No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Males 25 26 34 25 34 27 10

Females 32 27 15 14 38 19 5

No. 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Males 24 27 30 31 19 28 31

Females 17 32 28 28 18 36 34

The Mineral Springs. These celebrated Springs are situated nineteen miles north from Rome on the Ohio River, and four miles south from Mineral Spring Station on the Cincinnati, Portsmouth and Virginia Railroad, in a delightful valley, and flow from the base of a mountain, surrounded by scenery the most picturesque and beautiful. The chemical analysis of these waters show them to be very highly charged with gas, and to contain 205.35 grains of solids to the gallon. These are composed of chloride of magnesia, sulphate of lime, carbonate of lime, chloride of calcium, chloride of sodium, oxide of iron and iodine There is a large and commodious hotel with hot and cold baths, and numerous rustic cottages for the accommodation of guests. These Springs afford a sequestered retreat to those seeking respite from the cares of business, or in need of the refreshing influence of mountain scenery and climate. The buildings are located with a view to the health and comfort of visitors, at the base of Peach Mountain or "Grassy Hill," which casts a shadow over them at four o'clock in the evening, making the nights cool and pleasant, so that when it is too warm to sleep elsewhere, the tired and careworn can enjoy a refreshing night's rest at this resort. There is a beautiful chapel on the grounds for the church-going guests, and a commodious amusement hall for the entertainment of those seeking diversion in bowling, billiards, dancing and such recreation. There are telegraph and telephone connections with the hotel. The present proprietor, S. R. Grimes, a scion of one of the prominent pioneer families of Adams County, is a most affable and accommodating host. MEIGS TOWNSHIP- 447 REMINISCENCES. *In the vicinity of the Sproull bridge over Ohio Brush Creek in this township was the pioneer home of Peter Shoemaker, a brother of Simon Shoemaker, a pioneer, also, of that vicinity. In the summer of 1796, a daughter of Peter Shoemaker's was stolen by a band of Indians and carried away to their village on the Little Miami in the vicinity of the present town of Xenia. In after years this daughter, who had grown up and married an Indian, was discovered by some whites and returned to her kindred on Brush Creek, where she afterwards married and reared a family. U. S. Mail Robbed. In May, 1827, in the palmy days of the old stage coach line from Maysville to Chillicothe, the mail was robbed between West Union and Sinking Springs. As the bag was never recovered it was supposed that it had been thrown into Ohio Brush Creek after being rifled of its contents. Suspicion pointed to a prominent resident of Jacksonville as being concerned in the robbery, and who fled the country, and William McColm, then postmaster at West Union, offered a reward of fifty dollars for his apprehension and confinement in any jail in the United States so that he might be brought to answer to the charge. The robber was never apprehended. Anecdote of an old Stage Driver. David Bradford, who immortalized his name during the scourge of Asiatic cholera in West Union, was one of the daredevil jehus who drove a stage coach from Maysville to Chillicothe before the days of canals and railroads in this region. The Fristoe hill at the crossing of Ohio Brush Creek was the longest and teepest on the route, and was considered then a very dangerous place of descent with a loaded coach or wagon.. On one occasion, when there had been a heavy fall of sleet and the road was covered with a thick coat of ice, people in the vicinity wondered how Dave Bradford would get down Brush Creek hill; and, when finally he dismounted from the box at the village postoffice, at Jacksonville, he was admonished of the great risk of attempting to descend the hill with *There is a version of this incident that Peter Shoemaker was shot in his cabin door by the Indians, and his wife and two children made captives. The wife becoming fatigued carrying her infant boy, she was tomahawked, and child seized by the ankles and its brains dashed out against a tree. The girl was adopted by an Indian family and grew up and married an Indian by whom she had a girl child. She was afterwards discovered and returned to her relatives on Brush Creek. After investigating all the known facts, the writer concludes that the captivity of the Shoemaker children must have occurred before the family came to the Northwest Territory, for Peter Shoemaker, of Brush Creek, died in 1809 and left a will in Adams county. His wife may have been the girl, captured by the Indians; but if so it did not occur in Adams County, for he settled on Brush Creek in 1796. Or, it is probable that the version of the incident is true that his daughter was captured in 1796, on Brush Creek and that she afterwards returned and married Samuel Bradford, in 1811, in this volume. 448 - HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY his coach. But David seemed little concerned about the matter ; however it was observed that his drinks of "old double distilled" were larger than usual, and that at his departure he had taken an extra "bumper" with Matt Bradney, who had come to town the night before and was "weather- bound" at the village tavern. But the "bumper" with Bradney meant more than a nerve stimulant to Bradford. It was the seal of a solemn vow to Bradney that he would not again permit his "nigger," "Black Joe" Logan, to butt the life out of him as he had nearly done at the Noleman Cahn) Meeting the summer previous, when Bradney and "Big Do Woods had attempted to drive Logan from the camp grounds while he was peaceably caring for Bradford's team and carriage. So, seating himself on the box of his stage, he cracked his whip ant set out on a swinging trot for Brush Creek hill. On arriving at the point where begins the descent down to the valley of Brush Creek, he halted his team and unhitched it from the coach. Then he hitched a favorite to the end of the tongue, and mounting the animal began to ply the w and yell like an Indian, making the descent of the long and steep without a single mishap; remarking that it was "a d—d poor horse that could not outrun a stage coach."