HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, OHIO - 497

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

BELPRE TOWNSHIP.

Established in 1790—Boundaries—Topography—Quarries—Beauty of Scenery—General Washington's Purchase—The Mound at Cedarville—First Settlements in 1789—A Settlement of Revolutionary Officers—The Upper, Lower, and Middle Settlements—Sketches of the Pioneers—Horrors of Famine—The Hunger of the Children— Returning Plenty—Defenseless Condition—Building of Farmers’ Castle—The List of Occupants of the Castle—" Kit," the Favorite Black Boy—Work and Amusement—The Dread of Danger— Insurance Society--The Loss of a Winter’s Meat in the Year 1791—New Garrisons Established in 1793—Belpreans Discover the Scioto Salines—The Pursuit of a Fallacy—Chaplain Devol's Floating Mill—Miles' Mill—Small-pox and Scarlet Fever—Sickly Seasons of 1821-3—Old Chillicothe Road--First Bridge Over Little Hocking— First Grafting in the Northwest—A Fruit Township—Vinegar Works The Belpre Library—An Old Receipt—First Election at Deacon Miles'—Bathsheba House the First School Teacher—First Sermon in Belpre—Colonel Battelle the Lay Preacher—First Religious Society The Old Meeting House—Other Churches—First Brick House— First Frame House Known as "Benedict House"—Joseph Barker First White Child Born in the Township—Sheep Raising Not a Specialty—Experiments by the Yankees—Cotton, Flax and Silk Raised—Captain Devol's Cotton Gin—How Captain William Dana’s Boys got New Clothes—An Old Masonic Lodge—The Odd Fellows —Farmer's Club—Dr. Barnes the First Physician—His Successors— Present Practitioners—The Township Long Without a Village— William Browning Lays Off Belpre—Rapid Growth—Business 1nterests—Decline of Enterprise—The High School a Success—Hamlets of Blennerhasset, Cedarville, Center Belpre and Little Hocking— The Graveyard on the Bluff—The Armstrong Monument—The Pioneer Monument at Newbury—First Burial in the New Graveyard at Cedarville—Other Burying Grounds.

As BELPRE township stood prior to the year 1856 so was it established December 20, 1790, by act of the court of quarter sessions, expressed as follows:

Resolved, That townships numbered one and two in the tenth range, and township numbered one in the ninth range, be and they are hereby incorporated and included in one township by the name of Belpre.

In 1797 the court declared that all the territory south of the townships of Waterford and Marietta and north of Gallipolis, be known as Belpre township, embracing parts of the present counties of Athens, Vinton, and Ross, together with fractions of Hocking, Meigs, Jackson, and Pike as they stand to-day.

The lines marked out in 1790 were bounded north by territory now embraced in Warren, Barlow and Fairfield, east and south by the Ohio river and west by what became Athens county, Decatur and a section of Fairfield township.

In 1856, by an act of the county commissioners, town one, range nine, and town two, range ten were bisected from east to west and the northern division incorporated into a new township, known as Dunham.

The general form of Belpre is similar to that of Washington county, of which it is the most southern township. Resembling a triangle, it has about eight miles of northern line and nearly seven miles on the west, while the Ohio river as an irregular hypothenuse meanders in a southwesterly direction. North and west, with a general tendency toward the south, are ranges of hills which alternately approach toward and recede from the valley of the Ohio. These hills have no special geological features. They are in many respects similar to their sister hills in the eastern part of the county, save that there are no large deposits of coal or petroleum. Towards the southern portion of the township there are slight indications of oil, and their seams of coal have occasionally been worked, but the labor is unremunerative. All along the line of the ridge which determines the course of the streams and extends from northeast to southwest, may be found in the outcroppings of the rocky sides an excellent quality of sandstone, especially adapted for building purposes, and in many places affording an excellent grind-stone grit. The principal quarry is a short distance above Little Hocking, and stone is taken from the vicinity of Belpre village.

The streams naturally seek the Ohio river, whose principal tributary in Belpre township is the Little Hocking, whose eastern and western forks, with their numerous branches, converge in the western part of the township, directing the enlarged stream towards the Ohio. Congress and Crooked creeks, in the eastern part of the township, Davis run in the centre, and Sawyer's and Big runs toward the southern extremity, are the only considerable streams independent of the Little Hocking. The hillsides rising from the glens and valleys bordering on these streams are covered with an abundant growth of forest trees, principally oak. Of late years the hill country has, in a measure, been cleared and cultivated. As in the other hilly portions of the county the hill-tops are especially adapted to the growth of apple trees, and numerous orchards are found back of the valleys.

Descending the hills by winding and almost circuitous routes the traveller soon reaches the valleys which nature with bountiful hand has distributed throughout the length and breadth of the township. The valley of the Little Hocking is limited, although it has its fertile tracts. The land along the Ohio is a vast stretch or fertility. By a natural division there are three principal areas where the valley broadens into a plain, and with adjoining second bottoms affords a farming country unsurpassed by any in Washington county. Beginning at the northern boundary of the township the Ohio river flows directly south three miles until it reaches the mouth of the Little Kanawha and the opposing hills of West Virginia, when by an abrupt turn it takes a westerly course thus embracing the first of the areas of rich land. About a mile below this bend the river, as if hesitating which way to turn, has impartially divided, leaving in the centre a rich alluvion, afterwards made an object of national attention by the misfortune of the Blennerhassetts. A little below the head of the island the river is confronted by a precipitous bluff which crowds the valley into the river and continues westward about half a mile. This bluff, which is over thirty feet high, is an extension of the plain land and acting as a spur from the ridge to the north separates the valley. This plateau or peninsula of the hill country is still made beautiful by evergreens, principally cedar, thus giving to the vicinity the name of Cedarville. As will be seen hereafter, this was an attractive spot to the early settlers. Leaving the bluff as the eastern boundary, the Ohio, by a graceful inward curve, has marked out the second and central alluvion from a quarter to a third of a mile wide and about

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, OHIO.

three miles long, being contracted in the narrows just above the mouth of the Little Hocking. The bottom lands gradually lose themselves in adjoining plain land which is thirty or forty feet higher than the alluvial land, and varies in width from a third of a mile to a mile. This upland soil is of a rich and very productive sandy loam. Higher up on the hills the soil is of red clay for the most part, and is not of great value for farming purposes.

The opposing hills and plains on the Virginia shore complete the beauty of the scene. Especially broad and fertile is the plain below Blennerhassett island, and it is not much wonder that General Washington, during his trip down the Ohio, was induced to purchase its broad expanse, and there is but little doubt but that he would have added to his purchase the bottom land opposite, concerning which he speaks in his journal, had this land not been on the "Indian side" of the river.

Along the river bottoms there was a heavy growth of beech, maple, and sycamore trees, while the higher land was shaded by native poplar and oak. In the spring time there was a multitude and endless variety of flowers, and the scene was tell- nigh enchanting. This garden spot was appropriately named, for there is a beauty and poetry in the name—"Belle Prairie on the Belle Rivier."

Before the advent of the white man this fair land was the dwelling place of wild beasts. The invasions of strong and warlike Indian tribes kept sister tribes from locating villages along this part of the Ohio. It was a common hunting ground, and long ago the buffalo fed in the meadows. As late as the time of the coming of the first white men, the clumsy bear might have been seen galloping into the hills or scaling some neighboring tree; the timid deer ran startled from the water courses, and at night the harmony of the place was interrupted by the howling of the wolves, or the screaming of the panthers. But the Indians while waiting at Harmar to make the treaty of 1788 had pretty effectually driven out the game in the vicinity of Belpre. Deer became scarce, and a bear was not a common sight. Wild turkeys continued to be abundant, and wolves made sheep raising hazardous.

BEFORE THE INDIAN.

In Belpre township there are several mounds which are the work of the pre-historic race. They are all in view of the Ohio.

There is now but one mound of considerable size remaining in Belpre. This is located near the river, just east of Cedarville, on the land now owned by Stephen Druse. The mound was undoubtedly of conical shape, but has gradually been worn and flattened until now it is not more than four or five feet high with a circumference at the base of twenty-five or thirty feet. It is surrounded by a circular ditch which appears to have been several feet deep. This ditch is surmounted by a parapet three or four feet high extending all the way around, and having a diameter of nearly one hundred feet. The whole is laid out with mathematical exactness. This mound has not been opened.

There are several smaller mounds in the same neighborhood that are plainly artificial, but are without the circular ditch and the parapet. There is a small mound of this kind on the property of Charles Ames, and another in the garden of Cyrus Ames, west of Cedarville. Mounds are also found on the land of E. W. Petty and J. Ollum a short distance north of the Druse mound.

Until a few years ago, there stood on the land of J. M. Farson, just below Cedarville, a mound of large proportions. Like its smaller neighbors it was without surrounding ditch or parapet. It stood on the left of, and partially in the road opposite the residence of Mr. Far- son. It was shaped like a sugar-loaf, save that at some early day there had been made an excavation in the top which gave it the appearance of an extinct volcano. At the time of its removal it was fourteen feet high and had a circumference of one hundred feet at the base. There was no attempt to ascertain its contents until 874. During this and the subsequent year Mr. Farson decided to remove it, and while engaged in the work made some very interesting discoveries. As had been surmised, the mound proved to be one of the tumuli with which the surface of the whole country is dotted. The excavation at the top was renewed. After digging downward a short distance the first skeleton was discovered. It was in a fair state of preservation, in fact so sound that the doubt at once arose as to its antiquity. A closer examination of the skull indicated that it was that of an Indian, and a bullet hole in the forehead just above the eye at once suggested the probability that the death and burial took place less than an hundred years ago, although there is no history or even tradition concerning such death and burial.

Toward the centre of the mound a skeleton was found which upon being exposed to the air at once proved its great age by crumbling to dust. As the work proceeded there were found, at different depths, eight more skeletons, irregularly arranged. Exposure soon reduced these bones to their original element. With each skeleton was found a stone pipe, beads, buttons, and balls of muscle-shells, and an occasional collection of arrowheads. A remarkable harpoon with a bone-bearded point was among the relics found. With one skeleton there was found a pair of horns. This suggests that the builders of the mounds believed in a oat mortem combat with an evil one, and that weapons were selected with reference to the homeopathic principle "similia similibus curantur." One of these horns is artificial and was carved from the bone of some animal, the outside only being finished; the mate to this rough and hastily made counterpart was a real horn over six inches in length.

In the centre and a little below the base of the mound there were found the remains of a skeleton mingled with burned charcoal and calcined bones. It was evident that the body had been cremated. The lower extremities evidently had not been subjected to the intensity of a flame, and there is evidence that the body prior to cremation had been placed in a sitting posture, so that the head and trunk speedily consumed, leaving unburned the rest of the body.

In various parts of the mound there were found in all

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twenty-two arrow-heads from three to five inches in length; numerous stone axes, pipes, and harpoons; nine hollow cylindrical tubes, eight of which were found together away from the skeletons, and the ninth was with the remains of the burned skeleton and was much smaller than the others. These tubes were made of soapstone and the first mentioned are about a foot in length. The maker of these tubes was thoroughly acquainted with the art of glazing, as their polished surfaces attest. As many of these relics as would bear exposure to the air were preserved. The mound was entirely taken away and furnished nearly two thousand cubic yards of earth.

There are several small mounds farther down the river. On the more elevated plains and hilltops have been found heaps of stone which bear evidence of orderly arrangement. There was until a few years ago such a structure on the hillside on the farm of Edwin Guthrie. One was also erected on the adjoining farm of C. W. Oakes. They were constructed of large flat stones, piled up loosely until ten or twelve feet high. Ashes and other indications of fire were discovered.

THE SETTLEMENT.

Belle Prairie was naturally adapted to the wants of the pioneers in the Ohio company, and was quickly selected by the committee sent out to explore, and which reported to the company as the most suitable place for the establishment of the first community separate from the one at the mouth of the Muskingum. The natural beauty of the fair land, combined with the knowledge of the great fertility of the soil, made the place desirable for farmers; and, above all, the good land was close joined by the river, thus enabling the settlers to form a continuous chain of farms and farm-houses, thereby making communication easier. The settlement was composed of more than twenty-five of the original proprietors of the land, and a number of others who had either purchased land of the original proprietors, or else secured it soon after the first settlement. For the most part this was a settlement of Revolutionary officers, brave men and wise, who had struggled for independence with their leader, Washington.

As will be seen, the settlements were made at Belpre in the years 1789 and 1790, principally. Few came during the Indian troubles. After the war a number of additional settlements were made. The fact, however, is that Belpre township was settled, prior to the year 1800, almost as thickly as it is to day. Now and then, during the intervening years, there is a record of a settlement. The country back of the river was principally owned by those living on the bottom land, and hence the back settlement is of recent date, and even to-day is very sparse. The first houses were built near the river, and of necessity very close together, as the lots were very narrow, some of them being less than forty rods wide. The first business of the settler was to build a log house and make a clearing for the first crop. A rapid method of freeing the land to be cultivated from the overhanging shade was to girdle the trees, letting them stand until a more convenient season for felling them. Many of the first houses were hastily constructed of unhewn logs, and in later years gave way to the more substantial hewed log or frame houses which were usually built farther back from the river. The cattle grazed in the woods back of the clearings, which were generally surrounded by "stake and rider" fences. There was a continuous path from field to field, whereby the settlers kept up the strong feeling of friendliness and sociability which has ever characterized these families, many of the descendants being residents of Belpre township to-day. It will be noticed that the first settlements were made in the upper part of the township, and quickly extended toward the southwestern corner. In the survey of lands they were platted in three divisions, known as the upper, the middle, and the lower settlements. The upper settlement extended down the river to the land drawn by A. W. Putnam; the middle, thence to the mouth of the Little Hocking; and the lower included the remaining portion of river land, afterwards known as the Newbury settlement. The farms of the pioneers will be noted as parts of one of these three divisions.

THE UPPER SETTLEMENT.

From time to time, during the days of early settlement, transient people "squatted" on the Congress section, north of the site of Belpre village, but these soon gave way to permanent settlers, and went further down the river.

Captain William Dana settled on the land now occupied by his grandson, George Dana, a short distance below the present village of Belpre. He was born at Little Cambridge, now Brighton, Massachusetts, in 1745. His ancestors were French Huguenots. In 1770 he married Mary Bancroft, who was born in 1752, and died in 1823, surviving her husband fourteen years. After Captain Dana's marriage he resided in Charleston, but just before the battle of Lexington removed to Worcester. He became a captain in the army, and did good service, but having sold his property for worthles continental currency, he was obliged to quit the army, and for a time worked on a farm near Amherst, New Hampshire, working during the winter at the carpenter trade that he might supply his family with the necessities of life. Leaving his family at Amherst, he came to the Ohio country with his two oldest sons in 1788. He made some money in Marietta by burning brick, the first known to have been made in the territory. In the spring of 1788 he built a log cabin on land in Belpre, a short distance below the present village. In the autumn of 1789 he arrived with his family at Marietta, and there being no accommodations there, proceeded down the river with the intention of living in the log house which he had built in the previous spring, but unfortunately it had burned in the interim, and it was necessary to hastily erect what is known among the pioneers as "salt box." So small was this abode that two of the boys had to sleep in the covered wagon during the winter. Notwithstanding this first misfortune Captain Dana was elated at the thought of having reached such a goodly land, and immediately set about to clear the surrounding forest. In the following year he built a more comfortable hewed log house. There were nine

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children—Luther, William and Stephen settled in Newport township; Edmond, Augustus, Elizabeth, Mary and George (married), and settled in Washington county. Edmond built the present Dana residence. Mary and Fanny were born in the garrison. George Dana, sr., was born in 1790. By his wife, Deborah A. Fisher, he had five children, three of whom are living, viz: Mrs. E. W. Dodge, of Avondale, Cincinnati; Mary W. Linn, of Zanesville; and George Dana living on the old place in Belpre township. He was born in 1821. He married Licia Byington, by whom he has had eleven children, nine of whom are living.

John and Rebecca Rouse, with their family, arrived at Belpre in 1789, having came from Massachusetts in 1788, accompanied by Major Jonathan Haskell and Captain Jonathan Devol. An interesting circumstance is related concerning their departure from their Massachuselts home. A neighboring farmer boy was in love with Bathsheba, the oldest daughter of Mr. Rouse, and just before the family left for the west, the boy's father urgently begged Bathsheba to remain, offering as an inducement to marry his son, the deed for a fine farm. But the faithful daughter would not desert her father and mother. She became very useful in the community at Belpre, and for a number of years taught school, she being the first female teacher in the Northwest Territory. The other children were: Cynthia, who married Hon. Paul Fearing; Betsy, wife of Colonel Levi Barber; Michael, Ruth, Stephen, Robert and Barker, the two latter being twins. Robert died of scarlet fever, and the others married and settled in the county, some of the descendants being on the old place in Belpre township.

Colonel Ebenezer Battelle, of Massachusetts, joined the Belpre associates, and early in the spring of 1789 went to Belpre and proceeded to clear his farm, which was located partially on and just east of the site of the Castle. He cleared quite a patch of land, and proceeded to erect a stout block-house for the reception of his family. On the day after Captain King had been killed by the Indians, Colonel Battelle, with his two sons, and Esquire Greene, set forth from Marietta in a large canoe loaded with provisions and farming tools. Betore they reached Belpre they were informed of the death of their friend, and for a time they consulted with each other on the river bank, as to the advisability of proceeding, but concluding that they should run the risk they proceeded, and that night, with the assembled settlers, kept guard at their block-houses, which being near together supplied the lack of a fort.

Early in April, before any families had moved on to the grounds, a party of officers and ladies from Marietta visited Belpre. Colonel Battelle accompanied their barge on the return trip up the Ohio. A bear was seen swimming in the river, and the escort that was proceeding by land banged away at him without touching him. The canoe containing Colonel Battelle approached, and he forthwith got a "tail hold" of bruin, whom he immersed every time he tried to bite the hand of his captor. The bear was finally killed with an axe. He weighed over three hundred pounds.

Colonel Battelle soon afterwards removed his family to Belpre. He had three sons and one daughter. Cornelius and Thomas became wealthy merchants in the West Indies ; Thomas married the daughter of Governor Livingston, of New York, and Cornelius the daughter of a wealthy planter; Louisa married Rev. Joseph I. Foot, and lived in West Brookfield, Massachusetts, where he was pastor of the Presbyterian church from 1827 to 1829.

Between the years 1802 and 1804 Colonel Battelle and his son Ebenezer moved to Newport township. The. former died in 1815.

Colonel Battelle was the first religious instructor appointed for Belpre. During the Indian war his blockhouse, which formed the northeast corner of Farmer's castle, was used as a place for public worship. Further particulars of the early life of this good man are narrated in the history of Newport township.

Major Jonathan Haskell was one of the first settlers in Belpre, and built his cabin on land a short distance east of the site of the castle. He commenced clearing his farm, and was getting his home in order when the Indian war broke out, and he left Belpre to accept an appointment in the regular service. He went to Rochester, Massachusetts, and returned in December, 1791, to Marietta, where he was stationed for the defence of the settlement. He received his commission as major in 1795. After the war he returned to his home at Belpre, where he remained until his death in 1814. He was born in Massachusetts in 1775. After coming to Belpre he married Phoebe Greene. Some of the descendants are living in Washington county, the daughter of Major Haskell, Mrs. Lawton, being a resident of Barlow township.

Colonel Nathaniel Cushing, the original proprietor of lot twenty-seven on the site of Farmer's castle, moved to his land in 1789. He was born in Massachusetts in 1753, and in 1775 married Elizabeth Heath, by whom he had twelve children, six sons and six daughters. The family has representatives in this county, in the Goodson, who are grandchildren of Colonel Cushing.

Colonel Cushing achieved military renown in the war of the Revolution. After the close of the war he lived in Boston, whence, in 1788, he removed to Marietta. In August after his arrival he was, by Governor St. Clair, appointed captain in the First regiment of territorial militia, and in 1797 was made colonel of the regiment. After the capture of Major Goodale by the Indians, Colonel Cushing was chosen to command the garrison at Farmer's castle. He was one of the most active men in the affairs of the garrison. He was highly esteemed by Blennerhassett, and both Colonel and Mrs. Cushing were treated with marked attention, and were put in charge of the island when Blennerhassett left.

Colonel Israel Putnam, the eldest son of General Putnam, was born in Salem, Massachusetts. in 1739. In 1764 he married Sarah Waldo. When his father heard of the battle of Lexington, and hurried from the plow to the army, Israel immediately followed with a com-

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pany of volunteers which he had raised. Though naturally brave and strong, he was unsuited to the army, and after doing good service for three years, retired to the farm. When the Ohio company was formed he became an associate, and started for the west with two of his sons, crossing the mountain with a wagon loaded with farming utensils. While crossing North river the raft on which his son Waldo and the yoke of oxen were crossing began to sink. But Waldo was equal to the emergency, unyoked the oxen, and being unable to swim, seized one of the oxen by the tail and launched him into the river. The astonished ox, after considerable effort, landed his passenger, and the journey proceeded without further incident. The Putnams passed the winter at Marietla, in the Campus Martius, and in the spring of 1789, they proceeded to their lands at Belpre, Colonel Putnam being opposite the mouth of the Little Kanawha, and Waldo's in the middle settlement. Colonel Putnam put up a log house, and remained clearing and fencing his land until the fall of 1790, when he returned to Pomfret, Connecticut, for his family, and owing to the Indian war did not return until after the peace of 1795. Soon after bringing his family to Belpre he erected a large frame house, which, in those early days was considered to be quite a mansion. This house is now known as the Benedict house. Colonel Putnam was a practical agriculturist, and gave an impetus to the growth of the farming interests of Belpre, and was an influential man in the settlement. He frequently led the religious meetings during the absence of the preacher. He had five sons and three daughters. Israel settled in Muskingum township; William Pitt was a physician and located in Marietta in 1792; David also seltled in Marietta, in 1798; the fifth son was George W.; Aaron W. located in the middle settlement. Sarah married Samuel Thorniley; Mary, Daniel Mayo; and Elizabeth Joel Craig. The two latter settled in Newport, Kentucky.

Captain Jonathan Stone, one of the Belpre pioneers of 1789, was a settler at Marietta the year before. A full biography appears at the close of this chapter.

Colonel Alexander Oliver, of Massachusetts, and a valiant soldier during the Revolutionary war came to Belpre in 1789 and settled on lot No. 9, just below what is now known as Cedarville. There were eleven children, all of whom settled in Ohio. Two of Alexander's sons became ministers; David became a physician in western Ohio; Launcelot and John were the other sons. The daughters were: Lucreta, wife of Levi Munsel, who lived several years in Marietta; Betsy, married Hon. Daniel Symmes, of Cincinnati; Sally, married Major Austin, United Slates army, and settled in Cincinnati; Lucreta, wife of George Putnam, son of Colonel Israel Putnam; Mehala, married Calvin Shepherd, of Marietta; Electa, wife of 0. M. Spencer, of Cincinnati; and Mary, married Oliver Wing, who settled in Washington county, During the Indian war the family took shelter in Farmer's castle.

William Browning came to Marietta from Massachusetts in 1789, and married Abigail, the daughter of General Rufus Putnam. He settled in Belpre on the land now a part of the village. Here he continued to live until his death which occurred in 1823. There were four children, three of whom lived to maturity, viz: William R., George, and Samuel M. William R., was born in 1792, and in 1819 married Sophia Barker, who was born in 1797 and is still living. Mr. Rufus Browning was at one time county surveyor, and was one of the early justices in the township. In the early days he kept a ferry and his wife kept a tavern. The seven children were: Joseph, Abigail, William, Cynthia, A. H., R. P., and K P. Browning, and Sophia. A. H. Browning was the original proprietor of the town plat of the village of Belpre. The second son, William, was born in 1824; he married Mary Parker. Their five children survive. Mr. George Browning, son of William Browning, sr., went to Mt. Vernon, Ohio, where he lived and died. His brother, Samuel, was a lawyer and died at Burlington, in Lawrence county, Ohio. He married Miss Lucy Dana, of Newport, Washington county, Ohio.

Nathaniel Little, a native of Massachusetts, was among the first to make settlement in Belpre. During the Indian troubles he and his wife and son, Charles, took refuge in the castle. Afterwards he lived in the Middle settlement, and in a few years removed to Newport where he died. He had five sons and one daughter. His wife was Pamelia Bradford, whose ancestors came from England in the May Flower.

Griffin Greene, esq., located in Belpre in 1790, building his house near the Ohio a little over a mile below the present village of Cedarville, and just below the site of the castle. He was born in Warwick, Rhode Island, in 1749, and was bred in the smith and anchor business. He married Sarah Greene, of a family not connected by blood with his own. She was a sister of Colonel Christopher Greene, who, during the Revolution, commanded the noted black regiment. There were four children by this marriage—Richard, Philip, Griffin, and Susan, all of whom lived to years of maturity, and came to Belpre with their parents. Phoebe Greene, a niece, lived with them and married Major Jonathan Haskell, who settled at Belpre. Richard, Philip, and Susan Greene married and settled in Ohio. Griffin died in Marietta. Esquire Greene early became an important personage in Belpre. He was perhaps the first squire in the neighborhood, and by him were some of the earliest marriages solemnized, and some of the first disputes settled. But he was particularly noted for his inventive genius. He assisted Captain Devol in the invention of the floating mill, and he ingeniously contrived a machine for perpetual motion, which, though it would stop, would run for several hours in a wonderful manner. In 1795 he turned his attention to the feasibility of applying steam to the moving of boats on the western streams, and invented an engine, and in company wilh Elijah Backus went to Philadelphia, and after an expenditure of about a thousand dollars in a vain effort to construct the engine the project was dropped. In 1794 Squire Greene was active in the formation of the company which discovered the Scioto salines.

In 1801 he removed with his family to Marietta He was faithful to his country during the Revolution, and be-

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cause he took part in the war was, with his illustrious cousin, General Nathaniel Greene, excommunicated from the Friend's society. He lived in Marietta, after leaving Belpre, until his death which occurred in 1804.

Among those who came to Belpre about 1790 was the family of Colonel Daniel Bent, of Massachusetts. He was accompanied on the journey from Rutland to the Ohio by his family and Silas, in whose name the share of land was drawn. Colonel Bent was the father of several children. Nahum settled after the war near Centre Belpre, eventually becoming the first postmaster at Bent's Post Office, as the Centre Belpre office was once called. Silas Bent, with his wife and several children, located in the upper settlement. He became one of the most prominent men in the township. He was one of the judges of the court of common pleas appointed by Governor St. Clair. After the purchase of Louisiana he removed to St. Louis, and was there engaged in the survey of United States lands. His son, Silas, lived for a time just above Foster's tavern, where Belpre village now stands, and he afterwards removed to the far west, becoming the head of a fur company, and establishing a fort and trading post up the Arkansas river. Of the other children of Colonel Bent, Dorcas married William Dana, of Newport township; Susan married Joel Oakes, of Newbury; and there was another son, Daniel by name, who lived on the old home place and died there.

Captain Isaac Barker removed from New Bedford, Massachusetts, in 1788, and journeyed westward with the family of Captain William Dana. On the way across the mountains an amusing incident occurred. The oxen that Captain Barker was driving, becoming footsore, were exchanged for a fresh yoke at a Dutch tavern at which they stopped. They had scarcely got out of sight of the tavern when the new team balked on a rough place in the road, and all efforts to coax them to go on were futile. The boys sagely concluded that the oxen could not understand English, and quickly sent for the Dutch tavern-keeper, who scared the oxen over the rough place by a rapid flow of Dutch swearing. On arriving at Marietta the family spent several months with the family of Paul Fearing. Early in 1790 they moved to their farm in the upper settlement at Belpre, just below that of Captain Devol. There were eight children—Michael, Isaac, Joseph, William, Timothy, Anna, Rhoda, and Nancy. During the war they lived in Farmer's castle and at Stone's stockade. The Barkers continued on their farm until 1798, when they removed to Athens county, where the sons became prominent.

Captain Jonathan Devol, of Rhode Island, was one of the passengers on the May Flower, which he constructed for the use of the first company of emigrants to Ohio. He erected a house in the Campus Marlins in 1788, and was joined by his wife and children in December of that year. Being a skilful builder, and in fact ingenious in any work, he was detained from taking possession of the lot which he had drawn in Belpre. He was one of the committee of three appointed to explore the country in search of suitable places for the location of mills and farming settlements. His lot in Belpre upper settlement was numbered seven, and thither in February, 1791, he repaired with his family. He succeeded in clearing a patch of land, and built a log cabin not far below the house of Captain William Dana, his next neighbor. The news of the Big Bottom massacre reached him while attending court at Marietta, and he hurried home, fearing that his family would be murdered. Mrs. Devol, upon hearing that the Indians were on the war path, ordered the children to lie down with their clothes on, ready to run at a moment's notice. But, fortunately, Captain Devol found his family safe. He at once prepared the plans and directed the building of Farmer's castle, where he and his family remained during the dangerous period. He became famous by building the wonderful "floating mill" For the gratification of Squire Greene, he constructed the perpetual motion machine. He also constructed a cane mill for the use of the inhabitants of the garrison. In 1792 he built a twelve-oared barge, of about twenty-five tons burthen, for General Putnam. The red cedar, of which it was built, was procured at the hazard of Captain Devol's life, on the Little Kanawha, a few miles above its mouth. The barge was a model of beauty, and was said to have excelled any boat ever seen on the Ohio. After the war Captain Devol moved to Marietta, and in 1797 to Wiseman's bottom, in Muskingum. Belpre was a great loser by his removal.

Noah Sparhawk was born in New Hampshire in 1730. He married Miriam Greene, who was born in 1752, and died in 1847, surviving her husband forty years. They settled in Belpre shortly after the Indian war, and secured land of Captain George Ingersoll, who had made some improvement on the lot below Cedarville, of which he was the original proprietor, and after the war returned to his home at Boston. Nathan, son of Noah Sparhawk, was born in 1803. In 1834 he married Susan Stone, who was born in Belpre in 1802, and died in 1873. Two children resulted from this union: George W. resides in St. Louis, and Caroline resides with her father in Belpre village. In his younger days he took an active part in all good enterprises.

Edward Henderson, who acted as a ranger at Marietta during the war, at its close settled in Belpre. He was the first man that received pay from the Government for military duly performed at Marietta. He was born in Connecticut in 1761. He married Sarah Lufkin, who was born in 1770 and died in 1832. Mr. Henderson died at Philadelphia in 800. That same year his son Josiah was born, on the same day that Mr. Blennerhasset moved to his island home. Josiah lived with his mother until he arrived at the years of maturity, and in 1827 married Catharine Hutchison, who was born in 1806. There are three children surviving, viz: George W., in Oakland, California; Lucy Spencer; and Fanny Caywood, in Belpre. Captain Henderson has been on the river during the most of his life, and is now living in honored retirement in the village of Belpre.

Peregrine Foster and Mary his wife settled in the township about 1796, coming immediately from Morgan county, Virginia, whither they had gone for refuge during the war. Mr. Foster was born in New England in 1749,

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and was one of the forty-eight who came to the Ohio country in 1788. As narrated above, he soon went to Virginia. After his arrival in Belpre he started a ferry, the first concerning which anything is known, and erected a frame house, in which he kept tavern until his death, in 1804, when the business was conducted by his wife, who in after years became the wife of William Browning, and died in 1823. Mr. Foster served as one of the judges of the territorial court of common pleas prior to 1802, He was also one of the surveyors for the Ohio company, and went back to New England for his family. On his way back to Ohio, he and his family stopped in Morgantown, Virginia, on account of the Indian war. His early decease was a great loss to the community in which he dwelt.

Zadoc Foster, a native of Massachusetts, moved with his family to the Northwest Territory in 1796. He came with an ox team as far as Olean point, on the Allegheny river, and thence by raft to Marietta, where he remained until the spring of 1797, when he settled in Belpre, and remained there until he went to Athens county in 1809, where his descendants are living.

Among the earliest settlers was William Smith, of New England. He married the daughter of Captain Gates. A son is living in Belpre.

Josiah Whiting, a soldier from Boston, was present at St. Clair's defeat. After the Indian war he came to Belpre and settled just above the Putnam place in the upper settlement, afterwards removing back from the river. He was a shoemaker by trade.

Daniel Ellenwood, of Massachusetts, came to Belpre in 1795 and settled just below the Howe farm in the upper settlement. He had three sons and three daughters, none of whom are living in the township.

Cyrus Ames, sr., emigrated from Massachusetts in 1798, and after the usual journey by wagon and boat arrived at Belpre and made settlement a short distance below the present village of Cedarville. He married Polly Rice by whom he had the following children, viz: Cyrus, residing in Belpre, as does also Abigail, widow of Charles H. Brough; Susan C. (McKibben), who settled in Kansas; William, in Illinois; and Azuba, of Belpre. Cyrus, the eldest son, was born in Belpre township in 1812, He married Sarah Porter in 1844. They have had five children, four of whom are still living, viz: Emma, Charles B., living near his father; Frank P., and Mary E. Their oldest son, Edward L, born in 1847, died in 1863, Mr. Ames is a large land owner, he having three hundred and twenty acres of land, mostly of second bottom. He makes a specialty of sheep raising. The father of Cyrus Ames, sr., was an Episcopal clergyman, a graduate of Harvard, and a chaplain in the Revolutionary war. He died at Valley Forge in the hard winter of 1777-8.

Daniel Fisher landed on Blennerhassett Island on New Year's day, 1800. He lived on the Island a few years and then bought land of Colonel Battelle. He had in all a family of ten children, two sons and two daughters remaining at the old home in Dedham, Massachuset’s. The other Children were William, who became quite prominent; Seth; Andrew, a hatter by trade, died in Athens county, Elizabeth, married Bartholomew Gilman; Hannah, married Seth Fuller, and Deborah, the wife of George Dana.

Joseph Newbury, a native of New York State, settled at Cedarville at an early day. He had a large family and was a strict Methodist. Believing in the strict adherence to biblical admonition, he refused to be called anything but "dad," because the Bible says "call no man father." His son Joe was a scriptural prodigy and could recite chapter after chapter and understand not a word.

Sherabiah Fletcher was one of the first settlers in Belpre township. He was a Revolutionary soldier and was present at the taking of West Point, Afterwards coming to Belpre he settled on the back part of the lot upon which Cyrus Ames settled. His second wife was a Bellows and is still living near the mouth of the Little Hocking. As an instance of the integrity of Mr. Fletcher it is related that his father, who lived at Lowell, Massachusetts, died and left property to his children, a part of this property being the land on which Lowell was built. Sherabiah told his brothers that he would forego his share of the property if they would assume the responsibility of caring for their aged mother. This they did. In the course of time Mr. Fletcher was informed that according to law he had a right to the land on which Lowell is. This was technically true, but Mr. Fletcher honorably refused to make any effort to reclaim what others had paid for. The citizens of Belpre made the old gentleman a present of three hundred dollars as a token.

John Breck settled just below Major Haskells' place about the year 1800. He married a daughter of Judge Foster, of Belpre, and afterwards removed to the Duck creek settlement. His father was a prominent member of the Ohio company. He preached the first sermon in the settlement.

Joseph O'Neal, sr., emigrated from old Virginia in 1812, and settled a short distance north of the present village of Belpre. He was born in 1770, and died in Belpre in 1807. His two sons, Joseph and Colbert, continued to live on the home place. The latter, who is still living, was born in Virginia in 1805. He married Sarah Dana, born in 1808. These two have had three children, viz: Foster, Amanda, and Russel.

Joseph O'Neal, jr. was born in Virginia in 1800, and died in Belpre in 1840. He married Eunice Cole, who died February 27, 1881. The children are J. L O'Neal, of Belpre; Ezra H., of Colorado; and J. C. O'Neal, of Belpre. The former, born in 1829, married Jennie Rardin, by whom he has had five children. For the last five years Mr. O'Neal has been justice of the peace, with his office in Belpre village, where he resides.

Joseph Cook was born in Virginia in 1785, and in 1813 with his family emigrated to Ohio, and settled in Belpre township, locating near where the village now stands. His house was a very popular resort for travellers, and was known far and wide as the Cook house. Mr. Cook's wife, Clarissa Devol, was born in 1791, and died in 1859.

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They were the parents of three children, viz: Charles D., Maria D., and Elizabeth. Charles D. was born in 813, in what is now West Virginia, and in that same year was brought by his parents to Belpre. He married Mary Curtis, who was born in Belpre township in 825. Four of the five children born by this marriage are living, viz: Ada, wife of E. P. Cook; Clara L, wife of Alfred Williams; Mary V., and Ella B.

In 1816 Ebenezer Benedict, a native of Connecticut, removed to Belpre from Trumbull county, Ohio. He lived in a frame house about one hundred yards above the ferry landing, near the present village of Belpre. This house was carried away in the flood of 1832, and was wrecked on the head of Blennerhasset island. Mr. Benedict remained in Belpre unlil 1866, the time of his death. His widow, Irenea (Barnum) survived him seven years. They had three children: Polly, deceased; George, residing in Marietta; and Irenea (Allen), living in Hamilton county, Ohio.

Levi Benedict, a brother of Ebenezer, came to Belpre in 1816, and died of fever in the sickly season of 824.

Dr. G. N. Gilbert emigrated from Vermont to Ohio in 1817, and settled in Waterford, and in 1821 located in Belpre middle settlement, where he lived until his death, in 1870. His professional career is noted elsewhere in this work. When he first came to Belpre he boarded at Dr. Beebe's house, and afterwards became a member of the family of A. W. Putnam, whose daughter, Lucy E., he married in 1825. They lived together just forty-five years, the doctor dying on the anniversary of their marriage. They had ten children, of whom eight are living. In 1835 Dr. Gilbert was appointed to take charge of the post office at Cedarville, which he kept at his house a short distance below the old Congregational church. In 1864 he met with a severe runaway accident which deprived him almost entirely of his eyesight. After this time his wife acted as deputy postmaster, and after hii death was appointed postmistress, which office she held until in 1873, when the office was discontinued. Mrs. Gilbert, who was born in r8o4, is still living, and is one of the few survivors of the early days of Belpre settlement.

THE MIDDLE SETTLEMENT.

In April, 1789, Major Nathan Goodale and family arrived at Belpre, he being a leading associate in the colony. His land was that now occupied by the hamlet of Center Belpre. He was conceded to be one of the most honest, industrious, and intelligent farmers in the settlement, and he went at the heavy task of clearing and making ready for cultivation his land, in such a way as to prove his capabilities for surmounting every difficulty. He was born in Brookfield, Massachusetts, in 1743. He learned the trade of a bricklayer, and received a fair education. He married Elizabeth Phelps, and lived for a time in Rutland, where his three oldest children, Betsy, Cynthia, and Sally, were born. These daughters married and settled in Ohio. The sons were Lincoln, who studied medicine in Belpre, with Dr. Jewett, but afterwards became a merchant in Columbus, where Goodale park keeps his memory green. Timothy was a grown man during the Indian war and done did as a ranger. He located on the lot just below that on which his father settled, and died a short time after the return of peace. Major Goodale was a soldier in every respect. He was a minute-man, and then a gallant officer in the Revolution. After coming to Marietta in 1789 he was appointed captain of a company of militia which he drilled in view of the approaching war. He was one of the most active in the planning and erection of Farmer's castle. When the building was ready for occupancy what better man than Major Goodale could they get to command the garrison? He was in command in the winter of 1793, when, for convenience, the branch forts were built. Stone's stockade above and Goodale's stockade below. Major Goodale had been in the new garrison scarcely a week when he was ruthlessly seized by savages and carried away to die a captive, a fuller account of his seizure being given elsewhere in this work. He left a vacancy hard to fill. His family, overwhelmed with grief, remained in the neighborhood several years and finally scattered. None of the descendants are living in the county at present.

Daniel Loring, of Massachusetts, with his family took refuge in Farmer's castle during the Indian war. His farm was just below what is now Centre Belpre. His first wife was Miss Howe, of Sudbury, Massachusetts. The children by this marriage were Israel, Charlotte, wife of A. W. Putnam, and Ezekial. His second wife was the widow of a brother of Oliver Rice. The children by the second marriage were Bathsheba, married Mr. Washburne, of Marietta; Daniel, removed to Chillicothe; Polly, wife of Dr. William Beebe; Oliver Rice, who held the office of associate justice of the court of common pleas; and Jesse, who was sheriff of Washington county for a number of years. The two latter remained on the homeplace in Belpre. Rice married Fannie Warren, by whom he had three children, viz: Warren, Lucy, and Jesse. By his second wife Orinda Howe, he had five children: Francis H., and Corwin, who died in the army; a daughter married a Mr. Ford; Delia, married Rev. Mr. Morris; and one child died in infancy.

Jesse Loring married first Deborah Gray, and afterwards Maria Fisher, who lives now in Belpre village. Five children died in early childhood.

Major Oliver Rice, of Massachusetts lived for many years in the middle settlement. He was a widower and generally had a family in his house with whom he boarded. He was an ex-Revolutionary soldier and a man of sterling worth.

Cornelius Delano came to Belpre with Major Goodale, whose daughter he married. He came from Massachusetts and acted as a spy two or three years. He finally settled on lot number ten hundred and twenty, in the northern part of the township, on land now owned by S. McPherson. There he and his wife lived and died. Their only surviving child is living at Columbus, Ohio, where most of the family settled. A grandson is living in Ross county.

Among the old army officers who were original propri-

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etors of the Belpre land, was Major Robert Bradford, who drew lot numbered thirty-seven in the middle settlement, a little over a mile below Farmer's castle. He came to Belpre in 1789, and almost immediately erected on the upland, a short distance back of the river, a two- story hewed log house, which is still standing in a good state of preservation, and is undoubtedly the oldest house in Belpre township. In later years it was weather- boarded, and to-day it presents quite a modern appearance, although there are evidences of age in the tumbled down stoop and general deserted appearance. Major Bradford came to Belpre via Marietta from Plymouth, Massachnsetts, where he was born in 1750. He was a lineal descendent of Governor Bradford. He married Keziah, the daughter of Captain Nathaniel Little. He was actively engaged in nearly all the battles of the Revolution. A sword which he received from the Marquis Lafayette, is still in possession of the Bradford family. Lafayette, while on a visit to Marietta in 1826, upon learning that his old friend, Major Bradford was dead, was deeply moved. The most prominent enterprise in which Major Bradford engaged during his residence at Belpre, was his association with Esquire Griffin Green on the discovery of the Scioto salines. During the prevalence of the putrid sore throat in Belpre in 1792, the Bradford family was the most sorely afflicted in the settlement, all of the children, who were then born, dying but one. The children born afterwards were, Sarah, in 1794 in the stockade; Robert, 1796; Samuel A. and Otis L. The latter was born in 1799, and is the only survivor, and is living at a ripe old age at Parkersburgh, West Virginia. Major Bradford was struck down by the fearful fever of 1822, and died in his seventy-second year.

Aaron Waldo Putnam, whose journey to Belpre is noted with that of his father, Colonel Israel Putnam, located in the middle settlement on the land now occupied by his grandson, I. W. Putnam. He immediately commenced a clearing, and the erection of a small log cabin, after some years putting up a frame house back from the river, which is the oldest frame in the township, having been built in 1800. His land lay about half a mile below the garrison. While in the garrison, he went down daily to feed his cattle and milk the cows. While at this work on two different occasions he had exciting experiences with the Indians. The first incident is related in connection with the opening of Indian hostilities. Not long afterwards, when Mr. Putnam was on a stack in his fodder yard throwing down hay for his cattle, he heard the click of a gun-lock, and turning, saw an Indian behind the fence in the act of recocking his gun, which had failed to go off the first time. Mr. Putnam jumped and ran for life. The Indian fired and missed, and being joined by two others, pursued their supposed victim, who, fortunately crossing the log bridge over the ravine before the Indians reached it, was saved. Mr. Putnam alarmed the garrison but the Indians were not caught. On the return of the Indians from the pursuit of Mr. Putnam, they spitefully shot a yoke of oxen belonging to Captain Benjamin Miles.

In the spring of 1793 great anxiety was caused by the continued absence of Mr. Putnam, who had gone into the hills in search of stray cattle. On his safe return it was learned that he had traced the cattle to Fort Harmar, fifteen miles distant, and had found the lost animals at Waterford. He returned by the rangers path leading from Waterford to the mouth of the Little Hocking. All this journey was made alone and on foot at a time when Indians were hostile and numerous. During his sojourn in the castle, he was married to Charlotte Loring, who was born in 1773. Both died in 1822, during the fever epidemic. Mr. Putnam, at the time of his death, was fifty-five years old. He was the father of nine children: William P., Charlotte L, Julia H., Albigience W, Israel, Lucy E., Catharine, Bathsheba and Elizabeth. Of these, Lucy E. and Catharine are living. William Pitt was born in Farmer's castle in 1792, and died in 1871. He married Lorena Nye, who is still living. Of their ten children, five are living. Of these, the oldest, Israel W., was born in 825. He married Harriet Ripley, by whom he has had six children, five of whom survive. He resides on the old homestead. He, like his father, has been prominent as a township officer and leading citizen.

Captain Benjamin Miles, who early became one of Belpre's most prominent citizens, came to Ohio from Rutland, Massachusetts. He came to Belpre in 1789, and located on the farm which he had drawn in the middle settlement. His land is now occupied by S. R. W, McFarland. Captain Miles built a log house near the river, and soon after the war erected a brick two- story house, the first in the township. Here he kept tavern, and here the first town election was held. He was the proprietor of the first mill on the Little Hocking. During the war the family took refuge in the garrisons. At the beginning of hostilities the Indians, mad because they couldn't catch Waldo Putnam and Nathaniel Little, forthwith killed Captain Miles' five yoke of oxen, the pride of the settlement. The old records, religious and civil, show that Captain Miles, during his residence at Belpre, was eminently a public man. He died in 1817, aged sixty-three, and his wife, Hannah, died in 1825, aged sixty-nine years. The children were: Benjamin Buckminster and Hubbard (twins), William, Tappan and Polly. Benjamin B. became a merchant in Athens county; Solomon S. became a minister of the gospel; Hubbard settled in Illinois; and William and Polly remained in Belpre township, and their descendants are still living.

Among the first families in the middle settlement was that of Isaac Pierce. His farm was the next above Major Bradford's, and it was on the line between their farms that the pioneer school-house was built. The family of Mr. Pierce consisted of his wife and three children—Samuel, Joseph and Phoebe. They took refuge first in Farmer's castle, and afterwards in the Goodale stockade, during the war. After coming to years of maturity, the children scattered. Joseph became a prominent citizen of Dayton; Samuel followed the sea; and Phoebe married Judge Steele, and settled in Dayton.

Joseph Tilton settled on the back lots owned by

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Oliver Rice, on the west branch of the Little Hocking. He came to Belpre in the early days of settlement. He afterwards, in 1817, sold his land to Benjamin Robbins, who came with his family from Massachusetts. Mr. Tilton removed a short distance farther up the Little Hocking. His wife was Azubah, daughter of Daniel Durham, who died in 1791.

Daniel Goodno came to Belpre after the Indian war. He was born in Massachusetts in 1770, and lived in Belpre township at the time of his death in 1832. In 1802 he married Sallie, daughter of Nathaniel Cushing. She was born in Massachusetts in 1784, and died in Belpre township in 864. Three of the children born of this union are still living, viz: Adaline, born in 1803, living in Belpre township; Daniel H., born in 1805, residing in West Virginia; and James, born in 1817, residing in the old home place. The latter married Elizabeth Mathers, who was born in West Virginia in 1824. Their only child, Daniel, is dead. Mr. Goodno is a general farmer. He served three years as township treasurer, and is a prominent citizen of his community.

Bial Stedman, of Vermont, was among the first to locate in the middle settlement. He married Mary Miles. His second wife was Betsy Beebe. He had a large family, many of whom removed to Athens county. He, for a number of years, operated the mill north of Centre Belpre. His father, Alexander, lived on the Goodale farm until 8oz, when he removed to Athens county.

Reuben Robbins settled on the Stedman place in 814. The family remained in the township a few years and then returned to theii friends in New York State.

Prior to 1815 Daniel Goss, a native of New England, settled near Miles' mill. He had a tan-yard. He was a leader in the Methodist chuch, and helped organize its first society.

John Bartlet, a native of England, emigrated to Ohio from Maryland, and about 1820 came to Belpre township and settled above Little Hocking. His wife was Eleanor Felcon. Of the surviving members of the family William, Polly (Miller), and Caroline (S'Keen), live in Belpre, and Elizabeth (Johnson) is in Marion county. William, who was born in 1812, married Elizabeth Allen, who was born in Virginia in 1803. Eight of their eleven children are living: John in Parkersburgh, Reuben in Missouri, Caroline (Walker) in West Virginia, Elizabeth (Dunfee), Adalaide (Collins), and Ann (Dalzell) in Belpre, and Francis (Davis), and William in Virginia.

NEWBURY SETTLEMENT.

Truman Guthrie made the first permanent settlement in Newbury, coming to Belpre in 1790. He proceeded to clear and erect a cabin on the land which his father, Joseph Guthrie, had drawn, he being one of the original proprietors in the Ohio company, Truman, who was born in Connecticut in 1765, came on in advance of his father, as above narrated. He arrived at Marietta on the third of July, 1788, and remained in the vicinity of Fort Harmar for nearly two years. He it was who planted the first wheat in Ohio, near Harmar, with seed that he had obtained on his way west while harvesting in Pennsylvania. He is also supposed to have put out the first wheat crop in Newbury. During the war he took shelter in Farmer's castle, and for a time in the Newbury stockade. After the war he married Elizabeth, daughter of Israel Stone, who settled in Rainbow. He had returned to Connecticut in 1789 and had brought to Belpre his farming tools, together with chains, shovels, crowbars, etc. This load was brought to Brownsville, Pennsylvania, in an ox-cart, and thence by flatboat down the river. He became the father of eight children. The eldest child, who died in infancy is thought to have been the first born in the lower settlement. The other children were named as follows: Truman, Augustus, James H., Charles L., Benjamin F., Edwin, and David Q. All these children eventually settled in Gallia county, except Edwin, who remained on the home place, where he still resides. He was born in 810, and has been twice married; first to Amelia Knowles, by whom he had two children, and after her death he was married to Charlotte Bent, by whom he had two children.

Nathaniel Sawyer was the original proprietor of the land on which the post office at Little Hocking now stands. He was a native of Newburyport, Massachusetts, and it is he who gave the lower settlement the name of Newbury. He built his house near the mouth of the Little Hocking, about the time of the first settlements in the township. He was reckless of danger, and frequently exposed himself to the attacks of the Indians. At one time while plowing in a field not far from the house the Indians shot one of his oxen, thus, as he expressed it, spoiling his day's work. He built the first "corn cracker" mill in Newbury settlement, locating it on what was afterwards known as Sawyer's run, about a mile from the Ohio. In 1801 his son Nathaniel was drowned in the Ohio river, and he was buried in what is now the Little Hocking cemetery. Mr. Sawyer married Lydia Porter in Massachusetts.

Joel Oakes, who acted as a scout for the settlements at Belpre and Waterford during the Indian war, after the peace made his permanent residence in Newbury, not far from the old stockade. His exploits as a ranger are elsewhere related. He was born in Massachusetts in 1766, and in 1790 came to Washington county. He married Susan, the daughter of Colonel Silas Bent. She died in 1865, aged ninety-three years. There were seven children in the Oakes family, viz.: Susan, Elizabeth, William, Daniel, Sumner, Charlotte, and Lucy. All except Charlotte, who removed to Gallia county, lived in the neighborhood of Newbury, and there died. Daniel Oakes, who is represented in this township by his son, S. B. Oakes, was born in 8or. He married Julia Clough, who was born in 1807. Their three children are living, viz.: Cynthia C., William, and Silas B. The latter, who lives on the old homestead, was born in 1848. He married Elizabeth Wells, of Bellville, West Virginia. They have two children—Julia and Lizzie. Mr. Oakes is a farmer and stock raiser.

In 1791 Captain Eleazer Curtis and family settled in lower Newbury. Captain Curtis, who died in 1801, was born in Connecticut in 1759. His wife, Eunice Hoyt,

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died in 1814, aged forty-nine years. There were eight children—Eleazer, Walter, Benajah, Jason, Horace, Polly, Clara, and Lucy. Eleazer moved to Gallipolis. Jason, who was a pilot on the Ohio, died in Marietta in 1833, the first victim of cholera in that city. The daughters married and removed to Athens county; and Walter and Horace always lived in Newbury. Walter, afterwards Judge Curtis, was born in Litchfield county, Connecticut, in 1787, and died in Belpre township in 1876. He married Almira, daughter of Stephen Guthrie. She was born in 800, and died in 1880. There were four children— Caroline, Austin L, Augustus S., of Harmar, and Marion (deceased). Caroline and Austin L. live in Newbury settlement. Their father served as associate judge from 1824 to 1837. During the years 834 and 835 he represented the county in the legislature. His son, Austin L, was in the legislature of 1866. Horace Curtis, brother of the judge, was born in 1793, and died in 1871. In 1819 he married Lydia Cole, born in 1796, and died in 1863. Ten children were born by this marriage. Eight of these children are living, viz.: Daniel W., of Pomeroy; Harvey G. and Mary J. (Cook), of Belpre township; Eunice S. (Reed), of Pomeroy; Henry C. Columbus B., and Leroy R., of Little Hocking; Roland L,, of Marietta. Harvey G., who was born in Belpre township in 1823, married Augusta Fuller, who was born in Athens county in 1834. Seven of their eight children survive. Mr. Curtis was for twelve years postmaster at Little Hocking. His brother, the present postmaster, Leroy R., was born in 1838. He married Amanda Minor, by whom he has had four children, all of whom are living. He has been in the general store business for twenty-two years.

Daniel Coggeshall and family settled on the lot just below Nathaniel Sawyer. He emigrated from the eastern States and came to Belpre about the time of the outbreak of the Indian troubles, and remained during the subsequent war in the castle, settling in Newbury directly after the peace. His first house was built near the river, but a house was subsequently erected farther back. He was an eccentric genius, and a great lover of fun. He was the father of five children, viz.: Job, Daniel, David, John, and Abigail. John and Daniel moved to Meigs county. Abigail married Peter Stephens, and died near Newbury. Job remained on the home place until his death, where his widow and surviving children are now

The ministerial section number twenty-nine is located in Newbury settlement. As early as 1795 there were two families who had squatted on this land, although they had no legal right to remain thereon. One of these early pioneers of section twenty-nine was a man named Littlementon, who afterwards removed to Gallia county with his son James. His daughter married Benjamin Bellows, and remained in Newbury.

Anthony Spacht built a cabin on ministerial land in 1789. It was located just north of Truman Guthrie's place. During the war with the Indians, he with his wife Catharine, took refuge in the Newbury stockade, and in the castle up the river. They both died at a very early day, and are buried in the pioneer graveyard on the

Guthrie place. Their descendants went farther west, and some of them are well-to-do citizens of Preble county.

Soon after the war Aaron Clough settled on the Ohio, opposite Newbury island, on the farm now in possession of his son Seymour. He was born in Connecticut in 1765, and died in Belpre township in 1823. He married Sarah Delano, who was born in 1781, and died in 1844. Five of the nine children survive, viz: Sarah A. (Greene), Julia (Oaks), Seymour and Mary E., all in Belpre township, and Cynthia A. (Knowles), residing in California. Seymour B., born in 1815, married Mary A. Hitchcock who was born in 1830, and died in 1860. There were no children.

Joseph Guthrie, the father of Truman and Stephen, came to Belpre from Connecticut in 1796, accompanied by his wife and son Stephen. The old gentleman made his home with his son Truman, and while in Newbury, his wife, Hannah Guthrie, died, and was buried in the pioneer cemetery. In 1801 or 1802 he removed to Athens county, where he became a prominent citizen.

Stephen Guthrie who came from Connecticut with his father, married Sallie Chappell, and settled on the land just above the Curtis residence in the southwest corner of the township. He was the father of nine children, viz: Laura, who married Amos Dunham; Almira, wife of Walter Curtis; Julius, Erastus, Austin, and Sheldon living in New Orleans; Stephen and George in Zanesville; and Columbus.

Ebenezer Porter, wife, and children settled on the next lot below Coggeshall's in 1796. Mr. Porter was born in 1732, and on account of his age was familiarly called Grandsir Porter. He lived to the ripe old age of over ninety-four years. He emigrated to Ohio from. Massachusetts. None of the children now survive: Cummings lived on the old place at Little Hocking until his death; John moved to Athens county; Samuel lived, and died in Newbury; and Polly married Amos Knowles, of Newbury. The descendants of the Porters are some of them in the neighborhood.

About the year 1801 James Bellows, with his wife and children, settled below Little Hocking at the mouth of Sawyer's run. They emigrated from New Jersey to Ohio, coming down the Ohio in a flat-boat. There were five children, none of whom are now living. Benjamin and James remained on the home place for many years. The other children were: William, Simon and Elias. These died in Meigs county. The land on which the elder Mr. Bellows settled, was drawn by Asa Coburn who lived on it a short time, and then sold it to Mr. Bellows.

Reuben and Magdalene Allen came to the lower settlement in 1807, having emigrated from their native State of Virginia. They settled at the mouth of the Little Hocking, buying the Sawyer farm, where they remained until their death. Mr. Allen died in 1821, and his wife ten years later, both aged sixty-four at the time of their death. The old stock is represented by Davis Allen, their son, who lives on the old homestead. He was born in Virginia in 1801. His wife, Parmelia Barrows, was born in Athens county in 1812. They have had eight children, of whom seven are living, viz: Harvey G.,

508 - HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, OHIO.

Parker L, Corwin D., Viola (McPherson), and Waldo E. in Belpre, and Eunice S. (King) in Morgan county, Ohio, and Mary L. (Boswell) in Kentucky. Mr. Allen is the founder of the hamlet of Little Hocking.

John Cole came from New York State to Ohio in 1808 and settled on the upper part of section twenty- nine. His wife was a Miss Townsend, and by her he had children as follows, viz: Sally, Dolly, Polly, Cynthia, Lydia, John, Henry, and Samuel. Of these John is living on the homeplace and Henry is in the neighborhood. The rest of the family are scattered.

John Cole, sr., came here before 1808 at a very advanced age.

James and Martha Knowles emigrated to Ohio from New Jersey in 1810 and located in Belpre township in the lower settlement, on the ridge, on the land now occupied by Samuel B. Knowles. The old people were originally from Connecticut. They had eight children, as follows, viz: Reuben, James removed to Meigs county, Jesse, Samuel, who removed to Athens county; Amos, William, Esther, who married Eleazar Curtis, jr., and removed to Gallipolis; and an older daughter who remained in the east.

Jeremiah Van Gilder came to Belpre township, about 1810, and settled in the back part of Newbury, on the farm now occupied by his son Jesse H. He married Asenath Hubbard, by whom he had six children, viz: Hubbard, Amasa, Jesse H., Asenath, Clarissa, and Louisa. Most of the family removed to Gallia county. The only survivors of the old stock are Amasa, in Gallia county, and Jesse H., who resides on the old homestead farm.

About 1825 Caleb and Alice Barstow settled in Newbury neighborhood, coming to Belpre from Rhode Island. They had eight children, viz: Russel, Richmond, Israel, Lydia, Salvina, Maria, Cornelia, and Abbie. Part of these children lived and died in this town: ship, and the remainder scattered into Gallia and Meigs counties.

William Dumfee settled in the vicinity of Newbury in 1818, and in later years removed to Athens county where he died. He was born in New Jersey in 1772. He married Elizabeth Johnson, who was born in 1775 and died in 1845. They had eleven children, seven of whom are still living, viz: William, Thomas, David, George B., Ludlow, Maria, and John. None of these children are in Washington county save George B., who has a hotel at Little Hocking. He was born in 86, and was two years old when his father came to Belpre township. In 1837 he married Nancy Tipton, by whom he has had eight children, seven of whom survive, viz: Jonathan and William, in Decatur township; Mary (Brown), in Athens county; Caroline (Self), in Athens county; Francis, in Athens county; Nancy V. (Curtis), in Belpre township, and George W., in Decatur township.

Amos Fisher came from New Hampshire in 89 or 82o. He settled below Little Hocking, on the Ohio, on what is now the Coalhause farm. He had three sons —Gustavus, Daniel, and Theodoric. In 1833 the whole family emigrated to Kentucky.

The settlement of the lots below the Curtis farm was made by transient persons who remained but a short time, and it was not until a comparatively recent date that permanent settlements have been made thereon.

THE FIRST DEATH

that occurred in the new settlement was that of Captain Zebulon King, who was assassinated by the Indians May 1, 1789. While busily engaged in clearing his lot in the middle settlement, he was shot and scalped, it is supposed by two Indians who had escaped from Fort Harmar, where they were confined by reason of their treacherous conduct towards the whites during the previous summer at Duncan's Falls. The news of the murder cast the first shadow of the troublous events to follow, and already was the hope of the pioneer mingled with fear. Captain King was universally esteemed. He was from Rhode Island, and at the time of his death was preparing a home in Belpre for the family.

THE FAMINE.

An unlocked for and painful experience awaited the colonists. In the land of plenty there was great want. This anomaly was the result of a combination of unavoidable circumstances. Although settlements were begun in the early spring of 1789, so great was the task of clearing the farms that it was late in June before the ground was ready for corn planting. Even then the land was trimmed rather than cleared, and the thick branches of the girdled trees robbed the fields of solar nourishment, thus greatly retarding the growth of the young corn. However, the crop would have matured had not an early October frost blasted the hopes of harvest. Nearly three hundred acres of corn was destroyed in a night. Having lost their bread the anxious pioneers turned to the surrounding forests for meat, but the hunters found little game in the whole region around. The envious Indians, powerless to prevent the coming of the white man had determined to make his subsistence precarious by killing the wild animals. While on their way to witness the treaty at Harmer in 1788, they had almost literally carried out their malicious design.

There were few hogs and cattle in the country, and consequently but little meat had been salted down for winter use. However, they vigorously strove to make the best of discouraging circumstances.

The moldy corn was carefully preserved and ground in the hand-mills. The meal thus obtained, as poor as it was, readily sold for nine shillings, or a dollar and fifty cents a bushel. Those having money succeeded in "keeping the wolf from the door" a little longer than did their less fortunate neighbors, but there was no display of selfishness. Hunters were lured to scour the woods in search of game, the principal supply being obtained from the settlement at Belleville, on the Virginia side of the Ohio.

At a time during the fore part of the winter when the people were well nigh perishing for lack of bread, Isaac Williams came to them as a benefactor. Three years before this good man had settled opposite the mouth of the Muskingum, and during the first summer of his resi-

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, OHIO - 509

dence there, had put out a large crop of corn, several hundred bushels of which he still possessed when the land was visited by famine. He made an equitable distribution of the corn to the people of Belpre at a moderate price, and those absolutely unable to pay received subsistence gratuitously, with the understanding that the corn might be paid for when plenty made it convenient.

Thus the inhabitants of the colony managed to live for a time, but by spring they were reduced to extremities of want. The corn of Isaac Williams' was gone, and so scarce had the moldy remains of the blighted crop become that it was necessary to dole out the supply, grain by grain. Strong men were appalled and mothers wept at the cries of their children for bread. So great was the suffering that in one family the children were allowed but one potato a day, and afterwards had to subsist on half of one.

In the latter part of winter sugar water began to run, and had there been kettles enough an abundance of nutritious sugar could have been made. As it was, however, it was only possible to collect small quantities of the saccharine juice of the maple, and by mixing it with musty meal make a sap porridge which was not unpalable, and was very nutritious.

In the spring the scant supply of animal food was eked out by the liberal use of esculent plants that made their appearance in abundance, springing up in the patches of ground cleared the year before. Of these the nettle furnished the earliest supply. The tender plants of the celandine were very palatable, and the luxuriant purslane springing up in the newly broken patches of cleared ground was used as a salad and gave relish to the scanty allowance of meat.

By the middle of July the signs of returning plenty were abundant. The new crop of corn was in the milk and fit for boiling or roasting. Before the grains of corn fully formed they were boiled with salt, forming a very nourishing soup. The very dogs devoured the young crop in the night time, and had to be tied up until the corn became too hard for them. The scarcity of animal food was still great. But the following fall brought corn and meat in abundance, and the famine was over. Wild turkeys came into the settlement by the hunched and the men and boys easily killed them with clubs.

THE PERIOD OF THE INDIAN WAR.*

As has been previously noticed, the inhabitants of Belpre were scattered along the banks of the Ohio, so that while communication was easy, defence was difficult. Scarcely had the famine been driven out before the ominous cloud of war obscured the horizon of peace.

The murder of two boys at Neil's station, a point up the Kanawha about a mile above the present village of Belpre, indicated the hostile spirit of the Indians, but for the time no serious apprehensions of danger were felt. But the storm was approaching, and on the memorable second of January, 1791, it burst in a shower of innocent blood upon the settlement at Big Bottom, and

* For a more detailed account of many of the incidents of the Indian war, the reader is referred to chapters IX and X.

had it not been for timely warning the settlement at Belpre would have shared the same fate. An examination of the old record of the court of quarter sessions reveals the fact that nearly all the men of Belpre able to bear arms were in Marietta attending court on the Monday that the news was carried to their homes. The consternation of the defenceless women and children can with difficulty be imagined. Their fears were in a measure allayed by the speedy return of their absent loved ones, and all turned their attention to the immediate provision of a place of safety. Monday night the women and children were gathered into the small block-house dwelling which Captain Jonathan Stone had erected in the upper settlement.

Tuesday morning there was held a council of war, and it was decided that the families of the colony, more than thirty in number, be temporarily assembled in the two large log houses which had been erected by Colonels Battelle and Cushing. These block-houses formed the nuclei for the building of the famous stronghold appropriately called

FARMER'S CASTLE.

The site was naturally adapted to purposes of defence. It was situated on the river about half a mile below the bluff, and nearly opposite the centre of Backus', now Blennerhasset island. With the river in front and a swamp a few rods to the rear, the place could only be approached by the natural roadways on either side along the river bank.

The work of erecting this stronghold was commenced immediately, and was vigorously pushed, inasmuch as the lives of the people depended upon their expedition. The block-houses were occupied as fast as they could be erected. Dr. Hildreth thus describes the buildings:

These were thirteen in number, arranged in two rows, with a wide street between them. The basement story was in general twenty feet square, and the upper about twenty-two feet, thus projecting over the lower one, and forming a defence from which to protect the doors and windows berow in an attack. Tney were built of round logs a foot in diameter, and the interstices nicery chinked and pointed with mortar. The doors and window shutters were made of thick oak planks, or puncheons, and secured with stout bars of wood on the inside. The corner block-houses on the back side of the enclosure were provided with watch towers running up eignt feet above the roof, where a sentry was constantly kept. The spaces between the houses were filled up with pickets, and occupied three or four times the width of the houses, thus forming a continuous wall or enclosure, about eighty rods long and six rods wide. The pickets were made of quartered oak timber, growing on the plain back of the garrison, and formed from trees about a foot in diameter. They were fourteen feet in length, and set four feet in the ground, leaving a wall ten feet high, over which no enemy could climb without a-ladder. The smooth side was set outwards, and the palisades strengthened and kept in place by stout ribbons or wall pieces, pinned to them with inch tree nails on the inside. The palisades on the river side filled the whole space, and projected over the edge of the bank, leaning on rails and posts set to support them. Gates of stout timber were placed in the east and west ends of the garrison, opening in the middle, ten feet wide, for the ingress and egress of teams and stock. A still wider gate opened at the centre of the back wall, through wnich wood was hauled.

The military regulations were of the most perfect order. Major Nathan Goodale was put in charge of the garrison, and maintained the position until 1793, when he removed to his own garrison further down the river, and his place was taken by Colonel Cushing. There

510 - HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, OHIO.

were seventy able-bodied men mustered for military duty. Absence at roll-call at sunrise was punished by compelling the offender to cut out one of the many stumps within the stockade. It is said that the stumps rapidly disappeared.

A point a few yards west of the back gate, and not far from the block-house of Colonel Cushing, was well named the "place d' armies" of the castle. Over this place floated the stars and stripes, and here was planted the howitzer whose loud reports caused the Indians to keep their distance.

More than two hundred people found homes within the walls of the castle during the first year of its history. There were twenty-eight heads of families, with numerous small children, besides many young men and women. The following is a list of the occupants of the several houses which, as has been stated before, were arranged on either side of the passage way, six on the north side, and seven on the south : In No. 1, the northeastern, were Colonel Ebenezer Battelle, wife, and four children; in No. 2, going westward, Captain William James, wife, and ten children, also, Isaac Barker, wife, and eight children, and Daniel Coggeshall, wife, and five children; in No. 3, Captain Jonathan Stone, wife, and three children; in No. 4, Colonel Nathaniel Cushing, wife, and six children, also Captain Jonathan Devol, wife, and six children; in No. 5, Isaac Pierce, wife, and three children, Nathaniel Little, wife, and one child, and Joseph Barker, wife, and one child; in No. 6, Major Goodale, wife, and seven children; in No. 7, in the southwest corner of the garrison, A. W. Putnam, wife, and one child, Daniel Loring, wife, and seven children, also Major Rice, and Captain Benjamin Miles, wife, and five children; in No. 8, Squire Griffin Green, wife, and four children; in No. 9, John Rouse, wife, and eight children, and Major Robert Bradford, wife, and four children; in No. 10, Captain John Levins, wife, and six children, and Captain William Dana, wife, and eight children. Between No. 10 and No. 11, in a building called the barracks, the soldiers were quartered; in No. a a, were Mrs. Dunham, widow of Daniel Dunham, with one son and two daughters, also, Captain Israel Stone, wife, and ten children, afterwards removed to Rainbow settlement; in No. 12, the families of Benjamin Patterson and Benoni Hulburt, the rangers; in No. 3, Colonel Alexander Oliver, wife, and eleven children, afterwards removed to Waterford, also Colonel Daniel Bent, wife, and four children. Joshua Fleehart, the hunter, with his family, lived in a small cabin east of house No. 3.

Of the single men in the castle may be mentioned Jonathan Waldo, of Pomfret, Connecticut; Daniel Mayo, of Boston; Jonathan Baldwin, Cornelius Delano, spy from Massachusetts; Joel Oaks, spy from Connecticut; James Caldwell, from Wheeling, also a spy; Wanton Casey, married Betsy Goodale and returned, after the war, to Rhode Island; Stephen and Truman Guthrie; Captain Ingersoll, returned to Boston; Ezra Philips, Stephen Smith and Howell Bull; Samuel Cushing, moved to Natchez, Mississippi; William and John Smith, of Rhode Island; Jonas Davis; Dr. Samuel Barnes, from Massachusetts; and last but not least "Kitt" Putnam, the colored boy who had been the body servant of General Israel Putnam during the latter years of his life, and was brought to Marietta in the fall of 1798 by Colonel Israel Putnam. "Kitt" was a universal favorite. After the war he lived on the Muskingum with Captain Devol. He was probably the first black voter in the country, inasmuch as he helped elect the delegates, under the territory who met to form a constitution for Ohio.

The rangers who served from time to time were Cornelius Delano, Joel Oaks, Benjamin Patterson, Benoni Hulburt, Joshua Fleehart, George Kerr, John Shepherd, and James Caldwell. These spies served the country every day, making a circuit of twenty-five to thirty miles, with a radius of eight or ten miles. Their circuit in Belpre was over the hills on to the waters of the Little Hocking river, and up the easterly branches across to the Ohio, striking this stream a few miles above the entrance of the Little Kanawha, and thence down the Ohio to the garrison. These men received five shillings or eighty- four cents a day, as appears from the old pay rolls. Prowling Indians were sure to be caught by these wary rangers, and hence to a great extent the woods were kept clear of the foe, and the inhabitants were permitted to cultivate their farms in comparative safety. However, as subsequent events proved, this mode of defence, though measurably effective, was not sufficient. It was on the morning of the twelfth of March, 1791, that Aaron W. Putnam, accompanied by Nathaniel Little, visiting his farm, a half mile below the garrison, for the purpose of milking and feeding his cows, was attacked by Indians and had a very narrow escape from death.

The second attack by the Indians resulted in the death of one of the spies, Benoni Hulburt, on the twenty-eighth of the following September. Hulburt, in company with Joshua Fleehart, went with a canoe to the mouth of the Little Hockhocking to examine some traps they had set. On the way down the Ohio they were tempted to land by what they had supposed were the "gobbling" of wild turkeys, a sound probably made by the Indians to lure them on. The two scouts on reaching the Little Hocking steered their canoe up the stream, and Hulburt, on landing, was immediately shot down by the Indians who were in ambush. His body was recovered the next day and buried near "the Castle".

It was not infrequently that the cattle and hogs of the settlers were stolen by the Indians or lost in the woods, and it was "owing to this fact that a Mutual Assurance company was organized in the first part of the war. Each one was accountable for his losses in proportion to his property. This equalization of losses subsequently proved its wisdom, as is shown by the following incident. Late in the fall of a 1791 the fat hogs were slaughtered and hung up in a house near the garrison during the night. Before morning the building caught fire and the whole winter supply of meat for the inhabitants of the garrison was destroyed. The few remaining hogs were driven into the woods by the Indians, and there was, consequently, a great scarcity of meat during the winter. Two men were sent to the headwaters at Redstone to buy pro-

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, OHIO - 511

visions, but they were delayed by inclement weather and did not succeed in getting back with supplies until the following March.

On the twenty-fourth of April, 1794, a band of marauding Wyandots, while proceediug up the river on the Virginia shore, came to the cabin of John Armstrong, who had but recently moved to a point nearly opposite to the castle that he might be nearer a little floating mill which he and a man named Peter Misner had built. The Indians at once prepared for an assault upon the defenceless inhabitants of the cabin. Mrs. Armstrong and her two youngest children were killed and three others taken prisoners. They were subsequently restored to freedom. A broken monument in the old cemetery at Cedarville, erected by Mr. George Dana, marks the last resting place of Mrs. Armstrong and her two children. The captive children all lived to be restored to the whites.

INDIANS AT NEWBURY.

As is more fully stated elsewhere in this work, one of the points of settlement was at Newbury, on the Ohio, six miles below Farmer's castle. At the first Indian alarm the inhabitants of this lower settlement sought protection in the castle. But early in the following spring, finding it very inconvenient to go so far to cultivate their fields, the brave men of Newbury built a stockade opposite the point in the river known as Newbury bar, and for a time lived with their families in this place in safety. There were three or four families in this little community, and the seeming safety from attack made the people careless. Among the settlers there was a man by the name of Brown, who had recently come from Pennsylvania with his family, which consisted of his wife and four children. On Sunday, March 15th, his wife went with him to see him set out some fruit trees, and the place being near the stockade, she took with her the children, one of whom was but an infant in arms. A young girl named Persis Dunham, a sister of Mrs. Tilton, accompanied them, taking care of the two older children. Just as they approached the spot where Mr. Brown was, two Indians sprang from an ambush near by, and ere flight could be thought of, one of the savages had brained Mrs. Brown with his tomahawk, while the other Indian killed the young girl. The child Mrs. Brown was leading was also killed, and a cruel blow at the baby in its mother's arms it was supposed at first had killed it. The baby, however, after careful nursing by the matrons of Farmer's castle, finally recovered, and the bereaved husband and father soon afterwards took the remnant of his family back to their old home in the east. The spot in which the victims of this massacre are buried afterwards became the burial place of the neighborhood, and near the bank of the river may be seen the plain marble shaft which preserves their names and memory. The people of the Dunham neighborhood, after this occurrence, went up to Goodale's stockade and Farmer's castle for protection.

THE EXTENSION OF THE DEFENCES

became necessary in the early spring of 1793, by reason of the crowded condition of Farmer's castle, and the many inconveniences incident to confinement in such close quarters. For the accommodation of those whose land was further up the river, Stone's garrison was built on the land of Jonathan Stone, a short distance below the present site of Belpre village; and, for the same reason, a similar stockade was erected a half a mile down the river, on Major Goodale's land, and named Good- ale's garrison. The upper stockade enclosed four blockhouses, a school-house, and a number of log cabins, accommodating in all ten families; the lower garrison consisted of two block-houses, and was the rendezvous of safety for six families. Scarcely had Major Goodale moved to his new abode when, on the first day of March, 1793, he was kidnaped by Indians while he was working not more than sixty rods back of the garrison. The details of this occurrence have already been given in chapter X. The community at Stone's garrison was also visited by the crafty savages, and thereby lost one of the most promising young men, Jonas Davis, who was killed the last of February, 1795.

BELPREANS DISCOVER THE SCIOTO SALINES.

Only those who have suffered the privation know how important it is to be well supplied with salt. Not only the inhabitants of Belpre but in fact all who resided in the territory of the Northwest, had great difficulty in maintaining the supply of marine salt which of necessity was brought in small quantities across the mountains on pack-horses and thence conveyed down the river. In various parts of the country it was noticed that the deer were wont to congregate in particular localities where they would gnaw and lick the clay banks which investigation proved to be impregnated with saline particles and were hence called "salt licks." Inasmuch as eastern salt retailed in the west at between eight and ten dollars a bushel, the value of the salt licks became of great general interest. A white man who had escaped from captivity by the Indians had reported that while he was with his captors he had seen them make salt from the waters of a spring on a tributary of the Scioto at a point presumably not far from the present town of Jackson. 'Squire Griffin Greene, of Farmer's castle, learned of this report and immediately organized a company to proceed with the search. He associated with him in the enterprise Major Robert Bradford and Joel Oakes; he taking half the risk and his partners guaranteeing the remainder. A large pirogue was provided with provisions for ten to twelve men for ten days, and with a number of men from the neighboring settlement at Bellville, Virginia, the company started from Farmers' Castle in the fall of 1794. Proceeding down the Ohio until they reached the mouth of Leading creek, where they landed, and after hiding their boat continued their journey on foot. After several days' travel they came to a stream which led in the direction in which the salt springs were supposed to be. This conjecture proved to be correct. Paths or trails leading to the springs were soon discovered, and the remains of fires were seen along the banks of the creek. After a toilesome search a hole was found scooped out in the sand rock, and

512 - HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, OHIO.

filled with blackish water, which proved the presence of the long sought for and much coveted salt. A small quantity was made, but fearing the approach of Indians from the neighboring village of Chillicothe they only remained a day and a half, and then started home with the good news. Just as the party had launched their boat at the mouth of Leading creek, and had got it out into the middle of the Ohio, a large party of pursuing Indians appeared on the bank but the whites were fortunately out of range. A party of Indians while hunting had discovered the men while at work boiling the salt water, and being too weak in numbers to make an attack had hurried to Chillicothe for assistance. The party with 'Squire Green soon reached the garrison, much to the relief of those who awaited their coming. The right of the discovery of the salines was sold by the exploring company to a Philadelphia merchant named John Nicholson, for frfteen hundred dollars. So valuable was the land of salt springs, however, that the State of Ohio long continued to own them, and during the earlier years of Ohio's history these springs furnished almost the entire supply of the southern and middle portions of the State.

THE THEORY OF PERPETUAL MOTION.

'Squire Griffin Greene had an ingenious and inventive mind. Having suggested the idea of the floating mill, and seeing its success, his ever busy mind turned toward something new. He thought of a plan to propel boats up and down the streams: His theory as finally developed was given to his brother mechanic, Captain Devol, to materialize. The latter with his more practical mind at once saw the fallacy in 'Squire Greeris reasoning, and thinking to prove its absurdity set about the construction of the machine, whose mechanism was as follows: It consisted of a large wheel with numerous projecting arms ; along the side of each of these arms there was a groove containing a leaden ball of one or two pounds weight. As the wheel rotated on its axis the balls rolled out to the extremity of the descending arms, while on the opposite side, as the arms rose, the balls descended to the foot of the arms, thus lessening the weight on the ascending, and increasing it on the descending. The machine worked for some time and then stopped—for lack of force to overcome the resistance offered.

THE GRINDING OF THE GRIST

early occupied the attention of the settlers. During the period of the famine the hand-mill could easily furnish the miserable dole which barely sufficed to sustain life. But with returning plenty the hand-mills were unable to supply the necessary breadstuff, and the erection of a regular grist-mill became a necessity. The Little Hocking was naturally selected as a suitable stream on which to locate this first mill, and the eastern branch being near the central point of Belpre it was decided to build thereon. The spot chosen was on the extreme southwestern corner of section nine, on the land now occupied by A. Fish, a mile and a half north of Centre Belpre. A broad, low gap in the line of hills promised an easy access. A number of the enterprising men of the settlement undertook the erection of the building, necessary machinery was purchased, and two millwrights employed —Baldwin and Applegate—who had recently assisted in the construction of the Wolf Creek mill at Waterford settlement. The Ohio company, ever anxious to increase the prosperity of the colonies, donated one hundred and sixty acres of land adjoining the site. The dam was built, and the timbers for the building were being made ready, and by the first of January, 1791, were ready for raising. But the dangers of the Indian war forbade further work, and the people, bitterly disappointed, once more labored at the hand-mill. The mill on the Little Hocking thus commenced was never finished,* not because the builders had neglected to count the cost, but because they had not counted the Indians.

THE FLOATING MILL.

Early in the summer of 1791, says Dr. Hildreth, the settlers being disappointed in completing the mill commenced on the Little Hock-hocking, by the Indian war, concluded to build what might be called a "floating mill." This could be anchored out in the river and be safe from destruction by the Indians. The labor of grinding corn with a hand-mill, for a community of more than one hundred and fifty persons, was a task only known to those who have tried it. Esquire Griffin Green had travelled in France and Holland three or four years before, and in the latter country had seen a mill erected on boats and the machinery moved by the current. He mentioned the fact to Captain Devol, an ingenious mechanic of ardent temperament and resolute to accomplish anything that would benefit his fellow men; and although Squire Green had not inspected the foreign mill so as to give any definite description, yet the bare suggestion of such a fact was sufficient for Captain Devol, whose mechanical turn of mind immediately devised the machinery required to put it in operation. A company was formed and the stock divided into twelve shares, of which Captain Devol took one-third; the remaining stock being divided among five other persons. When finished it cost fifty-one pounds eight shillings, Massachusetts currency, according to the old bill of expenditures now in the Devol family. The mill was erected on two boats; one of them being five, the other ten feet wide and forty-five feet long. The smaller one was a pirogue made of the trunk of a large hollow sycamore tree, and the larger of timber and plank like a flat-boat. The boats were placed eight feet apart and fastened firmly together by heavy cross beams covered with oak planks. The smaller boat on the outside supported one end of the waterwheel, and the larger boat the other, in which was placed the millstones and running gear covered with a light frame building or mill-house for the protection of machinery, meal, and miller. The space between the boats was covered with planks, forming a deck fore and aft of the waterwheel. This wheel was turned by the natural current of the water and was put in motion or stopped by pulling up or pushing down a set of boards, similar to a gate in front of the wheel. It

* Lr. Hildreth in his Pioneer says that this mill was completed after the war, but investigation has shown that this is a mistake.

COLONEL JOHN STONE.

STONE FAMILY.*

Among the worthy and honorable men who formed the Belpre colony was Caplain Jonathan Stone. Captain Stone first came to Marielta in the fall of 1788, and made preparations for the reception of his family. He located his farm in Upper Belpre in the fine bottom, a short distance below the mouth of the Little Kanawha. He returned to Massachusetts, and in the summer of 1789 left Brookfield, his former home, with his family, and finally located in Belpre, in December of that year. Two two-ox teams with a large wagon, cows for family use, and a horse for each of the ladies, composed the outfit. After crossing the mountains he procured a flatboat, in which they came down the river. The boards of this boat were used for the doors and floors of the first house which Captain Stone built at Belpre.

Captain Stone was born at Braintree, Massachusetts, in the year 1751. His father, who had been a soldier in the king's service, died in 1859, leaving him with limited opportunities for obtaining an education, but he acquired a knowledge of surveying, which became useful to him. He served as an apprentice in his father's tannery, and afterwards went on a whaling expedition. On his return he enlisted in the Revolutionary army with the rank of orderly sergeant. He served with credit in the northern army under General Rufus Putnam and General Gates, and was commissioned captain in 1781, in which capacity he served till the end of the war. He was afterwards employed by General Putnam in the survey of lands on the coast of Maine and assisted to put down Shay's rebellion in 1786. On the formation of the Ohio company Captain Stone purchased two shares.

When the Indian war broke out Captain Stone removed his family to Farmer's castle, but after the garrison known as Stone's fort was constructed, they removed into it and remained there until the close of the war. Captain Stone was second to none in courage and ability, and he was one of the most useful defenders of the Belpre garrisons. He was appointed treasurer of Washington couqty in 1792. After the war he was engaged with Jeffrey Mathewson to complete the survey of the Ohio company's lands, and in 1799 was appointed with General Rufus Putnam and B. I. Gilman to lay out the uni-

* Taken mainly from published sketches. versity lands at Athens. He died before this work was

completed, March 24, 1801. Captain Stone was a man highly esteemed, and his early death much regretted. In politics he was a Federalist, as were all the efficient men at Belpre.

Mrs. Stone (Susannah Mathews), was a niece of General Rufus Putnam. She survived her husband many years, her death occurring November 3, 1833. Their children were: Grace, wife of Luther Dana, of Newport; Benjamin F., of Belpre; Rufus Putnam, removed to Morgan county; John, Belpre; and Melissa W., wife of Joseph Barker, Newport.

Colonel John Stone, of Belpre, is the only member of the family yet living. He was born June 23, 1795. He married, in 1819, Charlotte P. Loring, daughter of Ezekiel Loring. The marriage occurred at the residence of Daniel Loring, in Belpre. He has always lived on the homestead. The house in which he resides originally stood near the river, but was removed to its present position with thirty-eight yoke of oxen in four hours. This was one of the memorable frolics in early times.

In 1826 Mr. Stone was made colonel of militia and has always since been known by that title. He is a man of strong character and convictions based on intelligent ideas. During the days of slavery he was an Abolitionist from principle, and took an active part in some of the stormy incidents along the Belpre shore of the Ohio. He took an active interest in negroes who sought homes in Ohio. He watched with impatient interest the trial at Parkersburgh which involved the boundary line controversy, and once ironically told Caleb Emerson as the ferry was pushing for Virginia, to ask General Jackson what objection there would be to him watering his horse in Virginia's river.

Colonel Stone's family consisted of eight children, six of whom are living, viz: Samuel, Melissa Barker, Simeon Boliver, Lydia Loring, John Loring, Augustus Dana, Jonathan Franklin and Bradley Burgess. Four of the sons were in the late war : Bradley B, was a volunteer in the Ninety-second Ohio volunteer infantry, and when discharged, wearing a captain's commission; Simon Boliver, Augustus D., and Jonathan F. were out over one hundred days at City Point and Bermuda Hundred when Boliver died with malarial fever.

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could grind, according to the strength of the current, from twenty-five to fifty bushels of grain in twenty-four hours. The larger boat was fastened by a chain cable to an anchor made of timbers and filled with stones, and the smaller one was fastened by a grapevine to the same anchor, and thus independent of the shore could the mill operate. It was placed in a rapid portion of the Ohio about the middle of Backus', now Blennerhassett Island, a few rods from the shore and in sight of the castle. The current here was strong and the position safe from the Indians. With the aid of a bolting-cloth in the garrison very good flour was made. This floating mill was a great relief to the settlers and was visited by all the settlers on both sides of the Ohio for the distance of twenty miles, in their canoes, the only mode of transportation at a period when there were neither roads nor bridges in the country.

THE FIRST STATIONARY MILLS.

During the enforced stay in the castle the floating mill sufficed, but as soon as the settlers returned to their farms, the necessity for a centrally located stationary mill became even more urgent than it was before the war. Captain Miles erected his saw- and grist-mill on the Little Hocking, at a point about a quarter of a mile below the dam that had been erected in 1790 for the mill that was never built. The mill put up by Captain Miles commenced operations shortly prior to the year 1800, and there has been a mill on the same site ever since.

Before its erection the people of Belpre had most of their grinding done at Captain Devol's mill, on the Muskingum; but the long journey of twelve miles up the Ohio and five miles up the Muskingum, was wearisome, and right glad did they avail themselves of the privileges of Captain Miles' mill. It passed into the hands of Bial Stedman, and for many years was known as Stedman's mill Afterwards the mill was owned by A. Fish, and is now operated by Counsel & Flowers.

Nathaniel Sawyer put up a "corn cracker" in the Newbury settlement, prior to the year 1800. He located it on what is now known as Sawyer's run, about a mile above the entrance into the Ohio. One of the mill stones used in this mill is still preserved as a relic in the neighboring town of Hockingport, Athens county. The people of Newbury patronized the Steadman mill, and the mill on the west branch of the Little Hocking, in what is now Decatur township, until 1877, when a steam flouring mill was erected at Little Hocking by J. T. Seyler.

EPIDEMICS.

In the summer of 1792, the inhabitants of Farmer's castle were visited with a malignant form of scarlet fever, and putrid sore throat. It was especially fatal among children, and the light of many a household was put out in a day. Major Robert Bradford lost his four children, their deaths occurring within a short time of each other. The disease, which was confined to the settlement at Belpre, continued for several weeks, and then gradually subsided. Bilious and intermittent fevers were also prevalent,

In September, 1793, that dread disease, the small-pox, was brought into the garrison by Benjamin Patterson, one of the spies. He had become alarmed while at Marietta, lest he should be attacked by the disease, and, as the surest way of escaping danger, had himself and family inoculated by Dr. Barnes, who at that time was in Marietta. Patterson rashly came to Belpre, thus spreading the disease. Few except the old soldiers and officers of the colony had undergone the terrors of the loathsome plague. A meeting was immediately called, and it was decided that, inasmuch as it would be impossible to prevent the spread of the contagion, the people be inoculated by Dr. True, of Marietta. Thus the castle was turned into a hospital, but out of over one hundred patients, not one died. The disease also prevailed in the Goodale garrison, where Dr. Barnes was located. Several cases occurred in Stone's garrison. Dr. Barnes lost several patients, because of partial and tardy inoculation.

During the sickly seasons of 1821-3, many died of fever. The fever was of a low, lingering type, and numbered among its victims many prominent citizens of the township.

FIRST ROADS AND BRIDGES.

The pioneers came to Belpre down the Ohio river, and for a time after their settlement were too busy in the clearing of their land and erection of their houses to be concerned about their ways of inland communication.

However roads soon became a necessity, and they were constructed at a very early day. The first important road was from the mouth of the Little Hocking along the Ohio river to the line of Marietta township, whence there was a continuation to the mouth of the Muskingum. The construction of this road was ordered by the court of quarter sessions convened in 1792. There were two separate petitions, each signed by twelve citizens of Belpre township, the first petition praying that a road be constructed from the Congress lot, so-called, to the settlement on the bluff; and the second petition asking that a road be built from the bluff to the mouth of the Little Hocking. The court ordered Jonathan Stone as surveyor and Nathan Goodale and Oliver Rice as his assistants to construct the upper road; and Richard Greene as surveyor and Jonathan Stone and Wanton Casey as assistants to lay off the lower road. This road was constructed close by the river bank, and to-day there is little of it that has escaped being washed away by the steadily approaching river. This first road Was not macadamized, and at times became very muddy, but in general it was a delightful and most useful thoroughfare, by means of which a journey to Marietta could be readily accomplished. The emigrants from Virginia on their way south were in the habit of crossing the river at Parkersburgh that they might travel over this road. Although sixty feet wide, there was room for it to pass between the river and the old burying-ground. So rapidly has the river been wearing away the Ohio shore that not only the road but a part of the burying-ground has been destroyed, and the only vestige of the road in the upper settlement is a piece extending about fifty rods,

514 - HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, OHIO.

which still remains near the little hamlet of Blennerhassett.

This road from Marietta was continued across the mouth of the Little Hocking to Chillicothe, and the whole was known as the old Chillicothe road. At first it was customary to ford the Little Hocking near its mouth, but this was both inconvenient and dangerous. In 1804 the citizens of Belpre appointed Dr. Leonard Jewett, Truman Guthrie, and Benjaman Mileso a committee to petition the, county commissioners for a grant of three hundred dollars, to assist them in building a bridge. The money was given and the bridge built, but unfortunately the timbers used in its construction were far too heavy, and its strength was impaired to such an extent that it became dangerous to cross on it. There is a common story that the last crossing was made by a drove of cattle on the run. However this was, a new bridge afterwards took the place of the first bridge in the township.

At the time of the construction of the first road there was a bridge built over Davis run, in the vicinity of Waldo Putnam's place. Some of the timbers used in the construction may still be seen at the mouth of the run.

FRUIT GROWING IN BELPRE

Both apples and peaches have been plenty in the township since the earliest days. The fresh, rich soil along the Ohio was especially adapted to the rapid growth of fruit trees. The early settlers brought with them apple seeds and planted them at the first opportunity, and it was not long before each man had a little nursery of seedlings.

In May, 1794, Israel Putnam, son of Colonel Israel Putnam, arrived at Belpre, bringing with him many scions of the choicest apple trees, which scions were afterwards grafted on the seedlings. This was the first grafting done in the Territory of the Northwest, and the fact is generally admitted among fruit growers. The following is the list of the first scions introduced into Ohio: Putnam Russel, Early Chandler, Gilly Flower, Naturalings, Yellow Greenings, Long Island Pippin, Honey Greening, Kent Pippin, Striped Gilly Flower, Juneings, Green Pippin, Seek-no-Further, Late Chandler, Pound Royal, Rhode Island Greening, Golden Pippin, Tollman Sweeting, Streaked Sweeting, Cooper Apple, Beauty, English Pearmain, Blue Pearmain and Spitzenberg, in all twenty-two varieties. These scions were carefully distributed, and fruit raising was for the time a leading industry.

The first orchard of any pretentions to size was planted by A. W. Putnam in 1798, although a number of the trees had been previously set out. Several of the old trees are still standing west of the old homestead. There may be seen of these first trees three or four of the Putnam Russels, two Rhode Island Greenings, and one Prolific Beauty. These trees are all still bearing, although one would think that the time of their fruitfulness had passed.

George Dana, sr., was among those fortunate to be possessed of some of the early scions, and there is a tree still standing on the farm which was planted in 1792, and engrafted about 1796, when it was about five feet high. In six or eight years time the young apple trees were loaded with apples. The peach trees often bore the second year after being set out, producing fruit of a size and quality not now seen in Ohio. The depredations of the peach insect were not known for more than twenty years, and the climate was much less changeable than it is to-day. On this account peach raising was a very important industry. This fruit was usually taken to market in a liquid form, for along the lower Mississippi, and even in foreign ports, the peach brandy and apple jack of Belpre were in demand, and no small quantity was consumed at home. Every well-to-do farmer had a still of his own before the days of temperance reform, and then one by one did these manufactories close, and to-day there is little strong drink sold and none made in the township.

The fruit growers found a ready market down the river for their apples and peaches, and it was customary to take them down in flat-boats. The peach crop has become very uncertain, and nearly the whole attention is given to apples.

The township has become well known as a fruit township, and of late years George Dana has been drying fruit very successfully, doing the work by evaporators since 1880. The principal market for the apples raised in the neighborhood is at the

VINEGAR WORKS.

The vinegar works of Mr. Dana, were started by his father, in 1834, they being located where they now are on the Dana farm, below Belpre village. They were continued by George Dana, jr, after the death of his father. The present building was erected in 1872. Thousands of gallons of pure cider vinegar are made here annually.

THE FIRST LIBRARY ASSOCIATION IN THE NORTHWEST.

Until a few years ago it was supposed that the old "Coonskin Library," of Ames township, Athens county, was the first library established in the Northwest Territory. Examining the history of this library, as prepared by the most thoroughly informed men in Athens county, it is found that there is no claim to a priority earlier than 1804, when a valuable collection of books was purchased in Boston for the use of the literati of the townships of Ames and Dover in Athens, then Washington, county. Other libraries formed shortly afterwards were the Dayton Library society incorporated February 21, 1805; a library at "Granville in the county of Fairfield," January 26, 1807; one at Newton, Hamilton county, February 10, 1808. The "Coonskin library" was incorporated under the name of the "Western Library Association," February 19, 1810, and hence the claim of the Ames people is not to priority of incorporation but to priority of existence and it is this claim that the people of Belpre are enabled by positive proof to overthrow.

The library in Belpre was a part of the family library of General Israel Putnam, who, during his life, collected a large library of useful books, embracing history, travels,

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belles-lettres, and the like for the benefit of himself and children, and called it the Putnam Family library. At General Putnam's death in 1790, this library was divided among the heirs, and quite a number found their way to Ohio, being brought out by his son, Colonel Israel Putnam. It is supposed that the books were brought to Belpre upon Colonel Putnam's second arrival, in 1795, at the close of the Indian war, when the Colonel returned from Pomfret, Connecticut, with his family.

There is abundant evidence that stock in this library was sold at a very early day. The worth of the books and the intellectual cravings of the highly cultured and educated settlers of Belpre would not permit that this library be exclusive, and the generous nature and sound sense of Colonel Putnam would not deprive the community of its wanted mental nourishment. There was formed a regular organized company of shareholders in this, the first public library northwest of the Ohio river, and for aught that is known the first west of the Alleghanies. The shares were ten dollars, as is shown by the following receipt now in possession of Colonel John Stone:

MARIETTA, twenty-sixth October, 1796.

Received of Jonathan Slone, by the hand of Benjamin Mills, ten dollars, for his share in the Putnam family library.

W. P. PUTNAM, Clerk.

In the records of the probate office of Washington county, among the items in an inventory of the estate of Jonathan Stone, dated September 2, 1801, there is found "One share in the Putnam family library, ten dollars."

This library, managed by the stockholders, was a source of great benefit, not only to the people of Belpre, but to settlers for miles around. In the Ohio Historical Collections, under Meigs county, there is an account of this library, by Amos Dunham, who settled in Belpre township, in what was then Washington county, in 1802. He says, "in order to make the long winter evenings pass more smoothly, by great exertion I purchased a share in the Belpre library, six miles distant. Many a night have I passed (using pine knots instead of candles) reading to my wife while she sat hatcheling, carding or spinning!)

Soon after its establishment, the library was known as the Belpre Farmers' library, and later as the Belpre library. For a number of years the books were kept at the house of Isaac Pierce, the librarian. Colonel John Stone remembers attending meetings at Pierce's, near Centre Belpre, for the drawing of books, and distinctly recollects that in 1815 or 1816 the association was dissolved by mutual consent. The books were distributed among the shareholders, and many of these old volumes are still preserved.

Colonel Stone selected The Travels of Jonathan Carver. Captain George Dana has in his possession six volumes as follows: John Locke's Essays Concerning the Haman Understanding, London, 1793, and has on the fly leaf "Putnam Family library, No.5," which is erased, and "Belpre library, No. 9," subslituted; the Practical Farmer, dedicated to Thomas Jefferson in 1792, and marked "Putnam Family library, No. 5," changed to "Belpre library, No. 6;" he has also Robertson's History of Scotland, in two volumes, inscribed "Belpre Farmers' library, No. 24;" and Johnson's Lives of the English Poets, in three volumes, inscribed "Belpre Farmers' library, No. 10," These last two books were published in 1811. Mr. I. W. Putnam has in his library several relics of the old library, viz: The History of Vermont, 1794, one volume; Bassett's History of England, four volumes; Hume's History of England, six volumes; and Gold- smith's Animated Nature. In the family of Mrs. O. H. Loring there are four volumes of Gibbons' Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, published in England in 1783. There are then in these three families twenty- three volumes belonging to the original Belpre library. One of the books is numbered eighty, which would indicate that at least that many volumes were in the library. The books remaining are solid and well preserved and will be handed down as valuable relics of the olden time as proofs of the literary tastes and enterprises of the early pioneers of one of the oldest settlements in Ohio.

THE ORGANIZATION OF THE TOWNSHIP.

When the geographical limits of Belpre were determined in 179o, the court of quarter sessions named the following township officers: Town clerk, Colonel Ebenezer Battelle; overseer of the poor, Wanton Casey; constable, Colonel Nathaniel Cushing. The court made annual appointments of officers for Belpre and exercised a general supervision over it as late as 1802.

In the records of the first town book of Belpre there may be found an account of the first election. The first town meeting was held on Monday, May 2, 1802. Colonel Cushing was chairman and Daniel Loring, clerk. After due deliberation the qualified electors chose the following officers for the ensuing year, viz: Colonel Israel Putnam, Colonel Cushing, Isaac Pierce, Benajah Hoyt, and Asahel Cooley, trustees; Major Jonathan Haskell and Dr. Leonard Jewett, overseers of the poor; Captain Benjamin Miles and Aaron Clough, fence viewers; Captain William Dana and Isaac Pierce, appraisers of houses; Colonel Nathaniel Cushing, lister of taxable property; Colonel Cushing, Stephen Guthrie, and Pearley Howe, constables; Aaron W. Putnam, Dr. L. Jewett, Benjamin B. Stone, Truman Guthrie, Asahel Cooley, and Joseph Tilton, supervisors of highways.

This the first town meeting adjourned to meet again on the first Monday of the following April, at the house of Captain Benjamin Miles. It is probable that the first election was held at Captain Miles' residence. His house continued to be the voting place for many years. Elections were sometimes held in the old treadmill at A. W.. Putnam's, and sometimes at the meeting house on the bluff, at the pine meeting house two miles north of Centre Belpre, at the house of Bial Stedman, and afterwards at the brick school-house at Centre Belpre. Here the elections continued to be held for many years. The present town house was afterwards built on the hillside, less than a mile north of Centre Belpre. This was the only voting place in the township prior to 187o, at which time a second precinct was established in Belpre village

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The officers of the township elected for the year 1880—81, are as follows, viz: John Dana Browning, John G. Waterman, and John A. Brown, trustees; I. W. Putnam, clerk; S. R. W. McFarland, treasurer; L E. Stone and J. L O'Neal, justices of the peace; L R. Curtis, C. W. Oakes, H. M. Yates, I. W. Putnam, C. E. Ames, S. P. Kesterson, George G. Johnson, L. M. Batten, and A. P. Sherman, board of education.

The first justices of the peace in the township were Daniel Loring and Isaac Pierce. The old marriage records show that these 'squires tied many a hymenial knot.

EARLY SCHOOLS.

From the very first the people of Belpre have been devoted to education, and the results of this long continued interest are seen in the flourishing schools of the present time. While the parents were busily engaged in establishing homes they did not forget the intellectual needs of their children. Money was scarce and teaching at first was little more than a labor of love. Bathsheba Rouse, the daughter of John Rouse, one of the emigrants from New Bedford, Massachusetts, was employed in the summer of 1789 to teach the small children, and for several subsequent summers she taught a school in Farmer's castle. She is believed to have been the first female who ever kept a school within the present bounds of Ohio. During the winter months a male teacher was employed for the larger boys and young women. Daniel Mayo was the first teacher in Farmer's castle. He came from Boston, a young man, in the family of Colonel Battelle, in the fall of the year 1788, and was a graduate of Cambridge university. The school was kept in a large room in Colonel Battelle's block-house. Jonathan Baldwin, another educated man, also taught school during a part of the confinement in the garrison.

At the time of the erection of Stone's stockade in 1793, a school-house was among the log cabins enclosed in the stockade. Of the twelve families within this place of refuge there were no less than forty children.

Joseph Barker taught the school during the first winter. He had been educated in Exeter academy in New Hampshire, and made an excellent teacher. Shortly afterwards another school-house was built a short distance west of the stockade. Peregrine Foster was the first teacher of this school. Among subsequent instructors may be mentioned Pearley Howe and Caleb Emerson.

In 1811 another log school-house was built in the same neighborhood, a short distance from the river, not very far from where the Belpre hotel now stands. Deacon Howe set the first copy and wielded the first rod in this school.

The first school-house located in the middle settlement was not far from what is now known as Centre Belpre, and was located on the line between the farms of Esquire Isaac Pierce and Major Robert Bradford. A few years afterwards the brick school-house at Centre Belpre, near by, was built. It was used for school purposes for many years, elections and church meetings being frequently held therein. It is now used as a dwelling house. Among the prominent teachers of this school were James B. Gardner and Weston Thomas.

The pioneer school at Newbury was just above and in sight of the stockade. It was built about the year 800. A man by the name of Mahes was the first teacher.

The first teachers of these schools were thoroughly educated, many of them being college graduates of classical institutions. They consented to teach at very reasonable rates, as there was at that early time no other convenient field in which to employ their talents. In July 1790, the Ohio company appropriated one hundred and fifty dollars for the support of schools in the three settlements in the territory, and in December of the same year Belpre received a share of the money distributed. But the burden of these pay schools fell principally upon the people, many of whom being in moderate circumstances, were obliged to stint themselves that they might keep their children in school.

RELIGIOUS HISTORY.

The first sermon in Belpre was preached in the early summer of 1789, by Rev. Daniel Story, the chaplain of the Ohio company. In February, 1790, the agents and proprietors of the company decided that Mr. Story "preach three Sundays at Marietta, and two Sundays at Belpre and Waterford, in rotation." This gave Belpre preaching every four weeks. During the other three Sundays meetings were held. By common consent, Colonel Battelle, a man of fine education, usually presided. It was customary to have a sermon read from the writings of some eminent divine, and prayers read or extemporaneously offered by leaders who were regularly appointed. In March, 1791, it is recorded that twenty dollars were voted to Colonel Battelle for religious instruction at Belpre. In the following April, at a meeting of the agents of the Ohio company, out of one hundred and sixty dollars appropriated for religious instruction in the settlements, it was resolved that Belpre receive fifty dollars, provided that a suitable teacher be supported for seven months. Rev. Daniel Story's visits to Belpre were made in a canoe down the Ohio. During the war, the blood-thirsty savages made a trip from Marietta to Belpre very dangerous, but, nevertheless, Mr. Story came whenever he could, always accompanied by an armed guard of soldiers. Religious sevices were regularly kept up at Farmer's castle in the residence of Colonel Battelle, who still continued to be the religious instructor. When the time for service arrived, Ebenezer Battelle, jr., then a youth of about sixteen, was accustomed to beat the drum, the church bell of war, and thus call the people together.

THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH THE FIRST SOCIETY.

The record of the organization of this, the first religious society in Belpre, has not been preserved. It is probable, however, that the organization was not effected until shortly after the evacuation of Farmer's castle in 1796. The same people, who, during the war had been wont to listen to the reading of the Word in the blockhouse of Colonel Battelle, now uiited in hearty thanksgiving for the long prayed for peace. The members of the society were by no means all Congregationalists, nei-

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ther were many of them professing Christians, but a glance at the earliest record, dated 1802, reveals the fact that many of the more prominent members, and the succession of early ministers were of the Congregational church.

After the establishment of peace, Rev. Daniel Story preached once a month at Belpre. On the occasions when the minister was not present, the people did not "forsake the assembling of themselves together," but regularly held "meeting" on the three Sundays on which there was no preaching. Prominent among the first members were, Colonel Ebenezer Battelle, Colonel Nathaniel Cushing, Perley Howe, Benjamin Miles, Judge Peregrine Foster, Judge Loring, Israel Putnam, and William Browning. It was customary to select some leading member to direct the religious services during the absence of the minister. At a business meeting of the society, held March 1, 1802, it was resolved "that the society meet every Sabbath at 10 o'clock, and that the preacher perform fore and afternoon service, with one hour's intermission, and that persons be appointed to read the sermons and prayers, also that the singers be earnestly invited to atttend; also, that a contribution be taken on the first Sabbath of every month, to enable us to pay for regular preaching." The above resolution is the first of importance which was passed in the then new meeting-house on the Bluff. A glance at the earliest record, shows that at a meeting held February 24, 1802, Perley Howe, Judge Foster and William Browning were appointed a committee to collect subscriptions, and to appropriate the amount towards the building of a school or meeting-house on the Bluff, and to adjust all accounts relative thereto. A sufficient amount must have been raised, for it is recorded, that at the next meeting held in the "meeting-house on the Bluff," as it was ever afterward known, the building committee reported an excess over the amount expended of twelve shillings, nine pence, which sum was laid aside for current expenses. Perley Howe was appointed the first sexton, and continued in that office for a number of years. There is now no vestige of the old house which stood just east of the old burying-ground. The early settlers of Belpre came, some of them, from homes several miles away,. and in this, the, first sanctuary, worshipped the God of Sabboath.

Rev. Samuel P. Robbins was preaching at Belpre in aos coming from Marietta. At a meeting held April 4th, of the above named year, it was voted that Rev. Samuel P. Robbins be paid four dollars by Benjamin Miles, who is supposed to have been the treasurer. It is not known how many sermons this money paid for, but at the time the preacher's salary was nominal, and his work was purely a labor of love. At this same spring meeting Colonel Cushing was appointed a committee to manage the prudentials of the society during the next year, and measures were taken to have the meeting-house repaired and the burial-ground cleared. In 806, Mr. Robbins was hired to act as the regular preacher of the congregation. It was voted, October 27th of the same year, that Isaac Pierce, Daniel Loring, and Nathaniel Cushing, be requested to read sermons, alternating, during the three Sundays of the month when Mr. Robbins would be. absent. It was further voted, that Deacon Miles and Colonel Putnam be appointed to pray at these meetings. In 8o9, Decon Miles, Per- ley Howe and Benjamin F. Stone were appointed to read and pray, and in as̊, this duty devolved on Isaac Pierce, B. F. Stone and Colonel Cushing. At a meeting July 29th, Rev. Mr. Langdon was hired for one year.

As early as 1808 there was a motion made to see if the people were willing either to build a new meeting-house or to repair the old building. It was decided to repair the old house; and it was not until 1819 that there was made another strong effort to build a new church. A committee was appointed to draft plans for the new meeting-house, but owing to some inexplicable reason the report of the coal mine was not accepted. However, in 1822 a brick church was built and a lot secured for a burying ground at a point a little over half a mile from Cedarville. The building was made perfectly square with a pyramidal roof, and in this modern day presents a quaint appearance, as it stands solitary and deserted, a faithful sentinel over the graves of the members who built it. For some time after the building had been enclosed and roofed it was not finished. In 1831 the house was complete, and the fact was recognized by appropriate services.

THE ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH.

During all these years of the history of the society the Congregationalists at Belpre were nominal members of the church at Marietta. Gradually, however, had the society been assuming the prerogatives of a regularly organized church. As early as 1818 there is found the record of the dismission of a member as from a regular Congregational church. On Friday, November 25, 1826, it was stated at a meeting in the brick church that twenty-four members would request dismission from the Marietta church, deciding that each receive an individual letter of dismission. Deacon Perley Howe, Benjamin Miles, and Stephen Guthrie were appointed to present the petitions for dismission and request that the pastor and two delegates from the Marietta church assist in forming a church at Belpre on the first of January, 1827. The following resolution passed by the Marietta church was sent to Belpre: "That the prayer of the petitioners be granted, and that they be formed into a distinct church, enjoying all the privileges and immunities of the same." Accordingly, on New Year's day, 1827, the organization was effected through the instrumentality of Rev. L. G. Bingham, of Marietta. The covenant and articles of faith were adopted and subscribed to by the following named persons: Irene Benedict, Sophia Browning, Hannah Stone, Susan Stone, Deborah Dana, Abijah Wedge, Deacon Perley Howe, Lucy E. Gilbert, Josiah and Sarah Whiting, Elihu and Deborah Clark, Rowena Putnam, Charlotte L Putnam, Sally Goodno, Benjamin H. Miles, P. Maria Miles, Elizabeth Bell, Priscilla and Hannah Miles, Amos and Huldah Fisher, and Stephen Guthrie. Of these twenty-four original members only three are living, viz.: Mrs. Browning, Mrs. Gilbert, and Mrs. Putnam. In March, 1827, William R. Browning was received into

518 - HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, OHIO.

the church—the first member after the organization, Rev. Jacob Little, the first minister, remained about one year, and was succeeded by Rev. Augustus Pomeroy. In 1829, in connection with the Presbyterian church at Warren, a call was made out for, and accepted by, Rev. Addison Kingsbury. He was installed pastor October 3, 1829, by a delegation sent from the presbytery. In a brief minute of the services it is noted "that Rev. Calvin Ransom charged the people. Rev. John Spaulding preached the sermon from the words "What is truth?' found in John, xviii, 38; that Rev. R. G. Wilson charged the pastor elect, and Rev. L. G. Bingham delivered the charge to the people." Dr. Kingsbury preached his farewell sermon November 10, 1839, having been in the pastorate just ten years. Professor D. H. Allen, of Mari. etta college, preached at Belpre during 840; Rev. Tenney served in 1842; Rev. Dyar Burgess, during 1842 and 1843; and Rev. Joseph Edwards until the first of January, 1845. There were temporary supplies until in 1847 Rev. W. A. Smith came. In 1849 he was installed pastor. February 17, 1853, on account of the continued ill health of Mr. Smith, his resignation was accepted. There was no regular preaching until 1854, when Rev. John Williams became the supply. May 27, 1857, Rev. Francis Bartlett, the third and last pastor of the two churches, was installed and remained until the close of 1861. Rev. C. D. Curtis, who came in the spring of 1862, acted as pastor until the fall of 1866, when by mutual consent, the union previously existing between Belpre and Warren churches was dissolved; and here begins the history of the church entirely independent of any other organization.

In February, 1867, Rev. J. A. Bates became the first pastor, whose whole time was devoted to the Belpre church. He continued until May, 1872. From the fall of 1872 to the fall of 1874 the minister was Rev. D. I. Jones. Rev. E. Janes was called in February, 1875, and continued for two years. In the spring of 1877, the church secured the services of Rev. M. K. Pascal, and since 1879 has been without a regular minister. During the union with the Warren church preaching was held at Belpre every two weeks, and on each alternate Sabbath there was a reading service as of old. Weekly prayer meetings have always been kept up, and thanksgiving day has always been faithfully observed.

Perley Howe was deacon at the time of the organization of the church, and at an election held May 3, 1827, Benjamin H. Miles became deacon. At this same time William R. Browning became the first clerk. The present officers of the church are: A. W. Glazier, William Armstrong, George Dana, George A. Howe, and Milton Pelton, trustees; A. W. Glazier and George Dana, deacons; Edward B. Dana, clerk; and John M. Stone, treasurer.

The brick church was located centrally to accommodate a wide circle of members living in the surrounding country, but the springing up of the village of Belpre made it necessary that meetings be held there. About 1862 services for prayer and occasional preaching were held in available rooms in the village, and a Sunday-school organized. Finally there was permanent preaching every Sunday in the academy building, and the old brick church was gradually abandoned, the congregation down the river holding services in the school building near the town-house.

The erection of a church in Belpre village had become a necessity, and without delay the work proceeded. The site chosen is on Main street, just north of the railroad bridge. A. Walker was the architect of the building, which is of brick, forty feet wide by sixty long, with basement story, the whole surmounted by a spire one hundred and twenty-seven feet high, in which swings a good bell. The building was commenced in the fall of 1868 and was not completely finished until the fall of 1869, although the basement was occupied late in the summer.

In 1867 a neat two-story frame parsonage was erected in Belpre, so that at the completion of the church both pastor and people had a home.

From the earliest days the Sunday-school has been maintained, both at the old brick church and in adjoining neighborhoods. Deacon Benjamin Miles was the first superintendent. The system of catechetical instruction, which was, in vogue before the days of Sunday-schools, has, in a measure, been adopted by the several schools. The first library was secured in 1827, at the organization of the church. This library was well selected, and formed the nucleus for the present full library. During the year 1880 there was an average attendance of about one hundred scholars. A prominent feature of the church is its active sympathy with all the great religious movements of the world, especially is this the case in the work of missions. The church is now repaying with interest the aid which, when she was weak, was granted to her by the board of home missions. Throughout the whole history of the church one meeting in each month has been set apart for prayer for missions. The people not only pray that the gospel may fly to the corners of the earth, but very sensibly furnish the wings by liberal contributions. There has always been an active interest in all objects of benevolence; a bitter warfare against slavery was waged, and the battle is still fierce against intemperance. The old brick church was sold in 1878.

THE CENTRE BELPRE CHURCH

was formed in October, 1880, by thirty-one members, who were dismissed from the church from the village, which was too far away for this portion of the congregation to attend regularly. The new congregation has not as yet been able to build a house of worship, but assembled regularly in the school building, near the townhouse, at Centre Belpre. They are supplied by the minister who may be preaching for the Belpre church.

METHODIST EPISCOPAL.

In 1799 Rev. Robert Marley, of the Baltimore circuit, preached in the Belpre settlement, which at first was under the supervision of the Kanawha, and in 1800 became a part of the circuit known as the Muskingum and Little Hocking. But there was no regular Methodis

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, OHIO - 519

preaching in Belpre until 1820. At this time Rev. Jacob Young was the presiding elder, and Rev. John McMahon was preacher of the Little Hocking circuit. During the fall and winter of 1820-21 a society was organized, there being in the first class books thirteen names, as follows: Daniel Goss and his wife Lydia, Samuel Hooper, Clarissa Ackley, William P. Howe, A. Gridley, Elizabeth Howe, Leroy Gridley, Susan Oaks, Susan O'Brien, Chester and Caroline Gridley, and Louis Bradford. Daniel Goss, who was one of the most energetic of the early Methodists, whs appointed class leader. Among his papers there was found the old subscription paper for the building of the church:

We, the undersigned subscribers, believing that it would be of importance to the Methodist society in Belpre to build a house of worship, not only for their own convenience but for all those who may be willing to attend; that it is desired by all those who are acquainted with the form of Methodist meeting-houses that the seats are free for those who do not belong to the society, in lime of worship--we, the undersigned, do hereby agree to pay the amount to our respective names to the trustees of the Methodist church in said township, who may be appointed to superintend the building of said meeting-house, to be applied as they may think proper:

Daniel Goss - $40 00

Joseph Newbury - $42 00,

James Moore - 20 00

Joseph O’Neal - 10 00

W. P. Leabody - 5 00

W. Burroughs - 10 00

Samuel Barkley - 3 00

S. Cockshott - 5 00

A. H. Duffer - 5 00

S. W. Grady - 1 00

H. Robinson - 2 00

John Kurney - 2 00

M. Rouse - 2 00

Cyrus Ames - 3 00

Francis Stone - 1 00

N. Sparkhawk - 1 00

1saac Cogshall - 1 00

John Bickford - 1 00

Barker Rouse - 3 00

G. N. Gilbert - 3 00

James Whitney - 10 00

John Crawford - 5 00

- Protsman - 2 00

J. Jennings. - 2 00

Joseph Kelly - 2 00

Solomon Goss - 2 00

L. Record - 3 00

James Dunn - 1 00

Alusha Cole - .50

Stephen Devol - 1 00

J. M. Calder - 1 00

B. Bridges - .50

S. Ellenwood - 1 00

B. Ellenwood - .50

J. Knowles - 5 00

T. Guthrie - 6 00

Andrew Ballard - 5 00

Clarissa Cook - 5 00

Andrew Fisher - 4 50

A log church was built near the forks of the Little Hocking north of Centre Belpre, of which church there is now no vestige. The quarterage paid in 1821 and '22 was twelve dollars and thirteen and one-fourth cents, and was subscribed in the following sums:

Daniel Goss, cash - $2.50

A. Cote, six bushels of corn - 2.25

William Howe, 16 3/4 quarts cherries - 1.97 1/4

Joseph Place - 1.25

C. Ackley - .75

Ellen Dilley - 1.50

Joseph Dilley, two bushels meal - .66 3/4

Samuel Hooper - 1.25

In 1823 Joseph O'Neal was appointed class leader, and there were in all twenty members. The following year a second class was formed and given to the care of Samuel Hooper. During the winter of 1826, a two days meeting resulted in the conversion of a number of people. Seventeen members were added during the next winter, and Methodism in Belpre began to be strong. The ministers up to this time had been as follows: 1823, Cornelius Springer and W. J. Kent; 1824, Philip Greene; 1825, Daniel Limerick and John Steward; 1826, John W. Kinney and Curtis Goddard; 1827, Leroy Swormstedt; 1828, Leroy Swormstedt and James Callahan; 1829, Samuel Hamilton and William Herr; 1830, Jacob Young and Samuel Hamilton; 1831, John W. Gilbert and Gilbert Blue. These latter received twenty-seven dollars and eighteen and three-fourths cents quarterage for their services.

THE CEDARVILLE CHURCH.

By the year 1832 the Methodists in Belpre decided to build a house of worship at Cedarville, on the Ohio. Daniel Goss and Daniel Ellenwood were among the first trustees and members of the building committee. The house is frame, much of the lumber having been floated from Little Hocking in the back water caused by the flood of 1832. The church prospered, and became the local centre of Methodism. During the first year of its history the pastor's salary amounted to one hundred and twenty dollars and seventy-five cents. In 1836 there were fifty- five members. In the following year the church was incorporated into a new circuit known as Belpre circuit. At this time there were in the circuit six Sunday-schools. Mission stations were established at Barlow and other points. In 1838 there was a committee appointed to build a parsonage for the circuit. There were seventy- five members in 1842, and the name of the circuit was changed to Barlow. Nine years later there were one hundred members and four classes. Thus the Cedarville church prospered until 1867, when Belpre was set of as an independent station with three appointments, viz: Cedarville, Belpre village church known as Lewis chapel, and the Centenary church, both of the last named churches having been organized in 1866. The ministers at the Cedarville church, since its building in 1832, have been as follows, viz:

1832, Absalom Fox and Joseph Carper; 1833, Nathan Emery and William Young; 1834, Adam Poe and E. Roe; 1835, E. Roe and William H. Lawder; 1836, David Lewis and M. P. Kellog; 1837, Dudley Woodbridge and M. P. Strickland; 1838, James D. Webb and Joseph Gosner; 1839, Matthew Scoville and Sheldon Parker; 1840, Joseph Morris and Martin Wolf; 1841, James B. Austin and Samuel Maddox; 1842, James B. Austin and John W. Devilbiss; 1843. John W. Dillon and J. Barringer; 1844, A. Murphy and Richard Arthur; 1845. A. Murphy and Charles Warren; 1846, A. Brown and J. W. Fowble; 1847, D. D. Matherand L. Cunningham; 1848, D. D. Mather and J. McCutchen; 1849, J. McCutchen and J. F. Given; 1850, J. Barringer and S. C. Frampton; 1851, A. Cartlick and J. R. Prose; 1852, A. Cartlick and C. Benjamin; 1853, Isaac Reynolds and David Mann; 1854, Isaac Reynolds and Michael Sheets; 1855, W. W. Cherrington and W. C. Filler; 1856, W. W. Cherrington and A. C. Kelly; 1857, Levi Munsell and J. W. Lewis; 1858, Levi Munsell and E. Frost; 1859, Pardon Cook and E. Nichols; 1860, Pardon Cook and E. Nichols; 1861, Stephen Ryland and J. P. Calvert; 1863. F. S. Thurston and George Murray, 1864; F. S. Thurston and F. S. Davis; 1865, W. S. Benner and F. S. Davis; 1866, W. S. Benner and J. S. Davis; 1867, T. S. Stevens and J. D. Fry.

Since Belpre was made an independent station, the ministers at the three churches above named have been: Revs. J. E. Sowers, Jesse Van Law, Isaac Mackey, T. H. Braderick, M. V. B. Evans, J. F. Williams and James Mitchell. The church officers are: J. Farson, C. Le Seur and S. R. W. McFarland, stewards; G. W. Hensell, J. H. Horton, E. Rysley, E. W. Petty, J. Farson, J. Simpson and J. Waterman, trustees.

LEWIS CHAPEL

in Belpre village was named in honor of Frederick and Mary Lewis, who gave one thousand dollars for the

520 - HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, OHIO.

building of the church. The house, a neat frame structure, was erected in the year 1866-7, at an expense of about six thousand and five hundred dollars. Six persons gave five hundred dollars each, and the remainder was raised by subscription. Captain Josiah Henderson presented the bell which cost four hundred and forty dollars. The house was dedicated February 24, 1867, the dedicatory sermon being preached by Rev. J. M. Reed, D.D., the editor of the Western Christian Advocate. At this service the debt of the church was cleared. The membership of the church has gradually increased until 881, and there are two hundred and fifty members.

The organization of the Sunday-school was effected at the time of the dedication of the church. E. E. Cunningham continued to be superintendent until 1871, since which time N. B. Adams has held the office.

The church officers are as follows, viz: S. Druse, J. Alderman and N. B. Adams, stewards; J. Alderman, S. Druse, A. D. Sherman, O. L. Davis, John Brown and J. C. O'Neal, trustees.

CENTENARY CHURCH.

This church branched from the Cedarville church in 1866. Robert Bess's daughter was a prime mover in the work of organization. The first and present stewards are: James Dunlevy, R. C. Menzie, John Berry and Thomas McFarland, sr. The building of the frame meeting-house was commenced in 1866, and the church was dedicated in 1867. There were twenty members at first, and there are now over thirty. About the year 1876 the Centenary church was transferred from the Belpre to the Newbury station. The minister for 1880– 1801 is Rev. W. H. Gibbons.

THE NEWBURY CHURCH

was formed about 1811 or 1812, in the Newbury settlement. The first meeting was held at a school-house just west of the cemetery. There were less than a dozen members at first, among them being Mrs. Joel Oakes, Truman, and Elizabeth Guthrie, John Wetherby, and others. The organization was effected by Rev. Marcus Linsey, of Kentucky. Services were held at the schoolhouse until 1829, when a frame church was erected, which was occupied for fifty years. Since 1879 the meetings have been held in the school-house at Little Hocking, where a church building is to be built. There were at one time about thirty-five members, but changes in population have reduced the number to nineteen. The pastor of the church is Rev. W. H. Gibbons. The stewards are A. S. Tidd, Sheppard Humphrey, James Palmer, and N. Coggeshall. The trustees are Edwin Guthrie, Nicholas Baker, C. W. Oakes, and L. R. Curtis.

THE UNIVERSALIST CHURCH.

The first Universalist society of Belpre was organized May 23, 1823, in the old brick school-house at Centre Belpre. Many of the first members had previously been members of the society at the meeting-house on the bluff. William Pitt Putnam, chairman, and Daniel Loring,. clerk of the first meeting, were appointed to draft articles of association, which were adopted at the second meeting, held, January 17, 1834. There were seventeen members at first, as follows: Daniel Loring, Hobson Beebe, Oliver Rice, Perley Eastman, O. R. Loring, Beal Stedman, Robert and Otis L Bradford, William Pitt Putnam, Jesse Loring, R. Gridley; John Birkenshay, sr., John Birkenshay, jr., Julius Chappell, Jasper Needham, Sylvester Haynes, and Joseph C. King.

The history of the society is brief. When there was no preaching, reading meetings were held. The society had occasional preaching from the Rev. Asa Stearns, of Athens ,county, and Elder Croy, of Galia county. In 1826 the Rev. Eliphath Case preached the thanksgiving sermon, and continued for some time as supply. A number of the members in the society deeming it advisable to form church relations,

THE FIRST UNIVERSALIST CHURCH

was organized in the brick school-house March 1, 1827. There were, besides the membership of the society, twelve additional members at the time of the church organization. The names of these new members are: Luke Reynolds, Jacob Springer, Jonathan Root, Mary Blizzard, Fanny Loring, Anthony Robinson, John Brown, Renssalaer Johnson, Stephen Needham, Susanna Gilbert, and Philip Cole. Sylvester Haynes and William Pitt Putnam were chosen deacons, and the bond of union and profession of failh adopted.

Soon after the organization of the church, Rev. Case left for New Hampshire. In 1829, Rev. Alpheus Sweet became the pastor. Since that time there has been a numerous succession of ministers, viz: Revs. Waldo, W. H. Jolly, Francis H. Johnson, D. S. Morey, Timothy Crow, L. L. Saddler, M. L. Edwards, H. P. Sage, George Rodgers, T. C. Eaton, George Flanders, G. S. Weaver, — Bartlett, Paul Kendall, Thompson Barrow, Benard Peters, — Hicks, J. W. McMaster, T. C. Druley, and Rev. Earl, who came in 1880. Rev. J. W. McMaster was pastor for nineteen years.

For several years after the organization of the church the meetings were held in the school-house. The first meeting of the Universalist association was held in the old treadmill on Putnam farm. The church, a frame building, was built in 1835, on a lot presented by Jesse Loring. It stands on the river road, midway between Cedarville and Centre Belpre. It was dedicated August 30, 1835. Elder W. H. Jolly preached the dedicatory sermon, and was assisted in the service by Father Truman Strong.

The Sunday-school, which is in a very properous condition, was organized in 1835, and William P. Putnam and O. R. Loring among the first superintendents. S. H. Stone is the superintendent for 1880, and James Howser, librarian. The library consists of four hundred volumes, and is very valuable.

In 1876 a missionary school was organized in Belpre village. The first meetings were held in Odd Fellows' hall, and are now held in the school hall. Preaching services are held in Belpre once a month. The church has been very appropriately called "the old hive," from the fact that no less than five churches have been formed of members of the first church, viz: Newbury, Dun-

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, OHIO - 521

ham, Barlow, and Fairfield in this county, and one church in Illinois. In all, there have been two hundred and nine members of the old church, there being at the beginning of 1881, fifty-seven active members. The officers of the church are as follows: Moderator, J. B. Mawhinney; clerk, J. W. Putnam; treasurer, Mrs. A. W. Brough; trustees, B. B. Stone, Emma Ames, and J. B. Mawhinney; stewards, S. H. Stone, and James Houser; deacons, Nathan Sparhawk, and William P. Cole. The church is ever active in missionary effort, and contributions are made to every good cause.

THE NEWBURY CHURCH,

as has been already remarked, is a branch of the First Universalist church. It was established in 1852. The building is located in the southwestern part of Belpre township, about three miles below Little Hocking. In the year above mentioned nine members applied for a dismission from the mother church in order that they might organize a church in their immediate neighborhood. The nine original members are—Mrs. Elvira Curtis, John Cole and wife, Seymore Clough, Cynthia Clough, Caroline Curtis, J. H. and M. G. Van Gilder, and Marion Curtis. The pulpit is supplied regularly by the pastor of the upper church, this arrangement for preaching having been made at the time of the new organization.

ST. MARY'S CATHOLIC CHURCH.

This church is located at Little Hocking. It was organized in 1878 by the first pastor, Rev. M. M. A. Hartnedy. The house is a neat frame structure, and was built in the same year that the church was organized. The dedicatory services were held June 9, 1878. The membership of the church is quite large, it being comprised of people that come from miles around, and it is probable that about two hundred and fifty people worship at St. Mary's. The priests from Athens have been supplying the church since its organization. After Rev. Father Hartnedy the congregation enjoyed the ministrations of Father T. I. Lane. The present pastor is Father I. C. Madden.

AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

This is the oldest colored church in Belpre. It commenced in a humble way and has since become quite strong. In 1868 a little band of ten met in the room of Henry Baker and organized the church through the instrumentality of Rev. James McTerry, of Marietta. He left the class in charge of Henry Baker, who is a local preacher, and came to visit the flock every alternate Sunday. About two years after the organization the people were able to build a little board house, which, though far from being comfortable, served as a place for worship for some time. Afterwards the school board permitted the people to meet in a wing of the colored school-house.

In 1876 they put up a neat and commodious building on Florence street, in North Belpre, at a total cost of nearly seven hundred dollars, which sum is about all paid. In the second year of Rev. McTerry's service to this people he was called away by death. His place was supplied by Rev. John Lee. Since then the ministers have been Revs. Isaac Bell, Jacob Cole, Jacob Whitman,

Arthust, and the present pastor, Elder Davis. The officers of the church are: Trustees, John Turner, Robert Sawyer, Henry Baker, and Dow Robinson; stewards, John Roody and James Williams.

JACKSON CHAPEL.

In 1870 there were twenty-five members of a little church that was organized in Belpre by John Jackson, sr., then a local preacher of the Methodist faith. He effected the organization of the church, and after considerable effort a little frame house of worship was erected on North Walnut street, and was dedicated as Jackson chapel. The first regular pastor was Rev. A. Posey, who served the people for two years, and was succeeded by Rev. E. Henderson, who also remained two years. Jacob Skinner and A. A. Price were the pastors during the next two years, being succeeded by Rev. D. Tucker, and by the present pastor, Rev. S. R. Camel!, who is serving out his two years. This church has lived one decade, and during that time has more than doubled its membership, there being now on the roll over fifty names of active members. In 1870 the officers of the church were: Trustees, H. C. Miller, Henry Baker, and Stroter Thomas; stewards, Douglas Taylor and Charles Burns. In 1880 the trustees were Aaron Williams, John Jackson, jr., Harrison Williams, Esquire Thomas, and James E. Atkins. The stewards are John C. Austin, Adams Patterson, and Samuel M. Taylor. The leaders are H. Williams, John Jackson and Nannie Simms.

ITEMS OF INTEREST.

The first white child born in Belpre township was Joseph Barker. He was born February 28, 1790, at the house of his grandfather, Captain William Dana, where Mrs. Barker had been residing since the breaking out of the small-pox at Marietta, early in January. The little boy became a great man, and held high office in the State. He died in Newport township in 1859, and was the first buried in the new cemetery at Lower Newport.

The first brick house erected in the township was the tavern of Deacon Benjamin Miles, in the middle settlement. This was also the place at which the first town election was held. For years it was a popular hostelrie.

The first frame house was built by Colonel Israel Putnam, and is still standing on the old site at Belpre village, and is now known as the "Benedict House." It was a house of two stories, and in the early days was considered to be quite a mansion.

The first sheep were introduced in the year 1797, the first lot coming from Pennsylvania. During earlier years much of the clothing worn was home-spun. However, the raising of sheep has never been a specialty. During the first years wolves were too numerous, and now the mongrel dogs make the business hazardous.

The shrewd Yankees of the settlement tried to raise everything at first. For the first few years cotton was raised in small quantities, and the genius of Captain Devol quickly invented a "gin," or machine with rollers, which separated the cotton from the pods in a very satisfactory manner.

As early as the year 1800 silk worms were raised,

522 - HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, OHIO.

being fed on the leaves of the white mulberry, raised from seed brought from Connecticut. The cocoons were spun into sewing thread.

Judge Barker, in his MSS., says that, in the spring of 1790, Captain William Dana sowed a piece of flax, pulled it early in June, while it was yet in blossom, water-rotted it in a swamp near the river, had it dressed out and spun, and woven into substantial cloth by his son William. It was made into shirts and trousers for the boys, and worn at the celebration of the Fourth of July in Belpre that year.

THE FARMERS' LODGE OF BELPRE

was organized by the Free Masons of the settlement. The records have been lost, but there is every reason to believe that the organization was effected prior to the year 800. The following are known to have been members, viz.: Daniel Loring, Nathaniel Cushing, Oliver Rice, W. P. Putnam, Major Bradford, Cyrus Ames, sr., Dr. Gilbert, Major Haskell, Deacon Howe, Dr. Pier, Dr. Webb, George Dana, Edmond Dana, Judge Joseph Barker, Rufus B. Stone, William Leabody, Hezekiah Lewis, Andrew Fisher, and Elias Gates, a resident of Virginia. The lodge meetings were held at the house of Major Haskell. Gradually, by the death of the old members, the lodge decreased in numbers and finally expired.

BELPRE LODGE INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS, NO. 69.

This lodge was instituted August 10, 1875, by Joseph Dowell, grand master There were seven charter members, viz: John Brown, David Oliver, J. R. King, B. W. Compton, John B. Badger, A. F. Downer and A. T. Shahan. At the first meeting John F. King and I. H. Henderson were admitted by card, and George Dunberger, L M. Cunningham, Joseph Richards, and I. B. Kinkead were initiated. The following is a list of the first officers elected; John Brown, N. G.; David Oliver, V. G.; J. R. King, secretary; B. W. Compton, permanent secretary; A. F. Downer, treasurer; I. H. Henderson, warden; James King, conductor; John F. King, inside guardian; I. B. Kinkead, right supporter to noble grand; C. E. Ames, left supporter to N. G.; Joseph Richards, R. S. V. G.; John G. Waterman, L S. V. G.; A. T. Shahan, R. S. S.; L, M. Cunningham, L. S. S.; John B. Badger, J. R. King, and A. T. Shahan.

The first meetings were held in Browning's building, on Main street, just north of the railroad. In August, 1880, the lodge removed to the present commodious hall on South Main street. Since the first meeting up to 1881 there have been forty initiations, ten admissions by card, five withdrawals by card, and one death. So that the present number of members is fifty-eight. The lodge has been only once visited by death, when in August, 1880, James Williams was called away. Obstacles thrown in the way have only increased the prosperity of the lodge. At times public entertainments are given and are always followed by an accession of new members. The hall is tastefully furnished and handsomely equipped with regalia. The present officers are: W. P. McKinney, N. G.; M. Mulligan, V. G.; A. Conley, secretary; C. B. Ames, permanent secretary; J. L. O'Neal, treasurer; A. F. Downer, chaplain; B. W. Compton, warden; D. R. Rood, conductor; F. M. Page, inside guardian; K. McCuaig, outside guardian; 0. D. Davis, R. S. N. G.; M. C. Nichols, L S. N. G.; David Oliver, R. S. V. G.; George Dunberger, L. S. V. G.; Austin Templer, R. S. S.; P. S. Cole, L. S, S.; J. L O'Neal, N. B. Adams, and A. F. Downer, trustees.

STAR OF BELPRE LODGE, NO. 1910, GRAND UNITED ORDER

OF ODD FELLOWS,

is the rather high sounding title which the lodge of colored Odd Fellows in Belpre has inscribed upon its banners. The lodge was organized in 187—, by the Naomi Lodge of Parkersburgh, West Virginia. There were thirty-one charter members. There are now eighteen members, and it is hoped the decrease of quantity has improved the quality of the membership. The first officers were as follows, viz: H. C. Miller, N. G.; R. G. Whiteman, permanent secretary; David Tucker, noble father; George Williams, elective secretary; J. W. Scott, treasurer; Robert Williams, chaplain; Harrison Boggs, P. N. G. The meetings are held every Wednesday in the hall over the colored school-room. The present officers are as follows: S. T. Jackson, N. G.; Thomas Blake, P. N. G,; H. C. Miller, permanent secretary; John Turner, V. G.; C. W. Posey, elective secretary; Adams Patterson, N. F.; Ezekial Fry, P. N. F.; John Washington, treasurer; John Jackson, chaplain.

THE BELPRE FARMERS' CLUB.

Ever since the first plow entered the virgin soil and the first grain took root, farming in Blepre township has been a science. True, in the earlier days this knowledge was not formulated and issued as law, but it is evident that an intelligent appreciation of a thorough agricultural education was the basis of the practical knowledge of the early farmers. However, it has been reserved to the modern day to effect the organization of the farmers. July 9, 1879, the people of Belpre township received a visit from the Muskingum Farmers' club, which had been flourishing for five years and more. The accounts which were given of the objects and work of this organization awakened an earnest desire that a similar society be formed in Belpre. On motion of Hon. A. L. Curtis it was decided that a meeting be held in the yard of Mr. Cyrus Ames to effect the organization of a Belpre Farmers' club. This meeting was held July 26th, and, after discussion, it was resolved that a club be organized. Accordingly the constitution was adopted and signed by twenty-four members, which number has since increased to sixty-three. The first officers elected were: Hon. A. L. Curtis, president; J. M. Farson, vice-president; Miss Emma Ames, recording secretary; E. B. Dana, corresponding secretary; S. H. Stone, treasurer. The present officers are the same as at first, save that S. R. W. McFarland is the president. The object of the club is the promotion of farming, gardening, and agriculture, togethe1 with the social and intellectual enjoyment of its

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, OHIO - 523

members. The membership of the club is not confined to Belpre township, and persons in all townships are invited to attend with their families. The meetings are held once a month at the houses of members of the club. The annual meeting is held on the first Saturday of January of each succeeding year. The exercises consist of readings, recitations, music, and an essay and discussion, the discussion being generally concerning some farm topic. There is always time left for sociability, and a dinner is a part of the programme.

PHYSICIANS.

Dr. Samuel Barnes was the first physician who practiced in Belpre township. The humane policy of the directors of the Ohio company suggested the appointment of men to act as physicians and surgeons of the respective garrisons. The committee selected for Belpre Dr. Barnes, who had but recently come to the neighborhood from Massachuselts. He received his instruments and medicines, his board, and a small sum of money from the company. He remained with the family of Major Goodale, whose daughter he married. After the division at Farmer's castle he made his headquarters at the Goodale stockade, and during the plague of the smallpox in 1793 he devoted himself more especially to the people in this garrison. Soon after the close of the war he removed with his family to Athens county, locating not far from the town of Athens.

In 1802, shortly after Dr. Barnes' departure, Dr. Leonard Jewett became the physician of Belpre. He lived in the middle settlement, near the Ohio, and about half a mile below what is now Centre Belpre post office. His practice extended for many miles up and down the river, and in the adjoining country. He was a gentleman of fine intelligence and professional ability. He was born in Massachusetts in 1770. In 1792 he graduated from the Boston Medical college. In 1796 he married Mary Porter. He afterwards served four years as assistant surgeon in a New York hospital. About the year 1805, after remaining at Belpre nearly three years, he removed to the town of Athens, where he died in 1816, from the effects of blood poisoning.

Dr. S. P. Hildretn located in Belpre December 10, 1806, on the very day that Blennerhasset left his fairy island. Dr. Hildreth's professional career is more particularly noticed in the history of the early physicians of Marietta. When twenty-three years old he started on horseback from New Hampshire, September 29, 1826, arriving at Marietta October 4th, whence, on the invitation of leading citizens, he removed to Belpre, where he remained until March, 1808, when he returned to Marietta. In 1807 he married Rhoda Cook, whose mother kept the hotel opposite the mouth of the Little Kanawha. At this place the doctor made his headquarters, practicing up and down and on both sides of the river.

Dr. Ira W. Pier was among the early physicians of the township. He came at a very early day, when he was quite a yourg man. He married a daughter of Major Bradford. From Belpre he went to Circlevelle, thence to Indiana, and thence to Cleveland, where he died a few years ago,

Dr. Erastus Webb located in Belpre township prior to am. He studied medicine in New York State, whence he came to Ohio. He married a Miss Cook, and after practicing in Belpre several years removed about 1815 to Circleville, Ohio, where he died in 1848.

Dr. William Beebe was the successor of Dr. Webb and Dr. Pier, and came to Belpre about 1816. He located in the Middle settlement, his house being the first west of Davis' run, at its entrance into the Ohio; buying the property of Squire Pierce. He served during the War of 1812 as the assistant of Dr. Jewett, who was the surgeon in General Tupper's command at the time of the expedition to the Maumee river. After the war Dr. Beebe spent some time in the vicinity of the Kanawha salt works, and then came to Belpre as above stated. He married Polly Lorin. His son, Dr. William Beebe, is living in Barlow township, and his daughter, Mrs. Booth, is in Marietta. Dr. Beebe's life as a physician was very vigorous, he being almost constantly in the saddle. There are those living who still cherish the memory of their old family physician. He died in 1821 aged fifty-one. He is buried in the old burying-ground by the river. Dr. Beebe was a pupil of Dr. Jewett.

After Dr. Beebe's death for a time the people of Belpre were without a physician, and were very much perplexed that a suitable man did not offer his services. Acting on the principle that they should help themselves in the emergency, they immediately got up a petition, which was signed by the representative citizens of the community, and forthwith expressed it to the young physician who had settled at Waterford in 1817, Dr. Gilbert. After due deliberation he decided to locate at Belpre, although there was a strong effort made to keep him at Waterford. His first office was that of Dr. Beebe. He afterwards had his headquarters at Major A. W. Putnam's, whose daughter he married. After his marriage in 1825 he located half a mile below Cedarville, where he resided during the remainder of his life. He was always hard worked, he being the only physician in the neighborhood for many years. Hardly had he located in Belpre when the sickly season of 1823 kept him unceasingly busy. His practice, large from the first, gradually widened until his circuit of professional duty was widespread. He continued to practice until 1864, when an accident at once put an end to his professional career. His horse threw him to the ground and dragged him some distance, severely injuring his head and causing an almost entire loss of eyesight. Dr. Gilbert died in 1870.

Dr. Norval Pinnell located in Belpre village in 1863, he being the first physician who settled in the town. He was a graduate of the Cleveland Medical college. After remaining in Belpre one year he removed to Barlow township, and returned in 1865, remaining in practice at Belpre until the time of his death, which occurred in the year 1870.

The physicians at present in the township are as follows: in Belpre village, Drs. C. J. Guthrie, C. W. Goodno, G. W. Reed, and G. N. Pinnell; at Little Hocking, Drs. J. W. Quarles, and B. F. Price.

524 - HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, OHIO.

BELPRE VILLAGE.

For more than sixty years after the first settlement there was no village of considerable size in Belpre town ship. The stores up and down the river sufficed to answer the demands of trade, and Parkersburgh and Marietta were easily accessible. The multiplicity of farm houses along the river front of the township made, as it were, a village long drawn out.

As early as 1796, Peregrine Foster had established a ferry and tavern opposite the mouth of the Little Kanawha, and the first post office was also at this point. As early as 1800, Cook's tavern, in what is known as the old Benedict house was the rendezvous for emigrants who had crossed from Virginia and were enroute down the Ohio river roads. Close by the river, in what is now the southern part of the village, was the house of William Browning, on whose land the first town plat was surveyed. Thus we see at a very early day there were several houses on the present village site, but there would have been no village to this day had it not been for outside influences. Until the building of the Baltimore & Ohio railroad, the point opposite Parkersburgh was simply a farming community. The building of the 1ailroad suggested the laying out of the village, and accordingly the plat of Belpre was surveyed by L W. Chamberlain, December 29, 1852, on lots ten, eleven and twelve, for A. H. Browning, the proprietor. The plat was acknowledged before esquire B. F. Stone, March 8, 1853. It contained eighteen town lots, and was bounded on the north by Second street, on the east by the Ohio river, on the south by Cunningham, and on the west by Main street. There have been no less than fifteen additions since 1853, by Messrs. A. H. Browning, Stephen Druse, Colbert O'Neal, L. E. Stone, C. Cole, C. D. Cook, and L Johnson. The village did not grow rapidly at first. The post office was then in the Benedict house. About this time B. F. Stone, jr., erected a building for a store, near the corner of Main and Cunningham streets. About 1860 E. E. Cunningham built the store now kept by J. D. Browning, and thither was the post office removed. At this time there was less than a dozen houses in the village proper, and it was little more than a hamlet until 865. Then was ushered in a decade of prosperity. The oil discoveries in the adjoining territory in West Virginia, gave the impetus to the rapid growth of Belpre. Property increased in value so that lots eighty by one hundred and sixty feet, sold for five hundred dollars. The owners of the oil region sold their land at an enormous price, and many of them desiring to locate in a good village, purchased lots and built residences in Belpre. The line of growth extended along the whole extent of Main street. Stores multiplied, and manufactories promised to succeed. It was at this time that the academy was built. A flouring mill was erected and operated by Leseur, Hadley & Co. This mill, located near the ferry, is now operated by L. E. Stone, who has added a planing mill and lumber yard. In 1866, C. H. Johnson opened a drug store in the building on south Main street now occupied by A. S. Combs. In 1868 or 1869, Barkley & Downer opened a tannery in the northern part of the village, on the premises now owned by Kuhn Brothers & Co. A pump factory was owned by Messrs. Porter, Rathbone, and Hale. Alderman & Scott established a pottery, which is not now in operation. Boat-building has been engaged in to some extent. In 874, the Building association that had been formed erected many new houses. In the same year the Baltimore & Ohio railroad company began building the "Short line" from Athens to Parkersburgh. In the summer of 1874, the Baltimore & Ohio company purchased of Mr. George Dana twelve acres of land lying just northwest of the village, and immediately proceeded to construct the stockyards. For the accommodation of passengers and stockmen, a commodious three-story frame hotel was built near by * and Belpre station established thereon. For a time there was a prospect that the railroad car-shops would be located on the Belpre side of the river, but the hope was not realized.

There were about one thousand inhabitants in 1874, and accordingly one hundred and ten citizens presented a petition to the county commissioners urging the immediate incorporation of the village. A remonstrance from seventy leading citizens induced the commissioners to suspend judgment until the December meeting, at which meeting it was decided not to grant the petition for the reason that the boundaries of said proposed incorporation embraced farm lands, which, in justice ought not to be incorporated within said village.

No less than three newspaper enterprises have struggled to gain a foothold in Belpre, but they were short- lived. In 1875, J. B. Kinkead became the editor of the Courant. The next paper was the .News, by Mrs. Mary J. Adams, in 1878. David Goshorn published the Herald during the years 1879 and 1880.

Although lack of capital has greatly crippled enterprise, the business interests of the place are well represented, as follows: Groceries, J. M. Stone, C. A. Brown, J. D. Browning, G. N. Pinnell. Dry Goods, J. Alderman. Hardware, O. L. Davis. Drugs, N. B. Adams, Guthrie Brothers, and A. S. Combs. Egg packers, S. B. Kirby & Co. Books, C. A. Brown. Flouring and planing mill with lumber yard, L. E. Stone. Tannery, Kuhn Brothers & Co. Bakery, Henry Gettel. Undertaking, John Brown. Insurance agencies, J. M. Stone, D. R. Rood, and J. L O'Neal. Physicians, C. J. Guthrie, C. W. Goodno, C. W. Reed, and G. N. Pinnell. Hotels, Belper hotel, S. J. Scribbling; Belpre House, Mrs. S. Williams; attorney D. R. Rood.

The churches of the village are mentioned elsewhere.

THE GRADED SCHOOLS.

Too much cannot be said of the good influence of the schools of Belpre village upon the character of the citizens. The good name of the high school attracted intelligent people, many of whom removed to the village that they might educate their children.

On the twenty-third of March, 1872, a special school district was established in the village. W. W. Northrup was the prime mover in the work of securing and form-

* The land for this was bought of Colonel John Stone.

OLIVER RICE LORING.

Daniel Loring, the father of the Loring family of this county, emigrated from Massachusetts to Ohio during the early period of settlement. He had married at Sudbury, Massachusetts, in "Wayside inn," a Miss Howe, one of the family which for generations had presided at that historic place, now celebrated in American poetry. She died before the settlement at Marietta, leaving three children, who accompanied their father to the west, viz: Israel, Charlotte (wife of A. W. Putnam) and Ezekiel He married for his second wife Mrs. Rice, of Belpre township, and by her had four children, the youngest of whom was Oliver Rice, whose portrait appears above. Daniel Loring was the head of the church at Sudbury, and after coming to Belpre was commonly known as "Priest Loring." He was one of the founders of Universalism in Belpre, and was also prom. inent among the early Masons. He held the office of justice of the peace for nearly two decades. This was at a period when the best and most intelligent men were elected to the magistracy. The death of Daniel Loring occurred during the sickly seasons of 1822-3.

Oliver Rice Loring was born June 17, 1790. During his youth he received the best instruction the neighbor hood afforded, which at the present day would not be considered more than a secondary school. He was sent to Athens a short time to "complete his course" in grammar, arithmetic, geography, and other common branches. He married for his first wife Fanny Warner, and settled on the homestead. She died in 1827, and the following year he married Orinda Howe, who was born in 1799 and still survives.

Mr. Loring held the office of associate judge of the court of common pleas, and was highly complimented by older members of the bar as an officer. He once held the office of ensign of militia, and, at various times, local township offices. He was for many years a Whig leader in that end of the county, and was one of the council which frequently met in Joseph Holden's store in Marietta, and was sardonically designated by John Brophy and his Democratic friends as "Joe Holden's sinate."

Judge Loring was a man of strong sense, and always had a certain influence in the community. He was reserved in his manners, and never sought notoriety.

He died November 21, 1873.

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, OHIO - 525

ing the district. The formation was completed by the election of the first board of education, which was composed of the following gentlemen, viz.: N. B. Adams, W. W. Northrup and C. A. Brown. Mr. Northrup was the first president of the board. The officers in 1880-81 are: President, John C. O'Neal; clerk, R. T. Moore; and treasurer, C. A. Brown.

The two-story frame school-house on Main street became the educational home of the united districts. The building was enlarged by the addition of a one-story wing on either side, thus making four rooms, which accommodated as many departments or glades. J. P. Hulburt was the first principal of the high school department, with Mary E. Barkley, Edna Hibbard and Park S. Browning, assistants in the grammar, intermediate and primary grades.

In 1873, E. S. Cox became the superintendent. He systematized the course and thoroughly organized the several departments. L. D. Brown was elected in 874, and was followed in 1875 by Rev. W. U. Spencer, who, in turn, was succeeded in 1876 by C. K. Wats. J. G. Schofield was superintendent during the year 1878-9, and was succeeded by the present incumbent, C. E. Keyes.

Shortly after the organization of the school, the rapid increase of scholars and the consequent need of more commodious quarters, caused the subject of a new school building to be agitated.

The question was decided by a large majority when put to vote, in the spring of 1875, and immediate preparations were made for the construction of the new house. The vote authorized an appropriation of ten thousand dollars for the building, and eight hundred for the purchase of a lot in the northern part of the village, at the corner of Main and Fifth streets. The contract was awarded to M. J. O'Connor, who, for nine thousand two hundred and fifty dollars, agreed to furnish a complete house, with the exception of the seats. The building was constructed from plans designed by A. C. Nash, and is a brick structure that would do credit to larger towns than Belpre. Both the first and second floors are divided from east to west by a hall twelve feet wide.

On the first floor there are two rooms on either side of the hall. The south side of the second floor has two rooms, and the other side is left in one large room, which is used as a public hall, which, on suitable occasions, is rented for the benefit of the school fund. There are two stairways, one in the front and the other in the rear of the building. Through the central part of the house there is a large stack, to be used for heating by means of a furnace in the cellar, but so far the rooms have been heated by stoves. In due time the hall was handsomely furnished with a stage, chandeliers and comfortable seats. In 1880 a piano was bought far the school, and placed in the hall where the morning exercises are held. The school grounds are well supplied with shade trees, set out through the instrumentality of Mr. Northrup.

The first commencement took place in June, 1877, at which time there were tour graduates, viz.: Anna B. Paden (deceased), Anna Guthrie, David P. Guthrie and

Anna Lockwood. In 1878 there were three graduates, two in 1879 and two in 1880.

Through the special efforts of Superintendent L. D. Brown there was formed a library association, the interest in which is still kept up.

THE COLORED SCHOOL

At the time of the organization of the special district there were about fifteen colored children of school age, and a separate school was established for them. The school now numbers about thirty-five members, and is held in the frame building made vacant by the removal of the white school. Mrs. Martha T. Wattaker taught until 1873, and was succeeded by J. H. Cole and C. W. H. Bell in 1874; W. W. Kinkead, the first white teacher, taught until 1875, when H. C. Day was appointed. From 1877 to 1879 Daniel Tucker taught, and the teacher for 1880 and 1881 is Anna Stephens.

During the summer of 1880 the building was thoroughly overhauled and refitted, and the wings taken off, so that it now presents a very neat appearance.

THE POST OFFICE

Mail was received and distributed at the tavern of Peregrine Foster as early as 1798. William Browning became the first postmaster, and in 1812 Colonel John Stone became his deputy. Squire Browning held the office until 1821, the time of his death, at which time Pardon Cook was appointed. He was successively followed by Colonel Stone, Ebenezer Benedict, Josiah Henderson, E. E. Cunningham, John Fisher, and in 1865 by John M. Stone who is still in office.

SMALLER VILLAGES.

There are groups of houses below the village of Belpre, which are named respectively, Blennerhassett, Cedarville, Center Belpre and Little Hocking.

Blennerhassett is just opposite the head of the famous island whence the name is derived. It was laid out June 28, 1876, by William and Mary C. Mullen, the proprietors.

Cedarville was laid out by John Ball, John B. Day, Prashel Bailey, Peter Voshel, Cyrus R. Ames and William Clark. The plat was surveyed April 22, 1837. The village is located about two miles below Belpre, on the Ohio river. There are two groceries, a Methodist Episcopal church, and about a dozen houses. The post office, known as Rockland, was established in 1873. The first postmaster, Mr. Mawhinney, is still in office.

The Centre Belpre post office was also established in 1873, and the present incumbent, Parker Lewis, was appointed postmaster. At a very early day what was known as the Bent post office was established with Nahum Bent as postmaster. The office was removed in 1836 or 1837, to the house of Dr. Gilbert, and was known as Cenlre Belpre post office until discontinued in 1873, at which time the new offices of Rockland and Centre Belpre were established. In connection with the latter office Mr. Lewis keeps a general store.

Little Hocking is situated on the Baltimore & Ohio railroad at the mouth of the Little Hocking, whence the village took its name. The plat was surveyed March 8,

526 - HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, OHIO.

1875, for the proprietors, Davis and Permelia Allen. However, the village was begun years before this survey. About 1824 a post office and store were established by Horace Curtis, first at his residence, and soon afterwards in the store-room now occupied by Leroy R. Curtis, the present postmaster. Until October, 1879, the name of the office was Little Hockhocking, and for convenience the reduplication was dropped. The second postmaster was Jacob King, who held the office from 1854 to 1856. Eli Davidson, his successor, remained in office until 1858, at which time H. G. Curtis was appointed, holding the position until 1866, when he was succeeded by Leroy R. Curtis, who is still in charge of the office, and is the proprietor of the store. In 1848 S. M. Skeen opened a general store, which, since 1878, has been exclusively a drug store. There is also a hotel in the village. The only church is St. Mary's Catholic. The physicians are: Drs. J. W. Quarles and B. F. Price. In 1876 Selden McGirr erected a planing mill and sash factory, and in 1877 J. T. Seyler built a steam grist- and saw-mill now owned by Frank McGirr.

CEMETERIES.

There are no less than six places for burial in the township. Death and the narrow house were contemporaneous with the settler and his cabin. War and insidious disease soon made the "first house" a necessity, and too rapidly have the silent cities been established.

The oldest burying-ground in the township is located on the bluff at Cedarville, and was set apart for this purpose by the Ohio company. The pioneers were buried almost within the shadow of the old meeting-house. When the lot was laid off, it was a short distance from the river high up on a site, upon which nature smiled. In the river beneath with its accompanying stretches of scenery, and in the many evergreens on every side there were suggestions of peace and immortality.

Still surrounded by these emblems we found the last abodes of the fathers of the settlements east of the Little Hocking. The Ohio has gradually been encroaching upon this graveyard until it is feared that the whole will eventually be swallowed up by the rapacious stream. On account of this insecurity of the land there have been few interments since the earlier days, and there have been a number of removals. The cemetery is kept in good order, as in the days when Deacon Perley Howe was its sexton. Most of the graves are marked by head stones taken from the neighboring hills. The inscriptions are rudely chiselled, and on many monuments are illegible. It is impossible to give the name of the first person buried in this cemetery, inasmuch as both name and date have faded from public memory, and may never have been recorded on a headstone, for there are many unmarked graves. The earliest inscription is found on the monument of Israel Stone, jr., who was drowned in the Ohio April 25, 1791, aged thirteen. He who strolls among the graves and deciphers the moss-grown inscriptions, will find among the more prominent names and early dates the following, viz:

Jonathan Stone, died in 1801; Peregrine Foster, in 1804; Noah Sparhawk, 1807; Jonathan Haskell, 1816; Captain William Dana, 1809, and his son Charles, in 1817; Deacon Benjamin Miles, 1817; Major Robert Bradford, 1822; Benjamin F. Stone, 1824; Theodore Foster, 1825; Amos Sternes, 1813; William Browning, 1823; Reuben Robbins, 1821; Colonel Silas Bent, 1848; Daniel Loring, 1825; Dr. William Beebe, 1821; Benoni Lewis, 1821; Joseph O'Neal, 1810; Levi Benedict, 1824, and others.

On one stone is found an interesting inscription in substance as follows:

In this vicinity Mrs. Armstrong * and her children were killed by the Indians on the Virginia shore in 1795. This stone is erected to rescue their names and fate from oblivion. Erected by . Dana, 1836.

In the vicinity of Newbury the traveller on the Ohio is attracted by the sight of a plain marble stone standing on the brink of the river. This monument is on the land cleared by Stephen Guthrie, and marks the graves of a number who died during the first years of settlement. The following is the inscription :

PIONEERS OF OHIO.

Anthony Spacht and his wife Catharine; Hannah, wife of Joseph Guthrie; Stratton, Levins, Bliss, + Denham; one woman and two children killed by the Indians. These and some other names, not remembered, died and were buried near this spot, between 1790 and 1810. Erected by some of their descendants as a token to their memory.

The mounds have sunk out of sight, and the old headstones which were once over the graves are now piled in a heap near the monument which was erected in 1871. Captain Eleazar Curtis, his daughter Eunice, and Noah and William Oakes, who were buried here were, in 1825, removed to the second graveyard, which was laid out back of the river, a little over a half mile directly west of the first burying-ground.

This second place of sepulture, though only one of "God's acres," is rich with the dust of those who were the pioneers of the neighborhood. The mounds are thickly strewn about as the autumn leaves. Whole families are here sleeping side by side, and almost every grave is marked by some memorial tablet or monument. .With a praiseworthy regard for the beauty of the cemetery, it is kept green with numerous evergreens, and those who control it see that the graves are neatly kept. The first burial was that of Mrs. Eunice (Hoyt) Curtis, wife of Captain Eleazar Curtis, who died May 6, 1814, aged forty-nine years. An examination of the monuments shows that some are here buried who died prior to this date, but these were brought from other cemeteries. There are found the graves of the following of the most prominent pioneers: Joel Oakes, died in 1822; Captain Eleazar Curtis, 1801; Judge Walter Curtis, 1876; Truman Guthrie, 1841; Stephen Guthrie, 1827; Captain Charles Devol, 1845; Benajah Hoyt, 1807.; James Knowles, 1830; Joseph Levins, 1814; Aaron Clough, 1824; Daniel Oakes, 1801 ; and many others. This cemetery is known as the Newbury burying-ground.

A little further west of the last named ground there is a family burying-ground belonging to R. C. Knowles. The first person buried there was Rebecca White. Those buried in this lot are members of the Knowles family.

The Little Hocking cemetery is one of the oldest in

* An account of this tragedy is given elsewhere in this Chapter.

+ This refers to Persia Dunham, killed by the Indians. The mistake in spelling occurred on the old stone, and was transferred to the new.

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, OHIO - 527

the township. The first one buried here was Nathaniel Sawyer, jr., who was drowned in the Ohio, June 14, 1801. Here among others are buried John Bartlett and Eleanor his wife; Mary Ann, wife of Elias Bellows; Ebenezer Porter and his wife Lydia, and Reuben Allen with Magdelene his wife. Here, too, are many forgotten graves. There is a neighborhood burying-ground about two miles due north of Centre Belpre post office. In this place are buried the families of the Delanos, the Coles, the Eastmans, and others who formally lived in the vicinity.

The principal burying-ground in the township adjoins the old brick Congregational church. The cemetery was laid out about the same time that the church was built. It was ready just in time for the reception of the remains of those who died during the sickly seasons of 1821-3. The first burial was that of Mrs. Mary Fisher. Other burials quickly followed, among them being Colonel Daniel Fisher, Charles Medhurry, and Major Putnam and wife. Several additions have been made to the grounds, which now comprise several acres. It is not possible to note the names of even a small portion of the numerous burials that have taken place in this quiet country churchyard. Suffice it to say that since its beginning it has been the burying-ground of the neighborhood for miles around, and in this place sleep the departed friends and relatives of the majority of the people of Belpre township. The grounds have always been in charge of Cyrus Ames, who keeps them in good order. By a special act of the legislature in 1851 this cemetery was handed over to the management of the township trustees. All the other public cemeteries of the. township are under the same control.

PERSONAL MENTION.

Stephen Druse, sr., settled in Warren township in 1817, having emigrated to Ohio from New York State, where he was born. He died in 1818 and his wife Nannie Denslow died in 1844. Of their children Riley and Stephen settled in Belpre township; Lucy (Cooper) lives in Iowa; Harrison is in Illinois, and Warren and Joseph are in Missouri. Riley who settled in Belpre was born in New York in 1806. He married in 1839 Mary Cockshott, a native of England. Six of their eight children survive, viz: Sarah, Mary A., Maria, Melissa, Olivia, and Lucy.

Hon. Charles H. Brough, brother of the famons "war governor" of Ohio, was born in Marietta in 1813. He lived in Marietta until about twenty years of age, during which he learned the painter's trade and assisted his brother in the publication of the Register. He afterwards removed to Fairfield county, Ohio, where he published a paper called the Ohio Eagle. He also represented that county in the legislature. In 1844 he removed to Cincinnati and purchased the Cincinnati Advocate, the name of which he subsequently changed to the Cincinnati Enquirer, the same paper now published by Faran & McLean, Mr. Brough was Colonel of the Fourth regiment in the Mexican war. In 1839 he was married to Abigail Ames of Belpre. He died in 1849, and his widow is still living in this township.

Mr. C. A. Brown was born in Marietta in 1835. His father was sheriff of the county. He afterwards removed to Athens county, but soon came back. Mr. C. A. Brown served through three years of the late war, and on his return in 1865 settled at Brown's Mills, Washington county, Ohio. Thence he removed to Belpre, in 1869, where he engaged in the grocery, book, and stationery business. He is still engaged in this business. He was married in 1856 to Miss Martha J. Breckenridge. He has two sons.

Mr. Andrew Breckenridge was born in Argyleshire, Scotland, in 1814. In 1836 he married Miss Jean Mackay, and the young couple immediately came to this country. They came to Washington county and settled in Belpre village. In 1869 Mr. Breckenridge moved to his present residence in Centre Belpre. In 1877 his wife died. Seven of the nine children of this marriage are still living, three sons and four daughters. His eldest son is a Congregational minister in Iowa. Mr. Breckenridge was married a second time, in February, 1881, to Mrs. Naomi Higly. Mr. Breckenridge started out as a poor boy, and has steadily risen by his industry and perseverance until he now owns a fine farm of two hundred acres.

Mr. George B Dunfee was born in 1816, in New Jersey. When he was two years old he removed with his parents to Washington county, Ohio, and from thence to Athens county, and thence to Little Hocking. In 1837 he was married to Miss Nancy Tipton, who is still living. They have had eight children, of whom seven are living. Mr. Dunfee is proprietor of the Dunfee house in Little Hocking. He has in his possession a passport given to his father in 1796, signed by Timothy Pickering, Secretary of State; also a description of his father, sworn to when he embarked on his journey to Jamaica in this same year. These papers are of great interest.

Parker Lewis was born in Harrison county in 1827, and in 1846 came to Belpre middle settlement. He married Elizabeth Pickering, born in Harrison county in 1828. They have had ten children, of whom nine survive. Mr. Lewis is engaged in the general store business. From 1846 to 1861 he was in the pork business, and has been engaged in the manufacture of grape wine. At one time he owned seventy acres of orchard land. He has been postmaster at Centre Belpre since the establishment of the office in 1873. He was township treasurer from 1866 to 880. The names of his children are as follows: Morgan E., born February 22, 1847; Leonora, August 30, 1849; Levi L., June 10, 1851; Sylvanus P., September 14, 1853 (died January, 1860); Lizzie P., July 28, 1855; Isaac T., June 29, 1859; Lillie M., March 9, 1862; William P., December 2, 1863; Lincoln G., September 26, 1860; Seth E., January 12, 1868.

J. W. Davis came to Belpre in 1855 from Bellaire, where he was born in 1825. His wife, Anna Krebs, was born in 1831, and died in 1879. Their son, O. L Davis, who is a hardware dealer in Belpre, married Julia Campbell, by whom he has one child living.

528 - HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, OHIO.

S. J. Spencer came to Belpre in 1858. He has been a river pilot during the last twenty-four years. He was born in Maysville, Kentucky, in 1829, and came to Ohio from West Virginia. In 1832 he married Lucy A. Henderson, by whom he has had six children: Josiah, William, Robert, Caywood, Emma Jane and Fanny. The two last named are now dead.

Dr. C. C. J. Guthrie located in Belpre in 1863, and is now in a large practice in the neighborhood. He was married in 1854, to Miss M. F. Collier. In 1871 they lost a child, Frank, who was killed by falling off the railroad bridge. There are three surviving children, viz: Anna, D. P., and George W. The sons own a drug store in Belpre village.

J. B. Mawhinney came to Ohio from Parkersburgh in 1866, whither he had come from Pennsylvania in 1858, and started a store in Cedarville. He has five children by his wife, Amy Wiley. He has been postmaster of the Rockland office, at Cedarville, since 1873, when it was established.

George M. Pinnell, born in West Virginia in 1850, came to Belpre in 1871. In that year he married Rosa E. Paden, by whom he has three children. Dr. Pinnell is a practicing physician in Belpre village and neighborhood.

J. M. Farson became a resident of Belpre upper settlement in 1866, having emigrated from West Virginia, where he was born in 1824. He married Catharine Stag, by whom he had nine children, five of whom survive. His first wife died in 1861, and he was married to Anna E. MacTaggart, a native of Wood county, West Virginia. It was on Mr. Farson's land that the old relic of the Mound Builders stood until he removed it several years ago.

H. W. Gettel, a resident of Belpre village, was born in Marietta in 1845, he being the son of Michael and . Margaret (Molder) Gettel. He is one of the nine surviving children of a family of ten. He married Emeline Collins, who was born in Athens county in 1843. They have four children. Mr. Gettel bas been in the bakery business during the last twenty years. He served on a

gunboat during the late war.

In 1847 Thomas Hibbard located in the middle settlement, where he has since resided. He came from New York State to Ohio in 1822, stopping first in Meigs and then in Athens county. In 1848 he married Sarah M. Porter, born in this township in 1824. They have had two children—Sarah A., and Edna Amelia (deceased). The latter married David P. Guthrie, and left two children—Frank H., and Hattie A. Mr. Hibbard pays special attention to the raising of Spanish merino sheep.

Jonathan S. Plumly settled north of Little Hocking in 1839. He emigrated from Pennsylvania, where he was born in 1806. In 1828 he was married to Rebecca Nicholson, who was born in 1808. By this marriage nine children were born, five of whom are living, most of them being in Decatur township. J. N. Plumly was born in Belmont county in 1829, and came to Belpre with his father when ten years old. In 1857 he married

Susan Shotwell, of Belpre township. Six of their seven children are living.

James Gandee, born in Parkersburgh in 1825, went to Missouri, whence, in 1851, he emigrated to Ohio, locating in Belpre. In 1853 he married Maria Smith, by whom he has had two children—George W., and Mary A.—both living. Mr. Gandee is a farmer and stock- raiser, and has practiced medicine for over thirty years.

Robert Bess did not come into this township until 1851. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1817. In 1841 he married Ann Coates, who was born in England in 1823. Twelve of their fourteen children are living. He resides a short distance above Little Hocking, on the Ohio river.

Mr. William Mullen was born in October, 1822, in Newport, Washington county, and lived there until he was frfty-two years old. He was married in 1853 to Miss Mary C. Cook. Mr. and Mrs. Mullen have had four children, of whom three are living. All of the children were daughters, and the three surviving ones live in the county, the two youngest with their parents. Mr. Mullen has a fine farm near Belpre village. His parents were old settlers of the county, having moved to Newport in 1815. His mother is still living with him at the advanced age of ninety years. In spite of her great age she is still very active and vigorous.

Mr. Robert Brewster was born in 1820 in Watertown township. He removed with his parents when two years old to Chenango county, New York. At the age of thirteen he moved into what was then Roxbury township. He moved into Belpre township in 1864, where he now lives. He was married in 1859 to Miss Annie Bachelor, who died in 1853. By her he had one son who is now living. Mr. Brewster was married again 1864 to Miss Sarah E. Knowles, who is still living. this marriage Mr. Brewster has had three children, who are still living.

Dr. G. W. Reed was graduated in March, 1873 from Miami Medical college, Cincinnati, Ohio. At that time he resided in Harmar, Washington county. In June of the same year he removed to Lowell, where he practiced until September, 1880. He then removed to Belpre where he now has his office.

James Gandee was born in Parkersburgh, West Virginia, in 1823. He attended the schools in his native town until he moved with his parents to the State of Missouri. He stayed there about six years, making frequent visits to his old home for the sake of his health. He then came back and settled in Belpre township where he still resides. Mr. Gandee was married to Miss Maria Smith in 1858. They have two children, a daughter and son.

William H. Barkley has been a resident of Belpre all his life—fifty-nine years. The farm he now occupies his father purchased in 1822, but he came to the township as early, probably, as 1810. The tannery of William H. Barkley was established in 1867, and sold by him in October, 1880, to Kuhn & Brothers. Mr. Barkley was married in 1842, and has had three children, one having died.

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, OHIO - 529

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

WALTER CURTIS.

In September; 1791, Eleazer Curtis, with his wife and six children, in company with Stephen Guthrie and a number of other young men, left their home in Warren, Litchfield county, Connecticut, destined for Marietta. The outfit consisted of one wagon drawn by two horses, and one drawn by four oxen. After a tedious journey of several weeks, the party reached McKeesport, and there sold one wagon and team, and bought a small flatboat, in which the whole company, with their goods and cattle were crowded. "All went along without any particular incident, until one cold, blustering day in November, the boat was permitted to drift too close to the Virginia shore at the head of Wheeling Island. One of the studding caught in an overhanging tree, causing it to spring off a plank." Mr. Curtis, "seeing the imminent danger of the flat sinking from taking in water, seized a feather bed and pressed it into the opening; the women and children were put into a canoe, the boat landed, and the stock driven ashore, and the boat was kept from sinking. Having repaired the boat, the next object was to hunt the stock that had strayed off into the woods, which caused a delay of nearly two weeks."

The Curtis family remained at Marietta about two years, and then joined the Lower Belpre settlement at Newbury.

Walter Curtis, the subject of this sketch, was horn at Warren, Litchfield county, Connecticut, September 20, 1787, and was consequently four years old when the family came to the county. "About the year 1798," he says in a reminiscence of early events, my father was clearing land back of the hill; I was sent to the spring near by for drinking water, and while dipping up water, heard an animal walking in the woods, looking up, I saw a beautiful bay mare going toward the east. I ran and told my father, who went across the hill and caught her; this was the first horse owned at Newbury. The mare had undoubtedly been stolen from Virginia by the Indians, taken to the Scioto and was endeavoring to reach her old home.

Mr. Curtis' early education was quite limited, and in 1809 he spent about six months in college at Athens. Soon after becoming of age he commenced building keelboats, the lumber for which was prepared by the slow process of whipsawing, there being no saw-mills in the vicinity. The boats were loaded with produce and pushed up the Big Kanawha to Charlestown, where the produce was traded for salt, which was taken to Pittsburgh and sold.

Mr. Curtis, although deficient in early intellectual culture, had a thirst for knowledge, and by diligent study became a man of more than ordinary intelligence. An accurate memory and reliable judgment made him one of the leaders of society, as the several official positions to which he was chosen testify. Few men had a more intelligent acquaintance with history, and his reading

67 covered a wide range of literature. In conversation he was particularly interesting, always having at command a refreshing fund of anecdotes and quotations for illustration. He always interested himself in politics, was a Whig until the decline of that party, and then, until his death, acted with the Republicans. In religion he held decided views, but never subscribed to any creed.

Mr. Curtis represented his county in the legislature in 1827-8, was associate judge from 1824 till 1827, and served as county commissioner from 1852 till 1853. In the township and district offices he performed his share of duty.

Walter Curtis died, after a profitable life of nearly ninety years, June 27, 1876, having lived in the same community nearly eighty-five years, and at the same place eighty-three years.

For the benefit of relatives and friends the following family record is appended:

Eleazer Curtis was born in Warren, Connecticut, October 20, 1759. Eunice Starr, of Bridgefield, Connecticut, was born August 1, 1766, and was married to Eleazar Curtis, November 7, 1782. Their children were: E. S. Curtis, born in 1783; Jason R. Curtis, 1785; Walter Curtis, 1787; Mary Curtis, 1789; Benjamin Curtis, 1791; Horace Curtis, born at Belpre, 1793; Clarissa Curtis, 1796, and Lucy Curtis, 1800.

Walter Curtis was married to Almira Guthrie, February 3, 1819. They had four children, viz: A. S., born April 7, 1822; C. C., born April 24, 1824; Marian, born August 8, 1826; and A. L., born December 19, 1828. Mrs. Almira Curtis died May 13, 1880, aged seventy-nine years.

HOWE FAMILY.

Among the early settlers at Marretta, the name of Perley Howe appears. He was born at Killingly, Connecticut, May 14, 1768. He came to Ohio at the early period of settlement and was one of the first male teachers at the stockade. While there he formed the acquaintance of Persis Putnam, daughter of General Rufus Putnam, whom he married May, 2, 1798. He soon after came to Belpre and settled on a farm given him by General Putnam, on which his grandson, George A. Howe now lives. Mr. Howe was familiarly known among the old settlers, its "Master Howe." He, for a long time taught school in Upper Belpre, and the few old men yet living, remember him as their first teacher. He was one of the best teachers of the community, a good writer, and "good in figures." He lived to see the farm on which he settled, well improved, and the border country to which he came, developed into a well organized community. He died May 17, 1855. His first wife, Persis Putnam, died September 6, 1822. He married for his second wife, Sarah Emerson, September 2, 1827; she died February 9, 1863. By his first wife he had five children, viz: Joseph, born July 4, 1800; Perley, born May 28, 1802; Abigail Putnam, wife of William R. Walker of Athens county, born December 31, 1804:

530 - HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, OHIO.

Rufus William, born June 17, 1807, and Persis, born September 7, 1810, only two of whom married—William and Abigail.

Mr. Howe was commissioned Captain of the first brigade, third division of the Washington county militia, in 1804, by Governor Tiffin. At the time of Aaron Burr's conspiracy, this company stood guard, and Captain Howe was a witness at the trial.

Mr. Howe was one of the organizers of the Presbyterian church in Belpre, and was a deacon until his death, in his eigthy-eighth year.

Rufus William Howe was a farmer all his life. In his youth, after passing through the country schools, he attended the academy at Marietta, and boarded with General Rufus Putnam, his grandfather. He married for his first wife, Lucy Eastman, May 23, 1833, of the Lower Belpre settlement. She died September 22, 1834, leaving no children. He married for his second wife, Polly Proctor, of Watertown township, June 24, 1835; the . family consisted of four children, viz: Joseph Perley, born April 6, 1836; George Augustus, born October 1, 1838; Rufus Putnam, born May 6, 1841; and Persis Putnam born January 1, 1844; two of whom are living—George Augustus and Persis Putnam. George, the second son, is the only member of the family who married. He married Charlotte Ann Wyatt, of Amestown, Athens county, October 26, 1865. They had five children, viz: Charlotte Wyatt, Mary Emily, Persis Putnam, Blanche and Jessie, the three oldest of whom are living. He married for his second wife, Mary S. Chapman, of College Hill, Ohio, February 12, 1880.

William Howe lived in a house facing Blennerhasset Island first, afterwards removed to the plain. A pictorial sketch of the residence of George A., which stands on the plain overlooking the valley and river, will be found on an adjoining page.