was venison . The nearest neighbor was Mr . Humphrey , who lived on what is ’ known as Waterman s hill . Another neighbor was Mr . Sut 1 803 ton,a trapper . In they moved to the middle branch of 4 N o . . Shade river, to , in Troy township They moved with an ox sled and two yoke of oxen , the first team that ever went ’ through Tupper s Plains . David Daily drove the hogs , and as they tired out he had to camp in the woods with them to keep the wolves from killing them . David Daily was a Revo l u ti n r N o a y soldier . athan Burris was the first family to settle on the middle branch of Shade river , one mile above where Levi Stedman built his first mill . Solomon Burris , an

N . . an d . uncle to athan Burris , lived there Mr Longworth Mr

S e Stone settled on Congress land , and Jacob Cowdery ttled on the middle branch , at the mouth of the west branch of ’ Shade river, above Stedman s mill . Levi Stedman and Peter be Grow lived in Gallia county , half a mile below the line A n tween the two counties . fterward they got one section a n e xe d A to thens county , which then ran no farther than the O range township line , with the exception of one section belonged to Gallia county . This line runs east river , near the mouth of a small stream called Indian run . Samuel Branch came next with his family and located on the r E east side of the middle branch of Shade rive , and zra Hoyt came about the same time . Jacob Rice settled on the west 1 06 . side of the west branch in 8 Mr . Kingsbury took land on

O f the first fork of the west branch Shade river , which is known

. w a as Kingsbury, after the name of the first settler He -i n - brother law to Levi Stedman . The first organization 1 militia was in 805. Thurman Hecox was elected capt PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 65

o 5. and Joseph Guthrie first lieutenant . He lived in N . Jacob Halsey and a man named Lasley lived on the middle branch of Shade river . They hauled grain to the mouth of Hocking, there loaded in canoes and pushed up to the floating mill on the Muskingum river above Marietta , a trip that took nine days to go and return . There were no stores nearer than

— - Marietta or Gallipolis . Prices were high sixty two and one

' r in ts th e half cents for p , same for brown sheeting, and tea was two dollars a pound . Bears , panthers , wolves and deer were plenty, also small game . Wild turkeys were seen in flocks of hundreds . Mr . Hecox kille d a bear that weighed four hundred pounds when dressed . William and Jeptha Hecox were in

- the woods and treed a half grown bear . Jeptha ran home to get an ax , or a gun , and left William and the dogs to watch the bear . While he was gone the bear came down the tree , tOo-k the dogs seized him , and William a pine knot and struck him in the head and killed him . Levi Stedman had his hog pen near his hous e and one night he was away and a bear came into the pen to get a hog, but Mrs . Stedman threw a

firebrand at him from the window and frightened him away .

Cyrus Cowdery killed an elk , the last one seen in these parts . John Sloan was hunting deer one day when his dogs treed a panther . He Shot and wounded it , when it came at him ; the “ dogs caught hold , and Sloan declares that he shot the animal ” 1 04 8 . nine times before he killed it . In the year Mr Hecox

‘ bou h t a — g pair of hand mill stones , on which they ground wheat and corn , and Sifted it through a buckskin sieve . Levi Sted man built a log mill on what is now Chester, and put Mr . ’ IH e cox s hand - mill stones in his mill until he could get larger th e o nes . These pioneers had to go to Scioto river to obtain s alt , a journey of seventy miles , and paid two dollars a

‘ “ lbus h e l - for the salt . There was only a horse path for travel ,

(and carried by pack horses the salt , the party camping out at m n . ight . Later roads were made for the use of car ts and oxe " 1 1 2 e iTh ey w ent to Marietta f or all mail matte} until 8 . Ther 66 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY was a mail route opened from Parkersburg to Point Pleasant ’ a running through by Stedman s Mill . Levi Stedman was p of pointed Postmaster, he was also the first Justice the Peace , and Thurman Hecox was Constable . These men filled these

ffi . o ces for a number of years , without opposition Levi Sted a m man opened store , carried on far ing, ran a saw and grist mill , kept a tavern , and owned a distillery . Wool had to be carded , spun and woven by hand , flax was raised , and manu f ctur o a e d . into cl th , for wearing apparel Some men had N suits of dressed deerskin . The first preaching was at athan ’ Eli Burris house , and next by Rev . Stedman at Samuel ’ b di Branch s . Afterwards they had occasional preaching y f 1 820 E f e r e n t . denominations In , lisha Rathburn was the preacher, and a goodly number experienced religion and united with the Bible Christian Church . The first school ’ house was built on Samuel Branch s land , and the first teacher ’ there was a Miss Pratt , who lived on Pratt s fork , a mile up e the river . William and Benjamin Bellows were settl rs in o this neighborh od , until William sold out to Caleb Cart

a . wright, preacher of the Seventh Day Baptist

The name of Stedman occurs so frequently that an ex ’ planation is in order . From Walker s History of Athens , we : take the statement Alexander Stedman , a native of Ver mont , and by profession an artisan , settled in Rome township 1 1 05 804. 8 in In , he was appointed a Judge of the Court of

Common Pleas , and served in that position several years .

n e Eli O of his sons was Stedman , a minister. Another son was Levi Stedman a Commissioner of Athens county , and for I a short time in M e gs . Bial Stedman married Sally Foster in

and had sons and daughters . Capt . Julius C . Stedman , a son of Bial Stedman , was a soldier in the Mexican War , 1 1 6th and a soldier in Ohio V . I . from the first to the close of a the Civil War . He lways had a home in or near Athens . PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 67

AR T ’ E A R . S EW K E H F " TR CT F O M J . H T S S TC O L N B O G OTTOM . Long Bottom is Situated in the eastern part of Meigs county . The first settlers were Thomas Rairdon and the 1 800 is Colmans , probably before , as the date not positively

: B u ffi n ton 1 808 s e ve r ai known William g bought land in , and ’ e an d famili s came about that time , the Whitesides , Collins

. 1 1 others Thomas Rairdon built the first grist mill in 8 5.

o s to ffic 1 1 The first p e was kept on the Warner farm in 8 5 . fir t . S Robert Collins , Postmaster The Methodist Church was 1 844 1 847 built in . The first Christian Church in , and the first store was kept by John Roberts and William Hicks in 1 839 , near the mouth of Forked Run . J . H . Stewart came to 1 30 Long Bottom in 8 . The leading business of the place has been the working up of the splendid forest into staves , and ' of 1 81 9 the manufacture various kinds of casks . In , this ' ” localit s y w a an almost unbroken forest .

1 81 3 Lebanon township was formed in , taken out of Letart township , and possesses a greater river boundary than any other township in Meigs county . It was a dense forest at the time of its organization . Trees of great size , and timber of the O finest quality, covered the rich bottom lands of the hio river Old and the creeks of Town and Groundhog, while the hills i bore the best yellow p ne and spruce for lumber . The sugar

maple , hickory , black oak and white oak , poplar, beech and

sycamore excelled in size and quality any forests of Europe .

The black walnut , white walnut and wild cherry were favorite

woods for the manufacture of furniture , and for inside work of

ar tic u the best houses . Black walnut and cherry were used p lar l f y for the making of co fins in those early days . So these trees of Lebanon had special attractions to the commercial

eyes of later emigrants . More than one farm was paid for by

the cordwood cut and sold to steamboats for fuel , when steam 68 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

boats first ran on the Ohio river . Besides the trees , were growths of wild fruits , crab apples , red and black hawes , rasp h berries and blackberries , and two or t ree varieties of grapes,

a~ and not least in profusion , beauty or lusciousness , was the p paw . There were herbs and roots used for medicinal purposes , and collected to sell for money . Ginseng , snakeroot and nerv ’ ine , or ladies slipper, grew in abundance in the shade of the

. n e great trees Two remarkable trees are worthy of notice . O , a monster sycamore on Old Town creek not far from the mouth h t e . of stream It was hollow , and made a home for a family once , afterwards served as a stable for horses . The other tree was a sycamore , and hollow , and stood on the bottom land of ’

N . . Bicknell s farm in Great Bend

E . E Dr . Philip Lauck and Rev zra Grover came from astern Virginia with their families in 1 81 3 and bough t a fine tract of

O . . land in Lebanon township , on the hio river bottom Rev Gro e ver was a Methodist pr acher, but was superannuated from the

- in - Baltimore Conference . Dr . Lauck was his son law by mar r i a e g and had an extensive and successful practice , which took him away from home much of the time , so that the care of his growing family , and of the making of a farm out of the wilder ness developed upon Father Grover and Mrs . Lauck . Rev .

a , Grover was _ good preacher a zealous Christian and an able defender of the faith , as held by Methodism . They opened their door for public preaching , and many a weary itinerant was cheered by their hospitality. Dr . Lauck died compara ti e l r v . y young, leaving a widow and six child en The sons , E Isaac , zra, and Simon ; the daughters , Mary Ann , Hannah

E . N E and lizabeth Isaac Lauck married ancy Hall , and zra l O d . Lauck married her sister, Rachel Hall , of Town They moved to Missouri many years ago . Mary Ann Lauck died of consumption in early womanhood , Hannah Lauck married N icholas Richardson , son of a Scotch family who came to

Sterling Bottom . Elizabeth L auck was married to James

70 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY — the river after the evacuation of Fort Duquesne now Pitts ~ burg , as the date on the rock seemed to correspond with that event . The inscriptions are now obliterated . The rock in question is Situated about four mil e s below

Letart Falls , and is detached from a confused mass of rocks ff that have fallen from the cli above . The village of Antiquity — takes its name from this rock Silas Jones .

Co e th e S i L mm nts on Foregoing by t llman C. arkin . The opinion of Judge Elliot (who at an early period lived near the noted rock , and saw the inscriptions) , that they were

made by a party of Frenchmen , is doubtless correct . But what particular party did the work is not so clear . The English and French nations were contending for many years by diplo macy, and by wars, to secure the title and possession of the

e Ohio Valley, and were not slack in employing every availabl means to strengthen their claims . In a history of the Kan A awha Valley by Professor V . . Wilson, is the following

“ 1 748 In , the British Parliament passed laws authorizing the formation of many new settlements and issuing land grants

~ for the settlement of the upper Ohio . In view of such ag r e s s ion g the Governor General of Canada , by order of his ‘ ’ O o home government , determined to place along the y , or

La Belle Riviere , a number of leaden plates suitably inscribed , asserting the claims of France to lands on both sides of the

river, even to the source of the tributaries . The command f S ix 1 80 s consisted of eight subaltern o ficers , cadets, Canadian 5 2 5 20 70 . and Indians , an armorer , soldiers , men in all

1 5th 1 749 The expedition left Montreal on the of June , , and on the 29th reached the junction of the Monongahela and th e

A . ex e llegheny rivers , where the first plate was buried The p dition then descended the river depositing plates at the mouths 1 8 of the principal tributaries, and on the th of August they PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 71 reached the mouth of the Great Kanawha and on the point between the rivers the fifth plate was buried . It was found in 1 846 by a son of John Beale of Mason county, West Virginia, and was removed from the spot where it had lain for ninety seven years . From the mouth of the Great Kanawha the voyage was con tin ue d down the river depositing plates until they reached the mouth of the Great Miami , where they buried the sixth 30th 1 749 and last plate , August , , and returned to Montreal by ” way of Maumee . It being the business of this company to establish monuments of ownership , it seems reasonable to suppose that they might have made the inscriptions on the rock at Antiquity, a historic monument worthy of giving name to that enterprising village of Antiquity . S . C . L .

D r E E . Fuller lliot was the son of Aaron lliot and wife Lydia , e and was born in Sutton , Massachus tts . He was a university m E graduate , and chose the profession of edicine . Fuller lliot was an agent, and possibly a stockholder in the Ohio Com ’ an s th e p y Purchase , as county records show his name in the making of. deeds of lands in 1 792 to purchasers of lands Situ ated in Washington and Gallia counties . He entered land for 1 805 277 1 81 7 648 himself in , acres , and again in , acres in Letart township . Fuller Elliot was a man of high character and rare attain ment , and locating in Letart at that early date ; was promi nent in helping to organize townships, and in all matters per A taining to public interest and benefit . He was appointed sso ciate Judge of Gallia , and afterwards of Meigs county . He f was elected to the Legislature of Ohio , in all o fices serving with fidelity to the people , and honor to himself . He married a daughter of Seth Jones who lived near, and came to Letart E about the same time . Judge lliot and wife had a large family . E 7 1 803 Mary lliot , the eldest daughter , was born June , , and was married to John Weldon . Mrs . Weldon spent most of her 72 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

’ married life not far from her father s home , and reared a nu m r ou E e s . family Serena lliot, another daughter, married

Swearingen and moved to West Virginia . E Decatur S . lliot married Parma Sherwood , and resided in

West Virginia, Graham Station . They had a number of chil E dren . Decatur lliot and two or three of his sons were sol diers in the Civil War to preserve the Union E E Philip lliot , a son of Fuller lliot, married Serena Myers , — E . and had four children Martha, liza , Thornton J and Ben jamin . He had served as lieutenant in the militia, but died young . E ‘ E Thornton J . lliot, a son of Philip lliot , served in the Civil

War, and won honorable distinction and promotions for bravery and irreproachable conduct during the War for the

Union . In his later life Judge Elliot resumed the practice of medi i n 1 832 60 cine until his death which occurred , at the age of years .

James Smith , Sr . , removed from Marietta , and located above 1 7 the mouth of Leading Creek in the spring of 79 . He died th 1 1 Au 8 8 7 . E May , His wife was lizabeth Mack , who died 1 2 th 1 77 7 . 9 8 . 3 gust , , aged years He was years of age

: E s . O Their children were Benjamin Smith , q , born ctober l s t 1 770 A , , and married lma Barker, a daughter of Judge Isaac A O . Barker, of thens ,

Their children were five sons and four daughters .

7th 1 36 66 . . 8 Benjamin Smith , Sr , died August , , aged years A 2 th 1 1 5 8 . 9 83 4 Mrs Smith died ugust , , aged years months 1 1 days .

John , James , Benjamin , Barker and Sardine (the sons , and E Polly, lizabeth , Catharine and Rhoda and Amy, daughters) , of Benjamin Smith , Sr .

N . . John Smith lived and died in Middleport, Meigs county PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 73

E s James Smith married liza Murray, of Rutland , and emi

grated to Arkansas where they both died . 1 81 4 Benjamin Smith , second , a native of Salisbury, born in , 1 2th 1 887 83 and died on May , , aged years . Barker Smith settled on the West Branch of Thomas Fork

creek .

Sardine Smith lived on Hysell run .

Polly Smith was married to John Harris .

“ D r E . . lizabeth Smith , wife of William Van Duyn

Catharine Smith was married to Hamilton Murray .

e . Rhoda Smith became the wife of N ial R . N y

Amy Smith was Mrs . Dr . Abel Phelps . r James Smith , J . , married Sally Hubbell , sister of Capt . Jesse 8th 1 844 61 6 Hubbell . He died August , , aged years months . d A 20th 1 861 61 Mrs . Smith die pril , , aged years . Esquire John Smith married B etsy Monroe and lived on the 1 72 8 . T old homestead . He died in hey had a numerous fam

ily of sons and daughters .

: . t The daughters were Polly , Mrs Stone , of Washing on l m O . . . u s o county, Betsy, Mrs Russell ; Catharine , Mrs F ; Jane ,

E . Mrs . rastus Stow 1 42 1 8 . 70 . 8 . Mr Stow died in , and Mrs Stow died in : E The Stow family liza , married Dr. Augustus Watkins . Eur etta Stow was married to Franklin Knight, of Chester,

Meigs county .

Mary Stow was married to David R . Jacobs , and resided in

Pomeroy.

' Stow bor n 1 806 James Smith , July, , went to Washington 1 5 1 89 89 . county, and died there in , aged years month John Stow went to California— to Mississippi with a boat of

e . produc , and died in the south among strangers Erastus Stow married Lucretia Whaley and lived on the Old I n Stow farm . He was a soldier the Civil War until its close ,

when he returned home and died . Mrs . Stow died December 1 8th 1 95 . 8 . I , They had a family 74 PION EER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

Luke Brine moved with his family from Rutland , Vermont , 1 to Leading Creek in 805. He bought a farm near N e w 1 824 ’25 Lima . He sold his farm to Horace Holt in or , and

O . moved to Marion county, His children were three sons and three daughters . E Jonathan Brine , a son , married lizabeth Bobo , of Athens

O . county, He was an ordained minister of the Christian n E . . O e Church They had a numerous family daughter, liza H e h . , was marri d to B . F . Stivers , a blacksmit , who lived in

Pomeroy . L um n in 1 806. o O . Brine was born in Rutland , , He married

L umo n Lena Sylvester, and had a family of children . Brine A 1 6th 1 79 8 . died pril , His widow lived on the home farm

- i n - with her son law , Harvey Stansbury, until her death in 1 887 8 1 7 1 8 O . ctober, , aged years , months , days a Almon Brine lived in Indi na, and died there .

Betsy Brine married William Gaston .

Sophia Brine was the wife of William Larue .

Semela Brine was the first wife of John Gaston .

N ew E d Thomas Gaston was a native of ngland , and serve

Seven years in the Revolutionary Army . He moved with his N ew b family to the State of York , and afterwards , induced y n liberal grants of land , emigrated to Canada . But on accou t of conscription measures by the British government and the unfriendly feeling existing between that government and th e

United States , he disposed of his property there at a sacrifice , and with others in like condition left Canada , and came to i i 1 7 r 80 . Ohio , landing at Silver run , Gallia county , He was a millwright , and moved to the Higley Mills . Later he bought

N e w . a farm near Lima , where he spent his remaining days h He was a member of the Regular Baptist C urch , and preached occasionally . Mr . Gaston and his wife had a large family . He was a man highly esteemed by all who knew him .

He died in 1 823 and was buried in the Miles graveyard . PION EER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 75

S m Mrs . Gaston died some years after, while with o e rela tive s in Indiana . Their children were

Jared Gaston , married Sally Stivers .

Anson Gaston married Lucretia Holt .

William Gaston married Betsy Brine . ’ Jonathan Gaston s wife was Se l us ia Morton s John Gaston was married twice ; his first wife was Se m eli a

Brine , and for his second wife Lydia Larue , who was born th 1 6 806 . March , n Her parents were Jacob Larue and Sally Gard er, who were married in the Block House at Marietta four or five years r m O . befo e hio became a State Her grandfather , Abraha n Larue , was a Fre ch Huguenot . Mrs . Lydia Gaston was in 1 876 married a second time , to Thomas Wood , who died , while Mrs . Wood continued to live in the old Gaston home

i n 1 893 stead until her death . d James Gaston married Mary Woo worth , in Canada .

Thomas Gaston , second , died when quite a young man . Elijah Gaston married Samantha Woodworth and emigrated

: to the West . The daughters were Hannah , Mrs . Joseph 1 893 . Richardson ; Polly, Mrs . Joseph Skinner . All are dead ,

Roena .

Frederic Hysell was a soldier of the Revolution and came O 1 805 from eastern Virginia to hio in , to the lower part of ’ w Gallia county, but after ards moved to Salisbury township , N in what is known now as Middleport . He married ancy “

Smith , and they had sons and daughters . Mr . Hysell died at 1 2 8 3 . a good old age , and his wife died in Their children : Edward Hysell lived on a farm in Salis

' bury township . Catharine, Mrs . Jason Thomas , settled in i E lower Rutland townsh p . lizabeth , Mrs . George Hoppes , A lived in Salisbury, near Bradbury . Margaret , Mrs . nthony “ H y sell , lived on Thomas fork . Francis Hysell married

ancy Dodson and lived on a farm on Hysell run . Smith 76 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

Hysell married Elizabeth Hunter and lived in Salisbury town A ship . Owen Hysell married Sophia rcher and lived in Salis bury township . John C . Hysell moved into Rutland township on a farm on Hysell run . Mr . John C . Hysell enjoyed the con

fide n ce of his fellow citizens . He was township clerk seven years and served as justice of the peace for Salisbury eight years and for Rutland twelve years—twenty years entitled ’ him to be Squire Hysell always . He was county commis s ion e r one term , when the court house was built at Pomeroy, and superintended the same . He belonged to the Christian W as church in Rutland , and an active , useful elder for many years . His wife was Miss Jane Bailey . N ancy Hysell , a daughter of Frederic Hysell , was married to Enoch Murray and lived on Thomas Fork . She died in 1 2 1 89 or 893.

James B . Hysell , of Middleport , was a son of John C . f Hysell , a good citizen , held several responsible o fices, was ’ mayor of Middleport, trustee of the Meigs County Children s 1 06 9 . Home , and held other positions of honor . He died in

Joshua Johnson (supposed to be from Portugal) came to

Ohio in very early times, and bought a valuable tract of land in what is now Scipio township , and included the land where Harrisonville is located . He was married twice , and of the first marriage he had one son and two daughters . His sec - in - T r i ckl e r S . ond wife was a ister law of Mr , a wealthy farmer of Gallia county . This marriage was favored by two sons and one daughter . The eldest son, Isaac , went to a place near M c H e n r O . Cincinnati , hio ; and the sisters, Kate , Mrs y , and

E . Milly, Mrs . John rvin The second son , David , married

Mrs . Paton , and after a few years moved to Missouri . James married his brother Isaac ’s widow and lived where his father did . The third daughter, Polly Johnson, was a maiden lady, taught school in Ohio and in Missouri . She was a much respected and enterprising woman , and during the excitement

78 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

Hartford . He married Malinda Bellows , daughter of Benja 1 824 oi O . min Bellows , Rutland , hio , January l st , They had a

: . N N . E family of five children Columbus B Holt , ial , lecta ,

Mrs . John Stansbury, died many years ago ; John B . Holt and Lovina , Mrs . S . D . Webb . Horace Holt died in Rutland

h 1 - O 6t 885 . . hio , March , , aged eighty six years Mrs Holt, nee 4th 1 805 Malinda Bellows , was born September , , in Belpre , ’ 1 22 8 . Ohio , and came with her father s family to Rutland in 20th 1 893 - She died May , , aged eighty seven years , six months an d —fi e be n evo twenty v days . She was much respected for her

lence and Christian character . W illiam Bellows , a son of Benjamin Bellows , was born l s t 1 81 6 June , , and marrie d Amelia Flynn , daughter of Thomas

Flynn and wife , who were early settlers of Lebanon township . T hey had a large family . He was killed in a runaway of

h 1 8th 1 893 - frig tened horses August , , aged seventy seven years t w o . months Mrs . Amelia Bellows was born September , 1 81 7 e 1 6 1 895 - , and died D cember th , , aged seventy eight years

t fif t - hree months . They had lived a married life of y six years ,

r espected by their neighbors and the community .

The manufacture of weavers reeds was commenced an d c d O m arrie on by Horace Holt in Rutland township , hio , fro 1 823 1 1 s t 885. until his death , March , The history of this I ndustry , as well as that of the man who prosecuted the busi

ness , is worth a page of careful record . When a young man , M r . Holt went to the Wabash country , in Indiana , and was ’ t \ aken sick , and while convalescent he found an old weaver s r eed , which he unraveled to find how it was constructed . This led to a knowledge of the canes from which the splits were made . Returning to Rutland , he began in earnest to m ake weavers reeds . He obtained the canes from Mississippi b y sending men down the river to cut canes , convey them to the river and to purchase boats to load with these and brin g

them to Leading creek , a tedious and expensive enterprise . PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 79

r M . Holt,seeing the need of a proper machine for making the s plits , made such a one , which worked well , and went to

W . C. . ashington , D , and obtained a patent He went in a two horse wagon , laden with reeds to sell on the way as well as to take his model for a patent , to the city of Washington . In 1 831 he began to manufacture reeds on a large scale . The sale of reeds had been by peddlers in wagons , traveling over i the country and tak ng store goods in return for the reeds .

That began the stores for the firm . Mr . Holt employed his b - in - rother law , John Rightmire , who was a blacksmith , to l make his machines , so that he secured complete control of the w eavers reeds manufacture . It is claimed that at one period Of time his was the only reed factory in the United States or

Canada . His books show that he had made reeds , that brought about Mr . Holt paid good wages and t r ad eated his employes fairly, and his business was a great v antage to the community, as it furnished remunerative em ployment for many young women who otherwise could have earned but little . Mr . Holt was of commanding figure and ’ had a giant s strength . He engaged in other kinds of busi

; ness besides the making of reeds . In a partnership with Mr c Clem . Chur h they built the first steam gristmill in Rutland township , and he owned and brought into the township the

first thrashing machine . Before the Civil War he was an “ abolitionist, and his place was a station on the underground ” A railroad . member of the Universalist Church , he was ex e m lar p y in speech and honorable in business habits , never us m I an d g ntoxicating liquors or tobacco , in his last years he was a prohibitionist . He sold the reed manufacturing business lt o H o . t his son , John B . Meigs county i s the richer for h av1 n g had such an enter prising citizen .

Peter L alan ce came from France with his widowed mother 1 7 sister about 88 to M arietta, Ohio , and lived in the 80 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

stockade at Harmar . The Sister was married to Robert

Warth , who was killed by the Indians just outside of the fort , w L alan ce leaving a ife and one child , Robert Warth , Jr . Peter was a comrade of the Warth brothers on their voyages down O A the hio river to Gallipolis , or French Town , as the mer i c an s W ar th s called it . The , George and John , were carrying

L alan ce United States mail in their canoes , and young was a companion . The company had to stop over night each trip , not being able to go all of the distance in one day, and the ’ ’ Ro u s h s place for stopping was at Jacob , near or at Graham s

'

. . a a Station , Va Mr Roush owned farm and Slaves . He had family and , as the story goes , a handsome daughter, whos

L al an c e beauty captivated the heart of Peter , but he kept his ’ secret until meeting his mother, when he described mam selle “ ’ ” “ to her . She s very pretty, summed up his account . Bring ” SO her here , said his mother ; I can teach her . , with such

' R u s h if o . permission , he asked Mr . he might woo his daughter ’ Sh e If is willing, was the father s consent, for up to this time the ardent lover had not ventured to propose to the girl . Mat ters were arranged for mam ’selle to go to Marietta on the “ ” mail boat , a trusty colored man to accompany the young L alan ce woman for her protection . Madame received her ’ d S h e graciously, and afterwar s was married at her father s ’ L l n c e house to Peter a a . He located a farm below Bowman s

O . run , in hio , and reared a large family Communicated by

Mrs . Cynthia Philson , of Racine , Ohio .

A h i . s Mrs Mary Lasher was a daughter of aron Holt , and E 1 803 wife , lizabeth Holt , and was born in , and came with 1 7 her parents to Rutland in 80 . She was married to Charles h 1 823 C ase in , and had a family of nine children , all of whom she reared to be respectable and useful citizens . Dr . Owen O f Chase , the West , and Dr . Lyman Chase , of Albany, were her sons . After the death of Mr . Chase , she married Mr . John L h . e V asher, of Rutland , with whom s lived in social and PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 81

religious harmony until his death , which preceded her own

- about two and one half months . 9th 1 799 John V . Lasher was born August , , in Dutchess N e w O r county, York , and married Catharine Martin , ctobe h 1 2 1 25 e N e 24t 8 0 . 8 w , In they mov d to Sullivan county, 1 835 - i n - York . In , in company with his brother law , Frederic O Tuckerman , they came to hio and settled on a farm in Rut a land township . They had large family of nine children

V . V . . William , Charles , George , Margaret , Mrs Green ;

a . Mary, Mrs . Tuckerman ; Be ttie , Mrs Stansbury ; Carrie , h 1 864 A at ar l n e . Mrs . Brown . Mrs . C Lasher died in fter e M r . w ards . Lasher. married Mrs Chas , widow of Charles v Chase . Mr . Lasher seems to ha e favored all religious and ’ F political reforms . irst a Whig ; then one of two or three

who voted for Birney, the Liberty Party man , and in his last

' H e di e d 1 864. years for the Prohibition Party . in

E ST OW AN D T HE W OL V S.

' é An . E n e incident related by Mrs liza Watkins , Stow E t Mr . rastus S ow , at an early period, when a young man , was employed by Captain James Merrill to stay with his family

' in Salem w h ile h e (Captain Merrill) was taking a vessel from o Marietta to the ocean . Young St w started with ten bushels

of corn to get ground on the Ohio or M uskingum . After

' th e mouth Of being gone a week , he returned to Leading u f creek . He then took a b shel O meal and started for home

and walked as far as Mr . John Miles , where he stopped and

borrowed a horse and proceeded on his way. Before he

reached home it became dark , and wolves began to howl and

made an attack on him . Both he and the horse were fright

. ff ened He threw o the bag of meal , put his feet on the ’ ’ r un d th e an l mal s horse s flanks and his arms a o . neck and

made all speed to his home . When he arrived , Mrs . Merrill

and the family came out , having heard the noise , and with 82 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

fir ebr an ds drove the wolves away . The next day they found Of the sack meal , which had been torn open , but the contents not destroyed .

Such incidents did not often occur, and the people did not seem to apprehend much danger . Women and children often went through the woods, hunting servis berries and grapes , or frequently to hunt the cows , that would Often stray from home , and were seldom molested .

A B R A B Y VE O .

An account given by Mrs . Sarah Torrence Of an incident worthy of note was read at the pioneer meeting in August , 1 7 8 9 . . . . , by Mr A Gardner Mrs Torrence was a daughter of Mr .

to ~ M e i 1 81 s 8 . John Knight , who came g county in A Mr . ’ John Harris , who lived in Bedford township , got Mr . Knight s son Daniel , a lad of only eleven years , to stay with Mrs . Har ris while he made a trip to N ew Orleans . There were few families in Bedford township , and it was very lonesome for the young wife in the small cabin in the woods , where the

O . wolves were heard nightly . S Mrs Harris concluded to go ’ down to her father s , Mr . John Smith , above the mouth of

Leading creek , and a son of Mr . Bissell , who was younger f r n o . O e than Daniel , was engaged to stay and care the stock night early in March , as these boys were getting in a log to fir e build a in the morning, young Knight slipped , and the log fell on him breaking his thigh bone about the middle . Daniel told the B i ssel boy to pull their straw be d down before the

fire . Then he lay flat on his back , with one hand on each side and the fingers of each hand thrust through the cracks of puncheon floor, directing the other boy to pull at his while he held on to the floor, until they actually set the bucks ki in its place . He had buckskin pants and took some thongs and tied above and below the break , the pants servin as splints . Fortunately, Major Higley had gone out that da PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 83

' to look after some stock , and called in to see how the boys

were doing and to spend the night with them , and this was

the plight in which he found them . They had corn bread of

their own baking and venison . Mr . Higley examined the ’ boy s leg and found that it was broken , and he then mounted ’ r his horse and rode to Mr . Knight s , the fathe of the boy , at

Middleport, who immediately started to his son in the ac wilderness, going by way of Chester for Dr . Robinson to ’ company him . They knew the path as far as Bissell s , but no

farther . They arrived there to find that Mr . Bissell was away

from home , but Mrs . Bissell got out of bed at midnight , had

her horse saddled , and piloted these two men through the dense ff forest to where the su ering boy lay, leaving her own little

one asleep at home , and stayed with the boy until Mr . Knight

returned and brought his wife and provisions . Mrs . Knight

- had to stay twenty one days before, they could take the boy

home . Those were pioneer times .

‘ P R OCE ED I N GS OF T H E FIR ST COUN T Y COUR T OF COM M ON P L EAS FOR M E GS CO N S AT E I U TY, T

OF O O s s . : HI ,

A h 1 1 T er m in t e e 8 9 . pril , Y ar

Of Of Be it remembered , That at a term Court Common

Pleas for the county of Meigs, begun and held at the tem or ar E : . O p y seat of justice Present, Hon zra sborn , president , judge of the Eighth Judicial Circuit of the Court of Common O E Pleas for the State of hio ; and Horatio Strong, Fuller lliot

E . E . and James Phelps , sqs , associate judges of the Court of

Common Pleas for Meigs county, who produced their several

commissions under the great seal of the State of Ohio , which

were read in open court .

Robert C . Barton was appointed clerk pro tem . of the said a f court in complying with the requisitions O the law . Samuel 84 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

F . Vinton was appointed prosecuting attorney for the present and succeeding terms . 9 ’ The court then adjourned until tomorrow at o clock . ZR B E A OS ORN . — Second Day . The court met pursuant to adjournment .

: Present The same judges as of yesterday . The clerk , on motion , produced a bond as sureties for the faithful discharge of his duties . The same was approved , and he was duly f sworn into o fice , and the senior associate was directed to deliver the said bond to the county treasurer .

O n motion , it was ordered that license be renewed to James E Of h is . Phelps to keep a house entertainment at new dwell f ing house on his complying with the requisitions O the law . E A notice was duly served on James . Phelps and Fuller E E lliot , sqs . , associates of the court , by Horatio Strong, senior associate , to meet at the temporary seat of justice on the A twelfth day of pril , instant, for the purpose of appointing a

. O recorder of the county, according to law rdered by the court that the clerk within twenty days give notice to the trustees Of each township that they make a selection of grand and petit jurors , and that they return to him thereof to him m in twenty days thereafter . And he is required to have the subpoenaed to attend in their respective capacities as jurors c ff . On at this pla e on the first day of next term , by the sheri l motion , ordered that licenses be granted to George Russe l for a ferry across Leading creek where he now keeps it on his f complying with the regulations O the law .

On e E motion , ordered that license be grant d to lisha Rath

. On burn , of Rutland , to solemnize the bonds of matrimony A the application of James H . Hayman and lexander Miller Of for the appointment county surveyor, the court was equally divided and the application laid over until the next term .

Ordered by the court that the clerk pro tem . use his private s eal for all processes issuing from court until a county seal

86 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

Adam Harpold , Jesse Worthing, Joel Smith , Silas Knight ,

r . James Shields , J . , George Roush , Jas Gibson , Calvin Marvin ,

John H . Sayre , Alvin Ogden , Joseph Hoit Major Reed , talis man . Then follows the licensing of different men for various pur f poses , the trial of persons for various O fenses, consisting ” - - ff fis t i . largely of cu s, and probate business is omitted

8 5 . State of Ohio , Meigs County, 1 1 N . . 8 9 . ovember Term , A D

- Be it remembered , That on Monday, the twenty second day Of N ovember, in the year of our Lord , eighteen hundred and nineteen , the Court of Common Pleas met at the meeting E s : . house in Salisbury township . Present The Hon zra O E E born, president judge , and James . Phelps and Fuller lliot , associate judges , this , the last court for the first year in Meigs 1 81 9 . county ,

Review of proceedings by S . C . Larkin .

The design of the following resume is to elucidate facts that relate to the history of Meigs county, but are not gener ally understood . 29 By a law of Congress , Section in every township of six ’ miles square in the Ohio Company s purchase Should be r e served for ministerial purposes . The land upon which this meeting house stood belonged to Salisbury township, and the Of Courts Common Pleas were held in it for two years , when , unfortunately, it was burned down . Mr. Levi Stedman, of

Chester, invited the judges to hold court in his house . When the second set of commissioners met, they went where the court was held , and decided to locate the county seat, as Mr. ff Levi Stedman o ered to make a good deed of land , enough to ff . s lay out a town The O er was accepted . The county eat was located there , the town laid out and named Chester . The question was asked why the county seat was not located at PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 87

A Middleport " Mr . Benjamin Smith and his wife lma had agreed to donate as a gift the land for a town and to secure it 5 . 000 by a good title deed Smith had given a bond for $ , with E his brother, John Smith , and Samuel verett as sureties , but it has been stated that upon reconsidering the matter, Mrs . S h e Smith refused to acknowledge the deed , which had a

O . right to do , according to the law of hio The commissioner did not bring suit against the sureties , as John Smith lived on ’ E his father s farm , and Samuel verett was a young man not owning any real estate . The judges claimed that nothing could be r ealized more than cost of suit, and they should not be blamed for not ordering or permitting the commissioner, Eli Sigler, from commencing suit . S . C . L .

E" TR ACT S FROM R EP ORTS OF T H E P R OCEE D IN GS OF T H E FIRST COM M I SSION ER S OF M E I GS A E F A L 1 C N T ST O O O P R 3oth 1 8 9 . OU Y, T HI , I ,

" Of - The commissioners said county met this day, to wit,

Levi Stedman and William Alexander, who , after being duly

sworn by Archibald Murray, a j ustice of the peace for the

county aforesaid , and lodging a certificate thereof in the fi of ce of the Court of Common Pleas for the said county, pro ce e de d to business . ff Benjamin Stout , duly elected Sheri of said county, pre

sented a bond , of which the following is a copy, which was approved and delivered to the county treasurer :

all : Know men by these presents That I , Benjamin Stout,

as principal , and Levi Stedman and Philip Jones , as sureties , all O of the county of Meigs and State of hio, are held and E firmly bound to Levi Stedman , William Alexander and lijah

Runner , commissioners of the county aforesaid , and to their successors in Office in the full and just sum of four thousand O dollars , current money of hio , for which sum well and truly

and ‘ to be paid , we bind ourselves , our heirs , executors admin 88 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

is tr ator s firmly by these presents . Signed and sealed - this thirteenth day of our Lord , one thousand eight hundred and nineteen .

The condition of the above obligation is such , that , whereas the above bounden Benjamin Stout was duly elected sheriff

Of . the county aforesaid , on the fifth day of April , inst , and was also duly proclaimed as such on the twelfth day of April , to N ow serve until the annual election in October next . , there if fore , the said Benj amin Stout shall well and truly perform

' all the duties of s h e r ifi Of the county aforesaid and account for and pay over all the moneys by him collected according to law , then this obligation will be null and void ; otherwise remain in full force and virtue .

"Seal" Benjamin Stout .

"Seal" Levi Stedman .

"Seal" Philip Jones . e Signed , sealed and deliv red m presence of Robert C . Bar ton .

Philip Jones , of Salisbury, was appointed county treasurer to serve until the annual meeting in June next, and having produced bond for the faithful discharge of his duties the same was approved . Robert C . Barton was appointed clerk

(pro tem) . R E es olved . , That the tavern of James Ph elps , of Salisbury, c and that of Thomas Redding, of Sutton , pay six dollars ea h And for a license for one year ensuing . that George Russell pay two dollars for a renewal of license to keep a ferry over

Leading creek where he now keeps it . 7th 1 81 9 da . June , . Commissioners met this y : Ell ah Present Levi Stedman , William Alexander and j m Runner . The last named was duly qualified by Willia A lexander, a justice of the peace , and a certificate thereof lodged with the clerk of Common Pleas Court . Benjamin Of O Stout , range township , was appointed collector of the 1 81 9 county tax for the year , and Philip Jones was appointed

90 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

i Es s h e r iff be allowed to Benjam n Stout, q , of said county, for

Similar services . Res olved , That there be allowed to the clerk of the Court of Common Pleas for the ensuing year the sum of fifty dollars in full for all services wherein the State may fail in p r os e cu tion , the same to be paid quarterly . R es olved . , That Robert C Barton is appointed clerk of the court for the ensuing year . Res olved ff f , That there be allowed to the sheri O the Court of Common Pleas for the ensuing year the sum of forty dollars in full for services wherein the State may fail in prosecutions which may be commenced, and that the sum of three dollars be allowed for opening and certifying poll books , the same to be paid quarterly . Res olved , That all persons required by law to bring returns to the Office of the county commissioners or clerk Of the Court of Common Pleas be allowed 5 cents per mile for travel—the — same for commissioners and cents per day for s ervices .

Proceedings approved by the Court of Common Pleas , July th 1 1 24 , 8 9.

-fir 1 1 s t 8 9 . The board adjourned until the twenty of July, An application was made this day to divide the township of

Orange . Res olved Of O , That said township range be divided as fol lows : Beginning on the Ohio river at the southeast corner 29 3 1 1 of Section , Township , Range , west to the north 5 1 2 N O . 3 west corner of Section , Township , Range ; thence north to the county line ; thence east with said line to the ‘ Ohio river ; thence with the meanderings of s aid river to the place of beginning ; and that the name of the township be

Olive .

Then follows a detailed account of expenses , much of which had to be paid in county orders .

h 1 1 ' i 6t 8 9 . At December , a meet ng of commissioners , pres th e ent were Samuel Downing and Philip Jones , this being PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 91

first meeting of the commissioners since the October election 1 1 of 8 9 .

They proceeded to draw lots agreeable to law , Robert C . Barton being authorized to draw for William Alexander in case he was not present . In drawing of lots , it appeared that

William Alexander was to serve one year, Philip Jones two years and Samuel Downing three years .

8th 1 820 An act for levying tax on _ land , passed February , 2 Section . That all lands subj ect to taxation shall be rated or classed as first, second and third rate , agreeably to the fol - : lowing rules, to wit In all cases where the largest proportion of a tract of land is of the best quality, it Shall be denominated

first rate and shall be taxed annually as such . And when the largest proportion of a tract Of land is inferior to the best and superior to the worst quality, it Shall be denominated second tax rate and Shall be charged with a annually as such . 3 Section . Be it further enacted , That there shall be levied and paid yearly and every year on each hundred acres of land of the first rate one dollar and fifty cents . n O each hundred acres of second rate land , one dollar ; and on each hundred acres of third rate land fifty cents , and in the same proportion for an y greater or less number of acres . 25 48 . Section . Be it enacted , That per cent of the net amount of taxes collected shall be paid into treasury of such county for county purposes . n 24th 1 824 O February , , a law was passed altering the ‘ f amount of tax on the di ferent rates of land , as follows 7 8 . First rate land , Second rate land , } cents Third 5 rate was 6 cents .

2 . Section . Twenty per cent of the net tax collected to be paid into the county treasury . 23 1 824 February , , another act of the Legislature fixes the rates of stud horses not to exceed the rate for which he stands e for the season , but on all other horses, mares , mules and ass s 92 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY three years old and upwards a sum not to exceed 30 cents per O n O ld 1 0 year, all neat cattle three years and upwards , cents

. O n per head other property made taxable by this act, not to

- 1 exceed one half of per cent . of the appraised value . The reason why the substance of the tax laws has been quoted here is in order to Show that in the early years Of Meigs county and in former years the Legislature Of Ohio always limited the amount of tax to be raised , giving the com a ‘ cou n t missioners of y no authority to go beyond such limits . Great care was taken n ot to allow corporations to run the people into debt , as they now do , entailing upon future genera tions a heavy debt, a grievous burden to be borne . The amount Of revenue for Meigs county was not sufficient to pay expenses, and orders on the county treasury became so depreciated as to bring only 50 cents on the dollar and became 50 an article of trade . Merchants would pay in goods , cents in for a dollar, and sell the same money to taxpayers , who tax a would pay with it to the amount of its face . Wh t little money was paid into the treasury was used for expenses tha t orders would not pay . Of The method grading land into first , second and third

an d 1 00 grades for fixing the amount of tax for each acres,

according to the respective rates for state purposes, was 1 8th 1 804 u enacted February , , and was contin ed with slight alterations up to the first years Of Meigs county as heretofore

e . mentioned , but no part of it was allow d for county purposes The law Of levies for county purposes by assessing a tax on stock, etc . , was continued at about the same rate until law after Meigs county was organized , which was enacted 1 th 1 0 9 8 5. February ,

1 At the pioneer meeting in 885 Mrs . Dolly Knight had a most interesting paper concerning early days about Chester , from which some extracts are taken of facts not included in “ 1 7 8 the former papers . In 9 Peter Grow and Levi Stedman

94 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY supply after the lapse of nearly a ce n tur yf We find in the records of deeds of Washington county and Of Gallia county names of men who bought land and made homes in what is E now Meigs county . zra and Joshua Chapman and Levi 1 7 7 E Chapman purchased land dating to 8 . zra and Joshua

Chapman lived and died in Letart township . Henry Roush

- S ix 1 08 a bought thirty acres of land in 8 in Letart . Adam Har 1 1 2 8 . pold , in , a farm in Letart township Thomas Alexan 1 03 1 1 0 8 . 8 a der, first, in After , there seems to have been steady influx of families from Virginia, Pennsylvania and N ew N ew En York , as well as the earlier emigrants from g of land . The names Sayre , Hall and Price are represented by a large number of people living in Meigs county.

George W . Cooper was a son of Abraham Cooper and Mar n e e garet Cooper, Wetzel , daughter of Lewis Wetzel , of fron

M r . tier notoriety . Cooper lived in Chester several years as a ’ salesman in Colonel David Barber s store . Moving to Middle an port , he was active member of the Meigs County Pioneer

Society, being the first corresponding secretary of the same . f . O Mr Cooper was one of the most upright , reliable men and 1 78 . . O 8 universally respected He died in Middleport , hio , in e 0 . n e . Persis Cooper , Blackstone , wife of George W Cooper, 22n 1 22 O d 8 . was born in Athens , hio , May , She was a grand

of N e w daughter Major John White . She died at Carlisle , 23r d 1 4 O 89 . hio , July ,

1 75 8 . Major John White was born in in Pomfret, Conn , and H was a soldier in the Revolutionary army . e was said to be th e one of bodyguards at the execution of Major Andre , and was familiar with all the circumstances connected with the attempted betrayal of the army by Benedict Arnold . He was one of a company that landed at Marietta in 1 789 and lived in h e . t blockhouse , serving at times as an Indian scout While her e he married Pr iscilla Duval . After his marriage he moved PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 95

to Waterford , subsequently to Athens county , until the death ’ 1 838 —in - of his wife in , when he came to his son law s and ’ daughter s , Mr . and Mrs . Samuel Fair, of Chester, Meigs county , with whom he remained until his decease , in his

- eighty seventh year . He is buried in the Chester cemetery

Samuel Ervin built a cabin near the site Of what is known “ ” 1 807 as the Horton boatyard in , being the first settler of the 1 town of Pomeroy . Amos Partlow came in 809 and built his w E cabin about here the xcelsior Salt Works are situated , and that was the second house . The third cabin was erected by

Frank Hughes on the ground where the court house stands , and John Mason put a cabin on Sugar run , being the fourth E dwelling house in Pomeroy . Mr . rvin vacated his house in favor Of John Bailey and built another cabin at the mouth of ’ 1 81 5 N Kerr s run ; lived there in , when he sold to athan th e fi Clark , who was therefore about fth settler of the town of

“ Pomeroy. Some of the above mentioned improvements were sold to other parties . Clark sold his improvement to Robert

Bailey or Randall Stivers , who afterwards sold to Major Dill . N N e ial y bought a lot of Dill and built the first store house , 1 27 fi 8 . where he kept the first post of ce in Pomeroy in Mr . E Of John Knight bought the improvement made by Mr . rvin a Mr . Miles , and Samuel Grant bought the Partlow improve ment .

~ E Robert Bailey, lihu Higley , John Bailey, David Bailey . H e d e m an E g Hysell , Leonard Hysell and lam Higley met at the house of Samuel Ervin and from there started to Gallipolis and volunteered under General Tupper to serve in the W ar 1 1 2 of 8 . E and Thomas rvin , Robert Bailey , David Bailey John Bai K a ley were pioneer keelboat men , who boated salt from nawha to Pittsburg , the boat being owned by P . Green and

Jack Allen . The first public road cut through the woods from Gallipoli s b E to Chester was opened y Samuel rvin , Asahel Cooley and 9 6 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

N e — Hamilton Kerr . " ot The date of this road is not given , but there were settlements on Leading creek and at Athens as early as at Chester, and may have been opened as early by way of these settlements from Gallipolis to Athens " It should be borne in mind that many roads were barely marked out for Or horse foot men that were never Opened for teams . Mr . 1 798 1 799 Thomas Matthews settled in Chester in or , and he told me (Larkin) while we were in company passing over the hill on the Rutland road to Middleport that there was where he and Hamilton Kerr and some other men whose names are forgotten located a road to Shade river, crossing Leading creek where the K . M . Railroad crosses that stream , run ning immediately up the point of that hill and following the ridge all the way west of Middleport and Pomeroy, but that road was never opened for teams . S . C . L . E 1 81 4 . O Mr rvin stated that in the hio river was very high , E so that his father, Samuel rvin and family, were compelled to leave the cabin and take Shelter in a cave , where they lived th e seven days and nights , in much discomfort, as it was in month of February

2 h 1 O 9t 878 . Rutland , hio , March , T O the Teacher and Scholars of the School in Pleasant Val ley We “ propose to write a few items in relation to the early history and settlement of the little spot of earth that appears to be of so much importance and which in reality is so very interesting to the inhabitants Of what is now called Pleasant \ s e at of Valley, the lawn where now stands the learning and capitol for this community, together with its surroundings up and down the vale

W hen wild turkeys and deer , An d old black bears that prowled , W u ere so ght by hunters here ,

Though wolves as sentries howled .

98 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

Cook and James M c Gu ir e came with their families from Mari 1 81 3 1 E N . O . etta in and settled on Section arl P . Archer 1 81 4 E came about that time and bought land in , and lihu

N N o 2 Higley married ancy Cook and settled on Section . in 1 1 6 8 . 1 827 Bereman Bailey located a farm a little north in .

Hazael Lathrop , who framed more buildings in this neigh bor h ood N e than any other man in his time , came from w 1 1 7 8 . i York in He married Cathar ne , a daughter of Billy e Wright , and liv d in a cabin on the eastern border of Section N 8 1 2 O . 8 5 , He moved farther west in , but after seventy “ ” Of years that strip land is known as the Lathrop Place .

1 7th 1 - . 840 Mr Richard Cook died July , , aged seventy three

. n e e O 7th years His wife , Irene Cook , Hodge , died ctober , 1 839 - , aged seventy three years . About 1 81 2 James M c Gu ir e bought a farm in Pleasant Val 1 . A 4 1 777 . ley He was born in Ireland ugust th , He emigrated th e to Marietta and there married Widow Murray , who had — E M r . . s four children William , John , liza and Matilda Mc ’ Guire s maiden name was Mary Garnet . She was a sister of the mother of John Brough , the famous war Governor of Ohio .

A E Of little story was current about squire Brough , father the

Governor , of his queer decisions when an acting magistrate . He made the witness pay the cost Of prosecution in a case of i larceny . A mechanic living in Harmar and work ng in Marietta

n d had a canoe to go over to his work a back for his meals . Persons troubled him by taking away his canoe when he wanted it . He therefore gave notice that he would prosecute the first one that did it . SO the next day a man came along and asked where such a man had gone . He saw him take the f “ canoe and go out O the mouth of the Muskingum . Did you " ” “ ” see him do that Yes . Dropping his tools , he went to E squire Brough for a warrant, and the man and the witness h were soon before the court . There the witness said e did th e not see the man take canoe , that he said so for a joke . “ i The judge figured a little and said , I find the pr soner not PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 9 9

. SO guilty much cost for the witness to pay . Then , address ing the witness , ordered him to pay it over quick or he would send him to jail for contempt of court , SO the witness forked it over.

T h e r f Original Fo e s t o R utland .

S . C . Larkin . Dr . Frank Parker .

Common name . Botanical . k White Oa . Quercus Alba . k T ou e l n Oa . o a . Black , or Yellow Quercus

ak . Red O . Quercus Rubra k Chestnut Oa . Quercus Castaneo . k Swamp O a . Quercus Discolor . k l tr i P o a s . Pin Oa . Quercus s - i n k I mbr ca o . Laurel leaf Oa . Quercus

- — Shell bark Hickory Small — u a a. N t . Cay Micro — Shell- bark Hickory Large

ut a A . N . Cay lba — ‘ A Bitter Pignut Soft Shell . Caya mara

Fu l an s N . Black Walnut . g igra i r Fu lan s n e ao . Butternut . g C

as tan e d . Chestnut . C Visca

lm A . White E . Ulmas mericana

Elm . Red, or Slippery . Ulma Fulva i- P l atu u S O c c . Sycamore . dentalis

P e tu in talis . Beach . Fagus p g

N . Birch . Betula igra

- A . Bass wood , or Linn . Filia mericana tiva e r o . Cherry . Prunus S l Ae s c u as . Buckeye . Flava i N Ac e r v de s . Box Elder . egando

Cotton Wood . Populus Monilifera . ilu M s . Yellow Pine . Pinus

V i r i n i c an a . Red Cedar . Juniperus g

A . Cucumber . Magnolia cuminata

A . Hemlock . lbies Canadensis

. P e u r id e A M u ltiflor a . pp g , or Gum . garsa

Persimmon . Dios Virginiana . l id P r e mu o e s . Aspen . Populus 1 00 PIONEER HISTORY OF . MEIGS COUNTY

li Sas s af r a Offi cin a s . Sassafras . i r i n h l e dits ch a T aca t e s . Honey Locust . G

P e n dr acan th u s . Yellow , or Black Locust . Robinia

Mulberry . Morus Rubra .

xi de n dr um . Sour Wood . O g Arboreum

. O . Horn Bean , or Iron Wood strya Virginica i Am e lan cki er Can adae n s s . Servis Berry . l e n dr o ir abad . Sweet Pignut . Caya G

L i li d r n . . l o e n d o Poplar, or Tulip Tulipifera i Fr ax can us . White Ash . Americanus

Fr axi can u s . Blue Ash . Quadrangulata A r n ar id r n e s o . Crab pple . P y Co

ur n e m . Black Haw . V e s b Prunifolium

Plum . Prunus Americana .

m . Papaw . ASi e n a Triloba

Red Bud . Cercis Canadensis .

tr o ur ur e n s . W aakoo . En on ym as S p p

u . Blue Beach . Cas pun n s Americana

Dog Wood . Cornus Florida .

Willow . Salix Alba .

Witch Hazel . H amamillis Virginica . n Spice Bush . Benjoin Ode r if e r e .

Prickly Ash . L an th or yl um Americana . f i Au u s ti ol a. Laurel . Kalmia g

Glabra . i n is an d e s . Sumach . Rhus C a i an adaen s s . Elder . Sambucus C

Leatherwood . Dioca Palustris .

H zle n ut . a Corylus Occidentalis .

Bladdernut . Staph ylia Trifolia .

Hackberry . Celtis Occidentalis .

Sugar Tree . Acer Saccharinum .

Soft Maple . Acer Rubrum .

Blackberry . Rubus W ilborn s .

Raspberry . Rubus Occidentalis . f li a Green Briar . Amilox R otun da o .

Eglantine Rose . Rosa R ubign os a . H dr an e . White y g Hydrangea Ar bor e s c e u s .

f lim e . Arrow Root . V ibu r um a Ace r i o

. in i Buckberry R h an e s .

Huckleberry . Gaylu s s aceid Resinosa .

Blueberry . Vaccinium Pennsylvanicum .

1 02 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COU N TY

record

This record of the Dogwood blossoming is because it h blooms wit more uniformity than any other tree , showing late or early spring, and the foregoing table has been care fully kept , year by year . S . C . L . The name Rutland was given to the township through the O f influence of five its citizens who came from Rutland , Ver -t r mon , and Rutland , Massachusetts . Their names we e , viz A John Miles , Luke Brine , bel Larkin , Brewster Higley and 1 2 N . 8 8 Shubael obles The village of Rutland was laid out in ,

A r z . by Bar illai H Miles and bijah Hubbell , J . , and the survey was made by Samuel Halliday, and the acknowledgment of A A the deeds for the streets before bel Larkin , ssociate Judge ,

2 th 1 28 - A 0 8 . ugust , The original lots consisted of one fourth

1 1 - 4 N o s . 7. N O . of an acre in Section , and fractions of and m o 8 N O . 7. Other lots have been added fro Section N . and

MR . M E ID SA U L HALL AY.

- Auditor of Meigs County Tw enty four Year s .

V E AARON STI RS.

Auditor of Meigs County in l860 .

1 04 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

. s o house in the township , this house was a preaching place for all denominations , when the services would not interfere with the school . A payment of five dollars was made by the township trus tees for the privilege of holding elections in this school build ing . Spelling schools and singing schools met in this town hall e and young p ople enjoyed the social opportunity.

There was a debating club , of considerable importance in helping young men to try their skill in oratory, or sharpen their wits by controversy . They had rules that secured to them an exclusive selection of membership . Many intellectual contests were held there by the young men engaged in debating . The growth of minds , and the e fri ndship of hearts, nursed in that building, will continue while life shall last with those thus associated .

T H E W N - R M F 1 826 I D STO O .

The severest wind- storm ever known in Rutland from its O 29th first settlement , came on Sunday afternoon , ctober ,

1 2 - f 8 6. The school house just mentioned su fered greatly . The off upper story was swept entirely, and the roof only was ever not replaced . The strong current of this wind was more than a quarter mile in width , Showing greater strength in some places than in others in its course , which was a little south of t eas . It came from Salem township , but did little damage Of until reaching the brick house Felix Benedict, the upper part of which was blown down . In the village of Rutland , a frame house , the residence of Mr . Beebe , was blown all to Of e pieces , but fortunately the family had gone out the hous , and SO escaped with their lives . Passing over a hill a half mile east, which was covered with heavy timber, it completely felled the standing trees . Then pitching over another hill Of into the valley Hysell run , it removed all the timber except PIONEER H I s TORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 1 05

ff Of th few saplings that were not twisted o . At the base e

ill stood a log cabin , the home of Royal Hysell . There were l ine persons inside when the storm began, Mr . Royal Hyse l M c uir e family, and Mr . James G , Sr. The house was

to a log or two at the bottom , but no one was hurt .

' 'of Ch ar le s over Thomas Fork , near the residence i the wind felled all the heavy t mber on the hillside , ’ (1 to O then passed on the hio river, where the Whitlock s l ive d , and across the river into Virginia , and report came of its destructive path many miles into the country

The first school in the first school—house in Salisbury town

hip was taught by Samuel Denny, from Massachusetts , who

— co i t helped build the school house . The school s s e d of a scholars , viz James Smith , John Smith , Sar h Kerr N u Christena iswonger , these fo r from near the mouth of ’ e adin g creek , and five children from Judge Higley s family .

1 0 - 1 2 his term of school was in the winter of 8 1 80 . Miss a lecta Higley , afterwards Mrs . Benjamin Willi ms , was the — to teach in that school house . Mr . Denny taught one

a house that belonged to Widow Case .

Mr . Denny delivered the first oration at a celebration of th 4t 1 6 e h 80 . of July, in He stood on a mound not far from t h e Case house . 1 81 0 Mr . Denny left Ohio in , and returned to Massachusetts,

here he married and died there . 1 1 1 8 . Miss Fanny Smith taught school there , in She was A M r . a . married afterwards to . s Maples Probably the next

s . chool in the order of time was taught by James G Green , a

' f m tu ck 1 09 r o K e n 8 . preacher, y in ’ r e tta Miss U Benedict had a school in a blacksmith s shop ,

b . . uilt by Mr Rufus Wells , but who had moved to Wilkesville 1 1 1 This was in 8 . The teacher was afterwards the wife of 1 81 2 E Cornelius Merrill . In , lisha Rathburn taught a school se belonging to Samuel Danforth that stood near the 1 0 6 PIONEER HISTORY OF M EIGS COUNTY

f 1 1 2 — s . 8 O . o pre ent dwelling John F Stevens In , a scho l house was built on land now owned by Mr . George V . Lasher, and stood a few rods west of the old blacksmith shop . Miss Polly A Wyatt, a lady from thens , taught school in this neighbor i n 1 1 2 hood 8 .

1 81 6 - In , a school house was erected on land one hundred f f O O N O . 8 feet north the southeast corner Section , now owned by S . C . Larkin .

. e This house was built of logs , hewed or dressed on the insid as far up as the joists , with a stone chimney built on the out

Side , while the cracks between the logs were chinked with small pieces of wood or s ton e and daubed on the outside with mud . The windows for light were made by cutting out one Of half of the upper Side the log at the proper height , and one half of the log next above , on the under Side , so as to match .

Of SO Instead glass , paper was fastened on , and then greased

w as S as to admit the light . This done on two ides of the s it house , and benches were made for the children to on , and boards laid on pins driven into the logs below the windows were for writing tables . The floor was made of boards , and loose boards were laid on joists overhead . The roof was made — according to the common log cabin style , by having eave bearers and buttling poles to hold the long shingles in prope r

N . place . ails were scarce and few were used in building

The first teacher in this house was David Lindsey, who 1 1 taught in the winter of 1 81 6 and 8 7. He then settled on the

east branch of Thomas Fork , near the Rutland and Chester

road . His successor as a teacher was Selah Barrett , who

e . came from Vermont, bringing a young wif with him They

- moved into the school house and taught the winter school .

w as His habit to rise early, cut wood , make a fire , eat breakfast, and then move the household goods into the loft each morning N 1 81 7 before school hours . This was in ovember, , and the 1 1 winter 8 8 .

1 08 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

RAN AN D K N AM L G T I GHT F I IES . l 1 1 s t 8 7 . December , , the families of John Grant, Sr , and

Bo ltw ood wife , Sarah Grant ; their sons , Samuel Grant , wife

n e é A and children ; John Knight and wife , gnes Grant, landed at Silver run , Salisbury township , having had a long and

M ai n e w h i ch tedious journey from , was made , first in wagons ' O fl atboat as far as Wellsburg on the upper hio , where a was constructed in which they floated down the river to Silver run , their destination . With them came a lad , John Pierce , whose home had been with the senior Grant for several years .

b . Landress Grant , a bachelor rother, came also 1 820 John Grant, Sr . , died in June , , and Mrs . Sarah Grant 1 24 8 . died in March , They are buried in the Miles Ceme ” tery, side by side .

Da e Samuel Grant married in Maine , Hannah vis , and th y landed with a family of eight children , viz

Oliver Grant, married Mary Jones , daughter of Philip Jones, of Middleport, and moved to Iowa .

I Of e d There was an nvalid son Samuel Grant , who liv to m ature years , but died many years ago .

Royal C . Grant , the inventor and machinist of Middleport ,

O . . , married Lovina Fuller, who died many years ago William Grant married Esther Hobart and settled in Middle h i O . s port, He was associated with brothers, John and Sam r flou r in f . O uel Grant , J , in the steam g mill , one the finest mills ever built in Meigs county .

Ebenezer Tuttle Grant married Sarah Jones , daughter of

Philip Jones , of Middleport . They moved to Minnesota .

Lydia Grant was married to Phineas Robinson of Chester, died many years ago , leaving two children , a son William E Fenn Robinson , and the daughter lizabeth was married to

o . George Grow, grands n of Judge Grow

John Grant married Mary Roup , both died many years ago . PIONEER HISTORY OF ' M E I GS COUNTY 1 09

E Of liza Grant was the wife of William Wright, Kentucky .

Cyrus Grant married Charlotte Hebard , of Athens county . l CO . He was known as Grant , for many years identified with

the business interests of Pomeroy. Samuel Grant , Sr . , and all

of his family are dead .

illi m ' H . W a Obar t Mr came from Spencer, Tioga county, 1 81 N Y. . 8 . n e é , in , to Leading creek Mrs . Hobart, Hugg,

with two children , were with him . They had five children

born in Meigs county . The older children were Isaac Hobart l a . E nd Phebe , married to Mr Hanlin , of Middleport, O . sther Hobart became the wife of William Grant and reared a family

of marked intellectual force . California , a daughter, was for e ar s j y a noted teacher in the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, 1 6 " E 90 . and passed away in , deeply mourned lecta Grant spent “ some years teaching in the N ew Church Academy in Phila

In delphia . Julia was the wife of James Boggess , a prominent

citizen of Meigs , and has been County Treasurer . William r Grant , J . , was a farmer in Great Bend , Kansas, a successful

man . Lucy Grant, the youngest child , is a teacher of kinder

garten schools . There were two children Of Samuel Grant and wife born

. : after they came to Ohio , viz William Grant , who married

E . b sther Hobart , and lived in Middleport He and rother,

John Gr ant, were enterprising and successful millers for many

years in Middleport . They operated the roller process for

making flour, about the first of any mill in Meigs county . Mr . William Grant was one of a company who went overland to 1 4 California in 8 9 .

r . Samuel Grant , J . , was an invalid, and died unmarried

Belinda the daughter, died when quite young . ff Mr . Samuel Grant , Sr . , operated mills in di erent parts of

n L ' Meigs cou ty . At the Higley Mills on eading Creek soon

after his arrival ; later, he took charge of the Stedman mill on H . e Shade river , and built , or rebuilt , the mill at Chester 1 1 0 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

bought land and settled on his farm below Middleport , and Spent the remainder of his life in the vicinity of Pomeroy and 1 866 Middleport, alternately with his sons . He died in at the

93 . . great age of years His wife , Mrs Grant , lived a few years “ ” after her husband , dying well up in the nineties , of age .

John Grant , brother of Samuel Grant , was born on April 1 1 h 1 7 9 h ti l t 8 . M a e be , , in the State of Maine He married

M ah ew , and they had two children when arriving at Silver run , Meigs county . r h Thompson Grant ma ried Cynthia M c N aug to n .

Franklin Grant , when a small boy , was drowned in Leading creek .

Andrew , another child , was choked to death by a grain of corn falling into his throat or windpipe . E Mary Grant was married to lias Hutton , and moved to

Delphos , Kansas . L ll n r . e a O John , J , married Lucinda , residing in ttumwa ,

Iow a .

Sarah , first ; Simpson , second ; Steward Grant , living at

Greeley, Iowa .

Lydia Grant , unmarried , living with her father at Greeley,

Iowa .

. O . Henry C married Clarissa Merrill , located at Ironton , hio 1 2 u 85 . In , John Grant , Sr , moved to Greeley, Iowa , being p

- l i n O d . . wards of ninety three years Mrs John Grant died .

1 864 W . O . e n . hile John Grant , Sr , lived in Rutland , , he e joyed the respect and confidence of all classes of the peopl . 1 826 h He was Justice of the Peace in , and Towns ip Treasurer

for many years . ’ Of He died at his daughter s , Mrs . Hutton , Delphos , Kansas ,

1 6th 1 889 1 00 8 5 . December , , aged years , months and days

- This long lived family , as the records indicate , were of

Scotch descent , and known as far back as Peter Grant , who ,

it is supposed emigrated in colonial days and settled in Maine .

1 1 2 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

scalped by Indians . This paper by Mr . Silas Jones is repro duce d in this history . The fact that the Warth brothers

‘ carried the first United States mail between Marietta a and Gallipolis , brought out the letter of Col . D vid Barber, of

Harmar , who was present at the reading by the secretary , i M c u . . Mr . George Q gg Before the reading of the letter , Mrs E L “ ” ’ . . Bicknell placed an In Memoriam in the secretary s hands which he read as preparatory to the correspondence 0 1 with C . Barber .

I come today to speak of the dead , of funerals without hearse , and burials in graves hollowed out by kindly neigh bors , and mourned sincerely by loving hearts . The pioneers who died were laid in plots of ground not held by any special tenure , often private burial places convenient of access to the families bereaved . In the subsequent changes of ownership of land ; in the wide scattering of relatives ; these places have been neglected , and graves of our ancestors have too often A “ ” been lost . llow me to call attention to a burying ground ,

I use the Quaker term , as most befitting, situated on the farm

N . of my late father, Bicknell , and the portion now owned by

me . It is in all respects a pioneer graveyard . There have been no interments in it for forty years . Here are the graves of Mrs . Abigail Lindley, who drove the first carriage from O Athens to Great Bend ; Mr . Haviland Chase , from tsego , N Y . . , whose tombstone is marked with the compass and square ; Mr . Isaac Laveaux Roberts , also with compass and

- f . square . He was grandfather O the well known Capt William M Of O . . Roberts , steamboatman , Letart , r Smith and wife , and Mrs . Smith , second , wife of John Smith , mother of Mr .

t . . Thomas Smi h , and great grandmother of Prof Thomas S

Carr , of Syracuse , 0 . Mr . Duncan , a Scotchman , and his N wife , who came from Scotland , with the famous ahum Ward

M c D an i el . colony . Mrs . , of the same Scotch company, Mr

George Warth , wife and daughter . Two children of Charles “ M c Clain n e e — and Lydia , Roush , little ones Mary Jane and PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 1 1 3

Isabel . Mr . Artemas Johnson and his little daughter Mar

garet, and others .

' 5 1 Mrs . Lindley was a ster of President Lindley, first Presi f O O 0 . dent the hio University at Athens , I well remember ’ ’ his visit to his sister s grave , stopping over night at my father s a house . Mr . George Warth w s the real pioneer . His grave

is known , but has never been marked by a stone . In regard

C0 1 . to him I wrote to David Barber, of Harmar, and received

an interesting letter, which Shall be read presently .

Before this letter is read , I beg to state my object in pre I t s enting these names before you . is my wish to secure the

ground where these dead are lying by a deed , in some form claiming the oversight and guardianship of the membership

of the Meigs County Pioneer Society . It contains nearly - O one fourth of an acre , on the bank of the hio river, a south lot a e east corner , that might be m d , with small expense, a

place fair to look upon . I ask for this old pioneer, this Indian f r " o . scout, George Warth , a stone his grave What more The

ground is grown up with brush and briars , and without a

fence . In order to deed the land a survey will be necessary,

" and and some expense will be incurred to clear it out , enclose

. it with a, fence Two men are lying there with the compass

’

and square on their headstones .

These beautiful lines ,

My flesh shall slumber in the ground , ’ Till the last trumpet s joyful sound , ’ u Then burst death s chain in sweet S rprise , ’ ” And in my Savior s image rise ,

f are the Christian watchwords on the tombstone O Mrs . Lind

ley . Shall the plow of any future proprietor lengthen furrows ’ o ver these graves " Will you help secure God s acre from un a hallowed uses " 1 1 4 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

’ Col . Barber s letter was then read , he being present,

27th 1 1 88 . Harmar, April , E ° Mrs . . L . Bicknell 1 8 Your favor of the th inst . was duly received . In reply ’ thereto I copy from Hildreth s Pioneer History . He gives the names of families in and near Fort Harmar in the time of the

Indian hostilities . Among them , George Warth and wife and two daughters and five sons . Catharine Warth , a daughter of Mr . George Warth , Sr . , was married to Joseph Fletcher, a

N e w E young man from ngland , and settled in Gallia county .

He was a surveyor of the county, and a Judge of the Court of 1 44 8 . Common Pleas . He died in E Pickett Marvin , a young man from the astern States , mar ried Polly Warth , a sister of Catharine Fletcher . They settled in Gallia county , where Mr . Marvin served several years as

Magistrate .

Fl e e h ar t The Sisters , Ruth and Sally , who were married to

George and John Warth , brothers , were noted for their skill

Fle e h ar t with the rifle . It was said that Sally could bring down a hawk upon the wing, or a squirrel from a tree top as m readily as her husband , John Warth . These wo en had been brought up on the frontier and possessed all the intrepidity and courage Of women of that class . This ends the record in ’ Col . Barber s letter . In regard to Mr . George Warth , he was one of a party who accompanied Governor Return J . Meigs on f a his perilous journey down the Ohio river. He was less vor e d by fortune than brother John ; nevertheless , services to

e . his country should be appreciated . Silas Jon s

1 883 At the pioneer meeting of , a committee was appointed to procure a suitable monument to be placed at the grave of

George Warth .

1 1 6 PIONEER H ISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

s uffi had weakened the pith or inside of the stem , or rotted it cie n tl y to be easily broken when dry . It was then taken up and bound ready for the brake . The brakeman would take a Of handful flax and place it under the brake , and with his other hand ply the brake till all the sheaves were mashed fine . Then the ends of the handfuls were slightly combed by what was called a hatchel , and the broken stems were thrown away as useless . Then both ends were thoroughly combed , and the fla tow saved for use . The x that remained after these pro cesses was fine , smooth and glossy . The tow was carded on c “ ” hand ards into rolls , or bats , and was Spun on a big wheel ‘ like wool ; but the flax was spread over a dis tafi and spun on a little wheel , and operated by the foot on a treadle . This thread made the warp , and the tow yarn made the filling when woven “ into cloth , which was called tow and linen cloth , and was commonly worn by men for trousers in summer . The linen warp was sometimes colored with copperas , a yellow brown , t and filled wi h woolen yarn colored with butternut bark , and was called butternut jeans , and made winter clothing. For a change , both linen chain and woolen filling were colored with indigo and made blue jeans for men and boys , coats and trousers . E Of xperiments were made with other material , as buckskin , the hide of the deer, when properly tanned was a soft , pliable

' leather, made into gloves , mittens and moccasins , very rarely into the garments for men or boys . A ttempts were made to raise cotton , but in such small quan tities , and lacking proper machinery to take the seeds out of

ff . the cotton, the e ort was unsuccessful

At a later period a few families entered into silk culture , planted white mulberry trees , and had rooms fitted for feeding the worms , but it was considered an unhealthy business , and was abandoned . Perhaps no article of household furnishings was prized more r m f highly than the long pendulum wall clock . The fi o Reed PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 1 1 7

Of O and Watson , Cleveland , hio, made them , and sold to farm ’ - e ers in Rutland , on nine months tim , for twenty dollars per

Es . 1 1 . 8 3 clock Abel Larkin , q , bought one in December, , and paid for it in flannel at one dollar a yard the next fall . This ' ’ u 1 81 3 clock of Judge Larkin s , bo ght in , had been in constant " s use , and alway keeping correct time , was still running in e 1 893 Of Decemb r, , after eighty years service . A o m ng the few equipments of a log cabin , and a great con ve n i e n ce for cooking over the fire , was the crane . It was a bar of iron fastened in staples in one Side of the fireplace , and ff movable , hung with hooks of di erent lengths for the use of the kettles in cooking . The teakettle , the pot with boiled din ner and the beans were easily hung over the log fire , while with a long shovel coals were drawn out from under the fore

th e stick and put on the hearth for oven to bake the bread . s Many a family have enjoyed a upper of mush and milk ,

' sitting around the f amily table with bowls for the father and mother and tin cups and iron spoons for the children . The be best mush was made from the corn , grated on a tin grater,

. W as fore the corn was quite hard enough to shell This sifted , and carefully dropped by one hand into the water boiling in the kettle over the fire, while the other hand stirred it in ; it had to be stirred all the while the meal was passing from the other

’ o hand to avoid lumps , and the boiling c ntinued during the process . The salt was put in the water first . T O make bread , mills were necessary, and the pioneers used

- 1 7 1 . 9 hand mills for crushing corn and wheat In , a floating mill was built at Marietta . It required swift water to run this i O O h m ll , which was perated in the hio river not far from t e

Blan n e r h as s e t an d island now known as , ground wheat for the u inhabitants for many miles distant d ring the Indian War . ’ Many canoe loads of grain were brought from Graham s Sta

s . tion , Point Pleasant and Gallipoli After Indian hostilities "h ad ceased , the mill broke loose from its moorings and floated O down the hio river some sixty miles, when the chain cable 1 1 8 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

got entangled in a rock and retained it . Some French settlers from Gallipolis bought it , and it was kept at Letart Falls , as the swift current there could run the mill . The first name we have been able to obtain as miller at Letart was George Burns , but it is probable he was preceded by some man whose name is not recorded. 1 1 798 C0 . d In , a floating mill was built by Devol , the secon 1 C0 . . one by Devol and Mr Greene , which was on the Mus kin um v th e g river se eral miles above Marietta , which did all grinding for the inhabitants on the Ohio and Muskingum rivers for fifty miles above and below the mill . This mill is referred

. O to by Mr Luther Heacox in his history of live township , and also by Mrs Dolly Knight in her paper giving a history of

Chester . 1 806 In , a saw and grist mill was built on Leading creek by E Brewster Higley, James . Phelps and Joel Higley, Jr.

Asa Daine was the millwright . The mill was known after f ’ wards by the names of di ferent owners , as Higley s mill,Bing ’ ham s mill and others . Several miles farther up Leading creek e 1 03 was the grist mill built by Samuel D nny in 8 . A saw mill was added subsequently, and this mill stood about twenty f years . A log mill was built on the middle fork O Shade river 1 808 by Levi Stedman about , the first mill in that locality, and he used hand millstones Obtained from Mr . Trueman Heacox until proper millstones could be provided . 1 1 8 5 . In , Thomas Rairdon built a grist mill at Long Bottom Samuel Grant took charge of the Stedman mill at Chester in

1 820 te dm an x , and rebuilt it, although Levi S had supplanted the log mill by a frame one ; still it was a water mill , needing new machinery . ’

Sloper s mill on Shade . river farther down the stream than Chester was noted for making flour that would “ raise” salt rising bread , however dark .

PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 1 1 9

’ ’ “ - - ' f i ad an ce t f Oth e r Cr os s . m ill on Bowman s run w as ar n v o

' “ m 1 ll o ut . mills in turning good flour This was a water , dating 1 83 9 .

' Do r oth c m lf r m Joseph D . Plummer and his wife y a e o N e w bur o r t a O h av1 n “ Se v yp , Massachusetts , to Rutl nd , hio , g spent

‘

' . 1 1 7 H u h f 8 . e bo t o eral months at Marietta , in the spring of g Eli Of s i n N o . 8 Stedman the southwest corner Congres Sect o ,

' w h e r e h e l r e s ide d O e 1 6th 81 until his death , ctob r , aged 3 years and months . 9th 1 854 7 . 9 Mrs Dorothy Plummer died December , , aged years 3 months . a T h e Their children were two sons and five d ughter s .

‘ E u m in fl u eldest son benezer took the lead in b s e s s . He was e n tial th e r e th e fi in the building of P esbyt rian Church , rst church of that denomination in th e - township of Rutland, in 1 2 E i 8 0 . . Mr ben Plummer was a s nger and led the Singing in oo c that church . After his marriage he t k are of his parents for n h i s br o th e r m a few years , whe he sold to , Herri an Plummer,

and moved to some Western State . ' t Herriman Plummer married Lucinda Stou , daughter of

' . a . Benjamin Stout, who died , leaving quite family of children ,

. . after some years For his second . wife, Mr Plummer married

Of n f ew Miss Rebecca Mauck , Gallia county, and spe t a of his

' ‘ i man of d r last years n that county . He was a great in ust y;

n in and besides farmi g, he engaged in building boats , and the

salt business . 6th 1 802 Herriman Plummer was born April , , and died May f 92 25 3 1 894 O . l st , , at the age years and days Of Hannah Plummer, the oldest daughter Joseph and m ‘ f . o . Dorothy Plu mer, was married to Jacob Rice , Marietta “ on e s on Old They had _ , Henry Rice , who lived on a part of the ” 1 5 8 9 36 . Plummer farm , and where he died in , aged years m to Melinda Plu mer was married John C . Bestow, of Ches r e . r tw o o . ter, had s ns, Joseph and H n y Mr Bestow mar ied for 1 20 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

his first wife a daughter of Levi Stedman , who died leaving one son , Levi S . Bestow .

The second wife died in a few years after marriage . M c Elh e n n e Of Harriet Plummer was married to Robert y , N 1 8th 1 855 Middleport , and died ovember , . N e Sarah Plummer was the wife of Lewis y , of Pomeroy, where he was engaged in the milling business , but after a few years moved to Illinois , where they both died . E r liza Plumme , the youngest daughter, never married . She 2 h 1 7 2 N 0t 8 3 6 . died ovember , , aged years

M cV e m l s t 1 885 John y died in Sale township , February , , aged 94 years .

1 81 9 Allen Sayles came to Rutland in , and died there in 1 1 h 1 851 838 . 8t . Mrs . Sayles died July ,

N . N Mrs . oah Smith had three daughters ancy, married to

Capt . Jesse Hubbell , of Rutland . Jennie became Mrs . Maples ,

Eliaz e r and Theresa Smith was married to Barker , who was 1 1 8 3 . drowned in Leading creek in June , She afterwards mar n dr ried L au e s Grant .

1 81 6 In the fall of two brothers , Josiah and Robert Simpson ,

O . came from Penobscot, Maine , to Rutland , hio Josiah bought

N O . 8 the northwest corner of Section , Congress land , and a moved his family into a house on the premises . They had r large family . Josiah Simpson , J . , married Theresa Higley, — a and had two daughters Mary, Mrs . Thom s Kirker, and

Adaline , Mrs . Samuel Higley . 1 8th 1 837 Josiah Simpson , Sr . , died February , , in his sev e n t - 1 840 - y seventh year , and his wife died in , aged Sixty four years . r A 1 2th 1 874 Josiah Simpson , J . , died pril , , and his wife 1 862 Theresa died in . He had married a second wife in De

1 22 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

Harrisonville, in Scipio township , where he and his wife spent r their remaining days . Robert Simpson, J . , succeeded his father in the possession of the homestead . The daughters of r E : M s . S . Robert impson, Sr , were Maria, lisha Hubbell Bene 1 56 8 . dict ; they moved to Kansas in , and Mrs Benedict died E s there . mily Simp on , the wife of Lucius Bingham , of Rut S n land , Ohio ; arah Ann Simpso was married to Jeremiah

Carpenter, of Columbia township and became the mother of S h e 1 887 a distinguished family ; died in , aged eighty years and s four month .

Amos Carpenter, Sr . , came from Virginia at an early period A 1 81 8 and settled in Rutland township . bout he sold his farm there and bought a valuable tract of land in Columbia town ’

m c L u h lin . n a e . w as M a . ship . Mrs . Carpenter s g They spent their last days on this farm , leaving a fine estate to their chil dren .

John N ewell and family came from Massachusetts in 1 81 6

Fai r field O . to county, hio He had bought land in Bedford

township , Meigs county , four miles from the nearest house , 1 81 9 and did not move his family to his land until , after he had cleared it and many families had settled in the neighbor

N . hood . Mr . ewell was a tanner and shoemaker 1 th 1 4 8 . N 39 . N . O Mr ewell died suddenly ctober , Mrs ewell 1 f 71 . O died in 8 They had a large family sons and daughters . \ Sally was married to Silas Burnap and was the mother of f O O n . Silas Asa Burnap , captain an hio battery i the Civil War

Harriet became the wife of Milton Walker, moved to Illinois N both died . Dolly ewell married Benjamin Knight , of Ches

ter , who was a justice of the peace for twenty years ; he died 1 6 1 872 N February th , . Rebecca ewell married Quartus Bridge

man , of Syracuse , who died in the forties , leaving a family of — six children four sons and two daughters . PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 1 23

N : A The ewell sons lonzo , who married Fanny Dyke and

O . N l moved to regon , where they both died Franklin ewe l n moved to the South , married and the died there . His son , N A Samuel ewell married lmira Knight, and their son is editor

, . . and proprietor of a newspaper in Ravenswood , W Va The N third generation of the ewell family _ were all first class citi zens in Meigs county . Mrs . Rebecca Bridgeman lost two sons E in the war for the Union , mory and Austin Bridgeman, who

- - perished on that ill fated steamboat , Sultana, at Vicksburg,

Miss . Zelda Bridgeman married John Blair , superintendent of the Syracuse Coal and Salt Works , Meigs county . They are both dead . Ar te m e s ia Lonnis H . Bridgeman married Young, of Racine . He was connected with the Syracuse Coal and Salt Company for many years and superintendent Of the works after the

; . resignation of Mr . John Blair . Mr Lonnis H Bridgeman has ever been an earnest and successful superintendent of the Methodist Sunday school in Syracuse and in later years super i n te n de n t of the district of the State Sunday School Union . M cElr o Quartus Bridgeman married Jessie y , daughter of

' M c Elr o Captain J . C . y , and occupied the homestead , his mother remaining there until her death . He is identified with the best interests of the town and a worker in the Methodist church and Sunday school .

Melinda Bridgeman died some years ago, the youngest child , unmarried . t 1 7th Eli V . Rev . Stedman was born in Tunbridge , , August , ' 1 7 5 1 7 8 77 9 . , and was married to Polly Gates , December th , 1 th 1 778 9 . O She was born February , They came to hio in

1 804 l n locating _ Belpre , Washington county , but removed to 1 Of Leading creek in 805. He was a preacher the Free Will

Baptist denomination . Eli Mary Stedman , daughter of Stedman and wife , was born

1 6th 1 805 . June , , and was married to Abner Stout, of Chester 1 24 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COU N r Y

h 1 27t 25. A 8 . A 28th February , Mr bner Stout died ugust , 1 875 3 th 1 2 . o 88 . , and Mrs Mary Stout died May , They were both estimable people and highly respected in the community . Au r alia Eli Stedman was a daughter of Stedman and wife , 22d 1 81 5 and was born June , , in Rutland, Ohio . She was married to Mr . Branch , of Chester , who died , leaving her a A widow with two children . fterwards Mrs . Branch was mar r i d ' t 2 e o . 7th Mr Bartlett Paine , of Rutland . She died May , 1 889 - , aged nearly seventy four years . Eli 1 800 Alexander Stedman , son of Stedman , was born in 1 and died in Minnesota in 869 . Elihu Stedman was the youngest child of Eli Stedman and E . E wife He married Adaline lliott , daughter of Simeon lliott, E f s . O . E q , and a Sister Rev Madison lliott , at one time prin ci al A E p of the Chester cademy . lihu Stedman lived in Middle Both r . a e . port many years , but moved to Iowa . dead 25th 1 788 Captain Jesse Hubbell was born September , , in

Y . P N . Cooperstown , , founded by the father of James enni more Cooper, the novelist . He served an apprenticeship to 1 808 . O the tanning business In he came to Rutland , hio , f where for a long series O years he followed his trade . He was 1 1 2 8 . . a soldier in the War of , serving under General W H ac Harrison , and was familiarly called Captain Hubbell on count Of the years spent in military service . He was justice of the peace six years and one of the trustees of Rutland town N a Of ship eighteen years . He married ancy Smith, daughter L r i n da N . u oah Smith and his wife They had two daughters , Of Hubbell was the wife Curtis Larkin , who died about

1 847 E . Sarah Hubbell , who was married to John asterday l O 1 7 1 874 - Captain , Jesse Hubbell died ctober th , , aged eighty six years .

Seneca Haight was born in Washington , Dutchess county, 1 N . Y 8 5 3 . . O He came to Rutland , hio, in He held several ffi — o ces of trust as township clerk two years , commissioner

1 26 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

N e . : Of y , Jr The daughters Sarah became the wife Lewis h . M ar ar e tta Maguet, of Gallipolis g was married to Stephen N e Titus and lived in Meigs county . Mary y was married N i twice ; first husband , icholas Titus, and after his death the second husband was James Brown . A N e r . lvira y and Almira were twin sisters . Alvira was M s

N e . Thomas Fessler and lived on the y farm , where Mr Fessler

. N e died Almira y was married to Mr . Gates , of Gallia county .

N e r . e Melzar y , J , mov d to Mississippi . Prominent members th e . of community while in Meigs county All are gone . 1 1 N e 809 . N N e Lewis y entered land in ial y , Sr. , lived at the f ’ O . mouth Kerr s run , before Meigs county was organized : He had a family of sons and daughters . The sons Lewis . R d l cu e E o o . , Milton , Buckingham , dward and Henry He had os tofli ce N N . e a store , and a p called yesville , of which Mr y was the postmaster ; a boat landin g for receiving and shipping goods to Chester and other places ; a sawmill that was in o p N e A e r ation many years . Lewis y and aron Murdoch were successors of Haven Stackpole in the steam flou r in g mill ; e later Lewis N y e moved west . Milton N y went to a Western

R o d l cu E o e . State . lived and died in Meigs county dward

N y e died . His two sons are prosperous business men in

Pomeroy . M r — n e f u rain . O of the greatest di ficulties with which the ' ff early settlers had to contend was a disease a ecting cattle ,

n e and causing much loss , was know as murrain . There wer n two kinds ; one called dry murrai was the most prevalent , in which the manifolds became fevery and dry; and stopped all in natural passages . The animal would linger a few days

great distress and die . The other form was called bloody murrain a“ nd consisted of

internal hemorrhages that generally proved fatal .

Many remedies were tried with little success . The mur 1 2 rain gradually disappeared after 8 0 . PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 1 27

Abel Larkin was unable to raise a yoke of oxen before that time without at least one of them dying with murrain . It is said that Daniel Rathburn los t eighteen head of cattle in one season with murrain .

1 804 an d ' built William Parker came to Rutland in , a cabin , 1 805 and in moved his family from Marietta , bringing with him three yoke of oxen , and the nigh ox out of each yoke , died of murrain . Good steers were the only property com manding cash in those days . Drovers would buy them at a low rate and drive them on foot to the eastern markets . They were not bought by weight, but by the . head , according to terms agreed upon by the parties .

Another singular and disagreeable disease , though not fatal , 1 n was that of slabbers horses . They would stand , while a copi ous flow of saliva would issue from the mouth until puddles of h water would collect at their feet . The orse would become thin i n fl e h an s d . , _ his strength be greatly diminished The disorder ’ o Of h immediately after the intr duction the w ite clover, ivation of the grape . Many causes were assigned by r s on s un ce r as the caus e of the disorder, but it is

one discovered the real source of the trouble . It n tin ue d ff many years and a ected other kinds of stock , but adually disappeared from the country

IST OR Y OF T H E CICADA; OR SEVE N TE EN -YEAR

L OCUST . A fter the first settlement on Leading creek , in the year he cicada made their appearance and periodically in seven 1 81 2 1 82 1 46 1 9 8 880 . subsequently , as in , , and There ed to be districts or locations where the locusts W ere seen

- eat numbers in these seventeen year dates . The east and lines between these two districts crossed the Ohio river ld the mouth of O Town creek , thence back into West O O inia at or near Racine , hio , and back into hio at Silver 1 28 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

run, passing north of Cheshire in Gallia county and moving on to Scioto county . There is a curiosity about the line of the two districts that they continued nearly straight without r e gard to the crooked Ohio river . They made their first ap e ar an ce 1 5th 20th p from the to the of May, according to ' w ar mth or coolness of the season , and remained about forty fi ve days before they all disappeared . The males belong to “ the drum corps , while the female pierces the small twigs

“ and limbs of trees and deposits her eggs . These in due time t fall upon the earth , where they remain for another period of ’ seventeen years , to mature their growth for a few days work in the sunshine , which seems necessary to continue the ex i te n c s e of their species . These cicada were destructive to young orchards as well as A other green and growing shrubs . gentleman in Lebanon Of township had an orchard choice variety of apples , and hear ” Of — ing these seventeen year locusts just coming into notice , h is turned flock of a hundred geese into his orchard who , de vour i n g the pests as they came up from the ground , protected and preserved his fruit trees from any damage .

When the first settlers came to Ohio they found great num bers of wild turkeys, a large bird seen in flocks in the woods ,

m n but harmless in every way . In the fall of the year e of the settlement caught them in pen’ s built of rails from a fence near by, and generally placed on a side hill , and were about three feet high , and covered with rails . Then a low place dug at xu n de r the lower side of the pen , and extending , just large _ littl enough for a turkey to enter , would be strewed with a g shelled corn , leading into the pen where more corn would be scattered inside . The turkey eating followed the trail into the pen , and one after another all would go in . When they wanted to go out , their heads would be up , never looking A down at the entrance hole . man with a club would go in , e r e h e ven whe the turkeys did , and kill all , or as many as h

1 30 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

th e mother hen , and only to be halted by the unerring aim of r ifl - e man . It is not certain when bees were discovered by the first emi grants . The hunters were men with strong eyes s o that they could see a bee in flight , and follow it to the tree where the honey was made and stored , and chopping down the tree to secure the honey was the sweet reward of the hunters ’ sigh t and patience . Hollow gums were used for domesticating bees , and some farmers made hives with ropes of straw , sewed to gether so as to form a conical shaped hive for bees . Boxes were made afterwards for the same purpose , until the bee moth became so destructive that other -kinds of hives were invented and patented for the protection and raising of bees .

Few O f the first settlers in Rutland were hunters and did not

N e w E use guns . Many of the ngland men , also those from

N e w . York , were carpenters , and a few were millwrights The

first thing to use was an ax, then something to draw wood . If by oxen , a yoke with a ring in it , to which a hook in a chain lengthened out to fasten around the end of a log securely to draw to the place desired .

If horses were used , then ropes or strips of rawhide were fas tened to wooden hames , which served as collars . Sleds were

first used , then carts , but wagons were not in general use for many years , except by some wealthy farmers . In the house , the woman was furnished with a split brush broom . These brooms were made of a hickory pole by cutting and peeli n g

th e down with a knife splits from the end to make broom . The broom corn of later years was not known in those early days . A chest served for a table till some mill was started and boards — were available , so that cross legged tables were made and S helves placed upon pins driven into the logs . A few spiders and pots to cook with and pewter plates to eat from completed the assortment . Some families had provided themselves with PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 1 31 home conveniences by bringing things needful from their for mer homesteads , but the majority of those first settlers had come from long distances , poorly equipped for traveling or for even camp life for a while . Good housewives who had brought ” pewter plates from “ away back east could not give t hem up ’ without protest to the daughter s innovation of a lot of pore e i d lain ware . It was cla med that the knives woul all be dull if used on such plates . e Mr . Daniel Rathburn , who was a carp nter , built a frame barn without nails . He put everything together with wooden pins . This was the first frame barn erected on Leading creek . Out fl ail s Wheat was with Sickles and threshed with , and the e grain winnowed by a sheet held by two men , who mployed the wind and their united force to c lear the chaff from the grain .

AL S T .

In giving an account of th i s i n di s pe n s abl e article I wil l in

tr odu ce f G . . an extract from the life of Gri fin reen , by S P Hil “ r h 1 4 r l d e t . 79 6 8 In , when salt was worth f om $ to $ a bushe he projected an exp edition into the Indian country near the Scioto river f o r the discovery of the salt Springs said to be h r f At worke d by t e savages ne ar the p esent town o Jackson .

“ th e f i hi m ten hazard of his li e and all those w th , or twelve in a t number, he succeeded in finding the s line wa er and boiled Of c e some it down on the spot in their amp k ttle , making about

a a tablespoonful of s lt . While here he narrowly escaped death Of from the rifle an Indian who discovered them , unobserved by h e . w as t t the party After peace concluded , his warrior related ci rcumstance of his raising his rifle twi ce to fire at a tall man w h o had a tin cup strung to h is girdle on his lo ins and w h o m was known to be Mr . Green . As he might iss his Object , o being a long Sh t , and be killed himself, he desisted and hur ried back to the Indian village below the present town of Chil i l coth e f or . _aid A party of twenty warriors turned out in pur 1 32 PIONEER HISTORY OF ' MEIGS COUNTY suit and came on to the bank of the Ohio at Leading creek a few minutes after the whites had left it with their boat and were in the middle of the river . They were seen by the men in the boat , who felt how narrowly and providentially they had ” escaped . The first settlers here got their salt from these Scioto salt works . The writer remembers hearing his father tell of taking “ a horse and pack saddle and going to the Scioto Licks , as c they were then alled , and working a week for a sack of salt . His business was drawing salt water by means of a hand pole ffi a xed to a sweep above . After receiving his wages , put his salt on the pack saddle and made his way home . Those salt f works were under the superintendency of a state O ficer, and 24th 1 804 by a law passed January , , renters had to pay a tax of 4 cents per gallon on the capacity of the kettle used in l making salt, provided always that no person or company Shal under any pretense whatever be permitted to use at any tl me a . greater number of kettles or vessels than will contain 4000 gal

600 . lons , nor a less number in any one furnace than gallons After the salt works on the Kanawha were started the people

‘ h er e de e n de d K p on anawha for salt, and for many years it was a place of considerable trade . Young men , on coming of age , went to Kanawha to chop' wood or tend kettles when they . wished to Obtain a little money . It was hardly expected to get money at any other place , and salt seemed to be the medium by which trade was conducted .

Keelboats were used as a means of transportation , and Ship ments were made by them of salt to Marietta, Pittsburg and the lower Ohio . In order to give some knowledge of the origin K S and progress of the anawha alt business , we append a letter

N . which appeared in the iles Register, Baltimore , Md , in April , 1 81 5 , and we copy from the Meigs County Telegraph , April , 1 4 88 .

1 34 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

from below . The water thus gathered in the gum rises about Of as high as the surface the river at high water mark , and it requires from seventy to 1 00 gallons of it to make a bushel Of E “ salt . ach well produced on an average a sufficient quanti ty 300 of water to make bushels of salt per day . There are now fif t — established and in Operation y two furnaces , and more are being erected , containing from forty to sixty kettles of thirty five 2500 3000 gallons each , which make from to bushels of salt per day . The quantity may be increased as the demand

Shall justify . The wood in the course of time must become f scarce or di ficult to obtain , but we have stone coal that can be used for fuel , and the supply is inexhaustible . These works S ix are Situated miles above Charleston , Kanawha Courthouse , sixty- six miles from the mouth of the river and twenty- six miles below the great falls . The river is navigable , with a gen tle current, at all seasons of the year for boats drawing two f O and . feet water, at most seasons for boats of any size

V D . Your obedient, humble servant, DA I RUFFNER

8th 1 81 4 N . Kanawha Salt Works , ovember ,

It appears from Old account books that salt rated as high as 2 1 2 $ per bushel in Rutland township as late as 8 0 . The first salt water seen on Leading creek was a small pond of reddish water, which in dry weather cattle would visit for drink , the place being near the channel of the creek , about a quarter of a mile below the old Denny mill , in a bend of Leading creek . In 1 820 several of the neighbors brought in their kettles and set them on a kind of furnace and made of that water one bushel Of A salt . fter which a company was formed consisting of Ben jamin Stout , Caleb Gardner, Thomas Shepherd and Michael

Aleshire , who bored a well and erected a furnace and com m e n c e d 1 822 making salt in , when Benjamin Stout bought out the other parties . PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 1 35

1 e In 822 Abijah Hubbell and his son , Jab z Hubbell , and Bar s le y Hubbell bored a salt well above the Stout well and a 1 824 furnace set for making salt in .

Ruel Braley manufactured salt at his works , five miles above 1 0 83 . on Leading creek , in The Bradford and Stedman ’s furnace was located about five 1 1 1 miles below the Stout well in 830 or 83 . Still further down the creek Theophilus Jacobs operated a f furnace for a few years with a great deal O energy . N ear the mouth of Thomas Fork Herriman Plummer bored 1 1 a well and made salt in 83 . Two other salt wells had been p r evIOus ly attempted in Rut

. On e land township , but failed to obtain salt water was bored by Joseph Giles , Sr . , and the other one was by Samuel Church

' 1 822 in , which resulted in the discovery of a heavy lubricating O il O f n ot , the true value which was understood and very little attention was paid to it . After the Rutland furnaces began to make 200 bushels of 50 A salt per wee k the prices came down to cents a bushel . fter salt was made in large quantities along the Ohio river the works on the creek became unprofitable, and the manufacture of salt was discontinued .

1 81 0 h i s In Joseph Vining and brother, Joshua Vin ing, came f with their families rom Hartford , Conn . , and settled in Rut i f O . . land township , near the later res dence John B Bradford Son h n Timothy Vining, a of Josep Vini g, was born in Hart 2 h 1 f h . 4t 805. t O ford July , Joseph Vining died at eage ninety Q

On e . years , and his wife near ninety years

Timothy Vining married Sina Jones , daughter of Charles

— S ix d au h Jones , and they had a large family sons and three g

ters . The six sons were all soldiers for their country . Mr . Vining died at the age of eighty—seven years ten months and — 23r d 1 893 . twenty eight days on May , — . e . Mrs Sina Vining di d at the _age of eighty four years 1 36 PIONEER HISTORY OF M EIGS COU N TY

‘ n e e M c D an i e l Mrs . Jane Jones , , was born and brought up in the Shenandoah valley, Virginia , until she was fifteen years

- Old S h e O . , when came to hio When twenty four years of age E she was married to lijah Jones , of Salisbury township . They had a family Of sons and daughters .

Mrs . Jones had belonged to the Christian Church for more a i 29th 1 893 than fifty ye rs . She d ed May , , at the age of eighty e four years , s ven months and nineteen days , and was buried in the Bradford graveyard .

” N e w Abraham Winn _ moved with family from York to 1 81 6 Canada and from there to Rutland in , and bought a farm 1 7 1 835 on Section , where he lived until his death , in , at the — age of Sixty four years . He left a widow and several children . 1 860 —S ix n Mrs . Winn died in , aged eighty years . The childre

: . were Joseph Winn, Sally, Mrs Joseph Howell ; Jacob Arm

. N strong Winn , Fanny Winn , Mrs Charles obles ; Jonathan

A . Winn , Lydia Winn , Mrs . lexander Stedman ; John Winn A — lived and died in Albany , thens county, aged eighty three

N . years ; William Winn went to Illinois , ancy Winn , Mrs

Daniel Skinner .

n Asahel Skinner and family moved from Mai e to Rutland , 1 1 7 ’ O 8 . . hio , June , Mr Skinner s first wife was Phoebe Gould , 1 1 h 8 7 . e who died in September, Two of their c ildr n remained E : in the ast ; the others were Daniel Skinner , a miller in the A M cK e e O southeast part of Rutland ; lona, Mrs . William ; J h s e O . p , Joel and William Skinner, live , Mrs John Chase ; E . e . Isaac Skinner, dna, Mrs Hiram Chase ; Ph be , Mrs Wil A liam Hartinger ; sahel Skinner, David Skinner and Lucinda

Skinner . dau h Asahel Skinner married for his second wife Jane , the g

E : . ter of Thomas verton . Their children were Lucinda , Mrs E A Dr . Clark Rathburn ; lizabeth , Mrs . lexander Hogue ; Cal vin , Marinda , Mrs . Metcalf ; Samantha , Thomas , Isaac Skin ’ - ner . Twenty two children of Asahel Skinner s family .

1 38 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

Joseph Giles lived in Rutland and followed the blacksmith E business . He married lizabeth Townsend in September , 26th 1 822 . . She was born in Kennebec county, Me , March , 1 1 1 803 8 6 . , and came to Scipio , Meigs county, in 1 873 . Mr . Giles died in Rutland in Mrs . Joseph Giles died in 1 8 1 887 - Middleport, February th , , aged eighty three years, ten months . i e Lemuel Pow ll was born near Steubenville , Ohio , March 2 th 1 81 4 8 . N , He was married twice , first to ancy Sook , and O E his second wife was Miss sca lizabeth Tingley, from near 1 . . 9th 894 Cincinnati Mr Powell died January , , aged nearly eighty years .

A P a . u Aaron Torrence was born in llegheny county , , J ly 5 1 792 1 809 th , , and came to Meigs county in . He was married 1 1 72 823 . 8 to Lucy Hussey in She died in . They had a family

f - O s . . seven children , and had been married forty nine year Mr 1 873 e Torrence married a second wife in , Mrs . Rach l Horton . He was a soldier in the War Of 1 81 2 and fought the British at

N ew O . rleans He lived a conscientious Christian life , a mem

ber of the Methodist Church , and died at Bald Knobs, July

1 8th 1 4 - 88 n . , , aged ninety two years and thirtee days

Whittemore Reed was brought from N ew Hampshire in 1 798 O . , a child, to range township , by his mother He married Of — Miss Stout and had a family five sons Darius , Aaron ,

r E . Whittemore , J . , nos and Sardine Darius Reed married

Miss Curtis , of Washington county , and engaged in the drug — business in Pomeroy . They had a family Curtis Reed , a

druggist ; William Reed , banker , and Helen , the wife of Rev . l A l . Thomas Turnbull . of these families live in Pomeroy A Darius Reed and his wife are dead . aron Reed married and

O . r . settled in range , a farmer Whittemore , J , married Miss E Young and moved to Clermont county, a farmer . nos Reed PIO N EER HISTORY OF M EIGS COUNTY 1 39

s e w a married twice , first to Miss Curtis , and the second wif

An n . was Miss Maria Seely He was a druggist in Portsmouth ,

O . hio , but later went to farming Sardine Reed graduated from

West Point with first honors and bright prospects , married , and died in six months . AM E D W N N S U L O I G . v 1 81 5 Samuel Downing came from Water ille , Me . , in . He

' came “ overlan d t o Pittsburg and then fl oated down the Ohio fl atboat O . river on a raft or to Gallipolis , hio In February, 1 81 8 to , he removed Scipio township , Meigs county, where h e purchased land and opened a valuable farm . He was a sur veyor and a justice of the peace for many years . He was an infidel in belief, until in later life he became a zealous Metho

w as 1 81 9 ff dist . When Meigs county organized , in , the sheri and commissioners were chosen in April to serve until after

O a . the general election in ctober of th t year Benjamin Stout , ff A E sheri ; Levi Stedman , William lexander and lijah Runner, At O r 1 81 9 commissioners . the ctobe election in the following men were elected for commissioners by drawing of lots . It was determined that William Alexander Should serve one year, Philip Jones two years and Samuel Downing three years .

Mrs . Downing was Hannah Harding before marriage . They — ix had a numerous family S sons and one daughter . Accord

: r . ing to their ages , they were Samuel , J , George , Rodney ,

Franklin , Hollis , Harrison and Hannah , the youngest child .

r . Samuel Downing, J . , died when quite a young man George " A 2 th 1 0 1 o . 5 8 . Downing was b rn in Waterville , Me , pril ,

“

George Downing married Harriet Chase . He was a black

a smith by trade , also surveyor, and served many years as a 1 826 justice of the peace . In an independent company of militia was organized , with Jesse Hubbell for captain , George n A D owning as lieutenant and Oliver Grant ensig . fter seven ffi years, the o cers having served out the time of their commis i s . ion , the company d sbanded He was a large , well propor

‘

tion e d . man, of great strength He was supposed to be the 1 40 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

strongest man in southern Ohio . Many stories were told o f remarkable feats of lifting great weights and other exhibitions 1 2th 1 878 — of strength . He died July , , aged seventy seven years l th 1 . . 0 890 . and three months Mrs Downing died March , N Rodney Downing was born in Waterville , Me . , ovember 8 h 1 2 t 80 . , , and came with his father, Samuel Downing, to Ohio 1 2 8 5 . He married Maria Black in They had two sons , Samuel , who died young, and John B . Downing , familiarly known as “ ” Major Downing . Mr. Downing and his wife became mem 1 829 bers of the Disciples or Christian Church in , under the ministry of the Rev . James G . Mitchell . He lived in Rutland and kept a country store and dealt largely in produce , built flatboats and with a cargo of grain , fruit or hay sent them to trade on the coast of the Mississippi river in the South .

Mr . Rodney Downing built a steamboat , the Gen . Harrison , 1 835 at the Stedman farm on Leading creek , in , intended for f the Cincinnati and N e w Orleans trade . He was one O the

' H as leading S pirits in nearly every useful enterprise . e w clerk of Meigs county Court of Common Pleas for three terms . He 1 removed to Middleport in 847. Mrs . Maria Downing died

2 d 1 7 - 1 873 O 2 n 8 0 . ctober , , in her Sixty fourth year In April , ,

Mr . Downing married for his second wife Lorinda Downing, De O . of Harding, Lake county, hio He died in Middleport, m 1 1 - ce be r 6 886 . th , , aged eighty four years

Franklin Downing, third son of Samuel Downing, married

N ancy Black . They were members of the Christian Church in Rutland and led consistent lives, unostentatious , industrious, highly esteemed in the community .

w as 1 6th 1 807. Hollis Downing born in Maine June , He Of married Phebe Smith , Middleport, with whom he lived e eighte n years , when she died . He married Jane Reed for his 1 5 O 8 0 . second wife , after which they moved to Ripley, hio , in E He married again , llen Ross , his third wife . Hollis Downing 29th 1 889 O - died December , , , in Ripley, hio , aged eighty two s years six month .

1 42 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

s o n w E his , born in Salem to nship , and married lizabeth Sloan 1 849 O O . They moved to mega , Pike county, hio , in Sch r itz The Von family were mostly daughters , married , A and are scattered in the country . The father , lexander

h r itz f 1 1 2 Sc O 8 . Von , was a soldier in the War

Joseph Townsend came from the northern part of Ohio to 1 1 2 ta the mouth of Leading creek in 8 . He was a nner by : trade and made morocco leather . His children were Maria , 28th 1 806 o n e born March , , and was married to Joseph Hoyt , of five brothers who settled in Orange township in 1 81 3 ; Mar garet Townsend ; Sally Townsend was married to Berri man

1 825 A t J’ Baily in , and lived in Rutland ; John Townsend ; lber

o A T wnsend , and Charles Townsend , a son of lbert, a blind

O . man , well known in Rutland , hio

M c Cl e n ah an i John and his w fe , who was a Cargill and d c lineal descen ant of Rev . Donald Cargill , who was exe uted in 1 684 at the cross in Edinburgh because of his religious prin

c i le s M s 1 81 6 e p , came from Palmer , as , in and settled in Ch s

M c le n h n . C a a ter, Meigs county They had two children , Guy , Of who resided in Sterling Bottom for a number years , then removed to the g reat West . His sister was married to Lyman

' d n s o . Ste man , a of Levi Stedman , of Chester They had three children , Lyman Stedman and Lucy , who was the first wife of 1 2 . . 8 8 O . . J J White , of Portland , hio Mr Stedman died in , and his widow , Samary Stedman , was married to David de Ford 1 832 1 836 in , who died in , leaving one child, The third hus i 1 ' n 839 . band was Isaac Sherman , They had four children

. 1 852 K a Mr Sherman died in , and the family emigrated to n M c Cle n ath an sas , finally to east Washington , where Samary .

- Sherman died at the age of ninety three years . A life that began within sound of the Atlantic ocean and ended on the h 1 8 s hores Of t e Pacific in 98 . PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 1 43

Of N e w Stephen Smith was a native Jersey, but at an early P a 1 823 age came to Fayette county, . , and later, in , to Meigs county . Stephen Smith and his W ife Mary had a family of An n o n i ah fourteen children ; Sally , Leighty, j , Firman , Wil

n E . Robe r t liam , Josiah , John , lizabeth , Mrs Branch ; , Joseph

V . . , James and Isaac Two sons died in infancy 1 41 Stephen Smith died in 8 .

P a . Joseph V . Smith was born in Fayette county, , January 24th 1 81 6 1 823 , , and came with his parents to Meigs county in . "He obtained his education in the schools of his native state

. a and in Meigs county after coming here . He W s a plasterer b 1 854 y trade , which he followed until , when he was elected ff 1 63 s heri of Meigs county and served two terms . In 8 he was

' a ppointed deputy provost marshal of the Fifth district of O f hio , and at the same time he held the O fice of United States ar h al s under President Lincoln . He served as deputy pro w l s t 1 863 1 865 ost from April , , to April l st , , and as deputy 1 States marshal until 864. During the incumbency of off i ces he had many exciting experiences and narrow

- scapes . As provost marshal he arrested ninety seven desert r s from the United States army . Of Mr . Smith married Rachel Hinckley, daughter Abraham

i n ckl e 1 848 y , who died in , leaving two daughters , Marietta

w Joseph V . Smith married for his second ife a daughter l 1 1 4th s t 870 . Foster, on January , He died January ,

- aged seventy seven years , eleven months and twenty

His daughter, Marietta , Mrs . Simms , died years since .

S ia n , the seco d daughter, married Stephen Schilling and

in a few years .

Jesse Page came from Maine and located in Scipio township

1 81 6 and . He had a wife three children when he came to

h : Ed . hio . T e children were ith Page , Mrs Robinson ; 1 44 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

A E Lydia, Mrs . mos Stevens ; lizabeth , married a Mr .

The sons were Samuel , Sargent, Reuben and John Page . 1 8 4 Jesse Page died in 3 . 1 767 William Stevens was born in at Cape Ann , Mass . He O 1 81 8 came to Rutland , hio , in , and settled on a farm near : r Langsville . His children were William , J . , Jesse W . and M r . . s Rev Amos Stevens , Sally, Mrs Jared Gaston ; Lois , , d Cow e . E . . y ; Betsy, Mrs Danforth ; unice , Mrs Davis ; Mrs A e Loran Hovey was Harriet S . Rev . mos St vens married : A Lydia Page . Their children Jesse W . Stevens , . J . W . Ste vens , Arion Lovejoy Stevens , Theresa, Mrs . Dyke ; Sarah D A ’ Stevens , Mrs . udley . Rev . mos Stevens second wife was A W 1 843 Miss nna Aleshire . Mr . illiam Stevens died in , aged

- seventy nine years .

N e V a . John Bing was born in Bot tourt county, , ovember l st, 1 799 1 5 O 80 . , and with his parents came to Gallia county, hio , in 1 829 He came to Rutland in , when he married a daughter of E 1 869 John ntsminger . They lived in Rutland until , when E . O n e they moved to Masonville , Iowa son , rnest Bing, was in the Civil War .

28th 1 796 Robert Bradford was born March , , in the stockade

O . near Belpre , Washington county, hio He was said to be a

lineal descendant of Governor Bradford of Massachusetts . 1 22 A 2 th 8 . 6 In he married Mary L rnold , . who was born July ,

1 7 n 8 R e al e ar . 9 s N . , in county, Y They came to Meigs county L 1 2 8 8 . . in Mr Bradford sold goods in Rutland three years , and

ub e i then became interested in the manufacture of salt . S s quently retired to a farm in Salisbury township . They had family of sons and daughters . William Wallace Bradford an

John B . Bradford survived their parents . 3r d 1 875 - . , , Mr Robert Bradford died December aged seventy l

t . . . eigh years , eight months and six days Mrs Mary L Brad

2 h 1 4 - 9t 89 . ford died July , , aged ninety six years They were u good citizens and enjoyed the respect of the comm nity .

1 46 . PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

W of by Mrs . Crandle and family . The agners were soon m the

ff n neighborhood , scouring the country and o ering rewards . O one occasion a very poor man from the east side of the town ship came loitering around the premises Of Crandle in search of deer or turkey and discovered the hiding place Of the w o ff man . Tempted by the reward o ered , he started to inform the slave owners , but , as little souls are apt to be ignorant , ’ stopped at Steph en R alps and told him Of his plan and visions of future wealth . As soon as he left , Ralph shouldered his

. N rifle and , marching through the woods , gave the alarm ext morning the fire had destroyed the Old brush fence and eff aced it all traces of s recent occupant . The Wagners concluded the l O d . hunter was a wilful fraud However, the woman was removed to the farm of Benjamin Bellows and secreted until he had communicated with parties in Canada and ascertained ’ the whereabouts of the woman s husband . Mr . Bellows pre pared a wagon with a false bottom , or double box , into the bottom of which he put the woman and on the top a lot of ’ weavers reeds and started for Canada to sell reeds . Mr . Bel lows reported that he traveled one day with one of the Wag ners and another p arty who were hunting this very woman , ff h and that Mr . Wagner got o from his orse and helped Bel ’ lows wagon down a steep , rocky hill to keep it from turning over , little suspecting that the object of his search was so near him .

Foiled in all other points , the Wagners determined to try the law to obtain the value of their woman chattel from Joshua m Gardner . Suit was brought in Court of Co mon Pleas at

Chester and came to trial by jury , which resulted in a verdict f for the plaintif s . An appeal was taken , and the Supreme Court held that the admissions and sayings of the woman could not be admitted to prove her identity ; if she was a com petent witness she must be produced in court ; but if she was a slave she could not be a competent witness . So the case failed . PIONEER H ISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 1 47

After the trial , Judge Pease , of the Supreme Court, was heard to say that an action of trover for the recovery of stock O might do in Virginia, but it would not do in hio unless the ” stock had more than two legs . M . Bosworth . The next step was to kidnap Gardner and’ deal with him according to the rules of chivalry . It was reported that twelve men were seen on horseback in disguise for that purpose , but they were anticipated by a force abundantly able to resist them . There was no attack made . The expenses of this suit ’ and trouble consequent consumed all of Mr . Gardner s prop

r e ty . He made an overland trip to California and Obtained fi O money suf cient to buy a comfortable home in Rutland , hio , where he enjoyed the respect and confidence of his neighbors . 5 Mr . Joshua Gardner was born in Connecticut January th , 1 793 l s t 1 869 - Six , and died in Rutland March , , aged seventy N Of E ; years . Mrs . Gardner was ancy , the daughter James 1 1 8 7. Caldwell , who came with his family from Vermont in

- 1 5th Albert Gallatin Gardner was born in Rutland March ,

1 2 c o 8 0 . He ontributed the foregoing narrative of Joshua Gard N 27th 1 849 ner . He married Lucy Bellows ovember , , and had f a family O six children . 1 3th . O Albert G Gardner died in Rutland , hio, January , — d aged seventy years , ten months and twenty eight ays .

“ From the Leader, by Mr . Charles Matthews , Washington . 1 908 D . C February ,

a - in - D niel and Timothy Smith , with their brother law , Brad

1 805. bury Robinson , came from Vermont in With their fam ili e s , household goods , wagons and stock , they floated down O the hio river , stopping at Belpre , Big Hocking and Leading creek . The party , after looking at land and visiting the settle

, d . Smith and family ments conclude to separate , Timothy t were landed at Silver run , while Daniel Smith and heir ’ -in - brother law , having purchased their brother s share in the

' a o e th e r o i o Smi h Was bo t, fl at d dow n iver t Cinc nnati. Tim thy t 1 48 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

in 1 770 1 72 7 . born , and married Polly Conner, who was born in

: They had seven children , as follows Charlotta Smith , born 24th 1 797 E 1 81 4 May , , and married lias Jones in October, ; she 4 h 1 71 O t 8 . died ctober , John Adams Smith , born February 22n d 1 800 N 22n d 1 822 , , and married Deborah Paine , ovember , ; l h 1 ot 840 . E he died January , lizabeth Smith , born January 9th 1 802 7th 1 81 8 , , and married John S . Giles June , ; she died 1 42 l h 1 04 N 8 8 . 0t 8 ovember th , Sarah Smith , born July , , and O 1 9th 1 822 married badiah Ralph , September , ; she died Feb r u r 3r d 1 75 1 a 8 . 806 y , Anselin Smith , born in , and died in 1 1 1 1 8 6 . r 8 0 Timothy Smith , J . , born , and died at the age of 1 9th 1 81 2 nine months . Mary Smith , born December , , and l oth 1 831 married Moses R . Matthews , April , ; she died De ce m e r 2 h 1 b 4t , 893 . Timothy Smith erected one of the first grist mills in the

county . It was a tread mill , run by horse power, located on the f O . bank Silver Run He also mined the first coal , shipping to

Cincinnati on a raft . John Adams Smith , above mentioned , was the man arres ted by Virginia Officials and confined in

o ff Point Pleasant jail for running slaves , and was rescued by 1 2 O 8 4 . his hio friends in , described in the paper by John S

r . Giles, J , so ably for the Pioneer Society and published in the “ ” 1 7 Telegraph in 8 5. “ 1 823 Of In Hamilton Kerr, living at the mouth Leading creek , employed Adams Smith to act as guide for eight col ored men who were on their way to Canada , a not infrequent occurrence for colored persons made free by their masters to

a SO . pass through the country on their way to C nada . Mr

'

Smith e s cor te d the colored men to Columbus as hired by Mr .

Kerr, with no thought of wrong doing . The fact was that Kerr

had given aid to colored people , bond or free , to go north . Slave owners on the Kanawha and on the Ohio river above Point Pleasant had organized for protection and sent out de te cti f ve s on both sides O the river . They concluded that Smith O 1 824 was guilty of aiding escaped Slave s . In ctober, , four

1 50 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY preparations were made to carry into eff ect the plan for ’ Smith s release .

“ It was secretly arranged that Martin Meeker, William

Hatch, John Woods, David Tyler, Obediah Ralph , William

Terry, Charles Giles and John S . Giles to meet on the bank of the river at the mouth of Silver run on the evening of a day in 1 824 N . ovember, These men were noted among the early set tl e r s for their coolness , courage and great physical strength and activity . They had taken the greatest precaution in with drawing from their homes without the knowledge Of other members of their families . All were armed to the teeth with

. On e hunting rifles, pistols carried a flint lock musket loaded with seven rifle bullets , another carried a dragoon or horse pistol loaded with three rifle bullets . They agreed on their plan and chose John S . Giles as commander, and, having dis guised themselves by blacking their faces , they embarked in an old pirogue and with muffled oars floated down the river on their perilous adventure . It was known that the jail at Point

Pleasant was strongly guarded , but these men , smarting under O the outrage of their rights as citizens of hio , and aroused to resentment by the frequent taunts of Yankee co w ardice hurled ‘ ’ at them because they did not come and take Smith out, as ad they h threatened to do , with fears for the imminent danger ’

Of r i n on e r s . the p life , had become desperate in their purposes Of The little craft was urged forward by the long, dull strokes the oars and landed eleven miles below at Point Pleasant . The

- jail was a two story frame building, standing about fifty yards a n d from the river bank, with two rooms below two rooms ’ above. The front entrance Opened into the jailer s room on the lower floor, from which there was a passage into the other ' h as t e . low er room , occupied jail An outside stairs led to the rooms on the second floor, at the top of which was a platform , surrounded by bannisters and was used as a guard stand . The ‘ ’ ’ room at the head of the stairs was called th e debtor s room .

n O this occasion it was occupied by the guards , whose num PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 1 5 1

n ber had been Increased to four men after the visit of Mr . Joh

S . Giles . Without a word the attacking party divided , to make a simultaneous assault on the jailer’s room and upon the upper room occupied by the guards . Meeker and Lyles reached the ’ guards room , where they succeeded SO as to find an entrance Of for the muzzles their guns , but the four guards inside held the door, but the action in placing the guns was menacing f or uar dm e n enough to restrain a few minutes the g , while the i l work in the lower room was in progress . F rst into the jai ’ or s room , who was in bed , and just wakened, he was kept b quiet y the presence of guns pointing close to him , while with an ax the prison door was broken down , and Smith Of jerked out bed half asleep , and pushed through the door . The Of f Object the raid having been e fected so far, and no one hurt, they made haste to retreat and reach the boat as soon as pos B ut sible . the guards were out on the platform . Woods , ’ u with his dragoon s pistol , fired ; the gun failed , but his a dacit y kept the guard back , thus enabling the party to gain m ti e in advance of their pursuers , for the , jailer, as well as the guard , were bold , brave men , and followed with such deter mined steps that the order was given to fire on the pursuing force . Terry fired with his musket and hit one of the guard , who fell , the ball having marked his ear and cut through his whiskers . Thus hindered , but while the Giles men were get ting into their boat , the guardsmen stood on the top of the bank not more than forty yards away and began to fire . Dis regarding the firing they pulled for the opposite Shore until near the middle of the river when balls began to strike the boat with precision . The boat was turned broadside to the

u n shore and the men lay close down in _the side of the vessel

Of . f til out range of the firing, all but Tyler, who re used to m Obey this command to Shelter hi self, and received a ball across the lower part of his breast that made a scar four or

five inches lon gs While holding the boat in this position and

floating down stream , out of the range of guns, the jailer had 1 5 2 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

taken a position behind a sycamore on the edge of the bank , and his shots were very annoying. His head looked like a An d knot on the side of the tree . Hatch , the marksman of the company, was ordered to fire at the knot . He Shot, and the ’ Of ball , striking the Side the tree , filled the jailer s eyes with

. O splinters When reaching the hio shore, the boat was aban don e d , and the men walked home , and before daylight crept to their beds so quietly that the members of their several households were not aware of their having been away or ab

T h e sent . Virginians suspicioned John Woods , John S . Giles E A and lisha yers , as three of the party that had broken the jail in Point Pleasant, and threats were heard of taking these men to Virginia , as they did Smith , and lynching them . This A was not done . more peaceful and lawful way was adopted , by seeking redress for their wrongs in the power of the law.

Indictments were found at Point Pleasant against Woods, A O f yers and Giles , and the Governor Virginia made requisi tion on the Governor Of Ohio for the surrender of the parties Of to the Virginia authorities . The Governor Ohio issued his warrant and deputized Col . Lewis , of Virginia , to serve it .

W . hen Col Lewis crossed the river to make the arrests , the f O . people unaware his authority, prepared to make a defense Of Col . Lewis went directly to Chester, the county seat Meigs i county, and called to his assistance Thomas Ra rdon , of Long f N Of Bottom , Deputy Sherif ewsom and , Constable Dickey,

Chester township . They went to make the first arrest of John

S . Giles m Rutland and satisfied him of their authority, and he went without resistance , but they had not proceeded half a mile , when twelve men in disguise stepped out of the woods ’ ’ A on Sargent s hill and demanded Giles release . fter some parleying, Giles convinced them of the authority from the Of Governor the State that this was a legal transaction , and he was willing to let the law take its course , and they concluded A to acquiesce . mong the men who were about to interfere were John Sylvester, Sr. , Joshua Gardner, David Tyler and

1 54 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

1 81 7 s O . . ons and one daughter, and came to Rutland , , in He 1 821 was a millwright , and lived in Rutland until his death in . : The children were Samuel , a millwright, a fine mechanic ,

O . who lived and died in Pomeroy, Clement Church was a mechanic and a farmer . He lived and died in Rutland , leav ing several ch ildr e n f William Church lived and died in Rut land . Joseph Church had a paralytic stroke when quite a Of young man , but lived to marry and rear a large family chil dren . He settled in Salisbury township . John Church went

a w m an d u . to Minnesot , o ned a far bro ght up a family He l died in Minnesota . Oliver Church moved to Mar on county, Of O. , and had a good farm , and died there at the age ninety f A l e avm O . years , g a number descendants lfred Church moved to Illinois , where he Owned a mill and carried on that business until his death . Charles Church lived in Pomeroy, and was killed by the explosion of a boiler in the Pomeroy 1 rolling mill in 866. S ' arah Church was married to Curtis Larkin , who died in

' 1 898 l e avin a , g widow and one son , George B . Larkin , with O f d whom she has a home , and lives in the enjoyment goo -fir t 1 908 . . s . . . health , in her ninety year G B L

Clement Church married Hannah Buxton , who was born

E N 2 1 808 O 1 81 7 an d in ngland ovember , , and came to hio in , f 1 O N e 829 . became the wife Clement Church in ov mber, They — had six children , three sons and three daughters Royal ; Church and James Church , and Mrs . Maria Shepherd and

E . . Mrs . liza Thompson Mrs Hannah Church died in August, 1 7 6 896 8 9 . , aged years , months , days

E . Mrs . lizabeth Church , widow of William Church , Sr , was 1 859 married to John Hoyt , and died in July, ; was buried at

O . Hoyt Town, Meigs county, hio

There are many families of the name Of Hoyt in Olive town O Of ship and range , but no record names or dates have been 1 ’ a furnished for Mr. Larkin s manuscript , and the s me fact is PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 1 55

vident in the lack of family history of th e name of S to ut - i n

n d about Chester township . Their names are always asso iate d with the reputation of citizens of the best influence n d character . RAN DAL L E STIV R S . Randall Stivers was born in N e w Jersey and was the son of m a iel Stivers , a Revolutionary soldier . Mr. Stivers married

' Of hebe Ball , a native Vermont , and a daughter of Samuel ; all , a Revolutionary soldier They came with four children ’ 0 1 81 6 Graham s Station (now Racine) , in , having come from

Y . N . . lean , , on a raft of pine lumber

He was a brickmaker by trade , and found employment . in

hat business at Graham Station , remained there for two . car s . Hearing of the discovery of coal , easily accessible, and O ’ ear the hio river bank at Kerr s run , he removed to that

lace, where they lived three years . In those first five years 1 1 Ohio they experienced the privations and hardships as fully r as generally fall to the lot of ea ly emigrants . In a sparsely ffi settled neighborhood , with barely su cient means for support th e Of — as common lot the people, they built a school house and 1 81 9 th e i ' a . M e s w s hired teachers In , new county of g organ iz e d 1 821 , and about the county seat was located at Chester, 1 2 82 . to which place Mr. Stivers removed his family in He w as f elected Justice of the Peace in Chester, and held the o fice ff for several years . He served four years as Sheri , and was twice elected to the State Legislature . He was a promotor and patron of schools , and always interested in churches and f works O benevolence . He was fearless in expressing his ff sentiments, and society and public a airs felt the influence of h i s . Opinions . Mr Randall Stivers and his wife reared a large family, all of whom were prominent in business , or in political

S ix . and educational lines . There were sons and four daughters

Washington Stivers was married twice . Julia Stanley was his first wife , and Caroline Fisher the second . He was a mer

. chant , and sold goods in Pomeroy for a number of years 1 5 6 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

A . fterwards he moved to Chattanooga , Tenn , where he died in l ripe O d age .

Aaron Stivers was married twice ; the first wife was Miss A Kerr ; the second , Miss Cole . Mr . aron Stivers was one of A an d the best known men in Meigs county, serving as uditor

Deputy Auditor for many years . He made and published a c - large wall map of the ounty, suitable for school houses , a work of thoroughly correct presentation . He was one of the most active members Of the Meigs County

Pioneer Association , and served as its Recording Secretary for seven years . He removed to Alton , Iowa , where he died 2 th 1 8 3 77 N 9 9 . ovember , , aged years

, a Katharine Stivers was married to Theodore Montague , lawyer who lived in Chester until the county seat was taken to

Pomeroy, when they removed to Middleport, and continued as

. t useful members of society for many years In later life hey , made their home in Chattanooga, and there they both died .

Serena Stivers became the wife of Mr. Allen , of Middleport, and died in middle life, leaving a husband and interesting family .

George Stivers married in Meigs county, but moved west .

He was a soldier in the Civil war, and died soon afterward . d William Stivers went from Chester to Indiana , marrie 4 there , and had a family. He was engaged in business , and d was elected to the legislature , serving with cre it to himself and constituents . He died in Indiana .

Charles Stivers settled in Kentucky, wher e he married .

Randall Stivers was the youngest son , and accompanied his

t . fa her, Randall Stivers, Sr , to California on the overland route

1 849 . in , and died in California 25th 1 827 Urania Stivers was born in Chester, December , , e c and receiv d her education in the A ademy at Chester , and later in a prosperous seminary in Ashland , Kentucky . In her early teens she became a teacher in the public schools in

1 58 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

t store, the first one for dry goods and groceries in Leta Of ship . After the county Meigs was organized and of Common Pleas were held in the meeting- house i —in Of 1 81 9 township the July term . , among the jurors paneled is the name of Adam Harpold . He was promi ffi ii in township o ces and a patron of education , strictly honest ir con fi business transactions , and maintained the respect and dence of the community . Mrs . Harpold was a woman of strong character, of wonderful physical power and vitality . e Th y had a family of sixteen children , and all save one child , who was drowned at seven years of age—seven sons and eight — daughters grew up and married , each making a new home of thrift and industry . The sons were mostly farmers and have been identified with the material prosperity Of Meigs o ‘ c unty for more than sixty years . Henry Harpold , Spencer

Harpold , Peter Harpold , Philip Harpold , William Harpold , B l . : . George Harpold , John Harpold The daughters Mrs

Pickens , widow, later Mrs . Wolf ; Mrs . William Hester, widow , n e e Mrs . Jacob Baker ; Mrs . Michael Bentz , Polly Harpold ; E Mrs . ben Sayre , Mrs . Augustus Justice , Mrs . Hezekiah

' M r s r df r D B a o d . M c ade . Quillen , . Roush , Mrs Barbara Ann The greater number of the Harpold sons and daughters had

- large families , so that the descendants in the third and fourth r generations we e notably numerous . 1 86 . . 9 Mr Adam Harpold died in October, , and his wife , Mrs 1 865 Dorothy Harpold , died in December, , having lived in their Letart home for more than fifty years .

‘ At a meeting of the associate judges of the county 0 at Of 1 803 Gallia , held Gallipolis the tenth day May, , for the purpose of dividing the county of Gallia into townships and to apportion to each township a proper number of justices of the e an d r f peac , for other purposes ; present , Robe t Saf ord and

George W . Putnam . PIONEER HISTORY oE MEIGS COUNTY 1 59

“ " - o The said county was divided int three townships, n amed 1n d bounded as follows : Letart township, beginning at the ’ mo uth of Shade river ; thence down the Ohi o ri ver to Kerr s un ; thence north to th e county line ; thence east with the said

“ Line to the place of beginni ng ; and that one justice of the peace 5 n i t the proper number to be elected in said tow sh p , and hat ” gh e t h election be held a the house of Henry Rous . From n Gallia cou ty records . l n s . From the foregoi g we find that Henry Rou h , Sr , ived in

e tar t 1 803 O . township in , but at what date he came to hio we ar e not informed .

- e i . O H nry Roush , Sr , owned land in Letart , h o , Opposite

e tar t Falls , and brought up a large family . r 1 808 His son , Henry Roush , J . , entered land in , or pur ’ h ase d O - l of the hio Land Company s Purchase , thirty seven e b . I res , as shown y the Gallia county records He married f d O V a . an Sayre , Mill Creek , , _ settled on their farm in

‘ t , where they had a family of ten daughters and two sons . r e Col e m an of Roush was ma ri d to Thomas , , Muses Bot b . . w as W Va B etsy the wife of Samuel Ro erts , later ie d e i r i — H nry Wolf, of Rac ne . Lydia was mar ied tw ce to

M c l ain —m i o ——M r A les C w d w f . Wagner . nna was the wife e I n O a ark Sayre , lived and di d Great Bend , hio H nnah — —M r a . married to Mr . Colem n ; a widow married Jack a i Dorothy was the wife of Sil s Jones , a prom nent mem f e h O the Pioneer Association . Phebe was marri d to Elija i a son of an early settler of that name . Kathar ne was

' m ar r i e d to of Morris Greenlee . Almena was Jacob

' ' a of West Virginia . Mahala was the wife of Mr .

’ d Roush married Julia Sparr ; mo ve d ' to Illinois and

1 n David Roush . married Mar a Hayma ; moved to Grand

s ; is dead . r d Henry Roush , J . , died at an a vanced age , and his wife , k '1 05 Roush , attained the remar able age of years at 1 60 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

her decease . They were worthy people , and their children o were all esteemed members of s ciety .

Mrs . Dorothy Harpold was a daughter of Henry Roush , Sr .

' h r l h M tt e . . C a e s a w s . C Paper by Mr , of Washington , D , as e 1 2th 1 908 : published in the L ader, March , “ Among the earliest settlers of Meigs county was George

Washington Putnam , son of Colonel Israel Putnam and W grandson of General Israel Putnam . George . Putnam was 27 h 1 777 t . born in Pomfret , Conn . , July , After the Indian war O i he came to hio with his father and his family, driv ng one of the teams , along with the late Phineas Matthews , of Cheshire , ’ w h o also drove one of Colonel Putnam s teams . George W .

x 3l t 1 799 O Putnam was married March s , , to Lucinda liver, A daughter of Colonel lexander Oliver, of Washington county, and settled on lands then in Washington county, now located mostly in Gallia county, but the fraction of land on which he

~ I S n o locate d c on w h at . e w . built his hous in Meigs ounty, 0 is

known as the Jacob , Coughenour farm , between the turnpike and the river an d fr o m the Carl coal railway down the river

' i to where th e tow n s h p line strikes the river . He also owned

1 - 3 2 3 5 00 N os . 9 9 two acre lots , and , immediately west, now in s Cheshire township . H i dwelling stood on the lower part of

-of lan n ow the fraction d in Meigs county , where he lived and died before Meigs county was formed .

W . r . Their children were Sarah , Lucretia , George , J , Isabel

’ m ar r i e d H e n r 1 6 and Clarinda . Sarah y Sisson , February th , 1 1 1 th 8 8 . 0 He was killed by the falling of a tree January , 2 h t 1 8 7. t e George W . Putnam was first coun y judge of Gallia 1 . 81 5 county He died in May, , of what was known as the , “ cold plague . Whatever that may have been , it was cer tai n l y contagious , for the reason th at Mrs . Mary (Russell)

Matthews , first wife of Phineas Matthews , who volunteered to help attend their old friend during his illness and until his death , was then herself taken with the same disease and died , f i h ‘ in a s hort time . Another version o his d eath s that e was

PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 1 61

helping Phineas Matthews shear his sheep , became overheated , drank too much cold water and was taken with the “ cold

plague and died at the Matthews farm house . Mrs . Matthews

nursed him , took the same disease and died within a week 4th (June , leaving an infant son , a few days less than ld two months O . f m . a Mr Putnam was buried on his farm , and several of his

ily were afterwards buried beside him . His unmarked grave

is located immediately below the Carl coal railway , about half way from the turnpike to the river . Formerly there was a

tombstone at his grave , but about four years ago some of his

relatives bought a lot in the Gravel Hill Cemetery , Cheshire

township , and moved the tombstone to that cemetery, but did

not remove the remains of Mr . Putnam or his family . The

n . . grave can yet be located by Mr . Coughe our or W P Cohen d “ or his mother . The son has repeate ly told me that he would be willing to undertake to remove his remains to Gravel Hill

. E . . Cemetery Copied by L . B

- Tumuli or moun. ds were seen in various localities , ’ ‘ always bearing evidence of man s work in their construction ; always conical in shape and usually situated on the top of Ih ills , as favorable to watch tower use . The curiosity of many

settlers , ignorant and otherwise , despoiled these peculiar mounds by digging them down to find what might be e n l to mbe d within . Human skeletons , pottery, mica and stone

s . axe , copper rings , were exhumed in most places There were th e in Lebanon township several mounds , one on Bicknell ' farm that had a well defined fortification in the shape of a horseshoe surrounding the mound at a regular distance from th e i i n base . This mound was never opened , but , be ng a field

of level land , was plowed over , and very much of the hill shape

' a A w s leveled . larger mound on the James Hall farm was

O C pened , and human bones , trinkets of opper , mica and curious n d s e a ow es l d. u a ton rr s , pip and s tone axes were dis c ose In R tl 1 62 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS CoUN TY township was a large mound on the hill near the center of Sec I N o . 7. t tion was twelve feet high , and the bones of a very large man were found there . A small one on white clay bot tom was on the Stevens farm ; also one on the southeast quar 1 N o . 3 r 8 . te of Section N o . A large mound on fraction was known as the one on which Samuel Denny stood and made an h 1 4t 806. oration July , According to the measurements and calculations by a civil r a u m 1 873 engineer, Henry G y , in , the principal coal seam in Meigs and Gallia county h as a dip to the east of about twenty seven feet and to the south five feet to the mile . The greatest ’ elevation in the measurements taken was at Braley s salt well ,

840 an 377 ff 463 feet, d its least at Antiquity , feet , a di erence of

th e N . feet in direction of tidewater at orfolk , Va

Samuel Denny was a prominent actor in nearly all the pub lic transactions on Leading creek , and by many persons his

name was supposed to be Dana , but the reading of his letters and business accounts Show that he subscribed his name as

Samuel Denny .

Livingston Smith was the son of N oah Smith and his wife 1 796 cam e w ith and was born in Vermont in , but . his mother O 1 800 N to Leading creek , hio , in , his father, oah Smith , hav

P a i n . O . g died in Carlisle , , while moving with his family to hio E Livingston grew up to manhood , married liza Case and set n tl e d on a farm in Rutland township a d reared a family . Mr . \ Smith was a good citizen , intelligent and esteemed by the

community , and lived and died in Rutland township . Virgil

N o C . Smith was the son of Livingston Smith and was born ve mbe r 28th 1 833 l 1 857 , , and married Mary P ummer in , 1 875 . who died in He was married the second time , to Agnes 1 76 8 . C . Torrence , in He was a farmer and also a minister of

the Christian Church . He lived in Rutland and was identified with every enterprise for the moral elevation of the dependent

1 64 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

n . E little farther, whe Mr ntsminger said to his comrade ,

wish we had thrashed them , and , going on a little farther, “ ’ ” said , Let s go back and thrash them . So they turned e ' and whipped the Tory men , took them prisoners and march d with them to the Continental army and again took up armi

and served until the close of the war for independence . 1 1 7 7 E 6 8 . ntsminger married Jane Reese , February th ,

“ ’ 2 th 1 e 6 759 . as born on July , They moved with th ir 1 th e 797. V a . o O from Botetourt county , , t hio , in fall of l o traveled over and , bringing their stock and househ ld t . with them They would travel all day and camp at nigh ,

Sometimes stopping a day to cook and bake , when necessary .

They milked their cows , and after using what milk they want

ed put the rest of it in the churn , set the churn in the wagon, and the butter was ready to take out when they stopped at

- night . They crossed the Ohio river about five mil Fr en c where Gallipolis now stands , known then as t h e br At that time , leaving out primitive town , there was fi one house besides theirs in a radius of ten miles on the Ohio t side of the river . They ground corn on hand mills and wen e to Logan for flour . Later they could buy flour from the cano

men who poled their crafts up stream . Salted bear meat and fif t -fi e fresh game supplied their tables . Although y v years of E \age , Mr . ntsminger volunteered and served a term under 1 1 2 en e r al 8 N . lG Tupper in in the orthwest His eldest son , E w as " 1 1 2 8 . . David ntsminger, a soldier in the War of Mr John Entsminger and his wife had a family of two sons and h . T e : four daughters David , John Lewis . daughters were m . r a u Mrs . Luther Shepherd , Mrs John Bing , Mrs . Daniel G y D r m . G a u and Mrs avid y , who was left a widow with two r um daughters and two sons . Henry G ay served as major in the Civil War ; William Gr ayu m was a captain in the Fourth 1 65 West Virginia from the first to the close of the war in 8 . E Mr . John ntsminger felt crowded when the settlers moved

SO ' h e w s into that neighborhood , ent farther into the W ildernes

1 66 PIO N EER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

E Betsy Richardson , lizabeth Holt , Thomas Gaston , Jared

E E s Gaston, benezer verton , Laundress Grant, William Steven ,

Joseph Richardson , Sally Stevens , Bethiah Simpson . A The first preachers were aron Holt , Peter Aleshire , Horace

' Persons and Thomas Gaston . Afterwards other ministers f — A preached at di ferent times James Hovey, mos Stevens and cA James M boy . The brick schoolhouse was used for religious — worship by several denominations the Free Will Baptists ,

Presbyterians , Methodists , Regular Baptists and Universal i s ts . The Presbyterians built a church on the lot by the 1 820 Plummer homestead in , it being the first church erected I h ur ch in Rutland township . The Regular Baptists built their c 1 83 in 8. Benjamin Richardson gave the lot and did a large share toward building the house . The first Disciples , or

Christian church , in Rutland .was built on a lot given by Rev . E lisha Rathburn . Rutland Cemetery was surveyed and laid out in lots in 1 824

' a bur i n by Samuel Halliday . The place had been used as y g ground for a long time , but the interments had been made f without regularity, so that it was di ficult to make the proper arrangement of the premises when surveyed by Mr . Halliday . 1 72 8 33 . 8 The lots were made by feet in size Later, in , the township of Rutland bought of George M cQ uigg the cemetery “ grounds, which , including the old graveyard , contains three - f O . and three quarters acres land The size of the new lots , 1 0 24 . by feet, which are staked and numbered

The first burial in what is now Rutland township , from the 1 805 Of settlement in , was that a girl nine\ years of age and who was buried on the Higley farm , a spot afterwards aban

do n e d o n . th e H i l e , but a family burying place was made _ g y

' r grounds in s ubs e que n t y ea s . Many persons were buried on

the Phelps farm . Some of the pioneers were interred on their ’ own land . The first grave made in the Miles Cemetery was N ew for a little child , but no date is known . Dr. Clark , from E d ngland, came to Ohio in quest of health , and die soon after PION EER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 1 67

his arrival and was the second person buried there, but his r grave was unma ked and the precise location is lost, as is many another one .

John Hayman and family came from Somerset county, Md 1 1 a about 8 0 . They came first to Letart F lls, in Virginia, but n O . s o soon removed to Letart, hio Their eldest was Spencer

Marshall Hayman, who married Jerusha Chapman, a daughter

E . of zra Chapman, an old settler in Letart township Spencer

M . Hayman was a surveyor and after the o rganization of

Meigs county, was elected as surveyor for the county, and f served the public in that o fice for many consecutive terms . He w as a l s o justice of the peace and the first postmaster at A ’ pple Grove , so named because of Mr . Hayman s large orchard

fin lar e f amil — of e fruit . They brought up a g y three sons and ‘ fi : E ve . daughters The sons were zra Hayman , who married f V . O . a Sally Wright, Mill Creek , W , who lived and died in

a . Let rt township Henry Hayman was married twice . His

first wife was Minerva Marvin, a daughter of Calvin Marvin ;

the s econd wife w as a Miss Harding . Henry Hayman lived ’

M . in ercer s Bottom , where he died Harrison Hayman mar A f - O . ried gnes Williamson, a daughter Wilkinson D William

O . son, of Lebanon township , Meigs county, hio They settled ’

ar th s . . . : in W Bottom , W Va Both are dead The daughters

Sinai Hayman was the wife of Hillman Parr . Betsy Hayman ’ M c K a ar th s W . was married to William y , of Bottom Minerva

E . was Mrs . phraim I . Sayre , of Letart township E Martha Ann Hayman was married to lson Paden , and

O . their home was just below Letart Falls, in hio They were noted for true Christian lives and benevolence .

Angeline Hayman was the wife of a Mr . Paden ; both died early .

Kitty Hayman married James Ashworth . Both died soon . Josiah Hayman was the second son of John Hayman and

" was in the family that moved from Maryland . He married E N . , ancy Ford , a daughter of Mrs sther Ford , a widow, who 1 68 PIONEER HI s TORY OF MEIGS COUNTY came from Maryland at the time of the senior Hayman ’s emi i r at on O . g to hio Josiah Hayman lived in Letart township , where they brought up a large family . Mr . Hayman w a s a E local preacher, belonging to the Methodist piscopal Church and a fine singer, noted for leading large congregations on — camp grounds . They had a family of sons Wesley , Henry, — . E a Calvin , Lewis , William and Charles ; daughters liz beth ,

An n A E . Mary , Regina and daline sther Wesley Hayman e married Thirza Maria Cross , became insan , never recovered .

Henry Hayman married Margaret Wagner and lived in Letart . He was a man highly esteemed by a large circle of friends an d f acquaintances . He was elected sheri f one or two ter ms . A f lways identified with the a f airs of his church as steward , class leader and Sunday school superintendent . They reared a n d d family of worthy citizens . Calvin a Lewis Hayman die in young manhood .

-am w as Willi Hayman, son of Josiah Hayman and his wife , "

' D o n ll An r n a d ew B . o married to Mary Jane y , a daughter of D

o f ally, many years clerk the Court of Common Pleas, Meigs

. as county . He made their home at Letart Falls, W . Va W a

‘ E L e w i s P il-a merchant . sther Hayman became the wife of ‘

a . E chard ; lived at Letart F lls lizabeth married John Ritchie , \ but died soon afterwards . Regina was the wife of Townsend

' l e avi n a Smart ; lived in Racine and died there , g family of five — A E . children rthur, Frank , William , arl and one daughter A daline Hayman was the wife of Philip Jones, of West Vir ginia .

Hezekiah H ayman was a nephew of John Hayman , Sr . , and moved with his family from Maryland in company with his

1 1 n i n 8 0 . O e uncle to Ohio about son , Robert Hayman , lives in Middleport, Ohio . Stephen Hayman married Letitia Cald

: N . well , and their children were John Hayman , one of the commissioners of Meigs county for several terms ; Stephen

1 70 PION EER HISTORY OF MEIGS COU N TY

until death . They had two children . Jesse Walker died at -five the ripe age of eighty years , a kind , upright man , a mem f ber o the Free Will Baptist Church from his youth . Milton Walker married Harriet N ewel and lived in Chester several years, and then went to Illinois . They were Methodists, earn O est Christians . Selden Walker, Vincent Walker and badiah

Walker were younger sons . Vincent married Sevilla Weldon E and moved to Iowa and died there . Obadiah married mily

Weldon ; lived and died in Chester township . B ethia Walker

h e was t wife of Baza Wells , in Chester . She had two children , but buried them and her husband also . She was married

O . afterwards to Benjamin Brown, of Athens , hio All are dead .

Melissa Walker married and was left a widow in Iowa . E f O . meline Walker was the wife William Church, in Rutland

Ohio; where he died , and she went to Iowa . Samaria Walker was married to James Decker, of Lebanon township . They had two or three children . Mr . Decker and Mrs . Decker died in Lebanon township . Caroline Walker was married to Abner ’ H is s im O , of Tanner s Run , hio , but later they removed to

Iowa .

In the Gallia county records of deeds made for lands coming within the boundary of Meigs county when organized is the 1 7 2 9 . name of Thomas Halsey, purchaser, The family of O Halsey have continued in Chester and range townships, with their descendants .

d th e Dr . Fenn Robinson was the mos t noted octor within

i n boundaries included in Meigs county the pioneer days . He had an extensive practice , and he was equal to any emergency .

His saddle pockets were receptacles for all medicines needed , with compartments for surgical instruments . He could pull a ’ o ff tooth or cut a man s leg, if necessity required , lance an dis lo abscess or an arm , spread a fly blister plaster or set a PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 1 71

cate d . joint He rode through the woods, following road or trail , through creeks , at high or low tide , in rain or snow , at — h . a b e night or in the day e found the W ay . His p tients eliev d

' f i s in him and had aith n his skill . His travel were in a radius r of mo e than thirty miles from his home at Chester, and he was the family doctor for two or more generations . N o trained nurse with sick folks then , nor pharmacist to fill prescriptions .

He reared a large and highly respectable family. Dr . Robin

son never ran for Congress nor sued a poor man for his bill .

His honors rested on a noble life .

H ah u r s t John Hall and his wife , Sarah Hall , nee , came from Pennsylvania and settled on a tract of land in Letart town Of ld ship above the mouth O Town creek , known as Ohio 1 1 81 . river bottom land , in the year Mrs . Hall was reared by

'

Quaker parents . They were industrious and thrifty and e cleared for cultivation their large farm . Th y had a large

family of sons and daughters . th e James Hall , eldest son , married Leah Ford , and they

lived in Lebanon township and brought up a family . Their : children were William Henry Hall , Wesley, Thomas , Isaac

Lewis , Spencer Marshall and a son Benjamin , who died in : childhood . Two daughters were Sarah , who was married to

Hamilton Parr and lived in Brown county, Ohio . Ann Maria

Hall died in young womanhood . James Hall was elected jus

tice of the peace and served one or two terms . He was post 1 885 master for Great Bend , Ohio , several years . He died in 1 6 — or 88 . Mrs . Hall lived to the great age of eighty seven

years , a most excellent woman . They both died in Great

Bend , Ohio . Job Hall married Betsy Smith , daughter of Solo l mon Smith . She died early, leaving two children . Job Ha l

was killed on his boat on the Yazoo river, supposedly for

money .

Ela Hall married Polly Lasley . John Hall married Silvina

B uffin n N . gto . Aaron Hall married ancy Crall The daughters 1 72 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

: N were ancy Hall , the wife of Isaac Lauck , and moved to E Missouri . Rachel was married to zra Lauck, and they went —fir t s . west . Matilda Hall was married twice to Mr Shafer and afterwards to John Lee . She lived and died in Lebanon township . Mary Hall was Mrs . Owen Darby ; they went west . D elilah was married to a Mr . Lornes and died in Great Bend .

Sarah Ann was married three times . The first husband , George E Cummings, who died . Mr . zekiel Custer, Sr . , was the second husband , and John Warner third .

Mr . John Hall , Sr. , died in middle age , but left a will that was the puzzle for lawyers for two generations . Mrs . Sarah

Hall died in the early seventies, living and dying on their homestead farm .

O The Sayres are a numerous people , residing in Letart, hio ,

and Letart, W . Va . David Sayre entered land in Letart town 1 803 . ship in There are several branches of the name, de

s ce n dan ts . in four and five generations , living in Meigs county

- E . Daniel Sayre , father of Moses Sayre and great grandfather

E E . to the Hon . dgar rvin , were first settlers in Letart township

As a people the Sayres were religious , good , prosperous citi E . . O zens Mr rvin is a member of the hio Legislature , a native O u of Meigs , and has reflected credit on his family and won p p lar ity for his own public services in the Ohio Legislature for 1 7 1 the years of 90 and 908 .

1 At 890 . the pioneer meeting in August , , Mr Phineas Robin “ son made a speech , in which he said that in ear ly times silver

was the coin most in use by the common people , and that it ” was often cut into four or five parts to make change , a fact

that the writer of this article well remembers . Mr . Robinson m also gave a history of the Keg Co pany of Chester , which

was undoubtedly correct as he stated it, but not as published

s from report in the Telegraph . Therefore this reviewer wishe

to state the case as he understands it .

1 74 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

After a long and successful pastorate , winning high regard for his character, he unfortunately became insane and died in the

Athens Hospital for the Insane . E dward Weldon was married to Mary Faris in Dublin, Ire d . a lan , and emigrated to the United States The precise d te is

not on record , but they located for a few years in Washington

P . E a . d county , , where Mr dward Wel on died ; also two sons , E each one named dward . The widow , Mrs . Weldon , moved

V a. first to the Lewis farm , above Point Pleasant , , and stayed

O . one year, when she removed with her family to Chester, hio

: u n The children were Frank Weldon , who was lost, fate

known . James Weldon married Lettie Stout . William Wel

E n d O . don married linor Pullins ; lived a died in Chester , hio E John Weldon married Mary, daughter of Dr . Fuller lliott ; e settled in Letart township , lat r Sutton , and had a family of dau h sons and daughters . Richard Weldon , married Sally , g

ter of Levi Stedman , of Chester . They had two daughters E mily, Mrs . Obadiah Walker, and Caroline , who was married

to Mr . Heaton . Richard Weldon and his wife died young . M c Ki n le Martha Weldon became Mrs . Samuel y ; lived in Ken K tucky . Catharine was married to John Van irk , in Chester

township . Margaret became the wife of Augustus Watkins . M A ary Weldon was the first wife of ndrew Donnelly, clerk

of the Court of Common Pleas for Meigs county during . a long

period of years . Mrs . Donnelly died young, leaving two chil

dren , Charles Donnelly and Margaret .

Francis Weldon , son of James Weldon , married Rachel

L u r in da i Cozad parents of Mrs . Williamson , w dow of Captain

James Williamson , now of California . A remarkable meteoric shower was displayed in N ovember 1 31 “ ” 8 . of the year It was called the stars falling, and created

great alarm in some localities . Some people averred that the

W judgment day had come , hile others opened their Bibles to “ ’ ” read of stars falling and men s hearts failing, while in many homes in sparsely settled places the inhabitants slept Soundly ' PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 1 75

and knew nothing of the wonderful Sight in the . heavens r e ported by witnesses .

Rev . Isaac Reynolds lived in Letart village and mingled “ with the frightened ones , allaying their fears . He said the on e a meteors fell thickly at time , and that str nge , fantastic shapes were assumed by many of those lurid bodies in their ” s h o e r descent to the earth . The history of meteoric vV s or the aerolites had not been taught in the schools . This event was generally concluded to foretell some great calamity to befall the world Another natural phenomena was considered as an omen of — calamity the aurora borealis , or northern light . The beauty of the sky was n ot so impressive as the s moth e r e d be li ef that o s me disaster was impending, as of war or pestilence . A comet with a luminous followi ng gave certain warning to a class of credulous folks that the end of this world was near , and a few believers in the Miller prophecy resided in Lebanon

. ; township _ Time has gone on with great regularity spring and and summer, autumn winter, have banished such fears . A flood in the Ohio ri ver I n 1 832 was a real and disastrous event . The inhabitants were living in houses on the river i ff bank , and farmers especially had no build ngs on the blu or

' second bank to Shelter themselves . In Lebanon several fam ili e s - e sought shelter in a two story log hous , but the water e continued rising, so that at nightfall they were remov d in fl atboats on r e to the hillside , making beds the g ound in the op n

. On e field , although snow was falling in scattering flakes man made a pen on his flatboat for his four fat hogs and for his f o h an d chickens , with corn r feeding t em . Sto ck horses were taken to the hills before the water had wholly covered th e bottom lands . Houses , barns , haystacks , as well as uprooted

i on . trees , went hurry ng by the swollen river

Of the cholera in Chester in the year 1 834 an account Of the scourge w as published in the Meigs County 1 76 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

20th 1 893 Telegraph of January , , and copied from that paper into this manuscript the same year by S . C . “ - Larkin . Fifty nine years ago since Meigs county had that awful experience with cholera . Chester was then the

o ula county seat and the chief village in the county , with a p p f tion of 200 souls . O those who lived in Chester in 1 834 but three persons remain as residents of the old village with clear remembrance of that event , Mrs . Dolly A . Knight , Mr . Harold ix E . S R e Wells and Sardine Weldon , then a child of years .

' po r ts w e r e in circulation of the ravages of Asiatic cholera in

N e w N e w O maritime cities , York and rleans , and of its deadly o prevalence in foreign countries . Mrs . D lly Knight and her e O husband , B njamin Knight, moved from the hio river, where

Pomeroy was located later, to Chester, where Mr . Knight took

charge of a flour mill . They were congratulated by their off friends for getting from the river and going to the interior ,

where they would be comparatively safe from the contagion . t Human foresigh was a failure . In Chester they took a house

tofii c n situated on the lot where the pos e stands at present . O

the west end of the lot was a small brick schoolhouse , used

also for religious or church assemblies . The first case of

cholera was Dr . James S . Hibbard , who had been called to

Syracuse to prescribe for a man who was sick , a steamboat

man just returned from a trip on the river . Dr . Hibbard pro n n ou n c e d the case cholera and prescribed accordingly . O his

way back to Chester he was attacked with the malady and , e ttin off g g from his horse , took a dose of calomel , lay down by the roadside and fell asleep in the woods} As soon as he

was able to remount his horse he proceeded homeward . He a finally recovered . This occurred in July . Soon afterwards

son of Jasper Branch , about fourteen years of age , came to his

work in the mill from his dinner, was taken violently ill and e was assisted to an upp r room , but grew rapidly worse , and O a . , before nightf ll he was dead That night a sister “ lder than i r h e m . T O s n M . , took sick and died b efore orning W death

1 78 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

bu r 1 n . i and y g the dead Mr . Weldon was a cab net maker and ‘ cofii n s made the for those who died . This history of the 1 834 cholera in in Chester we believe correct and authentic .

S . C . L . 1 833 o An incident occurred in in Lebanon township , bel w

N e w Sandy, when the cholera was epidemic in Orleans and O many cities , that a steamboat landed on the hio side of the river near a small graveyard on the bank and sent a messenger to a house not far away for permission to bury a man , then dead on the boat . The request was denied with rudeness,so frightened was the householder at the approach of cholera . N The man was buried by the roadside . o case of the disease i appeared n the neighborhood until the next summer, when the man who refused the stranger a grave was stricken with cholera and died , the only death from cholera ever known in the place .

i n 1 849 The second visitation of cholera at Middleport , , — r resulted in the deaths of four persons in the Baily family M . an - i n - David Baily and his wife , his daughter d son law ; also

r . . O Mrs . Hudson , a sister of Mr Bailey ren Jones was thei b nurse . He was a young man and claimed that y his strong will he was able to resist the contagion . There were a few 1 849 ' cases of cholera in Pomeroy in , but we are not in posses

sion of details . In the first seasons of the epidemic there were fatalities of some persons about Letart . Balser Roush and family , living above Racine , in Letart township , were victims ; A several of them died . Dr . J . B . ckley gave medical attention

and secured assistance for care of such as needed .

s e t Job Story , of Bedford township , was one of the early

r e tl e s of that township and a pioneer abolitionist , who ver

dared to vote his sentiments even in old Bedford . He died

- 1 8th 1 883 . March , , aged ninety one years PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 1 79

e Frederic Merrill and Arthur M rrill were brothers , who

' N s were born in ewburyport, Mas , and moved with their 1 2 father to Cincinnati in 8 3 . The family came to Meigs 1 county in 830 . Frederic Merrill was a merchant in Rutland e S . ar d village He was a township trustee several y , but returne 1 44 8 . to Cincinnati, where he died in Arthur Merrill graduated in a law school and came to Rut 1 land i n 834. He served as probate j udge in Meigs county six

1 th 1 8 1 - . 8 8 years Died in Rutland April , , aged sixty eight years .

Samuel Pomeroy ow ned the valuable coal lands first de ve lo e d p in and near the town of Pomeroy, at the first quarter of the nineteenth century . Much territory of the Ohio Com ’ pan y s Purchase is seen on the records Of Gallia county and t of Washing on county as entered by Abigail Dabney, and later was transferred to other parties , Mr . Samuel Pomeroy, a rela m an 1 833 tive , a Boston , who lived in Cincinnati in , at the a time that his daughter, Clara Alsop Pomeroy, bec me the wife f B ' O . . Valentine Horton , a young lawyer from Pittsburgh , Pa h 1 2 2 t 80 t . . 9 V Mr Horton was born January , , in Windsor, , having taken a military training and also a r egular course i n O law, and after his marriage came directly to Pomeroy, hio , 1 833 s in , where he opened up the coal industry that gave Meig county its greatest commercial importance and laid out th e town of Pomeroy , m k Mr . Samuel Po eroy built a fine residence just bac of the

present Court House, but died soon afterwards . The history t of V . B . Horton cannot receive adequate notice in hese brief

articles , and belongs in fact to a later time than the real pio neer period of the early settlers . Mr . Horton died in Pomeroy ,

1 3th 1 888 86 . January , , at the age of years 7th . O Mrs Clara Alsop Horton was born in Boston , ctober , 804 h e du 1 , and with r husb and made their home in Pomeroy r 1 80 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

fif t - ing y four years of their wedded life . Her courteous man ners and fine intellectual equipment made her th e peer of any lady in any land . Her gracious charity and broad views of life

O f gave her influence with the best class people in social , civil ll i r e ou s . E h u s or g life She was a devout piscopalian , and her band built and donated to the town of Pomeroy the elegant f O . e xe m l stone church that denomination She was a wise , p wife and mother . They had a family of five children : Cl ai ’ m w F . r f fi Pomeroy Horton beca e the ife of Gen John Pope . cis Dabney Horton was to Gen . M . F . Force of Cin m E ciu ati . dwin Johnson married a daughter of Dr . E A stes Howe of Boston . nnie Alsop Hort 1 died in child hood . @ V Samuel Da na Horton beca note d as a writer of promi n e n ce e r ff E in mon ta y a airs , lived on the Continent of urope , and married a daughter of a retired British officer in Switzer land . Catharine Alsop Horton was the wife of John May O f

Boston .

. 28th 1 . 894 Mrs Clara A Horton died September , , nearly at ninety years of age , the home of her daughter , Mrs . Force ,

O . in Sandusky, hio

Martin Heckard , a lawyer , came to Meigs county about 1 838 1 839 t o . or , not certain as date He located in Pomeroy an d married Miss Catharine P . Horton , a sister of the Hon . V .

. a B Horton . Mr . Heckard w s the first Probate Judge of Meigs \ county ; and served three years . They had a family of three

children . George Heckard , Lucy Heckard died in young

womanhood . Mary Heckard went to school on the Hudson , f and became the wife of Mr . Huntington O Long Island . Judge dau h Heckard died in Pomeroy . Mrs . Heckard died at her g ’ t 9th 1 890 - n ter s , Mrs . Hunting on , January , , aged seventy ine

years .

PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

alarmed , fearing the mob had collected to lynch him , and with “ ou his party slipped t of a back door, saying, He would never e‘ O t follow another slav into hio , for when hey get there they ” i are beyond our reach . It is cla med that this case was the 1 . 850 last capture of a slave in Ohio .

P Old 1 81 9 e James etty was born in Virginia in , and cam o when quite young with his parents to Paget wn , Meigs county . His father Hugh Petty moved to Gallia county sub n e seque tly, and died ther . James Petty married in that

~ county, but lost his wife soon afterwards , when with his wid owed moth er, he came to Rutland , and remained there the f i rest of his life . He held many responsible local of ces, justice m ' an e ar s . of the peace, for y y He made a home for his aged “ h mother and invalid sister wit filial and brotherly devotion . O 26th 1 89 1 His death occurred in Rutland , hio , January , , aged

- seventy two years .

A ff —n — é a . . . e V Mrs Ho More was born in Parkersburg, W . , l t 1 1 N s 8 9 e . . f on ovember , , and was marri d to J D Hof January h 1 1 5 29t 839 . e O 84 , They cam to Letart , hio , in , and to Mid 1 4 dl e or t O 8 9 . E p , hio , in She united with the Methodist pis c copal Church in her fourteenth year, and lived a onsistent and 1 8 1 883. useful life . She died in Middleport , July th ,

i Luc nda H . Dunham , wife of Hiram B . Smith , was born in t 2oth 1 80 O N 8 . Washing on county, hio , ovember , She was the A —n e é u daughter of mos Dunham and wife La ra M . Guthrie , from whom she inherited a liberal share of physical and men h e E tal qualities . S Obtained a fair nglish education at Mari 1 837 O . etta , hio The family came to Pomeroy in , where she e became the wife of Mr . H . B . Smith , a lawy r and prominent man in business and social circles in Pomeroy, Ohio . He was an active member and president of the Miegs County Pioneer

s . Association for several year They had one son , who died PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 1 83

. . O in early manhood Mrs Smith died in Pomeroy , hio , March 1 7 1 881 th, .

1 7 1 820 Catharine Dawson was born July th , , in Beaver t P a. o . O county, , and was married Dr Joseph Dickson, ctober 1 1 1 9 84 . . th , They moved to Athens county the same year

They had five children, three of whom died in childhood . Dr . 1 849 Dickson went with a company overland to California in , and was killed by the accidental discharge of his own revolver 1 1 h 1 . t 864 soon after reaching California December , , Mrs . f . O Dickson was married to Mr Josiah Simpson , Rutland , Ohio , and removed to his home with her two daughters . She died h 1 4t 895. June , She had been a faithful member of the Free

Will Baptist Church , a most excellent woman .

The Bradbury family . Contributed by Judge Samuel Brad in 1 895 A bury , to the Meigs County Pioneer ssociation . “ - 1 81 6 Seventy nine years ago , December, , the parents of Judge Samuel Bradbury floated down the Ohio river in a little boat and tied up at the mouth of Leading creek , where they

be entered a small log cabin, and with their seven children came citizens Of the great State of Ohio . The father had but one dollar and fifty cents in his pocket when he landed . The family came from Maine , having made their way through the wilderness as best they could . Samuel was seven years Old at

th o r r i l . On e e a va that time son was born after in Ohio , who

- died at the age of thirty eight years . The family were reared to honorable lives, and the sons achieved merited distinction in positions of honor and trust . The seven children lived to ” - an average age of eighty three years . A 4th Judge Samuel Bradbury was born in Maine, ugust , 1 809 O 1 897 , and died in Middleport, hio, March l st, , aged

— - eighty seven and one half years . He had been one of the most active and efficient men in the organization of the Meigs 1 76 County Pioneer Association in 8 . 1 84 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

E E Simeon lliott was a brother of Judge Fuller lliott, and 1 797 came to Meigs , rather Washington county, in , and O bought land, situated back from the hio river , in what was later included in Sutton township . He married Lucy Putnam , a distant relative of George W . Putnam . They had a large family, reared to honorable positions in the community, in a home of refinement not common in those days . The sons E : . were Rev Madison lliott, a graduate of Marietta College

O . and of Lane Seminary , Cincinnati , hio He was the prin c i al 1 844-45 p of the academy at Chester in , a flourishing insti i f tut o n . O at th at time Miss Clarissa Cutler, a daughter Hon .

- l E r 1 n c1 a . phraim Cutler, was the vice p p Two other sons were E Putnam lliott, who died in early manhood , and Sumner E ' lliott , who emigrated to some Western state years ago . The : “ N E daughters were ancy lliott, Maria , Mrs . William Tor rence he died of cholera ; then she married Mr . Phineas Rob An n inson . Lucy, Mrs . Josiah Branch ; Lury , Mrs . Orin

A . E Branch ; daline , Mrs lihu Stedman ; Fidelia , and Lydia died unmarried .

E E i ti n c . d s Mr Simeon lliott was called Squire lliott , in

E . tion from Judge Fuller lliott , M . D He built a tread mill — run by horse power, and attached to the machinery a carding E n machine . Mrs . lliott , after being a widow ma y years , mar

A . ried bel Chase , Sr , of Rutland . t 1 07 Samuel Branch se tled in Chester township in 8 . He married Miss Tryphena Stedman , a sister of Levi Stedman, so ff long prominent in public a airs .

Mr . Branch was a Free Will Baptist preacher, and opened his own house for preaching ; also built a schoolhouse on his own land for the education of the children of the neighbor hood . Mr . Branch was ready to assist in any enterprise for the benefit in morals or education in the community . They f had a large family O sons and daughters . r Samuel Branch , J . , was a Baptist preacher . Harry and E William were farmers . Josiah Branch married Lucy lliott,

1 86 PIONEER “ HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

r o r iate d a i p p (by the act foresa d) for military bounties , in the A k territory of r ansas , to have and to hold , the said quarter s t o f a u o ec ion land , with the pp rtenances thereof, unt the said 9th Dinah Byram , only heir at law of Adam Ball , December , i and to her he rs and assigns forever .

In testimony whereof, I have caused these letters to be made Oflfic e patent , and the seal of the General Land to be hereunto ffi e . a x d Given under my hand , at the City of Washington , this sixteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord one thou

- sand, eight hundred and twenty one , and of the independence

- f - of the United States O America the forty sixth .

Seal of the By the President , M N General Land Offi ce JA ES MO ROE .

. . . A G U S A J JOSI H MEI S , Commissioner of General Land d Ex . Office . 25 c . 6 7 5. . . Re orded,Vol , J Wheaton

Es . Levi Stedman , q , to Matthew Buell , Dr 1 1 1 8 . h ‘ f 9t T O 8 O et . May . doses physic , gm opie 1 1 8 2 . l oth Aug . . Jal . Senna “ 1 2th i t Sept . . Gm . Op e e Rad . Dianthus 1 1 8 3.

2n d . April Sundry Articles , Medicine , Advice and attend ’e

4th E 2 & 1 0 . E . c . May . lix . Vit . I . Cham . metic , I art ,

. a . . July l st Visits to D ughter, Sundry Art Medicine

1 h E . t 8 . . Aug Puley Ipecac Rheumatic Liniment, lix p

- Ex r . (non readable) . J , Wife

$38 75 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS . COUNTY

1 N 1 1 115 30 . . O . 3 . 0 . cts

General Post Office . l t 1 81 9 s . Washington City , July ,

—At ar or ‘ o der On e Sir sight, pay to Skinner B ber, n , hun r d dol a an d ffi e O . and thirty l rs , charge to account of this ce B RIAM' D BU' A BRA RY,

- Assistant Post Master General . E 0 s . Levi Stedman, q ’ ost Master, at Stedman s Mills , }

O . hester, J

2 1 2 9 8 0 . Aug . , r r i r de r Se s t . from M . g , to Mr Levi Stedman , Shade iver,

Ohio . H l a w a t . Let Thomas y have three galls of Whiskey, in ex

hange for Rye , to be delivered at the Ferry , and oblige , ’ R e s ours p y , E R I MICHAEL S G ST .

Mason Va .

The deed of the land from Dinah Byram to Dorothy Sted man th e w and Joel Cowdery , executors of ill of Levi Stedman , d e eceased , execut d and acknowledged before Randall Stivers , H er justice of the peace , signed Dinah Byram , and recorded by mark R 1 C 824. B . ecorder of Meigs ounty , David arber , Clerk

i f Rece pts of money for di ferent purposes . A deed of ten acres of land from Josiah Vining to Dorothy Stedman to satisfy a judgment for eighteen dollars and sixty c ents , with the costs accruing thereto .

2n d 8 1 0 8 . . Recorded in Volume , page and Chas Gardiner, R r eco der . PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

Gallia County.

Sl s t 1 805. Gallipolis , December ,

Received of Levi Stedman , Collector of taxes for Letart — Township , the sum of Thirty Dollars and thirty two cents 5, on account of the County tax of this township , for the year 1 805 .

E L E’ L ER Ex C . FRANCI S Q , (torn out)

42 Received of Levi Stedman cts . for his tax on 0 acres 1 2 24 3 . 1 1 8 9 . of land , Range , T . S Athens Co . for ’ A K ll r Co . IS AC BAR ER,

The Pilchard and E llis families came from the eastern shore O 1 81 0 of Maryland to hio , about the year , and settled in ’ ff O . . Letart, hio Peter Pilchard s wife was a Miss Rolo They s had everal children , Lewis , Lybrand and others . Lewis Pil E chard married sther Hayman , a daughter of Josiah Hayman ,

an . d located in Letart Falls , W Va . Lybrand Pilchard mar E ried and made his home in ast Letart , and brought up a E family . He was a member of the Methodist piscopal Church , a an active , loyal dherent to its usages, serving as steward , class leader or Sunday school superintendent, and brought up a highly respectable family .

E . d John llis , Sr , live in Letart many years . He had two E . E . . sons, John R llis and Henry llis John R Ellis married

E . lizabeth Ford , and had a family of sons and daughters E Milton llis served in the war for the Union , and was pro E moted to the rank of major . William A . llis was a soldier,

th e . also , in cavalry service , and won distinction for courage h Es th e r Ellis . t e ‘ was married to Hiram L Sibley, a soldier in army, but was held a prisoner in the Libby prison , Richmond ,

a . V . , for several months After the close of the war he opened f a law o fice in Marietta , Ohio , and became distinguished for his legal talents . He served as circuit judge in this district,

1 90 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

quills taken f rom the wings of geese . The schoolmaster called the children into school by rapping loudly on the door—never ’ 4 8 9 . . had a bell . The sessions were from or O clock a m to 5 ’ or o clock in the afternoon , six days in the week for a three ’ months term in winter. Some teachers had a watch , but, if

lacking that , a good look at the sun was a common way of

E . . reckoning time . L B , 1 2th 1 81 9 s April , , the first Court of Common Pleas for Meig

~ county, on petition of Thomas Ridding, of Sutton , for a

license to keep a house of entertainment in his dwelling house , it was ordered that license be given him on his complying wi th

law s the requisitions of the Thomas Ridding had a license , a ’ previously gr nted , to keep a ferry at Graham s Station , Meigs

county, Ohio . ’ R iddin . s The hotel , as described by Mr g daughter, was a — “ double log cabin two log houses with a space of ten feet be — tween them , but all included under one roof and having a

spacious attic for common sleeping rooms . The patrons of this hostelry were men who carried on trade up and down the r 1 ver i n i Ohio p rogues , or large canoes , laden with flour, salt

and groceries , for sale to the people on shore , and who did a

good business in exchanging commodities for skins , furs and Sto m l ginseng . These boatmen would make their pp g p ace at ’ night at the Ridding house at Graham s Station . Sometimes

two or three boat crews would land at the same time . They Of were sure a bountiful meal of substantial food , and when

the beds were all filled , if necessary the landlady would make

field beds on the floor. There was no grumbling at the lack of

- washbowl and pitcher, nor any scrambling for a looking glass .

They were glad to sleep after the hard day of poling canoes .

This tavern had a sad closing up . Mr . Ridding was acci Old dentally drowned , and his widow went back to her home

b . in the Shenandoah valley . N arrative y Mrs Cynthia Phil O son , Racine , hio . PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 1 91

The first newspaper published in Meigs county was dated “ ” N l s t 1 843 ovember , , called The Weekly Times , edited and printed by L . Beatty . In a year or two the paper was edited 1 4 1 . . 8 5 846 b O . . . . , y B Chapman, with Mr Beatty In and , R T

N an . " Horn was associated with Mr Chapman , and the name “ ” vas " y changed to The Meigs County Telegraph Later , Mr .

“ ; Van Horn withdrew, and the paper was under the manage Es T h e ment of T . A . Plants , q. paper had a change of names 1 — 860 . E . . and editors until O . B Chapman editor and S Trus s ell business manager . Mr . Chapman was a good editor and a pr ctical printer, and no slovenly typesetting was ever seen

W hile he was editor . He held the place longer than any one

E . before or afterwards . Mr . . S Trussell succeeded Mr . Chap k man , and continued to publish a good , influential paper . Mr . d O . . i n " B Chapman finally, after many vicissitudes fortune , die m r Colorado Springs , at the advanced age of eighty years , a true , noble hearted man , steadfast in his principles of right eous n e s s in civil or religious matters . “ ’ The next paper was The People s Fountain , a temperance 1 4 r b 85 . aper, printed y Hoy and Rundle , in It failed afte a

§e w years for lack of patronage . The first paper printed in “ ” 1 1 87 E . N . Middleport was The Meigs County ews , in , by S

r n ch fi a . S . C . L . “ —An E n T h e B ucke ye R ove rs . article in the Cincinnati

uir e r c by Arthur B . Harding, and copied into this manus ript

y S . C . Larkin The Buckeye Rovers crossed the continent to the Cali fo r n i 1 4 - a gold fields m 8 9 . There were twenty two men in the

n . o party, from Athens and Meigs cou ties exclusively Fr m

' i th e n s : E Ar m s tr o n W . . A county lza g, S Stedman , Hugh Dick

D e n n l s E son , Drake , lijah Terrill , Solomon Townsend , James

W . . . Shepherd , illiam Logan , W T Wilson , Joseph Dickson , M Co n de e Barnes , John Banks , George Reeves , Asa ,

'

i c u n t : . . . e s o t L. Graham From M Se h Paine , L D zg y 1 92 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

D . Stevens , J . C . Rathburn , M . , Joshua Gardner, Charles Giles ,

John S . Giles . Fifteen Athenians and seven Meigs countians . A 9th 1 849 The party left lbany April , , and , going to Middle port , Meigs county, embarked on a steamboat and , further on , by boats until reaching Lexington, Mo . Here they organized ,

' choosing Dr . Joseph Dickson captain . Cattle were brought that never had seen a yoke , and a week was spent in breaking them . The party drove one hundred miles to St . Joseph , where , if they had waited to cross the ferry in their turn, they would have been delayed six weeks , so great was the rush westward . Luckily , some of them were old river men , and who constructed a rude craft , that carried them over the river in four days . They proceeded up the Platte river by Fort

Kearney and Fort Laramie , and to the north of the Great Salt

Lake , eighty miles . Cholera infested the plains at this time , and for more than a thousand miles west of Fort Kearney, if e there had been no trail , they could easily have k pt their course by the new made graves . They had many thrilling At experiences and narrow escapes from the Indians . the sink all of the Humboldt river the Indians stole of their cattle .

Then the company disbanded , and each one had to get to Sac ramento the best way he could . Judge Wilson fell in with an O th e Illinois party going to regon , and he was first white man at Downieville , on the Yuba river, wh ere he subsequently took

up the largest nugget any of them secured . It was about the

f 1 2 n size O a goose egg and was valued at $ 85. O September 20th 1 849 , , the first of the Buckeye Rovers reached Sacra

o n d mento , then consisting of only e wooden structure and use

t ffice 5000 o s o . for a p The tent population was about , which

increased as by magic , so that in less than one year it was

estimated at souls . When they reached the golden land , 1 6 1 0 labor was worth $ a day , but dropped to $ the next sea

son . Provisions of all kinds were brought from the Sacra E mento valley on mules and sold at enormous prices . very

b at 1 4 thing sold y the pound , $, except butter, which was $.

1 94 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY who went out with this expedition returned home with fin an i l c a . gains , but the majority were not so fortunate

T h e As s ocia e ud e s of M ei s oun O io . t J g g C ty , h

i n me ud s a f E e ct o N a of e . D te o l . s J g 81 9 1 . u l i Feb uar 6th F e r E ott . r y , ll l , M D

an uar 1 7th 1 821 . Ge or e ur n s J y , g B

an uar 23d 1 823 . e te r Gr ow J y . P n r 1 827 H e n r Os bor n a oin te d to fill on e a ua . J y, y L , pp year f or Gr ow

an uar 25th 1 828 . N i a N e J y , l y

1 835 . H en r O s o r n an uar 25th . J y , y L b

Fe r uar 1 7th 1 842 . W i iam e dl e b y , ll L i M Abo a ch 1 7th 1 849 . W lliam c M r , i y

T otal 33 y e ar s

Fe r uar 6th 1 81 9 . Or as h o H or at o Str on b y , ( i ) g an uar 1 824 us h in Sh aw J y , C g

an uar 22d 1 831 . Eli S l e r J y , ig m s o Feb uar l 0th 1 838 . N ath an Si n r y , p F r 8 1 44 amue l r ad ur e uar 2 th 8 . S b y , B b y

Fe r uar 1 7th 1 851 . Samue adbur b y , l Br y

T otal 33 y ears

Fe r uar 6th 1 81 9 . ame s E . h e s e ar s b y , J P lp y I n 1 822 A e ar in a oi n te d to fill on e ear b l L k , pp y p f or . E h e s J . P l an uar 23d A e l ar in J y , b L k

Fe r uar 22d 1 830 . oh n . e s tow b y , J C B 3 oh n e s o Fe r uar 1 6th 1 8 7 . t w b y , J C B

1 844 1 851 H e n r . Os or n , y L b

' T otal y ear s e Lists furnished by Mr . Charles Matth ws , Washington , D . c . N 1 820 ames of all persons in in Salisbury township , from t — Census Repor Joseph Bradford , David Bradford , Charles

Wright , William T . Whitney, David Lindsey, Joel Smith , E Benjamin Smith , Frederic Frazier, Josiah Vining, Paris c c le s ton , Perry Hardin , Alvin Rathburn , Sarah Bullock , Ben Os or k H i jamin Williams , David , Daniel Rathburn , Cyrus g PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 1 95

M c N au h ton y, Archibald Murray, George Russell , Daniel g , l De . Higley, John Winkley , Samuel Risley, Samuel L Wilder,

harles Jones , Frederic Hysell , Isaac Meeker, Timothy Smith

.rastus Saus , Robert B . Harris , Isa Russell , Joseph Vining,

acr e as e E Jones , James Smith , dward Hysell , Caleb Austin , W illiam Kerr, John Woodward , Strother Hysell , John Smith . N ames of all persons liv1 ng l n Rutland township and Salis 1 820 — l ury township in George Russell , Benson Jones , Abe

. M c Gui r e H obar o h ua arkin , Silas Clark , James , William t s ' E n arker , benezer Howard , Samuel Vining, John K ight , Cor ' elius Bradshaw , Amos Partlow, John Baily , Jeptha Mason , te n ami n j Frost , David Bailey, Samuel Gilman , Isaac Hugg, m a ue l r . E Eli Gilman , J , lias Grigsby , Joseph Saxton , Wright , "O i bert Hysell , Samuel Lyman , Richard Vin ng , John Lynas , A r . E . lam Higley, Daniel Rathburn , J , lvin Bingham , James ' E helps , Philip Jones , Samuel verett , Hamilton Kerr , Benja 1 in T i . . Clough , W lliam Dodson , William Baily, John Kin N b N all , George Knapp , athanael B ean , Laria orris , Isaac Lmith , Jans Bingham , Silas Knight , John Hysell , Brewster

Iigley. 1 820 — Salem township , William Parker , Peter Aleshire ,

' ‘ h o n S . O Giles , Cushing Shaw , zias Strong , Jacob Swett , John

W M l r n h r itz e c C u e . . V o s c illiams , Jam , William Green , L V , Oh n Fo r di ce E , leazer Crowell , Mark Malone , Chauncey

( n lt n ow o N . , Sampson elson

Y L 1 C ON E I N L M BI A T OW N SH P I N M AY 8 6. CO U I , 8

"Con de n s e d fr om a r e p or t in th e T e l e gr aph " ’ “ M a 1 2th 1 1 t o e . w y , at o clock p m . dark clouds w re seen r i .pp oach n g each other from opposite points of the north and

' f t e e m et an d th e c i h south . Th y , the roar of con ussion was

.e r r ific u to . The clo ds commingled and seemed to fall the

‘ s r h u a t m ovin . , g with electric speed and resistless f ry The ir s s t . house struck was a log building occupied by J . Q Adam 1 9 6 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

an d . his family of seven persons The house was demolished , but the inmates escaped injury . N ext in the course of the

; storm were the barn and sheep houses of Mr . Gregory ; then a Off school house ; on , tearing the upper story of the dwelling " a E . of Foster ; then more barns , until it narrowed down to 300 track of not more than yards in width , keeping near the an ground . A new house of N athan Vail was badly shaken ; ’ other house torn down . The upper story of T . D . Jackson s u ho se , with a large stone chimney, was tumbled over the inmates in bed ; one person injured ; his barn blown to pieces ; two horses and eighteen sheep were killed . The home of S . fla t D . Wilcox was wrecked , and the furious storm went on , tening shrubbery, sweeping away fences , twisting oak trees like wisps around each other . Then it reached the house of M c om a . C s Mrs , who , with her granddaughter of ten years , was sleeping in one room , while in another room was a grand E son twenty years old . verything was swept from its place ; the house , granaries , all were wrecked . The married son , who lived near, ran to the place as soon as possible ; first found the little girl , apparently lifeless , but who was resuscitated . The old lady was found fifty yards to the south , stripped of cloth

. e ing and dead The young man lay in anoth r direction , with broken neck and legs . L Many sheep were killed . A fine orchard of J . . Carpenter f was prostrated . The depot O the K . M . Railroad was cut in two , dividing it from the roof to the ground , and carried

K n i h . M c t eastward A frame dwelling of Mr . g was torn away . The father , mother and daughter , having heard the

. storm coming, threw themselves flat on the floor, face down wards , and the house was borne away from over their heads , ' th e w in d catching them up and pitching them with great f orce M cK n i h t on the ground . Mrs . g had two ribs broken , and Mr . M cK n i h t g was badly bruised , but they succeeded with great i l D u d eon d fli cu t . a y in reaching the house of Dr g f neighbor . th i f w h o e . O , fortunately, had escaped hurr cane A cloudburst

1 98 PIONEER H ISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

on the Ohio river border . The lands were heavily timbered . r E Mr . Ziba Lindley , Sr . , Ziba Lindley, J . , lmus Lindley , Col . C h h N i h arles S ipman and ehem ah Bicknell , who had his ome

- with the Shipman family . Col . Shipman built a two story h - ewed log house, well finished, in which he had a storeroom

. ut u for general merchandise . Mr Ziba Lindley , Sr . , p , p a

house of logs, hewn on the inner side, with floors , doors, win “ ”

t . dows and par itions done by a regular house joiner . Ziba

r — - fin Lindley, J . , erected a two story hewed log house, well is h e d as to floors , doors, windows and bedroom partitions, a E stone chimney , with open fireplaces to each story . lmus Lindley had the farm adjoining his brother Ziba ’s and built a f - smaller house . Mr . Bicknell bought his arm later, where he

- n built a hewed log house, one and a half stories high, with in er

- fin i h in house joiner s gs and stone chimney . The lumber for ’ all of these buildings was brought from Wright s mill on Mill

creek , Virginia . There was an old cabin on the back part of

the Shipman farm that was taken for a schoolhouse , and Miss

Harriet Bartlett taught school there in the summer . Colonel

Shipman conducted religious services there, reading the Scrip

tures and a sermon on Sundays , and on Sunday afternoons

sometimes they met to sing . There were good singers in the

Athens company, and when they met with their note books patent notes—to sing “ Easter Anthem ” and “ carry all the ” i n parts to time as correct as a military drill , it was quite n s 1 r 1 n . p g. But the native populatio did not assimilate They preferred the fiddle and such dances as suited their ideas of

pleas ure .

The Athens people became discouraged . The elder Mrs .

Lindley died and was buried in the pioneer graveyard , and the other families gathered up their children and household goods d A N . and move back to thens , leaving Bicknell agent for all o f ms v . their far to rent or sell , as he might ha e opportunity In m n e the ea whil he had married Julia Larkin , of Rutland , and had no alternative but to remain and open up his own farm P E SAMUEL S . AIN

NEHEMIAH BlCKN ELL

200 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

comfortable with faithful care . He passed away, leaving the record of a us eful and honorable life

D r h n R . P h i s on 1 839 . Jo l came from Maryland in , and set tl e d O 1 841 in Racine , hio , where in he married Miss Cynthia Of Redding, a daughter Thomas Redding, who kept the pio 1 24 neer hotel in Graham Station in 8 . Mrs . Redding married L alan ce as second husband Jacob , and their home was made

w . in Sutton township , belo Racine , on the river

Dr. J . R . Philson was associated with Dr . J . B . Ackley for

a while , but subsequently opened up a practice as physician

independently . He was in a scope of territory the principal

doctor, and won distinction for his skill in the treatment of r th e diseases . He was an a my surgeon in Fourth West Vir in ginia, through the war, and while in the service received

i n . juries that resulted his death Dr . Philson was elected

Senator for the Sixteenth Congressional District of Ohio , and filled the position with fidelity to his constituents and honor

to himself. His death was lamented by the community at

large , by his many friends , and especially the poor, whom he

had treated gratuitously .

He left a widow , two sons and one daughter. The eldest d son , Professor Lewis Philson , has been evoted to educa i n l t o a work as teacher and superintendent . ’ s The econd son , John Rush Philson, followed his father s

- profession and has a well earned popularity as a doctor . A t son of Professor Lewis Philson is also a doc or, making three

generations in the medical fraternity .

E . The daughter, Margaret Philson , was married to Charles lr o M c E y soon after the Civil War . He was a soldier in

some sharp engagements , inducing a loss of vital force that

caused an early death . f . O The elder Mrs Philson is living , a marvel clear mind and M c Elr o memory, and Mrs . y is the faithful daughter and

Christian woman . PIONEER HISTORY OF M EIGS COUNTY 201

c O P h ilade l . c Dr John Mc lintock ame to Letart , hio, from 1 f 839 . hia , and opened an o fice as a regular physician in He

' cd N K in r e e Of K in r e e ancy g , daughter Abraham g , of ld 1 841 O . t, an pioneer in

M cClin tock They had one son , George M . , who became a r omin e n t f man and success ul business , but died in his man ’

ood s n . prime , honored and lame ted

M c lin tock Dr . C made his permanent home on a farm at

Grove , and followed his profession continuously for

han forty years , chiefly in Letart township , a wise and

e tor . Dr . Mcclintock was a man of culture and refinement, quiet, yet genial in manner, a good judge of char acter. He died leaving a widow and son . His life com m n a de d . respect , and his name is an honored memory

AA E N L R E I S R D . V . C Y O S

N ew Isaac Reynolds was born in the State of York and , O with his parents, emigrated to hio and settled in Athens

e county in early days . He was a student in the Ohio Univer s it a d y for some time , n while attending school was converted

' . Stew ar t a under the preaching of the Rev John , noted minis E cOn ter of the Methodist piscopal Church . Soon after his version he began to preach . 1 81 7 In , Mr . Reynolds traveled Burlington circuit, Rev .

Jacob Young, presiding elder . There was an element of evan e lis tic n g fervor in his preaching, and amo g the converts of his

ministry was James Gilruth , who became a Methodist

preacher of great power and influence , long an active member

of the Ohio Conference . A fter traveling circuits a few years , he married Miss Maria

Williamson, of Washington county, and located . He had a ff f di i culty O the throat that caused him to cease itinerant work . 1 830 . About he came to Letart, not certain as to precise date As He taught school and preached occasionally . a teacher 202 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

1 833 he was popular. He moved to Lebanon township in , and taught the public school several years . After giving up teaching he settled on his farm and Opened a small store , and

' os toffice succeeded in establishing a p , called Great Bend , he being appointed postmaster . Mr . Reynolds finally moved to 1 876 northern California, preaching sometimes until , where ” he soon fell on sleep his work done .

M R . L C S CR OSS SR . U IU ,

3oth 1 798 Lucius Cross was born December , , in Mansfield ,

Connecticut . When he was three years old he was brought

M H - e O . e to arietta , hio , where he grew up to manhood mar ried Thirza Stanley, daughter of Timothy Stanley, a promi 1 822 nent citizen of Washington county, in April , , and came directly to Meigs county , settling on lands back of Racine , in

Sutton township . He cleared his land for cultivation , built a ' s tannery on his farm , erected a saw and grist mill on Bowman ’ fl atboats run , built on the river beach at Graham s Station , as it was then called, had his timber all utilized for lumber, cord wood or tanbark . He opened a trade in the South with boats ff laden with pressed hay and farm products, and by his di erent 1 832 industries gave employment to many men . In he built

. Mr . his large , commodious farm house Cross was a real ff b temperance man , and su ered no whisky to be rought to his premises , and his farm house has the record of being the first building erected in Meigs county without whisky or any i n toxi cati n g drink . The house was noted for its beauty in th e construction and situation , considered the best house in ’ e e country as a farmer s home . He had some military knowl dg and drilled recruits for the army . He left a valuable estate , a n widow and nine sons and daughters . He was e tirely blind 1 883. e a few years before his death in August, The sons hav been enterprising men, and all of the family married and set tl e d E in Racine and vicinity , except the younger son, dwin

PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY 203

' a Cross , who became physician and followed his profession in

Chicago with notable success .

T H E AL E" AN D ER S .

l ' e lan d i n i n Thomas Alexander, who ent red Letart township ” ” “ E 1 803 d i n 1 808 80 a . , ied , aged ye rs His wife , lizabeth , died .

' / illia s A exan d r 1 807 77 . W m l e s On in , aged years , of Thomas h f and Alexander, lived on the farm purc ased by his ather, \ “ ‘ married Susan Love: T h ey h ad a family of two sons and three daughters . a l ‘ Thomas Alex nder married Caro ine Burns , and their home A x W e h r was on the le ander farm , her t ey lived to a g eat age , c u having had a family of eleven hildren , grown p and married . A m Moses lexander married Jane S ith , and died early, leaving

' a wife and four children: His family lived in the Alexander

homestead . li h u a w o O . The daughters were J g was married to David O w Hopkins , and whose home was in Racine , hio , here she i to died . They had several ch ldren grown maturity , but par

‘ ' " h il r n d ad ut u an d c d e e b . ents are all one , Mrs Reese , _ da ghter ’ / A th e if e A of Chicago . Mary lexander was w of lbert Wood ff f w On e dau h O . ru , Mill Creek She passed a ay soon , leaving g

‘ r ed Bibbe e ter . Isabel Alexander was ma ri to Daniel , of

Letart, and died in a few years , leaving a daughter .

. on e William Alexander, Sr , w_ as of the first Commissioners

- f r e . in Meigs , and held that O fice by election several terms ff He was prominent in local a airs , magistrate , merchant and h ou Se farmer . He erected the first stone in Letart, noted in “ h ” th e m a s ion o . those days for elegance , " h use of Letart He 1 1 877 i 860 . died in , and his wife Susan died n

D r D vi W e a . a d C. hal y s me to Meigs county with his par 1 832 ents in , and has been a resident of Meigs county ever ’ f since . He opened the first dentist s O fice in Pomeroy , and has followed his profession continuously for more than fifty 204 PIONEER HISTORY OF MEIGS COUNTY

. of years Possessed a fine mind and rare mechanical abilities , he acquainted himself with every scientific method available for the perfecting of his skill in dentistry, for besides the set i O . f ting teeth , Dr Whaley is an artist in studying facial ef ects , as well as the inserting of molars . He has had also a suc c e s s f ul medical practice , limited in extent on account of his proclivities for dental Operations .

He married Miss Amy Smith , a daughter of Benjamin Smith , Of O Middleport , hio , who is a direct descendant in the fourth generation from the pi oneer James Smith who came to Lead 1 7 97. ing Creek in They had a family of three children , one son and two daughters . The son, a bright young man , was drowned just as his career was opening as a dentist . The daughters were well educated, and each one has a vocation th e The elder Miss Whaley is a talented literary woman , and n younger Sister is a popular singer i operatic circles , is mar

I n N e w ried and resides York City .

T H P A N E FAM I L E I Y . O Seth Paine , Sr . , came with his family to hio from Maine in h ad 1 81 6 . , and settled in Rutland township He four sons ,

' r d s e e r al dau h . an v Samuel S . Paine , Bartlett, Seth , J , Josiah , g e ters . The brothers were engaged in the m rcantile business ‘ fi in Rutland . Mr . Samuel S . Paine held township of ces , as

Justice of the Peace , Trustee , and was Postmaster in Rutland . He was elected Recorder of Meigs county when the county in ff seat was removed to Pomeroy, and served that o ice for more than twenty years . Of He married Miss Martha Cowdery, a daughter the pioneer

e 1 807 . Joel Cowdery, who settled on Shade riv r in They had two children , a daughter, dying in childhood , and a son , Lewis

O . Paine , who was educated at Kenyon College , Gambier, hio

He is a lawyer, has been Probate Judge , and practices his pro 1 889 f e s s ion in Pomeroy . Mrs . Martha Paine died in , and

1 892 . Mr. Samuel S . Paine died in , both highly esteemed people

I N D E "

O PIONEER HISTORYTOF MEIGS COUNTY

By STlLLMAN CARTER LARKIN

In tr oduction Declar ation of I n de pe n den ce in 1 77 6 Th e Or din an ce o f 1 7 87 ’ Oh io Compan y s Pu r ch as e Meigs Coun ty For med in 1 81 9 en s us Re or t f or etar t e ano n an d Sutton T ow n s h i s f or 1 820 C p L , L b p , Tow n s h ip Boun dar ies i r Ele ct on s , f or Gove n or . Road T ax Rutlan d T ow n s h ip Or gan ize d in 1 81 2 B r e w s ter Higley an d Famil o l Hi l n F m l J e g ey a d a i y . mil K r r l oh n N i s w on e r Ha ton e an d Co . J g

Fe ix en e di ct a e z en e dict l B , J b B

Je r emiah Riggs an d Family . Joh n Miles an d Family Captain James Me r r ill il W illiam ar er Sr . an d Fam P k , , y Ales h i r e B r oth e r s “ T h omas Sh eph er d Dan ie l Rath b—ur n Th e Hun te r s Joh n an d Geo r ge W ar th Abel Lar kin an d Family Allen Ogden an d De s cen dan ts Sh ubael N oble s W illiam ar e r 2d an d Fami P k , , ly f i A Gan g o In d an s . Pion e er As s ociation S etch Of Ear Hi s tor b uth e r H ecox k ly y, y L Alexan der Ste dman of Ath en s H te w r on ottom b . . S a t . L g B , y J

Dr . h i i au an d Rev Ezr a Gr ove r P l p L ck . l r in ot m T h e Scotch Co ony at Ste l g B to . An ti it Sila on e s Th e Pictur ed Rocks at qu y . s J D r Fulle r El iot . l ame s Smith J , Er as tus Stow Luke B r in e T h omas Gas ton Fr e der i c Hy s ell Jos h ua Joh n s on Leon ar d He dr i ck Aar on H olt ’ W eaver s Re eds eter L al an ce S r P ,

h as h e r . Jo n V . L I NDE" 207

ow an d th e W olves . Br ave Boy r s t Cour t o f Common Pleas i-n Meigs eetin of ommis s ion er s A r i 30 1 81 9 g C , p l ,

Pap er Ear ly S ettle r s

an d Sch ol ar s of Pleas an t V alley Rutlan d T ow n s h ip Blos s omin g

ow th e r th e en ten ar ian L , C Gr an t an d Kn igh t Famili e s ee r ee tin at idd e or t in Au u s t 1 882 M g M l p g , i r - — av d a e r Ex T r eas ur e r of ei s oun t A Gue s t . D B b , M g C y “ ar h Famil r il n W t . M S as o es y . J f or th e Pion eer Gr aveyar d h h In di co an d r M r . Geo r e W ar t t e an S ut g , , 1 1 5

1 1 7 Mills 1 1 8 os e h P lummet 1 1 9 J p D . os iah Sim s on S r 1 20 J p , Ro er t Sim s on Sr 1 21 b p , oh n N e w ell an d es cen dan ts 1 22 1 23 J D , Re El t m n n d F mil v. i S ed a a a y a tai e s s Hu ell S en ec a Hai ht C p n J e bb . g T r ar ar h t . Ti s 1 25 Steph en itus an d M s . M g e ta N tu zar N an d ew i an E n e z r e 1 26 Me l ye L s d be e N y . Cattle Dis eas es 1 27 icada or S evente en Year 1 27 C , W i d Tur s il ee s e w l n H 1 28 1 29 e W d G O s a d aw s . l k y , , k , e es In enious ontr ivan ce s f o r W or 1 30 B , g C k — Salt 1 31 1 35 os e h V in in Ell ah on e s J p g, j J e i n r n e en As ah l Sk n e a d D s c dants . i 1 3 o l h l e r l Tor r e . s e h G e s o n S v s te emue l ow e l Aar on en c . 8 J p , J y , L P , W h ittemor e Ree d an d Family Samuel Dow nin g an d D es cen dan ts Aar o n Th om s on P len e W h eele r 1 41 p , y ” Al exan de r V on S ch r itz os e h T ow n s en d l : 1 42 , J p Joh n M cClen ah an 1 42 Steph en Smith an d Family 1 43 e s s e a e W il iam Steve n s oh n in 1 44 J P g , l , J B g Rober t B r adfor d 1 44 os h u r 1 45 1 46 J a Ga dne r , Ti 1 47 1 48 moth y Smith , ’ — o i c f s f s mith r om ail . . 1 49 1 53 J h n S . G le s Ac ount O th e Re cue O Adam S f J 208 INDE"

W illiam Ch ur ch an d Family Ran dall Stive r s Aar on Stiver s Adam Har pold r h l n d n ou h 2d H en y Rous , s t, a He r y R s , Geor e t h in ton utn am b h ar les atth ew s g g P , y C M Livin gs ton Smith W illiam Joh n s on Joh n En ts min ger Geor ge W olfe Regular B apti s t Ch Rutl an d Cemete r y " Joh n Hayman an d De s cen dan ts oh n W a n e r Geor e ur n s J g , g B O adiah W a e r S r b lk , Doctor Fen n Joh n Hall an d De s cen dan ts T h r H n d r E in a o . E a v e S y e s . g “ Th e K eg Company Dr avid Gar dn e r . D Edw ar d W eldon and Family o d f 1 832 f h h i i r Meteor ic Sh ow e r . Fl o O o t e O o R ve T h h l r in h e e r in 1 834 b r Kn i h t e o e a s t M s . C C , y D . g Ch oler a in Middlepor t in 1 849 Ar th ur e r r i Fr eder ic e r r i l M l, M l Samue l Pome r oy mi M r V . . Ho r ton an d Fa . B — ly Mar tin He ckar d Judge

acob Rice I r a M cCumbe r ” J , Fugitive Slave Cas e ames ett ucin da Smith n ée unh am J P y, L , D i m n M r s . os ah Si s on n ée aw s o J p , D Th e r ad ur Famil b Samuel r ad u r E s B b y y , y B b y , q Simeon Ell iott an d Family R Samue r an ch ev. l B ’ Pap er s fr om th e Levi Ste dman s Docume n ts Th e Pil ch ar d and Elli s Famili es S ch olar s Equipmen ts i e r l P on e Hote 1 Fir s t N ew s paper s Pr in te d in Meigs Coun ty “ ” Th e Buckeye Rover s . As s ociate Judges of Meigs Coun ty e n s us i s t i n 1 820 Of Rutlan d Sali s ur an d Sa em T ow n s h i s C L , , , b y l p . Cyclone in Columbia T ow n s h ip in 1 886 T h e Youn g Ken tuckian s T h e Ath en s Colony Th e Ackl eys i D r h . h n lin o k o n R s on S r . Dr . o M cC t c . J P l , J I a e n l R e s a c . R o v. y '

M r uci r os s . . L C Th e Ale (1 s D r i h a d . a e . D v C l bituar Of L i O y S. a