A HISTORY
OF
ADAMS COUNTY, OHIO
FROM ITS EARLIEST SETTLEMENT TO THE
PRESENT TIME
INCLUDING
Character Sketches of the Prominent Persons Identified with the First
Century of the County's Growth
AND
Containing Numerous Engravings and Illustrations
BY
NELSON W. EVANS AND EMMONS B. STIVERS.
WEST UNION, OHIO
PUBLISHED BY E. B. STIVERS
1900
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PREFACE
The history of Adams County properly dates from the month of December, in the year 1790, when Nathaniel Massie and his little band of hardy frontiersmen began the erection of the Stockade at the Three Islands on the present site of the town of Manchester. This was the "pioneer corps" in the Virginia Military Reservation, in the Northwest Territory, and was the beginning of the third permanent white settlement in the State of Ohio.
This settlement was begun at a time when the Indian denizens of the region were waging the most cruel and most relentless warfare in the history of the country, against the border settlements of Virginia and Kentucky ; and, it was maintained by its brave and vigilant founders, without Federal assistance, until the close of hostilities at the Treaty of Greenville in 1795
From the Stockade as a base of supplies, and as a place of refuge in 'case of attack, these daring adventurers explored by stealth the remotest parts, of the Reservation, and entered and surveyed the most desirable lands of the region. They prepared the way for those patriots of the Revolution who came with their families to establish their future homes here, and to lay, ultimately, the foundation of one of the greatest States of the Union.
To preserve in book-form the history of the founding of Adams County and of the growth and development of its resources; to preserve for future generations the story of the lives of the pioneers and their descendants, that their virtues may be emulated and their achievements appreciated, is the intended mission of this volume. To what extent the Compilers have succeeded in the accomplishment of their designs, must be determined by the reader.
The volume is composed of four books :
A GENERAL HISTORY Or ADAMS COUNTY; THE TOWNSHIP HISTORIES; CHARACTER SKETCHES Or THE PIONEERS ; and, BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
A feature of the volume is the very complete Index.
Grateful acknowledgment is hereby made to the public-spirited persons, both residents and non-residents of Adams County, who by their kindly offices greatly lightened the task of the Compilers in collecting and preserving the matter for this volume.
E. B. S.
N. W. E.
October 30, 1900.
(III)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART I.
HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY