Indiana Magazine of History

INDIANA MAGAZINE OF HISTORY Spencer Records' Memoir of the Ohio Valley Frontier, 1766-1795 Contributed by Naomi Mullendore Hougham' Edited by Donald F. Carmony The narrative which follows is principally a memoir of frontier life in western Pennsylvania and the Licking Valley of Kentucky. A son of Josiah Records and Susanna Tully Records, Spencer Records was born December 11, 1762, in Sussex County, Delaware, of English ancestry. Three years later the family left Delaware and, after a brief sojourn near Hagerstown, Maryland, followed Braddock's Trail into western Pennsylvania, settling in 1766 near Dunbar's Creek at the foot of Laurel Mountain. The Peace of Paris, 1763, which registered the decisive triumph of the English over the French for possession of the vast and fertile hinterland west of the Appalachian Mountains, had been concluded only three years earlier. Moreover, settlement in the area selected by the Records family was then illegal under the Proclamation of 1763, but even so western Pennsylvania was at that time the most important beachhead of settlement west of the Appalachian watershed by English colonists. Approximately the initial one-fifth of the memoir de- scribes frontier life in western Pennsylvania during the period from 1766-1783, and particularly during the years of the American Revolution, 1776-1783. A main thread throughout the narrative is the story of the continuous struggle for physical survival. Obtaining food, shelter, and clothing ade- quate for subsistence was essential. Perhaps equally important in the struggle for survival was the costly and almost * Naomi Mullendore Hougham is a great-great-granddaughter of Spencer Records. She is a former professor of botany at Franklin College, Franklin, Indiana. 324 Indiana Magazine of History continuous conflict with the Indians. Fortunately, the early settlers of western Pennsylvania were largely seasoned frontiersmen, quite unlike the tenderfoot English who first settled Jamestown and Plymouth about a century and a half earlier. Hence the settlers of western Pennsylvania not only survived harsh conditions and costly Indian conflict, but they soon extended their settlements and improved their situation. Dur- ing their struggles with the wilderness and with the Indians, however, the frontiersmen in some respects lived more like Indians themselves than is commonly realized. The fact that settlers sometimes mistook other settlers for Indians, as indicated in the Records narrative, was more than accidental. In 1783, when Spencer Records became twenty-one years of age, his family migrated to the Licking Valley of Kentucky. The remainder and bulk of the narrative is largely concerned with frontier beginnings and early developments in the Licking Valley during the ensuing decade. Life in Kentucky was much the same as it had been in western Pennsylvania- the same harsh struggle for food, shelter, and clothing, as well as continued conflict with the Indians. The residents of this valley remained vulnerable to Indian attack from north of the Ohio-the “Indian side” of the river, as Spencer Records termed ilifrom the end of the Revolution almost until 1794 when General Anthony Wayne defeated the Indians at Fallen Timbers in northwestern Ohio. This memoir correctly and vividly portrays the early Ohio Valley frontiersmen as being woodsmen and hunters as well as farmers and illustrates their economic self-sufficiency. It also suggests that frontier experiences were very similar in the various parts of the Ohio Valley during the years described. Moreover, the Records narrative offers excellent examples which point out the importance of the Ohio River in directing and influencing early settlement west of the Appalachians. For instance, whether Records lived in western Pennsylvania, the Licking Valley of Kentucky, the Scioto Valley or near the Ohio River in Ohio, or in Bartholomew County, Indiana, he remained a resident of the Ohio Valley. The Ohio River waa the principal highway within the region; and even when Spencer Records took circuitous routes through present-day West Virginia enroute to Pennsylvania to collect a debt for his father, he remained within the Ohio Valley and generally traveled up and down the Ohio’s tributaries Spencer Records 325 and over their connecting portages and trails. Knowledge of the fact that this narrative is a product of the Ohio Valley frontier is very helpful in locating the various residences and trips of Spencer Records. Although political developments were important in Ken- tucky during the 1780’s and the early 1790’s, Records almost completely ignores them. Kentucky became a state in 1792, he correctly observes, but he adds nothing to indicate that it had been a county of Virginia, nothing of the various conven- tions leading to statehood, and nothing of the so-called Spanish Conspiracy. Neither are the problems of the naviga- tion of the Mississippi and Spanish control of its exit mentioned. Spencer Records was about eighty years of age when his memoir was composed, apparently in 1842. The events and incidents which he relates had nearly all occurred fifty to seventy years earlier. Meanwhile, he had lived in Ken- tucky while it continued to gain in population and resources during the last half of the 1790’s;then he had lived for two decades in Ohio (1801-1821) ; thereafter he had resided near Columbus in Bartholomew County, Indiana, for two more decades. Family correspondence and tradition indicate that the narrative was rewritten and copied by a neighbor, James Clarke, who polished its grammar and form. During the 1860’s the memoir was acquired by Lyman C. Draper, and it is now included in the Draper Collection of the State His- torical Society of Wisconsin, Madison, and is published here with the society’s permission. A different and less complete version appeared in the Indiana Magazine of History, XV (September, 1919), 201-232. About two-thirds of the way through his memoir, Spencer Records mentions his marriage to Elizabeth Ellrod in Ken- tucky in 1790; and he completes the vital statistics of his family with evident pride near the end of the narrative. Here and elsewhere Records gives testimony to his being of the Regular Baptist persuasion. Several episodes in his story illustrate his literal predestinarian views. In editing this memoir the editor was impressed by the fact that historical information which Records recounts generally concurs with the basic facts as related by scholars and authors who are cited in the footnotes. This agreement may indicate a marvelous memory for detail on the part of 326 Indium Magazine of History Records, the octogenarian; it may mean that part or all of the memoir was composed earlier than 1842, or that Records may have had the assistance of other persons in writing his recollections. In any case, the memoir is an important and informative document regarding frontier beginnings in the Ohio Valley during and immediately following the American Revolution. A Brief Narrative‘ giving an account of the time and place of the birth of Spencer Records his movings and settlements: with incidents that occurred relative to the wars with the Indians. With a brief account of his father Josiah Records : written by himself the said Spencer Records. 1In editing the document that begins with this line, original spelling, capitalization, and paragraphing have been reproduced. Letters were difficult to distinguish in some instances but were transcribed according to the writer’s probable intent. Original punctuation has also been retained except in a few cases where additions were made for the sake of clarity. Periods have been inserted wherever their addition was unmistakably indicated-after abbreviations and at the ends of paragraphs. Commas were used to separate a series of words if the writer of the manuscript omitted them. Throughout the document, proper nouns were often, but not always, underlined. The editor has chosen to delete this underscoring rather than to clutter the page with italics which have no significance that can be determined. Bracketed words, dates, and phrases in the text of the memoir have been added by the editor ezcept for those bracketed dates marked by a dagger. The manuscript contains these dates in brackets, written by some un- known person. The two footnotes that appear in the manuscript have been retained; evidently someone other than the original penman added them and marked their location by asterisks. With the minor exceptions already noted and insofar as the mechanics of printing permit, the narrative which follows is a faithful reproduction of the original-minus its repetitive table of contents. The original Spencer Records narrative is in the Kentucky Papers, Draper Manuscripts, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 23CC. Mrs. Hougham indicates that some of Records’ personal papers, such as deeds and military orders and commissions, are in the possession of a descendant, Charles L. Rueff, of Johnson County, Indiana, Spencer Records 327 Introductory. I have written the following narrative, partIy for my own satisfaction and amusement, and partly for the information of my children, as by it they may become acquainted with some things, they would otherwise be ignorant of. I have written it briefly, stating every thing in as few words as possible ; which will take less writing and reading, and will probably be better understood. October 8th 1842- Spencer Records. A narrative of Captain Spencer Records Spencer Records son of Josiah Records and Susanna Tully his wife, was born on the 11th day of December 1762 in Sussex County, State of Delaware. My father and mother were both descendants of English ancestors.- I shall in the first place, give a brief account of my father Josiah Records, which will serve as an introduction to my own. Josiah Records son of John Records and Ann Callaway his wife, was born on the first day of May old style2 in the year 1741 in Sussex County, State of Delaware.

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